Inexplicable Things

FYI: Both Winx and Crystalline are currently out of stock on the Breyer web site; the Winx because of PR like this:

https://www.horseracingnation.com/news/Winx_is_the_newest_addition_to_the_Breyer_stable_123

The second photo of Winx on the Breyer web site looks very similar to the BreyerFest 2018 Celebration Horse Brass Hat, so I’m more than willing to wait for the luxury of handpicking.

They also dumped two more BreyerFest reveals on us this week, both Appaloosas. First it was the Sunday Raffle Model Fields of Heather, a Nez Perce Horse on the Akhal-Teke/Altynai mold because sure whatever:

Yeah, yeah, beautiful. I’m trying not to get too excited about this one either because aside from the fact that it’s a Raffle Model – and by its very nature, virtually impossible to get – it’s also on a mold I have some apprehensions about.

Mostly by virtue of its length: I’ve already given my heart to the Shagya Arabian mold, and I don’t need another three-foot-long beast competing for shelf space here.

And is it just me, or does this model bear some significant similarities to another Appaloosa release on another dimensionally-challenged mold: namely, the Traditional Black Beauty Sir Wrangler? (More of a coincidence than a callback, I think.)

What I am more excited about is this inexplicable creature: a Buckskin Appaloosa Trakehner? Named Thorn? This is also not a release I would have expected from this theme, but in this case I do not care:

While I’m “old school” and I’d prefer the mold the way it used to be – with the textured coat and the original tail – I’ll still take him. In Gloss, in Matte, and any Decorator surprises they might be throwing in the mix, too. All on the easier to find side, I hope.

(I am also assuming that the actual model will be somewhat less yellow in person, just like last year’s Clydesdale Mare Pepper was.)

With this final reveal of the ticket models, it’s very odd that there’s apparently no true “Decorator” in the BreyerFest mix this year. Makes me wonder if that means… something? Most curious.

The Trakehner mold has only had two other spotted releases, neither one of them an Appaloosa: the #732 Spotted Trakehner in Black Pinto, and the #702395 Kaleidoscope in Red Bay Pinto, both in the 1990s. Otherwise it has been all solids, all the way back to 1979.

And Bay. Mostly Bay.

Aside from my fondness for the mold, he shares a name with another character in another on-again, off-again writing project. While Khalid was my interpretation of the “perfect vampire boyfriend,” Thorn is “your best friend who may – or may not – be an actual dog.”

(A fairy curse may be involved.)

So that settles it: my two definites this year are Hamish (the Standing Black Angus Bull) and Thorn. Everyone else I need to see in person before I make a decision.