I know I wasn't the only one who thought the shipping took forever on this one. A group of us Canadians were all feeling forgotten as more and more of our American friends started posting about getting their "Charleston"s in the mail. I don't know why, but it almost seems as if Breyer did their domestic shipments first and their international ones later.
They didn't seem to do that with the regular Club offerings throughout the year. Judging from what I read on the Internet, I received the notices to buy and the actual shipped models at the same time as American buyers did. I'm not sure why the freebie was delayed then, but it very clearly was.
Anyway, I have some mixed feelings about "Charleston" himself. Not with the actual model -- I love him -- but with what he represents. I'll explain in a minute.
I think I may have mentioned before, when "Charleston" was first announced, that I was going to go with Spanish Jennet as a breed. Lots of people are calling him either that or a Paso Fino, depending on how modern they think he looks (the Jennet should look like an older style horse than the Paso). He isn't really ideal for either breed, but he's close enough.
His colours, of course, make him the mini-me of "Hamilton," an American Saddlebred, but he's clearly not a Saddlebred either. But even in miniature, the "Hamilton" pattern is quite stunning, especially with the pearly whites used on the body of the horse.
So much for what "Charleston" is himself. Now for what he represents to me.
"Charleston" represents the one thing that has always bugged me about the Premier Club ever since they started launching the free mini-me Stablemates in 2014 -- the debut of new Stablemate molds exclusively in the Premier Club.
On the one hand, I can see how this fits in with the philosophy of the Club. The Premier Club is for folks who like to get the first editions of brand new molds, so they're being given the same thing with their freebie that they signed up for with the Club.
On the other hand, the way the new molds are being used in the Premier Club are as mini-me models of the bigger horses. The problem there is that most of the new molds produced have failed to match the breed characteristics of any of the Premier Club horses released in a given year, leaving the collector with a bunch of new molds in odd or impossible colours, like "Charleston" in 2019 or "Darwin" in 2018. And even if the colours do work, the body types can be way off, like the "True North" mini of 2017 and even the mini "Geronimo" of 2016 (who looks more like a Mustang than a Paint).
As a sometime member of the Stablemates Collector Club I strongly feel that all the new Stablemate molds should debut either in that Club or as normal retail releases, as the new Standing Warmblood did in 2019. It just seems wrong to me to have a Club just for Stablemate fanciers and then to deny them access to one of the latest new molds.
Since the Stablemates Collector Club already gets at least one new mold each year, my solution to the problem would be to make the Premier Club freebie a true mini-me with using older SM molds that most closely resemble the Premier Club horse chosen to be replicated that year -- say the G1 Saddlebred for "Hamilton/Charleston" and the G4 Loping Horse for "Dundee/Darwin." I'd give the SM collectors one or two new molds, and any other SMs that come out in a given year could be released as regular retail items, either as singles or in sets.
Of course, I'm not the one leading this dance -- I'm the one just trying to keep up with the steps. Only one thing's for sure: you never know what move Breyer is going to make next.
I'm just glad that I finally got my "Charleston" -- at last.
I absolutely* love* your blog! I didn't realize that you were Canadian tho !
ReplyDeleteI find one thing absolutely* amazing. tho among some of you model horse collectors in that people. will bash what looks like perfectly "correct" conformationally horses like "Hamilton" over something. silly like a particular color --yet LOVE a model that comes in a color NOT allowed by the breed association and has questionable conformation itself!
I'm no "expert" and I have a friend who also has the mini-me "Charleston" . However,to both our untrained. eyes, this model's neck looks way too short and his legs wonky looking to fit whatever he's supposed to be!
It *could* be it's just this particular color and he'll be fine in solid colors, who knows??
Anyway, to every one, to each their own ,right??!
Thanks for loving the blog. I agree with you -- we model horse collectors often have inexplicable tastes. But, as you say, different strokes for different folks. That's what keeps Breyer in business.
ReplyDelete