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WOO HOO! What a family! These were so exciting when we first saw them
because, well... They weren't Bay! Easily some of the most beautiful draft horses
the GC Line has ever produced, and among the loveliest pintos ever.
They are nekkid up there so you can see their markings, which are
usually covered up because their tack is so cool that no one ever
takes it off. 
stops right at his seam. 
I would suggest keeping the tack off these guys if you're planning
on storing them.
a spot you might see on a Pit Bull or something. Still, her coloring
is truly beautiful, and I hope they make more like this. I think
they got the idea from Breyer's Gypsy Vanner, which came out last year
(?) and looked a lot like Moonriver. I don't see why Alpha
couldn't forego the usual boring bays and grays for a while
and make a couple more sets of these. They could make more pintos
in other colors, maybe a chestnut stallion and a dark gray pinto
mare...? Yeah, that would be awesome. 
I like the Stallion
"Mr. Chips," better of the two, since he has bicolored hair
and a large blanket that reaches up to his mane (He is the first
classic GC
ever to have
this type of blanket) and he is in the High Stepping Stallion
Mold. He's also known as the first "Mr." horse (there have been
a few "Senor" horses, though), which I guess
they like to avoid because of similarity to Mr. Ed.
He is totally gorgeous, especially with his random
smattering of black blanket spots, and a white blaze with a
touch of pink on his nose. I am surprised they allowed so much
black on this guy since there was already a piebald entry for this
year. It would have been better to make him mostly white and have
the leopard spot pattern, to keep this couple from being black and bay,
like the Vanners. Also, there were only three breeds this year, so it
seems odd that they couldn't manage to get them all to be in unique
colors. This does suggest to me that the 2002 and 2003 half sets
were
initially meant
to be a single set, as the blacks seem to be all here and the brown and
chestnut hues are all over there. 
has a smaller blanket that reaches to her withers, and
no multicoloration in her hair. She is also a bay instead
of black, and molded in the less graceful Prancing Mare mold.
Her blanket looks strange to me, as it is covered in a
too-organized pattern, clusters of black spots that occur
every quarter-inch or so. It is also fringed with clusters
of tiny brown spots right at the edge, I suppose to make it look
blended. The effect is more decorative, though; she looks like
she has a fancy doily draped over her. I am convinced they kept her
hair entirely black so they could use her in disguise as the plain
bay mare in the '03 Thoroughbred Family; she appears to have the exact same star,
and nearly matching leg markings. 
about the same setup as 95's
Gold Dust, minus the foot markings. When I first saw him I thought
he was dull, but he has grown on me.
I would say that with his extensive shading
(He has both dark orange body shading, and gray mist around his
eyes and muzzle) and his attractive facial blaze, he is one of the
most handsome of this color type. As a bonus, he will have a
nice long, flowing tail (his bio card
mentions that it touches the ground) which gives him a delicate look
that I do not often see on the pals. Because they frequently have
white hair, (I suspect collectors have noticed
that it has a more stiff texture than other
colored hair)
their tails do
not lie with as much natural bounce and softness. But Fire Flame has
blonde hair, and it is even a mix of two different shades,
so he is not your average palomino. His early photos showed him with a blue/turquoise
saddle pad, but it is purple with a lavender wavy
stripe in it. If you missed Gold Dust, Fire Flame is a looker -
I think one of the better pal stallions of the GC line,
though it would be nice if he had a white sock somewhere.
Marchon's old Classic Stallion,
and
a new, altered version of the Barb Stallion. I don't know
if this is precisely the first use of this new mold, only that this
is the first use of it that I have noticed. The two Fire Flames are
almost the same; my Barb seems to be more orangey and does not have a
particularly long tail. (It does touch the ground, though, so don't
rush out and burn his ID card just yet.) It seems that
the Classic version
was released first, or anyway I didn't hear about the Barb until
at least a month or so after the classic was in regular circulation.
I think there were some Wal*Marts that didn't sell the Barb, but
he was
common in my area. Actually I started seeing him more than
the classic as the months went by.
We can't know why they decided to make two versions of this horse...
The hope would be that they realized how many Classic Stallion palominos
are already out there (at least 3) and decided to produce
something more original.
arrangement in the classic horses. She comes with similar-hued
tack,
as the saddle pad is lavender with pastel blue/green trim, and there
is a lavender ribbon on her tail. This is such a beautiful setup,
all in soft, tinted colors that go well together, and she has the
most special, one-of-a-kind facial marking.
Neena discovered that this remold is not brand new, but was
used for some (all?) of the Year 2000 Shadow Mists, and probably
got by
the radar then due to Shadow Mist's bold, distracting coloration.
One possibility entering my mind is that, just as
Butterscotch and
some other horses
appear to have been re-released in "disguise," Ice Sculpture and
Shadow Mist could be one and the same horse. This would explain
their matching remolds (Are there any other remolded Arab Mares out
there?) and also their colors, as they appear to have been
molded in the same cream color base.