Well, it's 2003 and I still haven't gotten my jet pack.
Really the whole New Millennium thing has turned out to be
anti-climactic...
Who would have known it was going to be just like 1999?
MCI keeps calling, SUVs are still here annoying everyone, most
notebook folders are still
half an inch taller than most notebook binders, smoking is as cool
as ever, and people still think "Dalmation" and
"mischievious" are words.
The divorce rate is a
whopping 50%, reality shows hit a new low, but at least America's
Love Affair with The Rock seems to be over. (All of that
is connected, somehow.) Hostilities in the Middle East
Continue, and Di$ney forgoes plans to make any more 2-D animated
films.
In the Grand Champion world, a time lapse occurs that will forever
confuse and confound the collectors.
2001 is all over the place. 2002 is fashionably late. 2003 is
missing for nearly a year and feared dead. The truth is that the
only real 2003 horses are the small host of UKs that
show up in Europe and Australia. "The Lost Six" from the 2002
Collection don't show up until early 2004, and then only in Europe,
Australia and the US (in limited quantities).
So technically this should be a 2004 page, and 2003 could be
considered the Year That Got Lost. No one knows what
happened at Alpha or why there was such a delay, but it seems
to me this will offset the timing of all releases to follow.
It
is suspicious that Canada was not selected for stocking of
these horses, and that the collection numbers seem to have
officially dropped from twelve classics per year down
to
six. This is really a shame (especially since ugly wretched
FNNs seem to be enjoying their usual prosperity...) but
of course much better than no horses at all.
The Good News is that Alpha has struck some agreement with
KB Toys in the United States,
and the toy chain is now stocking Fancy Parade horses, Clydesdale
Families and Mini Action Sets (Everything except what you
really want, the Classics and Classic families). This added
exposure at KB Toys in malls across the country can only help the
situation, and certainly many of the higher end
My Little Pony-range connoisseurs will be looking for a
Grand Champion type of horse within the next 2-4 years. I'm
hoping for a solid GC boon when that happens, perhaps even something
as profitable as what happened in the
Mid-90s, if only our horses can hang in there for another 2 years
or so.
So the 2003 or 2004 bunch is here finally, after having their
pictures out for more than a year. This set feels incomplete in
the same way 2002s did - I guess three breeds a year will take some
getting used to, and these are not as nice
as last year's. This is also the first year in seven
that Clydesdales were not included. I think because of the
stagger created by half-sets, we can expect Clydies every other
year from now on.
Changes to the GC line this year, both here and abroad, include
Colored Brushes !! That's right. Finally a reason to
KEEP those stupid brushes !
Still useless? Sure. Still using your twenty year-old My
Little Pony comb to style your
Grand Champions? Of course. But at least the things are
pretty now and come in lots of
colors. Some are molded in blah and actually painted over in
pretty, but most are molded in all sorts of shades, and the
boring old brown and yellow can Go Bye Bye. (*Recalls the
millions of brown GC
brushes that have happily gone into the trash.*)
No new molds this year, in fact it looks like they tried to save
money all around. The tack on these
guys is average, and we went back to plain felt pads this year,
nothing like the fancy threads of the
Gypsy Vanners or Appies. Still a serviceable little bunch.
Check them out in their early promotional pictures (I don't
think
Alpha has produced any on the usual grassy background?):
American Quarter
Horses...Flaxen Chestnut and Bay Mare: "Braveheart" Stallion: "American Gold" Foal:"Heart of Gold"
Polo
Ponies...Flaxen Chestnut and Bay Mare: "Lightening" Stallion: "Senor Poncho" Foal:"Siesta"
Below are the six in real life, though only the Polo Mare is
in her original tack:
From left to right they are:
"Heart of Gold": Quarter Horse Foal (Braveheart
X American Gold)
"Silver Mist": Hunter/Jumper (Silvery Lady X Sir Blitzer)
"Siesta: Polo Pony Foal (Lightning X Senor Poncho)
All foals are cute, but the only one I really love here is
Silver Mist
with his dark gray leg shading and blending-to-white feet. He has
such a cute,
branching blaze, and funny little dapple spots in the shape of
'T's.
(Oh fine. Or sometimes "Y"s.) Actually he has nice shading
generally, some extra on
his back and face, and what silky gray hair. Siesta has cute little hoofs (Yes I know 'hoofs' is not the
word, but it is
such an adorable non-word) that are gray except for the salmon
colored one
on the white foot in front. (Have you noticed that "Salmon" is the
color of choice for
many Grand Champion hooves? Why is that?) I do love this effect
because it's like
real horses have. Her star is shaped like a maggot. That
is a horrible comparison,
but it is not fat enough to be bean-shaped; it's just like this
wormy thing.
So, Siesta is a nice one, but I think too similar to Fitzbrae
from years back,
since the orange red is pretty bright, and she even has similar
red/brown leg shading. Heart of Gold I find a little dull. Your average bay foal.
She (he?) does have
a heart-shaped star, I guess for character. I'm supposed to think
that's cute, but for
some reason I have never liked the Natural Horse with
Unnaturally-Shaped markings. If the
thing is some pastel color with hearts on it, I'm perfectly comfortable, but I don't go
for it on the "real" type of horses with such features.
So there we go. Cute if you're into it.
