For the first Stablemate Sunday of the year, we're back to looking at variations in a single run. If you read my G1 Thoroughbred Mare conga time, you'd know I collect multiples on that mold. It wasn't intentional, as most of them came in various G1 lots, and I love the mold.
The run with the most variations by far is #5183 Thoroughbred Mare. She was produced from 1995-1997 as a part of the Stablemates single assortment. The run is entirely produced in the new plastic. It's a little surprising how much variation I've found in this run - you can see in the photo above the difference in shade range. I wish I knew more about when in the production each would have been made, but alas I was an infant when they were produced.
We'll start with the NIP variation. Unlike most of them, I actually know when and where I received her! In 2024 I was traveling to the Happy Kamper Classic in Indiana with a couple of my hobby friends. Along the way, we stopped at four antique stores to look for Breyers. We struck gold, and I picked up her and a few other models. They told me I should unbox her, and I said I knew for a fact I had at least four more of her at home! So she gets to represent as the NIP girlie. She's on the lighter end of the shading spectrum.
The first three out of package variations I affectionately refer to as "the triplets." They're near-identical and can be kind of hard to distinguish. Triplet number one is in pretty nice condition - she's on the lighter end, and her color is close to triplet number two. What distinguishes her from her sisters is the extra plastic around all of her hooves.
The middle triplet is the easiest one for me to identify in my collection, as she's the only one with some slight rubs on her show side. Her hooves are also darker than the other triplets, and her body shading is a little more dramatic. Overall, out of the three identical triplets, she's the one who is the most beat up - and honestly, she's not even that bad! Her legs are also a semi-gloss compared to the very matte other variations.
The last triplet is very close to the first triplet. She's a shade darker than her sisters, but it's not a significant amount. Like triplet number one, she's got some small rubs on her offside, but she's missing the extra plastic on her legs that triplet one has.
Next, we have the one with the most dramatic shading. She's not only darker compared to most of my other copies, but her shading has more dimension. Unfortunately, she was well-loved before she made it to me, and her muzzle is severely rubbed. If her condition was better, she's the one I'd put on a show table in a heartbeat.
We're capping off this spotlight with the darkest variation I have of this girl. While my three lightest copies look nearly identical, this girl is far darker than the rest. She's so dark compared to the rest that sometimes I question if she actually belongs to this run, but there's no other run on this mold she could possibly belong to. She also has one very white back sock, and her plastic is far whiter than the rest of the other variations. She's in perfect condition, and I think I might try showing her next year.
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