Live Auction Lot 14 - AHHHHHHHHHH!

Today's auction lot is making me want to liquidate some stock or something! Gah!



Sadly, I'd probably need to sell $5000 worth of stock to afford this pair, and that's just not something I'm prepared to do right now (and there are so many more practical things to spend it on...). Sigh....wouldn't these make a web special to die for? Or they could be this year's holiday mare and foal set. Or some type of family set with the palomino Totilas from 2014? They'd go so well together! Come to think of it...Totilas is being done in a lighter shade of palomino as this year's Holiday Horse. Please, Breyer, release these two as the holiday mare and foal set to match, I'm begging you!

Have I mentioned that Breyer is knocking it out of the park with the auction models this year? I can't wait to see what else they have for us!

Live Auction Lot 13 - Carrick!

After yesterday's disappointing hidden lot (again, ugh), we got live auction lot #13 today! Behold!

 

He's certainly interesting-looking. The website claims he's a "creamy" (not sure where they got that from) buckskin pintaloosa, but that looks a lot more like bay roan to me (though his head isn't dark enough).  I'm a little iffy on him, although I like the Carrick mold - I think I'd like him more if he didn't have the spots. But that's just me - he seems to be getting a good reception on the Internets. Let's hope tomorrow's reveal is just as exciting!

Kid's 4th of July Grab Bags Available!

Today's live auction lot is the live show prize model on the Cleveland Bay, and we've already seen him. So, July 4 grab bags it is!

 

I'm pretty ambivalent toward grab bags in general, but this probably isn't too bad of a deal if there's a lot of regular run stuff you haven't added to your collection yet (or if you need a 4th of July gift for your kid, natch). Looking at the fine print, this is actually a $105.89 value, not the $100 I was originally thinking. That's not too bad, really. If anyone buys one, I'll be curious to see what's in them!

Live Auction Lot 11: Diamonds and Pearls

We have a Newsworthy in the live auction lineup! Check him out!

 

He looks really nice, but cremello isn't one of my favorite horse colors, so I'm kind of meh on him despite his lovely pearly sheen. Don't get me wrong - I'd love to have him in my collection, but if he were palomino or a really light buttermilk buckskin with frosting (or even just pearly white, for that matter), I'd like him better. His right ear looks bent, too; you'd think they'd pick a better body or fix that first.

Oh well. Can't wait to see tomorrow's model!

Live Auction Lot 10: Lots of Spots!

Is it just me, or is Breyer really knocking it out of the park with the auction models this year? Look at this guy!

 

That is stunning, and I don't even like the mold! I bet this one goes high. Can't help but wonder what he'd look like glossed, though. For that matter, I wonder what he'd look like in that shade of gray, but solid-colored. Very nice! Hopefully we get something just as exciting tomorrow! 

Featured Model - 6/24/2017, Shire A

Hello, readers, and welcome to Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats about it and provide commentary about it. In honor of the draft horse show happening in my little town this weekend, this week's model is...the Shire A, in his red ribbon color variation!

 

This handsome guy was issued on (duh) the Classic Shire A, sculpted by Kathleen Moody. The original release was a slightly different gray color and had blue and white ribbons rather than red and white, but over the years of his release (2002-2008) the paint job evidently changed to include the red and white and lighter color. He's a fancy guy!

I remember when the Shire A and his Shire B counterpart were first released - I was still in high school at the time and had no interest in them for some reason. Fast forward to 2013, when the beautiful - and thoroughly unexpected - Flurry showed up as a special run on the website. I had to have him! Which meant I had to have all the others as well. Thus, my collection of Shires A was born! (And B, but I only have Frosty - still some work to do there.) I still need to get my hands on the Delivery Wagon set - maybe someday. The Shires A and B (especially B) are molds that don't get used often enough, in my opinion. Let's hope we get another release on one or both of them soon!

Live Auction Lot 9 - Scratch Art!

...At least, that's what it looks like to me. Behold!

 

The only thought I have when I look at this is, "Why the hell didn't they use this instead of Namaste?" I still wouldn't buy it, but it would be a LOT harder not to buy, I can say that much. Rainbows being my one weakness, and all...

Oh well. She's still pretty gorgeous. I love the blue highlights in her black areas. I bet she'll be another high seller, just because of how unique she is!

Live Auction Lot 8: Ooh, Shiny! (And Cracker Barrel Stablemates!)

Today's live auction model has been posted, and he's a doozy! Check him out!

 

It's Laredo! We haven't seen much of him lately. And that color is scrumptious! Looks a lot like Apollo. Look at how thick that gloss is! Mmm...I'm tempted to bid on him too. Decisions, decisions! (I'm not likely to be able to bid on any of these, for what it's worth, but it's nice to dream.) The one holdup - the photo link implies that the horse's braids are painted purple and silver. That...could be interesting. At least they aren't purple and green, I guess. I hope they did a good job...but this is an auction model, so it probably looks amazing. I'll definitely have to get a photo of his other side when they're on display on Friday. 

In other news, and I'm really late to the party on this, more blind bag Stablemates have been showing up at Cracker Barrel restaurants, of all places, all over the country. I briefly thought about driving to our closest Cracker Barrel (an hour away), but the "chase piece" for the set isn't on a mold I collect, so I opted not to. The rest of the Stablemates in the bags are reissues of other colors, so I wasn't too excited about them. Here's a photo of the chase piece, from IDYB - it's on the G4 Arabian mold.

I've never been a fan of the G4 Arabian - I think it's just too awkward-looking. I do really like that color, though - if they put it on another mold I do collect, I'd be all over it. I'm still not sure if I'm a fan of blind bag stuff in general, though - the Spirit ones weren't so bad since I could just buy an entire box at once, but I still haven't gotten my hands on the gold Friesian from the Walmart blind bags. Grr!

Vintage Club Ali is now available!

Vintage Club members: Ali is now available for purchase!

 

 It'll be interesting to see what these guys look like when people start getting them in hand. Also, since the FAM and FAF have yet to appear in the Vintage Club, will they issue them in the decorator colors later to complete the family? That would definitely be fun! I have one FAS and two each of the FAM and FAF in my collection - the Ara-Appaloosa Family because the FAF from that set was my first Breyer, and I also have the Spirit of the Wind FAM/FAF set because they were cheap and I liked the color. One of these days I'd like to get my hands on Devil Wind/Galena/Julian as well, if I can find them cheaply enough. I don't know if I like the decorator ones enough to shell out the amount of money it would take to buy them, though. But it's a fun idea for the future!

Live Auction Lot 7 and Glossy Prizes!

Lots of pretty ponies on the blog today! First, the Live Auction Lot 6:

 

He's described as a Dark Bay Reverse Brindle, and he's on the Brunello version of the Idocus mold. I have to say, I've never been a fan of Idocus, but when Brunello was first released, I almost wanted to buy one just based on his hairdo. I don't like the regular Idocus mane or tail, but the Brunello braided version is really something else...almost enough to make me want to buy one. Almost. So this guy is definitely handsome, though I'm not sure about those brindle markings. Brindle is a pretty hard color to pull off, so at first I thought they were masked, but the enlarged photo makes it clear they're painted on. Dare I say it almost looks like a flock of birds flew overhead just as his photo was being taken? I think this is one of those effects that will look cool...from a distance.

But, to each their own. He really is quite nicely done. This auction model from 2012 on SCO was the best brindle I've seen them do lately, and I believe it was the basis for the later Diesel that was issued in brindle. Unfortunately, I think they needed a finer airbrush for Diesel, though I think that was also the first time they attempted brindle in any kind of release wider than one model. Not bad for a first attempt!

Next, the live show glossies! Here's Glossy Valegro:

 

I want one of these so badly! Anyone out there want to sell me one for the low, low price of $450? I'm sure they'll be selling for much more than that on the secondary market. If only I were into model horse showing...perhaps someday.

The other live show glossy is Banks Vanilla! Behold:

 

I briefly thought about buying a Banks Vanilla when they were first released, despite my dislike of the mold. There's just something about a pretty white horse. Fortunately, I resisted the urge (the only reason I considered it in the first place was because I already had a Sugarloaf in the collection and figured having one more on the mold wouldn't hurt). This year, though, I decided to bring along all of my silver filigree models that are on molds I don't collect and attempt to sell them at Breyerfest. Shelf space is always in short supply around here, so I gotta do what I can. Well, that and I need to do something to make up for my wild spending habits....so, more additions to the sales list it is.

That's all I have for today! Hopefully we'll get another auction model tomorrow!

Wolfgang and True North are here!

My Wolfgang and True North models arrived last week/the week before, but got lost in the shuffle of Breyerfest news and the auction model countdown. Since there isn't an auction model reveal today (gotta do whatever they can to keep us from guessing the surprise), it seemed like a good time to share some photos of these guys. First, Wolfgang!

 

I don't have much to complain about with this guy. I like his color, he stands reasonably well, I didn't see anything particularly bad about his paint job...he's just nice all-around.

 

His gloss is nice and smooth, too. I guess if I did have any nitpicks, it would be that some of the peacock spots don't quite line up with their mapping. Not a big deal.

In short, I'm pretty happy with this release - he has a lot of detail for such a tiny model, and (this one, at least) was pulled off quite well. I hope the quality of the rest of the year's releases is up to the same standard!

Next, we have True North!

 

I was hoping to get this guy sold directly from Breyer so I wouldn't have to deal with him further, but fickle eBay buyers being fickle led me to having him shipped here. He'll be for sale at Breyerfest. The sculpt just doesn't appeal to me - I'm not sure why.



 

Quality-wise, he's okay - he doesn't have anything too majorly wrong with him, but he does have some booboos. Like silver horseshoe paint on his leg...

 

...whatever's going on with the inside of his left ear...

 

...questionable mapping on the edge of his mane....

 

...and this last thing, which I'm not sure is a flaw. Why does his body color go onto the bottom of his tail? I've never seen that before.

 

But, none of these would really be enough to make me want to exchange him, especially this close to Breyerfest. And they're all pretty minor, in the grand scheme of things.

Tune in tomorrow for another auction model reveal! I mean, presumably there will be one. They wouldn't skip two days in a row....or would they?

Live Auction Lot 5: Whoa!

So the fifth live auction lot was released today and...oh man.

 

She is to die for! Look at that luscious gloss. Look at her shading. Look at her PEARLY MANE AND TAIL OMG! I'm seriously considering trying to get my credit card paid off before we leave, I want her that much. Holy crap. 

The only disappointing thing about this model is that we'll never see it in this color for a web special or other special run. Boo! But she really is beautiful. Ugh, I want her so badly!

Live Auction Lot 4 - Totilas!

Mmm. Check this guy out:


 

He's gorgeous. Like Enchante's flashier brother!  I wasn't so much of a fan of last year's auction Totilas; not sure why. Something about that shade of chestnut. This guy, though...whoa.

This also removes Totilas from the list of possible surprise models, though it remains to be seen if a model on a stand will ever be used. Either way, if I had the money, I'd definitely be trying for this model. I bet he'll go high!

Live Auction Model #3 - Adios!

Check out this gorgeous hunk!

 

He's lot 3 in the Breyerfest auction! If he was mine, I'd probably name him some variation of Potato Chip or French Fry (because of his mane). That probably sounds weird. Oh well! Sundown was one of my favorite models as a child because I thought his tail looked like a French fry. Well, that and his stereotypical Arabian look. I bet this guy will go high, too, due to Adios's popularity.

This also eliminates Adios from contention for the surprise model, not that anyone was guessing it would be him. The list slowly grows shorter! I can't wait to see tomorrow's model!

Featured Model - 6/17/2017, Alborozo

Greetings, readers! Welcome to the latest edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is the model, the myth, the legend...Alborozo!

 

Alborozo was, of course, the Breyerfest Celebration Model from 2008, and is most famous (or infamous) for his mold being destroyed after that appearance. He's item #711108, and was one of the first models Brigitte Eberl sculpted for Breyer. Approximately 6,000 Alborozo models were produced before the mold was destroyed.

Questions still swirl around Alborozo's unfortunate-but-planned demise. Why did they do it? Some sources say it was because of an  agreement between Breyer and the real horse's owner. Others say it was a gesture of good faith from Breyer toward Brigitte Eberl, because she had been burned by Stone in the past. Still others say it was just a publicity stunt. Word from Breyer itself seems to have been scarce, and I wasn't participating in the hobby at the time, so I can't provide any word-of-mouth knowledge of my own. The page on the mold's destruction from the Sept/Oct 2008 issue of JAH says only that, "Because BreyerFest is an event we work all year long to share with you, and because it is the greatest expression of our brand ... we really wanted to do something exciting and collectible - something we've never done before!"

So that wording tends to support the publicity stunt angle. I tend to think the reasoning may be a combination of all three of those possibilities, and maybe others as well. It probably seemed like a good way to drum up interest in Breyerfest at the time, though it is a disappointment that the mold they chose to destroy for Breyerfest was such a nice one. Unfortunately, we'll never get a regular run Alborozo, or a web special, or anything else other than a few auction models, perhaps another early bird special, or maybe a raffle model. Breyer did say they'd held back a few blanks to use as auction pieces (and the 2014 Early Bird Alegria), though we've only seen one since 2008 (in 2012). Maybe this year we'll get another auction Alborozo! It won't be long now until we find out.

As for me, I'm happy to have my Alborozo - he's an important piece of hobby history, and perhaps a good example of what not to do to sell Breyerfest tickets. It's unlikely I'll ever be able to get my hands on a glossy Alborozo or Alegria, so I'll cherish this guy forever.

Breyerfest Auction Lot 2 - It's the Show Jumper!

Lot 2 of the Breyerfest auction has been revealed, and as the post title suggested yesterday, it is in fact the Show Jumping Warmblood!

 

I was disappointed to see no one had fixed the extra apostrophe in the post title, "Saturday's are for Show Jumpers!" Better luck next time, I guess.

Interestingly, while the model is described as "a rich, dark Bay Roan" in the post, I originally took him for a grulla - and I wasn't the only one, because the actual photo link calls it a Grulla Warmblood.

Either way, the model looks really nice - though I prefer the loose mane and tail on this mold, I still really like the color. I wonder if he has any metallic in his paint job? Doesn't look like it in the photo, but we all know Breyer's photos can be misleading. I bet this guy will be a high seller all the same, though.

The 2017 Breyerfest Auction Countdown Has Begun!

Greetings, readers! Excellent news - the Breyerfest auction model countdown is now underway! Every day between now and the day before the first day of Breyerfest, Breyer will (if all goes well) post photos of auction models we'll see that Friday night (with the exception of one or two to keep us from guessing the surprise in suspense. Oddly enough, they're being posted in the Breyer News section of the website this year rather than the blog.

But, on with the show. The first auction model of the year is...on the Imperador mold!

 

He is described as a glossy dark dapple bay tobiano pinto on the website. Wow! He certainly looks luscious in all that gloss. He's so dark he almost looks black! His stripey mane is nice, too. I wanted to like the Imperador mold, but in the end I needed space and I couldn't get over his tiny size, squished look and toothpick front legs. Not sure what happened to this guy in the molding process, but it didn't do him any favors.

I'm guessing tomorrow's model is on the Show Jumping Warmblood - if you look at the sidebar on the Breyer News page, it has entries for future news posts that don't go anywhere. Tomorrow's reads, "Saturday's (sic) are for show jumpers!" So, if it is the SJW, that knocks him out of the running for the surprise model. Hope they don't waste too much time getting it posted tomorrow!

Also, if you're a Collector Club member attending Breyerfest this year, make sure you log into the website and register for a badge at the Collector Club tent (should be on your CC homepage). I can't imagine they'd keep you from going into the tent without registering ahead of time, but who knows.

The Breyerfest 2017 App is now available!

...for iOS. Hopefully the Android one is available soon! There's lots of fun stuff to look at in the app, but my eye was immediately drawn toward the Silent Auction tab. Lots of things in there that we haven't seen before! Behold:

 

Sorry the images are so tiny. There's a lot to unpack there - namely, the Bird of Paradise test model (he's glossy!) and the glossy Rainier (grr...). But Lot 1 looks like it'll be interesting as well - presumably the test model will be on the Marwari. Can't wait to see that!

The Bird of Paradise is certainly interesting, Toucan Sam comparisons notwithstanding. I like that he's glossy. I wonder if he was a test for last year's Estrela do Carnaval? I'm kind of surprised they went with the design they did - usually they go for the least complicated paint job, and Bird of Paradise doesn't look anywhere near as complicated as Estrela, since he doesn't have all those decals. Not that I'm complaining - my only nitpick with Estrela was that the brown color could have been, like...metallic blue or purple or something and it would have looked a lot better.

As for the glossy Rainier...Grr, I say! That's the kind of thing I'd rather see randomly slipped out into the regular models being mailed - I'll never be able to afford that in the silent auction and I'm sure the mold's popularity will lead to a fistfight or two at closing time. Best to stay far away from that mess.

Here are some of the other silent auction lots:



I didn't look closely enough at first, but the Nugget and Lil' Ricky Rocker models in those gift baskets are glossy. Cool! And check out lot 10 - a glossy Nazruddin, fancy saddle blanket and....A SAFARI TRIP FOR TWO IN INDIA? Holy crap! Usually those gift baskets are just horse-related swag. I suppose you have to plan and pay for the actual trip to India yourself, though. Still, that's a pretty cool prize. There's also the usual things like the Design Your Own Breyer, the Breyerfest vendor pack, a full set of the Bollywood Surprise models, and Tikka and Masala (together!). Those will be spendy, I'm sure.

So it looks like there's going to be a ton of glossy stuff in the silent auction this year! I can't wait to see everything myself.

Breyerfest Predictions: ...Better Luck Next Time

The live show glossy prize models were revealed last week on the live show Yahoo group - they'll be Valegro and Banks Vanilla. Shucks...that means I'll have to try to find a glossy Valegro for a non-ridiculous price later (probably not going to happen). So, now that most of the special runs have been released, today I'm going to bring up my predictions from earlier in the year and discuss where I went wrong, and where I was correct! Let's start with the special run line models. These were my predictions:

Geronimo (already more-or-less revealed)
Yasmin
Shannondell
Elephant
Smarty Jones
Thoroughbred Mare/Nursing Foal
Brishen
Andalusian Stallion

And here's what we're actually getting:

Geronimo - yellow dun
Yasmin - black sabino
Shannondell - bay roan pinto
Holstein Cow - glossy alabaster w/blanket
Semi-Rearing Mustang - glossy bay extended blanket Appaloosa
Valegro - dapple gray
Rejoice - glossy light palomino with henna markings
And, of course, the surprise model, which hasn't been revealed yet.

So, lots of strikeouts there. But I'm going to count the Premier Club mold predictions as a win. Never mind that anyone could have predicted those! That's not the point here. Clearly I need to put more thought into my special run line predictions.

Now then, for the rest of the predictions. To make things easier to read, I'm going to list my original prediction, and then the result in bold. Here we go!

Raffle models - Show Jumping Warmblood, head-down Make a Wish
Actual raffle models: Desatado, True North

Diorama contest prize: Stud Spider
Actual diorama contest prize: El Pastor

Live show glossy prizes: Paint Me a Pepto, Hwin
Actual live show glossies: Valegro, Banks Vanilla

Live show reserve grand: Wyatt
Live show grand: Adios
Actual live show reserve grand: Gem Twist
Actual live show grand: Cleveland Bay

Custom contest grand prize: alternate color 2017 Premier model, probably True North
Custom contest runners-up Stablemates: alternate colors of 2017 Stablemate Club models
Actual custom contest grand prize: True North in bay
Actual custom contest runners-up Stablemate: bay mini Geronimo

Costume contest prize: glossy Nazruddin (not much mystery there)
Actual costume contest prize: yet to be seen, but I don't see any reason for it not to be glossy Nazruddin

1-Day Stablemates: Django, G4 Driving Horse, G2 Warmblood, G2 Thoroughbred
Actual 1-Day Stablemates: Cob Christmas Ornament, G4 Stock Horse, G2 Warmblood, G2 Thoroughbred

Volunteer Model: Croi, since they seem to be using her a lot lately
Actual volunteer model: Not revealed yet. Probably not Croi, since Banks Vanilla is a glossy prize.

Crystal horse: Carltonlima Emma
Actual crystal: Bobby Jo

Pop-up Tent Classic: Polo Pony
Actual Pop-up Tent Classic: Show Arabian

More-different (decorator) Pop-up Tent Classic: Harper
Actual more-different Pop-up Tent Classic: Is the Elephant Classic-sized? Does he count for this?

Pop-up Tent Stablemate: G2 Rearing Arabian
Actual Pop-up Tent Stablemate: Django

Well...at least I got two of the Stablemates right? And there are still a couple of things that haven't been revealed yet. We'll be able to narrow down the surprise horse a lot once they start showing auction models (probably on Friday). Clearly my crystal ball powers need a lot of work. Oh well; it's still fun to try to predict things. Maybe next year I'll do better!

Spirit Blind Bag Stablemates have arrived!

I'm happy to report that my blind bag Spirit Riding Free Stablemates have arrived! Behold!

 

They took a tiny bit longer to get here than I was expecting, but that was my fault - I preordered them in February before we sold our house, and then forgot to update my address on the order. Oh well!

They are definitely interesting - the reiner and the Thoroughbred have the exact same (weird-looking) pinto pattern, and all of them have eyebrows (naturally). I've seen a lot of controversy over the eyebrows; all I'm going to say on the matter is that these are based on cartoons, and cartoon animals almost always have eyebrows to help convey emotion.

So anyway. Quality-wise, they're a little sloppy, but that doesn't really surprise me - for $4 a pop they aren't going to put as much effort in as they would on, say, a Breyerfest Stablemate, or a Stablemate Club horse. They really aren't terrible - a ding in the paint here, a smudged eyebrow there. Nothing terribly outrageous.

As for the molds themselves, I selfishly wish they'd have used more molds I collect, as I'll only be keeping five of these. But, who knows - maybe there'll be more Stablemates from this series in the future. I have little to no interest in the rest of the releases Breyer put out for this show (which I haven't bothered to watch yet), so hopefully we get more Stablemates in the future.

Featured Model - 6/10/2017, Bats in the Belfry

Hello, readers! Welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...Bats in the Belfry!



This dramatic model was produced in 2010 as a limited run of 2,500. He was the first Traditional-sized Halloween model since 2007, and was the last until 2014, when the Halloween Horse series returned. He was produced on the popular Nokota mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody.

There was a long gap of years prior to and post-release of this model - the reason given by Breyer was that they had "run out of ideas." I can accept that, since ol' Bats here is pretty much just Breyer taking another stab at Nosferatu's pattern. Since then, though, the Halloween Horses have been pretty unique. As for Bats himself, I really like the combination of colors used here, especially his head color. And the improvements in masking technology from 2002-2010 mean none of his bats are fuzzy! At least I think so - I'm not going to go climb up a stepstool to the top shelf to check.

The Nokota is another one of those controversial molds that seems to have been sculpted with more hair than sense. Don't get me wrong - I like him, or I wouldn't have 13 of them on my shelves - but the big strands of hair on his neck do seem like overkill. All the same, he's very animated and dramatic - this photo gets pretty close to my favorite angle of his.

Since his introduction in 2007, the Nokota has been a special run twice (three times if you count the half-year Collector's Choice model Cheveyo), and has been a Breyerfest special run twice  (three times if you count Honky Tonk). He's been a web special, he's been used at multiple Breyer collector events, he's been a raffle model twice, and most recently he was last year's flagship store special. Where will he pop up next? I bet he'll be an auction model - which reminds me: if my calculations are correct, we should start seeing auction models on the 16th - holy crap, that's next Friday! Hopefully they have some good ones this year! I can't wait to see them.

We have a crystal!

The Breyerfest crystal horse has been revealed! Meet Madhuri!

 

From the blog:

Madhuri is the BreyerFest Gateway to India crystal model and is based on the Working Cow Horse model (mold 731) originally sculpted by Morgen Kilbourn. Madhuri is named for a legendary Bollywood actress and dancer, Madhuri Dixit.

The technique for making the crystal models has definitely improved over the years - just compare Madhuri to something like Passion - but I won't be buying one all the same. The fewer breakable things in my house, the better.  Madhuri is definitely better-looking than a lot of the earlier crystal horses, though - I'll give them that.

Mid-Year Releases have been revealed!

Good news, everyone! This year's mid-year releases are out, and I only need to buy one of them! Huzzah!

I'll start with this year's Halloween horse, Calavera. Behold!

 

I won't lie; I was a little taken aback when I saw this one. But then  I looked at it a little closer. While I still don't love it, I do like the mane and tail color and the color combinations on the (presumable) decals on the horse's body. I like the lower leg color too, though I wish there was more of it. The Day of the Dead theme is a nice touch; Breyer must be running out of Halloween ideas again by now. All things considered: he's not perfect, but I'll add him to the herd. Bonus: he was designed by the hobby's own Lauren Hoeffer!

Next - Slick by Design!

Interesting enough - I don't really follow barrel racing, so I don't hear much about famous barrel racing stallions. But now we have two successful barrel racers in the regular line, with Babyflo. This is definitely one color SCO hasn't been released in yet, so that's worth a few points. I don't collect SCO though, so won't be buying this one. 

Next: PVF Peace of Mind!

 

My reaction: ho-hum. Do we really need another bay Marabella? More importantly, why did they pick this mold to portray a successful performance horse when the mold itself has been said by the sculptor to be portraying your typical Morgan broodmare? I'm sure Breyer has other molds that could pass for Morgans that could have been used instead. A year ago I would have had to add this model to my buy list, but I recently culled all my Marabellas for shelf space - and so far I'm not regretting it. 

Next: Cosmus!

 

Ho-hum reaction to this one too. Yet another pegasus release on the Classic Lipizzan mold. Can't they find something else to slap a pair of wings on? Harper would look good with wings. Not buying this one either.

And last on our list - Cobra!

 

 This one would make a good companion with Padre - not one, but two dressage mustangs! Now that I think about it though, there was another dressage mustang model back in the day - JB Andrew on the old Friesian mold! I wonder whatever happened to that horse. This model, though, looks nice and snappy with his four white feet and what looks like a nice dark bay color (similarities to the original Flash notwithstanding). That said, I don't collect Flashes, so this guy won't be coming home with me either. He has a really nice color, though.

Conclusion: I'm mostly just relieved by these, as I have pretty much no space left for any new purchases (hence the Marabella culling, along with the Big Bens, probably the Wixoms and maybe even the Henrys if I can convince myself to let go of Naughty and Nice). My pocketbook is relieved, too - money has been tight lately with the move, and it's not going to improve anytime soon. Anyway, let"s hope some of all of these beauties are available at Breyerfest - it'll be nice to see them in the flesh. And since most of them are portrait models, I wonder if any of the real horses will show up as last-minute guests?

Crystal Clear

The latest hint on the blog has me thinking it's probably for the crystal horse...but what is it?

For our next model we've been searching the Breyer crystal ball for some clues. Can anyone guess what we've seen?
Have we spotted a Polo pony or maybe a working horse? Is it another animal? Or maybe a friend for one of the models we've announced already?
Keep an eye on the Breyer Blog to see what the future has predicted!

 That's way too many possibilities. We still haven't seen a polo pony, so it could be that. A working horse? What kind of work? I don't think they'd do another animal since we already have a cow and an elephant. Friend for another announced model? Too many possibilities!

I doubt it's the Polo Pony...unless it's Smarty. But they haven't done a crystal horse that was on a base before. There's a lot of speculation that Polo Smarty will be the surprise, but they haven't used a horse on a base for the surprise (yet) either. I could see Polo Smarty showing up as the crystal before I could see it as the surprise, though. Seems like they'd be REALLY prone to breakage, though. I guess we'll have to wait (probably until Friday) to find out!

In other news, the Breyerfest 2017 merch is finally available on the website. I'm kind of surprised at how little there is this year. From what I've seen, though, that stuff doesn't seem to sell all that well; when all your money is tied up in plastic ponies, there isn't much to spare for anything else (at least in my experience). So I guess I shouldn't be surprised they don't have as much this year.

Acadia is here!

My Acadia model came today, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting....and he's beautiful! Check him out!

He sure is a beauty!



Valegro is one of my favorite new molds from the past few years - something about him is irresistible to me, and I'm not even a dressage fan. I basically want this mold in all the colors! I was really depressed last year when I didn't win Cinza. Better luck next time, I guess.

 

All in all, he's a very handsome boy. Quality-wise, though, he leaves a little to be desired. His dapples are ho-hum and he has a few booboos here and there. The worst issue was this:



Seriously? How does that even happen? Did the paintbrush slip and the painter thought, "Ehh, I have quotas to meet"? Actually, that probably is what happened. Bleh. Makes me wish I knew how to etch - it looks like you could just etch it off. Oh well. I'm not going to send him back, because I'd probably get a worse one in exchange - and I don't show anyway, so it's not like it matters if it's LSQ or not. Just disappointing. I didn't see a VIN anywhere on this guy either, so in all likelihood this failed paintjob came out of the NJ factory. Let's step up our efforts a little bit next time, huh?

This guy will still look nice next to my Valegro and Gold Valegro, though, and I'll definitely be aiming to get an Indu out of the tent at Breyerfest. Only 37 days to go!

Featured Model - 6/3/2017, Leah's Fancy Breyer

Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. Last week's model was inadvertently a repeat mold, as I'd forgotten I already featured Esprit on the blog a few months ago. Oops! Oh well. Breyerfest is only 40 days away, people, so I picked a model from Breyerfest to feature this week. So without further ado...this week's model is...Leah's Fancy Breyer!

 

This cutie was produced as a special run for Breyerfest 2000 - wow, she's 17 years old this year! She was a portrait of the real Leah's Fancy Breyer, who was a Breyerfest guest along with her Celebration Horse dam, Leah's Fancy Chick. She's item #701600, produced on the Amber mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody, and a total of 2500 models were produced.

I really like this pretty filly's paint job. It would have been easy to paint it as a generic buckskin and call it a day, but her color is really nice. She has a lot of depth to her color - that's how it looks to me, anyway.

Amber is another one of those molds that tends to slip under the radar, probably because she isn't the new hotness anymore. The mold is 20 years old this year! Amazing. Kathleen Moody had a lot of molds debut in 1997 - Iron Metal Chief, Marabella and Amber/Ashley off the top of my head, and all those G2 Stablemates debuted in 1998. She was a busy lady!

I have about 9 Ambers in my collection - she doesn't get used much these days, or it would probably be more. Fortunately, most of her older releases are pretty easy to find cheaply. The only problem is sometimes she gets released without Ashley, and then I end up with uneven numbers of them! I think right now I have 9 Ambers and 8 Ashleys - I'll have to find another Ashley somewhere! I guess that's a pretty minor problem to have, though.

Some year, Breyer should do a year of foal web specials - seems like we hardly ever get any really special releases on the foal molds. They have enough Trad foals to do some kind of foal web special series, and it would be a pretty significant departure from the norm for them. Make it happen, Breyer!

Also, Duende!

I was so busy with work and other things yesterday that it was all I could do to make a blog post about Wolfgang. The second Premier Club release of the year was revealed yesterday in the Club News!

 

Meet Duende, sculpted (and presumably painted) by Mindy Berg.

I have to admit I'm not completely wowed by him, but I need to see a photo of his other side, and maybe a few other angles. Hermosa and Corazon and a few other Premier Club molds took a while to grow on me, so I'm sure he'll get to stay with me. In the meantime, though, more photos would be nice. I'm definitely glad we're getting a new Iberian stallion, though!

Oh well. I'm sure we'll see him at Breyerfest, in the Collector Club tent. It's only six weeks away now! How does the time go by so fast? And he'll be released in August anyway, so it's not that long of a wait.

I'll note that there does seem to be some concern about this guy's paint job, and whether the painters in the factory can pull it off. I'm not sure what the big deal is - they've pulled off dapple grays in the past. Now, if he looked more like Wyatt, I'd be worried. Anyone remember that mess? ....Yeah. Duende is downright plain in comparison (not to knock Mindy's painting skills). I'm not going to worry about Duende's paint job until he's in my hands. My bigger concern is that I keep wanting to call him Duerte, due to a certain president of the Philippines who's been making headlines lately. Bleh! I may have to change this model's name if that keeps up.

Navya!

The pop-up tent Stablemate has been revealed - it's on Django! Meet Navya!



I love him! Though I have to say I wasn't expecting a decorator. Not sure why, since the pop-up Stablemate has always been a decorator. I think he looks really nice, and the flowers on his hip are a nice touch. Here's a photo of his other side, from Breyer's Facebook page:



I really, really like him, and purple and green together isn't usually one of my favorite color combinations. I think he'll look nice with the color of the bag, though! Looks like we're going to have to plan on making a trip through the Breyer Bazaar after all. We lucked out and didn't get any ticket times for first thing Friday, though (that never happens), so we should be able to make that work. Whoo!

Wolfgang, Third 2017 Stablemate Club release!

Wow, they didn't waste any time with this one! The third Stablemate Club release for 2017 went up on the Breyer website this morning - meet Wolfgang!

 

I'm thrilled with this model, mostly because it's yet again on a mold I like! He'll make a welcome, if probably tippy, addition to the rest of my G3 Friesians. I think he looks like a mini-me of Triton, but at least his spots look less Sharpie'd than Triton's did. And he even has some peacock spots! It'll be interesting to see how they pull off that kind of detail on a model this small.

It's also interesting that all of the releases thus far have been glossy - not that I don't like gloss, but at this time last year, at least Primrose was matte. And I doubt the decorator and at least some of the gambler's choice won't be glossy, so it looks like we're in for a lot of gloss this year. I hope Breyer is up to the task!