Featured Model - 12/29/2018, EZ to Spot

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. This week's model is...EZ to Spot!



This little guy was one of the new regular run releases for 2018! I decided to feature him today since he only recently arrived and I hadn't had much of a chance to write about him yet. He's item #1789 on the Newsworthy mold sculpted by Sue Sifton.

I hadn't really thought about it before this model got here, but once I got him in hand, I realized he looks a lot like cookies and cream ice cream to me! Mmm. He's very nicely done, though - I love his gray shading so he isn't just stark white around his spots. He's very detailed for a regular run and I think he's a great fit for the Newsworthy mold. Dare I speculate he'll turn up as a glossy prize model at Breyerfest next year? I definitely think it's possible.

As for Newsworthy himself, it's difficult to say where he'll show up again. Perhaps as a web special? His one and only appearance in that arena was in 2016. Even if he isn't a prize model at next year's Breyerfest, he may show up there as well depending on how Breyer defines "horse heroes." We'll get a better idea of that next month. I wouldn't mind seeing him as a Breyerfest special run, myself. He hasn't shown up in the special run line since 2009, so it's definitely time.

Wherever he shows up, I hope it's a model I can get my hands on!

The new Thoroughbred for the SMC is revealed!

They're definitely pushing the signups for the Stablemates Club, aren't they? We got another reveal today - the full paint job for the new Thoroughbred! He was debuted in this video today.



I definitely like him! His name is Grayson and he was sculpted by Heather Puleo. I wonder when he'll be released next year? It would be cool if they "bookended" the year's releases with the two new molds. He's very attractive and I can't wait to see what else Breyer does with him! Unless he becomes the new blind bag chase piece, in which case...no thanks.

Darley is here, and the Year-End Clearance Sale!

Greetings, readers! I hope everyone had a good Christmas -we sure did! In model horse news, I thought my Darley wouldn't be here until tomorrow, but he showed up today instead. Behold!

Despite his weird pose, I think he'll fit right in here.

And I didn't see a single flaw on him anywhere! Breyer did a really good job with this one.

Personally, I think he looks a lot like Sherman Morgan, just smaller and less compact. Which is fine - I have a few Shermies in my collection, all decorators. I'm looking forward to seeing what Breyer does with this mold next. He didn't show up in any of the 2019 releases, so maybe we'll see him at Breyerfest? Who knows. Anyway, this brings us to the end of the 2018 Stablemate Club! Hopefully next year's models are just as nice (or nicer!).

Darley also came with this slip of paper inviting me to rejoin the SMC (I already did):

So there's our glossy and matte Fiero models. I'm 99% sure we'll only have two accounts in the club next year, so hopefully I get lucky and get glossy and matte without having to trade. I like that color on Mirado, too!

And speaking of Breyerfest, this card came in the box with Darley and the other stuff I ordered. Here's the front:

So there's Oliver, the Celebration Horse for next year. I like how the card looks like a comic book - I wonder if that's the "horse heroes" theme Breyer will go with? Looks promising so far. And here's the back of the card:



That palomino Saddlebred keeps popping up. I wonder if we're getting a Saddlebred special run? I wouldn't say no to that, although the mold has been done in palomino at least twice before. I guess we'll find out eventually.

And lastly, Breyer's end-of-year clearance sale is going on now! Check it out here. Nothing terribly exciting (for me, at least) but I was mildly amused to see they're still trying to get rid of those Cream and Cocoa sets from 2009. Clearly 1200 was way too many sets - I remember seeing them in the Breyerfest store for years. It looks like they're sold out now, though, so maybe Breyer finally managed to unload the rest of them.

Well, that's all I have for today - hopefully tomorrow brings us more exciting reveals!

Santa Surprises...and bam, they're gone!

Well, I was too busy getting Christmas dinner ready this morning to post about the surprise earlier (and they posted it really early this year!) and they've since sold out..,but say hello to the Santa Surprises!

Naturally, I had to order them. Othello, one of my favorite molds? As a unicorn, when I love unicorns? And none of them are white?! Sign me up! And as a bonus, twelve lucky collectors will get Coal in their stocking box!

I'm not terribly hopeful about getting Coal - my luck doesn't tend to go that far - but I certainly won't turn him down if he turns up amongst our three orders.

Of course, not everyone is happy about this web special, but some of the complaining I've seen about Breyer's releases in the last week just shows that some people will complain about anything. Same goes for this guy - the price is too high, the colors are wrong, unicorns don't go with a Christmas theme, etc. I like them, so that's good enough for me! Of course they're going to cost more - it's a bigger, beefier mold, which requires bigger boxes. I guess the onus is on them for picking a larger mold, but Othello is very popular, unicorns are really hot right now, and Xavier has been a very good seller, so I'm sure for Breyer it was a no-brainer.

I do wish they'd provided more than one photo of them, and I'm not crazy about the particular shade of olive they chose for the green one, but those are small complaints. And hey, the peach one will make a good dad for Rigel! Merry Christmas, everyone! 

It's that time of year again...

...Time for another Christmas special on the Breyer website!



I wonder what this year's special will be? I still have my fingers crossed for a candy cane zebra. Picture it! They could do three: red, green, and red/green. Really imaginative, I know, but I'd definitely be down for it! I finally got my hands on an original Zebra a few weeks ago and that mold needs to be used again!

Last year's holiday Bouncers went up for sale at 9am CST, so I'm thinking that'll probably be the case again this year. Whatever it ends up being, I hope I like it!

Priscilla!

There was another exciting Stablemate Club reveal yesterday - the G3 Belgian! Meet Priscilla!



Although I'm not wild about her name, I do love the paint job. She actually bears some resemblance to Arosa from yesterday! Like Arosa, I love the contrast of the black spots on the gray/white areas of her coat. Nice! And I'm really relieved to see she's not involved with another gambler's choice in any way...I think I would have died if she'd been the gambler's choice instead of the Highland Pony. Bring on Priscilla!

Featured Model - 12/22/2018, Arosa

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. This week's model is...Arosa!



This guy was Breyer's holiday web special for 2012. He's item #712197 and was a run of 255 produced on the Missouri Fox Trotter mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody.

Arosa holds the distinction of being the actual production run that resulted from this test in 2011, which was auctioned at Breyerfest that year. And he's beautiful! I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a mold this paint job doesn't look good on. I wish Breyer would use it again - ooh, how about on Weather Girl or Brishen? Mmm, that would be nice. I love his shade of gray and how his spots stand out against the white blanket and gray base color. And he's glossy to boot! I definitely think this is one of the nicer releases on this mold. Now if we could only find out why they picked such an odd run number...

As for the MFT, he's seen a lot of use over the (21!) years since his introduction. Sheesh, I remember getting Iron Metal Chief for Christmas 1997, along with a barn. Ahh, those were the days! But I digress. The MFT has been used for a lot of releases, but his most recent appearance was as Raven at Chasing the Chesapeake back int 2016. Where will he pop up next? It's hard to say. He's been a prize model at Breyerfest multiple times, and I can't help but notice he's never been a Breyerfest special run model. Maybe we'll see him at Breyerfest next year? Otherwise, I'm not sure where to expect him - he could always be another web special, or RR, but we've already seen next year's new models and he isn't among them. Maybe he'll be a mid-year release? Or a collector club special run? Ooh, that's a definite possibility. I guess we'll have to wait and see!

More 2019 releases!

Greetings, readers! We got more 2019 goodness today - I'll start with the Holiday Horse!



Say hello to Minstrel! His costume is definitely different...but interesting at the same time. He looks like some kind of silver bay underneath? Pretty, but nothing I need to buy. Looks like they used the mold's original mane and tail - I think the loose mane and tail would have looked better, though.

And here's the unicorn ornament!



Holy crap, it's the Spanish Barb! But that means...are we finally going to see the Spanish Barb converted to plastic? Is he going to show up as a Stablemate now? Ahhhhh!!! I've been waiting for this moment for 8 years! I mean, I would have preferred to see him as a Trad or Classic, but I guess beggars can't be choosers. Also, I think he's mirrored from the original sculpt? I wonder why.  Edit: He isn't mirrored. I'm not sure why I thought he was. Carry on!

The rest of the 2019 holiday stuff is listed here.

Edit: The 2019 Flagship model was just posted on Triple Mountain's website! It's a Clydesdale Stallion!



His name is Seamus! I don't need him, fortunately. I'm guessing Breyer doesn't think he'll be as popular as previous flagship models, because they're only making 2500 of him. He's very striking, though!

In Stablemate-related news, apparently there's going to be another set of blind bag unicorns, found at Walmart...



Would it have killed them to use some different molds? And is the chase piece a new mold? The one in the picture looks like a hodgepodge of a few already-existing molds. I suppose that would still be a better alternative than another chase piece Alborozo. Speaking of chase piece Alborozos, though...



The chase piece for the new blind bag set is another Alborozo. Why?! When I haven't managed to get my hands on any of the already-released Alborozos. I'm getting very close to just being done with blind bags altogether. Sorry if I sound like a whiny baby. Blind bags are fun once a year at Breyerfest, but having to do it multiple times across multiple years takes all the fun out of it and makes it look like the naked cash grab it is. "Let's keep doing blind bags, those cash cows collectors will buy it all!" I'm sick of it. Hopefully the blind bag fad dies soon, because it's getting very frustrating.

I don't want to end on a bad note, though, so I'll talk about Serendipity! There's a new Classic unicorn out in the wild, presumably the followup to Skyler and Sarafina. She's a pretty blue color on the Harper mold! I don't yet have a photo I can use, but I'll post one as soon as I can! I can't wait to pick one up, along with some of the other new for 2019 stuff! It looks like next year is going to be another great year in Breyer land.

2019 regular runs have escaped into the wild!

Well, as far as anyone knew, nobody was going to find out what next year's regular run releases are going to be until late next week, if that. Which is completely ridiculous, because I'm pretty sure we'd already known this year's releases for, like, a week at this time last year. What's the holdup? Why all the secrecy? I'm surprised they even showed us any of the Stablemate Club releases at this rate.

Anyway, it looks like Modellpferdeversand (one of Breyer's German dealers) got tired of the waiting game and posted all of the special runs. There are too many photos to list them all here, so I'll just post links and post the ones I like:

Gallery:
Justify resin

Traditionals:
A Heartbreaker and Selene Traditional foal set! I've been asking for something like this for ages!


Enzo - Mangalarga Marchador (emerging from the vault, I see!)
Cascade and Caspian (Croi and Sea Star as unicorns? Cool, I guess. Not into either of the molds, especially poor Sea Star, but it's a fun release nonetheless. And they aren't boring white!)
Thunder, official mascot of the Denver Broncos! While I'm glad Ashquar is getting another release, I'm mildly irritated that we've basically already gotten this color as Sahran. He's pearly, though, so there's that. I'll have to pick him up at some point.



Truly Unsurpassed (Lady Phase in an interesting pinto pattern? Nice, but nothing I need to buy. Apparently the real horse is a western dressage star. I'm guessing she'll be a Breyerfest guest!)

Dominante! (Apparently he's the sire of Fantasia del C's foal Gozosa. I've gotta pick him up too!)



Protocol (Some type of Strapless fox hunting set? Not sure about this one. I guess we'll find out more when we get the official releases next week.)

Catch Me (True North in gray? Nothing I need to buy, but he's pretty!)

Stablemates:

Truck and Gooseneck Trailer
Stable with Gypsy Vanner (Nice bay color on that Vanner!)
More new blind bags (I hope this fad dies soon.)
New Mini Whinny surprises
Paint & Play Warmblood (New mold? I'm kinda meh on this one, though.)
Paint & Play Thoroughbred (Why are they releasing this in the same year the mold debuts in the Stablemate Club? I mean, nothing says new SMC molds will ONLY be used in that year's SMC, but it still seems odd...)
Paint & Play Alborozo (Finally, a Stablemate Alborozo I can get my hands on for a decent price.)
Paint & Play Magnolia (Meh, don't need it.)

Classics:

Saddlebred (Morgan Mare in an interesting gray color? Nothing I need, but she's nice.)
Buckskin Hanoverian (Nothing I need)
Mahogany Bay Thoroughbred (Also nothing I need)
Bay Roan Australian Stock Horse (Ooh, grabby hands! Need her for the collection!)



Silver Bay Mustang (Interesting interpretation of silver bay, but nothing I need.)
Grulla Paint Horse (Bella just looks awkward no matter what color they put on her.)
Running Wild Mare and Foal (Nothing I need, although the mare reminds me of the old roan paint jobs from the '90s.)
Barrel Racing Set (Another barrel racer on the barrel racer mold, what a shock!)
Pony Power set, with the Haflinger Mare and Foal! Gonna have to get those!



Classics Horse of the Year Malik - My first reaction was that this was the Show Arabian with a ridiculous new hairdo, but then I did a double take and realized it was a new mold. Apparently he was sculpted by Sarah Mink! I think I'm going to have to pick him up despite his bodacious 'do. He's so fabulous, they need to release a decorator on him at some point and name it Liberace...



Cupcake (I like his color, despite my dislike of pink. Too bad I don't collect the mold!)
Cloud's Legend set (Seems like Cloud stuff should be about played out by this point, but I guess not. Plus, he's pearly this time!)

There are also some new Traditional rider dolls and another color change bath toy, but I'm not as interested in those. Here's the full page of links - hopefully Breyer doesn't make the dealer take them down.

So, a lot of exciting things coming up next year! I'm a bit disappointed there isn't a new Mason, but they're probably saving him for Breyerfest or a website special run. We also didn't see that bay Bristol or burnt chestnut Show Jumper in this lineup, so they remain a mystery for now. Oh, and where's the 2019 Holiday Horse? Maybe they held that back for next week. 2019 can't come soon enough!

My Collector Appreciation box is here!

Like the title says - my Collector Appreciation box came today! Check it out!

Ha, I just noticed it looks like the Suncatcher Stablemates box is empty. I promise they're there! Or, well, they were when I took the photo.

So, yes, I got the glossy Cobra - yay! I was hoping for the Shire, but I guess we can't all be that lucky. I do have some gripes about the Cobra, though - it looks like whoever glossed him completely missed the inside of his right hind leg.

I mean, come on. If you're going to do this promotion, at least try to make it look less slapdash and last-minute.

The Cobra is the only thing up for grabs from this box - for once I managed to wait until now to buy the majority of the 2018 releases I wanted, so I'm not stuck with things I can't sell (looking at you, Banks Vanilla I bought last year and didn't manage to sell until last summer). 

Hopefully Cobra sells for a good price - I need to get some money into my PayPal account for whatever Breyer comes out with next! 

Fine, twist my arm...

Next year's gambler's choice model for the Stablemate Club has been revealed - it's the Highland Pony!



Well, that was unexpected. They showed the silver bay one in this year's JAH, so I figured it wouldn't be the gambler's choice. Boy, is my face red!

I don't collect the Highland Pony, so this isn't a huge priority with me, but I do really like the colors they picked, especially that blue/purple/gold decorator. There seem to be two decorators this time - that's new. Good to see them mixing things up a little bit. And it looks like all four of them are glossy! Fun stuff.

Speaking of glossies, Darley is already arriving at people's houses, and apparently the glossy chestnut Mirado in the club is going to be a gambler's choice glossy and matte. Just when I thought I didn't need to buy an extra club membership...gah! I'm definitely going to have to join on my second account, and maybe my husband's account as well. I'm reasonably confident they'll show us the rest of the releases before the end of the year, so hopefully they don't throw us any curveballs in that regard.

My Darley isn't scheduled to arrive until next Wednesday, but I'll be sure to get pictures of him posted as soon as I can! I'm excited to see him (and the unicorn blind bags I ordered with him!)

Darley is now available!

At long last! The final release in this year's Stablemate Club, Darley, is available for purchase! 

I've been anxiously awaiting this guy's release because I want to order some more blind bag unicorns - I still don't have either of the Stablemate Alborozo models! Hopefully I'll get at least one of them with today's order. And despite Darley's weird pose, I'm looking forward to getting here - I sold all of the other releases this year except for Sapporo, so it'll be nice to get one that stays here, weird pose or not.

In other news, another of next year's SMC models was revealed over the weekend. Say hello to Gwenevere!



I'll admit the G1 Morgan mare isn't really my cup of tea, but I'm sure she'll be easy to sell on the aftermarket. So, what's the gambler's choice going to be? All we have left to see are the two new molds and the G3 Belgian. I'm guessing it'll be the Belgian, but you never know - they could decide to mix things up with one of the new molds. If that's the case, I hope it's the Irish Draught so I only need one account next year!

Featured Model - 12/15/2018, Aurelius

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. This week's model is...Aurelius!

This handsome guy was the Flagship model for 2014, only available from Breyer flagship stores. He caused quite the commotion when he came out! Nowadays I think his star has faded a little bit, but I think he's beautiful nonetheless. He's item #760240 and was a run of 3,000 on the Desatado mold sculpted by Kristina Lucas Francis.

I think Desatado looks excellent in this color! At the time of this one's release, I think a lot of people agreed with me, but a lot can change in four (almost five) years. His prices on eBay aren't anything to write home about, but I swear everyone and their dog was trying to find one back when he was first released. There's just something special about a nicely-shaded chestnut with flaxen mane and tail - I've always been a little partial to that color, myself. And he's glossy to boot! Mmm, plastic pony goodness.

Desatado, as you may remember, began life as the porcelain Roy Rogers and Trigger before being ambitiously repurposed as the inaugural Premier Club release back in 2012. Since then, he's appeared in a variety of different places, including as a web special, a Breyerfest raffle model, a Breyerfest glossy prize model, a TSC special run and more. His debut as a TSC special run was just a couple of months ago, and his only (to date) regular run release, as Picasso, is being retired at the end of this year. Where will he appear next? I suspect Breyer may give the mold a rest for the time being, but you never know - he could pop up as another web special or something. He hasn't had a Breyerfest auction model since 2014, so I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up there in 2019. Hopefully his next release is something attainable! 

Collector Appreciation returns!

Greetings, readers! I just woke up from taking a nice nap at my desk (don't mind me, I have a bad cold - and with a 1-year-old child you tend to take sleep wherever you can find it these days) to discover Breyer's Collector Club Appreciation event has returned for this year!



Once the feeling had returned to my left arm (and my right index finger, oddly), I frantically clicked over to the Breyer website to see what was up!

It's a surprise which one you'll receive, and they are all beautiful, exclusive pieces!  Will you get a lovely glossy Shire??  Or will your surprise be the beautiful Paint Me a Pepto in high gloss finish?  Or superstar athletes PVF Peace of Mind and Cobra sporting high shine?  Or a glossy Kodi Paint horse?  We know you'll enjoy each one of these lovely models! 

Just add $125 of merch and the Collector Appreciation item to your cart, then enter "CCTHANKS18" at checkout, and the price of the Collector Appreciation item will fall off your total and you can check out like usual.

None of the glossies are anything I have to have this year, which is probably a good thing (and the mystery glossy Kodi models are explained!). My enthusiasm for the whole thing pretty much died when I started adding things to my cart and saw that Empres is out of stock again, though. I've been waiting to buy him all year, watching him go in and out of stock (He was in stock a few days ago!), only to have him disappear now? Bleh. But I could get free shipping on my order, so there's that.

Also, the Collector Club 10% off code cannot be used in conjunction with this offer, so keep that in mind. The offer is only available until tomorrow afternoon and only 550 orders will be accepted, so act fast!

New Appaloosa Bella for 2019!

There's a new Bella coming out in the new year - as part of Breyer's Kid's Club Deluxe set! Check her out!

It's a little bit confusing, because the email about her specifically mentions "a beautiful Appaloosa" as the special edition Classics model included with the membership, but the actual website for the Kid's Club says the special edition model is the buckskin Morgan. I'm guessing the wording hasn't been updated yet and the Appaloosa is the model you get if you join the 2019 club, as opposed to 2018.

Anyway, she's an interesting color - at first I thought chestnut leopard, but her mane and tail are white, so...palomino? Definitely interesting. Nothing I need to buy, fortunately. She does come with a cute little blanket, though:



And the blanket complements her color nicely. Good work, Breyer!

That's all I have for this post - hopefully we get more exciting reveals soon!

Free calendar and card for Collector Club members!

Hello, readers! We've had a bit of a dry spell with regards to news again lately, but this is pretty exciting - Breyer is giving away its 2019 calendar and Collector Club membership card for free! Even the shipping is free.

To get it, click here (make sure you're logged into your CC account first) and enter the CALCARD19 code at checkout. I believe this calendar has a photo of next year's bay Duende in it, and maybe it has other new things! I can't wait to get mine! 

Featured Model - 12/8/2018, Nutcracker Prince

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. This week's model is...Nutcracker Prince!

This handsome guy was the 2009 Holiday Horse. He came with a cute little outfit (this was before the days of increasingly-complicated costumes) which even incorporated a couple of little Christmas ornaments into it. He was a regular run for that year and was item #700109 on the Huckleberry Bey mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody.

I like this model because, well, at the heart of it he's a pretty white horse and there's just something special about a pretty white horse. He's technically gray (the closest an Arabian can get to being white), but I wouldn't have complained if he really was straight-up white.

As for Huck himself, I feel like I may have done a Featured Model post or two about him in the recent past? He was used as a web special after Breyerfest and then popped up at the Scottsdale Stampede, so I suspect Breyer may give him a rest for a while. With Breyerfest coming up, though, who knows what could happen. I hope we see next year's new releases soon! 

Let's Kick This Pig, and other news

Selections for Hawthorn the hog are out, so check your Collector Club accounts if you haven't already! I really don't think it'll be hard to get your hands on one of these guys, though, so don't get too discouraged if you weren't drawn this round.

In other news, today I got an email from Breyer announcing that this weekend only, you can upgrade Ground shipping to 2-3-Day shipping for the low, low price of $9.99! I haven't bothered to check and see what the normal price for 2-3-Day shipping is, but I'm pretty sure a better bargain would have been letting us upgrade shipping for free. I mean, come on.

In the same email, they said the Collector Club discount (enter DOUBLECC18 at checkout) has been doubled, also for this weekend only. Normally the discount is 10%, so 20% isn't really anything to sneeze at. I thought about biting, but I think I'm going to wait until later in the month and see if they do a Collector Club Appreciation event again, or the end-of-year warehouse cleanout - usually they do 20% off plus free shipping, which is about the only time I like ordering from Breyer. But they still have the free shipping offer on orders $50 and over, so it might be worth it if you still have that option. Hopefully they get the Collector Club Appreciation event going on again soon!

Another 2019 Vintage Club release revealed!

In today's other exciting news, the optional release in next year's Vintage Club was revealed today! Meet Claude:




Ooh, a new Shannondell! Exciting. And there'll be 30 matte models scattered randomly amongst the other 470 models in the run.

I don't collect Shannondell, but that random smattering of matte models is almost tempting me to rejoin the Vintage Club anyway. And the color looks really nice on him! Maybe they'll show us more of next year's VC releases in the next few days? I don't know how close the club is to selling out, but hopefully it can wait a little longer.

Hopefully Breyer comes to their senses and shows us the rest of next year's releases - I know I'm not the only one who doesn't want to commit to spending so much money mostly-sight-unseen!

"I can get 70 woodgrains to the gallon on this hog."

Greetings, readers! There's a new, if bewildering, special run available for entry on the Breyer website! Behold, Hawthorn:



Wow, a woodgrain pig! That just screams, "animal micro-run," right? Especially since we haven't had one yet this year? Well, apparently not!

Limited to just 350 pieces, Hawthorn is priced at $125, including shipping and handling, and comes packaged in a mail order box.

"Just" 350 pieces? For $125 each? Sheesh, they could justify that price (or more) if it was a run of 40, but 350? We'll be digging them out of the store at Breyerfest for years to come!

I wonder if they had to make the run that large because woodgrain is historically a time-consuming and difficult process? I would have thought that'd make it more likely this would be a micro-run, but I guess that's not the case. And you have to enter to be drawn for it to boot?  Wow...

And yes, I know the title doesn't quite make sense, but I thought it was funny and it was the first thing I thought of when the website kept referring to Hawthorn as a hog. Teehee!

Well, anyway...good luck to everyone who enters for this guy. I don't think you'll have trouble getting your hands on one...

Featured Model - 12/1/2018, Leahs Fancy Breyer

Hello and welcome to yet 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...Leahs Fancy Breyer!



This model was a portrait of the real Leahs Fancy Breyer, a guest at Breyerfest 2000. The real Leahs Fancy Breyer was the latest foal of that year's Celebration Horse, Leahs Fancy Chick. She was item #710600 and was a run of 2,500 on the Amber mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody.

I really like the paint job on this release! She has a lot of depth to her color, and I tend to like buckskins anyway. And she has a decent amount of detail for the era she came from - her markings were probably masked the old way (with the metal clamp-on masks) versus the fancy laser-cut stickers they use these days. She has stripes on all of her hoofs, her chestnuts are painted, even her muzzle has shading, and she even has just a tad bit of white at the end of her tail! I like her a lot.

The Amber mold (usually with her twin sister Ashley) has been used quite a bit in the 21 years since their debut - usually in the regular run line. Wow, has that much time really gone by? I suppose it has. Geez, these molds are now old enough to drink (in the US)!

Anyway, Amber has seen plenty of use, most recently appearing in the regular run line as Sweet Pea. Where will she show up next? The foal molds don't tend to get a lot of special run releases, but you never know. She, Ashley and Marabella are all old enough to show up as holiday mare and foal set - maybe we'll see them used for that next year, since they'll be the ripe old age of 22. Sheesh, that makes me feel old.

One of these days I'd like to see some Trad foals show up as web specials, but I suppose Breyer would want to charge their usual sky-high prices for them, which is hard to justify spending on a foal mold. I guess I can always hope, though! In the meantime, I'm sure Amber and Ashley will show up again soon.

Fruitcake Fillies?

New on the Breyer website...meet the Fruitcake Fillies! Collector Club members get early access!

I wonder if they're named that because some fruitcake at Breyer came up with the idea?

I kid, of course. They're cute! Nothing I need to buy, fortunately. They're priced at $25 each and limited to two per account. I can confirm that they qualify for the free shipping order if you buy two of them. They're a run of 2,000 total, with 500 of each color, so I can't imagine they'll last long once they become available to the general population.

Observant collectors may notice that these ladies look similar to Breyerfest 2014's Birthday Cake. Birthday cake, fruitcake? I suppose they'd all match pretty nicely if you got all five together!

Sarafina in the wild!

In lieu of anything more exciting to post about, I'll post about this: I finally found a Sarafina in the wild. Behold!



Okay, she's not that exciting, and most people who wanted her probably have one by now, but still. I found her whilst searching local Walmarts for blind bag series 2 Stablemates. (Did I find the Stablemates? Yes. Did I manage to get lucky and find the chase piece? No.) It was the lackluster finale to a day of fruitless searching for Cracker Barrel blind bags, TSC blind bags and paint-your-own Alborozos and the aforementioned Series 2 blind bags. About the only score I had was my husband finding the new 4-piece set with the bay Django at another Walmart the day before.

I suppose blind bag Stablemates are a small thing to be upset about in the long run, though. Let's hope we get some exciting news from Breyer soon! Like next year's new releases...I'm dying to find out what those are!

Featured Model - 11/24/2018, Kashmir

Hello and welcome to yet 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...Kashmir!



This, uh, interesting girl was the second model in Breyer's now-defunct Big Cats web special series, making her debut on the website in 2014. She's item #712112 and was a run of 275 issued on the Goffert mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody. Interestingly, the model is a mare, when the original Goffert was a stallion.

The Big Cat series was always, well...I don't know if controversial is the right word. People either loved them or hated them. Kashmir was no different, if I remember right; I don't think she was terribly popular, but I wasn't drawn for her all the same. Fortunately, I was able to snag one later on for close to her original issue price, so I can't complain too much.

I think she turned out pretty well, although I personally would have used Goffert to portray a lion with all his hair. Wouldn't it have been crazy if the molds for Kashmir and Leandro had been switched? Like I said, Goffert would have been a pretty good representation of a lion, where Silver is slimmer, has less hair and would portray the smaller snow leopard pretty well.

Oh well. What we got is what we got. I do like the black tips of her mane, her dark shading, and her green eyes (but how cool would it be if her eyes were even greener?).

Goffert's mold got a lot of use in 2014, what with being used as the Breyerfest celebration model, this release and that year's Halloween model, Night Mare. He was also used for 2016's collector event and popped up as another web special with this year's Gettysburg. Where will he appear next? I suspect he's being given a bit of a rest, but I wouldn't protest if he was used at the 2019 Breyerfest. Hopefully we see him again soon!

2019 live show benefit model!

Greetings, readers! I hope you aren't all still comatose from yesterday's Thanksgiving festivities (if you celebrate it)! 2019's show benefit model has apparently been announced (or slipped out into the wild) and...it's an Adios!



The photo is from Instagram, for what it's worth. I haven't seen an announcement from Breyer about it, but it seems legit. I really like this guy...which is unfortunate, because I don't show, nor do I have any of these approved shows near me (that I know of). I suppose I should probably look into attending if there are any shows close by, because that color is really nice.

I'm a little surprised they're using Adios for this release - most of the previous benefit models have been on less-popular molds, and he's pretty popular among collectors of vintage molds. I'm not going to lie, I'd love to see this guy on the shelf with my other Adios models. Maybe 2019 will be the year I finally go to a show? Time will tell, I guess.

The 2019 Black Friday sale is a go!

Attention, collectors: the Black Friday sale has popped back up, and there are some nice goodies in it that weren't there before!



Unfortunately, the mini True North and St. Moritz are already sold out, but there are a few other things there that might be worth picking up. And sheesh, Bandera must have REALLY flopped last year...he's now marked down to $27 from $52. Maybe that wouldn't have been the case if they'd bothered to paint his eyes...

But anyway. I noticed Griffin had disappeared from my collector club homepage and wondered where he went, and there he is! Still not buying one, though. And I'm also not surprised they still have Forever Saiges floating around the warehouse (good luck selling them for $10 more than the original price when they're selling for Vintage Club prices on eBay). I am surprised to see Frankincense, Gold and Myrrh on there; I thought they'd sold out the year they came out.

I'm glad to see this year's sale didn't turn out quite as lackluster as it first appeared, though. Congrats to everyone who got a St. Moritz or Mini True North!

Glossy Kodi, Stablemate Club grab bags, et al

I can't remember if I've already posted about the glossy Kodi models that have been showing up in some dealers' orders, so I'm going to just write about it now. So, last week someone found just one glossy Kodi, and then a dealer (I don't know which one) got a whole case of them. The Internets have been rife with speculation since then - are they a factory oops? Something that slipped out early, in advance of next month's (presumed) collector appreciation sale? Just Breyer trying to get rid of Kodi overstock?

Who knows. There's one currently for sale on eBay, and I'm sure it'll go for a ridiculous price, only for more glossies to show up later and massively devalue it. Never go crazy this early over things like this, people. You'll only empty out your wallets faster.

At least if she is the one "popular" mold they use for this year's collector club appreciation sale (along with 3 other unpopular molds, probably), I shouldn't have any trouble selling her. They need to hurry up and get that sale going - I purposely held off on buying several of this year's new releases so I wouldn't end up buying RR stuff I already had and then getting stuck not being able to sell it for what I paid. Hopefully they'll get around to that sometime next month.

Breyer also came out with Stablemate Club blind bags earlier this week for the low, low price of $50 a pop (two random SMC releases from years past per bag). Uh, usually we expect to get a better deal than that, like maybe $40 a box. I didn't order any, since I already have almost all the releases I wanted from previous years (the charcoal Fylkir still eludes me, but I figured the chances of getting one were too low to bother ordering). They're sold out now, but it looks like some people are getting Fylkirs. Maybe that release wasn't as popular as I thought it was? Who knows.

Also, the unicorn blind bags (including the blue chase Alborozo!) have been showing up at Cracker Barrel stores around the country. I checked our only local Cracker Barrel, but got zilch - no idea if they even got any in. I'm pretty much over this whole blind bag thing - I still haven't found a chase Django in the wild, nor did I even manage to get the lavender Alborozo from the 9 unicorn blind bags I got, so I think I'm pretty much done with blind bags. I hope that trend dies soon.

Lastly, the Collector Club advance access to the Black Friday sale opened up last week, but there wasn't anything special this year. Maybe they'll add new things when it opens back up on Friday? I hope so.

Featured Model - 11/17/2018, Sahran

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. This week's model is...Sahran!




This release was the first time the Ashquar mold, sculpted by Brigitte Eberl, was used after its initial Premier Club release. He was the 2014 brick-and-mortar special run, with 3,000 models produced.

Already a dynamic mold, Ashquar looks even more striking in this color. I seem to recall him being pretty popular when he was first released, and he still seems to be fairly popular now. Which is unsurprising, because he's a pretty boy!

As for the Ashquar mold itself, after his sparse number of releases in his first couple of years of existence, he's had several releases since then, such as his Breyerfest debut as Ganache in 2015 and his regular run debut as Empres++++//. He also appeared as Abdul, 2016's first Collector Club special run. So, where will he show up next? Time will tell, I guess. He was a web special in 2014, so he could show up anywhere, really. Maybe he'll be a Breyerfest special run or prize? It seems fairly likely that he could be a live show prize, provided Breyer doesn't continue using less-popular molds to deter cheating. So I guess we'll have to wait and see! Hopefully whatever he does get used for next is something I can get my hands on! 

Benasque selections and Holiday Mare and Foal set!

Greetings, all! The selections for Benasque are finally out, if you haven't heard. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we were drawn on any of our accounts. I'll have to hope for the waitlist!

In other news, the annual holiday mare and foal set has returned this year! Say hello to Wish and Wonder!



According to the Internets, this is the first time Stormy has been issued with a pinto pattern other than her original Stormy pattern, although the 2009 Waiting for Santa set is somewhat different from the norm. The mold also appears to have developed a parrot mouth due to the ravages of time - that will happen when a mold is continuously in production for most of the last 40 years.

Anyway, here's some ad copy from the website:

Chincoteague Ponies can have many different coat colors and patterns, just like the ones seen on this island-dwelling pair. The windswept mare Wish has a beautifully-shaded dapple-grey coat, and her sweet filly Wonder has a sooty buckskin pinto coat.

So the mare is Wish and the filly's name is Wonder. This is clashing with my old memories of a different horse called Wonder, but I think I'll cope. They both appear to be chalky, to boot! They're nothing I need to buy, sadly - I wish they'd use Susecion and Le Fire for one of these releases. They don't get enough love from Breyer, and it's not like they wouldn't sell out instantly. Maybe next year!

The 2019 Stablemate Club is open for business!

Good news, everyone! The 2019 Stablemates Club is available to join on the Breyer website! And check out this reveal!



That's right - we finally get to see Mirado in a new color! Looks like they're going to keep using the tiny boxes, too - boo! I'd rather have the bags. Nice color on Mirado, though - and he's glossy! Can't wait to add him to my collection! Now if they'd only show us the rest of the releases and tell us which one is the gambler's choice...but apparently someone at Breyer decided secrecy is the name of the game this year. Bleh, I say! Show us what we're committing to buy! That goes for the Vintage Club, too!

Emerson is here!

Exciting news, everyone - as I mentioned yesterday, my Emerson has arrived! Check him out!



As previous photos of him have suggested, he's a difficult model to photograph for some reason. I'm still not 100% sold on him, but for now he gets to stay in the herd.

He has a nice color, and I know a lot of people were happy to see he's basecoated, but...I'm just not that into basecoats in general. He looks way too white and unnatural...to me, anyway. I have the same problem with my Blue Velvet (although she also has a pearly sheen that makes her look even more unrealistic).

He's not too bad, quality-wise - I would have liked his muzzle to have a little more pinking, and he has some blurred masking here and there.

His mane masking on the left side could have been done better, too.



So, to recap - not a big fan of basecoated white, wish his mane were masked better. But he's a pretty color and I generally like TB molds, so he can stay here. I'll be interested to see what they do with him in the future - I could see them doing (yet another) Black Beauty release on him for Breyerfest next year. Or perhaps he'll be a raffle model? Failing that, maybe he'll get a RR release, since we haven't seen the 2019 new releases yet. Looks like this year's new releases were announced mid-December last year, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see! And bring on the mini-Dundee!