New Arrivals: Dapple Gray, Chestnut Pinto and Rose Gray Hero's Welcome

Greetings, everyone! In yesterday's post, I began introducing my new purchases from Breyerfest. I'll continue today by starting with the Dapple Gray Hero's Welcome Surprise!



I've seen a lot of differences in color with these models - some of them are incredibly metallic, where others aren't. Mine seems to be somewhere in the middle; somewhat metallic, but not excessively so (not that lots of metallic paint would bother me). The metallic sheen steps up a paintjob that might have been somewhat boring otherwise! I like the white in his tail, too.



Now, I think this guy is my favorite of all the Hero's Welcome colors. He's pearly, he's a pretty color, and he's a medicine hat pinto to boot! I love him. If only I'd been able to pull a glossy from the special run line...but I can't really complain. Even if his color isn't realistic for his breed, I still love him. I'm really glad Breyer made him so pearly despite not being the super-rare variant like the black Appaloosa. And I'm super-glad I was able to trade my extra dapple gray for this one!



The chestnut pinto is my favorite of the surprise colors this year, but the rose gray is definitely my second favorite. He's gorgeous! Too bad his dapples couldn't be a little more subtle. And it might have just been the small sample size, but when I was trading my extra champagne for this one, both of the available rose grays I had to pick from were riddled with small flaws, so that was disappointing. Were more of them like that? I hope not.

Altogether though, the surprise models were all beautiful this year! Check in again (maybe tomorrow?) for more new arrivals!

Featured Model - 3/9/2019, Jubilee

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...Jubilee!



This beauty was a special run for Breyerfest 2014. He's item #711185 and was a run of 1200 on the Andalusian Stallion mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody.

I love this model! He's one of my favorites on this mold, and it should be easy to see why - he's a spectacular color! Breyer's silver bay colors always look awesome - at least in my opinion. I love his pearly mane and tail and his luscious gloss and his shading and dapples! He's beautiful.

He was pretty popular at Breyerfest too - he was one of the special runs that sold out. A big part of that was probably the 25 silver charm models scattered throughout the run, but still! He was a popular guy.

As for the Moody Andalusian, I've been waiting for him to show up as the Breyerfest surprise model for years. Could this finally be his year? Granted, he wasn't an auction model last year, but maybe Breyer will finally notice we've noticed that pattern and change things up a bit. You never know what could happen.

I'm also wondering if they'll put small runs of 30 in with the special runs this year, like the runs of 25 from 2014? I doubt it, or it'd make Breyer too predictable, but it would definitely be fun! They seem to be going more for the superhero/hero horses theme, though, so I wouldn't count on it happening.

But anyway, back to the Andalusian. He made an appearance last year as the highly popular rainbow special run Prism, so I don't really expect him to show up anywhere else - but he's never been a web special, so maybe he'll show up there? I can only hope - several molds have been used more than once, so it's definitely a possibility that we see him. I hope we get something really cool!

Prism is here (but we're not)!

As promised, here's my post about Prism! I almost forgot he'd arrived, and thus he sat outside my front door all afternoon. I guess that's what happens when you're trying to pack a million different things for the big trip. So, here he is!



I'd hoped to get this posted yesterday, but ultimately ran out of time. So I'm finishing it now as we drive through Missouri! I'm working from my iPad here, so if the formatting is messed up, that's probably why. But anyway... I just had to include a picture of Prism's box here, because I love it so much. It fits perfectly with his decorator theme and it's definitely a departure from the usual yellow box. Love it!

So this is Prism out of his box. I LOVE HIM. He doesn't have quite as much detail as his auction model predecessors, but I was expecting that. I love his rainbow colors and the way they all blend into each other so nicely. 

I love the shade of purple they used, and I especially love how it blends into the blue and the white. Definitely one of my favorite releases of the last couple of years! I'm so glad mine came in before Breyerfest.

 

Quality-wise, I didn't see a thing wrong with him. He's gorgeous in every way and has a nice, thick coat of gloss to boot! I really hope we see this color on another release someday - I'd definitely buy this color again! 

That's all I've got for now. We'll arrive at the Clarion early tomorrow evening, but I'm hoping to sneak through the KHP visitor center and get photos of those elusive auction models. In any case, I'll definitely get photos of the Artisan's Gallery lineup, so stay tuned!

You're killing me, Breyer!

This year's mid-year releases escaped into the wild today, and all I can say is...you guys are killing me over here! Look at this model! LOOK AT IT!



Excuse me while I hyperventilate for a second. This design made its debut years ago as an auction model, and now we're getting it as a special run? Holy crap!

Clearly I'm not the only one having that reaction, because I'm pretty sure Prism (the model) is sold out pretty much everywhere. Needless to say, I ordered one as fast as my fingers could hit the keys on my phone, so I'm definitely excited for his arrival (not until August, sadly).

In other mid-year releases, here's another fun one! Meet Nevermore!

She's limited to 3000, so I ordered one. I can't remember if previous Halloween releases have been this limited? Oh well. I'm definitely an Edgar Allan Poe fan, so this girl definitely needs to come to my house.

Here are some other releases!

I love Harley's pattern and color, but not the mold. He's nice, though!

I'm not a fan of the Stock Horse Stallion at all, and what's with the weird brand? Have they put that on the horse in real life? Next.

Ooh, I definitely need this one! More Yasmin goodness! Although it's been difficult to get her to fit on my shelves...

...Is that a Stablemate Alborozo? What happened to the whole show of good faith to Brigitte in destroying the mold? Is nothing sacred anymore? Bleh, I'll probably have to buy one anyway. But why are there so many mold repeats? That's the old resin Magnolia shrunk down to Stablemate size, too, but I've never been a fan of hers. And I'm irritated that the chase piece (probably another Stablemate Alborozo for some reason) is only in 1/4 boxes again.

Edit: It's good that they're doing some colors other than white, though.



I'm not surprised to see this one, because there have been grainy photos floating around on the Interwebs depicting this mold appearing as a unicorn named Sarafina at someone's Walmart. I haven't seen one in person yet, but I'm sure I will eventually. Regardless, I'm not a fan of this mold, so I don't need to buy it, luckily.

There's also a Sgt. Reckless reissue, but I don't think it's any different from the previous one.

All in all, definitely a lot of exciting (and frustrating) releases! I can't wait to see Prism and Nevermore! I'll probably wait on buying LV Integrity until I can get some nice discounts at the end of the year, but he's definitely on my list. I'm still grumbly about the Stablemate Alborozo, though, but that might just be me being crotchety. Bring on the new releases!

Featured Model - 4/28/2018, Galahad

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...Galahad!



This handsome guy's name is Galahad! He was a special run from Breyerfest 2005. He's item #711905 and was a run of 1200 on the Andalusian Stallion mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody.

This guy is one of my somewhat recent purchases, and I'm more impressed by him every time I see him! Despite his high run number (or at least high for the time period), his price on the secondary market is usually not cheap. He's a high-demand guy! Fortunately, when I bought him around Christmastime, people must have been tapped out from other purchases, so he didn't cost me an arm and a leg.

IDYB has him listed as a "dappled metallic brown," but he looks more like a liver chestnut to me. And he has the pearly mane and tail! I think this guy must represent one of the earliest uses of the pearly mane and tail, and I love it! I hope Breyer uses this color again sometime, because I'd be all over it.

As for the Andalusian Stallion, he's another uber-popular mold, but he hasn't been used a lot lately. His most recent appearance was as Glorioso in 2016 - another handsome (if unlikely) color! Prior to that he appeared as Jubilee and Silver Jubilee at Breyerfest 2014 - two more beautiful colors. Where will he pop up next? I'm hoping we get him as a web special, personally. He's never been used for that yet - maybe this will be the year!

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.