Featured Model - 5/7/2022, Medalist Mangalarga Marchadors

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model I don't own but may have an interesting story behind it, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's models are...the 2016 Medalist Mangalarga Marchadors! (Try saying that three times fast!)

These three test models were produced for the 2016 Breyerfest Silent Auction in celebration of Rio Carnaval and the Olympics. They were produced on the Marchador mold sculpted by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig.

This photo does a good job of showing off those (IMO) toothpick front legs, and the reason I decided not to collect Marchadors. Well, that and his tiny size - he's about the same size as a Classics model, but is presented as a Traditional. That said, these colors do look nice on him, despite the fact that he's just kind of awkward-looking. Having a lower headset would probably help with that, and the scuttlebutt in the hobby is that he indeed did have a lower headset during the sculpting process, but Breyer asked Sarah to raise his head up for some reason. I haven't seen the photos of the original headset, but it sounds like another one of those head-scratcher Breyer requests (along with lengthening the neck on Forever Saige). 

The Marchador hasn't had the greatest reception in the hobby - his only RR appearance, Enzo, was discontinued fairly quickly and the glossy Enzo didn't really set the world on fire either. It probably didn't help (or maybe it did? Who knows) that his mold sat in the "Breyer vault" until 2019, for no apparent reason, other than to maybe drive up Breyerfest ticket sales. So it remains to be seen where we'll see him next - his gait makes it hard to present him as anything other than a Marchador, but these molds do represent a significant investment on Breyer's part, so I'm sure he'll have another release eventually. Maybe a web special? I can't see him as a Holiday Horse or TSC special run. Maybe a Breyerfest prize model or something? Or they might try another regular run. I guess we'll see eventually!  

Featured Model - 9/25/2021, Buckskin Pinto Auction Hermosa

 Hello and welcome to Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model I don't own but would like to, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...the 2016 Breyerfest Live Auction Hermosa in buckskin pinto! 

This pretty girl was a OOAK on the Hermosa mold sculpted by Brigitte Eberl. 

I really liked this model back when she was first revealed, because her color is very reminiscent of Scallywag's. They'd make a great pair! Her color is so soft, and but also has a lot of depth. Now if Breyer would just make a foal to match her...wait, scratch that idea as I probably wouldn't be able to get my hands on it. But anyway...

Hermosa isn't the most popular mold out there, but she did get a couple of new releases last year - she was the Breyerfest special run Boudicca and then appeared as the web special La Molina at the end of the year. She also appeared as the unicorn Mira in 2019, the same year her regular run appearance as Fantasia del C ended. It's anyone's guess as to where we'll see her pop up next - maybe as a Collector Club special run? Or a mid-year or brick-and-mortar release? Anything that's obtainable is okay by me! 

Featured Model - 2/6/2021, 2016 Auction Weather Girl

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model I don't own but would like to, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...the 2016 Breyerfest Auction Weather Girl! 

This beautiful girl was one of my favorite models at that year's auction. She's just beautiful! She has great shading and detail in her paint job, it looks great on her and has a layer of gloss on top to make it all pop. I especially like the darker edges on her colored areas. She's amazing and I'd love to own her someday. Now if we could get something similar in a more attainable release! 

As for Weather Girl, she appeared in the Vintage Club in 2018 and at Breyerfest in 2019, among other things, after making her triumphant return from the "Breyer Vault" in 2016 (am I the only one hoping the "vault" concept never comes back? Dumb marketing gimmick if you ask me). So where will we see her next? She still hasn't appeared as a web special, so it's entirely possible we see her as some type of fowl-inspired release this year. She might also get a new regular run release, too - Arabians are popular and she's been out of the RR line since 2018. Maybe she'll get a mid-year releases? I'm holding out for a web special, though...as long as I can get drawn for it!  

Featured Model - 10/13/2018, Gato

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...Gato!



This cute little guy was part of a two-piece set honoring Tschiffely's Ride from Breyerfest 2016. His counterpart in that set was a bay pinto Duchess. They were item #711246 and 1,000 were made.

When this set was first announced, I somehow overlooked the fact that Gato was on this mold, because the promo photo showed Duchess in front of Gato and I didn't look at it very closely until after that Breyerfest was over. Which is a shame, because although the set was only supposed to be available in the pop-up tent, there were so many leftovers on Sunday that they were all moved into the Breyer Store. So I had plenty of opportunities to buy a set, but didn't realize I needed Gato until the event was over.

Oh well. I found a Gato on eBay for a good price immediately after Breyerfest, so all's well that ends well!

While Breyer has used this mold quite a bit since his debut, he hasn't seen a lot of new releases lately. He's still in the regular line as Black Beauty and in the Palomino Morgan and Foal set,  as well as the Chestnut Quarter Horse, so he's definitely getting a lot of use right now. I can't remember if 2019 is a year for new Classic releases, but maybe a couple of those releases will be retired and we'll get something new! I can only hope.

We're about due for some kind of surprise end-of-year Classic release, though, so maybe he'll show up there? I hope so - new releases on this mold are always welcome! I hope we see something new soon.