Glossy Prizes and Breyerfest 2018 App!

The Breyerfest 2018 App is now available, for those lucky iPhone users out there! Check the App Store for more - it's free! For everyone who's not using an iPhone, well...here's a link, I guess. There's nothing terribly exciting on the app right now, except an interesting listing in the silent auction. There's a full set of the Dark Horse Surprise models as one lot, and another lot consisting of a "Dark Horse Surprise Test Decorator." So does this mean all four Dark Horse Surprise (I mean...I'm guessing there are four, like usual) models are realistic colors? They usually are, anyway. So maybe the decorator test is an alternative decorator version of one of the existing colors. I guess we only have to wait 3 more weeks to find out!

In other exciting news, photos of this year's glossy prize models have been posted on the blog. Say hello to glossy Brunello and glossy Hwin!





Over the last few years, Breyer has gotten into a pattern of using new-for-the-current-year regular run releases (more or less) for glossy prizes at Breyerfest. At first I was a little surprised to see Hwin and Brunello here, as they're not new for 2018 releases, but then I remembered last year's glossies weren't new for 2017 models either. And then someone said something on the Internets that made a lot of sense - after last year's Breyerfest Live cheating scandal, maybe Breyer is using these less-popular molds to try to dissuade some of that cheating. I would hope a lot of the incentive to cheat is gone now that Breyerfest Live isn't a NAN-qualifying show, but there's still a lot of big money behind these glossies. Just...not as much money as if they'd used something newer and more popular like the new Ashquar or the unicorn Yasmin or something. (Or the unicorn Othello...gasp!)

As for the models themselves, I'm kind of facepalming over that Hwin. They couldn't have picked one with better dapples to slap the gloss on? She looks like a chicken wire fence. Oh well. And that Brunello...I'm still really liking Idocus more with that braided mane, guys. I might just have to be on the lookout for one at Breyerfest. Just saying...

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.