An embarrassment of riches!

 ...Or maybe just an embarrassment. No? Hmm, probably not. 

Anyway, I got a ton of stuff in the mail today! Not my CCA order, unfortunately, but everything else I've ordered lately is here, unless I'm forgetting something. Let's start with the new Unicorn Magic wood carry barn: 

This was the only photo I took - didn't have time to get individual photos. They sure are cute lined up in their barn, though! I'll probably save the barn itself and the Stablemates I don't want for my kids. Anyway, there's two each of the G2 Andalusian, the G2 Saddlebred and the G3 Standing Stock Horse. Each one is a different color, despite the fact that some of them look the same in the photo. The G2 Saddlebred on the far right is actually an interesting little green blanket Appaloosa, which is kind of fun. I wasn't expecting that, since these paint jobs seem so basic. 

And yes, they're molded from some type of slightly more flexible plastic - their legs started warping inward a little as soon as I took them off the cardboard inserts holding them into the barn. I wouldn't say they're as bendy as a Schleich, but there's definitely more give there than a typical ABS or cellulose acetate model. Still, the colors are fun and I'll still add these to my collection.

I also ordered the Breyer Farms carry barn, but that still shows as backordered, so I'm guessing I'll get that later. Let's move on to Bellatrix and Spica! 

Interestingly, the foal doesn't quite match the mare, as you can see in the photo. I'm not sure if I've seen that happen in any other photos or not. 

People have been saying the dapples on these are pretty subtle, but I don't think mine have any dapples at all. Which is what I'd expect for the foal, but I couldn't see anything on the mare. I'll have to take her out in some better light later.

Quality-wise, they're pretty good, except the mare's horn is unfortunately misaligned, and their silver hooves could have been painted a little more neatly. I really like this pair, especially the contrast of their silver hooves and horn against their dark coats. More of this, please! Spica needs a father! 

Lastly, here's my Troubadour! 

This one is a big boi! I love his coloring, too. 

He definitely didn't get hit with the skinny stick like so many new Breyer molds have. I love him! And he doesn't have a lot of flaws, either.

I've seen a lot of complaints about the masking on his mane, but I think that's about as good as a person could hope for. I'm excited to see what other colors Breyer puts on this guy! I'm sure he'll be a raffle model next year, and probably two or three other things, so we won't have TOO long to wait! In the meantime, I hope Breyer gets this year's PC Stablemates shipped out a little earlier - I want to see my Lyric up close! 

Uncle! Uncle! I give up!

 Well, we have our holiday mare and foal set of the year - say hello to Bellatrix and Spica! 

I love the color scheme in the above photo. Isn't it pretty? I suppose that's the point of the whole thing. I can't wait to see this set in person - they look and sound amazing, and the photo doesn't show the purple interference all that well. It'll be interesting to see what they look like! 

But otherwise...my wallet is pretty much on fire! Stop with all the releases already! Sheesh. They've been coming rapid-fire for the last week, and I'm ready to wave the white flag here. Sadly, it's probably not going to stop anytime soon - we still have the last Premier Club model, whatever the winter web special is, the last Stablemates Club model, plus whatever else they have up their sleeves for the end of the year. I have to think their revenues are down due to the pandemic, so I can't really blame them for releasing all this stuff to try to make that up, but still. Give us a rest...please! 

Speaking of new releases and arrivals, my cup runneth over - I finally got my Raia, plus Barrington, Honeybunch and my three Stablemates Club Valerio models. So I'll start with Barrington! 

I have to say, I like this guy way better in person than in the promo photos. He just looked so dull! Fortunately, he's much better in person. 

His color is really rich! While I still prefer the loose mane and tail, I can get used to these. I counted 32 little braids on his neck, all of which had to have a little dot of red paint, plus one on his forelock and the base of his tail. The painters must have been going crazy painting all those little braids. 

Sadly, his quality isn't the best; he has small rubs or scuffs on all four his legs in the white areas or on his feet. A bit disappointing for a run of only 500, but I might be able to take some of the scuffs off later. 

Next, here's Raia! 

This one had a bit of a convoluted journey to get to me, but she was definitely worth the wait (shipped to a retailer four hours away, paid for over the phone, picked up by my brother, then waited for my husband to make a work trip to the area and bring her back)! She's beautiful.

I've always liked the red bays with four white socks. So flashy! And I'm super-glad they used the flip-tail for her, since we don't see it that often. 

I didn't notice anything particularly bad with her quality, either, although she has black spots of mane color on her neck under the mane, due to the sculpted holes or "windows" in her mane. Would have been nice if they'd stuck something under there temporarily to catch the paint so it wouldn't end up on the neck. 

Next, here's Honeybunch! 

I was a little leery about this one, because I've been seeing a lot of reports of poor masking around her mane. This girl has it, unfortunately, but it's not as bad as some of the ones I've seen. 

I love the pearly on this one! She has it on her mane, tail and the floofy parts of her legs. I guess I'm a sucker  for pearly, but it seems like it makes every paint job pop a little more. I wouldn't want to do the scrubbing it would take to make a real horse look like that, though.

She does have some booboos, but it wasn't quite as bad as it looked at first - I was able to pick a couple of black/lint marks off without affecting the paint underneath. She does have a pretty big rub on her left eartip, though, and the culprit was easy to spot - the box she's being shipped in isn't quite wide enough, and the side of it rubbed against her ear and took the paint off. I've seen at least one other Honeybunch with the issue, so it's probably happening to a lot of them. Too bad the boxes couldn't be slightly wider, eh? 

Lastly, here are my Valerios! Drumroll please...

While I'm of course disappointed that I didn't get three different colors, I've had REALLY good luck with the randomly-shipped stuff lately, so I can't complain too much. I'm just glad I at least got two different colors.

I'll be looking to trade the extra palomino pinto for one of the other colors - ideally the Appaloosa, but I'd settle for the rose gray. The two I unboxed looked pretty good - I didn't see any major flaws on either of them. The palomino that's still boxed is a bit sunken-in through the barrel and chest - a rather common complaint from the looks of it. The unboxed ones don't seem to have that issue, so at least it's not all of them. Let's hope I can find a trade! 

That's all I have for today - I hope my Collector Appreciation stuff shows up soon! Looks like we're also starting to get glossy Sable Island Horses and EZ to Spot - in that case, I'd rather get the glossy EZ than Winx. I guess I'll find out eventually!

Julep and...Pim?

There was a vague, cryptic post on the blog yesterday, and it appears to have led to this sudden special run reveal today! Meet Julep and Pim!



From the blog:

Julep is obviously named after the iconic Kentucky Derby staple the Mint Julep and Pim is named after the Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore where the Preakness Stakes is held each year.

Pim's name is just dumb. They thought about it long enough to name Julep after the mint julep, but couldn't Google the official Preakness Stakes drink like I just did? Here you go, Breyer.

The official drink of the Preakness Stakes is the Black-Eyed Susan cocktail. I admit that's a bit of a mouthful compared to "Julep," but "Susan" (or even Susie) would have been easy enough, and the foal is female, so it still works. And it doesn't scream, "We wanted to use Pimlico but that's copyrighted!" No, instead we get Pim. Come on, really?

Other than Pim's dumb name, I really like them. Both of them look good in those colors, but I think Carina looks good in any color, honestly (can't wait for this year's holiday horse!). They're definitely on my list for this year!

Of course, if you read the "hint" on the blog yesterday, it also mentions the Belmont. Could something else be in store for later?

Carina and Selene and Rosalind and Rigel are here!

Whew, that was a bit of a mouthful. Nonetheless, they're here! They actually arrived last week, but this is the earliest I've had time to take some quick photos of them. I'll start with Carina!

I really like this mare's pose! She looks like she's doing the piaffe/passage, but could also just be prancing. It could go either way! She has a nice face, too.

I'm still not crazy about the pink eyewhites trend Breyer seems to be stuck on, but that's a relatively minor issue. Quality-wise, my Carina and Selene models are both pretty nice - some seams got missed, and there's some blurred masking here and there, but nothing major. Now for Selene!

I'm not quite as enamored with the foal as I am with the mare - there's something odd about her front legs, and it seems strange that she's not also trotting to keep up with the mare. But I like her slightly turned head and the impression that she's giving us the side-eye.

Like I said, some blurred edges, but nothing major.

Next: Rosalind!

I really like the color on this mare! She's so shiny and pearly - I love it! And like I said before, I like that the horn looks natural rather than a vaguely-horn-shaped bit of plastic slapped on the horse's forehead. Now let's take a look at Rigel!

He matches his mother pretty well, and has a cute little baby horn! I like their blue eyes, too. Sometimes blue eyes can look weird on a model, but I think it works here.




Quality-wise, they have a few small issues (some small scuffs on the foal, pinpoint black marks on the mare), but again nothing major. I'm happy to have them join my herd!

In other news, I was drawn for a St. Moritz! Huzzah! Hopefully he gets here fast so I can take some photos of him for the blog. He needs to join my Esprit herd!

Carina and Selene are now available for purchase!

Wow, that was quick! Carina and Selene, the final Premier Club releases for 2017, are in stock!



I can't wait to see these beauties in person! Hopefully they don't have a lot of quality issues...I'm a little nervous about that paint job, though. I'm glad these don't seem to have been delayed like the Duende models were - hopefully this means the mini True Norths will ship on time as well. I'm looking forward to seeing mine!

The 2017 Just About Horses is out in the wild!

Greetings, readers! I bring exciting news (that you've probably already heard!) - the 2017 JAH issue is in collectors' hands, and there are so many exciting things to talk about! However, today I'm going to talk about the Premier Club reveals!

I'll start with the cover of the magazine - behold, the final Premier Club release of 2017 - Carina and Selene!

Okay, Breyer has to be trolling us at this point. They got up everyone's hopes that we would get a new draft mare and FOAL set - because the grand total of one draft foal in Breyer's lineup could really, really use an update - and we get Lipizzaners instead? Bleh.

I like the sculpts, and they'll probably stay with me, but...argh. I wonder if this duo will be released on time, or if they got caught up in the other delays we've had this year? I guess we'll find out.

On a slightly different note, I could be wrong, but it almost looks like the models in the photo could be the actual finished production pieces instead of the resin prototypes? That bodes well for the future, although there's still plenty of room for quality issues.

Next, I'll move on to the first release from the 2018 Premier Club, Bristol!

Wow, a jumper! We haven't had a new one of those for a while. I like his color, too!



There's a full-body photo of the completed resin, though I suppose we'll have to wait until signups open to see what the painted sculpt looks like. Looking at those sketches on the upper right, I like the "taking off" one the best, honestly. I don't know why, but none of Morgen's sculpts have appealed to me so far (nothing against her personally), and I'm similarly lukewarm about Bristol. Maybe I'll like him better once I see a full photo, but no promises there.

There are a couple of other things from the JAH issue I'd like to cover, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

In the interest of full disclosure, I recently had a baby and as such, may not be able to update the blog in as timely a manner as I'd like. Please be patient as we figure out this new parenthood adventure!