Finally, something I want!

 Excellent news, readers! Well, excellent for me anyway. We have another Breyerfest reveal! I really hate the pop song he's named after, so I'm just going to refer to him as Fight Song, because ugh. 

Ooh, pretty! I'm not crazy about the spots on his mouth, but the rest of him is pretty nice. I like his fiery mane and tail. And I will be astounded if this model isn't a 50/50 glossy/matte split - he practically screams, "GLOSS ME!!" Let's not think about the inevitable 35th anniversary micro runs (coral? jade? both?). 

I had been wondering what plan of action I'd take if the extremely unlikely thing happened and I didn't want anything from the special run line. Typically I buy 9 or 10 tickets so I can get a lot of surprise models, but I'd been toying with the idea of only buying one ticket. But then I remembered the whole surprise thing, and I'd be kicking myself pretty hard if I only bought one ticket but then the surprise model ended up being on something I like. I'm thinking it may be something a little older this year, since last year's Hamilton is still a pretty new mold - so maybe Weather Girl or the American Saddlebred Stallion. Although I'd be rolling on the floor laughing (and then crying, and then screaming) if it turned out to be something like Alborozo. Talk about an against-all-odds situation! I know it won't be him because the mold was destroyed, but it's still funny to think about (and they must have ways of recreating it if they could make the Stablemate version of him). 

Anyway, now that there's at least one special run I want, I'll probably stick with my usual number of tickets, but I haven't decided if I'll try for actual model tickets or just get wild cards. I feel like that would have been a better strategy last year. If there are 35th anniversary micro runs, though, I might be better off trying to get tickets for the actual models I want, rather than wild cards (in case they sell out). Guess it'll depend on how many more special runs I want - if Fight Song is the only one, I might be able to get away with just getting wild cards. 

STOP USING SONG LYRICS FOR NAMES!

 Well, we have our reveal, and I was totally wrong with my prediction yesterday. It's the Indian Pony! 

Her name is Can't Hold Us Down, which is apparently a Christina Aguilera song. I have to say, when I first heard about the "Against All Odds" theme, I thought it would be...you know, stories about rare breeds surviving "against all odds," or horses/riders overcoming adversity to succeed, or those kinds of things. Not some generic "Girls Rule! Boys...eh, they're there I guess. Girls like horses, right?" sort of theme I'm getting from what we've seen so far. And I'm getting really annoyed by the song-lyrics-as-names thing. I mean, there's precedent for this, what with Breyerfest 2019 being an amalgam of at least three different themes, but come on! 

Anyway, the model is nice, if nothing I need. It's good to see another brindle color in mass production, though she's kinda only a partial brindle. Good to experiment with techniques, and all that. Just, can we get some less-cliche reveals now? Maybe I'm just being crotchety again. I'm not going to declare Breyerfest ruined just yet, since this is only the third reveal we've had so far, but...I don't know if I like where this is going. 

What is happening?!

 Well, the Christmas Day surprise model has been released (Wassail!), and then sold out (Wahhh-sail!) - what a long, strange trip it's been! 

The initial release went okay - no website glitches that I'm aware of. At first I was incensed, because there were no actual photos of the model, and I thought they weren't going to reveal the mold at all - but then I saw Huckleberry Bey was in the description, and was somewhat mollified - with photos to be revealed on Christmas Day. The description also revealed the four colorways - glossy metallic sparkling red, glossy metallic sparkling red with filigree, glossy metallic sparkling green, and glossy metallic sparkling green with filigree, with 24 glossy black Hucks thrown in there too (edit: it's my assumption that the Coal models will also be on Huck). I'm using past tense to refer to these items, because not long after the surprise went live, the page was scrubbed of any reference to Huckleberry Bey or the four colors. Uhh...is somebody asleep at the wheel in NJ? Why are they doing this in the sloppiest way possible? Did the higher-ups already check out for Christmas and leave the interns in charge? Why is this being done so haphazardly? 

I guess I'm glad about the Huck reveal mistake, because like I said earlier, I would have been pissed if they actually intended to make us wait until Christmas to reveal the model, while still expecting us to buy it a week beforehand. I was fully prepared to close the page and not buy anything at all until I saw Huck in the description. But now it seems the Huck reveal was a mistake, and they weren't intending to tell us the mold at all? This is a lot of money to be spending on a gamble - if I'd purchased these not knowing what they were, and then had it end up being Big Ben or Gem Twist or some other Moody mold I don't collect, I'd be super upset! It was bad enough buying the 2020 and 2021 Breyerfest surprise models sight-unseen - I really don't need that to become a regular occurrence! Not to mention the fact that the model price has gone up to $145 and the piece count breakdown (2624) evens out to 650 models per color - so if it turned out to be an unpopular mold, I'd likely end up having a hard time getting my money back. 

My best guess as to why they're doing this is because they don't want to have people in the office on Christmas Day trying to figure out the inevitable technical glitches (many people outside the US were charged for shipping when they weren't supposed to be). Add that to many customers' repeatedly voiced desire not to have to be haunting the website on Christmas and a heavy dollop of the usual Breyer ineptitude, and here we are. 

Okay, anyway, with all of that out of the way, let's talk about the colors themselves. Here they are again:
Glossy metallic sparkling red
Glossy metallic sparkling red with filigree
Glossy metallic sparkling green
Glossy metallic sparkling green with filigree

Before being scrubbed of information, the website said the models would have bald faces and stockings shaded by hand, and black muzzles and inner ears. Let's take another look at the sneak peek from last month's Collector Club newsletter:

I dismissed this being a sneak peek of the Christmas release at the time, but now that all of this *waves hands wildly* has happened, I don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying this is probably the "glossy metallic sparkling red" color. Well, it looks promising, at least! As for the "with filigree" ones, I think the common assumption was that the mention of filigree meant they'd be a red or green filigree, but there's some speculation that the use of "with filigree" means they could end up looking more like the Swirls'n'Snowflakes Stablemates. Sounds good to me! So if that's the case, they're probably basically like big versions of the red and green Swirls'n'Snowflakes models. 

Some people were confused by how the models could have bald faces in combination with black muzzles. Since that verbiage has now been removed from the website, I guess it's anyone's guess how they're going to pull that off, though I did see speculation that they may end up looking like some kind of Mari Lwyd reference. So we may have some exciting reveals to look forward to! 

I did order four of these guys, since I have a large Huck conga (and like I said yesterday, a glossy black Huck would be great!), and only realized as I was checking out that...since we're flying back to our hometown tomorrow, if these models get shipped this week they're likely going to arrive here and end up sitting on our doorstep until we get home. Curses! Now I'm wishing they'd kept the release on Christmas Day after all! I did send an email to Breyer requesting that they not be shipped until after Christmas, but I haven't gotten a response yet - I may have to call them in between flights tomorrow, I guess. 

That's all I have to say about the Christmas models, but we did get one other tidbit today: the full-body reveal of Lanin in the Stablemates Club! 

So it looks like most or all of his mane is gone, but the tail is more-or-less the same? It looks like the tips are different on the tail, but it could also be a horrendous cutout job in Photoshop, so I'm going with that. Mirado looks a little weird without his mane, but not nearly as weird as the maneless Nokota, so I'm okay with it. Let's hope we get some more SMC reveals this week! 

New Arrivals, 2024 PC photos and more!

 Greetings, readers! Well, my Clooney 51 and Cody's Wish models finally arrived, so I thought I'd post a few photos! I'll start with Clooney 51:

What a handsome guy. Normally I'm not that into fleabitten gray as a color, unless they look more like this:

But I can make an exception for Clooney! I especially like his white socks on the rear legs.

I would have preferred this was the loose mane version of the mold, but at least his tail is loose - I'm really not into the braided tail for this guy for some reason. 

Next, here's Cody's Wish! 

He's not this light in real life - must be something with the lighting and the camera. 

He looks pretty good - I think Breyer did a pretty good job matching his color and markings. Now I just need to book a tour to see the real Cody's Wish! And cross my fingers that they don't end up using him for a CCA event or Breyerfest prize or something! 

Next, we have some new photos of next year's Premier Club mare and foal set! 

Unfortunately, I'm starting to like them a little better in these photos (and I'm really noticing how the mare is basically an updated Running Mare). 

I really like the mare from this angle! Gah. Rant incoming - feel free to scroll past it if you're not into that. 

It's looking increasingly likely that these are NOT the first release in the club, or Breyer wouldn't keep saying they were "among" next year's releases. I haven't joined next year's club yet, and frankly I don't want to join if it means I have to wait until next May to see what the first release is! We could end up waiting a full year for this mare and foal set if it turns out they're the last release, and I don't want to wait six months to see what I'll be buying first. Sorry if this reads like I'm throwing a tantrum, but sheesh. Throw us a freaking bone already! And give us some 2024 Stablemates Club previews while you're at it! I won't bother asking about the 2024 new releases, since we'll probably be waiting until after Christmas for those again. 

Bleh, enough complaining. Lastly for today, there's a new giveaway to enter for! 

There's no indication of whether it's open to Collector Club members or the general public, so I'm going to assume it's the general public. I did enter for this one, since I haven't found anyone to trade my purple one for a green yet. Good luck to everyone entering! 

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 Attention, readers: after a bit of a dry spell, I come bearing some hot, fresh news! Signups for the 2024 Collector Club are now open, and these reveals may just blow your mind! I know they did mine. Check out the first special run for next year, Heath! 

Well, I guess we'll get a lot of Collector Club signups for next year - let's hope they make enough of these guys to go around, because they're going to sell like hot cakes. But they've done a pretty good job of giving people a heads-up on this year's special runs, so we probably won't need to worry about that...probably. 

The real issue here is the Stablemate for the Deluxe Collector Club...

That's right - the Othello mold has been miniaturized! I've been afraid of this! I assume next time they use the mold will be as the runner-up prize in next year's Best Customs Contest or something equally unobtainable. He is pretty, though...darn it...I was really hoping they'd use a Stablemate I don't collect next year so I wouldn't have to join the club...well, I guess I'll have to join...

Anyways, at least I have plenty of time to join the club. I have to have both of these guys! 

Auction models! We've got auction models! Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

 Alert, Breyerfest attendees! An email went out today that starting this year, Breyer will no longer be accepting cash in most purchases at the KHP during Breyerfest, with a few exceptions. Also, 6% sales tax will now be charged on purchases, rather than being built into the sale price as it always was prior. I'm a bit conflicted about this, but...gotta get with the times, I guess. There will be 3 reverse ATMs at the Horse Park (put cash in, get prepaid cards out, while supplies last), so that's something. I'll still be taking cash at the Clarion, but maybe I'll get a prepaid card before I leave so I don't have to depend on the reverse ATMs too much. Anyways, Breyer must have decided we needed a distraction from this news, so...here are some auction models! Behold! 

Lot #1 is a beautiful black leopard appaloosa Ashquar! Be still, my heart. I love him! 

Lot #2 is a glossy dapple chestnut sabino Pacer, which...would be nice, if it weren't for that, uh...oopsie with his front leg. I mean, maybe they did it on purpose so he wouldn't be so tippy? But like...wow, I'm kind of surprised the Pacer has only been an auction model four times before and the most recent of those was 21 (!) years ago. But anyway...that bent leg, oof. 

Lot #3 is OH MY GOD FORGET WHAT I SAID ABOUT THE ASHQUAR, BE STILL MY HEART! I LOVE THIS ONE!! That looks like the Oasis tail to boot! 

Lot #4 is a handsome gray pinto Huck that I'm oddly not that excited about. Maybe it's the mostly-white head? 

Lot #5 and 6 are being skipped, I guess, probably just to annoy us. Anyways...

Lot #7 is a handsome chestnut splash Stretch Morgan. He looks chalky, to boot! And might have a blue eye? I like his white tail, too. 

That's it for today's distractions - dare I hope we get more tomorrow? 

Psych!

 Well, readers, if you've been watching your email and/or the Breyer website like a hawk this week, waiting for Shelby to pop up, or a new SMC release, or....SOMETHING...you are (or were, I guess) in luck this afternoon, because we finally got something new to buy! What was it?! Get excited! 

I...oh. More grab bags? Never mind then. There were Vintage Club grab bags also. They're long since sold out, but I wouldn't have participated anyway - there aren't any PC or VC releases from 2013-2021 I wanted that I don't already have. Now bring on Shelby already, dang it! Or Sidewinder! Dare I hope something shows up tomorrow? Other than like, old Stablemates Club blind bags. 

Oh, boy...

 Well, some exciting news was posted on the Breyerfest Blog yesterday and...what a doozy of an announcement. To simplify things:

• The special run line as we knew it is gone
• We'll use the master list option to select models in advance (or, well, they'll be selected for us in advance
• Models will be paid for ahead of time
• We'll receive vouchers for the models we were selected for and pick those up at Breyerfest
• Vouchers will then be used to pick up models at any time throughout the weekend

Uh, well...it seems like a plan that could work, until you actually start thinking about it and, well...the major sticking point is the whole voucher system. Other people have crunched the numbers and asked how exactly the voucher distribution is going to realistically work, considering they'll sell around 12,000 tickets, and if you consider it'll take 2-4 minutes for each person picking up their ticket book, and 8,000 people picking up books, and 4 people handing out the books, that's about 100 hours required to distribute them all, and as we all know, Breyerfest is only operational for 23 hours through the weekend (9-5 on Friday and Saturday and 9-4 on Sunday). Let's be generous and say the Will Call booth will operate for 8 hours on Thursday as well (not likely). That gives us 31 hours to distribute all the vouchers. They say we'll be able to pick up special run models at any time throughout the weekend, similar to how the Celebration Horses are handed out, but I think they're failing to take into account that really, nobody cares about the Celebration Horses that much. But people (for the most part) will want to pick up their special run models ASAP to have the best chances at trading those models.

Which leads into my next point...trading. They say right in the blog post that if you don't like the models that were picked for you, just buy them anyway and trade them! So basically they're saying we should do their work for them and distribute models amongst ourselves accordingly. The problem is, since we're making master lists for our models again, and they REFUSE to tell us in advance which models will have variations, or the matte/glossy split, plus the matter of the surprise model, it's impossible to really decide what we'd want so far in advance without knowing all the options. And I'll go so far as to say they should at least tell us the mold of the surprise model if they want us to be able to make our selections in advance. Take last year - I would have filled out my master list differently if I'd known every special run would have a rare variation, and with full knowledge of the matte/glossy split and the Marwari options. And I'm sure I'm not the only person that was put out by that! 

Now, I'm not entirely opposed to getting rid of the special run line on its face - it's just the logistics that are going to be sticky - I think handing out the vouchers is going to be the major issue here. What happens if there's still 1,000 people waiting in the voucher line at 5pm on Friday? And then 2,000 at 5pm on Saturday? And then 3,000 at 4pm on Sunday? We all know Breyer likes to get their stuff packed and out of the park ASAP on Sundays - will all those people just be told, "Sorry, you're out of luck?" Not to mention the inevitable mistakes that will be made, because this is Breyer we're talking about and it seems like Breyerfest is just a series of near-disasters or actual-disasters through the whole weekend (not to mention the inevitable forgotten pallet or two of SR items and the associated ire of everyone those models belong to). 

And then you have the problem of people trying to do pickups! The blog says if you're picking something up for someone else, you'll have to have the applicable checkout information. How long is it going to take to verify all that stuff if someone is trying to pick up models for 20 people? How are they going to get all those models themselves? Will Breyer provide people to help carry all that stuff? Nobody's going to want to make more than one trip through that tent, considering what a disaster the whole voucher system is going to be, so how long is the SR line actually going to be? Are we going to end up back to the way things were in the '90s when you could stand in line for 8 hours and still come away with nothing at the end of it? What a nightmare. 

So it's not really surprising that they waited until a Friday to drop this information - maybe they think the whole thing will blow over by Monday? Oh, and the ticket prices got raised too, so there's that. People have been making their dissatisfaction with the situation known on Facebook and other places, but in true corporate fashion, most of the negative comments are either being deleted or not being allowed to post at all, so....I don't have a lot of hope that the situation will be rectified in any kind of acceptable manner. But let's hope for the best, shall we? Oh, and VIP tickets are going on sale next week, but there's no indication of a limit for said tickets, so for all we know the more popular Breyerfest models could all end up sold out to VIP members before the rest of the plebs even get a chance at them. So I may need to buy a VIP ticket after all if I want to get my hands on a Stein. Fun stuff! Let's hope for more clarification on Monday. 

Come on, at least give us a chance here

 Well, we have a reveal and a sneak peek today! I'll start with the reveal - meet Chardonnay! 

Ooh, he's pretty. Like a discount Midas, almost? Nothing I need to buy, but he'll be stunning in gloss (if they gloss the Limited Editions again). He's a Limited Edition, so anyone will be able to buy him. Nice! Uh, although I am hoping they'll come out with something I want eventually, because...I only want 4 things (of, like 11) that they've shown so far, and usually the number is far higher than that, so...maybe this blue sneak peek will end up being something I want? Pretty please?

Also...I mean, it's probably pretty tiring for them to give us sneak peeks that are solved almost instantly by the community, but this is just mean. Good luck divining anything from that...although some sleuths on Facebook think it may be Salinero? Which would be another model I don't need, so I hope it's something else! We'll find out on Monday! 

Dun: not even once.

 Good news, everyone! Or, well, bad news if you're a Lyric collector like me. Anyway, the gambler's choice release for next year's Stablemates Club has been revealed! 

So, those colors are chestnut, rose gray, silver bay and Giverny rainbow. I hate to say it, but most of those colors are kinda ho-hum except for the Giverny, and considering those models showed up in Breyerfest grab bags for years afterward, I may be in the minority in liking that one! Well, maybe the lackluster colors will make it easier to get my hands on these later, because I'm still not convinced I want more than one club membership next year. Interesting that of these four colors, they couldn't have at least one of them match the Fjord breed standard. I suppose if you squint really hard, the rose gray looks like a grayish dun? 

Anyway, I'd really like to see a full-body photo of that decorator - I suspect it's going to be the hot item next year. Well, we have until the end of the year to sign up, so I suppose I'd better go ponder my choices.

Also, this year's warehouse sale is now active, but there isn't much there to get excited about. Apparently the collector club discount code (CLUBPLUS21) works in addition to the sale prices, though. Go forth and save, if that's your fancy! 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

 ...there was absolutely nothing going on, and everyone was super bored.

Seriously, what's going on? June is usually a pretty busy month for hobby news - is the current dearth of information yet another thing to blame on Covid? Ugh. We're well into June and we still don't have any information about this year's Breyerfest raffles! Bleh. Speaking of  Breyerfest, today was the last day to buy All-Access tickets - I did decide to buy a couple more, to try to maximize my chances of getting an Uffington. I had exactly enough tickets to get everything I wanted last year, but that was a little too close for comfort, so this year I got a couple extra. Hopefully they're helpful! 

There is one tiny tidbit of news - there are some new pins on the website (view them here). One of them is Fireheart! Aww, nuts...I was going to speculate that we're getting a bay Fireheart raffle model, since the pin looks bay, but on closer inspection it just looks like a rather poor representation of the Fireheart paint job. Oh well...I tried. 

Also, apparently those new blind bag Stablemates we heard about last year (!) are finally starting to show up at local Walmarts - or may be showing up? Or are listed on the website? No one has them in hand yet, as far as I know, but I'm jonesing for a white Darley to add to my conga, so I'll be haunting the local Walmart to see if they get them in. Here's hoping! 

Thanks, I hate it, or: NO NO STAHP

 I can definitely tell the end of the year is approaching - the reveals are coming fast and furious! First up: this year's holiday pony, Honeybunch: 

My reaction: YES! Emma has been sadly neglected since her release, so it's about time she got some more use aside from the Jujube release in February. Can't wait to see what she looks like without that blanket. I wonder if her mane and tail are pearly? It kind of looks like it. She would make a nice mate for Honeysuckle, too! 

Next on the list, Barrington (this year's optional Vintage Club model) is now available for purchase! 

I have one on order from someone else in the Club, so I'm excited to see this one too - even if his color is a bit blah! 

And lastly....the 2021 Breyerfest Celebration Horse (and Model) have been announced, and...ugh. 

His name is Intuit, and he's owned by Terry Bradshaw. Frankly, this horse represents everything that is wrong with halter showing, and I'm really disappointed that Breyer is supporting it by choosing this horse as their representative of their biggest event of the year. Look at those post legs in the back, and all that beef, and his pig nose. This horse is 3 years old and already retired from the show ring - and you can't even ride halter horses. And of course they're breeding him. Notice how the grass hides his feet - they're probably tiny, too small to support all that mass that makes him look more like a beef cow than a horse. 

And here's the mold they picked to represent him:

Geronimo isn't perfect, but I'll take him any day over that monstrosity in the photo. Maybe Breyer can  be convinced to pick another horse? Sheesh. And also, this model is really similar to Ambrose from last year. Do we really need another blanket Appy on this mold so soon? Bleh. When they said "Horse of a Different Color," I was kind of expecting something different...I mean, blanket Appaloosas aren't exactly rare.

Well, I guess I'll stop ranting. Hopefully the rest of next year's Breyerfest stuff will be better. And I'm excited for Honeybunch and Barrington! 

Virtual Breyerfest Day 1: A Disaster of Epic Proportions

Well, Virtual Breyerfest Day 1 is over, and...well, let's just say there are a lot of frustrated people out there. I knew it was a bad sign when the Artisan's Gallery portion of the website didn't go up as scheduled, but...I didn't think it would be this bad, for this long. The website has been glitchy all day, and all of the special run ticket times ended up being delayed by two hours. That, along with store specials being yanked out of peoples' carts within seconds of being added, all day long, makes for a long day of attempted pony-buying.

I had two tickets for today, and was able to get a Slainte Surprise and Brighid/Beltane on my first ticket. The wait for those wasn't too bad...but then I had to wait more than 3 hours after my second ticket time of the day before those models became available. I got another Slainte Surprise and an Ash! I hope I have good luck the rest of the weekend.

But at least there are some fun new reveals I can show you - like the latest Collector Club vote option!

One of the above four models will be a Collector Club special run next year...and everyone that votes will be entered into a drawing to win one of the test models! Presumably one of the three that don't win. They're all pretty nice, but for me the Carrick wins out over the Adios. It would be super-cool to win a test, too!

In other reveals, we have our Premier Club Stablemate for this year:



A new Haflinger by Brigitte Eberl! Yay! I love him already. But what color will he be? Here are the possibilities:

So these are the three colors for this year's Premier Club models. Yay, we're getting another splash pinto! I can't wait to find out what's next. I suppose the buckskin would be the closest-ish to a real Haflinger color, and it looks really nice in the mockup, but I like the splash pinto option too. We won't find out what option they picked until, uh...sometime in the future. Hopefully before the end of Breyerfest, but who knows for sure.

And, we got a reveal of this year's new Stablemates Club mold!



Holy crap - my eyes! The beefcake! Ahhh!

Well, anyway, he (she?) looks insanely detailed, but that's way too much beefcake for me. Mine will be for sale!

Let's hope they get all these issues figured out by tomorrow - I did manage to snag all of the store items I wanted (Cheesecake, Topgun and the Stablemate set)- but I'll be attempting to get a SM set for a Blabber tomorrow, so hopefully they get things straightened out by then. Not a good start, Breyer...

...Really?

So we got another sneak peek today, and...well...



...Seriously? It looks like it could be something's belly, but there's no way anyone is going to guess that. I'm really getting sick of the impossible-to-guess peeks. Is it even really a sneak peek when you can't tell what it is, like at all? Ugh. Well, hopefully we don't have to wait all week to see what it is...

More Walmart Unicorns!

The news just broke on Facebook - there are new blind bag unicorns at Walmart! (Groan...) I don't have a photo I can use just yet, but it looks like the molds include Alborozo (some kind of pink), Greyson (green), the G4 Arabian (yellow-pink), G2 Clydesdale (blue) and the new Warmblood Stallion (silvery purple), plus the Magnolia chase piece (pastel rainbowy). The chase Magnolia is beautiful, but every time they use her for something else, I'm more glad I don't like her - people that collect her must be tearing their hair out right now!

As I've mentioned before, I'm pretty much over the blind bags. My local Walmart probably won't get them (the only blind bags they got were the ones with the green/gold Friesian), and I'm really not interested in driving to a Walmart farther away just to feel up more bags and feel weird while doing so. I could just buy a whole box, but that would be doing exactly what Breyer/Walmart wants us to do. I may just wait until the craze dies down and see if I can find them cheaply on the secondary market, because honestly? Enough is enough.

Also, can they use some different molds for these? I feel like Alborozo, the G2 Clydesdale and the G4 Arabian (to say nothing of Magnolia) could use a rest.

"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...

Friday News Roundup, plus Celeste!

Lots of...interesting and confusing...things to post about today! I'm not sure exactly where to begin, so I'll just jump right in!

First off, renewals for the Vintage Club are now open. I actually don't see a buy box on that page, but that might be something on my end. I'll have to get ahold of Breyer about it...if they show next year's releases, and those releases require me to rejoin the club.

Edit: Duh, I hadn't bought my 2019 Collector Club membership yet. All is well!

Next on the docket, the mysterious Zippo test model from a couple of days ago is now back on the website and the drawing can now be entered. There's been some speculation on Blab that he's a test for Rushmore, the bay roan Smarty from Breyerfest 2007, and I can definitely see it. Whoever he is, he's definitely pretty!

Now that I have that out of the way, I can talk about today's odd Breyer-related postings on the interwebs. First, Breyer posted this photo on their Instagram story:

Naturally, collectors were intrigued. A bay Bristol! What could it be? He was just used in the Premier Club, so couldn't be something coming out this year.

A few hours later, after the speculation had gone on unchecked for a few hours, Breyer posted a link to this video on their Facebook page. Warning: watch at your own risk.

Fortunately, I watched the video (well...half of it) so you don't have to. Amongst the annoyingly perky girl, scattered Breyer product placements, useless craft projects and the like (clearly I'm not part of the target audience for this), these two models appeared:

Okay, the bay Bristol is interesting, if a tad boring with no white markings. But the show jumper! At first glance, he looks like Here's to You, the Breyerfest volunteer model from 2014, but he's clearly not the same model. Here's to You has a snip, his color is darker and his tail isn't striped like the one in the video.

Unfortunately, despite Breyer themselves posing the question of (essentially), "What is this new model we're showing you?", the video doesn't actually say what either of these models are, which is incredibly frustrating. Clickbait is one thing when it eventually answers the question, but clickbait for clickbait's sake? No thanks, Breyer. Do better next time. My assumption is that these are new regular runs for next year, as that's the only thing the Bristol could be, and that looks like a RR-type paint job on the show jumper.

So, hopefully we get an official announcement about these guys (along with the rest of the 2019 line) soon!

Now for the moment you've all been waiting for - my Celeste is here! Observe!



I was going to take a photo of her with my other silver bay models, but that will have to wait for another day. She's definitely a beauty, though!



And I love her pearly tail!

Quality-wise, she's not bad - the masking along her mane isn't really the greatest, and the dapples on her right side could stand to be more subtle.



She also has some excess plastic on her left hind leg that didn't get cleaned off very well.



Nothing too terrible, though. I can't wait to put her on the shelf with her compatriots!

Whew! That was a lot of stuff to talk about. Hopefully we get more exciting reveals next week! I'm excited to (hopefully) see what we're getting for next year's Vintage Club!

Alejandro is here!

Exciting news today! Thanks to the generosity of a fellow Blabber, I was able to get my hands on an Alejandro! Behold!

For some reason I'd gotten it into my head that he was glossy, so I was a little disappointed to see he's matte. But he does have a little bit of shimmer to his paint, which is nice. And I love his paint job! His flaming mane and tail make an excellent contrast to the rest of his body.

Although I really like the way this guy turned out, I'm disgruntled that his mane braids aren't painted. This makes 3 out of 4 releases with this mane that didn't have the braids painted. If you can't even paint them for a 3,000-piece run (or 1,250, in Dag Dia's case), what's the point of having them? Will they ever be painted again? Just retool them out of the mold and call it a day -- because as it is now, they might as well not even be there. Bleh. Wouldn't turquoise have gone well with his mane color?



Quality-wise he's not bad - his dapples could have been more subtle, and he has a few lint spots here and there. His eyes are weird, though; at first glance, it looks like they're just sloppily painted, but on closer inspection it looks like they tried to outline his eyes with the same black as the rest of the eye and it just looks weird.

All in all, though, he's a worthy addition to the collection - as long as I don't dwell too much on his unpainted braids. We'll forever be wondering what could have been...

Another batch of auction models!

Good news, everyone! Breyer released some more auction models on the blog today. Check them out, starting with Lot 20:

Oh, my. So gloss, such shiny, etc. But he's...a bit plain, isn't he? He needs some white to set him off from the original Sham release (although that one was quite a bit redder). 

Next, lot 21:

Ooh, a test model on Forever Saige! This is the first time she's shown up in the auction, although a very nice test of her was auctioned off at Breyerfest 2015. And she's beautiful! I defnitely wouldn't mind adding her to my collection. She looks like she has a touch of pearly in her mane and tail, too. Very nice!

On to lot 22:

Well, that's definitely an interesting model. I like him a lot, especially the blue-and-gold saddle, but I feel like that saddle would be really impractical in real life. Like, every time you used it you'd have to check your pants afterwards for blue stains. Nice color on the model, though, and his blue eye tops it off nicely.

And lastly, lot 23:



From the blog: "This model is a Glossy Rich Liver Chestnut but still looks like the Olympic dressage champion Hanoverian stallion, Keltic [sic] Salinero." Yes, it does still look like Salinero (who is a gelding, by the way), and it's spelled Keltec, not Keltic. You could at least have someone do some fact-checking before things get published, guys. And like you said, this one still looks like the original Salinero...so why would anyone want to spend big bucks on it if that were the case? I'm sure someone will, but still. Maybe he looks more different in person.

And that's all I have for today. I did get a notification that my Prism has shipped (!!!), so hopefully he arrives before we leave for Breyerfest. If not, he'll just have to wait until we get back!

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?