Clara and Mae are now available for purchase!

Good news, everyone! Or just...news. Clara and Mae, the second release in the 2018 Vintage Club, are now available on the website!



Unfortunately, this set is already rather notoriously unpopular, and I'm not looking forward to trying to sell my pair. It's going to be just about impossible to get my money back on these, I think. Not that Breyer shouldn't have used them; they're about as vintage as you can get. But the molds just aren't very popular. I remember seeing Cream and Cocoa leftovers in the Breyer Store for years after they came out. There might have still been some of them there last year! Which is a shame, because those were nice colors too, and a clever idea.

This release should have had everything going for it; it's glossy and the color is nice. Which makes it even more sad that they've been so much of a flop.

Interestingly enough, while I don't collect either of these molds, I think I still have an old knockoff of the Grazing Mare floating around somewhere. I don't have a photo of her, but I always thought she was a knockoff because I don't think she had a Breyer stamp and her plastic seemed more like ABS than cellulose acetate.

Hopefully I can unload this set for a not-too-terrible price - and I hope the vintage-colored Weather Girl at the end of this is worth it.

Breyer: It's the 2018 Vintage Club! Me: NOOOOOOOO

So the 2018 Vintage Club lineup has been revealed, and I'm not happy about it. Behold:



Weather Girl? WEATHER GIRL? As a Vintage offering! And not only that, she's the gambler's choice...so if I want them all, I have to hope I can get into the club on all three of my accounts next year, then hope I can at least sell everything I don't want at cost until the Weather Girl is released? Blargh! Why must you do this to me, Breyer! Haven't you gotten enough money out of me over the years?

Oh well. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to join on all three accounts, then drop out of two of them once the gambler's choice is over and done with. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be surprised if the gambler's choice is the last release this year. And they aren't telling us what the optional extra model is (again). Maybe that'll be something I want. I'm going to need the Stablemate, too, so if the optional release is something I want, it might be worth joining on at least one account.

I can see why they're using Weather Girl - those are all old PAM colors (splatter dapple gray, alabaster, mahogany bay) - so it's like they're updating the old PAM releases. Just...why not the FAM instead? Ugh.

I'm also curious about the Legionario. Uh, we've already had a dapple black release - Isabelle, in 2014. There are a ton of vintage colors they could have used on Legionario - like, any of them, since his original release was the alabaster. Why use a color they've already done once?

Also, not that it matters to me that much, but where's the Semi-Rearing Mustang they did the poll on earlier this year? Maybe he's the optional release...which seems odd. But whatever.

I don't have any complaints about the other releases - the San Domingo and the Grazing Mare/Foal look glossy, and the San Domingo appears to have a more modern paint job - which isn't a surprise, given this year's Sham (though he looks the same color as that Sham).

The Stablemate is on the G2 Saddlebred - that seems random, but whatever. The color looks like the old-style red roan, which isn't my favorite color, but gotta have it for the collection. Let's hope they don't waste too much time opening up club renewals to the rest of us!

2016 Holiday Mare and Foal Set - Crystal and Crispin!

This year's Holiday Mare and Foal set have been announced - Crystal and Crispin, on the Grazing Mare and Foal molds!



It's good to see another mare and foal set this year - it looks like this is a new tradition we can count on!

The first Holiday Mare and Foal set was Vixen and Blitzen in 2014, on the Running Mare/Foal molds, and the second set was last year's Eve and Claus on the Thoroughbred Mare/Nursing Foal molds.

Crystal and Crispin are definitely cute! Here they are without the blankets (blue, my favorite color!).



Someone on Blab mentioned that they would go well with the Connoisseur Silver Knight and I agree! They would make a great little family. I may be biased, though, because dapple gray is one of my favorite horse colors, on models and in real life (goofy names aside).

Sadly, I will not be buying this set as I don't collect the Grazing Mare and Foal. It's interesting that they're using older molds for this - although that's probably a good thing, as older molds presumably won't sell out as fast, thus giving more people a chance to buy them - people that actually want them, as opposed to the resellers. Not going to lie, though - I would have loved to see this color on Susecion and Le Fire. Maybe in a few years, once they work through all the other older molds.

In reality, if they used the FAM and FAF next year, I'd likely buy them. I only have the FAM/FAF in a couple of colors each, but I have some nostalgia for them - the Ara-Appaloosa FAF was my first Breyer, and he's one of the only remaining members of my old "carpet herd" that I still have. When I got back into collecting in 2010, I of course had to find an Ara-Appaloosa FAM and FAS to complete the family (still the only FAS I own). The other set I have is the Drinkers of the Wind set - they pulled off that black-point dapple gray color so well.

I'm definitely crossing my fingers for the FAM/FAF next year! Crystal and Crispin are available for order here.