Ophelia and Brilliance set!

 Good news, everyone! My Ophelia and the Brilliance set came today! Behold:

Isn't she pretty? 

Bluegrass Bandit looks really nice in this color, though I can't help but wonder what she'd have looked like in gloss. 

Quality-wise she's pretty nice, other than this gnarly box rub on her hip. Le sigh. 

Next, here's the Brilliance set! 

I like the colors on all four of these, especially the holographic Fireheart. But it really irks me that the Othello, the DRAFT horse, is the smallest of the four! Why did they make him so smol? 

Seriously, he's pony-sized compared to the rest of them. 

Fortunately, they're all mostly nice in the quality department, except for this big gloss/paint flaw on the Fireheart's side. Le sigh, again. 

Oh well - at least they came earlier than I thought they would. And I've heard the Premier Club welcome letters are arriving at people's houses, so hopefully I can post about that soon as well! 

Maddox, Mercutio and 2025 releases!

 Greetings, readers! After a long dry spell (probably for the best), I finally have some new arrivals! Behold, Maddox! 

What a beauty! 

Gray is my favorite horse color, so I'm probably biased. But I love him! 

Quality-wise, he's pretty nice - I didn't notice any major flaws other than his annoyingly-uniformly-arranged dapples. I'm thinking about putting him in a show to see how he does - although everyone else will probably do the same thing, so it may not be worth it. 

I think I would have liked him even more if they'd added a bit of silver/metallic to his coat, but he's still pretty. 

Next, here's Mercutio, who arrived at the same time as Maddox! 

He's a cutie, although I'm still not crazy about the flipped tail. 

I'll have to think about a breed to assign him, because I didn't see any major flaws with him either. 

And I'm super glad that the first SMC release of the year is something I want to keep! Usually it's a G1, so I end up having to sell it. 

And lastly, the KHP finally got some of the 2025 new releases in! Behold: 

I would have posted these sooner, but I ordered the horse trailer set from Amazon and the first one that arrived contained a white unicorn with a broken horn, so I had to get it replaced. So if you want that set, buy one in person or you may end up with broken models. 

It took some doing, but I looked through several of the Spanish Horses and managed to find one with mostly-good decals. I like the design, though I wonder what he'd look like in gloss. They glossed some (all?) of the 70th Anniversary models, so maybe this guy will get the same treatment? I hope so. I also looked through a bunch of the Surfer's Riptide models to try to find one with a decently masked mane, and thought I got one - until I got him out of the box and saw the awful masking on his off side. Oh well. I'm thinking about taking the mini Fjord to BreyerMidwest with me next month, since I'm going to mostly bring Stablemates to that. Decisions, decisions...

That's all I have for today! Let's hope Breyer reveals more fun stuff soon. In the meantime, I have model horse shows to prepare for! 

A plague on both your houses!

 Hark, readers! The first Stablemates Club release of the year, Mercutio, approaches! 

Gird thy wallets and head over to yon website to purchase! But don't dally too long - the purchase deadline is 2/21. 

November Collector Club Newsletter!

 Good news, readers and Collector Club members! The 2024 Collector Club newsletter is out in the wild! If you're a Collector Club member, check your email to read it. Firstly, the feature story is "A Closer Look at 2025 Specialty Clubs," which offers, among other things, a turntable video of Winnifred, the first Premier Club release of 2025. Here's the thumbnail:

Ehh...I'm thinking, "Nah," on this one. I like her head from certain angles, but that's about it. The rest of her doesn't really appeal to me, nor does the mealy/pangare coloring. Better luck with the next one, I guess. 

Excitingly, there's also a turntable video of Madonna, the PAM/Zara release in the 2025 Stablemates Club! Here's a more-different angle of her: 

I'm toying with the idea of keeping her just for the novelty - and really, she's one Stablemate, so it's not like I don't have room for her. I'm somewhat irritated that it turns out she's the "new sculpture" for 2025's club - I thought she was the first release! So we won't even get her for another year. Happily, there's a reveal of another 2025 Stablemates Club model! 

Cute! He's almost like a mini version of Churchill, though the whites are different. I was already planning on joining the club, but this guy definitely makes it easier! 

That's about it for the feature story, but there's also a giveaway of a Hot Cocoa and this sneak peek: 

At first I thought it was something 75th Anniversary related, because of the blue and gold, but then someone pointed out it appears to be some sort of color-shift paint (see the red/purple in the bottom left). So, I have no idea what this is. Hopefully we don't have to wait too long to find out! It's probably the winter decorator web special, but who knows. 

Why so smol?

 Good news, readers! My Horatio has arrived - behold! 

He has a satin bag, yay! Too bad they used the wrong Othello image for it - it's the original tail, not the flippy tail. I guess we should count ourselves lucky they at least got the year right. Horatio also came with the Deluxe Collector Club pin, as you can see, so I stuck that on my pin board. Interestingly, the Heath head on the pin is pretty much the exact same size as Horatio’s head.

Here's a closeup. He's such a pretty color! 

I'm curious about how they did his tail - is it resculpted, or just repositioned? From the show side it just looks repositioned, but from the off side it looks like a whole new shape. Did they get Kathleen (or someone) to sculpt a new tail? 

The only nitpick I have with this release is his splotchy black eyes, but mine are at least mostly neatly-painted, so I'm not going to dwell on it. Also, he's been made into a gelding for some reason - didn't that happen with another shrinky Stablemate? Brishen maybe? 

Although I didn't take a comparison photo, the mini Othello is also noticeably smaller than the Stablemate Brishen and Giorgio, which is a bit confusing, considering his size as a Traditional. Why did they make him so small? It's not that big a deal, just weird. 

That's it for today, but I'm hoping to get out to the KHP tomorrow and see if they have Calista in stock yet, so stay tuned! 

Breyerfest Closeups: Horatio

 Greetings, readers! I have another Breyerfest Closeups post for you today - let's take a look at Horatio, the Deluxe Collector Club model for 2024! 

This model is a shrunken-down version of the popular Othello sculpt with a modified tail. 

He certainly is handsome! His paint job is a gray version of the Heath release from earlier this year. I like how his tail now looks like it's being ruffled by the wind. 

In this photo we have a better view of the Deluxe Collector Club pin as well as Horatio. 

I'm definitely excited to get my Horatio! They'll be released later this year (hopefully not in January or later). The color looks really nice on him, despite Othello having appeared in gray many times before. I wonder what they'll do with this new Stablemate mold in the future? Perish the thought...

That's all I have for today - check back later for another Breyerfest Closeups post! 

Edit: I forgot to mention Breyer's Christmas in July sale yesterday. Check it out here - most of the good stuff was already gone by the time I saw it yesterday, but there's still a couple fun items! 

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!