Featured Model - 8/7/2021, Blue Tiger Ruffian

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model I don't own but would like to, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...the Blue Tiger Auction Ruffian! 

This model is a OOAK produced for the 2017 Breyerfest Live Auction. She was produced on the Ruffian mold sculpted by Sue Sifton. 

We all know Breyer likes to do some crazy decorators sometimes, so it was no big surprise that they'd do a variant version of a tiger for the live auction. If I remember right, this was one of the hidden lots for that year's auction. Anyway, she sure looks good as a blue tiger! And if you had a regular Padma, they'd complement each other! Good stuff. They used the tiger template on Ruffian again this year to great effect, so I imagine we'll see more decorator tigers on her in the future. 

As for Ruffian, it's been a little while since she had a new release - maybe she'll be one of this year's Tractor Supply special runs? We should be finding out about those soon. She was a Mid-States special run back in 2008 (back when those used to be a thing) but hasn't been used for TSC yet, so you never know. She last appeared at Breyerfest in 2018, so it might not be a stretch to imagine her being used there next year, maybe - I'm sure Breyer could find a way to shoehorn her into the Germany theme. Maybe she'll be the surprise model? I guess we'll see! 

Finally, some auction models!

 Good news, everyone! (Happy 4th!) We have some amazing auction models to drool over! First up, this amazing Ruffian! 

She's described as a, "Glossy Neon Tiger with Blue Interference." Jaw-dropping! Do we have a sale-topper here? I think it's very likely. 

This Lady Phase looks like a test for Pima, am I right? Or maybe the Appaloosa Hero's Welcome? I imagine she'll go high too. 

We finally get an auction model on Vermeer! He's pretty, but I wish we had a different angle to look at - this is pretty much my least favorite angle of his. 

Another Weather Girl auction model! She's definitely a wild color. She almost looks glossy, though I think it's just a trick of the light. Another one I wouldn't mind having in my herd! 

Ooh, a Goffert! He reminds me of a shinier Java. His eye looks like he's scared of something on the ground in front of him. Haha! 

And lastly...

Be still, my heart. It's been a long time since we've had a Susecion/Le Fire release. These may also be sale-toppers. Look at the amount of detail on the mare! This pair makes me wish I could find a money tree behind my house! Alas...

That's all they've shown us for today - I hope we get more tomorrow! 

Featured Model - 6/5/2021, 2013 Auction Ruffian

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model I don't own but would like to, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...the 2013 Breyerfest Auction Ruffian! 

This model was a OOAK piece produced for the 2013 Breyerfest live auction, done on the Ruffian mold sculpted by Sue Sifton. 

I picked this model because she looks like a matte predecessor to Goldfinch! Okay, Goldfinch is a bit yellower, but there's definitely a resemblance. I'm not sure I like the stripes, though, especially in the tail. It makes me want to look up how much she sold for - I don't even remember her being in the auction, even though I was there (only to observe). Anyway, other than the stripes, she looks good in buttermilk buckskin. 

We just saw a new Ruffian a few weeks ago with the debut of Home and Away, the special run from the True Blue Breyer event, so it's hard to say where we'll see her next. Now that I think about it, though...she's never been a TSC special run, so maybe she'll pop up there next year. If they were already putting her into production for TSC, it would be easy to divert some 52 blanks for a True Blue special run. I suppose it won't be too long until we find out! Other than TSC, I'm not sure where else we might see her - Ruffian's last Breyerfest outing was a bit of a flop (still not sure how that happened). It's been a good few years since she was a raffle model, so maybe she'll show up there? Hopefully we don't have to wait too much longer to find out...

Just when you thought Breyer had run out of ways to drain our wallets...

...they came out with THIS!

That's right - it's another test run on the website! GASP!


And with a little bit of luck and a lot of money, she can be yours!

Okay, actually it takes a lot of luck - she's a test, so you have to have your name drawn from the thousands of entries. I'm a bit surprised that they picked this particular mold to sell a test run on, since Ruffian is fairly popular - and Reeves knows it, since her price is $1,000. She'll be worth more than that on the secondary market - a LOT more. But I'm entering anyway - if I'm lucky enough to win, she'll make an excellent addition to my Ruffian conga, and she'll be a lot cheaper than most Breyerfest auction models these days.

Speaking of auction models, where are they? I thought the live auction was still going ahead this year, but the countdown should have started today if so. It's not like it would be hard to do the auction online...let's hope they still show up eventually.

Anyways, don't forget to enter for the Ruffian - her entry period ends at midnight on the 18th, so we don't have to remember for very long. Good luck, everyone!

Featured Model - 8/31/2019, Poltergeist

Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...Poltergeist!



Ooh, spooky! This model was the Halloween Horse back in 2016. He's item #1763 on the Ruffian mold sculpted by Sue Sifton, and was a run of 3,000.

This guy had a little bit of a mixed reception, if I remember right. I guess the design is rather polarizing - a horse with a demonic skeleton "riding" it? Wild stuff. I think it's rather clever, and I like the contrast of the white areas against the black - especially the head and tail. Skull horse! Hah. I do wish he had four white socks, though - I realize he's supposed to be a "pinto" of sorts, so he wouldn't necessarily have four socks, but the completionist in me wants to see all four of them be white.

As for Ruffian herself, she's still pretty popular 13 years after her release - at least, going by the number of Breyerfest auction models she's had. 9 of them in 13 years? Sheesh. Anyone trying to collect all those will have to have some pretty deep pockets, and that's not even including all the raffle and prize models we've seen on her.

Anyway, I'm not sure where we'll see Ruffian next - she was the inexplicably unpopular special run "Dead Heat" at Breyerfest last year, as well as an auction model this year. She was a Breyerfest prize model in 2014. However, she hasn't been a web special since 2015 - maybe she'll pop up there? Or as this year's brick-and-mortar special run? I hope so - it'll be hard for me to get my hands on one! I'll just have to hope for a new regular run.

More auction models!

Greetings, readers! Exciting news - more auction models were posted on the Breyerfest Blog today! I was hoping we'd get some more this week. So, without further ado - here they are!

Lot 5 is the palomino Live Show prize Yasmin:

Not much to say about her that I haven't already said, except I'm still not really into the mane and tail. Next, let's take a look at Lot 6!

Wow, a stallion and foal set! You don't really see that very often. And they're so different from each other! I like the blue bobs on the stallion - they go with his color pretty well. And I like the white tail on the foal! Not enough to want to bid on them, but they're definitely unique!

Next, Lot 8 (they won't show us Lot 7, grr):

That's an amazing paintjob for the Five Gaiter, though the nitpicky part of me is wondering why Flaxen Liver Chestnut is in the auction twice. The crazy extended blanket and peacock spots make up for it, though - he's excellent!

And lastly, Lot 9:



Ruffian! I'm surprisingly meh about her, though...I'm not sure I like that shade of palomino. The blog says her mane and tail are pearly, but you can barely tell. Maybe it'll be more visible in person? I hope so.

That's all for now - I hope we get to see more auction models soon!

New Arrivals: Matte Appy Dark Horse, Chestnut Dead Heat and Matte Bay Pinto Dark Horse

Hello, everyone! I have more new arrivals to talk about, so let's get right to it! Firstly, the matte Appaloosa Dark Horse Surprise:



I hate to say it, but of the five different Dark Horse Surprise colors, this one was my least favorite. I guess maybe I'm just not into leopard Appaloosas? I liked Pay N Go well enough back in the day, I guess, but since then the leopards just tend to fall to the bottom of my lists.

I'm also wondering why his base color is bay, when we also had the matte bay pinto as one of the surprise colors? I don't know, make him a chestnut or gray or something. Gray leopard could have been really interesting! Oh well.

Next, we have the chestnut Dead Heat!



I really like this model - just not quite as much as I like the palomino one. The color looks really nice on Ruffian, though the short tail still looks a little odd to me. I love his shading, and I love the little snip on his nose! I always like to see a little white on a horse's face, so that really appeals to me. Also, this one's name is now officially "Dead Hat" in my records, to set it apart from the palomino "Dead Heat." Heh heh.

Lastly, let's look at the bay pinto Dark Horse Surprise!



I'd probably rank this guy just above the leopard Appy, but not because I don't like him - he's just overshadowed by the black, decorator and palomino splash. He has a nice pattern, and the color looks really good on him. I like his two-toned mane and tail - I bet the glossy version of him is really nice! Hopefully I can get my hands on him somewhere down the road. In the meantime, this guy is a worthy addition to the collection!

Quality-wise, these models were really nice - again, I've seen few quality issues with this year's Breyerfest models. Either I got lucky, or Breyer stepped up their quality game. Either way, I'm happy with it!

New Arrivals: Matte Deco Dark Horse, Palomino Dead Heat and By a Nose

Hello, everyone! In my continuing coverage of new models acquired at Breyerfest, today I'll be showcasing the matte decorator Dark Horse Surprise, the palomino Dead Heat and By a Nose. Let's get started with the decorator Dark Horse!



I love this model. He's a combination of "it goes faster because it's red" and "the flames make it go faster" and I love it! And I love the transition from solid on his body to clear on his mane and tail. The only way to make this model would be to gloss it...and guess what, they did! I'll talk about him later, but I definitely think this guy is one of the coolest surprise models Breyer has ever done.

Next, palomino Dead Heat!



It was funny how when Breyer posted the Dead Heat numbers on the blog last week, they bothered to say, "You had an equal chance to get the palomino or the chestnut." Apparently nobody noticed the guy handing them out in the special run line was asking people what their color preference was. Not that I'm complaining, because I was expecting to spend the whole weekend trying to get one color or the other, but I still thought it was...if not eyeroll-worthy, then sigh-worthy.

Anyway, the palomino Dead Heat turned out just how I thought he would - a nicely shaded palomino with a beautiful pearly mane and tail! I definitely like him a lot, so I'm not really sure how these two releases flopped so hard. As far as I know, they're still available in the leftovers on the Breyer website. Ruffian is a reasonably popular mold, and it's not like either color was badly done, so it's confusing to me. Maybe a combination of too many made, plus they probably would have sold better if it really had been a random draw like Breyer said it would be? Who knows.

Next, let's take a look at By a Nose!



This girl (yes, she's female! Zenyatta strikes again!) was definitely the hot item at this year's Breyerfest. So hot that she repeatedly sold out even before the Dark Horse Surprises. It took us until Sunday to get our hands on one, because we kept getting poor ticket draws.

Like I said in the past, I love this type of paint job; it looks like tasty, tasty candy! And I love the pinking in various areas. Better than yellow legs, am I right? Still scratching my head over that one.

Anyway, this one was definitely one of the more popular special runs Breyerfest has ever had, but I'm glad I ended up buying two of them, because the first one I got had a lot of small flaws that wouldn't have been so bad, but all of them together made it a really mediocre model. It was definitely the worst-quality model I saw this year; all in all, I thought the quality was really good this year.

That's it for now, but I'll be posting more Breyerfest content into August! Stay tuned!

Featured Model - 6/9/2018, American Pharoah

Woooo! Congratulations to Justify, the 13th winner of the Triple Crown! I'm sure there are plenty of people frantically shouting into phones over at Breyer headquarters. (Psst: put him on Lonesome Glory Carrick!) In honor of Justify's win, for this week's Featured Model I present...American Pharoah!

This illustrious model was obviously produced to honor American Pharoah, the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years. He's item #1757 on the Ruffian mold sculpted by Sue Sifton.

This model marked the first time Ruffian had been used with an alternate tail, to portray the real Pharoah's shortened tail. Since then the short-tailed Ruffian has appeared as 2016's Poltergeist and will appear at Breyerfest later this year as Dead Heat.

When Pharoah first won his Triple Crown, we of course didn't know which mold would be used as his portrait model, and we indeed didn't even have confirmation of it right away, so there was a lot of speculation as to which mold it would be, or whether he would get his own new mold. So when this test model appeared during that year's Breyerfest auction countdown, there was a lot of speculation that it was a test for American Pharoah:

When I looked at the model in person, though, it clearly had facial markings, so the jury's still out on that one.

Anyway, eventually the American Pharoah model was confirmed to be on Ruffian, which brings us to today. I wonder which mold Justify will get? I'm hoping for Lonesome Glory, but it could just as easily be Smarty Jones or...hmm. Ruffian and Cigar are already in the regular run line as Pharoah and California Chrome. That doesn't really leave a whole lot of options from newer molds. But someone on the Internet suggested using True North, which I suppose I could get behind, considering he's being used as Icabad Crane at this year's Breyerfest. If they do use True North I wouldn't buy it, but at least he'd be a pretty new mold for the new Triple Crown winner.

EDIT: I forgot about Carrick! I would totally be down with Breyer using him, since he hasn't been done in chestnut yet. Definitely rooting for Carrick over here! Hopefully we hear something soon. 

Ruffian! (And Man o' War and Silver Charm. Oops!)

Well, one way or another, the remaining single-day Stablemates have been revealed to the world! First off, let's have a look at Ruffian:



So shiny, I love it! ...But I don't collect the mold, so I won't be buying it, sadly. This is one I would have liked to see on the G2 Thoroughbred. Oh well. From the blog:

Foaled at Claiborne Farm near Paris, KY and trained by Frank Y. Whiteley, Jr., Ruffian measured in at an imposing 16.1 hands despite her young age. Though her career in the early 1970s was short-lived, this champion filly won ten consecutive races between 1974 and 1975 earning more than $300,000.

She's definitely a worthy choice for a single-day Stablemate! I wish they'd put her on a mold I collect, but I'm just not into the G3 Standing Thoroughbred.

In other news, I'd wondered if the other two horses were also going to be portraits...and earlier today a photo of a single-day ticket surfaced on Facebook! The photo isn't mine, but it was posted in the "Road to Breyerfest" group. It seems Breyer is already shipping the tickets out? Anyway, the other two single-day Stablemates are glossy Man o' War on the G3 Cantering Warmblood and glossy Silver Charm (!) on the G4 Driving Horse. I really like Silver Charm, so I wish they'd put him on a mold I collect. As of right now, it looks like the only single-day Stablemate I'm going to get this year is the Man o' War!

As for the "leak," I kinda thought Breyer doesn't usually ship those tickets out until after everything is revealed? Somebody made an oops on that one. But we got to see the other two models earlier, so I'm happy with it!

Haha! Joke's on you! Oh wait...it is on us.

Breyer uploaded a funny "joke" on the blog over the weekend - a photo they'd seemingly already used to tease Dead Heat, except a slightly lighter shade. "Ha ha, joke's on them," I thought. "Somebody screwed up and used the wrong picture." Except it wasn't the wrong picture! It was Dead Heat in an entirely different color! We've got ourselves another gambler's choice in the lineup!

Palomino? Pearly palomino? I'm sold! But it turns out the joke really is on us, because now all the Ruffian fans like me have to buy two (and probably more) of these in the special run line in order to get both colors. I suppose it was only a matter of time before Breyer figured out the whole "blind bag packaging = everything sells out" could be applied to...well, everything.

Does this mean eventually everything at Breyerfest will go the blind bag route? Probably not, since it would just frustrate everyone more (see the recent Spirit Series 2 blind bag fiasco for more on that; I'll write about that later). But what if they also decide to do a matte/glossy split on these? That would mean I'd have to track down four of these danged things! And I'd do it, too...although I'd be grumpy about it, especially if the surprise is something I have to have. We don't all have money trees growing in our backyards, Breyer...

The special run is revealed!

The mystery is solved - the latest Breyerfest 2018 special run is on Ruffian! Meet Dead Heat!



When this was first posted on Facebook, I misread the name as "Dead Hat" and was really confused for a second.

But anyway. Woohoo, a Ruffian! And this means she isn't the surprise! I always thought Ruffian had been criminally underused at Breyerfest. Only one of her four appearances there has been actually attainable for the masses - surely she could have been a tent SR again before now? Oh well. This also means she won't be the volunteer model - one more mold we can strike from the list of possibilities!

Her color is pretty, although I feel compelled to point out she's basically the same color as the three models in the "Who Wore it Best?" contest last year, as well as Fletcher. Was there a discount on orange paint this year? I kid, of course - I definitely want her to join the collection.

There's one other interesting thing about this reveal - the Breyer reveal photo on Instagram showed Dead Heat with the original, longer Ruffian tail rather than the current American Pharoah tail. What gives? Are we going to see both tail variations amongst these models at Breyerfest? I don't know if two different tails is enough to make me buy two of them.

Featured Model - 12/3/2016, Rachel Alexandra

Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's victim is...Rachel Alexandra!




This model, item number 1429, was a regular run from 2010-2011. She was a portrait of the champion racehorse Rachel Alexandra, on the Ruffian mold sculpted by Sue Sifton. Rachel Alexandra is one of my favorite racehorses, so I was happy to add her model to my collection! I enjoyed following her daughter Rachel's Valentina's racing career and was sad to hear of her retirement this past July. But, at least she retired sound and healthy!

I really like the Ruffian mold - she's another one I wish I had a few more of (though she is a little too big to fit comfortably in my photo tent). She's a fairly popular mold, as evidenced by the high eBay  prices of most of her releases, and she's been used as a web special an unprecedented three times.

There does tend to be some degree of variability in how she sits on her stand - some are tilted forward or backward more than others, and the metal peg in her planted foot can bend rather easily, as I found out when I put my new Rags to Riches on the shelf and noticed how much she was leaning compared to the others. But I don't think this mold will have the same degree of "droop" that I've noticed with my Show Jumping Warmbloods (a subject I addressed here), because the model's weight is distributed better.

As I said earlier, this model gets used with some frequency - along with the three web special releases, she was also this year's Halloween model Poltergeist, and is currently being used in the regular line as American Pharoah (and was Black Caviar before that). So she's definitely gotten plenty of love in the last few years! All the same, I wouldn't mind seeing her used at Breyerfest next year - the more Ruffians in my house, the merrier!