Spirit Series 2 Blind Bags are here!

Greetings, readers! My Spirit Series 2 blind bag assortment finally arrived, and I'm excited to share photos of them!

Collectors had been assured that these boxes would contain one of each model, like last year's assortment, but it seems that assumption was incorrect, as some of the boxes going out have contained 0 chase models and have had varying degrees of duplicate models inside them instead. Somehow I was lucky enough to get a complete box, however. Behold!

I had been dreading the box's arrival, because I only needed four of these guys for my own collection, and I was pretty sure I was going to end up only getting multiples of the models I didn't want. So I was pleasantly surprised!

The standout models in this box were (in my opinion) the chase piece (duh), the pearly perlino Andalusian and the dapple gray G4 Driving Horse. Here's a closeup of the chase piece:

I've never watched the Spirit Riding Free show, but apparently those warpaint markings are from an episode of the show. Obviously all or most of them had to be done using decals, but some of them didn't get put on quite right and the edges of them are visible. The model also had some significant rubs on his nose and nostrils, which was disappointing.

Next: the Andalusian!

I may have mentioned my love for pearly finishes a time or two before, but this guy is really nice. Almost nice enough to forgive those Groucho Marx eyebrows! I know these models are based on characters from a TV show, so I try not to complain about the eyebrows too much, but they make this one look pretty ridiculous. I know, I know; they added eyebrows to the horses to make the eyes more expressive, but part of me just wishes they could have toned it down a bit for this model. Maybe if they'd used light-brown eyebrow paint instead of black? That might have helped.

Next: the G4 Driving Horse!

I'm not much of a fan of this mold, but this color looks really nice on him. I love how soft his dapples are! I'd personally like to see a dark mane and tail to go with his legs; I don't think I've ever seen a dapple gray horse that didn't have the dark mane and tail to go along with the legs. Oh well.

And I want to write about the G3 Cantering Warmblood as well:



I wish they'd quit using these weird, unrealistic pinto patterns, but I suppose that's probably the TV show's failing rather than Breyer's. Clearly whoever designed the horses' colors should have done some more research.

That's all I've got for right now. On a side note, it's now April (you probably noticed that already), which means the next Stablemate Club release should be out anytime! I'm hoping for the gray Brishen, but it shouldn't be too long until we find out!

Spirit Blind Bags Series 2!

I think we wondered about this last year, but now we have photos - there's a Series 2 of the Spirit Blind Bags! I'm really late with this post, but better late than never. Here they are!




Woo, I like those! Too bad I only collect four of the molds. I'll need the G2 Clydesdale and Warmblood, the G3 Cantering Warmblood and the Andalusian. It's a bit odd that the Andalusian is such a similar color to his other blind bag counterpart - this one is based on a character from a TV show, but you'd think they'd have made the other blind bag one a different color.  I'm guessing the "chase piece" is the G3 Mustang, since it's the silhouette? I wonder if it will be gold like the previous Golden Spirit or a different color? Hopefully these ship soon so we can see what they are.

2017 Brick-and-Mortar special run and Fall Releases revealed!

Just when I thought we weren't going to get anything new today...

 

...it's a loose mane/tail Shannondell! Interesting color, too. Not something I need to buy, thankfully - the mold has never appealed to me and since our local model horse store closed, I don't even know where I'd get one. Better luck next year, Breyer! Good luck to everyone out there who'll be searching for one. 

Editing to add this year's fall releases! Behold!

 

Two new Classics horse and rider sets! Neither of which I need.

 

Sugarmaple, who we already saw a few weeks back! I hope my preorder with Back in the Saddle is still valid.

And finally...


 

New Spirit stuff! Nothing I need there either, fortunately.

Kinda slim pickings this year for fall releases...I guess the mid-years must have taken up all their production space. But the less I need to spend, the better! Bring on Sugarmaple!

Spirit Blind Bag Stablemates have arrived!

I'm happy to report that my blind bag Spirit Riding Free Stablemates have arrived! Behold!

 

They took a tiny bit longer to get here than I was expecting, but that was my fault - I preordered them in February before we sold our house, and then forgot to update my address on the order. Oh well!

They are definitely interesting - the reiner and the Thoroughbred have the exact same (weird-looking) pinto pattern, and all of them have eyebrows (naturally). I've seen a lot of controversy over the eyebrows; all I'm going to say on the matter is that these are based on cartoons, and cartoon animals almost always have eyebrows to help convey emotion.

So anyway. Quality-wise, they're a little sloppy, but that doesn't really surprise me - for $4 a pop they aren't going to put as much effort in as they would on, say, a Breyerfest Stablemate, or a Stablemate Club horse. They really aren't terrible - a ding in the paint here, a smudged eyebrow there. Nothing terribly outrageous.

As for the molds themselves, I selfishly wish they'd have used more molds I collect, as I'll only be keeping five of these. But, who knows - maybe there'll be more Stablemates from this series in the future. I have little to no interest in the rest of the releases Breyer put out for this show (which I haven't bothered to watch yet), so hopefully we get more Stablemates in the future.

The Spirit Riding Free collection is now available!

Months behind schedule, the items Breyer is producing for the Netflix show Spirit Riding Free is finally available! Seriously, I thought this stuff would be available way back in February when I ordered a full box of the blind bag Stablemates. Better late than never, I guess!

Photos of the full collection are now on the Breyer website (were they before today? Guess I don't know...oh well.) There are too many photos to post here, but here's a quick list:

Traditionals: Spirit, Chica Linda, Boomerang

Gift Sets (similar to the Best in Show horses, I think?): Spirit and Lucky Gift Set, Chica Linda and Pru Gift Set, Boomerang and Abigail Gift Set

Classics (I think): Spirit and Lucky Small Set, Chica Linda and Pru Small Set, Boomerang and Abigail Small Set

Paint Kits: Spirit Paint Kit, Deluxe Spirit and Friends Paint Kit

Stablemate Paint Kits: Spirit Mini Paint Kit, Chica Linda Mini Paint Kit, Boomerang Mini Paint Kit, Spirit Paint and Play 3 Piece Assortment, Paint Spirit and His Stable (...okay then)

More Stablemates: Spirit Blind Bag

And then a bunch of kiddie stuff, plushies etc that I don't really care about. I'm a little surprised that they're making so much merch for this show - it seems like Breyer has scaled back the amount of tie-in items they make in recent years.

To be fair, most of this stuff is things I'm not interested in - I used to collect the Spirit mold, but they fell victim to another shelf purge. I was never that into Rain either, and Boomerang doesn't appeal to me. Neither do any of the gift set horses or the Classic-size ones (I think they're Classics? I'm not 100% on that.)

So, the only thing here that really interests me is the Stablemate Blind Bags. Here's some photos of the blind bag possibilities:

 

 Hmm, not interested in any of those. Let's see the next one!



There's a little more promise there. I'll need the G2 Thoroughbred and G2 Morgan. Interesting color on the Morgan, too. Next!

 

Ooh, look at that gold Andalusian! I need him too, along with the G2 Appaloosa and the G3 Cantering Warmblood. Kinda wish they'd used more molds I like, but I suppose if it's a kiddie show, you have to use the more kiddie Stablemate molds.

As I said earlier, I ordered a full Blind Bag box way back in February - hopefully that ships soon. I'll definitely keep the blog updated when they arrive!