New Arrivals: Picante, Just Like Fire and Gascon the Great

 Greetings, readers! I've got three more new arrivals to show you - let's start with Picante! 

I'd expected to get a Picante somewhat earlier than July, but better late than never, I suppose. She's pretty! And the quality is good too, other than a couple of shiny marks. 

Next: Just Like Fire! 

The ketchup-and-mustard comparisons aren't quite as apt in person, but I think that's still going to be his unofficial nickname. I do like the darker color on his lower legs, and the yellow does have more of a golden hue in person. 

Lastly, here's Gascon! 

What a nice-looking model! Cancion looks really great in this light gray color. I did notice a white spot on the horse's right shoulder that didn't make it onto the model - interesting, considering the lengths Breyer usually goes to to make sure the models are accurate to the real horses' markings. 

That's it for today! Check back soon for more New Arrivals. 

Spring Releases revealed!

 Ooh, some new reveals - this year's spring releases! I'll start with the decorator, which was teased in last month's Collector Club newsletter. Say hello to Gilded! 

He's...interesting, I guess. He kind of looks like if someone painted a TSC Blue with gold paint and then the paint started to flake off. I guess the blue is a bit lighter than Blue's color, though. Nothing I need, thankfully.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to get my hands on this year's brick-and-mortar release, because...behold! 

Ooh, Picante is beautiful! If I can stop thinking about salsa, that is. It's a little funny that they're trying to pass her off as a Quarab to explain her color, but savvier people than I on the Internets have pointed out Quarabs only have to be 1/8 QH, so theoretically you could get this color on a mostly-Arabian looking horse (I suspect it would take a few tries, though). This also theoretically knocks out Weather Girl as the Breyerfest surprise horse for this year - not that I thought it was her. I'm sticking with my guess of the Arabian Mare/Make a Wish. 

Anyway, she's beautiful! Guess I'll have to find a brick-and-morter retailer around here - shouldn't be too hard. Good luck to everyone that wants one! 

The final Limited Edition reveal and Flamingo!

 Good news, everyone - we have our final Breyerfest Limited Edition reveal! Say hello to Buggy! 

He's pretty, but very reminiscent of the blind bag Django from 2018. I feel like they could have been a little more creative with his color here, and the Buggy name honestly makes me think of bugs more than horse-drawn vehicles. Maybe Hansom instead? Then they could have made some sort of "Handsome" joke. Oh, I crack myself up. 

Anyway, Buggy is the online-only Stablemate Limited Edition, and they've said this is the last reveal for this year's Breyerfest. So there isn't going to be a single decorator Stablemate for the in-person store this year, I guess. Maybe the last few haven't been selling very well? Who knows.

Lots of people are wondering why we haven't seen an Old Timer among this year's offerings, and I have to wonder if he'll end up being a raffle model. It's not exactly set in stone that the raffle models be brand-new molds, so it's definitely a possibility. I was going to suggest that he could be the diorama contest prize (he'd be perfect for that, honestly) before I remembered that prize has been replaced with glossy Bravo 54 models - what a letdown. Anyway, let's hope they don't make us wait until July to see the raffle models (again), but I'm not holding my breath. 

In other news, my Flamingo unexpectedly arrived today! Last time I looked at the tracking, the delivery was estimated as happening tomorrow, so I was pleasantly surprised. Behold! 

What a beauty! She could stand to be a bit pinker, honestly, but she's not terrible.

Her dapples are nice and subtle, too. No chicken wire in this house! 

She isn't the worst thing I've ever seen, quality-wise, but has a lot of plastic goobers from a less-than-stellar cleanup job before being painted. A bit disappointing considering her price, but not horrible. 

That's all I have for today - keep in mind that Breyerfest tickets go on sale tomorrow! I'm hoping to snag a VIP ticket and then wait until later to buy the rest of my tickets - don't want to spend that much money all at once. Ciao! 

I stand corrected

 Greetings, readers! Another day, another Breyerfest reveal - and this one is a doozy! I guess I spoke too soon when I said we'd found our Pollock/Stein equivalent for this year - behold! 

His name is Jump & Drive (incidentally, I'm not a fan of this new ampersand trend). What a hunk - but somehow, I'm kind of underwhelmed by him. Not sure why. Maybe it's his blue eyes? Not that I don't want to buy him, and I'm not sure what could be done to make him even better. I guess he looks a lot like the sable champagne Seven Arts Surprise from 2021. But that isn't a bad thing - I just feel like I should like him more than I do. Maybe if his mane was inexplicably white too? I don't know. Either way, I'll probably put him on my VIP selections to be sure I can get one. Happily, the blog says the last special run for Breyerfest will be revealed tomorrow! I guess they're going back to 8 special runs after having 9 for the last three years.

Today's other exciting reveal was the first web special of the year! Good news - the Birds of a Feather series continues with Flamingo! 

I have to be honest here...I'm underwhelmed by this one, too. She's supposed to be a rose grey, but she looks more like the perlino Poppy & Ollie or Apollo, to name a few. I think she'd have matched her name better if she were red roan, or looked more like this Thoroughbred colt I saw at Taylor Made back in 2019:

His name is Ghostliner, if you'd like to do some career research on him. Anyways, that's a lot closer to pink than what we have in the photo above. 

Edit: I was going to mention that Breyer may have wanted to keep her an Arabian color and red roan doesn't occur in the Arabian breed, hence the rose grey instead. But rabicano is a thing in Arabians...so, that would have been an option. Oh well. Bonus: here's a photo of Ghostliner as of July 2022 when he was sold at a Fasig-Tipton sale.

But, Flamingo still pretty and I hope I get drawn for her! Let's hope I have better luck with web specials than I did last year. The run number on her is back down to 500 though, so the odds seem slim. Anyway, good luck to everyone entering for her! 

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 - 2/6/2021, 2016 Auction Weather Girl

 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 2016 Breyerfest Auction Weather Girl! 

This beautiful girl was one of my favorite models at that year's auction. She's just beautiful! She has great shading and detail in her paint job, it looks great on her and has a layer of gloss on top to make it all pop. I especially like the darker edges on her colored areas. She's amazing and I'd love to own her someday. Now if we could get something similar in a more attainable release! 

As for Weather Girl, she appeared in the Vintage Club in 2018 and at Breyerfest in 2019, among other things, after making her triumphant return from the "Breyer Vault" in 2016 (am I the only one hoping the "vault" concept never comes back? Dumb marketing gimmick if you ask me). So where will we see her next? She still hasn't appeared as a web special, so it's entirely possible we see her as some type of fowl-inspired release this year. She might also get a new regular run release, too - Arabians are popular and she's been out of the RR line since 2018. Maybe she'll get a mid-year releases? I'm holding out for a web special, though...as long as I can get drawn for it!  

Featured Model - 4/18/2020, Mont Tremblant

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...Mont Tremblant!



This pretty girl was the holiday web special for 2011. She's item #712047 and was a run of 350 on the Weather Girl mold sculpted by Brigitte Eberl.

As usual, silver filigree looks smashing on this mold! It's hard to screw up this type of paint job, though. I may be biased, as silver filigree is one of my favorite colorways. There's not much else to say about this one - she was pretty popular when she first came out, but I'm not sure if she's still popular these days.

The silver filigree colorway has been sadly neglected for the last few years - we got one every year for several years, but now it's been almost 4 years since we had one. I suppose Breyer must have gotten tired of being predictable, and it does get a little boring to see the same color released year after year. But maybe this year we'll get a silver filigree! I hope so.

As for Weather Girl herself, she was used at last year's Breyerfest, so I don't anticipate her showing up anywhere for this year's online 'Fest, nor do I see her being used as a web special. Maybe she'll get a new RR release? Or a web special release next year? I hope so!

New Arrivals: Liver Chestnut Natasha, Decorator Hero’s Welcome, Banner

Next in our series of New Arrivals to the herd: the liver chestnut Natasha!



Breyer confirmed only a few days ago that she is in fact a run of 30, so I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten one. Well, technically my husband got her in one of his many trips through the SR line. He got the decorator surprise this year, too - maybe I should have him go through the line every time? It probably couldn't hurt.

When I first unwrapped her, I saw she wasn't the expected Natasha color, but put her aside pretty much immediately and didn't think too much of it. Clearly I didn't have the luck to draw something SUPER rare, right? It had to be some kind of half-and-half run. This was in the chaos of Friday morning, when all kinds of variations were turning up and anything was possible. So I didn't get too excited about the special Natasha...until it became clear this was anything but half-and-half. Or thirds. or fourths. Or...you get the idea.

I'll admit this Natasha isn't the rarest model in my collection, but I'm really grateful that my Weather Girl collection will remain almost complete! And I'll be watching to see what prices this mold brings on the secondary market, so I know exactly how much she's worth.

Next, let's take a look at the decorator Hero's Welcome!

I could have sworn that this model was matte, but Breyer is claiming all of the decorators were glossy this year, so...he must be glossy, I guess. I still haven't decided if I'm going to name him Pond Scum, Swamp Gas or something else - Silver Moss, maybe? He seems to be right in the middle, color-wise - not overly green, but not all that silvery either. Silvery Moss? Clearly I need to think about it more.

We laughed when I unwrapped this one, because it seems like we always get the decorator (in years when there is one). And usually we get both finishes, to boot! I'll admit I kind of wonder what Breyer was thinking with this one, color-wise (is that supposed to be army green?), and since Sommer didn't design it, we can't even get an explanation from her! He's pretty, in his own way...but maybe I will name him Pond Scum.

Lastly, here's Banner!



I didn't expect this model to be as popular as he was, considering the lukewarm reaction from the hobby when he was first introduced, but I suppose I should have expected it, considering his low run number. Someone said the numbers worked out so there were only 42 of them per hour? Crazy stuff. I was worried about not being able to get one, but we ultimately ended up with three of them - I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try to pull a blue one. Lightning didn't strike twice there, but it was interesting to see the different variations in the run. One of the two I sold had a very orange muzzle! Interesting stuff. Now all I have to do is figure out how I'm going to fit this one onto my shelves...

That's all I've got for today. Check back later for more New Arrivals!

New Arrivals: Natasha, Glossy Pearl Hero's Welcome and Hal

Next in our series of new arrivals: Natasha!



I'm a bit surprised this special run has gone under the radar as much as it has, since I had thought the Weather Girl was a pretty popular mold. But I got the liver chestnut Natasha in my first trip through the store, so when I got this one later, it was almost as an afterthought. She doesn't look like the promo photos (do they ever...?),  but she's still nice. I think this run really should have had a matte/glossy split to help with sales, even if that meant I had to keep buying her all weekend trying to get both. I know I've pooh-poohed that in the past, but as far as I know, the Natashas didn't sell out, and she would have been a perfect candidate for gloss.

Next: the glossy pearl Hero's Welcome!

I'm so glad I managed to pull a glossy this year! Well, other than the decorator, since it appears those are also all glossy (My husband pulled that one this year). At first I thought I'd gotten a third matte pearl, so it was a nice surprise to unwrap him and see SHINY! He doesn't have a lot of flaws, either, so it's win-win. And he has a nice gold sheen to his color that I'm not sure my matte pearl has - or maybe the gloss just brings it out more. Either way, he's pretty!

Lastly, let's take a look at Hal!

I feel like Hal has been another sadly-overlooked model this year - probably because of his plain chestnut wrapper (though the production run size and purchase price probably didn't help; $75 for this, really?). His paintjob has a lot of nice shading, and he has that long white blaze to complement his face. His eyes aren't terribly detailed though, and he has those pink eyewhites that make me wonder if he's been burning the candle at both ends again. But I think he'll look nice on the shelf next to Dundee!

That's all for now - tune in again soon for more new arrivals!

Natasha it is!

Wednesday's sneak peek has been revealed - it's Natasha after all!



Ooh, she's pretty! The first (and so far, only) item I need from the special run line! Part of me hopes she won't be the matte/glossy split - for simplicity's sake - and the other part of me hopes she is, because she'd be beautiful in gloss. I guess we'll have to wait and see! Hopefully the vendor sheet leaks again this year so we can find out in advance!

Another teaser on the blog, plus Vintage Club reveals!

Exciting news today - there's another sneak peek on the blog! Check it out!



Looks like a Weather Girl front leg to me - it's about time they post something I want to buy! From the blog:

Our next Special Run model is sure to weave its way into your hearts!

So I'm guessing it's a Black Widow reference and the model's name will be Natasha? I guess we'll have to wait until the official reveal - probably on Friday. The color looks like some kind of buckskin? I guess with the spider reference they could be going with a garden spider's colors (sort of), but I'd expect something named for Black Widow to be, well, black...(or red, or red and black, but they've already done a bay model with Diana). I guess we'll find out when we find out.

In other exciting news, Vintage Club welcome letters are also going out to club members, and Breyer decided to tell us what this year's releases after all! It just took them longer than usual, and there aren't any photos of them yet...But still.

So, the remaining releases for this year are a gambler's choice Shire Mare in four colors and...the Thoroughbred Mare and Nursing Foal!!! In..."soft dappled buckskin tobiano." Boo, I was hoping for glossy alabaster...though I'll probably have to buy them either way. I wonder if they'd make a nice family with Bristol? I guess we'll find out! And this year's Stablemate freebie is a mare and foal set - no word on which molds.

Also, this year's optional model Claude (the charcoal Shannondell) will be released in November. Usually it comes out earlier than that, but Breyer's not that stupid - tons of people would buy him and then bail on the rest of the releases.  They'll probably end up with a mountain of unsold Thoroughbred Mare/Nursing Foal sets as it is, so I can't really blame them for that. I'm excited to see photos of the rest of the releases!

Finn and Grace are here!

Good news, everyone! My Finn and Grace models are finally here, and I have photos to share! I'll start with Finn - behold!



No, I didn't get the rainbow, sadly. So this guy will be for sale. As a reminder, he's a mini-me of Lucy, and I think he matches her fairly well. His spots are smaller than hers and he doesn't have the molded-on halter, but otherwise he's a good match.

Although all of the Finns I've seen photos of look pretty nice, I wish the teeth had been executed a little better. They look like someone just slapped some white paint on there, and what equid has such perfectly white teeth, anyway? They'd look a little less weird if they were more of an ivory/slightly yellowed shade, but then I guess people would probably complain about it.

Other than the weird teeth, my Finn looks to be in pretty good shape, and since I don't collect the G2 Mule, he'll be for sale soon. On to Grace!

I got the dapple gray - my favorite of the three! Yay!

She's pretty flawless, too - I didn't see anything wrong with her, except for a slightly bent left eartip (which is common with these girls).

Dapple gray is my favorite real-life horse color, so it's not surprising that I liked this color best of the three. I'll be on the lookout for the other two, though. Hopefully the prices go down eventually...

As for her sticker, I'm not much for leaving those on (and it was already starting to come off), so I stuck it on her COA. I doubt she'll ever be for sale, and even if I did eventually sell her, I doubt any potential buyer would be terribly concerned about it either. As long as I still have it, right?

All in all, I'm very happy with my Grace - I just wish I hadn't lost so much money selling the previous two releases in the club. I'm really hoping next year's club either has more releases I want (not likely), or it doesn't have any modern molds at all (somewhat likely). Here's hoping!

As for next year's club, I did get a sneak peek of one of the releases with my Grace. Check it out!



Drat! I think I predicted the Pacer for the 2017 club, but I didn't stick with him for later years for some reason. Oh well! That's a beautiful color on him, but the mold isn't for me, sadly. Well, that's one Vintage Club 2019 release I don't need to worry about buying - hopefully we get to see the rest of them soon. Now, you'll have to excuse me while I go listen to the Rockford Files theme song.

And now Grace is available!

Sheesh, I knew it was probably a good idea to wait on purchasing Finn, but I didn't think they'd release Grace the very next day. But I'm not going to complain - I've been waiting for this girl all year!



I want all three colors, but I'm most partial to the dapple gray, followed by the mahogany bay. With any luck I can get the two colors I don't need for a not-terrible price. I did finally sell my Roman earlier this week...for less of a loss than I sold Clara and Mae for. I suppose that's the best I could have hoped for. I hope Breyer doesn't put any modern molds in next year's Vintage Club, because, well...I'm not interested in doing this again next year. Hah!

I hope everyone gets the Grace color they wanted!

Breyerfest Closeups: Grace

Greetings, everyone! I'll be writing about Grace today. She's otherwise known as the upcoming final release in the 2018 Vintage Club - the Weather Girl trio! So, without further ado, here are some photos!

I guess I only took three photos of these ladies, which is disappointing. Anyway, above is the mahogany bay! Her right front leg looks a little warped, which is unfortunate. She looks pretty faithful to the original mahogany bay PAM, but I feel like her socks should be a little darker. The original release tended to have some overspray on the socks.

Next, let's look at the dapple gray!

Interestingly, this one is a black-point dapple gray, which is a variation on the original dapple gray that ran from 1982-1984. Interesting that they would pick that color for this "rerelease," considering the original dapple gray color was in the regular run line for something like 16 years, but I suppose the black-point is the most popular on the secondary market, so there it is. I think I like this one the best of the three, incidentally. That sticker's gotta come off, though.

Lastly, let's look at the alabaster!



This pretty girl even has lipliner, which was a variation that could sometimes be found on the old alabaster PAMs, though I don't remember if it was the matte or glossy release (or both) that had it. She's definitely pretty, but I like the dapple gray the most. Either way, I'll be looking for whichever two colors I don't get from the club on the secondary market.

Honestly, I'll probably be wishing I just hadn't joined the club this year and bought all three of these mares on the secondary market, because I lost a lot of money selling the Clara and Mae set. I haven't managed to sell Roman yet, but it's not looking too good for him either. So if they do this again next year, I'm definitely sitting the club out. Sorry, Breyer, but most of these models have almost no value on the secondary market and it's just not worth it for those of us "modern" collectors to join.

But that's enough griping for now. Tune in soon for more Breyerfest Closeups!

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!

New Arrivals: Nazruddin, Repeat the Beat and Volunteer Model

I'm almost done taking quick cell phone photos of my Breyerfest 2017 models! Huzzah! More photos of things from the event, like the sneak peeks in the Collector Club tent, will have to wait until I've dug out my camera card. I've been extremely busy with work since we got back, and that's not going to change anytime soon, so it might be a while until that happens...oh well. Let's take a look at one of my Nazruddins!

 

Unfortunately, all I've been hearing online (and seeing, amongst all of my Nazruddins) is that somebody at Breyer really screwed the pooch with these models.  I'm not usually one to complain about poor quality models, but I got 8 Nazruddins and all of them have nasty flaws. These models are the model equivalent of Scrubs' HFFA.

 

Now, don't get me wrong - this color is really nice, and and it looks really good on the Marwari. They also looked good being carried around by all the little kids at the Horse Park all weekend - like they belonged there, unlike something like Simba or last year's squashed-looking Imperador. But then you look at it up close and see things like this:

 

 What even is that? Did they paint the area underneath the mane the mane color before they actually attached the manes? Did they try to mask the mane off? The edges look too sharp to be overspray, but I'm not an airbrush expert. And all eight of my Nazruddins look like that to varying degree. I have all of the previous releases on this mold and none of them look remotely like that.

 

This particular guy's paint job isn't that horrible other than the mane thing, but another thing I noticed was that of a total of eight Nazruddin models, five of them have visible seam lines on their faces. It's not guaranteed that these will turn into seam splits, but it's not good all the same. I've never seen so many models in the same run with seam issues before, and now five at once? Sheesh. And the three that don't have the seam lines have other issues (warped legs, paint booboos, etc) that are making me lean toward keeping one of the others despite the seam issues. I still haven't even decided which one I'm going to keep yet because every time I start looking at them, I see more issues! Bleh. You'd think of all the recent celebration models to slack off on, they'd have done it with Gooitzen, since all they were doing with those was spraying them flat black and then glossing them afterward. These paint jobs at least took a little effort!

Well, enough of that. Let's move on to Repeat the Beat!

 

In contrast to the Nazruddin fiasco, I couldn't find a single flaw on my Repeat the Beat (after I spent a few minutes in the Breyer Store first looking for one that had decently-painted horseshoes and no other visible flaws). So, another Bluegrass Bandit joins my nearly-complete conga! 

 

I really like the color on this model - this style of painting roans is very appealing to me for some reason (although if I was really going to nitpick I'd say the real Pete isn't quite as roany). 

 

I really liked the brownish undertones on this model, though it was hard to get them to show up in the picture. He's a handsome guy!

Lastly, let's take a look at this year's volunteer model, who doesn't seem to have a name:

 

There was a fair bit of controversy around this model due to her weird blood mark. I'll admit it is a little oddly-placed, but it doesn't really bother me - I'm just glad I was able to get one, despite not volunteering.

 

I was very fortunate to be able to trade one of my glossy Bollywood Surprise models for her - I guess the surprise being on a model I don't collect is a good thing after all! Word on the street is that these models were painted in New Jersey, as has been the trend for volunteer models the last few years, and like Repeat the Beat, I couldn't find a single flaw on her (other than her bloodshot pink eyewhites, but that's just personal preference).

 

Look at her pretty face! I actually think the blood mark sets off her color very nicely - her other side is sorta boring without the blood mark. She's a worthy addition to the herd! Hopefully we find out her name and the quantity produced at some point.

That's all I have for tonight - I'll try to get to photographing the Breyerfest 2017 Stablemates I got, but once again, no promises!