New Appaloosa Bella for 2019!

There's a new Bella coming out in the new year - as part of Breyer's Kid's Club Deluxe set! Check her out!

It's a little bit confusing, because the email about her specifically mentions "a beautiful Appaloosa" as the special edition Classics model included with the membership, but the actual website for the Kid's Club says the special edition model is the buckskin Morgan. I'm guessing the wording hasn't been updated yet and the Appaloosa is the model you get if you join the 2019 club, as opposed to 2018.

Anyway, she's an interesting color - at first I thought chestnut leopard, but her mane and tail are white, so...palomino? Definitely interesting. Nothing I need to buy, fortunately. She does come with a cute little blanket, though:



And the blanket complements her color nicely. Good work, Breyer!

That's all I have for this post - hopefully we get more exciting reveals soon!

Free calendar and card for Collector Club members!

Hello, readers! We've had a bit of a dry spell with regards to news again lately, but this is pretty exciting - Breyer is giving away its 2019 calendar and Collector Club membership card for free! Even the shipping is free.

To get it, click here (make sure you're logged into your CC account first) and enter the CALCARD19 code at checkout. I believe this calendar has a photo of next year's bay Duende in it, and maybe it has other new things! I can't wait to get mine! 

Featured Model - 12/8/2018, Nutcracker Prince

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...Nutcracker Prince!

This handsome guy was the 2009 Holiday Horse. He came with a cute little outfit (this was before the days of increasingly-complicated costumes) which even incorporated a couple of little Christmas ornaments into it. He was a regular run for that year and was item #700109 on the Huckleberry Bey mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody.

I like this model because, well, at the heart of it he's a pretty white horse and there's just something special about a pretty white horse. He's technically gray (the closest an Arabian can get to being white), but I wouldn't have complained if he really was straight-up white.

As for Huck himself, I feel like I may have done a Featured Model post or two about him in the recent past? He was used as a web special after Breyerfest and then popped up at the Scottsdale Stampede, so I suspect Breyer may give him a rest for a while. With Breyerfest coming up, though, who knows what could happen. I hope we see next year's new releases soon! 

Let's Kick This Pig, and other news

Selections for Hawthorn the hog are out, so check your Collector Club accounts if you haven't already! I really don't think it'll be hard to get your hands on one of these guys, though, so don't get too discouraged if you weren't drawn this round.

In other news, today I got an email from Breyer announcing that this weekend only, you can upgrade Ground shipping to 2-3-Day shipping for the low, low price of $9.99! I haven't bothered to check and see what the normal price for 2-3-Day shipping is, but I'm pretty sure a better bargain would have been letting us upgrade shipping for free. I mean, come on.

In the same email, they said the Collector Club discount (enter DOUBLECC18 at checkout) has been doubled, also for this weekend only. Normally the discount is 10%, so 20% isn't really anything to sneeze at. I thought about biting, but I think I'm going to wait until later in the month and see if they do a Collector Club Appreciation event again, or the end-of-year warehouse cleanout - usually they do 20% off plus free shipping, which is about the only time I like ordering from Breyer. But they still have the free shipping offer on orders $50 and over, so it might be worth it if you still have that option. Hopefully they get the Collector Club Appreciation event going on again soon!

Another 2019 Vintage Club release revealed!

In today's other exciting news, the optional release in next year's Vintage Club was revealed today! Meet Claude:




Ooh, a new Shannondell! Exciting. And there'll be 30 matte models scattered randomly amongst the other 470 models in the run.

I don't collect Shannondell, but that random smattering of matte models is almost tempting me to rejoin the Vintage Club anyway. And the color looks really nice on him! Maybe they'll show us more of next year's VC releases in the next few days? I don't know how close the club is to selling out, but hopefully it can wait a little longer.

Hopefully Breyer comes to their senses and shows us the rest of next year's releases - I know I'm not the only one who doesn't want to commit to spending so much money mostly-sight-unseen!

"I can get 70 woodgrains to the gallon on this hog."

Greetings, readers! There's a new, if bewildering, special run available for entry on the Breyer website! Behold, Hawthorn:



Wow, a woodgrain pig! That just screams, "animal micro-run," right? Especially since we haven't had one yet this year? Well, apparently not!

Limited to just 350 pieces, Hawthorn is priced at $125, including shipping and handling, and comes packaged in a mail order box.

"Just" 350 pieces? For $125 each? Sheesh, they could justify that price (or more) if it was a run of 40, but 350? We'll be digging them out of the store at Breyerfest for years to come!

I wonder if they had to make the run that large because woodgrain is historically a time-consuming and difficult process? I would have thought that'd make it more likely this would be a micro-run, but I guess that's not the case. And you have to enter to be drawn for it to boot?  Wow...

And yes, I know the title doesn't quite make sense, but I thought it was funny and it was the first thing I thought of when the website kept referring to Hawthorn as a hog. Teehee!

Well, anyway...good luck to everyone who enters for this guy. I don't think you'll have trouble getting your hands on one...

Featured Model - 12/1/2018, Leahs Fancy Breyer

Hello and welcome to yet 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...Leahs Fancy Breyer!



This model was a portrait of the real Leahs Fancy Breyer, a guest at Breyerfest 2000. The real Leahs Fancy Breyer was the latest foal of that year's Celebration Horse, Leahs Fancy Chick. She was item #710600 and was a run of 2,500 on the Amber mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody.

I really like the paint job on this release! She has a lot of depth to her color, and I tend to like buckskins anyway. And she has a decent amount of detail for the era she came from - her markings were probably masked the old way (with the metal clamp-on masks) versus the fancy laser-cut stickers they use these days. She has stripes on all of her hoofs, her chestnuts are painted, even her muzzle has shading, and she even has just a tad bit of white at the end of her tail! I like her a lot.

The Amber mold (usually with her twin sister Ashley) has been used quite a bit in the 21 years since their debut - usually in the regular run line. Wow, has that much time really gone by? I suppose it has. Geez, these molds are now old enough to drink (in the US)!

Anyway, Amber has seen plenty of use, most recently appearing in the regular run line as Sweet Pea. Where will she show up next? The foal molds don't tend to get a lot of special run releases, but you never know. She, Ashley and Marabella are all old enough to show up as holiday mare and foal set - maybe we'll see them used for that next year, since they'll be the ripe old age of 22. Sheesh, that makes me feel old.

One of these days I'd like to see some Trad foals show up as web specials, but I suppose Breyer would want to charge their usual sky-high prices for them, which is hard to justify spending on a foal mold. I guess I can always hope, though! In the meantime, I'm sure Amber and Ashley will show up again soon.