How Stella Got Her Groove Back

So, Breyer finally revealed this year's Tractor Supply special runs on the website today! Check her out!



And...could it be? They finally decided to step up their game with the promo photos? Say it ain't so!



In any case, she's beautiful, and I take back everything I said about being tired of all the black. She's not black! She's a beautiful chocolate color. Actually, she looks a lot like Milky Way's pinto half-sister. And I love her high leg whites!

I haven't been able to find her in a store yet, but it shouldn't be much longer. Maybe next week? I hope so!

Derp! I forgot about the Friday reveal...

Bleh, I can't believe I forgot about the Vintage Club set that was supposed to be revealed on Friday! Say hello to...Lillian and Molly?



Well, those names are random. Cute name for the foal, though.

Anyway, this set is beautiful! They don't look like they'll be an exact match for Bristol, but they'll be close enough. I did find a set to purchase secondhand (not terribly difficult, if you're also wanting a set), so I'm excited to get them in hand and take a photo of them with Bristol. I especially like the contrast of the black part of the mare's neck against the white and then the buckskin. I hope we get to order these soon!

As for the Thoroughbred Mare and Nursing Foal themselves, I'm glad we finally got to see them in he Vintage Club, though I'll always be sad we didn't get them in glossy alabaster. Maybe in a few years, when Breyer has to start repeating molds? And no, buckskin pinto isn't a vintage color, but I can see where Breyer is coming from here. Vintage Club models aren't known for being in high demand, other than the gambler's choice. People can't even sell most of them for their issue price, as I found out last year. Something with a modern paint job on a vintage mold is theoretically more likely to sell well (especially at the $135 price point Breyer can't seem to let go of), so I can see why they'd use a modern color. But I was really hoping for that glossy alabaster...

Featured Model - 9/7/2019, Sand Dollar

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...Sand Dollar!



This little guy is item #90141 on the Bouncer mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody. He was one of the Connoisseur releases for 2007 and was a run of 350 pieces.

I picked this model because I think it's high time for a new release on Bouncer! I think this guy is one of the better-executed Connoisseur models, despite his chicken-wire dapples - his color is soft enough that you don't notice it too much. It's interesting that I like this model so much, considering he's very similar to Victory, who I wasn't as much of a fan of. For that matter, it looks like Victory doesn't have any dapples at all - kinda disappointing for a 10-piece run. But I digress.

When did we last see a new release on Bouncer? He was an auction model at Breyerfest last year, but it looks like the last attainable release on him was Icicle back in 2013. Sheesh! For a mold as popular as he is, he hasn't even had that many releases in the first place. So I hope we get a new one soon!

2019 Retired List!

It's that time of year again - time to find out which Breyer regular run products will be discontinued this year. Here's the list:

Traditional

1474 GG Valentine and Heartbreaker
1493 Sgt. Reckless
1716 SBH Phoenix
1756 Valegro
1774 Hwin
1775 Van Gogh
1776 Paint Me a Pepto
1777 Fantasia Del C and Gozosa
1791 Latigo Dun It
1792 California Chrome
1794 Empres++++//
1795 Milo
1796 Shadow
1797 LV Integrity
1803 King
1807 Protocol
9304 Justify Limited Edition Resin

Classics/Freedom Series

61098 Heroes of the West
62045 Palomino Morgan Horse and Foal
62046 Chestnut Arabian Horse and Foal
62047 Grey Arabian Horse and Foal
62052 Cosmus
62053 Day Dreamer
62119 Malik - 2019 Horse of the Year

Stablemates

5390 Horse and Foal Assortment
5425 Horse Lover's Collection Shadow Box
59204 Deluxe Animal Hospital

Traditional Accessories

554 Ryan - Hunter Rider
2073 Show Stable Accessories

Spirit Collection

9200 Spirit (Traditional 1:9 Scale)
9215 Paint Spirit & His Stable
9218 Spirit Paint Kit

Craft and Activity

4100 My Dream Horse Customizing Kit - Thoroughbred
4204 Decorate Your Horse

Plush

4821 Butterscotch
4822 S'more
4845 Classic Stick Horse 6pc asst.
4877 Little Bits - Magic
4878 Little Bits - Tilly
4879 Little Bits - Star

Horse Stories

6153 "For Horse Crazy Girls Only" Book

Pocket Box

1584 Pocket Box Animals

Pony Gals

7107 Ella Color Change Surprise
7197 Scribbles Color & Wash Pony

CollectA

88006 Sow
88044 Blue Whale
88168 Zebra Foal
88234 Hereford Bull
88235 Hereford Cow
88341 Timber Wolf - Howling
88820 Palomino Falabella Mare

Enchantmints

B1021 Ballet Shoes
B1202 Unicorn Musical Treasure Box
B1604 Love of Horses
B2502 Ballet
B2504 Ballet Class
B4009 Monarchs
B4020 Ladybug
B2701 Fairy Tale Princess
MA1119 Butterfly Princess
MA4004 Ballerinas

What are my thoughts on the retired models? I'm surprised to see Empres and Protocol get the axe so soon - Empres, because it seemed like he'd been a pretty good seller, and Protocol because, well, didn't we just get that one? Well, whatever. I'd say it's about time GG Valentine and Heartbreaker were discontinued - they've been in the RR line since 2011. That's practically an eternity these days! They must have been good sellers, along with SBH Phoenix and Valegro. Also interesting to see they're already retiring the Justify resin - they probably don't want to end up practically giving away the overstock like they did with the American Pharoah resin.

I'm pleased to see a decent number of Classics being discontinued - that means we'll get new ones next year! Huzzah! Hopefully a new Mason is among them, along with some type of fun decorator. I'm also excited to see the Stablemates Shadowbox collection has finally been discontinued - are we getting a new shadowbox next year? I hope so. That one could definitely use an update.

Now that the 2019 Retired List has been released, that makes me excited to see what Breyer has planned next year! I suppose we'll have to wait until practically December 31 again like last year, but the sooner the better!

Walmart Mystery Unicorns Series 2 are here!

Good news, everyone! My husband found a box of the new Series 2 mystery unicorns at Walmart yesterday! Check them out!



I even got the chase piece! I've noticed I don't seem to have much trouble getting the chase pieces I don't want. Now, the ones I do want? Never in a million years. But I digress. Here's a closer photo of the chase!




I really do like the color on her - she looks like rainbow sherbet. Mmm! Unfortunately, something went wrong during the QC process (or perhaps the long boat ride from China):



Boo, a bent leg! Hopefully it's an easy fix for whoever I end up selling her to. The quality on the other models was about what I expected - they seem to be able to do a good job on the body color on these, but then they get lazy with the hoof colors and it ends up slopped onto the fetlocks (or higher in some cases). Bleh.

Here's a quick look at the Warmblood Mare next to her:



I LOVE this color! That pink/purple/blue color scheme is definitely hot right now in certain circles - probably due to the Frozen movie's popularity, or it's just big with the kids in general. Remember St. Moritz from a couple years back? More of that, please.

I'm definitely really pleased with the colors they picked for this go-round. One of my central complaints in the past is that Breyer keeps on painting all the unicorns white, or something mostly-white in general, so I'm glad they really got away from that with this run. More colors, please! And more molds, for that matter...aside from the Walking Thoroughbred and the Warmblood Mare in this assortment, I think the other molds have been pretty well played out for blind bags in general and unicorns in particular. Let's see some more variety!

Also, I had hoped some of these colors would be inspired by the Classic Zodiac series from a while back, like a couple of the colors in the first Walmart unicorn set, but it doesn't appear that they were, other than possibly the Arabian (Aries?) and maybe the Alborozo (Scorpio? Maybe? It's probably a reach). I only have one of the Zodiacs in my collection, so it would be nice to see more of those colors get reused.

That's all I have for today - tune in tomorrow (hopefully) for discussion of the 2019 Retired List!

Teaser for the next Vintage Club release!

Hello, readers! Today's (small) update concerns the upcoming next release for this year's Vintage Club. Behold!



We already know it's the Thoroughbred Mare and Foal set from the welcome letter, so I don't know why all the secrecy. I think they're supposed to be buckskin pinto? The photo looks like they may be basecoated, as well.

Supposedly we're supposed to get the full reveal on Friday, so hopefully that's the case. I do actually want to buy this release (I've bought a few TB Mare/Foal sets this year to fill out my conga), so I'll be excited to get them in hand!

Fall Releases are out!

Good news, everyone! Breyer's fall releases were announced today! I'll start with this year's brick-and-mortar special run, Khalid:



A new Marwari? With the non-Marwari ears? Sign me up! I have to admit, I like the Marwari version better (especially with his original hair), but this guy looks nice. I'll be excited to see what that belly spot looks like in person!

Next, the Fall Limited Edition:

He's limited to 3000 pieces, and he's definitely interesting! His color is based on black opal. I love opals, so of course I had to order this one. I hope he's as striking as a real black opal, although I don't know what types of paint Breyer would have to use to get the opal effect. I'm guessing he'll be translucent, as well.

Next, a new Classic horse-and-book set:



The Pie, on the Classics Amelia mold! She looks nice, although I don't collect Amelia. Black-and-white pinto is always so striking!

Lastly, we have a couple of Classics unicorn foals!



Say hello to Zoe and Zander! They're cute, but nothing I need to collect. But hey, new unicorns! I'm not going to complain about that.

That's all I have for today! I hope Khalid and Lightning Ridge get here fast!