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!

Sanibel is here! (And Dark Horse Surprise numbers!)

Good news, everyone! My Sanibel arrived today! Check him out!



Unfortunately, I think the Sanibel I got isn't much more subtle in the dapple department than the sample at Breyerfest was.



I didn't see any major flaws on him, though, so I suppose I can't complain about the dapples too much. He does have the hint of shimmer to him, though it was hard to capture in photographs. And as usual, I like how detailed his eyes are.

He does have nice shading, but just...take a look at these dapples.



They're just too uniform and evenly distributed. I had the same issue with my palomino splash Dark Horse. But I doubt Breyer would exchange this guy for another one, so I suppose I'm stuck with this one.

Speaking of Dark Horses, the quantities for the Dark Horse Surprise were finally released today! So, here we go!

Splash Palomino: 1050 matte, 175 glossy
Appaloosa: 850 matte, 175 glossy
Bay Pinto: 575 matte, 175 glossy
Decorator: 425 matte, 175 glossy
Black: 225 matte, 175 glossy

Interestingly enough, the quantities of the glossies this year are the same as they were last year, at 175. They've been increasing over the past few years, so maybe Breyer has finally reached their stopping point? I guess we'll find out next year.

From 10 special run tickets this year, we were able to get Dark Horse Surprises with 8 of them. Here's what we pulled:

Matte Splash Palomino: 2
Matte Appaloosa: 2
Matte Bay Pinto: 2
Matte Decorator: 1
Glossy Decorator: 1

I suppose that's not too bad of a distribution, but I still wish I'd been able to get a matte black to complete the set. I'll have to wait until the prices go down and see if I can get my hands on him later.

Also, the word on Facebook is that new blind blag Stablemates and Stablemate sets are showing up at Walmarts around the country. We don't have them in stock locally, but I'm sure they'll show up at some point. The chase piece for the new blind bag assortment is a pink-and-black Icelandic, so I'll definitely be looking for them!

Featured Model - 7/28/2018, Pegasus Silver

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...the Treasure Hunt Pegasus on Silver!



This guy was the prize model for the 2007 Treasure Hunt. It's item #1304 and was produced on the Silver mold (with wings added) sculpted by Kathleen Moody.

2007 was only the second year of the Treasure Hunt, so things were a little bit different. While the pegasus was the prize model the whole time, Breyer snuck a couple of rare variations into the mix. Charcoal and silver filigree models could be found on store shelves, instead of the regular four colors, which predictably sent collectors into a frenzy.

I wasn't part of the hobby in 2007, so I don't have any firsthand experience with this iteration of the Treasure Hunt, but I'm kind of glad I missed it, honestly. There are a lot of tales of frustrated dealers, unsold product, complaints to Breyer from dealers and hobbyists, and then a few more of the pegasus models had to be produced after the end of the year for people who mailed in their redemption forms late. All in all, it sounds like the whole thing was a dumpster fire from start to finish, which probably contributed to the Treasure Hunt's eventual demise.

Anyway, I do really like this model - I love his pearly goodness, and his shading, and his mold does make a good pegasus. My only problem is that his wings are too small, but that's a recurring problem with Breyer's pegasus models. To be fair, a pegasus model with realistically-sized wings would be way too cumbersome to be practical, and this is a fantasy creature we're talking about. But it would be nice if the wings were a little bigger.

Silver has experienced a little bit of a resurgence with Breyer as of late. The mold was so popular after its introduction that Breyer used it for pretty much everything, but after 2010 it was given a bit of a rest. He's started to pop up again more often lately (Chiquita Banana, Santana, Liberty, etc.), so it's only a matter of time until we see him again. Maybe he'll show up at Scottsdale Stampede? That could be interesting!

Breyerfest Closeups: Sanibel (And Breyerfest Leftovers!)

Welcome to my first Breyerfest Closeups post from Breyerfest 2018! In Breyerfest Closeups, I post photos of as-yet-unreleased models from the Collector Club tent. Since Sanibel selections have already been made and some people are getting their models already, I figured I'd cover him first. But before I get to that, the leftovers from this year's Breyerfest are now available on the website (to three-day ticket holders only). So get on over there if there are leftovers you want to buy! There's nothing particularly exciting there, but if you need another Dead Heat or Newmarket, Breyer's got you covered!

Anyway, back to Sanibel. Here's a picture!

According to Sommer on Blab, the models are supposed to have a slight pinkish hue to make them look like the inside of a seashell. I can definitely see it on the above example!

Look at his cute blaze and pink nose! I love it.

I included this photo of his tail because it looked slightly chalky to me. That would definitely be interesting!

I love the shading on this guy, too.



His dapples look a lot like chicken wire from this angle, but the in-hand models I've seen have all been pretty subtle in the dapple department, so maybe it won't be that much of an issue.

Hopefully those photos were useful! I can't wait until my Sanibel gets here next week. See you then!

New Arrivals: Brass Hat, Churchill and Palomino Splash Dark Horse

Good evening, readers! I have more new arrivals to go over, and I finally got a chance to put them into my photo tent! Today I'll be covering Brass Hat (Celebration model), Churchill (Volunteer model) and the Palomino Splash Pinto Dark Horse Surprise. Let's start with Brass Hat!

I was pleasantly surprised with this year's crop of Celebration Models. After last year's Nazruddin trainwreck, I was prepared to find flaws with all 9 of my Brass Hats, but fortunately I didn't really find problems with any of them. Maybe if I took them out of their boxes and went over them with a fine-tooth comb I'd find flaws, but the quality this year was a huge improvement over last year.

One of the things I noticed about the Brass Hats is that they have a hint of a blue shimmer to their color, which is certainly interesting. I wouldn't describe the real Brass Hat as having a bluish look to him, but maybe Breyer was trying to make him look ~special~. In any case, he certainly stands out. I'm still sore about not winning a glossy one, though.

Moving on, let's take a look at Churchill!

My greatest fear, since returning to the hobby in 2010, has been that Othello would be the volunteer model in a year I wasn't volunteering, since there's no way I would want or be able to pay the asking prices for him. So I feel very fortunate that I was asked to volunteer last-minute this year, because after seeing his secondary market prices...yikes! It wasn't just a stroll through the park to earn him, though - this year was definitely the hardest I've ever had to work for a volunteer model. He's mine, he's beautiful, and soon he'll be able to take his place on the shelf next to his brothers.

Some readers may recall that it took us until Saturday to find out the volunteer model this year, when we usually find out on Friday after they're distributed to live show volunteers. The story from Breyer is that they forgot the volunteer models in Jersey (!) and had to have them overnighted to Kentucky. Oops! I bet that little oversight cost them a few arms and/or legs. These guys were definitely worth the wait, though.

Lastly, here's the Palomino Splash Dark Horse Surprise!



This guy is definitely one of my favorite of this year's surprise colors, possibly because of his slightly-pearly mane and tail. I love his darker shading and his pinto pattern - I don't think splash has been used for a surprise model before. One nitpick I did have is that his dapples are evenly distributed all over his body, including over his topline, which just looks weird. I think it's because the dapples are so identical to each other - the chicken-wire effect strikes again. Better luck next time, I guess!

I'll stop here for today, but tune in next time for more new arrivals!

New Arrivals: Straight Bet, Lonesome Glory Reissue and Bay Leopard Dark Horse Surprise!

Up next in our list of new arrivals are Straight Bet, the Lonesome Glory reissue and the bay leopard Dark Horse Surprise! Let's start with Straight Bet:

I was very happy with this model. I actually ended up with two of them because I feared finding issues with the gloss, but they were both pretty nice. The "heart surgery scar" seam on the chest has been fixed (at least on those two), and I didn't see anything else wrong with them. Also, did anyone else notice he's pretty much the same color as the single-day Man o' War? I haven't gotten a photo of them together yet, but the similarity is uncanny. The MOW is almost a mini-me of Straight Bet!

Anyway, I love Straight Bet's shading and color, and I can't wait to get him onto the shelf next to Duende. (All of my recent purchases are hanging out on our entertainment center until we get a new shelf built.)

Next, let's look at the Lonesome Glory reissue!

I photographed the new LG with my original LG (in back). I've seen a lot of posts about this release on social media, usually complaints about how the reissue is a mare. This is most likely because Zenyatta is still in production, so Breyer pulled the whiteware for this run from the Zenyatta production line. I'd like to point out that the original Lonesome Glory is a stallion, while the real LG accomplished all his feats after being gelded, so clearly adherence to gender isn't high on Breyer's priority list. That and adding/subtracting parts on small runs isn't economically feasible, unlike with regular runs (see: adding a sheath to Wixom for Kong, or to Rejoice for All Glory, which was a larger production run).

Anyway, the new LG is in fact quite different from the original, as you can see. The markings are the same, though masked better on the reissue (duh), and the reissue is darker and semigloss rather than matte. Personally, I would have preferred that it be glossy to set it off from the original release even more, but there's enough difference between the two that it's not that big of a deal.

I also heard the QC on these models was iffy, but it didn't take me too long to find one that was acceptable to me, so I can't really comment on how bad they were. Well, that and after the third or fourth model I get bored and want to pick one so I can move along.

Lastly, here's the bay leopard Dark Horse!



Historically, leopard isn't my favorite Appaloosa color, so I'd have to say this one is my least favorite of all five colors. Fortunately, I don't find him completely ugly, unlike some past leopard Appys, so I don't have a problem with keeping him in the herd. It's interesting that all of the non-decorator colors had matching green (i.e. turf) bases. Maybe they figured green would be an interesting color, and if they were all the same they wouldn't have as many issues with pairing the right base with the right color. Dirt racing is dominant in North America, though, so I'd have thought they'd all be dirt-colored.

This guy brings me to a close for today, but tune in next time for more new arrivals (hopefully with better photos)!

Sanibel selections are out!

Breyer certainly didn't waste any time releasing Sanibel selections - they were already out by 11am today! And, wonder of wonders, I got picked! Joy upon joy, I get to spend more money mere days after spending a ton of money at Breyerfest!

Oh well. He's a handsome guy, and I can't wait to see what he looks like in person. Congrats to all the other winners out there!

New Arrivals: Winner's Circle, Julep and Pim

Breyerfest has been over for a week already! Where does the time go? Well, in lieu of anything more exciting to post about, I took some quick cellphone photos of a few of my new Breyerfest arrivals. First up are Winner's Circle and Julep and Pim! I'll start with Winner's Circle!

I'm pleased to report that he isn't cast from ABS plastic, like I thought he'd be. Nope, it appears he's made from good old cellulose acetate! Breyer must have decided to sell him for ABS price for the fun of it, I guess. I'm not really into having models signed, so I didn't test out the marker that came with him. Hopefully those were up to snuff! Otherwise, I think his color is really nice!

Next, my beautiful dark Julep:

Most of the Breyerfest models I've seen from this year were quite nice, quality-wise, and my Julep is no exception. I didn't see a flaw on her! She's dark and pretty and I can't wait to get her on my shelf with her sisters! Her color is stunning and I'm glad I added her to my collection.

And lastly, Pim:



New to Breyerfest packing jobs this year was the foam between the Pim foals' legs. I didn't save a sample of it, but just imagine small foam inserts between both pairs of legs. I don't know if it helped support the legs or not, but at least they tried, right? Not much else to say about this one, except Pim's name is still dumb and I'm probably not going to get over it. She is nice, though, and I love her blue eye.

That's all I have for right now - tune in soon for more Breyerfest models!

Featured Model - 7/21/2018, Maleficent

Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model! I made it back from Breyerfest and I'm ready to start things back up! Featured Model is 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...Maleficent!



Produced on the G3 Rearing Andalusian sculpted by Jane Lunger, this model was one of four Single-Day Stablemates from Breyerfest 2011. He was item #711212 and 750 models were produced.

For the longest time, I somehow forgot this model even existed. I knew about Merryweather, Flora and Fauna, but somehow Maleficent got purged from my mind, if he was ever there at all. But a couple of years ago I snagged a Merryweather on eBay and was stunned when I saw the little collector card he came with. It had a picture of Maleficent on it! I suppose it didn't help the situation that you almost never see Maleficent up for sale anywhere - he's a popular little guy.

I really like this model's color - he's a nice, dark purple, like a grape Popsicle. And if you look at him close, he has red eyes - just like the real (cartoon) Maleficent, right? Maybe not, but still. And this model has elegance and sassiness, just like cartoon Maleficent! Win-win.

As for the mold itself, he's a popular one, and shows up in the Breyer lineup frequently. Currently he's being used in the Dapples and Dots set, but he's appeared many times before that. I hope he gets another special run appearance soon!

Sanibel is on the website!

Well, they certainly didn't waste any time with that. Sanibel is now available for entry on the website!



From the website:

The J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge is located on Florida's Sanibel Island. This barrier island is home to many migratory birds and mangrove trees. Encompassing over 6,000 acres, visitors to the refuge can see Roseate spoonbills year-round. These wading birds have a stunning pink coloring that intensifies as they age. Sanibel Island is also known for its incredible shell-covered beaches.
Breyer's Sanibel is a pearly dapple rose grey - a nod to the natural beauty found on the island. With his mane and tail blowing in the breeze, you can just imagine him prancing along the surf at sunset! Sanibel comes with a clear removable base, and his belly is marked "Sanibel 2018."

I certainly hope I get picked for this guy! Sommer Prosser commented on Blab that he has a touch of pearly to his paint job, to make him more closely resemble the inside of a seashell. And it's so refreshing to see his price is only $135! They started jacking up the prices a few years ago, so it's been a while since we've seen one for that low of a price. Maybe they're taking pity on us for Breyerfest just getting over?

Presumably this is the last America the Beautiful web special? These models have all been so well-done that I'm sad to see the series end, but I don't think they'd continue it for a third year. Hats off to Sommer for designing so many beautiful models!

At any rate, good luck to everyone who enters! I'm definitely hoping I get pulled for this one! 

Breyerfest Blues and Loot

It's hitting me again - the Breyerfest Blues. I always feel sad after Breyerfest is over; it's my favorite event of the year, and it always seems like I spend the whole year waiting for it to be here, only for it to be over in what seems like 3 seconds. This year's Breyerfest went especially fast, what with volunteering and the costume contest and 9 special run line tickets and...yeah. But here are the fruits of my labors!



Because of how busy I was, I didn't have much time to shop the Clarion, nor were there really a lot of things I wanted to buy (I'd been hoping to find a Zebra, or a chestnut pinto Pop the Cork, or Crepe Suzette, but I guess it wasn't meant to be). My sales weren't the greatest either, which didn't help the situation.

But anyway. Here are some random photos of other purchases I made. I'll start with Celestine, this year's Holiday Horse:

Normally my husband buys the Holiday Horses for me as my Christmas present, but I took my only trip through the Breyer Store on Sunday morning and there were only three Celestines left and well...one of them accidentally ended up in my hands and went through the checkout with my other stuff and now I have a Celestine. Don't worry, hubby will find another horse to buy me for Christmas. Isn't she pretty? I can't get over how beautiful she is.

Here's a CHIN purchase; a glossy Harper!

I found this model in someone's hotel room at the CHIN, but I'm guessing it originated in the NPOD. According to people who did this year's NPOD, Breyer finally got wise about the more limited releases and had them all listed in a binder for people to go through and decide what they wanted to buy, rather than the knock-down-drag-out free-for-all of previous years. Glossy Harper was one of the entries in the binder, so that's why I think this one started out in the NPOD. Her price wasn't too much of a markup from the NPOD price, so I'm happy with it (and her).

Finally, check out these two Juleps I got from the special run line. One of them is much darker than the other!



It's a little less obvious in the photo, but the dark one is on the right. Normally I don't really go for variations, but that dark one is definitely going to stay with me. The other (and her foal) will be for sale later on. But the dark Julep is especially pretty, I think. She almost looks more metallic than the light one, so I'm sure she'll look nice on the shelf next to Celestine.

That's all I've got for now, but eventually I'll be posting all of my purchases (from Breyer directly) with commentary, as well as up-close photos of various previews that haven't been released yet. Stay tuned!

Breyerfest Day 3: All Over (For Another Year)

Another Breyerfest is in the books! It's been a long weekend, but totally worth it. Although I haven't taken a picture of my volunteer model yet, feel free to drool over Robin's glossy one:

 

Word on the street is that there are five of these gorgeous guys. Aside from Robin's, I saw another one (not for sale) in a room at the Clarion,  so that makes two I've seen in the flesh. But that's probably the closest I'll ever get to owning one unless I find a money tree in my backyard.

Anyway, you've probably heard by now, but next year's theme is...this!

 

Salute to Horse Heroes, eh? Like...war heroes? Police horses? Old-timey fire wagon horses? Or even TV or movie horses? I guess we'll have to wait until next year to find out. At least Breyerfest is on the same weekend next year! As for that horse on the banner, I've heard mixed messages about who it is. Apparently someone asked a Breyer staffer about it and was told it was just a random horse they put on the banner, but...when has Breyer ever done anything random?

Personally, I'd be okay with the Celebration Horse being on the Moody ASB, as he's one of my favorite molds. And I hate to be a grouch, but...that mold has been done in palomino twice before, so any extras next year probably won't be easy to resell afterward. Not that any celebration models from the last few years haven't taken me months to sell or anything, but yeah...

Anyway. It's possible this palomino ASB is a portrait of some police horse or something, or it could just be a random model like Breyer said. But I doubt it's random, just for the record.

Our special run line luck continued to be lackluster today, as we failed to pull any other glossy surprises or either of the black ones. I was really hoping to be able to get the matte black to complete the matte set, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Maybe later the prices will drop to a less insane height and I can get my hands on him.

In other news, I finally got a By a Nose today - he's been selling out at every ticket time. This surprised me a little bit, as I thought Lonesome Glory's popularity had died down a bit in recent years, but I guess that isn't the case. If only he'd been the matte and glossy split instead of Sierra Rose! I suspect people would have been going even more crazy than usual over him.

As for possible leftovers, from what I've seen online, Newmarket, Dead Heat and Inari were the only things left after today's last ticket time. I'm really surprised Dead Heat flopped so hard - I thought both of those colors were really nice. I wonder if people being able to choose their color had something to do with that? I'm sure they'd have sold more if people had to keep buying them over and over until they got both colors, as that's what I was prepared to do on Friday.

Oh well. We'll see what's left when the leftovers go up for sale to ticket holders in a few weeks. In lieu of any other interesting photos, here's a lackluster one of Brass Hat I was able to snap in the Covered Arena after the raffle (no luck, again) this afternoon.

 

I'll have to post a loot photo later - I didn't buy as much at the Clarion this year as I have in past years, probably because my sales were so lackluster (until today, go figure). I'll have to try to get better things to sell next year, I guess.

Breyerfest Day 2: Insane Craziness

Breyerfest day 2 is over! It was a long, sweaty day, but mostly worth it. First off, we finally found out the volunteer model - Othello! He's my main conga, so I'm super glad I was picked off the volunteer reserve list this year.

In other news, in three trips through the special run line, we were able to obtain more Dark Horse Surprise models, including a glossy decorator! (And a duplicate matte palomino pinto I'm hoping to trade for an equivalent black or decorator.)

 

I think the red does make him go faster. He'll definitely fit right in on my shelves!

I was also able to get Julep and Pim:

 

They're just as pretty as the promo pictures! Now if only Pim had a better name...

I also picked up a Straight Bet!

 

He's definitely nice, and I love his glossy goodness.

In addition to three special run lines, we also squeezed in a(n) incredibly sweaty volunteer shift, a trip to Stonestreet where we unexpectedly were able to see Rachel Alexandra (!), the raffle (nothing there), the costume contest (nothing there either, but they only awarded 3 winners from 50ish participants) and most of the Saturday night Celebration of Horses. My husband was lucky enough to get a big helping of "45 minutes stuck in traffic yet again" after the raffle! So we left the Celebration of Horses early (again) so we wouldn't get stuck in traffic afterward (again). So a little bit of a mixed bag there, but I'm totally stoked about seeing Rachel Alexandra and pulling a glossy from the special run line. (Photos of me in my costume may or may not show up here later...)

I was also lucky enough to be in the room when the Best Customs Contest winners were announced, and I was immensely pleased when the koi horse won in the Fantasy division! Definitely a worthy winner there.

That's all I've got for today, but I'm sure there'll be lots more exciting things happening tomorrow. See you then!

Breyerfest Day 1: The Insanity Continues

Greetings, everyone! We managed to survive Day 1 of Breyerfest with only mild sunburns! I always consider that a success. We only had two ticket times today, but between those, my volunteer shift and our tour of Darley at Jonabell, I didn't have much free time. But here's our haul from the special run line!

 

As I suspected, Smarty Jones is finally the surprise horse! Turns out Breyer is actually capable of staying on theme! Who would have thought? Aside from the above bay and palomino pintos, other colors include black, leopard appaloosa and a red clearware decorator (in matte and glossy variations, which means there are 8 more I have to track down). So, do the flames on the decorator make him go faster? Just curious.

Anyway, the above two are the ones I pulled from the special run line today. We don't know what the quantities on these guys are yet, but current speculation is that the black is the rarest. I do like him the best of the five, although the palomino pinto and the decorator are right up there too. We have 7 more tickets to get through before the end of the weekend, so hopefully I can get my hands on the rest of the colors without too much difficulty.

Here's my other triumph - both colors of Dead Heat!

 

Okay, it wasn't actually that hard to get them. I was pleasantly surprised to have the guy distributing models ask if I had a preference, and then he just reached into a box and handed me the palomino I asked for! I was expecting it to be random, so that was a nice surprise.

And lastly, here's an absolutely terrible photo of one of my Brass Hats:

 

From what I could see, this year's Celebration Models are much nicer quality than last year's Nazruddins - I hardly saw any flaws on any of mine. That'll make them easier to sell, hopefully. 

I managed to buy the two single-day Stablemates I wanted - Man o' War and Silver Charm - but they're, uh, indisposed right now. Not that I incorporated them into my nonexistent costume or anything...

Ahem. More about that will be revealed later. In the meantime, I have shopping to do! Also, I decided to skip the live auction again this year so I'd have time to, you know, shop. Happy hunting!

Breyerfest Day 0: Stop the Insanity!

Wow, it's been a long day. We managed to drive the remaining distance to Kentucky in time for my meeting at the Horse Park, and it's been a whirlwind of activity since then. But we're set up in Room 409 at the Clarion again, so come on by and say hi! In other news, I got a glimpse of the hidden auction lots while I was at the Horse Park. Check them out!


 
 


 



 

So those are a Bouncer, Carina and Selene ( I knew they'd be auction models!), a to-die-for Zebra and a Smart Chic Olena.  This doesn't change any of my opinions about the surprise - I'm still going with Smarty as my final prediction.

I also managed to get down to the Artisan's Gallery to get a quick look at the special run models on display there. News flash: the last America the Beautiful special run model is on Huck! Didn't I speculate that a while back? And he's gorgeous to boot, but I'll save that for another post.

 

So in the above photo we have Sierra Rose, both versions of Dead Heat, Julep and Pim, Straight Bet and Brass Hat/Lonesome Glory hanging out in the background. The Sierra Rose is matte, so we'll see glossy ones tomorrow.

 

Here's a different angle of the above. I LOVE the pearly mane and tail on Dead Heat. I'm definitely going to try to get both! As expected, these are the short-tail versions of Ruffian.


 

That's the crystal; I'm still not terribly impressed with him. I'm still hoping this means we see the Hambletonian resin in plastic, though. I guess there's a bit of Newmarket in the photo too, and I missed getting his full body in the photo - I was in too much of a hurry, I guess. Oh well. Looks like I missed By a Nose too, but I'll just have to get a photo of him tomorrow.

 

In this photo we have the store specials Icabad Crane, Old Ironsides, Lonesome Glory and glossy Foiled Again. I definitely need to get that Lonesome Glory; the Breyer employee guarding them said his masking is different from the original release.

 

Here we have most of the pop-up store specials, minus the Adios for some reason. I still can't believe they didn't gloss the Scamper or something. Born to Run is still trying to grow on me, but I think I can resist. Still not into Hands Down either, so there's that.

Lastly, here are the one-day Stablemates:



 

I'm incredibly happy to see Breyer left the McPie boxes at home this year and gave these guys the satin bags they deserved. Whoo! Still looking to get my hands on Man o' War tomorrow, and also Silver Charm, for...reasons. Reasons that don't involve the costume contest at all. Not even a little bit.

Okay, anyway. That's all I've got for tonight. Tune in tomorrow for more exciting Breyerfest updates!

Prism is here (but we're not)!

As promised, here's my post about Prism! I almost forgot he'd arrived, and thus he sat outside my front door all afternoon. I guess that's what happens when you're trying to pack a million different things for the big trip. So, here he is!



I'd hoped to get this posted yesterday, but ultimately ran out of time. So I'm finishing it now as we drive through Missouri! I'm working from my iPad here, so if the formatting is messed up, that's probably why. But anyway... I just had to include a picture of Prism's box here, because I love it so much. It fits perfectly with his decorator theme and it's definitely a departure from the usual yellow box. Love it!

So this is Prism out of his box. I LOVE HIM. He doesn't have quite as much detail as his auction model predecessors, but I was expecting that. I love his rainbow colors and the way they all blend into each other so nicely. 

I love the shade of purple they used, and I especially love how it blends into the blue and the white. Definitely one of my favorite releases of the last couple of years! I'm so glad mine came in before Breyerfest.

 

Quality-wise, I didn't see a thing wrong with him. He's gorgeous in every way and has a nice, thick coat of gloss to boot! I really hope we see this color on another release someday - I'd definitely buy this color again! 

That's all I've got for now. We'll arrive at the Clarion early tomorrow evening, but I'm hoping to sneak through the KHP visitor center and get photos of those elusive auction models. In any case, I'll definitely get photos of the Artisan's Gallery lineup, so stay tuned!