Aye aye, Sarge

The solution to yesterday's model hint has been revealed, and sure enough, it's a mini Alborozo! Say hello to Sarge!

I like this one a lot! It doesn't look like he has any detail to his eyes, though, which seems a little lazy - but I can deal with it. It's been a while since we got something with color-shift paint, and I'm not going to complain (much).

Hopefully they make plenty of these guys to go around, because I'm sure he'll be a popular one!

Teton is here, and another teaser!

Good news, everyone! My Teton model came today - behold!



She's definitely a beauty!



Sommer Prosser is really knocking these model designs out of the park, I must say.

Quality-wise, she could be better - one of her ears was poorly prepped (if at all) and her left eye looks odd.



Or maybe someone got overzealous when they were prepping that ear? Who knows.



The inner corner of the eye didn't get painted like it was supposed to - you can see where the corner of the eye stayed unpainted. Oh well - she still has pretty blue eyes! She's definitely another keeper.

In other exciting news, there's a new teaser on the Breyerfest blog:



The file name refers to this being a pop-up-store peek, and it looks like the Stablemate Alborozo, so this is most likely the pop-up-store Stablemate. In some kind of super-cool color-shift paint? I can't wait to see what it is - dare I hope they reveal it tomorrow?

Featured Model - 5/25/2019, Inconspicuous

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...Inconspicuous!



This handsome guy is item #90129 and was a run of 350 produced on the Show Jumping Warmblood mold sculpted by Sue Sifton. He was a Connoisseur special run from 2004.

(Incidentally, if anyone has a COA for this guy floating around, let me know! I need one.)

I could be wrong, but I think this might be the first time Breyer did a pintaloosa model? I'm probably wrong. Pintaloosa is one of those colors you totally think is made up - until you see an actual picture of one, and then your reaction (or at least, my reaction) is something along the lines of "Whoa."

Anyway, we've seen a few more pintaloosas since then - the Treasure Hunt Weather Girl being one, and the pintaloosa Bollywood Surprise Latigo being another. Fortunately, the color hasn't been overdone - I imagine real pintaloosa horses are pretty rare, and likewise for Breyer models. We don't want to see it get overdone and wear out its welcome. This particular model definitely doesn't live up to his name, though!

As for the mold, I think I've used the SJW a few times for Featured Model already, so I'm not sure what else I could say about him - although I'd still like to know what the deal was with the liver (I think) chestnut version of him that popped up in that infamous Youtube tutorial with the bay Bristol. He was most recently used as Bolo at the Scottsdale Stampede, so maybe Breyer has something else new in the works for him - I hope so! Maybe the next America the Beautiful special run?

Pop-up Store Classic Revealed!

We have our Pop-up Tent classic, and it's...Liam!



Wow, I was right for once! Unfortunately, I'm questioning why they used Liam for a RCMP model, since it's pretty much identical to the Black Beauty release on him from a few years ago...



I'm not usually one to complain when Breyer does the same color multiple times on the same mold, but these two are to be practically indistinguishable from each other. The front sock and star on the Black Beauty are even in the same place! Sheesh. Good thing the RCMP horse has four socks. And since he looks like a mini-me of the Big Ben RCMP model, I wonder if he'll have the glossy maple leaf pattern on his butt? That would be cool!

Either way, I'll be trying to pick this guy up - and how exciting that the RCMP troop is going to be at Breyerfest! I love black horses, so I'll definitely be trying to get photos of them!

Fairytale Friends Club is now open for membership!

Attention, Collector Club members! The Fairytale Friends Club is available to join on the Breyer website. Check your Club homepage!

According to the website, there will be six releases consisting of two models for each release, every other month. So like the Stablemate Club, but with two models instead of one each time. I'm assuming the Alborozo and Firebird are the first release, although the website doesn't say for sure. The deposit is $30, so I'm guessing the releases will all be Stablemates (Edit: according to this page, one model is a Stablemate and the other is a Mini Whinny mini-me. That explains why the Firebird looks so noodly). I'm not really a Mini Whinny collector, so mine will be for sale, sadly. I wonder if they're planning to shrink down any other molds for this Club? Also, it'd be nice to see the Stablemate Spanish Barb show up, since they already put a horn on him for this year's holiday collection.

Now that I think about it, we don't know if all the releases will be unicorns, do we? Fairytale Friends could mean anything - unicorns, fun-colored decorators, maybe even pegasi? The possibilities are endless! I hope they show us the rest of the releases soon. And they need to tell us if any releases are going to be a gambler's choice so I know if I need multiple accounts or not!

Anyway, the deadline to join is June 30, so don't wait too long! There's no indication of whether sign ups are limited (the website says "while supplies last") so who knows how fast it'll sell out.

Another edit: Check out this picture from the info page.

Sorry it's so small. In the background of the photo, several more horses are visible. They look like unicorn versions of the G1 Arabian, Calliope, Magnolia (yet again? Ugh, why?) and a rearing one that must be a new mold. Exciting! The rearing one and the G1 Arabian appear to be the same color, so they might be the same release. Unfortunately, I'd be selling all of those, so I hope the other releases end up being things I want!

Pop-up-tent tease on the blog!

Exciting news - we got another teaser on the blog today! Behold!



Who could it be? I took a look at some Classics molds, and it somewhat looks like Harper's left front fetlock/ankle area. However, it really looks like it belongs to Liam's left rear leg. I had been hoping Mason would be used this year (seriously, when are we going to see him again?) but I don't think the photo matches him at all - the angles don't match up.

Would they use Liam, though? He was in the pop-up store in 2016. Of the two, I'd rather see Harper since we haven't seen her at Breyerfest yet, but the photo resembles Liam more. Or maybe it's another mold altogether? I guess we'll find out soon enough!

Live Show prizes and Teton!

Hello everyone! First things first - the Breyerfest live show prizes were revealed on the blog today! Check them out!

First, meet Victory, the Overall Grand prize!



Ooh, a Yasmin! Too bad she'll be pricey on the aftermarket, if any even go up for sale afterward. But I'm not sure I like that color on her...she just looks a little weird. I don't think that shade of her coat color goes very well with her mane and tail - shouldn't the mane/tail be lighter?

As for the Overall Reserve prize, say hello to Triumph!

I don't know how I didn't suspect the Indian Pony with that obvious war paint in the teaser photo, but I didn't. She's described as a, "few-spot varnish bay chalky Appaloosa." Sheesh, that's a mouthful. She's pretty enough, but the Indian Pony just isn't my thing. Good luck to the live show entrants - I have a feeling the competition is going to be extra-cutthroat this year!

In other news, the drawing for Teton was held today, and Breyer didn't drag it out or make us wait an extra day for once - and I got drawn! Huzzah!



I already completed my order. I hope the warehouse snafu gets worked out soon - I can't wait to see what this girl looks like in person! Congrats to the other winners! And I'm excited to see what the next release in the series will be - I'm sure it'll be revealed at Breyerfest. Less than two months to go now!

Featured Model - 5/18/2019, Hera

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...Hera!



This pretty girl was a web special back in 2014, one of the releases in the Goddess Series. She was a run of 245 and was item #712108 on the Giselle mold sculpted by Brigitte Eberl.

I always wondered why this web special wasn't more popular. It seems like she wasn't very popular at the time she came out (though I could be wrong). Maybe because it would be hard to assign her a breed for live showing? Either way, I think she's very pretty, though 2016's Bramble ended up being a bit of a rehash of her color, or a better version of it (minus the blanket).

Giselle isn't the most popular mold out there - people don't tend to go crazy over her the way they do a lot of Moody molds, but she does have her aficionados. This makes me wonder if she'll be a surprise model in the future, since Breyer tends to use the popular, but not wildly popular, molds.

She is getting the web special treatment again right now, which means she probably won't show up at Breyerfest or be this year's surprise model (my money is still on the Moody Andalusian). I wonder if she'll get another regular run anytime soon? I think the GG Valentine/Heartbreaker set is still in production, so probably not.

I hope I get drawn for Teton, though! The conga must remain complete (minus the really rare ones, of course)!

I always feel like somebody's watching me...

The teasers for this year's Breyerfest live show prize models are up on the blog, but good luck figuring anything out from them.



I took a look at some Trad molds I thought fit the bill, but none of them really matched. There's nothing concrete on the Internets either. Oh well - I guess we'll have to wait until Monday to find out what these are!

Teton!

Sheesh, time goes by fast. It seems like the year just started, but we're already on our third America the Beautiful model! And it's about time, considering how slow this week has been on the news front. Meet Teton:



Ooh, she's pretty! But...she looks sort of familar...



I guess she's not THAT similar, but similar enough - right down to the extensive primitive markings. At least she's glossy? She does have more white than Zion and Moab, and they did end up being a browner color than Teton, but it seems like the promo photos for the mare and foal set were more like Teton's color.

Similarities notwithstanding, I entered for Teton on all our accounts - she's too pretty not to join the herd! The entry deadline is 5/19, so get your entries in! I'm so glad they went to the four-day entry period - I remember those frustrating days when they'd upload a teaser photo of the next web special, reveal the model a week later, then do the drawing for it a week after that. So much waiting! I'm glad that's not a thing anymore. Good luck to everyone who enters for Teton!

Featured Model - 5/11/2019, Damara Zebra

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 Damara Zebra!



This model was produced from 2000-2004 and was the first zebra produced by Breyer (I think). She's item #468 on the Zebra mold sculpted by Kristina Lucas Francis.

This model was definitely an ambitious undertaking, since I'm pretty sure the black stripes are masked, in the old-style way with the metal mask that clamped onto the model (the current laser-cut, adhesive masks didn't debut until a few years later), and the lighter brown stripes are airbrushed, so painting these would have been a fairly huge undertaking. I'm almost surprised the production run lasted as long as it did, considering.

Anyway, that was the first and only time this mold has been used in the regular run line. The only other widely-available (somewhat) production run on this mold was Caves of Lascaux at Breyerfest 2015. Maybe someday we'll get an updated Zebra? I mean, if it looks anything like this auction model from last year, I'm all for it.

In the meantime, though, I continue to hope for candy-cane-striped Christmas zebras. That would be awesome! Maybe a red one, a green one, and a red-and-green one? They'd all be somewhat hard to pull off, but I'm sure Breyer could figure something out. Let's hope we don't have to wait much longer!

Rhian and Cadell are here! And...Beau?

Great news, everyone! My Rhian and Cadell set are finally here! Behold:



They're so cute! Here's the other side:



I'm still kind of ambivalent about the foal, but he can stay for now. Is it me, or does he seem pretty small for a Trad foal? I realize he's a pony foal, but he seems tiny!

As for the mare, I love her! Here she is with a hopeful suitor:

Her only real flaw is visible in the above photo: she has a scrape on her left front leg. I'm not thrilled about it, but the foal is pretty much flaw-free and from what I hear I'd have to send him back with the mare, so I guess I'll have to overlook the scratch. But, let's be real here: I don't show, so condition and paint issues aren't as big a deal to me anyway.

She looks good with Bouncer though, like I thought she would. Here's a closeup of her face:



Her eyes are nicely painted, although they have the dreaded pink eyewhites going on.

In other news....despite my reservations about this mold, this happened on Tuesday:

That's right...I bought a Beau. Opening his box was nerve-wracking! I was repeating to myself, "Please be braided. Please be braided. Please be braided..." And it worked! I was hoping I'd get a dark variation, too, but I guess beggars can't be choosers.

I wasn't going to buy this release, but Breyer reeled me in with the braided mane and tail. He's just so handsome! I figured if I got the one I wanted, it meant I was meant to collect him...at least, this version of him. I suppose this means I'll have to get my hands on a Brunello now...and possibly Wapiti if I can get past his mane.



Poor Beau has the pink eyewhites going on, too. I hope they phase those out sooner rather than later.

Quality-wise, he's decent - he has some lint stuck in his gloss, but that's par for the course.



His dapples are sadly unsubtle too, but that's nothing new. Now I just have to find space for him on my shelves, and hope they used the braided Idocus again in the near future.

So, if anyone knows where I can find a braided Brunello on the cheap...

Wow, I was way off.

Silly me - I thought Wednesday's sneak peek was for a pop-up tent item - but no, it was for the Best Customs Contest prizes! Say hello to the runner-up prize, Top Hat and Tails:

Clever! He's an alternate version of Aiden, one of last year's Stablemate Club horses, but in black. Nothing I need, fortunately. Next, let's take a look at the grand prize model, Leap of Faith:

If only I had customizing skills, or a dump truck full of money...

Well, anyway. He's gorgeous! He has the same pattern as the original Bristol, just in black. I really like him!


Sigh...

Well, maybe someday I'll win a raffle model I can trade for this guy. I can always hope, right?

Aww, look at the little cape!

We have a new reveal today - Tuesday's hint was a plush after all!



Aww, it's a little mini-Oliver, complete with a cape! What a cutie! I'm more excited to find out what the other teaser was, though...

That's a new one...

You're doing it wrong, Breyer! You're supposed to reveal the previous teaser before you show the next one! Sigh...



From the blog:

The next BreyerFest 2019 model is almost certainly black and white based on these sneak peeks, but you will have to stay tuned to the BreyerFest Blog to find out more!

 That face looks like Mason, last year's Classics Horse of the Year - are they finally using him for something? I hope so! He'd look good in some type of black pinto! I'm guessing the image on the right is his tail (flipped upside down to confuse us). If it's a new Mason, I'll be excited!

Breyerfest teaser and...Glitter Unicorn Club? Sign me up!

I guess the Lancelot reveal isn't the only exciting news of the day! There's a new teaser on the Breyerfest blog!

Looks like a plush to me - I bet that's black mohair at the top of the image. Whatever it is, it's probably something cute!

In other news, I guess there's going to be a new Breyer club! Check out this teaser:

So, we're getting another Stablemate club? Or maybe the releases are in a variety of scales? Or maybe those are the only two releases - who knows. Maybe it's like the Kid's Club and those are the only releases. In any case, it looks like we're getting a Stablemate version of Firebird...or is it Oberon? They aren't the same sculpt, are they? I'm a little fuzzy there. Here are the originals for comparison:

Now that I look at Firebird/Oberon, it looks like the new one is mirrored the other direction! It also doesn't look like the sculpt shrunk down very well, sadly. Those legs look a tad noodly...

As for the actual club, I was never a fan of Firebird  - so at least I won't need that release - but that Alborozo is another story. I wonder why both releases are the same color? I've never been a big fan of pink, but at least it's a light pink. I'm not big on the glitter-encrusted manes and tails, either. I think a nice application of "less is more" would have worked better there. Hopefully they at least don't shed the glitter.

Anyway, I hope we don't have to wait too long to find out about the new teaser or this new club! And I also hope Breyer eventually gets around to converting some old porcelains to Stablemates that I actually like...like Chesterfield (okay, he was a resin, but you get my drift) or the Shire Mare, or even the old Icelandic, or...HAMBLETONIAN! They used him as the Breyerfest crystal last year - doesn't that mean he could be used for something else?! Ooh, the old circus ponies (sans tack) would be cute Stablemates too! Make it happen, Breyer!

Lancelot!

Fear not, readers! There's a Classic gambler's choice special run again this year, and this time it's on Man o' War! Meet Lancelot!

Well, I like all of those colors, but they've once again chosen a Classic mold I don't collect. To be fair, that's most Classic molds, so that's going to happen a lot. But imagine if they'd used the new Mason mold instead, since we haven't seen anything new on him yet? Swoon...but anyway.

Truth be told, I'm kind of over all the randomly-shipped stuff anyway - it's just more blind bag garbage by another name. I really like that shade of blue, though - it looks like the Blue Candy color you see on Ford cars.

 My loss is your gain, though - I'm not going to order any of these, so that's more for people who love him! I'm sure he'll sell out fast.

Featured Model - 5/4/2019, Onyx

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...Onyx!



This model was the last special run produced for Breyer Fun Day events in 2010 - nowadays they just have a show and Stablemate painting (if that). Anyway, he's one of only four releases we've seen on the Show Arabian mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody, and he's item #703113. No word on how many were produced.

This mold looks quite striking in this color! I like the contrast of his lighter mane and tail against the rest of his body. And he's glossy to boot! What a handsome guy. I was going to write something about how presumably unpopular he was, but there aren't any of him for sale on eBay right now, and apparently only three have been sold there in the last 3 months. Maybe his popularity went up? That, or a lot fewer pieces were produced than we thought.

As for the Show Arabian itself, is it bad that I think this mold is criminally underused? I mean, they have to be planning to do something with him eventually, right? They got the mold out to make 1,000  bodies for the Marigold special run back in 2017 - presumably they'd run a few thousand more to make it worth the effort, wouldn't they? Maybe I'm just biased because I want to see a new release on this mold.

Hopefully we get something new on him soon - I'll definitely buy it, as long as I can suppress the ever-present urge to snap that mane right off his body whenever I see him. It just looks so snappable! Gah.

Resin to Plastic

One of the things I like to contemplate from time to time is the conversion of resin sculptures to plastic for mass release. This is how all Breyer molds are made, but as you all know, there's a healthy market in artist resins produced by hobby sculptors. This market is a large part of how Breyer finds its sculptors - either to sculpt for them, or to sell the rights to a given resin to Breyer so it can be produced in plastic.

So, one of the things I like to think about is which artist resins out there I'd like to see in plastic. Of course, sometimes Breyer gets beaten to the punch and somebody else gets the rights to a resin first. I'm talking about Kitty Cantrell's Wahoo resin that was released a few years ago. Stone acquired the rights to it fairly recently, to use it as a new Pebbles release (albeit with a changed front leg). I view this as one of Breyer's biggest missed opportunities of the last few years - it's been almost 20 years since we last got a rearing Traditional mold, and Kitty's sculpts tend to be popular with collectors. And since I don't have the money to collect resins, I really wanted to see Wahoo produced in plastic! But I guess that's just how it goes sometimes.

Wahoo isn't the only resin I wanted produced in plastic, though. Here's a quick list of some others:

Infinity by Kathleen Moody

Minuet by Kathleen Moody

Esplendida by Brigitte Eberl

Almanzor by Brigitte Eberl

Independence by Sarah Rose

Heritage by Emilia Kurila

Extreme Justice by Sommer Prosser

Elnathan by Tabatha Pack

Those are all I can think of for now, though my memory is like Swiss cheese these days, so I could be forgetting some. Which resin sculpts would you like to see in plastic (by Breyer, Stone or anyone else)? Let me know in the comments!

My Gweneveres are here!

Greetings, everyone! My Gweneveres survived the Great Bubble Mailer Fiasco of 2019 in one piece, and so did their boxes - mostly. Behold (and sorry for the godawful photos)!




When you're at home wrangling two kids and a dog, you have to take some quick photos when you can. Anyway, the color on these ladies is really nice, and I love the pearly mane and tail (as usual)! It makes me wish they'd used a mold I collect, because I just don't collect the G1 Morgan Mare, nice as she is.



I ordered several blind bag Stablemates with my Gwens, in the faint hope that I'd get one of the chase Alborozos I still need. Alas, my luck wasn't that good, and I didn't get either of them. Fortunately, despite being shipped in bubble mailers, the boxes were only mildly damaged. Hopefully that doesn't affect their resale value.

It's hard to find the time or inclination to list anything on eBay these days, so I might just wait until Breyerfest and sell them there.

Quality-wise, I didn't see anything horrible in a quick glance, but that was all the time I had to look at them. Hopefully nothing terrible reveals itself when I get around to selling them! I also hope Breyer's new warehouse learned their lesson about sending things in bubble mailers after the earful collectors have been giving them over the last week. Considering the number of blind bags I ordered, I was really nervous things were going to show up broken - and if I'd gotten a broken chase piece I would have been irate! Fortunately (or not), I wasn't lucky enough to get a chase piece anyway, so the point is moot.

So, hopefully I don't have much trouble selling these - and now I'll go back to waiting for the next release! I'm hoping the Belgian or the new Thoroughbred is next! 

Rhian and Cadell are now available!

Sheesh, they aren't wasting any time! This year's first Premier Club release, Rhian and Cadell, are available on the website!



I'm excited to get this set in hand and see what I think of them! I think the mare will make a good companion for Bouncer, and while I'm not as thrilled with the foal, he (she?) is definitely a cutie. I hope Breyer gets their shipping backlog figured out soon so I don't have to wait too long to get them!