Featured Model - 9/28/2019, Manco Capac

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...Manco Capac!



This beefy guy was the Collector's Choice model for the first half of 2010. He's item #1358 on the Peruvian Paso mold sculpted by Linda York.

In a ranking of Collector's Choice models, this guy would definitely be on the higher end - he looks pretty good in red roan. I like the contrast of his dark head and legs against the rest of his body, and he has three socks to give him some flash! Definitely a handsome guy. I wish Breyer would bring back the Collector's Choice series - I'd really like to see what designs people could come up with on the newer molds.

As for the Paso itself, I think it's high time this mold had a new release - I've been thinking about selling off the ones I have for shelf space, and a new release would help convince me to keep them a while longer. On the other hand, I'd have to spend money if he got a new release....so maybe not. Time will tell, I guess. I don't think he's ever been a web special, so that would be my guess for his next appearance - but probably not this year, as I don't see him being a good fit for a holiday design (since they wasted silver filigree on him already).

Where else might we see him? He's not a terribly popular mold, but maybe they'd use him as a Breyerfest prize. He has been a prize before, but that was back in 2005, so I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility. I suppose he could also be a special run, though he wouldn't match the theme. But that hasn't stopped Breyer before - so anything goes, I guess. Either way, I hope his next release is something I can get my hands on!

Khalid, Lightning Ridge and the Seafoams are here!

Good news, everyone! My Khalid, Lightning Ridge and Seafoam set have all arrived! Behold their awesome beauty! I'll start with the Seafoams.

I like Seafoam's shade of blue, but I think I would have liked him better if he'd been painted more like Dazzle, with the mostly silver/white butt fading into the blue color on the rest of his body. I mean, he's kind of painted like that now, but I'd have preferred the silver to be confined to his hindquarters.

Also, I think we can all agree that the paint jobs on the Stablemates are definitely not worth $25, but I think the bulk of the cost of these sets is most likely going toward the creation of the new Mini Whinny molds. Maybe next year they'll use old molds and do some slightly more complicated paint jobs? I hope so. How long can/will they keep introducing new Mini Whinnies? Maybe this will be the only year of the club.

Next, here's Lightning Ridge!

He's definitely one of the more interesting models I've seen in the last few years, though he's not a terribly good representation of an opal. Unfortunately, giving a model the same inner "fire" an opal has would probably make the model prohibitively expensive to produce, but this guy is a nice facsimile.

It's good to see Breyer getting into the precious stones inspiration for paint jobs, though. It seemed like that theme had pretty much been left for Stone to work on, for obvious reasons, but why concede that market to your competitor? I'd love to see pretty much all of them get used again, so far.

Lastly, here's Khalid!



Sorry for the terrible photo. I love his shade of...dun? I'm not actually sure what color that's supposed to be. He has primitive marks, so I'm going with dun.

I do like the alternate tail for this model, but I'm not as much of a fan of the mane and forelock. I guess the ears (or lack of Marwari ears) doesn't bother me too much, though. And I love this guy's belly spots!

Quality-wise, the Seafoams and Lightning Ridge were fine, but check out this gnarly seam split on Khalid:



I didn't even notice it until I was taking photos for the blog, but now it's all I can look at. Not sure it would be worth the hassle of replacing him, though. I guess I'll just have to try not to look at his face/

That's all I've got for today - stay tuned for more exciting Breyer news!

I Can't Believe It's Not Saige!

The new web special is up, and...what? It's not Forever Saige? Say it ain't so!

Lonesome Glory, eh? Well, I guess it's not the worst choice.



Still, I was really hoping for Forever Saige, as a fitting wink to a common criticism.

That said, I'm ready to say it: I'm tired of buying things. I never thought I'd commit such words to print, but there it is. My sales have been in the garbage all year, and the constant flow of new releases from Breyer definitely isn't helping the situation.

But, at the same time...Lonesome Glory makes a really nice giraffe. Maybe I'll just enter for her on one account and see what happens? Entries are only being taken until Monday, so it's not like I have to remember for very long. Good luck, everyone!

Giraffe sneak peek!

Apparently Breyer posted this on their Instagram today:



While it's clearly a giraffe, there's been some confusion on what we're looking at here. I think it's a top-down photo of the model's back: the withers are at the top left, spine running from top left to bottom right, and the top of a right haunch in the bottom right. That said, if this is anything other than Forever Saige, I'll be sadly disappointed. We can't forget all those "giraffe neck" comments every time the mold gets a new release, can we? It would be super cheeky and snarky of Breyer to use her as a giraffe, so I'm all for it. Hopefully we don't have to wait too long to see what this is...although I won't complain if it's a mold I don't collect, as I really need to scale back my buying...

Also, word from Breyer is that they don't have any replacements for Salem (bleh...), so I'm just going to have to live with the warped leg on mine, or attempt to fix it (but I'm not brave enough to try it myself, so I guess it'll never get fixed). Oh well.

Featured Model - 9/21/2019, Crepe Suzette

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...Crepe Suzette!



That's right, I finally got my hands on one! This handsome guy was a Single-Day Stablemate model at Breyerfest 2015. He was item #711217 on the G3 Cantering Warmblood mold sculpted by Jane Lunger, with 1500 produced.

It took a while, but I finally got one late last year. He's definitely a worthy addition to the collection. As has been noted, he's a mini version of Fire, and I'd say the color translated pretty well. Of course, he's not an exact match, since some of those details are hard to perfect on something so much smaller. But he's still beautiful! I love him. I'm always a sucker for glossy chestnut, and the white blanket makes him really striking.

As for the mold, he was used last year as a Man o'  War portrait for the Single-Day Stablemates lineup again. I hadn't predicted that they'd use him, but I suppose I should have - he does have a lot of presence, and Man o' War had that in spades. Where will we see him next? He's being used in the current line in a few different places, so I don't think we'll see new releases on him anytime soon, but it could happen. Maybe he'll show up in the Stablemate Club next year, or the Fairytale Friends club? If it's the latter, I hope he gets a more interesting color than the glittery pastels they're doing this year. Crossing my fingers!

Lillian and Molly (Yay)! and Salem (Boo)!

More good news, everyone - my Lillian and Molly set arrived today, along with Salem! Let's look at Lillian and Molly first:



They're beautiful! I love that the foal is a slightly darker shade than the mare - it always irks me a little when a mare and foal match perfectly, since that doesn't always happen in real life. I didn't get a chance to photograph them with Bristol, but I'll bet they would make a great family!



Their quality is pretty good as well! Although I feel like I have to say...I really don't like the white basecoat on models, and I wish they'd leave it off. I prefer the softer white on unbasecoated models, even if they do yellow later - the basecoat makes the whites too stark, and no real horse looks like that unless you scrub them clean every day.

Okay, now that I've gotten that off my chest, let's take a look at the mare's face:

Her eyes are beautifully detailed, and like I said before, I love the contrast of her black mane against the buckskin and white. Beautiful!

Unfortunately, my Salem didn't fare so well in the quality department. Take a look - he had to be supported by Lillian to stand up facing that direction:



That front left leg is scary. Look, I can forgive a lot of things, but a leg so badly warped the model doesn't stand up without assistance isn't something I can overlook. I already sent Breyer an email - hopefully I can get him exchanged, because yeesh. Plus the pawprint on his left shoulder is blurred.

He's fine otherwise - the cat design is clever, and I like his two blue eyes - but that leg has to go.



This is the first time I'll have tried to exchange something since my flawed Fylkir in 2017, so I don't anticipate having trouble exchanging him. I hope they don't take too long to get back to me!

Another test model!

Wow, exciting news today - Breyer posted another test model for sale! Check him out!





From the website:

Chris Hess’s iconic Five Gaiter (mold #52) comes to life in a shaded fiery chestnut with detailed eyes and a healthy coat of gloss! This striking Saddlebred was likely created sometime in the early 2000s. His coat is solid with no white markings, and his ribbon is unpainted. This model was created on older whiteware, as designated by the U.S.A. stamp alongside the Breyer Molding Co. logo on his inside right leg.

Here's the other side:

 

While this model would normally be a pass for me, I'm not going to lie. I haven't been able to recover my post-Breyerfest finances as well as I'd like, so I'm entering for him in hopes to sell him. Similar to the glossy Semi-Rearing Mustang sold earlier this year, I can see this guy going pretty high...even if he's technically not a OOAK (according to a thread on Facebook earlier today). He's definitely handsome, though! Personally, I'd like to see more white, but that's a minor quibble. I'm also wondering why they didn't bother to paint his ribbons, but I suppose those kinds of details don't really matter on something that isn't going to see production.

Anyway, entries close on the 22nd, so make sure to enter early and often! Good luck, everyone!

Seafoam crashes in!

Whoa, that was fast. Seafoam, the second release in the Fairytale Friends Club (also known as the Glitter Unicorn Club) is now available for purchase!



I wonder how well that rearing Mini Whinny will stand with the bendy rubber legs. I guess we'll find out? I also hope Seafoam's color is a little more vibrant than it looks in the photos. It might be hard to tell him apart from the new Walmart unicorn blind bags...

Stella is here!

Good news, everyone! Our local Tractor Supply finally did their fall reset, and my husband found a Stella in the wild! Huzzah!



Isn't she pretty?



My hasty cell phone photos don't hold a candle to Breyer's (at least the ones for this model) but I'm very, very short on free time these days, so they'll have to suffice. At least she didn't have any box rubs!



Unfortunately, she isn't the best in the quality department. It looks like the body they used for her wasn't prepped very well - she has lots of little bits of excess plastic that should have been cleaned off. Like I said, at least she doesn't have box rubs, but it still irritates me. That and her lack of painted horseshoes and total lack of hoof striping despite the ermine spots on her feet. TSC special runs generally sell well enough that I'd have thought Breyer would put more effort into this release, especially after how nice Hakan and Sampson were. But them's the breaks, I guess. I'm definitely still glad they used Bluegrass Bandit for something - she needs more releases! More, I say! Well, maybe we'll get a web special on her next year.

Featured Model - 9/14/2019, St. Moritz

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...St. Moritz!



This pretty boy was the Holiday web special for 2017. He's item #712225 on the Esprit mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody, with a piece count of 380.

St. Moritz was pretty popular when he was released, and for good reason - his color is really cool! I love the light blue and purple, and I really like how his mane and tail, and feet, look like they're made of ice. Super-cool effect. I really hope we get to see this color again on another release someday - it's definitely on my list of colorways to use, should I ever manage to win the lottery and then win the bidding for a Design Your Own Breyer silent auction.

Breyer has kind of laid off the silver filigree models for the last few years - 2016 was the last year we had one, with Avalanche. Will we get one this year? I kind of hope so, just for old times' sake, but I wouldn't say no to another web special with this color!

As for Esprit himself, he was the "hot" new mold for a while - maybe he still is - but it seems like Breyer has cooled off some on using him. I suppose it was bound to happen, especially with the billions of new molds it seems like we get every year. He hasn't been used since this release, though maybe Breyer thought the mold needed a rest after it was the surprise model at Breyerfest 2016. Maybe he'll manage to win the Makin' a Splash voting contest from Breyerfest? I guess we'll find out eventually. In the meantime, maybe he'll be another web special next year, or a TSC special run! I guess we'll have to wait and see.

It's a Halloween Extravaganza!

Good news for Collector Club members! Breyer has finally unveiled this year's Halloween Classic model - along with a bunch of other stuff! Check out the sale! Not only do we get a Classic model, but the Spooky Surprise Stablemates are also available, plus a plush! Let's take a look at the Classic, Salem:



Finally, a new release for Mason! I love him. At first glance he looks like an ordinary chestnut (bay?) pinto...until you notice the purple shimmer. And the cats in his pattern. And the pawprints! There's more to find every time you look at him. And he glows in the dark!



At a very quick glance he almost looks like a mini-me of Hamilton. Maybe we'll get a set someday?

So I count at least four cats, right? Possibly a fifth, if the fifth one isn't a dog? Pretty cool stuff - I wish Breyer would do patterns like this more often. I can't wait to see mine in person!

The Spooky Blind Bag Stablemate are also available in the sale! We got a peek at them at Breyerfest, but here they are again! Here's Mini Ichabod:

Mini Calavera:

And Mini Bats in the Belfry:

The amount of detail on these guys is incredible! I love the little bats on Bats in the Belfry. I've seen some angry rumblings about their prices ($25 each), but honestly - the level of detail is so high, I think they're worth it. Do I think last year's Fruitcake Fillies were worth the price? Probably not, but they weren't nearly as detailed as these. I won't be buying any regardless, since I don't collect the molds, so it's nice to be able to save some money and not have to deal with more blind bag annoyances.

Lastly, let's look at the plush!



Apparently his name is Boo! What a cutie. People that collect the Breyer plushes must have a pretty good collection going by now. I love his little bat mask! I don't buy the plushes either, though, so that's one more for the rest of you!

The Halloween Traditional, Samhain, is also part of the sale, but I think I've already talked about her in a previous post. These items are available to Collector Club members for now, but will become available to everyone eventually - presumably next week. So make sure you get your order again before they sell out!

This post feels a lot like a promotional sales post, now that I think about it. So let me reiterate that I don't work for Breyer! I just like to blog about their products!

2020 Vintage Club and Lillian and Molly!

So, Breyer snuck a brand-new reveal onto the website today - one of the models in next year's Vintage Club! Check it out:



Apparently his name is Trailblazer! From the website:

2020 marks Breyer’s 70th anniversary and we’re pulling out all the stops for this year’s Vintage Club!  Celebrate the rich history of Breyer with vintage-inspired colors and packaging on sculptures old and new, along with some fresh takes thrown in for good measure!

While I haven't had time to do a Looking to the Future post about the Vintage Club yet, I definitely would have had the Western Horse on the list to be used (though I've been expecting him to show up for years). And what a striking color! Too bad I don't collect him.  Looks like signups open in early October, so I wonder if they'll reveal anything else exciting when the signups open up.

In other news, Lillian and Molly are now available from this year's Vintage Club! My order is already placed, so hopefully they don't take too long to get here!

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!