They're here! THEY'RE HERE!

 Excellent news, everyone! My last Breyerfest items have finally arrived, including my surprise models! Never fear - I made a checklist of everything I was supposed to receive, and it all arrived as ordered! When it comes to the special run models, I bought everything I was selected for. In what we'll call the "good old days," we didn't know which, if any, special runs would have variations, so I couldn't risk missing out on anything. I never suspected that every special run would have a variation, though, so I didn't bother to put Ansel and Pollock on my selections list since I'd already gotten them with my VIP order. If I had, I might have been able to buy another model, as there was one "Sorry, your selection wasn't available" showing on the webpage when I went to buy models. But it's just one model...with any luck I might be able to get a few more Ansels when the VIP sale happens next month! 

Anyway, amongst my special run models, I received three Uffingtons. No holographic "Uffs" here, sadly (Uff-dah!), but there was a surprising amount of variation between the three I did get.

It's easier to see in person, but the guy on top is much lighter than the other two and way less pearly. They're in order from least-to-most pearly. I'm actually tempted to keep the light one and one of the dark ones just because they're so different, but I'm not really a variation collector, so hopefully that urge passes.

They're all pretty nice in the quality department, too. And so big! Definitely a trio of longbois. 

They look disappointingly samey in the photos, but I can assure you they're very different in person! 

As for the other special runs, I also got three Tassilis and two Seurats. I was lucky enough to get one Marwari Tassili and two toupee-Tassilis, which made me pretty happy since I do actually like the alternate hairdo on the Toupee-Tassili, especially his swishy tail. Unfortunately, I did get two matte Seurats rather than the matte-and-glossy duo I was hoping for, so I'll be looking for a glossy one at some point. 

But, I digress. Let's get on with the show! I received nine Seven Arts Surprise models, and I had to wait all day today to open them! First, I piled everything on the couch:

The couch, full of plastic pony bounty! Oh, the suspense! 


Next, I very carefully opened each pink bag, pulled out the model inside, and put it on the floor next to me without looking at it. Then I took a picture of the pile, also (mostly) without looking at it: 

Then I started unwrapping them one at a time, not looking at them until I had them mostly out of the bubble wrap. I was hoping to get a nice selection of colors and at least one glossy...and here's the results! 

So, from left to right, that's two glossy sable champagnes (!), one matte sable champagne, one glossy maximum sabino, two matte maximum sabinos, a glossy palomino pintaloosa, a matte flaxen liver chestnut roan and a glossy flaxen liver chestnut roan. 

WHOA! I usually have decent luck getting glossies every year, but this is the best it's ever been. 5 out of 9 were glossy - that's more than half! Unfortunately, one of the glossy sable champagnes has some major issues - one of his hindquarters has a huge area of roughness in the gloss, he has a badly bent right eartip and the other eartip is just barely broken off. I had hoped to be able to trade it for a glossy decorator (pipe dream or not) but nobody's going to want him with ears like that. And Breyer isn't doing exchanges, so I guess I'll have to see if I can sell him, or just get a refund for him. Kinda disappointing, but I guess that's how it goes sometimes. It does seem odd not to have gotten a decorator though - in all the previous times there was a decorator in the surprise lineup, I always managed to get one - but I can live with it. Just another one to add to the purchase list. 

I didn't take photos of any of my other purchases, but there will be more photos later. In the meantime, I guess Breyerfest 2021 is finally over for me. I hope next year goes better (and is in person...!).