More exciting year-end stuff! I can barely keep up!

 Well well, I thought we were done getting sneak peeks and reveals for 2022, but Breyer proved me wrong once again! Here's a (somewhat better) sneak peek of the final Stablemates Club model for 2023! 

So it's rearing after all! And the email said it was sculpted by Mindy Berg, so that's promising. I'm excited to see what color it is! Let's hope we don't have to wait the whole dang year to see it this time. And also, whatever happened to the Stablemates Club raffle they used to do every year? When did they stop doing that? I hope they do it again this year. I ended up rejoining the club after all, in case they do more raffles. 

Speaking of raffles, according to an email sent to 2022 PC members, it turns out the Premier Club is getting a special raffle in honor of the 10th anniversary of the club! And check out the prize! 

That's right - six glossy Zafirahs! She looks pretty impressive in gloss, despite the front legs. We don't have to do anything to join the raffle - everyone in the club will be entered to win. I hope I get one - although in the interest of full disclosure, I'd try to trade it for something else if I did. Winners are supposed to be notified by email next week. Good luck everyone! And Happy New Year! I hope everyone has a good 2023! 

Looking to the Future: 2023 Vintage Club

This post is extremely, shamefully late, but I need to pad out my post count for the year better late than never...right? Much of this post will be cribbed from previous years' worth to save some time. Anyway, let's get going! Last year's post on the Vintage Club was also pretty late, but I'd predicted that the gambler's choice mold would be the Justin Morgan in an array of colors (wrong) and that the optional model would be on Vermeer (also wrong). I also failed to predict that the Indian Pony and mini-me (??) would show up, along with Galahad (so wrong!). So uh...I'm not going to put much stock in these predictions, and neither should you. 

This photo is so old, it's probably not worth bothering with anymore, but I'll put it up just the same:

So far, club members have seen the following models from the photo above:

Amigo, the charcoal Adios;
Halo, the Appaloosa-Performance-Horse-colorway on the Stretch Morgan;
Commander, the smoke Five Gaiter;
Denim (Diamonds?), the Copenhagen pinto Shetland Pony;
and Kiowa, the Indian Pony pinto on the Jumping Horse mold.
Also, the glossy palomino Semi-Rearing Mustang was one of the losers in the vote that gave us Tanner.

Molds that appear in the photo, but were used in the VC in other colors, include the Running Stallion, Man o' War, Quarter Horse Gelding, the Belgian (twice), Semi-Rearing Mustang, Fighting Stallion (twice), Running Foal (with Mare), the Western Prancing Horse, the Grazing Mare (with Foal), the Western Horse and the Thoroughbred Mare and Foal.

So really, all of those molds have been used by now, with the exception of the Longhorn Bull, and I doubt he'll ever show up - but you never know. 

These are the vintage Breyer molds that haven't been used in the club yet:

Black Beauty, the Black Stallion, Bolya/Halla,  Buckshot, the Donkey, El Pastor, the FAM and FAF, Galiceno, Haflinger, the Hanoverian, the Lying Down Foal, Midnight Sun, Morganglanz, Phantom Wings, Phar Lap, the POA, possibly the PAF, Quarter Horse Yearling, the Race Horse, Saddlebred Weanling, the Scratching Foal, Sea Star, the Stock Horse Stallion, Mare and Foal, Stud Spider, the Trakehner and the Western Pony.

So, with the Fury Prancer and presumably Justin Morgan already in the lineup, that leaves one vintage mold and probably one modern mold with a vintage paint job, plus the optional model. El Pastor is currently in production as Vivaldi de Besilu, so I wonder if he might turn up in the VC as well? I'll guess him for the optional model. For the modern mold, I'm going to go with Duende, because Premier Club molds have been used in the VC quite frequently. That still leaves the gambler's choice - for that I'm going to guess the FAM and FAF, because they're way overdue for inclusion in the club. 

Lastly, there's the Stablemate. Last year I guessed the G1 Morgan Mare because they'd been alternating between old and new molds, but I was wrong again and it turned out to be the mini Clydesdale Stallion as Dandy. That presumably means a newer mold for 2023, so I'm going to go with Cassidy, because it's been ages and she hasn't had any releases since her debut in the Stablemates Club. 

Breyer seems to enjoy taking their sweet time revealing the releases for this club (along with everything else), so it'll likely be a while until we see the releases. Let's hope my aim is a little closer to the mark this time! 

End-of-year news roundup!

 Sheesh, there's been a ton of sneak peeks today! I'll start with the outline for the fourth single-day Breyerfest Stablemate:

Ooh, a special run for Kit! I can't wait to see what this one looks like. Unfortunately, it does look like we'll have to wait until Monday to see these, because the blog post says it's the last teaser of 2022. Bleh! But we got a whole bunch of other sneak peeks today, so let's take a look at the next one:

It's a Premier Club sneak peek, and...could it be? Could we finally be getting a new draft foal? It's a Christmas miracle! And if we're getting a new draft mare, I hope they got the rights to Truly Jolie - I wouldn't mind seeing her in plastic, especially with a matching foal. I suppose I'll have to break down and join the club tonight. If you're still waffling, the deadline is tomorrow night, so you still have a little time to think about it. 

Next, this month's Collector Club newsletter has been released - if you're a Collector Club member, check your email to read it. There's an interesting article about the creation of the reining horse holiday ornament on Bobby Jo, a Bristol giveaway (!) and this tantalizing sneak peek:

...Unfortunately, it's way too zoomed-in to tell anything from it. Maybe the sleuths out there on the Internets can figure it out? It's probably the first web special of the year (more Birds of a Feather? I'm kinda hoping for a new theme, myself). It kind of looks like a neck/jaw area?  But that's all I can figure out. 

As for the sneak peeks, here's the last one for today - it's the new sculpt for the Stablemates Club! 

Looks promising. I still need to think about it some more - but I really don't think I need to even join next year. I don't want the gambler, and I don't think it'll be hard to find the other two (possibly three, if I like the new sculpt) releases for issue price later on. 

And lastly, there's a new round of grab bags out! Looks like this round already sold out, but the email says another round is coming in January. Apparently each bag contains more than a dozen items, including a, "special surprise." I decided to get in on this, because I'm curious about the surprise and I'm still sorta kicking myself for not getting a grab bag at Breyerfest this year and missing out on the holographic Uffingtons. I'm sure I'll probably regret buying it, but I was a good girl for Christmas and didn't buy any of the Gabriels, so...I need something fun to open! I hope it gets here soon! 

Tahoe is here!

Greetings, readers! Exciting news - I managed to find a Tahoe for a reasonable price, and he arrived today. Behold! 

Just as majestic in person as he was in the photos! 

A worthy addition to the collection.

Too bad the rest of my silver filigrees are packed in the storage unit, or I could get a picture of him with them. 

Quality-wise he's fine, but he's got some weird dapples that I don't remember seeing on other silver filigree models - it looks like the paint got a little thick on his left rear leg when they were cleaning him off, and some of his other dapples have weird halos or silver spots inside them. Very odd. 

In other, Breyerfest-related news, another silhouette was revealed today:

Theoretically another will be revealed tomorrow, and I hope they all get revealed on Saturday because I really don't want to have to wait through the whole weekend to see them! 

So many Shetland ponies!

 Well, the second-to-last release in next year's Stablemates Club has been revealed, and as suspected, the G2 Shetland Pony is the gambler's choice! 

I like the colors, especially the black splash, but not enough to make me want to actually buy it. It's looking more and more like I may not even join the club next year...although I think I'll still wait until the very last minute and see if they reveal the new mold. 

Also, another "sneak peek" was posted on the Breyerfest Blog today:

Corbin, eh? Hmm, I bet we'll get another outline tomorrow and then a fourth one on Friday and then we'll have to wait the whole weekend for the reveal. Rolls eyes Typical Breyer. But maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised and we'll get it on Saturday! They seem to be counting down to the end of the year, after all. 

Warehouse Sale and first Breyerfest sneak peek!

Attention, readers! If you're still looking for some deals to round out your purchases for the year, Breyer's annual warehouse sale is happening now. In addition to the sale price for these items, some of them also qualify for the CLUBPLUS22 discount, so be sure to try that at checkout. Nothing terribly exciting in the warehouse sale this year, though now I'm wishing I'd waited to buy a few things. Oh well. 

In more exciting news, there's a new sneak peek on the Breyerfest blog! Or, well...kind of a sneak peek:

I'm not sure if it really counts as a "peek" if we can see the whole model? But maybe we're supposed to be wondering if this is the Traditional Brishen or the Mini Brishen. The shape of his tail indicates it's the latter, and apparently Breyer posted on Instagram last week that the single-day Stablemates would start to be revealed this week, so that's what I'm going with. Yes, yes, I know this mold was a single-day Stablemate in 2019, but Stablemates being used as single-day ticket models within a few years of each other has happened many times in the past, so it can definitely happen again (not to mention the number of times the $&*#$ G2 Clydesdale has been used - seriously, give him a rest!). Anyway, I'm excited to see what this guy looks like! Let's hope we don't have to wait too long. 

2023 releases, at last!

 Exciting news on the day after Christmas - it's the 2023 regular run line! Check out the full catalog here. I won't include everything or this post will be way too long, but here are some highlights! 

Gold Secretariat for the 50th anniversary of his Triple Crown win? If I hadn't purged all my Smarty Joneses, I'd be all over this. Kinda sad that he's my favorite racehorse but I no longer have any representatives of him in my collection...but anyway. He'd make a good companion to the original gold Secretariat from 1990. 

Zafirah as a regular run in bay? Nice! Nothing I need, but those front legs do look a smidge better in this color. 

Wow, a RR Astrid in a beautiful Fjord color! Gotta have her. 

Lots of new Classics/Freedom Series this year - I'm excited about the palomino Mason and bay Malik! Mason has been sadly underused, so I'm glad to see him get a new release. I believe that palomino appeared in some catalog photos a while back, so it's good to see him finally show up as a release. 

Other exciting things from the catalog: a black Wyatt, a chestnut blanket Geronimo as the 2023 Orren Mixer release, a palomino Firefly and Hawkeye set, an appaloosa Classics Mariah and Haflinger Foal set, the Classics Warmblood Mare as Neapolitan ice cream (I gotta think of a joke referencing strawberry being the only flavor left!), the Classics Warmblood Stallion as a unicorn named Lysander, and lots of new Stablemates, including a black Darley, a new 4-piece Poetry in Motion set I gotta have, a new 8-piece Unicorn set including a mini Fireheart (!), and so much more! 

No sign of the 2023 Holiday Horse or other assorted limited editions yet, but I'm sure they'll come soon. Is it too soon for Anamar to be the Holiday Horse? Because he kinda has that written all over him. I'm sure it'll happen soon! 

Nah…I’m good. Season’s Greetings!

 Well, readers, the Christmas surprise has been revealed, and later sold out! Behold:

I think, “Huh?” was most people’s response to this one. Nikolas? As a Christmas surprise? In the same year he was introduced as a Breyerfest Celebration Model? Uh…okay then. The price is a bit too high for a small Traditional, to boot. The colors are fine (they look like old Christmas ornaments), and I’ll note that the mold does indeed have an alternate (braided) hairstyle - I think people were wondering about that earlier in the year. The number of Coal models has been increased to 24, which makes one wonder if 12 of them will have braided manes and 12 will be loose. 

I didn’t order any of these guys, as the mold doesn’t really appeal to me - although I did think about it. Similar to Idocus, he’s slightly more appealing to me with the braided hairstyle, but the skinny legs and banged tail just aren’t doing it for me. I think the purple one is most appealing. I’d better stop looking at these guys before I start wanting one and wishing I’d ordered, huh? Anyways, good luck to everyone wanting a black one! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Premier Club 2023 preview and more!

 Excellent news, everyone! We have a preview of one of the Premier Club sculpts for next year - check it out! 

Something rearing, I presume? Well, I like what I see so far. This is probably the Heather Puleo sculpt. I like what I can see of the color, too! There's been some speculation that maybe the horse is doing something else and the photo was flipped, but I think it does portray a rearing model - considering we won't get the full reveal for at least another six months, I don't think Breyer would try to trick people for that long. If someone joins the club purely because they're excited about a rearing model, only for Breyer to say, "Gotcha! It's a rolling/striking horse instead!" six months later, I imagine they'd be pretty upset. 

In other news, we also got a reveal of the G3 Cantering Warmblood in next year's Stablemates Club! Say hello to Brighton! 

No mention was made of this being the gambler's choice for next year, and we still haven't seen the G2 Shetland Pony, so I'm going to assume the Shetland Pony is the gambler's choice. Which means...I probably won't bother to join the club, as the two, possibly three releases I want shouldn't be too hard to find secondhand. 

And lastly, if you're into Christmas morning horse releases, keep your eye on the Breyer website tomorrow at 11AM EST! Well, "around 11am," anyway!

That's right - another year of Christmas morning ponies! I can't wait - though I'm hoping whatever it ends up being is something I don't want - it's just easier that way. This release tends to sell out fast, so be ready to buy! I certainly will. Good luck, everybody! 

Tahoe wait list!

 Just a short note today - the waitlist emails for Tahoe have gone out! So be sure to check all your accounts to see if you were pulled! Alas, I wasn't drawn from the waitlist, but I did manage to find a Tahoe for a decent price in the meantime, so hopefully he gets here soon! 

More new arrivals!

 Greetings, readers! At long last, my Anamar, Kit, Helios and Giorgio arrived today! Huzzah! Okay, they would have been here earlier, but I wanted to wait until I had enough money from sales build up in my PayPal account before I ordered them and that took a little longer than I hoped. Anyways, I'll start with Anamar! 

What a hunk! 

I wasn't sure if I'd like him at first, but seeing him in person confirmed he's definitely a keeper for me. I love his prancy, snorty attitude - he's basically the male equivalent of Carina. 

I really like his face, especially from this side. It has a deerlike aspect to it, in a good way. He's beautiful! And slightly pearly, too. Honestly, his paint job looks more like a decorator than a real-life horse - imagine how beautiful he would have been if his dark areas were a dark blue instead of gray! Like stars in the night sky. Maybe someday when I'm rich I'll win the auction for the Design Your Own Breyer and commission my own starry sky Anamar. 

Anyways...quality-wise he's pretty good - some small flaws here and there, but nothing major. So I'm happy to add him to the collection! 

Next, here's Giorgio! 

Interestingly, this is the first Giorgio I've seen whose color actually kind of matches Anamar - all of the ones I've seen online seemed lighter, or at least looked lighter in photos. But mine is nice and dark in his dark areas.

Interestingly, he has a mildly sparkly finish, which I don't think is present on Anamar. Also, the Georg mold has been gelded in the transition from Traditional to Stablemate, which is interesting. Definitely something to ask the powers at be, should I ever have the opportunity. "Why did Georg lose his manhood when you shrank him?" Okay, I could probably be more diplomatic about it. Anyway, his quality is pretty decent too - some small flaws, but nothing major.

Next, here's Kit! 

The clip pattern is nifty, I guess. I like his color, too, though I'm not as much a fan of his stance - he looks like he's in pain and trying to shift weight off his hind end. Or maybe I just had the camera at a weird angle. 

Fortunately, he's pretty much flaw-free! Can't really complain about that.

And lastly, here's Helios! 

I had thought this guy was clearware, but that doesn't appear to be the case. So what color is he underneath? Is he black plastic? Inquiring minds want to know. 

He's also less purple than the promo photos showed, although I guess that's par for the course for Breyer. But I still like him! I'm more biased toward blue anyway, so he's basically perfect. Definitely a great first unicorn on the Fireheard (or, mini Fireheart) mold. Now when do we get a unicorn on the full-sized Fireheart? 

And with that, the 2022 Premier and Stablemates Clubs have come to their conclusion. So that's all I have for today! If I don't make any more posts this week, I hope everyone enjoys the holidays! 

Tahoe selections are out!

 Well, the selection emails for Tahoe went out today - if you entered, check your email to see if you're a winner! Alternately, log into your account and see if he's visible on the Club Home page. If he's there, you were drawn! Unfortunately, it looks like my luck wasn't with me this time, so I'll have to see if I have any luck with the waitlist. Winners have until the 21st to pay, so be sure to pay right away if you did get drawn. Congrats to all the winners! 

I hope he doesn't come with a fiddle

 Hey, look! It's one of those rare Saturday reveals! Check it out:

That's right - 2023's optional release for the Stablemates Club is this pretty guy, Nero! Let's hope he doesn't end up with a Sharpieloosa problem, like some old releases of yesteryear. I'm tempted to join the club with this release - I guess it depends on whether I think I can find someone to sell me one for cost. It might still be worth it not to have to deal with selling at least 3 of the other releases in the club, though. I'll have to think about it some more. Maybe they'll show us the new mold this year? I hope so.  

Silver Filigree web special is revealed - Tahoe!

 Good news, everyone! This year's silver filigree web special has finally been revealed - say hello to Tahoe! 

Be still, my heart. I gotta have him! Fortunately, this is another run of 1,000, so my chances of being drawn shouldn't be too terrible. I wonder if his description of having red and green braids (when the photo looks like the braid, singular, is red and gold) will turn out to be the accurate one? I wouldn't mind if it did end up being red and gold, since I'm not really sure why silver filigree HAS to be associated with the holidays anyhow. 

Anyways, the last day to enter is Sunday, so get your entries in! Good luck to everyone entering! 

Elsa drawing results and another 2023 Stablemates Club reveal!

 Well, first things first: Elsa selections went out yesterday, so if you were drawn for her - congratulations! Make sure to check your spam folder and/or the Collector Club page itself - sometimes web specials show up there before the congratulatory email goes out. 

In more exciting news, we have another reveal for the 2023 Stablemates Club! Say hello to Eclat! 

As an aside: yeesh, whoever did that Photoshop cutout needs to practice more. 

Anyway, he's a champagne pinto Missouri Fox Trotter. Looks nice, but nothing I'm going to need.

This only leaves two more reveals for next year's club - well, three counting the new mold. Maybe they'll reveal that if signups are slow at the end of the month. Anyway, that means there are only two more possibilities for the gambler's choice - the G2 Shetland Pony and the G3 Cantering Warmblood. I'm going to hope it's on the Shetland Pony so I don't need to bother with joining the club next year. There is precedent - the G3 Highland Pony was the gambler's choice a couple years back, so I can still hope. 

Anyway, I hope we get more exciting reveals tomorrow! Lots of people are champing at the bit for the silver filigree web special to be revealed! 

Featured Model - 12/10/2022, 2004 Auction Rain

 Hello and welcome to Featured Model, the (weekly?) blog event where I pick a model I don't own but may have an interesting story behind it, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...the 2004 Breyerfest Auction Rain! 

What a pretty model! She was a OOAK done on the somewhat-underused Rain mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody. She was sold at the 2004 Breyerfest Live Auction and sold for the princely sum of $1,400, if IDYB is to be believed (no reason to think it wouldn't be). 

IDYB lists her as a Silver Dun Overo, which is probably what it says on the info card there in front of her, but she looks more like an early attempt at dunalino to me. With some metallic and gloss thrown in there as well. I wonder where she is now? Many of these auction models from 20 years ago and before seem to have disappeared into the mists of time. It would be interesting to see where they are now! Hopefully not lost in a storage unit somewhere (which has happened at least once). 

As for Rain, the reason she hasn't been used much is probably because most collectors seem to have turned up their nose at her due to her cartoonishness. She did make a return as Chica Linda in the Spirit Riding Free collection in 2018, but doesn't seem to have been too popular as she was only in the lineup for a year. Poor Rain gets no respect! Uh...including from me, I guess, as I don't have any Rains in my collection. Her only other appearance as an auction model was quite nice, too.  So it's hard to say where we might see her again - perhaps as a Holiday Horse? I don't see her fitting in at Breyerfest anytime soon, but you never know. I guess we'll have to wait and see! 

Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons, and other stories

 More good news, everyone! Amongst other things, I had a pretty good mail day today - behold! First off, my Neva showed up: 

What a beauty! 

Quality-wise, though...he's really kind of a mess. It's almost laughable - weird textures in the finish by his elbow, globs of plastic and/or paint in random places, bubbles in the gloss, poorly-applied masking, really bad overspray on the mane...the list goes on and on. And these guys are sold out, so I can't even ask for a replacement. However, the funny thing is...the snowmen:

I'm getting major Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goon vibes from these snowmen. 

Now, I love derpy stuff like this (I'm not a Barbie collector, but I do have two Barbie Christmas tree ornaments because one of them has a doofy face and the other one looks like she wants to eat your face), so I'm happy to add them to the collection. So yeah, if I was ever to decide to start showing (not likely), and if I could find a class to put this guy in (also not likely) his show name would definitely be Snow Goon. 

Now then, on to the next new arrivals. I was expecting Snow Goon up there to come today, but what I wasn't expecting...was two of my Poppy & Ollie sets! Huzzah! Behold the first one I opened! 

Fortunately, their quality was much better than Snow Goon. Though I have to say...normally I like alabaster, especially glossy alabaster, but I'm just not feeling it with this set. It's not so bad in the photo, but that yellowish cast Breyer added to make them look "perlino" mostly just makes them look like they sat in a smoker's house for way too long. So this is probably my least favorite color of the three.

At least the quality was good! And I got two different colors - behold my next set! 

Woohoo, the palominos! This color is easily my favorite of the three, despite there not being anything vintage about it at all. They're just gorgeous. 

The quality on this pair is mostly okay, but I really wasn't impressed with the mane masking job on the mare:

They pretty much missed half her forelock when masking it off, and look at the giant white area behind the left ear. What a doozy. 

Oh well. Could have been worse, I suppose. So with any luck, my third set will be the bay, whenever it gets here. Here's hoping! 

There were a couple of other exciting developments today - the other two sculptors for next year's Premier Club have been announced! 

Jennifer Scott sculpted the first release (Cancion), so it's anyone's guess as to what Kylee and Heather will be sculpting. I'm excited to find out, though! 

And lastly, Breyer is running a holiday sweepstakes:

10 lucky winners will receive two Clydesdale Christmas blind bags from last year's event! Enter here - the deadline is 12/13. I won't be entering, as I don't want any of them - just more stuff to sell, and I have enough of that already. Good luck, everyone! 

2022 Retired List and the yearly Animal web special!

 Well, we all know it had to happen sometime - Breyer's yearly retired list has been published. See it here. My main takeaways: that's a lot of retired Classics/Freedom Series. Presumably we'll get a bunch of new ones for 2023 - yay! Can't wait to see what they are. Dare I hope for a new Mason? He seems underused. I'm also wondering if the Orren Mixer series will continue for another year, and if so, what color we'll get this time. The Stablemate singles have been retired as well, so I wonder if there will be more of those as well. More to track down, if so! 

In other news, this year's animal special run has been revealed, and it's on the Cow! 

The run number has been upped to 1,000, which seems a bit ambitious, considering the animal molds don't usually sell all that well. She's a nice color, but nothing I need. I feel like this one is going to take a few waitlists to work through...oh well. Good luck to everyone entering! 

Anamar and new arrivals!

 Greetings, readers! Well, first off - just as yesterday brought the 2022 Stablemates Club to a close, today ushered in the conclusion to this year's Premier Club, as the final release (Anamar) is now available to purchase.

Fortunately, I haven't ordered my Stablemates Club horses yet, so I'll be able to bundle these together and hopefully save a bit on shipping. Don't forget that the free Stablemate, Giorgio, will be bundled with these guys as well. Can't wait to see mine! 

In other exciting news, my Merry & Bright orders arrived today, and luck was more-or-less on my side! I guess I couldn't hope to strike gold twice in a row after getting exactly what I wanted from the Halloween Stablemates, but this was good enough for me. Behold! 

Two out of three ain't bad! I was really dreading getting four Corbins here, so I'm really happy to get two of the three I wanted. And I've already secured a trade for the Twist, so that turned out really great! And my kids had great fun opening the bags.

These are both really nice in person - their paint jobs don't photograph very well due to the dark color and glossy finish, but in person they're really great. I especially like the Django, but I'm biased toward blue, so take that how you will. 

I had to include this photo because the reflection on his eye makes him look a bit surprised. "You mean I'm going straight into a storage unit after this? But it's cold in there!" Or something like that. 



Quality-wise, these guys were pretty good - one Django had some lint in the gloss on his butt, and the others had minor imperfections here and there, but nothing major. Luck of the draw, I guess. 

Also, my Poppy & Ollie sets finally shipped yesterday (if the tracking is to be believed), and are on schedule to show up...on Tuesday next week. Ugh! Let's hope they get here a little sooner - these guys weren't supposed to be delivered until tomorrow and unexpectedly showed up today, so maybe the same will happen with my mare and foal sets. I guess we'll see! Can't wait to see what colors I get!