October Collector Club Newsletter!

 It’s the end of October, and we all know what that means- a new Collector Club newsletter! If you’re a CC member, check your email to read it. There’s an informative article about model packaging, a giveaway and this sneak peek!

It’s most likely the upcoming animal-themed web special - we haven’t gotten one yet this year and they seem to happen in August/September normally. Word on the street is that this is some kind of wild dog on the Marwari mold - hopefully we don’t have to wait too long to find out what it is!

Holiday new releases are now available!

 Good news, everyone! The newest holiday releases (Ceres and Minerva, Neva and Altair) are available to order on Breyer's website! I suspect they'll be popular, so don't wait too long to get your order in. 

Note that it says on the order pages that the mare and foal set and Altair aren't shipping until 11/21, and Neva isn't shipping until 12/5 (!), so we're still going to be waiting a while to get these. I guess they wanted to lock in our orders prior to the Thanksgiving rush? Who knows. Maybe we'll get lucky and these will be able to ship a little earlier than that. I hope so! 

Also, Stablemates Club grab bags were offered on the website yesterday, but appear to be sold out. I already have all the club models I've wanted so far, so I didn't order any (I take a dim view of grab bags in general, if you haven't noticed). If you did order, I hope you get something you want! 

All's well that ends well

 Good news, everyone! My second and final Spooky Surprise Stablemate is here and...I got Mini Samhain! Woohoo! 

She's got some small flaws, unfortunately, but I'm just glad I got the other one I wanted. Yay! 

I'll be happy to add her to my Stablemates herd. My only small complaint is that her tail ribbons aren't painted. Really? You put all that detail in her paint job, but left out the tail ribbons? Bleh. But that's a pretty small nitpick, like I said. 

Also, this year's Pony for Christmas release, Kohl, is now available to order on the website! 

2023 Premier Club is now open!

 Good news, everyone - the 2023 Premier Club is now open for signups! 

As was announced earlier, club members will be able to choose a matte or glossy finish for Cancion, the first release in next year's club. I'll probably opt for a glossy one and then buy a matte later like I did with Astrid. I haven't rejoined any of the clubs yet, though - I like to wait until the last minute so Breyer has to provide more "incentive" to join. I hope it works! 

Ooh, shiny! (again!)

 Greetings, readers! Well, there are more exciting reveals from Breyer today- for starters, the 2023 Stablemates Club is open for membership! Check out this adorable mare and foal set! 

Their names are Nadira and Zaahir, and they're the first releases for next year's club! Looks like they'll make a good family for Zahrat. Nothing I need - hopefully we get some more reveals soon. 

While the 2023 Premier Club isn't open for membership yet, its first release can be previewed on the website - hover your mouse over the Clubs and you'll be able to mouse down to the preview page on the dropdown. Same deal for the 2023 Vintage Club! But here's the preview for the Premier Club:

j

Say hello to Cancion, sculpted by Jennifer Scott! I thought the sculptor was Kitty Cantrell - oops. Anyways, he'll be available in glossy or matte finish. I do like him from this angle, though I'm not crazy about his front legs being perfectly even with each other like that - makes him look like he only has one front leg. He also looks like that right front leg is longer than his right rear leg, but that may be an optical illusion. He looks spectacular in gloss, though! 

A couple of notes about this year's Club: the price on the last release is $200 rather than $175, but that's understandable. Dare I hope this means we're finally, FINALLY getting a draft mare and foal? I hope so. 

Lastly, let's take a look at our Vintage Club preview! 

Say hello to Rustler, a brand-new Fury Prancer! Uh, seeing this release made me realize I never wrote a Looking to the Future post about next year's Vintage Club...oops. I suppose it's not too late. Anyway, check out all that detailed mapping on him! Nothing I need, but I wouldn't mind seeing that paint job show up on, say, Hamilton, for instance. This guy is also a music box! Gotta have that gimmick to make people join the club, I guess.

Memberships have also been increased to 1,000 (from last year's increase to 750), so they must still have a lot of demand to join the club. I suppose it only makes sense that the size of the club should grow as the hobby grows. Prices for the VC will be increasing as well, but they've been the same since the club's inception in 2012, so it had to happen sometime.

Come to think of it, we still haven't seen anything special happening with the PC or VC this year, since it's the 10th year of both clubs and I'm pretty sure Breyer said they were doing something special. I suppose the shipping delays are affecting that too - oh well. 

Now that we have our club information, let's hope we get more reveals for these clubs soon! I need more incentive to join. 

Finally, some new arrivals!

 Greetings, readers! It seems like it's been forever since I got some new models in, and I had a long, not-so-great day at work today, so it was nice to come home and find some boxes waiting for me! I'll start with my Spooky Stablemates box - only half of my order came, though. I've seen a lot of reports of people not getting all the Stablemates they ordered and like...can we be done with the CCG shipping company now? Just give them the boot already. Anyway, here's the Spooky Stablemate I received! 

Sorry for the not-so-great photo. It's mini Mischief Night! Huzzah! One of the two I wanted. Such a cutie! I missed out on the last time this mold was used (Roo, for last year's True Blue event) so I'm happy I was able to get this one. 

My other new arrival was...Constantia! Check her out! 

Her photos were great (well...not these photos. My apologies), but in person she's just stunning. She really looks like she could spring to life and trot away! 

Her box was minorly crushed, though, which did some damage to her personalized box, and then I managed to rip one of the tabs off while trying to get it out of the shipper box, which peeved me a bit, and then I started inspecting her and well...her quality really isn't the greatest. Bits of paint stuck in her finish, fingerprints, scrapes, the works. Bleh. Not sure if I'll bother trying to get a replacement - maybe a customizer with a nicer one would be willing to trade. 

She has such a great face. There's also something about her paint job that looks a bit weird - I don't think it's a flaw, but some areas of her bay color almost look like they have a greenish tinge. You can kind of see it around her eye in the above photo, but she has it in a couple other places as well. Just kind weird-looking - I haven't seen anyone else post about it, but maybe it's just gone unnoticed? Who knows.

Anyways, I hope my other Spooky Stablemate ships soon. I can't believe Breyer hasn't given CCG the boot yet - it seems like ages since they started screwing things up and you'd think their contract would have expired by now. 

More exciting reveals!

 Ooh, shiny! We've got some new reveals for the holiday season on Breyer's website - check them out! Let's start with this new Cantering Welsh Pony:

She's this year's A Pony For Christmas special run - I guess that's a yearly thing now. Her blanket is so cute - it looks like a candy cane! She even has her own gift box! 

Next, here's this year's holiday mare and foal set, Ceres and Minerva! 

What's this? A unicorn Bluegrass Bandit? Sign me up, even if it is pink! Must have her! The foal is cute too, but I'm still trying to sell off my Ambers and Ashleys, so I'll have to split up this set if/when I get my hands on them. Let's hope they don't sell out too fast! 

Next, take a look at this stunning new Rearing Mustang! 

Will we ever stop collecting plastic ponies? This one has the answer to that in his name - NEVA! Anyways, that's a pretty cute design - reminiscent of Black Forest from this year's Breyerfest. Interestingly, he doesn't look glossy in the above photo, but the description says he's glossy and he's glossy in the other two photos as well. Maybe they were playing around with finishes and used that photo by mistake or something.

Lastly, here's Altair, the galaxy unicorn that was previewed in the Collector Club tent at this year's Breyerfest! 

A rare appearance on the elusive Shire B mold - I gotta have him too! 

Let's hope they give us some notice before these come in stock - I have to have them for the collection! I hope we get even more reveals soon! 

Featured Model - 10/15/2022, Silver Dilute Dun Test Lady Phase

 Hello and welcome to another edition of 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 Silver Dilute Dun Auction Lady Phase! 

This model was produced on the Lady Phase mold sculpted by Chris Hess. She has the alternate "swish tail" which debuted in 2006, and the model itself was auctioned off at Breyerfest 2010. 

This isn't the greatest photo (as tends to happen when taking photos in the terrible lighting at the KHP), but I'm positive this model is a test for the Adios web special Frappe, which was released in 2009. Frappe was probably the Adios I liked the best amongst my own collection and I was sad to see him go a couple of months ago. But, I needed the space and he was one of few Adios models I had that was worth any decent money.  But I thought the silver dilute dun paint job was very attractive on him, and wouldn't mind seeing it again on another model sometime. So I was surprised to see this auction Lady Phase existed! 

As for Lady Phase herself, she's a pretty popular mold and has had many releases, including this year's TSC special run Jolene. Because she's been just about everywhere, it's hard to say where we'll see her next. But we may see some other releases on her mold in the nearish future now that they've put the mold into production for the TSC special run - perhaps a web special? I don't have any guesses for next year's theme, but she hasn't had a web special release since 2008, so I'd say she's long overdue for another one. I guess we'll have to wait and see! 

THEY'VE REALLY DONE IT THIS TIME

 Alert, readers! Summon the hounds! Stop the presses! Release the kraken! Signups for the 2023 Collector Club have been announced, led by this incredible beauty! AHHHH! 

Fireheart, you say? In bay? GLOSSY BAY? Sign me up! Here's the full view:

His name is Bolero, and he's to die for! He's the first Collector Club special run of the year. Let's hope they make enough of him, because he's going to sell out fast.

And here's the Stablemate for the Deluxe Collector Club! 

His name is Fandango! What a handsome guy. And in addition to this guy, Deluxe Collector Club members get a pin! 

I guess they're going all-in on roping in all the pin collectors out there. 

And that's not all - we also have a reveal of the first release in next year's Premier Club! 

His name is Cancion and he's a Paso Fino, according to the filename on the photo. What a handsome boy! I like him. I wouldn't mind seeing a few more angles before I decide if I want him, though. I'm sure we'll get that when PC memberships open. I wonder who the sculptor is? Looks like a Kitty Cantrell piece to me - that hind end looks very similar to Geronimo's and the tail reminds me of Dundee. 

Unfortunately, the price of joining the club has gone up to $30, but considering the inflation and price hikes that have already happened this year, I'm not really surprised. I wonder if the cost of the Premier Club and Vintage Club models will go up too? Guess we'll find out, probably fairly soon! 

Newsletter sneak peek revealed!

Greetings, readers! If you remember the sneak peek of a palomino butt from a few weeks ago, the reveal snuck onto the Breyer website today - behold! 

It's a new Holiday Pony playset! And the pony in question is a very handsome palomino Pony of the Americas! It's been a while since we've seen a new release on him. The saddle and bridle set are pretty cute - I'm pretty sure the horn is part of the bridle, so don't fret that this guy is actually a unicorn (though I'd be happy to see a unicorn in a more-or-less realistic color for a change). The doll's pajamas and bag of carrots are cute too. Nothing I need to buy, but that sure is a pretty color on the POA. 

That's all I have for today, but I did get an email that Breyer's holiday catalog for this year is in the mail, so let's hope we get some more reveals when that arrives! 

I really really really wanna Amazigh-ah

 More good news, everyone - the next Vintage Club release, Woodstock, is now available for purchase with her Stablemate mini-me! 

Please note that this is the optional release for this year's VC, so if you aren't feeling it - you don't have to buy it! Huzzah! 

More importantly, the last Premier Club model of the year has finally been revealed! Say hello to the Amazigh horse, Anamar! 

Here's his other side!

I definitely like him better from the second angle - his tail looks a bit weird in the first photo, but in the second one you can see it has a little bit of a "wave" to it, if you will. I like his head/face, too. He looks like he'd make a good companion for Carina! I'm a bit surprised that I like this guy as much as I do, since I don't tend to like Sarah Mink's sculpts, but he at least doesn't seem to have the toothpick-looking front legs that the Marchador and Malik both have, so there's that. In any case, I'm excited to order him in December! Also note that this year's free PC Stablemate is being shipped with Anamar, so don't presell yours unless you're okay with that. 

That's it for today - let's hope we get some more exciting news this week! Keep it coming, Breyer! 

Constantia is now available for purchase!

 Good news, Premier Club members! The second release in this year's Club, Constantia, is finally available for purchase! 

This much-delayed Standardbred mare will be a welcome addition to my herd! Too bad she's pretty much immediately going into storage...oh well. Someday they'll be unpacked again. In the meantime, I can't wait to see what this girl looks like in hand! The purchase deadline is 10/24, so if you don't quite have the funds, there's plenty of time to order.

Featured Model - 10/8/2022, Jangles

 Hello and welcome to another edition of 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...Jangles! 

This model was an auction model at Breyerfest 2001. She's a OOAK on the Misty mold sculpted by Chris Hess. 

This model is unique because she's intended as an alternate version of the Jingles holiday pony from 2001. Normally I'm not really a fan of Misty, and I don't have any Mistys in my collection, but I have to admit that shaded palomino looks nice on her. I wish we had some more photos so we could see her other side. Hey, if someone out there owns this lady (and also owns the original Jingles set), could we get a photo of her dressed up in the Jingles harness with the sleigh? That would be awesome. 

I think it's safe to say Misty is one of Breyer's most popular molds, as she's been in (as far as I can tell) continuous production as Misty since her introduction in 1972. 50 years of production is pretty impressive, I have to say. And now she's in production as the Phantom as well! For all the time spent in production, she hasn't had that many special runs, though. Maybe she'll get a new one soon? She's never been a web special, either - I wonder why she was never used for the Berries Ponies series? Kind of a missed opportunity there. It's hard to say where we'll see Misty next. 

Huh? Another Collector Appreciation event? Okay then...

 Good news, readers! If you didn't get a chance to participate in the Collector Club Appreciation event waaaaaay back in... checks notes June, now's your chance! 

As usual, you have to order $150 worth of merch and add the model to your cart, then use the code at checkout and you'll receive a randomly-selected glossy model with your order. There are nine glossy possibilities, but they're all glossies that have appeared before. Well, I don't think the 50th Anniversary glossies or the glossies offered in June sold out, so it makes sense. I'm just happy I already have the glosses I want, so I don't need to order anything! If you do order, good luck getting the glossy you want! I kinda suspect there won't be very many people ordering...

Jameson is finally available!

 Good news, everyone - the fourth release in this year's Stablemates Club, Jameson, is finally available! 

From the webpage:

What could possibly make a reliable draft horse even better? A flashy coat, of course! Meet Jameson, a handsome black and white Spotted Draft. A newer breed that originated in the United States in the 1990s, Spotted Draft breeders set out to create an intelligent, powerful, and willing draft horse that had pinto coloring. Our Jameson has a glossy tobiano coat, and comes to you in a mini hat box.

I wish they'd go back to the satin bags, but that's just me. 

This isn't anything I need, so if you'd like to buy him for around cost, drop me a line! Let's hope they get shipped out promptly - and dare I ask if we still get the fifth release this month?