Finally some news on Shelby, and the April Collector Club Newsletter!

 Good news, everyone! The wait for Shelby is finally almost over! 

Breyer posted on Facebook today that Shelby will be available at approximately 1:30EST on Monday, May 1. Woohoo, I can finally stop haunting the Breyer site! Now let's hope I can find some free time at work at the appointed time on Monday! 

In other news, the April Collector Club newsletter is finally in members' inboxes! Check your email for more. There's a feature story about artist Karen Beeson, a Hope giveaway, and of course a new sneak peek of the next Birds of a Feather release:

It's too zoomed in to see anything, of course. I have no idea what it is, but there's speculation on Facebook (I think?) that it's a burrowing owl on Astrid. Hmm, seems reasonable since she's a new RR for 2023. Guess we'll find out next week! 

Lastly, I'm really late with this, but this year's Breyerfest volunteers have finally been notified. Congrats to everyone who was selected! I didn't apply this year, so I'll have to cheer you on from the sidelines! 

Psych!

 Well, readers, if you've been watching your email and/or the Breyer website like a hawk this week, waiting for Shelby to pop up, or a new SMC release, or....SOMETHING...you are (or were, I guess) in luck this afternoon, because we finally got something new to buy! What was it?! Get excited! 

I...oh. More grab bags? Never mind then. There were Vintage Club grab bags also. They're long since sold out, but I wouldn't have participated anyway - there aren't any PC or VC releases from 2013-2021 I wanted that I don't already have. Now bring on Shelby already, dang it! Or Sidewinder! Dare I hope something shows up tomorrow? Other than like, old Stablemates Club blind bags. 

Finally, something new to reveal!

 Good news, everyone - Breyer's spring releases were revealed today! Only a couple of hours after I broke down and preordered Spectre, this year's Halloween Horse (which we've already seen), this beauty was revealed by Breyer! 

Say hello to Washington! Presumably he's this year's patriotic release, like Patriot, Illumination, etc? I'm...not really seeing anything with this design that actually makes me think of George Washington, but who cares? He's beautiful! I also didn't anticipate Breyer using him again in another blue release so soon after Magpie, but it does make sense that he'd get another release at some point - if the mold is already in production for one thing, might as well run a few hundred (or thousand) extra bodies and do another release later. The same goes for our other reveal for today...

That's right - a rerelease of Carltonlima Emma, presumably in honor of the Queen's passing. But the mold is, or will be, already in production for the Scurry release for this year's Breyerfest, so it makes sense to keep it in production for another Emma run. 

I'm undecided as to whether I want to buy this one since I already have the original one, but it does come with that ribbon, so I'll probably pick one up at some point. 

Lastly, we have a new plushie release - and it's a mare and foal, for the first time! Check them out: 

Nothing I need, but they sure are cute! Pick up a set here. 

That's all I have for today - let's hope we get some more exciting stuff happening tomorrow! The month is almost over and we still haven't seen the next Stablemates Club release, along with Shelby and maybe the next Vintage Club model? Who knows. 

Beebe Ranch Benefit Auction and a huge step forward for Breyer...

 Hmm, more news to report! How odd. It's almost like...things are happening? Weird, I know. Anyway, Breyer announced this eBay auction yesterday to raise funds for saving the Beebe Ranch:

A OOAK gold charm Misty and Stormy set? They'll go high. As of this writing the bidding is up to $7300. It ends tomorrow at noon, so if you want to bid (and have suitably deep pockets), don't miss out on this. It's good that they're doing a fundraiser like this, because while it would be nice for them to produce something 99% of the populace could afford to buy, production runs like that have to be planned many months in advance, and the Beebe Ranch only has until the end of this month to raise the funds. I do wish Breyer would match whatever price this set ends up going for so the ranch can get more funds, though. 

In other news, we got a pretty amazing announcement from Breyer today - they're phasing out the use of so much plastic in the Breyerfest special runs! They'll come wrapped in honeycomb packing paper, with more paper cushioning for ears and tails, with an outer paper wrapper, and only one plastic bag inside. This is great news! I always feel bad about the amount of plastic packing material that come with each model, even though I do reuse my bubble wrap wherever possible. I've seen some grumbling about increased risk of broken models, but Breyer's Facebook post specifically said multiple types of packaging were tested to make sure it could stand up to being shipped, so I'm not worried about shipping damage. Some people are taking this to mean the models won't be shipped in boxes at all, which...doesn't seem to be the case, and I'm not sure why they'd suddenly not be shipped in boxes anymore when that means you could end up with 10 packages going to somebody's house, rather than just one. As for broken models, I've seen several reports on Facebook and Blab that they've had multiple far more breakable things shipped in the honeycomb packaging with no ill effects, so I'm not going to worry about it. Yay for Breyer! 

Well, that was quite the hiatus...

 Whew, I was not intending that break from posting to be nearly as long as it was, or very long at all...but there really hasn't been much of anything new to post about. Except that group of sample web specials that Breyer auctioned off on eBay a couple weeks ago. And the Premier Club and Vintage Club welcome letters are going out! I've been meaning to write this post for the last two or three days, but kept getting interrupted. Anyway, here's my Premier Club letter and goodies: 

It's cool that they send out the frameable prints and all, but I kinda wish they wouldn't put the Breyer logo on them. It's a bit distracting...but anyways. One of these days I need to find a frame for my Altynai print - he's been the only one I actually wanted to frame. The others are kicking around here somewhere. 

The letter doesn't have much we didn't already know, except definite confirmation that we're finally getting a new draft foal this year. Woohoo! The other bit of news is that the freebie Stablemate this year is a mini version of Zafirah, which...doesn't excite me much. Maybe I can trade her for something else? Let's hope so. Speaking of something else...

Vintage Club welcome letters are also out in the wild, but I'm not in the club, so I don't have one to show here. Apparently the other releases are a "feisty" gambler's choice assortment and a "black tie affair." Sure would be nice if they could just SHOW US THE MODELS like they used to...but I'm going to start sounding like a broken record if I keep harping on that. Feisty suggests something rearing, and we haven't seen a modern mold in this year's lineup yet, so...perhaps Silver? I really hope not, because it's a gambler's choice and Silver tends to be a spendy mold. Which reminds me...the releases we've seen so far are Go Figure, the gold and bay chestnut Secretariat, and the music box Fury, which hasn't been released yet (presumably he's next). Feisty gambler's choice must be the fourth release (of four total releases), so the black tie affair must be the optional model? No idea what it could be. Breyer did do a three-piece set called Black Tie Affair almost 20 years ago (gulp), so maybe it's something in that black blanket Appaloosa color? Too vague to tell. 

The letter closes with mentioning this year's VC Stablemate, which is being done on their "leaping Lipizzan" in the line currently, unless you count Darwin, who...isn't really leaping (he's performing the pesade). But he'd be the most logical choice, except...they're introducing something that looks a lot like a leaping Lipizzan in the Stablemates Club this year. If we remember this image...

Insert more grumbling about JUST SHOWING US THE MODELS here. Anyway...this model, while still not leaping, at least somewhat looks more like it's leaping than Darwin does. Maybe this will be the Vintage Club Stablemate as well? I guess it's a pretty long shot unless they're banking on the Stablemates Club release really, definitely being able to be released first, because the email does say Stablemates Club members will be the first to own this new sculpture. But I don't really want the VC Stablemate to be Darwin, so I'm going to grasp at all the straws I can here. Hmm, maybe I can trade my mini Zafirah for the VC one if it is Darwin? I'm going to bank on that. 

April Fool! And the plot thickens...

Greetings, readers! Well, ! I hope nobody got fooled too badly, although Breyer had another zinger this year, as usual. Check this out! 

This is a reference to the roached-mane Nokota auction model, which had a pretty lukewarm reaction among collectors. He just looks so weird without his mane! 

Fortunately (or unfortunately), this was confirmed to indeed be an April Fool's joke...by way of this reveal! Meet Shelby! 

Whoa, another Collector Club special run so early in the year? I wonder if we're getting another one in the fall, then? Anyway, these colors are all pretty nice. The glossy bay makes a nice opponent for Bolero! I hope to be able to get them all - let's hope Breyer lets us know the release date/time in advance, but they've been good about that lately. I've still only bought two models so far this year, so it's about time I bought something!