Premier Club and Vintage Club Stablemates are finally arriving!

Check your mailboxes, everyone - the free Stablemates from the 2019 Premier and Vintage Clubs are finally arriving! As a reminder, the Premier Club Stablemate is Charleston, the mini Hamilton, and the Vintage Club set is Misty and Stormy on the G1 Quarter Horse Mare and G3 Standing Foal. I hope my Charleston gets here soon - I've arranged to trade him for the Vintage Club set, so I want to get the ball rolling on that as soon as possible!

More exciting news!

Lots of exciting things to report today! I'll start with the last release for the Vintage Club this year. Claude is finally available to order!



Good luck to everyone that orders! 30 of these guys will be matte rather than glossy - I wonder how many will pop up for sale after the fact? Makes me glad I don't collect Shannondell.

Next, the 2020 Stablemates Club has had its first reveal: Klaus, on the Darwin mold!



Ooh, I like him. You could probably get away with calling this one a Knabstrupper, right? Just as long as he doesn't turn orange and live in a fishbowl...but anyway. I wonder if this means he'll get a RR release as a Lipizzaner? I hope so. In any case, I'll definitely be rejoining the club.

And lastly, the final Premier Club model of the year has been revealed! Say hello to Georg!



I really want to like him...in fact, I like most of him, except the banged tail. Gah!



I'm pretty conflicted about this guy. It's not that I don't like drafts, but most of Breyer's drafts haven't made it into my collection. But, Othello is my favorite mold...so I'm just confused. Maybe when I get him in hand I'll like him better? Hopefully we don't have too long to wait - he'll be available next month.

Also, apparently there might be an In-Between Mare making an appearance in next year's Vintage Club? That's cool! I don't have a photo yet, but evidently it'll be revealed soon. Exciting!

I posted too soon!

Clearly I jumped the gun on my Lucien post yesterday. We also got the reveal of this year's Vintage Club bonus Stablemates:



For a second I almost thought they'd converted the Performing Misty porcelain over to plastic before I remembered the G1 QHM. I wonder if these will have the same nose issues Primrose had? I hope not. It looks like they're going to be a popular set! I'm not interested in the Misty, but I do collect the foal mold...so hopefully I can get my hands on it at some point. Maybe I could trade this year's Premier Club Stablemate for the set? I hope so.

In other exciting news, Breyer may have low-key revealed the last Premier Club model of the year, by including its silhouette in these 70th Anniversary products on the website - a journal, towel and blanket.

Take a look at the upper center area of the blanket, in between Lonesome Glory and Lady Phase. It looks like a drafter, labeled "2019." Could it be the elusive Premier Club draft sculpted by Brigitte Eberl! The hobby thinks so! Opinions are mixed at the moment, but I'm hesitant to say I like it just yet. From going by the silhouette, so far I see the same problem Stone's Bunny mold has: I like the front end, but not the back end. It just looks...odd. Hopefully the actual mold will look better, but who knows. If I do end up liking him, it'll be the second year in a row I ended up keeping all three of the PC releases...so we'll have to see.

Edited the post to add this teaser for the PC model, posted on the Premier Club blog today:



Not sure why the background is black. Anyway, it definitely looks promising! I'm hoping for a nice bay or blue roan, myself. Looks like we'll find out next week!

That's all the news I can find for the moment! Hopefully we get more exciting reveals soon!

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!

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...

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!

Vintage Club #3 - Bernadette!

Vintage Club members, rejoice - the third release of the year, Bernadette (that name is a mouthful), is now available on the website. She's this year's gambler's choice release, the Shire Mare in the four original decorator colors!

Not only are they decorators, but they come in reproductions of the old touchability boxes!

As an aside, that gold charm is incredible. She looks like she's actually made of gold! Why can't all the gold charm models look like that? Sheesh.

While I like the Shire Mare in decorator colors, I'm not a VC member this year and won't be buying them. But if you are ordering, I hope you get the color you want! Of course, if you need all four, getting all of them might be difficult...but good luck!

Leopold is now available!

Attention Vintage Club members! The second release of 2019, Leopold, is now available for purchase!



Make sure you're logged into your account so you can see the buy box.

Like I said before, the Appaloosa Performance Horse colorway looks great on the Fighting Stallion, but he's nothing I need to buy. Now, if they'd find some modern molds to put it on...Bristol, anyone? Or Dundee? Mmm.

Another teaser on the blog, plus Vintage Club reveals!

Exciting news today - there's another sneak peek on the blog! Check it out!



Looks like a Weather Girl front leg to me - it's about time they post something I want to buy! From the blog:

Our next Special Run model is sure to weave its way into your hearts!

So I'm guessing it's a Black Widow reference and the model's name will be Natasha? I guess we'll have to wait until the official reveal - probably on Friday. The color looks like some kind of buckskin? I guess with the spider reference they could be going with a garden spider's colors (sort of), but I'd expect something named for Black Widow to be, well, black...(or red, or red and black, but they've already done a bay model with Diana). I guess we'll find out when we find out.

In other exciting news, Vintage Club welcome letters are also going out to club members, and Breyer decided to tell us what this year's releases after all! It just took them longer than usual, and there aren't any photos of them yet...But still.

So, the remaining releases for this year are a gambler's choice Shire Mare in four colors and...the Thoroughbred Mare and Nursing Foal!!! In..."soft dappled buckskin tobiano." Boo, I was hoping for glossy alabaster...though I'll probably have to buy them either way. I wonder if they'd make a nice family with Bristol? I guess we'll find out! And this year's Stablemate freebie is a mare and foal set - no word on which molds.

Also, this year's optional model Claude (the charcoal Shannondell) will be released in November. Usually it comes out earlier than that, but Breyer's not that stupid - tons of people would buy him and then bail on the rest of the releases.  They'll probably end up with a mountain of unsold Thoroughbred Mare/Nursing Foal sets as it is, so I can't really blame them for that. I'm excited to see photos of the rest of the releases!

Second Vintage Club release of 2019 - Leopold!

All right, I know this is old news by now, but I had to post about it. Breyer revealed the second Vintage Club release of the year last week - Leopold, on the Fighting Stallion!



He definitely looks good in the Appaloosa Performance Horse colorway! This is the third time we've seen this color in the Vintage Club, after Eagle and Halo. It's a nice color, so I'm not really bothered by that, but this is the second time we've seen the Fighting Stallion - he first appeared as King in the first year of the club. While I admit his first appearance was kind of a waste (plain buckskin? Yawn!), it seems odd that we're seeing molds get repeated when there are still plenty of vintage molds that haven't been used yet - like the Western Horse, or the Race Horse, or many others.

Fortunately, we haven't seen the rest of the club releases yet, so the Western Horse could still appear. And I'll admit my opinion doesn't really mean much, since I don't collect vintage molds and didn't join the club this year. Hopefully the Western Horse gets some love later this year!

Rockford is now available!

In the day's other exciting news, it turns out Rockford really is the first release of the 2019 Vintage Club - and he's available for purchase now!

In all fairness, that color looks really stunning on him, and so does the pattern - I'm just not into collecting the Pacer. It's incredible what a head shot can do, huh?

Anyway, if you're a Vintage Club member, he should be available on your Collector Club homepage. Let's hope these guys are all nice-quality! And I also hope we don't have to wait too long to find out the rest of the releases....

Another 2019 Vintage Club release revealed!

In today's other exciting news, the optional release in next year's Vintage Club was revealed today! Meet Claude:




Ooh, a new Shannondell! Exciting. And there'll be 30 matte models scattered randomly amongst the other 470 models in the run.

I don't collect Shannondell, but that random smattering of matte models is almost tempting me to rejoin the Vintage Club anyway. And the color looks really nice on him! Maybe they'll show us more of next year's VC releases in the next few days? I don't know how close the club is to selling out, but hopefully it can wait a little longer.

Hopefully Breyer comes to their senses and shows us the rest of next year's releases - I know I'm not the only one who doesn't want to commit to spending so much money mostly-sight-unseen!

Friday News Roundup, plus Celeste!

Lots of...interesting and confusing...things to post about today! I'm not sure exactly where to begin, so I'll just jump right in!

First off, renewals for the Vintage Club are now open. I actually don't see a buy box on that page, but that might be something on my end. I'll have to get ahold of Breyer about it...if they show next year's releases, and those releases require me to rejoin the club.

Edit: Duh, I hadn't bought my 2019 Collector Club membership yet. All is well!

Next on the docket, the mysterious Zippo test model from a couple of days ago is now back on the website and the drawing can now be entered. There's been some speculation on Blab that he's a test for Rushmore, the bay roan Smarty from Breyerfest 2007, and I can definitely see it. Whoever he is, he's definitely pretty!

Now that I have that out of the way, I can talk about today's odd Breyer-related postings on the interwebs. First, Breyer posted this photo on their Instagram story:

Naturally, collectors were intrigued. A bay Bristol! What could it be? He was just used in the Premier Club, so couldn't be something coming out this year.

A few hours later, after the speculation had gone on unchecked for a few hours, Breyer posted a link to this video on their Facebook page. Warning: watch at your own risk.

Fortunately, I watched the video (well...half of it) so you don't have to. Amongst the annoyingly perky girl, scattered Breyer product placements, useless craft projects and the like (clearly I'm not part of the target audience for this), these two models appeared:

Okay, the bay Bristol is interesting, if a tad boring with no white markings. But the show jumper! At first glance, he looks like Here's to You, the Breyerfest volunteer model from 2014, but he's clearly not the same model. Here's to You has a snip, his color is darker and his tail isn't striped like the one in the video.

Unfortunately, despite Breyer themselves posing the question of (essentially), "What is this new model we're showing you?", the video doesn't actually say what either of these models are, which is incredibly frustrating. Clickbait is one thing when it eventually answers the question, but clickbait for clickbait's sake? No thanks, Breyer. Do better next time. My assumption is that these are new regular runs for next year, as that's the only thing the Bristol could be, and that looks like a RR-type paint job on the show jumper.

So, hopefully we get an official announcement about these guys (along with the rest of the 2019 line) soon!

Now for the moment you've all been waiting for - my Celeste is here! Observe!



I was going to take a photo of her with my other silver bay models, but that will have to wait for another day. She's definitely a beauty, though!



And I love her pearly tail!

Quality-wise, she's not bad - the masking along her mane isn't really the greatest, and the dapples on her right side could stand to be more subtle.



She also has some excess plastic on her left hind leg that didn't get cleaned off very well.



Nothing too terrible, though. I can't wait to put her on the shelf with her compatriots!

Whew! That was a lot of stuff to talk about. Hopefully we get more exciting reveals next week! I'm excited to (hopefully) see what we're getting for next year's Vintage Club!

Finn and Grace are here!

Good news, everyone! My Finn and Grace models are finally here, and I have photos to share! I'll start with Finn - behold!



No, I didn't get the rainbow, sadly. So this guy will be for sale. As a reminder, he's a mini-me of Lucy, and I think he matches her fairly well. His spots are smaller than hers and he doesn't have the molded-on halter, but otherwise he's a good match.

Although all of the Finns I've seen photos of look pretty nice, I wish the teeth had been executed a little better. They look like someone just slapped some white paint on there, and what equid has such perfectly white teeth, anyway? They'd look a little less weird if they were more of an ivory/slightly yellowed shade, but then I guess people would probably complain about it.

Other than the weird teeth, my Finn looks to be in pretty good shape, and since I don't collect the G2 Mule, he'll be for sale soon. On to Grace!

I got the dapple gray - my favorite of the three! Yay!

She's pretty flawless, too - I didn't see anything wrong with her, except for a slightly bent left eartip (which is common with these girls).

Dapple gray is my favorite real-life horse color, so it's not surprising that I liked this color best of the three. I'll be on the lookout for the other two, though. Hopefully the prices go down eventually...

As for her sticker, I'm not much for leaving those on (and it was already starting to come off), so I stuck it on her COA. I doubt she'll ever be for sale, and even if I did eventually sell her, I doubt any potential buyer would be terribly concerned about it either. As long as I still have it, right?

All in all, I'm very happy with my Grace - I just wish I hadn't lost so much money selling the previous two releases in the club. I'm really hoping next year's club either has more releases I want (not likely), or it doesn't have any modern molds at all (somewhat likely). Here's hoping!

As for next year's club, I did get a sneak peek of one of the releases with my Grace. Check it out!



Drat! I think I predicted the Pacer for the 2017 club, but I didn't stick with him for later years for some reason. Oh well! That's a beautiful color on him, but the mold isn't for me, sadly. Well, that's one Vintage Club 2019 release I don't need to worry about buying - hopefully we get to see the rest of them soon. Now, you'll have to excuse me while I go listen to the Rockford Files theme song.

Looking to the Future: 2019 Vintage Club

Hello, readers! It's that time of the year again; the time when I speculate about next year's Vintage Club offerings, because news is scarce and there isn't much else to talk about. I'm hoping my predictions this year are less dismal than last year - I struck out on pretty much everything last year.

I'll start by again posting this old photo that was sent out to VC members a few years ago:



I'm borrowing from previous posts here, so here goes:

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.

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, Semi-Rearing Mustang, Fighting Stallion, Running Foal (with Mare), the Western Prancing Horse and the Grazing Mare (with Foal).

At this point, it's easier to list molds from the photo that haven't appeared in the VC yet. They include the Western Horse, Longhorn Bull (not sure why he's even in the photo, honestly) and the Thoroughbred Mare and Nursing Foal.

Longtime VC members may note that last year's VC was a bit of a departure from the norm, and that departure continued in a big way this year. We had a modern mold in the lineup for the first time (the Weather Girl gambler's choice) and the optional model for the year returned to being produced on a vintage mold rather than a modern mold (the Semi-Rearing Mustang vote contest winner). In addition, the San Domingo used in this year's club had a modern paint job. So it may be safe to assume this trend may continue into next year, which really throws a wrench into my predictions. But I'll start with the vintage molds.

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

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

For reason that should be obvious by now, I think Midnight Sun, the Donkey, Sea Star and Phantom Wings can all be eliminated from contention. I'm iffy about Bolya/Halla being used either, as the mold has been permanently altered from its Halla configuration. Does its '90s iteration still count as vintage? Who knows.

 As for which molds will make the cut, I'm baffled that we're coming up on our seventh year of the club and the Western Horse, Breyer's oldest mold, still hasn't been used. He's definitely on the list, along with Justin Morgan and, as always, the Thoroughbred Mare and Foal in glossy alabaster. I think the bonus model will probably return to being a modern mold - perhaps Desatado? He hasn't been used much lately. That still leaves a fourth release - will it be modern? I hope not. I don't plan on joining the VC again next year - if I'm going to lose significant amounts of money reselling the releases I don't want, I might as well just buy the one release I want from the secondary market for an increased cost. If the fourth release is vintage, I'm going to go with the Foundation Stallion, but modern could be anything. Silver, maybe? That would drive all the non-vintage Silver collectors crazy, but imagine the fun vintage colors they could put him on. The gnashing of teeth would be visible from space!

As for the Stablemate, it was a modern mold again this year, so for lack of better ideas I'll go with the G3 TWH for the sake of randomness.

So, those are my predictions for the year. I'm still crossing my fingers, as always, for the alabaster Thoroughbred Mare and Foal. Hope springs eternal! I hope we find out next year's models soon.