Desert Horse Park event model revealed!

 Greetings, readers! The event model for the upcoming Breyer pop-up event at the Desert Horse Park has been revealed - behold! 

Uh oh, it's Belesema Sapphire! That means I have to get one...anyone want to pick one up for me? Pretty please? 

It remains to be seen if this event is replacing BreyerMidwest, but I kinda think they'd have called it BreyerWest if it was, so I'm going to assume BreyerMidwest will proceed as normal next year. Maybe the glossy Belesema Sapphire will be the event model for BreyerMidwest as well? 

Featured Model - 4/6/2019, Burnham

Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...Burnham!



This model was produced for Breyer's Sweet Home Chicago collector event back in 2015. She's item #712157 and was a run of 50 on the Make a Wish/Arabian Mare mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody.

While this model is definitely pretty, or I wouldn't have bought her, she does have an unfortunate chicken wire effect going on with her dapples. You'd think Breyer could have done better with a run of 50 models, but I was at the Sweet Home Chicago event and I remember the models were rife with quality issues. Even the table centerpiece models didn't escape it!

I wasn't able to buy my Burnham at the event, sadly - it took me until 2017 to find one at Breyerfest for a price I liked. A bit of haggling and she joined my herd! I've always thought the long-tailed version of this mold was particularly lovely (though we all know most Arabians in real life don't have nearly that much hair), so I was really happy to add her to my collection. Despite the unfortunate dappling situation, she really is quite pretty - I love the various shades of gray on horses, but this iteration is amongst my favorites.

This mold tends to be pretty controversial, for a few reasons: her weird double shoulder (which only appears on the head-down version), her flat left front leg, and various other anatomical issues. But I like her anyway - she looks like a nice, mild-mannered Arabian mare who'd be fun to ride (if she were capable of existing in real life). She was last used at Breyerfest 2016, so where will she pop up next? I doubt she'll be at Breyerfest this year, but maybe she'll get a web special release? I could definitely get behind that - her only web special appearance was back in 2010, so she's definitely due for a repeat appearance. If so, I hope they use the flip tail, since it's gotten the least use of the three we've seen.

Featured Model - 12/16/2017, Oasis

Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...Oasis!



This model was produced in 2009 as the last Connoisseur release of the year. Sheesh, this is the third time I've done a Featured Model post on some iteration of this mold, isn't it? Oh well. Oasis was issued on the Arabian Mare/Make a Wish mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody. She was a run of 350 and is item #90151.

I really like the color on this model. I remember seeing some discussion on her back when I rejoined the hobby in 2010, and it seemed like the prevailing opinion was that she was "boring" because she was a solid color. Remember, people, the reason Breyer does so many pinto and Appaloosa patterns is because people would complain if they didn't. Keep that in mind next time you're wondering why there's yet another pinto or Appaloosa in the Premier Club!

Anyway, I think the color on this girl is really nice - it's very rich and chocolatey, almost like a matte Ganache (though I think he's a little darker). And she has the flip tail! I wish they'd use this one again. Like I said in a previous post, they should definitely use this mold for the surprise at Breyerfest next year - there'd be plenty of mix-and-match options. Although currently I'm thinking Desatado for next year's surprise, because why not? It's not like they pick molds that adhere to the theme.

As for the mold itself, I think I've made my opinions known before - but I hope she gets used again for something next year. She's too pretty to sit dormant!

Featured Model: 9/30/2017, Make a Wish

Hello and welcome to yet another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...Make a Wish!



This, uh, "pretty" girl is item #711069. She was a run of 1,350 produced on the Arabian Mare/Make a Wish mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody. As the name indicates, this was the first appearance of this mold.

Not only was this the first appearance of this mold, it also ended up being the first appearance of the Mr.-Potato-Head-type molds with changeable manes, tails and body parts (the only other one being the Gypsy Vanner/Laredo). Interesting that they're both Moody molds! But I digress.

Now, I don't consider this model bad by any means. At least the mane on this one partially covers up the "double shoulder" issue that the head-down version of this mold has. Unfortunately, I like the lowered head better than the raised one, but I guess we can't have everything. And she's a very pretty palomino color! I've wanted one for a while, and was finally able to find one for a price I wanted to pay at Breyerfest this year. Definitely one of my small-key grails!

One complaint I have is that the swish tail has been used more than any of the other tails for this mold. I do like the long tail, but let's see a return of the flip tail, and maybe a few more mix and match options! I suggest making this mold the surprise at Breyerfest next year. Hey, there are Arabian racehorses, right? She'd fit right in, especially since they don't make much effort to conform to the theme anyway - will anyone be surprised if Duende shows up as a special run?

All jokes aside, I do like this mold, or I wouldn't keep buying it. She's not a part of the current regular run line - maybe she'll make a reappearance next year? Or she could show up as a web special or something. She's too popular not to be used for something! Let's hope Breyer pulls her out of the vault again soon.

Featured Model - 7/1/2017, Gold Raven

Hello and welcome to yet another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. We're two weeks away from Breyerfest, people! If all goes well, two weeks from now I'll be sweltering in the mid-July heat and humidity, wondering why I thought going to Breyerfest again was a good idea. Ah, but who am I kidding...there's no place I'd rather be. But I digress. This week's model is....Gold Raven!

 

This lovely lady was produced in 2010 as a portrait of one of the competitors in that year's World Equestrian Games, which was taking place in the United States for the first time. Breyer produced lots of special runs for that event, but this was one of the ones I wanted the most. She's item #9112 on the controversial Make a Wish mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody, and a total of 500 models were produced.

I say "controversial" because, well, most of the Moody molds do have controversy around them - in this mold's case, that the head-down version has a double shoulder (true), and that her outstretched front leg looks flat (it does), or that she's a Moody sculpt which are rife with conformation issues (she is), but I like the mold anyway. Why? I'm not sure...though she does tend to have a lot more hair than the average Arabian. Especially the long-tail version!

I'm more of a fan of the head-down version of this mold (despite the double shoulder), for whatever reason. She just seems more personable or something. This is an interesting mold to analyze because we've seen so many mane, tail and head combinations - personally, I wish they'd use the tail on Gold Raven and Oasis a a bit more - the swish tail is okay but makes the models take up more space on the shelf, and the long tail is long (of course) but makes the model really long as well.

As for the mane options, I suppose the Gold Raven/Justadream/Furano one is my preference, because they actually attach it to the neck (or try to). The others are like Esprit's mane and don't touch the neck at all, which looks odd. Come to think of it, why haven't we seen Esprit with a different mane? I'm sure he's rigged up for that. Maybe someday they'll do the ol' switcheroo on him, too.

In the meantime, my Make a Wishes are a permanent part of my collection - now, if I can find the original Make a Wish (and perhaps Summer Love?) at Breyerfest this year, I'll be happy!

Porcelain to Plastic

One of the things Breyer seems to like doing from time to time is debuting a mold in porcelain, resin or other material before eventually releasing it in plastic. Othello, Giselle and Gilen, and Tenacious/Sir Buckingham (among others) are all examples of this trend. In more recent examples, last year's Beautiful Breeds cob ornament is being released in plastic as one of the Breyerfest single-day Stablemates for this year.


However, there are some older porcelain sculptures that were released in the 1990s that never made it to being released in plastic, including the Shire Mare, Icelandic, Arabian Mare, Spanish Barb, Great Horse in Armor, the Circus Ponies, and others. One thing I've always wanted to ask Breyer is why these molds haven't ever been released in plastic. Not that I'm complaining about it - I'm just curious as to why.

I only have one Breyer porcelain, though I'd like to have more. I like my Adriano but I get nervous every time I have to touch or move him; I'm just too paranoid that he's going to end up broken!

There are a number of possible reasons for the porcelains never getting a plastic release; perhaps it's an issue of getting the rights to the sculptures, or Breyer doesn't think there would be much of a demand or market for releasing said sculptures in plastic, or there might be some technical issue preventing it. Rights-wise, though, I would think either Breyer already owns all rights to the sculptures, or would be able to buy said rights from Kathleen Moody if they somehow don't already own them. Which would bring us back to the demand argument - I doubt they'd put much effort into getting the plastic rights if they don't think there's a market for the sculptures (especially since most of them were released 20+ years ago, making them "old news," as it were). As for technical issues, most of those sculpts have been used multiple times, so I doubt that's the problem.

I would totally be in favor of seeing many of these molds finally released in plastic, though, even if they ended up being Classic-sized. The Classic line could definitely use more molds! The Spanish Barb is one of my favorite molds Breyer has ever released, and I'd love to see him in plastic. I'd really like to see the circus ponies in plastic, too (sans tack). I doubt they'd do anything with the Icelandic now that they have Falhofnir, although he'd probably make a nice Classic-sized Icelandic companion to Falhofnir and the Stablemate. I'd also like to see the resin Hambletonian released in plastic. And it would be interesting to see what the Arabian Mare and Great Horse in Armor look like without tack/armor.

So, I hope Breyer does focus groups at Breyerfest again soon - I participated in one at Breyerfest 2013 but stupidly didn't ask about the porcelains then. I'd love to have another opportunity to ask!