New Arrivals: Matte Deco Dark Horse, Palomino Dead Heat and By a Nose

Hello, everyone! In my continuing coverage of new models acquired at Breyerfest, today I'll be showcasing the matte decorator Dark Horse Surprise, the palomino Dead Heat and By a Nose. Let's get started with the decorator Dark Horse!



I love this model. He's a combination of "it goes faster because it's red" and "the flames make it go faster" and I love it! And I love the transition from solid on his body to clear on his mane and tail. The only way to make this model would be to gloss it...and guess what, they did! I'll talk about him later, but I definitely think this guy is one of the coolest surprise models Breyer has ever done.

Next, palomino Dead Heat!



It was funny how when Breyer posted the Dead Heat numbers on the blog last week, they bothered to say, "You had an equal chance to get the palomino or the chestnut." Apparently nobody noticed the guy handing them out in the special run line was asking people what their color preference was. Not that I'm complaining, because I was expecting to spend the whole weekend trying to get one color or the other, but I still thought it was...if not eyeroll-worthy, then sigh-worthy.

Anyway, the palomino Dead Heat turned out just how I thought he would - a nicely shaded palomino with a beautiful pearly mane and tail! I definitely like him a lot, so I'm not really sure how these two releases flopped so hard. As far as I know, they're still available in the leftovers on the Breyer website. Ruffian is a reasonably popular mold, and it's not like either color was badly done, so it's confusing to me. Maybe a combination of too many made, plus they probably would have sold better if it really had been a random draw like Breyer said it would be? Who knows.

Next, let's take a look at By a Nose!



This girl (yes, she's female! Zenyatta strikes again!) was definitely the hot item at this year's Breyerfest. So hot that she repeatedly sold out even before the Dark Horse Surprises. It took us until Sunday to get our hands on one, because we kept getting poor ticket draws.

Like I said in the past, I love this type of paint job; it looks like tasty, tasty candy! And I love the pinking in various areas. Better than yellow legs, am I right? Still scratching my head over that one.

Anyway, this one was definitely one of the more popular special runs Breyerfest has ever had, but I'm glad I ended up buying two of them, because the first one I got had a lot of small flaws that wouldn't have been so bad, but all of them together made it a really mediocre model. It was definitely the worst-quality model I saw this year; all in all, I thought the quality was really good this year.

That's it for now, but I'll be posting more Breyerfest content into August! Stay tuned!

And now Fletcher is available! Plus, new Breyerfest SR reveal!

I thought about adding a PS to last night's post, about waiting to purchase Aiden in case Fletcher popped up (for those of you that also ordered a Fletcher) but just didn't have the time. Lo and behold, today Fletcher is available on the website!

I didn't order a Fletcher, but if you did, this is an excellent chance to save on shipping and also get your Aiden shipped in a larger box! Huzzah!

As an aside, is it just me or does that matte Fletcher in the banner look matte enough to suck you in? He's got nice shading, but looks so...dry. Oh well.

In other exciting news, our swirled Lonesome Glory preview has been officially unveiled! Say hello to By a Nose!



I feel like they could have come up with a better name for this guy, but I like him nonetheless! His color reminds me of someone - but I can't think of who it is. Constellation but with spots? He's described as a Dominant White - interesting.

He also kind of looks like some kind of tasty candy - must be the roaning. Grape Sweet Tart, maybe? Mm. He definitely needs to join my herd! And imagine how stunning he'd look in gloss! Maybe he'll be the matte/glossy split this year! That would be excellent!

As for his name...after taking a quick look at a horse racing terminology website, things that pop out include Across the Board (maybe too similar to Straight Bet), Fast Track, In the Money or Shake Up? Fast Track would be nice. Maybe I'll just call mine by that name. Either way, he's definitely pretty!

I suppose I should have expected that we'd see Lonesome Glory, but with Breyer's track record of not adhering to themes, I thought he'd be too obvious. Clearly I was wrong! But at least he more-or-less fits the theme, right?

So the only special run yet to be revealed is the decorator, if it is a decorator this year. The early bird deadline is a bare five days away, so maybe we'll see it this week! I hope so. Bring on the reveals!