TSC special runs!

 Good news, everyone! The TSC special runs have been revealed! Two of them were previewed in the Collector Club tent, but now they're all available for viewing on the TSC website. Behold: 

This is the black Shannondell that was previewed in the Collector Club tent. I don't need him, but he sure looks good in black! 

This is the other one that was previewed - a pretty FFA blue appaloosa Latigo. I don't need him either, but I love that color! Maybe someday they'll put it on something I want. 

Ooh, a liver chestnut True North! He's handsome. Nothing I need, though. 

A pretty palomino pinto Zafirah! She reminds me of Studebaker. Still nothing I need, though. 

And lastly, the Classic family! Nothing I need there, either. Wow! It's a Christmas miracle! The models can't be ordered yet, but hopefully they'll be in stock soon. Good luck to everyone wanting to purchase! 

TSC special runs are here!

 Good news, readers! My Tractor Supply special runs (Merle and the Playful Pony Family set) arrived today, a day early! Huzzah! Let's take a look at Merle first: 

He's a bit darker than in the promo photos, and I was kind of hoping he'd be metallic, but doesn't really seem to be. 

It's a really handsome color nonetheless! 

His ears look bizarrely long in this photo. Must be the angle. 

Quality-wise he's pretty good; some small factory flaws, but nothing major. I'm glad I got this one, and super-glad he arrived this fast - looking at things last year, these models weren't arriving at people's houses until September or later and I was really worried I should have had them shipped to our new address. Fortunately it wasn't a problem! Now if my Adonis would show up...

I also received the Playful Pony Family! 

I didn't take the stallion out of the box because I'm hoping to resell him. 

I really like this pair! Attractive colors on both. 

I really like this color on her - she has a slight pearly sheen, but it's not nearly as noticeable as on the Stagecoach Surprises, for example. 

I was also pleasantly surprised to see the mare has tiny little eyewhites, though the stallion and foal don't. The eyes at at least neatly painted on all three, though- a lot of the recent Classics releases have had really sloppy eyes. 

Quality-wise they aren't bad - some minor flaws, like Merle, but nothing major. Guess I didn't take any separate photos of the foal, but he's pretty nice too. 

In other TSC-related news, I got a report that the TSC Flash (Applegate) isn't a flat bay, but rather has metallic undertones, so he's probably worth picking up if you're a Flash collector. In addition, the blue cow ornament may be too heavy to hang on a tree - probably cast in resin like the recent unicorn ornaments. Thanks to Sarah M.! 

That's all I have for today- maybe tomorrow we'll get an announcement about the Breyerfest leftovers sale! 

Seeing Doubles at Tractor Supply

 More exciting news, everyone - this year's TSC special runs have been revealed! They can be found here (toward the bottom of the page and on the next page). First off, one of the Traditionals - it's a new Dundee named Merle! 

What a stunning model! He's beautiful. 

Here's the other Traditonal: 

His name is Applegate, according to the box. Interesting to see he has his own blanket rather than being blue, like last year's Geronimo. I'll try not to talk about yet another bay Flash...

Next we have the Classics set: 

They're the "Playful Pony Family." I don't think the Classic Quarter Horse Stallion is, uh, a pony? I guess it doesn't matter since he's the same size as the Haflinger mare. 

Next, here's an 8-piece Stablemates box set:

Anything look familiar? Well, don't stop now, because we aren't done yet. More Horse Foal Surprise sets:

Huh, interesting. The gray Vanner is repeated from the blind bags. The palomino G2 Morgan is repeated in the box set and the Horse Foal Surprise sets, as is the Cassidy (finally a new release!) and the buckskin Indian Pony. What is going on? Are the foals repeated in the Horse Foal Surprise sets too? 

There are also new Unicorn Foal Surprise sets, but the Magnolia, Greyson, Croi and Fireheart models are all repeated from the current Sparkling Splendor Unicorn Set, and the Warmblood Mare and G2 Morgan are repeated from the Unicorn Treasures carded regular runs. 

Soooo....why are all these repeats happening all of a sudden? I can't say I'm interested in buying these unicorn family sets just to get the foals - I'll have to wait and see what they are first and hope they're on molds I don't collect. Maybe they're repeats as well? 

I hope this trend doesn't continue. Maybe they figured they could get away with it since these are all technically special runs for TSC and maybe the customer base doesn't overlap that much and no one would notice? But clearly the collectors would, so it's not like they're fooling anyone. Maybe it's a cost-saving measure...? Who knows.

There's also this other FFA-themed Stablemates set:

A lot of people are turned off by the words stamped on the sides of the horses. Maybe they're only on one side? It's kind of an odd design, but at least the colors aren't repeated from another release, eh? 

Lastly, it turns out horses aren't the only Breyer animals being shrunk - check out the FFA ornament! 

It's the Cow! I laughed when I saw it. I'm kind of tempted to get it, even though I'm not an animal collector. I'm sure I'll be in a TSC again in the near future, so maybe I'll pick one up! 

Julius and Nova!

 Greetings, readers! Well, I'll get right to it - next year's first Vintage Club release, Julius, was revealed on Saturday. Behold! 

Julius? As in...Orange Julius? Okay, okay, I'll show myself out. Seriously though, while old-style red roan is one of my least favorite colors (right up there with wild bay or honey bay), Georg looks amazeballs in it. Good thing I've got a VC enabler. Uhhh, but anyway. If you squint really hard, he almost starts to look like a fleabitten gray with really pronounced fleabites. Well...almost. But anyway, I'm excited for him! 

There's another exciting Classics release on the website today, too! Check out Nova: 

He's a pretty color, but I'm not a fan of the mold, so no purchase necessary here. I can't figure out what he looks like - some kind of cosmic pink wolf or something? Weird. Well, whatevs. Breyer is certainly doling out content in drips and drabs, eh? And we still haven't seen the holiday mare and foal set - maybe that'll be next. Bring it on, I say! 

Odds and Ends

Sheesh, there really hasn't been a lot of news lately, has there? Normally Breyer would be showing us this year's Breyerfest live auction models right about now, but we haven't seen hide nor hair of those, despite the fact that the live auction apparently still is going to continue. Speaking of Breyerfest, this is now up on the Breyerfest tickets page:



It's a preview of what the website will look like when Breyerfest activities are live. Note the "Auction" box with the photo of Stephanie holding an auction model from last year. So evidently we are getting an auction this year. In that case...where are the models? Normally we'd have seen, like, half of them by now, so what's the holdup?

I suppose we'll find out soon enough. In other news, I finally got a photo of the new Sugar unicorn showing up at many Walmarts around the country:



I really like his color, possibly because it reminds me of Starlite (I may or may not have had a stuffed Starlite as a child...)! Too bad I'm not really into the Classic AQH mold. But that's more for the rest of you, I guess!

Lastly, remember the new Stablemates on cards we got last year, like this bay Andalusian? There are more new ones out, including a liver chestnut Mini Brishen, a palomino Mirado and black pinto G4 Driving Horse. I can't remember if I've mentioned the previous three before or not. Anyways, there are even more new ones showing up at Walmarts now, including a buttermilk buckskin G3 Mustang, a chestnut blanket Appaloosa G5 Running Mare/Esperanza and a bay G3 Standing Stock Horse, none of which I have photos I can use yet. We hit four Walmarts today hoping to find any of the new ones, only to strike out every time (I'm personally only looking to add the Brishen and Mirado to my herd). The new ones also tease a new set of Horse Crazy blind bags (not to be confused with the Unicorn Crazy blind bags), so clearly we aren't done with blind bags yet, either. Bleh.

Anyways, hopefully we get some exciting news soon! It's driving me crazy not having any auction models to post about!