Kiana models are shipping and more New Arrivals!

 Good news, Deluxe Collector Club members! In a shocking turn of events, this year's DCC model, Kiana, is already in stock and shipping! I hope you had the correct address when you joined the club, because they're shipping to that address automatically rather than having us confirm which address we want to use. Which could be problematic, so maybe give Breyer a call if you're concerned about that. 

It's a gambler's choice of which Kiana you'll get - matte or glossy. I hope I get both! I accidentally used my NZ address for my first club membership, so it might take a while for that one to get here. Oh well. 

In other news, it's time for more New Arrivals! 

That's right, it's The Wanderer - a hot item for many Breyerfest attendees, as they sold out pretty quickly. Luckily, I got one with my VIP ticket. He's so pretty! I really like the blue/black of his feathers, along with his mismatched eyes and the slight blue tint to his mane/tail. But I can't help but wonder what he would have looked like in gloss...

Next we have the original Litha, who seemed like the black sheep of the event, because no one seemed to want this one - but he did sell out eventually, so who knows. I suspect there will be a lot of them for sale at the Clarion next year (if room sales continue). But he's a really nice color! Which also could have been really great in gloss...

Lastly for today, we have the decorator Litha! He was certainly a hot item, and probably the reason the entire run of Litha sold out. But his color is really great! I love the shade of blue they used - more like turquoise, really. And you can't see it in this photo, but I love the blue spot on his right front knee, as well. Add that to the gloss and you pretty much have the perfect model! I love him. 

That's it for today, but we'll have more New Arrivals soon! 

Breyerfest sale and special run splits!

 Exciting news today, readers! The Breyerfest warehouse sale is happening now! 

There's nothing terribly interesting in the sale, and some of it is sold out already, but if you happen to have some money burning a hole in your pocket, knock yourself out. 

In other exciting news, Breyer decided to announce the Breyerfest special run splits ahead of time! Ticket sales must be down. And I'm not sure it's the first time they've done it, because I remember them announcing the splits in 2020 when we were all filling out preference lists for the first time.  Anyways, as many people suspected due to the "glossy" wording (later removed) in his initial announcement, Oseburg will be a matte/glossy split! 

Mmm, he looks great in gloss. Hope I can get one! 

Next, there's a tail variation on Aquavit! This will also be a 50/50 split: 

Many people were expecting a bell tail to eventually show up, so it's not that much of a surprise! Cool-looking, but still nothing I need. 

And lastly, Litha has a rare variation! 

Oooooooh, I really want this one! I love the colors. 30% of the 2200-piece run will be in this color, so that works out to 660 models. Decent odds of getting one, I guess? Maybe I need to buy some more tickets...

Yes please!

 Good news, everyone! The first Breyerfest 2026 special run has been revealed! Say hello to Litha!

My thoughts: Yes! I wonder if he’ll be the matte/glossy split? I hope so. He’s handsome! I like that all four of his legs are white, and most of his tail. What a beauty! I love him. I totally didn’t expect Ethereal to be used this year. I guess it’s been 15 years since he was used as a special run, so it’s about time. 

Oh, nooooooooooo

 Well, we have our reveal of the sneak peek from yesterday...and when I saw this outline, my first reaction was, "Oh, nooooooo...."

Then I looked at the reveal, and well...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! 

Why did they name it after a notoriously bad Britney Spears song/performance? But more importantly...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! If this is the reserve prize, what's the grand prize?? Now I'm cursing myself for not entering the live show! 

Well, the blog says there'll be more reveals this week, so hopefully all our questions will be answered by the end of the week. 

Romeo and Anthem are here!

 Good news, everyone! My Romeo and Anthem models have arrived! I'm so happy not to have had to wait until July or later to get these guys. Maybe the shipping problems have finally started to straighten themselves back out? Anyways, I'll start with Romeo. 

He's definitely a handsome guy! As others across the Internets have noted, he has the same leg markings (and star) as the much-maligned roan Seven Arts Surprise from last year's Breyerfest. This doesn't bother me too much - stencils (and before those were used, masks) are reused all the time, so it's just not that big of a deal. 

I could almost wish he were glossy, as that really seems to suit the silver bay paint job for some reason. And I love that his mane and tail are pearly! 

His masking isn't the best I've ever seen, but it's not terrible either, so there's that. His seams could have been cleaned better as well - he seems like he has seams everywhere. I'll have to compare him to my other Dundees and see if they're all the same way. 

 Next, let's take a look at Anthem! 

I gotta say, of all the patriotic models Breyer has done so far, this one has to be the best. Using silver is a bit unorthodox, but I think it works. I suppose they could have just done red/blue with white, but the silver sets things off quite well and accentuates his silver hooves nicely. 

If, by some miracle, I ever win the bidding for a Design Your Own Breyer, I'd probably put this color on Hamilton, probably because so many people wanted Hamilton to be the mold for this release. I think it'd look pretty good on him (but let's face it, this would look good on pretty much any model). 

I really like the shade of blue they used for this guy - it's pretty similar to the color used for Benasque. Quality-wise, he's fine - a booboo here and there, but nothing major. 

That's all I have for now - let's hope we get some exciting new reveals soon! I feel like the past couple of months have been pretty slow in the news department. 

Anthem is revealed!

 Well, the wait is over - we finally got a photo of Anthem today! 

Color me surprised...I guessed the wrong Moody mold! Oh well. Now this is a model I need! I like the colors they chose, especially the silver. I wonder if his white areas are pearly? Hopefully I can get my hands on one to find out! These are supposed to ship in June, so let's hope we don't get a repeat of last year and end up with people still waiting for them in September, eh? 

Featured Model: 1/1/2022, It's Showtime, Folks!

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model I don't own but would like to, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. Happy New Year, everyone! This week's model is...Showtime! 

This handsome fellow was a run of 12. He was item #712016 and was produced on the Ethereal mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody. 

Showtime was one of the special runs produced for the Velvet Rope Event held at Breyer headquarters back in 2008. It was the second special collector event Breyer held, after the Premier Event in 2002. I seem to recall seeing some verbiage around that time indicating that Breyer would hold an event at their headquarters every 6 years, which held up through 2014 with the Big Easy Bash. So there should have been an event at Breyer headquarters back in 2020, but the Seattle Soiree was held (planned to be in-person, but ending up being virtual due to Covid). After the VRE, collector events started happening approximately every other year, but there was an event in 2020, then again in 2021, and Breyer has indicated another happening this year, so it looks like yearly collector events may be happening. Maybe this year we'll go back to Breyer headquarters! Who knows.

In any event, Showtime is a very rare model indeed - I can't remember if I've ever seen one come up for sale since rejoining the hobby in 2010. He's definitely handsome - and the only photo I have to work with is one of Breyer's notoriously-bad promo photos, so I can only imagine how amazing he looks in person. Maybe someday I'll find one for sale for a good price...but in the meantime I'll just have to admire him from afar. 

As for Ethereal himself, the mold was just used as the TSC special run Wilder. Prior to that he had been used as the 2017 Halloween Horse. I hope we get another release on him soon, because he's been used rather sporadically since his 2011 Breyerfest Spun Gold appearance. He's not everyone's favorite mold, probably because of his slightly-ponyish appearance, but I love him all the same. Maybe we'll get a web special? I probably shouldn't hope for that since the web specials have gotten rather hard to acquire in recent years, but maybe he'll get a mid-year release or something. 

Wilder is here!

 Exciting news, everyone - I got tired of waiting for our "local" TSC to get their Breyer stock in, and ordered a Wilder using the ship-to-store option on the website. And he arrived today! After all the shipping delays we've had lately, it was kinda refreshing to order a model and have it here less than a week later. 

Ethereal looks great in this color, and I love the little heart-shaped spot. 

There wasn't a ship-to-store option for the new mystery Stablemate unicorn foal sets, but it looks like other dealers will be able to get those eventually, so I'm not too worked up about it. 

Quality-wise, he's pretty nice, and his paint job is relatively free of oopsies, but I wasn't terribly happy about how his tail is attached to his body:

Sorry about the butthole shot. But I feel like his tail could have been attached better.

Anyway, Wilder is quite the handsome fellow! Let's hope we get some more releases on Ethereal soon. 

2021 Tractor Supply models have been revealed!

 Well, now that Breyerfest is a done deal for most people, I guess it's time to talk about the new hotness - this year's Tractor Supply special runs! A planogram showed up on Facebook earlier this week, showing the names of this year's three special runs - Sayan (mustang), Cirrus (American Quarter Horse) and Wilder (Arabian-Appaloosa cross). Now we have photos of the actual setup as it's supposed to appear on the shelves. I'm not sure the photo was intended for public consumption, though, so I won't post it here - but anyway, the three molds in question are the Indian Pony (in...bay, I think?), Bobby Jo in dapple gray and...Ethereal (bay blanket Appaloosa)! Exciting! Fortunately, I only need the Ethereal, so I guess my husband will have to start haunting the local TSC! 

Featured Model - 1/18/20, Times Square

Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give stats on it and provide commentary about it. Since we're still pretty early in the new year, I thought it would be fitting to talk about something New Year-themed! So...this week's model is Times Square!



This striking model was a special run for Breyerfest 2007. He's item #711037 and is a run of 1,250 on the Ethereal mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody.

This guy's design is certainly inspired - the visual of fireworks going off in the night works pretty well on him, I think. It doesn't hurt that he's glossy, of course! I'm not quite sure why his mane and tail have that gold tint, though - I suppose for dramatic effect or something. I know Ethereal has his detractors, but he's always appealed to me - I can see where his legs look bigger than they should be compared to the rest of his body, and his poofy muscles are admittedly odd-looking, but that's just part of Kathleen's style.

Ethereal has only appeared as a decorator a couple of times (more if you count auction models), so it might be fitting for him to show up at Breyerfest this year as a Celtic-themed decorator. He hasn't had any new releases lately other than the Calavera for Halloween a couple of years ago, so he's definitely overdue. I suppose he's always had a bit of an erratic release schedule - he (or part of him) technically premiered in an issue of JAH three whole years before Conquistador finally appeared on the scene, so I suppose it makes sense if he has a lot of gaps in his production schedule. Still, I'd like to see a new color on him soon! Maybe he'll be a web special? I hope so!

Featured Model - 10/6/2018, Spun Gold Buckskin Appaloosa

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...the Spun Gold Ethereal in Buckskin Appaloosa!



This handsome fellow was another of the possible Spun Gold Surprise models available at Breyerfest 2011. He's item #711134 on the Ethereal mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody.

I always thought this was a successful surprise - it more or less fit the theme (Spun Gold? Fairytales? Sure!), and all four of the colors were quite nice. Ethereal is a reasonably popular mold, and unlike some later surprise models, none of the colors look like anything you'd expect to find as a regular run. Of the four colors, I'm most partial to the buckskin, but the palomino is quite nice as well (and he has the same pattern as Fire, if you never noticed).

There's an interesting anecdote about this mold - years ago I was reading JAH and someone wrote a letter to the editor asking about this mysterious mold that had had a partial photo printed in the magazine three years prior to that issue. Breyer said it would be revealed soon - and then Conquistador was unveiled shortly afterwards. I went back to the three-years-older issue and sure enough, there was a photo of Ethereal's tail with a "Coming soon!" caption on it (it looked like Fire's paint job, for the record). I've always wondered what the story behind that was. Why did it take three years for the mold to be released?

Ethereal is another one of my favorite molds. I really like his tail - he looks like he's swishing it while he canters along. He hasn't been used much lately, aside from last year's Calavera. I wouldn't mind seeing a new regular run release on him - the last time he was a regular run was the Grullo Pinto release from 2013-2015. Or maybe he'll be a web special? The only previous time he's been a web special was as Dionysus in 2013 (one of my favorite colors on him). Hopefully we get something new soon - he's too pretty to sit unused!

Sugarmaple and Calavera are here!

After a long wait, and then two days of being held hostage at the post office, my Sugarmaple and Calavera models are finally here! Woohoo! I'll start with Sugarmaple!

I've been seeing a lot of variation in this run in online photos of him; some of them seem to be a lot more red or green than others. Mine seems to be in the middle, with more of the brown/gold rather than red or green. Which is fine, though I somewhat hoped I'd get one of the greener ones. Oh well!

Quality-wise, he's a little...odd. I don't think the leaves are decals - they look more like stencils. But some of them look a little weird around the edges. Not sure if they'll show up very well in photos or not.

Maybe it's a side effect of using gold paint on a translucent model, but it almost looks like the gold started to (or just threatened to) flake off when the stencils were removed.

But, in the grand scheme of things, it's a fairly minor issue and I didn't see anything else wrong with him. Here's a shot of his handsome head!

I'm excited to get this guy lined up with the rest of his brethren! Sugarmaple is definitely here to stay.

Now, on to Calavera - I'm so happy with this model! I've been hearing a lot online about how flawed this run was, with horrible wrinkled decals, poor paint jobs and the like. But mine is almost flawless!

With the amount of decals on this model, I'd have expected to find something wrong with at least one of them, but to my amazement, NONE of these decals are wrinkled or otherwise have anything wrong with them other than the visible borders (which is inevitable when the model isn't glossed).

As for other flaws, he's got a few small dings here and there, and his mane could have been painted a little more neatly. I'd have liked to see less stark black and more purple on the tendon areas of his legs, but that's more personal preference than anything else. I'm very, very happy with this model and so glad I got a good one!

Have I mentioned how much I like the colors used on this model? I love his white face, and the orange-red mane and tail, and the purple legs. The flowers look great too! I think this was an excellent design, and a nice departure from the usual Halloween model.



I don't think I've seen decals this good since I got my also-flawless Luna back in 2012. Though, now that I think about it, my Marigold from this year's Breyerfest has pretty good decals too, and he was designed by the same person that designed Calavera (Lauren Hoeffer). Coincidence? Probably, but I'm happy anyway!

All in all, I'm really happy with this model! At least for now...we'll have to see how well these models age. I'll be curious (and probably disappointed) to see what happens to these decals in 20 years or so. But that's a question for another time! Until next time, readers! 

Mid-Year Releases have been revealed!

Good news, everyone! This year's mid-year releases are out, and I only need to buy one of them! Huzzah!

I'll start with this year's Halloween horse, Calavera. Behold!

 

I won't lie; I was a little taken aback when I saw this one. But then  I looked at it a little closer. While I still don't love it, I do like the mane and tail color and the color combinations on the (presumable) decals on the horse's body. I like the lower leg color too, though I wish there was more of it. The Day of the Dead theme is a nice touch; Breyer must be running out of Halloween ideas again by now. All things considered: he's not perfect, but I'll add him to the herd. Bonus: he was designed by the hobby's own Lauren Hoeffer!

Next - Slick by Design!

Interesting enough - I don't really follow barrel racing, so I don't hear much about famous barrel racing stallions. But now we have two successful barrel racers in the regular line, with Babyflo. This is definitely one color SCO hasn't been released in yet, so that's worth a few points. I don't collect SCO though, so won't be buying this one. 

Next: PVF Peace of Mind!

 

My reaction: ho-hum. Do we really need another bay Marabella? More importantly, why did they pick this mold to portray a successful performance horse when the mold itself has been said by the sculptor to be portraying your typical Morgan broodmare? I'm sure Breyer has other molds that could pass for Morgans that could have been used instead. A year ago I would have had to add this model to my buy list, but I recently culled all my Marabellas for shelf space - and so far I'm not regretting it. 

Next: Cosmus!

 

Ho-hum reaction to this one too. Yet another pegasus release on the Classic Lipizzan mold. Can't they find something else to slap a pair of wings on? Harper would look good with wings. Not buying this one either.

And last on our list - Cobra!

 

 This one would make a good companion with Padre - not one, but two dressage mustangs! Now that I think about it though, there was another dressage mustang model back in the day - JB Andrew on the old Friesian mold! I wonder whatever happened to that horse. This model, though, looks nice and snappy with his four white feet and what looks like a nice dark bay color (similarities to the original Flash notwithstanding). That said, I don't collect Flashes, so this guy won't be coming home with me either. He has a really nice color, though.

Conclusion: I'm mostly just relieved by these, as I have pretty much no space left for any new purchases (hence the Marabella culling, along with the Big Bens, probably the Wixoms and maybe even the Henrys if I can convince myself to let go of Naughty and Nice). My pocketbook is relieved, too - money has been tight lately with the move, and it's not going to improve anytime soon. Anyway, let"s hope some of all of these beauties are available at Breyerfest - it'll be nice to see them in the flesh. And since most of them are portrait models, I wonder if any of the real horses will show up as last-minute guests?

Featured Model - 10/13/16, Spun Gold Surprise (Pinto)

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

This model was released on the popular Ethereal/Conquistador mold #582, sculpted by Kathleen Moody. He was a Breyerfest special run in 2011, one of the four possible models available as part of the "Spun Gold Surprise" special run line item #711134. He is one of 400 produced on this color. I wish I'd been able to attend the 2011 Breyerfest - there were so many goodies!

Ethereal is another one of those molds that make me go gaga. I want him in every color! My only nitpick is that I think gloss would have been AMAZING on this particular color - but it was only the second time Breyer had done the surprise model and I guess they were still figuring out how this whole "Surprise" thing was going to work. I'm generally ambivalent about gloss - either/or is fine with me in most cases (though I try to get both if possible) - but this guy is an exception.

The color on this model is pretty great, though - he photographs beautifully against a black background. I guess I'm just a sucker for pearly things, because I love the pearly effect on his mane and tail, and his golden sheen. If only I could get my hands on the rare one for a decent price!

Truthfully, sometimes I wish they'd do another Surprise item like this release - toss out the matte/glossy split and just do some different colors, maybe on a few different molds. They've gotten pretty predictable over the last few years - mix it up a bit! I don't think anyone really had much of a guess as to what the surprise was in 2011, or 2012 for that matter. Since then, though, the hobby usually has it narrowed down pretty well by the time Breyerfest comes around - I know we had it down to Roxy or Zippo in 2013, and nobody was surprised about the Nokota in 2014 or Lonesome Glory last year. This year's Esprit seemed like a foregone conclusion right from the get-go.

Breyer seems like a company that prides itself on being unpredictable- that and holding secrets close to the chest. So I hope next year is something that throws us all for a loop!

(Chasing the Chesapeake is TOMORROW! Whoo!)