Whoa! Collector Club Appreciation already?

 I guess it's already time for the Collector Club Appreciation event, everyone! I hope this isn't because they're hurting for money due to the pandemic...well, anyway, buy $125 of merch to possibly get a glossy Winx! Isn't she beautiful? 

The other glossy possibilities are Buckeye, Catch Me and...other unnamed models. Great...well, currently I only want the Winx, so let's hope the other models are things I also don't want. It wasn't too hard for me to get to $125, since I hadn't purchased Adiah HP or Peptoboonsmal yet. My only grump is that the collector appreciation code/model don't stack with the collector club discount code. Talk about collector appreciation...bleh. Anyway, make sure you have both the Collector Club Appreciation model/item in your cart AND you add the THANKSCC20 code in order to get the glossy. 

My Collector Club Appreciation box is here!

Excellent news - my Collector Club Appreciation box showed up today! It wasn't scheduled to be here until tomorrow, but I guess UPS had other plans. Check out my loot!



That's right - I got glossy Seamus. Well, it could have been worse, I guess - I could have gotten glossy Enzo instead. I may already have a trade lined up for glossy Thunder, so hopefully that works out. In the meantime, here's a closer photo of Seamus:



I haven't gotten any other photos of Majesty yet, but he's definitely majestic! He's Stablemate-size, or maybe a little bigger, but I don't think he's molded from ABS - he's too heavy for that. Resin, maybe? He's nice all the same. But I wish Breyer would seal the glittery models better - he sheds glitter everywhere.

That's all I've got for now - but I'm hoping we get the big 2020 reveal later today! We've been waiting way too long!

Whew! That was fast.

The Collector Appreciation sale went up - and then it sold out in under 30 minutes! That has to be close to a record, right? Turns out the glossy possibilities this year are Seamus, Latigo Dun It, Thunder, Enzo and Verdades. Fortunately for me, the glossy Thunder is the only one I want:

And, luckily for me, I was able to slip an order in before they sold out! Although, if I'm allowed to be a little whiny, I wish they'd have glossed Empres if they were going to gloss an Ashquar. Thunder barely looks glossy in the photo, which makes me wonder if we're going to have another Hero's Welcome situation where it's hard to even tell if some of the models are glossy.

Anyway, I hope I get Thunder! I'm sure he'll look better in person. Failing that, I hope I'm able to trade for a Thunder! The glossy Latigo Dun It is pretty stunning, though - he'll make a great addition to someone's collection.

So what did I buy? I had yet to get a Thunder, the unicorn Spanish Barb, Voyeur, or American Dream, so I loaded up my cart with those, plus a Stablemate blind bag to get me over the $125 minimum. Hey, with a little bit more luck I'll get a silver Alborozo! That would be the best.

The Collector Club Appreciation Sale returns!

Good news, everyone! The yearly Collector Club Appreciation sale will return tomorrow!



As a reminder, the Collector Club Appreciation sale works like this: purchase $125 of qualifying products (generally only regular run items count toward the promotion) and you'll receive a randomly selected glossy model for free. The above photo is one of the possible glossy models for this year; I'm thinking it's probably Enzo, this year's new Marchador? I won't need him, if so. I already have my cart loaded in preparation, so it's just a matter of waiting until 2pm Eastern tomorrow (1pm, in my time zone) to check out and add the appropriate code to my order (CCTHANKS19). I'll be at work when the promotion starts tomorrow, but hopefully I can get away long enough to get my order in before it sells out!

As for the other four possibilities, I have no idea what they might be...except that a glossy Bisbee popped up on Facebook a few weeks ago, so I'm guessing she'll be one of the possibilities. Honestly, I kinda hope I get another situation like last year, when I didn't want any of the glossies, so I was able to sell mine for a decent profit. I guess we'll see tomorrow! I mean, hopefully...as long as they tell us what the glossies are ahead of time...right?

Also, I'm glad to see the required dollar amount stayed at $125 this year. It had gone up the last few years, so it's nice to see it stay the same this year. Good luck to all the shoppers out there!

Straight Bet - First Breyerfest 2018 special run!

The special run has been revealed, and he's certainly very shiny! Meet Straight Bet!



As most people suspected, he's on the handsome Duende mold! He certainly looks luscious in gloss! He's almost nice enough to be an auction model. Here's a description from the website:

Straight Bet is a richly shaded liver chestnut with dapples and a shiny coat of gloss, an uncommon but stunning color for the Lusitano breed! The model is on the lovely Spanish Stallion mold (745) sculpted by Mindy Berg.

I really like him (though I wouldn't mind seeing him with some white on his face - minor nitpick)! And is anyone really surprised that he doesn't fit the theme? Sure, we all hoped they'd finally stick with a theme for once, but it must be easier to just use whatever molds you want and give them themed names.

So, now we know the first special run model. This is probably the only one they'll reveal this month, but maybe we'll see a raffle or prize model before the month is out. I hope so!

My Collector Appreciation glossy is here!

...But it's one of the ones I didn't want. Say hello to glossy Hickory Hills Wall Street!



Fortunately, I'm working on trading him for a glossy Bandera, but I would have really liked to get a glossy Liberty. It would have been easy to just buy the Bandera later, but I have a feeling the glossy Libertys are going to be a lot more expensive.

Oh well! Better luck next time, I guess.

Collector Appreciation 2017!

Just when I thought we weren't going to get a Collector Appreciation event this year, Breyer pulls it out!

Carefully timed to not coincide with the double savings weekend and $10 express shipping upgrade, of course. Well played, Breyer (or not).

So it looks like this year, the first 500 orders to use the Collector Appreciation code to order $125 of qualifying merchandise will receive one of four glossed models with their order: Liberty, Bandera, Hickory Hills Wall Street, or Bryants Jake. That breaks down to 125 glossies each.

I was irritated that they raised the total to $125 this year, but I couldn't resist the possibility of a glossy Liberty or Bandera, so I bit. But what to buy? I hadn't been planning on buying one of the new throw blankets they came out with, but when I saw one of them had the Xavier unicorn on it, I had to get it. I love throw blankets and I love unicorns; what could go wrong? It had better be a pretty amazing throw for $40, though.

Along with the throw, I picked up another Fantasia and Gozosa set to try to get a Fantasia that will stand, and a Hwin to resell. Hopefully I don't have too much trouble dumping those on eBay later.

It looks like the promotion is still available, though I'm not sure how we're supposed to tell if it's sold out unless Breyer is planning on telling us. I'm hoping to get Liberty or Bandera, but good luck if you ordered!

And yes, the 2018 new releases are apparently out in the wild, but I'm waiting for an official announcement from Breyer before I cover them here. Lots of exciting stuff, though!

Moondance and Premier Club Blind Bags!

Wow, look at that - Moondance came out when Breyer said she would! Woohoo!

 

She's now available to order for Collector Club members who put down a deposit on her earlier in the year. I can't wait to get her and my Zahrat in hand! I like Forever Saige and all her sass, so the more boss mares I have in my herd, the better (although all my other Saiges are packed in a box right now, so they won't be together for a while).

In other news, it's that time of year again - Premier Club blind bags are available again!

 

If I hadn't been a member of the Premier Club since its inception, I probably would be more interested in this offer - but I already have all the Premier Club horses I want. What I'd really like to see is for these blind bag models to be glossed - we all know they'd instantly turn into hot sellers if that happened. Imagine a glossy Hermosa and Corazon, or Geronimo, or...(gasp) Forever Saige...that would be awesome! Of course, then I'd have to shell out an unimaginable amount of money to get them all, so maybe it wouldn't be such a great idea after all. It sounds really nice, though (and would really help clear out that warehouse!). 

Glossy vs Matte

Whenever Breyer announces a new release, one of the most important factors is its finish. Will it be glossy or matte? For some, the finish makes all the difference. Some people only collect glossy models, while others only collect matte. Some collectors would like to see every release come with a shiny coat of gloss; others, not so much. It seems to be another one of those things that comes down to personal preference.

For the record, I'm generally ambivalent about gloss. If something is available in both finishes, I want both - but most of the time the glossy finishes are limited to special runs, Breyerfest tent models and glossy prize models, things that are for the most part difficult to obtain for a reasonable price. Sure, I'd love to get my hands on more glossy prizes, but I don't show, and I'm not willing to pay more than $400 for one. So, most glossies will likely remain out of my reach.

So, I don't get too worked up about gloss - if a particular release has it, cool! If not, it's not a problem.

I do think a glossy finish enhances a model's look most of the time. Giverny, the rainbowy Huck from Breyerfest 2015, is one model I think was greatly improved by the glossy finish. Another would be Aurelius, the chestnut Desatado from 2013. A couple more would be GG Valentine, on Giselle, and the glossy Fall, on Wintersong - while the matte versions of those models are nothing to sneeze at, the glossies are stunning.

But it does seem that a glossy finish can hurt some models, mostly darker ones. I don't have a glossy Cortes C from last year's Breyerfest, but I imagine he's a nightmare to photograph. My glossy Namid (Namib?) tended to disappear in group shots of models (so did the matte one, to be fair), and she was hard to photograph in my light tent. This may be my fault for using a black backdrop - the nitpicky part of my psyche demands all the backgrounds match. I had the same issue with Ganache - beautiful in person, and he looks just like melted chocolate, but so hard to photograph!

So, I don't get too excited about the gloss vs. matte dilemma, except when I'm trying to get all the variations of the surprise models at Breyerfest. That madness is enough to drive anyone insane! I almost hope this year's surprise is on a mold I don't collect, so I don't have to deal with it. But then I wouldn't have the anticipation of opening the bags to see what color I got and...argh!