New Arrivals: Winner's Circle, Julep and Pim

Breyerfest has been over for a week already! Where does the time go? Well, in lieu of anything more exciting to post about, I took some quick cellphone photos of a few of my new Breyerfest arrivals. First up are Winner's Circle and Julep and Pim! I'll start with Winner's Circle!

I'm pleased to report that he isn't cast from ABS plastic, like I thought he'd be. Nope, it appears he's made from good old cellulose acetate! Breyer must have decided to sell him for ABS price for the fun of it, I guess. I'm not really into having models signed, so I didn't test out the marker that came with him. Hopefully those were up to snuff! Otherwise, I think his color is really nice!

Next, my beautiful dark Julep:

Most of the Breyerfest models I've seen from this year were quite nice, quality-wise, and my Julep is no exception. I didn't see a flaw on her! She's dark and pretty and I can't wait to get her on my shelf with her sisters! Her color is stunning and I'm glad I added her to my collection.

And lastly, Pim:



New to Breyerfest packing jobs this year was the foam between the Pim foals' legs. I didn't save a sample of it, but just imagine small foam inserts between both pairs of legs. I don't know if it helped support the legs or not, but at least they tried, right? Not much else to say about this one, except Pim's name is still dumb and I'm probably not going to get over it. She is nice, though, and I love her blue eye.

That's all I have for right now - tune in soon for more Breyerfest models!

Breyerfest Day 2: Insane Craziness

Breyerfest day 2 is over! It was a long, sweaty day, but mostly worth it. First off, we finally found out the volunteer model - Othello! He's my main conga, so I'm super glad I was picked off the volunteer reserve list this year.

In other news, in three trips through the special run line, we were able to obtain more Dark Horse Surprise models, including a glossy decorator! (And a duplicate matte palomino pinto I'm hoping to trade for an equivalent black or decorator.)

 

I think the red does make him go faster. He'll definitely fit right in on my shelves!

I was also able to get Julep and Pim:

 

They're just as pretty as the promo pictures! Now if only Pim had a better name...

I also picked up a Straight Bet!

 

He's definitely nice, and I love his glossy goodness.

In addition to three special run lines, we also squeezed in a(n) incredibly sweaty volunteer shift, a trip to Stonestreet where we unexpectedly were able to see Rachel Alexandra (!), the raffle (nothing there), the costume contest (nothing there either, but they only awarded 3 winners from 50ish participants) and most of the Saturday night Celebration of Horses. My husband was lucky enough to get a big helping of "45 minutes stuck in traffic yet again" after the raffle! So we left the Celebration of Horses early (again) so we wouldn't get stuck in traffic afterward (again). So a little bit of a mixed bag there, but I'm totally stoked about seeing Rachel Alexandra and pulling a glossy from the special run line. (Photos of me in my costume may or may not show up here later...)

I was also lucky enough to be in the room when the Best Customs Contest winners were announced, and I was immensely pleased when the koi horse won in the Fantasy division! Definitely a worthy winner there.

That's all I've got for today, but I'm sure there'll be lots more exciting things happening tomorrow. See you then!

Another Breyerwest is in the books!

Hello, everyone! I've been shamefully neglectful in posting about it, but this year's Breyerwest took place this past weekend at the Northwest Horse Fair and Expo in Albany, OR. And Breyer brought some examples of this year's Breyerfest models with them! First, a view of the Breyer Booth, from Breyer's Facebook page:

As you can see, Dally and Spanky made an appearance this year! It's always good to see the dog and pony show back in action.

And here are some of the Breyerfest 2018 special runs! All photos courtesy of Julia N. on Facebook, used with permission. First, here's a look at Woodford, the Saturday raffle model!

It's hard to tell for sure, but he looks pearly in his mane and tail and on his feathers. I wonder if he's basecoated? I'll have to get an up-close photo of him at Breyerfest and see. He's definitely pretty, though!

Next we have Julep and Pim. They look pretty nice, although these are prototypes, so who knows what the final product will look like. It doesn't look like Julep has any dapples to potentially screw up, though, so we can always hope. And I like the Carina mold more every time I see her! Pim's back looks really flat, but it's probably just a trick of the light. Her paint job looks reasonably intricate, too. I wonder what their run number will be? I'm really hoping they do a matte/glossy split on these! I keep hoping they'll stealth-change Pim's lame name, but it doesn't look like it's happened yet.

Here's Riddle, the early bird raffle. I'm not really a fan of the Man o' War mold, but I have to admit that color looks really nice on him. I'm almost always a fan of glossy gray paintjobs, though, so I might be biased. Hopefully they do/did a nice job with him, but with a run of only three, it'll be hard to mess that up.

Next we have the PAM special run, Sierra Rose. She looks nice too, although I'm guessing this is the model we already saw pictured on the blog. I wonder what sort of variations we'll see on her? She looks nice and rosy in the photo, but I wonder if she'll have varying degrees of rosiness. There's been speculation on whether they'll all have the white head, too. Her dapples look a tad polka-dotty, though, so I'll reserve judgement until I see one in person.

And lastly, we have the Duende, Straight Bet! His coloring certainly is rich, and I don't see any gloss issues. He looks like he has dapples, but they look a lot more subtle than Sierra Rose's. With a combination of both dapples and gloss, though, we're bound to get a few doozies. Hopefully there won't be too many! I'll definitely be trying for this guy. For how much I like his front end, I wish his rear end was a little more substantial, though.

I'm a little disappointed that they didn't have a sample of Dead Heat there, but I suppose I'll live.

I'll close with this photo from Breyer's Facebook, showing Dally and Spanky from a different angle:




Is that a Zena I see in the background? Ahhh! I must have her! I'm definitely hoping my husband gets her for my birthday next week.

That's about all I've got for today - someday maybe I'll be able to go to Breyerwest, but there honestly isn't currently a lot of incentive for me. I don't show, and we have a perfectly serviceable horse expo or two of our own within a much more reasonable drive of where I live. Maybe if Breyer offered a Breyerwest special run or two...but Albany's a bit awkward to get to by flying, so it would probably be more worthwhile to just have somebody pick it up for me if that were the case. Maybe someday!

Julep and...Pim?

There was a vague, cryptic post on the blog yesterday, and it appears to have led to this sudden special run reveal today! Meet Julep and Pim!



From the blog:

Julep is obviously named after the iconic Kentucky Derby staple the Mint Julep and Pim is named after the Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore where the Preakness Stakes is held each year.

Pim's name is just dumb. They thought about it long enough to name Julep after the mint julep, but couldn't Google the official Preakness Stakes drink like I just did? Here you go, Breyer.

The official drink of the Preakness Stakes is the Black-Eyed Susan cocktail. I admit that's a bit of a mouthful compared to "Julep," but "Susan" (or even Susie) would have been easy enough, and the foal is female, so it still works. And it doesn't scream, "We wanted to use Pimlico but that's copyrighted!" No, instead we get Pim. Come on, really?

Other than Pim's dumb name, I really like them. Both of them look good in those colors, but I think Carina looks good in any color, honestly (can't wait for this year's holiday horse!). They're definitely on my list for this year!

Of course, if you read the "hint" on the blog yesterday, it also mentions the Belmont. Could something else be in store for later?