We've got auction models!

 Good news, everyone! We got to see some of this year's Breyerfest auction models today! Interestingly, the blog post says the live auction will take place in the beer garden this year rather than at the Hall of Champions. Yay! The Hall of Champions has been full to overflowing for the past couple of years - it's way past time to move it somewhere else. Let's hope the beer garden has enough seating as well, eh? Anyway, here's the first auction model:

Interesting - they changed the backdrop. The model reminds me of Ivy League for some reason. I'm not crazy about the jagged edges on his whites; I've never been an SCO fan, so that may be why. 

Another one I don't need, but she looks pretty in gloss! She'd make a nice pair with this auction PAS. 

Ooh, now this one I like. Bay roan always looks nice, though I can't help but wonder what he'd look like in gloss. 

Nice color on this one, and I especially like the tail, but I wish they'd fix Lady Phase's face. The mold badly needs to be retooled. 

So that eliminates these four molds as the surprise. I'm still hoping/dreading Vermeer as the surprise, but I guess we'll have to wait and see...

We have a Breyerfest program!

 Good news, readers! Just when we were starting to get super bored…we now have a Breyerfest program! The power is out at our house right now, but feel free to peruse the program! Our raffle models for this year are Lady Phase (nice color, but meh) and Anamar (argh! Must buy raffle tickets!). 

Edit: Okay, the power is back on and I'm ready to roll. Here's the auction preview that was in the program! 

So the Five Gaiter, Rugged Lard Lark, Rhiannon and Rhemi, Hamilton and Huck are all appearing in the auction! Huzzah! That (presumably) knocks Huck out of contention for the surprise - I don't even know anymore, guys. I'm just hoping it's not Fireheart at this point.  Also, the Huck is supposed to be colorshift and holographic. I hope he looks better in person, because it didn't photograph well at all. Anyway, here are the raffle models! 

That is a nice color on the Lady Phase, but nothing I need. Not the case for the Sunday raffle, though - I'll have to buy plenty of tickets! I'm honestly kind of underwhelmed by these raffle models considering it's the 75th Anniversary. Oh well. Two weeks until Breyerfest! 

It Begins

Greetings, readers! So it turns out today's Breyerfest reveal is a mare and foal set after all - check out Surrey and Axle! 

I wasn't really expecting another mare and foal set this year since we just had one last year, but I guess I don't make the rules. I really hope Axle's right front hoof is suffering from a bad Photoshop job, though (and they could have put a little more thought into the name - Fringe, maybe?) This set sure is pretty, if you can look past Lady Phase's nonexistent forelock and slowly-disappearing ears. Her mold is sorely in need of retooling, or doing something to fix it...but I digress. Fortunately, this set is nothing I need, and presumably is also our vintage mold for the special run releases. Nice to see the swish tail on Lady Phase, too. 

Predictably, this reveal also brought out complaints about the models not fitting the theme. Look, I've done plenty of complaining about models not matching the theme myself, but considering we've only seen about 1/4 of the releases for this year, it seems a little premature to be complaining about it now - especially since, you know, pretty much any type of horse can pull a cart. So let's maybe wait a little bit before we start nitpicking everything? I'm reasonably sure we'll see Georg as a raffle model this year, and probably a few other draft molds besides. Speaking of which, the blog says to check back again tomorrow! I hope it's another reveal and not a sneak peek, because it seems like my patience wears just a tiny bit thinner every time they release another sneak peek instead of just showing us the model. So I guess we'll see! 

Featured Model - 10/15/2022, Silver Dilute Dun Test Lady Phase

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model I don't own but may have an interesting story behind it, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...the Silver Dilute Dun Auction Lady Phase! 

This model was produced on the Lady Phase mold sculpted by Chris Hess. She has the alternate "swish tail" which debuted in 2006, and the model itself was auctioned off at Breyerfest 2010. 

This isn't the greatest photo (as tends to happen when taking photos in the terrible lighting at the KHP), but I'm positive this model is a test for the Adios web special Frappe, which was released in 2009. Frappe was probably the Adios I liked the best amongst my own collection and I was sad to see him go a couple of months ago. But, I needed the space and he was one of few Adios models I had that was worth any decent money.  But I thought the silver dilute dun paint job was very attractive on him, and wouldn't mind seeing it again on another model sometime. So I was surprised to see this auction Lady Phase existed! 

As for Lady Phase herself, she's a pretty popular mold and has had many releases, including this year's TSC special run Jolene. Because she's been just about everywhere, it's hard to say where we'll see her next. But we may see some other releases on her mold in the nearish future now that they've put the mold into production for the TSC special run - perhaps a web special? I don't have any guesses for next year's theme, but she hasn't had a web special release since 2008, so I'd say she's long overdue for another one. I guess we'll have to wait and see! 

TSC planogram has leaked!

 Good news everyone! In addition to the recent Stablemates Blind Bag news, this year's Tractor Supply planogram has shown up on Facebook! Behold: 

So, in the upper right corner we have what looks like a bay American Dream/Freedom Series Rearing Mustang, and it looks like the Classic American Quarter Horse Foal in black is in there with him. On the row below them is a couple of Snowbirds and then what looks like, "Blue," on the Geronimo mold, as some kind of special run for FFA. Below him are a black pinto Zippo Pine Bar or "Zeke," a dapple gray Latigo or "Ashton," and a dunalino long-tail Lady Phase as "Jolene." Below them are the Phantom and Misty set, a new set that appears to be some kind of pinto Classic Black Stallion, Classic Morgan Foal in black pinto and a chestnut Harper, and then Chocolatey. On the bottom shelf there are a couple of styling heads and a Breyer Farms barn I'd like to see up close to see what (if any) models come with it. Whew, that's a lot of stuff! 

Fortunately, I don't need any of it except the new American Dream set and the Classics family set with the Harper. Blue looks pretty attractive, though - but I'm biased toward blue things anyway. Let's hope these new offerings don't take too long to show up at our TSC stores! 

Finally, some auction models!

 Good news, everyone! (Happy 4th!) We have some amazing auction models to drool over! First up, this amazing Ruffian! 

She's described as a, "Glossy Neon Tiger with Blue Interference." Jaw-dropping! Do we have a sale-topper here? I think it's very likely. 

This Lady Phase looks like a test for Pima, am I right? Or maybe the Appaloosa Hero's Welcome? I imagine she'll go high too. 

We finally get an auction model on Vermeer! He's pretty, but I wish we had a different angle to look at - this is pretty much my least favorite angle of his. 

Another Weather Girl auction model! She's definitely a wild color. She almost looks glossy, though I think it's just a trick of the light. Another one I wouldn't mind having in my herd! 

Ooh, a Goffert! He reminds me of a shinier Java. His eye looks like he's scared of something on the ground in front of him. Haha! 

And lastly...

Be still, my heart. It's been a long time since we've had a Susecion/Le Fire release. These may also be sale-toppers. Look at the amount of detail on the mare! This pair makes me wish I could find a money tree behind my house! Alas...

That's all they've shown us for today - I hope we get more tomorrow! 

The first test run of the year!

 Well, folks, it's that time of year again...another test run model, straight from Breyer! Check her out: 

According to the website, she's a test for Twill, a Breyerfest special run from back in 2013. Sheesh, if they'd gone with this color maybe I wouldn't have sold mine! She's pretty. I don't have any Lady Phases in my collection, but I'd be tempted to add this one if my name was drawn. She's pretty spendy, though...the old price for these was $850, but this one's been jacked up to $1100. Maybe because she's newer and in presumably better condition than some of the older ones? 

Interesting that the entry form now has people add their mailing address as well. Weeding out entries from multiple households, maybe? That would be a good way to even the playing field. In any case, good luck to everyone! 

Scottsdale Stampede special runs are out, plus 2019 Premier Club!

Greetings all! Although I'm sad I didn't get to go to the Scottsdale Stampede, it's still exciting to see the new reveals! Here are the special runs for the event! Thanks to Jennifer for the photo!




Group A:

Bolo, (buckskin?) Show Jumping Warmblood, 124 pieces
Oakley, (bay splash pinto) Lady Phase, 76 pieces

Group B:

Sonorah, (perlino Bobby Jo), 60 pieces
Pima, (silver/gray appaloosa) Fighting Stallion, 56 pieces
Prescott, (blue/black Huck), 44 pieces
Chica Bonita, (chestnut sabino Wixom), 40 pieces

Well...I hate to admit it, but now I'm kind of glad I'm not there. The only special runs I'd be interested in are Bolo and Prescott - hopefully I can get my hands on those without too much trouble. Sonorah is pretty, though! I'm not sure how the Show Jumping Warmblood or the Wixom fit the western/Arabian theme, but trying to make sense of Breyer's choices for themes will only drive me insane, so I'm not going to complain about it too much...except I would have expected to see more than just one Arabian in this lineup.  I'm really hoping the Prescott is some type of blue-black decorator, though, because a solid black Huck is...not very visually exciting, and certainly doesn't make me want to spend the amount of money it would cost to get one of a run of 44.

No word on the Stablemate yet, which is disappointing. I guess those aren't being handed out until Sunday.

And I'm glad the special runs are being divided into two groups - otherwise I'm sure people at the end of the line would end up with multiple Bolos, and nobody wants that.

So that just leaves the Stablemate and the Saturday centerpiece model as the remaining reveals. I'm hoping for Mirado for the Stablemate, since he doesn't seem to be terribly popular, which would theoretically make it easy to get my hands on one. As for the centerpiece model, the trend for the last few events has been to use older, less-popular molds - so my money is on Buckshot. He hasn't been used for much for the past several years other than prize models, so he seems as likely a choice as any.

In other exciting news, the 2019 Premier Club is now open for membership! For the low, low, non-refundable deposit of $100, you too can join the club and hope you like whatever's being released next year. Not that I joined again or anything...Now if only they'd show us the rest of the 2019 Vintage Club releases!

Rosie and Bailey are now available!

The next releases in this year's Vintage Club, Rosie and Bailey, are available on the Breyer website now! If you're a member, head on over there and complete your purchase.

Lady Phase and the Action Stock Horse Foal are both molds that I once had examples of in my collection, only to lose interest later (and run out of shelf space). I don't really miss either of them, though I was a little sad to see my Silky Keno go. Ah, well.

As for this release, I'm a little perplexed that they would use the long-tailed Lady Phase, since, you know...there's nothing vintage about that tail. For a truly vintage release, I'd think you would want to use the original tail. Maybe they wanted to draw attention away from the mold's deteriorating face? Who knows. Seriously, though, Breyer, fix Lady Phase's face or retire the mold. It's just getting sad now.

I'm also really not a fan of the old-style red roan at all, so I'm not at all sad that I'm missing out on this release. There are far better things to save my money for...like Chasing the Chesapeake!