Solar Flare is here, and 2021 Retired List!

 Good news, everyone! Solar Flare is here! 

What a beauty! He certainly lives up to his name. 

Let's hope they find more fun ways to use this mold in the future! He's too floofy and flouncy not to. Breyerfest special run next year, maybe? 

Quality-wise, he was pretty nice - I didn't find anything wrong with him. Maybe things are looking up in the quality department? (What I wouldn't give to work in their quality department...)

In other news, the 2021 retired list has been released: 

Traditional Series Models

1435 Lil' Ricky Rocker

1773 Voyeur - Champion Show Jumper

1821 Stingray

1822 The "Gangsters" - Driving Ponies Set

1826 Avatar's Jazzman

1827 Favory Airiella Gift Set

1833 Thriller

1839 The Ideal Series - American Paint Horse

1845 Old Glory

1850 Steele

 

Freedom Series Models & Accessories

699 Country Stable with Wash Stall

62054 Cupcake

62121 Hope, 2021 Horse of the Year

62206 Zoe & Zander, Unicorn Foals

62212 High Tide

62214 Solaris

 

Stablemates Models

6048 Unicorn Gift Collection

6051 Mystery Horse Surprise Series 3 - 70th Anniversary Collection

6052 Unicorn Foal Surprise Asst. [A, B, C]

6900 Stablemates Horse Singles Asst.

  

CollectA

Dogs & Cats

88078 Yorkshire Terrier

88086 Doberman Pinscher

88506 St. Bernard

88752 Schnauzer

88177 Beagle

Horses & Equids

88115 Grey Donkey

88451 Chestnut Tennessee Walking Horse Foal

88585 Sorrel Quarter Horse Stallion

88644 Chestnut Standardbred Pacer Stallion

88670 Chestnut Thoroughbred Foal

88793 Chocolate Rocky Mountain Horse Mare

88846 American Cream Draft Stallion

88850 Zebra Foal

Prehistoric Life

88320 Tylosaurus

88555 Rajasaurus

88559 Triceratops (1:15 scale)

88660 Xenoceratops

88818 Ceratosaurus (Deluxe 1:40 scale)

Safari

88206 African Elephant Calf

88033 Western Gorilla

88166 Giant Panda

88219 Giant Panda Cub

88413 Tiger Cub

88417 Lion Cub

88492 Chimpanzee Male

88833 Hippopotamus

Sea Life

88095 Emperor Penguin

88568 Belgua Whale

88661 Tiger Shark

88834 Blue Whale

88895 Puffin

North American Wildlife

88012 Brown Hare

88378 Mallard Duck

88560 Brown Bear

Farm Life

88301 Llama

88380 Texas Longhorn Bull

Not a lot of big surprises here, nor is there really a lot being retired (other than Collecta stuff). Since things have been so delayed getting here over the last few months, I wonder if they figure they don't need to retire things since the warehouse is basically empty anyways? Odd that Old Glory, Steele and Thriller are on the list, since. you know...we knew they were limited...But anyway. Better get your hands on that stuff quick before they disappear!  

More new reveals!

Good news, everyone! We now have photos of Dusk and Dawn, this year's optional Vintage Club set! Check them out! 

If you're a member of this year's Vintage Club, check your email for more information. VC members will (or should) be able to combine shipping with Nugget, the decorator Brighty release, so that's good! Marabella and Amber look pretty good in gloss, though I have to admit they look a little lost without Ashley there as well. I wouldn't mind getting my hands on that foal, but I may have to undertake a significant herd reduction in the coming year and unfortunately my Ambers (and Ashleys) would be on the liquidation list for said reduction, so I'll hold off on trying to get one for now. That charcoal color is really nice, though! I prefer the darker-black charcoal models to the more chocolate-brown ones. 

In other exciting news, we have another new release on poor Malik! It seems like he's been a little neglected since his debut 2 years ago, but with the new Black Stallion and book set and now this, things are starting to look up! 
 

Oh boy, I really like this one. He definitely resembles his name, while I'm over here thinking if his legs were a little darker, he'd definitely have a "Fire and Blood" theme going on. But anyway...I did order one, even though those toothpick front legs still bother me a little. The Marchador mold, also sculpted by Sarah Mink, had the same issue and I ended up getting rid of him, so hopefully it doesn't become too much of an issue with these models, or they'll end up on the liquidation list too. 

A couple of odd new Breyer models popped up on eBay today - they can be seen here and here. What are they? The black one is like a simplified Marabella, but I don't recognize the other one. Maybe Breyer is starting a lower-quality toy line with more durable models, like Schleich or CollectA? I guess we'll probably get more information eventually.