New Arrivals: Straight Bet, Lonesome Glory Reissue and Bay Leopard Dark Horse Surprise!

Up next in our list of new arrivals are Straight Bet, the Lonesome Glory reissue and the bay leopard Dark Horse Surprise! Let's start with Straight Bet:

I was very happy with this model. I actually ended up with two of them because I feared finding issues with the gloss, but they were both pretty nice. The "heart surgery scar" seam on the chest has been fixed (at least on those two), and I didn't see anything else wrong with them. Also, did anyone else notice he's pretty much the same color as the single-day Man o' War? I haven't gotten a photo of them together yet, but the similarity is uncanny. The MOW is almost a mini-me of Straight Bet!

Anyway, I love Straight Bet's shading and color, and I can't wait to get him onto the shelf next to Duende. (All of my recent purchases are hanging out on our entertainment center until we get a new shelf built.)

Next, let's look at the Lonesome Glory reissue!

I photographed the new LG with my original LG (in back). I've seen a lot of posts about this release on social media, usually complaints about how the reissue is a mare. This is most likely because Zenyatta is still in production, so Breyer pulled the whiteware for this run from the Zenyatta production line. I'd like to point out that the original Lonesome Glory is a stallion, while the real LG accomplished all his feats after being gelded, so clearly adherence to gender isn't high on Breyer's priority list. That and adding/subtracting parts on small runs isn't economically feasible, unlike with regular runs (see: adding a sheath to Wixom for Kong, or to Rejoice for All Glory, which was a larger production run).

Anyway, the new LG is in fact quite different from the original, as you can see. The markings are the same, though masked better on the reissue (duh), and the reissue is darker and semigloss rather than matte. Personally, I would have preferred that it be glossy to set it off from the original release even more, but there's enough difference between the two that it's not that big of a deal.

I also heard the QC on these models was iffy, but it didn't take me too long to find one that was acceptable to me, so I can't really comment on how bad they were. Well, that and after the third or fourth model I get bored and want to pick one so I can move along.

Lastly, here's the bay leopard Dark Horse!



Historically, leopard isn't my favorite Appaloosa color, so I'd have to say this one is my least favorite of all five colors. Fortunately, I don't find him completely ugly, unlike some past leopard Appys, so I don't have a problem with keeping him in the herd. It's interesting that all of the non-decorator colors had matching green (i.e. turf) bases. Maybe they figured green would be an interesting color, and if they were all the same they wouldn't have as many issues with pairing the right base with the right color. Dirt racing is dominant in North America, though, so I'd have thought they'd all be dirt-colored.

This guy brings me to a close for today, but tune in next time for more new arrivals (hopefully with better photos)!

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!

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!