4th of July grab bags!

In lieu of anything more exciting to post about... grab bags are available once again!



Supposedly they contain more than $100 worth of surprises for the low, low price of $49.99, but we all know how that goes. It's probably just stuff they can't move out of the warehouse any other way. 

Featured Model - 6/8/2019, Riley

Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...Riley!



This handsome guy, item #712018, was a web special back in November 2008. He was a run of 400 (200 matte, 200 glossy) on the Smarty Jones mold sculpted by Sue Sifton.

This guy is a really nice color! I especially like his tail. Unfortunately, he wasn't very popular for some reason (possibly due to the US brand on his left shoulder), and I remember it took until late 2010 for the run to finally sell out (he was available on Breyer's Shopatron site, but didn't sell out until whatever was left were finally put on clearance along with a bunch of leftover WEG models).

Since then, the only other time Smarty Jones has been issued in gray was the Santiago release back in 2015. I hope we get another gray sometime - maybe a nice fleabitten gray like Silver  Charm? Or even a completely-grayed-out like Tapit? There are certainly plenty of gray Thoroughbreds to draw inspiration from!

I don't anticipate that we'll see Smarty used again for a while though, since he was finally the surprise model at last year's Breyerfest. He hasn't been a Holiday Horse yet - maybe next year? He's certainly had his share of Breyerfest auction models, including this one from 2014 that almost looks good enough to eat. Whatever his next release is, I hope it's something I can get my hands on!

Defiant to the end

The crystal model for Breyerfest 2019 has been revealed- it's the porcelain Shire Mare! Say hello to Defiant!

Wow, she looks nice as a crystal. This is the second year in a row that the crystal has been on a mold that has yet to appear in the Traditional line (or anywhere else in plastic, for that matter). Imagine how nice she'd look in plastic next to a Brishen model! Although she might be more likely to show up as a Stablemate with all the shrunken molds lately. Good thing there's a Stablemate Brishen too! And a crystal Brishen, now that I think about it. Sheesh, that guy gets around!

Although I won't be buying this one myself, it gives me hope that we'll see the Shire Mare (and Hambletonian) in plastic someday. We're finally getting the Spanish Barb as a Stablemate later this year, so hope springs eternal!

Crystal sneak peek!

Exciting news, everyone! The sneak peek for this year's Breyerfest crystal has been posted on the blog!



Unfortunately, the filename doesn't give us anything useful this time, and I don't have a guess as to who it could be, despite looking at every Traditional mold I thought might be a possible contender. I guess we'll have to wait to find out!

Mid-Year releases are revealed!

The mid-year releases for 2019 were revealed today, and hoo boy, there's some exciting stuff in there! I'll get started with the new Traditionals. Hey look, we finally found out what that mystery bay Bristol was!



He's a portrait of a real jumper named Voyeur, and check it out - he has a braided mane! I'll definitely need to get this guy into my collection, although I'm not wild about the braided mane. Next is a new mule!



He's a portrait of a dressage mule named Buckeye! That pattern is pretty crazy, but I've never been a big mule fan. Next - Kentucky!



He and owner Vicki Wilson won the Road to the Horse competition in 2017! The model looks nice, and I probably would collect San Domingo if I had the space, but at the moment I don't need to buy him. Next up: Patrick!



I'm pretty sure this is the Patrick that shows up at Breyerfest in different costumes every year! It certainly took long enough for him to get his own model. Off the top of my head, I've seen him dressed as Secretariat and a Harry Potter hippogryff, and I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting. Unfortunately, I don't collect Midnight Tango either, so I'm going to have to pass on this one too.

Lastly, this year's Halloween model was also unveiled!



Her name is Samhain, and she was designed by Lauren Hoeffer for the third year in a row! She's definitely nice, but I (sadly) sold off all my Wixoms in 2017 for shelf space. Maybe I'll get back into them someday, but she's too much of a shelf hog in the meantime.

That's all of the new Traditionals - on to the Classics! And they're both new molds! Let's start with the drafter:



While I'm excited to see a new drafter (he's sculpted by Mel Miller!) I'm just not all that into him. He's a nice color, though! I'm way more excited about the new Mustang!

Wow, did Breyer read my mind? It wasn't that long ago that I was posting about how sad I was that Stone beat Breyer to getting the rights to release Wahoo in plastic, and now we have this brand-new Classic that happens to look exactly like the Stone version of Wahoo? Yay! He was sculpted by Maggie Bennett, and I really hope he's in stock at Breyerfest - because I want him!

Lastly, let's see the new Stablemates set!



More unicorns, eh? I suppose I can get behind that. I kinda feel sorry for the Magnolia collectors, though - another one! At least it won't be hard to get ahold of. And the new Thoroughbred is in blue, my favorite color! Excellent. I see the Alborozo is a nice nuclear-green color (has anyone else been watching the Chernobyl miniseries on HBO?). I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that they released these, since the molds are all available as Paint-Your-Own Unicorns anyway. Ooh, I bet some blanks of these will show up as Suncatcher Stablemates at Breyerfest, too. Exciting!

That's all I've got for today, but man - now I'm really stoked for Breyerfest! I've gotta get my hands on that new Classic Mustang! I'm a bit surprised that they're just throwing two new molds out there like this - I guess the Horse of the Year program isn't quite fast enough. But whatevs - I'm not going to complain about new molds. Maybe we'll get a Classics Premier Club next year in addition to the Trad one! Heh, heh...heh...that would be really hard on my wallet, though...

Bisbee is (finally) here!

After more than a month of waiting, my Bisbee finally showed up yesterday! I was starting to get tired of waiting for her, especially with all the in-hand photos I've seen pop up over the last few weeks, so having her show up with yesterday's mail was a welcome surprise!



She's not as blue in person. Which is good, since she's supposed to be turquoise.

I'm a bit sad she isn't glossy like I initially thought she would be, but she's pretty regardless! I like the little white flecks in the blue.



I'm glad Breyer didn't pull a Bandera and painted the eyes this time.

Quality-wise, I didn't see a thing wrong with her, except it looks like the left side of her forelock didn't quite get glued on as well as it should have:



I checked all my other Forever Saige models and none of them have it, so hopefully that forelock doesn't crack off in the future.



She's just such a unique design! I wonder who came up with it. Whoever it was needs to give themselves a pat on the back!

Featured Model - 6/1/2019, Matrix

Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...Matrix!



This flashy guy was the second Collector's Choice model for 2008. Item #1332, he was a regular run on the Silver mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody.

First off, I wish the Collector's Choice series was still going! I'd forgotten it ended back in 2011 - I wonder if it just went by the wayside after that because 2012 was the year Breyer introduced all the clubs. Either that or they ran out of collector ideas, but I kinda doubt that. Or maybe they were just tired of doing it - who knows.

Secondly, this is one of my favorite colors on Silver - it just looks really nice on him! He's a handsome model and I was super excited to finally add him to my collection last year. The black leopard color has been used to great effect at least once before - the "Winter" freebie model from the 2010 Treasure Hunt. Hopefully we see again sometime!

That said, I wonder what Silver will be used for next - his next release after the long hiatus will be as Rico at this year's Breyerfest, but I wonder if we'll see him as anything else this year? I'd be happy if we did, especially if it was an America the Beautiful release! It's hard to get much more American than a Mustang, after all.