Featured JAH - 2/3/2024, Nov/Dec 1997

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured JAH! This week's issue is Nov/Dec 1997 - back to wintry imagery go to with the somewhat-wintry weather outside (though it's 54 and sunny here, so your mileage may vary). Anyway, let's get rolling! 

On the front cover we have a nicely-put-together holiday-themed horse scene, with the horse in snowy settings wearing a green halter/lead, with a red ribbon and the red masthead and cover elements. Very attractive for the season! On the back cover, General Lee's Traveller makes his debut as the first (I think) Horses in History release. He was a well-loved member of my collection, and I also wanted the McClellan cavalry tack set that matched him, but never got it. 

I usually skip the inside cover because the stuff on it usually isn't that important, but 1997 was the debut of the Holiday Horse series, which is still going strong! One of my friends had Snowball, and I think I wanted him but never got him. Guess I must not have wanted him that bad. 

In the Editor's Desk, Stephanie wraps up 1997 with a hint about the newest Breyer release (spoiler alert: it's Scamper), and at the bottom we have a photo of what looks like a holiday party with a really creepy-looking Santa. On page 3 is a giveaway for a really nicely-customized Lady Phase by Tom Bainbridge. I wonder where she is now? 

On page 4-5 we have a collection of nice color photos from various Breyer Tour events in 1997, including an immaculately-groomed Rugged Lark on his farewell tour. 

After skipping the Discontinued for 1998 list and a full-color gallery of Appaloosa photos, on page 10-11 we have the story of Ruby, portrait model from this set, along with an essay from a girl who wanted to win the giveaway of Fireball, grandson of Ruby. She won a half-sister to Fireball instead. 

On page 12 is the Fireball-winning essay, and on page 13 we have a Blast from the Past featuring the Lying Down Foal, and Just About...Breyer Animals! featuring the Basset Hound. 

On page 14-15 we have a Brushstrokes article by Kathleen Moody detailing the creation of the  Si-Ce-Ca Shong'ge porcelain. 

After skipping an article about painting Appaloosas and some Breyer jr. stuff, as well as the centerfold featuring the completed Si-Ce-Ca Shon'ge, on page 22 we see a blurb about the Breyer Animal Collector's Guide and a comic about John Henry. On page 23 we have article about Traveller! 

On page 26 (after skipping an article about fixing broken legs), we have some Appaloosa art and a Who Am I? featuring what looks like a buckskin Adios, and on page 27 we have a Breyerfest '98 announcement! The Clarion was still the Holiday Inn North at the time, but the "Welcome Breyerfest" part of the sign hasn't changed. 

After skipping Horse Trader, some more Breyer jr. stuff and a Know Your Breed article about Appaloosas (I'm sensing a theme for this issue), we come to the Vintage Point featuring the Action Stock Horse Foal. I had Cricket and eventually Skipper (not yet produced in 1997) in my carpet herd as a kid. 

And that brings us to the end of this week's article! With that, we're done with another year of JAH. Tune in next week for Jan/Feb 1998! 

Glossy Neon Rainbow Zebra

 Greetings, readers! Well, the last Breyerfest model reveal is upon us - we got to see the reveal that was teased yesterday! I had to use Breyer's descriptor for the title of today's post because I just like it so much. So, say hello to Better than Revenge! 

Wow, I love this one! It's the debut of the mythical loose, short mane we saw in the live auction last year! 

Some of the online commentary from yesterday was that the sneak peek looked Fruit Stripe-themed, and lo and behold, Fruit Stripe got a shoutout in today's blog post. Kinda wishing I'd bought it more often over the years, but the flavor just never lasted long enough. Oh well. 

Anyway, I was definitely a '90s kid (the theme song from Saved By the Bell definitely started running through my head while reading the blog post), so I have to get this one. 

Looks like this may be an expensive year for me after all, especially if we get the micro-runs of 35 in every special run, as has been speculated. Guess I'll worry about that when tickets go on sale! Not sure what sort of alternate color you'd do for Better than Revenge (coral? jade? both?), but I can already tell it's going to be another interesting Breyerfest! 

The promised sneak peek and Lanin!

 Greetings, readers! Well, the promised prince sneak peek arrived on the blog today! Behold: 

Wow, I think I'm going to like it! It looks like the pink stripes are color-shifting to purple and blue? I love it already! It's giving Lisa Frank vibes (look at me all hip and cool, using the young people's lingo. How do you do, fellow kids?). Anyway, the background green/yellow color is interesting - it looked green when I saw it on my phone, but it does look more yellow when viewing it on my desktop screen. Unfortunately, I have no guesses as to what mold it is, and neither does the rest of the Internet, apparently. It kind of looks like it could be some type of Moody muscling? Maybe the Nokota? He's never been a Breyerfest special run, other than Pop the Cork. We need a decorator Nokota at Breyerfest! 

In other news, the first release in this year's Stablemates Club, Lanin, is now available for purchase! 

I'm not sure what to think about a roached-mane Mirado, so I'm excited for him to get here! Let's hope it doesn't take too long. 

Wild Things and January Collector Club Newsletter!

 Another exciting reveal today - the online-only Stablemate for Breyerfest! Behold, Wild Things:

It's a pretty color on Charleston, but nothing I need. They increased the quantity to 3,000 this year, also - which I suspect they'll regret later. A big part of the reason Buggy sold out last year was because Django's popularity is red-hot - Charleston, not so much. But I guess we'll see when Breyerfest rolls around! 

The blog post says this is the penultimate Breyerfest reveal, so we're only getting one more reveal - or are we? We haven't seen the plush or the decorator special run, so that would be two. But the blog says it's the final Breyerfest Limited Edition model reveal," so the plush could still be coming. In the meantime, there's another sneak peek happening tomorrow (why aren't they just doing the reveal instead, since tickets go on sale Feb. 1). So we'll have to check back tomorrow! 

In other news, this month's Collector Club newsletter also arrived today! If you're a member, check your email for more. There's an informative article about web special themes, photo show results, a giveaway of a Goji model, and this...rather meh sneak peek: 

A St. Patrick's Day plush? Cool, I guess, but I was hoping for a model sneak peek. Maybe next month! 

Sneak peeks and Reykjavic!

 Well, there's another sneak peek on the blog today - check it out! 

The prevailing thought on the Interwebs is that this is some kind of Goffert, but I have no idea either way. Let's hope we don't have to wait too long to find out! 

There's also an announcement for this year's Best Customs Contest, with some much-needed updates to the rules (yay!). Unfortunately, there are also more dumb song titles as names for the prize models, so the less said about that, the better. 

In other exciting news, my Reykjavic model came today! Huzzah! 

What a beauty! He's not as yellow as he looks in the photos. 

He's basically flaw-free, too, which is great. A couple of minor issues, but nothing really bad.

I love his blue eyes, too! He's beautiful. 

On a small side note, it was announced today that all the tickets for Spokes and Spurs have been sold, so we can all stop obsessively checking our emails. Better luck next time, I guess.

Featured JAH - 1/27/2024, Sept/Oct 1997

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured JAH! This week's issue is Sept/Oct 1997 and it's in large part dedicated to Cigar - let's get rolling! 

On the front cover, Cigar thunders to victory in an unknown race. On the back cover, the Race Horse mold returns from 30 years of disuse for a JAH special run. Not sure if this one sold out quite as fast as previous JAH special runs. 

In the Editor's Desk, Stephanie pretends to be someone from the Old West alongside an unknown man. On page 3, she talks about her experiences filming this Breyer TV commercial, along with this one and this one.  

On page 4-5 is the rest of the article on making the TV commercials. I desperately wanted to see these commercials when I was a horse-crazy kid, but never saw them (probably because we didn't get RFD-TV in those days, or any other stations they may have aired on). 



After skipping an article about horse racing, a "Know Your Breed" about the Trakehner, some other random stuff and another article about photo-etched buckles, we come to an article about the Misty of Chincoteague statue at the Beebe ranch. I'm pretty sure this statue or one extremely similar to it is now located at the KHP. On page 13 we see a Blast from the Past featuring Halla, and a Just About...Breyer Animals! featuring the Buffalo. 

On page 14 we have the Sears and JCP special runs for 1997 (I had that Jumping Horse at one point), and page 15 has the Breyerfest '97 recap! Huzzah! I always enjoy reading old Breyerfest recaps - it helps get me through the sad non-Breyerfest months of the year. 

On page 16-17 we see some nice color photos from Breyerfest '97, including a great head shot of Bold (and an autograph line for Darlene Geiser that must have been absolute hell in the Kentucky heat and sun). 

After skipping an article about pedigree assignment, the centerfold (another photo of Cigar) and the Breyerfest 1997 live show results, on page 24-25 we come to this great article about Cigar, the wonder horse of the '90s. 

On page 26-27 is the conclusion of the Cigar article. 



After skipping a poem about Cigar, the Horse Trader ads and the Breyer jr. content, we come to the end of this week's issue with the Vintage Point article about the Black Beauty mold. I think I wanted Dream Weaver back in the day, but never got one (and don't think I've ever had any color of Black Beauty in my collection; that cross-canter is just too weird). 

That's it for this week - check back next week for Nov/Dec 1997! 

Sneak peek revealed!

 Well, looks like the Internet was right - yesterday's sneak peek was one of the models in this year's Best of Breyerfest set! Behold: 

They're mini versions of raffle models - cute! They all look nicely-executed, though the mini Bonheur/Flowers looks a little plain next to the other four. Fortunately, I don't need any of these, so I won't need to bother with this set this year. Good for my pocketbook! 

There isn't much more Breyerfest stuff left to reveal, but we'll get to see something on Monday, according to the blog. Huzzah!