Big and fluffy. That is what could be used to describe the blue roan Clydesdale gelding, Benelli, who is a store special. After giving us not one, not two, but THREE sneak peeks of future BF horses, they've finally decided to release the first of the sneak peeks. This coloring is very similar to the silver Pepper from last year's BF and, while I didn't like it too much on the Clydesdale Mare mold, I do like it better on Shannondell. Made on one of my favorite molds, Benelli is part of Hawkes Ranch hitch, a team that is very special because their drafters that are always either blue roan or black roan in color. Typically Clydesdales don't come in such flashy coloring so I'm rather excited to see these guys in action come Breyerfest. Now remember that Benelli is a store special, not a special run, which means that you don't need a three day ticket to be able to purchase him. Single day ticket holders may also get one. He will, however, no doubt sell out fast since he's such a popular mold so if you plan on attending BF this year, be sure to get in the store line early. They do restock throughout the day, but the times vary, so once the original batch put out in the morning sells out, it's hard to tell when they will put more out. Last year the store line was on the right side of the covered arena (the big building that is unmistakable as you walk down the main path into the park) under a white canopy with misting fans. I figured they'd use at least Shannondell or Othello as a special run for this theme, though I was leaning more towards Shannondell because Othello has been used on so many different colors already... yes, including a blue roan in the form of Rainier. What surprised me is that they ended up using both molds when they revealed Ash, who is a grey on the Othello mold. Honestly, grey is a color so very over-used on this mold that I was surprised to see yet another one added to the roster. I'll have to see Ash in real life before I decide whether he'll for sure be coming home with me or not. As to the third release? Well, I have good news. Although not actually yet released on Breyer's website at the time of this post, a little bird who attended Breyerwest this weekend found out who he was: YES! A cremello in traditional size named Faugh-A-Ballagh! I've been waiting so long for this. Cremello is very rare, not just in real life but in Breyer horses as well. The very few cremellos they made in the past were extremely limited. They are now nearly impossible to find and very expensive when you do. They'll be putting this gorgeous color on the Gypsy Vanner mold, another mold which I now hold dear ever since I bought Sampson last year (and yes I do plan to eventually get the pinto RR) so it appears that they're going to be using lots of fluffy horses for this year's theme.
Speaking of fluffy, I've uploaded pictures of Jujube. She's adorable! I love her metallic sheen and her subtle dappling. I noticed that her belly has "Jujube 2019" printed on it instead of 2020 so I'm wondering if they hadn't planned on using her as a web special last year and, for whatever reason, she was delayed. It doesn't bother me... I still love her just the same and am so incredibly thrilled that I got picked for her. Now we just need Breyer to make a BF special run of her. Maybe she'll be the surprise model since she is a UK breed and does go along with the fluffy theme? Not many colors were made on her as yet so it'd be a good opportunity to make more. Please, Breyer? Pretty please? Another sneak peek was shown in the February newsletter for the Collector Club: I don't know which mold it is but that muzzle is screaming appaloosa. Breyer was very vague this time without giving any sort of hint whatsoever. The sneak peek in the newsletter is almost always a lottery model so I'm assuming that's what it is. On social media there were a few guesses of Misty for the Berry Ponies series. Personally I'd love to see a modern color done on Misty so I'm curious to see if that's what this is. Also in the newsletter was the February giveaway: Again, one person will receive this model, and although I entered for him, I probably won't keep him if by some stroke of luck I happen to be that person. They glossed a few of these for the very first Collector Club Appreciation Day offer ever and apparently they have an extra floating around that they're looking to give away this month. I'm just not big on this mold. I'm not a fan of non-performance portrait molds. Finally, I'd like to introduce the real life version of Prince: What do you think? Frankly, I think he looks really cute in the flesh - er, plastic. I didn't join the Deluxe membership so I won't have one for sale unfortunately, but if you'd like to get one of your own, you have until March 1st to sign up for the Deluxe membership. After that, the only place you'll be able to find him is the second hand market when he's released in the fall. He's not extra except for the $30 difference in cost for the Deluxe membership versus the regular CC membership, and will be automatically shipped to you, no need to purchase him.
As this is my first year in the Premier Club, I'm a bit excited to have the welcome kit show up at my door, even though my mail carrier shoved it in the mailbox and ended up bending it. Ugh! Anyways, it contained the artist's sketch of Altynai that could possibly be framed, along with a sticker of Altynai (is this new or did they always do this?) and a welcome letter. So it's getting real now! I can't wait until Altynai becomes available for purchase in May!
I wanted to discuss a few things in the letter. Whereas Breyer released not only the artists but the actual breeds to be done last year, this year they are being very vague. For example, the letter says that the Lynn Fraley sculpt (who I'm assuming is going to be the second release) "has majestic presence and expression" which makes me feel as if it's going to be a standing - or portrait - sculpt. It also states that the coat color is "loud and proud" so I'm guessing the appy butt we saw as a sneak peek the last week of last year was for the Lynn Fraley release. Now something else I want to note is near the bottom it states that the stablemate will be a "frequently requested breed" and usually the stablemate is portrayed after the second release. I note too that they do not say horse anywhere in either of those two paragraphs, they just say "sculpt" so I'm wondering if the Fraley sculpt is going to be a mule? A leopard appaloosa spotted mule would be amazing! Would they actually do it though is the question, as they might get some negative marks from people who collect strictly horses, although they did use a mule for the Stablemates Club one year as a gambler's choice. We're in need of a new mule mold. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. For the Parks sculpt, which is the third release, they note that it will "make performance showers happy" so this one sounds indeed like an action pose. Going by her previous art and medallions, it'll probably be something with a long, wavy mane/tail like an Andalusian or an Arabian. There is no hint of color so I don't know what we're in for in that department. I'm excited for my first year in the Premier Club. I never thought I'd ever be part of it, and I can't wait for the exciting upcoming releases! Klaus was released last week and he is here! It was about time that Breyer changed up the packaging on their mini window boxes. This is their new look: Cool, huh? To top it off, although this may not be exactly a good thing since they are made so cheaply when people are already complaining about damage from the traditional sized decorative boxes and the hefty cost of shipping, they now ship them in this: Luckily I ordered another stablemate with it so it wasn't shipped in that flimsy box (I'd hate to have seen how he would have showed up if he'd had) but even though I'd ordered the golden Standardbred on the website, for some reason I was shipped the Dapples and Dots gift set instead. Way to go, Breyer, about messing up an order! I'm not complaining though. I only paid $3.49 for it and got four horses for the price of one. I can always add the Standardbred to my next Stablemates Club horse order.
Anyways, without further ado, here is Klaus: I love everything pearly that Breyer comes out with. I'm a person who prefers matte over gloss but pearl is my favorite of all. A light satin sheen makes it look like a show shined horse. I understand that everyone has a preference though (otherwise Breyer wouldn't make so many different finishes to begin with) and I'm not here to argue, but of all the finishes, pearl is my favorite followed by matte followed by gloss. That being said, I've received my first order of the year. Hamilton, only the second Premier Club horse I've ever owned, and whom I was making time payments on, was finally paid off and arrived today. Along for the ride was the new palomino Saddlebred from the 70th Anniversary Collection, both of whom are pearly. I have to say that even though I never really worked with or collected Saddlebreds before, I've fallen hard for this mold. This horse is so realistic he blows my mind. I actually thought about starting an obtainable conga with him. Honestly I don't see why some collectors were complaining about the original Hamilton being "too pearly" because you could hardly tell. Although Hamilton looks shiny in the pictures due to the flash, in real life the 70th anniversary palomino's mane and tail were glowing compared to the white areas on Hamilton. Hamilton is the first horse I've ever had with mapping and by far one of the most beautiful in my collection and he's also my most expensive horse to date. The "chrome" areas on the palomino Saddlebred were just bare plastic and didn't have the pearling of his mane/tail. His body color did have a slight metallic sheen. Not overpowering, just a satin shine. Apparently all the 70th anniversary models are stamped on the belly except for the Fighter, whose is stamped on the tail, as sort of a COA. Surprisingly the ASB was pretty flawless for a regular run. I will do more detailed reviews on both of them on Youtube when I get the time. Breyer mentioned that they are sold out of 70th anniversary models until April, so those people who think you have all year to purchase these guys, you might want to reconsider and try to track them down while you can. I planned to eventually purchase the Fighting Stallion at the very least, maybe the grey Andalusian if I can hand pick a nice one and possibly the chaser if I can manage to get one from my local dealer. He's going for $100-200 average on eBay right now... yikes! Carter is super lovely. Honestly I can't stop looking at him. He has subtle pearling that gives him a little shimmer but not a lot. He even has bi-colored striping on his mane. Besides some tiny black dots on his legs and a couple shiny spots, all of which don't bother me since most of my horses are shelf sitters. He has beautiful chocolate brown eyes that were hard to tell from the stock photos (honestly I thought they were completely black) but which added to his appeal, and he as per usual with Collector Club special runs is stamped on his belly.
I did, however, have the same issue as with Corbin in Breyer's tendency to send me horses with lots of dapples on one side and very little on the other. Carter has nice scaley dapples with dark shading on his left side and subtle dapples with hardly any shading on his barrel on his right. Is it possible he was painted by two different artists? Hard to tell but I long for a club model with even shading/dappling on both sides. At least his neck shading is pretty even, as I've seen some that have had dark shading on their necks too. |
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