Breyer's latest Collector Club newsletter left us with something to ponder on. My guess is that it's a part of the Birds of a Feather series. I'm assuming it's a Magpie since they mention "shiny things" reminding me of the bluish-black sheen that they've been adding to some of their black models, like Omega Fahim, and anyone that knows anything about magpies knows that they're not only bluish-black in color but also likes shiny things. It looks like it also will have mapped markings. Here is the sneak peek in case you missed it... The freebie for this month is a throwback to GG Valentine and Heartbreaker, now retired but was available for a good 10 or so years. I have the glossy version myself but it looks like Breyer is giving away the matte version. If any of you are interested in the stablemates set of six horses from this year, they are available on Breyer's website for only $15.99 for the entire set. Whether this is just a typo or if they meant to offer them at this price (they are $3.99 each individually) I have no idea, but take advantage of it while it's still being offered. Last year's set for comparison is $22.99 so it could possibly be a typo. I just ordered the set for myself so I'll see if Breyer fulfills it at that price. Finally, we've got some sneak peeks from Breyer West from those who went on social media and a few from Breyer. While I don't want to share pictures others have taken without their permission, I do have one that was shared by Breyer to show. Apparently they have a glossy Wedgewood blue Rotating Draft surprise that they are either auctioning or raffling. I honestly don't understand why some glossies didn't make it into the original production when in previous surprises each color always had matte/glossy splits because the glossed version of this color looks amazing. I'm still not a fan of the Cleveland Bay mold though. In fact, I sold off all my remaining models on that mold last year before Breyerfest, so he is no longer part of my personal collection. I'm hoping the mold for the surprise this year will be something I conga... or maybe I don't. I guess it depends which way you look at it :)
I would like to announce that I will be downsizing my personal collection, which I do every year to make room for new models, such as Kendall that I just received. Thus these models will be being listed on my eBay page if you're looking to add anything semi rare to your collection. All of them are limited editions or special runs and I highly recommend checking them out. I'm a bit shocked, but also escastic that Kendall is finally here! I love her shading with her lighter highlights mixed in with darker areas. Makes it a lot more realistic than a one tone chestnut. I'm still debating about Speos for that reason. I love the mold but I just don't know if the colorway does it for me. Sorry about the pictures, by the way... glossies are so hard to photograph. My lens never wants to focus. I'm still waiting on Go Figure and my Arabians to ship from Breyer. I found out from further reading that Go Figure was the first time in 50 years that Breyer made a non-solid color on the Justin Morgan mold and that his coat was designed by Sommer Prosser, so it surprises me greatly that so many are currently listed on eBay right now. I actually thought this guy was a stunner... I guess it's the pearly mane/tail that people hate. Anyways, it seems like it takes about a week for Breyer to ship my club models these days. I haven't seen many pop up on social media so far so I'm assuming maybe they're still working on getting them brought to the warehouse.
Stone has been pumping out the releases one after another recently after a bit of a dry spell since Christmas. They started with the Paws & Claws event in place of their usual Stone Bowl, then added some Valentine's releases, plus their monthly Literature Series (this month it was Hester from the Scarlett Letter who is still available as of the writing of this post) and ending with Mardi Gras today. What did I buy? A big fat nothing. I'm saving for my next real rescue horse. I'm hoping to get two more by the end of the year to fill the last two stalls in our barn. If you'd like to follow my rescue blog, you can visit it here. Last but not least, Breyer West is going to be here before we know it, and I'm looking forward to in-hand pictures of those Breyerfest models. I'm having a hard time deciding who I plan to get for my own collection, as I really truly do like every one of them this year, but I have to limit myself because... again... shelf space. Help me out, y'all and buy some ponies from me! ;) Breyer must have just got in a container of club ponies because, not only did Collector Club members get the announcement that Bolero (the glossy dapple bay Fireheart) was going to be released tomorrow, but also the first Vintage and Stablemate Club horse are also now available to purchase to club members. To use the name of the Vintage Club horse as a pun, go figure that they'd release a group of models all at once. A few years ago, in a not so distance time pre-pandemic, you could actually save up for releases because they were on a schedule. Now, Breyer seems to release everything as they get it in and have no mercy whatsoever on people in multiple clubs. I'm going to have to let go of Bolero for that reason because between the Vintage Club - whom I will show in a second and who I plan on keeping - and the first Stablemate Club set, I'm going to be broke. If you have not seen them yet, the first release in the Stablemate Club is Nadira and Zaahir, the mare and foal Arabian set. Breyer said they made them as a pair to Sultan, the glossy bay Arabian stallion from 2020. I teetered on this set, half tempted to sell it at first, but the more I look at them, the more I like them. As an English rider of hot headed breeds, I love Arabians (but want to note that I do NOT support the breeding of extremely dished faces of modern breeding) so I've decided to keep them, at least for now. At least I'll get combined shipping with the Vintage Club horse. The first release of the Vintage Club was supposed to be the music box horse, but for some reason that release was pushed back (I'm guessing production issues since this is the first time Breyer tried making a model into a music box) so taking its place is Go Figure the Justin Morgan mold. He is done is a super flashy silver bay overo, and y'all know I can't resist me a silver bay or an overo. Put the two colors together and I think Breyer just found my weakness. He'll be coming home to me, and I'll gladly share pictures when he gets here. The final release will be tomorrow at 1 PM EST and is Bolero the dapple bay Fireheart. Another model I teetered on simply because I don't really like plain bays but I do like Fireheart, I'm going to unfortunately have to let this boy go since I have the other club models to buy. I'm not the only one, I'm sure, that feels that Breyer needs to space these releases out instead of just selling them as soon as they get off the ship. I'm likely going to disperse my Fireheart conga anyways. I fell in love with him when I first saw him, but I think it was more the color. After getting him in hand, he just seemed too prancy and over the top. I'm still partial to Forever Saige as my favorite mustang mold, but maybe it's just because I always prefer mares of stallions. Breyer doesn't seem to make enough of them. To each their own, I know many love him and that's perfectly fine. If we all like the same thing, we'd all have the same collections. It's the differences in colors, molds and breeds that make all of our collections unique.
Somehow I missed these teeny tiny guys when making my post about new 2023 releases. They come in an adorable tiny cardboard barn with shredded paper inside to keep the horses cushioned until they're opened. There are seven Mini Whinnies to collect, all using shrinkies of traditional molds. There is a flaxen chestnut Wixom, a palomino Mariah, a black Sherman Morgan, a leopard appaloosa Cigar and a shaded grey American Dream. There is supposedly a chase colored blue with black points on a mini Arabian mold but I unfortunately didn't end up with the chase in any of my boxes. I want to genuinely thank the collector who told me about Kendall being available through Equus Now, as now I'll be able to keep my Bobby Jo conga complete. If any of y'all are still looking for her at original cost, you can purchase her here. I'm always trying to help other collectors complete their collections, even if I cannot provide them the models myself, so I hope this helps anyone else on the search for her! Their shipping is reasonable too, as this is where I purchased the Mini Whinnies barns shown above from.
Guys, I've had more than 1000 messages to my email regarding pickups (this is NOT an exaggeration so please give me time to get back with you) and of the messages I've gone through so far, I've had a good portion asking me about variations. This is why I always tell people to read the fine print on my Breyerfest pickup page because it says that variations, if any pop up, will be shipped randomly. We don't even know if there will be variations this year so let's not put the cart before the horse just yet. Breyer usually releases a matte/glossy split every year and a mane/tail variation. Last year they threw in a color variation but this isn't guaranteed that it'll happen every year.
Please understand that when you order a pickup from me you are ordering the model shown in the stock photo. If you are purchasing the model only in hopes of getting a variation but don't really want the original, then I highly recommend buying on the second hand market after Breyerfest. I will NOT put you over another collector just because you asked for a variation first, should I get any variations to begin with. Last year I did send bay Marzipan variations to three random collectors, however I didn't receive any glossy Landlers so everyone got matte. It's just the luck of the draw. These variations are the reason why I stopped offering the surprise models on my website. People would get a certain color that they'd want to return, or get the most common color and accuse me of ripping them off. Next year will be a Breyerfest anniversary year and I'm seriously thinking about not doing pickups at all because I have a feeling there will be variations and I just don't want to deal with that added stress on top of how stressful it already is to do pickups. Those who missed out on my second round of Breyerfest special runs, I greatly apologize but all spots have been filled. There may be more in late June/early July once I get my ticket books that will be announced at a later date/time but not every model will be available and these models will have to be paid in full since it'll be far too close to Breyerfest to do payments. If you ordered 2+ special run models from me you will get the celebration model for free, just pay the extra shipping cost. Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's Breyerfest pickups! |
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