At long last, we have our elusive decorator! It was crafty of Breyer to select a part of the horse with no obvious non-horse coloring, so that threw me off. I certainly wasn't expecting the Andalusian Mare for this theme but here she is: Although described as "saving the best for last" by Breyer, I'm kind of meh about this one. Apparently that's supposed to be Vikings war paint on her, so technically she's not a decorator but a realistic color (minus the pearling) with war paint. Still, I'm putting her on the back of my wish list with Lugh, mostly because of the mold choice, as this mold is notoriously tippy, but also because I had Alejandro once and didn't really care for his color, which is similar to this horse. I ended up selling him. If I happen to end up with one, since we don't know exactly how Breyer is going to select models yet, I'll probably end up selling her.
One thing they did note is that this is the final special run, so, as many were expecting, we got nine this year. I can't wait to see what else they are going to offer us as far as pop-up store specials. In an incredibly generous gesture, they also extended early bird pricing until April 30th, or until sold out, and the last time I checked half of the times were already gone so be sure to purchase your tickets soon if you hope to buy any of the special runs. All early bird ticket buyers will automatically be put into the raffle for Dyflin, the Early Bird model. These are all the horse models available to Breyerfest 2020 attendees for purchase. Please note that I'm not including raffle models or any other nearly impossible to obtain models. This list will be updated as Breyer releases more horses. Ballynoe Castle The celebration model for Breyerfest, included free with the purchase of each 3 day ticket. Ballynoe Castle, aka Reggie, is an Irish Sport Horse. I'm personally not a fan of his plain bay coloring so my models of him will be for sale once in-hand, although I do like his mold. Special Runs You are allowed up to two special run models per three day ticket. These models are only available to three day ticket holders. You must go through the special run line, where you will be given a number in line, in order to purchase your special runs of choice. Some do sell out more quickly than others. Epona I have to say that Breyer must have been reading my mind when they released this color. A beautiful dark dapple grey horse is exactly what I hoped to see this year. My only issue is the Strapless mold. For one thing, I can't believe they'd use it again after just using it as a store special 2 years ago for Old Ironsides. Another is I try to steer away from tippy molds. Her color is so pretty though that I still plan on trying to get her despite the mold. Epona was the Celtic goddess who was the protector of all things equine. Oak Hot damn! Pardon the language but Breyer really blew it out of the park with this one. The second special run ended up being a Noriker on the Georg mold in a varnish roan appaloosa color. I think this vintage color throw back looks really good on this mold! Unfortunately so do lots of other people and I foresee lots of sell outs with this guy. Hamish Another colorful critter for what looks to be a colorful year. Not only is he a beautiful Irish Moiled bull (considered a rare breed) but he's also glossy. I'm going to pass on this guy since I don't collect Breyer's non-equine molds, though he is pretty flashy. Ash This year is turning out to be the year of the draft horses and the grey horses. I'm not complaining because if there's one thing my herd is lacking, it's grey horses. However I'm a bit surprised that they've added yet another grey on this mold with the number of greys they've made already. Ash is named after a sacred tree in Celtic mythology. He is not only chalky but glossy as well, again a throw back to vintage coloring. Lugh The vintage mold turned out to be Sham. I think they tried to do a more modern color with the plume tail for the vintage mold, something that wasn't done on bays when Sham was first released. I wonder if they'll keep the wheat ear mark or not? Brighid and Beltane These two are my favorite of the special runs because they look similar to Misty and Stormy, yet another throw back for the 70th anniversary I'm assuming since they did something similar with the vintage color on Oak and Ash. I think I like vintage colors on modern ponies better than the reverse. Thorn Thorn completes the trilogy, though I'm not sure just what Breyer was trying to represent by buckskin appaloosa coloring. I personally think he looks like the twin of DZ Weedo. I don't think getting this one will be so hard, as many people aren't a fan of this mold, though I would like to have him. Boudicca The decorator is a unique pearly mulberry grey with Vikings war paint. She is likely one of the last horses on my list, because of both color and mold choice. This makes nine total models, which is the most they've ever released so far. Breyer has ensured us that this will be the last special run, however. Store Specials The horses shown below are available to available to all Breyerfest ticket holders, not just three day ticket holders. You must go through the store special line to purchase them. Benelli The first store special revealed was Benelli who is a beautiful blue roan Clydesdale gelding. Although he looks very similar to the silver version of Pepper from last year, I personally like the matte coloring of this color better than the pearly finish. Although pearl is a favorite finish of mine, I don't like it on every color, particularly grullos and roans. This boy is definitely a must-have for my collection being on one of my few conga molds! Faugh-A-Ballagh
Lovingly called "Cheesecake" by his owners, this horse is a beautiful cremello pinto Gypsy Vanner stallion. He is perhaps the only cremello Gypsy Vanner in the world and thus adds color to this rare breed. This beauty is definitely one I'll be trying to track down. After the announcement yesterday that Breyerfest will be virtual this year, mixed emotions popped up on social media. Some were happy with the change since they wouldn't have been able to attend any other way since they live too far away and of course there were the usual complaints about not getting the full Breyerfest experience with it being online now. This also means that tickets will not be mailed, and I'm assuming we'll find out model prices by email too rather than the mailed booklet. Yesterday when I checked, all Friday morning tickets were sold out. Today when I checked, a few Friday morning slots appeared, so Breyer must have already issued some refunds. There was also talk that Breyer should refund the admission to the KHP and the Celebration of the Horses show from the ticket cost, only charging basically for the celebration horse. I personally think free shipping would even it out pretty nicely, but we won't know for sure what Breyer decides until the end of April, as their email stated. So we wait. In the meantime, another sneak peek has been released on the website: Speculation from Weather Girl to the Marwari has been thrown out, but my guess is Bristol. It looks like another grey to me, and a grey Bristol is what I'd been hoping for! My guess is also since it doesn't look like a decorator color that it's the third store special.
I know Breyer doesn't hear this enough (really it never seems like they can do anything without complaints) but I'm incredibly happy that they didn't cancel Breyerfest, or postpone it until later in the year, because it would be much harder for those with kids in school to attend since it starts on a Friday. I don't know about you, but I'm quite glad to not have to stand in line in the Kentucky heat to get my ponies. Yes, it bites that we won't be able to see the real horses or partake in the activities that make up Breyerfest, but I'm perfectly fine with just receiving the models, especially if it means people's lives will be saved from not going. It also saves on costs to physically get there (gas, food, etc.) and hotel costs. That leaves more money to put on models for the rest of the year. I'm sure Breyer is also disappointed, as I'm sure they were excited to do something special for their anniversary year, but the more we do now, the more normal it will be by this time next year. It's official... Breyerfest will be virtual this year. The email I've just received stated:
"Our thoughts and concerns continue to be with those on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis. Most important is the health and well-being of everyone involved, from our internal staff and volunteers to all of you in the Breyer community. In order to preserve everyone’s safety and deliver a BreyerFest as complete and fulfilling as possible, we have decided to shift BreyerFest Celtic Fling 2020 to an online experience to be held the same weekend, July 10-12. By making this decision now, we can deliver interactions with the Breyer community, access to special runs, fun BreyerFest merchandise, limited edition models for ticket holders, craft and activity workshops, live interviews, and more. We are working on this urgently, and plan to share what we know as soon as possible, no later than the end of April. Thank you for your patience and we look forward to updating everyone soon. Gratefully, The Breyer Team" Of course there aren't much by the way of details yet but I'm assuming it'll be similar to the Seattle Soiree event where the models are separated into groups and when your spot in "line" is called, you'll get to pick two models from each group. This prevents people from purchasing multiples of the same models, like the surprise. Oh, and speaking of the surprise, we won't know what it is until it arrives making it a true surprise. I've decided to purchase only enough tickets to hopefully get all the horses I want for my permanent collection. I was going to purchase one or two more in case I happened to get stuck near the end of the line like last year, but decided against it so that the people who want the models can get them since you don't have to physically go this year. Although I'm a bit bummed about not being able to see the Lipizzans and the other guest horses, I feel that this is the best choice given the circumstances. A nice little Easter surprise arrived for me today in the form of Florian. He's a cutie! This guy was one of my favorites from the 2020 lineup, and he surely didn't disappoint! He has cat tracks, ermine spotting on one leg and the tail was painted by hand so no overspray. He is high glossed and very detailed for such a little guy. Breyer really did a nice job on him. He did have blue paint where the eye whites would typically be (like how some traditionally eye whites were pink instead of white). Not sure why they're blue but I rather like them!
I received the news from Breyer that I have been accepted as a Breyer dealer!
I cannot tell you how excited I am about this! I have been wanting to become a Breyer dealer for some time now. The push to put in a business application was when all this virus stuff came about since I figured I'd eventually lose my job, at least temporarily. I needed some kind of steady income more than the few custom pieces I sold on eBay could get me since it took me anywhere from a week to a month to make customs depending upon how detailed they are. Finally I received that call and I'm proud to be a part of the Breyer team! I love learning about new releases (if you're a long time reader of my blog you know how I always try to keep on top of that) and now I'll be one of the first to have physical access to those, as well as information. It'll help me better keep y'all informed! Don't worry... I'm still going to continue making customs but now I'll be able to make more YouTube regular run reviews as well! The horses should be here by the end of the month so if you're interested, please visit back regularly! For now I have decided to sell solely through eBay, as I am currently a top rated seller, but soon I hope to bring sales to my website depending upon how well this goes. Breyer, why do you do this to us? The latest reveal, as I predicted is the Sunday raffle model, is one of those elusive stunningly gorgeous appaloosas that I've always wished Breyer would make. Truly, I wish this color was the PC model that they showed with the spots late last year, because these are the types of Appaloosas I want in my collection. The mottled nose, peacock spots, mapping, lightning stripes and realistic hooves are all the features of a beautiful Appaloosa. I would even go as far as to say *with tears in my eyes because I know I'll never own them* that I like this year's raffle models better than the original PC models. So hopefully Breyer will stop teasing us with this eye candy and get back to wrapping up the obtainable special runs. We still have a deco and one last store special to be revealed, then the pop-up store specials and finally the single day Stablemates. It makes me wonder though with the slow reveals and lack of prize models if they ARE planning on cancelling Breyerfest, and if so, will they even do single day models or pop-up store specials? Perhaps they may just postpone the event, although they know lots of people take off work for it and can't always change up their schedules once put in. We can speculate all we want but the truth of the matter is that we probably won't know for sure until May. That's about two months before the event and is about the same amount of time they gave Seattle Soiree attendees a heads up notice. The good thing is if the event IS cancelled, they'll probably release the models in June for purchase, like they did a month early with Seattle Soiree. Straying away from the grim topic of virus closings, let's talk about something more exciting, like the new Stablemates Club release, Florian! This guy was one of my favorites for the year so he'll be coming home with me, as I plan to add him to my personal collection. Flashy and glossy... just the way I like my Stablemates! Finally I wanted to announce that Breyer is also having a Boredom Buster coloring contest for all you artsy people out there. Entries are due April 30th and must be emailed to Breyer. I printed out the picture for something to do but I likely won't end up sending it in since I used solely graphite pencil and not actually color. If y'all want to print one out, here is the link: https://www.breyerhorses.com/pages/breyer-boredom-buster-coloring-contest?utm_source=BreyerHorses.com+Master+List&utm_campaign=955dd1c651-Boredom+Buster+Coloring+-+March+2020+1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_216dcea0b7-955dd1c651-121076957&mc_cid=955dd1c651&mc_eid=29c8f8c907 Have fun and stay safe!
The Saturday raffle prize model, Order of the Thistle, has been revealed, and of course they had to make an unobtainable Hamilton just as I was thinking about starting a conga with that mold. At least that verifies the rumors of the third store special being on Hamilton were just that... rumors. The other sneak peek has yet to be revealed, but I'm pretty sure is going to be the Sunday raffle model since it too has mapping. Will they use Altynai for this one? I guess we'll see! We're still waiting on the final store special, who we know now isn't going to be on Hamilton, and the decorator for Breyerfest. Oh, and while we're on the subject of decorators, that rainbow sneak peek from the March CC newsletter has been revealed finally. Amazingly this one was NOT a Collector Club only edition, but will be a flagship store special. Once a year dealers get a decorator that are sold in limited quantities. This year's model, Crystalline, only has 4,000 made and is a beautiful rainbow deco on the Goffert mold. Another rumor going around social media is the release of three new Stablemates singles at Walmart. Honestly the Gypsy Vanner looks like a solid version of the pinto from last year's Breyerfest so I probably won't get it, but I'm loving that palomino Mirado. After finding series 4 MW at my local Walmart, I'm hoping they'll get these in soon, and maybe I can offer a few on eBay to others. Finally, those who get to purchase ponies for the Seattle Soiree are in for a real treat... the event models! Only those chosen to attend who didn't get a refund on their tickets have access to purchase these extremely limited (and expensive!) models. Remember that Redmond and Puget were included free with tickets as sort of celebration models for the event. Here are the rest of them: My favorites are Storm and Olympia. I love Ashquar (especially in exquisite dappled rose grey!) and that champagne coloring on Marabella is a weakness of mine. However, they are wayyyy out of my price range so I'll appreciate them from the lucky ducks on social media when they are sent out.
On Breyer's Facebook and blog yesterday, readers were delighted to discover that new shrinkies we're going to be made by Breyer later this year. They wrote: "First we shrunk our Gypsy Vanner, then Alborozo and Magnolia, and we now have our mini Fighting Stallion and Clydesdale Stallion to look forward to later this year! We're excited to announce another welcome addition coming soon to the Stablemates line… meet mini Rugged Lark! He has been digitally scanned and perfectly scaled down from Traditional (1:9) scale to Stablemates (1:32) scale. Rugged Lark, one of our most beloved stock horse sculptures, first debuted in 1989. With his calm expression and quiet gait, this fellow is sure to be a welcome addition to Stablemates fans’ herds – the coat color of this particular release was inspired by one of our later Rugged Lark models, Patch. We’ll have more information on where you can acquire your very own Stablemates Rugged Lark model later this year!" Some people halted at this, thinking maybe Breyer was throwing out another April Fool's joke, like the one about the colorful Khemosabis from six years ago. Apparently those people were correct, as Breyer released this today: "APRIL FOOLS! A Stablemates Rugged Lark model isn’t *actually* in the pipeline, but here’s something that is! One part of our April Fools’ Day prank was true – we ARE doing more minis, and you’ll be hearing more about this little guy (and others!) in the coming months. Thanks for playing along!" Being that Smart Chic Olena is one of my favorite molds, I'm looking forward to having a miniature version of him, so I can't wait to see what Breyer has up their sleeves. Since they threw out the hint "making more minis in the coming months" it makes me wonder if they aren't going to be a blind bag of some sort like the Starry Skies Stablemates. Wonder who else will be shrunk?
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