First things first, the July Collector Club newsletter was sent out today, and they had an in-hand photo of Astrid in both matte and glossy. Seeing them side-by-side, I still prefer the glossy, as the color really pops on her. According to the newsletter, she will be released next month (August) so hopefully there won't be a delay like there was with Fireheart. Although they showed them in the live feed at Breyerfest, it was just a quick preview, so it's nice to see a still photo. I can't wait to see the mare and foal set as the final Premier Club release this year! Speaking of Breyerfest, my 12 lb package ended up being Dani, as I was suspecting due to the low weight. It was only two Danis and I noticed that a transaction for two All Access tickets I bought in February is now marked fulfilled so I'm assuming they're sending the Danis based on each transaction, not necessarily how many tickets you purchased altogether. The only other thing that shows as fulfilled on my account so far is a Kaleidoscope and it's not supposed to arrive until Wednesday of next week. The models are coming y'all but it may take a while for them all to be sent out. Thank you to everyone who pre-ordered for having patience. I do have some extra Danis available for those interested, as I did have a couple people cancel last minute. They are posted in my Model Horse Store.
If you have not read my previous post about the 7 Arts Surprise mold, well, stop reading now because I'm going to reveal the mold and colors. So again, as with my previous post I'm going to give a break so you don't accidentally find out something you don't want to just yet. ...stop reading now if you don't want any spoilers... ...seriously stop reading... Ok, so those that know Dundee is for sure the surprise model (picture proof was posted today) I promised to announce the colors once I found out. So far there are five that we know about. Whether there is seven or not we should find out soon. There is at least a roan sabino, a palomino pintaloosa, a flaxen chestnut roan (looks like Peptoboonsmal with a lighter mane/tail), a classic champagne phantom face and surprisingly with Pollock in the lineup there was a rainbow decorator in the form of a rainbow leopard appaloosa. We thought that since Breyer made Pollock there was no way the surprise would also include a rainbow, but there it is. Breyer pulled out all the stops in more ways than one this year. I don't have any pictures I can use yet but I will definitely update once I receive my surprises with the colors I ended up with. I'm hoping to eventually collect the entire set once the Breyerfest hype has died down a bit. A Breyerfest order is on the way???
I hope so! Last week I got a tracking number for a 22 lb package from Breyer that was supposed to arrive last Friday according to my UPS My Choice app. Last Friday came and went but still no package and the tracking never did update again. Now it says cancelled but I just got a different tracking number, this time with a 12 lb weight, that is actually moving and supposed to come on Saturday. Anyone curious can sign up for My Choice if you have not. It's free to use so I highly recommend it for any Breyer purchases since UPS is used by Breyer for shipping. I will be using UPS to ship some of my own packages for Breyerfest pre-orders due to the fact that USPS priority only covers $50 unless extra is paid whereas UPS has you put in the item cost when you create the label. I honestly think this is why Breyer uses them too. Everything on both my primary and secondary Breyer accounts still shows as unfulfilled so I have no idea what will be included in this shipment. Since UPS tends to estimate the weight based on package dimensions and not actual weight, it could just be the rest of my VIP order, especially as my VIP box was estimated at 11 lbs when there is no possible way it could have weighed that much. I guess we'll see when it gets here. I have another 12 lb package on the way with my secondary Collector Club account that I made for the Croi gambler's choice this year though the Stablemate Club and I didn't purchase any store items with that one, only the special runs, so I'm wondering if it's not Dani that's coming since the weights are the same and I ordered the same amount of tickets on each account but not the same number of special runs (one of my tickets on my main account was actually not filled at all because they didn't have any of the models on my preference list left) so I'm thinking it's probably not my surprise horses. Actually, speaking of the elusive surprise, there was a rumor going around on Facebook that someone knew the person who purchased the complete set of surprise models and through them found out the mold, although no pictures were actually shown yet. Some people were bashing her for keeping it to herself but I completely understand why someone wouldn't want to reveal pictures. After all, I think if someone revealed all the colors then they'd spoil it for everyone, and that wouldn't really be fair. While there are collectors just about hyperventilating from the wait, others don't want to know, and for this reason I always give a warning before sharing surprise information. Please don't continue scrolling if you want to remain surprised but for those curious the rumor going around about the mold is... ...no seriously stop scrolling if you don't want to know... ...drumroll please... DUNDEE! This has me floored. I thought for sure there was no way they'd use that new and popular of a mold but the masses were correct, and I apologize for doubting you all. I completely threw out Dundee in my surprise guess for those reasons and because he is still in production as Peptoboonsmal. If this is true (again at the time this post was written we haven't seen photo proof yet) though I honestly see no reason to doubt the gal with the friend who won the auction, then I guess Breyer really did "pull out all the stops" this year. EDIT: Dundee is confirmed to be the surprise model! Several people got their boxes today and shared pictures. Actually, this really excited me because I just had a fan of my blog message me to offer me her Dundee after I wrote about how he is the last Premier Club horse I've been trying to track down. I'm happy to say that he is due to arrive next week so if Dundee really is the surprise model, I'm really wanting a conga on him. After all, I already have Carter and Peptoboonsmal as a start. Now that the Breyerfest rush has worn off, I have gotten no less than 11 inquiries about the mid year releases this weekend. I don't blame these people at all for wondering why their hard earned money didn't amount to anything yet, and while I understand Breyer can't control shipping delays every once in a while, I'm upset with Breyer for nearly everything being delayed this year. They promised their dealers to have the shipping issues sorted out by the mid year (I have the email stating this) and so we believed in their estimate of late June to early July but the delays are still happening. While I will always support Breyer as a company, I would much rather them give us a far out shipping estimate and be early than be a month or more late because they couldn't deliver by their estimated ship time. The first year models were delayed too but they weren't THIS late. The delays are getting worse, as evident with Fireheart being pushed back two months. If shipments continue being late through the end of the year, I'm probably just going to take partial payments to reserve the 2022 regular run releases in January instead of the entire amount at once because, needless to say, I have some very unhappy customers right now for a situation out of my control. I've already had to make two refunds and it's going to hit hard on my business if I have too many people demanding refunds. Again I don't blame any of you at all, I feel the same way, but this is why there are only a handful of us left that still do pre-orders because it leaves us to the mercy of Breyer's timeline. I do thank all of you who have been patient through all this and are happy to at least know that you will have a model reserved for you, whenever they come in. Ok, rant over. I would like to share a couple pieces of good news so this post isn't all bad news. I have been building my Othello conga up this year, something I didn't know if I wanted to do because of all the rarities on that mold. However, I have been on a draft craze lately. In my hunt for Mariah's Boon, I found one new in box on Mercari and used my 10% coupon on him so I got him for only $68. When he arrived, I was holding my collective breath that his box side wouldn't be damaged from being in box so long (he already has very little color as it is being medicine hat marked) and thankfully he wasn't, however I was shocked to find that he wasn't new in box like the seller described. The box had indeed been opened and a blade of dried Kentucky bluegrass was stuck in the tape. That's when I noticed the signature. It was hard to see because it was in gold ink and on his bay spot. I couldn't believe that I actually had a signed copy! This model turned out to be a lot nicer than I anticipated. I am in love with that blue eye, and this particular model has some nice shading in his mane. Check out those chestnut tips! I can't believe I didn't add this horse a long time ago. Also, since he was kept in his box this whole time, his bare plastic areas are really white, not yellowed like most of the models I see. I'm just so excited to have found a rare signed model! Some more good news is that my OTTB, Ace, now has an official surgery date of August 9th. A few months ago I posted about a cyst that formed over his head that turned out to be extra teeth in his ear due to too much inbreeding in Thoroughbreds. My vet recommended surgery but it's a very risky surgery because there is a chance of fracturing his skull and he wasn't willing to do it, so we had to find someone else. As we found out, there aren't many vets who ARE willing to do it. After a few months of searching, we finally found one in Columbus, Ohio who is willing to try. I have been saving up for this surgery ever since we found out he'd need it so I'm just glad it's going to finally happen. I've been a ball of nerves worrying about how it will go though and about the upcoming 3 hour trailer ride he'll have to take just to get to the center. I'll definitely update, maybe even do a diary type post of his travel and recovery.
As to the mid years, I will update as soon as I hear an update from Breyer. I'm sure they are tired of hearing from me because I've been messaging them every week since the last week in June. Every week they tell me the same thing, that it should be next week, and this is what I was told again today. They also said that Thriller the Halloween horse has been moved up from an estimated September delivery to August delivery, but they didn't tell me when in August. Since August is literally only a few days away, I'm hoping it's soon. My guess is that if they are starting to ship Breyerfest orders this week as they said they would, then the mid years will probably come after all those orders are shipped out, which would probably be the first or second week in August. Let's cross our fingers that this is correct because I, like you all, am tired of waiting. Please just give us our horses, Breyer. First off, I apologize if you tried to get on my website earlier but couldn't. I had to do some post Breyerfest maintenance and unpublished my website for a few hours today. It's back up and running now, and the mid years have returned to the store. Now that that's over with, I'd like to write a review of virtual Breyerfest. I actually meant to post this a few days ago but I wanted to view all the videos before I did a full review. This is mostly for those who were weary about buying a virtual ticket this year after how poorly Breyerfest 2020 went. So let's get started! Breaking it down...
Videos and live feed. I enjoyed the meet and greets (as a blogger/Youtuber of Breyers I especially enjoyed the interviews with the Youtubers rather than just the artists/horse owners this year) and hearing about each of the horses' stories. I kind of wish they would have stuck with the individual meet and greets on a special page like they did last year rather than throwing them in the middle of the live feed to make them easier to find. The live feed was, overall, entertaining. There were some technical glitches but let's face it... Breyer isn't known for their camera skills. I love Kimber, a gal of my own heart with a background in racing, and I hope they bring her back next year despite going live. Jamie seemed a lot more comfortable on camera this year than last year. Benefit auction. I'm amazed at the amount of money donated for the benefit auction this year! I would have to sell my real horses for the price you all paid for these horses, and I mean no offense. I envy y'all for sure and wish I had the funds to afford those beautiful models! Congratulations to the winners, who definitely deserve to enjoy these OOAK pieces. I personally would've loved to own that Othello. I'm actually surprised he didn't sell for higher with how popular a mold I thought Othello was, however I guess it's proof that Othello isn't as popular as he once was (surprise model time, Breyer? *hint hint*) especially with the release of Georg. I actually bought my Summer from a gal who was selling off her Othellos to focus on her Georg conga, so there ya go. Stephanie's enthusiasm at the prices was sweet, and the auctioneer - though many people moaned about how much they missed Auction John and I don't blame them - wasn't too bad. She was curt and to the point but I kind of liked her sing-songy voice. At least you could understand her, unlike most auctioneers. Nevertheless, I do agree with the masses that Auction John made it entertaining. Workshops. I did watch the workshops, as I could always use some tips for my own customizing. They definitely were helpful, and I'm looking forward to trying splatter dapples eventually. Horse farm tours. I can't ever not like the horse farm tours. It is interesting to learn about each farm's history, what famous horses lived there (shout out to Claiborne who is king in that department) and seeing what all the horses are up to. I can never get enough of these, even when I'm down in the bluegrass. The store. Well, of course, most people were worried about the store specials. The grab bags went first, not surprisingly, and some of the swag was even sold out by the end of Breyerfest. When it came to the limited editions, I believe that Breyer offering the glossies with the matte versions from the get go definitely helped. I think Breyer making 3,500 of each limited edition was probably a bit much but they probably thought they'd rather be safe than sorry. I loved the team glossy and team matte swag, but honestly what about team pearly? Team pearly here! *raises hand shyly* Special runs. Finally, the special runs. I was very happy with the pickings. I ended up with the four I really wanted for my own collection: Uffington, Seurat, Ansel and Pollock. I ended up with only four surprise models this year so chances are that unless it's a mold that I really despise, I probably won't sell them. What didn't I like? Not too much to complain about but the biggest thing I had a problem with was... where was the Collector Club tent? This was something I looked forward to each year, especially as a member since 2015. I believe the Collector Club started in 2012 so I only missed three years, and one of the biggest perks was special admittance to the Collector Club tent at Breyerfest. In this tent, they showed future club releases in the Collector Club, Stablemate Club, Premier Club and Vintage Club. They had a virtual tent last year, but this year they just showed all the upcoming releases in the live feed. As with the meet and greets, it's kind of hard skipping through all the other parts of the video to find this one section, especially if you only have mobile internet. I remember they showed Gideon in the tent one year but the past few years, the fall Collector Club special has been a surprise. I am looking forward to those Halloween minis though! I just got a shipping notification for a 22 lb box o' Breyers. Just to clarify I did not getting tracking information from Breyer. I received my number through the UPS My Choice app (it's free to sign up) but my orders on Breyer's website still show as unfulfilled, so I have no idea honestly what is in this shipment. It might even just be the rest of my VIP models or even just my Danis, I'm not 100% sure. It's definitely not enough for everything though so it'll be a nice surprise to see what there is. Hopefully I can get a few pre-orders fulfilled since I know all y'all are waiting patiently for your beautiful models! Basically, now that Breyerfest is over, I start looking forward to the upcoming fall releases, which should be a lot, especially since the Classics and Halloween horse, Thriller, have been delayed until September now. I have been throwing myself full force back into customizing and I've actually had the Breyerfest video replays playing in the background while I customize to give me something to listen to. I've been making quite a few glow in the dark stablemate Halloween ponies. Here is a glimpse at my works in the making (the heater is used to dry the paint and finish quicker): I had such a huge demand for them last year that I wanted to make sure I'm prepared this time. Last year I couldn't keep up. I'd get one done and it would sell before I could get the next one done. Not that I'm complaining, as I often use the profit made from these to help pay back the funds spent at Breyerfest, so I'm starting early this time. I do have some stablemates for sale that will be customized if they don't sell soon, so rescue them from the body box if you want them OF! Quality wise there's nothing wrong with them... but if I have OF stablemates that I don't think will sell real well they end up being customized.
My holy grail, True North, finally came today and he is as stunning as I'd hoped! That leaves only one more Premier Club horse to track down before I finally have all the ones that I've been wanting to add, my final grail being Dundee who (as I've seen from so many praying for him to be the surprise horse) isn't let go from collections very often. I also wanted to give a special welcome to all the new readers. I notice with every Breyerfest that traffic to my website doubles to triples. I try my best to keep up on all the latest news so you hear first hand about upcoming releases so I truly hope you all are here to stay! So first things first. My giveaway for my Breyerfest sale was done on my Youtube channel last night and I pulled three winners. You all will be getting your models with your orders, which are being shipped out today. Thank you to everyone who participated, it really means a lot to me, especially as it was a spur of the moment idea that I really didn't have much time to plan for but I was excited to try it. Congratulations to the winners of the giveaway: Danasha's Northern Tempest "Dani" GRAND PRIZE - Graham A. of TN 90s Throwback Classics RESERVE GRAND PRIZE - Kathryn B. of IL Black and white pinto American Dream HONORABLE MENTION - Karen P. of MN I hope you all enjoy your new companions! Next I have some great news to share... Breyerfest 2022 WILL BE LIVE AT THE KENTUCKY HORSE PARK! For those of you who can make it to the park, I hope to see you guys there next year! For those who can't attend live, Jamie did talk about still having a virtual event so that you all can still join in the fun! I think this is great of Breyer to do and a dream come true for many who can't make travelling to Kentucky a reality. I personally was incredibly happy with the changes Breyer made this year in regards to the virtual event. I ended up getting the special runs I wanted for my own collection and the store was a lot less hectic. Sure the run numbers were a lot higher this year but everything lasted out, and I think the addition of the glossies helped greatly for their to be mattes left by the end of the event. Overall I was incredibly pleased. Next year's theme has been announced. It will be called Prost! (German word for cheers) and will be a German inspired theme that will take place July 15-17. I foresee lots of drafters and Warmbloods with this theme, which Germany is known for. I personally like when they do a country theme versus a general theme (like this year for example) because then you can learn a bit about the country's history and facts you may not have known before. Also, if they throw in any lesser known breeds, like Jamie mentioned Rhendish drafts, German Riding horses and Black Forest horses, makes it so much more awesome. Anyone want the return of Georg as a special run for next year because I do!
So for the big question... people have been asking me what I plan to do in regards to pickups next year. Honestly guys I'm going to wait to see what components of Breyerfest is going to be offered live vs virtually before I decide about pickups because, as I've said, I have horrible luck in the lines in real life. I don't even know if they'll offer the special runs online or just the store specials. Keep me in mind if you need a pickup person but I probably won't know for sure until I get some more details from Breyer first which most likely won't be until the beginning of next year. Auction prices were crazy this year with the Hamilton getting up to a staggering $18,000! Y'all I'd have to sell my real horses to afford that. I can't believe the jaw dropping prices they went for. Breyer threw in a hint about the surprise horse (yes they actually showed him today without actually showing him) so if you'd like to stay surprised, please do not scroll down past the picture of the Fireheart stablemate mini me that I showed in a previous blog post. If you want to see if your guess was correct, then by all means continue scrolling! I'm going to start with the club models shown in yesterday's video. I'll start with the Vintage Club. We finally get to see the Brighty gambler's choice, Nugget, in the plastic. Gold chrome, blue copenhagen, gold filigree and Wedgewood blue make up the colors of this adorable donkey. Which you get will be a complete surprise! I have sold mine, as I don't collect Breyer's other animal molds, or else I would've loved to have any of these colors though my personal favorite is the blue copenhagen. As a side note in the picture below you can see in the upper right corner a picture of the Stablemate Club foals that are going to be the extra available purchase later in the year. I forget their names at this time but it was a little bay Clydesdale draft foal and a palomino appaloosa. Shown below is the complete Vintage Club 2021 lineup, minus the extra mare and foal set, but we do see mini Yellow Mount in person. He is the club exclusive stablemate you get when you join the Vintage Club. I'm offering him for pre-order in my Model Horse Store. He is due to come at the beginning of the year of 2022. Now, for my fellow Premier Club members, we get to see Astrid in hand rather than just Breyer's stock photo, in both matte and glossy. I love how the gloss makes her coloring pop, especially on her mane and face. The matte version is a lot softer. I think both are equally as nice. It was really hard to choose with her. Usually I have a clear favorite between matte and glossy splits but this year Breyer did me in with Josie. I got matte with my VIP ticket and just pre-ordered the glossy today because I like the glossy version much richer. This will be the first time ever I got both finishes on the same horse. Oh well. Like Kimber noted... she looks like two completely different horses with bringing on one side and plain bay on the other. If I displayed them side by side, you couldn't tell they were the same horse. Above is an in-the-plastic preview of the Premier Club stablemate that I showed on Friday, the mini Fireheart. Now before we continue, STOP HERE IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO SEE THE SURPRISE HORSE. Keep scrolling if you do. I have a hunch who it's going to be just based off the video so just an FYI before I continue. Here is the picture floating around the internet: Well, unfortunately that's not internet favorite, Bobby Jo, as I suspected since it would have been too obvious for Breyer to make her after making Spectrum when they did the same thing with the Andalusian Stallion in 2019. This horse is very long and very thin. At first I thought Bristol who, despite being a store special, sure looked like she fit in that bag. I notice what looks like a hoof pressing through on the bottom right. Jamie looks like she's holding the tail on one side and curved front legs on the other, with her head in the upper left corner. It also kind of looked like her stand pressing down on the bag in the middle. I thought "oh boy I'm in trouble". However, looking at it closer it looks like she is holding the head on the left side (her right hand) and not really anything on the right side, just the edge of the bag. Where I thought was a stand poking through in the front could very well just be another hoof. That hind hoof on the bottom right could be the back hoof on Zippo Pine Bar, who was one of my original top guesses. It could also be another of my top guesses, Salinero, and she could be holding his upper leg with his high head in the upper left of the bag. That could be his small round stand poking out in the lower middle. I think we can discount the Arabian Mare, though. I just don't think she's long enough to fit in the bag. Then they showed this angle and I have edited to attach the video as well: Some people are saying that they see a stand, and it could very well be Wyatt's rounded stand. Wyatt is another popular internet guess. It truly is deceiving because you could potentially see whomever you want it to be. My eyes were seeing Bristol at first, who came out the same year as Dundee, and Dundee is still being seen in that bag by his adoring fans. I still personally think he's still a bit TOO new but who knows? However, I'm pretty sure that it's either Zippo or Wyatt at this point. If Wyatt wasn't attached to his stand in the bag, that could be the hoof I saw poking through on the bottom right.
Tell me your last minute surprise guesses! My VIP box landed today! Apparently a couple people got their special runs with their box before Breyer realized their mistake. Ugh... Breyer really needs to get their warehouse in order. Just too many mistakes this year. Thankfully, at least to my knowledge, nobody that did get the special runs got the surprise yet or that really would've spoiled everything. Anyways there were models with the VIP box so Breyer didn't lie about that, however they weren't the special runs yet. Included was the stablemate four pack and Dani, who is to DIE FOR by the way! This horse should cost way more than what she does, and is actually the first celebration model that I've had sell out BEFORE the event, so I'm glad that Breyer decided to use her instead of Intuit now. Once he gets here my grail True North will make a dream couple with her! My swag stuff came in an adorable gift box made of some pretty sturdy cardboard. In it I got a collectible cup with a straw, a pair of really cool rainbow sunglasses, lip balm, a sun hat and a little iridescent color shifting carrier to put all the stuff in. All this would be great to take to Breyerfest if it is live next year. Finally there was a sticker sheet and five enamel pins. Now I never knew what the big deal was about the pins but they're honestly very cute! I love them probably more than anything in the VIP kit. Those alone probably cost at least $40. I might actually have to start collecting those from now on. Darn it, Breyer! I really don't need to have a reason to collect more stuff... Now for the horses you've all been waiting to see: the four pack of stablemates. They turned out amazing, my only complaint is that I thought Dada was going to be a bit of a shimmery blue but instead he's flat matte, which is a bit disappointing but he's still very pretty. Rococco is probably my favorite of all with his pearly white areas and metallic rose gold color. The Fighting Stallion is... well... unique to say the least. I was unsure whether or not I was going to keep him but I think that I might. The purple Fjord is cute with her darker purple dorsal stripe and realistic mane/tail color. This set sold out the first day of Breyerfest. I loved the artsy bags they came in with their names on them. Honestly I look forward almost as much to the designs of the bags as I do the single day stablemates themselves and I wish the Stablemate Club would go back to them since they're a lot more space efficient than the boxes. I would say there is at least $100 worth of goods in the box (in Breyer pricing anyways) and the fact that it wasn't available in the swag store made it all that more special plus the box itself is probably a good collector's item to keep because we don't even know if Breyer will continue the VIP ticket or if this will be the last year they do it. The extra farm tour included was probably worth another $20 in itself so that kind of justifies the extra $200 for the VIP ticket. Will I get one again if they do decide to offer it still even when the event is live? I may to get the models I want especially because I have such crappy luck in the lines in real life. Day 2 was mostly just watching all the videos there is to offer. In one of the videos Jamie showed some upcoming fall releases of their Halloween stablemate blind bags and a cute Frankenstein plushy. They also showed in-hand pictures of the Halloween horse, Thriller, as I know many of you are eager to receive him. I can't wait to see him too but according to Breyer he has been pushed back until September to release which is why he wasn't offered in the store at Breyerfest. The stablemates are miniatures of Spirit of Hallowed Eve, Jack and Bogeyman.
Breyer has announced they are leaving all the videos and content up until the end of July because there is literally hundreds of hours of videos on there. I've been watching customizing workshops to give me some new pointers. I will post some video screenshots of upcoming releases in my blog post tomorrow so stay tuned! For now I'm just enjoying this weekend relaxing and not having to worry about the heat or walking or getting through the crowds. At the same time though, I do miss it. First things first because so many of you have asked... all remaining Breyerfest special runs that I haven't sold yet are now being offered in my Model Horse Store and yes they are part of my giveaway entry! I am also offering the glossies and the Best of Breyerfest stablemates in my store until my "Shop 'Til You Drop" sale ends on Sunday for those who didn't get a Breyerfest ticket. Please note though that the glossies are on backorder until December, however once you see them, they'll be worth the wait! As to the 7 Arts surprise models... I only ended up with four surprise models this year between all my tickets. Last year I pulled five with the same amount of tickets. Since the amount of surprises I got was so low, I'm going to wait to see which mold the surprise is on before I decide if I'm going to keep them or sell them. If I do decide to sell them, I'll list them for sale in my Model Horse Store. For Saturday and Sunday I am offering a 10% discount on anything in my store (yes including Breyerfest 2021 models) by using the coupon code "BREYERFEST" in CHECKOUT. For Breyerfest pre-orders use coupon code "FREESHIP" to get 10% off AND FREE SHIPPING! Let's find these models new homes by Monday! Sorry but the discount cannot be applied to previous orders. Breyer did end up offering all the traditional limited editions for Breyerfest in both matte and glossy. I'm pretty sure Apollo is going to be pearly so I decided to just keep my matte version of him that I got with my VIP ticket because, in my opinion, pearling with gloss is a bit much, especially when trying to photograph them. The pearling is already so shiny there isn't much difference between glossy Apollo and non-glossy Apollo. Glossy Rheverence had to come home to me because just look at how that gloss really pops his color. I'm still debating on whether I want Josie in gloss or matte. I got a matte with my VIP ticket though I do love me a dark bay in gloss! Since there was no Clarion this year, I did manage to hunt down a couple major grails I've been wanting for a while on the Clarion sale pages. One of them was my all-time favorite lottery model, Gettysburg, mostly because - if you've been a follower of my blog for a while - you'll know that Gettysburg is a place where I like to go horseback riding at least once a year on the battlefield, and as a person intrigued by the paranormal (I do make Halloween decorators after all) I love spooky historical places! So this model was on my wish list for a while since I wasn't pulled for him when he was released, and I finally was able to track one down at cost. Another that I've had my eyes on was True North. Back when he was released, I didn't have the funds to pay for the Premier Club that year so I didn't get him, and like Bristol, I had to find him later on the second hand market. I'm not going to even admit how much I paid, but just put it this way... he now takes the stand as my most expensive single model purchase ever now over Bristol but he will look good with his pals Lionel and Dani! I keep telling myself that Breyerfest only comes once a year though my wallet is always burning after this event, I tell ya! While I wait for them to come let's talk about the Breyerfest activities. Breyer is offering their warehouse finds on eBay. Included is a new in box clearware rainbow Weather Girl, Zion and Moab from the America the Beautiful series, Benasque the winter web special, Solar from the Celestial series and Acadia also from the America the Beautiful series. Premier Club members were shown the stablemate of the Premier Club. It is a shrinky this time of Fireheart. I will be curious to see how this pans out miniaturizing all that detail, but I sure do hope it looks as good as the traditional! Unfortunately there is no mention of Breyer doing another collector's choice model, but they did say that they were going to show a few reveals, so who knows? There is no Collector's Club area on the web page this year. Maybe the collector's choice series wasn't as big of a hit as Breyer hoped it would be but honestly I kind of liked it. I did go on the Claiborne Farm tour today, which was awesome, and have signed up for the Lane's End tour for tomorrow. I am still watching through all the videos. Jamie did show all the special runs in person during the live event so that was really cool to see. It hopefully won't be much longer until they get here, although Breyer said that models won't start shipping until July 26th. My guess is - maybe - that they aren't even in yet? Either that or they are waiting on the regular runs to come in so those that ordered regular runs with their store specials can have them all shipped together.
It's been a mess this year with shipping but I do hand it to Breyer for making their virtual event run a lot smoother this year then last year. Although I didn't end up getting a grab bag unfortunately (they sold out in minutes like I predicted) which is ok because I'm a quality over quantity collector and chances are wouldn't like half of it anyways, I did end up getting all the special runs I wanted, minus maybe a few more surprise models, but hey you take what you can get. I'm already done with my shopping and it's only day 1 so now I can actually enjoy the content on the website this time :) I'm writing this at midnight so we're literally only hours away from the big event. I'm going to have a hard time sleeping tonight for sure. It's raining cats and dogs outside so I'm kind of glad that I don't have to drive through the night to get to the KHP. I think Breyer is doing a good job making this event possible from the comfort of our living rooms. I'm excited for everything that makes the event so special: the grab bags which I'm hoping to get this year; the horse farm tours; the interviews with the portrait models and their connections; Kimber (she is awesome!) and hopefully the return of Auction John as well; the archive room with Stephanie; any sneak peeks they decide to show us; but especially the models that make up the Breyerfest event. One thing I especially looked forward to was the club reveals. Usually Breyer waits until Breyerfest to reveal the new Stablemate Club mold, but I guess they decided to show it a bit early. The second Premier Club horse is also shown during Breyerfest, however we already got a glimpse of that too, so maybe they'll show the third one? Probably asking too much but we can hope! They'll probably do another collector's choice where we vote on which color and mold combo we like best. Since last year it was the same color on different molds, this year it should be different colors on the same mold. Anyways for those of you in the Stablemates Club, here is the upcoming new mold: If this guy looks half as good as Brigitte Eberl's "Sherif" then we are in trouble. What colors would you all like to see on him? For me personally I'd love a dappled black similar to Lafayette. I think that color would look much better on an Arabian than it did the Hamilton mold. Think a mini Black Stallion, or his nemesis, Flame, in a bright red chestnut like Ashquar. Either would look spectacular on this mold. As with Fireheart, I foresee a conga coming on this mold!
Just a quick update on my Breyerfest sale: I have decided to downsize on some of my personal collection, mostly because I need the shelf space as I have WAY too many stablemates, so I have added some new ponies to the sale list. Be sure to check it out! I'm trying to bring my Clarion room to you ;) You can never have too many ponies on Breyerfest week, right? And remember that all orders placed will be entered in my giveaway. Every order you place your name will be entered for each one of my three giveaway prizes, and winners will be announced by the Monday morning after Breyerfest. Hope you all enjoy everything the whole event has to offer and shop 'til you drop! |
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