While Breyer has been on their appaloosa fix this year, I couldn't help but be taken in by it. I have decided to add Lil Ricky Rocker to my collection after seeing him in person when he came in one of my dealer orders as a special order for someone. I didn't know Breyer he was pearly! The original Lil Ricky Rocker models that my local dealer had when he first came out didn't look like they had any pearling, it just looked like bare plastic and the spots were smeared. Breyer has really stepped up their game with this guy, as the horse I was sent from them was a nice specimen. He has so much pearling, you can actually see it in the photos. He also has very minimal smudging on his spots. Speaking of appaloosas, I've decided to try my hand at making leopard appaloosas in acrylics since I've just finished up all my Halloween stablemates for the year, and which have been posted on eBay if anyone's interested. I am in the process of painting a traditional Halloween horse which will probably be available in September sometime, as well as a couple unicorn mini whinnies, which will be turned into skeleton horses and available sometime this week. Actually the appys are not turning out too bad! They are still in the works but here is what 2 of the 3 look like so far: I have several more stablemates bodies to keep me busy, and if I can't sell my regular run stablemates, I will customize those as well, as I need the shelf space. I've decided to downsize on my stablemate collection, keeping only the rare stablemates. Those itty bitty guys are like potato chips... they're so cheap you go to get just one and end up bringing home ten, then before you know it, you have hundreds. I really have no control when it comes to these guys, but I truly need to start.
I can't believe that in the past year alone with Breyerfest being online (and thus Clarion sellers selling virtually) I have been able to *almost* complete my collection. Most of the horses I've been searching for were regular runs from the years I was inactive as a collector due to starting a family. It is amazing how many collectors helped me build up my colorful collection. I have about a dozen regular runs and Breyerfest models to search for. One day my hope is to obtain Bobby Jo and, in my dreams, Bristol. In the meantime my man Wyatt has arrived, and I am amazed at this horse in real life. He looked kind of drab in pictures I've seen but in-hand he is spectacular. I wow'd the moment I saw him. I had no idea he was pearly! Now I can understand why he wasn't very popular, as I know a lot of people want realistic looking horses for the Premier Club, and Wyatt's pearling is bordering on decorator. However, I'm a huge fan of pearling and really like him. His star dapples are so unique, and he even has dapples on his belly like Carter. He also has brown eyes, something I couldn't tell from pictures I've seen, and pinking inside his flared nostrils. His rose grey coloring got me adding another rose grey to my collection, Sierra Rose from Breyerfest 2018. She was, in my opinion, one of the better horses of that kind of plain year, and a great example of how a modern paint job can make a vintage mold look 100x better. I've got three now if you include Pepper from Breyerfest 2019 and the new 70th anniversary Fighting Stallion. Sierra Rose was the 50/50 split that year but I preferred matte for her, only because I think greys look much better in matte over gloss because it gives them a softer look. One last horse that joined my herd this week - and I actually stumbled upon her by accident while out shopping at a flea market - was Kodi. I didn't think I'd like her in real life but actually she's really nice, and since I've just added Constellation and Bet Yer Blue Boons earlier this year, the mold is growing on me.
Right on time, the Collector Club newsletter for August was sent to emails. As per usual it contained an article about a blast from the past (this time it was about clearware history) and the featured collector story - which I personally love to read as I find it interesting how people got into the hobby - they also had their monthly giveaway. This time, however, it was a bit more spectacular than a regular run: I actually almost won this fiery boy on an online auction once, only to be outbid in the last few seconds, and regretted it ever since. I would love to own him one day, and wouldn't mind having my name pulled (just once?) for this beauty. Normally I don't mind clearware decorators, but this is an exception. I think that flaming mane and tail would look brilliant in the sun! The newsletter also contained the most exciting part... an upcoming sneak peek. When I first saw this picture, I'll admit the first thing that came to mind was the third Premier Club release because it looks like a bay splash pattern. I also wasn't familiar with that neck pattern. Remember that appy sneak peek that everyone thought would be the Premier Club horse and turned out to actually be a lottery model? Yeah, Breyer is messing with us LOL. Someone on social media however figured it out... it was the Andalusian Foal. Since I've never owned that mold before, that explains why I didn't recognize it. The description next to the picture said that September will be "an excellent month for new releases" and that this model would be available "exclusively for Collector Club members" so me thinks it's the fall special run for the Collector Club, the one usually revealed at Breyerfest. Since, however, Breyerfest was virtual, we didn't get a chance to see it. I also think they wanted to keep this one a surprise because if it is the Andalusian Foal like speculated, it will most likely be a mare/foal set. This would be the first time ever a mare and foal pair were made as a Collector Club special run, however it isn't out of the realm of possibility for Breyer to change it up a bit, especially this year with all their awesome releases.
I know a few upcoming releases that have recently leaked out are the Tractors Supply horses for 2020. There is a black pinto Emerson named Eclipse (no relation to the Thoroughbred), a dunalino on the Boomerang mold named Salidago and a bay appaloosa Marabella named Lapwai. In addition to the traditionals, there will be a light grey Classics drafter on the new Mighty Muscle mold that comes with a TSC blanket. The only photo I could find was a very blurry photo on social media, so I don't really have any good pictures to show right now, but you can bet I will update as soon as I do :) Let the beginning of the holiday releases commence! I was surprised to find that UPS dropped off three oversized boxes on my porch. I had never received any email for shipping confirmation so I immediately wondered if it was my holiday order. Nope... just my 70th traditionals and the Unicorn Surprise stablemates. It was a happy surprise though, as they'd been out of those unicorns since I became a dealer back in April and I wanted to add a couple to my own collection. They are honestly a lot better in person than the stock photos. I plan on keeping one of each set except the pink Warmblood (whom they apparently did away with the boy bits for this mold probably so people didn't complain about two boys like in previous years) so she will be for sale, if anyone is interested in having the newly revised mold. The foals in these sets are just too darn cute! The orange-yellow guy is an older mold made unicorn, but the others are brand new molds. One is a purple pinto draft foal, which is what so many collectors have been waiting for. Now take off the horn and put her on a realistic color! The third foal I thought was plain white but she actually has lovely purple legs and blue hued body, inherited from her parents. If you haven't seen them yet, here they are: The 70th Anniversary horses always blow my mind. The Moody Andalusians always have a lot of variation between them. Some have dark shading, some have hardly any shading, some have fishscale dapples, others are more soft and subtle. Take a look at the difference between these two for example. The difference between them is striking. The darker guy on the left has far more shading and fishscale dapples versus the guy on the right. The palomino Saddlebred also has some variation to them. For example, my first batch had a lighter color, more subtle dapples and a satin finish rather than a metallic sheen. From what I've seen in recent shipments of 70th anniversary horses, the metallic color is more common. Don't get me wrong... I like a show shined horse any day, but there's a big difference between show shine and looking like a gold coin. Check out my picture below for comparison: In addition to the 70th anniversary traditionals, there were also some variations found in my 70th anniversary stablemates. For example, I had a really orange Smart Chic Olena that had minimal shine and a sunny yellow Smart Chic Olena with almost as much shine as the 70th Saddlebred. I also had a mini Bramble with more of a matte finish and another that was semi glossy. There has been so much variation amongst the models this year. I spoke in a previous post about how Vermeer from the Premier Club had some that were very peachy colored, others more white, some with dark ghost spots and others with ghost spots so light you couldn't even see them. I think if I had planned on keeping that horse for my collection, I would have rather hand picked him than gambled upon what Breyer would send me.
Well, the day we collectors have been dreading has happened: USPS is raising their rates. This increase in rates is supposed to start in October. They say this is a "temporary" increase, although I don't know of any time USPS has ever lowered their rates so I'm thinking this increase will be here to stay. Unfortunately to my eBay buyers, I have to pass on this increase, as I always do calculated shipping on traditional horses. The good news is a secret I just discovered not too long ago: Mercari. I've added a couple new members this past weekend from the website. They have a set rate for shipping rather than paying eBay's expensive calculated shipping, so west coast buyers buying from east coast sellers will get a better shipping deal, and vice versa, so you can find some pretty good deals on Mercari. I was so excited to find Chubasco and Caravelle for $50 including shipping on Mercari, granted they were flawed but they looked very much fixable. Unfortunately the person who sold them to me obviously isn't a collector and thought of them more as toys because look how they shipped them: The box they used was way too small for Chubasco (they took 4 days to find a box before they shipped him and this is the result) with his ears and tail literally poking out of the box. The horses were in a single layer of bubblewrap that wasn't even taped and absolutely no packing material whatsoever so when I opened it, they had rattled out of the bubblewrap and were free floating around the box. I'm really surprised there wasn't more damage. I think this caused a lot more marks than they originally had, and I was half tempted to ask for a return, but in the end, I felt bad for the pair and decided to rescue them. I touched up most of the flaws I could but Chubasco's poor ears were a lost cause since the tip was broken off. They didn't even take the time over those 4 days to clean the horses off. They were covered in dust when I received them. I did ask the seller after day 3 when they were going to finally ship them (maybe they decided they didn't get what they wanted for them or maybe they didn't calculate shipping correctly) so I'm thinking it was maybe a case of seller's remorse. Of hundreds of horses I've received in the mail, I've never had this happen before. I was horrified. I'm trying not to let one bad egg ruin the batch for me, as I have gotten some good deals on there, like this "new to me" Indian Pony, whom I also bought from Mercari, and he was packaged like a mummy. I have one more horse coming sometime this week. I purchased an original Wyatt. I remember when Wyatt was first revealed through the Premier Club how realistic he looked in his prototype photo. I really, really, really liked the mold. Looking back now, he's kind of plain compared to horses of recent years, but for the right price, I've decided to add him to my collection. Besides Hamilton, Altynai and Carina/Selene, whom I already have in my collection, my favorites are Bristol and Bobby Jo, though there are a few other Premier Club horses who I'd love to have if I could find them for a good price. One of them was Wyatt because of his rose grey color, star dapples and amazing pose. I will definitely be posting pictures when he gets here!
I have to tell ya something about regular runs. These are the bread and butter of Breyer as a company, the majority of their sales. However, there are so many people focused on obtaining rare, impossible to find horses that regular runs are kind of pushed to the side. Other than when they first come out, at the time when they're a hot new item, their price starts to sink almost immediately. By the end of a year, you can't even get what you paid for out of them. I think this reason alone is the main reason why collectors stay away from regular runs. If you want a return on your investment, you'll have to wait about a decade before you can flip the horse for a good price, maybe getting a decent $20 profit depending upon the model. I don't have a problem against regular runs. In fact, about half of my collection are regular runs. Sometimes I wish I liked regular bay and chestnut horses or I'd focus my collection solely on regular runs. They're decently priced, easy to find which makes it nice if you don't have the money at the time to buy a special run before it's sold out. Several new ones are released each year and come in the exact same molds that people in the Premier Club pay $175 for. So for this post, we're going to focus on the regular runs of the past 10 years (only 5 years are listed here, the next 5 years will be on a different post due to space). Please note that any clearware horses, as well as horse/rider sets are not included on this list. I also didn't include anything that was available through exclusive retailers like JCP, TSC or the mid years since not everyone had these stores available to them at the time. These were all strictly regular runs that could have been obtained by anyone. I may do another post later on down the road with Tractor Supply and mid years. 2010I remember saving up enough money from this year to buy Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta (at the time I was focusing on the racehorses mostly - it wouldn't be until after I started this blog that my herd goals would change) and I was gifted GG Valentine/Heartbreaker from my husband, who found the glossy version that was every 1 in 6. This was back before glossies were as big as they are now. I bought Fleetstreet Max years later on the second hand market. The only others I had an interest in, but as of yet haven't found, is Summer and Winter from the Treasure Hunt. 2011Whereas the year before had lots of browns, this year had lots of blacks/dark bays. I did end up buying TS Black Tie Affair (before I realized how tippy the Huckleberry Bey mold was) because his owner is actually a local. Years later I added Stormy from the Weather Girl Treasure Hunt, and of which would sadly mark the end of the Treasure Hunt series. 2012Yet another year of mostly browns, the only horse I was interested in at the time was Northern Dancer, whom I later sold when I downsized my racehorses. I bought Brookside Pink Magnum, the overo mare/foal and Lil Ricky Rocker after they started making him pearly. 2013I appreciated the amount of color from this year as well. I think Breyer literally made a horse of every different color of the horse rainbow. I bought the Marwari in 2015 when I began collecting again, though I later sold him because the horse I had didn't have very many dapples. On the other hand, the Gypsy Vanner and Lindsay's Faith are still part of my permanent collection to this day. I would have liked to have found the Indian Pony with war paint, but unfortunately my dealer at the time never got one in. 2014I honestly don't own any horses from this year. I had Frankel - again before I sold my racehorses - but nothing else really struck me. It was another year of rather plain horses. Breyer released a ton of "warehouse finds" this year which added a bit of color, however I didn't include those since they were simply re-releases of previous regular runs. 2015As far as colorful horses go, this was a good year. I have several in my collection from this year including Emma (can't resist that mold), American Pharoah (my favorite racehorse ever), Picasso and Santiago. I will be making a second post soon with the next 5 years as this was too much to cram on one post :)
Vermeer was released this past week, and he had some people who loved him while others... not so much. I wanted to love this horse, I truly did, but there's just something about him that I can't seem to put my finger on. It's neither the color nor the mold I dislike but more the combination of both of them. A Knabstrubber would have looked stunning in this color pattern, and vice versa the mold in a color like silver black, bay roan or dapple grey. Yes, I know that Friesians don't come in any of those colors, but plain black would have Premier Club members really upset that they're paying that much for a plain black horse, plus they're more of a drafty color than appaloosa. People are starting to get them in hand already, and while I do think he looks better than I was expecting, there is so much variation amongst them that I'm kind of glad I didn't take the gamble. The horse on right looks great, very similar to how Blaylock originally designed him. The horse on the left, however, looks more like what I would have expected. The grey is way too faint and hard to see, and the horse has less of a creamy color. Most of them looked like this. I can't wait to see what they come out with on this mold in future. I kind of wish they would have held off on making Harley until after they released this mold. The mane on this mold is a bit too long for him, I know, but we can pretend he grew it out. Blaylock stated on her Facebook that Georgian Grande horse could be a possibility. While any Friesian cross would work, I think this American Cream draft horse shown below (after all it's been many years since we've had that breed made as a Breyer) would make a cool regular run: Breyer was going super big on duns the past few years to the point where I actually made a post titled "Are we dun yet?" talking about that. This year, it's appaloosas. I've honestly never seen so many appaloosas in my life. It started the last day of the year with Ambrose, followed by Klaus for the Stablemates Club, then we were given Lionel for the flagship horse and the Collector Club released two appaloosas as lottery draws: Goji and Bilberry. It wasn't surprising that we had Oak in the Breyerfest lineup and the grullo appy for the 70th series. Just as a heads up to those who don't already know... they decided to make the Artist Signature ornament for the holidays this year with appaloosa horses on it. It seems to me like possibly they're gearing up for the colorful Breyerfest next year so I don't think the palate of color is going to go away any time soon. Which I'm perfectly fine with, by the way. I'm loving my two new additions who are as colorful as they can get: I love appaloosas in real life, but when it comes to Breyers, I prefer the realistic ones. I don't like Breyer's vintage splatter spots or blurry dots on their appaloosas, though lately they're getting a lot better. I went to Breyerfest last year for the first time specifically for the 30th anniversary stablemates and Zipped in Black Magic. Prior to that, the only appaloosas I owned in my permanent collection were DZ Weedo, Toro and Impress Me Shannon because of their realism. I have since also added Oak from this year's Breyerfest, flagship special Lionel and Quill (when I went to Breyerfest for Zipped in Black Magic).
I sold Klaus and traded my Nayati appy for a pinto because of all the bare plastic on them. I don't like a ton of bare plastic on my horses, though as an artist, I understand that leopards are much more tricky to paint than they look and take a lot of time whether base coated or not because of all the masking involved. I just prefer chalky models over bare plastic. The only exception was Lil Ricky Rocker, and that's only because of sentimental reasons... he was a symbol of Breyerfest for years. I do hope that Breyer continues being awesome and making realistic looking appaloosas, and hopefully we'll see more in the upcoming year. If there's one color pattern I need more of in my herd, it's appaloosas. Wow, I'm honestly surprised how soon they released the Stablemates Club horse after the Premier Club horse. Those of you in both clubs have the rare opportunity to combine shipping on both of your horses. I'm happy that they chose Sultan for this month since I would've had to miss out on the opportunity for combined shipping, as I skipped out on Vermeer, and I had also planned to skip out on Sultan. He was just too similar to Zahrat that I decided to pass. I've thankfully found a good home for him where he will be cherished so all turned out right in the end. As to the Premier Club, what I'd like to see most is a new Standardbred. The pacer mold is so outdated it makes me wish they would have done one before Foiled Again had to be released on that chunky, tippy vintage pacer. Honestly, that mold looks nothing like the real horse. Breyer, we need another Standardbred. I know that pacing Standardbreds can't really portray anything outside of harness racers, but I mean look at Emma for example. There are only a handful of breeds she could be but yet they still made her, and her limited use has caused her price to remain high. I personally would have loved to have a portrait model of Stanley (Staying Together) who set a lot of track records, along with Horse of the Year, and who was a resident of the Hall of Champions in the Kentucky Horse Park until his untimely death last year. Stock horses and drafters have been way overused lately. Just my opinion.
I apologize to my repeat customers for not being able to restock mid years since July. I had planned on placing an order at the beginning of August but our vehicle debts piled up, not just with the costs of repairing our own vehicle, but the rental car we were using in the meantime also put us back nearly $1000. The good news is that I'm planning on putting in an order next week for more regular runs, the Christmas horse and ornaments. Last I heard holiday merchandise is supposed to be shipped in September, but we'll see when I order if that's changed. There's also usually a fall special run, which I'm going to ask about and hopefully be able to order, so long as COVID didn't affect production too much like it's doing with those Walmart stablemates. Speaking of which, this is listed on Walmart's website: Series 4? My local Walmart hasn't even gotten in series 3 yet. The Unicorn Crazy series 3 are always wiped out every time I discover a new box so I'm really surprised I was able to find the purple chase. I haven't found another one since. I don't know what series 3 was supposed to look like (if anyone knows or has seen them elsewhere please feel free to educate me in the comments) but apparently series 4 will have what looks like a bay Mustang, a grullo pinto Paso Fino, a dun? Rearing Andalusian and a pearly light grey Darley Arabian. I can't see what the fifth one is and the chase looks like it may be the Icelandic mold again. I'm assuming since there's a series 4 in the Horse Crazy series, there will be a series 4 in the Unicorn Crazy series. Ugh! Y'all know how I feel about blind bags... I'm taking advantage of this "down time" between Breyerfest and the upcoming holiday rush to work on some customs. I will be cranking out more Halloween customs this year than I ever have to put me in the spirit since I'm really not looking forward to colder weather. I have actually already sold a couple and have several in the works. These are the ones currently finished so far: It's amazing what one can do when they're limited to only black and white paint because of a paint crisis. The good news is that my local art store has finally restocked their paints so I was able to get a few more colors. I'm in the midst of a rainbow leopard appaloosa and giraffe pair (traditional/classic and shrinky) though I still have quite a few stablemate bodies that I'd like to do a few more colorful Halloween customs on. I also have a traditional Bugsy Maloney that had a huge box side rub that I plan to make into a bloodshot eyeball leopard appy. Every custom that sells helps to replenish the debt that our car cost us, even the small stablemates all add up, so I appreciate everyone for supporting my work.
Unfortunately this means that I had to officially give up Vermeer since I won't have the funds to pay for him. Thankfully he's already lined up to go to a new home, and also thankfully I wasn't in love with him. A Knabstrubber would have looked stunning in this color pattern, but unfortunately a spotted Friesian doesn't really fit well in my herd and under my strict criteria, so I'm glad he'll be going to someone who will cherish him. I do hope that Breyer makes some more colors on that new mold though. Would love to see it in more draft-like colors such as palomino, silver bay or dapple grey done on this beauty. Yes, I know that Friesians don't come in any of those colors, but Swedish Northern Horses and other breeds of similar stature do. We're still expecting a Stablemate Club release this month as well, and by the looks of it, Breyer must be offering the Premier Club and Stablemate Club horses together. I'm really hoping it'll be Sultan released for the Stablemate Club so I don't regret not being able to take advantage of combined shipping. Sultan will also be looking for a new home when he's released for the same reason as Vermeer: he doesn't fit my strict herd criteria. If it's the gambler's choice on the other hand, I will be keeping him no matter what color I get since Alborozo is one of my favorite stablemate molds. |
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