Breyer has announced that their Halloween shop will be open today starting at 1:30 PM EST and includes not only traditional Spectre, but the Classics and Spooky Stablemates as well. Oh, and also for you plushy collectors, this adorable little dracula guy: The Spooky Stablemates were also revealed. I've decided to forego the Spookies this year since only the Django glows, and I only collect the glowing ones. I'm starting to become super picky with what I add to my collection due to space. Of course, Breyer had to throw in a Django in their Spooky Stablemates (gah! I'm still trying to find the Django from the Merry & Bright stablemates from last year) so I'm going to try to buy that Django second hand instead for my personal collection, as I need him for my conga. Finally, there is the Classics reveal, and he is very unique. He's a quagga inspired reptilian design that I question Breyer a bit as to... why? How in the world do these two completely different species go together? Anyways, I digress. Make of this glow in the dark creature what you will. The Collector Club newsletter was put out today as well. Included is a sneak peek of a future web special, which I'm assuming since it won't be a "bird" as Breyer has already said that the last of those has been released, it'll be the Wild Animal series. There was an interesting article about rare breeds of horses that Breyer has made with the following breeds talked about: the Cleveland Bay, the Suffolk Punch (stablemate), the Marwari, the Akhal Teke, the Canadian, the Nokota, the American Cream Draft and the Galiceno. Not surprisingly, Adamek is the freebie for this month, in honor of their rare breed article. It makes me wonder if this is a hint that the final Premier Club release, the draft type mare and foal, are going to be a "rare" breed of either the Suffolk Punch or American Cream Drafts. Frankly, I'm crossing my fingers for cremellos, as that's a color that hasn't been used in the Premier Club yet.
I've noticed a slump in the model horse hobby. I blame most of it due to still recovering from Breyerfest, plus the fact that just a month later Breyer has output release after release after release without much of a break. However, all of a sudden I don't have anyone watching, nor buying anything I've been selling on eBay, and a lot of models released by both Stone and Breyer have been sitting despite selling out within minutes the last few years. Stone just had their Art of the Horse annual event and they still have a good majority of their models still available. For me personally, I've been patiently waiting on the Tractor Supply releases, as well as the Classics and stablemate Halloweenies through Breyer. Spectre arrived already, and I think he is much better in person than he looks in the stock photos. I saw him at Breyerfest and fell in love, despite being unsure of his color combination at first. In all honesty, I can't ever resist an Ashquar. If you're on the fence about this guy, here is his in-hand pictures to decide for yourself: Thankfully, despite getting a severely flawed Nemea from the second chance sale making me nervous to open the box, Spectre arrived flawless. I plan to get Merle and Lefty for my congas. I refuse to buy them online because I want to hand pick them, as TSC models are notorious for flaws. I'm also waiting for the stablemate gift set to show up in stores, which is now sold out online. I've so far only found the blind bags, but none with either chases or the new Gypsy Vanner so far. I already have the others I want from this series from when they were released before as regular runs. The Gypsy isn't the only one I want from the set though, but amazingly despite her popularity, it isn't the Cassidy model I want... it's actually the buckskin Indian Pony and the American Cream draft foal. The rest will likely be custom bodies. In the meantime while waiting for something to spend my money on, I've found a new addiction: Paddock Pals. I saw these pop up at Dollar General one time and kind of passed them over to think about them. They were only $5 after all, so I went back to DG to purchase them, but they were already sold out from someone who bought them all to put in the Toys for Tots donation box. A trip to Five Below brought me upon them again, and this time I jumped. Not only that, but with Five Below being my husband's favorite store, we make a weekly trip and slowly I've been building up my collection. I'm telling ya, these guys are like potato chips. They cost as much as a stablemate (actually at my local Tractor Supply the stablemates are now $5.99 each) but are about the size of a Classics model. You can see all of them here. The Morgan is by far my favorite mold. I've seen most of them available at Five Below at one point except for Caramel, Cinnamon and Ghost but I hope to find them soon. I don't have the original unicorns, as I'm not a fan of the pink manes/tails, but I love the glitter ones on the new series.
The hunt continues! I wanted to let everyone know that if you purchased anything directly from me in the past week or so, expect some delays in shipping, as we are in the middle of a harsh heat wave putting temperatures in the 110-115 degree range. Just a heads up that I won't be shipping anything until Monday that has sold this past week or sells this weekend. I apologize for the inconvenience but I don't want people to end up with melted models. The risk of paint dripping, bubbling glossy finishes and even warped limbs is way too high to risk shipping in this heat. Thank you for your patience! I ended up receiving my second chance sale Nemea. To say I'm disappointed in Nemea is an understatement, as I'm 99% sure I've received a model that was returned from Breyerfest. There are multiple flaws but the major is his face, which has a 2" paint goober on him that was clearly painted over but can be clearly seen and felt. He also has rubs on three of his four hooves, multiple black paint splatters throughout his orange areas, smaller paint goobers on his legs that are also raised and an ear rub. I've messaged Breyer for a return but am waiting for a response. It's been years since I've had to return a model, but I'm not happy at all with his condition. I think from now on I will only be purchasing my Breyerfest models during the event and no longer partaking in the second chance sale. I know flaws have been slowly getting worse in Breyers ever since they moved their factory to China, however I've noticed a huge increase in flaws since COVID hit. At least the releases are getting somewhat back to normal pre-pandemic scheduling and many of the models I pulled from Breyerfest this year had minimal flaws, unlike last year where many of the models had some kind of issue, some incredibly major, like a huge paint run on one of the Marzipan faces that I pulled. It seems to me that the Marzipan, and possibly my Nemea from this year, were sent out before they were completely dried, resulting in all these paint issues. We as collectors need to show Breyer that, while they may have started out as a kids' toy company (surely Classics and stablemates are still geared more towards children) most parents aren't going to pay $75 for a "toy" so these higher end models really should be geared towards collectors. This means up the quality control. I've personally worked in a warehouse for years in the past as an inspector, and have literally inspected thousands of items in a day - between a small team of course doing the checking - so it is possible to check every model. Breyers have been slowly increasing year after year, but the models I've owned from the early 2000s have much better paint jobs than the horses for today that I'm now paying double the money for. Please, Breyer, listen to our pleas for better quality control. That said, if anyone is looking for a shelf quality Nemea, I'd be willing to sell at a discounted price. Please email me if you'd like to purchase through Paypal. Breyer sent out an email to Collector Club members about the upcoming gambler's choice, Santino, who was revealed at Breyerfest in the Collector Club tent. There is a glossy sooty dappled palomino, a matte bay with a very odd and unique pattern (I really don't know what to call it but hopefully Breyer will reveal this information upon his release) and a matte chestnut appaloosa. All of them were incredibly stunning, and I'd be happy with whichever. I usually only purchase one of the classics gambler's choices. The exception was with Nayati, in which I purchased two memberships because I loved the mold so much, but I ended up with duplicates so I had to trade one off. To avoid that again, I'll probably just pick up the others off the second hand market and pay a little more rather than get another membership. The polo pony kind of falls into my Thoroughbred collection, and is a mold I still have yet to add due to Breyer not using it very much.
Custom collectors... I have been super busy trying to keep stablemate customs in stock. Now that the holidays are upon us, look forward to lots more to come. I have about a half dozen I'm currently working on, about twice as many currently finished and a few traditionals as well. I will be starting a new Sara Bella collection - highly requested by those who collected the cards - that I've already started posting on eBay. Please check them out if you're interested! I truly appreciate your support of my artwork! Those of you with either an in person or online ticket who may have ran out of funds for Breyerfest and didn't get the opportunity to get what you want now have yet another chance. Breyer has allowed everyone to choose their model from the leftovers this year (unlike last year when they sent a completely random model) however the models with the variations sold out in minutes. Steudenbaker, Araba, Scurry, Peanutine, Speos and the Surprise are all sold out. Wells showed up later when Breyer added more items to the store and is already sold out. I'm honestly surprised they had any of him at all, as he was sold out at Breyerfest the entire weekend. Nemea, Jump & Drive and Surrey & Axle are still available as I type this, as well as all the store specials except the Best of Breyerfest gift set and Tilly. Special runs are limited to 2 per person. I purchased a Nemea since I didn't get the chance to add him to my collection at Breyerfest.
Also, Spectre the Halloween horse has been released on Breyer's website. No word yet on the Classics and stablemate Halloweenies, but honestly I hope they don't release until the fall with Jota, as I just bought Spectre with Nemea so I'm officially out of hobby funds until my next paycheck. The Tractor Supply models shouldn't show up until September at my local store so I should be safe for those for now. With the amount of factory flaws and variations on the TSC models, I like to hand pick those rather than order them early online. I've been waiting for Breyer to break the budget with so many upcoming releases ahead of us, and they did so with Adonis. Due to space, I need to be ultra selective in which horses I add to my collection, and after much thought, I've decided to sell my Adonis. I know, I know. He will likely be one of the highest selling PC models in future, but rearing models don't fit on my shelves and I'm having a hard time keeping this guy after selling off Carina and Selene a couple years ago, so I'd rather him go to a home where he will be cherished. If you're interested in purchasing my spot, he is currently available on eBay. We still have the Halloween series to look forward to: Spectre (although some of you have already purchased Spectre from Breyerfest, I still need to purchase him), the Classics and the stablemate blind bags. We also have the Stablemate Club release due and the Classics gambler's choice polo ponies revealed at Breyerfest. This doesn't include the TSC releases, which I plan to purchase once they're in store so I can hand pick them, although they are currently available online if you can't wait. Halloween customs have started to be posted on eBay, and more are in the works. It's almost spooky season, y'all! That means the holidays are just around the corner, which means Breyer releases full speed ahead!
Have y'all seen? The TSC limited editions are now available on the Tractor Supply website! We have quite an assortment this year, some old and some new. It seems that the FFA series started last year with the blue Geronimo is here to stay, as they've made several releases this year. First up on the list is a four pack set of FFA stablemates: These guys represent the most common horse colors with a black Fighting Stallion, a bay Clydesdale Stallion, a light bay on the Appaloosa mold and a chestnut Andalusian Stallion with the four qualities that it takes to receive a blue coat from the FFA imprinted on their sides. A cool idea, and the first time I believe that Breyer has ever done this. Another FFA release that has popped up is traditional sized on the Flash mold, a bay with a blue FFA blanket named Applegate. The final FFA release is not an equine at all, but a cow, and I have to tell ya that this speaks more FFA than the horses do, and to see Breyer shrink their cow mold... well... the mind boggles at what else can be shrunk, doesn't it? The corduroy blue returns on this adorable Christmas ornament! For the non-FFA Breyer models for this year, I'll start with the Classics set, because I absolutely adore that grey mare. Breyer makes a Classics sized family set for Tractor Supply every year (last year was admittedly the first time I caved on these sets because I adored the Arabian family) and this year they are ponies. Next up, the stablemates, and we are getting a new deluxe collection. This collection consists of a blue roan *gasp* CASSIDY (yes, we are finally getting a regular run on Cassidy whom I assumed would never be made again), a buckskin Indian Pony, a liver chestnut Standing Warmblood, that pearly grey Gypsy Vanner from the blind bags, a chestnut blanket appaloosa Friesian, a palomino Morgan Stallion and two foals including what looks to be an American Cream draft foal. Most likely these will also be regular runs next year, along with the new family sets Breyer is putting out at Tractor Supply this year. Three of the adult horses in the family sets are also available in the deluxe stablemate collection shown above. The buckskin Indian Pony from the above collection is with a grey stallion on the lightly used Corbin mold. The blue roan Cassidy from the above collection is paired with the palomino Morgan Stallion, also from the above collection. The only newbies are the bay pinto Standing Thoroughbred and the dun Paso Fino. The foals are yet unknown. Please understand that if these are ordered from the TSC website, there may be duplicates. If you'd like to ensure different sets, you may want to wait until they are in hand. We all know that Breyer loves to sell remakes that they've made before, as we've seen with the blind bags this year. The chases for series 5 are in fact real horse colors and not decorators this time: a black Paso Fino and a grullo Rivet. Personally, I'm happy to see this and hope it continues, as I feel like people will be more inclined to stop bag ripping for the most part. Collectors may be disappointed to learn that more duplicates, however, are showing up with the release of unicorn family sets. These were all used in the past from various collections. Again, the foals have yet to be seen, but I will update once I find out. Merle is a stunning grullo on the Dundee mold. I cringe at this, because I have dispersed a good majority of my Dundee collection, however I still have a few remnants remaining and will be looking to add this boy to my herd. He is only $44.99 right now. Next is Gibson, who was added to the Tractor Supply website a day after all the horses above. He is an adorable Belgian draft on the vintage Belgian mold with a pearly white mane and tail. Last, but not least, is Lefty who is definitely on my wish list! My Thoroughbred loving heart cannot resist a flashy horse on the Cigar mold. He popped up the day after Gibson. I'm assuming based on the fact that Breyer released four TSC traditional exclusives last year that this will be it, but it will be updated if something available in store only (like Ashton was last year) pops up in the store later on.
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