As per usual, the end of the month Collector Club newsletter has been released! The monthly giveaway is Zahra. You could receive either the glossy dappled bay, matte dappled palomino or glossy dappled rose grey pinto. If you're a Collector Club member and you're interested in owning one of these cute pot-bellied gals, you can put your name in to - hopefully - win one. Hey, it beats paying the current $500+ price tag :) If you're not a Collector Club member but would like to see a sneak peek of the next Collector Club release, here it is: I'm guessing since the last sneak peek was a Collector Club lottery model that this is the fall Collector Club special run. Obviously we can see it's - not surprisingly after all the previous releases this year - another appaloosa. Pattern wise it looks similar to Oak. They were very good at concealing the mold this time, as there's not really anything that sticks out to show what it possibly could be.
Excited much? Let's bring on the October horses! To those who ordered Spectrum I was just notified by Breyer that she will be on her way next week! As soon as she's here, I will begin shipping them out so you should receive your tracking number by the end of the week :)
To those who asked I will NOT be getting in Raia. She is a brick and mortar store exclusive and I am an online dealer so I am not eligible to purchase her. My Halloween horses arrived from Breyer today, my Ratsputin and Spooky Stablemates both series 1 and 2. I'll start with Ratsputin. He is, what I'd call, a regular bay... not too light and not too dark. Weirdly he doesn't have black legs, only shaded legs. His markings are nice and crisp. The gold iridescent sheen is so subtle that you can't even really tell it's there, so those who were afraid he'd look more deco than realistic can rest assured he's not. I actually like him better than Salem, mostly because I don't like horses with a ton of white. I do, however, wish they would've given Ratsputin blue eyes like they did with Salem. He also came with a hang tag around his neck. For my Spooky Stablemates, by some miracle I ended up with my favorites. I did get duplicate Bats in the Belfrey in my two series 1 bags but I'm planning on trading for a mini Ichabod, my other favorite. I didn't really like Calavera. I also received my two favorites from the series 2 stablemates: Twilight Terror and Poltergeist. Twilight Terror is actually a clearware and Poltergeist glows in the dark. Honestly I like series 2 far better than series 1. Oddly, both series of horses came in the same exact packaging so at first I thought they gave me all series 1 until I opened the bags. Speaking of Halloween horses, I'm officially done with my Halloween customs for this year, however because I've just come into a lot of stablemate bodies, I've decided to start on a Christmas series, which I will talk about at a later date. A sneak peek into my upcoming 2021 Halloween series will be called "Hauntings Across America" and will portray some of the most haunted locations in the country. I foresee this series going into next year as well because there are way too many haunted places in America to put them all in one year. The first few I've already started on: "Witch Hunt" will portray the Salem witch trials, "Voodoo" will be for the New Orleans celebration and "Sleepy Hollow" will represent the small town in New York where the legend of the headless horseman was invented.
I'm also going to make a Sleepy Hollow Classics horse for this year that I haven't decided upon a name yet but he's in the planning period. He will be a little sample of what's to come next year. Since the bigger the horse, the more detail required, as I hand paint all of my horses with bristle brushes (not air brushed) while adding details using a quill feather from my geese after they molt instead of colored pencils or acrylic pens, and considering that I'm back to working full time now five days a week outside the home, due to limited time I probably won't have him done until closer to October. Breyer has just released their 2020 merchandise for Halloween! Back are the Spooky Stablemates from last year so if you didn't get the chance to buy mini Calavera, mini Ichabod or mini Bats in the Belfrey, here is your chance! I foregone this series last year and regretted it ever since so I'm glad they offered it again. They are limited to only 2 per order, however, so order quickly! Breyer is also offering a series 2 for the Spooky Stablemates this year. This time you can either get mini Poltergeist, mini Night Mare or mini Twilight Terror. These ones are super cute. I like all of them, although you're only limited to 2 as with the first set. Finally, the horse we've all been waiting for: the 2020 Halloween Classic! This year it's a Warmblood stallion. Personally I love it when Breyer releases a Halloween horse in a realistic color with paint markings that are shaped like something spooky, in this case rats. His name - fittingly - is Ratsputin. This horse doesn't seem as popular as his buddy Salem from last year. His white spots glow in the dark and he does have gold interference, which you can't really tell from the pictures. I think this guy will look a lot better in real life. I'll review him once he gets here. For any of you who collect plushies, they've released a special Halloween plush named Sugar Rush. He has various candy treats on him and is a purple color with black mane, tail and hooves. If you purchase at least $75 worth of Breyer products, you can use the code "SUGAR20" to get him free with your order. This was incredibly generous of Breyer! There is also a Halloween grab bag available (most likely regular runs though I'll be curious to see if they include anything special) in which you get approximately $103 worth of merchandise for $49.95.
If you're a Collector Club member, be sure to remember to use your club discount "CLUBPLUS20" to get 10% off your order! Shipping for all Halloween horses over $49 also gets free shipping. This is where you can buy them: www.breyerhorses.com/collections/halloween-2020-collection Right on time! Tractor Supply told me the estimated delivery date for Eclipse would be Thursday and here he is, although sadly his box was crushed in the mail. Thankfully the horse was ok. In hand, this guy is a stunner. It appears that the blue on him is in the black paint and not over the white areas (kind of hard to tell from the promo pictures) but that just adds to his collectibility, otherwise he'd just be like any of the other previous TSC black and white pintos. The particular horse I received was very blue compared to most of the ones I've seen. Breyer is really hitting it out of the park this year. Although I'm not too happy about the damaged box, I am glad it wasn't worse, as so many people had theirs show up crushed to where there were flaws. I don't think the flaws he has are from the damage because the flaws were nowhere near the crush site. They just appear to me to be typical paint flaws that are common with TSC horses. I'm super thankful to have been able to get one at all. I feel like he's going to be a big sell out. If anyone is interested in purchasing the Tractor Supply exclusives online, here is the link. I wasn't too sure about this mold when the original Emerson came out, but I have to admit that after seeing Winx and this guy, the mold is really growing on me. I think it was Emerson's coloring that I didn't really care for. Winx is probably the only plain bay I have in my collection besides American Pharoah, both horses I was fond of watching race. Plain bay actually looks good on this mold because it looks just like what a typical young, staturistic Thoroughbred should. I try to resist congas, but I may try to conga the obtainables on this mold. Also, remember that foal in the August newsletter? Well here he is, and he's got a buddy! I thought the sneak peek was going to be the Collector Club fall special run, but it turns out that it's actually a lottery of the next in the Wild Animal Series. They are $150 for the pair, and if you're a Collector Club member, you can enter to try to win them. I'm kind of relieved to be honest, as this is a series I don't collect and I have a lot of dealer orders put in for this month so spendings will be a bit tight for September. Hopefully if they're going to release a fall Collector Club SR this year (provided COVID didn't affect production) they'll hold off on releasing it until next month. Maybe we'll see a sneak peek for it in the September newsletter?
I always post the retirement list every year, and for this year, I'm a bit shocked about a few on the list. Below is the extremely long list of horses that are going to be discontinued in a few short months. Please note that barns, riders, accessories and plush are NOT included on this list. Once IDYB posts a complete list, I will put a link to it on this post. For several, it's honestly an "about time" moment, like the traditional Shire, the Little Prince book set, and the rest of the Spirit Riding Free stuff. The Pocket Box dogs and cats are retiring too. The Unicorn Surprise makes sense, since they'll be seen again in their new Magic Stable, which will be available this fall (a little heads up if you were never able to obtain the whole set) and also due to the fact that they were out for quite a long time.
For others, I'm not surprised, like Fairfax from the Horse of the Year series that we get a new one of every year, and I'm assuming Orren Mixer is going to be part of a series (I'm also hoping that next year we get a more colorful horse like his flashy Paint or palomino) but the Stable Surprise stablemates, the Deluxe Collection stablemates, the Racing the Wind set, the Smooth Rider set, the birthday party gift set and the Sable Island pony... those I am surprised about. They were all 2020 new releases. I would hope with the retirement of the complete Classics singles and most of the stablemate sets, we'll be getting new ones next year. Us dealers won't know for sure what they plan on bringing out until later this year but you can bet I'll let y'all know who they are! We just had a bad storm blow through last night and ever since my Wifi has been running extremely slow, both on the computer and my phone. I actually picked up Solidago at noon but have been fighting with my internet ever since to post this review. Anyways... I'm not sure what is up with Eclipse but Tractor Supply offered him for sale at 30% off, oversold him and had to refund people, then took him off the website all together, finally putting him back up for regular price until he sold out again, and then having to refund even more people. By some miracle I was able to snag one while he was on sale, although he isn't supposed to arrive until Thursday this week. According to what I keep reading online, I'm lucky to have received Eclipse at all. Now for the in hand pictures you all have been waiting for. Here is Solidago in all his glory: I'm still not sure what to make of this mold. It's a smaller mold, very squat bodied and not very long. He would easily fit in a 12x12x12 mailer even while inside his box. I don't know if Quarter Horse was a good breed choice. I'm going to call him a Mustang despite what his information card says, and even that is being nice. The mold is so cartoon-y and on this color makes him look more like Chica Linda than the portrait they made of her on the Rain mold. I love the color though. The softness of his shading blends together, he has bold leg barring and dorsal stripe. I also like how the mane/tail color is slightly lighter than the body. This particular horse doesn't appear to be chalky, though there might be a few repaints of Boomerang out there that'll spring up as stores get him in, as what happened with Jesse. Solidago has a few minor paint flaws here and there (I'll make a video for Youtube to show you in more detail) but not nearly as bad as the flaws on Boone were. I haven't had a horse on this color since I bought Cheveyo back in 2008. I would love to see Breyer make more dunalinos sometime in future, possibly even a few with dapples this time. Here are his out of box photos: He has the usual "Made in China" sticker on his belly and a silver UPC/VIN number. This is common with Tractor Supply horses. He also came with a leaflet in his box for a coupon code to be used on Breyer's website for 50% off the Western saddle and bridle set: MYNEWSADDLE if you want to purchase it.
My last two obtainable grails I honestly wouldn't have been able to find without help from my fellow collectors. I have finally located a Kuchi with gelding anatomy - the rarer version that only 2,000 were made before Breyer realized their oops. Incorrect anatomy is pretty common these days and has been seen on several regular runs, including Babyflo and LV Integrity. Kuchi, however, is different in that he - or she - is a Gypsy Vanner, a breed I'm a huge sucker for, and if I was going to own a plain black and white horse, I wanted to own the rarer one. Another one I've had a hard time finding for a decent price is Santiago. I actually scored one rather cheap on eBay from a seller who never actually ended up shipping him (and I had to open a claim in Paypal to get my money back) but by some miracle I was offered one from a collector shortly after who ran across my blog and she offered hers to me. While I'm still not sure what to make of that roached mane but his color is so amazing with this bluish tinge and star dapples that it makes you forget about it, and I'm honestly just happy to have him in my collection. Another horse I've been trying to track down on the Smarty Jones mold is Windtalker. Once I get him, my Smarty conga will be complete. Amongst the growth of my collection recently, I have decided that I need to downsize to make room, and so I've decided to disperse a good portion of my stablemates collection, including a few chase pieces that are available on my eBay page. Although they are the most space efficient, they are like potato chips, so when you go to buy one before you know it you have a hundred. They are literally taking over my collection. My strict criteria for traditionals doesn't seem to apply to stablemates, as they make far too many colorful ones, so I've decided to instead focus on certain molds I like instead and just obtain all the colorful ones that I can on those molds instead. I like it better that way.
All my spots for Spectrum were literally filled in a day! I'm honestly surprised at how quickly she went. I feel sad I couldn't get Raia for you guys, but even if I did, I wouldn't be able to mail them to anyone because the point of the brick-and-mortar horses is to be sold in physical stores only, not online. We can lose our selling rights if we violate the rules unfortunately. I did place an order today for the new wooden stablemates stables so if any of you are interested in those (they have one that comes with six unicorns and one that comes with six stablemates) just let me know. Cost is $25 plus shipping to you. The stock photos of the Tractor Supply horses have been revealed! I'm really impressed with Eclipse. It looks to me like he has an blue iridescent finish, but it may just be the lighting. It could just be bluish-black shading. Either way, I like it. When Emerson mold was released through the Premier Club, he just didn't grow on me. Putting Winx on this mold really made me change my mind for some reason. I thought maybe it was because she was a more breed appropriate color, but actually he looks really good as a Paint, so I don't know... maybe it was just Emerson's original coloring I didn't like. Anyways, here is the Tractor Supply lineup: My local store told me they'll probably have their horses in by the end of September. I'm really looking forward to picking up Eclipse and Salidago, as I only have one other dunalino in my whole collection (Cheveyo) so it'll be nice having another, even though I do wish they would have used a more realistic mold. Don't get me wrong... I love the Spirit series just not on a Breyer horse. They look way too cartoon-y for my liking.
The Tractor Supply horses are currently on sale right now. If you'd like to purchase them, click here. I have just received word from Breyer of Spectrum, the 2020 fall decorator. She is a beautiful rainbow appaloosa on the Bobby Jo mold, similar to Prism. Take a look: I am currently doing pre-orders through my website (the contact form is sending messages to the correct email now) which the price will be $65 plus shipping and must be paid in full to hold. EDIT: PRE-ORDERS HAVE BEEN FILLED... THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT! Another release is Raia, whom I unfortunately won't be getting in since I'm not a brick and mortar store. A brick and mortar dealer has to have a physical store, not just internet selling like I do, as it's against Breyer's rules to sell these ones online. Dealer can lose their selling privilege if they do. She is a dappled light bay Arabian. Apparently Breyer has decided to bring back the Make a Wish mold, and this time they've put a new swish tail on her. This mold was quite popular back in the day so I think a lot of people will be happy to see her return. It also makes me wonder if we'll see this mold in next year's Breyerfest lineup? Maybe? Breyer will be putting out these cute little wooden stables with stablemate sized models as fall releases, just in time for the holidays! Reminds me a bit of the Melissa and Doug stables, which I bought for my daughter for Christmas one year, and I hope to purchase these for her too. The pink stable comes with six stablemate unicorns from the Unicorn Surprise blind bags. If you didn't get the full set, you can purchase this to get all except the pink Clydesdale and, of course, the chase. The blue stable contains six all new horses never made before. I will be ordering both sets so if you'd like to pre-order one or even both (I would be happy to combine shipping), please feel free to Contact Me. Pricing is $24.99 plus shipping. Finally, there will be a new Deluxe stablemates barn that's a different color from the red brick one though same setup and same horses included (same $99.99 price tag as well) and a new truck/trailer, which includes a palomino Shetland and a bay Highland Pony. I always love the fall season. The wind down from a hot, humid summer and the last hurrah before winter hits. Apple cider, everything pumpkin, hay rides, the crisp autumn leaves and, of course, the new Breyer releases. It's an exciting time to look forward to!
|
Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
|