The September Collector Club newsletter was sent out today. There was an interesting article about the history of Breyer Morgan molds and the giveaway was, not surprisingly, Jazzman... who is a Morgan himself. Breyer also announced in the newsletter that Lafayette and Astrid were, also not surprisingly, delayed, although they still didn't say when they'd be released. They just said they'd keep us updated with an email at a later date. I'm pretty sure we all expected this though. Now the sneak peek was something unexpected though... that is the tail of Susecion, my friends! I'm so excited to see her as a release, as she is one mold that has eluded me due to cost, but that I would love to one day eventually own. The only hint is to "keep an eye out for a Collector Club special run, exclusive offerings on Breyerhorses.com and the debut of the 2021 holiday collection" so I'm assuming that this gal is going to be either the Collector Club fall special run, which is typically released in October, or the 2021 holiday mare and foal set (more likely) since she seems to have a bit of a light blue hue. She could potentially be a lottery model too, like the mare and foal filigree pair last year, La Molina and Masella, but typically that isn't released until November. I'm super curious on this one, and either way it would be a holy grail of mine to be able to add a Susecion to my collection at the original cost!
I have three updates to share with everyone. First off, one of the three Tractor Supply limited editions have been spotted at certain TSC stores (mine NOT included) and it is Sayen, who has been found in hand in solid bay, however speculation as to whether this model will be a 50/50 split is circulating because the horse on the TSC website is clearly not the same model. The one on the TSC website is a liver chestnut with two white socks and a blaze. Now this could just simply be that possibly Breyer sent them a stock photo showing a model that they were going to use, then for whatever reason changed their mind last minute to make it a bay instead of a chestnut, and TSC only seeing the model as a children's toy and not the way we collectors do decided to just use the stock photo anyways. Honestly I like the chestnut a lot more, so I'm kind of hoping there will be two colors, but an in-hand chestnut has yet to be seen. Either way, if you don't have a TSC store near you and would like to buy Sayen (TSC actually has her listed as "Sayan" in their title) you can purchase her at this link. Here is the stock photo on the website of the chestnut versus the bay: The 2022 club memberships have already opened up, and apparently the Deluxe membership was so popular the past couple years that it looks like it's here to stay. Included with the Deluxe membership for 2022 is Ellington, a stunningly beautiful bright bay tobiano Friesian cross on the Django mold. He will be included with the Deluxe membership only, $55 for USA and $60 for international collectors. Django is one of those molds I do conga (and I've actually almost forgot about the Alborozo stablemate we are supposed to get this year) so I will definitely be renewing my Deluxe membership. The regular Collector Club membership if you're not interested in the stablemate is still only $25 for 2022. As per usual they've shown the first special run in the lineup, whose name is Honeybear and is an equally stunning light chestnut tobiano Spotted Draft on the popular Georg mold. Ugh! This guy is just tugging at my heartstrings and is a must have for me as well. He will be available to both memberships, regular and Deluxe, probably sometime within the first three months of 2022. With the Collector Club memberships opening a bit earlier than usual, it makes me wonder if the club memberships (Stablemate, Premier and Vintage) will open early this year as well? I'm primarily more concerned with the Vintage Club since, after all, that one is limited and only available for a few days for current members to renew before they open it to everyone. The Stablemate and Premier Clubs are NOT limited and will be available for membership through the end of December. You must have a Collector Club membership though in order to purchase a Stablemate, Vintage or Premier Club membership. After the end of December, memberships close and will not be available again until the next year.
For those of you who hold a VIP ticket, the sale went live at 11 AM EST today. Here is the link if you didn't get an email for it. You have to log into your VIP account to access the page. The sale ends October 1st at 4:30 PM.
You were limited to only ONE special run model per account and from the get go there were NO Pollocks, Uffingtons or Knossos... those were all sold out during Breyerfest. I'm glad the variations amongst the models made people buy the Gran Cavallos and Ansels otherwise I'm sure in a typical year the surprise would've sold out, so I snagged another surprise in hopes of getting the roan or champagne. I debated about the Marwari but I only like the long mane and tail version and I figured since Breyer was charging shipping this time around ($14.50 for my surprise) I could probably find the Marwari on the second hand market for close to that and be able to choose the version I wanted. The store specials are unlimited but from the get go there were NO wine glasses, mugs or tumblers nor did they have any team matte/glossy items left. Yet again those all sold out during the event. I went ahead and got Favrile, who I liked a lot better when I saw him in hand to go with my ever growing American Dream collection, and a matte version of Rheverence. For him I was torn between the glossy and matte, as the gloss really made his color pop, but I liked the soft shading of the matte. I guess we'll see when my glossies arrive in December which I like better. After what seems like a long drought when it comes to new releases, I finally received my entire Halloween order with EEK, my freebie Hermie and all four stablemates that I ordered, including the two on my secondary account. As for the Spooky Stablemates, I ended up with 1 Clydesdales (mini Jack), 2 Fighting Stallions (mini Spirit of Hallowed Eve) and 1 Loping Quarter Horse (mini Bogeyman). These guys turned out wildly awesome, if I may say so. I was going to trade off Bogeyman but since I ended up with an entire set, I think I'll keep him. As I don't have the original Jack and Kasper pair, I don't know if they were glittery or not, but just a heads up the Clydesdale "Jack" does have actual glitter on him. He has kind of a rough texture because of it. The two Spirit of Hallowed Eves actually had variations amongst them. One had a darker purple mane and tail while the other was lighter, almost the same shade as the ghost spots on his body, and a blue dorsal stripe down his back. The other doesn't have a dorsal stripe at all. He will be for sale, since I don't need two. Hermie was cute but since I don't collect plushies, he will be going to his new home tomorrow. EEK turned out to be probably one of the best of the Classics Halloween horses so far. I liked Salem as my favorite for the longest time, but I think EEK just topped him. He has a purple and green iridescence to him, and I don't think anybody would disagree that spiders are a creepy staple of Halloween. He would make a perfect match to Merry Widow, if I can ever get my hands on one. If anyone is like me and wasting away through this dry spell, waiting for Breyer to release the rest of the club models, they've announced that their Breyerfest leftovers VIP sale is going to be on September 28th. I'm partial to this, even though I'm VIP. I don't really think it's fair since those who weren't VIP couldn't help that they weren't selected, though I understand that Breyer had to find a way to make up for the delay in VIP shipments some way, and this was what they thought up. That, and the pin due to arrive in December. They are limiting the VIP sale to ONE MODEL PER PERSON which I think makes it a little more fair and any that don't sell out be offered to non-VIP Breyerfest ticket holders, per Breyer's announcement.
I'm really surprised Breyer hasn't said anything about the second Premier Club horse, Astrid, who was shown as a sneak peek in the August newsletter but whom they never updated about. Also, I'm sure we'd all like to see the third and final release for the Premier Club, or at least a sneak peek is better than nothing. In a typical year, that would have came out in November. This year it wouldn't surprise me in the least if she is pushed back until January. I say "she" because I'm assuming it's going to be the mare and foal pair, unless they add a foal with Astrid last minute. Come on, Breyer! Don't leave us hanging! I'm sure the Vintage Club members are also wondering if their final release will be on time or not... Updated 09/24/21 Answers to the most common questions I keep getting about upcoming models: 1) Breyer has given an estimated arrival date of Equidae as Q4 which means "quarter 4" in dealer terms, which will most likely be late October. 2) As far as Breyer is saying Marc of Charm is still estimated for a November delivery so at least that hasn't been pushed back, however the Black Stallion book set has been pushed back from September to October, as has Old Glory. 3) I will not be getting in Steele. In order to get Steele, you have to be a brick-and-mortar store. This means that you have to have a physical store where people can go to pick him up, since it's against Breyer rules for him to be sold online. I have a local flagship dealer who I buy the flagship specials from at his store, though he does limit his flagship models to one per person, so unfortunately I'm not able to buy more for my customers. Also, again, this would be breaking Breyer's rules (even though I bought him from someone else) that dealers are not allowed to sell flagship specials online. I could get in huge trouble for it. 4) I can purchase Tractor Supply models once they're in if you don't have a TSC store near you, I only ask a $10 markup (mostly for gas) and request that you pay shipping to send it to you. However, the latest news I've heard is that the TSC models will not be available until closer to December, again due to shipping delays. I hope this is just a rumor but I do have a friend who works at TSC and this is what she told me. However... They did get in the stablemates at TSC. Finally. But of course our local bag ripper got to them first. I guess I shouldn't call them a bag ripper anymore. They have a new tactic now of buying the entire box and returning the ones they don't like. Ugh... if only Breyer would just let us choose what we want for once instead of putting everything in dang blind bags! Thanks to BR there were only four left and they were the same two, the least wanted of the set. The leopard appaloosa on the tippy dressage mold and the red dun Peruvian Paso. I didn't even bother opening the leopard appaloosas (they will most likely be customizing fodder) but I did open the Peruvian Pasos. They were slightly different shades, one much more red and very flat matte, while the other was lighter with a semi glossy mane and tail. The issue with this mold is that sometimes the tail will be longer than the legs and the legs will kind of be hovering in the air. Well this happened with the lighter one. I still don't know if these guys will be available to dealers eventually but I'd like to track down the buckskin Icelandic and that grullo reiner eventually, once I get ahead of BR. With Halloween just around the corner, I have put a few on my eBay page and am currently working on some mini Whinnies customs after Breyer sold me all those retired MWs. I'm going to do a miniature Halloween series, offering MWs in similar coats to the Halloween series Breyer has done while making them slightly different to avoid copyright issues. So far they're coming along good, I think, though I've only got three made so far. The rest are in the works. I'm offering these guys on my website as soon as I'm finished with them, however I may have enough rubbed up bodies to offer two or three sets. If anyone is interested, message me. Again, please give me some time to get back with you, as today was the last day of the fair and we're still working on bringing everything back home. There will be a mini Illuminati, mini Cryptic, mini Jack, mini Casper, mini Crane, mini Frankensteed, mini Poltergeist, mini Samhain, mini Frankenstang and mini Thriller. I'm asking $100 for the set of 10 MWs, plus $5.95 shipping.
Finally, I would like to share an email I received from Breyer about the shipping of regular runs. I know many of you have been asking if I think Breyer will do a Collector Club Appreciation event this year so here is a heads up if you were wanting any of the following because they may not be available for the CCA. Traditional: Secretariat Lil Ricky Rocker Gypsy Vanner (bay and white) Snowman Cascade and Caspian Favory Airiella gift set Stablemates: The 70th Anniversary stablemates have been discontinued permanently, meaning they will be retired at the end of the year. Mystery Foal Surprise (except for the Morgan stallion and Warmblood mare set) All of the new Stablemate singles that were released as mid years Mini Whinnies: Series 3 Mini Whinnies blind bags I have not received the 2021 retired list as of yet, so I don't know how many that are sold out through the end of this year will still be available for 2022. My web store was updated with these changes. For now, I am keeping only current regular runs in my store, though most have not been shipped to me yet. Those of you who have been holding off on pre-ordering for them to be available in hand may want to put in your order now to ensure you get what you want because Breyer may be retiring a lot of these come the end of the year. Pre-ordering ensures you will get what you want from my next available shipment. The 2021 holiday horse is now on pre-order on my website, as he is due to arrive sometime this month, provided there are no delays in shipping. I will not up his price with the 8% surcharge until after I receive my shipment from Breyer so order him now while he's still regular priced! Next year I will only be taking a deposit for the holiday horse rather than the full amount with the remaining due upon shipment to me. Breyer is also getting ready to release the Classics Halloween horse and the stablemate blind bags. Before anyone asks, no these are not available to dealers, only through Breyer's website as web exclusives. I think this year's Classics sized Halloween horse is my favorite thus far! Cats and rats aren't nearly as creepy to me as spiders, plus this guy is on one of my all time favorite Classic molds. For the stablemates this time there will be a mini Boogeyman, Spirit of Hallowed Eve and Jack. They seem to have an overabundance of the Clydesdale mold over at Breyer because honestly that wouldn't have been my first choice of mold for this horse (it would have been incredibly cool if they did both Jack and Casper as a stablemate foal set) but I like him nonetheless, and the Clydesdale mold is one I have a conga of - probably because they use it so much. I really hope to get the rearing stallion too. I'm kind of meh about Boogeyman, both the mold and the color, so if I get him I'll probably be looking to trade, provided I'll even be able to order before they sell out. Finally there is Hermie, the Frankensteed plushy. I don't typically collect the stuffed animals but I have to say that Hermie makes me want to make an exception. I love his hat and his Frankenstein patches. I'm hoping they'll have enough left over to offer him as a freebie with so much in merchandise purchase later on. No guarantees though. With the amount of collectors there are, he'll probably go fast. As far as I know, they are not limiting the Halloween shop to Collector Club members this time. It'll be first come, first serve until sold out. One final treat was that Spendthrift arrived today! This is my first Peter Stone horse ever, and I'm pretty impressed. The size is like a smaller Breyer (he's about the same size as Carina) but being the first I don't know if he's just small because he's a mustang or if Stones are typically smaller than traditional Breyers. The paint job is phenomenal and nearly flawless, a couple goobers here and there but nothing too major. The making is a lot more crisp and realistic looking, as even the hairs are etched. His eyes are extremely detailed and he just looks full of fire. He came with a leg tag with my name on it and information about him (limited to 20 pieces, '21 Equilocity edition, etc) which was pretty cool. I do plan to add a few more Stones to my collection in future, although due to their high pricing, it'll probably only be no more than one a year. Will I get that DAH I've been wanting of my own horse? As soon as they come out with more molds for that, I'm seriously considering it!
Did y'all see the new fall releases? I am taking pre-orders on Equidae (dealers are limited to only 18 pieces each so he will go quick) but unfortunately I don't qualify for Steele since I am an online dealer and do not have a brick and mortar store. I will surely be on the lookout for him for my Wyatt conga though. Equidae is a rainbow on our beloved Othello mold, and I'm super excited to see this one! He has horse shaped Overo markings and is amazing, just take a look: I will be taking full payments on Equidae instead of partial payments due to the fact that he is supposed to be here within a month or so, provided there are no shipping delays which, as we know, is always a possibility this year. All pre-orders on this horse are non-refundable. I am limiting orders to only 2 per person so if you order any more than that unfortunately I will have to cancel to give everyone a chance at getting one, though I do understand that multiple collectors live in the same household, which is why I'm allowing up to 2 per person. Anyone who has models waiting to be shipped with Marc of Charm (Omega, Tiz the Law or Thriller) who pre-order Equidae will have their in stock models shipped with Equidae when he comes in at no extra charge since he's predicted to arrive before the next batch of Marcs, and then Marc will be shipped by himself once he's here in November.
EDIT: Equidae sold out literally within minutes! I will not be able to get in any more unfortunately. My - we'll call it - consolation order arrived today, pretty much Breyer sending me retired Mini Whinnies they found in their warehouse to make up for why in the heck they won't send me any Marc of Charms (just as a side note I have two other local dealers nearby and they haven't received him yet either). If you ordered a Marc with another regular run(s) that I have in stock using my combined shipping discount but you would like your other horse(s) to be shipped right now please contact me - if you pay the extra shipping I'd be more than happy to send you the rest of your ponies rather than waiting until November to receive them when Marc comes in. I know some of you ordered your Halloween horse with Marc and are eagerly awaiting to get Thriller by Halloween. I'd be more than happy to make that adjustment for you. Anyways, I was told my consolation order would be the Mini Whinnies series 1 but it was actually series 2 (which was better in my opinion since series 1 was mostly remakes of previously made MWs) so I now have a few complete sets to sell for those who missed out on this series. I also ended up with a couple chase models, which I have posted as well in my store. The remaining extras I was going to put in surprise candles available for purchase soon as a gift idea or stocking stuffer. There will be two different size candles, small 1 oz and large 10 oz depending upon your price range. Each will contain a hidden Mini Whinnies surprise once the wax melts (don't worry - the Mini Whinnie will be wrapped like a mummy to prevent the wax from ruining the paint) which I thought would be kind of cool compared to just simply sending blind bags. I also ordered some CollectA mini horse boxes to stock up on for the holidays since a lot of people bought them last year as stocking stuffers. One of them arrived with a cracked case so I took the horses out for a picture so you can see in-hand photos of what they look like. They are cute. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with the horses from the cracked case yet, maybe donate them to a children's charity? The rest are being offered for sale on my website. It almost makes me want to start selling the larger CollectA models but I didn't know how much of an interest there'd be in them. My final part of this order were the Mini Whinnies unicorn blind bags. I didn't receive a chase with this box so I'm assuming not all boxes have chases. Since I didn't receive the chase, I have even numbers of these to offer complete sets, minus the rare of course. My favorite is the Gypsy Vanner followed by the new draft horse mold. I also got my shipping notification from Peter Stone that Spendthrift is on his way. I'll post pictures as soon as he's here. This is my first PS ever so I'm both excited and nervous at the same time, excited because I always enjoy getting new plastic ponies, but nervous because I'm so afraid of a new... um... addiction that I don't really need. Once a year at Equilocity is what I agreed upon with my husband. We'll see how that goes.
Well apparently we didn't need very long to get the reveal for the new Wild Animal Series shown in the September newsletter. His name is Baruti and, as I predicted, he is on the Carrick mold. I could tell those ribs anywhere. Here is the full reveal: Made to look like a Gemsbok, this guy costs $195 to anyone who wins one via lottery drawing. Although not something I care to have in my own personal collection, his pattern is definitely inspiration for possibly a future custom I may do. I notice a rather steep price increase from previous lottery models in this collection and it's probably due to the cost of shipping going up. Breyer has to make up for it somehow.
Hello, readers! I greatly apologize for my absence. My family has their reunion on Labor Day weekend every year and I was away attending that. I'm home now and decided to catch up on what's been going on lately. I'm happy to announce that someone showed up while I was gone, little Raider. Due to the amount of factory flaws he came with, including a glob of white paint on the bottom of his hoof, I have decided to keep him, but I'm kind of on the fence about him, to be honest. It may just be the mold, as I've never had a model on this mold, but his booty looks really big to me, and I couldn't help but play the song "Baby Got Back" in my head while I was examining him. He did have a purple iridescent sheen that I was not expecting but was happy to see. It was so slight as to almost be invisible, and was primarily around his genitals where the paint looks to pool. The amount of overspray on this dude was horrendous. I may or may not join the Stablemate Club again next year since the quality of the club has been going way down hill during the pandemic (take Hendrik for example with all his issues and Atticus was so bad I was sent a replacement) so unless something phenomenal is released for 2022 I'm probably going to take a break from that club. I still plan to do Premier but we'll see what sneak peeks they give us for the Vintage Club first before I decide to renew or not. For those of you wondering about the Marc of Charm issue... I contacted Breyer, and needless to say I'm not happy. As you know they charged me for Marc but didn't send him with Tiz and Obsidian. When I called they said that they had - yet again - sold out of their September shipment just like they did their August shipment and thus didn't have enough left to fill my order. They did refund me but I was told that he wouldn't be back in stock until November now. If you'd like to pre-order a Marc from my first shipment I will leave him at his original price until he rolls in some time in November. If Breyer doesn't give me any Marcs from the next November shipment, I'm going to start looking for him from other dealers just so I can fill these orders, yes even if it means taking a cut in profit just so you all can get him by Christmas. For some good news though Breyer did say though that the holiday horse was right on schedule, due to be released sometime next month, so at least I'll be able to ship those out. They are planning a big shipment in October, as a lot of the regular runs will be restocked then. Again, I'm leaving the holiday horse at his current price until the end of September, however pre-orders after September will be the new price with the 8% surcharge. I also asked if they had in any retired stock that they could disperse since they're out of pretty much everything and they had some series 1 Mini Whinnies, which I ordered and should be arriving soon. I will be posting them on my website once they're here so I'm hoping there will be some interest in them for those who missed out on them. I will also be adding the Stablemates Club 2021 optional purchase to my store: Addie and Leti, who should be coming out the end of the year. Just as a side note, I understand that this isn't necessarily Breyer's fault with all the shipping issues, it's more that they charged me for him and never sent him that bothered me. Any other year I could do pre-orders and wouldn't have to worry about if I would get the stock in or not. This year is messed up. I'm not going to completely do away with pre-orders, but I am going to have to rethink how to do future orders from now on. Starting next year I plan on doing a partial payment to reserve the model and then charging the rest once I have them in hand rather than charging the full amount all at once. Thoughts on this? Let me know!
(PS comments are now open again but let's keep things cheerful, y'all!) |
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