Happy Halloween everyone! Fitting for the occasion, today I want to talk about something else pretty mysterious. We figured Breyer would do something special for their anniversary, and personally I figured that they were going to do more than just the mini King stablemate that is given to Deluxe Collector Club members. According to Stephanie Macejko in JAH, Breyer is going to be releasing a special traditional assortment in "cool anniversary packaging" and to be honest I'm completely excited for this! A reveal that is a part of this collection popped up in the annual JAH magazine on the Fighting Stallion mold. He looks promising with his fiery red color and sketchy pinto coloring. I love blood red chestnut pintos (honestly I think that's why I liked Pepper from BF so much) so I'm' hoping to get my hands on him. Another reveal was shown in the 2020 calendar. He is a beautiful dappled palomino with pearly mane and tail on Hamilton. Another color I collect (with what looks like a pearly mane and tail) and on a mold that I can't wait to be part of my collection so I'm hoping he'll be easily obtainable. Check this guy out! I'm thinking he will also be a part of the 70th Anniversary Collection, although it won't probably be known for sure until near the end of the year. As of yet we don't know much about this collection. We don't even know if it'll be available as regular runs or to Collector Club members only, or possibly even to Deluxe members only. We just don't know. Prices are up in the air too, as are quantities made. Will they be limited to only a few thousand pieces or will they be available the entire year?
I will, of course, update this post as I get more information but for now I thought I'd let y'all know to be on the lookout for this collection. 2020 feels like it's going to be a pretty good year! My wallet probably won't be happy but maybe next year I'll actually have enough regular runs on my wish list (if indeed that's what these horses are) to finally take part in the Collector Club Appreciation deal next year? I absolutely love this time of the year! So many reveals happen between the months of October to December that it really makes getting through the busy holidays a little more tolerable. The first reveal is Georg, a Rhendish-German Coldblood stallion in a dappled mealy bay color. I'm a little surprised that Breyer did two standing poses in a year, but they did. Georg is still lovely and I can't wait for a regular run or more easily attainable special run made on this mold. This guy would look great as a Suffolk Punch, a breed I'm hoping Breyer will portray in traditional sometime. In the annual JAH magazine sent to CC members, they've shown a sneak peek of the first Premier Club release. His name is Altynai and he's an Akhal-Teke, another breed I was hoping Breyer would eventually do again. He's got the typical coloring seen on Akhal-Tekes, unlike the previously released limited edition back in 2007 on the Lonesome Glory mold that had very even color, hardly any shading whatsoever. The deer-like, stretched out, lanky body with the short mane has Akhal-Teke written all over it. The only issue I have is the tail. I don't like the tail for some reason. Everything else looks nice, especially the body color. We've already seen the first release for Vintage Club 2020. The second release is Starlight (shown below) who is a grey appaloosa on the Shagya Arabian mold. The third sneak peek looks like the In-Between Mare mold, another like the Western Horse mold I'm not a big fan of. Apparently her name is Zahra and she is going to be the gambler's choice of glossy grey pinto, palomino or bay. Despite in the past only having a decorator gambler's choice every other year (and this year happens to fall on the real horse color gambler's choice) it looks like Breyer kept their word when they said they were bringing out all the bells and whistles for the VC next year because they surprised everyone with Josiah who is a wedgewood blue deco pinto Belgian. The optional horse for Vintage Club 2020 is shown below is Barrington. I'm not fond of how Breyer, knowing how much people love Bristol and want a model of her, is putting the plainest colors on this mold. Just not a fan of the plain Jane coloring of this one. Will we ever get a flashy Bristol? Finally, we have the FREE stablemate that is sent to all VC members. It is a gold chrome horse on the Native Dancer mold. Now on to the stablemates... The first release in the upcoming 2020 Stablemates Club has been revealed! His name is Klaus, a leopard appaloosa (or Knabstrupper) on the ever-popular Darwin mold. Am I the only one that doesn't like the Darwin mold? I don't know what it is about this mold... something that I just don't care for. I got Andante at BF thinking he'd change my mind, but nope. I ended up reselling him. I'm still on the edge about joining the SM CC again this year. This past year - and it could just have been a bad year since most of the horses were kind of plain - but I couldn't get the horses I didn't like to sell for anything. I had to sell a couple for only $15 each, which was taking a huge hit once you factored in the $5 from my deposit I lost out on, not including the shipping I paid from Breyer and tack eBay/Paypal fees on top. Breyer has to release some pretty good horses for 2020 to get me to join, otherwise I'm just going to do what I do with the Vintage Club and buy them second hand. Anyways that being said... See that guy on the right? That's our second Stablemates Club new mold for this year, Corbin. I have to say when I first saw the mold, I was kind of "meh" about it, but after seeing the dark dapple grey coloring (which is one of my all time favorite colors) I have to say I'm impressed! This is a perfect example of how Breyer can take an otherwise mediocre mold and turn it into something beautiful. He will definitely be a keeper!
As to SM CC horse colors for 2020, I think we can guarantee that there will be a pinto, a dapple grey, an appaloosa and a bay. It seems like they use these every year. I kind of wish they'd make a roan. According to JAH there will be a new mold, a gambler's choice (as there usually is) and a 50/50 split between matte and glossy. Personally it wouldn't surprise me if Klaus is the split, just like how Fiero was the first release and was the split last year. Klaus would look better in gloss. The weather is becoming cooler here and the kids have come down with croup. It's been slowly moving through the whole family, which has had me a bit down in the dumps of late, as my youngest has been hospitalized for it and is currently having breathing treatments every few hours to get through it. So when Lucien showed up on my porch this morning, it made my day! Besides a few minor paint flaws and unsanded seams on one of his legs (really Breyer what is with that this year?) he is really nice. I love his buckskin coloring. It's nice to have a darker buckskin after recently purchasing Hakan and Sampson, who were both much lighter. He looks great next to Indu. I love the arrow marking on his butt. I seem to have gotten a slight variation in the form of an extra little dot on his lip. I think it's rather cute. Lucien is everything I thought he'd be, and then some. I'm in love with him! Breyer ended up sending me an extra calendar free of charge with Lucien :) I've read about them sending "freebies" in people's boxes but never actually got any myself so this was a nice surprise, whether accidental or on purpose. Thank you, Breyer!
Lots of collectors have been waiting for Lucien. I've especially been hoping to get my hands on him after seeing him at Breyerfest, and now he's here! "Brigitte Eberl’s beloved Valegro sculpture looks absolutely elegant when paired with a buckskin tobiano pinto coat. This is the first time a tobiano pinto coat has been used on this mold, and Lucien wears it well! Performing a beautiful canter pirouette, dapper Lucien includes a base and has “Collector Club 2019” printed on his belly for authenticity." Now while I absolutely love this guy and think he's stunning, I do have to complain in that I was a bit shocked at his price. Breyer has been slowly raising the prices of Collector Club special runs (and then charging us $14.50 for shipping to boot which was always outrageous especially because they often are placed in a box barely big enough for them and lack any packing material outside of the bubblewrap around the horse) which was stretching my budget pretty thin at $75. Lucien is $80, and while most people would argue that it's "only" $5 more, the point is that I've been seeing this inflation since I joined the Collector Club back in 2016. While I did end up scraping up enough to buy him, it won't be much longer until I won't be able to afford the Collector Club special runs because the total with shipping ended up being $94.50! Folks, that's as much as my monthly electric bill. You see what I'm saying? Breyer is slowly taking the fun out of collecting by seeing how much they can push the prices without losing customers. I'm sure the second hand market has a lot to do with it because they probably figure if someone's willing to pay outlandish prices for a model they really want, then why can't we charge that? It isn't fair, and I hope Breyer takes note, because these models should be cherished and not just treated as a commodity. Yes, it's their business to make ultra-realistic plastic ponies, but still. They did the same thing with the Christmas Day Surprise last year, which caused a major uproar among collectors. I'm wondering what this Christmas Day Surprise will cost? Ok, rant over. I do love this guy. He will look great in my collection which, despite adding Hakan and Sampson this year, is still very much lacking in buckskins. They need to make more greys and palominos too. I have way too much brown in my collection. Word of mouth has got about that this picture above is the final release for Premier Club 2019. To me it looks like it is going to be another standing pose, no action, since it looks as if both front feet are on the ground. In my opinion, it kind of looks like Eberl's Valentin. I'm kind of glad about this because I was worried that I would be kicking myself for not joining the Premier Club this year. I'm a sucker for drafters, and I knew that they were going to be releasing a drafter for this year's PC. Now that I know it's going to be on a non-action pose, and that it doesn't look like it's going to be a color I need in my collection since I see some brown on the leg, I'm feeling a bit more relieved. I'm already being too hard on myself for not joining the Vintage Club this year after seeing Lillian and Molly, then Breyer had to release this (shown below) to make me really regret not joining the VC. That's right, folks, you are staring at a miniature version of Misty and Stormy. Remember also how I said I hate that Breyer's making shrinkies of everything? Ugh... I'm sorry but I need to get a tissue because I love everything Misty. I'm hoping these guys will show up as a Black Friday deal one of these years as wishful thinking. It happened with the True North mini so it's not completely impossible. One can dream, right?
Priscilla arrived today, and I have to say she surprised me. Her shading was much nicer in person than in the stock photos, and has kind of a "roan" look in the way it fades. Definitely more realistic than her stock photos. She also has a lot more spots than I thought she would. I have to hand it to Breyer, they really did a great job on this girl, and she had to be challenging to paint with all the detail. People don't realize how hard stablemates are to paint in detail sometimes. The only complaint is that she doesn't stand very well, like most on this mold. Overall, I'm very happy with her and glad I didn't sell her like originally planned. I will add a more detailed live review of her on my Youtube channel later. Next I wanted to show another reveal, the Collector Club 2020 spring special run, Carter. He's on... dun dun dah!!!!! Dundee!!!!!! I know lots of people have been wanting a horse on the Dundee mold, especially those who couldn't go to Breyerfest, so I'm sure that Breyer is using this as a big enticer to get people to join the Collector Club for next year. He is pearly rose grey in color, and although I'm not a fan of rose grey, I do like the shading on him better than the other rose greys Breyer made, like Sanibel and the Heroe's Welcome Surprise. I hope they'll eventually make a pinto on this mold because I. Love. Dundee. I would have joined the Collector Club anyways for next year, as I've been a member for a longtime now, but another Dundee in my collection adds icing to the cake. Now as for the specialty clubs, I'm still undecided whether or not I want to join next year. As mentioned in a previous post, they talked about pulling out all the stops for their Vintage Club this year, and I'm kind of expecting them to do something extra special for the other clubs too. Maybe not, but they sure wouldn't let us forget it when they opened up the 2020 Collector Club membership today with the offer of Prince if you pay $30 more with the Deluxe Club membership to commemorate their 70th anniversary. I thought when I first saw him that he was a Classics sized model, and I thought that was a good deal for a special Classics model. However, upon reading further, he is actually a shrunken down glossy palomino stablemate on the Fighting Stallion mold. Another thing Breyer has been on about a lot lately are "shrinkies" where they've been putting traditional or classics sized horses on stablemate or mini whinnies molds. It truly was nice of Breyer to offer something extra for the club this year for their anniversary. My collection has been growing two fold lately because of all the nice models they've been putting out this year. Hopefully next year my wallet can catch a break, as I'm not very big on vintage molds or colors, and that seems the trend Breyer is going with for their anniversary year from what I've seen. Next on my list is Lucien, whenever he's released, along with the Christmas mare and foal set, if I like them.
First things first. I went to my local Tractor Supply for feed and decided to check out the Breyer aisle. Last couple times I went through quickly, as I had the kids with me when I bought Hakan and only had so much time before work when I wanted to look for the Spirit stablemates (that was when I found the chase) but only managed to get a glance at Sampson. Well, I can now finally tick him off my list of future purchases. I had time so I went through the three Sampsons that they had. The first two had very even, unrealistic shading that made them look kind of plain (I think back to Hal at Breyerfest) but I managed to pick the best shaded one. All of them had a huge visible mold line on the front leg but this guy had black almost all the way up his leg, which hid the line a little better. He did have some overspray, although I thought the overspray complimented his shading. As I had a coupon from being a rewards member for a single toy, I went ahead and got him 30% off. This was Black Friday pricing and made it much easier to purchase him despite the flaws since I was getting a good deal. When I removed him from his box, I couldn't believe how heavy he was. I always wondered why this mold was always so much more expensive than most regular runs. Now I see why, all that extra plastic makes him like a dumbbell in weight. It makes me really hope they use this mold for next year's Breyerfest now. I like the original "fluffy" version of this mold a lot better than the modified Andalusian version. I also have Alejandro and I admit that his curved out tail makes him a bit of a shelf hog. I've heard rumors that some Stellas were made with glow in the dark plastic, so some Stellas have glow in the dark white markings. You can test this by holding your phone flashlight up to the box and pulling it away after a few seconds to see if it's glowing. I was half tempted to try it at my local Tractor Supply, but unfortunately they have their horses in view of the registers and I didn't want the employees asking questions LOL. All of the Spirit blind bags were completely sold out at my store and I ended up finding the Mystery Unicorn surprise in a completely different area of the store than the other Breyers, probably someone wanting to feel up the bags without much attention and just left them there. Only three were left so I didn't bother looking for the chase. I figured my chances were incredibly slim, that and I don't really like that chase model anyways. He looks just like Sarge from Breyerfest except with gold trim and a horn.
Speaking of unicorns and stablemates, I've been working on two stablemate customs for the fall season and I think people are going to really like them. I switched it up from the typical skeleton horses that I usually make. Both of them were challenging because of the detail in them, and as such I'm going to ask a bit more for them than I do my other custom stablemates, but I'm sure they'll be desired! They are very nice, even if they were a thorn in my side to paint. I like challenges though, and they definitely were difficult! They were 100% hand painted in acrylics, not airbrushed, and no stencils or pastels were used. Check out my sneak peeks below. Can you guess what they are? They have already been added to my eBay page and will be put on my website soon! We speculated, and it turns out that we're right. Just as Breyer released their own Mini Whinnies series 3 available through their website, there will be a series 3 for the Walmart exclusives too! So while some of you may be rolling your eyes and muttering "yeah, yeah, enough with those stupid blind bags" here me out... the new series are ALL NEW MOLDS! And not just any mold... they're shrinkies of previous popular molds used in the past! I adore them but I've also been trying to sell my Mini Whinnies collection to get out of them. Now Breyer just reeled me in hook, line and sinker. This is exactly how I got stuck with collecting stablemates again after a 10 year dry period. Those darn blind bags. Those same blind bags that I promised I wouldn't get caught up in searching for the chase. Breyer is now laughing at me and saying yeah right. Thanks, Breyer. There is bay pinto Sasha (a mini Mariah), Millie a bay drafter (a mini Wixom), mulberry or rose grey Jasper (a mini Malik), appaloosa Shadow (a mini Liam), palomino Tucker (a mini Cigar), light bay or buckskin Peanut (a mini Sherman Morgan), liver chestnut Oliver (a mini Hambletonian) and the chase model, Violet, who is a purple filigree color shown above on the right.
I'm curious to see if these guys are a bit more realistic than some of the previous molds of Mini Whinnies because they do look better. Just wanted to give a heads up to those who collect! Happy hunting! Note: All the releases spoken about below are offered to Collector Club members only. Some, if they don't sell out, are then offered to everyone else through Breyer's website. Well, the Classics sized Halloween web special, Salem, has already been sold out. As per usual with the Classics Halloween horse, his release fell in September. Although his price was hiked to $30 from the usual $25 we can consider this still to be a good price to pay for a Classics model, especially one as detailed as Salem with his pearlescent coat, blue eyes, cat design and glow in the dark pinto color. It showed in how quickly people scooped him up, as the past couple years Breyer still had Halloween horses well into the next year. Now where it gets confusing is with the new Spooky stablemates. Are they supposed to take the place of the fall gambler's choice? The year before last, we had Calvin released in September, so it isn't out of the realm of possibility. Last year the Fruitcake Fillies weren't released until December but I think that was more because they were Christmas themed. I'm going to assume, until further notice, that the Spooky stablemates were this year's fall gambler's choice. Finally, with the arrival of Nadifa of the Wild Animal series, I'm starting to get excited because this means that the holidays are officially here! We have the Black Friday deals coming up, although they are almost always unsold club releases, which I have most of the horses from the past several years and the specialty club items are often too expensive for what I'm willing to pay. If you would like to join the Collector Club to get hold of past models at close to original prices, now would be a good time to join! So what else is there to look forward to? Well, the fifth Stablemates Club horse, Priscilla, was released today. When I first saw her, I admit that she didn't really "wow" me. She looked similar to Primrose, the very first SM CC model ever made. At first, I didn't even think she could be a real breed, but then I looked more into it and she could potentially be a Sugarbush Harlequin drafter (think traditional Harley) like the one pictured above. As I wasn't a member of the first year of the SM CC and the fact that her coloring was very similar to Zipped in Black Magic, I decied to give her a try, especially as I had her on eBay for a few days with no takers. Hopefully she'll look better in real life. The last horse in the SM CC is to be released sometime in December. We already know what the new mold will look like thanks to Breyerfest. The mold shown at Breyerfest was glossed... is that a sign that we're looking forward to a glossy final release? I sure hope so! I'm expecting we'll see a preview of the color sometime later in October or November, as well as sneak peeks of the 2020 SM CC horses late in December. Remember Lucien from Breyerfest? He's a beautiful buckskin pinto on the Valegro mold. I'm so happy to see this mold being used again. It's honestly been a while. The coloring is amazing and from word of mouth this guy will probably sell out quick so I hope to get my hands on him because I love flashy horses! I'm expecting him to release sometime this month. The CC SRs have been averaging $75 lately. We are also expected another winter themed decorator, as well as a non-horse model, both of which fall on the pricey side. We're talking usually around $150 which sometimes includes postage and sometimes not. The horse is typically released in November while the animal is released in December. Something else to look forward to, probably around late November/early December, is the release of the holiday mare and foal. The mold it'll be on is a mystery, although I'm expecting a vintage mold since all except one in previous years were vintage molds. If they decide to still do it this year, I'm really hoping for a Clydesdale mare and foal! If you're not a member of the Collector Club, you won't be able to take part in this one either. The Collector Club Appreciation deal is for members only, and you get a free model with a $125 purchase of regular runs. This year, I'm expecting they'll gloss Seamus, the flagship horse, and possibly Bisbee. They usually do one other limited edition too - I'm expecting Bisbee. As for which regular runs they'll choose, I haven't the faintest. We'll have to wait for Breyer to release that information. For those who want to take part, if you join the 2019-2020 membership, you can still have access to the CC Appreciation deal. It usually is offered mid December and sells out very quickly. Just a fair warning.
We also have the annual Just About Horses magazine to look forward to. I'm hoping there will be some reveals for next year in there too, or in the holiday catalog that Breyer ships out. While the JAH is for CC members only, you should still get the holiday catalog since that one is sent to everyone who made a purchase through Breyer's website this year. The holiday catalog had the reveal of Wish and Wonder in it last year. Lastly, I want to discuss the Collector Club Christmas Surprise. This horse, released early Christmas day, is often sold out within hours. It is always a decorator, but what kind of decorator is the question. The first couple years it was a filigree on different Christmas-y colors, while the third year it was a clearware and last year it was a unicorn. The price was originally only $95 with free shipping, but that was hiked up last year to $150 because of the potential to be one of only 12 "naughty" people to get a coal black donkey. A lot of collectors were furious with the price inflation, yet on the other hand all the unicorns ended up selling out because of the donkey, so who knows what Breyer will do this year? |
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