I figured Breyer would do something special for all the clubs for their 70th anniversary, and they just revealed an optional 7th horse available to purchase through the Stablemates Club. This time they have shrunk the Clydesdale Stallion mold and named him Duke to go with their royalty names, complete with a vintage dapple grey pattern. Now while I decided against paying the $30 extra for the plain palomino Fighter with the Deluxe membership, this made joining the Stablemates Club all worth it, because I'd probably never get the optional model at cost. I don't know if he'll be the same price as the club releases. We won't know until he's offered at the end of the year next year. Excited much? I know I am! It seem like Breyer always sets itself on a certain color every year. Last year it was buckskins. Now it looks like it'll be appaloosas with recently sold out Ambrose, Klaus from the Stablemates Club, Lionel the flagship horse and now this: This was a sneak peek for one of the other two Premier Club horses for 2020 and I have to say that I'm excited! Although I had already joined before this sneak peek, it makes me feel much better in my decision to join the Premier Club. I'm really hoping this horse is a Knabstrubber, a breed that they haven't portrayed yet. I do see peacock spots in the sneak peek so that's always reassuring. I love mapping and peacock spotting. Although speculation on social media is that it's going to be a leopard appaloosa, I actually fell in love with Rana from Breyerfest a few years ago and hoped that they'd eventually do a semi leopard like him.
Rana had it all... peacock spots, realistic hooves, roaning, nose spots, ticking at the base of his tail, lightning stripes on his sides, bi-colored eyes and a silvery mane. If they could replicate that, it would be the best Premier Club year yet! Breyer also released the production photo of Altynai. Wowza! They did a great job with replicating him from the original artist piece to plastic. Apparently he's going to have mapping around his white areas and it even appears that they have given him a metallic sheen, which I was hoping for since Akhal-Tekes are naturally shiney. I can't wait to get this guy in hand! Maybe it'll make me give up the search for the limited edition Akhal-Teke from 2007. I'm hoping the third release will be a full blown pinto with lots of mapping but we'll see. The SMCC opened it's doors on November 20th to new memberships for 2020. They've already revealed Klaus on the Darwin mold, along with the molds that they're going to use (minus of course the new mold which is never revealed early) but personally I'm just happy to see a non-unicorn Alborozo, hopefully in a non-decorative color. The Stablemates Club is open until the end of the year, December 31st. It is not a limited club so you can join anytime until then. You have to pay a $30 deposit to hold your spot and each model, when released, costs $20 each, although they deduct $5 from your deposit so technically you only pay $15 upon release plus shipping. Shipping is $5.95 as it stands right now. You have to join the Collector Club membership in order to join the Stablemates Club, or any other specialty club. It's either $25 for regular membership or this year they're offering the Deluxe membership (comes with a limited edition stablemates model in honor of their 70th anniversary this year) for $55. I will keep this post updated as the colors come out! 12/6: This is the first reveal for 2020, named Sultan. This is the horse on the vintage mold. While I personally think this color just goes great with this particular mold (reminds me of a mini Empres) I already have two bay Arabians from previous SMCC years so I'm not too thrilled about adding another one. We'll see what the next release looks like. 12/17: The newest reveal is named Chroma and he's a rainbow colored decorator on one of my favorite molds: the Cob. Of course Breyer had to make him a clearware. Ugh! I'm not a fan of clearwares at all. His coloring is to die for though. Maybe just one clearware in my collection wouldn't hurt? 12/20: Yet again Breyer chose another color that was already previously used in the SMCC lineup (back in the first year with Shiloh) but this time his name is Florian and he is on a less tippy mold. Unlike with Shiloh, however, it looks like the white areas are going to be pearly. I'm kind of in love with this guy, as I missed the first year of the SMCC and didn't get Shiloh, so this color appeals to me, especially since it's so similar to Enzo's. 12/26: The gambler's choice has been revealed, and yes folks it is on the Alborozo mold (now give me a moment to cry because I'll never be able to collect all the colors at a decent price) who is named Valerio. Why, Breyer, oh why did you have to make the GC on the Alborozo mold?! I'm really hoping for the rose grey. I would have loved to have had a dapple grey similar to the original Alborozo, but rose grey is close enough. The appy reminds me too much of Andante and the palomino pinto of Arya from Breyerfest this year, both of which I own. As to the unicorn deco, what is with Breyer always using PURPLE for this mold??? Ugh.
12/30: So far the silhouette of the new mold has not been shown. All Breyer has announced is that "The 2020 Club will feature a performance-friendly stock horse mare sculpted by Maggie Jenner-Bennett". I was kind of hoping for a drafter but a mini Bobby Jo or a mini Wyatt would be cool too. Everyone asked for more shrinkies so who knows? There's only one more day left to join the Stablemates Club in what looks like will be an exciting year! As far as I've been in the Collector Club, Breyer had never offered an end of the year horse like this before. This horse, named Ambrose, was made with exquisite quality and was limited to only 350 pieces. Needless to say, judging by his almost connoisseur quality coloring, this horse sold out quick. I would have loved to have had this horse but his $295 price tag was already out of my price range even if I had read the email in time. Still, he is a beauty and I'm surely envious of those who were able to obtain him. Wonder if this was a one time deal or if Breyer plans to offer this yearly? Hopefully if they do they'll consider doing it earlier in the year, as this is the worst time of the year for most people to save up. Direct from Breyer's website: "From his pinking and soft pearl basecoat, to his complex appaloosa pattern, to his final touches of shading, Ambrose represents the pinnacle of the craftsmanship of Breyer. A limited edition of 350 pieces, every Ambrose model was hand painted by Breyer’s master artisans in Wayne, New Jersey over the course of many months. These stallions came to life with the precision and detail of our finest limited editions painted in Breyer’s New Jersey facility, including BreyerFest raffle and auction models. Designed by talented finishwork artist Myla Pearce, Ambrose brings our stately stock horse sculpture to life with a dappled silver bay blanket appaloosa coat complete with mottling, striped hooves, and an intricately shaded mane and tail. Ambrose is a piece of art that will be cherished for generations to come. Ambrose has Breyer Special Edition printed on his belly for authenticity and is packaged in a mail-order box." In other news, Breyer has already started their year end sale. It's pretty much a dispersal of all the 2019 Breyerfest leftovers and many of the items that are retiring this year. Most are marked down to incredibly low prices so be sure to check it out if you want any horses before they are gone for good. Also, there were a few leftover web exclusives/club models (shown below) that were only available to CC members. It is these sales that make me happy to be a CC member. Now that the new year is upon us, we can look forward to the upcoming 2020 regular run releases coming out in stores, as well as Breyerfest tickets. I'm assuming with the boatload of new CC members for the anniversary year, and the fact that with the release of Alborozo as the GC for the SMCC enticing people to have multiple accounts, that releases in the club will be a lot harder to obtain this year. This includes Carter, Makin' A Splash and whatever else Breyer plans on offering. Thank goodness for the raffle models that give everyone an equal chance of getting something special, although I often tell people not to get their heart set on a certain model unless you're willing to pay second hand market prices if you don't get picked. I do hope to obtain Carter but we'll see. I'm sure he'll be sold out within a couple days, if not a few hours.
What are your hobby goals for the new year? Let me know in the comments! I'm excited to announce that 2020 will be my first year in the Premier Club! As I said shortly after Altynai was revealed, this horse sold me, and I'm super excited to add him to my herd. I didn't think I'd be able to join both clubs, and I admit that selling my glossy Verdades helped greatly, so I was able to buy the Santa Surprise as well as the Stablemates Club and Premier Club deposit. I really didn't want to regret not joining, like I did with the Vintage Club this year. I won't know for sure if I'm keeping all the Premier Club horses or not until they're released. Besides the Alborozos being thorns in my side, I'm excited for the Stablemates Club mostly because the colors next year are so much better than this year. I'm so glad they brought back the deco! Also, two of my favorite molds were in there: the Cob and Alborozo. I just hate that Alborozo just had to be the gambler's choice. Not only would I never be able to get all the realistic colors at a decent price (because I figured they'd use a deco) they had the audacity to throw in a unicorn decorator. Um... hello, Breyer, but this is NOT the Fairytale Friends Club! Other than that, there wasn't really a horse I didn't like, minus maybe Sultan, because I have enough bays.
Here's to a new year, new club!
Of course they had to add in a chase model, Licorice, the solid black zebra who, as with Coal from last year, was limited to 12 pieces. The rest of the colors were limited to 500 each and Breyer was charging $135 each (free shipping was included - even to international buyers) which seems to me like they were making sure there were enough zebras so that most CC members have a chance to get one so that way they wouldn't have to deal with the complaints from the CC Appreciation deal about them selling out too fast. But people are going to complain anyways. In this case it was the price being too high for not being "limited" enough.
While most people thought it wasn't worth it, I did go ahead and buy one. I loved all the colors and I'm excited to add it to my collection. I plan on keeping whichever one Breyer sends me as a part of my permanent collection. I love the pearly sheen and the high gloss finish. I also love that they're on a mold that isn't very common. I would like to end this post by wishing all my readers that share a love of plastic ponies, no matter where you are or what you celebrate this time of the year, a very happy holiday! The horses that were glossed for the people who participated in the Collector Club Appreciation deal the second time around have been revealed. We all knew of the first three: Khalid, King and LV Integrity. However the other horses would remain a mystery. They've since announced that they added Kentucky into the mix, and I have to say that I'm incredibly jealous of those who participated the second time around. Check out this eye candy... these guys are all stunners!
My Collector Club Appreciation box arrived today, a day sooner than expected. Minus the fact that Latigo Dun It's box was crushed from the rather heavy special boxing of the Pony for Christmas (yes I was surprised by how much that little pasture potato weighed) everything arrived safely otherwise. Buckeye had some tiny pinpoint sized ear rubs but otherwise all models were almost flawless. I'm always satisfied with the quality of the regular runs that Breyer sends me direct from the factory. Thankfully I don't keep them in their boxes so the damage to Latigo's box didn't bother me, as I was still able to salvage his information card, but it was pretty bad. Take a look: My Appreciation model, however, was.............. .........Verdades........... This seemed to be the most popular model Breyer glossed according to Facebook groups and my luck is that I almost never get anything rare when it comes to gambler's choices. This is only the second time I've participated in the CC Appreciation, and ironically the first time they did the CC Appreciation deal and I participated, I ended up with a plain bay too. I don't know, but I was really hoping for an Enzo. There weren't many people posting Enzos on Facebook so it makes me wonder if it wasn't evenly split 157 of each model like previously thought. Oh, well. Maybe one year I'll get a keeper. Before anyone asks, I already had a waiting list from my previous post stating that I was going to sell him if I ended up with him, so he's already sold. I apologize for the less than mediocre photos of him below. If I planned to keep him, I would have removed him from the box as, alas, the Breyer boxes are not flash friendly and non-flash pictures came out even more blurry. Here he is for the short time I'll have him. The silver lining is that the money will help me to afford the end of the year memberships that I would otherwise have a hard time affording this time of the year, so it was a win-win in the end. I just want to see him go to someone who will cherish him. I posted a video of my unboxing on my Youtube channel if you guys want to head over there to see the horse a little better.
Honestly I'm surprised Breyer did this, but I guess due to the overwhelming number of people that stated they were going to stop buying model horses. Breyer gave into the bad behavior by announcing that they will be offering another deal to those who didn't get a chance to get a glossy model the first time. Breyer was vague in the details but said it will not be the same horses being glossed but the models they are glossing will be a mystery. They said at least King, LV Integrity and Khalid will be used. They probably won't know exactly which models they will gloss until they see how many members participate. The deal will be open all weekend so, according to Breyer, all CC members who did not participate in the original deal but would like to have the chance to get a FREE glossy model that will supposedly be just as limited as the first set. However, since much of the newer regular runs are now sold out on the website and due to the fact that these new glossy models will not be shipped until spring 2020 since they have not been made yet, I'm kind of glad that I was able to participate the first time. It does make me wonder, however, if this will be a new "thing" for this year only because of the complaints or if they'll offer it this way every year. So for those of you who wanted to participate in the CC Appreciation deal, here is your chance! If you do not have a current 2019 membership, you can pay an extra $10 to purchase the 2019/2020 membership to have access to this deal.
To top off a rather nice day, Corbin finally arrived in the mail. I was so excited to get this one, as I'm a sucker for dapple greys, especially dark greys. As I predicted, he is a breathtaking color! The gloss really makes his dapples POP. As per usual, I ended up with a horse who is very dappled on one side but not so much on the other. It always seems to happen like that for me with the dappled stablemates. His right side (the more dappled side) is also a lot lighter than his left side, which makes him look like a completely different horse. Kind of neat. A big reason though that I'm hesitant to join the SMCC again, plain and simple, is that second hand market prices aren't that great unless they've been retired for a few years or they're a popular mold. The gambler's choice brings in the most. Everything else you'll be lucky to get what you paid for, especially the G1 mold used for that year, so if you don't like it then you usually have to take a hit. If I really want a horse, I can probably get it second hand at price, or just a tad bit more.
I'm going to wait and see what the other models for 2020 look like before I decide for sure, particularly the Cob and Alborozo. I'm also awaiting the Santa Surprise before I decide if I'm going to join Premier Club 2020 or not. Yesterday on social media, Breyer dropped a bomb by announcing that Collector Club Appreciation Day was going to be today and it started at 2 PM. I'm sure this was probably a way to get people to purchase last minute 2019 memberships, and it was a bit sneaky on their part to only announce it on Facebook, not on their website or blog. This, amongst other things, enraged a lot of collectors. I honestly wouldn't have found out about it had I not have seen it posted on Facebook. I never received an email at all. In order to receive the glossy model, you had to have at least $125 in your cart worth of regular run merchandise. Anything that was labeled as "regular line" at the bottom of the page was part of the deal. Limited editions such as web exclusives (Mira and Antares for example) or any Collector Club models - Corbin is still available at this time - are not included, neither are club memberships. Once you added enough qualifying items, you had to add the free model to your cart (worth $150 according to Breyer) and use the code "CCTHANKS19" on the last page in checkout in order to receive the gift for free. This also made a lot of people mad when they bought $125 in items just to be denied the free model because they didn't do all required of them. The gambler's choice for this year was five glossy regular runs: Seamus, Enzo, Verdades, Thunder and Latigo Dun It. They made a total of 785 models (not sure where they pulled that number out of?) which brings it to approximately 157 models each. Y'all notice that they finally used a mold that they showed in the CC Appreciation picture? The deal sold out within 30 minutes, a record that made a lot of collectors furious and spewing hateful comments about Breyer as a company. Honestly though guys it's first come, first serve, and I'm kind of glad that they do limit the deal because that makes the models rarer. If they made enough glossies for everyone, their values would take a nose dive and they probably wouldn't even be worth the $125 you spend to get them in the first place.
I'm also glad that they announced the time this year, as I didn't get to participate since 2015 because I wasn't around to catch it in time. This year, however, I was one of the lucky ones to get in my order before everything sold out. I bought Buckeye and Latigo Dun It since he's retiring this year (I didn't want to take the chance of not getting him in glossy) along with the new Pony for Christmas to complete my order. I was surprised that the Pony for Christmas qualified since he's a web exclusive. However, he would make a good stallion for my Wish and Wonder set from last year so I was happy he did. I was rather pleased with the selection of the glossies. Honestly, there wasn't any I didn't really not like, but if I had to choose one, I hope to get Enzo because his color looks amazing in glossy without being overdone and it might not make me hate that mold so much. If I end up with Verdades, I'm probably going to put him on the second hand market just because y'all know how I feel about solid bay horses. I will be sure to update with what they send me as soon as my package comes, probably sometime next week. |
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