The Collector Club Appreciation event was held once again. With $150 of in stock merchandise (meaning no backorders which is a lot harder than it seems) you could receive either a glossy Peptoboonsmal, a glossy Sjoerd, a glossy Morganquest or a glossy Adiah HP. I believe these were the exact same models that were offered for the last Collector Club event. EDIT: The CCA event sold out within a day. As promised, Breyer revealed the colors on the Santa Surprise, Wassail, whom I'm still kicking myself for not being able to get. I really hope they use these colorways in the future, maybe adding a blue or gold filigree as well. There will likely be some sneak peeks for the clubs next year as the year winds down to the final days to renew for the 2024 clubs, and I will be updating this post as we see more. Our first sneak peek is the artists for next year's Premier Club. Last year we got a last minute picture of the foal from the mare and foal set, as well as a clip from Adonis. Will we get pictures this time or will it be like all the previous years when Breyer only revealed the artists? For 2024 the artists will be: Eva Rossiter and Morgen Kilbourn. Breyer has threw in a last minute reveal: Morgen will be sculpting a Criollo horse and Eva will be creating a new Welsh Cob mold. I can imagine that the Criollo is going to be the flashiest for 2024, as Criollo horses commonly come in sabino patterns. There hasn't been a Criollo made since Desatado. As for the Welsh Cob, I've been saying we needed a replacement for Llanarth True Briton for years! Granted, I didn't think the original sculpt was bad for the times, but since it was made in 1994 Breyer has for whatever reason only made a handful of releases on him. Breyer has also announced that the Premier Club packaging for next year will be changing for the first time since the inception of the club. I don't really care about the boxes myself, as I usually just store them away anyways, but I know PC models are a lot harder to sell without them so I always hang onto them rather than throwing them out in case my mold preferences change in future. I wonder if the artist information is still going to be on the back? That was my favorite part about the Premier Club boxes. A final reveal we got for the Premier Club is the Welsh Cob mold, and for some reason I had a strong feeling that they were going to use a buttermilk buckskin for this mold. He has heavily feathered feet and an adorable face. It looks like he'll be lightly dappled too. I'm still not sure if I'll be keeping this mold or not until I see his size in hand when he's released, as I don't usually collect ponies, however cobs can be on the larger size so I may want him once I see the rest of him. From what we have seen though, he is too cute for words! For the Stablemate Club, Breyer is bringing back the mini window boxes. I think this is a great move on their part, as you could display them in their boxes without even removing them if you wished, unlike the miniature vintage style hat boxes they came in the past couple years. Again though, as with the PC models, I mostly just keep the boxes for resale value. We've seen the new mold already, and below is Lanin, a criollo stallion with a new roached mane version of Mirado. While I love and conga the Mirado mold, I'm not sure how I feel about the roached mane style. Collectors have mentioned that he looks a bit purplish so maybe he'll have some interference on his black paint. Next up is Wallowa. Breyer always throws a vintage mold in the lineup each year, and for 2024 it is going to be on Citation. He is a beautiful varnish grey leopard appaloosa that will be a gambler's choice of either matte or glossy. Newport is next on the list of reveals, and Breyer didn't make this one as easy to see. He was revealed on the Youtube channel of Infinity Breyers rather than in an email. It seems as if Breyer has hired a new person that is completely throwing out the old way of doing things this year, like with the Santa Surprise being released early. This time for this release they roached the mane and cropped the tail of the Thoroughbred mold to turn him into a polo pony. It looks like he has dapples as well. Next up in the lineup is a miniature of Anamar named Dylan who has the star dapples everybody hated. I seem to be the opposite because I'm not a fan of the roached mane models whereas everybody seems to be fond of them, but I love the unrealistic star dapples, and I'm a sucker for greys. This is, of course, what makes our collections unique. The gambler's choice for the Stablemate Club is Miguel. He is a donkey on four different colors: spotted, brown, dun zonkey and a Wedgewood blue filigree. The final reveal for the Stablemate Club is the optional release on the popular - but lightly used thus far - Cassidy mold. Hadley and Holden are an adorable buckskin pair with a gambler's choice of foal molds. You'll either get a laying foal or a standing foal, and you won't know which until they arrive on your doorstep next year! Breyer has been big on the Thoroughbreds for the 2024 club, one of my favorite breeds, although they seem to be re-using a lot of the colors and patterns from years past. For example, the star dapple grey was used before on Phineas and the pattern on Lanin is similar to Brighton from this year. Since I've been in the club since 2016, I've decided I'm going to take a break from this club. I've downsized my stablemate collection, only keeping the molds I plan to conga, and unfortunately none of the molds for 2024 are any I conga. We'll see what 2025 has in store and then I'll think about re-joining the Stablemate Club again. I am, however, a Premier and Vintage Club member for 2024.
Breyer is hosting their annual warehouse sale now through Sunday, December 31st. Collector Club members have a special (kind of hidden) page that they can click on to have the chance to purchase some limited edition runs such as Chadwick, Jota and the gambler's choice Lipizzan classics. In addition to these, CC members get to save 20% off regular runs, including the ones that are on sale, by using the code WHSALE23 in checkout. Go take a look and grab anything you want before they're retired for good! In other news, the Breyerfest event model silouhettes have been shown, we just have yet to see the colors. The molds will be on the Show Jumper, Prince Charming, Cassidy (Quarter Horse Mare) and the new Show Stance Arabian. I was expecting this year to be Thoroughbred, Arabian and stock horse heavy since those are the majority of the breeds that show up at rescues, and it does seem like it is going that way. I already have an idea of who the surprise horse will be but I'll be waiting to post that after we see next year's regular runs. While on this subject, I know that there will be questions about when these guys will be available for pre-order on my website. I don't know exactly when Breyer will show the full reveals, but when they do, it'll be the day after the final reveal is shown at a pre-announced time. The price you will be paying for the stablemate models will be the total price. Unlike the traditionals, there will be no more invoices for the stablemates, and shipping will be included at checkout. A change I'm making is if you pre-order both the event stablemates and the traditional special runs, the event stablemates will be shipped separately from the traditionals in 2024 to avoid being crushed by the traditionals. More information on when the traditionals will be available will be coming soon.
I've seen in hand photos of the Santa Surprise and OMG y'all I was so happy to see the return of the filigrees! Even with the solid colors I loved how Breyer made them shimmery so they were all still so beautiful. I'm questioning why they wrote that they'd have bald faces though when none of the ones I've seen do but maybe that's why they removed the description. A coal made an appearance today and it is in fact on the Huck mold in shimmery glossy black with white mane/tail and socks, no bald face. I pity Huck conga collectors now, as that one will be nearly impossible to get unless you're sent one from Breyer. I do like the addition of the white points whereas all other coals were solid black in the past. Breyer did a great job this year! The Collector Club event for 2024 was announced. Called Spokes and Spurs, it'll be taking place in Oklahoma City, OK on May 3-5, 2024. You will get to visit the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Silver Spurs Equine and Express Clydesdales. Wimpys Little Step, the event model, is on Bobby Jo and I'm drooling! I want her so badly that I'm thinking about putting my name in for this event once Breyer starts taking names. I also have a collector friend that I've had for years who lives in Oklahoma City that I'd love to meet in person while I'm there. You will also receive a black Clydesdale Stallion stablemate named Ned. Here are the models you'll get with your ticket: Finally, before I wrap this post up, I wanted to mention that Breyer is trying to drain us Collector Club members wallets again (no respect for Christmas, Breyer!) with releasing the deluxe grab bags. These often include leftovers from Breyerfest in them. After December 22, if they don't sell out, they will be released to the public. If you want to purchase one, they are currently available on the website for $200 each.
Breyer has announced that the Christmas day surprise, or the Santa Surprise as collectors affectionately call it, will be coming early to Collector Club members this year... to the dismal of many members. Why? It will be tomorrow, on a Tuesday, in the middle of the work week, on less than a 24 hour notice. I think it would have been more appropriate for everyone if they'd have waited until Friday to release it but it is what it is. As I announced before, it will be a Moody mold that will be in four glittery colorways with the usual addition of coal. UPDATED 11 AM EST: Please do not read further if you don't want any spoilers. Breyer threw in some more hints for the Santa Surprise. Apparently Breyer is being super secretive this year and not showing what we'll be buying until Christmas Day. If you go on the page now, you will not see this, as Breyer had removed it, but earlier it stated that: As you can see, he is on the Huckleberry Bey mold (a tippy mold which I don't collect so I can breathe a collective sigh of relief here) in either solid metallic red/green or filigree red/green so at least they seem to be going back to the days of the Christmas colored filigrees, which I miss very much. They are limited to only 2,624 pieces between the four colors. That's only about 650 per color and I'm assuming the random extra 24 pieces are coal. We have no idea if that will be on Huckleberry Bey or a different mold until someone gets one in hand. If you're willing to take the gamble, they are available now for $145 each with free shipping.
UPDATED 3 PM EST: He is now sold out. I didn't think it'd last out until tomorrow when I got paid so thankfully it wasn't on a mold I conga. I'm a bit saddened too, as he looked like he was going to be amazing in the Collector Club newsletter sneak peek. It looks like the metallic paint will be slightly shimmery too! I can't wait to see him in hand though once people start receiving him! Thoroughbred racing is known as the Sport of Kings. It was a sport that I grew up in. I don't know what it was about the power of the Thoroughbreds, but I worked as an exercise rider at one time and volunteered at a rescue that took in a lot of ex-racehorses. Growing up around these magnificent animals, I became enthralled with them, and thus racehorses adorned my collection. At one time, I had every racehorse Breyer had ever made. Now, I mostly just keep the horses I followed in real life. With the release of Cody's Wish this year, I wanted to talk about some of the Thoroughbred molds. Just for times sake, I'm not going to discuss the Warmblood molds, like Strapless used for Full Moon Rising, only the ones that were meant to be Thoroughbreds. Thoroughbred MareI think this mold really came to the spotlight with Cupid and Arrow, the adorable rescued mare and her uniquely marked foal, however it'd actually been around since 1973 when Chris Hess made them to look like a nursing broodmare and foal on a Thoroughbred farm anywhere in the bluegrass. Despite being in production for so long, Breyer hasn't really used this mold much. She was made in a vintage style medicine hat pinto set in 1994, followed by a JCP set with a grey mare and bay foal in 2000 before the popular Cupid and Arrow set in 2002. The most colorful models on this mold were web exclusives Eve and Claus which were red roan in color; then sooty buckskin pinto Lillian and Molly for the Vintage Club. CigarWe'll start with one of the earliest Thoroughbred molds... Cigar. Made in 1998, this mold is now considered "vintage" and is probably one of my favorites. Breyer finally released a new model on this mold, Lefty, this year for Tractor Supply. I'd honestly thought they'd forgotten about this mold. He has been made in just about every common Thoroughbred color: bay, grey, chestnut and even black for Sunday Silence. Lefty was probably the flashiest color they've made on this mold. Other flashies include Sato, who ironically was still based off a real horse; Aintree from Breyerfest 2012 was a dappled dun; Special Delivery was made for JAH subscribers way back in 1999 was an airbrushed pinto; Nosferatu was a Halloween decorator made on this mold; and Wanderlust was made for Mid States distributing as an appaloosa with Indian war paint markings. Wanderlust has been a grail of mine for years that I still have yet to obtain. Cigar is probably at this point too old to be a surprise model so we likely won't see many more on him, especially after the more recent releases of Carrick and Emerson. Man o'WarThe first of the Thoroughbred molds, and a Hess mold to boot telling you how old this guy is, Man o'War is my least favorite mold of all the Thoroughbred molds. I will give Hess credit that the guy could sculpt a variety of different breeds, a talent few artists have, and I'm sure at the time of his release Man o'War was a break through. However, I just can't get on board with the halter, that unfortunately like with the Pacer mold doesn't come off. He is also a simple standing mold which I also am not fond of. Nevertheless, several portrait models were made on him including his son, War Admiral; Spectacular Bid; the War Horse, Joey; and General Lee's horse, Traveller. Not too many colors showed up on this mold. I think the most colorful was Storm from the Vintage Club. Lonesome GloryAlthough Lonesome Glory was originally made a steeplechaser, he quickly became one of the most popular Thoroughbred molds for flat racing horses as well, and it's no wonder why. The high head and pep in his step portray the high class Thoroughbred like no other molds did up to that time. Greats such as Seattle Slew, Afleet Alex, Phar Lap, Red Rum, mare-ified Zenyatta and most recently Tiz the Law were all portrait models on Lonesome Glory. Flashy models included the metallic buckskin Akhal Teke before metallic was a big thing; Sassy the Collector Club special run; Woodland Splendor a beautiful champagne holiday horse; Mosaic and Thrillseeker from the Connoisseur series; Goin for Gold was a glossy dun Petsmart/SLT exclusive; Wapasha the Mid States release; and the JAH subscriber special run Mirror Image/Reflector. He also appeared at Breyerfest as two special runs: Tinseltown, Mardi Gras and By A Nose. He also was the surprise back in 2014. You can see how much people really loved this mold! I love him as one of the most space efficient of the Thoroughbreds. John HenryAnother of my least favorites, John Henry was incredibly bumpy all over, which is sad considering that the pose of the horse was realistic and it took Breyer years before they smoothed it out. He was used for several portrait models other than John Henry himself: Forego, Seabiscuit, Northern Dancer and Joe Patchen, the sire of Dan Patch the Standardbred, which was most unusual. He was made in a few non-Thoroughbred colors such as The Cree Indian Horse; the ELCR benefit models (both grey and dun); and most recently Pech Merle. I'm not sure how Breyer turned him into a stock horse but they did, and he actually didn't look too bad, looked like a horse moseying along on the trail. Smarty JonesWe'll turn our attention to another of my personal favorites, Smarty Jones. He is getting up there in years but Breyer is still cranking him out, as they made the gold Secretariat this year on this mold. I remember when I first saw him I thought "that is the most Thoroughbred looking Thoroughbred I'd ever seen" and no doubt I couldn't wait to add Smarty Jones to my collection. A couple other portrait models besides Smarty was made on this mold including Secretariat (both gold and regular) and European superstar Frankel. I'm really surprised there aren't more. At Breyerfest 2018 Smarty Jones was the surprise model and came in five beautiful non-Thoroughbred colors. Windtalker the grullo pinto limited edition, Riley the dapple grey web special, Santiago the star dapple grey polo pony limited edition, Hakan the buckskin appaloosa TSC exclusive, the 70th anniversary "chase" black pinto, Phantasma from the Halloween series and Rushmore the bay roan from Breyerfest were all other flashy colored obtainables. RuffianIt was inevitable that the legendary Ruffian would make an appearance in the Breyer line. I'm surprised it took until 2006 to do so, but at least she was on a brand new mold. While she has a striking pose, she has the tendency to lean after some years on her stand, which tends to rub that back hoof more than I'd like so I don't have too many on this mold anymore. Besides Ruffian, Breyer also portrayed Rags to Riches, Rachel Alexandra, American Pharoah with additional boy bits and Black Caviar on this mold. Colorful additions included the holiest of holy grails that I'll never achieve Scallywag from the Connoisseur series; Poltergeist from the Halloween series; Puuku the Mid States release Indian pony; Breyerfest models Heartland and Dead Heat. A few Collector Club lottery models were made on her as well including Luna the running with wolves decorator; Athena from the Goddess series; and Padma from the Big Cat series. CarrickMy least favorite of the modern molds is Carrick. I don't know what it is about him but he looks a bit out of proportion reminding me more of a deer than a Thoroughbred. This has nothing to do with the artist; I really love works she'd done in the past but I couldn't fall in love with Carrick. Nevertheless, he has been made on a few portrait models including Brass Hat from Breyerfest 2018, Justify and the upcoming Cody's Wish. Flashier colors on this mold included Bonne Fete from Breyerfest 2014; Travis the Tractor Supply exclusive; and of course the original on this mold, who was a palomino. EmersonMy favorite of the newest releases, and I don't really know why when I don't usually like standing molds, is Emerson. I'll admit I didn't like him at first. but he's one of those horses that I got in-hand and loved immediately. I think it was more the color I didn't like on his original PC release than the mold itself. He is also by the same artist that made Carrick so there's proof that I do like this artist's work. I think the reason most people don't love him is the fact that his super long legs have the tendency to bend so he either looks cow hocked or bow legged, depending upon which way the legs turn. Surprisingly, or not surprisingly for the reason above, Emerson has been used very little since his release. He's been used only once as a portrait model for Australian superstar, Winx. Other than that her releases included Eclipse the Tractor Supply exclusive; Rocket from Breyerfest 2019; Crane from the Collector Club Birds of a Feather series; and Collector Club special run Chadwick. That's it for the obtainables. I think we'll be seeing Emerson as a gambler's choice one of these years, as he's in desperate need of colors. If you like me discussing various breeds and/or molds, please tell me in the comments. I'm trying to make my blog not just about releases and reveals, but about the history of Breyers as well. If y'all like it, I'll continue to do it. If not, don't hesitate to let me know. I'm not a guru so sometimes I miss certain facts, but I'll try my best to research my subjects thoroughly before posting. Of course, if there are any corrections, feel free to let me know. This is mostly for entertainment :)
Attention Stablemate Club members: the final release for 2023, Brio, the stunning buckskin pinto rearing Mustang stallion is now available to order. Also available is the optional release, Nero, the appaloosa on the mini Georg mold. You do NOT have to order Nero, but Brio is required to keep your club membership in good standing. It has not been determined if Breyer doesn't allow people who don't order all the club models in a single year to rejoin the next year or not. To the person who pre-ordered Brio from me, I will have the package shipped to me first and then will be sending Brio to you, as I do plan on ordering - and keeping - Nero for my Georg stablemate conga. Brio will be packaged in another box when I ship him to you so he doesn't arrive damaged. Breyer has shown a recently updated photo of the family unit they were aiming for with Fireheart, Firestorm and baby Tigerlily. They've finally shown what the stand for the foal looks like. Whether Breyer will replicate the stand similarly or not is unknown, as I believe these are the originals shown. My "family" was already torn apart when I sold off Fireheart so I'm going to be looking to sell off Tigerlily as well. I have a preference for mare molds, and I know some of you out there are solely foal collectors. If you're looking to purchase just the foal, be sure to check out my store, as I'll be pre-selling mine when they're released next year. Some people have mentioned if the colors of the family would be realistic. According to an online horse color calculator, there is a 9.38% chance that this cross could make a buckskin appaloosa. It is a little less than the Adonis/Carina cross which had a 24.61% chance of producing a baby of the color that Selene was, so yes, while rare, it can happen. I do wonder where the lightning stripes on the legs came from though... must be a hidden gene.
Anyways, don't forget that we only have until December 31st to join the Stablemate or Premier club for next year. It's coming up sooner than you think so be sure to join if you haven't already. Also, be sure to get in your order for Trueno and Mouse before Breyer cuts off the Winterfest deadline. I'm surprised these two haven't sold out yet, but in all honesty, I think people weren't really wow'd by the selection. If Breyer had used a different mold other than the Nikolas mold, I'd probably have bought Mouse with that color, as I loved his color but not big on the mold. This was the title for Breyer's Collector Club newsletter for the month! The adorable palomino POA pony, Mia, and doll set from last year is the giveaway for this month. A sneak peek in the form of a glittery red pony was shown with the caption "All that glitters is NOT gold... sometimes it's red!" Speculation is that it is the Santa Surprise which, although has never been shown as a sneak peek before, can be the only upcoming release that makes sense since that's all that's left... unless Breyer has something new in store for us this year, which is always a possibility. If you watched the video from the Winter Wonderland event, they mentioned that the Santa Surprise will be on a Moody mold. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess Emma because 1) she's a Moody mold that's pony sized and all except 2 molds for the Santa Surprise have been on the smaller side 2) there hasn't been a gambler's choice made on Emma yet. I don't count the perlino variation from Breyerfest this past year and 3) I couldn't resist NOT buying another Emma so I personally kind of want it to be ;) Whatever the case, we'll be finding out soon enough! I'm happy to announce that my Rhiannon and Rhemi set arrived. I swear, y'all, I'm always the last that Breyer ships to even though I'm one of the first to order. It gets a bit old. Anyways, I teetered on this set but since nobody decided to take them, I've decided to keep them. I was unsure due to the amount of bare plastic on them but, as with Troubadour, I was blown away by them in person. I think Kylee Parks is fast becoming one my favorite artist, and I hope she does more sculpts in future! This set has to be one of the most realistic that Breyer has made yet, and definitely worth the extra money. The mare is HEAVY! This is no exaggeration. She doesn't even feel hollow on the inside. She is huge too. She is about the size of the vintage Clydesdale Mare mold. Here are some size comparisons of her compared to various other draft molds: While there are a ton of pictures showing each of her sides, nobody has mentioned yet that she has udders! As far as I know, Susecion is the only other mold to have mommy jugs so I thought I'd bring that up. She also has the most expressive face with that loose draft lip of any mold I've ever seen! This mold will no doubt become one of my favorites. I can't wait to see what Breyer releases on her in future, most likely a Breyerfest special run is in store. I'm glad I decided not to sell her, and add her to my personal collection. I plan to keep Kirk and Firestorm for next year too, but I'm going to sell the foal separately, as I don't care for rearing molds. He is currently available in my Model Horse Store. I can't wait to see if Breyer throws us some more sneak peeks for the clubs next year by the end of the year. We should at least see all the Stablemate Club horses, at the very least.
Just as a reminder before I head out of here: my Cyber Week sale is ending tomorrow at midnight. I would like to appreciate everyone for their participation! Custom buyers who have asked: I'm still working on Christmas customs, however my work is going to be starting their 50/60 hour work weeks that I had to mull through last year around this time for the holidays, so time to spend on them will be limited. If I don't have them finished by Christmas, they will be available shortly after. I have three traditionals in the works, two Classics and a few stablemates in the works. They will be worth the wait, I promise! |
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