Old Glory has arrived! After a tiring 10 hour shift, it was nice pick-me-up to find these beauties waiting on my porch. I will be busy packaging up orders over the weekend with the hopes of getting my first orders shipped out tomorrow and the rest on Monday. Overall they were great, some just had a bit of overspray on the stars and stripes, but I'm very happy with their quality. They are clearware so they are see through, not white plastic. I bet they're going to look great in the sunlight! Everyone who pre-ordered should have their tracking numbers by now. I had a couple last minute cancellations when Breyer released him through their website so a couple of customers on my fall order list will bumped up to my spring order and happy to find out that they are going to be getting their ponies a bit early :) This spring batch is SOLD OUT however I still have some fall orders available. They are due to ship in September, though I'd give Breyer until October just because everything is behind this year. Old Glory is an example since he was supposed to come by the end of April and it's now May, so just take estimated arrivals with a grain of salt. Here are some in-hand pictures from as many angles as I could get with him still being in the box: My 90s Throwbacks also came today for anyone interested. They are in hand and ready to ship! I will update as soon as Breyer ships me more regular runs, as I'm currently on the backorder list for all the traditionals. The stablemates I posted about a few days ago were actually supposed to be mid year releases but Breyer is aiming to ship them out a bit early to make up for the issues with delays in shipping regular run products this year, so kudos to them for looking out for their dealers. *At this time, we don't know what the rest of the mid year lineup will look like, but stay tuned! It will probably be announced next month!*
Also for those who haven't heard, Breyerfest tickets will be on sale only until June 7th, or until sell out, whichever comes first. If you plan to attend, be sure to buy your ticket! They also leaked on social media that Breyerfest grab bags WILL BE BACK THIS YEAR (*internally screaming*) and will include some vintage warehouse finds. I just want to clarify before someone comments... Raia is a flagship horse, meaning you have to be a brick-and-mortar (physical) store in order to purchase her. Since I'm an online dealer only, I was not eligible to buy Raia directly from Breyer. I do, however, have a local dealer whom I have been buying Breyers from for years, long before I even became a dealership, so I was able to obtain Raia from there. However, I was limited to only purchasing ONE model so I'm unfortunately not able to purchase Raia for my own customers, and I truly do apologize for that. If you get the opportunity to buy Raia from a local dealer near you (dealers can get in trouble for selling flagship horses online) or on the second hand market in future, I hope this little review will help you decide. The horse I bought had minimal flaws and pretty crisp markings. I wasn't sure if I'd like her because she's a light bay, but she's actually pretty nice with subtle dappling and lots of chrome. The mold is on the smaller side but highly detailed. I used to own Smoke back in the day, and I regret selling her. I hope to find her again sometime. Next up is Spectrum. Now this horse I was able to order, as she's the fall decorator, and I was actually a bit disappointed in the quality of these. Almost all of them had flaws in some way. One had a chipped ear, several had boxes that had been sliced into with a blade, there were goobers under the gloss, fingerprints in the paint and one even had a string of gloss between the tip of her tail and rear. Again I'm not blaming Breyer, most likely they had to make these pretty quickly to make up for lost time due to COVID, but I did want to warn people who are super picky about models. If you can ignore the factory flaws, the paint job is very beautiful. I would have liked to see the color more evenly distributed, though. The red ran into the orange areas and the orange into the yellows, making her very orange-y over a good portion of her body. However, I did think it was kind of cool that her rear leg was split right down the middle with purple and blue. Her hooves looked like they were the typical pink color with good iridescence. Finally, I ended up purchasing two more Spooky Stablemates before they sold out. They've arrived and I'm incredibly grateful that I ended up with a complete set, especially after so many Slainte Surprise duplicates from Breyerfest. As there were only three horses to get and I purchased four, I did of course receive a duplicate in the form of mini Twilight Terror, so I'm going to sell him off. My only complaint is that I'd much prefer Breyer have not used the tippy Friesian mold for Night Mare, but it is what it is. I also received my traded mini Ichabod so I almost have the complete Spooky Stablemates series, minus Calavera, who I didn't really like anyways. I'm thrilled to see what releases Breyer comes up with for October, November with the Black Friday sales and especially December with all the holiday releases. We have the fifth release in the Stablemates Club due this month and the final Premier Club horse due next month. I will keep y'all posted with any new releases I find out about :)
Right on time! Tractor Supply told me the estimated delivery date for Eclipse would be Thursday and here he is, although sadly his box was crushed in the mail. Thankfully the horse was ok. In hand, this guy is a stunner. It appears that the blue on him is in the black paint and not over the white areas (kind of hard to tell from the promo pictures) but that just adds to his collectibility, otherwise he'd just be like any of the other previous TSC black and white pintos. The particular horse I received was very blue compared to most of the ones I've seen. Breyer is really hitting it out of the park this year. Although I'm not too happy about the damaged box, I am glad it wasn't worse, as so many people had theirs show up crushed to where there were flaws. I don't think the flaws he has are from the damage because the flaws were nowhere near the crush site. They just appear to me to be typical paint flaws that are common with TSC horses. I'm super thankful to have been able to get one at all. I feel like he's going to be a big sell out. If anyone is interested in purchasing the Tractor Supply exclusives online, here is the link. I wasn't too sure about this mold when the original Emerson came out, but I have to admit that after seeing Winx and this guy, the mold is really growing on me. I think it was Emerson's coloring that I didn't really care for. Winx is probably the only plain bay I have in my collection besides American Pharoah, both horses I was fond of watching race. Plain bay actually looks good on this mold because it looks just like what a typical young, staturistic Thoroughbred should. I try to resist congas, but I may try to conga the obtainables on this mold. Also, remember that foal in the August newsletter? Well here he is, and he's got a buddy! I thought the sneak peek was going to be the Collector Club fall special run, but it turns out that it's actually a lottery of the next in the Wild Animal Series. They are $150 for the pair, and if you're a Collector Club member, you can enter to try to win them. I'm kind of relieved to be honest, as this is a series I don't collect and I have a lot of dealer orders put in for this month so spendings will be a bit tight for September. Hopefully if they're going to release a fall Collector Club SR this year (provided COVID didn't affect production) they'll hold off on releasing it until next month. Maybe we'll see a sneak peek for it in the September newsletter?
We just had a bad storm blow through last night and ever since my Wifi has been running extremely slow, both on the computer and my phone. I actually picked up Solidago at noon but have been fighting with my internet ever since to post this review. Anyways... I'm not sure what is up with Eclipse but Tractor Supply offered him for sale at 30% off, oversold him and had to refund people, then took him off the website all together, finally putting him back up for regular price until he sold out again, and then having to refund even more people. By some miracle I was able to snag one while he was on sale, although he isn't supposed to arrive until Thursday this week. According to what I keep reading online, I'm lucky to have received Eclipse at all. Now for the in hand pictures you all have been waiting for. Here is Solidago in all his glory: I'm still not sure what to make of this mold. It's a smaller mold, very squat bodied and not very long. He would easily fit in a 12x12x12 mailer even while inside his box. I don't know if Quarter Horse was a good breed choice. I'm going to call him a Mustang despite what his information card says, and even that is being nice. The mold is so cartoon-y and on this color makes him look more like Chica Linda than the portrait they made of her on the Rain mold. I love the color though. The softness of his shading blends together, he has bold leg barring and dorsal stripe. I also like how the mane/tail color is slightly lighter than the body. This particular horse doesn't appear to be chalky, though there might be a few repaints of Boomerang out there that'll spring up as stores get him in, as what happened with Jesse. Solidago has a few minor paint flaws here and there (I'll make a video for Youtube to show you in more detail) but not nearly as bad as the flaws on Boone were. I haven't had a horse on this color since I bought Cheveyo back in 2008. I would love to see Breyer make more dunalinos sometime in future, possibly even a few with dapples this time. Here are his out of box photos: He has the usual "Made in China" sticker on his belly and a silver UPC/VIN number. This is common with Tractor Supply horses. He also came with a leaflet in his box for a coupon code to be used on Breyer's website for 50% off the Western saddle and bridle set: MYNEWSADDLE if you want to purchase it.
All my spots for Spectrum were literally filled in a day! I'm honestly surprised at how quickly she went. I feel sad I couldn't get Raia for you guys, but even if I did, I wouldn't be able to mail them to anyone because the point of the brick-and-mortar horses is to be sold in physical stores only, not online. We can lose our selling rights if we violate the rules unfortunately. I did place an order today for the new wooden stablemates stables so if any of you are interested in those (they have one that comes with six unicorns and one that comes with six stablemates) just let me know. Cost is $25 plus shipping to you. The stock photos of the Tractor Supply horses have been revealed! I'm really impressed with Eclipse. It looks to me like he has an blue iridescent finish, but it may just be the lighting. It could just be bluish-black shading. Either way, I like it. When Emerson mold was released through the Premier Club, he just didn't grow on me. Putting Winx on this mold really made me change my mind for some reason. I thought maybe it was because she was a more breed appropriate color, but actually he looks really good as a Paint, so I don't know... maybe it was just Emerson's original coloring I didn't like. Anyways, here is the Tractor Supply lineup: My local store told me they'll probably have their horses in by the end of September. I'm really looking forward to picking up Eclipse and Salidago, as I only have one other dunalino in my whole collection (Cheveyo) so it'll be nice having another, even though I do wish they would have used a more realistic mold. Don't get me wrong... I love the Spirit series just not on a Breyer horse. They look way too cartoon-y for my liking.
The Tractor Supply horses are currently on sale right now. If you'd like to purchase them, click here. I have just received word from Breyer of Spectrum, the 2020 fall decorator. She is a beautiful rainbow appaloosa on the Bobby Jo mold, similar to Prism. Take a look: I am currently doing pre-orders through my website (the contact form is sending messages to the correct email now) which the price will be $65 plus shipping and must be paid in full to hold. EDIT: PRE-ORDERS HAVE BEEN FILLED... THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT! Another release is Raia, whom I unfortunately won't be getting in since I'm not a brick and mortar store. A brick and mortar dealer has to have a physical store, not just internet selling like I do, as it's against Breyer's rules to sell these ones online. Dealer can lose their selling privilege if they do. She is a dappled light bay Arabian. Apparently Breyer has decided to bring back the Make a Wish mold, and this time they've put a new swish tail on her. This mold was quite popular back in the day so I think a lot of people will be happy to see her return. It also makes me wonder if we'll see this mold in next year's Breyerfest lineup? Maybe? Breyer will be putting out these cute little wooden stables with stablemate sized models as fall releases, just in time for the holidays! Reminds me a bit of the Melissa and Doug stables, which I bought for my daughter for Christmas one year, and I hope to purchase these for her too. The pink stable comes with six stablemate unicorns from the Unicorn Surprise blind bags. If you didn't get the full set, you can purchase this to get all except the pink Clydesdale and, of course, the chase. The blue stable contains six all new horses never made before. I will be ordering both sets so if you'd like to pre-order one or even both (I would be happy to combine shipping), please feel free to Contact Me. Pricing is $24.99 plus shipping. Finally, there will be a new Deluxe stablemates barn that's a different color from the red brick one though same setup and same horses included (same $99.99 price tag as well) and a new truck/trailer, which includes a palomino Shetland and a bay Highland Pony. I always love the fall season. The wind down from a hot, humid summer and the last hurrah before winter hits. Apple cider, everything pumpkin, hay rides, the crisp autumn leaves and, of course, the new Breyer releases. It's an exciting time to look forward to!
The Saturday raffle prize model, Order of the Thistle, has been revealed, and of course they had to make an unobtainable Hamilton just as I was thinking about starting a conga with that mold. At least that verifies the rumors of the third store special being on Hamilton were just that... rumors. The other sneak peek has yet to be revealed, but I'm pretty sure is going to be the Sunday raffle model since it too has mapping. Will they use Altynai for this one? I guess we'll see! We're still waiting on the final store special, who we know now isn't going to be on Hamilton, and the decorator for Breyerfest. Oh, and while we're on the subject of decorators, that rainbow sneak peek from the March CC newsletter has been revealed finally. Amazingly this one was NOT a Collector Club only edition, but will be a flagship store special. Once a year dealers get a decorator that are sold in limited quantities. This year's model, Crystalline, only has 4,000 made and is a beautiful rainbow deco on the Goffert mold. Another rumor going around social media is the release of three new Stablemates singles at Walmart. Honestly the Gypsy Vanner looks like a solid version of the pinto from last year's Breyerfest so I probably won't get it, but I'm loving that palomino Mirado. After finding series 4 MW at my local Walmart, I'm hoping they'll get these in soon, and maybe I can offer a few on eBay to others. Finally, those who get to purchase ponies for the Seattle Soiree are in for a real treat... the event models! Only those chosen to attend who didn't get a refund on their tickets have access to purchase these extremely limited (and expensive!) models. Remember that Redmond and Puget were included free with tickets as sort of celebration models for the event. Here are the rest of them: My favorites are Storm and Olympia. I love Ashquar (especially in exquisite dappled rose grey!) and that champagne coloring on Marabella is a weakness of mine. However, they are wayyyy out of my price range so I'll appreciate them from the lucky ducks on social media when they are sent out.
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! Well, it's THAT time of the year again, the time for the Breyer fall releases! We have been looking forward to the Halloween horses (both Classics and Traditional), the fall flagship horse, the fall limited edition decorator, the fall Collector Club release, the Tractor Supply horses, the holiday horse, the web exclusives and the late releases in the specialty clubs. Most have been released by now but there are still others that are a mystery. Stay tuned! For all you book lovers, there is a new, yet classic, horse coming to the lineup. Remember National Velvet's the Pie? Well if you do, you will be happy to see that, like Black Beauty, he will now be able to be collected in Classics size. I love the markings on this guy, and definitely plan on adding him to my personal collection! The book and the movie were my all time favorites as a child! Ugh... Breyer. You're going a tad bit crazy with the unicorns of late. We're going to have to start calling your company Breyer Unicorns. Just kidding... Anyways, you unicorn and fantasy horse lovers need new horses to collect, right? Well here you go, meet Zoe and Zander the next foals in the Classics unicorn series. Aaaaaaand... you will probably also love.... Yep! That's right! Walmart is coming out with a second series of the Unicorn Crazy stablemates with all new unicorns! Now even though I don't tempt myself by collecting every unicorn Breyer has ever released to date or else I'd drive myself insane, I do collect some in the stablemates size (because they're affordable hehe) so I do plan to keep my eyes out for these guys! I have to admit that the colors on this series are amazing and I like that Breyer used a different mold for the chase piece, probably to avoid all the crazies that ripped open all the Magnolias trying to track down the chaser from the last series. I never found the black and gold Halloween colored chaser from the last series, which I'm really bummed about. Maybe this time I'll have a good chance of chasing the rainbow? No pun intended... Now this guy is definitely on my want list. This is Khalid, the fall flagship horse. I was actually hoping that I wouldn't like the second flagship horse this year, as my wish list for this year is big enough. However, this guy is a Barb horse, and I don't think Breyer has used that breed much before. The modified Marwari mold has, to date, only been used one other time for a Breyerfest SR but I think this coloring looks the best on this mold yet. I'm still a little upset that they made him a - you guessed it! - dun but at least he's metallic so that's a little better than just simply being dun. Those that went crazy over Banner from Breyerfest will go even crazier when they see Lightning Ridge, who is the limited edition decorator. They are only making 3,000 pc of him and I bet that he'll be sold out very quickly once he's released to the website.
A sneak peek of the Tractor Supply special runs has been floating about the internet lately. Apparently there is going to be three this year, although only two are available at this time. Usually I only like one of the Tractor Supply special runs but I admit that I want all of them this year. Breyer did a good job! The first horse is a buckskin blanket appaloosa on the Smarty Jones mold. His name is Hakan, and from what I can see this horse is going to have nice, realistic shading. I'm really surprised Breyer released two buckskins in the same year, although I admit I'm excited for this guy, who looks like Rocket from BF with his buttermilk buckskin coloring. I was really hoping he'd have some dappling like Rocket but I don't think he does. I'm just super happy to see this mold again! I plan on getting him. His name is Sampson and he's on the original Gypsy Vanner mold. This is Stella a bay pinto on the Bluegrass Bandit mold and she's going to be the third Tractor Supply special run. I like that they gave her such realistic looking hooves and the high stockings are kind of neat. Personally though I don't collect this mold so I think I'm going to pass on her.
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