If you haven't been under the new releases on Breyer's website, meet Gingerbread, the next in the annual A Pony for Christmas series. I've collected this series since they started it with the Haflinger in 2018 and so I have already purchased Gingerbread for my personal collection who will be joining said Haflinger (who didn't have a name) and Honeybunch on my shelves. I will not be carrying these on my website. They are a Breyer web exclusive, not available to dealers. He comes with a cute gift box and blanket. Being on the Bouncer mold, this guy will probably be pretty popular. So what's left? Well, we already have our Classics unicorn in Solar Flare. There may or may not be a limited edition holiday decorator, Christoff was offered last year but this was the first time they'd done it so I have no idea if it'll be a new tradition or if it was just a one time thing. We should also be getting a web exclusive holiday mare and foal set. Speculation was that this will be the Arabian mare and foal mold teased to us in the Collector Club newsletter from last month but it's possible they'll be the holiday lottery models. I truly hope not because I would love to have an obtainable set at original price but then another part of me feels like they're going to slap a horn on them.
The past few years they've also offered stablemate blind bags for the holiday season. It started with the Fruitcake Fillies, then the Starry Skies, but then it really got into the holiday spirit with the Festive Filigrees. The Collector Club Appreciation event, which was done last year around this time but so far has been no mention of this year, is still up in the air. Deluxe members from this year are still eagerly awaiting their exclusive stablemate (whose name I cannot for the life of me recall but he was on the Alborozo mold and was a replica of the $22,000 auction horse) that was supposed to arrive fall 2020. So all in all, still quite a bit to look forward to. The best time of the year is upon us! For all the 499 other Vintage Club members who didn't see the email update yet... here ya go! Finally some updates from Breyer! My Yellow Mount and Dawn and Dusk set will be available for sale here on my website for anyone interested. They will be posted at 8 PM EST tonight. For those of you who are unicorn lovers, meet Solar Flare, the annual web special Classics unicorn. Typically I don't like this mold (imo it looks like a fish) but this color goes well with it, almost to the point that if I hadn't promised myself NO UNICORNS I would be adding him to my collection in a heartbeat. Although this wasn't Breyer's intention, I think he looks like a goldfish :) Anyone with All Access tickets from Breyerfest who put in their name for the second chance sale keep an eye on your emails in the next day or so. Breyer will be pulling names for the opportunity to purchase Breyerfest leftovers. I didn't put in my name again since I already had my chance to dip into the leftover stash with my VIP ticket, but I just wanted to remind those who did so you don't miss your opportunity. Also, today was the last day for current Vintage Club members to sign up for the 2022 Vintage Club. Tomorrow it will be open to everyone. If you're interested in joining, keep an eye out for the email because, as a forewarning, this club is extremely hard to get into, being so limited.
Apparently my assumption that Christoff might be taking the place of the gambler's choice holiday stablemates was false (maybe a Classics winter deco will be a new thing?) because today Breyer released the Festive Filigrees early to CC members. They literally sold out within hours, and not surprisingly. They were miniature versions of the past Santa Surprise filigrees, which I really really wish Breyer would bring back. I loved the holiday colored Santa Surprises, and these little cuties were no exception. I bought the limit of 2. Though I really don't mind any of them, my favorites are the red Smart Chic Olena and green Croi, provided I even get different ones. Breyer has been horrible this year at sending me duplicates for gambler's choices. Honestly though, I'm in the ever expanding group of people that are tired of gambler's choices. Can't we ever just buy what we want? I would have loved to have had the complete set of these guys but I'd rather pay outright for them, not have to trade with someone mine to get the one(s) I need. Breyer... hear us out. We love you as a company but enough is enough driving us batty with the gambler's choices.
In other news, the blue Breyer Farms wooden stables with the six stablemates will be coming this week so we will see which horses they decided to use in it. I will review them as soon as they arrive. They are currently available on eBay to purchase, though after recent changes to eBay's policies in regards to the new managed payments that they're starting in the new year, I will be opening my own web store (which will be right here on my website) the beginning of December. Be sure to visit back around that time to check out my new store and be sure to tell your friends! Without the traffic of eBay, I will be relying upon word of mouth for the future of my website and Breyer business. Any 2021 RR releases will be able to be pre-ordered directly from there as well. We should know more about those soon :) My package arrived today with Troubadour and his shipping companions. However, I plan to review Troubadour in a different post, which I will write on the weekend, because he is truly spectacular. The other two were the mare/foal unicorns Bellatrix and Spice, and the winter Classics, Christoff. First, I would like to talk about Bellatrix and Spica. Although I love that same blue/black color that Eclipse from Tractor Supply has however I'm a bit disappointed with the dappling on the mare. It is very subtle, and dappling was one of the reasons why I bought this pair. The foal has more blue in her than her mother, who is more black than blue or purple. The purple interference, by the way, is also more noticeable on the foal than the mare. They are in excellent condition overall and still my favorite of the unicorn sets but I do hope that next year they use a real horse set. I'm honestly expecting Rhian and Cadell to be used. My other tag-along, Christoff, was actually more impressive than I thought he'd be. Granted, he did arrive with a creaky mane (might be common for this mold though since the mane is slightly lifted - to be honest I've never had one on this mold) and what looks like one of his hooves was filed down a bit too much that it left a scrape mark, but otherwise he's beautiful. His snowflake patterns are nice and crisp with no overspray. My job has been ramping up the hours the past few weeks due to having early Black Friday (will Breyer follow suit or will they have it on time this year?) so I've been slacking on my painting. I still have a few traditional Halloween horses that I still haven't finished, but all my Halloween stablemates are done and all but one have found new homes. I've started working on Christmas stablemates, with my first three already on the market right now. One is a nativity scene, one is a Christmas night scene and the mare/foal pair are cute little tree bulb decorators. I have brought back my beloved metallic silver and gold paint that I used for Christmas customs years back. I will get my traditional Halloween horses completed by Christmas, I promise. I will be using the Emerson, Bristol and Bouncer molds for these customs. I'm excited to share them, so long as I can find the time to finish them.
I have some good news! I just got word from Breyer that some of my wooden stablemates stables will be on their way here next week so the mystery of "which horses?" will soon be solved! I don't know if this order will include the blue or pink stables because I'm not receiving my entire order (some of it is still out of stock and will be shipped later) so I guess we'll see when they get here. Breyer also managed to squeeze in another web exclusive release today. Meet Bellatrix and Spica, the annual holiday mare and foal set. Unfortunately, I do have to complain a minute here, and I know Breyer is tired of hearing about it but I noticed the previous pattern for the holiday mare and foal set has been horse-unicorn-horse-unicorn. If going by that pattern, since last year's Mira and Antares were unicorns (which never sold out and are still available on the website by the way) I don't understand why these two are unicorns. Ok, rant over. Despite the horns, I'm having a hard time avoiding these two but I promised myself no unicorns. Breyer makes it so darn tough, though! They had to put one of my favorite colors (blue/black) on a mold I conga and then expect me to pass it up. I'm thinking I may need to make an exception just this once. Finally, I would like to show you guys Honeybunch in the plastic. She is adorable and has very pearly white areas, just as an FYI for those who aren't big on pearling. I was kind of hoping for some white under her blanket, or even some lovely dapples, but she has neither, she is just plain ole palomino. She's still a cute addition to my little Fell Pony conga and the horse I received was pretty flawless, I couldn't really find anything wrong with her. She came in the beautiful printed box in the background, though the box wasn't as thick as the one sent with A Pony for Christmas last year. All these releases are so close together that, like many, I'm having a hard time coming up with the funds for all of them. I still have the club deposits yet to purchase. I've decided to join the Stablemates Club and Premier Club again next year but will most likely forego the Vintage Club even if I do have the opportunity to join. As much as I love that red roan Georg, more often than not I am able to find those horses less than cost. If I collected vintage models for my own collection, I probably would join, but considering that I only like maybe one a year, I may have a hard time selling it for the original cost I paid for it.
Breyer is still cranking them out. If you go to their website and check under new releases (go to products then highlights) you'll see their new releases including the Black Beauty re-release on the Silver mold. It appears that, while this year Breyer was mostly concentrating on appaloosas, we usually get a little hint at what they're going to focus on for the next year at the end of the previous year, and this time it appears to be black horses going by the new Black Beauty, the unicorn mare/foal set and next year's Collector Club special run. The release date for Black Beauty is estimated to be November. If you haven't seen them yet, here they are: Honestly I'm surprised with the Fairfax gift set because of the fact that typically Horses of the Year are only released one year but it looks like Fairfax will be available for a little while longer. The final newest release is Nova, a Classics sized unicorn. Although he's meant to look like the sun, in my opinion he looks like a dragon. Unfortunately all the horses listed above are web specials, meaning sold through Breyer's website only and not to dealers, therefore I will not be getting them in. The wooden stables that I'm supposed to be receiving are confusing because Breyer apparently changed the molds and colors of the horses coming with their wooden stable sets. The unicorns appear to be a whole new set too instead of the blind bag ones they showed in the original stock photos as well as the stablemates and there has actually been three different sets of stablemates shown for the blue stable. The question is which set will it be? I really hope it's not the latest one shown because they really do look very cheaply painted. I won't know what the actual colors are until they're in hand, which should be soon since their estimated arrival date is November, but once I do, I'll surely let y'all know! So what's left? Well, we've just had the Collector Club Appreciation deal, seen the fall CC special run (Sassy), the Halloween Classics horse (Ratsputin), we got our Spooky Stablemates, our Wild Animal series lottery models, our web special pony (Honeybunch), our Classics decorator web exclusive (Christoff) and now the Classics unicorn (Nova). That leaves the holiday stablemates web special gambler's choice, the holiday mare and foal set, the holiday animal lottery model, the holiday lottery horse and the Santa Surprise. Still quite a few in store for us these upcoming months!
Just when you think it was over, Breyer has cranked out yet another release today. This is Christoff the new Classics winter decorator. I'm assuming this guy is taking the place of the previously released web exclusive Classics (examples are Frosty, Coeur de Lion, Zenith, etc.) but this guy is unique because he's a clearware, and his pattern is very similar to St. Moritz. I may end up adding this guy as a buddy to ride with when I purchase the final Premier Club horse, provided he's still available by then. Only 2,000 were made. I'm assuming they'll release some wintry stablemates either next month or in December so I'll let y'all know if that happens. In the meantime, I've received Valerio, and I ended up with the sooty buckskin appaloosa. The first thing I thought was that he looks very similar to Andante. Here are some in-hand pictures of him before I package him up to be sent to his new home: Unfortunately he just wasn't my cup of tea. Although he was described by Breyer as a "sooty buckskin" he just looked too bay to me, especially as the one I received was super dark, hardly any yellow at all. I probably won't hunt down the rose grey since prices are outrageous for this guy so instead I will be looking forward to the dapple grey Clydesdale and the chunky broodmare in December!
Breyer has been going crazy with all the new releases and sneak peeks of late, and they're still trying to take our money. First of all, meet the Palomino for Christmas, the second in what appears to be a series of "ponies for Christmas" which kind of surprises me with how poorly the Highland Pony sold last year (he's actually still available on the website) but maybe with the more sought-after mold we'll see more in future. This gal's name is Honeybunch and she has a palomino coat with a pearly mane and tail. As with the Pony for Christmas, Breyer didn't show us what's under her blanket. Is she dappled? Pinto? Or knowing this year she's probably appaloosa. I guess I'll be finding out when she shows up at my door soon because of course I bought her with her being on one of my all time favorite molds. It's a shame she didn't come out a bit sooner or I would have bought her with Valerio to save on shipping... oh well. Finally, at least for now, for all you Vintage Club members, the optional horse Barrington is now available for purchase. She is $135 plus shipping to those who are in the Vintage Club and would like to own this model on the Bristol mold.
Double post today! There's been sooooo many reveals lately it's hard to keep up, so I decided to separate them into a unicorn post and a horse post. Today, Breyer made an electronic newsletter for Collector Club members. Is this a new thing or did I just not remember them doing this? Anyways, it had a sneak peek of the upcoming holiday decorator. If you read my previous post about the upcoming holidays, I mentioned this decorator. Typically it's a filigree, usually silver, although last year they made a blue filigree and this year it looks like they're going with what looks like rose gold. The only question is now what mold will it be on? It will be a lottery model, not available for outright purchase. There should be a holiday animal also coming up. These models are very limited so they will run on the higher end for pricing. And speaking of high end pricing, take a look at this test model, the bay roan Wixom! This lady, if you are the lucky person to win her, is $850 out of pocket. Really, that's not bad for a OOAK model considering that BF auction horses go for thousands of dollars... just ask the person who won that Alborozo at last year's BF and they'll tell ya! I do notice that a lot of the test models are some shade of roan. It seems like Breyer is trying hard to perfect roaning, one of the most difficult colors they could probably do outside of, say, brindling. I mean it's incredibly hard to get a roan to look realistic. Another possible web exclusive is a Pony for Christmas. Decked out in a shiny green blanket with red bow, he looks like a present himself. He also comes with a gift box with a ribbon tied around it, perfect for gifting. It's obvious he's a bay horse, but with that blanket over him, we have yet to find out if he's solid bay or pinto. It would be cool to remove the "present" blanket and find out he has some white markings underneath - but I'm probably dreaming.
Update: He actually does have minimal white underneath as well as some awesome dapples! I won't spoil the surprise much more than that for those who want to purchase him :) The unicorn addiction has me rolling my eyes by this point. By golly I'm going to start calling the company Breyer Unicorns if they don't start making more horses LOL. I've been saving up for the holiday mare and foal set, which can now be scratched off my list since they're unicorns. If the Santa Surprise horse is a unicorn again this year or if it's as pricey as the SS was last year, I'm probably going to use the money saved for that to join the Premier Club instead. Anyways, here is your latest unicorn lineup: First up are the Starry Skies Stablemates. They are limited to four per person and are a gambler's choice of four different designs. All have star patterns on their bodies and glow in the dark. Big Dipper is a green Clydesdale, Little Dipper is a blue Magnolia, Cassiopeia is a pink Warmblood Stallion and Cepheus is a purple Alborozo. Warning... rant ahead! Don't even get me started on the blind bags. Now I don't want to sound like one of THOSE people that complain about everything Breyer does (I LOVE Breyer as a company or else I wouldn't have this website) and I like gambler's choices every once in a while, but they are taking it a little too far. Seems this whole year almost everything has been a gambler's choice or blind bag. Ugh! I like surprises but not this many, Breyer, and I'm sure plenty of other collectors agree. Ok, rant over. On to the next horse... Zenith is the unicorn that they released today. She's a Classics model, not traditional. She reminds me of a sunset. She'd go great with the other Classics unicorns breyer has released as web exclusives in the past (meaning Zenith is only available on Breyerhorses.com) and honestly I used to collect Classics unicorns, but then there got to be so many that I chucked them a long time ago. I'm thinking about doing the same with the stablemates unicorns I have. There's just too many to collect that really it's getting a bit overwhelming. These unicorns are taking the place of Breyer's annual holiday mare and foal set. It seems like they're doing a flip flop between regular horses and unicorns. This year their names are Mira and Antares and they're on the Andalusian Mare/Foal molds. I love the realistic dappling on these two and the pearly sheen, but the mare isn't one of my favorite molds. I own Celeste and currently she is part of my "tipsy girls" shelf, along with Natasha on the Weather Girl mold. These molds remind me of the vintage Pacer with how they fall over so easily. By the way, when ARE we going to get a new Standardbred? That has been way overdue by now. I also wish Breyer would lay off the brown for these molds. Anybody with me when I say we need a nice dapple grey pair? The final release is not a web exclusive but a Fairytale Friends Club exclusive. This is Rose, the latest release, with her Mini Whinnies mini me. As a side note, I'd love to see realistic horse colors made on the unicorn molds for the FFC rather than just fantasy colors.
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