Breyer’s Third Test Run of 2021

 

I checked my email the other day and found this announcement from Breyer in it:

This was the test run for Buckeye, a regular run model which has been in production since 2019. Buckeye is a portrait model of a real life dressage mule. The test run is on the Brown Sunshine/Saddle Mule mold, which is same mold used for Buckeye. Here is the regular run production of Buckeye:

There was a spotted mule regular run during 2001-2002:

It’s interesting to see how the 2001-2002 Spotted Mule had sharpie-ish spotting, while the test mule has larger, splotchy spots which evolved to became connected splotches on Buckeye. Breyer gave us four photos of the Test Run Mule, and if this guy had been a regular run, I would have bought him:

The Test Run Mule is priced at $1,350.00 and the opportunity to purchase him will be done via lottery. This is more expensive than the last test run model, Denim, who had a purchase price of $1,100.00.  I am surprised that Breyer is asking so much for him, as this isn’t the most popular of molds. They will undoubtedly have collectors interested and ready to buy if given the chance. Yes, I know that Breyer is a business, but I am going to echo what I said about the last test run’s price-these higher prices are cutting out the chance for some collectors to obtain test runs. I really feel that Breyer should keep test runs as affordable as possible to provide more collectors a chance at a test run. If Breyer really wanted to make more money, an increase in the Collector’s Club models (helllllllo Slyder) would easily provide them with increased profits. Good luck to those who have entered for this handsome guy! 

*Test Run Mule photos from Breyer’s website*

*Buckeye photo from Breyer’s website*

*Spotted Mule #1144 photo from the Identify Your Breyer website*

Annnnnnnnd the Reveal is Here, and Crane Winners are Up!

Breyer wasted no time in getting the Sneak Peek Square Mystery Horse up-meet Stubbs, the Diorama Contest Prize model:

 

Not very orangey-pumpkiny, is he?  Certainly not the same color as shown in the Sneak Peek Square, lol. Stubbs is on the Hanoverian mold which was sculpted by Chris Hess (who else?) and introduced in 1980. Stubbs is “a stunning dunalino with a touch of gold interference in the base coat.” I think this old fella looks nice, and it’s great to see vintage models used. Yep, I’m biased and love the vintage molds!

The winners for the Crane lottery have been pulled! I wasn’t drawn, but a huge congratulations to those who were! I will keep my fingers crossed for the waitlist of course. I am also very curious to see how the dapples look on this guy, because you know, dapples. I hope they did a good job on them.

*Quote from Breyer’s website*

*Stubbs photo from Breyer’s website*

Oops, Forgot-Fireheart Delay, and Crane Day!

Doh!!! Forgot to mention that Breyer sent out an email to Premier Club members that Fireheart, the first PC release of  2021, has been delayed. 

I’m not particularly bothered that Fireheart is delayed. I’m excited to see him in person of course, but it is a long wait for the first model’s release anyway, so a few more weeks isn’t a big deal. 

Today is the drawing for Crane, the third release in Breyer’s Birds of a Feather series. I wasn’t drawn for Puffin or Goldfinch, so we’ll see what happens today. Good luck to those who entered!

Pick your favorite Crane!

*Crane (bird) photo from free stock photos site*

*Crane (mechanical) photo from free stock photos site*

*Crane (Breyer model) photo from Breyer’s website*

Another Sneak Peek Square!

 

Breyer posted another Sneak Peek Square to their Breyerfest blog this past Friday. We know it’s not a Limited Edition model, as the reveal of Kaleidoscope was the last of the Limited Edition models (per Breyer). The Sneak Peek Square looks shoulder-ish to me, but I haven’t studied it closely enough to venture a guess as to who it may be. The Mystery Horse (“Papers? He ain’t got any.”-Henry from the movie The Black Stallion) is a light color, perhaps palomino, dun or buckskin. It’s hard to tell with Breyer’s spectrum of these coat colors, and the sample photo looks a bit orangey...

Here’s the Sneak Peek Square:

Remember Griffin? Griffin was a Collector’s Club Web Special from 2017, on the Cleveland Bay mold. He was supposed to be a palomino, but was more of an orangey-pumpkin color. He was a first come first serve model for CC members, and if there were any leftovers by a certain date he would be available for anyone to purchase from Breyer’s website. He was available for quite some time after his release. I was quite pleased with mine, especially since he was a fall release. He looked great with my pumpkin decorations-and oh do I love pumpkins! I am somewhat pumpkin obsessed, but not pumpkin spice obsessed. I am very finicky and most ‘pumpkin spice’ things are just spice, with no detectable pumpkin flavor. Those items I refer to as ‘no pumpkin spice’ and sadly that is where I classify most things. Anyway, here is a picture of my beautiful Griffin playing among the pumpkins:

My Griffin isn’t as orangey/pumpkin-y as some of the Griffins out there. Wow, talk about a wandering off topic moment...ahem. We shall see the reveal this week as Breyerfest 2021 marches closer (and sales for All Access tickets ends on June 7). Hope that it isn’t an unobtainable Georg!

*Oranges photo from free stock photos site*

*Sneak Peek Square from Breyer’s website*

Breyerfest 2021 Limited Edition Stablemate Reveal

 

Due to my lagging behind, I didn’t get this Sneak Peek Square up before the reveal:

This is the final reveal of the Limited Edition models for this year’s Breyerfest. I must say, I am not disappointed by this guy! Meet Kaleidoscope, a whirl and swirl of colors!

Kaleidoscope is on the Lipizzaner/Darwin Stablemate mold. He has a white mane, tail, and socks, gold hooves, and his body is a “rainbow resist splatter dapple on a pearly blue coat.” I cannot tell if his mane, tail, and socks are pearly from the picture. He is limited to 6,500 pieces and will not be available for back order. I think Kaleidoscope will look great next to Favrile:

Who will look great next to Pollock:

Hmmm...here is something interesting. I noticed on the Breyerfest ticket page that the Event 4 Pack of Stablemates is still showing as available. I popped them into my cart to see if they are still available for purchase, and indeed they are (I didn’t buy them as I have a full set coming as part of the VIP ticket purchase). Clearly the set wasn’t popular enough to sell out. It seems many people weren’t too fond of the mini Fighting Stallion’s color, along with the set being all decorator colors. Perhaps if half of the set had been done as realistic uncommon horse colors, more sets would have sold. While decorators have steadily increased in popularity in recent years, there is still a segment of the collecting population who collect only realistic horse colors (which is totally fine-collect what YOU want!). I cannot wait to see the purple Fjord (Avant Garde) in person as that is the one I want the most from the set. Yay for purple ponies!

*All photos are from Breyer’s website*

It’s a Bird! It’s a Crane! Forget Superman!

 

It’s time for the third release of Breyer’s Birds of a Feather series:

Keep running! Run faster! Get your entries in for Crane! 

No, no, no, not that crane, this Crane! 

Crane is perfectly matched to the Standing Thoroughbred/Emerson mold, with its long legs and willowy build. Crane features light dappling on a shaded chalky coat, and a cream mane and tail. 

Crane will be available to purchase via lottery draw and is limited to 375 pieces. Best of luck to all who enter for him!

*Stillshot from Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds*

*Crane clip art from free stock photos*

*Crane photos from Breyer’s website*

Summer Slip n’ Slyder

 

Summertime...vacation, lemonade, watermelon, vacation, Fourth of July, heat, vacation, swimming, flip-flops, sunscreen, vacation, cookouts, popsicles, and vacation. Back in the day, vacation from school was spent outside running around with the neighborhood kids. On those sultry summer days, sprinting through sprinklers was a great treat to get relief from the heat. Most homes then didn’t have central air-you just opened the windows. If you had a box fan, you would pop that into the window. It was definitely better to spend your time outside instead of being in the stifling indoors. Even better than racing through the sprinklers was someone inviting you over to play on their Slip n’ Slide. It was fun unless the plastic runner had a sharp twig or rock under it. Wham-O is toy company that brought us the Slip n’ Slide in 1961. 

With all of that ‘crazy seal scooting’ (see advertisement above), Slyder has decided to give it a go.

  

It was so much fun, he went and got his two siblings to join in the summer fun:

I was very impressed that Breyer had double wrapped the models for shipping. I couldn’t immediately tell which ones I had received when I unboxed them. As you can see, I got duplicates of the Appaloosas and my top choice, the grey! I am trying to trade for a pinto as I’d like all three. Breyer did such a good job on these guys-beautiful colors, and nice thick gloss. Some of Breyer’s glossies in the recent past haven’t been so generously glossed. Skimpy gloss has been seen on the Collector’s Club Appreciation models. I do think some models (CC appreciation) are glossed in New Jersey, but I’m not 100% sure. If they are, that clearly has nothing to do with their overseas factory. My Olaf (a glossy alabaster SR on the Texas Longhorn Bull) has areas of skimpy gloss, along with patches where there is almost no gloss at all (the location of where Olaf was glossed is unknown to me). But being fair, Breyer doesn’t have much control over what actually happens in their overseas factory. They probably place the order and then it’s shipped here, so whatever arrives, arrives. But let’s turn to these properly glossed beauties. They are so shiny, you can see the sky and clouds reflecting in the gloss.

Here are the three of them together:

The Appaloosas:

And the grey:

Crossing my fingers that I can trade for the pinto and complete the set!

*Photos of Slip n’ Slide advertisements originally from the Wham-O Toy Company*

Mid-year Stablemates and True Blue Exclusive Models Reveal

 

OooooooooOooooooooooo! Breyer revealed six new Stablemate singles, and I want them all!

Really excited for the Cantering Morgan/Charleston and the Irish Draft/Corbin molds since this will be their first regular run releases. And mini Alborozo...who is NOT a unicorn! I don’t mind him as an Albycorn, but it’s really nice to have to have him as a non-unicorn. He will be a good mini-me for Alejandro, a mulberry dapple grey on the Gypsy Vanner swap-a-part mold (please see Identity Your Breyer’s page on the Gypsy Vanner mold if you are unfamiliar with this). Here is Alejandro:

Here is a fuzzy photo of the new (non-unicorn!) Alborozo:

The Breyer True Blue event models have been revealed. I conga three of the molds, and I do like the colors /patterns (where applicable) Breyer chose for all of the molds. 

I find it interesting that Breyer chose to use the no blinders/no hat version of the Old Timer mold. The no blinders/no hat version first made an appearance as a ‘Warehouse Find’ in 2013-2014. This version was available in glossy palomino and a grey blanket Appaloosa. I am fine with the no blinders, but Breyer should have given the Old Timer a hat. I mean, he’s wearing a harness to go to work; he needs a proper hat. Old Timers need their hats. Period. Looking forward to seeing these models in hand! 

*Photos of Stablemate singles and True Blue moldels originally from Breyer*

*Photo of Alejandro from the Identify Your Breyer website*

Nostalgia Corner: A Childhood Horse Part 2

 

I certainly didn’t expect there to be a second part to the original blog post so soon. But here it is...wood (lol, pun!) you believe I actually found  Boomerang (non-Breyer) and my old grazing pony mare?! I am currently trying to sort out models-my own plus my late sister’s collection. There are easily a couple of thousand models; I never kept count of my collection, and I estimate my sister’s collection to be at least a thousand models. Some of my boxes weren’t labeled, so it’s Christmas morning opening them up. I opened up a box and there was Boomerang and the little broken grazing mare. Happy dance! Boomerang is now on a bookshelf (with actual books), and the little broken grazing mare is laying on top of shelved books in the adjoining bookcase. Meet Boomerang:

The movable tail:

And the tail removed:

My original pseudo-wood finish grazing pony mare:

The original and new mares together. Quite the difference in color between the two:

Boomerang and the pseudo-woodgrain finish mares:

I love how the three of them look together! I am definitely going to keep an eye (or seven) out to see if I can find any more of the mares. Perhaps she was produced in a third color; even if she wasn’t, I will still try to buy any if I come across more of them.