In Memory of Brenda Lacy of the Model Horse Mania Blog

 

It is with utmost sadness that I share the news that my friend, fellow collector and blogger Brenda Lacy passed away yesterday after prolonged illness. Brenda and I had been friends since 2012, and although we never met, we shared many interests outside of model horses. We both loved zoos, lighthouses, and silly shark movies. We had many laughs over Sharknado, Sand Sharks, 6 Headed Shark Attack, and other goofy shark themed movies. We were both fans of Emergency!, a 1970s TV show. Brenda liked to write, and was an avid photographer, especially of wild horses. She was also fond of Pusheen, and loved cats, both big and small. At my farm I found the tracks of a huge mountain lion, and I couldn’t wait to tell Brenda because I knew she’d be as excited as I was about having a big cat pass through (I have no livestock, so no worries). Here are her two cats, which had been her Blab avatar forever:

I greatly enjoyed her blog, Model Horse Mania. Brenda was the one who encouraged me to start this blog; I had been hemming and hawing over it, but she provided me the nudge to actually do it. I shall miss Brenda greatly and am still somewhat in shock of her passing. Rest In Peace, dear friend. 

The Unicorn Chronicles: Groovy, This is Out of Sight!

 

New unicorns have been spotted, and they are far out, man! First up is Keep the Peace, on the Classic/Freedom Series mold Fairfax. He has a lot of pink, with some blue and green on his shoulders and barrel. He has a tie dye starburst on his haunch with a huge peace sign layered on top of it. I assume the mega peace sign is present on both sides, but I could have done with the peace sign being reduced significantly. The peace sign makes me think of him as ‘billboard butt.’ The gold is not overdone, there doesn’t seem to be any glitter (yay!), and I think I spy pearliness. Still, Keepie is one I plan to buy. I am still deciding on the ‘90s Throwup (aka ‘90s Throwback) model. I decide I don’t want him, then I change mind to buy him, then change my mind not to… I think if I am having this difficult a time making a decision, he’s clearly not knocked my socks off so no need to get one. Let’s leave the ‘90s and teleport further back to the ‘60s:  

Four tie dye unicorns called the Unicorn Swirl Gift Set have popped up as well. They are each swirled with two colors, and the blue/green Warmblood Mare looks like a tie dye T-shirt I used to have (decades ago): 

It is my understanding that these colorful critters are supposed to be 2022 releases, so they are currently unavailable for order. I’m sure some dealers will be offering preorders on them, but I’m just going to wait for them to be available next year. Really looking forward to see what else is going to be added for 2022.

Faster than Snowflakes Melting on the Sun (Clydesdale Christmas Stablemates and Brunhilde)

Soooooooo, the Christmas Clydesdales (yes, I’ve switched the words) went live about 2:00 pm EST yesterday and sold out in 8-10 minutes… frankly I am surprised. Very surprised. This is not a popular mold, but gone they are. I wish Breyer would release the number of models made as I am quite curious since they sold out in mere minutes. I was able to order before the sellout, and I am grateful I was able to. I still cannot believe they went so fast. As mentioned in my previous post, the Clydesdale Stallion mold is special to me. These guys landed in the ‘must have’ category for me, and it’s rare that something makes that category. Of course, now that I’ve stated this Georg will be the 2021 Winter Web Special, and I won’t be drawn for him, lololololol! Here are some individual photos of the Clydes:

 

Even though this is old news, I’ve decided to tack Brunhilde (pun alert!) on here since she sold out in under one hour, and she’s a draft horse too (yeah, scraping for any similarities to weave her into this post). Our first glimpse of Brunhilde came from a photo in the 2021 JAH:

Brunhilde is the second 2021 Collectors Club exclusive web model. Breyer sent out an email alert on the particulars of when she’d be available for purchase:

Turns out Breyer delayed her release by a day due to a large internet outage which affected a major service provider. I’m glad they delayed Brunhilde to give those collectors affected an opportunity to get her. Here is another photo of her:

I love the color Breyer put on her, but I am so-so on the mold. As this is a mold I don’t actively conga, I decided not to purchase one, even though her color caused me to waver a bit. Okay, I wavered a lot—beautiful bay, draft horse, beautiful bay, draft horse, beautiful bay, draft horse… and I actually didn’t buy one. I’d love to see this bay paint job used again by Breyer in the future. 

*Photos of Brunhilde and the Clydesdale Christmas Stablemates are from JAH, e-mails, and Breyer’s website.*

Midas—New Collector Club Web Special

 

Announced through email, Breyer is offering this “highly limited” web special (“highly limited” is their choice of words). Midas is a loud chestnut splash pinto with two blue eyes on the Flash mold and is limited to 250 pieces. Interestingly, the lotto window for the chance to purchase him is quite short. Entries will be accepted starting at 1:00 pm EST on 11/17/2021 and ending at 11:59 pm EST on 11/18/2021. The price is steep at $295.00 plus shipping and handling. Hmmm… reminds me of 2019’s Ambrose, except Ambrose was sold on a first come, first serve basis. Ambrose was a larger run at 350 pieces, but he and Midas both have the distinction of having been hand painted in New Jersey (like the auction and raffle models for Breyerfest). 

 

*Photos of Midas are from Breyer’s website and email.*

Old News About a New Mold Alert: 2022 Breyerfest Celebration Model

 

This is one of those drafts that I was unable to finish in a timely manner, so here it is, late to the gate…

Collectors are being treated to a new mold for Breyerfest 2022. Sculpted by Brigitte Eberl, the German Riding Pony mold (#815) is joining the Breyer family. Debuting as a portrait model of Nikolas, a buckskin GRP gelding, this fellow is sure to be popular. Nikolas and Avatar’s Jazzman (whose portrait model is on the Flash mold) are scheduled to be at the Kentucky Horse Park for Breyerfest. Both are owned by Melissa Dowling, and trained and ridden by Lauren Chumley. Here is another photo taken from a slightly different angle (though it does look almost the same as the photo above):

The photo below may give an indication of the model’s size. In the photo, the model looks to be at yet another slightly different angle while being held:

Annnnnd another angle of Nikolas from the 2021 JAH:

For Breyerfest Prost, I am extra-super-hoping they use the Georg mold. While the mold is depicting a German breed (Rhenish German Draft), Breyer can sometimes be…unpredictable with their interpretations of chosen themes. I will say that for the Breyerfest 2021 theme of Horse of a Different Color, Breyer knocked it out of the park. That was my favorite Breyerfest theme hands down. Speaking of Breyerfest, it is of no surprise that Breyer has officially announced that Breyerfest 2022 will be an online and in-person hybrid. It’s going to be interesting to see how they balance that out.

*Photos of Nikolas are from Breyer’s website and JAH.*

Christmas Clydesdales and an Update

 

I haven’t been checking my email daily, but I did today and nearly fell off my chair when I saw the email from Breyer for the Christmas Clydesdale Stablemates. They will be available tomorrow, November 16, 2021 for Collectors Club members starting at 2:00 pm EST and available for 24 hours (or while supplies last). After the 24 hour CC early access timeframe is up, the Clydesdales will available for anyone to purchase (yeah, like there’s gonna be anything left over, unless Breyer made 1,000,000,000,000,000 of them). The Clydesdale Stallion mold was my first Breyer ever, so that mold holds a special place in my heart. I am definitely going to make sure I am on the computer so I can buy some! 

And now an update about the blog, or shall I say non-updates. I have been crazy busy and unable to keep up my blog schedule. I have a slew of unfinished drafts, mostly of what could now be considered ancient news. I am thinking about rewriting and condensing the posts just to be sort of a history of the going-ons and releases of 2021. I’d hate to exclude recent releases as that would make the 2021 blog feel incomplete. I will try to use the next week or so to try to get things caught up…