Birds of a Feather Series Sixth Release: Robin and Nestling (#712441)

 

Oh that email that Breyer sent out yesterday! I squawked in an unintentional bird-like manner upon seeing this in my inbox:

I think it is safe to say that probably no one had guessed the Running Mare as the Sneak Peek Square from the February 2022 CC Newsletter, and especially not the accompaniment of the Running Foal. Speaking of running, let’s get our Birds of a Feather Series friends in for a visit:

Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!!!!! Hahahaha, that still shot never gets old to me. Running Mare, Running Foal, running from murderous birds, running to Breyer’s website to enter…lots of running going on. I am thrilled to see these old molds in use (the Running Mare was introduced in 1961 and the Running Foal was introduced in 1963); with their fresh paint jobs and gloss, they look like they could had been Vintage Club offerings. The Running Mare and Running Foal have already appeared in the Vintage Club as Salt and Pepper (2012), so it is unlikely that we’ll see them used in the VC for a long time, if ever.

I really like the name Nestling as it is unusual. Robins are associated with the arrival of spring, and in keeping with the bird theme (and time of release) I’m glad Breyer chose an original yet bird themed name for the Running Foal. Nestling certainly has springtime connotations, but it doesn’t spill completely out of the bird theme and directly into a spring theme. They could have chosen a spring name, like Flower, lol. Now onto the informational part: Robin and Nestling are bay pintos (with Robin being a bit brighter than Nestling) in a glossy finish. They are available to Collectors Club members via lottery draw, with entries closing on 3/13/22. Limited to 500 sets, they are priced at $185.00 plus shipping and handling. I am certainly entering for a chance at this set. Best of luck to all who are wanting to add this pair to their collections! 

*Photos of Robin and Nestling are from Breyer’s email, Twitter, and website.*

*Movie still from The Birds (1963).*

Birds of a Feather Series Fifth Release: Cardinal

 

Hahahaha, look who has migrated back to the blog for the 2022 releases of Breyer’s Birds of a Feather Series! It’s our favorite still shot from the movie The Birds returning to continue the fun. Run run run, the birds are catching up! I would love a glossy, solid black model representing a raven, but that’s not going to happen. Puffin is already a glossy, mostly black model, and a solid glossy black would be considered too simplistic a paint job. Lololol, I should do my own models-as-birds series. A raven for certain, and a flamingo would be entertaining (neon pink, y’all). Or maybe just black (or mostly black) birds? A Palm Cockatoo, red-winged blackbird, etc. 

Ahem, getting back on track here to 2022’s first web special. The fifth model in the Birds of a Feather Series is Cardinal (#712440) and is described as Breyer as having a “rich auburn coat that pops against his gleaming white stockings.”  The Shannondell/Shire Gelding mold was chosen to represent the Cardinal, so he is gonna be one of the super popular models from this series. There is a lottery for the opportunity to purchase Cardinal, who is priced at $185 plus shipping and handling. Cardinal is a run of 500 pieces, which is an increase in the production number compared to previous models in the Birds of a Feather series: 

Puffin (#712383): 380 piece run

Goldfinch (#712384): 380 piece run

Crane (#712385): 375 piece run

Meadowlark (#712386): 375 piece run

I’m glad that the run numbers have increased; more pretty ponies to go around!

The email announcing Cardinal:

Entries for Cardinal will be accepted until 11:59 pm EST January 25, 2022. Good luck to all who are entering!

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

Birds of a Feather Series Fourth Release: Meadowlark

 Run to Breyer’s website and enter for the fourth model in the series!

Meanwhile, in the testing lab, the Breyer News Catcher seems to have caught something…

The fourth release in Breyer’s Birds of a Feather Series is Meadowlark, a glossy palomino pinto on the Bluegrass Bandit mold. She is limited to 375 pieces, and entries for the lottery will be accepted through 6/29/2021. Good luck to all who are entering for her!

There’s a good chance I missed it due to life dancing on fire lately, but I don’t think we got a sneak peek square of her. I happened to check my email and saw her in my inbox. 

I wonder if she will be the last in the series, or if we will be treated to more horses disguised as birds. I hope Breyer continues this series! 

*Movie still from The Birds (1963)*

*Movie still from Back to the Future (1985), captioned by me*

*Photos of Meadowlark 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*

Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuun!!! More Birds and 2021 Vintage Club Reveals!

 Here we go again:

Scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, 1963. Or people running to their computers to enter for Goldfinch.

Breyer has released the second model in their Birds of a Feather series.  It is Goldfinch, a shaded glossy buckskin on the ever popular Silver mold, limited to 380 pieces. The opportunity to purchase a Goldfinch will be via lottery as usual, with one entry per Collector’s Club account instead of daily entries. I would usually enter once anyway as I’d get busy and forget to enter every day. This time Breyer is also requiring entrants to list their home address in addition to their name and Collector’s Club email. I glanced over the conditions of sale but didn’t see any limitations on how many winners per household Breyer will allow. I know there have been instances where collectors have won the same Web Special on multiple accounts. It has happened, but it is rare. Perhaps Breyer will now be checking addresses to help spread the winners around.

I quite like Goldfinch’s promo pictures. The chocolately brown on his legs and the grey/brown mane and tail meld better with the light coat than a straight black. It looks like there may be black tips on the mane and tail, but it is hard to tell from the photo. Either way, it is a gradual darkening and not a stark, demarcated color change. Good luck to all who are entering!

The Grapevine has stated that some members of the Vintage Club have received their official welcome letter, and it included info on the 2021 models. I haven’t received my VC letter yet, but here is the rest of the 2021 VC lineup:

-The Foundation Stallion done as an Indian Pony

-Brighty as the Gambler’s Choice

-Terrang painted a glossy bay and plopped on a Presentation base

-The optional model is a mare and foal set (Marabella and Amber) 

-The bonus Stablemate will be Yellow Mount on the miniaturized Smart Chic Olena mold

I am intrigued by the FS done as an IP. Does that mean an actual color done on the IP, or is it a general statement? People are guessing the FS will be in vintage IP colors, but he’s been done in buckskin twice as Fugir Cacador and as Buried Treasure. He also appeared as a bay blanket Appaloosa in the 1993 JC Penny Wild Horses of America set, which resembles the #174 IP. The FS turned up in alabaster as a Special Run in 1985. Here’s my guy whom I purchased from Horses International decades ago:

The FS has previously been used as First Nations horses-seven times! He was seen as the #710 American Indian Pony, a red roan-ish color. Next he was released in white with cream shading as a Lakota Pony (#869). There were *five* versions of 869; each version had different symbols painted on, predominantly in blue. Some of the models had minimal red symbols on them. In 2010 he appeared as Thunderbolt, a grey Appaloosa bearing symbols in red and blue (and possibly black). Since Thunderbolt was in grabbing distance, here are photos of him:

Maybe we’ll see an IP #175 chestnut tobiano on the FS as we did with 2014’s VC Kiowa? Or maybe Breyer will trick us by putting a more modern IP paint job on a vintage mold. Excited to find out!

Brighty is the Gambler’s Choice which was slightly surprising, but I am happy. I was trying to guess which model would be the GC, and I never thought of Brighty. 

Terrang on a Presentation base is going to be interesting. It makes a lot of sense to use a Classic instead of a Traditional for this, but I’m really curious to see how big the base is going to be and if the horse will be removable. I’m betting it will be removable, and am wondering if the base will be rectangular like the vintage ones. Maybe it will be given a modern spin by being an oval like the bases used for the Ethereal Series or for Cherokee, a black semi-leopard done on the Cody/Ranch Horse mold.

The optional purchase mare and foal set will be done in glossy charcoal. I’m not sure how popular Marabella and Amber are these days, but being a mommy/baby set plus glossy charcoal may make them quite desirable.   

The Bonus SM Yellow Mount is a GC..two GCs for the VC this year! Early models of the traditional Yellow Mount had a white spot present on the off foreleg which disappeared during his seventeen year run (1970-1987). The SM GC will have the foreleg spot present or absent. A tiny difference, and I don’t care which one I get honestly. I’m trying to picture Yellow Mount on the SCO mold, but cannot quite get there. 

That’s all folks, and hopefully we’ll get some photos of the VC offerings at some point...

*Movie still from The Birds, 1963*

*Goldfinch photos taken from Breyer’s website*

Friday was Full of Hobby Happenings

Who would have guessed yesterday would have been a busy hobby day...Lafayette dropped, Breyer Boot Camp started, the Breyer Collector Club Newsletter came out, and The Birds! are back.

Right, starting out with the long awaited appearance of the CC Exclusive model Lafayette. Hurray! Hurrah! Whoooooooo! I thought for sure he’d be released next week. I found him by a chance checking of the CC home page. I was on a conference call which was wrapping up, and took a gulp of water while happening to check the CC page because I was trying to pass the last few forever minutes of the meeting. I gasped when I saw Lafayette and apparently forgot how to drink water. I was coughing and sputtering as I started ordering. I vaguely heard someone ask if I had anything to add, but I just kept coughing and choking. Yes, please add  *cough*choke*sputter*cough-cough* on my behalf, thank you. I then hung up. Next I flew over to Blab (still choking) to make a new thread to alert people that he was available so people could go and order him. Mind you, I didn’t bother to read the accompanying information on his page as in the past, once these models sell out, that’s it. You have missed out. 

Turns out, there was no need for a mad dash to order him-Breyer gave the option for folks to back order him once the first batch of Lafayettes had sold out. 

Well done, Breyer! I am *so* happy they did this! Now every member of the CC can get one if they so choose. In the past, people were often disappointed because these CC exclusive models would be sold out before they even knew about the releases.  I certainly hope Breyer continues to do this!

Yesterday was also the start of Breyer Boot Camp, and unfortunately I didn’t see any of it. There were two Meet the Artist sessions, and the conclusion of the Open Photo Show Judging. I know today’s workshops are to be recorded, but I don’t know if the artist sessions are being recorded. I hope that they are.

The latest Breyer CC newsletter popped up yesterday as well. I skimmed the feature on the evolution of Brenda Breyer. I need to go back and read through it properly, but it was nice to see Brenda Breyer get some recognition.  Oh, and one more thing. Ruuuuuuuuuuuuun!!! The Birds!!!  Breyer treated us to a new sneak peek square of the upcoming model in their Birds of a Feather series:

I cannot venture a guess at the moment which model it may be, but we can see that the mane seems to be flying off of the horse’s neck, indicating a movement model. So that leaves us waiting, just like this:

Scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds, 1963.

*Lafayette photo from Breyer’s website, written on by me*

*Info on back ordering Lafayette from Breyer’s website*

*Sneak Peek square taken from Breyer’s CC newsletter*

*Movie still taken from The Birds, 1963*