Tobias: The Third Release of the 2021 Stablemate Club

 

Tobias is up and ready to order, except I’m going to hold off a bit on one. I have two SMC memberships, so I ordered one Tobias. I am hoping to order the second one along with Fireheart, the first Premier Club model of 2021. I ordered the latest Vintage Club model, forgetting about waiting for both the PC and SMC releases. I am determined to combine shipping on these other club releases. Tobias is a dun semi-leopard on the SM Appaloosa (G2) mold, which I have a soft spot (get it? Spot?) for. I love his gentle face and swishing tail. Come on Fireheart, I want to order my second Tobias!

*Tobias photos from the Breyer website*

In Memory of Janice Cox, Creator of the Identify Your Breyer Website

 

Yesterday I, like many hobbyists, heard the sad news that Janice Cox, creator of the Identify Your Breyer website, passed away on 6/10/2021. I didn’t know Janice personally, but had corresponded with her and she was always extremely pleasant. Her passing is a tremendous loss to the hobby, and she will, of course, be missed greatly. She started the Identify Your Breyer (IDYB) website in 2001 as a reference for Breyer collectors. It was the perfect go to as it answered so many of our burning questions. How long was this model produced, and during which years? What is the run number for that Limited Edition? Oh, so there is a variation of that model. Was this one ever produced as a chalky? I bought this Breyer model from a garage sale, but I don’t know the vintage molds well, so who is this?  Hmm, which Walmart Blind Bag unicorn is this? It was so easy to get the answers we needed; many of us used Janice’s site weekly. I am one of those hobbyists - I was (and will continue to be) a frequent user. Janice updated the site constantly; as soon as a new model or models came out, she would add them to IDYB. Identify Your Breyer is a treasure trove of information. Janice’s hard work was a blessing and a benefit to the model horse hobby. Rest In Peace Janice, you are loved and shall be fondly remembered by us for your important contribution to the hobby.

Janice was the featured hobbyist in Breyer’s June 2020 Collector’s Club feature, My Collector Story.

ETA: Janice had also done an interview with Triple Mountain Model Horses in 2019, which was posted on the TMMH blog:

https://triplemountain.com/blogs/news/identify-your-breyer-who-is-behind-the-hobbys-favorite-reference-site

A special thank you goes out to Eleda of TMMH for sharing the link to the interview. 

*Identify Your Breyer photo from the IDYB website*

*Photo of Janice Cox from Breyer’s June 2020 Collectors’s Cub newsletter*

2021 Vintage Club Third Release: Thoroughbred Champion

 

Shock of shocks! The non-mysterious Vintage Club glossy bay Terrang Presentation Piece has been completely revealed and is available to order for VC members:

 

I did chuckle at the nameplate-Thoroughbred Champion? So Breyer was unable to come up with a name for this guy? Not even a rehashed name as Breyer is known to reuse names? Lol, I am highly amused by this. Hmm...he could have been named Mahogany Winds, Gateway to Godiva (he looks chocolately), Allegro Tide, Mantis, New Launch, Reactivated...I mean, if I can come up with a bunch of goofy names in under three minutes, couldn’t Breyer? I understand that the model is removable from the base, which is great. Otherwise I would have to rip him off of the base. I love the color and think Breyer did a smashing job on him. I would love to see this color used again and again and again. 

*All photos of Thoroughbred Champion are from Breyer’s website and email*

Dani’s Box, Bases, and VC Front Feet

 

Supernote: Yep, due to multiple delays this post is going up quite late...sorry about that! On with the post that should have been up much, much earlier...

Breyerfest 2021 is creeping closer and closer, and Breyer shared a photo of the Celebration Model, Dani, in her box. I really like the design of her box; last year I also liked the box designs of Cheesecake and Benelli, as well as the cute bags that the Event Stablemates came in. 

I am excited to see what this year’s Event Stablemates bags will look like. Here are the Event Stablemates’ adorable bags from last year’s Celtic Fling:

I admit that I do like interesting packaging, and no packaging as well. I recently bought these shampoo and conditioner bars, which arrived like this:

There was a pile of the brown accordion packing material on top to keep the bars from moving about while in transit. The idea behind these is to cut down on the plastic waste from shampoo and conditioner bottles, keeping everything biodegradable. The bars are a bit of an odd presentation when we’re so used to everything being wrapped up. Speaking of presentation, in the May Collector’s Club newsletter we got a Sneak Peek Square of the upcoming VC release, which is the Classic/Freedom series Terrang painted a glossy dappled bay and placed upon a wooden (most likely a pseudo wood) base. In the 1970s certain models were placed on wooden bases with brass name plates; these were dubbed ‘Presentation Pieces.’ Models affixed onto the bases included Adios, Yellow Mount, the Indian Pony, the QH Yearling, Man O’ War, and the Proud Arabian Stallion (as Witez II). Here are a couple of couple of examples of these Presentation Pieces:

Models on bases post 1970s include the Limited Edition Ethereal Series (2007-2009), as well as the QVC Limited Editions from 2002 which included Cherokee (Cody/Ranch Horse mold), Mint Julip (Cigar mold), and Phoenix Rising (Silver mold). I am excluding models that require bases to stand, such as Hobo and the Polo Pony, and models which use a disk base (like Huck). An interesting tidbit about the Ethereal Series is that the models (which represented the Elements of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water) had oval bases consisting of two pieces. There was the wooden base, along with a resin-ish (no idea what it’s actually made of) sort of ground-mimicking base with impressions for the model’s hooves. The fake ground base was intended to sit on top of the wooden base, but you could also display the model on either base independently, or simply without the bases. Take a gander at the two piece bases:

The wooden bases alone:

The ground-mimicking hoofprint base things alone:

I am not understanding why Breyer chose to put a Vintage Club piece in the general CC newsletter, nor why they included a Sneak Peek Square of an already announced model, but here is the okay-let’s-all-pretend-to-be-surprised ‘Sneak Peek Square’ of Terrang’s forefeet:

The May CC giveaway is the four pack of Event Stablemates for this year’s Breyerfest. They are still available as a set on the website for purchase by All-Access ticket holders (I just checked this evening). Good luck to those who have entered for the CC May Giveaway!

*Dani in box photo from Breyer*

*Presentation model photo of Witez II (PAS mold) from Identify Your Breyer website*

*Presentation model photo of Man O’ War from Identify Your Breyer website*

*Sneak Peek Square photo of Terrang’s forefeet from the Breyer May Edition of the Collector’s Club newsletter*

The Unicorn Chronicles: Myth, Fantasy, Fable, and Food Part 1

Not the strictest definition of chronicles as there are no historical events in chronological order, but I suppose we can use the secondary definition of chronicles, which is being a record. The Unicorn Chronicles shall be a record of my unicorn models, musings, and whatnot; essentially everything unicorn. Or we can just use the word chronicles as it flows with the word unicorns. The Unicorn Chronicles. Yes, that will do unless I think of something better. 

The wild popularity of unicorns over the past few years has given unicorn lovers an avalanche of unicorn, well everything. Food especially, as there are cakes, cupcakes, popcorn, muddy buddies, candy bark, ice cream, donuts, you name it. Everything can and has been unicornized. The ubiquitous unicorn cake is available at every grocery store bakery, waiting to be bought for a unicorn fan. 

Some cakes try to outdo the simplistic ones (see above) by adding full eyes and rudimentary limbs:

Actually, I think it looks more like a pig on a plate than a unicorn. Last weekend I went to Starbucks for the first time in about three years. In addition to trying a Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino, I decided to be extravagant and get a cake pop. The drive through speaker was a bit crackly as I was asked what flavor of cake pop I wanted (couldn’t see the edge of the board as the bushes needed to be trimmed). My options were chocolate, birthday cake, and unicorn. Unicorns have a flavor? I was going to ask where they went unicorn hunting to get unicorn for their cake pops, and if they put unicorn meat in their breakfast sandwiches, but decided not to. I went with chocolate as I don’t have any taste for unicorn meat. 

As hobbyists are well aware, Breyer plunged into the unicorn craze. And why not? All they needed to do was adhere a horn onto any mold of theirs and voila, unicorn magic! The recent unicorn craze presented a golden opportunity for Breyer; while unicorn popularity has had its blips in the past, it has never reached the heights of the past few years. Stay tuned for more fun in the Unicorn Chronicles!

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*