VIP Models Have Arrived

 

Friday evening the UPS dude sprinted up my driveway with a box as I was getting into my car. When I got home, I opened the box to find my VIP models. No variations in this order, which is perfectly fine. I was glad that I got the rainbow Pollock. I like the coruscating colors (Ha! Snuck in an alliteration!) better than the gold Pollock with rainbow spots. Knossos was my other SR choice, and rounding out the box were the Limited Editions of Favrile and Josie. Josie’s box was in rough shape; it looked like it was stomped or kicked or some such fiddle faddle. On to the horses!

First up is Pollock, in all of his vibrant glory:

Next we have Favrile, another colorful friend:

Here are the two of them together. Unfortunately Kaleidoscope hasn’t shown up yet, but hopefully will appear sometime this week. Then I will take photos of the three colorful ponies together.

I forget how big the Spanish Fighting Bull mold is. At some point I’d like to try to get the gold Knossos, but I am not at all disappointed with the regular Knossos. The brindle stripes are a bit too linear; I think if they’d been blurred slightly they’d look better. I am being overly picky, haha. His eyes are nicely done so I’ve put in a couple of close ups of his head. 

Josie is still strapped in her box.  I plan to free her tomorrow, and there might be something coming from Breyer. Not exactly sure what since they seem to be sending orders out piecemeal. There is also a box scheduled for delivery on Thursday, so we’ll see what exactly shows up. 

The Unicorn Chronicles: Reaching the Zenith

 

Lololololol, really have to *love* these lame titles. The Zenith we’re reaching for here happens to be a 2019 Web Special unicorn. This unicorn was done on the Classic/Freedom Series mold # 642, known as the Show Arabian. Introduced in 2008 as part of the ‘Best in Show’ series, the model came on a presentation base and had a mohair mane and tail, reminiscent of the early RRH (remade, repainted, haired) customs. Haired models have largely fallen out of favor, but a few decades back it was an integral part of customizing models. Happily, there is renewed interest in collecting these early customs as they are a part of the history of the model horse hobby. I personally like seeing the evolution of model horse customization— oh how far we have come over the years. Oh right, nostalgia later, unicorn NOW. 

Zenith is worth gossiping (hahahaha!!!) about due to her color. Although she is certainly not the first ever purple unicorn, her purple is dark and muted compared with most Breyer unicorns. She has some pink on her, but it is a toned down shade to blend with the purple and gold. The gold on her is more subtle and not a screaming blingy statement. She has gold hooves, a gold horn, and some gold in her mane and tail. Her horn is a darker shade of gold than the gold used on the rest of her. Oh, and no glitter. 

Notice the difference in the shade of gold between her forelock and horn:

Until next time, keep looking out for unicorns!

Seven Arts Surprise Revealed (but not here), Astrids, Special Run Split

 

No spoilers—nearly everyone knows the mold and the colors of the Seven Arts Surprise, but I know there are some holdouts who want to wait until their models arrive to be truly surprised. Therefore, I’m not going to talk about what the Seven Arts Surprise is for a bit. Breyerfest models seem to be trickling in to people, but we’re not seeing mass shipping of models. I checked this morning and all of my orders still show unfulfilled and no tracking numbers. My first order was completed on July 16th at 10:01 a.m. (I have insanely fast internet) and my final order was the last minute decision to buy a glossy Apollo del Solis on Sunday afternoon. I had also placed my VIP order in February, and there has been no word on those models. The VIP stuff I have received included Dani, the SM four pack, and the VIP swag box (I think they were delivered on July 17?). I hope that Breyer ships all of my stuff at the same time—it will be so much more fun to get everything at once! I am really excited to get my SRs, but the 7 Arts Surprise, not so much. It’s not a mold that I conga, and I only like a couple of the colors. I will have to reserve final judgement until I get them in hand. Many a time I had decided that I didn’t like a mold, only to change my mind once seeing it in a different color. I have two Seven Arts coming, and I am glad I didn’t spring for more. Of course, if this year’s surprise had been a model I conga, I would have been kicking myself for not getting more tickets, lol.

The July Collectors Club newsletter thing came out and featured a Misty and Stormy coloring contest, a new Breyer employee, a plug to nominate Breyer for the National Toy Hall of Fame, the July giveaway (for Pech Merle), and a not-so-sneak peek of the glossy and matte Astrids. Here’s the ‘Sneak Peek’ from the newsletter:

Not sure why Breyer dubbed it a Sneak Peek when Astrid has previously been revealed. At least we get to see the actual glossy finish instead of that weird photoshopped gloss picture from before. Remember this?

Other items of interest are the matte/glossy finish split and the (correctly) guessed toupee swap models. If you do not want to know, run away now! I have chosen to talk about them since we know Breyer has done the finish split in the past on Special Runs. Hobbyists had been speculating on whether or not one of the Special Runs would have a mane and tail swap. 

Last chance to run away if you want this information regarding Breyerfest models to be a surprise.

RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!

We got both! The matte/glossy split was done on Seurat. Most people were guessing the finish split would be done on Pech Merle. Others were thinking that just to shake things up a bit Breyer would have the toupee mane/tail split on Tassili instead of doing the expected finish split. I am really hoping I get the original Marwari version of Tassili instead of the toupee one. If a toupee comes here, there is a trade in my future…

*Astrid photos are from Breyer’s website and newsletter (email)*

The Robusticity Bros

 

I checked my Breyerfest order status Wednesday and “August Delivery” had been added in the shipping section. Maybe tracking numbers are on the horizon! Maybe not, lol. Some hobbyists have been receiving their Breyerfest models, so things are slowly moving. Now that I have time to breathe I can think about model horses again. 

*Drumroll followed by a crashing of cymbals* I have finally opened Fireheart and set Theo free. As much as I adore the Georg mold, Fireheart was obviously more exciting since he’s a new mold. He is very beautifully painted and I am quite pleased with him. Fireheart has just snorted and stomped his way onto my favorite molds list. 

The box:

Fireheart:

Close ups:

Random angles of Fireheart:

Love that flippity-flip tail! He does have that weird line on his mane, which apparently they all have. Not a big deal. Fireheart is, however the victim of thoracomoldosis (abnormal condition of the chest from the mold).  He, along with some of the newer molds, suffer from a ‘pinching in’ around the withers and shoulders which results in a narrowing of the chest. Here is a front shot of him; notice how wide his front hoof is in comparison to his chest! I wish Breyer would address this issue—with the technology available, it seems this should be resolved prior to production. He doesn’t look stout from the front, but does when viewed from the side. None of this detracts from his character to me. 

On to our friend Theo, who has finally been freed from his Breyer prison box. I’ve had him a couple of months, so it was time to turn him loose to join the conga. 

Close ups:

Random angles of Theo:

I love these two robust guys* and am looking forward to more releases on both molds. We are up to four attainable releases on the Georg mold, and of course with Fireheart being newly introduced there’s currently just Fireheart (I am excluding the BF auction model). I do see a lot of colors that would look spectacular on Fireheart and hope that Breyer releases him as a RR soon. Don’t forget Fireheart has been shrink-rayed down to Stablemate scale as well, so it would be cool to see him released as a regular run SM. It they do, it is time to stockpile those bodies! I am impatiently waiting for Georg to join the Stablemate scale. 

Here are the two robust bros together:

*We are just going to pretend that the front view of  Fireheart doesn’t look the way it does.