So, not the last new ponies

 Because I managed to get a Spice Drop on Christmas morning, and it was already delivered. 

I was kind of hoping for purple, but green and gold is fine. 

And then, on the other account, I was (shock!) drawn to buy the black and gold ram, Montana.  

Totally unrealistic color, but I must have been a magpie in a former life, because the glittery flashing things appeal to me.  

And now that Breyer has revealed the horses for the Stablemates Club next year, I'm very tempted to get a second membership again.  The gambler's choice is the Fjord, and mini Fireheart is the bonus model. 

Overall, my luck is running great on the Breyer side of life.  Well, except that I can't find anyone who wants to swap a silver Christmas Clydesdale for my second cranberry one.  

Last horses of 2021 (I think)

 Last new ponies of the year (presumably)

 

Stablemates Club - Twist, and the bonus foals, times two

 

 

 

And, my luck was good - chosen to purchase Zugspitze!!  

 

Along with the accidental collection of blue horses, the silver ones seem to accumulate here too. 

 

 

 

 

 

In an odd twist, I got two boxes from Breyer today.  The first one I opened was a bit of a confusion and seems to be a mistake.  It's got a Balthazar, Arctic Grandeur ornament, Dazzle, and Le Mer.  So, tomorrow I get to call Breyer to fix that (someone's waiting for those) and ask for a replacement for the Twist who arrived with a nasty groove in one side.  

Oops

 After consulting with my sister, apparently I do have a Brighty . . . somewhere.  It's not in the spreadsheet inventory, which I knew wasn't 100% accurate, but this is more proof that I need to work on it. 

Brighty

 Just bought this one on eBay.  

 

 Brighty is going for bonkers prices lately, listed for $50 and up (usually up).  I got this one for just under $50.  However, a drawback of bidding on the phone is that this one was listed as a chalky, and after a better look on a bigger screen, I'm not sure he is.  Still a decent price, considering, so a lesson learned.  I should have learned that when we bought a DVD set on Amazon's phone app, and managed to buy the Region 2 version that we can't actually watch. 

 I was online at 12:50 today, with a computer and a phone logged in to my two Breyer accounts.  I was patient and lucky, and managed to get a pair of the Christmas Clydesdales on each account.  They sold out in under ten minutes for the Collectors Club-only early release.  No idea if Breyer kept some back for a general release later or not. 

Aren't they shiny?!?!  I'm a little surprised that there's blue instead of green - the usual colors would be silver & gold, and red & green.  I guess they're going with blue & silver as one pair, red & gold as the other. 

And yes, I have two Collectors Club accounts.  I pay for them both.  I got four Christmas Clydes, I'll be keeping all four (or swapping to get one of each color), and I'm not going to be sorry or ashamed that I have two accounts.  Breyer knows there are households with more than one account.  As long as each account is paid for, what does it matter? 

Arctic Grandeur

So. I always get the Holiday Horse. This year is complicated. The local dealer didn't get any at all in stock. Tractor Supply in town seems to have gotten two, which sold overnight before I got there to pick one up last weekend (should have done the pickup in store option). I could drive 30 miles to pick on up in JC, or wait and hope they don't sell out by Thanksgiving when we're there anyway. I thought I was being clever this year, changing my birthday on my TSC account to be September instead of October, so my birthday coupon wouldn't conflict with the usual October toy sale. But this year, with the shipping issues, TSC hasn't gotten most of the Breyers in yet. Maybe it'll work out better next year. Or, I can just order one from Breyer, which is what I did. Between the 10% Club discount, and the fact that it actually qualifies for free shipping, it was probably the cheapest way to go. Hopefully the costume isn't prone to damage during shipping. My first horse on the Duende (?) mold, so I can't wait to see what he looks like in person.

Another posting gap

Oops No pictures with this quick post, because new computer has no photos on the hard drive yet. Been on a bit of a buying spree, it seems. Last of the Vintage Club horses - a really nice Wedgwood Brighty named Nugget, and a glossy charcoal Marabella and foal (Ashley?) called Dusk and Dawn. Plus the bonus SM, a mini Smart Chic with Yellow Mount's paint job - mine was the no forearm spot version. Other purchases: Theo, a Brahma bull, a leopard Cheyenne at a price I could not cringe at, because he's missing the saddle and reins but only one small eartip. The Sucesion & Le Fire unicorns (Diadem and something) because it's the only affordable way I'll ever get that set. I thought of buying the original RR release, but passed on it, waiting for a color I liked better. Which hasn't happened.

Breyerfest 2021 - Day 1

 The official Breyerfest shopping is done.  We son't add up the grand total yet, because it won't be a calming number. 

1. Ansel
2. Knossos 
3. Kaleidoscope
4. Palette
5. Favrile
6. Apollo de Solis
7. Breyerfest SM 5-piece set
8. Pop-Up Store grab bag
9. 4-piece Stablemate set (aka the one-day horses)

Happily, I got my top two picks on the SR list, Ansel (run of 2,000) and Knossos (run of 1,000).  The new Morgan is one of my favorite of the new Premier molds lately, and I can't remember if I have a Spanish Bull or not.  And, Knossos fits with my interest in ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.  

And now it's off to watch workshops and seminars.  I've managed to get the TV browser logged in to the website, and the videos will play on it, so I can watch while I delete mass amounts of email.  

Tomorrow, I've got two crafting workshops to attend - Suncatcher Stablemates, and Galaxy Stablemates.  The last of the supplies for the Galaxy workshop should be delivered today. 

Champion, the Vintage Club horse

 Champion was delivered yesterday.  He's going to be a tricky one to get a good picture of, between the gloss and the very dark bay color.  

I ordered 4 blind bags along with him, hoping for the chase pieces, but nope.  One orangey-yellow Prince Charming, and three Walking Arabians (2 orangey-peach, one blue).  

The two Tobias SM Club horses are on the way. 

Oops - post gap

 My plans to post more often seem to have gotten lost.  At least for a while. 

Back on track:  I ordered the third Vintage Club horse today, along with four blind bags from the newest series.  I still haven't found the chase horses from the Anniversary bags or the newest Rainbow unicorn bags.  I waited a few days to order this one, waiting to see if the next SM Club horse was released, but this  morning I decided I shouldn't wait any longer.  Missing the deadline means I lose my deposit and the rest of the horses this year. 

This will be my first Presentation style horse.  I hope mine looks as good as the one in the picture, he's gorgeous.

New SMC Horses

 The Hendriks and their ride-along buddies arrived, and for a change, not in separate packaging.  

It was an interesting few days, since Breyer sent two UPS numbers for each order.  I had to wait to find out what was up - turns out one number of each pair was a phantom number, which has  been happening a lot with Breyer lately.  And one of the boxes had a big dent in one corner.  

The Hendrik run seems to have had some issues, mostly with the mane masking, and with lint and stuff in the gloss.  And the dapples, because Breyer keeps trying to do dapples on SMs, and it rarely ends well.  

Both of mine have decent masking.  One is pretty good overall, but the other one, poor thing, has massive and blatant dapples on his off side, plus a couple of lint bits in the gloss.  The other side is probably good for photo showing.  Given the rate of issues I saw, mine weren't that bad, and I didn't bother asking for a replacement, because it could have easily been worse.  

The ride-alongs were a pair of Walking Arabian, one blue/teal, one red/pink, and the new Prince Charming in yellow, from the newest unicorn blind bag series.  No chase horse, darn it, but at least not triplets or something.  

(4/23/21)

The other Atticus, and a Gold Charm

 For once, I managed to find a swap for a gamblers' choice horse fairly quickly.  So now, I have a pair of Attici.  Glossy Atticus is named Percy (or Perseverance), and the matte Atticus is Jezero.  Both named for the Perseverance Mars rover - the matte is named for the landing crater, which is dusty and therefore not glossy.  The other is Percy because Perseverance is the shiny new rover. 

And the gold charm SM that's the bonus Vintage Club model arrived the same day.  Both got delayed a day for whatever reason.  But now I've got to figure out how to get this gold Native Dancer out of the package without destroying it.  

 

 

The Attici have landed

 Because the plural of Atticus must be Attici, right?  

Anyway, UPS finally delivered everything, and as suspected, the Attici were shipped separately, in their tiny flimsy boxes, while the Pocket Boxes that were intended to bump them up to a larger box were shipped in bubble mailers.  They did put two PBs in one mailer, though, so one of the tracking numbers must have been an oops. 

This UPS situation

 The curiosity about this is killing me.  One of the packages will hopefully be delivered today, so maybe that will shed a little light on things.  

So far:  2 orders, 3 items in each (1 SM, 2 Pocket Box bags), and a variety of tracking numbers depending on where I look.  For order #1, on my account, the Breyer page lists one tracking number, the shipping email lists two numbers.  For order #2, on Daniel's account, Breyer lists one number, the shipping email lists three.  Then, the UPS MyChoice account page lists 4 numbers - which are the same as the ones from Breyer, minus one.  And right now, one package from #1 is out for delivery, two (one from each order) are in Earth City and will be here tomorrow, and the fourth, from #1, is still "ready for UPS" aka still in the warehouse.  

Which kind of sounds like Order #2 is really one package (assuming that "ready" package was a phantom number), and #1 is in two packages.  Which means they split things, thus negating my plan for the Pocket Boxes to bump things up to a bigger box. And also that they probably lost money on that $5.95 shipping charge, after considering the cost of both packages and the shipping cost for each.

Julius, and adventures with shipping

 Julius is here finally, and looks amazing.  

His journey was interesting.  First delivery date was Friday the 12th.  So I shoveled a path for the UPS driver.  By 9:00, UPS admitted he wouldn't make it.  New date - the 16th.  On the morning of the 15th, he was out for delivery.  But then it snowed, so he got bumped back to the 16th.  Musical delivery dates. 

And the adventures continue.  Last week, I paid for both SMC Atticuses (Attici?), and two Pocket Box ridealongs on each order.  Yesterday, I got the shipping notices and tracking numbers.  Five tracking numbers altogether.  Right now, three will be delivered tomorrow, one the day after that, and one is "check back later" status.  I'm thinking one order is in 3 boxes/envelopes, and if Breyer's shipper really shipped a Stablemate and 2 Pocket Boxes in three separate packages, then (a) they really need to have a talk with the shipper and (b) they lost a lot of money on that $5.95 shipping fee. 

New not-horses

 Won an auction last night for a group of Hagen-Renakers.  No horses, but there are a Mama and Papa Penguin, three Eskimos (Inuit, now, I think), and a trio of Polar Bears.

They're in pretty good shape overall.  Some crazing, Mama Penguin has a chip out of her beak, and one of the Cubs has a tiny chip on his nose.  

$44 for the whole lot, so $4.50 average each. 

Cool things found at Michaels

 While buying extra posterboard (because you need an emergency supply of posterboard and foamcore when there's a high-school student), I found neat things for photography purposes. Along with plain solid-color posterboard, there are patterns.  I found a fluffy cloud posterboard, and one with a space pattern.  

 The space one is going to be great for unicorns and things, I think.  The handy thing about the space sheet is that it's got a nebula on one end, while the other end is less variegated.  So, especially for SMs, rotating it 180 degrees will make it almost like another background. 

Full sheet of space

Pavel and Ivanova with one side of the space sheet.

Unicorn with the other end of the space sheet.

Cassidy with the sky sheet

Incoming horse - Vintage Club Julius

 Breyer put Julius up for purchase this morning, so he's on the way with a paint-your-own-Walking TB Unicorn as a travel partner.  I kind of wish they'd shown the rest of the VC horses before I rejoined.  I decided to renew the VC because of this mold, and then they add a regular-run Georg to the 2021 lineup.  Oh well, I'm sure the other VCs for the year will be great too.  And I do like that old splatter roan.

Puffin - A Breyer lottery

 Breyer's got a new web SR series.  I like this one! 

 

 

 

 

Craft House Corporation kit horses

 I went down a memory rabbit-hole a while back, regarding the Craft House Corporation's "Woodlike Collector Carvings" horses.  Back in junior or senior high, I had the Quarter Horse kit (probably bought at Walmart in Eldon), and was painting it for the art class that year.  Can't remember if I ever finished it or where it is now, but hopefully it'll turn up in the basement. 

These kits were a partially hollow horse made of some kind of plastic.  They came with an instruction sheet, paintbrush, bit of sponge for texturing, and a set of paints and one color of wood stain, in case you wanted to make them look like a sculpture.  According to the box, they're a "reproduction of a wood carving by the nationally known wildlife sculptor Ed Dietz" - Googling for Ed Dietz is still ongoing.  

The Quarter Horse box mentioned three other molds: Arabian, Thoroughbred, and Clydesdale, if memory serves.  I happened to find and buy an Arabian kit on eBay a month or so ago, and set up a search email for any others.  

 

  

 The Arabian, with molded-on halter.  Looks not bad.

 

I usually get notices of the duck decoy and bird kits from the same series, but last week another horse finally popped up on eBay.  And, surprise, it was not one of the four I already knew about.  This one is a Shetland Pony (not the refined type, either). 

 

 

 

Shetland Pony.  Looks a little plain around the head, but I've seen worse.  

The other three shown on the Pony's box are a Quarter Horse colt, POA, and a Unicorn.  

 

Oddly, the Arabian was fastened to the box with a flat-head screw (note: box knife blades are not acceptable screwdrivers, and now I need a new box knife).  The Pony was more problematic, we had to find a small socket wrench to take that screw out.  Why they used something that not everyone will have in the house, for a kit marketed (presumably) to the general non-mechanical public, is another question for the ages. 

Breyerfest preparation

 Breyerfest is coming up, and is all-virtual again this year.  Pandemics suck.  I entered for the VIP ticket drawing every day, but no luck.  The leftover VIP tickets, plus All Access and General Admission tickets, went on sale at noon today.  I had a VIP in my cart, but the checkout button was glitching and I didn't remember the trick.  So, All Access it is.  Then I bought the 4-pack of single-day SMs, since they're available.  Gotta have the Fighting Stallion and that purple Fjord.

Overall, I think the All Access will be adequate.  Sure, the VIP lets you pre-purchase the 2 SRs you want, instead of going for the random draw.  But I'm in a spot where I like all of the SRs, but there's not one that I've gotta have, life or death, can't live without it.  So this way, I save some money, and will likely get two horses that I like.  And the LEs (aka store specials) are open issue this year (well, most of them are), so there won't be the rush for those either.  

But I still need to make a ranked list of the SRs for the random drawing.  I think Ansel is going to be #1, then Knossos the bull and Uffington, then Pech Merle, Gran Cavallo, and Seurat.  I'm waffling on Polluck, and I'm not sure where the surprise horse will go. Tassili is my least favorite.  

For the LEs, Josie is interesting but I'm not sure how that paint job will work out. I really want Favrile, probably Apollo, maybe Rheverence, no interest in the crystal, and I'm also waffling on the SM set.  I like the Darwin and Warmblood, neutral on the Paso and Pony, and don't really like the Stargazing QH mold.

Prince has arrived

 The Deluxe Collector Club SM finally arrived yesterday.  I got lucky, my box wasn't smashed like many of them were (seriously, Breyer, go back to those sturdy brown boxes, not these flimsy things). 

He's not as yellow as he looks in this picture, and I need to get a picture of him with my vintage palomino Fighting Stallions.  And the charcoal pairs, too. 

Incoming horses

 Well, I've got an unfulfilled order number on my Breyer account now - my Deluxe CC "Prince" will be here someday soon.  Still no updates on the Vintage Club SM, which I think is a gold Northern Dancer this year, meant to be a mini Secretariat.

Shelves and more shelves

 The stupid pandemic has put the squash on my usual weekly round of thrift stores and estate sales, but the local consignment auction is all online, and I've had a bit of luck there.  Last week, it was a trio of DVD/CD/media shelves (made by Sauder, circa 1996).  About 3.5 feet high, just under a foot wide, 6 inches deep.  Perfect for SMs, along with the Schleich/Safari/CollectA brigade.

These models are black inside, although at least one of mine is woodgrain interior.  Since the black turns them into a black hole, I lined them partially with white paper, from an end-roll of statement paper from Husband's work.  The shelves got a lining of assorted scrapbook paper in a variety of patterns.  (To paraphrase Adam Savage - This is the rainy day you were saving that thing for!).  

 

I didn't line both sides with paper, because the shelves are a tight fit and wedging them in makes the paper wrinkle.  So, white on the back and one side it is. And it does make a difference, as you can see.

At the spacing for SM sizes, I could fit at least two more shelves into each unit, but Sauder doesn't seem to sell replacement shelves, or at least won't tell me how much they cost without my providing a lot number that I don't have.  So, for now, I'm on the lookout for 1/2-inch plywood or board of some kind.  Michaels may have something close, but they seem to be closed temporarily at t he moment (probably because of the stupid pandemic). 

Jol, the second horse of this year

 The Christmas Day surprise this year was the Fjord in clearware - clear, red, or blue-green.  Not sure how blue-green fits the Christmas theme, pure green would be better, but that's okay.  I got online at the right time, and bought one, hoping for the blue-green to add to the Blue Horse Herd.  

 

Mine was delivered on Monday, and I got the blue-green I was hoping for.  Very pretty, and at least the glitter seems to be embedded in the plastic, instead of on top where it can shed everywhere.  

 

 

So, may I present Sermilik, named after a fjord in Greenland with a locally-famous blue iceberg, known as the "blue diamond." 

First horse of 2021

 The first horse (okay, first in-hand, not first paid-for) is here.  Columbia's three Walmarts each seemed to only get 2 boxes of the Series 3 unicorns, and I never found the purple Warmblood, so I paid $25 for one on Facebook.  And he arrived early, too!  The silver on one hoof is a little sloppy, but that's an easy fix if I want to touch it up - it's not like he'll be a show horse anyway.

Now he needs an appropriately grapey name.