Ooops, there was a quiet spell

 Apparently I've been busy and forgot to post here for a while. 

Brief update - I just ordered the first of the 2023 Club horses - the Vintage Club has a silver bay pinto Justin Morgan, and the SM Club has the G1 Arabian Mare and Laying Foal. A blind bag is riding along with each order, and fingers crossed maybe I'll get one of the chase horses. 

 

Tomorrow is the release of the first Collector's Club horse, a glossy bay on the new Fireheart mold.  We'll see if I can get one, and how expensive they are.

SM Club delivery

 The second horse for the Stablemate Club was delivered today, along with a pair of travel partners (hoping for the chase horses from the current series).  And, my luck is holding - a pair of Phineas, and two more of the pink blind bag horses, so as far as mold goes, I drew four of a kind.  

This makes at least four pink Prince Charmings.  They're the new version of my string of pink and green Drafters from a few years ago.   Prince Charming is nice enough, but the star dapples need some work. 

Breyer confusion

 So, when I got my order with Zugspitze and the last round of SM Club horses last month, two boxes were delivered.  Identical shipping labels, right down to the same UPS tracking number on both boxes.  one had Zug, Twist, and the Addie & Leti foals.  The other had someone else's order entirely, with a packing slip for someone in Pennsylvania.  And one Twist had a pretty serious groove on one side, so I thought they might replace him.  

 So, I called Breyer, and was told someone would contact me about the replacement Twist and a call tag to return the wrong horses.  Waited two weeks and realized I hadn't been contacted.  Called again, was told i'd get a call back later that day.  Still nothing.  So I sent an email, with photos of Twist's groove and the error packing slip.  A week later, still no reply to the calls or email, but I do have a UPS email with a number for a replacement Twist.  But I still have a box here, taking up space, with a Baltazar, Le Mer, a Fairytale Club SM, and a stirrup ornament.  

Meanwhile, I've got one Twist with a painted-over groove, and one that won't stand because his hind legs need adjusting.  I've tried moving the leg once, but haven't gotten it to work yet.  The draft foal also has a wonky leg, so this is a work in progress. 

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.  

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.  

 

 

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. 

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.

Breyer, Breyer, Breyer

 Are you trying to drive us all mad?  First, I ended up with two Valerio unicorns, and apparently they're the least popular of the four.  I've been trying for a week to swap one for the Appy, but no luck so far.  One trade fell through over a tiny flaw, the other one because I didn't see the post soon enough.  I'm still looking, and may have to just settle for a rose grey or the palomino pinto, since the Appy seems to be the hottest of the four. 

And, Breyer, what's with this one new release popping up every day routine?  After Bennington and Honeybunch last week, the next day came Christoff.  Being a mini St Moritz, and Frozen-themed (kind-of), and blue, yeah, I bought one.  

And then yesterday or today, they add a new Classic unicorn, Nova.  On my favorite of the newer Classic molds, the Frolic stallion, but good grief. 

Good grief, Reeves, slow down!

 

Another flood month of Breyers.  Late last month was the Halloween horses, where I got a trio of Mini Poltergeists and one Mini Nightmare, plus Ratsputin and the plushy.

 

Then I stopped at Becky's Breyers for Yuletide and a couple of Anniversary SMs that weren't the chase pieces.  I messed up really badly with the Smart Chic, thinking it was an Indian Pony. 

 Traded one of the Mini Poltergeists for Mini Twilight Terror.  

Then the 5th SM club horse, times 2.  And today they released the optional Vintage Club horse, Barrington, the new jumper in classic Cantering Welsh Pony chestnut, and a non-black Carltonlima Emma as a Christmas pony in palomino with a cute blanket.  

 

 

 Sigh.  I hate to think what that all adds up to.  I thought about the Yuletide enamel pin, but changed my mind.  

 

One of the Stablemate Club horses arrived today, the other will be here tomorrow.  First one is the blue and purple pinto unicorn, which was third on my ranking.  Depending on which one I get tomorrow, I may try and trade for the pinto or Appaloosa.  Or maybe not.  

 

Good grief, Breyer

 Again with "when it rains, it pours" Breyer style.  On Tuesday, the last horse for the Vintage Club this year was available.  So, $140 out the door for Zahra and a SM ride-along. I'm hoping for the glossy bay.  I'd want the palomino, but those dapples look way too obvious.

 

 

And then, in good Breyer fashion, yesterday they put the Halloween horses up.   

I've already got Apparition, but had to get the glow-in-the-dark Classic Ratsputin, and the blind bag SMs, and the free Halloween plushie.  And then today, went back for 2 more SMs so I can have a chance at the whole set.  But with today's order, the Club discount worked, so $4.99 off.  

So, I must avoid eBay for a while.  And any other temptation to buy more horses.  

The planned purchases for the rest of the year: 

• Holiday Horse - when TSC puts out stock and sends my birthday discount
• SMC Valerio x2 (the Alby gambler's choice)
• SMC #6 x2 - the new stock mare mold
• SMC bonus horse - the dapple grey mini Clydesdale Stallion
  
• Anniversary SMs - if TSC has some out so I can feel them
• maybe Barrington, the bonus VC horse
• maybe whatever surprise horse they come up with for Christmas

And I think that's it.   I hope that's it.  Quicken told me what I'd spent on Breyers for the year so far, a few weeks ago, and it was a scary and depressing and surprising number.

Incoming Stablemates

 The next horse in the Stablemate Club is on the way - a glossy bay G1 Arabian Stallion called Sultan.  I'm doing a slight experiment with mine - ordered one alone, one with a ride-along - to see if my idea that ride-alongs slow things down in the shipping warehouse might be right.  

And Tractor Supply had the paint-your-own suncatcher SMs on sale, so I ordered 5 for in-store pickup.  Ended up with 3 Magnolias, a Warmblood, and a Walking TB. 

When it rains, it pours

Or, the flood of new horses. 

First, Breyer announces the mid-year releases, which include Apparition (a blue-purple glow-in-the-dark Halloween horse) and the 70th Anniversary shrinky-dink SMs.  I pre-ordered and paid for an Apparition at Becky's, and then went "damn the torpedos" and added a whole case of the SMs.  With any luck, I'll get one of the chase pieces, but even if I don't, I'll have neat minis of the Fighting Stallion, Fox Trotter, and all the others.  The mini charcoal Fighting Stallion will be awesome, if it looks anything like the large one.  Same for the pinto Indian Pony, the woodgrain Clydesdale, and most of the others.  They're doing two chase pieces this time - 1 in every 4th case, and a super-chase in every 12th, I think.  I'm betting one is an Alborozo, because they put mini Alby everywhere, and I think the other one might be the FAS or Western Horse, since those are the reliable old standards.  I just hope if it's a FAS, they don't go lemon-yellow on him.  But a mini Western Horse would be amazing.

Then they sent the email about the Vintage Club horse being ready to order.  This one is the Wedgewood pinto Belgian, Josiah.  I held out for a few days on ordering, since this week last year is when I paid for one of the SM Club horses last year.  And my patience was rewarded, because the email for Chroma, the clearware SMC horse, came a few days later.  So, combined shipping on one account. 



And now I must avoid eBay, because Breyerfest is next week, and while my Single Day SMs and ticket are paid for, the SRs and store specials aren't.  And I have a list.  Which will probably get cut down a lot after I see the prices on the store specials, but it won't go down to $0, I'm sure.



 

Carter, Trailblazer, and Klaus

Breyer put Carter, one of the Collector Club models, up for order last week.  It's a new mold that I don't have, so I was tempted.  But, after seeing the dapples on the demo model, and remembering that I've got one Vintage and two SM Club memberships this year, I decided to pass.  And then the local dealer posted about getting the new shipment, which has High Tide, Fairfax, and bunches of new SMs.  Helps me stick to my decision to skip Carter, and also to not bite on Breyer's 20% off the "Freedom" (aka Classic) models.

So, Trailblazer was released for payment earlier this week, and today Klaus was.  Wonder of wonders, I can pay for both at the same time, and save a bit on the shipping.

And then today they announce a BOGO sale on blind bags.  And the Starry Skies SMs are included.  Which irks me a little, since I paid full price for all 4 of mine, plus the postage to swap my two duplicates.  But oh well, can't grump too much - my silver chase Alborozo last year came from another one of their BOGO sales.

2019 Model Wrap-up

I did a little work with the model spreadsheet last night, after people on Facebook were sharing their favorite 5 models of the year. 

Based on my numbers, I bought or otherwise acquired 208 models last year.  That includes

• 12 Traditionals
• 15 Classics
• 3 Mini Whinnies
• 2 Porcelain Breyers (the white Circus Ponies)
• 2 Marx
• 1 Gladys Brown Edwards trophy
• 3 Hartlands
• 1 awesome Hartland clock with horse
• 3 CollectAs
• 5 Lakeshores
• and a whopping 153 Stablemates

The Stablemate flood is all because of the darned blind bags and trying to find the silver and blue Albys.  Which I finally found.  But there are 7 of the pink and green Clydes, 6 chestnut ASBs (I was trying to find a flaxen-mane variation) and a dozen each of the teal Alby and purple Magnolia.  One of the goals for 2020 has got to be thinning out the duplicate SMs, because sheesh.  

Some of the highlights:

The Christmas Candy Cane

Purple unicorn, and unicorn foals

A Lakeshore Status Symbol SR

Corbin, from the Stablemate Club (can't wait to see him in a color with some face color)

Another Lakeshore SR, 1 of 4, that I got in a barter deal (i.e. practically free)

I finally got two of the Tartan Ponies from 10+ years ago, thanks to a lovely Blab member.

This year's Halloween Horse, the lovely glow-in-the-dark Samhain

The Spooky Stablemates - I got all three!

My luckiest day - I took a chance on the Stablemate Club grab bags, and got a Fylkir!  And even the color I wanted most.

Bought a lovely deco Iris, to go with the silver-bay Iris I got.

Hagen-Renaker Drunk birds SR

Found a second curio cabinet, and have it pretty full.

Candy Cane and Clubs

The first horse of 2020 (*) is Candy Cane.  Who technically isn't a horse, but an equid. 

My blue horse herd continues, because I got the blue Candy Cane today.  Was kind of hoping for the 1-of-12 random Licorice, but then I'd feel guilty and think about selling it because that's a lot of money.

I was a little surprised to find the box in the mailbox, not on the doormat.  This is the first Zebra I've seen in person, and it's smaller than I realized. 

(*) Technically, Candy Cane was paid for on Christmas Day, but it's the first horse in the door for 2020.  And usually I date my spreadsheet by the day the critter is actually in my hands. 

In other news, I was sucked back into the Vintage Club for 2020, mostly because of the In-Between Mare.  And then Breyer announced the horses for the Stablemate Club, and the darn Mini Alborozo is the Gambler's Choice model for this year.  So after much waffling and calculating numbers, I signed up for a second membership, because I figure (as do other people) that the secondary-market prices for Alby are going to be high enough that the second membership will be cheaper than buying one on eBay or whereever. 

Figuring that the club, plus the Collector's Club membership, will run about $180, and guessing that I can sell 4 of the duplicate models for about $20 each (a loss of $5-10 each), that makes the Alby portion around $100. 

Gah.  I'm actually talking about $100 SMs without cringing. 

Irises

Which I keep wanting to type as "Irish" - so I'll just have to name my bay Iris something with Irish in it.

I was going to try to swap my silver bay for the deco Iris, but after I looked at her for a few minutes, I sort of fell in love with her.  So. After some lurking and searching on eBay, MHSP, and a few Facebook groups, I managed to score this one at a tolerable-to-me price ($60 PPD).

And I LOVE this color. 

The SM Club Priscilla is also here, and other than being tippy as heck, is gorgeous.

 

It's been a lucky year for me with Stablemates.  Besides getting my two most-wanted Irises, I finally found the blue Alborozo unicorn at Tractor Supply (and then found two more), after months of searching every Cracker Barrel and farm store around, and ordering 9 blind bags from Breyer (last count - 7 Clydesdales, 2 Magnolias).  Tractor Supply also had 4 Spirit bags, and I found the chase Mustang in one of those.

 

Then, Breyer had a "buy one, get one free" sale on blind bags for Friendship Day, so I ordered a dozen of the series with the silver Alby.  I got one or two duplicates, guessed 11 out of 12 correctly when feeling the bags, and actually got a silver Alby!!  Found three of the rainbow Magnolia unicorns, and swapped one for a Sarge, and after buying 8 chestnut ASB mares, found a pair with the flaxen manes. Walmart also had two more pink Icelandics, and I grabbed a random Mini Whinnie which turned out to be the green dappled chase piece.

 

(I thought Sarge was blue.  Turns out he's green!)

 

And, icing on the cake, Breyer did another round of Stablemate Club grab bags.  I have no willpower, so I ordered a pair.  After seeing someone else get Coco and Wolfgang, the pair I got with the last grab bag, I figured I'd get a third set of those.  Nope, my luck was good, and I got Kohana and Fylkir!  And, it was the roan Appy Fylkir, the one I wanted most - he matches my roan Appy Scotty. 

Then there were the Spooky Surprises. Ordered four, managed to get all 3, and sold my duplicate mini Ichabod to someone who needed one.

However.  I'm now overrun with extra Stablemates, and need to do something with them all.  The Alby conga is almost complete - I don't have the Fairytale Club Alby, but I think I've got all the others.

SM Club Iris

The latest horse from the Stablemate Club arrived today.  Made it a day early, since UPS brought it instead of handing off to the USPS. This one is the Gamblers' Choice horse - the Highland Pony in either pinto, silver bay, cremello Appy, or blue and gold Deco.

I was hoping for the Deco, since I've got a collection of blue horses.  Second choice was the cremello, since I've got the Pony in roan pinto and silver dapple/dark palomino already.  So, which one did I get?  The silver bay, of course. 

Don't get me wrong, she's drop dead gorgeous.  But, that Deco!!  If it were anything but the Gamblers' Choice, I'd just buy a Deco and keep both.  But, seeing what the other GC horses are selling for, not really an option.  Off to the swap group on Facebook I go.