General Additions thread - Recent additions, from February to April

Nice and very different additions from each other! The donkey is very handsome, that's such a cool breed. It's to see several brands creating them (I would love to see a Breyer version, ha!). The new Julips are adorable, especially that cat! He does make a wonderful portrait for his giant counterpart. :)

Just a little addition for today, I got the final model I needed to complete my set of Breyer's 70th Anniversary Stablemates from 2020!

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It's the miniature version of one of their most popular past releases, the 'Indian Pony' from the early 1970s - you can see the original 9th scale version here
Unfortunately the name's just not very respectful these days, referring not to a pony from India, but the outdated casual use of 'Indians' for all Native Americans. There are several horse breeds still inexistence which have their roots in the history and culture of the indigenous peoples, so it's time we started using and acknowledging these breed names, worldwide (I think I'll be allocating mine the Choctaw Horse breed, as both the colour and body type fits that well).
Really, it's a shame Breyer didn't use this as an opportunity to demonstrate the changes in attitudes since the first release - how about we call horses the non-racist names their owners and breeders use for them!

Regarding the model itself, I think I got a pretty good one - with these vintage-style sprayed markings, it does vary depending on who was handling the painting that day, and some horses were extremely blurry with the colour looking more like some sort of roaning effect, some came out orange all over with only a slight deeper colour where the patches were meant to be, but mine seems to have a lot more contrast between white and chestnut, one of the most defined 'edges' to the markings I've seen, so I'm pleased.

Here's my full set of 70th Anniversary models...

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They're an interesting group, all miniature versions of Traditional (1:9) scale sculpts, intended as a reflection on Breyer's past as well as current range, with some models from the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and others really recent.
Several are exact copies of large releases in the past - as well as today's pinto pony, you can see the full size woodgrain drafter and glossy fighting stallion.

Annoyingly, they were only sold as blind bags, so you didn't know what was inside, and because we have to shop for Breyers online in the UK, rather than seeing stock in-hand in stores, there's been no chance to do what the Walmart shoppers can and give the sealed bags a quick squeeze to figure out which shape was inside!
That's why it's taken me so long to get the whole set - I didn't fancy spending way too much on random lucky-dip purchases and postage fees til I'd collected at least one of each horse, and last year the sellers putting opened bags on ebay were pricing them far too high. I mean, I'll pay a pound or so more to be sure of having the right model I want to tick off my list, but not three times retail price

What a wonderful way to celebrate the 70th year of this brand that have made such beautiful horses (And dogs! ) over the years! I love its soft colouring and gentle pose- a very sweet horse! And great that you have now completed the set!

It’s always so satisfying to complete a set, congrats!! I hate blind bags so much. I collect a ton of How to Train Your Dragon figures and there were multiple series of blind bag dragons to collect, and they were selling for 4 times the amount online, some rarer dragons went for $80 on eBay These are some beautiful horses, Breyer always makes some of the best

Nice pony. I didn't realise it was based on a much older larger-scale model. The 70th anniversary models have a lot of variety in terms of horse/pony breeds, poses and colours. Just by chance, I bought the complete set in the US today. Kelly/Pipsxlch was so kind to receive them for me, so I don't need to find them individually.

What is your guess? Will these 70th anniversary models be produced in all sorts of colours from now on or is this just a one-off?

Blind bags really are a frustration for adult collectors, aren't they - they're probably fantastic for those kids who revel in the excitement of opening packets, but mostly they're good for profits cos these companies know most people will give in and buy more til they've got the ones they want

Yes, those three with particular vintage-style paintjobs are replicas of releases rather than just retro mould/colour combos, I didn't realise til much later (I'm not a vintage collector at all, not where my interest lies - my oldest Breyers are 90s ones)

I think it's very likely these miniature Trad moulds will just become part of the range now. We've already seen a few of them show up in different colours as various club models and Breyerfest runs, and decorators/unicorns, so I expect the others will filter in to that kind of useage as well, and maybe one or two of them will surface in each year's regular run offerings.

Consider it this way, and it removes all doubt : I'm certain that if Breyer planned any of the mini moulds to be exclusive to these 2020 Anniversary bags, they'd have TOLD us up front, to drive up the hype and sales

George wrote:

Consider it this way, and it removes all doubt : I'm certain that if Breyer planned any of the mini moulds to be exclusive to these 2020 Anniversary bags, they'd have TOLD us up front, to drive up the hype and sales

That makes a lot of sense!

Aww, I had the original pony when I was a little kid, in the 70s...

Here's another little parcel I had this week - a bigger scale model, but a smaller pony breed

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She was another Ebay purchase, second hand but in practically mint condition. Originally released in a boxed set of three, I'd always liked this particular pony but wasn't keen on the moulds for the other two, so I never bought the family when they were sold new (2006-2008)

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This mould was sculpted as Misty of Chicoteague, and I thought she'd make a really good friend for my own copy of Misty, so I left my bid, but had to go to work and hope for the best - unlike most people these days, I don't have a phone, and I work outdoors so there's no internet access - I just had to wait til I got home at the end of the day to find out if I'd won the bidding or not

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I've named her Rainbow, as the real Chincoteague ponies are often given quite simple and cute-sounding names

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Her markings are nice on both sides, I'm pretty sure they weren't made as portraits of any real ponies, just a chance to use the older moulds for a new release that wasn't Misty for a change

And here she is meeting her new friend, who she'll be standing with on my shelf

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Beautiful pony! I used to have the Misty & Stormy set, this paint variant is very cute

Interesting that you don't have a phone, you're not the only one on forum adopting that option.
At least you don't get anxious about the auctions, I guess.
Your new pony looks very happy, especially with your own version.

I quite like the Misty mould, and this one is beautiful too. Congrats on all your new additions!

Another second-hand model to introduce today, she arrived earlier this week but now we're into autumn the sun doesn't get into my garden before or after work, so I had to wait til a day off to catch the little two-hour period when it's risen high enough to pose my models in a patch of sunshine

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This is Breyer's 1:9 scale model of famous Quarter Horse mare, Don't Look Twice. This first photo is probably the most accurate for how her colour looks, the others have come out a little more sandy when in hand she seems deep red.

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She was released back in 2015, which is why I never bought her at the time - I knew I was going to be made redundant toward the end of that year, so I'd cut back on spending to the bare minimum so I'd have savings incase I couldn't get another job. Luckily I found somewhere pretty quickly and started the following spring, and have been settled working here ever since. So I've been slowly catching up with models released during my 'missing' year of no collecting.

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I've named her Cinnamon Roll, because I've got another QH mare (same scale, different brand) who's a very similar colour and she's called Cinnamon, so it makes a family connection for my model herd, and suits this one's sweet gentle face - she just looks like a horse who might get described as a cinnamon roll, hahah

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She was listed on ebay for about £15 less than current 'new' price for Breyers this size, and she's in perfect condition, no marks or rubs or signs of wear and tear, so I think I was lucky and grabbed a bargain!

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I don't have any others in this mould yet, but I do quite like Chocolatey the appaloosa they released on it this year, so I think it's fairly likely she won't stay the only one in my collection for very long

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It's always nice when a paintjob design is copied from a real horse, not only because it's interesting to read up about that individual's story and compare the model to the real thing, but it pushes the company to figure out ways of adding different details or markings which they might never have thought of putting on a regular run in a randomly chosen colour. The real Don't Look Twice has got the rabicano pattern roaning (the speckles on her flank, and pale barring marks on her side and the top of her tail), as well as white 'lipstick' markings on her mouth, and they've copied all that into her paintwork.

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They also gave her brown eyes!
I'm so puzzled and intrigued when these happen. Because in almost all cases, Traditional scale Breyers have glossy black eyes, often with the line of pink or white to give them the 'eyewhites' which show when a horse is looking in a certain direction.
But every now and then, for certain runs they add in the iris colour of brown or blue too, and there just doesn't seem to be any logic in which horses get them!
I'd understand if they only did it for the expensive and exclusive special runs, which you have to be a club member and sometimes also need to win a lottery-style draw to even be allowed to buy at high prices - then it would be a neat added level of detail, to reward people who want to spend more money on models. But now and then, they randomly decide to put eye colours onto one of these standard regular runs, mass produced in thousands and thousands, and sold worldwide, just at normal price and everywhere that stocks Breyers.
Out of all my regular run models, only about five have had eye colours, so it was a fun surprise to unwrap her and find I'd got one more with this lovely extra detail!

Cinnamon roll have beautiful eyes, I'm gald you can catch the horses you missed in the past

What a wonderful find, with such a flowing, graceful pose and beautiful elegant head!

Congrats, she looks like a lovely addition to your herd! 

Congrats on great additions, and completing the set! I have said before, but it remains true, I just love those miniature versions of the larger molds. (You make an EXCELLENT point about the "Indian" pony name! Sometimes it's hard to even heard how it's a problem, when I'm so used to just knowing it as the Indian pony, out of context.)

Love that new color for Misty. It's such a charming mold.

I'm quite used to accidental racism in the model horse world - the constant use of 'gypsy vanner' when that word is a cultural slur against the Roma and traveller population in this country. People defend using it, because 'that's just what those horses have always been called', but really, that doesn't make it ok.
Take a much better-known example of a racist slur, the N word. If there was a horse breed which was developed and popular in the African-American community, and the old, racist name for them included the N word, nobody with any respect would think it was still ok to call them that! Unless you were an awful racist person, you'd listen to what the horses owners and breeders were telling you was the inoffensive new name they prefer you to use, and you'd use it.
This is why I call those pinto hairy horses, cobs. I was taught to ride by travellers, the elderly son of a settled Roma man, and have had first-hand the abusive shouting of rude slurs when I was riding their cobs in competitions, and the local posh horsey folk assumed I was part of the family they'd decided to hate cos of their background.
Cob is the polite word round here, used by people who love the horses and are friends with the kind of people who own them. We ask other people to call them cobs, their registration passports have 'cob' as the breed, and British show classes use the term 'traditional cob' to tell them apart from the clipped-and-hairless 'show cob' type. There's really no excuse for tagging on a rude slur when there's an alternative name which people are trying to get the horsey world to adopt.
So I'm 100% on the side of the Native Americans who want people to stop using outdated casual racism in referring to them, or their horse breeds.

It's not much, just writing about it on a forum and determinedly refusing to use the offensive names on my website or when photo showing, but every little helps.

I'm never quite sure whether it's best to post arrivals in the general additions board, or the specific brand categories. I mean, I get that both are fine, and allowed, and I'm not doing it 'wrong' either way. But would more Breyer fans see the horses they'd like to see if I started a 'My Breyer Arrivals' over in the Breyer board? Would more people see the CollectA arrivals if I included them here, rather than using my ongoing CollectA topic in the CollectA Arrivals board?

I have new photos to post and I'm seriously struggling to make up my mind whether they'd be most useful to other readers dropped here or over there

We are a small community, I don't think in terms of general interest it will make a big difference. If it is more confortable for you to open brand dedicated topics, it is equally fine. Maybe that's a good idea for Breyer once it is a very peculiar brand of a different univers and the number of models in your collection is really expressive.

We are all free to choose the way we want to show our newcomers but, as you asked some advices, I will give you my two cents. I made a lot of topics on STS, I'm even in the "Most active topic starters" top five.

Nevertheless, to show my new additions I use only one topic for years, the less messy the more easy.

As a lot of us I love to follow other members adds but sometimes I miss things because of "too much topics to follow" for only one member adds.

Wonderful additions especially the Misty model repaint.

I agree!

As the suggestions can be summed up as 'don't mind' and one 'prefer in one thread', I'll stick to posting them in this thread. But not today, because I use Postimg to host my photos, and right now they're having some sort of server difficulties and the pictures aren't working, so whenever it's back up I'll update the topic with my new arrival :)