Breyer 2022 releases revealed!

Breyer have at long last announced their 2022 regular run range! I don't think we've ever waited quite so long to find out what the new year's models are going to look like

Here's Breyer's own official blog post introducing the horses, with photos :

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And here's my blog post with reviews and thoughts on each one, if you're interested in one random collector's rambling opinions rather than just looking at the promo pics

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Thanks George for bringing this topic to us. You are our Breyer ambassador on forum.
I enjoyed reading your blog entry and apparently we share a few opinions.
I really dislike that Palomino, maybe I am not getting propperly but everything looks weird on it.
Friesian looks a statue to use in a square in Leeuwarden.
Akhal-teke is really exciting, I actually think the extreme conformation of the figure is more representative of the breed than the animal who served as model. However, if it was something for my collection, I wished it was a more iconic golden color but I understand why you find it interesting that they made a regular bay.
Breyer is not risking too much actually, Akhal-teke turned very popular on social media. They're not anymore just the exotic and illusive historical breed, they are now a main stream breed popular as the golden horse. Frisian is probably the most popular breed of the world and ponies are also best-sellers.

Thanks for sharing! I too agree with your assessments. Nice to see some of the new molds become regularly available. Not sure how many will end up on my shelves, but I do think the morgan is very nice. I like that paint job. And it looks nice as the holiday horse as well, though I tend to skip those.

That akhal teke looks so hard to fit on a shelf, he's so long! But he's lovely! And I do love seeing a baby Misty and Phantom, especially with more careful attention to making a portrait of Misty's real markings.

The palomino mold is not one I even recognize, and it looks to be from the era of stylistic choices I failed to appreciate. I agree with Roger - it just looks weird. I think the angle of the photo might not be doing it justice, either.

That pony mare and foal set is a very appealing set of molds (though I agree, not their best color this time around). The thing that always throws me with them is how different the textures are between their coats. I get that the mare has a sleek adult summer coat, and the foal a wooly baby coat, but they don't visually match well and it always bothers me in a way it probably should not, haha. I like them individually, though.

(I don't care for the Friesian at all, but then, I also do not like that mold at all, and you're 100% right about how they paint black.)

I'm still shell shocked I guess, too, by how few regular runs there are every year these days. I guess this is ONLY the new ones, and the line is actually much larger than this with continued runs from previous years, but I just remember looking through pages and pages of little booklets as a kid . . . maybe that's just nostalgia talking and the proportions are the same, and it only seemed like such a broad selection because I was small with no money of my own.

Roger wrote:

Thanks George for bringing this topic to us. You are our Breyer ambassador on forum.
I enjoyed reading your blog entry and apparently we share a few opinions.

Breyer is not risking too much actually, Akhal-teke turned very popular on social media. They're not anymore just the exotic and illusive historical breed, they are now a main stream breed popular as the golden horse. Frisian is probably the most popular breed of the world and ponies are also best-sellers.

I was waiting til Breyer announced them on their own site, and I'd had time to do my own person write-up rather than just chucking the link in without the added care of talking about what's on it

Maybe we'll get some sort of golden horse in the end - they could do a less sooty buckskin with not as much white on to make it different enough from the first release, or maybe a palomino with some pearly shine in it (as long as they don't do the hooves, grrr!)

Didn't realise there was a social media 'teke fan following, I'm not a social media person but I've sure I've loved this breed since before they were fashionable, I've got Artur Baboev's beautiful photography book titled 'Golden Horse' so they had that nickname well before social media, too

Jill wrote:

I do think the morgan is very nice. I like that paint job. And it looks nice as the holiday horse as well, though I tend to skip those.

The palomino mold is not one I even recognize, and it looks to be from the era of stylistic choices I failed to appreciate. I agree with Roger - it just looks weird. I think the angle of the photo might not be doing it justice, either.

I'm still shell shocked I guess, too, by how few regular runs there are every year these days. I guess this is ONLY the new ones, and the line is actually much larger than this with continued runs from previous years, but I just remember looking through pages and pages of little booklets as a kid . . . maybe that's just nostalgia talking and the proportions are the same, and it only seemed like such a broad selection because I was small with no money of my own.

I skip most of the holiday horses, too (I don't celebrate Christmas so the appeal of themed horses which work as ornaments is lost on me), but there are a few I've got second hand later on, if I can catch them without the high price for all the stuff I don't want, but only when the horse inside all the dressing-up is a good real horse colour and not pearly or pastel or silvery

That mould for the palomino is a fairly recent one, the IdentifyYourBreyer page has it dating to 2016 but the first regular run non-decorator colour wasn't til 2020, so it still feels like a new introduction to normal non-club collectors. You know the Peter Stone 'Ideal Stock Horse' mould? I can't help but think Breyer wanted one to rival him, so they asked for a sculpture which was like it but not close enough that copyright issues would make things itchy

And no, you're quite right about the lower number of regular runs recently, it's not your imagination - I've been keeping track in a notepad for over ten years and the figures don't lie
Here's the numbers of regular run trads (including all mid-year/spring/fall releases, but not holiday or decorator models)

2009 : 28
2010 : 22
2011 : 14
2012 : 19
2013 : 13
2014 : 12
2015 : 15 (one with 5 variations)
2016 : 12
2017 : 8
2018 : 11
2019 : 12
2020 : 10 (one with 5 variations)
2021 : 7

I haven't got record of any further back, only the ones I bought from other years, rather than how many were released. But yes, a notable drop in numbers since twenty years ago!

Beautiful horses, thank you so much for sharing it here!

George wrote:

Roger wrote:

Thanks George for bringing this topic to us. You are our Breyer ambassador on forum.
I enjoyed reading your blog entry and apparently we share a few opinions.

Breyer is not risking too much actually, Akhal-teke turned very popular on social media. They're not anymore just the exotic and illusive historical breed, they are now a main stream breed popular as the golden horse. Frisian is probably the most popular breed of the world and ponies are also best-sellers.

I was waiting til Breyer announced them on their own site, and I'd had time to do my own person write-up rather than just chucking the link in without the added care of talking about what's on it

Maybe we'll get some sort of golden horse in the end - they could do a less sooty buckskin with not as much white on to make it different enough from the first release, or maybe a palomino with some pearly shine in it (as long as they don't do the hooves, grrr!)

Didn't realise there was a social media 'teke fan following, I'm not a social media person but I've sure I've loved this breed since before they were fashionable, I've got Artur Baboev's beautiful photography book titled 'Golden Horse' so they had that nickname well before social media, too

You're right, the way I write it looks like the golden horse designation was invented on social media but I surely didn't want to say it because I am aware these horses are known like that for a very long time already. I only wanted to say they're known on social media as golden horses, not much as Akhal-Teke and of course they turned viral because of their golden color. I always insist in this idea of small series and I think Breyer, or some brand, should make a series of these historical horses used in wars during the classic times, with some information, I don't think this idea is less interesting than the series that originated that Snowbird, I don't even know what's the meaning of that model.

Thanks for sharing, George! I liked your reviews too! I'm excited to see this Akhal Teke as well as Josines ponies (Welsh) as regular runs. I hope to see many beautiful customs when they are available. Such lovely sculpts inspire creativity.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] I think Songbird is a Christmas special model for 2022, Breyer makes a new one each year. They are decorated but you can take off the decorations and it's a lovely realistic model.
It's the same mold as the new Morgan but if I had to choose between the grey or dark chestnut for this lovely trotting Morgan I would probably go for grey.

[quote="Roger"][quote="George"]

Roger wrote:

...I think Breyer, or some brand, should make a series of these historical horses used in wars during the classic times, with some information...

They did start on a short run of famous horses used by leaders in historical battles - we had Alexander the Great's Bucephalus, and Napoleon's Marengo, but I think it got a bit forgotten after that cos I don't remember any more!

Ana wrote:

Thanks for sharing, George! I liked your reviews too! I'm excited to see this Akhal Teke as well as Josines ponies (Welsh) as regular runs. I hope to see many beautiful customs when they are available. Such lovely sculpts inspire creativity.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] I think Songbird is a Christmas special model for 2022, Breyer makes a new one each year. They are decorated but you can take off the decorations and it's a lovely realistic model.
It's the same mold as the new Morgan but if I had to choose between the grey or dark chestnut for this lovely trotting Morgan I would probably go for grey.

Oh, so good to know we can remove the decoration.

George wrote:

Roger wrote:

...I think Breyer, or some brand, should make a series of these historical horses used in wars during the classic times, with some information...

They did start on a short run of famous horses used by leaders in historical battles - we had Alexander the Great's Bucephalus, and Napoleon's Marengo, but I think it got a bit forgotten after that cos I don't remember any more!

Really cool, even if I was not refering to specific horses but to the breeds in general, I love the idea and it is actually of an equal interest. I see they used an Arabian for Marengo what is logical and a Mustang for Bocephalus what is acceptable. The breed of Bocephalus was not known, I tend to support the theory it was a Thessalian but I believe the choice of the Mustang mould was because of its half-rearing pose, Bocephalus was famous for its intractable nature. I see also those models were released in 2002 and 2003, almost 20 years ago and they don't seem to be rare or very expensive these days. Probably the idea was not successful enough.

Yes, the Holiday Horses can all be undressed to use as normal models. Here's a post about my few, with photos of the horses without the trappings, and the reason why I like the ones I own but avoided the others they've made!

(There is one more I like, 2020's bay draft horse, but he was very expensive new, at least here in the UK, so I've just left him on the theoretical wishlist for future possible second-hand ebay finds - people sometimes sell the Holiday Horses much cheaper without the stuff years later)

Good to see the new Breyers. Unfortunately, nothing very exciting in the Stablemates size. I'll try to find the Icelandic horse, as I don't have one yet and I prefer this colour over the grey one that is currently on sale. I'd hoped that Breyer would make some rarer models like the 70th anniversary models in different colours or perhaps a new playset.

Of the larger models, the Akhal-Teke looks good, but my favourite is the MorganQuest Native Sun. And Romeo!

Yeah, I was hoping we'd get a whole new batch of (non-blind-bagged!) Stablemates, too, but I suppose that was never going to happen for 2022 when there's been those six 'mid-year' ones recently (which I haven't managed to get yet, only one company I buy from ever had them in stock, and half sold out before I noticed they were there - hopefully they'll become a normal stock item next year)

George wrote:

That mould for the palomino is a fairly recent one, the IdentifyYourBreyer page has it dating to 2016 but the first regular run non-decorator colour wasn't til 2020, so it still feels like a new introduction to normal non-club collectors. You know the Peter Stone 'Ideal Stock Horse' mould? I can't help but think Breyer wanted one to rival him, so they asked for a sculpture which was like it but not close enough that copyright issues would make things itchy

Ah, okay, it looks less weird from different angles! I can definitely see the Peter Stone style influence to him.

Quote :

And no, you're quite right about the lower number of regular runs recently, it's not your imagination - I've been keeping track in a notepad for over ten years and the figures don't lie
Here's the numbers of regular run trads (including all mid-year/spring/fall releases, but not holiday or decorator models)

2009 : 28
2010 : 22
2011 : 14
2012 : 19
2013 : 13
2014 : 12
2015 : 15 (one with 5 variations)
2016 : 12
2017 : 8
2018 : 11
2019 : 12
2020 : 10 (one with 5 variations)
2021 : 7

I haven't got record of any further back, only the ones I bought from other years, rather than how many were released. But yes, a notable drop in numbers since twenty years ago!

Oh wow! That really is a drastic drop. I wonder what shifted their focus so much. Clearly their market changed a little. It feels kind of polarized now between high end collector's stuff and fantasy/younger kid play lines, with just a sprinkling of the in between attainable traditionals.

Yeah, they seem really focused on producing expensive/rare models, while the regular run line is used to chuck out endless blind bags and unicorns
It's starting to feel like if you're not willing/able to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars to be in the clubs and buy the special runs, you're not a 'proper' collector any more - the company aren't interested in your custom, and other hobbyists will look down on you for not being dedicated enough to buy the 'good' stuff. It's getting tougher and a bit sad, still wanting to be an avid Breyer collector, when such a big percentage of what they put out is specifically designed to exclude people.

George wrote:

Breyer have at long last announced their 2022 regular run range! I don't think we've ever waited quite so long to find out what the new year's models are going to look like

Here's Breyer's own official blog post introducing the horses, with photos :

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

And here's my blog post with reviews and thoughts on each one, if you're interested in one random collector's rambling opinions rather than just looking at the promo pics

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Got a chuckle for the series 3 Mystery Horse Surprise SMs.  They aren't new this year; they came out last year!  I bought one of the display boxes.  What made this set really different is there were 3 Chase horses.  The set I bought only had one of the 3 - the loping QH in bright metallic blue.

They're new outside the USA, where I am, and the majority of the people who'd be reading this post and my blog reviews. It's quite common for some releases to first go on sale with the US stockists only, then get a worldwide release later on with the following year's models. If we live in any other country, it's natural to count them as 2022 models.

This only ever happened once in reverse, with the UK being given the Valegro model in the autumn of one year, and the USA and other countries being allowed him the following spring.