Welcome to 2023!

Hi everyone!

I've decided that for 2023, my goal for the blog is to publish at least one post every 2 months. I may end up feeling like writing more often, but I believe once every two months is a realistic goal and gives me space to push beyond the goal without over extending myself.

I also want to be better about separating out major topics and news/updates into different posts. I was getting so behind that I wanted to try and play catch up as much as possible, so I'd shove both things into one post. This not only made the posts longer, thus more demanding of my focus, but probably also read as a bit disjointed to everyone who's not inside my head. Keeping posts shorter and more pinpointed if I can should also help me write more often.

The final change I want to make in 2023 regarding the blog is to make note of any topics I want to talk about, even if I don't have time to complete them right away. This should also help with inspiration for when I'm feeling like writing but I'm not sure what to work on. I still have a couple of drafts hanging around from last year that need to be finished, too.

I hope you all had a great holiday season! Now that we're into the new year, it is once again BreyerFest reveal time!

Today, Breyer fully revealed the General Admission stablemates:

More information about the individual Stablemates can be found on the BreyerFest Blog!

Personally, this is one of my favorite sets since they've started doing sets of 4. The only other year where I've actually liked all 4 has been 2020. One of my favorite G2's, 2 other molds I conga, and I think this Bay Kit will sell me on this mold a lot more than the SMC palomino. I can already see him being the most popular one this year.

A history of BreyerFest Single Day/General Admission models:

In 2004, Breyer began offering a Single Day ticket option paired with a Stablemates model, in addition to the full-weekend ticket Traditional Celebration/Dinner model. The very first Single Day horse was "Amando", a glossy bay G2 Andalusian. He is a slightly fancier glossed version of the regular run introduced in 2003. However, Breyer did not fully anticipate the demand for the Single Day option when they produced Amando and needed to fill the overage by also offering a black G1 Arabian Stallion, a reissue of the 1991 Sears Stablemate Assortment special run.

2005 - "Ronin" is a glossy light gray, an enhanced version of the 2003 RR with added dapples besides just the gloss. Ronin came in a special display box and wears a plastic medieval jousting costume.

2006 - "Trixie" is a glossy version of the 2004 TJMaxx special run Paso. She comes in a display box and has a plastic circus costume and accessories.

2007 - This was the first year that more than one Stablemate was planned for this role, and it's also the first year where neither of those models were glossed/enhanced versions of existing colorways. "Stars" and "Stripes" featured blue/stars and red/stripes themes respectively.

2008 - "Compass" was the singular model offered for this role in 2008. She features a map of several continents along her sides.

2009 - To celebrate the BreyerFest Birthday Bash, a total of 5 colorways were offered as a part of the FunFetti set, all on the G3 TWH mold. Wedgewood, Copenhagen, Gold Charm, Florentine, and Purple Copenhagen. To date, there have not been any other years which feature more than 4 options for this role.

2010 - Breyer dialed back the offerings for the Single Day models to two, Emmy and Oscar.

2011 - This is the first year that Breyer offered a total of 4 different models for the Single Day role, and it has remained at that amount ever since. Merryweather, Maleficent, Flora, and Fauna are frosted clearware models with swirled flower designs in different colors. They are inspired by the 4 fairies from Sleeping Beauty.

2012 - This set featured 4 glossy realistic colors; Carling, Butter, London Pride, and Moonraker.

2013 - In 2013, the single day horses were back to unrealistic colors, featuring inventive twists on existing decorator colors. Chrome (pearly matte silver filigree), Rivet (Copenhagen on clearware), Dungaree (blue appaloosa w/black points), and Indigo (blue overo w/black points).

2014 - For the Silver Anniversary, the 4 stablemates were variations of silver colors; silver charm (Sterling), silver filigree (Sequins), silver appaloosa (Silver Star), and silver pinto (Glimmer).

2015 - This set again featured 4 fancy glossed realistic colors; Creme Brulee, Crepe Suzette, Eclair, and Meringue.

2016 - The set of 4 realistic colors for 2016 were all mattes; Amapa, Bahia, Para, and Sao Paulo

2017 - This year featured 2 glossy and 2 matte realistic colors; Tushar & Anaya in matte and Vivaan and Mishti in glossy.

2018 - 3 of these were glossy portraits of racehorses (Man O War, Ruffian, and Silver Charm), plus a glossy portrait of the blue "Big Lex" statue.

2019 - All of these were mini versions of previous BreyerFest raffle/prize models- Andante (Allegro), Arya (Areia), Toe Tapper (Boot Scootin Boogie), and Chiffon (Red Velvet). It's interesting that the Best of BreyerFest collection series debuted the following year, with this group possibly being a soft test for that concept.

2020 - 3 glossies and 1 matte in realistic colors; Arran (matte) and Skye, Jersey & Orkney (glossy)

2021 - For the first time since 2014, all 4 models were unrealistic colors. Avant Garde, Dada, Nouveau, and Rococo. This was the first year that this Stablemate quartet was referred to as "General Admission" instead of "Single Day".

2022 - All 4 of these were realistic colors, with 2 mattes and 2 glossies. Brezel & Lakritz in glossy and Spaetzle & Doopelbock in matte.

2023 - This year will also have all 4 realistic colors, with 2 glossy (Wheeler & Navigator) and 2 matte (Teamster & Whip).

I hope you're all looking forward to learning more about the BreyerFest lineup! I know I'm excited!

Here are a few of my "2022 collection in review" photos, showing my new additions. There are only a few missing here, including Solaris (forgot I got him in 2022), MorganQuest Native Sun (he was wearing a costume when I took the photo and I didn't feel like taking it off), as well as Tahoe, Zeke, Ashton, and Blue whom arrived after I took the pictures. I also left out the micro resin Earthquake because he's tiny and fragile!