A Good Year

With the arrival of Georg at my door a few days ago, my Breyer Premier Collectors Club membership has more or less come to a close.  Of course, there's still the bonus Stablemate to come -- a cute little Morgan sporting Hamilton's colours.  Since Morgans don't come in tobiano he's going to have to have a breed change -- I've been thinking of making him a Spanish Jennet.

Image courtesy of Identify Your Breyer

However, since the Stablemate is essentially a "free with purchase" item, I don't really count it as one of the membership horses.  This year, the membership horses have been a Welsh Pony mare and foal (Rhian and Cadell), an American Saddlebred stallion (Hamilton), and a Rhenish German Coldblood stallion (Georg).

I could hardly ask for a better group to suit my peculiar tastes.  Although I've recently come to prefer standing models to action models, the big action model of the bunch (Hamilton) turned out to be unexpectedly rock-steady on his hooves -- something you would never guess just by looking at him.  The closest the Premier Club has come to offering two standing models in one year before this was 2017, with Duende and Selene, but Selene was only a foal.  This year, with Rhian and Cadell, it was the mare who was standing and the foal who was in an action pose.

Another unexpected bonus is that the horses offered in this year's club run the gamut of basic horse types: light breed, draft breed, and pony.

All in all, then, it was a good year to be a member of the Premier Club -- at least for me.  I never expected it to work out so well.

However, I've already decided not to renew my membership in the club for 2020.  Despite the temptations of the unknown molds, the one mold that has been revealed doesn't do much for me.

I've also pretty much decided to renew my membership in the Stablemate Collectors Club.  Now that all molds but the new mold have been revealed -- for the record, they're the appaloosa Darwin we've already seen, the G1 Arabian Stallion, the G2 Warmblood, the  2016 Cob, and the 2019 Mini Alborozo (I date him to 2019 since all the 2018 Alborozos were unicorns) -- I'm satisfied that I'm going to like all the releases for 2020.  I'm very much afraid that the Mini Alborozo is going to be the gambler's choice model: not because I'll want to have them all but because there's bound to be a decorator among them and I'd rather see Alborozo in more real horse colours.  On the other hand, if he is the gambler's choice that means we get three more horse-coloured Alborozos, so that's a bonus.

The jury is still out on whether or not I go for the "deluxe" Collectors Club membership.  The extra cost makes the mini Fighting Stallion a very expensive Stablemate, and one not nearly as exclusive as any of the recent specialty blind bag offers, like the Fruitcake Fillies, the Spooky Surprise, or the Starry Skies Stablemates.  But it's not exactly clear if that's all the deluxe membership will offer -- perhaps there will be other bonuses throughout the year?  And if there isn't, will I be disappointed that I spent the extra money for one little horse?  Unless more information is forthcoming, it's something I need to figure out before the year is up. 

"Pembroke" and "Cardigan"

One thing's for sure, I'm not disappointed that I made the decision last year to join the Premier Club.  It worked out well for me -- even better than I'd hoped.  I was hooked by the ponies and, I have to admit, I had my doubts about the Saddlebred and the Coldblood, but both of them have won my heart.

"Spaceman Spiff"

I haven't introduced you to my Georg, yet.  He's a big, beautiful boy with absolutely luscious colour.  I've never called a model horse "yummy" before, but Georg brings that adjective to mind.  He has lovely dapples, unique shading, and the promised "sunburned" touch to his mane and tail.  According to his Certificate of Authenticity he's supposed to have a mapped sock, which sounds a little weird to me, but if my guy has one then it's very subtle.  However, I think I can see it in the picture used on the Identify Your Breyer site.  

"Düsseldorf"

I named my guy "Düsseldorf," not because it's a city in the Rhineland (although I believe it is) but just because I've always liked the sound of that name.  I call him "Doozer" for short.

So 2019 was the year that "Pembroke," "Cardigan," "Spaceman Spiff," and "Düsseldorf" a.k.a. "Doozer" came into my life.

"Doozer"

It's been a doozy of a year.