BreyerFest Recap Pt 1: Special Runs

I survived!

Obviously the real time blogging did not happen at all 😆 I don't know why every year I think I will have time for things. There is never any time. Once Thursday hits that's it - I can barely even keep up with the obligations I have with people who are there! So here I am with recaps instead.

I'm starting with the special runs because, as you saw, I spent a ton of time beforehand doing careful and detailed analysis as I decided how many tickets to buy and which special runs to select. I was, once again, spectacularly wrong. LOL. UNlike last year, this time ALL of the special runs were once again available in the wildcard line. I should have stuck with the strategy I have used every single other year and just selected all wild cards except on my VIP, but alas - I did not. I assumed we would be in the same situation as last year where none of the online choices were available to wild cards in person.

What does that mean? The run numbers were identical so did they sell fewer online tickets this year? Did they just hold back fewer models in case of more online purchases? Whatever it was - there were plenty of SRs to choose from for wild card holders. Even by Saturday late afternoon when I casually walked through the wild card line to see what was left, only the Silver, To The Ties That Bind Us, was sold out. When it came time for the leftover sale on Sunday, only the Show Jumping Warmblood, Let The Good Times Roll, was also unavailable.

My two absolute must haves were the Old Timer, Hats Off To You, and the Show Jumper. I was also assuming variations on everything for the 75th anniversary - so I went all in on getting (many) multiples of those two. As you have probably seen by now that also turned out to be a mistake because neither of them had a micro run and the Old Timer did not have a variation at all. Womp womp. I ended up not even buying as many of each of them as I had been allocated so - extra tickets wasted.

But I love them! The OT is still my favorite. Look how cute he is! The party hat is absolutel adorable and the paint job is beautiful. I bought three of them and decided it was just a sunk cost and I didn't need even more to try to go sell. You're welcome, leftover sale 😂

The Show Jumping Warmblood did have a second surprise variation! He turned out to me a mane tail split AND a matte gloss split! The matte ones came in the braided mold version. I was really hoping to see the braided version so I was excited to see them! I pulled two glossies in my first run through the tent but was quickly able to trade one for a matte. So yet again I didn't really need to buy any more duplicates - but I did get two more just in case, and so I could pick from a couple of them for nice masking etc.

I absolutely love both of them! Some were definitely pretty gnarly with the masking and many did not fit well in to their bases, but luckily these two are both lovely and I was able to get the bases fully on. Anecdotally they seemed to be a 50/50 split, but I also wouldn't be surprised if they are like the Salinero last year and the mattes are slightly rarer.

Then we have the surprise! I picked the right year to stop congaing Totilas (see also: Glossy Salvino). I got two of them on my tickets but one of my friends had her picks messed up and didn't get one, so I traded her one for the mare & foal set.

Looking at the photos I posted online, the one I wanted the most was the blue roan and my least favorite was the deco. Sure enough - I got the deco! But as it happened another friend really wanted the deco but got the blue roan so we happily swapped.

Also my favorite Disc Replacement maker in the covered arena said they are discontinuing them after Breyerfest weekend! So I also bought a bunch more of those for my guys. I refuse to use the plastic discs anymore. But back to the surprise - I also love the the sooty palomino and wouldn't mind finding one of those eventually. The matte silver bay looks like it will be the most common and the palomino pinto or maybe the sooty pal seem to be the rarest.

The Mustang mare and foal set, Good Times and Great Friends are also very nice. I always love a glossy bay and these are my first ones on the molds. They also had no variation so I just have the one set. I don't think I will be actively collecting these, but this set is lovely.

The Collie and the Bandolero I decided I did not need, and they also did not have any surprise variations (only the mane difference we knew about on the Bandolero). But now we get in to the other half of my miscalculation - the rest of the special runs. The Croi, the Brishen YOLO, and the Silver all had micro-runs. The ones I had decided not to get extras (or even any at all) of. How micro remains to be seen but YOLO had a holographic variations just like Uffington a few years ago, the Silver had a Blue/Gold split and a rare silver version, and the Croi had a black/buckskin split plus a rare metallic blue version. Gah!

So, I panic purchased some extra tickets for wildcards. I had one Silver on my regular tickets and decided to pick up another one in the wildcard line. My first one was a blue and my second one was a gold! That worked out perfectly! I didn't love the pattern enough to go all in on finding a silver one, but I love having the classic Breyer deco color set.

Fun Fact: You may have seen me on the livestream! More about that in a later post, but when I was there for filming one thing they told us was that they were finally able to perfect the wedgewood color because they borrowed a collector's actual vintage model to color match. They don't have one in their archives and so in the past it was always a best guess from photos (and why a lot of previous wedgewoods are not the right shade). I heard a lot of hobbyists complimenting the blue color on him and I agree! It's beautiful!

The blue Croi is beautiful but wasn't something I absolutely needed so I decided to go all in on YOLO - I absolutely love the holo paint. I bought five of them on Friday and ended up with three regular ones and two of the sabino. I love that he is chalky! But I don't really collect Brishen so I sold them all in the hotel that night at cost.

I debated staying for the leftover sale on Sunday but every year (and this year was no exception) I am pretty exhausted by Sunday. I have a 13-14 hour drive to get home and I just want to get on the road. I did still have my extra Old Timer and Show Jumper to pick up so I did one last run through the park. Everything (except the silver) was still available in the wild card line that morning so despite my better judgement and how much I had already sunk in to tickets I bought two more. It helped that they had dropped the price by $10 so hey I saved $20 LOL. I bought two more YOLO and two more Surprise but it was looking like a storm was coming and I hate driving in the rain so I immediately left the park and didn't open them until I got home.

I ended up getting the glossy dapple grey and the matte silver bay! The silver bay is already on eBay but I think I will hang on to the glossy dapple grey for now. He is pretty nice. At least until the run numbers come out.

And THEN I pulled the HOLO YOLO!!!! I couldn't believe it!! It was worth the FOMO YOLO after all, and makes up for all those "wasted" tickets after all.

He is gorgeous!! I love Brishen as a fantasy piece and this color makes him absolutely perfect. I'm so excited!! I can't wait to hear the run numbers. A lot of people are speculating 75 based on past tradition but I also wouldn't be surprised if they were in the 200-250 range again. I didn't see very many silver Silvers but there seemed to be more holo YOLO and blue Croi floating around. It also seemed like quite a few of both were pulled in the second chance sale so maybe there were a bunch on the bottom (which I also benefited from, if true)

I still have another Silver, Surprise, and a yet another set of OT and SJW coming from my virtual tickets too. It will be fun to keep the Breyerfest excitement alive just a little bit longer! But it doesn't even matter what I get with those because I am already so happy with all of my models above!

OH and one last thing - the pick up lines were GREAT this year! I never had to wait more than a minute or two and mostly just walked right through, even Friday morning. The QR codes also worked perfectly. Much smoother than last year all around - YAY!! I am definitely a fan of this new method - now if only I can game out my tickets correctly next time.