Stablemate Sunday: 2016 Stablemate Club

 

In 2015, Breyer announced a brand new club option for Collector's Club members. At this point, Breyer had two other clubs: the Premier Club (which released three brand new molds every year) and the Vintage Club (which used Vintage paint jobs and molds). Both the Premier Club and the Vintage Club focused primarily on Traditional models, with the option of a bonus stablemate at the end of the year. Mini collectors naturally felt a little left out. Enter the Stablemates Club: a brand-new club consisting of six releases: one decorator, one Gambler's Choice, one G1 mold, and one new mold, plus two other models! And to promote the first year of the club, they announced to very exciting things: the new mold would be a Friesian sculpted by Josine Vingerling named Django, and the G1 mold would be the Quarter Horse Mare, unseen in the lineup since 1988. Notably, the only two releases Breyer announced were Primrose and Django. The other four releases were to be a surprise throughout the year.

It's safe to say the hobby went wild. 

On a personal level, I was excited for the club. I was in college at the time, and the only club I could afford on my budget was the base Collector's Club. But the Stablemates were $20 every other month, well within my budget! It worked out well, since I was also mainly collecting Stablemates in college, because they were less expensive and easier to fit in a dorm room. I signed up for the 2016 club without a second thought.

Primrose

The first release of the Club was one of the most anticipated: Primrose, a grullo Appaloosa on the G1 Quarter Horse Mare mold. Primrose had an unintended variation - part of the run was missing the leg barring. The whole run also had a mold flaw on the nose, probably due to its time out of use. 

Sylvester 

Breyer's next release was Sylvester, a glossy dapple gray on the G3 Warmblood Jumper. Sylvester was received well by the hobby, as the Jumper mold is fairly popular. The most criticism came from the execution of his dapples, which is pretty typical for Breyer's dapple gray releases. 

Shiloh

The third release was Shiloh, a chestnut pinto on the G4 Warmblood mold. The mold is notoriously tippy, and so poor Shiloh was one of the least popular models of this lineup. To this day, Shiloh is the only Stablemates Club release that I've needed a replacement for, which is pretty impressive since I've been in the Club for six years now! 

Ricochet

The decorator was a little wild - Ricochet is a pink florentine on the G3 Rearing Andalusian mold. Ricochet, like Shiloh, is one of the less popular releases of the 2016 lineup. I recall his color being described as "Pepto-Bismol pink" when he was announced. 

Diesel

The Gambler's Choice was a hit, on the wildly popular Reiner mold. Named Diesel, he came in four colors: a glossy grullo pinto, a glossy bay blanket Appaloosa, a glossy brindle, and a classic Wedgewood. The color I received was the Wedgewood. These guys can be tough and a little expensive to track down - I didn't finish the set until 2020. 

Django

Breyer held off on the new mold until the final release - Django, a standing Friesian. The mold has been immensely popular since then - I would estimate that out of all the new molds introduced since the club's beginning, Django is by far the most popular, with either Corbin (2019) or Cassidy (2020) coming in second.