Special Effects: Toys "R" Us Special Runs

I've mentioned Toys "R" Us in some capacity in the past two posts, so I figured for the first post in the special run series, why not visit models in my collection that were produced only for Toys "R" Us and couldn't be found anywhere else?

Throughout high school, I saved everything I earned from babysitting and birthday money (and eventually a little from jobs, too) and put it toward Breyer models. Dealers were more prolific in those days. We had two in Erie - Toys "R" Us near the Millcreek Mall, and Hidden Treasures out on West 26th St. Hidden Treasures was probably closer from a mileage standpoint, but we were at the mall much more often, so Toys "R" Us is where I got many of my models in the days before the internet.

Photos for today were taken in my less-than-ideally lit dining room so they're not as pretty as usual. The light fixture has three bulbs which make shadows super weird. That'll have to be my photography space for much of the winter, though, so I'll need to grab some portable lights and see what I can do.

 

This set is #700693, Drinkers of the Wind. A gold sticker on the box proclaimed it a Special Collector Edition (Limited Production). The collectibility bug bit me early, so I didn't hesitate to snatch these up. Turns out they made 18,000 sets, so not quite as "limited" as the box led me to believe, but they're still desirable today. I don't have an exact acquisition date on these, but it was definitely sometime in 1993. My collection was still pretty small then. I remember using one of my shelves for a racing setup with all my running models. My black JCP CAS (featured a few days ago) was always in front as my favorite, with the gray CAS from this set in second, just off his shoulder.

Like the Drinkers of the Wind set, this model, #700993, Bay Fighting Stallion, also had the gold box sticker declaring it a Special Collector Edition. No official production total was ever released to my knowledge, but Nancy Young estimates there were around 6,000 models made. I was obsessed with rearing horses as a kid and picked this guy out right away. He had a few photo shoots in the back yard in his early years, battling with Chaparral, a pinto Hartland Rearing Mustang, and the Fighting Stallion and Semi-Rearing Mustang from the 1993 JCPenney set.

I was not successful in locating said photos, but I'll try to unearth them for a future post. If nothing else, they'll be entertaining.

This model is #700294 from the Spanish Normal Family, a Special Collector Edition from 1994. There were 6,300 sets made. I got this guy in April of this year for free from my dear friend Donna S, after I had commented somewhere that I was looking to fill in a few holes in my Classics congas. At our Are You Kitten Me Live show, Donna handed me a box of four Classics and told me, "Just take them." I offered payment but she refused. She is one of the nicest, most generous hobbyists I know.

From 1995-1999, Toys "R" Us released 11 models or sets of models in the Medallion Series, each of which came with a gold-toned metal medallion on a blue or red ribbon. The only Medallion series model I have is this gal, #700795, from the 1995 Buckaroo and Skeeter set. There were 4,200 sets made. I am not her original owner - I found her (without Skeeter or the medallion) in room sales at the Clarion during BreyerFest 2012.

 

In 1998, Toys "R" Us began releasing models called Showcase Editions. This is #711898, Sundance, a run of 10,000. Mine is numbered 4,299/10,000 on the belly. I've always liked her soft dun color.

This is another Showcase Edition model from the year 2000, #730500, Riley, a run of 10,000. mine is numbered 1,750/10,000 on the belly.

This model was only the third decorator in my collection when it was released in 2001. (We'll get to my love/hate relationship with decos in a future post.) He's #730901, Horse of a Different Color. They never released a quantity on him and he's not numbered. I've always thought he was one of the prettiest Pacers.

Oh look, a Shiny Bay Thing! I love all Shiny Bay Things and this guy was on my want list for an absurdly long time. I finally acquired him in room sales at the Clarion during BreyerFest 2016. He's #730801, Valiant, another Showcase Edition of 10,000 pieces. Mine is numbered 706/10,000 on the belly. Let me tell you how fun it was to try to (a) get a decent photo of the writing with all that dark shading on his belly and (b) also not include a gratuitous shot of his bits.

Fittingly, the latest-issued Toys "R" Us special run in my collection is also the one I acquired most recently. This little dude was part of a set called #740701, Reflections Gift Set. I avidly congaed the G2 Thoroughbred for years and years - but they will fall over if you so much as blink in their direction, so after they dominoed themselves one too many times, I started dispersing the conga. I always thought the color on this guy was lovely, though, so he stayed on my wish list even as I parceled out some of the others. My dear friend Heather B found it for sale back in 2022 and bought it, knowing I was looking for it, and then sold it to me. Then this year, she forgot that she'd already found me one, and bought a second one. She ended up gifting that one to our friend Macie (who writes a lovely blog called Macie's Model Horse Musings here on blogger that you should absolutely follow).

That's it for my Toys "R" Us models. In addition to Cappuccino, who I mentioned in my PAS conga post, the other Toys "R" Us exclusives I'd like to add to the collection someday are the Geronimo & Cochise set from the Medallion Series and the dark dapple gray Cigar to complete the Reflections set.