I have to say, I was very skeptical when I saw the subject line in my Gmail account. A Valentine's Day-themed Breyer? Euw, that just takes me to so many places, all of them sickly sweet. I'm already on edge this year waiting for new models, with that "Fairy Tales" theme threatening to devolve into "Pretty Pink Princess" at any minute.

Luckily my fears were largely unfounded. THIS TIME.

"Cupid's arrow strikes home with Be Mine (#712043)! This Arabian stallion is decorated in matte red roan with two hind white socks, a flurry of hearts scattered across his flanks and heart-shaped star. Limited to 150 pieces."

"Be Mine" is a red roan version of Huckleberry Bey*, with heart-shaped spots on his flank and a heart-shaped star on his forehead. Touche, Breyer. The red roan is almost a tongue-in-cheek choice for a "pink horse." One wonders if there was a staff meeting where half the attendees wanted a normal colored horse (like Stone's Valentine's Day Arabian stallion with heart-shaped spots, "Spots I Love"), and half wanted a cupcake pink horse, and they all decided to meet in the middle and go with a red roan.

This is another polarizing model for most collectors. Everyone seems to either love it or hate it. I have yet to read a comment online about him that says "meh." I understand both sides of the argument; I do think he's cute, but I can't picture myself actually putting him on my shelf and looking at him every day. (Since I hardly have an extra $150 to drop on a plastic model horse at this point, it's kind of an abstract concern anyway.)

"Roan" is a type of white marking, like "appaloosa" or "pinto." A roan horse has a solid body color, with white hairs distributed throughout. These white hairs dilute the coat color and give it almost a frosted appearance. This pattern is called "roaning."

In most roan horses, the roaning is not evenly distributed. In a classic full roan pattern, the horse will have darker points (the legs, head, and tail). Many horses have just one or two patches of roaning, splotches where white hairs are mixed in with the darker hairs. Others - like Be Mine - have areas where there are fewer white hairs, which gives the background color a chance to peek through.

If you want a Be Mine of your very own, get your trigger fingers ready! He is limited to only 150 pieces, and will be sold only through the Breyer Online store starting at 3PM Eastern/Noon Pacific  on Monday the 7th.

*It makes me smile to think about Huckleberry Bey being used in this context. This Kathleen Moody mold has frequently drawn the ire of fact-centric collectors. Breyer loves to describe him as an "Arabian" while releasing him in coat colors that purebred Arabians don't come in, like palomino and pinto.

 One wonders, will anyone object to calling him an Arabian on the grounds that "Arabians don't come in red roan with heart-shaped spots"?