OZZIE (Rehomed)

Arrival Date: 12/21/17

Size: 21.5"

Year: 2017

Designer: Isabelle Lee

Purchased From: BAMS

Cost: $101.95 after $10 coupon

Thoughts: I thought Ozzie was gorgeous in his promo pics, but I didn't pre-order him right away. I was a little nervous about having too many pre-orders in, especially with two of them being my first mohairs. But as things worked out, I ended up cancelling my Kerri pre-order and replacing her with Ozzie. When people started getting theirs, I hoped the US would get him soon, too, because every Ozzie is gorgeous. There's a lot of variety in the facial patterns. some have more dark by the eyes, more silver, the green is all over the place. I wanted one with the dark eyes and mine definitely has those! He's also got a lovely silver left eye leading into the green patch. His right also has silver, but it's less. There's a neat few strands of fur that are tipped in black though and those are fab. He's just beautiful, a wonderful assortment of colors.

Update: Ozzie was rehomed in June 2018. I needed to cut down on space and he was my biggest bear! I still liked him, but we never really bonded and I think the size was part of it.

SIENNA

Arrival Date: 12/12/17

Size: 13"

Year: 2017

Designer: Kaycee Bears

Purchased From: Beacon's Glow

Cost: $136.95

Thoughts: It's been almost a year since my last Kaycee Bears purchase! Tango arrived on 12/27/16. I wasn't planning on ordering a new one, but when I saw Sienna in a Beacon's Glow newsletter, I went to look at the Autumn 2017 collection and there are some stunning bears (and other animals) there. Sienna won me over though and she came in at the end of last week. Mine arrived today and while she's not huge, her fur is thick and so soft. Her colors are stunning. I adore her!

STUIE

Arrival Date: 11/17/17

Size: 15"

Year: 2016

Edition Size: 2000

Designer: Heather Lyell

Purchased From: BAMS

Cost: $61.95 on Today's Special (Retail $82.95)

Thoughts: Stuie has been pretty high on my want list probably for about a year. I wasn't in a hurry to get him, because even though I wanted him, BAMS had several in stock. Well, I happened across him on Today's Special last week and had enough money to cover the purchase, so he finally came home. Stuie's part of a small family of four Lyell bears. His bunny counterpart with the same black and white feathery fur is Bryony, who I've had since she came out. She has a white face instead of Stuie's black. Then there are Hinckley (bear) and Herbs (bunny) as the other pair. Herbs is white with hints of black and a black face, while Hinckley is a more even mix of black and white fur with a black face. Hinckley's moved into the most wanted spot that Stuie vacated. These animals are skinnier than a lot of the other CBs and not quite as cuddly, because at least with Stuie and Bryony, the fur is a bit bristly. I love them both though and I hope to add Hinckley soonish. 

SCRABBLE (Rehomed)

Arrival Date: 11/10/17 (Rehomed 4/2023)

Size: 20"

Year: 2017

Edition Size: 1450

Designer: Isabelle Lee

Features: Plumo

Purchased From: Beacon's Glow

Cost: $119.95

Thoughts: Scrabble was the only one of the curly-furred bears to make my original pre-order list, although I obviously grabbed Curly when he came out before her. I also have the third one, Bampa, on pre-order now. Scrabble is the biggest of the three at 20" and the only Plumo (part mohair). She has the curly fur on her torso and head, a plumo face and ears, and regular plush arms and legs. She's really soft everywhere and I love her colors. I had a hard time picking one, because my usual stockist only got 3 in and the one cute one was taken by someone else, so I switched to a different stockist and got my choice of 6 bears. There was one that was absolutely perfect, but he was decidedly male and I always thought of Scrabble as female. This one looks like a pretty, if somewhat somber, girl, so she came home to me. She's gorgeous in person. 

CURLY

Arrival Date: 10/16/17

Size: 18"

Year: 2017

Edition Size: 1550

Designer: Isabelle Lee

Purchased From: BAMS

Cost: $15.08 after Rewards Coupon (Retail $103.95)

Thoughts: Curly was sort of a whim. I thought the trio of curly bears was interesting, but it was Scrabble that got my pre-order. Then Bampa came out awhile ago in the UK and I thought he was neat-looking, but not many people got him and I kind of forgot about him. Then Curly came out...I think on QVC UK...and people bought him right up. I saw photos of him and liked him a lot more than I did at first. I knew I had a Rewards Coupon coming after Brat, Dave and Dusk, so I thought I'd check out real photos of Curly and possibly very likely pick him to use my coupon on. Well, he was more popular than I planned and he got fully reserved, but thanks to some changed minds, I ended up having 3 to choose from, including 2 of my 3 favorite ones. I never thought this guy would be left for me, because when I saw all 8, I deemed him and one other (who got claimed first) the cutest. I think people were put off by his nose. The other Curlys have a striped nose, but mine didn't get any stripes. I prefer a cute face to nose stripes, unless the stripes are crucial to the design (see: Tick Tock), so it's obvious this guy was meant for me to adopt. His fur is SO awesome and he's super huggable. I love him a lot!

DUSK

Arrival Date: 10/16/17

Size: 12"

Year: 2017 Trade Show Special

Edition Size: 2050

Designer: Heather Lyell

Purchased From: BAMS

Cost: $60.95

Thoughts: Dusk wasn't originally my fave of the trade show bunnies. That was Bluebell. And I almost bought her, but when there were only 2 Dusks left and I only liked the face of one of them, I knew he had to come home first. And no regrets. His fur is just splendid. He's a skinny little guy, but so is Bryony, my other Lyell bunny, so they go well together. Although they're not displayed on the same shelf! I had planned on it, but Dusk's ears stand up too high. His ears are fully bendable and fun to play with, but I want him sitting there with them sticking up, not flopped over. Dusk has definitely sold me on the idea of getting Bluebell as soon as I can swing it.

DAVE (Rehomed)

Arrival Date: 10/16/17 (Rehomed 11/23)

Size: 8"

Year: 2017

Edition Size: 2200

Designer: Isabelle Lee

Purchased From: BAMS

Cost: $50.95

Thoughts: DAVE. There's a collection of little bears this year that are based on Will's friends and while most people loved the more unusually-printed ones like Tadam and Briz, I loved Dave. He's just a simple little chocolate brown bear with a giant gut. He's my smaller bear, along with Mix from last year's Sweetie Shop collection, but considering Mix has longer hair, Dave looks like the littlest. Except around the middle! Seriously, I bought him because he's a great color and a chub. He's awesome. And he refers to himself in the third person. Look at him. He totally does.

BRAT

Arrival Date: 10/16/17

Size: 12"

Year: 2017 Halloween Collection

Edition Size: 1490

Designer: Alison Mills

Purchased From: BAMS

Cost: $59.95

Thoughts: Brat was called the "bear dressed like a rat." Well, dressed like a rat just means he has a long purple corduroy tail. So my Brat is actually a rat. He's got a little bit longer muzzle, so it works. Brat is not exactly like I imagined, as for a long time, I was only going by his single stock photo, a group shot of all the Halloween ones. He was distinctly blue-purple there, but in actuality, he's red-purple. I don't mind, because I love purple in any shade. He has paw pads on the bottoms of his arms, as opposed to the typical sides, so he has the begging hands, which works great for a rat. I really love him!

FIRECRACKER

Arrival Date: 10/6/17

Size: 15.5"

Year: 2014 Secret Collection

Edition Size: 1500

Designer: Heather Lyell

Purchased From: ebay (albijuno)

Cost: $59.99

Thoughts: I've wanted Firecracker for ages and I missed out on a couple auctions from UK sellers. So I was hugely surprised when she turned up from a US seller. Unfortunately, this was at the same time as the QVC show and I had purchasing priorities. so I let her go without a bid, even though it pained me. I got lucky though and no one bid, so when she was relisted, I jumped on her and won with no competition. (Fools! You don't know what you're missing!) Firecracker is a smallish bear at 15.5" and she's one of the Magical Snugglies, so she's skinny. Like really skinny. Skinnier than my other Snugglies like Mystery, Luna and Scrummy. It works for her though. Her long hot pink bits stick out much farther than her black and I love that bow material. I think Smudge uses something similar. Of all my bears, I think Firecracker is my "me" bear. Mostly black but with bursts of bright colors. I wear mostly black, but I accessorize in brighter colors and I used to wear black with neon a lot. She's also got a bit of a bitch face! The black fur above her right eye comes down farther and the pink above her left hints at a raised eyebrow, so she looks like she's questioning everything you do with disdain...a face I make frequently at work.

KIRI

Arrival Date: 10/3/17

Size: 13"

Year: 2017 Secret Collection

Edition Size: 2500

Designer: Alison Mills

Purchased From: QVC

Cost: $61.32

Thoughts: Kiri the cheetah (NOT a leopard) is one I've wanted since she came out months ago in the UK. I waited patiently because I knew she'd be one of the ones on US QVC. She is random plush and about every one looks different, so I had my fingers crossed I wouldn't hate what I got. But we have success! She doesn't have a lot of the blotchy, dominantly brown plush I don't like as much and her face is nicely spotted. Her nose and muzzle look good. She's a bit starey, but a lot of them are. She's not the cutest I've seen, but she's still way better than lots of others, so she's not going anywhere.