Yeah, I know. I'm a bit behind the times on these. But if you have been reading my blog for any amount of time you will know I don't just "announce" new models, but give my impressions as well and that's what I'll do here. I would have blogged about them sooner, but someone once suggested to establish a posting schedule and stick with it and I had decided Wednesday was the day. Yeah, I know I have posted on other days since deciding that, but...well...I get lazy. hahahaha.
So, let's see...I got an email from Breyer about renewing my Collector Club membership. Well, not just mine, but everyone's since they changed it to having to have an active membership during a certain time frame in order to be eligible for special models. There are now two levels of CC membership. Regular and Deluxe with a pretty good-sized gap in price points. Regular is $25 and Deluxe is $55. With the Deluxe, you get an exclusive Stablemate model and the one for 2021 is a glossy mini Alborozo:
Alby is a popular mold both in Traditional and SM size so people are going nuts over this one. It's a duplicate of the record-breaking Breyerfest Auction piece from 2019. He's pretty, but I don't know if he's worth the extra $30 for the Deluxe club when that is the only extra you get. I don't know what else I would like for that $30, but... Regardless if which level you choose to join, you will have a chance to buy two traditional sized models at two different times of the year. The first one has already been revealed and it's a glossy black NSH...
Also revealed is the last Stablemate Club model for 2020 and one for 2021. I don't know if it's the first one that will be released or if it will be released sometime during the year, but I am going to have to get both of them. Cassidy is the one that will be released in December and hopefully I'll be able to find one for sale on the secondary...
She's cute. I *think* she's a new mold? I am not sure. Then the one they revealed for 2021 is a neat-looking loose-mane clydesdale that may have sucked me into joining the SMC again...
Someone mentioned it looks like "he's" missing the left eye and I have to kind of agree. It looks quite empty. Hopefully it looks better in person. I haven't been in the club for two years, I think it is, and have just been buying the ones I wanted on Ebay or MH$P. It's a neat photo background they used here, but I think the barn probably isn't Stablemate scale, though.
Over the weekend there was supposed to be a Breyer Fun Day at participating dealers, but, of course, they changed it to a virtual event (*grumble grumble*) even though some places were going to actually have in-store events. Breyer posted tutorials for things on YouTube and a couple of them looked neat. I didn't do any of them, but they still looked neat. One was a Stablemate Desktop Diorama. You use a lamp them build the base around it and I don't have room for it, plus it wouldn't look anywhere near as good. I don't have the patience for trying to make it look that good...
I think that is all I had to share about models. I feel like I am forgetting something, though, but I don't know what. So I guess I'll move on.
A few blogs back I mentioned my disappointment in that they won't be releasing a Martin Brody doll from Jaws. Something about issues with licensing. Amazon still had it on their website with a March release, but now it's saying they don't know if or when it will be in stock, which is another disappointment. The Quint doll and other Jaws related stuff are still being released so the licensing is obviously doesn't have to do with the move as a whole. I asked my brother what he thought it could be and before I could even finish my sentence he said it it because the person, or in this case their estate, said No. I can appreciate that, but I don't understand why, unless they decided they wanted more money. The doll was tastefully done and looks a lot like Roy Scheider. Hopefully they'll get it figured out and the doll will be released sometime in the near future. Obviously his estate had agreed to it initially or NECO wouldn't have produced the doll, or the proto-type at least, and offered it for sale. Makes me wonder, now, if maybe the Richard Simmons doll isn't going to happen either. It was supposed to be released in October and there's been no updates and October is almost over. I wasn't going to buy one anyway, but that's besides the point.
So, last month I went to Las Vegas for a quick overnight. I drove up on Sunday and came back Monday. It's only the second time I've driven there and the drive made me nervous. Well, the THOUGHT of the drive did, but the drive itself wasn't too bad and I feel it's something I could do more often, but I'm not able to get away from home to go more often so there is that. I hadn't been to Las Vegas since 2015 and it's obviously a little different right now. It felt different, too. I can't quite put my finger on what it was. Not the masks and lack of people because there were plenty of people. I stayed at the Mirage and ended up with a suite. I asked if the "Nick Pappageorgio Suite" was available and the desk agent chuckled. He said it wasn't and I asked if they got a lot of people asking for it and he said there's been a few. Anyway, the suite was HUGE. 1,200 some odd square feet. I was on the 26th floor, so only 2 floors from the very top and I had to use a certain elevator to get to the top floors and my card key to access them so I felt special in that way. Anyway, I had asked if it had a view of the volcano because I didn't want to pay for the upgrade if I didn't have a view of the volcano. The first one he offered didn't and I said then I wanted a room with a view of the volcano and he said let him see what he could do. The *2nd room* he offered, he assured me had a view of the volcano, so I paid the upgrade fee, which really wasn't that much. I was in the mood to spoil myself a little. So, I got my key and went up to my room and decided to take a nap. I had already been up and down the strip and combined with the 5 hour drive, I was a little tired. I should have looked out the window to make sure I had the view I wanted, but I didn't. I slept for a couple of hours then went across the street to Denny's to get dinner. At 8pm the first volcano show was set to start so I went to the window and saw...the Rio. Uhm...huh? That's not on the strip side. Out another window, I saw Caesar's Palace. But no volcano. I was very disappointed. My original room assignment was for a volcano view. I should have stuck with that, but the suite really was nice. Biiiiiiiig. And I wanted to treat myself. But I felt mislead. If I had known I wouldn't have a view of the volcano, I wouldn't have spent the extra money for the upgrade. In the end, I submitted a complaint to the Mirage and they refunded my Resort Fee charge, which was almost half of the upgrade fee. Because I didn't look at the view right away and rectify the problem, I felt that was an acceptable resolution. I never did get to see the volcano erupt, though. Another complaint about my room view was that because I was near the top of the building, there was the "signage" for the Beatles' Cirque show Love and so instead of a "clear" view, all I saw were little tiny circles. Not exactly conducive to taking pictures or even just looking out the windows and enjoying the view...
I will be going back in April, for my birthday. Even though the September trip was supposed to be my birthday trip for my 50th, I want to go back for a "re-do". As I was leaving on Monday to go back home, there were things I realized I hadn't done or taken pictures of that I wanted to. I never made it to an ABC Shop. That was mostly because of broken elevators. Because I have arthritis in my right hip and my left knee has no cartilage in it, I had rented an electric scooter to tool around the strip on. Thank goodness for those things! I was able to get from the Mirage down to New York New York, across the street to MGM and back up to the Mirage. I wouldn't have been able to do that on foot. Anyway, a couple of broken elevators kept me from being able to do everything I wanted because it would've meant having to go to the next pedestrian bridge up, cross LV Blvd then backtrack. I had wanted to ride the High Roller Observation Wheel, but wasn't able to because it was on the side of the road with the broken elevators. So I will go back in April. I did get to have a couple of adult beverages at Fat Tuesday, though. The bars weren't open yet, unless they served food, so this particular location got around it by making it required to buy a bag of chips for $1.00, which I was fine with. I got a Pina Colada and a Strawberry Daiquiri. Yum. I want to say that the majority of the people I encountered while out on the strip in the scooter were super nice and helpful. When I encountered a broken elevator at Aria, a couple told me I could get down to the street level by using the elevator inside the Crystals Shops then proceeded to show me where to go. Others held open elevator doors for me. The only "issue" I encountered was outside M&Ms World. They only allow so many people inside the store at a time so there's often a line outside and people gathered, waiting to get in. Well, the line isn't always very well-defined and people can be a bit scattered, just kind of hanging around. There were a bunch of people there when I was trying to get through and I just kept repeating "Just trying to get through. Just trying to get through." so they didn't think I was trying to cut in line or anything. There's been a lot of bad publicity about people on scooters on the Strip lately and I was trying very hard to be polite and not be associated with that type. I always am when I'm on a scooter. I don't try to force my way through or anything. But like I said, there's people who rent scooters and go zipping all over the place and have been known to run into people.
On Monday, I slept in. Showered. Then headed back home. Overall, it was a good trip. I did get to see two fountain shows at the Bellagio, though. And I am thinking of staying at the Bellagio on my next trip. I have stayed there before and the bed was super comfortable. The one at the Mirage was kind of hard and I didn't sleep well. Anyway, here's a couple of photos from the fountain show. I just love the first photo. I've had this bear for 42 years and take him on all trips with me. I am actually using this photo as the background imagine on my work computer because it just makes me so happy to see it.
Okay. Well, if you are still reading...thank you! lol. I hope you are all doing well and til next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment. I appreciate each and every one.