The delayed 9″ + 3″ Urban 8 OJ and Milk combo is now for sale at the Disney Store Online.
This tasty LE 1500 combo retails for $74.95 and was designed by Caley Hicks. Thanks to Nathan and Rachel for bringing this to our attention. We know a lot of people have been waiting for this great looking set.
Ya, I never thought I’d be featured here either! But a few weeks back, a friend of mine, and a listener to the podcast, showed me her custom Vinylmation. She was surprised to find out that I hadn’t attempted a custom myself. Now, I had thought about it from time to time, but I don’t consider myself an artistic person. First, it looks so daunting to me. Second, I don’t have the tools and although there are plenty of tips and tricks on the net, I’d really have no clue where to start or how to attack the canvas. But she insisted that I dive right in and, with her help, give it a try. So I sat down to sketch out my first design, and before I knew it, I was hooked. I had 12 different designs drawn out! But my first idea was my favorite character Donald Duck as Santa.
We have heard many reports of guests pulling Park Starz out of the mystery trading boxes around Walt Disney World. There has never been any confirmation as to if Disney planted them or guests traded them in. But this week, Disney is testing an official Park Starz only clear trading box.
This clear box is located at D-Street Orlando and holds 2 Park Starz. Trading rules remain the same, one trade per guest, per visit into this box. Of course you can only trade a Park Starz, not a Mickey mold Vinylmation. I know trading got me over my hesitation to by Vinylmation in the first place, if you are on the fence about Park Starz, does this push you over the edge?
It’s the week before Christmas! Wonderful glorious Christmas. And yesterday I was among the hustle and bustle of the Disney Christmas shoppers at Downtown Disney Orlando. I began of course by stopping off at D-Street to do some trading and pick up some new Vinylmation. I then made my way over to the World of Disney store. I figured a question mark tie would make a good gift for MC this year. You can’t poke your eye out with that. Disappointed that they had none, I made my way over to the toy department. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear? But Muppets Star Wars Series One! A set of eight tiny action figures.
There are four different combo sets, each retail for $19.95. Kermit as Luke and Miss Piggy as Princess Leia. Beaker as C3P0 and Bunsen as R2D2. Fozzie as Chewy and Link Hogthrob as Han Solo. Sam the Eagle as Obi Wan and Gonzo as Darth Vader.
Collect all 4? Don’t mind if I do! But I started with only 2 today.
I’m a big Sam the Eagle fan, and him as a Jedi Knight is impossible to pass up. And come on, a chicken with a Stormtropper hat! Awesome.
The first thing I noticed about these figures is the size. While Gonzo is about Vinylmation size, Sam stands about 5 inches tall. And they are hefty. Very solid figures that allow a lot of detail to be molded in. If you put these up against the Disney Characters Star Wars figures, these tower over those and just feel much better constructed.
Sam, of course, comes with a lightsaber. They are also extremely poseable. Sam comes with joints in his shoulders, elbows and knees. A figure like Gonzo, with shorter arms, doesn’t have the elbow joints. But the figures have turning heads, wrists, and waists.
The detail is also fantastic. The Jedi robe is a soft plastic that sits over the figure. The ruffles on Sam’s tail and texture on the head is perfect. The paint job is also top notch as you don’t see much outside the lines jobs and I didn’t have to pick through all the shelves for a good one.
Packaged with Sam, the designers had Gonzo take the role of Darth Vader. His cape is much like Sam’s robe, a soft plastic and he also comes with a lightsaber.
Gonzo can also put on Vader’s mask. Unlike the Disney Character Star Wars which have helmets that wrap around the head and clasp on, Gonzo comes with 2 heads. You just pop one off and stick the other one on.
In what may be the best part, this combo comes packaged with a Camilla the Chicken as a stormtrooper.
The helmet just slips right over her head. The only part I’m disappointed about is when the helmet is placed over her, you can see she slumps and looks down.
I also purchased Kermit and Miss Piggy.
Again, I was very happy with the construction of these figures. Very durable and very poseable.
Kermit as Luke has a nicely formed robe and detail on his belt and feet.
Miss Piggy is Princess Leia, complete with robe, ring and gun.
They sculpted her hair perfectly into the signature buns and have the hood laying down in the back.
Overall, this is a fantastic series that does a great job picking the right Muppets and really making them look the Star Wars characters they represent. The value on these is great with a $20 price point coming out to the $10 per figure you pay for the Disney Character Star Wars and these are bigger, have more detail and just have a heftier construction.
We are just 12 days until Christmas! And that also means there are 13 Disney podcasts available now at Mousevent.com. This is such a special idea… a different Disney podcast each day. DV’s day is coming soon, but I’m assuming if you are here, you are a fan a all things Disney. So far, we have heard about Disney Christmas movies, food, music, park history, Muppets and more!
With each podcast 5-15 minutes in length, it’s perfect for that quick Disney pick me up. And if you haven’t started yet, it will not take you long at all to catch up. You can stream them from Mousevent.com or subscribe to the Mousevent 2011 feed at iTunes. Also, as a special Christmas treat today, we are re-releasing last year’s DV Mousevent Christmas Special. In this episode, we get pulled into the Pixar universe to learn the true meaning of Christmas. If you haven’t heard it yet, or want to relive it, check it out here:
It took a little over 2 months, but yesterday, we received the correct Lion King Hyena Mystery Chaser from the Disney Store in the mail.
We, like many of you, opened up a case of Lion King Vinylmation a couple months back only to have an incorrect chaser. One that mixed up Ed’s body with Banzi’s head.
The above picture was taken by us at D23. Among many excited collectors opening box upon box, we found this previously unknown chaser. Caught up in all that excitement, we didn’t notice the error. Right away, the Disney Store promised to make good on the error by sending guests who opened up a blind box and got this error figure, a replacement corrected figure. All you had to do was email customer service and provide some info like a copy of your receipt. They said expect it in 8-10 weeks, and although it was a few more than that, we are very happy to have received it. So if you contacted customer service as well, rest assured, it seems as if you will be getting a UPS package in the mail too.
On another note, we have made numerous attempts to contact the Disney Store and the Vinylmation team about what steps they are taking to correct this issue in current blind boxes sold on the shelves. As of today, there is no official comment. Can anyone verify if the incorrect chaser is still inside cases currently being shipped to stores?
I was in my office working diligently on a Family Guy scene in which Peter and Quagmire discuss something offensive, which is not an uncommon occurrence, when I got a call from my husband (we both work on the show).
“Hey, you have to come down here, there are Family Guy vinylmations!”
Bless his heart, he didn’t know they weren’t ACTUAL Vinylmations; they’re 3” figures by kidrobot; but he knew I’d be very excited. We were having our annual FOX studio sale, and my fellow employees were going crazy over these little guys.
They’re blind-boxed, which was a surprise. I’ve received my fair share of Family Guy merchandise over the years; actually I’d say I have quite enough, but I HAD to have these. The attention to detail is great for any fan of the show, and their stubby-stylized look is extremely appealing for the characters! I’m not certain if these are made out of vinyl, however. They are lighter than Vinylmation and feel a little less sturdy. It’s also a little unusual to have a blind-boxed toy with little to no opportunity for trading, especially with such a high probability for pulling duplicates (I’ll explain later).
First we have Quagmire, Cleveland, Peter and Joe. Each toy comes with one or two small accessories; a mug of beer, or in Joe’s case a tiny wheelchair. (Seriously cute.)
Chris is one of my favorites figures in the set, fans of the show will remember the Ball-in-a-Cup gag, which is one of my favorite little accessories. I also pulled the Evil Monkey and Herbert (who’s a rarer figure).
I didn’t pull a Meg figure, but a friend of mine did and I got a look at her. Overall I’d say the female figures suffer a bit from this stubby design (poor things). As you can see, Lois’ body looks pretty awkward.
I bought 14 boxes and out of a possible 16 figures I pulled 12. Only two duplicates. I got lucky, most of my friends pulled several duplicates. The distribution for these is pretty interesting, there isn’t one chaser, there are actually much fewer of several of the figures. From what I’ve been able to deduce, there are for example 2 Stewies and 2 Brians in each box of 16, guaranteed, but only 1 Meg or Chris. There’s only one Herbert in every 32 boxes, and only one Angry Peter in every 64 boxes.
Each figure comes with a pretty good sized sticker.
The Giant Chicken and Death characters seem to be the rarest; they’re the question-mark silhouettes on the box. I was lucky enough to pull a Chicken, and I think he’s the best of the figures. His design is fantastic and he feels somewhat sturdier than the other figures, oddly. I LOVE his accessory: a frying pan with an indentation of Peter’s face in it! Awesome.
These retail for $9.95 and you can find them here:
http://www.kidrobot.com/Toys/MiniFigures/FamilyGuyMiniSeries3Inch.html
Overall, if you’re a fan of Family Guy or just enjoy cool looking toys, these are great fun for any collector. I got a few coworkers hooked, and told them all about Vinylmation. Hopefully I’ve brought a few new collectors into the fold!
Annemarie Brown
@AdmiralAkbrown
Do you need to pick up some gifts online this Cyber Monday? On the Disney Store Online use promo code CYBER and you get the special online deals 3 hours early. The code begins working at 9pm PST / Midnight EST tonight! The deal is Free Shipping plus a percentage off your total purchase. Place at least one eligible item in your Shopping Cart to receive Free Shipping. Place at least $50, $75, $100, or $125 worth of eligible products in your Shopping Cart to receive 10%, 15%, 20% or 25% off. This deal excludes exclusive LE merchandise and Vault 28 merchandise… so that excludes the Maleficant NOAH. But its a great chance to pick up that case of Cutesters Like You or Robots. Here is the link to the deals.
Some people might not know how Vinylmation first started. Back in 2003 celebrities decorated six foot tall Mickey statues as part of the “Celebrate Mickey: 75 InspEARations” celebration. Disney had borrowed this idea from an artistic movement that had been trending across the nation (Liz Art in Orlando in 2000, Cows on Parade in Chicago in 1999, and Lions in Zurich in 1986) where cities had been asking artists to decorate copies of the same statue and place them around the city. Once then had been seen for a while they would be auctioned off. The idea of a blank Mickey canvas lead to the very first vinylmation: plain solid colored create your owns.
Yesterday, I was wondering around Orlando and saw an art installation that took a similar approach (one template, lots of artistic interpretations) and it reminded me of custom vinylmation I had seen. I asked around and here is the info I found.
This series of 80 busts of Boris Karloff are designed by 80 different artists, as a celebration of 8 decades of the Frankenstein Monster. The show will be running thru November 15th at the CityArts Factory in Downtown Orlando. All 80 busts are available for purchase with proceeds going to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. More info can be found at orlandoslice.com or by called the CityArts Factory at 407 648 7060.
Cool…
In fact so cool that I’m going to stop talking and just let you take a look.
 |
 |
Update: 11/17/11 According to vinylmation.com’s blog, there will be several of these pieces at D-Street Florida, also being released on 11/18. Good news for all of us on the East Coast.
Update: 11/9/11 The art of Disney blog updated today with more info about these figures. The 3″ figures will go for $150 and the 9″ figures for $650. No word on how many of each there are. The figures will be sold first at the D23 event on the 17th, then if any are left they will be handing out wristbands at 7 AM on the 18th. For more details check out the blog at ArtofDisney.com.
Update: 11/1/11 Today vinylmation.com released the first pics of the NOAH figures from the Muppet Mayhem event. No idea if these come as packs or how many of each there are, but so far (if they follow the pattern of NOAH releases, they will all be sold separately and are part of a series of similar figures.) I really like all these figures. The details are awesome, the drum sticks and collar for Animal and the Piggy kiss and collar for Kermit!
Picture by Disney
Announced today on the vinylmation.com blog was the Muppets Mayhem event at D-Street in Downtown Disney in California. On display will be some of new artwork celebrating the release of the new Muppets movie. One of the artists on hand will be NOAH. There will be lots demonstrations and signings; as well as new shirts, paintings, and even a Vinylmation that we have yet to see designs of.
The D23 only event will be on Thursday November 17th at 7 pm. Tickets are free but you have to sign up for them starting on October 31st at 10 AM PST at the D23 page here.
The public event will be on Friday November 18th. Art demonstrations will begin at 1:30, with NOAH demonstrating his work from 4 – 5 PM. After that the artists will be signing their work from 5 – 7 PM.
