Nevermind, in the time it took me to write this article it has sold out online!
This is the contest post. If you don’t know about it, check out Evilos’ Evil Giveaway Rules. You have til midnight EST to leave a comment to be entered into the contest. Good luck!
First, we wanted to thank Evilos again. Check out the cool Evil Kermit above. We are giving this one away, but check out his webpage at Evilos.com. There are lots of cool figures to check out there. Second, we wanted to say how cool and how nice a guy he is (as you’ll see in the letter he sent us). Always one to bring a positive attitude to this community, I think we should all try to be a little more like him when we can. Here’s the message he asked us to add to this post.
“I want to thank Nick and MC for allowing me to give something away to the dedicated listeners, its my pleasure to help promote their awesome podcast, the site and Vinylmation in general. Anyone that knows me personally knows I’m very passionate about vinylmation and the Disney brand.
I can’t believe its almost been two years since I first made a custom using the 3″ Blank I purchased at Disneyland. That custom the was Evil Kermit which brings this contest full circle once again.
Vinylmation has provided us artists with such an iconic canvas to work with, Mickey Mouse. Pushing the limits of what a vinyl collectible can do, it challenges artists to think outside the box and truly be creative.
I hope that over the years I have inspired both young and old to pick up a blank and just be creative. There is an inner artist in all of us, I think we were all put here to create things and inspire others, rather than destroy each other.
I also want to thank Donald Ferro and Steven Miller who, behind the scenes, put a lot time and love into this product we all enjoy. They have gone out of their way to make us the fans feel excited about a Disney product again. Also to the Artists, Thomas Scott, Eric Caszatt, Lin Shih, Chris Chapmen and the army of extremely talented people that are pushing the envelope and coming up with amazing designs everyday. They are the life-force behind vinylmation and I salute them.
Lastly I would love to thank my beautiful wife who has put up with my creative madness and has been really supportive, even though there seems to be a million Mickeys all over the house. Also my two children, Alexander and Isabella who are my reason for living..
Thank you all.” -Christopher (Evilos)
Thanks again Evilos for everything you’ve brought to the vinylmation community.
WDWNT Reporter Robert Ashburn visited the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday and took a number of newsworthy photos to share with us. There is a ton of change happening at Disney’s flagship park as of late, so let’s take a look:
Welcome
Read More about Robert Ashburn’s 4/13/11 Magic Kingdom Photo Report
Update: 4/22/11 We snapped this photo which confirms the $99.95 price point, as well as establishing a LE of 1000.
Update: 4/14/11 Release date of April 29th officially announced.
Sushi is a boxed Vinylmation set designed by Thomas Scott that includes six 3″ figures, two Jr figures and chopsticks. It is current for sale at Disneyland Paris for 99.95 Euros. We have good reason to believe it will be $99.95 (update it is!) when released in the US. Historically, that has been the way prices have gone between DLP and US, meaning DLP collectors pay a bit more. No release date yet announced in the US. The set is LE 1000.
 California Roll (front)
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 California Roll (back)
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 Salmon Roll (front)
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 Salmon Roll (back)
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 Salmon (front)
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 Salmon (back)
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 Shrimp (front)
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 Shrimp (back)
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 Tuna (front)
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 Tuna (back)
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 Unagi (front)
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 Unagi (back)
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 Wasabi Jr
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 Ginger Jr
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 Top of Box
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Thank you to Aranya for the pictures
Thanks to custom artist Evilos, we have the great opportunity to hold a contest to give away a free Evilos Evil Kermit custom.
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| *Not actual figure. You’ll see that Tomorrow in the contest post. |
All decisions are final. One entry per person, per day. Official staff of Destination Vinylmation are not eligible (sorry Zoe and Ryan). Because of mail fees only people residing in the United States can win. Winner will be announced on this weekend’s podcast.
Please be cool and try to make your comment worthwhile 🙂 We can’t wait to show you this piece and start this contest.
In fact, those of you who listen to the podcast regularly will know how to get a second chance at winning this contest. Consult the latest podcast for more info.
After finally catching up on my lack of sleep the day of the Duck Tales release, I would like to share with you my experience on Friday morning.
There have not been very many limited releases lately, so I went in to this not knowing what to expect. A lot of other releases that I woke up early for and waited for hours ended up being on the shelves for months! (Like Nightmare Before Christmas, DLR Attraction Posters, etc.) I stopped by D-Street the night before to ask if they were planning on opening at 8:00 or 10:00 the next morning. The cast member told me that the store was opening at 10:00 and they would distribute wristbands at 7:00. Uh oh. Wristbands? I knew that meant that there was only a limited amount and that sleeping in wouldn’t be an option.
My mom and I headed to Downtown Disney at 5:15 am, we got there around 5:30 am and there were already 40 people in front of us. We waited for an hour and half until we were given our wristbands. They let us know that we could come back until 1:00 that afternoon and pick up our figures. This was refreshing so now we could go grab something to eat and come back and get in line. We were gone an hour and came back around 9:00 and there were 75 people in line at D-Street already with their wristbands.
Finally at 10:45 we made our way into D-Street and picked up our figures. There were many more people behind us in line and we were so grateful to be in the store buying our Duck Tales!! By 1:00 in the afternoon D-Street made the announcement that they were completely sold out and there would be no more Duck Tales on the floor for the stand-by line!!
I love release days because it gives you a chance to stand in line and chat with other fellow Vinylmation loves and make friends as well as do some trading.
Can’t wait until the next release!
-Zoe
From the Disney Parks Blog:
Today, we’re happy to present a backstage look at the creation of Beast castle at Magic Kingdom Park, a huge milestone in the Fantasyland expansion.
In response to Monday’s post, many of you asked how tall the new castle is, or if it would even distract from the view of Cinderella Castle (this shot was taken from the queue at Dumbo the Flying Elephant). Well, the next few photos should put your mind at ease. As you can see, Beast’s castle actually uses forced perspective architecture to make the structure look more grandiose in size than it appears in reality.
Forced perspective works as sort of an optical illusion, tricking the eye into believing a structure is much larger or taller than it really is. This is done by manipulating the size and scale of a building, based on the perspective it will be viewed from.
The company’s use of forced perspective started with Walt Disney during the construction of Disneyland park in California. At that time, Walt paid special attention to the scale of each building, as well as the specific shrubs and trees that flanked them in order to create the best sense of height and drama.
As you can see in this comparison between the artist rendering and the current construction, the castle sits high atop what will be the Be Our Guest Restaurant, which is really the gateway to the castle’s interior. Here, the restaurant will offer quick-service lunches and table-service dinners inside the Beast’s elegant ballroom, gallery and eerie “west-wing.” The construction to the far left will become Maurice’s Cottage.
Word on the street is that WDI is preparing a video tour of the area for our Disney Parks Blog readers. More to come on this next week.
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   My mom and I went down to Disneyland in search of this hat! We went to every store we could think of and finally after an hour search, we found the hat! After doing some research, we learned that the hat was put on the floor by accident but we were lucky enough to buy one before they realized the error.  The Jr that comes with it is the clear one on the right, on the left is another Jr with a keychain I had from a Vinylmation Cutesters 1 handbag! |
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| My boyfriend, Tyler, figured out that the figure was cream filled (Eclair) because of the pictures I added you can see there is filling on the bottom of the feet and the top of the head!! On the bottom we saw that the artist is Maria Clapsis, who designed all the figures in the Cutesters Too series.
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Overall I love the set, it is adorable!!
Oh! And the price was $69.95 (a bit higher then usual I think.. Maybe because of the Jr?)
What do you think? -Zoe
All pictures by DV Reporter Zoe
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Every now and again, Large Neil remembers why he hates the rebellion sooooooooo much!
This September at The Florida Project event, a 3″ Dumbo Vinylmation designed by Thomas Scott will be released in a 9/3 combo with a 9″ Retro Mickey.
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If there were a poll of the most iconic rides at the Magic Kingdom, Dumbo would surely be toward the top of the list. In the shadow of Cinderella’s castle, kids and adults alike hapily take flight high above Fantasyland in one of 16 Dumbo-shaped ride vehicles. |
| In truth, this is no more than an aerial carousel ride you may find at a local carnival, but the location and theming make it a classic. This ride, with minor differences, appears in all 5 Disney parks world-wide. At Magic Kingdom, Dumbo was an opening day attraction in 1971. And this figure perfectly captures both the style of the ride vehicle and era in which it opened. |
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The face of Dumbo well represents the front of the ride vehicle with the animated look and the eyes peeking upward at the rider. The main discrepancy is the trunk… upward facing on all the ride vehicles, but downward on the figure. The hat is also a great touch. Well done, and just like the Hong Kong 5th Anniversary Dumbo.
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But that is where the similarities end, this new Dumbo has a much different design scheme. The obvious difference is in the colors that are used. Also, check out the trunk. The HK figure has the upward facing trunk that this Dumbo should have. The back of the HK figure continues with the magical sparkles that surround the figure and features a HK 5th Anniversary Logo. The back of The Florida Project figure however shows off the brilliant details that tie it more closely to the attraction ride vehicle.
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The “rug” on the back perfectly represents the area where the rider sits… right down to the curled up corners. This Dumbo figure also features his signiture ruffle collar.
Originally, Disney was going to package a Polynesian Hula Girl figure with Retro Mickey. They pulled it in favor of Dumbo. The Hula figure looked great in concept art and as a Disney history fan will be a welcomed addition to my collection someday, but in the end, i’m glad Dumbo stepped in to take her place.
What are your thoughts on Dumbo and The Florida Project?
