Robot Vinylmation Artist Signing
Spotlight On: Disney Store Artist Enrique Pita
All this week, we are taking a look at the Disney artists behind the Robots Vinylmation series. Make sure to check out Robots Explained, Robots Uncovered and Podcast Ep. 30 for more Robots coverage.
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| Enrique Pita Senior Designer Photo Copyright Disney |
For Disney Store Senior Designer Enrique Pita, it’s always been a dream to work for Disney. Born in Havana, Cuba, Enrique moved to the US in 1980 and studied commercial art design at LA Trade Tech College. Since then, Enrique used his expertise to expand his career throughout a number of industries including print press, typography, illustration and graphic design for companies like Guess, Tiltworks and Jerry Leigh. At the Disney Store, Enrique creates artwork for everything from t-shirt graphics to Vinylmation. His recent creations include Radio Bot, Love Bot, UltraSonic Bot and El Elektro Bot from the Vinylmation Robots series.
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| Radio Bot 3″ |
An avid Disney fan, Enrique calls himself a “collector who creates collectibles”, and is proud to show off his robust collection of Disney figurines both at home and in the office.
What are some other Vinylmation Enrique Pita has designed?
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Animal is about to rock the house!
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| Kermit 3-D 9″ | Animal 9″ |
Are you picking these up? Let us know!
One Man’s Dream Now Provides An In-Depth Look at Fantasyland Expansion
WDWNT Reporter Adam Roth visited Disney’s Hollywood Studios yesterday to catch Lightning McQueen’s debut in Lights, Motors, Action!. While he was there, Adam checked out Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream to see if some of the updated exhibits had finally been installed. Well, they finally have:
The Shaghai Disney Resort is already being previewed
Walt Disney Imagineering is responsible for the new Resort previews
A brief description of the Resort
The concept art we have seen already
Some Fantasyland exhibits were already here
The new exhibit is suspended on the wall above the display case
A compilation of Fantasyland concept art including Enchanted Tales with Belle, The Great Goofini, Gaston’s Tavern, Princess Fairytale Hall, and Dumbo the Flying Elephant
An overall look at the display
A monitor has also been installed which shows an in-depth look at Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid. Here’s video of the monitor loop:
Concept art for Scuttle’s Scavenger hunt can be found in the new video loop
Looks like guests will de deciphering some kind of code
In this artwork, guests find items washing up on the beach
Here we see a close-up of Scuttle who we assume will be a living character in audio-animatronics form
For the first time, we have a name and another look at the proposed shop across from the Mermaid attraction, Triton’s Treasures. We can also see the Ariel meet and greet area labeled as Ariel’s Grotto.
For more information on the Fantasyland Expansion as it becomes available, stay tuned to WDW News Today and WDWFantasyland.com!
Vintage Robot Boxes
All this week, we are taking a look at the Robots Vinylmation series. Make sure to check out Robots Explained, Robots Uncovered and Podcast Ep. 30 for more Robots coverage.
It’s funny how much detail is put into something that is meant to be thrown out by the consumer, but Disney has given us some great packaging for Vinylmation lately. When it’s not a Park, Urban or Holiday series, they really reach outside the box. The Star Wars tray was a real standout.
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| Copyright Disney |
Disney also did a great job with sets like Cutesters and Animation as well. Then Pirates came around, and both the tray and individual box design really blew us away.
On July 22, Disney releases the Robot series of Vinylmation. We have talked the past few days about what’s in the box, but today, we will show you the packaging. The design is absolutely brilliant. This series is based on Robots from the 1950’s and ’60’s, so both the tray and blind boxes have a very vintage Sci Fi feel.
The colors on the box and the fonts used are all reminiscent of what you will see if you pick up a vintage toy robot.
I tried to open our blind box without ripping the flaps… that proved difficult. But you can see, as with Muppets and Villains, there is some entertaining writing on the flaps.
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| “Robot Fun! Prepare Yourself” |
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| “There’s No Turning Back Now… NOW You’re The Coolest Kid On The Block!” |
Of course, the 11 Robots and Mystery Chaser outline are shown on the back of the box. And you can see the designers “aged” the box with fake creases and tears.
This packaging is sure to snag the eye of a passer by in the Disney Store that might not be looking for Vinylmation. For collectors, packaging as great as this just adds a little something to the experience of opening up our blind boxes. The artist did a great job at capturing that vintage Sci Fi feel from the outset and then carriing the them into the product itself.
When Robots Attack
Check out the new video from vinylmation.com that Disney made to announce the Robots Vinylmation Set.
I like this video a lot. What do you think?
Spotlight On: Disney Store Artist Marcella Lau
All this week, we are taking a look at the Disney artists behind the Robots Vinylmation series. Make sure to check out Robots Explained, Robots Uncovered and Podcast Ep. 30 for more Robots coverage.
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| Marcella Lau Senior Manager, Design Photo Copyright Disney |
The daughter of a Southern California native, Marcella Lau was born and raised in Pasadena, California (the home of Disney Store Headquarters!). After graduating from Art Center College of Design with a degree in graphic design, Marcella joined the Walt Disney Company in 1997 and created everything from album covers for Disney Records to video game graphics for Disney Interactive. In 2006, Marcella joined the Disney Store team and since then she’s been designing all sorts of things… like Silly Bot from Vinylmation Robots.
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| Silly Bot 9″ |
Marcella’s favorite Vinylmation series is Villains because she loves all the characters. When Marcella isn’t at Disney Store, she loves being a great Mom to her two young children.
What are some other Vinylmation Marcella Lau has designed?
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| I “Mickey Head” NY NYC Exclusive |
First Look: Vinylmation Robot In Hand
The Disney Store was kind enough to send us over a Vinylmation Robot to share with you today. We were like a couple of nerdy sci-fi geeks when we got this package in the mail. We carefully opened the vintage style blind box. Then ripped apart the foil to uncover…
Steampunk Bot! This C3-P0 look a like was designed by Gerald Mendez (SF Golden Gate Bridge, Old Witch from Snow White, Julius 9″). Not my favorite design in the lot, but a solid concept that fits well into the series. The gloss effect is used very well here. You can see this guy, as with a few of the Robots, uses clear body parts. Steampunk Bot’s ears are clear, with light bulbs painted in.
As a series, I was a little worried. This is now the fourth series produced using the new mold design. Now I’m not going to focus on new mold for all our reviews from now on. New mold is what Disney is doing. There is no turning back. You also know from my comments that I do like the new mold so far. Not better, not worse, but I do like it. But I have also been saying that we need to see a few series before giving a solid judgement. Cutesters Like You, a Disney Store release at a $9.95 price point, was by all accounts poorly produced. The designs seemed to be universally poorly printed and that was supposed to be a main reason for the switch. But then Pirates was released at the parks for $12.95 and really showed off the quality the new mold can help provide. Robots, is another Disney Store $9.95 release. So how does it fair?
On this figure, the printing is perfect. Say what you will about the altered shape, but I will take designs like this any day. This particular figure doesn’t have much detail, but design lays out well on the Vinylmation. However, after seeing the gears on the Steampunk series, this design falls short of those. The mismatched eyes are cool. And the gold on this figure is very true to what you’d expect to see on a metallic figure.
On the back you can see the open body design continues allowing you to see his inner gears. And here is a look at the artist card:
The card reflects the packaging style. Retro colors and designs with a roughed up aged and weathered look. Those “creases” and “tears” are all drawn onto the card. We can’t wait to see more of these up close and in person. The one big shock to me is no accessories. At least one of these robots could be holding a wrench or something. But if the whole series holds true to what we see here on Steampunk Bot, it’s going to be a cool addition for those interested in robots, sci-fi or vintage toys.
Episode 030 Gold Chaser
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Ep. 030 Gold – Chaser
We are half way thru 2011. Time to give out our Vinylmation report cards. On this special School themed chaser episode, we give a grade to each set released so far in 2011. We also talk about the upcoming Robots series and talk to Zoe about the Disneyland Passholder exclusive figures.
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Happy 56th Birthday Disneyland
To celebrate Disneyland’s 56th anniversary, a “flash mob” was held in town square yesterday as dozens of characters led a singing of Happy Birthday. Taken by Jae Brattain.