Robots 2 Explained

WDWNT on March 5, 2012

Robots Series 2
Release Date: April 13
Where: D-Streets
Price: TBA
Details: This set is promoted as “Mix ‘n Match.” In a single blind box, you will receive a robot with mixed up parts. A head, a body, feet and 2 arms from 4 different Robots. You can collect the mixed matched bots, make your own combos or find the missing parts and put together the artists original Robot design… or the “correct” version. This set was designed by Bill Davis. Unlike Robots 1, this second series was designed by a single artist and will not be a Disney Store exclusive product.

Unlike our normal Explained tables, we instead will just share the Mix ‘n Match instruction sheet Disney has supplied on the blog and in each blind box. You can download the pdf here. Or take a look at the image below.

Now’s the time to buy at Disney Stores

WDWNT on March 5, 2012

According to this email we got from the Disney Store, they are having a sale this weekend. In both Disney Stores and the Online. Just print out the coupon or type in the code “HAPPY25”.

Happy shopping! What will you be picking up?

Spotlight On: Custom Vinylmation Artist Kevin Graham

WDWNT on March 5, 2012

When Rhode Island artist Kevin Graham emailed us his 9″ Patch custom, we were very impressed. When we looked over his website and resume, we were blown away.

Destination Vinylmation: You have had a great career creating some work that our readers may be familiar with. Tell us a little about what you do.
Kevin Graham: I own my own Graphic Design/Web Design company. Usually during the day I do work for my main company and in the evenings and weekends I freelance doing work for Lucasfilm/Star Wars, Topps, Upper Deck, and many other companies. I am most known for my Star Wars artwork. I have a series of Star Wars licensed artwork you can currently find on Zazzle.com and at your local Old Navy and oldnavy.com. Topps has several Star Wars trading card sets they come out with each year. Star Wars Galaxy 7 is the most recent. I did 9 paintings that are in the current set that can Only be found in retail stores like Target. I have been a huge fan of Disney animation so I created 9 hand drawn animation cel paintings.

The cards are printed on clear plastic. Topps also gives us blank cards for us to draw whatever we want on them and then they are randomly inserted into packs of cards.

I did 50 cards for the Hobby packs found Only in hobby stores. They also had the actors of Star Wars sign the blank cards and then we draw them.

I also raise two kids and have a second one on the way in about a week.

DV: You obviously have a love of Star Wars, can you share some of your favorite Star Wars related work with us.
KG: It’s hard for me to really pick a favorite piece of mine. The amazing thing is since 2006 when I started doing sketch cards for Topps, etc. I have drawn over 10,000 sketch cards. I cant even remember most of them. Star Wars related I’d have to say I really liked the base card I did for Topps Star Wars Galaxy 6 last year. The reason why is I drew 6 Stormtroopers and one has his helmet off, its me.

Actually all the Stormtroopers are me as I own my own Stormtrooper costume but was cool to be able to have myself as a Star Wars character on an official Star Wars card. Another piece I really like is the limited Star Wars print I did for Star Wars Celebration 5 in Orlando last year. I was one of only 50 artist selected to be part of the event. The print was limited to 250. The original artwork for both is now owned by Lucasfilm.

My favorite non Star Wars art piece I love is the Winnie the Pooh mural I did in my babies room recently.

DV: Let’s talk Vinylmation. As a Star Wars fan, what are your thoughts on Series One that was released last year? Do you own any of these figures?
KG: To be honest I was expecting them to be better. No offense to the artist or Disney but of all the good artists out there, Including Star Wars artists (Wink, Wink) they could have been done much better. I actually looked into doing Star Wars Vinylmations way before they came out. I tried contacting the people in charge of licensing for Disney/Star Wars but they only use official Disney artists. To bad. I do have the entire set except Obi-Won ghost which I don’t think I’ll ever get. My favorite of the set would be the Stormtrooper 🙂 I did a 9″ Stormtrooper before the set came out, It was done as a gift for someone.

DV: Have you seen the concept art yet for the couple of known figures for Series Two yet? What are you thoughts on the designs?
KG: I did see a few. I am pretty happy with them. I really like the Disney characters dressed as Star Wars people. Since I am both a huge Star Wars fan and Disney I like the mashups. I have been working on several of my own Star Wars /Disney vinylmations. One being Minnie as Slave Leia.

I wasn’t sure if Disney will attempt one so I figured I would. I hope to have it completed soon.

DV: Series Two is based on A New Hope. Do you have any speculation as to the rest of the character line up?
KG: Unfortunately I don’t get to follow all the chatter online as I am always drawing almost 24 hours a day but I hope the series continues to get better. There is so much you can do with the technology/printing they have available I don’t see why they don’t just go nuts with detail, accessories, etc. Maybe Darth Maul with actual horns or sabers that actually light up, etc.

You have all the technology and some of the best artists around, go nuts 🙂 I know I would and do.

DV: Your patch custom is great. I really like all the shading detail. Why did you choose Patch?
KG: I was originally looking for artwork to draw for my upcoming baby and found a cute picture of Patch. The odd thing was I actually started my Patch before the Furry Friends came out. Apparently the Disney artist used the same image as reference as me to do the artwork. I think mine is more detailed, I just don’t have the bent paws 🙂 Which if I had time I would make custom ones for 9″ figures.

I also thought it would be cute to add a dog bowl with his name on it. He was a blast to work on. I enjoyed it so much I did another Dalmatian right after it.

DV: What was the hardest part about creating Patch?
KG: I know a lot of people hate the new molds and I agree for the most part as I love the nose being there and buttons. The thing is when you are actually drawing and painting on them the nose becomes a problem. Especially when drawing peoples lips on the nose area. You may have seen other people who have done customs put lips on the nose and it looks like they had botox injections 🙂 Its rather hard to get around this unless you can work the design a little to correct for this issue. In this case it would be great to have a new 9″ mold without the nose there. For doing Vinylmations of people anyways. The nose can also create odd shadows that mess with the design.

DV: Do you have anymore figures planned?
KG: I have a ton of Vinylmations planned and some new Disney and Star Wars Canvas paintings . I currently have about 6 Vinylmation commissions in the works. I have to multi task or I go nuts and don’t feel I am doing enough to keep busy. When Vinylmations first came out I started doing custom figures with the 3″ Vinylmations since the 9″ were so expensive. That was until the odd colored 9″ ones started to go on sale. All you need is white primer and your good to go. I love doing work for charities. Before Vinylmations came out I did other custom figures, Stormtrooper helmets, etc. for Make-A-Wish, etc. to help children and others. I am currently working on a Vinylmation for Autism Awareness Light It Up Blue event for April 2nd, its world autism awareness day. The Vinylmation will be sold to help children with autism. Ill have more details soon. I have a lot of cool Vinylmations in the works or completed but I can’t show them all yet because they are gifts for people. I recently just finished a 9″ Vinylmation of Pooh and Tigger to give to my wife when our baby is born in a week or so.

I will add his name and birth date on the balloons.

DV: Where can people go to view your work?
KG: You can see my work at www.kevingrahamart.com or ask to be my friend on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Grahamart ) which usually is updated way more than my regular site. Unfortunately I havent had time to make a Fan page for myself on Facebook. Commissions are always welcome on Vinylmations, canvas, etc. I appreciate every one’s interest in my work. I also plan to start doing Live video cast showing me working on Vinylmations and other art related projects. I will be showing different techniques etc to help others interested in doing Vinylmations. Ill have that info posted on my website and facebook.

What’s on the Vinylmation Horizon

WDWNT on March 5, 2012

So, what’s with this information drought Disney? No solid info has been posted on Vinylmation.com since before the Super Bowl. And with an ever shrinking confirmed release calendar, the Vinylmation collecting community is wondering what’s next? So I thought this is as good a time as any to go over what sets and figures we know about that should eventually get released. The first on my list was an intriguing collection that we saw at The Florida Project.

These 7″ battery operated night light Vinylmation had the community excited… but by the end of the weekend, Disney announced they would be indefinitely delayed. Next up, Disney Classics.

Touted as the Have a Laugh follow up, the release of this series seems to be on the near horizon as it does appear in the Sneak section of Vinylmation.com. The picture above is from a teaser slide at The Florida Project. It looks like a black and white set of classic Disney characters as they first appeared many decades ago. Then we have a follow up to the popular Disney Store Robots series.

We expect to see Robots Series 2 sometime in 2012. We were excited to uncover a couple pictures from a website called http://gdpinvestigation.blogspot.com/. They claim these are images of Robots from Series 2.

This first image features some concept art.

This second image seems like the packaging design. How about a blast from the past? The next two pieces of concept art were already posted online at Vinylnation by the time I started collecting about two years ago. They both seem to feature Disney Vacation Club exclusive figure designs.

This first one is purple with a gold key.
The second one is a wonderful little white picket fence design with Mickey Heads and a “Home Sweet Home” sign. We only have one DVC figure so far… will we ever see these produced? You can put these on the shelf next to Clear Series 2. What ever happened to those? Let’s dive into the movies for a bit. Last year, Disney released a teaser image for a Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides set.
This Casey Jones designed set is expected to hit shelves sometime in 2012. No word on if it will open window or mystery box. This next set has a more solid release window. It’s the Jr. 6 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We don’t have a release date, but Disney says to expect it in April. We recently found this image of the packaging on http://gdpinvestigation.blogspot.com/.
I am so excited for this detailed Jr set. The seven dwarfs are a given, but it will be interesting to finally get the reveal of the remaining 11 figures. Sticking with the movies…
Disney Character Star Wars is rumored to have a release around Star Wars Weekends at Hollywood Studios (May 18-June 12). We should also see the second Star Wars blind box series later this year as well.
October is the rumored release window. Park Starz was an exciting 2011 release, and Disney promised we will see variants in 2012.
No pictures yet, but Disney said they will sell variants individually, meaning no blind boxing for them. This is a fresh approach were you can just go ahead and purchase the variant outright if you want it. We also have one hint… “copper”. Most people are looking at you Mr. Lincoln. Sticking with the “breaking the mold” theme…
We know absolutely nothing about Popcorns except this teaser image. But we do know plenty about Haunted Mansion… except a release date.
Between pins and concept art, we have a solid idea of what this set will look like. But for two years, we have been hearing rumors of release… I think I speak for everyone when I say “Please Disney, make 2012 the year we finally see this one!” And don’t forget the watch.
This is due out around March/April. And last but not least…
Vinylmation.fr has been teasing us for about 4 months. We are expecting some exclusive vinyl sometime this year in honor of Disneyland Paris’ 20th anniversary. So as you can see, although it has been a slow news month, we as Vinylmation collectors have a lot to look forward to in 2012 and beyond. What have I left off this list? What are you most looking forward too?

The Pinstripes Take the Field at Times Square

WDWNT on March 5, 2012

With Linsanity taking over the Garden and the Giants just bringing home another Super Bowl trophy, the furthest thing from a New York sports fan’s mind are the Yankees. But Spring Training is right around the corner and Disney has released the 3″ New York Yankees MLB Teams figure at the NYC Times Square Disney Store.

Thanks to The Playwright for all these pictures. As you can see, they still have some 3″ Hey Taxi tins and Muppets 2 on hand.

These look great in person… I just picked up my Red Sox the other day at WDW. So to the news that Red Sox sold out at D-Street… they got plenty more in stock. These MLB figures are my favorites of the Teams series designs. There is a ton of character and detail to them.

For those of you who keep your open window figures in the box, the packaging is nicely designed as well. The Yankees figure seen above has also been released at WDW and DLR in various stores as well as online. For detailed info, check out MLB Teams Explained.

New Holiday Vinylmation to Hatch on 2/17

WDWNT on March 5, 2012

With weather like today, it feels like spring is right around the corner. Oh, sorry to all of our readers in cold weather climates. But it was a spectacular day in sunny Central Florida. And take a look at what we found in the D-Street display case that made thoughts of Spring pop into our heads.

Thanks Austin for sending this in. This 9″ Easter inspired figure will be released on February 17. It is an LE 800 and will retail for $44.95. Here is a look at the concept art for this figure…

For a look at all the 9″ Holiday 3 figures and our take, check out 9″ Holiday 3 Explained.

Mickey’s Circus Tease

WDWNT on March 5, 2012

This year’s major trading event at WDW is themed, Mickey’s Circus. The September 7-9, 2012 event is the equivalent of last year’s Florida Project and will feature a variety of merchandise, product reveals and trading opportunities for both pin and Vinylmation collectors. We have already seen the poster for the event…

This poster lends some insight into the designs we should see come this fall. We have also found these teaser square images associated with Mickey’s Circus.
It doesn’t tell us much, but it does point to some patterns and logos we may see on some pins, Vinylmation or packaging. What are your ideas for some designs for Mickey’s Circus?

Let’s Trade! March 2nd at WDW

WDWNT on March 5, 2012

Hot on the heals of a late January event, Disney has announced another Vinylmation and Pin trading event for Walt Disney World. This event will be held on Friday, March 2 from 6p-9p at the Contemporary Resort Fantasia H Ballroom.

It’s great to see another event less than 2 months apart. It’s fun to trade and we usually get to see some future sets revealed. Last time we saw Park 8. What do you hope to see on 3/2? And for those near Disneyland, don’t forget your trading event in just a few days. Friday, February 17 at the Paradise Pier Hotel.

Vinylmation Stars in 30 Rock

WDWNT on March 5, 2012

Update: 2/13/11 According to Thomas Scott the figure is actually a “Qee”. Big thanks to him for solving the mystery! (Also thanks to KrisKitten and Evilos for chiming in)

Ok. A bit of an over statement, but thanks to a tip by twitter friend @Charlieague, it looks like there was a Vinylmation on the writers desk. Here’s a screen shot from the show. We never see more then this much. What do you think? Any idea which figure it might be?

The Forgotten Vinylmation Collectible

WDWNT on March 5, 2012

Vinylmation is only about 3 years old and already we have undergone many different ways a Vinylmation is packaged. We have seen tins replaced by open window boxes. We now find it a regular occurrence to have Jrs packaged with both 9″ and 3″ figures. One of the biggest changes was the decision to not include artist cards any longer with Vinylmation. We all remember having to find a place for all those artist cards, but do you remember another short lived item that used to be packaged with Vinylmation?

Around Park and Urban 1 and 2, buttons were packaged with 9″ Vinylmation. Pictured above are the buttons from Tiki Mickey (Urban 2, Doug Strayer, LE 750), Bowling (Urban 2) and a third small button an eBay seller sent me as a bonus. I’m not sure about its origins. The 9″ Bowling figure is one of my favorite Urbans of all time. It was also one of my first two 9″ figures (Black Cauldron) I ever purchased. I remember being really excited when I saw it in the store.

And this Dawn Ockstadt designed 9″ came with a button attached to the inside of the box. This figure is only LE 600. Currently, prices are rising on 9″ figures and at the same time, edition sizes are rising and the artist cards and buttons are gone. Doesn’t seem fair. I don’t really like the buttons too much, but to collectors, they are a low LE collectible that is decently hard to find. After all, not everybody opens their 9″ boxes like I do.

Maria Clapsis’ 9″ Mine, Mine, Mine from Park 2 also came with a button. The buttons are just like the artist cards… they depict the concept art for the figure.

Again, this figure being a low LE of 550 means the button is also rather scarce.

This is the most rare Vinylmation button I own. I came with the Randy Noble designed LE 350 Crossroads figure from Park 2.

Holiday 1 also got in on the button fun. Maria’s LE 400 Turkey also came with a button. So what are your thoughts on the buttons? Did you like when they were packaged with 9″ figures? Do you ever collect them separately from the figure?