Release Day: July 13, 2012

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

Excuse me if I’m a little jaded this morning and not rushing to my computer to order from the Disney Store Online today. Not much surprise, but the Carl and Ellie release yesterday went less than smoothly. That included a mid afternoon tease where we all flooded the DSO again to purchase the “now available” Carl and Ellie combo. Of course we woke up to emails from Disney apologizing for the mistake. I wrote them back with a little note of my own, did anyone else?

So today, a few releases hit the Disney Store Online once again… and once again I am reading grumblings of errors for a few figures that didn’t even have close to the hype or demand of Carl and Ellie.

The Comic Con release slate continues today with the Purple Park Starz Squid Variant. An LE of 1954 for $24.95.

As expected, Epcot’s favorite purple dragon popped up online today. This Figment Park Starz variant is an LE 2500 for $24.95. Varying reports say he was available at times overnight? The listing now says Sold Out. But there are issues with the listing description…

The edition size seems wrong and it doesn’t have poseable arms and head. A report on the Vinylmation Exchange Facebook page says the listing has been changed to Sold Out while changes are made.

Park 9 is available online and at your local D-Street.

9″ Park 9 Art of Animation Poster is at D-Streets. Check out my history of the Disneyland attraction here.

9″ Park 9 Feature Animation Building is at D-Streets as well. Check out my history of the Burbank building where Disney magic is drawn to life here.

Haunted Mansion Preview

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

MissMouse1928 posted this picture on the Vinylmation Connection forums

It is a preview of 4 of the upcoming Haunted Mansion set figures. Here we have Phineas, one of the hitchhiking ghosts. As expected, he is designed on a clear blue vinyl body. I like the use of the bold white for his brows and black for the eyes. Master Gracey is also here in the front right. It looks like Cesar’s ghost in the back left. His spirit almost seems to have a green tint to it. Nice to see different uses of the clear bodies here. We can also see what appears to be one of the singing busts.

History of: Toy Story Midway Mania

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

Update 7/16/12 D-Street had this figure on display and we finally get to see the back and sides of the figure:
One side has Bullseye. These logos are find on the side of the ride vehicles.

 

The back mimics the front, as tiny design disappointment.

 

The other side has the color Woody logo. Do the side logos add enough to this design to make it worth the money? They look perfect in person. Production wise they are applied well and full of color. Seeing these logos, I now see why this is a 9″ figure when it seemed like a 3″ worthy design. However, in my opinion, the 9″ canvas needs to be filled with these logos from all the characters to make it worth it. The 3″ has a ton of little details and is the best part about this set.
–
Update: This article has been modified from it’s original version with updated attraction history and new info based on the product shots of the 9″/3″ Toy Story Midway Mania figure and the fact that it is a combo set.
Toy Story Midway Mania is an interactive attraction that takes place in the Disney Pixar Toy Story Universe. The attraction opened it’s first location at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on May 31, 2008. This was shortly followed by the same attraction opening on June 17, 2008 on the Paradise Pier at Disney’s California Adventure Park. And today, July 9, 2012, a version is having it’s grand opening at Tokyo DisneySea. The attraction starts you off with a walk through a room full of larger-than-life toys… making you feel “toy sized” as you walk around the queue line. You then encounter an animatronic Mr Potato Head that interacts with the guests.
The queue brings you into Andy’s room, which is the ride vehicle loading area. Then, with your 3D glasses on, you are sent through rooms full of interactive amusement park type games filled with the Toy Story characters.
Current Mini Games:
Hamm & Eggs (egg throw game now featuring Buttercup from Toy Story 3)
Rex and Trixie’s Dino Darts (dart throw game; once Bo Peep’s Baa-loon Pop)
Green Army Men Shoot Camp (baseball throw / plate breaking game)
Buzz Lightyear’s Flying Tossers (ring toss game)
Woody’s Rootin’ Tootin’ Shootin’ Gallery (suction cup shooting game)
It was also good to see one of the mini game’s refreshed after only two years in operation. A lot of times Disney promises this, but doesn’t follow through. (Disney Quest, I’m looking at you) In 2010, Bo Peep’s Baaa-loon Pop was reimagined with a Rex and Trixie Dinosaur theme to represent Toy Story 3.

 

 

On July 20, 2012 a 9″/3″ combo designed by Lin Shih will be released at D-Street. We first saw the concept art for this one at least a year and a half ago and it was presented to us as a “future park series.” Well, a few Park series had passed, Park 10 was unveiled, and still no Toy Story Midway Mania figure. Then, the LEs for Park 9 hit the release calendar and not only was the Toy Story figure on the list, but it was coupled with a 3″! I’ll admit, I was a little disappointed to see this design be blown up onto a 9″ canvas. I think the patterns and colors would have looked perfect on the more compact 3″ canvas. That’s not to say I do not think this is a really beautiful figure.
The positives about this piece is the representation of the true colors and patterns of the attraction. The stripes in the ears of both figures match up with the strips you will find on the signs and walls around the attraction.
A look at the poster for the attraction, also shows where many of the patters, colors and overall feel of the design came from.
The arms on the Vinylmation seem to coincide nicely with the “vintage” amusement park ride style of the attraction. Also the blue pattern used on the body, matches the pattern found on the side of the ride vehicles.
The 3″ figure in this combo is a wonderful little treat and would have served as a fantastic piece of a 12 figure park set. I almost wish I didn’t have to buy the whole combo to get it.
Lin Shih took the various targets found throughout the game play and placed them in a collage around the canvas. We see the Plates, Sheep, Rockets, Planets and 100 point targets. Here is a promo shot from Disney that shows some of the targets.
So, what’s your high score? Mine is 368,000. What do you think of the Park 9 Toy Story Midway Mania 9″/3″ combo set?

The Dark Side Revealed

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

Looks like Darth Vader’s Star Wars Series 2 Vinylmation was hiding out north of the border. Vinylmation Kingdom, in their search for the empire’s secret location was lead by the force to a newspaper in Vancouver Canada. Thanks for your dedication to the Rebel Alliance guys! The Vancouver Sun just published an article that featured this little guy to showcase the hot Disney collectible:

This gives us a better look at the helmet we saw as an outline on the Vader pin. It is a molded piece of plastic attached to the head to give the feel for the helmet coming down to the shoulders. Love it! The Sun article talked all about how Disney is now “hip” and the Vinylmation collectible is part of this movement. Here are some excerpts:

It’s a souvenir shop called D Street and there’s nothing Winnie The Pooh or Tinkerbell about it.


Instead, the place is wall-to-wall with something called Vinylmation, and you could be forgiven for thinking you have been transported to Tokyo, given that the funky little anime-style 3D vinyl figurines are more urban art than embroidered mouse ears could ever be.


It all began in 2007, says Steven Miller, Disney merchandise communications manager, when company designers decided to take a step beyond Goofy stuffies and trading pins.


To say Vinylmation has been a hit is to underestimate that ol’ Disney magic.


“We hadn’t planned on the response,” says Miller. “We knew we wanted something artistic, but something like the pins, with an opening price point for guests.”


How popular are they? Outside D Street, two young men lugging plastic trays full of their Vinylmation collections are in trade mode. And this September, at the annual Mickey’s Circus Trading Event in Florida’s Epcot, an entire day will be devoted to all things Vinylmation.


“There are,” says Miller, “certain items you don’t leave the park without. The hats, the pins. And Vinylmation is certainly up there.”


Check out the entire article here at the Vancouver Sun site.

Food & Wine 2012 Vinylmation

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

Last year’s Food and Wine Vinylmation, while a nice artistic design, didn’t capture the essence of the festival to me. This year’s is a different story.

The Disney Parks Blog just released the above product shot of the 2012 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Vinylmation… and it is remarkable! Tony from Lady and the Tramp is the subject of this stunning Billy Davis designed piece. His right ear is full of spaghetti and meatballs with the left a starry night sky.

Photo copyright Disney

Here we see Tony delivering a heaping plate of spaghetti and meatballs to Lady and Tramp. What a great job Bill Davis did at capturing Tony’s unique face. The large nose, mustache, grey around the eyes, balding head… it’s all in there. This figure will be LE 2500 and be released at the start of the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot on September 28th. We were also given a look at some other merchandise.

The Figment is the LE Annual Passholder pin and Mickey in the cranberry pool is a DVC exclusive. Visit Once Upon a Pin for more info.

NOAH has painted the signature artwork for the festival. We will see it appear on numerous items throughout the festival. The Epcot Food & Wine Festival is my very favorite time of year at WDW. I’m not sure what I am more excited about, Tony or the food… who am I kidding… the food. What foods are you most looking forward too? And how about that Tony vinyl!

History of: Disney’s Feature Animation Building

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

On July 13th, a 9″ Park 9 figure representing Disney’s Feature Animation Building will be released. The edition size is 750 and it will retail for $44.95.

In 1994, the Walt Disney Company built a brand new Feature Animation Building in Burbank, California. The 240,000 square foot building houses 700 employees and serves as the headquarters for the Walt Disney Animation Studios (formerly Walt Disney Picture’s Feature Animation Studios). Located between Disney’s Burbank studio lot and Route 134, the four storey building was designed by Robert A.M. Stern, Architects.

Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

The facility’s marquee feature is a cone-shaped tower in the shape of Mickey Mouse’s Sorcerer’s hat serving as the entrance. The ground floor contains the building’s public spaces, with a triple height lobby and a screening room.

Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

The archives and computers are on the lower level. Post production (including background and special effects) are on the ground floor. Animation is on the second floor with story development on the third.

Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

All four floors are interconnected by a grand stair case centrally located and each has a “main street” on the south facade of the building.

Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

The Robert A.M. Stern Architects website describes other facets of the building:

“The south facing lobby and circulation esplanades become the building’s primary circulation and gathering spaces–on the exterior they are expressed by an arching wedge that slopes up in relation to the allowable height limit on this site. This enormous but narrow form is the building’s facade to the highway, in scale with Route 134 and with the speed of passing commuter traffic.”
Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

I also found some interesting info about the building’s signage on the AIGA (professional associate for design) website:

“The room identification signs reflect the buildings unique shape and the floors are color coded. Function yet entertaining directional signs relate to 1930’s signs on the studio lot. A custom digital type font “Kem Weber” was designed. It has the feel of bygone eras. It has been adopted by The Walt Disney for use on future developments. The use of custom typography and design themes that are functional as well as entertaining produce an environmental graphics program that is integrated into, not added onto, this landmark building.”
Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

The Feature Animation Building once housed of the office of Roy E. Disney, From 1984 to 2003, Roy E. Disney was vice-chairman of Disney’s board of directors and head of Disney Animation, where he helped to guide the Studio to a new golden age of animation with classics including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King.

Following Roy’s 2009 passing, the building was renamed and rededicated in his honor on May 7 2010, by The Walt Disney Company’s president and CEO, Bob Iger.

This was no easy structure to capture onto a canvas shaped like Mickey Mouse. Billy Davis did a very admirable job.

There are a ton of odd corners and crevasses on this building. The front is pretty straightforward, but turn it on its side and it is hard to capture the long part of the building with the orange and red stripes. If you mentally unwrap the art off the figure and lay it out 2D, I think you can see a perfect layout of the building. The artist does a nice job wrapping it around the figure instead of trying to create the front, back and sides. In doing it the way he did, the artist gets to keep the marque features.

The left arm is interesting. It represents the cubic structure just outside the building that is held up by a star and underneath you can see the stars on blue pattern, similar to the hat.

The other arm, I do not entirely get as it is all sky and clouds like it is not there. I do like the stylistic clouds on the head and ears. Ultimately, this was a wonderfully unique choice for a Vinylmation and the design seems to well suit the building itself.

As a fun side note, here are other Disney buildings designed by Robert A.M. Stern, Architects:

Disney’s Ambassador Hotel in Japan
Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

Disney’s Boardwalk Hotel at Walt Disney World
Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club at Walt Disney World
Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

Sources
http://www.ramsa.com/projects-search/office/feature.html
http://designarchives.aiga.org

Popcorns Explained

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

Popcorns Explained
Release Date: TBD
Price: TBD
Details: Popcorns is a series of uniquely designed vinyl collectibles each with their own features but holding a similar feel through the set. I equate it to Park Starz, but with Disney cartoon and movie characters.

Photo from Vinylmation World

 Jack Skellington


Wow, so glad the bat bow tie is a separate piece instead of just painted on.
Photo from Vinylmation World

Goofy


His eyes look great. The hat is wonderfully sized with the rest of the figure.
Photo from Vinylmation World

Dumbo


This Dumbo Popcorns is the normal version of the LE Variant we saw at the last WDW Trade Night. Love it!
Photo from Stitch Kingdom

 Frankenweenie

Chip

Dale

Pluto

Donald Duck


Absolutely love this design. A big hat and bow tie. He has a cute youthful duck look on his face. 

Dumbo
Variant
LE 2500

Mickey Mouse
Comic Con Variant
LE 5000
$24.95

Mickey Mouse

Comic Con Figures Offered Via QR Code

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

At Friday’s WDW Trade Night, Disney explained to us the process through which the 5 Comic Con Vinylmation sets will be made available. Attendees at the event will be able to obtain QR codes to scan with their phone. This QR code is the only way to access the online shop where the Vinylmation that is made available that day can be purchased. At the end of the day, after attendees have their exclusive opportunity to purchase the figures, whatever quantity left over will be made available to everyone. I’m not trying to be a downer here, but after seeing how Disney handles its online sales, I am not having a good feeling about this. Numerous questions are brought to mind immediately including: What time exactly should we non-attendees be looking for these? How will the online store (assuming Disney Store?) handle the inventory count? I am not savvy when it comes to QR codes so, are they unique to each guest? Can they be made public and shared? Where do we non-attendees even look the product to see if it is available yet? It seems like a fun yet overly technical way to deal with a product that is going to be in such high demand. And given Disney’s online track record, we are not only in for some sleepless nights, but some frustrating ones. But I do hope for the best. That it runs smoothly and we collectors are given precise directions on how to attempt to purchase the figures we would like to add to our collections. I just wish they didn’t make us jump through so many hoops to do so.

Check out our Comic Con Explained page for all the pictures, release schedule and details, but for the first time we were shown the 3″/Jr King and Queen of Hearts:

That will be a July 14 release and an LE of 2500 with a price tag of $24.95.

DVC Key

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

At the WDW Trade Night, a new DVC exclusive was shown to the crowd.

It retails for $14.95 and will be available at D-Street soon. Guests must show a DVC card to purchase. It is a golden Mickey Ear Key against a purple backdrop.

9″ Park 9 Boardwalk Clown and Indy Adventure

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

Another clown! Yes, but this one is a truly great idea for a vinyl that I would never even have ever imagined. We already knew of most of the 9″ Park 9s (take a look at explained page), and the back of a box on display at the WDW Trade Night has shown us the rest of the lineup.

This LE 1000 9″/3″ Park 9 combo is an extremely fun tribute to one of the most beautiful resorts on WDW property, the Boardwalk. When we took Cutesters at the Beach around to all the resorts for a photoshoot, this was my favorite shot:

The Boardwalk Clown slide that drops guests into the swimming pool is the marque feature of the recreational side of this grand resort. It is made to look like an old school boardwalk amusement park roller coaster.  Walt Disney World has 20+ resorts… I have always thought more figures needed to give a nod to their features. The Boardwalk Clown Slide is an LE 1000. The kid swimmer that comes with it is perfect. I don’t know who wears Mickey Ears while swimming, but I DON’T CARE. Goggles, innertube and noseplugs are all great additions to the design. The second of the 9″ Park 9s on display at the WDW trade night was this Disneyland Indiana Jones Adventure themed figure.

I think Disneyland fanatics are saying… about time for a tribute to this great attraction. Here is a look at the statue this is based on:

And for a quick refresher… here is the rest of the 9″ Park 9s…