Character Star Wars Series 5 Review

WDWNT on March 26, 2012

Oh, what a find! It started as an ordinary day at Walt Disney World. I was just walking around Star Tours taking pictures of Vinylmation. But before I went home for the day, I decided to step inside Tattooine Traders. For months now, I check the Star Wars displays to see if Series 5 of the Disney Characters as Star Wars action figures show up. They were not supposed to hit shelves until Star Wars Weekends in May, but to my great excitement, they were there. Like all the previous series, it’s a five figure set, but for the first time, Clone Wars characters are featured. They retail for $9.95 a piece.

First up is the bounty hunter Cad Bane. I think Disney stepped up the detail a little in these characters. The figure poses well and stands on his own easily. That was not always the case with Goofy action figures from this line.

I like the two guns, I only wish the holsters could actually house the guns when not in hand.

The breathing tubes are well done and are a soft flexible plastic. His jacket and hat also fit well on the figure.

Another bounty hunter, Aura Sing, is portrayed her by Daisy Duck. A good choice for this under used Disney character. Lots of accessories here. Just like Cad Bane, Aura gets 2 hand guns, but she also gets the riffle. If I’m being picky, the right hand holds the gun well, but the left hand is a little awkward. And even though these figures seem to more poseable than past series, she can’t really hold the riffle correctly. It does however hang over her shoulder rather well.

The back features her ponytail and duck tail as well as her holsters.

She can only really hold the riffle with one hand, but not too bad. Again, I would like the holsters to actually be able to house the guns when not in hand.

Donald Duck takes on the role of Commander Cody. Just a little too much like the Donald playing the Stormtrooper for me, but still a cool figure. The helmet opens and closes in two pieces over the head just like his Stormtrooper counterpart.

The cool part is the little ‘hologram’ Stitch as Emperor Palpatine recreating the receiving of “Executive Order 66.” The icing on the cake is that the hologram can sit right on Cody’s turned up hand.

Wow! Perfect. Stitch makes the best General Grievous. The costume is perfect and the use of Stitch’s extra arms is great. But the best part are the four light sabers. They are all designed just a little bit different. That is a great touch given that General Grievous acquires his light sabers from different Jedi Knights.

The back of the cape has cool detail.

They even have some detail under the cape.

Not sure why you would want to, but you can pop out the four arms and replace them with two.

Jawas round out the 5 figure set. Huey, Dewy and Louie play the part here. They are a nice fit and costumes look great. I also love the variety of accessories.

There are a couple different robot parts. And each Jawa has his own facial expression.

There is also a hand gun accessory. Overall, Series 5 is a welcome addition with great detail, a ton of accessories, well posed figures and of course, the addition of Clone Wars.

Monorail Cars Released Early: Chaser Revealed

WDWNT on March 26, 2012

A picture of the presumed chaser for the Monorail Cars series has been posted on Vinylnation.net. It appears that at least one case of this series went on sale in Disneyland 10 days before it was supposed to be on shelves.
The design shown features Holley Shiftwell from Cars 2.

Monorail Mold: What’s your opinion?

WDWNT on March 26, 2012

Today Disney showed us a first look at the Monorail Model onto which the Cars characters will be applied.

“Before they announced the mold I was looking forward to the set on Mickey Mold. I thought it would be interesting to see. Now that the mold is announced I don’t think I’m as excited. I have connection to the Monorails themselves so I’m not sure I’ll get these.” -MC

“I love them. I welcome more forms into Vinylmation and can’t wait to see other characters on these too! The idea of using a Disney icon like the monorail is a great idea.” -Nick

What do you think of these models? Does this go even farther then the mold then Park Starz? Will you get these?

Also, obviously Mater and Lightning. Who else will be on this set?

The Final Word on Robots 2

WDWNT on March 26, 2012

It’s been a long week of crazy information about Robots 2, so we wanted to clear a few things up.

Robots 2 was released in Paris earlier this week.
Robots 2 will be coming to America on April 13 2012 to Disney World and Disneyland.
Later they will be available on the Disney Store Online.

They come as a series of 12 Robots, each of which has the head, body, arms, and feet of 4 separate Robot designs. Inside there will be a instructions on how to create the originals. It looks like this:On the front is each design as it was intended to be, along with a number to represent that design. On the back is how they come in the boxes and a guide to which piece is which using the numbers on the front. Here’s a closer look:So the Robot on the Top Left has the Head of Robot 12, the Body of Robot 1, the Arms of Robot 11, and the Feet of Robot 6.

This is an interesting way to release these figures (although it reminds us a lot of our Combo Contests) but because there are set Robot Mix Ups it is still too early to tell how collectors will refer to or collect them. Will you display yours Mixed Up as they come from the boxes, or Unmixed?

Also of note is that this series is by Billy Davis, the same guy who gave us the Sea Creatures line (the first series on new mold). After taking a look at his tumblr account at oneswellillustrator.tumblr.com it’s no surprise he got the opportunity for series 2. Check out these other robots he designed for Tin Men.I also noticed he designed a poster for an Aquabats show I’m pretty sure I went to back in 2008. Awesome job Billy and keep up the great work!

1st 2 pics from Disney
2nd 2 from Billy Davis

Big Hats come to Rome

WDWNT on March 26, 2012

Even more Big Hat Figures are being released in Europe. Just recently Vinylmation.com announced that Rome had their own special figure. Meet their Gladiator. Great looking saddles and uniform. Nice use of ears also. This figure is by Adam Colp from the United Kingdom. Colp also created the French Big Hat figure.


Speaking of those other figures, here they are as a reminder. So far we’ve seen figures for Paris, Dublin, and England. Anyone think they know who will get the next one?

All pics from Disney

Cutesters Seagull

WDWNT on March 26, 2012

This one deserved a post all it’s own. We were taking pictures at EPCOT and happened to have the Cutesters at the Beach Seagull on us. We put it down to take a picture and to our surprise, the real one came over to investigate.

Seagull 1
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Seagull 2
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Seagull 3
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Seagull 4
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Seagull 5
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Seagull 6

Vinylamtion Artist Alex Maher Signing 3/30-31

WDWNT on March 26, 2012

Pic from Disney
Alex Maher will be celebrating the release of some new artwork by signing his art on March 30th and 31st. The event will take place at the Art of Disney in Downtown Disney WDW. He will be unveiling two new pieces. The first is the “Bambi” seen above and the second will be a “Tink” piece. (The one of a kind version of the artwork above will be priced at $3800.00. Matted prints are $39.95.) Maher will be signing from 6pm-8pm on March 30th and 2pm-4pm on March 31st.

Why should you care? Alex Maher is one of the many disney artists who has given us cool vinylmation figures. Most recently he collaborated with Thomas Scott on the Juniors 6 Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs set. Go out and support him. Say, “hi” and thank him for his figures and for being part of the Disney Artists community.

Cutesters at the Beach Photoshoot

WDWNT on March 26, 2012

Although I live in Orlando and am able to get to Walt Disney World practically whenever I want (he he, don’t worry, I’m not rubbing it in, I have a point here) I miss out on one important aspect… vacation. For me it’s a day trip, but often I like to pretend I’m on vacation… as if I don’t have to go to work the next day. One of the great bonuses of living by WDW is visiting the resorts. There is so much to see and do there and we walk around them often. Well, on the last trip, we happened to catch some interesting vacationers at play. They let us thumb through their family photo album and share some pictures with you. (see more on Facebook)

Polynesian
Everybody caught up for some quality time… well almost everybody
Grand Floridian
Found that beach ball you were looking for
Wilderness Lodge
Somebody was trying to sneak across the bridge but we caught him
Contemporary
Number one priority: make sure those kids play safe
Animal Kingdom Lodge
One of the many animals you can spot at animal kingdom lodge
Yacht and Beach Club
Believe it or not, in some language not yet discovered, the markings
in that rock spell seashells
Port Orleans
Only problem is his toungue doesnt quite reach
Boardwalk
Everybody who rides down the clown slide wants a sno cone after
Yacht and Beach Club
Snorkeler found one of the Disney pools that has sand at
the bottom
Caribbean Beach
Sorry no waves today but as a conselation prize heres a really cool
fort to play in
Polynesian
They said the volcano is dormant, doesn’t mean it can’t wake up
Swan and Dolphin
aaaah peaceful tranquility
Coronado Springs
Do i spy a net behind her?

Vinylmation Madness at DisneyStore.com!

WDWNT on March 26, 2012

Thanks to all of you who pointed us toward these wallet emptying deals online today.

First up, an insane deal. 2 select 9″ figures for $50. Here is the list: (link to sale)

Next on the sale list, 2 Chinese Zodiac 3″ figures for $10. All 12 are available as of this post. (link to sale)

Then there is Buy One, Get One Nightmare Before Christmas. 11 of 12 available (no Jack). (link to sale)

There are also some very useful codes out there. There is the standard SHIP TODAY to get Free Shipping on your order of $75 and up. There is also DMRMAR that gets you $15 off $100 or over purchase plus Free Shipping. There is also a great little gem MYSTERY. That code gets Vinylmation fans one mystery blind box for $1.99.

Which deal will you get?