Mickey’s Circus- 2013 Trading Event: Reflections of Evil 13

WDWNT on April 19, 2012

The Disney Villains want to overtake Walt Disney World. Their only portal to our world is through a mirror in which they shatter into 13 pieces. Our only hope rests in the power of our favorite Disney character friends to fight the evil. BEWARE! The Disney Villains are coming…

Next year, 2013, is the 13th anniversary of Disney’s pin trading event which is held in September. That very month will also contain a Friday the 13th. This makes the perfect opportunity for an event Disney is calling “Reflections of Evil 13.” The trading event will be held from September 13-15 with the first two days being dedicated to pins and Sunday the Vinylmation day.

Little is known about the event at this time beyond the Disney Villains theme. Also take note the “B” in Beware is made up of a one and a three. The crowd reacted overwhelmingly positive to this announcement. I know I am excited. We do know there will be Villains themed Pins and Vinylmation as well as other Disney characters tossed in as (seemingly) both heroes and dressed up as Villains. The pin collection has already technically launched with a 13 pin series being released one per month leading up to the event. No specific Vinylmation have been announced, however while taking to the Disney Design Group at Mickey’s Circus, we do know the artwork has already been done. We are so very excited to see the results and the theming. How about you?

Jeff Lukas’ 4/15/12 Downtown Disney Photo Report

WDWNT on April 19, 2012

WDWNT Reporter Jeff Lukas visited Downtown Disney on Sunday and has some newsworthy photos to share with us, so let’s take a look:

Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug

They are pretty much rebuilding the entire top portion of the building

Concept art of what it will look like when completed

The conversion of this section to the Lava Lounge has begun

The signage around marketplace was freshened up not too long ago

I can’t believe this is still open…

The former trading area outside of Disney’s Pin Traders is now a Ridemakerz demonstration area

New shirts with the fab five…

It’s a bit strange that Goofy looks modern and the others have a more classic look

Some new tropical-themed shirts

Phineas and Ferb shirts

New Pirate shirts

I really like these 2012 shirts

Weird…

That’s funny…

Still cool…

Still closed…

KUNGABUSH!

One fo the few things open in Pleasure Island

This is scary…

I hope so…

Blink by Wet Seal opened recently

No visible changes to the Splitsville facade

PEOPLE!

Mickey’s Circus- Cutesters en Vogue

WDWNT on April 19, 2012

My first thought upon seeing this slide… Audrey Hepburn. Cutesters en Vogue is the 5th series in the Cutesters line and continues the trend of giving them a comprehensive theme. We found out the series was co-designed by Caley Hicks and Thomas Scott. Although this image is the only one we have of this upcoming series, we do know 2 very interesting and important pieces of information. First, this will be the first Disney Vinylmation blind box series to feature an 8 figure set instead of 12. That means there will be 16 boxes per case. This does not mean a total transition to an 8 figure blind box set for all series, only when it warrants. This is a welcome decision that will keep the strongest designs and cut down on the less desired figures that fill up the trading boxes.

The second innovation here is the introduction of the Minnie Mouse shaped platform. It obviously is similar to Mickey but for the bow, dress that angles out away from the body and high heel shoes. This platform gives a different feel for different sets that can utilize the girlish figures. Artist Thomas Scott said that with the extra contours and crevices, it does create and extra challenge for designers. I think the Minnie canvas used in conjunction with this new Cutesters theme can really rejuvenation a series that lost some steam. This fashion based theme can really hit closer to home with girls than beach or like you. I also think it has the potential to be a really high end design that will appeal to a wide range of collectors. As always, I welcome changes to the Vinylmation landscape and the Minnie shape is just another avenue for these talented Disney artists to express their ideas.

Spotlight On: Custom Vinylmation Artist John Ward

WDWNT on March 31, 2012

Have your work spotlighted, no matter the skill level. Just email us: DestinationVinylmation@gmail.com
Today we once again spotlight John Ward. He has an amazing custom based on a classic Fantasyland attraction.

Destination Vinylmation: Tell us about how you developed the idea for Peter Pan’s Flight.
John Ward: I wanted to try and come up with something that I hadn’t seen done before, and I wanted to push myself as an artist. The first thing was the I decided that I wanted to try and create something the moved on the Vinylmation, in some fashion. Then I thought that I’d probably be able to create something that would rotate around the outside of the piece, yet still be attached so the it would be all one piece. Once I had the concept for the feature I wanted, I thought about what concept I could use it with. Almost instantly I thought of Peter Pan’s Flight, it’s one of my favorite rides still. So had my concept, ships (the ride vehicles would rotate around over scenes from the ride. The front had to be downtown London, my favorite part of the whole ride. The reverse is Neverland, of course.

After that I had to figure out how to make it all work. How do you have something able to rotate, yet still be attached to the Vinylmation figure. I came up with using a wooden dowel and a lazy susan device.

DV: Besides the moving parts, what was the most challenging part of creating this custom?
John: Trying to sculpt 3 ships that small was quite a challenge, I tried to make them as close to looking like the actual vehicles. I think they turned out rather well, considering the size of them.

Painting the downtown London side was fun, yet very difficult. I had to make sure that the angles were consistent throughout, to where it actually looked like you were looking down from the clouds. I also knew that on one of the ears, I had to put the moon with the silhouettes of Peter and the children.

DV: What’s next and how can people view your work?
I’m currently finishing up my Jafar 2.0 custom. Which is a remake of one of my very first customs. My customs can be viewed on my Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/SiberianVinylmationCustoms or on my website; www.siberianarts.com

Spotlight On: Custom Vinylmation Artist John Ward

WDWNT on March 31, 2012

Destination Vinylmation: What have you been up to lately?
John Ward: I’ve recently been working on holiday themed customs. It started with Evilos’ Blind Bag series 3, I did 4 holiday themed customs for that series, three 3″ customs and one “Grand Prize” 9″, each with sculpted elements.

The 9″ which I call “Christmas at Mickey’s” was very difficult to complete and make it look right. It took a lot of trial and error to make the fireplace look right and function the way I wanted it to.

Having to remove the entire front part of the custom, to add the fireplace element was a new challenge for me, the only other time I’d cut into the main part of a custom was for my “Peter Pan’s Flight”.  Trying to get detail on the tiny paintings that are on the mantle was very difficult.  In the end though, I am very happy with how it turned out.

DV: It seems like you have quite the collection of holliday customs.
JW: Once I finished those 4 pieces, I had been hit by the holiday-themed custom bug.  I made Minnie baking cookies, The Coke Polar Bear, Rudolph the Rose-nosed Reindeer and started on my Nutcracker Series.  I plan on doing 12 nutcrackers in all. It started with Mickey, naturally, and the second one I just finished is Stitch.  The rest of the series isn’t finalized quite yet, but I do know that a Little Green Man, Goofy and Mr. Frederickson will be in it.  They should all be available sometime at the beginning on the year.  I just didn’t have time to complete them for this season.

DV: What’s next?
JW: My next projects are a couple of 9″ pieces. One will require me to cut into the Mickey vinylmation once again. It’ll be interesting to see if I can make the finished piece look as good as it does in my mind, lol.  I got the inspiration for the other piece from something I saw hanging on a rack at the cash register at a local craft store.  I saw it, and instantly though, “That’ll look awesome used with a vinylmation figure.”

DV: How can people contact you?
JW: If anyone is interested in any of my holiday pieces, or my other customs, you can contact me through my email siberianarts@gmail.com. You can also become a fan of my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SiberianVinylmationCustoms.

New Haunted Mansion Vinylmation Series

WDWNT on March 31, 2012

From Steve Miller of the Disney Parks Blog:

I love visiting the Haunted Mansion in the fall, as there is something extra special about the attraction during the Halloween season at Disney Parks. Perhaps that is one reason why we waited until September to release the much anticipated Vinylmation – Haunted Mansion series #1. This limited release, mystery series has been in development for over a year, and contains a handful of the 999 happy haunts. I spoke with Disney Design Group artist Casey Jones about how he selected the characters for the series.

“We knew we couldn’t feature every single character from the attraction,” explained Casey. “So we selected a character from almost each of the different show scenes. This set gives us a strong foundation to build upon for a future Haunted Mansion series.”

One thing I noticed is that the series contains a lot of accessories. Eight of the figures have some type of accessory item, which Casey explained “helped add the essential touches for each character.”

I was happy to see that the Hatbox Ghost is included in this series. He is also featured on the packaging, which was designed by Thomas Scott with help from artist Dan Salgo. Thomas told me the packaging (which looks stellar) was a nod to a different kind of vinyl.

“We used the cover of the ‘The Story & Song from The Haunted Mansion’ vinyl album as inspiration for the packaging,” said Thomas. “We even used the unique ‘Haunted Mansion’ lettering found on that album as a nice tribute.”

One of Casey’s favorite figures is the singing bust, as he felt it translated the best to the Mickey Mouse-shaped canvas. (Look for the hidden Mickey on the back of the figure.)

To celebrate the release of this series, we will be holding two different release parties. On Friday, September 21, the series will be released at D Street at Downtown Disney West Side in Florida. Casey will be meeting with fans from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. that day. We will also release a one-of-a-kind custom 9-inch Mariner figure designed by Casey.

Casey will then make an appearance from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, September 22, at D Street in the Downtown Disney District in California. That morning, we will release the mystery series; Casey’s one-of-a-kind, custom 9-inch Bride figure; and additional custom figures by Javier Soto, John Henselmeier, Julie West and Miss Mindy.

Japan Romantic Treats Explained

WDWNT on March 31, 2012

Japan Romantic Treats
Release Date: December 23
Price: 1,200 Yen ($15.40 USD)
Where: Japan Disney Stores Only
Details: This will be a 12 figure blind box set released only in Japan.

Update: 1/10/12 Lindsey (@lindols) sent in a picture of 4 Romantic Treat Vinylmation up close. I will say they look a lot better and more detailed than I thought. In face, the one I didn’t like, Donald, is now one of my favorites. The yellow candies are shaped like his feet and there is an icing swirl on top like it’s his tail and he his upside down. Also, she mentions they actually have a sweet scent to them!

Here is Lindsey’s take: I must say they are a lot nicer than I thought. I was only getting them because they did a Donald and Daisy. I really wasn’t a fan of Stitch from tr artwork we saw but he looks really good the silver and it is an excellent touch. Goofy is also very well done but he is up for trade as I NEED Daisy. The chaser is ok. I suppose if we had got Buzz it would have been better but now I have a chaser that I can use to trade for something I need. They have a smell to them almost like chocolate but more sweet which makes them even better.

Also, a reader Nelly sent us even more close up photos of this set.

With all these pics from readers who have this set in hand, I can really see the figures have much more detail than we originally thought.

The box design looks wonderful! I really like the theme on this one. Thank you to @t0my26 for some info here. The Japan Disney Store Online website has posted these higher quality images of this, so far, well received set. Let us know your thoughts and what character you are hoping for the mystery chaser.

 Cheshire Cat

Cheshire Cat is coming in strong with a ton of vinys of late. A crazy happy smile on the belly looks purrfect. and his signature colors adorn the head, ears and wrapper. 
Chip

A perfect black and white strip on the head representing the tail. It’s kind of icky to think of eating it, but looks great! I also like the candy on top of icing on the head with a brown one for Chip and a red one for Dale. Its a great touch.
Dale

While the heads are great, the bodies leave a little to be desired. They are kind of plain compared to the other figures in this set and could have used some acorn decorations in the wrapper.
Donald Duck

Donald looks almost turned upside down with with icing on top dripping down onto his yellow buttons. Blue icing also covers the ears and head representing his clothing. And his wrapper is yellow with blue. He has a candy on his body that says “bittersweet”, perfect for the angry duck. There is also his hat on the candy. Donald is my favorite Disney character, but I think this cupcake has the least amount of character.
Goofy

His hat in the right ear and the yellow/green icing on the head topped with a… goofy looking swirl. Like Stitch, his bottom has a kind of torn look to it. I would have liked to see a different color, or again, more adorned wrapper for Goofy.
Daisy

We don’t have many Daisy Vinyls yet (Nerds Rock!). I like the clean look of the mostly white vinyl that makes the purple wrapper and pink bow really pop! A cool use of the ears in this set with little nods to the characters. Daisy of course has a daisy. She also has hearts, daisies and bows in the wrapper. Her candy on the body says “sweet” with her bow, as opposed to Donald’s “bittersweet” candy.

Thanks to the commenters below with sharp eyes that helped us with this one.
Mickey Mouse

Mostly red with yellow buttons and a yellow wrapper. The colors are simple, but make perfect sense for this mouse. His head has a dark icing drizzled with a chocolate sauce. Deliciously fun!
Minnie Mouse

Her red and white poke a dot dress goes across her head and body. It’s another simple yet great design element. I really like the Mickey heads and hearts in the cupcake sleeve. That’s what i’m talking about when I say others in the set lack.
Pluto

This dog has a bone candy on it’s belly that says “puppy love.” The paw print in the ear is a great touch. The head is similar to Goofy’s, with icing and a swirl. 
Stitch

Stitch is covered in blue with a green glob dripping down.  Maybe representing his spit at the beginning of the movie? I like how the wrapper is ripped up a bit and with these higher quality images we get to see the 626 in the ear which really gives this the look of our favorite blue alien.
Tinker Bell

Tink is flying in the head of her cupcake, spreading pixie dust of course. A simple, yet effective use of ears. The yellow bottom looks great with a butterfly painted on and stars.
Mystery Chasers

Click on the image to see the chasers

Furry Friends in the UK

WDWNT on March 31, 2012


According to our friends at DisneyBrit.com, Furry Friends will be coming to the UK Disney Store. According to a flyer emailed to them, the UK Disney store looks to be introducing Villains 2 (along with the 9″/Jr Jafar/Genie vinyl) and Furry Friends. This will be great news to our British fans who often don’t have access to some of the cooler series that we get here in the states. In fact, this might be the start of a whole new campaign for Vinylmation across the pond. If you live in England, let us know What vinyl have you been able to collect, what do you want to collect?
For a good English commentary on the subject, check out this DisneyBrit article and follow the conversation on Twitter: #SaveUKVinylmation

Also, for those of you who have been asking about UK releases (we even had a Mystery Mailbag question about it this week in the podcast), we’re in the process of tracking down who has that info. It’s a different department than we deal with in the US and we hope to have a new contact there soon.

Funko Disney Pop! Vinyl Series 3 Explained

WDWNT on March 31, 2012

Funko Disney Pop! Vinyl Series 3
Where: Disney Stores and Online
Price: $12.50

The Disney Store surprised us Thursday with the appearance of Pop! Vinyl Series 3 online. Coming only 4 months after Series 2, this set gives a strong character selection and seems to step it up a little bit on the designs. With seemingly more hats, accessories and such and maybe even a little more detail overall. Funko also likes sticking in multiple characters from the same movie in each series. This one includes 2 from Alice, The Little Mermaid and The Incredibles.

 Alien
Toy Story

Amazing! Honestly, I was looking at my Disney collection 3 days ago and said “I need more Toy Story Alien stuff.” He’s my 2nd favorite Disney character.
Ariel
The Little Mermaid

Perfectly designed. Except for Hook, my favorite design of this set.
Cheshire Cat
Alice in Wonderland

All the Vinylmation now this… plenty of Cheshire Cats to add to your collection now. Love the huge smile and tail.
Donald Duck

Like the classic look of the design.
Edna Mode
The Incredibles

Not complaining, but the Funko designers really enjoy The Incredibles characters. Great choice to put Edna in here.
Elastigirl
The Incredibles

Perfect to put next to the Mr.
Captain Hook
Peter Pan

Wow, perfect all around. The hat is brilliant. The hare and mustache look great. He has the hook of course. The added touch of the sword. And the design is great right down to the boots.
Mad Hatter
Alice in Wonderland

I think Funko stepped it up this series. Mad Hatters is perfectly over-sized and he even has a cup of tea.
Winnie the Pooh


The face looks very simple, yet amazing. And not only is he holding a honey pot… but check out the other hand. It has honey on it!
Ursula
The Little Mermaid

The evil smile and the nicely done tentacles make this one of my favorites as well. I like how the designers varied up the arm positions to give each figure more character.

Spooky Series Sale at Disney Store

WDWNT on March 31, 2012

M.C. stopped by the Florida Mall Disney Store yesterday to do some trading when he found this!

That’s a $9.99 sale price on the Spooky Series. That’s for two vinyl, with awesome accessories! Check your local store if you didn’t purchase these already!