Dirk Wallen’s 6/17/12 Downtown Disney Photo Report

WDWNT on October 30, 2012

WDWNT Reporter Dirk Wallen visited Downtown Disney on Sunday and has a few newsworthy photos to share with us from his trip:

Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug

The new volcano rises at Rainforest Cafe

Adventurer’s Club still closed…

Work continues on Splitsville at Downtown Disney

Cool new shirts

FATHER’S DAY DUFFY

Another cool pair of shirts

Extended Hours for November 2 WDW Trade Night

WDWNT on October 30, 2012

Update: 11/01/12 Since we first brought you this news about extended hours, the Vinylmation Events page has re affirmed the 4-9pm trading hours and the apparent use of all the Ballrooms (plural). Again we ask why? A good thing for sure, but is it just for extra room or some kind of entertainment, artist signing or release? I’m also thinking maybe a larger mobile store with on sale Vinyls to sell off extra D-Street inventory?

We have been waiting since Mickey’s Circus four the Walt Disney World’s next trading night on November 2nd, and according to Disney’s pin blog, the hours have been extended to give guests two extra hours of trading! The event will now take place from 4-9pm at the Contemporary Resort. As always, these bi-monthly trading nights are FREE to all guests and select Vinylmation and Pins should be on sale. This is the first time I’ve seen the hours extended like this. I wish the extension went an hour or two later as opposed to earlier. Due to work, the extension doesn’t help me, but will you be getting there earlier to trade? Will you try to make it the entire five hours? Come early, take a break and go back for the end? Just so you know this was not a misprint, they specifically called out the time extension:

“In order to provide more hours of fun, we are starting the November 2nd pin trading night event at 4:00pm!”

Also of note, and this one may be a misprint, they say the event will take place at: “Disney’s Contemporary Resort – Fantasia A-G Ballroom.” A-G? Are they extending the trading space for us?

The Vinylmation Station – June 24th, 2012

WDWNT on October 30, 2012

By Brian Shapiro

Celebration with Vinylmation is the theme of recent releases and previews. Friday, June 15, saw the release of many exciting figures, starting with the Park Starz Mr. Lincoln variant at both D Streets and online. It celebrates Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln in Disneyland and The Hall of Presidents in Walt Disney World. Designed by Casey Jones and Thomas Scott of the Disney Design Group, this inspired LE 2500 figure is identical to the original design except it is copper toned, like a penny! Similar to last week’s Bride variant, Abe comes in a specially designed tin. The retail price is $24.95, and the online quantities sold out in about an hour.

If Abe Lincoln doesn’t get you in the patriotic spirit, then perhaps you should consider this LE 600 Holiday Series #3 nine-inch Independence Day Colonist. Released online on June 15, it retails for $44.95. The artwork on this figure is amazing, especially the shadowing. The tricorn hat is the icing on the cake and rivals the coonskin cap on the Davy Crockett figure released last year.

Still not feeling patriotic? Then this 2012 Independence Day commemorative figure by Thomas Scott should do the trick! This 3″ open edition figure was released on June 22 at D Streets and online. It retails for $16.95.

Also released on June 15 were several 3″ and 9″ Vinylmation figures celebrating the reopening of Disney California Adventure in Disneyland. The six 3″ figures come in windowed boxes and celebrate the new Cars Land, Grizzly River Run, and Ariel’s Undersea Adventure. They retail for $12.95 and have lots of great details!

The two 9″ figures honor Buena Vista Street and Radiator Springs Racers and were designed by the talented Maria Clapsis of the Disney Design Group. Both are LE 500, and they each sell for $54.95.

In keeping with the Cars theme, the blank Create-Your-Own Vinylmation 95 figure was released online and at Disneyland. It will be released at Walt Disney World on June 29. The new canvas is open edition and retails for $39.95.

Monday, June 18, saw the much anticipated release of Villains Series #3 at Disney Stores and online. This celebration of some of Disney’s baddest of the bad includes creative interpretations of both infamous and obscure characters. While the characters in the series may be nasty, the price of the figures, $9.99 per blind box, is not!

On Friday, June 22, a large variety of figures were released, starting with the Park Starz Yeti variant by Thomas Scott and Casey Jones. This all gold version of the original design comes in a custom designed tin and has an edition size of 2500. Like the other variants it is priced at $24.95. It sold out within minutes online and was available at D Streets.

Also released online and at D Streets was the Vinylmation Mascots series we alluded to a few weeks ago. This collection of four 3″ figures featuring Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto as edgy, retro style sports mascots comes in open edition windowed boxes. The series includes some innovative accessories like Donald’s hat, Goofy’s foam finger, and Pluto’s pennant (which he holds with his teeth!). The figures retail for $12.95 and are a must for any sports fan.

In Disneyland, the Disneyland Resort Icons 3″ series was released on June 22. Similar to the Walt Disney World 40th Anniversary series released last year, these open edition window boxed figures feature classic designs and logos celebrating the original Disney theme park. There are four unique designs and two variants and they sell for $12.95 each.

For those who “like” Duffy the Disney Bear on Facebook, there was the “Facebook First” release of the two open edition Duffy figures on the official Vinylmation Facebook store. These 3″ figures introduce the new Duffy Vinylmation mold. One figure comes without an outfit and is flocked, and the other comes painted with a sailor suit and dons a sailor hat. They retail for $14.95 and will be available at D Streets on June 29.

Rounding out the releases was the appearance of the Nerds Rock Figment and Stitch at D Streets.

Not only were there a lot of releases over the last two weeks, there were loads of previews too! Last week Disney provided this preview of the gift item for Mickey’s Circus on September 9, 2012. It is a combo set featuring a 3″ Mrs. jumbo and a 1.5″ Dumbo. The set was designed by Thomas Scott.

Disney also released previews of the eight 3″ figures in the Color Block Series. These figures will be coming to D Streets on June 29 and look like 3″ versions of the Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Cheshire Cat, Woody, Buzz, and Nemo figures from Vinylmation Jr Series #2. One design included in the series that was not a part of Vinylmation Jr. Series #2 features colors inspired by Mickey.

The last preview supplied by Disney is of the “Under the Big Top” series coming to Disney Stores and DisneyStore.com on July 23. The Disney Store in South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California, will have a two day early release artist signing event with artist Gerald Mendez.

Barney’s Electric Holiday Backlash

WDWNT on October 30, 2012

As November approaches and as I already see TV shows inundated with Christmas commercials, the Disney / Barney’s Electric Holiday partnership we talked about a few months back sprung to mind. In that announcement, we learned about a couple Vinylmation and other merchandise designed with a high fashion theme in mind.

For more on the Vinylmation and the product line itself, please check out Zoe’s article here. The reason I’m bringing this up today is because I decided to Google the line to see if i could find any updated information about the November 14 expected release date. I did not. Instead, what I did find, were a ton of columns from various blogs and news sites that talked about people’s negative reaction to this Minnie Mouse design that is used in the product line.
The critiques say this promotes an unfair version of the female form that can negatively impact a child’s self esteem. I sincerely do understand the concerns of parents, but the above is purely meant to be a fun art style giving Disney fan’s classic characters in forms they are not used to. It should not be pulled from the campaign as many suggest. It is a very creative and stylistic design that has many Disney fans excited for something new. And in fact, as Zoe brought to my attention when I showed her these articles, this is not something entirely new. Minnie has been characterized similar to this before. And the merchandise is sold at Disney Stores and Parks.
Here are some new images Disney/Barney’s released. They include scenes from the video the public will see on November 14. Disney and Barney’s felt they needed to show more about this ad campaign and put it all in context.

 

Closing scene from video
You can Google “Barney’s Electric Holiday Minnie” to see the opposition news articles I am talking about, but I wanted to post both Barney’s and Disney’s response to the critiques. It is a bit of a shame that they had to unveil the end of the November 14 video early just to try to quell some of the opposition.
From the Disney Post; The Official Blog of the Walt Disney Company:
(October 12, 2012) In August, we announced “Electric Holiday,” a project with Barneys New York. The one-time holiday promotion includes a moving art video that was designed to be a playful interpretation of the fashion world where Minnie Mouse briefly imagines what it would be like if she and her friends were a part of that high fashion world. The images shown during the brief dream sequence in the moving art video are highly stylized interpretations of these artistic characters. In the end, the video concludes with Minnie returning back to her classic self happily wearing a Lanvin designer dress.
We know many of our fans were intrigued with this news, and we wanted to give the behind-the-scenes story firsthand and provide insight into how we developed the creative concepts. I sat down with Luis Fernandez, senior vice president of global creative at Disney Consumer Products, to give us the scoop.
Nidia: Luis, we know that fans all over the world have an emotional connection to Disney characters. What can you tell Disney fans about how these stylized looks for “Electric Holiday” came to be?
Luis: “Electric Holiday” is a fun and colorful campaign that gave our character artists the creative liberty to do something artistic and completely unique. The elongated poses of Disney characters, including Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Goofy and Cruella de Vil, are dramatically stylized. They’re creative interpretations from a fashion lens, and only appear for a few seconds in this video. Their true form remains as classic as ever in every aspect of the company. A project like “Electric Holiday” is the kind of creative challenge which forces one to stretch the imagination while proceeding with caution. We know we have to be respectful of who these characters are and what they mean to us and to millions of people.
N: There is a scene in the moving art video when Minnie Mouse is transported into a fantasy world where literally anything is possible. Can you elaborate on that?
L: As we see Minnie gazing at a Paris travel poster, a dream sequence takes us into her mind – a fantasy world where she imagines herself as a fashion model on a Paris runway show, and we see her getting styled by the best in the fashion industry. Although Minnie is in her classic form for most of the piece, she does go through a dream portal at one point where she takes on this stylized fashion model form for just a few seconds. In the end, we see her happily back to her classic form still wearing her designer dress, designed by Alber Elbaz for Lanvin.
One of our more difficult challenges was bringing the two separate worlds of Disney and couture fashion together in a believable manner. Our solution was to have the characters pass through a magical portal as they step out onto the runway.
N: Sounds like a labor of love – a lot of passion, imagination and creative integrity went into the development process. What else is in store that fans can look forward to?
L: “Electric Holiday” will also feature a range of exclusive, limited-edition Disney holiday gifts that is just as magical as the creative itself and includes Vinylmation figures designed by Paul Smith and Diane von Furstenberg, Mickey Mouse ears designed by Rag & Bone and L’Wren Scott, and smaller items such as holiday ornaments, edible sweets, and much more. We also created original and exclusive artwork that will be featured on special Barneys shopping bags available with all in-store and Barneys.com purchases during the holiday season.
From The Window; Barney’s Official Blog:
The “Electric Holiday” campaign is to feature a video in which Minnie fantasizes about modeling in Paris.
Most of the video’s three minutes, Barneys has said, will show Minnie with her familiar proportions. But for a 5-second dream sequence on the catwalk, Minnie is stretched tall and thin because, as Barneys Creative Director Dennis Freedman initially explained, “The standard Minnie Mouse will not look so good in a Lanvin dress.” Mickey, Goofy, Daisy and other Disney characters will be refashioned similarly.
In August, Barneys New York announced Electric Holiday, a special holiday project with the Walt Disney Company. The one-time only holiday program includes a moving art video that is conceived to be a playful interpretation of the high fashion world, where Minnie Mouse briefly imagines what it would be like if she and her friends were a part of a European fashion show. The 3-minute video maintains Minnie in her classic self, aside from the brief dreamlike runway sequence. Our intention was to keep the end of the short a surprise until its release on November 14th, but we can reveal it ends happily with Minnie—in her classic form—wearing the same designer dress she models on the runway.
We assure you Minnie is empowered throughout the video, seen throughout Paris in her classic form being photographed by legendary fashion photographers, styled by renowned hair and makeup artists and dressed by a top fashion designer.
While it is unfortunate the sketches that were intended to be concept art have been taken out of context, Barneys New York is fully committed to the magical spirit of “Electric Holiday.” We stand by the statement released by Disney and Barneys New York and we are confident our lighthearted holiday project along with the video’s positive message will be embraced by not only the fashion world, but Disney fans alike.

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm, Check Out Noah’s Festival of the Masters Custom

WDWNT on October 30, 2012

The 2012 Festival of the Masters takes place November 9-11 at WDW’s Downtown Disney. Once again, Noah will be among the artists with work on display and for sale. That collection of work will include some custom Vinylmation.

Noah calls his latest creation “Crash Test Dummy.” As you can see, it comes on a custom road sign base. There will be twelve 9″ versions available for $650 each and twelve 3″ versions for $150 each.

Andy’s Toys Arrive For U.S. Play Date

WDWNT on October 30, 2012

Today, the series of 4 Vinylmation designed to look like Andy’s crayon drawings from the Toy Story films where released at D-Streets.

They retail for $12.95 each and were originally available in Japan to commemorate the opening of Tokyo’s Toy Story Midway Mania attraction. Also released today was the 9″ Park 11 Grizzly Peak designed by Casey Jones.

It is an LE 800 and retails for $44.95.

Picture of New Passholder Figure is Floating Around the Web

WDWNT on October 30, 2012

Thanks to a friend for pointing us toward this photo of the previously unknown Annual Passholder 3″ figure that is due out on November 2 for $14.95 at both D-Streets.

This same picture has been used in a few eBay pre-sale auction already. The photo is not credited  but appears to be taken at the D-Street Orlando upcoming figures display case. You can see Walt Disney World printed on the balloon, I would assume the DLR version is identical except for Disneyland printed on it. This figure represents a gathering of the iconic Mickey head shaped balloons inside a balloon sold on Main Street USA.

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DLR Passholder Variant Revealed

WDWNT on October 30, 2012

Like we conjectured on the podcast (which isn’t even out yet!) Disneyland will be getting a variant of the WDW Passholder vinylmation. Not only will the writing be changed to reflect the other park, the top balloon will also be a different color! The DLR one is yellow, the WDW is blue.

What do you think of these vinyls? Will you get both? Only one? Will the other parks get these too, like the Celebrations First Visit Balloons?

Evilos to be at Designer Con

WDWNT on October 30, 2012

Designer Con is a convention that incorporates everything in the world of design including apparel, plush, printing, sculpture, designer toys, and art ranging from fine to urban. At this year’s event in California, Evilos will once again have a ton of customs and figures for sale. Including the 12″ Mickey In Carbonite which will be on display and available for purchase a few weeks from now.

Jedi Mickey will be among the many well known customs on display and for sale by Evilos. 5″ Mickey In Carbonites will be $50 and Mickey in Carbonite Jr’s will sell for $20.

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His DCON Exclusive will be an Alien Pin (No.7) that will be $15 and limited to 100 Signed and Numbered pieces.

Some of the Blind Bags Series 3 customs will be on display as well. Disney Store Artists Gerald Mendez, Erique Pita & Nacho Rodriguez are also scheduled to be guests at the event.

Visit http://evilos.com for more info on Evilos.

Designer Con General Info:

Pasadena California
Saturday November 3rd
9am – 6pm
Tickets are $5 Online and $7 at the door.
Evilos Booth #428 (See Map)