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!

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.

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?

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.

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.

FREE Wreck It Ralph Vinylmation at SDCC

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

Stop by the Funko booth at Comic Con today for a FREE Wreck It Ralph Vinylmation! There are only 500 of them.

Photo from Vinylmation Exchange Facebook page. When I first saw Disney Store’s tweet about this, I was extremely excited. A bit less so after seeing it is only good old Theme Park Favorite Ringer Tee guy with a logo tee. How about your impressions?

Update: 7/13/12 Several of these have popped up on eBay and have sold from between $65-$80! Crazy!!!!!!
Would you pay that much for a FREE vinyl?

A tease of Pixar Series 1 Vinylmation

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

Pictures from Daniel Jue

Over on the facebook page, Vinylmation Exchange, Daniel Jue posted this picture from comic con. It’s the first look at the Pixar Series 1. We speculated on this when we saw the Carl and Ellie two pack and it’s packaging made reference to it. It looks like MC was right and the series will be a normal 12 figure blind box series. (That’s speculation at the moment, but the display with 3 loose characters seems to point to it.) This would make the Carl and Ellie figures the first LE from that series. Here’s our breakdown.

Nemo

From: Finding Nemo

Great use of clear.

King Fergus

From: Brave (2012)

Another peg leg! (For the first one see the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides vinylmation)
Dug

From: UP

Simple, but classic.

Let the speculation begin. Who else would you like for this series?

Bubble Gum Goofy?

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

This picture of a Goofy Vinylmation, apparently covered in a burst gum bubble, is on display at D-Street Anaheim. Does anyone know what it could be?

Bad Taste in Collector’s Mouths

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

Just when we thought the Comic Con release issues were in the past, the DisneyStore.com today made the 8 “Comic Con Exclusive” So Tasty figures available for purchase online.

According to the Vinylmation blog back on July 10th these were “very limited edition” and only “250 available of each design” at SDCC. Unfortunately, there is no mention of a limited edition size on the DisneyStore.com listing for these figures. The product shot does however show the Comic Con logo on the box.

So where exactly does the truth lie with these 8 Comic Con So Tasty figures? Was there a quantity of the 250 left over that they decided to sell online? It is really hard for me to believe there were any of these $10 figures left over from Comic Con. It seemed collectors and re-sellers where buying these up like candy. Maybe in some technical speak only 250 were available at Comic Con but the original production run was in fact much higher? That is possible, just would be nice if they were honest about that from the outset. Or how about the speculation that the 250 LE only applied to figures sold on site with the SDCC logo on the box? Again, valid. It still gives collectors something to look for, but what about the SDCC logo on the production shot online? Or, the most dreaded of all, will all who order these and get a confirmation wake up tomorrow to a “sorry, these were not available at the time of your purchase” email from the Disney Store? All these questions are valid, and they all have issues and more questions attached to them. But one of the most important questions is how upset are buyers who paid upwards of $500 on eBay for a full set of 8?

One way or another, it seems like the Vinylmation collectors were mislead once again. Just looking at screen shots from Disney’s own Vinylmation Blog shows either a misscommunication or misdirection somewhere along the way.

Your thoughts on the SDCC Comic Con So Tasty 8?

Rhino rolls out of D-Streets

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

Today we stood in line for 7 hours to pick out this cute furry guy from the D-Street in Orlando. Word is that in California they have been waiting since midnight and they are already out of the first stock and are waiting for the next one.

Tell us about your experiences getting Rhino.

We also got this pic of the store before the change out. Looks like the topper, Roger, and the Land are ready for next week.