Today we got our first look at the 2013 Easter figure that will be released on February 22nd. It was designed by Billy Davis and will have a $14.95 price tag.
A golden wrapped chocolate Easter bunny awaits an eager Vinylmation collector who couldn’t wait to begin unwrapping one ear. There is also an accessory fabric bow around the neck. A nice idea and another figure with the bunny ears.
The Disney Collections page has posted updated information about the 2013 Easter Bunny figure designed by Billy Davis. Originally set for February 22nd at D-Streets, the date has been changed to March 1st. However, the original February 22nd date should see the online release of the 3″ figure.
But that is not the only update… although the Vinylmation Events page still shows a $14.95 price tag, the Collections page now shows a $16.95 price tag.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Robert A.M. Stern Architects website describes other facets of the building:
I also found some interesting info about the building’s signage on the AIGA (professional associate for design) website:
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:
Sources
http://www.ramsa.com/projects-search/office/feature.html
http://designarchives.aiga.org
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.
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!
Robots 2 is a brand new idea in the world of Vinylmation. The premise… take 12 figures designed as retro robot toys. Pull off their arms, heads, bodies and feet. Mix them up and reassemble them with mix-match parts. Then have collectors search for the parts they need to assemble the Robots they desire. Sure, frustrating for completionists. OK, maybe a little gimmicky. But I truly enjoy this twist and think it’s a fun addition to the hobby. It is at the same time an enjoyable game for kids and a fun challenge for collectors.
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
