Cutesters Snow Day
Caley Hicks
Expected Release Date: 01/17/14
Expected Price: $12.95
The next installment of Cutesters will be called Snow Day and was designed by Caley Hicks. It is an 8 figure set featuring animals in a snowy theme. We know of: Cat, Reindeer, Seal, Penguin, Bear, Narwhal.
We dug back in our collections and decided it was time to take the Maria Clapsis designed Cutesters Too around Walt Disney World for some photos.
It is time to unveil our Cutesters Series 1 Photoshoot taken around Walt Disney World. Enjoy!
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.
Do you trust your Vinylmation with your most important data? Disney sure hopes so. The nifty tech gadget we saw in Japan a few months back has made it stateside. On March 2, Disney will release 8GB flash drives designed as Vinylmation. At $64.95, the price seems a little steep for an 8GB USB drive. A quick search on Best Buy’s website shows that most 8GB drives can be had for $35 or less. There are more expensive ones, but they seem to come with special encryption and other data back up or security software that I doubt this one comes with. So Disney is banking on the fact that you will pay for the character. They have chosen three designs for this release.
Oopsy was the design released in Japan. He is originally a Thomas Scott figure from Urban 1. The second USB takes a design from Cutesters 1.
Lisa Badeen designed the entire Cutesters 1 series, and Disney seems to like to use this Owl design on various other Vinylmation products such as a women’s bag that is available in the stores. The third design is from the Cast Member Exclusives collection.
This retro Mickey design was the second first CM exclusive to be released. So there is really something for everyone here to choose from, but will the USB drives be a hit? At the $65 price point, will you pick one up? If so, to use or display? And if you have used one from Japan, how are they? I’m assuming they are flat on the back of the figure so they fit easily into a laptop or back of a tower?
The Disney Pins site has announced some new Vinylmation 3D pin sets that feature designs from previously released Vinylmation sets. All four of these pin sets will be released on April 4th at WDW and DLR. No edition sizes has been announced.
