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Ep. 114 Pink Rock Star This week we have a detailed talk about the Urban Redux Super Mystery Chasers. We also discuss the Star Wars 3 and Wild West reveals and the Cutesters en Vogue and Mickey Through the Years releases. Of course we have a full release and events calendar as well. |
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Ep. 115 Popcorn This week interview Mark Hoffmann, the winner of Custom VinylMadness 2013. We preview the Vinylmation in the Tiki Room 50th event catalog. And we talk some Animation, en Vogue and much more. We also have a full release and events calendar. |
A source of Vinylmation Kingdom provided release dates for some upcoming series. None of these dates are confirmed by Disney at this time, but they give us a peak at windows to anticipate these sets. A few are once we know about, a few are ones we have never heard of.
3/8 – Oz Series – This series of 3″/Jr combos will celebrate the upcoming Disney Movie “Oz: The Great and Powerful.” March 8 is also the release date of the movie.
3/24 – Mickey’s Wild West Series – No idea about this one. I’d assume Mickey and Pals in western garb and probably not the 1928 comedy short staring Mickey Rooney.There is a 1934 Disney Short called “Two Gun Mickey.”
There is also a show at the Disneyland Paris Disney Village called “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.”
“An encounter with Buffalo Bill, Sitting Bull, Annie Oakley and the Rough Riders brings the audience back to the Old West. Upon arrival, guests are greeted by Mickey in the festive atmosphere of Colonel Cody’s Saloon alongside Goofy Sheriff and the musicians. Let the Show begin!”
3/29 – Cutesters: En Vogue Series – This will be the first series on the new Minnie shaped platform. Features a high fashion look.
4/5 – Urban Redux 1 Series – The reboot of the Urban series will feature different set sizes than we are used to.
4/12 – 9″ Chernobog and Animation 3 Series – The great part about the 9″ Chernobog announcement is that we have now seen a few 9 inch figures with accessories. So if this doesn’t have wings, big disappointment. He could be a part of the Fantasia series. Animation 3 is solid so far from what we had seen at Mickey’s Circus.
4/22 – Masks Series – I can’t even begin to guess.
4/26 – Monsters University Series – A mystery box set featuring characters from the upcoming Disney Pixar film.
Disney showed off some of the new Cutesters 5 set today. We knew about the black dress one, but look at all the other options. Some weddings, some different colored dresses. This just brings up lots of questions. We know Caley Hicks was heavily involved with these from Mickey’s Circus. It also looks like Thomas Scott is a major contributor. We will also see work from Martha Widener, who is new to Vinylmation. After consideration, I remembered that at Mickey’s Circus they said this would be an eight figure set. I think these three sets below are variants, leaving 8 basic designs. This means one of the below is the chaser. We believe it is the flowers.
Caley Hicks designed this purse with a cute dog inside. The Light pink appears to be the regular version with a clear pink variant.
Then out of these two Thomas Scott figures, the yellow seems to be the regular with a blue variant.
This series will be released at both D-Streets and Online on March 29th. Each figure will be blind boxed in a tray of 16 and will sell for $12.95 each.
So far I only see I only see one really good use of the bow as not a bow (Audrey). – M.C.
I love the art style on these. They are not at all what I expected after seeing the concept art at Mickey’s Circus, but I can still appreciate the designs. It is a very old school, fashionable art style that will sure ring a bell with a certain demographic (Zoe). The animals look to be right out of a mid 1900’s Disney cartoon. Its a great use of the Cutesters line and a nice variation on the more cutesy cartoon stylize of the first few series. I think the bow is used perfectly. It only seems forced on the flowers. -Nick
It will be interesting to see where these designs go. Do we not get a “chaser” with this set? What do you think?
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Ep. 107 XP-37 Space Cruiser This week we discuss Cutesters en Vogue, Oz, Fantasia and more. We also have a discussion about trading at the parks and welcome two solutions. We talk to Bryan Forsberg who has opened a dialogue with Disney and has started a petition. We of course have the latest release dates as well. |
According to Vinylmation Kingdom, the Cutesters en Vogue series will release in Disneyland Paris about a month before the March 29 US release date. They may also show up on the Disney Store UK online site. VK had this photo on their website:
The photo shows the side of the tray which confirms our assumption that the flower bouquet is in fact the chaser. See the whole lineup with variants here.
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.
