ZoMG: Furry Friends Photoshoot

WDWNT on January 18, 2012

by Zoe

When I got home last night, I took my Furry Friends out of their carriers and let them explore their new home.

First I found Trusty was going through my bags and found my Lady and The Tramp lithographs that I got at the Disney Store for pre-ordering Lady and The Tramp! He decided this was his favorite, obviously since he is in the picture!

Then I found Patch drinking some of Belle’s water! (Belle is my puppy!)

I then went into my room and saw that Max had found his good friend Ariel. She was so excited to see him!

Oliver made his way into my Vinylmation collection and found his friend Dodger!

I looked all over the house for Marie and I couldn’t find her anywhere. I thought to myself, where would a fabulous feline like Marie want to go? I went straight into my room and opened up my jewelry box and found Marie playing with my jewelry! She’s a girly girl, she can’t help it! I think Marie found her favorite place in the house!

Furry Friends; Furious Fans

WDWNT on January 18, 2012

The release of Furry Friends has caused a ton of commotion across the web concerning the production value of this Disney Store release. From poor paint jobs, to stains to the seeding of cases, it seems like the issues were not localized to the Costa Mesa store. At this point it we recommend collectors hold off on purchases until this matter is resolved. Here is a compilation of website comments, Emails, Tweets, Facebook posts, pictures and Disney Store responses. Please feel free to add your experiences.

Annemarie brought this Flickr album by “pokermanuel” to our attention. It shows close up shots of a Patch figure purchased by a collector:

Patch arm
Patch head
Patch spot
Patch eye
Patch dent

Sophie took these screenshots directly from the DisneyStore.com website that is advertising the product for sale online. They show obvious paint issues. Since these are official Disney photos, they back up the photos we are seeing by collectors:

Screen shot from DisneyStore.com
Screen shot from DisneyStore.com
Screen shot from DisneyStore.com

Here are some more comments about quality from our Facebook page:
JoAnn – They look terrible. Some are a little better than others, but not by much. They all have smudges, paint blobs, spots where the paint is thin, and some look just plain dirty like they have been through a trading box a million times! Very disappointed

Lysette Marie Wittmann (Tucson, AZ) – We got our case and overall not too happy. Ranging from bent wings on one of our Pegasus to a dent in a few of the vinyls. I woulda preferred a recall and to wait a few weeks then open what we did. I hope Disney does something about this.

Here is a picture from LP1983 on the Vinylmation Kingdom forums of his poor Pegasus with scratches and broken wings:

We found one account of a purchase here in Orlando at the Florida Mall by Thimble on the Vinylnation forums. It was a mixed review:
At first I purchased 2, opened them right there in the store. First one I got was patch..he’s cute but on the back of his head, there was like a small bump/glob that had obviously been painted over, with white paint that was brighter than the rest of the head (almost looked like liquid-paper-white) And his ears had rough edges. Second one I pulled was the pegasus. He had perfectly attached, straight wings so I was happy with that. There’s what looks like half a finger print on the back of his head, and the ears are cloudy. THEN I decided to get ONE more and pulled a Marie The Marie was perfect, no spots or anything. Except her arms won’t move. So all in all I was happy with my trip

This email is from AK who purchased his Furry Friends in NY:
Just got back from my local Disney Store. I purchased 6 Furry Friends blind boxes. Packaging is great but the paint job on these Vinyls is HORRENDOUS. Worse than Cutesters Like You. One gentle touch on Marie’s paw and white paint chipped off. Tramp looks awful — as if only a preliminary paint job had been done and it was only 3/4 finished. Lines and paint quality on all the others I got were sub-par. When I was at the store, a cast member said a little kid bought a blind box and got the winged Pegasus but the wings were broken. The very accessory that made that piece unique was defective! I was so excited about Animation 2 and Light It Up. I hope this is not a sign of things to come.


The issues are not only about the quality, but also with the seeding of figures in the sealed cases. Annemarie sent us a photo of the side of her Furry Friends case. All previous mystery series have had this same guarantee printed onto the side of the case:

But unfortunately this seeding was not true in many cases with Furry Friends. Caz sent us this email from the UK:
We didn’t have 2 sets in our case. It had 4 Max, 3 Pluto, and 3 Oliver. We saw other people had missing ones so it wasn’t a one off.

And Penguin left this comment on our website:
I purchased a new tray of Furry Friends from the Bluewater Disney Store (UK), inside there was a full set of 12 including the chaser (which is the main reason why I buy a tray) but instead of another set of 11 I got a set of 9, with an extra Pluto, Meeko and Chaser. Also what was strange is one of my figures had no foil and the box was open (Not ripped open) however it was a brand new tray.

Although the issues were discovered in various locations across the US and UK, not all experiences were negative:
David Lessor (Montgomeryville Mall in Pennsylvanya) on Facebook – I bought a case this morning and they all look good, no problems

Nick Branch wrote an article about the UK release and had this take – We managed to get all 12 vinyls and the paint jobs are amazing in person. Almost looking flocked and giving a furry appearance.

Lisa from NJ commented on our site – No complaints. They look fine to me except for being able to see through the collar paint job on ones like Oliver.

And Disney North commented – Picked up 3 blokes: Tramp, Meeko and Percy. Percy was the only one with “serious” quality issues: his ear had some errant paint. All else were good. I’m happy with my pulls

Of course, there has been a fury of Tweets about Furry Friends:

The Disney Store was quick to respond:

As of this post, we do not know the planned solution, but Disney accepting the complaints via the email address personal.shoppers@disneystore.com.

Matt from Vinylmation Kingdom had this to say on his own forum:
Disney is trying to apologize and contacting ppl who send them tweets about the crappy ones. Not good enough. Somebody at Disney has to have the stones when they see this crappy production to say “No, we can’t sell these.”

The Disney Store has been contacted by DV and we are awaiting an official response.

For more on Furry Friends, please listen to our Podcast Ep. 054 Blue Monorail where Annemarie gives a hands on review, read Annemarie’s review and check out Nick Branch’s article and pics from the UK release.

ZoMG: Furry Friends Artist Signing

WDWNT on January 18, 2012

Saturday was the release and artist signing for Furry Friends Vinylmation at the Disney Store in South Coast Plaza Mall! I had such a great time at the event. I was working so I wasn’t able to buy any figures until I got off work BUT don’t worry my Grandma came with me yesterday to the event (she loves the Vinylmation community, they all call her grandma haha) and she surprised me and bought a couple figures and got them signed for me! She got, 2 Trustys and Patch, then went into the line and traded a Trusty for a Max! (Yay go grandma!) And by the way, that was her first ever trade haha!

Now let’s get to the event! I got to work at 7:45 AM and there were about 40 people in line! I saw so many familiar faces as I made my way inside! We had a large fixture set up in the front of the store with trays and trays of Furry Friends! We ended up opening the store an hour early around 9:00 AM to let everyone buy their trays to get in line for the signing!

The first guests making their way into the store to purchase Furry Friends!

There was a steady flow of people coming into the store purchasing Vinylmation to get signed. Guests were also purchasing Villains 2 to get signed as well! I was very happy to see guests who knew nothing about Vinylmation asking questions, getting into it and actually purchasing their first Vinylmation! I love that having the Vinylmation Events in the mall makes more people come into the store and get excited about it!

While everyone was waiting, the Home Base Disney Store team brought our store a present! My manager told Michelle (my Vinylmation loving co-worker) and I that we would get the honors of using our brand new 24 Mystery Trading Box!! And we would get to keep it in our store! Yay! I was SO excited first of all to see the trading box, and also to be able to trade with others! I am usually on the other side of the trading box so I was way too excited about this.

Ashley, Michelle and I waiting for everyone to come trade with us!

Finally the artists arrived and everyone got their figures ready to go! The artists on hand at the event were, Jim Valeri, Gerald Mendez, Enrique Pita, Quincy Sutton, and Matt Chittavanichprapa. Quincy and Matt are new to the Vinylmation world and I was very excited to meet them!

Jim and Enrique signing for fans!

The event went awesome! Each artist was constantly busy chatting with fans, taking pictures, talking about the series, signing figures, and sketching!

My Grandma and I getting Patch signed by Gerald Mendez!

One of the artists in particular, Matt Chittavanichprapa had a great idea. He had only designed one figure for the series, his FIRST EVER VINYLMATION Marie! In my opinion, Marie is definitely my favorite from this set. She looks absolutely fabulous! Since he only had one figure to sign, he brought out his sketchpad and starting sketching pictures for fans of Marie! It’s funny because I was worried he would have a short line since he only had one figure but he had the longest line that even went past the 1:30 end time of the event!

Matt sketching a picture of Marie for a fan!

Luckily I got off work at 1:00 so I was able to go into the store and buy 2 blind boxes to get them signed. I got Marie and Oliver! I was so excited because Marie was the one I wanted the most! I went to Matt’s line first so I could get Marie signed and a sketch!

Matt is great! While he was sketching a picture for me I asked him a lot of questions about designing his first ever Vinylmation! He said he was thrilled how the figure turned out and he was ecstatic they were able to make Marie’s bow out of ribbon! He joked and said that when he presented the idea for Marie they told him “we will see what we can do” and he assumed that meant “no” but to his surprise they were able to pull it off and it turned out fantastic!

I also asked him how each artist is assigned which figure to do. If they come up with the character themselves or how that whole process works. He told me that usually there is a team who comes up with the vision for the set, and then they assign each artist a character and then see what they come up with. I asked him if he was excited when he got assigned Marie. He laughed and told me that he didn’t go to work the day that the figures were assigned, and came back the next day and was told he got Marie. Now getting the girliest figure in the Furry Friends set wasn’t going to stop him from making it the BEST Marie Vinylmation. He told me that he looked at the other Marie Vinylmation and wanted to make sure it looked nothing like the others, which is why he opted for the extra large pink bow and I think he nailed it!! He was such a sweet guy and talked to me for a good 20 minutes, I’m really looking forward to seeing more from him in the future! Oh and you better believe I begged him to suggest a Princess set.. We will see what happens! (haha)

The picture that Matt sketched for me!

Overall, I think the event was a huge success! Over 200 people showed up, and the artists really had a great time. I was sad to read when I got home that many people were having problems with their set, such as scuff marks, fingerprints, and bad paint jobs. I checked out my figures again and they all seem just fine. Didn’t notice any mess-ups, or dirty spots but maybe some people got a bad batch.

I had a great time at the event, seeing all my Vinylmation friends and familiar faces! I hope everyone enjoyed themselves.

Furry Friends released in England

WDWNT on January 18, 2012

Nick from England sent in these pictures and story from earlier today.

We’ve just been to the London Oxford St Flagship store and bought the last case of Furry Friends, a whole 2 days earlier then the worldwide release. We managed to get all 13 vinyls and the paint jobs are amazing in person. Almost looking flocked and giving a furry appearance. Pegasus is my favourite.

There were none left when we left the store, and another loose case had sold in just under 2 hours of being put out!


-Nick Branch, England.

Annemarie’s Furry Friends Review

WDWNT on January 18, 2012

I feel compelled to preface this review with two things. 1) It’s going to be pretty harsh. 2) I hold none of the artists/designers culpable for my disappointment.

The event was good, there weren’t as many people there as I expected, having never been to a Disney Store Vinylmation event. The only other event I’ve been to was the Thomas Scott Alice signing at D-Street in Disneyland, and it seemed more crowded. Not complaining about this at all, it was pretty well organized and everyone was extremely friendly and knowledgeable, and if they didn’t know something they would go find out and report back, which I thought was nice. I got to meet Zoe, so it was nice to finally meet her! And all the artists were great, it was really nice to meet them all and they gave everyone ample time to chat (perhaps TOO ample in some cases) but everyone seemed pretty happy with that aspect.

What we (and I say we because I chatted with several other collectors who felt the same way) were upset about, as I’m sure anyone reading this article has been hearing throughout the day, was the production quality of Furry Friends. It is atrocious. Honestly, I hate to say it, but they felt more like Happy Meal toys than Vinylmation. The printing was sloppy, the colors were bleeding, and they were just plain filthy. Some look actually gross.

Marie looks like she threw up on herself. Poor Marie!

Oliver is my favorite (look at those eyes!) but not much care went into his printing process. You can actually see the collar through the tag.

What’s the point of the clear ears if they look like this? Just plain sloppy!

Look at Max’s feet! No comment.

You can’t see it very well in this photo (sorry!) , but there is a FINGERPRINT on Pegasus’s tail.

The wings come right off. Not secured in any real way, also very flimsy. You can see the finish is different on Pegasus’ feet than on the rest of his body, which I can’t say anything other than it just looks unfinished. Those smudges/ scratches came right out of the package!

Even the chaser looks terrible. The paint is poorly printed, and the edges aren’t smooth at all. I fear the value of this chaser will be diminished by the poor quality.

Not all was bad, though. The event was fun and the artists were happy to be there. With Jim Valeri:
Everyone was happy to sign my packaging:

And let’s not forget the donation to ASPCA, which is a silver lining in all this, I suppose.

All in all, you all already know how I felt about Furry Friends (I ended up caving and getting a case, since I’ll be painting over most of mine anyway… also the case was purchased before I saw the quality. No exchanges or refunds!). The designs are great, but I’m not very satisfied with the quality control. I sincerely hope someone over there sees this and figures out the problem and makes sure this doesn’t happen again. On a positive note, the design of the packaging is ADORABLE. Each box looks like a little carrying case you’d take a pet home in!

Also, no more than thirty seconds had I been home, and Mulder immediately claimed my case as his own. So Furry Friends is clearly adored by our own furry friends. 🙂

Did anyone else go out to the event? Please share your thoughts and photos, if possible. I’m also curious to hear from others around the country to see if maybe this store just got a bad batch. Hopefully others will be more more lucky.

-Annemarie

First Releases of the New Year

WDWNT on January 18, 2012

Ah, it’s a brand new year in Vinylmation. Time to get a fresh start. 2011 saw many changes in our hobby and 2012 will hold many surprises I’m sure. So as we enter our first release day of 2012 I ask, do you collect differently now, than when you purchased your first blind box? I know I do. I began by collecting only a few from each of the Urban and Park sets. Then I branched out into Have a Laugh. Then MC came along and before I knew it I was splitting cases and filling in my sets. I became a completest. Even buying sets I didn’t fully like, but they came out, so I grabbed them. That started to change around Occasions, Celebrations and Sea Creatures for me. With the flood of different products hitting the market, I have made a resolution to be more picky about what I buy. It starts with the 9 inchers. There are many I would have bought 6 months ago that will not see my shelves. I’ve noticed a lot of collectors change their habits as 2011 came to a close. MC would not longer jump at a case with me. I’ve seen many people begin to sell off some of their collection. Our friend Matt over at Vinylmation Kingdom gave himself a $1000 budget for 2012! Good luck with that one buddy. And I’ve also seen some collectors swing the other way. I’ve seen them catch the fever over the course of 2011 and become completionists. I also think Disney has recently shown their hand and many collectors are now just going to sit back and take a chance that the figures they want go deeply discounted online.


Where are you as a collector as the 2012 release schedule begins in earnest? 


Technically the release week began yesterday at the Wide World of Sports in Orlando, FL with the two 3″ WDW Marathon/Half Marathon vinyls and the 9″ Goofy’s Challenge. 

Goofy 9″ for sale at Disney’s WWOS
Today, some great looking Park 7 LEs hit the D-Streets:
Horse and Trolley. LE 2500. $26.95

Read all about the history of River Country

Also on the schedule for today at D-Streets are four 9″ Urban 8 figures.
Boxer, Fish Bites, Sabertooth and 50’s Girl. Check them out in full detail here.

Then this weekend is the release of the much anticipated Furry Friends. (Saturday at the Costa Mesa, CA Disney Store and Monday at all Disney Stores). This blind box set retails for $10.95.
For more info, check out Furry Friends Explained

Annemarie: Furry Friends… Good but not Purrrfect

WDWNT on December 28, 2011

by Annemarie Brown

Update: 12/28/11 Chaser revealed, check out Annemarie’s opinion at the bottom

Yesterday we got our first look at the (almost) complete set of Furry Friends. My initial reaction was “totally cute!” but then I thought about it for a minute and I find myself oddly disappointed with this set. Also, no Figaro? Huh?!

Individually, the figures are great looking, and well designed. But I’m not crazy about their choice of characters. I thought (especially with the ASPCA pet-friendly donations) this would be a cat and dog set. But there are only TWO cats, one of which is Marie AGAIN. I was perfectly fine with this Marie when I saw her last week; she’s cute and I love her fabric bow accessory.

But unless the chaser is a cat, I feel completely cheated out of some possible great cat characters. I love dogs, but there are seven! Plus a raccoon and a Pegasus, which are again, both cute characters but I don’t like them in this set.

I love Pluto, Tramp, Max, and Percy for the dogs. The expressions are great on them all and I love how their faces are shifted a bit to give them a cocked-to-the-side look. Paired with the new “paw” mold it makes them that much more adorable. But again, using this mold on any non-cat or dog character seems like a waste to me.

To sum up: No Figaro (yet). Too many pups. Plus the odd insertion of Meeko and Pegasus makes this set a tiny bit of a letdown to me *as a set.* (I feel I must stress this because individually they all look great.) Hoping for a Figaro chaser, and if not him, at least one more cat for the set.

Update: 12/28/11 Cheshire Cat chaser revealed
Still disappointed. “But Annie, it’s a CAT, right? You wanted more cats!” Yes, but we already have a Cheshire Cat, and are expecting two more. I do like that they tried to stylize this guy a bit, and again, he looks great on the figure itself. I just have to admit, I was looking for more cats and better choices. There are plenty to choose from.

I won’t be purchasing this entire set (even though I was planning to.) I’ll blind box a few for sure, though. I’m most sad about Figaro. His omission has cost one case of Furry Friends, at least for me. (Although I’m sure you’ll soon see a custom Figaro, which I’ll definitely make for myself!)

For a look at the entire set, please visit our Furry Friends Explained page.

Furry Friends Vinylmation Explained

WDWNT on December 28, 2011

Furry Friends
Release Date: January 9, 2012
Where: Disney Stores
Price: $10.95
Details: $1 from each purchase goes to the ASPC. Click here for January 7th artist signing and early release in CA info.

Update: 1/6/12 According to Vinylmation.com, Furry Friends will hit WDW and DLR in February.

Update: 12/29/11 Higher quality pics added below. Also, with the release of the turnaround pics, we don’t see any actual tails. A bit surprising even though the hook for this set is certainly the paws. But it is nice to see that Pegasus actually has wings!



Update: 12/28/11 Chaser revealed on vinylmation vault page.

Update: 12/27/11 Pictures of the 11 figures have been released by the Disney Store Blog. Take a look below. Nick: “I think I have been turned around on my feelings about this set. The character selection, not just dogs and cats, is wonderful. The addition of Meeko and the Pegasus from Fantasia is so welcomed in my book. I also like the artwork of the faces. Percy the Pug looks spoiled and wrinkly. Patch looks happy and playful. With so many choices out there, it is odd to have 2 from Pocahontas and 2 from Oliver and Company.”

They also released a picture of the packaging which I think is extraordinary!

This is why I have so much stuff piled around my house! I don’t even want to toss out the packaging from the stuff I buy at Disney! Very innovative and eye catching. It almost doesn’t look like Vinylmation would be inside.

Remember the artist signing and early release on Saturday, January 7 at the Costa Mesa, CA Disney Store from 10:30am-1:30pm.

After a tease a few weeks ago, we finally see whole figures of the Furry Friends. Unlike MC predicted, they have normal bodies and feet, only their arms are different from the normal Vinylmation.
It also looks like AnneMarie has been perfect in her predictions so far. Check them out at Vinylmation Speculation: Furry Friends.
Check out Marie’s bow. I wonder what other cool accessories they will add for this set!?
Percy
Pocahontas
Artist: Quincy Sutton
I think he captured Percy’s pug face masterfully. Am it biased? Maybe a little. But the slanted face, wrinkles, nose mouth and animated eyes are all done very close to the original.

Side view shows Percy’s collar.
Meeko
Pocahontas
Artist: Jim Valeri
Because Meeko’s head is anglelar, its hard to capture on the round Mickey head, but it doesn’t have the sharp defined characteristics the animated character has. The face looks too dog like.
Tramp
Lady and the Tramp
Artist: Jim Valeri
The face seem a little off to me. Tramp is a skinny dog and that is hard to capture.
Patch
101 Dalmatians
Artist: Gerald Mendez
I really enjoy the playful look on his face and the placement of the mouth and tongue is perfect.
Peter Pegasus
Fantasia
Artist: Quincy Sutton

A wonderful whimsical look painted onto Peter’s face.

These wings make up for no tails.
Francis
Oliver and Company
Artist: Oskar Mendez

A well drawn face with wrinkles and a nice expression.
Max
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Artist: Oskar Mendez

Good job with the hair in the eyes and the huge black nose. The tongue could have used more slobber!

Trusty
Lady and the Tramp (1955)
Voiced by: Bill Baucom
Artist: Jim Valeri
With no Tramp or Lady, this is an interesting but great choice for this series. He has the perfect droopy face and gold diamond dog tag.
Oliver
Oliver and Company (1988)
Voiced by: Joey Lawrence
Artist: Gerald Mendez
This lovable cat is a must for this set. The artist captured the sad look and fur color and even gave him muddy, dirty feet.
Marie
Aristocats (1970)
Voiced by: Liz English
Artist: Matthew Chittavanichprapa

In yet another Vinylmation appearance, Marie has an extra special accessory: a cloth bow. But unlike her Animation 1 figure, this one’s top head bow is painted on.
Pluto
First appeared: The Picnic (1930)
Artist: Enrique Pita

This is one of the first two figures we saw from the series. I really like how he works on the figures. His big eyes and tongue give him a playful appearance.

The Chaser

The chaser was revealed on the Disney Vault site. Once again, before the release. I wonder why Disney keeps doing this?

(Click on image to reveal chaser)

Furry Friends Artist Signing

WDWNT on December 23, 2011


If you want to get your furry friends early, or just want to meet the artists responsible for the series, there will be a chance. On January 7th, from 10:30 – 1:30, the South Coast Plaza (Costa Mesa, CA) Disney Store will host an early-release event with artist signings. On hand will be Jim Valeri, Gerald Mendez, Enrique Pita, Quincy Sutton, Enrique Pita and Matthew Chittavanichprapa, all of whom were part of the artists who created the latest Disney Store vinylmation set: Furry Friends. The only artist not able to make it is Oskar Mendez.

So if you’re a fan of Vinylmation, and live near Costa Mesa, drop by and let the artists know how big a fan you are! (They like to hear that kinda thing).