Episode 063 Diver
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Ep. 063 Diver |
Character Star Wars Series 5 Review
Oh, what a find! It started as an ordinary day at Walt Disney World. I was just walking around Star Tours taking pictures of Vinylmation. But before I went home for the day, I decided to step inside Tattooine Traders. For months now, I check the Star Wars displays to see if Series 5 of the Disney Characters as Star Wars action figures show up. They were not supposed to hit shelves until Star Wars Weekends in May, but to my great excitement, they were there. Like all the previous series, it’s a five figure set, but for the first time, Clone Wars characters are featured. They retail for $9.95 a piece.
First up is the bounty hunter Cad Bane. I think Disney stepped up the detail a little in these characters. The figure poses well and stands on his own easily. That was not always the case with Goofy action figures from this line.
I like the two guns, I only wish the holsters could actually house the guns when not in hand.
The breathing tubes are well done and are a soft flexible plastic. His jacket and hat also fit well on the figure.
Another bounty hunter, Aura Sing, is portrayed her by Daisy Duck. A good choice for this under used Disney character. Lots of accessories here. Just like Cad Bane, Aura gets 2 hand guns, but she also gets the riffle. If I’m being picky, the right hand holds the gun well, but the left hand is a little awkward. And even though these figures seem to more poseable than past series, she can’t really hold the riffle correctly. It does however hang over her shoulder rather well.
The back features her ponytail and duck tail as well as her holsters.
She can only really hold the riffle with one hand, but not too bad. Again, I would like the holsters to actually be able to house the guns when not in hand.
Donald Duck takes on the role of Commander Cody. Just a little too much like the Donald playing the Stormtrooper for me, but still a cool figure. The helmet opens and closes in two pieces over the head just like his Stormtrooper counterpart.
The cool part is the little ‘hologram’ Stitch as Emperor Palpatine recreating the receiving of “Executive Order 66.” The icing on the cake is that the hologram can sit right on Cody’s turned up hand.
Wow! Perfect. Stitch makes the best General Grievous. The costume is perfect and the use of Stitch’s extra arms is great. But the best part are the four light sabers. They are all designed just a little bit different. That is a great touch given that General Grievous acquires his light sabers from different Jedi Knights.
The back of the cape has cool detail.
They even have some detail under the cape.
Not sure why you would want to, but you can pop out the four arms and replace them with two.
Jawas round out the 5 figure set. Huey, Dewy and Louie play the part here. They are a nice fit and costumes look great. I also love the variety of accessories.
There are a couple different robot parts. And each Jawa has his own facial expression.
There is also a hand gun accessory. Overall, Series 5 is a welcome addition with great detail, a ton of accessories, well posed figures and of course, the addition of Clone Wars.
What’s on the Vinylmation Horizon
So, what’s with this information drought Disney? No solid info has been posted on Vinylmation.com since before the Super Bowl. And with an ever shrinking confirmed release calendar, the Vinylmation collecting community is wondering what’s next? So I thought this is as good a time as any to go over what sets and figures we know about that should eventually get released. The first on my list was an intriguing collection that we saw at The Florida Project.
These 7″ battery operated night light Vinylmation had the community excited… but by the end of the weekend, Disney announced they would be indefinitely delayed. Next up, Disney Classics.
Touted as the Have a Laugh follow up, the release of this series seems to be on the near horizon as it does appear in the Sneak section of Vinylmation.com. The picture above is from a teaser slide at The Florida Project. It looks like a black and white set of classic Disney characters as they first appeared many decades ago. Then we have a follow up to the popular Disney Store Robots series.
We expect to see Robots Series 2 sometime in 2012. We were excited to uncover a couple pictures from a website called http://gdpinvestigation.blogspot.com/. They claim these are images of Robots from Series 2.
This first image features some concept art.
This second image seems like the packaging design. How about a blast from the past? The next two pieces of concept art were already posted online at Vinylnation by the time I started collecting about two years ago. They both seem to feature Disney Vacation Club exclusive figure designs.
This first one is purple with a gold key.
The second one is a wonderful little white picket fence design with Mickey Heads and a “Home Sweet Home” sign. We only have one DVC figure so far… will we ever see these produced? You can put these on the shelf next to Clear Series 2. What ever happened to those? Let’s dive into the movies for a bit. Last year, Disney released a teaser image for a Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides set.
This Casey Jones designed set is expected to hit shelves sometime in 2012. No word on if it will open window or mystery box. This next set has a more solid release window. It’s the Jr. 6 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We don’t have a release date, but Disney says to expect it in April. We recently found this image of the packaging on http://gdpinvestigation.blogspot.com/.
I am so excited for this detailed Jr set. The seven dwarfs are a given, but it will be interesting to finally get the reveal of the remaining 11 figures. Sticking with the movies…
Disney Character Star Wars is rumored to have a release around Star Wars Weekends at Hollywood Studios (May 18-June 12). We should also see the second Star Wars blind box series later this year as well.
October is the rumored release window. Park Starz was an exciting 2011 release, and Disney promised we will see variants in 2012.
No pictures yet, but Disney said they will sell variants individually, meaning no blind boxing for them. This is a fresh approach were you can just go ahead and purchase the variant outright if you want it. We also have one hint… “copper”. Most people are looking at you Mr. Lincoln. Sticking with the “breaking the mold” theme…
We know absolutely nothing about Popcorns except this teaser image. But we do know plenty about Haunted Mansion… except a release date.
Between pins and concept art, we have a solid idea of what this set will look like. But for two years, we have been hearing rumors of release… I think I speak for everyone when I say “Please Disney, make 2012 the year we finally see this one!” And don’t forget the watch.
This is due out around March/April. And last but not least…
Vinylmation.fr has been teasing us for about 4 months. We are expecting some exclusive vinyl sometime this year in honor of Disneyland Paris’ 20th anniversary. So as you can see, although it has been a slow news month, we as Vinylmation collectors have a lot to look forward to in 2012 and beyond. What have I left off this list? What are you most looking forward too?
New Star Wars Figures Coming Soon
by Nick LoCicero
I’ve been waiting so long for these! The Disney Parks Blog has announced a March release for the Disney Character Star Wars Series 5 set.
Series 5 will feature Huey, Dewy and Louie as Jawas and then, for the first time, a few Clone Wars figures made the cut. Donald Duck as Commander Cody, Daisy as Aurra Sing, Goofy and Cad Bane and Stitch as General Grievous.
New Disney Character Star Wars Figures Unveiled
Looks like I missed a big development off the pin board at the last WDW Trade Night…
Vinylnation posted the above picture of some open window Vinylmation magnets that are on the release slate for later this year. This display shows us 3 we knew about and 3 we did not from the upcoming Disney Characters as Star Wars set. No real surprise in the use of characters. They mimic what we usually see in other merchandise and at the park.
Stitch takes the role as Yoda. Much suited for this role he is. I will say I was a little underwhelmed with the Yoda out of Star Wars 1, so I hope this vinyl pulls it off. By the look of this magnet, I do like the direction the artist took.
Pete as Boba Fett didn’t come along until Series 4 of the action figures, but it looks like we will not have to wait long to get him in Vinylmation form. Another Pete is always welcome in Vinylmation. The facial features look great, and we hope the costume design stands up to the magnificent Star Wars 1 figure.
The one surprise is actually Goofy. Not in using Goofy as Darth Vader, but I suspected the artist would take a more Characters at the Parks approach. Meaning, I thought we would see Goofy in his Mickey boxers as he appears during Star Wars Weekends…
Instead they seemed to go straight forward Vader. I honestly would have rather had the comical version above. Probably because it would mean more for me with that connection to the Star Wars Weekends I so enjoy attending. However, the actual designs used do not disappoint and I anticipate the release of this set above all others on the horizon. We hope to see the vinyls around Star Wars Weekends in May.
Evilos Presents Boba Fett with Card
We saw Evilos tweet some pictures of his latest creation so we asked him about the project and his love of Star Wars.
“A lot of my work gravitates towards many things I enjoyed as a kid, Star Wars being one of them. Mickey in Carbonite was one of my early customs made before Star Wars Series One was even released by Disney. When I was a kid, I played with Star Wars figures all the time. Like most kids from my generation our youth revolved around toys, circa 1980’s. So being a Star Wars collector I’ve had a few of these card backs from Comic Con and thought to myself hey why not repackage these vinylmation into a vintage style looking toy. The challenge for me was finding custom made bubbles and cutting out a seamless spots for the ears to pop out of, so not to damage the overall look of the vinylmation. My early carded Star Wars customs, I needed to cut the ears down so they would fit. This drew most of the criticism from that series so I’m happy I was able to figure out how to keep the ears and still make it look like these were produced many years ago.
I most likely will be producing more of these and have some for trade. I would urge collectors who can make it to come out to the trading night at Disneyland Feb.16th to see these in person and maybe trade up for one. I have no real plans to sell these but I do have the Boba Fett up for auction at the moment, so If you want something unique I would ask fans to check it out:
Thank you. Evilos”
Also check out other similar work by Evilos
Releases and Prices Confirmed/Announced
May 4th at D-Streets will be the Nightmare Before Christmas 9/3/Jr set. It is LE 2000 with a $74.95 retail price tag.
Also on May 4th on Vinylmation Facebook Store beginning at Noon EST the Brave set will be available for $39.00.
May 11th Urban 9 is a confirmed D-Street release. The price, $9.95. The combo topper will also be out.
On May 18th Disney Character Star Wars gets released at Darth’s Maul, the merchandise tent at Star Wars Weekend in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It looks like a Disneyland release will wait until later.
Also on May 18th at both D-Streets the Brave set will be released.
As we assumed, May 25th will be the release of the Phineas and Ferb figures at both D-Streets and the Disney Store.
May 28th will see the release of the Brave set at Disney Stores. The 25th anniversary light up set will also be released this day at Disney Store. We also have word about the Sorcerer Mickey and base purchase with purchase. Here is the exact wording from Disney:
“Get a free 3-inch Sorcerer Mickey Light Up Vinylmation figure with the purchase of a full tray of the 3-inch 25th Anniversary Vinylmation Series. While supplies last. Limit two (2) trays with free Sorcerer Mickey Light Up per Guest.”
Nice to see that giveaway.
So Tasty is June 4th at Disney Stores for $11.95.
And Villains 3 gets a release date! It will be June 18th at Disney Stores for $9.95.
Star Wars 1 Photoshoot
May the 4th be with you! Disney’s Star Wars Weekends is almost upon us once again and the figures from Star Wars series 1 didn’t want to miss out on the action. So we all packed into the Millennium Falcon (my Honda) and traveled at light speed (about 70 shhh) and descended on the planet known as Walt Disney World. We used the force to get through the Stormtroopers at the front gate (my annual pass) and made our way over to Tatooine (Traders).
C3P0 and R2 D2 explore the land
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Chewy hangs out in the forest
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Han looks up to no good
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Boba Fett is keeping his eye on you
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Princess Leia hops aboard a star speeder
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Luke trains for battle
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Obi Wan
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Stormtroopers lined up for battle
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Darth Vader guards the store
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Yoda just hanging out in the woods
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Lando’s up in the clouds
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Ghost Obi Wan keeps watch over the guests in the queue
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The battle begins
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Luke and Han sneaking around
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C3P0
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R2D2
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Those Stormtroopers are about to get squished
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Stormtrooper
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Stormtroopers
Episode 071 Astro Orbiter
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Ep. 071 Astro Orbiter This week we discuss the new Nightmare Before Christmas Set and its place in Vinylmation. We also bring up news about Disney Character Star Wars, Disneyland figures, DCLs and a ton of new, confirmed and changed release dates. We also get a voicemail in Mystery Mail Bag concerning the upcoming trading night. And yes, we sneak in some Avengers talk as well. |
A Long Time Ago…
If you’ve heard either of the last two podcasts, MC will be teching an Orlando Fringe show called “A Long Time Ago, The Eighties Strike Back”. The first show starts tomorrow, May 17th, and we have shows at various times throughout Fringe which ends on Sunday May 27th. Check out the show, it’s really funny.
The link to the official Orlando Fringe site (where you can buy tickets): ALTA
Official Website: 80strikeback.com
