Chinese Zodiac Vinylmation Explained

WDWNT on March 31, 2012

Update: 01/13/12 We learned today this set will release in the states on Friday, January 20th at the D-Streets. This give hope the Japan Zodiac series with Disney characters maybe as well.


Update: Pictures of the actual figures were put out on display on Sunday at The Florida Project

Release Date: January 2012
Artist: Unknown
Location: Hong Kong Disney Exclusive
Assumed to be open window

Dragon
1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012
Snake
1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013
Horse
1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002
Ram
1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003
Monkey
1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004
Rooster
1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005
Dog
1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006
Pig
1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007
Rat
1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008
Ox
1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009
Tiger
1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010
Rabbit
1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011

D-Tour Vinylmation Explained

WDWNT on January 18, 2012

D-Tour
Release Date: January 20th, 2012 (first series)
Price: $12.95
Details: Open Window

Update: 4/7/12 The “Paper Cut” figure was released on the 6th at D-Streets. The figure was the one were used to know as “Flowers and Vines”.

Update: 1/13/12 D-Tour will be released at D-Streets on Friday, January 20th, 2012. We also now have a look at the rest of the first release of this series. There will be a total of 6 open window figures in the first set.

The Urban series gives much artistic license to the artists, but D-Tour is art all upon itself. This is a new direction for Vinylmation. Taken from tee-shirt designs with different versions of Mickeys, D-Tour looks like an artistic gem of a series. This set will revolved around different designs of Mickey. It will also be different in that they will keep track of inventory and order more hot sellers and replace slow selling designs with brand new designs. They will be in D-Streets in February of 2012 and will retail for $12.95.

 Headphones Mickey

A great looking design that uses the headphones accessory similar to what we expect to see on 80’s Dale in the Disney Store Tunes set. I like the muted tone in the colors of this vinyl.
Mean Mickey

A face that looks like it took some inspiration from Runaway Brain Mickey. He has skulls on his shirt and scary shoes. It’s always fun to see Mickey outside his normal self.
Bright Mickey

Lots of colors here. A heart in the ear. Almost a sunshine look to his shirt. And you can almost see a face in the body as well. It seems very Florida, almost Key West in personality to me.
King Mickey

A great drawing of an art-filled Mickey. My favorite out of the original 6 released. 
Paper Cut
“Flowers and Vines”
Released: 4/6/12

This one is just loaded with Mickey heads. I like the colors and the pattern is very creative.
Color Mickey

Almost Muppet like with its flat, separated colors. Compared to the others in this series, it is plain and not my personal taste, but it does have a certain colorful character to it.
Mickey Hearts

A cool sketchy coloring pattern. Hearts in the ears and body. I like the style of this one, it reminds me of how I color stuff in but more artistic.

Here is some of the artwork these are modeled after:

Episode 038 Chinese Writings

WDWNT on September 19, 2011

Ep. 038 Chinese Writings
A week after The Florida Project, we break down the announcments in more detail. We give our opinions of our favorites and least favorites of what’s to come, what we enjoyed about the event and what we would like to see next year. We also cover all the latest news including Darkwing Duck’s release and the upcoming release and events calendar. Oh, and the Mystery Mail Bag is opened up and your questions and comments are read.

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Darkwing Release at WDW and DLR

WDWNT on September 17, 2011

The Disney Afternoon Vinylmation releases have been very eventful. From lines being moved, to online order screw ups to near altercations… it is clear that a generation of Disney collectors love their childhood cartoons. Today, Darkwing Duck released at WDW and DLR.

We arrived at D-Street Orlando 4am and where about 10th in line. People were lined up in the new designated spot which is next to the handicapped spaces in the parking lot in front of AMC theater. The line extends down the curb of the parking lot. This was the best release line to date. By now, everyone has gotten to know each other. I believe, even more so than the collectibles themselves, Vinylmation has become a community of friends. We all have a great time and enjoy seeing each other at every release date and trading event. I for one have made some great friends along the way. This morning, we were even prepared with games! We played some fantastic games of Farkle and Phase 10 that made the 7 hour line fly by. At 8am, Disney escorted the orderly line to the front of D-Street. At the 10:30 open, they let us in in small groups.

Meanwhile, over at Disneyland’s D-Street…

AutoStitch sent us this panoramic picture of a pre-sunrise line at DLR. It’s always a bit more frantic over on the west coast. Read Zoe’s Disneyland Darkwing Release report here. Crazy times over there! and Zoe will be coming along with a Disneyland Darkwing release report soon. In the meantime, here is a look at today’s coveted Vinylmation.

This LE 1000 Chris Chapman designed set looks amazing. Chris captured DW’s look and stuck it on a vinyl.

The hat was expertly designed and looks great on Darkwing. It of course is removable and can be used in Combo Contest #3… don’t worry, it’s coming soon.

Along side Darkwing is Gosalyn Mallard with her pigtails and #1 tee shirt.

A few fun things inside D-Street Orlando:

The 3″ Winnie the Pooh sold out at the Florida Project, but some Mickey and Dumbo 9/3 combos were left over. They retail for $74.95.

Some 9″ Florida Project Empress Lilly figures were there as well. They have a $49.95 price tag. The Pin Traders Kiosk on the other side of Downtown also had a few Florida Project pin sets left over. Including some of those absolute drop dead amazing MK land themed box sets.

An Ear Hat sale has also been ongoing the past couple weeks at D-Street. 25% off while supplies last! Milk, Donuts, Color Bars, Paint Splatter and Creatures are all available.

VER: The Florida Project Trading Room Wrap

WDWNT on September 16, 2011

By RMThompson

I know, so much as been written about the Florida Project already, what else could we cover? Well, as much as Fl Project was a showcase for new things coming in the Vinylmation world, it was even MORE SO, a place to trade for things already released. While other DV Reporters spent their day…reporting, I spent mine trading, and now I am here to give my review of the trading room, and what was going hot, and what’s not.

First, it was nice to see so many traders, ESPECIALLY after the doors opened for the Public Day. Previous to that mark, a LOT of traders spent their time in various Trading Lines going after the elusive Orange Bird Chaser, or other rarities that were found in the trading games. Once they were all gone, they, along with all those who just came to public day, FILLED the trading room floor.

However, I will say I still expected more traders. While the number of registered guests was near 700 for the event, those that set-up and traded was closer to 30 or 40 traders. That’s an exceedingly low number, especially when compared to pin trading events. Yet, those trading had LOTS to trade, it seemed to be nearly double the amount of figures for trade than the typical every-other-month trading events.

Certain figures were seen a lot, and were losing value as the day went on, including the WDW and 71 Cast Chasers, Clear Pink Elephants and the growingly more common (yet still totally awesome) Urban 5 3D Chaser. These figures had certainly slipped some since the previous trading event where they were hotter traders.

Also slipping were some older figures. Park and Urban 1s that aren’t highly sought after (SMRT-1, Graffiti, Fireworks, Glow for example) are becoming more and more available. I can only assume that as newer sets become available, people are more and more willing to trade their older figures to get the stuff they really want. They need more room on their shelf to hold the new stuff, and quite frankly despite the value of the figures, a lot of the new figures just plain look BETTER than their older counterparts. Yet, this doesn’t apply to the figures from these series that people REALLY love. Balloon chaser made a brief appearance by one highly-selective trader, but there were also precious few Figment, Oopsy, Teacups and Gold Chaser figures to go around, making them very tough to trade for.

More recent figures that are seeing a spike in value are hard-to-find figures based on characters a lot of people love. Dripping Mickey chaser and Pongo are now in the well-over-$150-range, while other “easier” figures like Stitch, Supermouse, and a lot of Park 4 are steadily rising above the $50 dollar range.

As for figures released at the event, they were surprisingly not being swapped, with the exception of the Orange Bird Chaser, which is not only the BEST figure ever created on the New Mold (seriously), but was trading upwards of $60 to $80 dollars by the end of the day… once all were given out.

On the 9 inch front, things were slower than I expected. I saw almost NO older 9” Vinylmation. A Mummy was there but not traded, and I got my hands on an Urban 2 Angry Mickey Tiki (underrated figure in my opinion), but there was little else from the older era of Vinylmation to represent the bigger figures. The ones that were there were almost exclusively Location-Based figures; TONS of New York figures to be found, and none of them worth anything save the original “brick head figure.” The remainders were a blend of newer figures with a variety of values. Maleficent and other Villain 9” were surprisingly low in value, while Rafiki and Up were steadily being traded at over $100 dollars in value.

Everyone had the Disney Afternoon series. While Bonkers and Dougs were just taking up trade space, I saw many Ducktales, Talespins and Rescue Rangers being traded, with the Rescue Rangers being the hardest to trade for and the highest in value. The other two packs to be had included the lower-end Cars and Halloween, and the higher end Disney Cruise Line Stuff. Location based tins and 3” were easy enough to gobble up, but perhaps the rarest was the San Fran 3” Bridge.

Interestingly enough, certain Park/Urban series are seeing a WIDE variety in value from figure to figure. To better reflect that, here is a list of each of the main series and their highest and lowest traders based on what I saw this weekend, excluding the chasers (which in almost all cases are the hottest traders in each series)

Park 1:
HOT: Figment/Creepy Wallpaper.
NOT: Fireworks/SMRT-1

Park 2:
HOT: Mike Mouse/Little Green Men
NOT: Monkey/Aquaramouse

Park 3:
HOT: Blue Monorail
NOT: Almost everything else

Park 4:
HOT: Combo Topper (Plane Crazy)/Epcot 84
NOT: Tower of Terror/POTC Dog

Park 5:
HOT: Stitch/Yeti
NOT: Buzz Lightyear Vehicle/COP John

Park 6:
HOT: Orange Monorail
NOT: Troll/Primeval Whirl

Urban 1:
HOT: Oopsy/El Super Raton
NOT: Checkered/Graffiti

Urban 2:
HOT: Cosmos/Chinese Writing/Chocolate Mickey Bar
NOT: Gear Bear/Girly

Urban 3:
HOT: Cheeseburger/Green Dragon
NOT: EVERYTHING ELSE

Urban 4:
HOT: Supermouse/Robot/Heartbroken
NOT: Everything else but Strawberry Fields

Urban 5:
HOT: Nothing
NOT: Everything

Urban 6:
HOT: Blue Thumb Variant
NOT: Baby Crying/Sideways Mickey

All in all the day was a success, and I saw LOTS of trading going on, which is a great thing. I hope that Disney will realize that Vinylmation is a BIG success and give us more than a handful of exclusive event figures next time, compared to the DOZENS of pins that were available the day before… but that’s a story for another article.

Retro Weekend: The Florida Project Recap

WDWNT on September 14, 2011

Lots of things revealed this weekend. Here’s a quick rundown of all our posts from the past weekend with links to more in-depth coverage of each one.

Project Z turned out to be Park Starz. A new set that will be out this fall that features 11+ 1 Mystery chaser blind box figures. It will all be stylized figures from the parks in their own shapes.

Park Starz Preview
All 11 3″ Alice in Wonderland figures were on display. They will release in November. Two LE sets were also there.

Alice in Wonderland 3″ Set

Alice LE Walrus, Carpenter, and Cheshire Cats

Alice in Wonderland Explained

Park 7 was on display and wowed the crowed with some innovative designs. And we saw new LEs for the first time. The explained page includes all 11 known figures and the LE sets: Fife and Drum, Kitchen Kaberet, River Country and more!

Park 7 Explained

Park 8 will be out in February of 2012. We got a sneak peak at 2 figures.

3″ Park 8 Sneak Peak

Urban 7 has some cool looking 9″ LE figures. The Milk and OJ 9/3 was the talk of the event. Here is the rundown.

9″ Urban 7 Explained
We got a first look at Urban 8 at the show. Several interesting figures and two of the coolest 9″ figures ever.

First look at Urban 8

9″ Sock Monkey

9″ Boxer

Urban 8 Explained

Now, a little peak at a couple Urban 9 figures.

Urban 9

The 4th Cutesters series will be themed “At the Beach”. We saw three figures, check out the details here.

Cutesters At the Beach

D-Tour is a totally new take on Vinylmation. Find out why…

D-Tour

This and That is the theme for Jr 5. The will have words that go together like Up and Down, Pins and Needles.

This or That

But Jr 6 was on display! Snow White and Seven Dwarfs will be the theme. We confirmed 7 dwarfs and a Jr Snow White. Look for these in April 2012. More pics here.

More Nerds! We had confirmed earlier in the year that Nerd Stitch was on his way, now we know Figment will also be added to the line up.

Haunted Mansion will NOT be a surprise release at Room For One More… in fact it’s pushed back to 2012.

Haunted Mansion Explained

We had a look at Star Wars Series 2. We now know it will be designed after New Hope, the first Star Wars movie.

Star Wars 2

Nick’s favorite. An open window set of Disney Characters as Star Wars figures!!!

Disney’s Star Wars

Two brand new Holiday 3 designs were on display along with some designs we have only seen in pin form, until now. They also had a poster with the entire 9″ LE lineup on display.

Holiday 3 Explained

Holiday 3 LE 9″ Explained

A look at this years Very Merry Christmas 2011 Vinylmation.

Very Merry 2011

2012 WDW Marathon, Half Marathon and Goofy’s Race Vinylmation

Pictures here

This is a new series that was on display but not in the chat session. It’s an open box series of logos and merchandise items you would see in the stores at the parks.

Disney Parks Classics Explained

A new Honk Kong Disney exclusive.

Chinese Zodiac Explained

Another Hong Kong Disney exclusive.

Journey to the West

Nick was in heaven when he saw that soon he could own a Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics Vinylmation. 8 teams from each the MLB, NBA and NFL represented for now.

Pics of Teams

All of Animation 2 where revealed at the event. Either on display or on a poster with the set. Some great additions here. Check it out.

Animation 2

The Florida Project Explained

WDWNT on September 6, 2011

BE HERE FOR OUR LIVE BLOG OF VINYLMATION CHAT SESSION ON 
SUNDAY 9/11 FROM 10:45AM – 12:15PM EST.

The Florida Project – Vinylmation Showcase
Date: September 11th 2011
Time: 9:30am – 2pm EST
Location: EPCOT World ShowPlace at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida
Details: This is a ticketed event. Click here for ticket details. Admission to EPCOT is also needed.

Free Hours: 2p-5pm on September 11th. Event is free during these hours, but EPCOT admission still needed.



Update: 9/6/11 The Florida Project is days away and we have word that around 14 new series will be revealed during the 11am Chat Session on 9/11!!! Including the much talked about Project Z. We will keep you updated all weekend long!


Update: 8/20/11 The Pin and Vinylmation Itineraries have been released:

Florida Project Vinylmation Itinerary
Florida Project Pin Itinerary

Also, at D23, the free Vinylmation gift that registered guests get for attending the Florida Project was on display:

Minnie is not getting a warm reception. New mold aside, this figure looks kind of dull for such an amazing event celebrating Walt Disney World. And from D23, here is a better look at the Orange Bird Cast Chaser that will be in the Mystery Boxes at the Florida Project:

Now that’s what I call a great looking Vinylmation! Happy hunting.

Update: 8/19/11 Check out this article by Claudia with some helpful Florida Project info straight from the big D: Claudia’s Florida Project Info Update. Also, You should have received your RSP results by now. How did you do?



Update: 8/1/11 The RSP process is over. Results will be announced around August 12. Cards will be charged on August 22.


Update: 6/2/11 The RSP emails have gone out. Deadline to make your selection is July 31st at 11:59 PM PST.

Update: 5/6/11 Disney added prices for The Florida Project vinylmation. Pooh is $14.95, the Mickey/Dumbo 9″/3″ combo is $74.95, and the 9″ Empress Lily is $49.95.

Update: 4/9/11 Disney released a picture of the box that will contain the 3″ Winnie the Pooh. Check it out:Definitely one of the best pieces I’ve seen so far for the project! – MC

Update: 4/8/11 BIG CHANGE. Hula Girl is OUT! Replaced by 3″ Dumbo:

This Dumbo will be packaged with Retro Mickey 9″. Here is the quote from Steven Miller at Disney:
“We unfortunately had to make a change to the 3-inch figure. The Hula Girl inspired figure was replaced with a rather colorful Dumbo. We asked Donald Ferro, developer for Vinylmation, about the change. Basically, he said that when the sample of the 3-inch figure arrived today, he did not like how the art was applied to the figure.”

Update: 4/6/11 We registered for The Florida Project. A bit of a wacky system. You couldn’t seemingly buy more than 1 ticket at a time. Also, it is technically 2 separate events… Pins on September 9th and 10th and Vinylmation on the 11th. Both require a separate ticket. The system also ran into some problems not letting me pass the “additional fee activities” page. You can purchase box lunches ($15), breakfast ($40) or dessert ($40). I selected “none” but the page wouldn’t advance until I closed my browser and started over. Good news, the Pin Event tickets dropped five bucks to $100 pre-May 6th and $115 after.


Update: 4/6/11 The catalog is out and there are only 4 figures in it. All of which we’ve seen parts of already. Now here are the full figures. Nothing too impressive to me. I was hoping for several series, but there looks like there will only be 1 9″, 1 9″/3″ set, and 1 3″ figure as exclusives. I really really hope they are holding something back or this show will be disappointing. If I wasn’t going for the website, the exclusive figures would not get me to pay the $40! I am very underwhelmed by the back and sides of all the figures except for Empress Lily. -MC

Update: 7PM The vinylmaiton blog released one more sneak peek image of a vinylmation from The Florida Project. Check out the head of the Hula Girl. Thanks Chuck!

REGISTRATION BEGINS ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6TH AT 2PM EST.

Usually we reserve the “Explained” heading for pages with information about series collected as we lead up to their release. We will be updating this page with the information we know about The Florida Project.

The Florida Project is a 3-day Disney Pin and Vinylmation trading event from September 9-11, 2011. There are 2 separate ticketed events, the Pin Trading Event (9th and 10th) and the Vinylmation Event (11th). We will focus here on the Vinylmation part of the event. There will be one day dedicated to the collecting and trading of Vinylmation…

The Florida Project – Vinylmation Showcase
Date: September 11th 2011
Time: 9:30am – 2pm EST
Location: EPCOT World ShowPlace at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida
Tickets: $40.00 (Event admission does NOT include Theme Park admission to EPCOT, but that is required to attend.)


Event Admission Includes:
– First opportunity to purchase new Vinylmation Figures created for The Florida Project
– Silent auction featuring a variety Vinylmation items from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
– Vinylmation Trading opportunities.
– Artists Signings with Disney Design Group Artists.
– Limited edition commemorative gift.
– Plus extra special surprises throughout the event.

Free Public Day
There will also be a “Public Day” from 2pm – 5pm EST on Sunday, September 11th. This means FREE admission to the event, but you still need EPCOT admission. DV attended the public day at last year’s Trade City show and were still able to pick up some of the LE Vinylmation, see upcoming releases first hand and there was still plenty of trading going on. However you will not receive any of the gifts and will miss certain opportunities.

Pin Trading
If you are interested in the 2-day event dedicated to pin collecting, buying and trading activities, the cost of the event will be $105 before May 6th and $120 after. $100 before May 6th and $115 after. The pin event features LE items, a tee-shirt, silent auction, event only pins available for trade, autograph sessions with Disney artists, (2) $15 gift cards good for food and beverage at EPCOT and “extra special surprises.” You can find more details on the pin portion of the event by clicking here.

What to Expect at The Florida Project
A lot of this will sound familiar, because it is basically the same place, time of year, and event as Trade City was last year. Because of that, we assume that for the most part the event will be similar, just different in theme. That means we expect lots of LE exclusive merchandise, including pins and vinylmation, to come out that weekend. We also hope that either Steven Miller (or a similar Vinylmation official) will be giving a presentation showcasing future Vinylmation figures like they did on Sunday of the Trade City event. We hope that there will be several announcements made during that presentation, and that several never seen before figures will be on display to tease us for the next year. We also expect a lot of trading tables for collectors to bargain with each other. Also expect for Destination Vinylmation to be out in full force.

History of The (real) Florida Project

Walt Disney introduces The Florida
Project in 1965. Photo courtesy of
WDW News
The Florida Project refers to the term that was used by Walt Disney when he was secretly buying up large plots of land in Central Florida near Orlando to build his new theme park. The theme of this event will be the planning and opening of Walt Disney World in the early 70s here in Florida. Expect a “alternate” preview center retro merchandise and lots of 70’s design colors. Like the poster above and this first exclusive Vinylmation:
Retro Dumbo

RSP2
Artist: Thomas Scott
Sold with Retro Mickey 9″
LE 1500
Set Price: $74.95

It looks like Dumbo will have the same hat he had in his Hong Kong 5th Anniversary figure. (It’s not removable). The flower details are cool, as is that collar around his neck. I really want this piece.
Hula Girl
WILL NOT BE AT FLORIDA PROJECT
Artist: Thomas Scott
Sold with Retro Mickey 9″
LE 1500
Expect to see this at some other timeThanks to all the readers who reminded me that this is probably a reference to the Hula dancers at the Polynesian Resort at WDW. (I can’t believe I forgot about the lei I got last time I went!)

“I am really not impressed with this figure. Nothing interesting on the turn around either.” – M.C. “Love it! Now I have to get the 9″ Retro Mickey.” – Nick. (Click image to enlarge.)
Retro 70s Mickey 9″

RSP2
Artist: Thomas Scott
Sold with: 3″ Retro Dumbo
LE 1500
Set Price: $74.95

“I was hoping this was part of a set of 3″ figures. But it’s not. It’s a 9″ and is part of a set with the Hula Girl. Kinda lame.” – M.C.

“I’m the biggest fan of retro Disney there is, but the colors here do not look good to me. I was hoping for more of an artistic figure (when all we saw was the head) with different retro items similar to the poster above in the body.” – Nick

Here’s the turn around for this piece. Click to enlarge.
Retro Pooh 3″

RSP1
Artist: Casey Jones
LE 1000
Price: $14.95

“This too I hoped was part of the set. Relatively similar in design, it’s a great representation of Pooh and his honeypot. And as always, there’s a Bee keeping everything in check. I think I will get this because it’s a 3″.” – M.C.

“This figure represents one of the early costumed Poohs that walked around WDW. An interesting note, is the ears are clear, not blue as in the concept art.” – Nick
Empress Lilly 9″

RSP3
Artist: Lin Shih
LE: 750
Price: $49.95

Now home to Fulton’s Crab House and Birthplace of Character Dining.

“Not sure if this one floats my boat.” – M.C.

“I’m not on board with this design either.” “Wow! Nice detail now that we see the entire figure. I’ll make a decision when I see it in person.” After seeing this in person, it is a greatly detailed and colorful piece. I sill don’t care for the subject matter, but Its a nice figure.” – Nick


Here’s the back.

Preview Center: First Look at the Vacation Kingdom

WDWNT on August 29, 2011

The Preview Center was where many people saw Walt Disney World for the first time. Here is some background info on the Preview Center that we hope to see recreated for the upcoming Florida Project event at Walt Disney World. We will also take another look at the FREE gift for guests to the Vinylmation Day.

Screen shot taken from WDW film
On display at D23

This Minnie Mouse Vinylmation above is the FREE gift guests to the Vinylmation Day of the Florida Project will receive. Minnie is designed with the clothing the “Disney Girls” wore at the Walt Disney World Preview Center. The Preview Center opened on Jan. 16, 1970, and was the first building to open on Walt Disney World property. Located on Hotel Plaza Boulevard, today the building is home to the Amateur Athletic Union. More than 1.4 million people visited the Preview Center to check out what was to become the Vacation Kingdom of the World. The Disney Girls were on hand to answer all the questions people had. Guests could also buy Disney souvenirs, like pennants and guidebooks.

Preview Center Photo owned by Chuck Schmidt

I like the idea of this figure, the history behind it and the clothing is perfectly captured, but the complaints about the face are valid. It doesn’t look right. It’s not because it’s Minnie on new mold. She looks great on the new DCL figure. I also think a generic female’s face would have worked. Kind of like the Cast Member Exclusive Ambassador figure from awhile back.