It’s a Small Chess Piece
Disney released another figure from the upcoming It’s a Small World Jr. 4 set.
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| Front of Queen Chess Piece from IASW Jr. 4 |
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| Back of Queen Chess Piece from IASW Jr. 4 |
Episode 032 Panda
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Ep. 032 Panda
This week we talk about the Doug Vinylmation, another crazy Disney Afternoons release. Davy Crockett was also released the weekend. How does Davy stand up against the other great Park 9″ figures? We have all the latest news, including It’s a Small World, Alice in Wonderland, and The Lion King. Plus up to date release dates. And, as always, a Mystery Mail Bag filled to the brim with your questions and comments.
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Listen Now:
From the Far East
The Vinylmation Facebook page released a picture of the EPCOT China Pavilion, a 9″ from the Park 6 series. It was designed by Lin Shih and will be limited to 800 and retail for $44.95. Check it out. What do you think?
Collecting with Claudia: Chance Meeting with Disney Artist Randy Noble
On Friday, July 29, my family and I decided to go to Downtown Disney and mingle with the tourists. We ate some tasty food at the Earl of Sandwhich, and afterwards, we walked over to the Art of Disney to find that RANDY NOBLE was doing a special appearance and signing to promote his new artwork from 6-8pm!!!!
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| Randy Noble at Downtown Disney |
On a large table next to Randy were original oils on canvas, glicees, prints, and a big figure for sale. His paintings, glicees and prints included figures such as Sorcerer Mickey Triptych #1-3, Best Friends Chip & Dale, and Goofy Fun.
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| Sorcerer Mickey – Framed Glicee LE 95 $350, Deluxe Print $35 |
Not many people were present for this event, so I was lucky to purchase his Sorcerer Mickey print, and have it signed by Randy Noble (he even drew a Mickey on the print-matt while I watched in awe!).
Fortunately, I had several of my Vinylmations with me because you never know when a good opportunity will present itself; plus I also bring extras with me to trade at blind-boxes throughout Downtown Disney. So, I asked Randy if he would sign one, and he said “I can sign all of them if you like…” I was ECSTATIC!!!!!!
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| Goofy Fun – Original LE 1 $1800, Giclee LE 95 $390, Deluxe Print $35 |
I asked Randy if he would be attending the Florida Project in September, and he said he “was considering it…if I do go, it would be for the Vinylmation event only.” Let’s cross our fingers that he will attend!!!
If you are not familiar with the Florida Project, please visit: http://eventservices.disney.go.com/static/vinylmation/floridaproject.html
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| Best Friends – Original LE 1 $1400, Giclee LE 95 $375, Deluxe Print $35 |
Needless to say, this was an amazing day. To meet one of the best Disney artists, and to find out he is such a nice guy was the best way to spend a Friday night!!!!
*Editors Note: Randy Noble is considered the creator of Vinylmation. He designed such early masterpieces as the Park 1 Balloon Chaser, Park 1 Safari Mickey 9″, Park 2 Little Green Men and special event pieces such as the 9″ Space Mountain 35th and Cinderella’s 60th. His figures now are few and far between and his talents on the little vinyl Mickey is missed.
ZoMG: It’s a Small World Juniors
 Hello everyone! Yesterday we found out that a Small World Vinylmation Jrs. Series is going to be released around the time of D23 (21 days – I am SO excited). I think it was such a smart idea to make the Jrs 4 Series be Small World themed, it works perfectly. I am going to throw out some possible Small World characters that we could see in this series. And instead of including pictures for all of the mentioned characters, I linked to a video below. We have a few hints and previews so far so lets begin with those! Young boy – I love the way Thomas Scott designed this figure. It makes me so excited to see what else we have in store. I love that he decided to put the flowers in each Mickey ear to make sure people understand this little boy is a part of Small World and not just a random boy Vinylmation. Tiger – I am so happy that animals are going to be included in this set. The tiger figure looks perfect. Everyone that sees this will know he is from the Small World ride. Hippo – Funny story, as I was typing up this article at 12am PST, Vinylmation.com posted this picture to help me out, of the Jr. Series 4 box. As we all know whatever figure is on the box, is a part of the set. With that said, our third confirmed character is the Hippo from small world! After seeing the Hippo, I am thinking that half of the set is going to be children and the other half popular animals and memorable parts from the classic ride. There are so many children and animals in the classic Disney ride that they could have chosen from. Here are a few that stuck out to me and will hopefully be a part of the series! The Polar Bear – this guy you can find when the ride begins. He is part of the Artic/North Pole section of the ride. Eskimo – the same scene that has the polar bear, includes the Eskimo children fishing. The next section of the ride is Scandinavia/Canada. In this section there are many children to choose from. A few that stuck out to me are, the children dressed in band uniform with the tall black hats, one of the children dancing as you enter this section and also maybe one of the acrobats. This way each section has a child to represent the language. The next section is Europe. This section includes: Then we enter Asia where you will find, The next scene has many characters and animals that could be used for the set. Including, Latin America is the next section of the ride that includes, South Seas is the next section of Small World, which contains characters such as, That is a lot of characters to pick from so here is my prediction. I think that this set is going to have a fair amount of children because children make this ride. I think the set will contain and even amount of girls/boys to represent each country/place that is represented in this ride. Along with the children I also think there will be animals that go along with the characters. Like the Panda, the Turtle, the Kangaroo, the Zebra etc. No matter what Thomas Scott decided for this set, I know it is going to be wonderful and I can’t wait to have them all! Any other ideas please let me know, id love to hear them! It’s a small world after all.. |
Contest: 3″ Custom Vinylmation from Vinylmation Customations
We came across a contest on Facebook today. We are not involved in this contest in any way, but we thought it was a cool thing to share with everyone. Vinylmation Customations is giving away a Free 3″ Custom Vinylmation to a lucky Facebook fan. We have meet Vinylmation Customations at WDW trade shows before and have even Spotlighted a Tronorail and a Star Wars figure she has done. Vinylmation Customations does great work. Here are the contest details:
“LIKE” our Facebook Page – Vinylmation Customations, and get a chance to WIN a FREE 3″ Custom Vinylmation of your favorite Disney Character!
All “Fans” of Vinylmation Customations that have joined by July 31, 2011 will be entered into a drawing to win a 3″ Custom Vinylmation. Winner will be announced August 1st on the Page and a Facebook Message will be sent to the winner notifying them of their win. Winner will be able to choose their favorite Disney Character as the inspiration for the custom to be created especially for them.
http://www.facebook.com/VinylmationCustomations
Again, Destination Vinylmation is not involved in this contest, but just something we thought we would pass along. Good luck.
Chasing the Magic
Chris sent in these two pictures. What a trading day at MK he had on Thursday!
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| WDW 40th Cast Trader Variants only found by trading with Cast Members at the Parks |
Thomas Scott and Casey Jones Graffiti D-Street Florida
It looks like Thomas Scott and Casey Jones got bored during lunch, because they went over the D-Street Florida and sharpied up the whole place. Thomas Scott went crazy with his sharpie, signing everything in sight that he designed. Everywhere I turned I saw something signed by one of them. Thomas used a sleek looking silver color pen and Casey’s signatures stood out in bold gold. As far as I could tell, there’s about a case or two of signed Pirates 3″ blind boxes. There’s also about 10-15 signed 9″ Park 6 Davy Crocketts. Then there are about 3-5 of each of the other figures in the following photos.
We want to give a big thanks to both Thomas Scott and Casey Jones for going out of their way to give a little something extra to vinylmation fans. Thanks guys! – Nick
Now check out some photos from my trip.
Spotlight On: Vinylmation Custom Artist Gemma Steib
Recently, we found a Facebook page full of some great customs. The page belongs to Gemma Steib. Originally from Essex, England, she now resides in California where she can be found most days working on her commissioned Vinylmation custom figures.
Destination Vinylmation: How many customs have you created?
Gemma: I’m just about to start working on my 87th and 88th customs! I’ve created 26 for our personal collection and 60 commissions and it still feels like it was only yesterday when I was asked to make my first commission. I’m really looking forward to working on the first 9″ custom for our collection, I wont give away too many details but I feel sorry for my poor 9″ at the moment seeing as I’ve already poked a ton of holes into his head, I’m just waiting for a few parts to come through the mail so I can continue to torture him!
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| Gemma Steib VMK Custom |
DV: What first caught my eye, were the Virtual Magic Kingdom figures. This is very unique. For anyone who doesn’t know about VMK, can you tell us what it was?
Gemma: Hubby and I and a lot of our friends used to play an online Disney game that started in ’05 called Virtual Magic Kingdom, VMK for short. It was a little virtual world where you could be anywhere around the globe and we could all experience a little bit of Disneyland from our homes together. It’s actually the reason I signed up on a forum for the game and met my hubby! Not surprisingly Disneyland is where we are most weekends. The game sadly closed it’s virtual doors in May of ’08 and my hubby and I wanted to make a little something to have as a keepsake to remind us of good times in game.
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| Boolani and TheAlienStitch |
I took Boolani (my character) and TheAlienStitch (my hubby’s character) and translated them to the vinyl form, and ever since then I’ve been getting commissions from others who loved the game and want their own little vinyl reminder of a great short lived game.
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| Gemma Steib VMK Custom |
Which warms my heart a little more for each one I complete, especially ones with sculpted hats like the one with the seagull pirate hat. I couldn’t help but giggle a little inside every time someone ordered one of them, especially as everyone referred to it as the chicken hat, I even roped my hubby into helping make all the individual pieces of straw for the seagull to sit on hehe.
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| Gemma Steib VMK Custom |
DV: What is your favorite VMK custom you’ve done?
Gemma: Other than our own personal ones, I couldn’t possibly pick a favourite out of the VMK customs, although creating the space suit pants for one does come close to topping the list along with the ‘chicken’ hat. But really my favourite part of making the VMK customs is seeing them go off to their new homes and seeing posts on Facebook of their new owners taking them on adventures, Especially when those adventures are Disney park related!
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| Gemma Steib VMK Custom |
DV: What do you like most about making customs?
Gemma: Painting is just something I adore and I love the challenge of translating ideas and designs to the Vinylmation form, especially charactertures of people.
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| The “making of” a Gems Vinyl Custom |
DV: How can people see your work and order a custom from Gems Vinyls?
Gemma: Usually I can only take one one or two commissions per week depending on how complex the design is, so my wait list does sometimes get backed up. It sometimes takes a while to get through them all without rushing orders. I’d hate to have to rush a piece that wasn’t up to my standards which I wouldn’t be happy sending out. People can contact me on Facebook. I have a Facebook profile and a group for my customs. My profile for Gem’s Vinyl Customs is usually where I post the most. I debated so much over making a profile vs a page but I much prefer having an inbox on the profile so I can be contacted easily.
Profile – http://www.facebook.com/gemsvinyls
Group – http://www.facebook.com/groups/101823626520457?ap=1
DV: Thank you and keep up the great work. We will be featuring more of your customs soon.
Gemma: Thanks again for featuring my customs!
Doug, 9″ Park 6 Now Online
Update: Noon- The Doug set is now sold out. According to @VMKingdom, they were gone at 3:45 AM. So they were on sale for about 25 minutes. I hope more people got them this time because of the limits!
Did you get one??
The update was a little late, almost 3:20 AM before it arrived, but thanks to a tweet by @Vinylchaser, we all started to purchase our Dougs.
Interesting note: I was only limited to purchasing up to 2 of these. So hopefully these will stay around for a while.
For those who want to reach the $75 free shipping, you can also order one of the two 9″ Park 6 figures that came out today. Animal Kingdom Crate and Davy Crockett.
What do you think of this release?