Congratulations Sabrina, from Utah, for winning the Evilos contest. Your vinylmation is on it’s way. Thank you to everyone else who participated, and keep a look/ear out, for Combo Contest #2. It should be very soon!
Update: 4/18/11 It looks like everything has been fixed over at the Disney Store Online. They have SINGLE blind boxes of Jr 3’s for $8.95. Get them while you can!
Update: 11 AM One of our listeners sent us his receipt for several cases of Jr 3’s for $8.95 a piece. The order was made at 3:30 AM PST. This means that the price did actually go live early this morning. (We thought it might have been just a placeholder.) Check out the at the bottom.
Over at the Disney Store Online today, the Jrs 3 series is up… and sold out. That was super quick. Well until you look at the price. Something is up with Disney, because they have the tray of 36 listed at the price of $8.95, instead of individual boxes for that price. We expect that to be sorted out. (I’m surprised to see a set added on a Wednesday instead of a Friday.)
Wow that’s a good score. We wonder if Disney will honor this price. (Unlike with TailSpin, this is clearly a clerical error and we expect Disney to just cancel all the orders for this case at this price.)
Update: 4/7/11 On a hunch, we contacted our friend @milkyjoe75 and asked him to take a picture of the back of his 1st Visit 3″. Look what he found! Hong Kong also gets it’s own variant. We assume that this means there is one for Disneyland Paris also, and have contacted our friend in France to try to find out. Stay tuned!
4/6/11 Well, the rumors are true, and it looks like there will be a variant in the Celebrations 3″ set. Based on the fact that their are two parks, it looks like there are two different backs to the 1st Visit 3″. The rumor is that each one will only be available in the park it has on it’s back. But will shall see! Check them out…
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| 1st Visit Disneyland (back) |
1st Visit Walt Disney World (back) |
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| 1st Visit Hong Kong Disneyland (back) |
1st Visit Disneyland Paris (back) |
 My mom and I were in the park today doing some trading and we stopped by the Mad Hatter shop on Main Street at Disneyland. Looking into the window I found some new and exciting things, such as 2 brand new Vinylmation Urban #7 Ear Hats! As well as one Muppets #2 Ear Hat!! I had to get all three so I could show everyone whats inside! Milk and Cookies Ear Hat – Urban #7
 The 3 inch is a chocolate milk carton! I love the details on this figure!! It has Vinylmation Farms on the top as where the milk is from and also a little Vinylmation shaped cup of chocolate milk on the front! |
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If you look at the back of this figure, it has the nutrition information, my favorite part is where it says, 100% Vinylmation!
 The Jr. for this set is a chocolate chip cookie with a bite taken out of the ear! (like the ear hat)  This set is so well done! This is one of my favorite ear hat sets made so far! This set is by Maria Clapsis and Caley Hicks. |
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Please Stand By Ear Hat – Urban #7
 The ear hat looks like a test pattern, with TV antenna on top! The left ear says, Please Stand By and the right ear looks like static. The 3″ that comes with this set looks like a remote pointed at a TV set. The backside of this Vinylmation is the TV remote batteries with the TV on top. I love the way that they made this figure! The arms and ears are clear where there is no design so you can really see the artwork. |
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| The Jr. for this set is a little battery! | |
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| This set looks great all together and the 3 Inch is so well done! This set is by Thomas Scott and Maria Clapsis. | |
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Animal Ear Hat – Muppets #2
 I love this!! This set is definitely the most stand out! Anyone that loves Animal and the Electric Mayhem will definitely need this for their collection! My boyfriend is a drummer and loves Animal so he will be very excited to see this set! The ear hat for this set is Animal! I love the way that Monty designed this set! Animal’s ears says Rock and Roll and the entire hat is animals face! I love the addition of the hair and the nose! The 3″ for this set is perfect! It represents Animal’s drum set! And his ears are cymbals! The backside of this figure has a star as well as the band logo of a tooth with wings! |
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The Jr. for this set is all black with a red mouth!
 This is such a fun ear hat set! One of the brightest and most stand out that I have seen! |
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| This set was done by Monty Maldovan!
I was so excited to get these hats today and I hope everyone is excited to see these new upcoming designs! This makes me even more excited for upcoming 9″ Muppets 2’s as well as a sneak peek at what we can expect in Urban #7!! -Zoe |
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| This whole week has been crazy, but here are some of the articles we had this weekend that you may have missed because we were changing servers. | |
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First up, Nick got an exclusive hands on with the new Mickey Vinylmation Mold. Check out his first reactions to the actual figure in real life.
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Two great posts were written about the D-Street happenings on both coasts.
First, Nick discusses D-Street Florida’s one year birthday party and talks to each of the artists available to sign vinylmation. |
| We also got a great ZoMG article from our Californian reporter Zoe.
She went to the Muppets 2 release and got to talk to Muppets artist Monty Maldovan. |
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While we are the subject, Zoe also gave us some great pictures and a review of the Cutesters Too Ear Hat. |
| On Friday, Muppets 2 came out in both D-Streets and in Disney Stores across the nation. There was just one little difference… |  |
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For those who like to be Spoiled, we revealed the Muppets 2 Chaser.
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| A quick talk with Nerds Rock! artist Doug Strayer revealed some big news, turning our April Fools joke into a joke on us! |  |
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Disney announced the release date for the Sushi Set, April 29th. |
| There was even another release that Friday. The 9″ Holiday 2 Easter Basket. It sold out online. |  |
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And, if you hadn’t noticed, we were running a contest with the help of custom artist Evilos. This post went up Friday and was the opportunity for readers to submit an entry. Everyone left great comments, you should check them out. Thanks again to Evilos for the wonderful giveaway. Evil Kermit (The post you’ve been waiting for!) The winner was announced this afternoon on… |
| Destination Vinylmation Episode 018 Balloon Chaser Nick and MC visited the Muppet Theater to record this podcast. Special Guest Stars: Vinylmation Product Developer Donald Ferro and the Electric Mayhem. |
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Ep. 018 Balloon Chaser
In our first Mystery Chaser episode, we celebrate the release of Muppets 2 by recording live from The Muppets Theater. Kermit and the rest of the Muppets join in for this exciting event. Our special guest is Vinylmation Product Developer Donald Ferro. He talks about D-Street’s first birthday and the new Vinylmation mold. We update you on the latest release dates and review Muppets 2. In addition we announce the winner of our Evilos Comment Contest. There are also plenty of Muppet surprises in store for you. Enjoy the show!
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| As part of D-Street’s 1st Birthday, Artists Maria Clapsis, Eric Caszatt, Casey Jones, and Doug Strayer were on hand to sign Vinylmation. Right off the bat we’d like to thank them for the time they took out of their weekend to come to D-Street to celebrate it’s birthday. It means a lot to your fans that you are willing to come out to sign stuff and talk to us. Thanks!
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Maria Clapsis Maria has designed A LOT of Vinylmation recently and has plenty on the horizon. Most recently, she designed Cutesters Too. But my favorite is Sonny Eclipse. This was instantly my favorite 3″ Vinylmation ever made. She said she just HAD to design this one and get it into a series. |
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Eric Caszatt
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Casey Jones Casey says his favorite still has to be Jack from the Nightmare Before Christmas set (Casey designed the entire set). Today, he signed my Park 6 Norway Troll. Casey says a lot of great Vinylmation are coming up and he is excited about his Haunted Mansion series (release date TBA). |
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Doug Strayer
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Did anyone else talk to the artists at D-Street Florida this morning? Tell us about your experiences!
Destination Vinylmation was allowed an exclusive hands on with the new Vinylmation mold this morning at D-Street. We also had the chance to talk to Vinylmation Project Manager Donald Ferro. This weekend on the DV podcast, we will share with you the complete interview with Donald, including Disney’s take on the new mold, but first, here are my first impressions of the new mold after getting to handle it in person.
I was able to view a Sea Creature 3″ (first series to be released on the new mold), a blank white new mold, and blank white original mold. Please note, the New Blank Mold is NOT a Create Your Own… we will talk about that later. My first reaction to seeing the new mold in person was a positive one. The most striking feature is the amount of flat, open canvas the artists will be working on. With the removal of the buttons and the facial contours, artists are left with a noticeably broader, flatter canvas. Donald says artists will now more accurately be able to translate their designs from 2D to 3D. Look at these close ups of the body:
New Mold
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Original Mold
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You can see the amount of smooth, usable canvas that has been created. The photos do not do this justice and you will instantly see what I mean when you see it in person. The second thing I noticed is something I missed with the photographs Disney released. Take a look at the neck, bottom of head, shoulders and arms. The pieces just fit much better. Cleaner lines. When I asked Donald about this, he said this will all translate into a better looking final printing of the design. The tightness, he said, also allows for a smoother looking design as the art transitions to the the different pieces of the body. I have to say, once you get one of these in your hands, you will notice how tightly everything fits together. Come on, how many of us have figures with loose arms?
The top of the head is more rounded. Donald says should be able to more accurately translate things like human characters onto this canvas. The ears are more defined, circular and well spaced. The face is also less chubby. Look how it drops straight down on the sides. Again, the theme here is making it easier, not for the artists to design, but for the artist’s true designs to accurately wrap around the 3D vinyl figure. In talking to the artists at the signing, so many designs are altered because they could not be translated onto the original mold.
I’ll be the first one to say, the Vinylmation loses a bit of its “Mickeyness” in the profile view… it actually looks a bit ugly. The shape just seems a odd without the nose, buttons or cheeks to define it. This is one opinion that wasn’t changed in person. Many of you have commented on this as well. Donald answers this concern by saying all the changes that were made will give us a more polished finished product. And he remarks that this is still very much Mickey from straight on… and I can not argue with that. It seems to me a bit of a trade off, lose some definition for a better final product. I will be giving the artists the benefit of the doubt here. After all, according to Donald, it is the artists who initiated this design change. You can see from the profile view above how the head fits more neatly onto the body. Note the forehead, it takes a steeper dip… again, allowing for more visible canvas to be facing you.
New Mold
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Original Mold
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Next is the arms. They have been made much smaller. The first thing I noticed here is that more of the side body is visible now because of this. Like the rest of the body, Donald says the smaller and smoother shape, again allows for easier wrapping of the design. And of course, the right hand now is more obviously shaped to hold things. Donald says accessories will now be easier to make and fit much better. Like them or love them, they are here to stay.
New Mold
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Original Mold
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Now down to the feet. We know they are removable, but what does that accomplish? Donald says with the removable feet, the artists are now able to wrap the design around the feet and legs and hide any paint lines. They are very excited about this feature.
New Mold
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Original Mold
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The feet are noticeable smaller, square and not as deeply indented in between allowing for a more seamless design.
New Mold
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New Mold
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At first, like many of you, I was very apprehensive about this new design. I didn’t like them taking away some of Mickey’s more defined features in place of a less defined piece of vinyl. But at the end of the day, it’s still very much Mickey Mouse.
Once you are able to hold one in your hands, you will see what I mean about the tightness of the construction. I can now see how the design will be more seamlessly wrapped around it. I also can not discount the attitude of the artists. They are great people, who I can tell care greatly about their work, and have fun doing it. They want the best possible representations of their designs on the final product. Donald wants people to know that the decision to change the mold was not done lightly. He assures us that the designs to come are remarkable and worth the change. Only time will tell. What I can tell you is that I was impressed. Please believe me when I say I don’t like change. I like my Mickey Mouse and that shape is what makes these collectibles so unique. We are not losing that. I was not happy when I saw the photographs of Sea Creatures Disney released. But seeing it in person and witnessing the excitement that Donald and the artists have, I have every reason to believe this is a positive step. That being said, I don’t think Sea Creatures will be a good first example. The Turtle looked amazing in person, but the shape of these animals lend itself to this new mold very well. Parks, Urbans, and others will be the true test.
Please tune into Episode 18 of Destination Vinylmation, to be released this weekend, for a full interview with Donald Ferro. He addresses some of your concerns that you left at our website, tells you from the Disney perspective why these changes were made and how they will affect the final product. He also discuss what this new mold means for 9″ figures and Create Your Owns. After the podcast, we will post an article with quotes from the interview.
Lots of news today with the release of Muppets 2. One of the smaller stories however is this one. In the past, anytime a figure has come with a hat (or cap, or wizard’s thingie) thehat has been on the figure’s head. With Muppets 2 the hats come in little plastic bags and are packaged along with the figure, not on the head as part of the figure. I think this is done for protection of the painting of both the figure and the hat. Any other ideas?
Update: 9:15 PM First visual confirmation of $12.95 Disney Store Price. Thank you Sharon from Illinois and Cliff from Florida.
Update: 3:00 PM We got our Muppets 2 at D-Street. We’ve been hearing (see comments) that they are selling for $12.95 in Disney Stores. I just called our local store and they are saying the Muppets 2 sell for $12.95 (at first he said 9.99 but then he actually checked). So if you are close to a Disney Park, I’d head there if you’re getting a case!
With all the rumors spreading about the Muppets 2 price being $12.95, a lot of people were very disappointed. But today at D-Street when the boxes arrived, the price was only $11.95 (at D-Streets). Every little bit helps!
Update: The price seems to be $12.95 at Disney Stores.
(Nick also likes that the boxes have the 1 in the name crossed out and 2 is written in. See top left of the photo.)
What do you think of the price? Good? Bad? Fair?
