Friday, December 31, 2010

Liberty Bowl: UCF 10 - Georgia 6


From Orlando, FL, home of the UCF Knights, Nick and M.C. (and UCF alumni) congratulate Central Florida on their 1st Bowl victory and team record 11th win.

Trading Around the World at Year's End

M.C. and I traveled around WDW today to do some end of the year trading and take some pics for our upcoming comprehensive WDW Trading Locations page (coming soon). We noticed some signs of possible refreshing of the mystery trading boxes at Downtown Disney. Some of the notables we found today in the mystery trading boxes were a Nightmare Oogie Boogie, an EPCOT Holiday 1, multiple Park and Urban 5s and even a white 2011 figure.

It's nice to see Disney refresh these mystery trading boxes from time to time. We went to many of the resorts as well and found a lot of great trading locations we will share with you on our newly designed website very soon.

Also of note today, Vinylmation Animated 1 was put out for sale in the Albuquerque, New Mexico Disney Store. Disney has no official announcement of this and the "Events" page of the official Vinylmation website still shows a January 7th release date at WDW, DL and Disney Stores. The good news for those of us not in New Mexico? We called the store and they carry the old, loved $9.95 price tag.

And in case you haven't heard, check us out after midnight tonight. Disney has said there will be a BIG Vinylmation announcement at midnight eastern, so stay tuned!

Animation 1 Explained

Update: 1/14/11 Disney has confirmed the chaser and 3 variants on their vault page.

Update: 1/7/10 The case came out today. Two 9" came out - Pete's Dragon and Beast. We also found out all the 9" vinylmation in this set.

Update: 1/1/11 Disney revealed 3 of the Animated 1 9" (with 3 more to come). They also revealed the "Variant" Pinocchio which confirmed that variants would start being part of series in the future. Also added a pic of the chaser (click on the mystery chaser pic)

Update: 12/31/10 The Albuquerque Disney Store has the Animated 1 set for sale. Cost is $9.95 each. The Florida D-Street store has the set displayed getting us ready for the January 7th release.


Update:
12/27/10 Changed photos to 4 spots and added the Vinylmation artists. Click photos to see full sized pic. Added Chaser rumor.

11/26/10- Recently Japan's Disney Store released (accidentally) the figures in the upcoming Animated 1 set (Or so we've seen online, it might be a rumor). Destination Vinylmation has analyzed the photos and determined which characters were which.

Aladdin

From: Aladdin (1992)
Voiced by: Scott Weinger and Brad Kane
Vinylmation Artist: Eric Caszatt

One of the better "human" figures in the Vinylmation line. I think this works well, and love the little hat on the right ear! Genie 9" with 3" lamp and magic carpet anyone?












Alice

From: Alice in Wonderland (1951)
Voiced by: Kathryn Beaumont
Vinylmation Artist: Thomas Scott

A favorite of mine and I hope it leads to a whole line (there is already a 9" Mad Hatter and 3" Church Mouse set that is part of the Park 5 series announced)
Cute and straight forward.










Dodger

From: Oliver and Company (1988)
Voiced by: Billy Joel
Vinylmation Artist: Maria Clapsis

I can't believe Joey Lawrence (Oliver) was in a Disney animated movie.















Fairy Godmother

From: Cinderella (1950)
Voiced by: Ilene Woods
Vinylmation Artist: Monty Maldovan

Ah, look at that accessory! Hopefully that wand can be held as well as it seems to be in this photo. And the artwork on the face is extraordinary. It almost looks like old school animation to me.











Marie

From: Aristocats (1970)
Voiced by: Liz English
Vinylmation Artist: Casey Jones

Interesting choice to put the accessory hair bow on this one, instead of just painting it onto the head. I like this version of Marie better than her Big Eyes figure, however, since we already have Marie in Big Eyes, I wish they could give us a different animated character and save her for down the road.









Mushu

From: Mulan (1998)
Voiced by: Eddie Murphy
Vinylmation Artist: Lin Shih

Interesting choice, expanding the body to fit instead of trying to paint a skinny body. Could this have used a "neck" accessory? (I love "neck" accessories!) But we already know from Trade City back in August, Mushu will be the first Vinylmation to have a tail accessory. And come on! They give Marie the hair bow, but then draw Mushu's horns in front of his ears instead of sticking horns onto the head? It looks kind of confusing.






Peter Pan

From: Peter Pan (1953)
Voiced by: Bobby Driscoll
Vinylmation Artist: Monty Maldovan

Another absolutely perfect Vinylmation. Love the Hat! Love Tink in the left ear. The face is a perfect representation of Pan's child-like features and fits onto the Vinylmation just right. (M.C. hates the face) What do you think? It's been hit or miss with "human" representations of faces onto Vinylmation, but I think the artists are figuring out how to use the Mickey canvas.







Philoctetes

From: Hercules (1997)
Voiced by: Danny DeVito
Vinylmation Artist: Eric Caszatt

It's always sunny in Olympus? Short and stubby, he fits the canvas well. The big feet as opposed to the small hooves from the movie are a little odd. Will we see an accessory tail on the back?










Pinocchio

From: Pinocchio (1940)
Voiced by: Dickie Jones
Vinylmation Artist: Thomas Scott

No long nose, but he does have donkey ears! I for one am glad they did not add an accessory long nose.


Update: 1/1/11 Disney announced that there was a variant version on Pinocchio without the Donkey Ears (as well as tail we assume). Check it out.












Prince Naveen (as a Frog)

From: The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Voiced by: Bruno Campos
Vinylmation Artist: Thomas Scott

Looks like a croc, but only the Frog Prince could have a sly expression like this. This one seems a little forced to me... I would not have minded having the frog, or frogs, painted onto the body as whole frogs with a swamp background painted on. Maybe even put Ray, the lightning bug, in one of the ears.








Quasimodo

From: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Voiced by: Tom Hulce
Vinylmation Artist: Monty Maldovan

I think it works. Don't you?














Mystery Chaser

From: Who Knows?
Voiced by: Any of a number of people!

First obvious note: NO PRINCESSES! Will they have their own line? Will they be part of this series? Maybe there will be Princess as a chaser in each set? Or maybe there will be a combo pack (like the Park series with the Mickey's) with a Princess with each series?

There are still lots of movies not represented - Beauty and the Beast, Lady and the Tramp, and The Little Mermaid to name just a few. It also seems like they are sticking to traditional animation, nothing from Pixar in either series.

Update: 1/1/11 Click on Mystery Chaser pic to reveal Chaser!

What do you think? Comment and start the conversation!

Update: 12/27/10 The latest rumor is that the chaser will come in 4 color schemes, only one per case, so there will be 4 chasers, and you won't be able to complete the set with only one case!

Update: 1/14/11 Disney has confirmed the chaser and 3 variants on their vault page. Click on the following images to see the variants.


The Disney Blog posted this picture earlier this month as part of the reward for "like"ing their new facebook page. We think it's Simba, but there was no Simba in this series, so is he the Mystery Chaser? a Combo pack? or park of another Animated Series.

Simba!
Update: 12/27/10 Several people are reporting both confirmation of Simba and confirmation of the fact that he's a combo pack like "Plane Crazy" Mickey and Park 4.

At Trade City 2010 three figures from this series were shown. Dodger, Fairy Godmother, and Mushu as pictured below.



Update: 1/1/11 Animated 1 9". The first two will be released on January 7th with the rest of the Animated 1 set.


Pete and Elliot

From: Pete's Dragon (1977)
Voiced by: Elliot (Charlie Callas)
Pete (Sean Marshall)
LE: 1200

This one looks awesome and I love the detail. I also love the fact that the size makes sense! The giant Dragon is a 9" and the little boy, Pete, is a 3".

One interesting note is that as part of the Animated 1 series you would think that everything would be animated. In Pete's Dragon the only character who was animated was Elliot (the dragon), so Pete wasn't animated and thus seems odd to include.







The Beast

From: Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Voiced by: Robby Benson
LE: 1000

Big, Beautiful, Brilliant! (What more do we need to say?)












The following will be out later in the year (as they are trying to spread the 9 inch releases so they don't get to be too much of a burden on our wallets)

Hyacinth Hippo

From: Fantasia (1940)
LE: 1200

This is another first in Vinylmation! An accessory that isn't made of vinyl! A fabirc tutu. It's so unique that I might just bend my "No 9 inch" rule.
It's the cutest Hippo I've ever seen!









Merlin

From: The Sword and the Stone (1963)
Voiced by: Karl Swenson
LE: 1000

Genie

From: Aladdin (1992)
Voiced by: Robin Williams
LE: 1200

Bolt

From: Bolt (2008)
Voiced by: John Travolta
LE: 1000

Only figure in the animated series that is a digital animation.

Willie the Whale

From: Make Mine Music (1946) "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met"
Voiced by: Nelson Eddy
LE: 1000










Information from various Disney Sources.

Animated IRL

The D-street store in Orlando had this on display yesterday :)

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Villains Explained

Update: 1/20/11 We now have photographic proof of the price of a single blind box. $9.95 in US ($12.95 in Canada). We also know that the triplet is Pete! Thanks to @keithkrebs!

Update: 1/15/11 Disney's Vinylmation Blog has announced the "official" released date as January 31, 2011. Villians 1 is a Disney Store exclusive and according to the blog will be released at "select" Disney Stores in the US and Canada. (Although some Disney Stores have them already out).

Update: 1/14/11 At the Star Wars release several people said their Disney Stores said they would release Villains on January 28th. So that's the newest rumor. We'll find out later today if any stores have them out today.

Update: 1/12/11 It's been rumored that the set might hit Disney Store shelves as early as Friday, January 14th. It's only two days away, so we'll see soon.

Update: 1/7/11 Click here to see what each blind box and the case will look like.

Update: 1/4/11 Check out the teaser image we found at "The Buzz" (one of Disney's online blogs). It seems to confirm that the Villains Vinylmation will be out in Spring, so that changes when we thought they'd be out from January to March, April, or May.


Update: 12/30/10 I thought I'd take today to update our blog posts with new information we received since the original leak back in November.
We now have the turn arounds of all the Villains and know the chaser (see below). We also know the artists of each. The set will be available in Japan first, and then come to the United States later in January. The set will also be released ONLY in Disney Stores.

11/26/10- And there's more! We also found the first figures from the Villains 1 set! (As rumored) Interesting to note that there are no extras or accessories with this set (so far).


Banzai

From: The Lion King (1994)
Voiced by: Cheech Marin
Vinylmation Artist: Jim Valeri

It's clearly a spotted Hyena. Shenzi has bangs, Ed has his tongue hanging out, Banzai has the thicker eyebrows that seem to be represented here.
He is one of the minions of the evil Scar. Which makes this an interesting choice. I like how they are including the "side kicks", leaving us anticipating more with future Villains Vinylmation releases.







Cruella de Vil

From: 101 Dalmatians (1961)
Voiced by: Betty Lou Gerson
Vinylmation Artist: Dan Beltran

They did a great job with this one. They captured her evil face perfectly. The body was going to be challenging, Cruella is a very thin character, but she wears this big coats, and they used that to their advantage to fill out the body.













Kaa

From: The Jungle Book (1967)
Voiced by: Sterling Holloway
Vinylmation Artist: Oskar Mendez

With a hypnotic gaze, this seems to be a figure of Kaa, as opposed to Sir Hiss from Robin Hood (Plus Robin Hood already is represented in this series by Prince John)
Also an interesting choice, as the Bigger Bad from this movie was Shere Khan. With two tigers in the Animal Kingdom set, did they want to avoid another tiger so soon after?












Madam Mim

From: The Sword and the Stone (1963)
Voiced by: Martha Wentworth
Vinylmation Artist: Kyle Jensen

She took many forms during the movie as she battled with Merlin. This is a great idea to include the Black Cauldron's bubbling brew as the body.














Pete

From: Steamboat Willie (1928)
First Voiced by: Billy Bletcher
Vinylmation Artist: Enrique Pita

With the overalls, hat and evil growl, this is one of Disney's very first Villains. Pete first appeared in a more "bear" like form in the Alice Comedies. This representation however is clearly from his more well-know Steamboat Willie role. Pete is Disney's oldest continuing character, predating Mickey, Pete was first archenemy to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. I LOVE the black and white design! This is Pete's second Vinylmation appearace. His first was as a chaser from "Have a Laugh" where he was represented in full color as Conductor Pete from "Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip" (1940).

Update: 1/20/11 Pete is the triplet (3 Pete's in each case)








Prince John

From: Robin Hood (1973)
Voiced by: Phil Harris
Vinylmation Artist: Enrique Pita


I loved Robin Hood when I was a kid, and so I personally enjoyed this Villain and it's inclusion in this series. Thanks Disney!












Ratcliffe

From: Pocahontas (1995)
Voiced by: David Ogden Stiers
Vinylmation Artist: Enrique Pita


Great representation here of Ratcliffe's evil smile! I love the color in this character too. The one thing here... Disney isn't bashful about adding accessories... where is Ratcliffe's signature tall hat?















Shan Yu

From: Mulan (1998)
Voiced by: Miguel Ferrer
Vinylmation Artist: Dan Beltran


This is a perfect representation. I love the use of Mickey's nose as Shan Yu's big, sculpted chin. And I like how they are not afraid to use the whole canvas to add little things. Anyone know what it says in his ears?










Stromboli

From: Pinocchio (1940)
Voiced by: Charles Judels
Vinylmation Artist: Jim Valeri


Stromboli is such an over-sized animated character, and they captured that in the head of the Vinylmation. Stretching his face over the entire head and extending the beard down the body really draws your attention. Great use of the ears to represent the curtains on the play stage.













Ursula

From: The Little Mermaid (1989)
Voiced by: Pat Carroll
Vinylmation Artist: Enrique Pita


Absolutely perfect representation. Ursula was made for Vinylmation. The head fits perfectly, using the nose for her big mouth. then the body of the Vinylmation is slightly rounded outward and Ursula's body represents perfectly onto it. Then, instead of filling the bottom half with her body, they use the feet to add some water and her tentacles. Brilliantly done Disney













Queen/The Witch/Old Hag

From: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Voiced by: Lucille La Verne
Vinylmation Artist: Gerald Mendez

In her "Old Hag" form and with an apple that is poisoned for Snow White. They captured her wickedness. I like the way they extended the face down into the body. they could have done many things with the ugly long nose, but I like the idea of drawing it downward instead of just letting Mickey's nose represent it. The drawn on apple is a great touch, but did they experiment with actually sticking an accessory apple onto her hand? And what's on the back? Do we get the Queen on the other side? Or is that reserved for a future release?












Mystery Chaser

From: A Disney Movie
Voiced by: You?
Vinylmation Artist: Kyle Jensen


Well, the most obvious choice for the chaser is Maleficent. When ever there is a group of villains, in anything from toys or video games, Maleficent is always there watching over. But there are some other groovy choices - Captian Hook, Jafar, or the Queen of Hearts - just to name a few. What do you think the final villain in this set will be?

Update: 12/30/10 To avoid spoilers, we hid the image of the chaser (now confirmed). To see who it is and what the Vinylmation looks like just click on the Mystery Chaser image.



Breakdown of Boxes: (Click photos to enlarge for detail)

Biggest note is that the character they have chosen to represent the Villains set is Ursula. (Which is great because she is one of the best looking designs).

The other note is that there is a number 1 with this series. So that makes us think there will be a Villains 2. W00t!

Information from various Disney Sources. The Buzz and the Vinylmation Vault
Case photos from toyark.com



Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Happy Birthday Stan Lee

You made it 88 years! Congrats! Love everything you gave to us.

Now.... When can we see your fabulous characters in Vinylmation form? Please say soon!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas Special: Ep. SP1 Gingerbread Man


Christmas Special: Ep. SP1 Gingerbread Man

Originally Day 23 of Mousevent 2010, this is a special holiday episode where we discuss little, but Nick learns a lot!

Saturday, December 25, 2010

2011

Wow, almost there. And it's crazy how fast it's come. But I honestly think I have almost two thousand and eleven Vinylmation. Just kidding... almost. But the new year is almost upon us and Maria Clapsis has designed four 2011 Vinylmation to celebrate the occasion. They are available now across the WDW and DL Resorts (parks, hotels and D-Street) and are sold in open window boxes. We picked ours up last night... and I have to ask... Is Disney just taunting us to get 4 of the same of the blue one?
Admit it, you think that would be cool too.

All four 2011's at D-Street.





Four Parks, One Vinylmation



Nothing says Happy 2011 like a Vinylmation with Disney Theme Park icons stuck all over it!


Simple. Colorful. Unique.

Send us comment, let us know what you think of these figures to ring in the New Year. Are you going to pick these up? What Vinylmation are you looking forward to most this coming year?