Update: Tail Spin Vinylmation Release Day moved to March 2

Disney moved the Disney Afternoons Tail Spin release day once on us already (to March 5 according to the official Disney Vinylmation Blog) now they moved it again.

According to the Events page at Disney's official Vinylmation website, the new release date is March 2nd.

screenshot from Events page

Check out our Events page for the latest release dates

Villains 9" Vinylmation on the way

Today, Disney officially announced three 9" + 1.5" (Jr.) Villains 1 combo sets to be released at select Disney Stores and the online Disney Store on March 21.

Picture from Disney Store Facebook page

The following concept art is from the official Disney Vinylmation Blog.

Maleficent 9" + Princess Aurora 1.5"
Artist: Oskar Mendez
LE: 700
Price: $59.95
Release Date: March 21, 2011
Where: Disney Stores and Online

Maleficent is the villain in the 1959 Disney animated classic "Sleeping Beauty". This isn't her first appearance on a Vinylmation, her first was in her more sinister and destructive form. After seeing this concept art, the 3D form (at the top) disappoints with the translations just a bit. We will have to wait to see it in person, before making a final decision. Princess Aurora is making her Vinylmation debut in this combo set, however this still leaves us without a true 3" Vinylmation Princess.

Julius 9" + Minnie Mouse 1.5"

Artist: Gerald Mendez

LE: 700

Price: $59.95

Release Date: March 21, 2011

Where: Disney Stores and Online

This is Pete's 3rd appearance on a Vinylmation, all in various forms. Although, this time he takes on his role as Julius from the 1995 Academy Award nominated short, "Runaway Brain". Pete looks great... with his peg leg, stitches and lots of color to the ears and hands. This set comes with a Minnie Mouse Jr. We will see a 3" Mickey Mouse from "Runaway Brain" as a combo topper in the upcoming Park 6 set.

Jumba 9" + Stitch 1.5"

Artist: Dan Beltran

LE: 700

Price: $59.95

Release Date: March 21, 2011

Where: Disney Stores and Online

We have Jumba to thank for bringing the lovable Stitch into our lives. Jumba created Experiment 626, as Stitch was named before Lilo adopted him, in the 2002 Disney animated "Lilo and Stitch". Jumba's round head and large body fit nicely onto the 9" Vinylmation figure. The artist brilliantly uses the ears to represent the stars and planets of outer space. Stitch Jr. is the second Vinylmation for this fan favorite Disney character. His first appearance was as a 3" vinyl in the Park 5 series.

Are you ready to add some 9" Villains to your collection? Save the date, March 21st.

Tree Trunk of Life

Here is a 360 turn around of the 9" Park 5 Tree of Life Vinylmation. Check out the great detail:

Did you/will you pick up Tree of Life?

Fantasmic! ...Behind the Scenes

Here is a look at the back of the 9" Park 5 Sorcerer Mickey Vinylmation:

Fantasmic! first appeared in Disneyland in 1992, Disney's Hollywood (then MGM) Studios in 1998 and is set to premier at Tokyo Disney later this Spring. The show is a little different at both parks and has a runtime of 22-26 minutes. I also just found out that EACH SHOW costs between $25,000-$30,000 a night!

Do you enjoy Fantasmic! (the attraction or the Vinylmation)

Disney Store Online Update 2/26/11

As of right now at the Disney Store Online:

All 8 of the Nerds in the Nerds Rock! set were available yesterday online for $9.95 each. Today however, everyone but Minnie Mouse is Sold Out. (We have to believe they will come back soon)

The 9" Park 5 Goofy's Barnstormer and Retro Disneyland figures released online yesterday as well for $44.95. They are both still available.

OTHER NOTEABLES:

Disneyland Ticket Books for $99.95. The price tag is steep on these, but I have them in hand, and for vintage Disney fans, it's well worth it. Great packaging. And limited to just 1955

Urban 5 Car and Driver 9" + 3" combo set for $74.95

9" Park 5 Mad Hatter and Dormouse 9" + 3" combo for $74.95. I can't believe this one is still available!

The Urban 5 Creatures and Hidden Mickey Ear Hat + 3" figure combos for $49.95.

10 of 12 Flags. The UK is the latest to drop off the site joining the United States. They retail for $9.95 a piece.

Villains 1 Cases and Singles $238.80 / $9.95

Cutesters 2 Cases $238.80

Toy Story Singles. $9.95 are now SOLD OUT!

Love is in the details

I know Valintine's Day, and the release of the 9" Cupid "Love is Blind" Holiday 2 figure, was a few weeks back, but I just noticed a sizable difference in the figure released for sale and the figure Disney posted on their blog. Just for fun, I'd like to share it with you and see what you think.

Here is the figure Disney posted online on February 14th:

Also, take a look at this close up, excuse the quality, of this picture of Cupid from Trade City last August:

Now, take a look at the released retail figure:

Note the 5 o'clock shadow on the chin on the first 2 pictures. However, on the released figure, they decided to go with a clean shaven Cupid. Also, there is no glitter paint on the hearts or buttons on the earlier versions. And the paint job isn't as good. They went with a yellow paint instead of gold. The early figures also lack the glossy paint on the blindfold as seen in the released version. (check out more pics of Cupid here)

I would have liked to see the facial hair stay... it fits in the with tattoos on Cupid's arm. It would have been a nice detail, but I will trade that for the upgraded paint job quality. The difference is in the details. And those details lead me to purchase a figure that I had decided to pass on based on the earlier prototype.

What do you think? Do you like the Cupid figure? Facial hair or clean shaven? And have their been other Vinylmation you originally passed on, but when you saw it in person in the store you decided to pick it up?

And the Artist is...

Well, Disney has finally let a piece of valuable info slip. Today Stephen Miller posted a blog about his interview with the Disney Artist responsible for the Flags Set. For a while now we here at Destination Vinylmation have been wondering who the mystery artist behind this series is, and now we know. The mystery artist is Caley Hicks, a new comer to the Vinylmation front. Also of note is that Lisa Badeen designed the cool boxes that came along with the series. Congrats to both of them on such a well designed series. Picture from Disney's Blog.

Look What the Tide Washed Up

This is what arrived at my doorstep yesterday: The Admiral Donald Set! Available only from the Disney Dream's inaugural cruise. We saw this set back at Trade City, and Nick just loves Donald, so it was only a matter of time before the set was purchased. At Trade City we saw both 3" figures, but never knew there would be a Jr included in the set.

Dream Stars Jr. In the top picture you can see the back of this junior with the fancy Dream logo. Here is the front, with white stars and two yellow stars.

The 3" figures in this set are pretty straight forward, designwise. One shows a color version of Donald Duck, the other shows the same design but as a bronze statue, similar to the statue that is in the Dream ship itself. On the back is a tail, and that's about it. Still a cool set, but there wasn't anything more then we saw beforehand.

Good V Evil Boxing

Today the Vinylmation Blog gave us our next release date. One March 11th, the 3rd Juniors Series will be released in D-Streets Florida and California. It will later be released online at the Disney Store on March 18th. The series is entitled, "Good Luck / Bad Luck" and we assume, like past Junior Series, it will come with 16 normal figures and 2 chasers (most likely a "good luck" chaser and a "bad luck" chaser)

They also released a photo of the box this series will come in, so let's check that out.

	This side looks like the "Bad Luck" side, so I guess the opposite side will have the white cat on it. In the logo we can see some suggestions of other symbols that might be part of the series: a horseshoe, the number 13, a skull and crossbones, a bat, and lightning?
	Here's a co-luck side. Nothing particularly new here. The size will be 1.5" . It shows both the black cat and the white cat. They also mention that there are keychains as part (like the first two series)

These are the two figures we have already seen, one for good luck and the other for bad luck. They were revealed as part of the info dump on New Years at midnight.

Is anyone looking forward to this series? How many of you actually collect Juniors? Let us know! Leave a comment.

It's a Goofy Release Day!

Disney will release a couple 9" Park 5 figures today at D-Street Orlando and CA. Goofy's Barnstormer and Retro Disneyland. Check out some pictures here. They are also available right now online. Retail price is $44.95 and they are limited to 2 per customer.

Screenshot from the Online Disney Store

Also remember, Disney has pushed back the online release of the Disney Afternoons Tail Spin combo pack to Saturday, March 5.

Please bookmark our Events page for the latest updates.

A Perfect Pair

Two Mickeys One Broom

Straight from Hong Kong

This weekend we got a nice surprise in the mail (well okay, we paid a lot of it, but we're gonna call it a nice surprise). Our 3" vinylmations from Hong Kong flew all the way from Asia. Between Dumbo and his feather, and Sorcerer Mickey and his magical hat, they made their way to our homes for some pictures. Check out the picture above, the figures came in the new (and much hated) boxes, we prefer the tins.
Check out the back sides of these figures. Both have a reference to the 5th Anniversary Celebration that is the event these vinyl were released for. Also notice the hidden Mickey that the magic glitters form on Mickey's back.
	Check out the bottom of each figure. They both say "Hong Kong Disneyland" and reference the "Celebration in the Air" 5th Anniversary Festival. Notice that neither figure mentions an artist. That fact still eludes us. (Also pictured is the platform from the bottom of the boxes.)
	Here is the Hong Kong 9" Castle Vinylmation. Check out the great castle on top. With a great silhouette of Mickey in the body. On the back of the head is another castle (that makes three), a giant 5, and the words "Celebration in the Air"

What are your opinions? How much would you pay for each of these?

Working for a Collection...

Clear those shelves fellow Vinylmation Anonymouses. The Occupation Series will be coming out on March 4th. There will be 10 3" figures, each sold with one of three Jrs associated with each 3" figure. That means that there will be a total of 30 Jrs! 30!! They will be open window (like Sports) and come out first at the D-Streets at Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

IT Tech 3" This looks awesome. The screen and keyboard are the perfect gift for that friend who is really into computers.

	Finger Click Jr One of the three Jrs that might be included with IT Tech. It shows the familiar icon of a finger that we all associate with the mouse.
	Thumb Drive Jr Another of the Jrs that might come with IT Tech. A great representation of a thumb drive.
	USB Cord Jr. The last of the three Jrs that might come with your IT Tech purchase. I like the simplicity of this figure.

Look for more info on this series as it comes.

What other occupations do you think will be part of this set? We know Teacher and Fireman. Leave a comment with your ideas.

Photos from Disney Vinylmation Blog.

Tailspin's Wings Iced

Today Disney announced on their blog that the Tailspin online exclusive series will be delayed until March 5th. This is a Saturday. Does this mean it now lines up with some other release? Maybe they will have the rest of the Disney Afternoon Series out in stores the same day? I hope so! What are your thoughts?

Photo from the Disney Vinylmaton Blog

Stormtrooper of the Week #04

Well, I'm a day early with this one. My week has been so out of sync that I forgot what day it was today. But that just means you get a smile a day early.

Sometimes the Stormtrooper of the Week hits too close to home.

Spotlight On: Cesar Diaz

Last week, Cesar Diaz from Reseda, CA sent us pictures of his custom Vinylmation LOST set. Check it out here if you missed it. Impressed by this set, we asked Cesar a few questions about his artwork.

Destination Vinylmation: How long have you been creating custom Vinylmation? Cesar: I've been doing customs for about a year now. Only recently has it become more serious. DV: How many pieces have you created? Cesar: I've done about a total of 25 vinylmation customs. I started off with Munny customs. But once Vinylmations were introduced there was no turning back.
DV: What's your favorite creation? Cesar: My favorite so far is Lilo. That was the first custom I added clothes to. DV: What other art-forms do you create? Cesar: I do illustrations and cartoon/comic drawings.
DV: Do you collect the Vinylmation created by Disney artists? Cesar: Of course I do! I only collect the ones I like though. DV: What is your favorite Disney Vinylmation figure? Cesar: My favorite is Stitch (Park 5), although Buzz Lightyear is great as well.
DV: Can you describe the creation process of the LOST figures? Cesar: The origin of the LOST customs came from an idea my cousin Steve Zaragoza and I had. We started to talk one day about how cool it would be if Disney would make a LOST series. But we realized that probably would never happen. So I decided to make my own. The first one I did was Locke. My cousin Steve sent me a sketch of Locke. Once I get the sketch I modify it to make it work on a vinyl. Steve designed Locke, Hurley and Kate. The others were designed myself. I always knew I wanted to do a series of 12 vinyls. Some days I would make 1 per day, others it was 3 per day. As far as the clothing, I wanted to put them in the clothes they wore the day of the crash. None of them were really hard to do, just a lot of fun to make.
DV: Some artists struggle, but you made good use of the ears. Was painting the island on the ears your plan from the start?
Cesar: Your so right! The ears are always a challenge. When my cousin Steve sent me the first sketch of Locke he put the island on the ears, which I thought was brilliant. It wasn't until I had a couple of vinyls made that I decided to make a part of the island in the ears, so when you put them together it completes the island.
DV: Which one of the Lost figures you created is your favorite? Cesar: I don't really have a favorite. I love them all. I did have a lot of fun designing Charlie, his shoes especially.
DV: Where you happy with the LOST finale? Cesar: At first I was a bit disappointed. Not many things got answered about the island. But as time went by, I re-watched the finale and I get it now. It was never really about the island. It was always about the people. So I'm happy with the ending. LOST will always be a big part of my life. DV: Will we see a LOST Series 2 from you? Cesar: Most definitely! I'm already thinking about the characters. One thing's for sure, Series 2 will be the Dharma edition. I'm really looking forward to creating Desmond and Ben. DV: Do you have any for sale? Cesar: All the vinyls I create are for sale. I also do special requests. DV: How can people contact you? Cesar: If people are interested in any customs, they can email me at darthcees@gmail.com also they can add the facebook group "My Customations". DV: Any tips for people who want to begin creating custom Vinylmation? Cesar: The only tip I can give is to have fun with it! Oh, and try to get your work seen. It's always good for people to review your stuff.