Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The chaser could be This, could be That.

In another interesting development, Disney has revealed that the Chasers to the Jrs 5 set "This and That" have changed. Disney had this to say.

"We learned that the trays were accidentally assorted incorrectly. If you buy a tray, you will still get the entire series yet the mystery chaser figures were switched. -Vinylmation.com"

Original Chasers
New Chasers

To me, this is a good thing. I really enjoy the "Smoke and Mirrors" and "Peanut Butter and Jelly" over "Ups and Downs" and "Wing and a Prayer". This also explains the curiosity we discussed on the latest podcast, because both the old chasers were on display.

But this production error after Furry Friends and whatever happened with the Disney Store 25th Light up set makes for some curious problems in the Vinylmation arena. Does this bother anyone, or do you accept it as one of the downfalls of the world?

Popcorn Vinylmation? What does this mean?

Today the Disney parks blog teased a new Vinylmation series. Popcorn Vinylmation will be a series of figures reimaged with a new look.

Will this be similar to Park Starz, where everybody gets their own design?

Does this get too far away from the Mickey mold to be considered Vinylmation?

(picture from Disney)

Spotlight On: Custom Vinylmation Artist John Ward

We spotlighted John Ward last year with some of his great 9" customs and he is back to share a couple villains and a non-Disney set as well.

Destination Vinylmation: Why all the villains?
John: The villains are some of my favorite characters in Disney movies, so naturally I enjoy creating customs of them.

DV: What is the first custom you'd like to share?
John: First up is my 9" Gaston, from Beauty and the Beast. I sculpted a rifle for him to hold and also a quiver, with a couple arrows, for his back. This was the second time I sculpted something from the reverse of a Vinylmation figure, which made things easier since I knew what not to do.

DV: What was one challenge you had with this figure and how did you overcome it?
John: I had a hard time deciding what to put on his ears, but finally decided on making it a stormy night, like when he confronts the Beast towards the end of the movie.

DV: Your next custom is Judge Frollo, from Hunchback of Notre Dame. What are some of the features of this character?
John: I must be honest, I still haven't seen this movie, although I really want to. I just never got around to watching it, but I will one day.
 I knew that with Frollo I needed to sculpt his hat, it was a must because the figure wouldn't look right without it. I also wanted to sculpt his rings. I felt they would also add something to the piece. The hat is the largest sculpted piece I've done to date, which was a challenge in itself.
I also added the cloth red part. I was thinking of sculpting that too, but decided that using cloth would make it look much nicer. Also, if you remove the hat, you can see I added a couple arches on the ears.

DV: One of our favorite TV shows is The Big Bang Theory. So your next set really excites us. Tell us about these figures.
John: I don't normally work with 3" pieces, I've only created 2 so far, and both were commissioned pieces. However, I felt that for this set, 3" would work better.
The set is the main characters from the show. I enjoyed creating them more than I thought I would. My number one concern was if I'd be able to get the detail I wanted to achieve on a much smaller work area than I'm used to. In the end though I was able to through using the small brushes and lots and lots of patience.

DV: Can you give us some hints on what your working on right now?
John: Currently I'm working on several projects. A piece for a charity event here in Jacksonville, some 3" pieces for Evilos' Blind Bag Series coming out later this year, and also I'm re-working one of my earlier customs, Jafar. I have a couple ideas on how to improve him and make it a better custom piece, along with adding something to him that I haven't tried before.

DV: If readers would like to inquire about purchasing your work, how can they do that?
John: All of my current customs are for sale on my website; www.siberianarts.com along with all my other artwork. Any questions about my pieces can be sent to siberianarts@gmail.com
You can also see my latest projects and updates on my Facebook page; Siberian Vinylmation Customs.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Central Park Vinyl On Sale

Today, the 9" Central Park Vinylmation went on sale. This LE 1540 Oscar Mendez design retails for $49.95.
The Playwright stopped by the Times Square Disney Store to take some pics of this colorful creation on the shelves.
The side of the box explains a bit about Vinylmation and the NY series.
The other side shows the concept art and the LE number. I like the design a lot. A great job of depicting perspective and a great color pallet.
The good news is this figure also went on sale at DisneyStore.com. It is interesting to note that this one comes with an Artist Card!

It's a Wrap: Slash by Annemarie


My husband is a HUGE Guns and Roses fan (Slash in particular). I've known I wanted to make him a surprise Slash Vinylmation for awhile, but I figured it would be a great birthday gift. So just this past weekend I presented him with it. It obviously went over very well!

Slash is known for his hat, so I started with a Villains 2 canvas so I could get the hat perfect (rather than sculpting it).

I wanted to be sure to get his trademark sunglasses and of course a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. I decided to paint his tiny guitar on rather than sculpt it, and give him a nice hard-rock skull T-shirt for simplicity's sake. I used this photo for inspiration:

I also wanted the hat to still be able to come off if possible. I used a Dr. Facilier base so Slash could have clear ears.
All in all my husband was very pleased, and I had a lot of fun doing a non-Disney related Vinylmation for the first time.

-Annemarie

Romantic Treats Review by Aurelio

We got an email with these pictures and a nice note from Aurelio. Check out her review...

"Hi everyone,

I don't know if there is already a thread about the Romantic Treats series from Japan but I would like to make a report about this series.

I received my tray this week and.... I love this collection!

I would like to make some observations:

- they smell the chocolate
- the series name below the vinylmation is not romantic treats but "choco colle series"
- arms are glued to the body

Here are some pics from my set:



-Aurelio"

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Episode 057 Mission: Spacesuit



Ep. 057 Mission: Spacesuit

Wow! A lot of news came out this week. Park 8 was revealed. So was Cutesters at the Beach. New Animation 2 LEs, Park 7 LEs. Also updates on the NFL, NBA, MLB and the reveal of the NCAA set. In this week's feature, we discuss the raise in price for 9" figures and the influx of a variety of LE sets.
Play in Pop up Player


Download Episode

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Kitchen Kabaret Tickets, only $99.95!

Disney has released the information about when we will be seeing that Park 7 LE Kitchen Kabaret set.
On February 10th they will be coming to the WDW and DLR D-Streets as well as EPCOT's MouseGears and Mission: SPACE Cargo Bay.
The set was designed by Maria Clapsis and has a limited edition number of 2000. That's great... now for the bad news. Back at The Florida Project they said that this set would be $74.95.
Sign in The Florida Project display case

Unfortunately, the Vinylmation Blog yesterday announced the price at $99.95. This is a disturbing trend that began with the announcement of the Park 7 ELP Dragon price of $74.95 earlier in the week and continued last night when it was told to guests that all single 9" figures going forth with start with a $74.95 base price. The reasoning given by Disney officials is "rising production costs." What does this mean for your Vinylmation collection? We will be talking about it on this week's podcast. Chime in with your thoughts here or voice your concerns by voice mail 209-28-MOUSE and we will play it on this week's show.
I love this set. And Kitchen Kabaret is one of those attractions that is well suited to an LE set all it's own. The figures are designed so well too! Look at the curtain in Bonnie's ears. And the top on Mustard above. Personally, we have seen $99.95 on previous sets of 6, but that's my ceiling. And 9"s at $75? I think have purchased my last one unless I can pick it up in a Christmas fire sale at the end of the year.

NCAA Collegiate Teams Explained

Release Date: February 10, 2012
Where: WDW, DLR, Online (see below for where a specific team will be released)
Price: $14.95
Details: This set of College teams, like the other teams sets, will be released in waves. The first wave includes Florida, FSU, Ohio St., Penn St., UCLA and USC. The teams without pictures have all been announced as coming in the future.

Update: 2/11/12 Duke and Iowa added to lineup.


Florida Gators


WDW, Online

Florida State Seminoles


WDW, Online

Ohio State Buckeyes


WDW, DLR, Online

Penn State Nittany Lions


WDW, DLR, Online

UCLA Bruins


DLR, Online

USC Trojans


DLR, Online


Texas Longhorns

North Carolina Tar Heels

Michigan Wolverines

Miami Hurricanes 

Alabama Crimson Tide

Iowa Hawkeyes 

Duke Blue Devils 

University of Central Florida Knights

Not announced, and I know it's not a popular nation-wide brand, but if they release it locally like a lot of these teams are being released, there is no reason they can not do it. There is a strong base of locals and especially students that attend UCF and work at Walt Disney World. Not to mention all the alumni in the area. Show us some love!

MLB Teams Explained

Release Date: First Wave: February 10, 2012
Where: WDW, DLR, Online (See below for where specific teams will be released)
Price: $14.95

Update: 01/28/12 Release date of 2/10 announced as well as where certain teams will be for sale. Yankees and Red Sox are the only teams that will release in all three locations. Some teams will be released in the Disney Store in their home city. Also of note, NY Mets did not make wave one as expected. Instead, the SF Giants will be an initial release.

This will start as an 8 figure Open Window set. They then can then add more teams later on. All the figures have the same basic design. A baseball in the right ear. Grey batting gloves. A hat with the team's logo painted onto the head. A Home jersey painted onto the body. The feet have a pair of spikes painted onto them. The only missing element that would skyrocket these in awesomeness.... an accessory bat!


Boston Red Sox


WDW, DLR, Online

New York Yankees


WDW, DLR, Online
Times Square Disney Store 2/15/12

Atlanta Braves


WDW, Online

LA Dodgers


DLR, Online


Chicago Cubs


Online
Chicago Disney Store 2/15/12 

Anaheim Angels


DLR, Online

Philadelphia Phillies


Online


San Francisco Giants


Online
SF Disney Store 2/15/12