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Episode 061 Cookie Jar

Ep. 061 Cookie Jar This week we talk more about Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, the exciting new game at MK. We also give the latest news updates about Park 7, Disneyland Paris and more. We have the latest release and events calendar. And we play your voice mails in the Mystery Mail Bag.

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Release Day: February 24, 2012

I don't know about you, but I kind of like the surprise of recent release days. Not knowing what's to come only days before Friday, or in some cases on the day itself. Today, the 9" Park 7 Main Street Electrical Parade LE 1500 figure was released at D-Streets and Online.

Thanks to the Online store posting, we also got a look at the reverse...

Are you all aboard this Lin Shih design? Also released both in stores and online, the 7 Adventures Ticket Book.

I was on the fence about this one... until I saw the back.

This Thomas Scott designed LE 1500 figure has great detail and a retro figure. Both have a nice $44.95 retail price! Very nice to see that. Also very nice to see, D-Tour available online...

I can tell you from the couple I purchased, these are excellent designs and look great in person.

More 9" Park 7 Release Dates

9" Park 7 LEs 7 Adventures MK and Main Street Electrical Parade Train to release on 2/24 at D-Streets. CM quoted me price of $44.95 out of book. The 2 figures sit on display in Orlando.

Animation 2 Photoshoot

We couldn't keep them boxed up. The figures from Animation 2 wanted to check out Walt Disney World. So Austin and I took them around the parks to see their favorite spots. Austin added some captions too. And as always, there are plenty more pictures from this shoot on our Facebook page.

Attention: We found the Bear Necessities.

Chicken Little got so tired of saying the sky is falling, he decided to make a sign.

Now only if there were two of every instrument in the Philharmagic Orchestra … or is there?

Where a million diamonds shine! Or in this case four, but they ARE realllllllly shiny.

Flower is just simply twitterpattered by all the flowers.

Beware whilst walking in Liberty Square at night you might come home without a head.

A rare moment where Jiminy Cricket gets time to himself.

I can guarantee you he whistles while he works and so do those trains.

Jose and Donald enjoy a little siesta.

Nobody monkeys around with Monkey Fist and lives to tell the tail, that’s just Kim Possible.

Sebastian got caught in a net, best be careful Chef Louis doesn’t catch him.

It ain’t too long a walk to Tiggr’s mailbox when you’ve got a spring in your step … or is it tail?

Tinker Bell welcomes guests to the Kingdom.

New Star Wars Figures Coming Soon

by Nick LoCicero

I've been waiting so long for these! The Disney Parks Blog has announced a March release for the Disney Character Star Wars Series 5 set.

Series 5 will feature Huey, Dewy and Louie as Jawas and then, for the first time, a few Clone Wars figures made the cut. Donald Duck as Commander Cody, Daisy as Aurra Sing, Goofy and Cad Bane and Stitch as General Grievous.

Read Full Article Here

Light Up Set Delayed Past 3/28?

We had a comment just posted on our Disney Store 25th Anniversary Light Up Explained page. It appears to be a Disney employee and came from a Disney.com email address.


Hi Vinylmation Fans,
Please note that the release of this series has been pushed out past 3/28/12. However, we will release our special Limited Edition 25th Anniversary Singleton on 3/28 – in stores and online. Be sure to check Vinylmation.com for more updates as we get close to our 25th Anniversary Celebration!
Have a magical day!
MG
Disney Store

The 3/28 was never confirmed by Disney, and now it looks like that date will come and go without this series.

Combo Contest #3

Combo Contest 3 The Rules: 1: Take Vinylmations and form a new one by changing around the parts (the easiest way is to put a new head on another one's body). 2: Email the photo to . In the email include your name, a name for the combo figure, and explain which parts you used to make your figure. 3: You can use any old mold or new mold Vinylmation, Park Starz, or official "accessory" to help create your figure. You can not use anything that is self-painted. You can use a "make your own" piece, but only if it hasn't been painted. The more interesting and better themed, the more likely to win. 4: Enter as many different combos are you want! The Prize: The winner will receive a Vinylmation (from a list we will supply). Once the winner is chosen, they will receive an email with a list of Vinylmation that we can send out. The winner then chooses which they want and they get it! There will most likely be several winners (the last contest had two, even though we only said their would be one!) The Due Date: The contest will end at midnight EST on March 20th. The winner will be announced on the next podcast following that date.
	Abraham Lincoln;  Vampire Hunter Head: Abe Lincoln Park 6 Body: Abe Lincoln Park 6 Hat: Pirates 1 Ax: Haunted Mansion Bride Park Starz Zombie Head: Runaway Brain Mickey Park 6
Fine Print: The winner will be named by Destination Vinylmation. All decisions are final. All photos may be published in a gallery for Destination Vinylmation and have a Destination Vinylmation watermark added. Feel free to add your own watermark to your photos, but all photos will be credited to the person who emails the photo. If two people send in the same combo, only the one to arrive first shall be considered. Destination Vinylmation is not responsible for any problems that might arise from the separation of Vinylmations. The list of Vinylmation to win is subject to change, but we promise NO CLEARS!

Two Patriots

Update: 2/20/12 Steven Miller later responded in a comment that the Uncle Sam figure will be a separately sold open window box figure.

In honor of President's Day, the Disney Parks Blog has shown us some great looking upcoming figures. The first is the 9" Holiday 3 Patriot we saw on the poster at the Florida Project.

Its designed by Casey Jones and will be released later this year. I like the detailed look on his face and the patriot hat is amazing.

The second is Uncle Sam. Our best guess is this is the first we are seeing if Holiday 4. This figure will be a limited release open window box figure similar to what they release for Valentine's Day or Halloween and should be released around the 4th of July. Very exciting.
Thanks to @velco_wallet for the heads up!

First Park Starz variant announced!

Looks like Lincoln got bronzed! Is it just part of the Linsanity? Nope, it's the first Park Starz variant. At the trade show they mentioned these would e coming out this year, but they never told us what they would be. Here he is.

Bronzed Lincoln
LE 2500
Dstreets
June

Disney Store Tunes Vinylmation Explained

Update: 02/20/12 Four of six figures released today. Stitch, Daisy, Mickey and Goofy. Thanks to Vinylmation Kingdom for the picture of the yet to be released Donald figure.


Update: 01/28/12 February 20th release date set for Country Daisy, Disco Goofy, Classical Mickey and Punk Rock Stitch. Classic Rock Donald and 80's Dale will be out at a future date yet to be determined.


Update: 01/11/12 Picture of Classical Music Mickey released!

Looks amazing in my opinion! That face is classic! And i really like the use of body to put the music sheet stand. The music notes in the ears are a perfect touch. The conductor wand looks too much like Fairy Godmother's though for my taste.


Update: 12/29/11 Pics of the actual Dale and Goofy figures were released below. Also, the list in the previous update of the other 4 characters has been confirmed by Disney.


Update: 12/23/11 Vinylmation Kingdom and Stitch Kingdom are reporting more figures that will be available in this series. Country Music Daisy, Classical Music Mickey, Classic Rock Donald and Punk Rock Stitch. No concept art available for those figures yet.

12/22/11 Today the vinylmation.com blog revealed a new series we are tentatively calling "Tunes" and it seems it might be a Disney Store exclusive (based on the the file name including DSTunes).

It seems to have Disney characters dressed in the attire of various music styles from a myriad of time periods. First up is Dale dressed in 80s wear and Goofy dressed as a cast member of Saturday Night Fever.

	Punk Rock Stitch Mohawk. Spike dog collar. His facial expression. Amazing figure.
Picture from Vinylmation Kingdom	Classic Rock Donald After wondering the direction on this one, they decided to go England classic rock. Love what we see.
	Country Daisy The hat is priceless. The outfit is very old school country girl. This is diffently no Taylor or Mirranda. The face is a little weird, but I like the artist trying new things with the duck bills.
	Classical Mickey Perfect. The use of the baton and the stand in front of him give this figure a lot of character. Hopefully they make his baton a little less "fairy godmother" light blue. And I hope he has tails on!
	80s Dale This guy looks a little confused as to just what he's representing. Is it the 80s colors? The Walkman? The fingerless gloves? The sweat bands? There is a whole lot going on here. After update: The headphone accessory is radical! And check out the totally tubular detail on the cassette Walkman! This figure is too legit to quit.
	Disco Goofy I love this one. Disco balls in both the ears. An obvious big hair accessory! I love the suit too. After Update: The hair does look similar to Spooky Series and the disco balls look amazing!

Episode 60 Cheeseburger

Ep. 060 Cheeseburger Nick and MC discuss the latest news and then review the recent Park 8 set. Then we finish off the podcast with Mystbag and a few speculations for the upcoming week. Stay tuned at the end for a big discussion on the Park 8 Chaser.

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Park 8 In Depth Review

Park 8 is the second set in a row dedicated to the 40th anniversary of Walt Disney World. Great idea for WDW fans like me, but not a favorable plan for some Disneyland enthusiasts. But with four parks, 2 water parks and a ton of resorts to pull ideas from, there are no shortages of designs specific to Walt Disney World and it worked well. It also opens up the door to theme future Park sets to other resorts around the world... an idea that I would very much welcome.

The breakdown of this set gives us 4 figures from Magic Kingdom, 3 from EPCOT, 1 from Studios, 1 from Animal Kingdom, 1 from a resort, 1 from a water park and 1 generic WDW. We were also given 5 "accessories"... 2 of which are brand new ideas to Vinylmation. An artist break down shows three artists giving us 3 figures each.

Thomas Scott designed the three above. Maria Clapsis contributed these three.

And Casey Jones did these.

Overall, this set has a perfect selection of different designs. From popular attractions to niche characters to logos and even a park ticket, it has something for everybody. The production value is also top notch. As you will see, there is a lot of little detail across this set. As evident in the small, yet detailed logo of the Kilimanjaro Safari on the back of the truck and this...

That is the back of the head of the MK Park Ticket. It was one of the biggest surprises once the set was in hand. How geeky is it, but wow! I love that Thomas actually printed the writing on the back of the real ticket, onto the vinyl. So while overall, I give this set very high marks, and will break it down figure by figure, the first figure I will talk about is to me the biggest disappointment. The chaser from this set, while not my least favorite, is my most disappointing Park Series chaser. Only because what it represents, means so much to me, I had hoped more attention to detail would be payed to it. And the funny part about it, the figure has more actual detail than I think it should. Here it is.

Fort Wilderness Mickey was designed by Casey Jones. But you probably already knew that because you have seen this design before. His body is practically identical down to the detail of Casey's brilliantly designed Davy Crockett figures.

If you follow DV closely, you know that Casey's Davy Crockett is one of my all-time favorite figures. And I also defend the idea to produce both a 9" and 3" version with identical designs, just a different color tone. And honestly, my problem is less the copying of an existing design, than the fact that the Park 8 chaser is not the Mickey from the Fort Wilderness logo. Take a look at the Mickey on the official logo from Disney.

The sign that hung at the campground entrance

Another look at the logo from a sign

(picture from DisneyPins.com) When  Disney released this commemorative pin, the correct Mickey was portrayed.

I don't think I'm splitting hairs to say that our chaser doesn't look like the Mickey on the logo. Like I alluded to earlier, the Mickey on the logo has much less detail to it and is a different kind of outfit. From color to no belt to the shoes and even the color should be more tan than brown.

The hat has a slightly different design... look closely at the black bands. But again, its not the copying of a pre-existing design that bothers me. I'd like to know if this decision was the artist's, because I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the higher ups who make the final decisions wanted to just push this design through instead of taking the time for a redesign.

Now, please don't call me a hypocrite for liking both the Park 7 and Animation 2 Tinker Bell designs. There is a pointed difference between what each figure means. One is the movie version and one is the sparkly version that flies above MK. But to me, this chaser is supposed to represent the Mickey we see on the logo, and it just doesn't. Don't get me started on no riffle.

The 25th Anniversary Logo was designed by Maria Clapsis. The figures fit well on to the mold and I agree with the decision not to detail Genie, Simba and Lumiere's faces.

EPCOT's Sea Base Alpha by Eric Caszatt is a perfect niche item. The arms almost look like robots and the bubble has a great paint job.

EPCOT Center 82 is a Thomas Scott design that is perfect retro.

Eric Caszatt chimed in with a rare Vinylmation ride vehicle! The Animal Kingdom Safari Truck has so much detail and an amazing looking logo on the back. It also has a no mud variant version... but why would you want that?

Blizzard Beach is the lone water park represented. And it is done perfectly by Casey Jones with the tourist Snowman.

New to Vinylmation, but not to designing at Disney, Jon Bishop has given us a brilliant 3" Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I so enjoy the under water and surface transition. Here is a sample of Jon's other work:

In addition to pins, it seems he worked on some of the artwork for Star Tours and big pin trading events like Trade City a few years back.

Not my favorite figure in this set, but my favorite choice for a subject matter... it's Buddy from the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor designed by Thomas Scott.

It's about time we get a Horizons figure (not counting Park Starz). Casey Jones chimes in with the Robot Chef. Love the ears. The bottom of the figure doesn't exactly mimic the real robot, but in visualizing trying to get an exact copy of the real robot onto the mold, you would probably pull other features out of proportion.

How about 100 Years of Magic? We have a few sorcerer caps now, but this one gives us a fresh take. Some would argue use of brim on the accessory hat, and maybe that shouldn't be there, but the design from hat to head lines up perfectly... and you can't beat that.

Maria Clapsis gave us this one. The back also has a cool Mickey head star swirl.

Maria also designed Minnie Moo. One of those obscure characters, but she did a great job on the design.

And of course got the familiar shaped spot on the side.

Then, what I think is the set's crown jewel, the MK Park Ticket from 1981 by Thomas Scott. We were wondering if Disney would do it, and they did. Punching a hole through the ear and tying a string in it. The printing detail on the front is simply spectacular. But its the writing on the back that ices the cake.

I can't wait for EPCOT Center!!!! In my book, this set is an instant classic. Rivals Park 4 and 7 for my top slot. What are your thoughts?