The Dark Side Revealed

Looks like Darth Vader's Star Wars Series 2 Vinylmation was hiding out north of the border. Vinylmation Kingdom, in their search for the empire's secret location was lead by the force to a newspaper in Vancouver Canada. Thanks for your dedication to the Rebel Alliance guys! The Vancouver Sun just published an article that featured this little guy to showcase the hot Disney collectible:

This gives us a better look at the helmet we saw as an outline on the Vader pin. It is a molded piece of plastic attached to the head to give the feel for the helmet coming down to the shoulders. Love it! The Sun article talked all about how Disney is now "hip" and the Vinylmation collectible is part of this movement. Here are some excerpts:


It’s a souvenir shop called D Street and there’s nothing Winnie The Pooh or Tinkerbell about it.


Instead, the place is wall-to-wall with something called Vinylmation, and you could be forgiven for thinking you have been transported to Tokyo, given that the funky little anime-style 3D vinyl figurines are more urban art than embroidered mouse ears could ever be.


It all began in 2007, says Steven Miller, Disney merchandise communications manager, when company designers decided to take a step beyond Goofy stuffies and trading pins.


To say Vinylmation has been a hit is to underestimate that ol’ Disney magic.


“We hadn’t planned on the response,” says Miller. “We knew we wanted something artistic, but something like the pins, with an opening price point for guests.”


How popular are they? Outside D Street, two young men lugging plastic trays full of their Vinylmation collections are in trade mode. And this September, at the annual Mickey’s Circus Trading Event in Florida’s Epcot, an entire day will be devoted to all things Vinylmation.


“There are,” says Miller, “certain items you don’t leave the park without. The hats, the pins. And Vinylmation is certainly up there."


Check out the entire article here at the Vancouver Sun site.