Episode 144 Zipper

Ep. 144 Zipper This week we review the releases of the past week including Animation 4, Disney Character Star Wars and the Dated 2014 figures. We also give our thoughts on the Eachez line of Vinylmation and have a full updated release calendar.

Download podcast

Details on Disney Store CM "Thank You" Figure

We finally have insight as to what exactly the Disney Store "Thank You" Vinylmation is. According to Vinylmation Kingdom, a Disney Store Cast Member has confirmed that DS CMs around the globe are getting these 3" Cast Exclusives as thank yous for all the hard work they do. They were created by the Vinylmation specifically for CMs and the figure was mentioned in the "Cast Communication" newsletter. Here are some photos of the figure and the box. As with the Japan D23 vinyls, I LOVE the box art more than the Vinylmation. Do you spot all those characters in there!?

Cast Member Vinys Photoshoot

Occasionally Disney releases a Vinylmation figure only available to Cast Members. Occasionally we take them to the park for pictures. There are a few variant pictures up on our Facebook page.

CM #2 The Ambassador on Main Street USA

-

CM #1 Retro Mickey visits the Emporium

-

CM #3 Voluntears thinks about inquiring within the firehouse about Sorcerers.

Back It Up in Style

Do you trust your Vinylmation with your most important data? Disney sure hopes so. The nifty tech gadget we saw in Japan a few months back has made it stateside. On March 2, Disney will release 8GB flash drives designed as Vinylmation. At $64.95, the price seems a little steep for an 8GB USB drive. A quick search on Best Buy's website shows that most 8GB drives can be had for $35 or less. There are more expensive ones, but they seem to come with special encryption and other data back up or security software that I doubt this one comes with. So Disney is banking on the fact that you will pay for the character. They have chosen three designs for this release.

Photo from Vinylmation World

Oopsy was the design released in Japan. He is originally a Thomas Scott figure from Urban 1. The second USB takes a design from Cutesters 1.

Lisa Badeen designed the entire Cutesters 1 series, and Disney seems to like to use this Owl design on various other Vinylmation products such as a women's bag that is available in the stores. The third design is from the Cast Member Exclusives collection.

This retro Mickey design was the second first CM exclusive to be released. So there is really something for everyone here to choose from, but will the USB drives be a hit? At the $65 price point, will you pick one up? If so, to use or display? And if you have used one from Japan, how are they? I'm assuming they are flat on the back of the figure so they fit easily into a laptop or back of a tower?

40th Anniversary Cast Trader Found!

Update: 5/21/11 According to Disney, the WDW Cast Traders at at the warehouse awaiting pick up by the various stores are the WDW resort. They will be available any day now in all 4 parks and at Downtown Disney trading locations. Have a magical search!

At the trade show tonight, DV reporter Ryan got this out of the Disney Mystery Box. It's one of the two variants to the WDW 40th Anniversary set. This piece (and its counterpart 71 piece) will only be available by trading in a mystery box at the WDW resort. Ryan will have more info on numbers and such from the show later, but it's nice to know these are finally here! (And they should be one of the first truly exclusive WDW pieces ever! Congrats to everyone who got one! We saw quite a few floating out there.

Cast Member Exclusives Released

Cast Member Exclusives
Released on various dates.

Cast Member Mickey Artist: Randy Noble Released: 3/19/09 LE: 20,000	Ambassador Artist: Randy Noble Released: 4/9/10	Volunteer Artist: Maria Clapsis