Whiskers & Tales and Furry Friends Photoshoot

We combined all the cute little animals of the Whiskers & Tales and Furry Friends sets for this trip around the Walt Disney World Resort.

Episode 102 Lightning McQueen

Ep. 102 Lightning McQueen This week we had lots of fun breaking news. The announcement of a follow up to Furry Friends. The early release of Myths and Legends. Monorails in Disney trade boxes. New Japan releases. And artist signings for the 2013 series and WDW Marathon.

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Finally, Furry Friends 2

After a long time of speculation and no comments by Disney, a photo of a tray of the second series of Furry Friends was leaked onto the Facebook site Vinylmation Exchange.

There is one change, the name. Series 2 will be called Whiskers & Tails. Vinylmation Kingdom reports that Disney Store Cast Members are pointing to January 21 as the release date. Now let's see what we can gather from the box art. First, it looks like the figures will follow in their predecessor's wake with specially crafted arms that look like paws. I'm sure all the custom artists have been looking for these for a while and will be happy to know they are back (I know I have been looking for over a year for a personal present). Other sites are also reporting that because of the size of the tray, we can expect the cool packaging from Furry Friends 1 (a 2012 DeeVee nominee for Best Packaging.)

Based on the box art we also know the 11 non mystery figures:

Lucky, from 101 Dalmations. Soon we will have all 101 represented!

Lucifer, from Cinderella. Looks pure evil.

Lambert, the sheepish lion. "Yes! Finally. There was a pin of him at Mickey's Circus that I really wanted and now there's a Vinylmation! I will be coming for that one, you bet ya." - M.C.

Bolt, from Bolt. We already had a 9" version but it's great to see a 3".

Figaro, from Pinocchio. Perfect. Many people felt this was one of the most obviously absent figure from Furry Friends.

Nana, from Peter Pan. It also looks like Nana's long face will be spread over the head and the top of the body. Well done the artist.

Lady, from Lady and the Tramp. This is a great pairing for those who managed to get a Tramp from Furry Friends.

Flower, from Bambi. Another good choice. Although we've already seen one as part of Animation 2. When do we get a Thumper?

Dinah, from Alice in Wonderland. There was already one as the chaser from the Alice series, but I think this one looks better and the paws are always an added bonus.

Hen Wen, from Black Cauldron. He is the magical pet pig of Taran and Dallben in Disney's 1985 feature film The Black Cauldron.

Tito, from Oliver and Company. Nice movie choice with a cool hair accessory.

There will also be a chaser of course. Any wishes for character selection?

No look at Whiskers & Tails would be complete without comparing them to Annemarie's Furry Friends 2 from earlier this year.

Lady, Figaro, and Nana were all part of her custom 12 figure set. As for Figaro and Lady, they look almost exactly the same. With Nana, I actually think I prefer Annemarie's better. The Disney one looks less energetic then hers. Also worth noting is that Annemarie included a set of the Fox and the Hound in her 12 piece series. This set will be part of the upcoming LE from the Animation 3 line.

2012 Dee Vee Award Winners

2012 DeeVee Awards The 2nd annual Destination Vinylmation Dee Vee Awards honors this year's best Vinylmation and Artists. If you haven't listened to Episode 96, please do, a lot of hard work was put into it by Nick and MC as well as all the presenters and artists who lent their voices. Here is the list of this year's winners. We hope you enjoyed the process and remember to be on the look out for vinyl to nominate for next year's Dee Vees. Please listen to our next podcast for the announcement of the winner of the Vinylmation from the voters drawing.
	Favorite Disney Artist Maria Clapsis Some of Maria's popular figures of the past year include: Star Wars, Tower of Terror Bellhop, and Roger Rabbit. Thank you Maria for all your hard work. And thanks to Inside the Magic host Rickey Brigante for presenting this award.
Favorite Disney Commissioned Artist NOAH NOAH gave us customs such as: DCL Pirates, Muppets, Villains and Epcot 30th. Thank you NOAH for your dedication to this art form.
	Favorite Custom Artist Annemarie This past year Annemarie has made many stand out customs including: Furry Friends 2, Hurley, LOST and Figero/Cleo.
Best 3" Figure Director Mickey Artist: Jim Valeri Set: Burbank Studios
	Best 9" Figure "The Clock Strikes Twelve" Cinderella's Castle Artist: Gerald Mendez Set: "The Clock Strikes Twelve" Thank you Lou Mongello from WDW Radio for presenting this award.
Best Jr. Figure Three Blind Mice Set: Nursery Rhymes
	Best 12 Figure Set Furry Friends Set: Furry Friends
Best non-12 Figure Set Disney Character Star Wars Artist: Maria Clapsis Thanks to presenter O.C. Vinyl Don from Vinylmation Traders.com
	Best Chaser Tower of Terror Bellhop Artist: Maria Clapsis Set: Park 9 Thank you to celebrity presenter Tom Corless, host of the WDW News Today and the See Ya Real Late podcasts.
Best Variant Dapper Dans Artist: Thomas Scott Set: Park 9
	Best Use of Ears Mickey's Philharmagic Donald Artist: Casey Jones Set: Park 7
Best Trading Location Online Thanks to Dedicated to Disneyland Paris Podcast host Steve Riley for presenting this award.
	Most Likely to Be Found in a Trading Box Robots 2 Artist: Billy Davis Set: Robots 2
Best Accessory Rhino’s Hamster Ball Artist: Monty Maldovan Set: Animation 2 Thank you to celebrity presenter Amber from the Revolution Diaries podcast.
	Best Mickey Director Mickey Artist: Jim Valeri Set: Burbank Studios Thank you to celebrity presenter Matt Hochberg from the WDW Today podcast.
Best Non-Mickey Platform Figure Park Starz Yeti Artist: Thomas Scott and Casey Jones Set: Park Starz
	Best LE Combo Set Carl and Ellie Artist: Ron Cohee Set: Pixar 1 Thanks to Carl C. Von Lewin from ChasingVinylmation.com for presenting this award.
Best Use of Clear Hat Box Ghost Artist: Casey Jones Set: Haunted Mansion
	Best Location Specific Director Mickey Artist: Jim Valeri Set: Burbank Studios Thanks to the creator of Vinylmation World, Gregg Gaines, for presenting this award.
Best Packaging Furry Friends Set: Furry Friends Thank you to celebrity presenter Brent Dodge from From Scream to Theme.com.
	Best Vinylmation Event Mickey's Circus September 7-9 2012 at EPCOT Thank you to celebrity presenter The Professor from the YesterEARS podcast.
Most Anticipated Upcoming Series Pixar 1 Release Date: All ready out! Thank you to celebrity presenter Rapinzel from the Once Upon a Pin podcast.
	Best DV Episode Ep. 088 - Coverage of the Mickey's Circus This is a great episode and includes an interview with artists Thomas Scott, Maria Clapsis, Eric Caszatt and Caley Hicks. Thanks to Matt Norris from Vinylmation Kingdom for presenting this award.
Favorite DV Cast Member The Woman Who Reads the Podcast Intros Years on DV: 2 Thank you to celebrity presenters: Adam from DisneyBrit.com and Juz from OrlandoSkyRadio.com.
Red Balloon Awards The Red Balloon Awards are one-time categories that honor special achievement in Vinylmation. They are named after the first chaser from Park series one.
Best Furry Friend Cheshire Cat Artist: Enrique Pita
	Best Park Series Park 1 Artist: Various Set: Park 1
Those are this year's winners. What do you think of the results?

Spotlight On: Custom Vinylmation Artist Annemarie: Furry Friends 2

It seems like it's been a long time coming. Ever since Disney's Furry Friends series was announced, Annemarie has been talking about all the other characters that also deserve a chance to appear on this modified mold. So she designed a set of 12 and today we unveil her newest customs she calls (the unofficial) Furry Friends 2!

We are excited to share these with you, and i know she is as well. Annemarie also brought the figures to Disneyland for a photo shoot. We also talked to her about these terrific designs.

Copper and Tod ("The Fox and the Hound" 1981)

Destination Vinylmation: What drove you to make your own sequel?
Annemarie: I loved the Furry Friends series, I thought it was such a cute idea to give the characters paws. I figured it would be a great opportunity as a custom artist to give the same look to characters I would have liked to see in the original series.

Lady and Peg ("Lady and the Tramp" 1955)

Little Brother ("Mulan" 1998)

DV: Did any Disney animals narrowly miss the cut of 12 or did you get in everyone you wanted?
AM: Tito from "Oliver and Company" was one I really wanted in, but we've already (luckily!) had several characters from that movie, I wanted to give a couple more obscure characters a chance, like Little Brother and Rufus, for example. I also would have loved to get the rest of Scat Cat's gang in.

Thomas O' Malley and Scat Cat ("The AristoCats" 1970)

Rufus ("The Rescuers" 1977)

DV: We will not let the little guys read this next question... Which one came out as your favorite? Why? And did you know this would be your favorite when you designed it, or did the way it came out make it your favorite?
AM: That's a really tough question. I've been working on these guys for over two months and have grown attached to them all! Figaro is probably my favorite, as you might have guessed. He was the first character I designed, and I really wanted him to be in the original Furry Friends series. As soon as I found out he wouldn't be, I set to work on him right away, so he'll always have a special place in my heart.

Figaro ("Pinocchio" 1940)

Georgette is one of my favorite Disney characters, so I was also a bit biased towards her before she was even finished. Peg is another favorite. As for ones I didn't realize would become favorites, Nana probably best fits that category. I wasn't expecting her to, but I think she came out as one of the best ones. (Scat Cat is another favorite. I love his little hat!)

Georgette ("Oliver and Company" 1988)

Nana ("Peter Pan" 1953) 

DV: Which FF2 was the hardest to design?
AM: Rajah was the hardest. I initially considered doing him from the scene in the movie where Jafar turns him into a baby. So he would be a cute little baby tiger cub. He definitely would have fit the mold better, so to speak, but I thought it would be a bit TOO obscure, and maybe he would be more recognizable if I just did his adult form.

Rajah ("Aladdin" 1992)

His ears were the toughest part, I was working off a Furry Friends mold that already had ears in the "ears," so I had to make Rajah's ears bigger than I would have liked to cover up the pre-existing ears. Such are the trials of covering up an existing design!

Little Leia is interfering with my photo shoot!