Vinylmation Review - The Jungle Book

Released: February 24, 2014

Blind Box Series

I'm happy to see another Disney series released in Disney Stores! The icing on the cake is that this series is so well done artistically and with a good choice of characters. The chaser was predictable, but its predictability is forgiven on the grounds of how well the figure was done. I don't think anyone could predict it would feature clear vinyl and Mowgli being hypnotized.

I will not be collecting any of these just because it's not what I collect, however, I'm sure this series will appeal to many Disney fans and Vinylmation Collectors. Even the artwork on the box is fantastic! Reminds me of the copy of Jungle Book written by Rudyard Kipling that I had as a child. It looked just like the box, down to the gold font.

Reasons to love this series:

• I think this series is very creative. The characters aren't plain by any means! Shere Khan has his trademark angry expression, Bagheera is being hypnotized by Kaa, Baloo is wearing the disguise he uses at King Louie's palace and Mowgli has his angry face... "I'm not afraid"
• The use of arms. It's good to mix things up and try new things with Vinylmation, it's even better when it works well. King Louie's arms are perfect! Bagheera's arms from Furry Friends and Whiskers and Tales works wonderfully too. In a similar vein, I'm glad Hathi Junior's trunk is an accessory, it makes the figure so much more desirable than if it was painted on
• The vultures - how awesome are they?! For a start they are iconic (maybe more so to me as a Beatles fan) and memorable: "what do you wanna do?" "I don't know, what do you wanna do?" I think it's great that they're in this series and in such a creative way: as 4 Jr figures
• The incredible level of detail. The Shere Khan vinyl looks identical to a movie cell! Mowgli's expression is impressive, it looks just like him and captures his mischief and cuteness at the same time. I'm blown away by how much detail is on each of the Jr. vulture figures
• Ears, ears, ears! I just love when Vinylmation ears are used to their full capacity. Bagheera's ears feature Kaa hypnotizing him, King Louie's have a banana, Shere Khan's ears have the tall grass, Hathi's have been used as his elephant ears, and Baloo and Mowgli have jungle scenery
• The characters in this series that we've seen before in other series, have unique takes by different artists in this series. It's great that these repeated vinyls (in most cases) are very different, not slightly different from their preceding vinyls 

Things that aren't so great:

• I really can't think of a single critique for this series! It really has been expertly executed. All that I will say is that most of the vinyls in this series are repeated characters from other series: Kaa, Mowgli, King Louie, Shere Khan and Baloo. This is not the fault of the Jungle Book artists, and as I've already said, the Jungle Book vinyls are very different. However, the repeats might dissuade collectors who own these characters already, from picking them up again in this series