Vinylmation Review - Toy Story Series #2

Toy Stores Series #2 (not to be confused with the movie Toy Story 2) features characters from all 3 Toy Story movies. The series was announced at the Imagination Gala and I think it's held up to collectors' expectations.

Reasons to love this series:

• The design - I know that sounds broad and obvious but here's what I mean. The figures really look like toys! Somehow Ron Cohee has made Trixie, Twitch and Buzz look like plastic toys, but without making the Vinylmation figure itself look cheap and tacky. In the same vein, Dolly looks like she has a soft, plush doll texture, and Mr and Mrs Potato Head look like toys with 3D body parts
• Great accessories - I think the best accessory is Buzz's arm and the way he can hold it. I also like that his other arm is clear, I think it looks better. The other great accessories are Mr and Mrs Potato Head's hats and Buzz's helmet
• The mix of old and new characters - we've seen Buzz, Woody and Jessie before, but this time they all look different, giving you reason to want another "duplicate" figure. There's nothing worse than wearing out a figure by repeating it too many times. There's also some new characters too
• Good choice of variant - I like variants to make sense and not be created for the pure sake of a variant. The former has been done here with the Mr Potato Head variant and I think it's a hit with collectors
• Good use of clear - like I said before, it was perfect to make one of Buzz's arms clear. I also like the clear ears on Twitch to show off his antennae appropriately 

Things that aren't so great:

Overall I think this is a really strong series. The only downside I can think of is a personal opinion. I don't think Twitch is an amazing chaser. I think he's a fantastic figure that's spot on, but I don't think he's memorable and popular enough to warrant being the chaser.