Snapshot Sunday - Snow White 80th Anniversary POPs

Since GameStop recently had a buy one get one half off sale, I finally picked up the entire Snow White 80th Anniversary set I'd had my eye on since it's release!

Merry Christmas!

Snapshot Sunday - The Red One

Kingdom of Cute Series #2 Release

A second and equally adorable Kingdom of Cute series was released today at select Disney locations. The second installment is a 12 figure set including 11 common figures plus one unknown chaser, all designed by popular Disney artist Jerrod Maruyama.

The known designs are: Yeti, Dumbo, Electric Light Parade Bug, Mark Twain Riverboat, Eagle Sam, Mickey premium ice cream bar, House of the Future, a monorail car, the Barker Bird, Pirates of the Caribbean crest, and a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea submarine.

This is a limited release blind box series retailing at $19.99. It is available for purchase at the WonderGround Gallery, ShopDisney and the ShopDisneyParks app.

Happy Halloween!

I wanted to share the two Nightmare Before Christmas Movie Moment POPs I acquired recently. The first is Under the Moonlight. It's Jack and Sally on the hill above the graveyard and it's beautiful! I picked this up for $24.99 from GameStop but I've also seen it at Books A Million and Barnes & Noble.

The second is Zero in his doghouse. Zero is super cute and glows in the dark! This is a BoxLunch exclusive that I bought on their website. It was actually on sale at the time but regular retail price is $28.90.

The Happiest Cruise Vinyl Series Release

We haven't had any Vinylmation releases (as we know them) all year, but today a new vinyl series by Jerrod Maruyama has been released - The Happiest Cruise.

This series is based on Disney's It's A Small World attraction and includes 11 designs plus one unknown chaser for a total of 12 figures. The Happiest Cruise features characters representing the U.S.A., England, France, Africa, Canada, Holland, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Brazil, and Mexico.

This is a limited release blind box series with all figures designed by Disney artist Jerrod Maruyama. Each figure is 3" tall, the same size as traditional Vinylmation features. Blind boxes retail at $19.99 and can be purchased at the Wonderground Gallery and ShopDisney.

Snapshot Sunday - Hot Topic Exclusive Doug POPs

Last week I posted my Doug Funko POP! collection and this week I wanted to show the Hot Topic exclusive Doug POPs I bought - Quailman and Quaildog. I was able to pick these two up with the other Doug POPs at my local Hot Topic. As a big fan of Doug, I think these two POPs were a great addition to the collection.

My Thoughtful Spot: Vinylmation Chasers vs. Funko POP! Chase

I'm back with another My Thoughtful Spot article, this time comparing Vinylmation Chasers and Variants with Funko POP! Chase. Let me start by defining these terms for those who aren't familiar with them.

Vinylmation would be sold in "cases" of either 16 or 24 boxes, depending on whether there were 8 or 12 figures in a set. In each case, there would be 1 figure called a Chaser, which was more rare than all the other figures - either 1 in every 16 figures or 1 in every 24 figures. Typically Disney would share images of all the vinyls in the set, except for the Chaser, which would remain a mystery until a collector discovered what the vinyl was. And so the Chaser got its name, it was the one figure collectors would keep chasing after.

Every Vinylmation series had a Chaser, and many series (though not all) would have a Variant. A Variant was a duplicate of a figure already in the series, but with a twist. For example in one Marvel Vinylmation set there was a figure of Iron Man, as well as a variant of Iron Man with his mask off, revealing Tony Stark's face. Variants, unlike Chasers, were randomly seeded in cases and their exact quantities were never known. In a similar fashion to Chasers not being revealed, Variants were never advertised, they were a mystery to be discovered by collectors.

Funko POP! have a similar concept to the Vinylmation Variants, but their figures are known as the Chase. Chase figures are almost a duplicate of a POP! figure already in a series, but like Vinylmation Variants, the Chase vinyls have slight differences. For example in the Snow White Funko POP! set, there is a Chase of the Dopey figure without his hat, with a lipstick kiss on his bald head instead. Chase figures are also labelled with a circular yellow sticker saying "Chase". Again, like Vinylmation Variants, the frequency and quantity of the Chase POP! is not known. One store could receive 3 Chase vinyls, while another store receives none. However, unlike Vinylmation Variants, the Chase is announced by Funko so you know they're out there somewhere.

What's appealing about Vinylmation Chasers is that you know in every case there will be a Chaser. Where ever Vinylmation are sold, including online, you have a shot at getting the Chaser. If you were to buy two cases, you would know you're getting 2 Chasers. By comparison, you never know if a store will have a Funko Chase and if so, how many they'll have. But if you're buying individual Vinylmation blind boxes, you could still leave empty handed without a Chaser just like you could visit numerous stores searching for a Funko Chase and come up dry. With Vinylmation Variants, once you know they exist in a series, you're almost playing the same game as trying to acquire a Funko Chase. You never know when you'll come across either.

The main difference between the brands is how to identify a Chase, Chaser or Variant. If you're trying to get a Vinylmation Chaser or Variant, all you can do is try your luck, purchasing blind boxes at the risk of getting duplicate figures you don't want over the coveted Chaser or Variant you desire. Funko POP! are the opposite, they are sold in open window boxes so you can see instantly if the figure is a Chase and immediately purchase it if so, without wasting money on figures you don't want. The act of the "chase" doesn't exist in the same way for Funko as it does for Vinylmation. Sure you can run around to different stores looking for the Chase figure, but it's a little different to opening mystery boxes and seeing what you pulled.

The open window format definitely saves Funko collectors money when trying to hunt for Chase figures, but it also has a drawback for the collecting community at large. Vinylmation collectors were always taking a risk when they purchased blind boxes hoping to get a Chaser or Variant. They were putting money on the line. There is no deterrent for Funko flippers who could see multiple Chase figures on a store shelf - across several stores even - and buy them all as soon as they see them. There are always flippers when it comes to collectibles, but I think Vinylmation blind boxes make it a lot harder for flippers to do what they do. If they insist on flipping, they will be spending a lot of money to do so, which may not be worth it in the end. The open window format of Funko Chase figures only aids and encourages flippers because it's much cheaper and easier to flip Funko POP!

I do like that with Funko POP! you know if there's a Chase figure to chase after or not. It can be a while after a Vinylmation set is released before anyone knows there's a Variant to look for. It also seems that because Funko Chase figures are easier to acquire, they're not all outrageously priced on the secondary market like Vinylmation. Years after their release, many Vinylmation Chasers and Variants still sell for around $100 or more on the secondary market. While some Funko POP! are similarly priced (or even higher) there are still many Chase figures for purchase at more realistic prices in the $30-$50 range. Yeah that's still a lot for a plastic figure that may have retailed as low as $8.99, but it's not as out of reach for collectors as many Vinylmation figures are, some of which have been dubbed "holy grails" due to their elusiveness.

I know I seem to sit on the fence a lot, but it's really hard to say which I think is better: Vinylmation Chasers and Variants, or Funko POP! Chase figures. What I like most about the Funko Chase is that you know what you're looking for before you find it. However I think they're just as difficult to find as Vinylmation Variants. Vinylmation Chasers in theory are much easier, but in practicality are still very difficult to come across.

Snapshot Sunday - Pele & Barker Parrot POPs

Snapshot Sunday - Doug Pops

I was a big fan of the Disney TV show Doug growing up and I loved seeing the show Doug Live! at the Disney-MGM Studios. When I saw that a Doug Funko POP! collection was on the horizon, I counted down the days until they were released and didn't hesitate to purchase the whole collection!

My Thoughtful Spot: Does Accessibility Help or Hurt the Hobby?

Hello humans! It's been a long time since I've posted an article like this and I'm excited to share new content with you! As Vinylmation production has dwindled and I've moved toward collecting more Funko POP! figures, it got me thinking about the difference in accessibility of each of these collectibles and what that means for the hobby. I am not debating whether accessibility caused the demise of Vinylmation, but instead looking at the affect accessibility has on Vinylmation and Funko POP! collecting.

Let's start with what I mean by accessibility. Vinylmation began as a Disney Parks product. They were sold at numerous locations across Walt Disney World and Disneyland, and then there were separate Vinylmation lines that were available at Disney Stores and the DisneyStore.com, including Disney Stores overseas. Outside of that, Vinylmation could not be purchased anywhere else, unless you were purchasing from the secondary market like eBay or Amazon sellers. Therefore, Vinylmation had a more limited accessibility for collectors.

By contrast, Funko POP! are available on a much wider scale and are therefore more easily accessible. Funko POP! can be purchased online, at smaller independent locations such as comic book stores, as well as several big chain stores including: Walgreens, Target, ThinkGeek, Wal-Mart, GameStop, Barnes & Noble, Hot Topic, Books A Million, Vintage Stock, and Box Lunch. (Funko POP! were also sold at Toys R Us).

You don't have to go to a Disney Park, live near a Disney Store, or cough up shipping costs for an online purchase, in order to buy Funko POP! vinyls like you had to do with Vinylmation. Each selling strategy has both advantages and disadvantages. Limited accessibility made Vinylmation a more special, exclusive collectible, but it also meant collectors who weren't able to purchase vinyls from Disney directly were giving their money to secondary market sellers - their only option. I imagine this made it hard for Disney to accurately gauge the popularity and profit generated from the Vinylmation collectible.

For Vinylmation, I think the limited accessibility definitely helped and hurt the hobby at the same time. I really liked how special Vinylmation were because not everyone had them. I enjoyed stocking up when I did visit Disney parks, I am fortunate enough to live 20 minutes from a Disney Store, so at times I could purchase vinyls there, and I reveled in mail days when I purchased Vinylmation online. I probably wouldn't have gotten into Vinylmation if they were sitting on a shelf in Wal-Mart. However, I can see how that also drove people away when they could pick up other collectibles at a cheaper price with less effort. On the flip side, I've heard a few Vinylmation collectors refuse to get into Funko POP! because they think they feel like cheap collectibles, in part because of the mass production for these numerous retail locations. (I've spoken more about that in this article).

I think the wider accessibility of Funko POP! has definitely helped that hobby because they can reach a wider audience and market. I will say it has been a nice change of scene for me after experiencing the limited availability of Vinylmation to be able to purchase POP! vinyls with ease. I had been anticipating the release of the Doug Funko POP! set and was excited when I received an email from Hot Topic saying the Doug Funko POP! were now in-store. I decided the next day to visit my local Hot Topic where I was able to purchase the entire set of three vinyls, plus the two Hot Topic exclusives. It was great to want something and be able to immediately acquire it.

However, the wider accessibility of Funko POP! doesn't automatically mean you'll be able to instantly pick up what you want. Many stores sell POP! vinyls but they each have different lines on offer. In my area, ThinkGeek, Hot Topic, Box Lunch and GameStop have the widest variety of lines, with my local Target stores selling mostly Star Wars and Stranger Things with the occasional Disney POP!, my local Wal-Marts sell only Marvel and Star Wars, and Walgreens stores around me sell only Star Wars vinyls. For those who don't want collecting to be too easy, you can still experience a challenge without Funko POP! feeling almost out of reach.

I recently enjoyed hunting down Roz from the Monsters, Inc. series as well as Rosie from The Jetsons series. I tried to find them at ThinkGeek, Hot Topic, Box Lunch and GameStop (since these stores have the widest variety of lines) before finally finding both Roz and Rosie at my local Vintage Stock. You can't beat that feeling when you finally find the POP! you've been searching for!

I think it's great to have a nice mix in the levels of accessibility with vinyls to keep things interesting but not impossible, and I think there are notable pros and cons to both wide accessibility and limited accessibility with vinyl collectibles.

Snapshot Sunday - Monsters, Inc. POPs

I picked up the new Monsters, Inc. Funko POPs recently and they were harder to acquire than I thought! I got Sulley and Boo at ThinkGeek but Roz proved more challenging to find. I tried ThinkGeek, Hot Topic, Box Lunch, and GameStop before finally finding her at my local Vintage Stock (where she was the only one!). She is incredible but I thought Sulley and Boo would be the more popular figures. ThinkGeek was the only store where I found the Chef POP, but as cute as he was I passed on him. I'm a big Monsters, Inc. fan so I'm loving this set!

Snapshot Sunday - The Emperor's New Groove Pops

I absolutely adore my Emperor's New Groove Funko POPs! I purchased these at Hot Topic including the Llama Kuzco Hot Topic exclusive.

Funko Enchanted Tiki Room Pele & Barker Parrot POP! Released

To celebrate the 55th anniversary of Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, a new Disney Parks Exclusive Funko Pop has been released at the Walt Disney World Resort. This is a Limited Release two figure set featuring the Tiki God Pele and the Barker Bird. The two pack retails at $34.99.

June 27, 2018 updated to add: This set is now available for purchase at ShopDisney

July 1, 2018 updated to add: This set is on backorder at ShopDisney and will ship July 30, 2018

Snapshot Sunday - TRON Pop

I picked up this TRON Funko POP! on sale over Memorial Weekend. He wasn't really on my radar but I do love TRON, he was on sale and... he glows in the dark!!!

Snapshot Sunday - Disney Theme Park Pops

I realized that I never shared my Disney theme park exclusive Funko Pops that I picked up last fall. I am a HUGE Orange Bird fan and he is absolutely adorable in Pop form! Sadly I had to get him on the secondary market because I'm not a WDW local and he was not available online or on the app. But I got him at a fair price.

Figment is my all time favorite character and he is an incredible Pop figure! I checked the app and ShopDisney about every 30 minutes when he was first released, and the second I saw him on the Shop Disney Parks app I didn't hesitate to purchase him!

I love them both and enjoyed taking pictures of them while I was at Walt Disney World last October, stay tuned to see some on the blog!

My Thoughtful Spot - Disney Vinylmation vs. Funko Pop Vinyls

What better place to start as I begin adding Funko Pop articles to Vinylmation Isle than with a post comparing Pop vinyls to Disney's Vinylmation?

A quick summary if you're not familiar with Funko Pop, Funko is a company that produces numerous lines of collectible figures. I would say the most popular and well-known line is their POP! vinyls, which are vinyl figures from various aspects of pop culture including movies, television shows, cartoons, and music icons. Disney is very prominent in the Pop vinyl line.

I held out on buying Funko Pop for the longest time because I really didn't need yet another collectible item to swallow all my money. If my memory serves me correctly, the first Pop vinyls I remember seeing were The Big Bang Theory characters and I just didn't get it. They had weird square shaped heads, no mouths, and didn't look like the characters from the show at all. Later on I came across WALL-E and Eve Pop figures and realized Funko made Disney figures too. I still wasn't into it because I didn't like the WALL-E and Eve designs, they were also too boxy and square, but the Disney characters definitely got my attention.

So what made me jump right in to Vinylmation and why didn't Pop vinyls grab me in the same way? Are both collectibles created equal?

The whole concept of Vinylmation seems to me to be artistic representations of various Disney characters and Disney parks attractions, all in the shape of Mickey. It's in the name "vinyl" and "mation", taken from animation. Fans therefore collect these little pieces of art and nostalgia and form a beautiful collection of different designs all with the same uniform shape, which makes them look amazing on display. Funko Pop vinyls don't have the same alluring concept to me as Vinylmation. They don't have a unique purpose in the way Vinylmation do. In the same way that Vinylmation have the common factor of each figure holding a Mickey shape (with the exception of Park Starz), Pop vinyls have a common factor too, which is big, round, black eyes on every figure. But Pop vinyls are just vinyl figures of icons from pop culture. They don't tell a story, they're not uniquely designed. There's somewhat of a theme to them (pop culture) but it's a very broad theme, unlike Vinylmation, with numerous sub-themes.

What drew me to Vinylmation was the personal connection. Each figure is a 3" piece of art that holds Disney memories for me. Sure there were seemingly random sets like High School and Wrestlers that were ugly as sin, strayed from the main idea of Vinylmation, and were sorely unsuccessful. But I focused my collecting efforts on the strong Parks series line. I loved to collect these small representations of my favorite Disney attractions, places and characters. I have a Vinylmation of the Empress Lilly to remember my third birthday party held there, I have Colonel Critchlow Suchbench who represents my many happy nights at the Adventurers Club. I have gorgeous figures of Carl and Ellie from Up, the first Disney movie I saw with my husband. The personal connection to these figures is part of what makes Vinylmation a true collectible in my opinion.

By contrast, Pop vinyls are much less personal. They're not made to reflect places and attractions, they're not even artistic representations of characters, they're just pop culture icons in plastic form, which to me feels more like a toy than a collectible. There's no thought process or concept art from an artist behind each Pop. What made Vinylmation unique was the challenge of having artists paint a design on a Mickey shaped canvas. Sure the vinyl could be Cinderella and have no deeper meaning than that, but it would be that artist's vision of what Cinderella looks like, drawn on a set canvas. Furthermore, in the early days, you'd even get a small card showing the Vinylmation's concept art along with the artist's signature. Just like certain items of memorabilia come with certificates or artist autographs, that's how Vinylmation felt with this awesome little card - a true collector's piece. Pop vinyls have no creativity or deeper meaning. They are simply cutesy looking figures of well known characters. They don't come in a beautifully designed box, they come in more standard looking boxes with plastic open windows that I think, again, make them look more like toys.

Vinylmation always felt like a collectible to me because of their exclusivity. They were available at Disney Stores, the Disney Parks, and on the Disney Store's website, enough locations that they were accessible but still not everyone had access to them. Pop vinyls are much more easy to access. They're sold at Walmart, Walgreens, Target, Toys R Us, Barnes and Noble, Game Stop, the list goes on. The easier level of access to Pop vinyls once again made them feel like a toy to me and they felt less special. Walt Disney World vacations had increased hype as collectors looked forward to stocking up on the latest Vinylmation releases while they were there, people made special trips to the Disney Store purely for Vinylmation, and we would stay up late throwing online release parties as we waited for new releases on the Disney Store's website. Collectors had such a sense of pride that they finally acquired the figure they wanted through these means. It doesn't feel as special to pick up a Pop vinyl along with your groceries.

There are some instances in which Pop vinyls are more exclusive. There are convention exclusives and other event exclusives, just like Disney had with Vinylmation. In that sense they are the on par by having limited releases. But when Disney had Vinylmation event exclusives for things like the Food & Wine Festival and trading events, they meant exclusives. You would not find those pieces at the Disney Store, or online. Conversely, Pop vinyls often have "exclusives" such as convention exclusives available at stores like Hot Topic and ThinkGeek, removing their convention exclusivity by being available outside of the convention they were designed to be exclusive to. That to me removes the reason to have the vinyl and the point of making it an exclusive.

Another similarity between Pop vinyls and Vinylmation is the rare figures. In the Vinylmation world there are "chasers", that one figure in every series that is more rare than the others, but with known odds. There's also "variants", an alternate version of a known figure with unknown odds, the rarest of them all. In the world of Pop vinyls, there's a "chase", an alternate version of a figure with known odds, similar to Vinylmation variants. The difference here however is that with Pop vinyls always being open window, it's easy for collectors to sift through a store's Pop vinyl offerings and snap up every chase in the store. With Vinylmation, they were sold in blind boxes, so the only way to get a chaser was to buy these boxes and try your luck. For me this made chasers and variants far more special as you opened your blind box not knowing what was inside, leaving you in pure amazement when you pulled that rare figure. Sure you can feel pretty special when you arrive at a store and spot a chase, but driving around from store to store until you find one doesn't have the same magic in my opinion as opening a blind box.

Then there's the production quality differences between Vinylmation and Pop vinyls. Disney were very strict on their production quality when it came to Vinylmation. If paint jobs were pretty bad, Disney would recall those Vinylmation, pull their product from the shelves, and start over. They would not sell what they considered to be a sub-par product. There were still occasional minor defects that I felt couldn't be helped, but for me those were few and far between. Pop vinyls however have much higher production levels than Vinylmation, which means they have much lowered quality. I can count the number of Vinylmation I have with minor defects, but I can count the number of Pops I have that don't have defects. The paint job on Pop vinyls is pretty bad on what seems like 98% of their figures. They feel more like a toy with low production quality like that.

Another highlight of Vinylmation was that with so much Disneyana out there, it felt special when something you loved became a Vinylmation, because Disney would only work on select licenses at a time. I remember my excitement when Disney made a Cranium Command 2-pack because I LOVED that attraction! But Funko work on tons of licenses at once, which means whatever you can name probably already has a Pop vinyl version in existence. It's not as special to be able to pick up a Pop of whatever you want just like that.

For those on a budget, Pop vinyls are much kinder on your bank account. 3" Vinylmation started at a $9.95 price point, but soon reached $12.95 to $14.95 depending on the line, with some more limited figures reaching $16.95, and Park Starz retailing at $18.95. Pop vinyls however are as low as $8.78 at Walmart - cheaper than Vinylmation ever were - and the highest price I've seen them reach has been $12.99 at ThinkGeek and Vintage Stock. (The super size Pops retail higher of course, just like 9" Vinylmation do). Vinylmation can get expensive pretty quickly, especially if you're blind boxing and don't even end up with the figures you want after dropping all that money. An advantage of Pop vinyls is that you know you'll get what you want and you'll pay a lower price for it.

Pop vinyls often looked more like toys to me because so many of them looked like plastic figures. Vinylmation rarely looked like that to me. They were designed and painted in such a way that they never looked cheap and plastic-y. The DC Comics line of Pop vinyls look especially bad to me, I don't like the chunky stance the characters have and how plastic they look. I also hate bobble head Pop vinyls and I'm not sure I'll ever buy one. Bobble heads to me are cheap and gaudy and reinforce Pops being toys. I make ONE exception to that rule, which is Baby Groot. Since Groot dances in his flower pot, a bobble head is warranted, but not for every Marvel figure. Even when I personally didn't like, or want a Vinylmation figure, they still looked like collector's pieces over toys to me the majority of the time.

In my opinion, if you are a Disney Parks fan wanting a collectible, Disney's Vinylmation are far superior to Funko's Pop vinyls. If you simply want a collectible figure, Pop vinyls are a good way to go. They reach a wider audience: fans of movies, video games, cartoons, TV shows and music, for the Disney and non-Disney fan. But having said all this, I do collect Funko Pop figures now. Why after everything I just said? Because I've settled. Vinylmation is no longer what it was and I miss that. I can't get it back, so I'm settling for the next best thing. It doesn't change a lot of what I've said in this article, but like I said, I'm settling.

I think it's sad, Vinylmation would have had me as an exclusive collector and I never would have bought a Funko Pop if the Vinylmation hobby was the same now as it was in 2011 when I started collecting. Maybe they felt they were already losing too many collectors to Funko and that played a role in why Vinylmation fizzled out? We'll never know. But despite my new Funko additions, Vinylmation will always mean far more to me and will remain the superior collectible.

A Note on the Future of Vinylmation Isle

It has been a while since I posted so if you're still here reading this - thanks! I haven't posted in a while and as I quickly approach the 5th birthday of this blog, I wanted to write a short note to let my readers know (if you're still here) my future plans for Vinylmation Isle.

If you've been following for a while, you know that with all the changes in the Vinylmation world commencing in 2014, I've gone back and forth on whether or not to keep this blog going, and if so what content to feature. I started this blog for fun and had so much content in the beginning that I would post 3+ times a week, sometimes every other day! (Can you believe it?!) But that's just not possible anymore because there's not enough happening in the Vinylmation universe.

It started becoming stressful for me to rack my brain for something to post. I want good content here and I don't want to post for the sake of posting. To take away the stress of blogging and to keep it the fun outlet I intended it to be, I have decided from here on out that if I have content to post, I'll post it. If I have time for some Throwback Thursdays, I'll feature some of those. But if I don't have time for those things and I don't have ideas, I won't be posting. If that means weeks or even months pass by without a post, my apologies. I don't want filler content here and I don't want to stress myself out about how much time it's been since my last post. If this blog becomes too stressful, I will stop altogether, because there's just no need for that added stress. I work a full time job and I'm now a military reservist so my time is limited. This is the best compromise I can think of for not giving up on the blog altogether.

I don't want this post to be all doom and gloom, because I do have future content in the works! There will be more posts! I just want you guys to know that the frequency of new content here will be less than it was in the past, but at the same time I don't want you to think if you see that it's been a month or more since I posted that I'm over it and that's the end because currently it's not :)

I want to thank everyone who participated in the poll I had a while back regarding Funko Pop. Thanks to your feedback I will be including posts about Funko Pop lines here on the blog and I hope you'll enjoy those topics too. Thank you guys for continuing to read and follow along, and thank you for your patience and understanding! If you have any ideas or suggestions for future content, I'm all ears! Please comment or email me and maybe I'll make that happen! I appreciate you sticking with me :)

2017 Vinylmation Isle Awards

Welcome to the 5th Annual Vinylmation Isle Awards! As an obsessive lover of Vinylmation, I decided there's no better way to honor the hobby I love so much, than to award some of the best figures and artists for their contributions to the Vinylmation universe this year. (Vinyls were only eligible to win in each category if they were released between January 1 and December 31, 2017).

And the winners are...

Favorite Disney Artist

Maria Clapsis

Favorite Variant Figure

Haunted Mansion Ghost

Series: Park Starz #5

Artist: Thomas Scott

Favorite Park Starz Figure

Computer Engineer

(affectionately dubbed "Foxy Brown")

Series: Park Starz #5

Artist: Thomas Scott

Waldo

Series: Park Starz #5

Artist: Thomas Scott

Favorite 9" Figure

Haunted Mansion Bride

Series: WonderGround Gallery

Artist: Jasmine Beckt-Griffith

Favorite Minnie Platform Figure

Disney Store 30th Anniversary Minnie

Series: Disney Store 30th Anniversary

Artist: Marvin Lao

Best Chaser

Jungle Cruise Boat

Series: Kingdom of Cute

Artist: Jerrod Maruyama

Best Use of Ears

Holiday Goofy

Series: Holiday 2017 Eachez

Artist: R. Bristol

Best Eachez

2017 Holiday Goofy

Artist: R. Bristol

Best Human Likeness

Luke Skywalker

Series: The Last Jedi

Artist: Maria Clapsis

Best Accessory

Holiday Goofy's Hat

Series: Holiday 2017 Eachez

Artist: R. Bristol

Haunted Mansion Bride's Candle

Series: Designer Eachez #1

Artist: Miss Mindy

Best Packaging

Kingdom of Cute

Artist: Jerrod Maruyama

Surprisingly Appealing

Minnie Mouse Eachez

Artist: Caley Hicks

Most Creative Idea

Kingdom of Cute

I hope you enjoyed the 5th Annual Vinylmation Isle Awards and thank you to everyone who voted! Please join me again next year! You can also check out the new 2017 inductees that will be coming soon to the Vinylmation Isle Hall of Fame. 

2018 Walt Disney World Eachez Release

A 2018 Walt Disney World Eachez has been released at the Walt Disney World Resort, the Shop Disney Parks App, and ShopDisney. The Eachez features Mickey Mouse and contains one of two possible figures: a Black/Red Mickey Mouse (the common figure with 9/10 odds of being in the blind box), or a White/Red Mickey Mouse (the variant figure with 1/10 odds of being in the blind box).

This is a limited release Eachez with exact quantities unknown. Both figures were designed by Disney artist R. Bristol and each blind box retails at $16.99.

Throwback Thursday - Polar Bear

Series: Cutesters Snow Day

Artist: Maria Clapsis

Released: January 2014

Snapshot Sunday - Inside Out Funko Pop

For Christmas my husband got me Fear, Joy and Anger Funko Pop figures! I'm super excited because I love, love, love Inside Out but I was sad that Disney never made an Inside Out Vinylmation series, so I'm happy to have these figures in Pop form instead. I already have Bing Bong and Disgust so now all I need is Sadness to complete my set. If you'd like to trade please let me know!

Throwback Thursday - Mail Pilot Mickey

Series: Mickey Through the Years

Artist: Enrique Pita

Released: March 2014