Star Wars #4 Jawa and Droid Set Release

The final combo set for Star Wars #4 and Star Wars Weekends 2014 has been released today at D-Street. This is a two 3" figure set of a Jawa and R5-D4 from Episode IV: A New Hope. Both figures were designed by Maria Clapsis and have a limited edition of 2,000. This set retails for $29.95

Throwback Thursday - Buffalo

Series: Animal Kingdom

Artist: Dan Howard

Released: August 2010

The Backside of Vinyls - Wet Paint Donald

In honor of Donald Duck's birthday yesterday, today I wanted to take a look at the back of the Wet Paint Donald Vinylmation from Park #6. This is another example of a figure that's not necessarily obvious at first glance, especially if you're only looking at the front. But, if you turn it around, you can see more clearly that this is a Disney World Wet Paint sign in Vinylmation form.

I remember seeing these signs growing up at Disney World, I particularly remember their presence at Disney's Old Key West Resort, which required constant re-painting to uphold its signature bright colors. The signs show Donald in a panic because one of his nephews has been playing in the wet paint. This Vinylmation includes so much of this sign's detail on the back: the hand prints, the dripping paint, the smudged paint, the paint brush and of course the wet paint wording.

I love the creativity of adding all of that detail on to Donald himself, instead of trying to portray a sign on a Mickey shaped figure. Fantastic back side of a vinyl!

Vinylmation Stories - Goofy's Candy Co.

Gawrsh

Series: Goofy's Candy Co.

Artist: Thomas Scott & Maria Clapsis

I've said before that I'm not a big fan of the Jr. Vinylmation series. Many of them have been done artistically well, but I find their small size and keychains more difficult to display. If you add them to your keys, as some of my friends have done, it's not long before the paint rubs or chips off, which seems a waste of $9.95. But when the 8th Jr. series, Goofy's Candy Co. was released, the temptation was too great! With 18 figures in a Jr. series, packaged in blind boxes that retail for $9.95 each, I bought the two figures that I wanted from the second hand market. One of which was the Gawrsh figure, which is also one of the 2 chasers in the series.

This figure is sentimental for me, which is why I just had to have it. When I was younger, my dad and I would often visit the parks at Walt Disney World, just us two. A tradition that developed was my dad buying me some Goofy's Candy after we rode Pirates of the Caribbean, always our last ride before leaving the Magic Kingdom. Typically I chose Goofy Burgers that looked like this:

I would save it to eat as we waited in line for the bus back to Disney's Old Key West Resort. Sometimes I would choose other items of candy, like taffy or gummy bears, but usually I picked the Goofy Burger. When I saw the Gawrsh chaser, all of those memories came flooding back to me and they still do every time I look at it. I think of all the candy I would stare at before finally buying some and eating it at the Magic Kingdom. The happy memories triggered by Vinylmation figures are exactly the reason I collect them and why they're so special to me. And that particular memory is why I bought my first Jr. Vinylmation figure!

Park Starz #3 Release

Park Starz #3 has been released today at D-Street stores and the Disney Store Online. This is a 12 figure blind box set with 11 commons and a chaser. (The It's A Small World figure will again feature 2 figures in one tin). Later in the month 4 limited edition variant figures will be released and sold separately. The artists involved in designing this series are Casey Jones, Caley Hicks and Thomas Scott. Each blind box retails for $18.95 (gulp!)