Snapshot Sunday - Haunted Mansion

I finally found Madame Leota! I also picked up the Box Lunch Groundskeeper exclusive and decided why not complete the set with the only Pop left - the Hot Topic Merry Minstrel exclusive.

Haunted Mansion Funko Pop Series Release

I've been waiting for at least a month for this series to finally hit the shelves and I can finally say that is has! I went to 2 Target stores on the way home tonight after discovering they had finally dropped. The first Target is pictured above. They had almost everything: the Opera Singer, Constance, the Mummy Spirit and of course their exclusives, the 10" Ezra and the metallic Hitchhiking Ghost 3-pack. They also had a backpack, t-shirt and bowl and spoon set. They did not have the Pocket Pop of Ezra, Gus or Phineas.

I picked up the Opera Singer, Constance and the Mummy Spirit before going to a second target in the hopes of finding Madame Leota. The second Target had even less with only the Mummy Spirit and 3 pack available. Box Lunch are already showing out on all of their Haunted Mansion Pops but there's hope at Hot Topic who haven't received their stock yet. A friend of mine who works there told me their shipment has been delayed with no explanation given.

ETA: The full collection has now dropped at Hot Topic and Box Lunch have re-stocked many of their Pops. 

9" Haunted Mansion Bride Release

A new 9" Haunted Mansion Bride Vinylmation has been released today at WonderGround Gallery in the Marketplace Co-Op, and Disney Pin Traders at the Walt Disney World Resort. It will be released tomorrow (March 4th) at WonderGround Gallery and D-Street at the Disneyland Resort. It is also available at the Disney Store online.

This 9" figure has its own shape, much like Hipster Mickey, instead of the regular 9" Mickey shape and was designed by artist Jasmine Becket-Griffith. This Vinylmation has a retail price of $69.99 and is labelled a "special edition".

Vinylmation Review - Haunted Mansion Series #2

The Haunted Mansion is a Disney attraction that has remained popular over the years and across generations. Its popularity appears to be growing, and with that comes an increasing demand for more Haunted Mansion merchandise, which we have seen from the opening of Memento Mori and its line of Haunted Mansion decor, clothing and accessories.

The Haunted Mansion Series #1 was a strong set that proved popular, so I think it's great that Disney have released the Haunted Mansion Series #2.

Things to love about this series:

• The use of clear - it works perfectly for the ghost figures and I can't see how they could have been designed any better than that
• Good selection of characters - there are so many to choose from in the attraction, and we've already had several released in the first series. I'm glad there were no repeats in the way the Skeleton Helmsman has been repeated across the Pirates of the Caribbean series
• Popular figures - I think collectors will be thrilled to finally have Ezra to accompany the other 2 hitchhiking ghosts. The caretaker is another character I think collectors will be happy to own, and the skeleton portrait of Master Gracey will go well with the living Master Gracey from the first series
• Great use of accessories - Ezra wouldn't be complete without his bowler hat, the caretaker definitely needed his baseball cap and lantern, and Madame Leota looks fantastic with her crystal ball accessory
• Good use of a variant - I think the variants from the first Haunted Mansion series have created an expectation that there would be variants in this series. Collectors won't be disappointed by the variants that were chosen for this series! Again there's a hitchhiking ghost variant and also a variant of Madame Leota

Things that aren't so great:

I don't have any complains about this series. I think the characters are all great choice and the variants will entice collectors to keep buying blind boxes. My personal opinion is that the chaser isn't strong enough that I would keep buying blind boxes for it. I think the Opera Singer is a fun and memorable character, with a well executed design, but I think the portrait of Master Gracey is a more popular and appropriate figure for the chaser. 

Haunted Mansion #2 Release

The Haunted Mansion Series #2 has been released today at Disney Pin Traders in Disney Springs at the Walt Disney World Resort, and at the Disney Store Online. This is an 8 figure blind box set with 7 commons, 1 chaser, and 2 known variants. The series was designed by Casey Jones and John Henselmeier. Each blind box retails for $12.95

The Backside of Vinyls - Haunted Mansion Constance Portrait

(Unfortunately she has some paint transfer on her head from my new Vinylmation shelf)

Welcome to another episode of The Backside of Vinyls! As Halloween is fast approaching, this installment will be Halloween themed. Today I'm looking at the back side of the Constance Portrait Vinylmation from the Park #12 Stretching Room Portraits set.

I think the back of this figure is absolutely fantastic! Just like the stretching portraits themselves, you can see the the "mortal" portraits by looking only at the front of the figure, but turn it around and as if the portrait is stretching, and you can see the end of the portrait on the back.

In the backs of the ears we can see the foliage surrounding Constance, along with the rose she holds in the painting. On the back of the figure's body is the tombstone from the portrait. While it doesn't have all of the inscription, the beginning is abbreviated as RIP. You can see the bust on the back of the vinyl in pretty accurate detail, with the axe in his head also of course.

I love that all of the necessary elements of the stretching room portrait have been included in this figure, and I think it works fantastically having the second half of the painting being portrayed on the back.

Haunted Mansion Blonde and Medusa Set Release

The latest Haunted Mansion figures - the Blonde and Medusa Set - has been released today at D-Street locations and The Disney Store Online where it has already sold out. This is a set of two 3" figures taken from the Haunted Mansion attraction, both designed by Casey Jones. The set has a Limited Edition size of 1,000 and retails for $29.95

The Backside of Vinyls - Quicksand Portrait

You might have noticed that this past week, Vinylmation Isle has had a Halloween theme going on. I love Halloween! Now that it's October, I have chosen to give my articles a Halloween twist for the month. That continues today with this post on The Backside of Vinyls.

Today's Vinylmation is one of a set of 4, The Haunted Mansion Stretching Room Portraits set from Park #13. This particular vinyl is the Quicksand Portrait, and only by looking at the back can you see how the figure represents one of the Haunted Mansion's stretching room portraits perfectly. I honestly would not have bought this vinyl going off of the front of the figure alone.

As the name suggests, this portrait is of three men sinking in quicksand. The front of the vinyl shows the first man in the bowler hat. On the back of the figure, we can see the second and third man on the back of the vinyl's body. Further down on the back of the vinyl's feet, we can see the green, bubbling quicksand from the bottom of the portrait that the men are sinking in to.

Finally, one important detail that hasn't been neglected in Ron Cohee's figure is the quicksand sign sticking out in the bottom right hand corner of the portrait. The same sign can be seen on the back of the figure's right ear. This is an incredibly detailed figure where the back is just as important and well designed as the front.

Snapshot Sunday - The Haunted Mansion Stretching Room

Haunted Mansion Mickey & Friends Release

The second "Revealed/Concealed" series has been released today at D-Street locations at at the Disney Store Online. Haunted Mansion Mickey & Friends is a 6 figure series, featuring two known combo toppers (Mickey and Minnie) as the revealed figures, with one of four concealed figures inside the blind box (Donald, Daisy, Goofy or Pete). The entire series was designed by Ron Cohee and each blind box retails for $24.95. This looks to be a popular series, as it has already sold out online.

Park #13 Haunted Mansion Stretching Portraits Set Release

The first of two Limited Edition Park #13 combo sets was released today at D-Streets and The Disney Store Online. The Haunted Mansion Stretching Portraits set features four 3" figures from the first scene in the Haunted Mansion attraction (see below picture). Each figure represents one of the four portraits, all designed by Ron Cohee. This is a limited edition of 2,000 with a retail price of $59.95. This is proving to be a very popular set, as of 7am EST this morning, it was sold out online.

The Stretching Room in the Haunted Mansion

The Collector's Space - Upcoming Vinylmation

For today's Collector's Space post, I'm going to talk about upcoming Vinylmation series that I'm really excited for.

First up, I'm pretty excited for the Park #13 Haunted Mansion Stretching Room combo set which I recently previewed. This is a set of 4 figures all designed by Ron Cohee, that draw inspiration from the portraits that stretch in the Haunted Mansion. There's currently no information about this set on Disney's Official Vinylmation website, but non-official Vinylmation websites have reported that it has a Limited Edition size of 2,000 and a retail price of $59.95. It was announced at the Reflections of Evil event that this set would release on December 20.

Back of the figures (source: DestinationVinylmation)

I'm also excited for the release of the Park #13 Tower of Terror combo set. Collectors were wondering how the previewed Park #13 bellhop figure would manifest in this series and now we know. (I knew he was the bellhop from the Tower of Terror movie!) This set is comprised of four 3" figures and one Jr figure to make a 5 piece set of the five characters from the ride. The Limited Edition size will be 1,500 with 150 of those sets being variant sets. The commons will be black and white versions of the characters as they appear in the Library pre-show. The variants will depict the characters in their "ghostly" form seen during the Tower of Terror ride.

Personally, I prefer the commons (which is lucky since I'm more likely to get those) but I wouldn't complain if I miraculously received the variants. This set's release date was announced at the Reflections of Evil event as December 27 but we have yet to be informed on the retail price. I've been saving since I heard about this set, I get the feeling it's going to hurt my bank balance.

Variants pictured top, commons pictured bottom

(source: DestinationVinylmation)

And finally, I'm pretty excited about the release of the Indiana Jones series. Not much is known about this set right now, other than what was announced at Reflections of Evil. The series will be based on Raiders of the Lost Ark and is scheduled to release in 2014. I'll be interested to see the case size and the artist(s) involved in this series.

Series artwork (source: DestinationVinylmation)

Obviously there are plenty more interesting and exciting vinyls coming our way, not to mention some of the amazing series that have been released recently. I just wanted to share what I'm most excited about right now. I'm almost certain that all of these series will make it to my collection. (Hopefully I can afford the Tower of Terror set and hopefully the Indy series will have a good choice of characters with amazing artwork).

Preview of Haunted Mansion Mickey and Friends Series

Yesterday the Disney Parks Blog released a sneak preview of an upcoming series called Haunted Mansion Mickey and Friends.

With the recent changes in Vinylmation series, my guess is that this will be an 8 figure series, however the size has not been released. We do know that this series will feature "Mickey and friends playing roles from the Haunted Mansion" and is due to release "late" in summer 2014. It's been announced that Ron Cohee was the sole designer of the series.

I've only seen 2 figures, so I can't decide if any of these will join my collection, but I think this is a great series that will be beautifully done with Ron Cohee as the artist. Based on such a popular attraction and featuring Disney characters, I think this series will be a hit.

Disney Parks Blog Haunted Mansion Portrait Preview

The Disney Parks Blog released a picture today of the upcoming Park #13 Haunted Mansion Portraits Series hanging out at the Haunted Mansion in the Magic Kingdom.

You can check out full 360 pictures of this series over at Disney's Official Vinylmation page. The series is due to release on December 20.