Vinylmation Domination: Runaway Brain Mickey

We know that sometimes people might not really understand or get the whole Vinylmation phenomenon.  We've been asked before why we write about them on our blog, because a lot of people really don't get how they tie into The Park, and that's cool.  We figure each to their own for the most part.  For us, collecting Vinyl ties into our visits to The Park in one simple way: it's a way for us to bring a part of our visits to The Park home with us.  We look forward to our purchases whenever we go out, and it's just become a pretty natural part of our Days while we're out and about.  Selecting the individual boxes we purchase has become a game we enjoy playing, and even the times we get a duplicate is an opportunity to trade, so it's all fun for us.

We also get asked a lot what Vinylmation are when we mention them.  We've discovered that even people who go into The Park a lot really don't pay much attention to them, or what they're called anyways, but they seem to have all seen those "little hard plastic Mickey Mouses painted like different characters" when we describe them to people.  We figured since people seem to be familiar with the little plastic Mickeys, it only made sense to feature some of the ones that are actually painted like Mickey over the next few weeks, since they are some of our favorite Vinylmation from our collection.

He's licking his chops. Must be hungry.

Today's is one of our favorites, and was sold only as a combo-topper (part of a two-figure set) in The Park 6 Series: Runaway Brain Mickey.  The Runaway Brain Vinyl is based on a Mickey Mouse cartoon, called "Runaway Brain" of course, which was produced in 1995 by Walt Disney Feature Animation Paris and originally packaged with the theatrical release of "A Kid In King Arthur's Court".  In it, we find Mickey trying to make money to pay for a Hawaiian vacation with Minnie, but as usual, things don't quite go the way intended.  He winds up being a part of a "brain-switch" in an evil scientist's experiment with a huge behemoth of a monster looking very much like Pete, and this crazed look is the result.

There's been an increased interest in what we've dubbed around here, "Troublemaker Mickey", in recent months, especially with the release of the "Epic Mickey" video game around Christmas, which makes this one of our favorite pieces we've collected and very popular with many people.  Mickey hasn't always been what one might call a "jolly good fellow", and "Runaway Brain" was a fantastic cartoon and an excellent inspiration for this particular Vinyl, and we think it does a fantastic job of showing off the "darker side" of The Mouse.

We liked the detail on his back; even his tail is frayed.

So let us know what you think of this piece!  Yay or Nay?  Do you enjoy seeing Mickey a bit "out of his element", or is it just a bit too creepy?  We'd love to hear from you so drop us a comment and let us know!

Adventures in Vinyl: Muppets Series #2 And More!

We realized quite recently that it's been a while since we wrote about our "Vinylmation Madness"which, if it hasn't already been deemed an actual disorder, surely will be in the very near future. We have, however, been collecting all along, though not quite as avidly as we might like due to petty roadblocks in our way, such as money.

One of the cool things about going to The Park with someone who's a close friend and digs many of the same things as you is that when you start collecting things, like Vinylmation, you often do it in tandem. And it's worked out really well for us in the past because when we suffer the horror of buying dupes (see our past article on our "Quasimodo Nightmare") we can often trade it immediately to each other for something we don't have yet. It's worked out well for us.

There are two primary sets we've been working on collecting for some time now that we can share with you today. We've both been collecting the TRON: Legacy series as well as the Muppet Series #2 which came out about a month or so ago.

Mark is substantially ahead of Chad in terms of his TRON collection. Two things are really great about this set though: you don't have to collect 12 of the little guys (as there are only eight in the set), and you can buy the ones you know you need because they aren't sold in blind-boxes, but rather in transparent packaging so you always know what you're going to get and can set your sights on just what you need each time you go out to The Park. The only negative is that now they've been out for a while so they are slowly but surely becoming a little less readily available. If you're going to collect a full set of these, now might be a good time to start!

Chad's been pretty undecided on whether he wants a full set or not, but he did buy two of this favorites very early on as they were two of his favorite characters from the movie: "Rinzler" and "Quorra".

Mark also has these two, but an additional four more and is well on his way to a full set. He needs to get a move on and fill it out! He also has: "TRON", "Kevin Flynn", "CLU", and "x"

We're also each about halfway through our Muppets Series #2 sets as we each have six of them, and almost identical sets save a couple of exceptions. It's been a little slow going as of late due to some issues with some dupes (we keep getting the "Penguin" and there have been some "Janice" issues), but thanks to collecting at the same time (as we mentioned before) we've been able to help each other along a bit.

As it stands now, Chad is in possession of: "Dr. Teeth", "Sgt. Floyd Pepper", "Janice", "Link Hogthrob", "Penguin", and "Lew Zealand".

Mark has four of the same, but rather than Link and Floyd he has: "Piggy In Space" and "Scooter". So between us, we're only four away from a complete set! Not that that means much.

Chad has also dabbled a bit with the new Park Series #6, primarily because he liked the combo topper for the set which was based on a cartoon with Mickey Mouse called "Runaway Brain Mickey", and the only way to get it was to buy the topper. If you're not familiar with the combo-toppers, they're basically little two-packs of Vinylmation; one is sold in a blind-box, and one is a more limited edition Vinylmation sold on top of the blind-box (hence the name "topper") that can only be bought as part of the combo. He figured since he had already started collecting them (sort of) by buying the topper, he might as well make a collection out of it. It's pretty slow going though with the other two sets having come out, so unfortuatenly this one is looking more and more as though it might fall by the wayside; it happens sometimes. As it stands now though, he currently has: "Lifeboat, Disney Cruise Lines", "Wet Paint Donald", "Disney's Hollywood Studios", and "Runaway Brain Mickey". We'll have to see how this one goes in the future.

And there you have it, you're now officially up to speed on where we are. There was a lot to cover in this one (since we haven't written about our collections in a while), but if you're like us and you love Vinylmation, the more the merrier, right?

Be sure and check back later today for another Vinylmation article/segment we'll be debuting. We can't wait to have you check it out, so be sure and pop back in for a bit. We know you won't be disappointed.

Until next time, Vinyl lovers...