Vinylmation Domination: The Pumpkin King

Welcome to "Vinylmation Domination", our Vinylmation of the Week!  We've been slacking so much on our Vinylmation posts lately we decided to create a new segment just to make up for it.  We think that this one is a winner, especially for you Vinyl fans out there.

So which Vinyl did we choose to be our first "Vinyl of the Week?"  How about one that has his own theme song?  One that makes you scream like a banshee.  One that is made of royalty and pumpkins.  That's right, we decided to go with (enter announcer voice) "The Pumpkin King"!

When we first talked about creating this segment, we both knew straightaway who should be crowned king (no pun intended) for the week. This one has been on our wanted list for a very long time, and recently, thanks to a friend and family member, we were able to gain access to this very special guy.  He was easily the rarest of the "Nightmare Before Christmas" Vinylmation Series and we never saw him ourselves in The Parks.  We know he was there, but by the time we made it out on Sunday, people had already snatched him up in droves since he was considered the Chaser of the set.  Now, he is readily available (at the time this is being written) on the Disney Store should you wish to purchase him and add him to your own collection.

So there you have it, our first "Vinyl of the Week".  What do you think?  A good choice?  We plan on doing these weekly (of course!) in the future so stay tuned!

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...

"Two-Fer" Tuesdays: Adventures In Vinyl - Storage!

Oh, my goodness!  It's been so long since I've written about our Vinylmation obsession in any shape or form!  Looking back to the last time I wrote something, I'm actually rather astounded it's taken me this long to get back to it.

I suppose if I had to pick a reason for the prolonged writing vacation from my addiction to Mickey Mouse-shaped plastic it would probably be because there just hasn't been much to write about lately.  If memory serves me in this department (and this is one of those topics I can usually count on it in), I haven't actually bought any new Vinyl since around mid-February.  Almost a month and a half gone without any purchase made whatsoever.  Hard to believe, ain't it?  The last time I opened any up was in a massive bout of Vinyl Anarchy in the back of my car (which Amy has since dubbed 'VinylPalooza'), in which she, Mark, and I, opened up three brand new cases of "Star Wars Series 1", "Muppet Series 1", and "Villains Series 1" Vinylmation between us.  It took about an hour to do it (no exaggeration), and it was a lot of fun, but since then we've basically all hit a pretty big dry spell; nothing really of note to talk about.

But as I was thinking about it today, there is in fact something worth talking about, and that's the topic of exactly how does one go about displaying their hard-earned Vinyl treasures.  I won't go into a lot of detail about the aesthetic way in which people can display their little Mickeys (everyone has their own tastes and ways that they like to display things), but one of the big questions for me as I've been collecting over the last few months has been, "Where am I going to put them if my collection continues to grow?"  And grow it has!  I have 65 of the little beauties now, and just stacking them single-file on my shelves didn't seem to be doing the trick anymore, and to be quite frank, I just didn't think that they looked very good like that.

Enter the "DB-17 Multi-Level Doll Exhibit BOX" from The Container Store!

Empty cases just waiting to be filled

I do want to go on record as saying right now, and Vinlymation collectors should know exactly what I'm talking about here, that I love the official Vinylmation display cases that they sell in The Parks and on the Disney Store official site.  They're seriously cool and they look amazing.  I mean, who wouldn't want each of their precious Vinyl treasures to have their own individual little "cubby" in which to reside?  And I love the Vinylmation logo on it!  They are seriously cool looking.  Unfortunately, they're just not cost-effective for me right now (they run about $80 for a a single case that holds 12).  I'd much rather have the $80 to spend on more Vinyl, but I'm sure that might just be me.  I'm sure hardcore collectors buy these up in droves, and I wish I could, but I can't.

So I've opted to go with the poor man's option, instead, and I still think that they do the trick pretty well.  I'm not really sure who told me about the display boxes to begin with (I'm pretty sure it was Amy), but as you can tell, they can make your collection look very nice!  Each display box comes with a very sturdy and solid plastic black base, pieces inside so that you can stack and "tier" your display box (as you can see in mine below), and a very nice (as in, it doesn't feel cheap at all), see-through lid which proudly displays your collection.  I wish I could think of more things to say, but pretty much what you see is what you get.  It's a very nice, and very affordable alternative for those of us looking for clean and crisp ways to display our collections.

Each individual box holds a complete set (or series), of Vinylmation; the 11 standard figures in each set as well as the Chaser.  For some of the newer sets with variants, they won't quite fit of course, but you can always buy another box for special additions, and the boxes themselves are easily stackable if you have them on a shelf so you can keep your Series together if you so desire.  You can display them pretty much any way you want to.  Always a plus!

My Villains Series 1 complete set.  Looking sharp, boys (and girls)!

Each individual display box sells for $9.99 and you can find them at the Container Store by mashing here.  A word of warning, though.  These things are popular.  Often times when going to place an order for them, they'll be backordered.  I guess these are pretty well known in the Vinylmation community and are very popular items, or so we've heard.  Both times I've ordered some (I placed a small order to begin with so I could kind of test them out) they've been on backorder.  But a couple of things I've liked about the whole process is that they don't charge you until they ship, and shipping itself has always been affordable, quick (when they are in stock) and well done.  I've never had to wait more than a couple of weeks for an order of mine to be filled, and in all honesty, for what you get, I don't think that's too bad.

I hope that maybe our article today has been useful for any Vinylmation collectors out there who may not know about these little beauties.  If you can afford the official ones, by all means I urge you to get them, they really are pretty sweet.  But if you can't, or if you want to save that extra $70 for that next case of Vinylmation that you want to buy, then these may be just the thing for you.

My collection as it stands (literally) today

I've written my article today alongside a great friend of mine from Magical Days With The Mouse, who is also a pretty avid (up and coming, but avid) collector of Vinylmation, hence our "Two-Fer" Tuesdays title!  If you like Vinylmation, today we're giving you two Vinylmation Articles for the price of one, kind of like a Combo-Pack.  Pretty cool, huh?

Be sure and check out Sarah's article as soon as you've read mine.  I promise you won't be disappointed if you do, and let her know that I sent you!

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Adventures In Vinyl: Mark Accomplishes A Muppet Mission

Pre-carnage

If you've been reading the site for a while now, you'll know that I've been collecting Vinyls, and not just any vinyl.  I've been aiming for the Muppets Series #1.

There's a simple reason for this.  Anyone who knows me knows that I love "The Muppets".  So when Chad and I decided to start collecting Vinyls, guess which one I picked out?  That's right, Park Series #3 (gotcha, didn't I?).  In fact, Chad bought a Muppet box before me.  He would receive "Rowlf", while I opened a "Herbie" vinyl.  Later that day I realized what a big mistake I had made.  I'm not saying that Park Series #3 wasn't cool, just that I didn't feel as though it was right for me.

Being completely new at this whole Vinyl thing, I had no idea at the time that I was able to trade it.  So like an amateur, I bought another Vinyl.  This time a Muppet, and not just any Muppet.  I got 'The Ham' herself:  "Miss Piggy".  When Chad told me that I could trade, I couldn't resist the temptation. I sprinted to the first trading box I could find; this would later come back and bite me hard.  I wound up getting "Beaker".  My first foray into Muppet Vinyl was complete.  I later traded "Herbie" for "Sweetums" in Westward Ho.

As time went on, and the disease began to set in, of course I found myself buying more and more.  I wasn't interested in getting all of them (at the time) because my chances for picking the Chaser seemed impossible.  So I went on trying for the others.  It wasn't until a good friend of mine, Amy, helped me pick a box.  Who would have thought that Amy was lucky?  That's right, I had the Chaser, "Kermit", in my hands.  So with that out of the way I decided it just wouldn't be right not to finish the set.

Visit after visit to The Park I bought, and new Muppets joined the family.  It wasn't until I was down to the last three that things became difficult.  The hunt for "Fozzie Bear", "Dr. Bunsen Honeydew", and "Miss Piggy" (told you the pig came back to bite me) was on.  I got lots and lots of "Waldorf", though!

Things didn't look good for a while, until Amy again saved the day.  She told Chad and I that she had purchased a case of Muppets Series #1 for herself, and she was more than happy to let us in on the remaining set after she took hers out.  I was speechless.  So, on Friday February 11th, 2011, we stood at the back of Chad's car in the Toy Story Parking Lot, and opened each and every one.  To say I was happy would have been an understatement.  After months of collecting, my Muppets Series #1 Vinyl collection was complete.

The joy of a mission complete

So, What series will you collect next?", you might ask.  Well, to be honest, none at the moment.  But, I plan on being first in line for Muppet Series #2 when it comes out.

So hopefully, you'll be seeing my next collection in the very near future!

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Adventures In Vinyl: Some Muppets And A Recurring Back Problem

We realized looking back that it's been well over two weeks (gasp!) since we last wrote a Vinylmation article.  Not because we haven't been trading and buying (oh yes, we have been trading and buying!) but because we've just been neglectful.  We hope that you will accept our sincerest apologies.  

We thought that it would be a great, fun, and whimsical way to start the week, though, so here you go.

Mark continues his march towards a complete Muppet Series #1 set and as of now only needs three more for a complete.  He did pretty well for himself on recent trips out and got two of the ones he has been seeking for quite a while.  After purchasing a blind box in Star Trader and receiving a dupe (which he promptly traded for an Urban; a series we don't collect), he went over to Westward Ho (again, our favorite store!), and traded off for "Rowlf".  He finally got Statler, the second half of the comedy duo, in Downtown Disney.  After buying yet another (he's had five or six at this point) "Waldorf" at D Street, we walked into World of Disney where he promptly traded it for "Statler".  Two down, three to go!

Statler and Rowlf - Muppet Series #1

Chad, meanwhile, has continued his rampage through the Animation Series #1.  It hasn't quite gone as well as planned, however.  In our last post, where we first discussed collecting the Animation Series, he was feeling pretty spunky as his first four purchases were all completely different (no dupes), and included the Chaser!

We should have known the good luck was running its course, of course.

We didn't take pictures of all of them (Chad was too frustrated by the whole situation) but the next three bought yielded two new Vinyl, and a duplicate "Quasimodo".  Not a huge deal in and of itself.  What's not pictured, though, are the next five Vinyl purchases which included an "Aladdin" (another dupe) and FOUR MORE "Quasimodo".  We kid you not.  It would have been funny had it not been so frustrating.  Chad's been holding onto them to trade in The Park, and thought he had a good deal going when Sarah The Disney Mom (Twitter @MagicMouseDays) over at Magical Days With The Mouse offered to take one and buy him a blind box the next time they met in The Park.  After handing it off, he promptly went in and chose a box, opened it, and found another "Quasimodo".  Okay, kind of getting frustrated at this point.  Again, luckily, Sarah offered to buy him another blind box since her mom wanted "Quasimodo".  Another box picked, another box opened... care to guess who he got again?  Yeah, it was just that stupidly frustrating. 

Fairy Godmother, Alice and Quasimodo - Animation Series #1

Thankfully again, as luck would have it, he had one more chance at salvation.  Another friend (ironically also named Sarah from DAPSMagic.com) was also in The Park Friday evening, and took one of the "Quasimodo" and the "Aladdin" for her own collection with these in return.  Two brand-spanking new ones for the collection.  Amy now has the remaining "Quasimodo" in her possession, and good riddance to the things.  Only one remains, and he'd probably be gone too, if he wasn't needed for a complete set.

The decision has been made to simply buy the remainder on eBay.  After five duplicates it seems that enough is enough.  

Mushu and Peter Pan - Animation Series #1

Our remaining intrepid reporter, Amy, is also an avid (read obsessed and addicted) Vinyl collector (in fact, we pretty much blame her for getting into this whole sordid affair) who has a pretty good collection of her own.  We plan on getting her involved with our Adventures quite soon, as she and Chad made a couple of pretty substantial purchases together last week.  

Tune in next week!

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Adventures In Vinyl: Park Series 5!

This will be just a short "blurb" of a post, but we finally wrapped up our first Vinylmation Series yesterday.  Chad now has a full Park Series 5 set.  

It wound up being much easier than originally thought thanks to some really lucky pulls (we got the "Chaser" early on) and very few dupes along the way (Purple Nightmare, a.k.a. "Flowers and Fairies" notwithstanding).  The first nine came very quickly, and the last three ("Yeti", "Anubis" and "Penguin") were all found on eBay at very reasonable prices.  

And there you go.  Our first complete Vinylmation set.  We'll be sure to update our Bucket List to celebrate this momentous occasion.

On to the Animation Series 1!

Park Series 5 is now complete!

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Adventures In Vinyl: Animations and Muppets!

As usual, when we spend a Sunday evening in The Park we always leave with Vinylmation in our hands.  This past Sunday night was certainly no exception.

One of the great things about collecting Vinyl is, much like Pins, there's always some trading to do.  If we're not buying, one of us almost always has a duplicate we can carry with us, and we usually spend quite a bit of time just going from store to store for Mark to drop off his Muppets Series dupes (Chad has been very lucky recently and hasn't had many duplicates to trade).

This past trip, like most, Mark had two duplicate Muppets to try and score new ones for his collection with.  For the first time in quite a while actually, he was successful!  Lately he's been trading out Vinyl and receiving non-Muppets in return, but this week he brought "Waldorf" and "The Swedish Chef" in, and took "Rowlf" and "Bean" out.  Only four Muppets left until his first complete set.

Rowlf and Bean take their place near the end of the line

Meantime, if you've been following us at all in our adventures, we've mentioned that Chad is very close to completing his own first set; Park Series 5.  We're both sad (and elated!) to say that he's weak, however, and has given up on trying to "pull" them from cases.  Rather, he decided the best route to go was just to purchase the remaining three ("Penguin", "Anubis & Gem" and "Yeti") on eBay.  So far only the "Penguin" has arrived, but the others should come this week so the next time we post an adventure, we'll have our first complete set as a part of it.  Exciting!

It doesn't mean he didn't buy any on Sunday, though.  With Park Series 5 taken care of, he's moved on to Animation Series 1 now!  He picked up four (in a case that only had five(!) left) of the newly released Vinyl on Sunday evening in Westward Ho and for reasons that are probably obvious, he was very pleased.  He managed to get four completely different Vinyls (no dupes!), one of which was the "Pink Elephant Chaser".  The very first box he opened when he got home had it.  It's safe, and awesome, to say that our "Chaser" luck continues to hold out for us, which is a really good thing.

Quasimodo, Pinocchio and Aladdin - Animation Series 1

Pink Elephant Chaser - Animation Series 1

And that's all she wrote for this week.  Sunday night should be a big night for Vinylmation for us, but you'll just have to wait until next week when we file our report.  Should be a good one!  Be sure and come back to check it out.

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Adventures In Vinyl: A Creepy Pirate and Mr. Light Beer

Collecting Vinylmation is rapidly becoming one of our favorite things to do inside The Parks.  In fact, no trip is complete anymore without at least one stroll through the stores ("Westward Ho" has been our favorite as of late) before we exit to either purchase or make our trades if we have any available in our stock.  Yes, we have excess stock of duplicates at this point.  That may in fact be an indication of something akin to an addiction, but we refuse to acknowledge it so let's move on.

We also enjoy posting about our collections.  We figure if we enjoy them so much why not share them with you guys?  It doesn't mean we haven't questioned whether we should or not, but after our post last week we got some fun comments through Twitter and email, and even had the article re-posted on Reedy Creek Radio.  That being the case, we're just going to keep doing it until someone tells us otherwise.

We did spend some time floating around Sunday evening and as always wound up in "Westward Ho" just prior to leaving The Park around 10pm.  They had no cases of the Muppet Series in store so Mark had to wait and visit "Disneyana" on our way out.  He did purchase one vinyl, but unfortunately wound up with yet another duplicate; The Swedish Chef (maybe like the 3rd Chef he's gotten).  That one will have to wait to be traded around The Parks next time we go out.

Chad bought three more Park Series 5 vinyl while in "Westward Ho" however and made out very well, thank you very much!  Out of the three, two were brand new pulls and went straight into his collection pot.

Unfortunately, the third vinyl purchased was the "Fairies and Flowers", or "Purple Nightmare" as we like to call it; the 3rd or 4th one of that he's pulled.  So, as it stands, Chad only needs three more to complete his first set of Vinylmation.  Not too shabby.  Then it's on to another set of goodies and another slew of money flying out of his wallet.

Mark still needs six to complete his, but it did get us thinking (since Chad is so close), what should we collect next?

If you have any suggestions for us leave us a comment.  We'd love to hear from you!

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Adventures In Vinyl: December Edition

Yes, we do realize we're living in the past with this post, but we were looking through our notes last night and realized it had been quite some time since we last posted about Vinylmation.

We know that you were all sitting on pins and needles waiting for an update, so we figured today was as good a time as any to get caught you caught up.

We should have known it would be a good month when Amy pulled a Park Series 5 combo pack out of her hat to give to Chad.  She had a spare it seemed so for nothing more than a willingness to take it off of her hands, Chad wound up with these:

Sorcerer Mickey & Fairies and Flowers - Park Series 5

Ironically, the "Flowers and Fairies" Vinylmation (deemed a little too girly) would later be traded (again to Amy) for the "Magic Mirror" also from Park Series 5.  It'll show up again a bit later, though, don't you worry.

Magic Mirror - Park Series 5

Here's where the real fun begins, though.  December was a really good month for us in terms of our "pulls" (the act of randomly selecting boxes of Vinylmation from their cases).  We got a little crazy during the month with our purchases.  Well, crazy by our standards anyways.  When we first began, we foolishly told ourselves we would just buy one box every time we went into The Park.  Silly boys.  We spent most of December tripling that number and buying three every time we went in the stores.  Well, Chad and Mark did.  We watched stupifed as Amy bought five once, but we digress.

On one such run about midway through the month, Mark asked Amy to select his three for him.  The results should speak for themselves, as Mark got his first chaser.

Waldorf and Kermit (Chaser) - Muppets Series

They were definitely two that Mark needed towards his Muppets Series collection (the third was also a Waldorf), and pushed him to finally agreeing to a pursuit of all of the Muppets, including Piggy (which we traded at an earlier date -- D'oh!).

Meanwhile, bolstered by a new-found confidence in Amy, Chad also decided to let her pull his three from D-Street in Downtown Disney.  Unfortunately, at this point, it seems that the Park Series 4 Vinyls just aren't to be found anymore.  Having search all over both Parks in all kinds of stores and not having seen any at all, we figured it was time to move on.  So, we decided to go with Park Series 5.  Amy pulled these:

Tom Morrow 2.0 (Chaser), Haunted Mansion and Carousel of Progress - Park Series 5

For those pretending to be unimpressed, Amy somehow managed against all odds not to pull one, but two Chasers from two completely different series (and stores) over the course of an hour.  Amazing!

Chad did make one more set of purchases later in the month (another three) and on a whim, again let Amy pull his three for him.  Prepared to be amazed again?

Tom Morrow 2.0 (Chaser), Lightning McQueen & Fairies and Flowers - Park Series 5

At this point, we think we may be on to something here.  Three straight trips and three straight Chaser pulls has got to be some kind of record.  We're looking into ways to loan her out to you guys for a nominal fee at this point.  We'll let you know what we come up with.

At any rate, Chad managed to get the "Fairies" Vinyl back (much to Stephanie's delight), and with an extra Chaser at his disposal, was able to trade for another Park Series 5 he needed for his set, "Stitch".

Chad's current collection

And now, unless we're missing something, you're all caught up!  We're both about halfway through our respective sets (Chad only needs five more for a complete and Mark six).  We know it was probably a lot for one post, but since we've been running behind we wanted to get it all out there so as this month moves along, we can make the posts shorter.  

It promises to be a good month, too!  The Animation Series has just been released, and on January 16th, the Star Wars Series will be released.  Chad and Amy plan on going in together on a case of those.  And we're looking forward to the Villains Series too, which is on the horizon.  We plan on getting back to some "in-Park" trading, as well, so we should be able to talk about that, too.

Wish us luck on Sunday!  We're looking forward to seeing just what we can come up with this time!

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