Vinylmation of the Week: Pete

We're not really on topic, but today we're blog hopping with Lisa from Babes In Disneyland and Jenn from The Disney Babies Blog.  Be sure and check them out (and all of the other blogs in the hop) for all kinds of Disney related articles and goodies!

We didn't realize it had been so long since we last did a Vinyl of the Week article!  When last we joined our little Vinyl buddies we were knee-deep into a series about ones that actually were based on Mickey Mouse himself.  We talked about "Runaway Brain Mickey" and "Sorcerer Mickey", and we're wrapping up our little set of "Mickey Favorites" with one today that's not entirely Mickey, but we think you'll understand why we picked him as we reveal Pete!

Almost everyone knows Pete from his long-standing rivalry with almost all of the 'Fab Four': Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto.  He's also one of the oldest continuing characters in the Disney arsenal, predating Mickey Mouse himself and even Oswald the Lucky Rabbit!  This version of Pete (perhaps one of the best known and certainly the earliest remembered for most people) is inspired by Pete's appearance in perhaps the best known of all Mickey Mouse cartoons and the first to be released to the general public, "Steamboat Willie", in 1928.

Pete was released a few months ago as part of the Villains Series 1 Vinylmation set.  The set included such other popular villains as Ursula, Prince John, Ka, and even Madam Mim from "The Sword In The Stone".  Amy and Chad bought an entire case for full sets so they each have one in their personal collections, and even Mark got in on the action as the 24th Vinyl in the case (which is always a second duplicate of one other figure in the set) was Pete, the very one he wanted to be the bonus figure.  Doing the math he had just shy of a 10% chance of getting just the one he wanted, but he up and did it anyway.

This is honestly one of our favorite pieces, and  for several reasons.  For one, we think that Pete is very well-represented in this form.  The costume is spot on from the cartoon, his scowl is completely intact, and you have to love the animated stubble he has going on.  Being a sailor he no doubt gets little chance to shave, and it's just one other great little detail the artist put into painting this one.  Even his hat is present and painted on his right ear (or your left, we suppose, if you want to be a stickler about it).  But the thing we like most about this one is the black and white only paint scheme that's going on.  Of course, the cartoon itself was a black and white number so it makes complete sense, but there's just something about the plain and simple palette that makes it uber-cool in our books.  When stacked up against the rest of our collections, most of which are bright and colorful little pieces, Pete sticks out like a sore thumb, but in a great way!  He's different, has some really simple (yet awesome we think) artwork going on, and he fits in perfectly with his villainous brethren (and sisters) in the set.

But why choose Pete?  Because as we all no doubt know, Pete is not Mickey.  The answer lies on his back!  You can see it for yourself as there is a sort of "hidden" Mickey, from "Steamboat Willie", on Pete's back.  None of us had any knowledge beforehand that this was here, but when we saw it we immediately loved it.  It's nice little touches like this from the artist that make us love collecting Vinyl, and this is definitely one of our favorites.  The perfect little addition from the cartoon classic to make Pete complete.

So there you have it, our Vinylmation of the Week.  We hope that you've enjoyed all of our little "Mickey"-inspired picks.  We'll be back next week with another one of our favorite little "sets" of Vinyl, this group involving one of our favorite bands on the planet and some of the world's most famous puppets.  Hope you'll be back to see who we're featuring!

"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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