Welcome back to Disney Stuff. There certainly seems to be a never-ending supply of Disney stuff to collect, accumulate and talk about. This time I’m going to talk about one of the latest rages sweeping the parks and the resorts. It’s something I wasn’t all that interested in when I first saw them. As a matter of fact I didn’t like them at all. A mere two years later and I’ll readily admit, I’ve jumped on the bandwagon, the Vinylmation bandwagon that is.
If you’ve been to a Disney park or resort in the last two years, you’ve no doubt seen these strange Mickey shaped figures displayed in plexiglass boxes in the gift shops. They come in a variety of styles and sizes and as many designs as you could possibly imagine with many more to come. They’ve become quite the sensation and are already a well established collectible on the second hand market.
Vinylmation has roots in a few places. Vinyl toys, sometimes referred to as designer toys, are a phenomenon out of Hong Kong spearheaded by artist Michael Lau in the late 90’s. Lau is an award-winning illustrator who turned his comic strip, Gardener, into a line of vinyl collectible toys and essentially fostered the medium of transferring graphic art onto vinyl action figures.
The other place that seems to serve as inspiration to Disney’s Vinylmation craze dates back to 2003. Most of you will remember the “Celebrate Mickey: 75 InspEARations” sculptures that toured the parks and North America in honor of Mickey’s 75th birthday. Disney commissioned celebrities, athletes and artists to use a 6-foot Mickey statue as their blank canvas. The results were quite impressive and after their cross-country tour the 75 Mickeys were auctioned off with proceeds for each individual piece going to a charity handpicked by its creator. Some of the designs were pretty straightforward like the one pictured below. Others were pretty out there and pushed the artistic limits and were very interesting.
Vinylmation? What’s that?“, June 10, 2010). Check it out if you’re interested in hearing more about Vinylmation straight from the mouse’s mouth.
For someone who finds themselves in a Disney park as often as I seem to, it’s actually a refreshing thing to see something really different and unexpected on the shelves. Thanks Vinylmation, I really needed something else to collect.
Let me hear your thoughts on Vinylmation. Have you bought into it? Are you resisting? Has your significant other warned you not to start yet another collection? As always, I can’t wait to hear your responses.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time with more of that great Disney Stuff.