The Park Starz 2 Vinylmation series has now been released in the US. The Park Starz series is unusual because it breaks away from the classic Mickey Vinlymation mould, with each figure having a different shape. Because of this, when Park Starz 1 was relased some Vinylmation fans disapproved of these being called ‘Vinylmation’. However, Disney takes the stance that the term ‘Vinylmation’ is more of a brand and there is no set rule that every figure has to be Mickey shaped, they are likely to experiment with more shapes in the future as they try to think of new ways to keep fans interested and keep the brand fresh. They have in fact announced that they have created a Minnie mould that will be used for some series later this year.
Despite the reservations some people had for the first Park Starz series it did sell well, and most people now seem more accepting. So, Disney has just released Park Starz 2, featuring 12 designs (including a ‘mystery’ chaser) sold blind boxed, or rather blind tinned, as this series is sold in tins instead of cardboard boxes. Here’s a picture of all the figures in the series, excluding the chaser.
Figures shown in picture above (from left): Top row – Carnotaurus from Dinosaur ride in Animal Kingdom, Bellhop cast member costume from Tower of Terror in Hollywood Studios, Rex from Star Tours in Disneyland and Hollywood Studios, Gus from the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. Middle row – Red Head woman from Pirates of the Caribbean in Disneyland and Magic Kingdom, Dutch Girl and Hippo from It’s a Small World in Disneyland and Magic Kingdom, Mark Twain from The American Adventure in Epcot, Orange Bird from Magic Kingdom. Bottom row – Disc Man from the Tapestry of Nations parade that used to exist at Epcot, an Elephant from the Jungle Cruise in Disneyland and Magic Kingdom, the Troll from the Norway pavilion of Epcot.
The chaser for this series is Wally Boag (see right), he was a real person who used to star in the Golden Horeshow Revue show at Disneyland California. There will also be variants in this series but they will be sold seperately as limited editions, rather than having the chance to blind box them. This series is available on disneystore.com and at D-Street in Downtown Disney, Walt Disney World and Disneyland California. The price is $18.95 each, plus tax. It is not available to buy in the UK. Normally if you buy a whole tray of boxes you get 24 figures, 10 of them twice, one of them 3 times, and the chaser once, leaving you having to sell or trade the extras. But, with Park Starz 2 the tray consists of all twelve figures and no extras, making this an ideal option if you want all the figures in this series as blind boxing will leave you spending more because of all the duplicates you’ll get. You can buy a tray for $227.40. At the time of writing trays are sold out on disneystore.com (perhaps lots of people have made the decision to buy a tray for this series?) but Disney has said that they will be available again soon. This series is also likely to be popular with Disney park fans who don’t normally collect Vinylmations so a tray will also be an ideal option for them, perhaps Disney sells the trays in this format for this series to attract those people? Finally, the first limited edition variant for this series will be released in June for $24.95 with an edition size of 2000.
What do you think of this series? Do you like the shapes or would you rather Disney stuck to the classic Mickey shape? Let us know in the comments below!