Cody Smith has returned from a final day at Trade City USA, today was the Vinylmation Showcase. Not only did we have the ultimate preview area, but also taking place was the Vinylmation Conversation, a 30-minute information presentation by Steven Miller of upcoming news and previews in the Vinylmation World.

Let’s begin with a Park Series #5 Preview of the whole set (excluding chaser, and a few 9in Figures)

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Cody Smith has returned with more photos of upcoming Vinylmation figure previews from today’s second half of the Pin Celebration 2010–Trade City USA, each day at the event they add a few more figures, so let’s see what tomorrow, the Vinylmation Showcase, brings.

Park Series #5 Preview, Coming October 2010

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Today Cody Smith took a trip to Day One to Pin Celebration 2010, Trade City USA, which offered many previews of upcoming Vinylmation Series. The Vinylmaiton booth said that each day they’ll add more previews to the booth, so expect more images each day.

First, we have a preview of an upcoming, Open Edition, Open Windowed Series of Flags

Holiday Series #2 Preview, the Halloween 9in is said to be out before Halloween, and the Snowman 9in is a 9in/3in Set with the 9in Snow Scene, and the 3in Snow Girl

Toy Story Series (Featuring 9in Zurg, 9in Little Green Man, and 9in/3in Set of Bo Peep and Sheep)

Park Series #5 Preview

Urban Series #5 Preview

Pin Preview of Urban Series #5

Special Walt Disney World 40th Anniversary Figures

Upcoming Miscellaneous Figures Coming Soon (DVC Exclusive, Disneyland Attraction Poster, and others)

Finally, we have a preview of the upcoming Nightmare Before Christmas Figures (in pins, will have figure pictures tomorrow). We learned that the set will not be blindboxed, and instead, be Open Windowed. For more news on upcoming pins to be released be sure to check out the Disney Pincast.

From Official Vinylmation Site:

As you know, Vinylmation™ is the newest subdivision in Trade City, USA. As with all new subdivisions, there are bound to be delays in construction. Unfortunately, due to situations beyond our control, we are experiencing a delay in the arrival of one of our newest neighbors.

The Vinylmation™ Figure Set, Item #2 – two Vinylmation™ 3-inch figures and one limited edition pin is delayed at this time. We expect the Figures to arrive on or around September 23, 2010.

We understand that this is a frustrating situation, and we have a couple of options to offer for registered Event Guests: we can ship the pre-paid merchandise completely free of charge, or if you prefer, we will refund the merchandise in full and remove the item from your order.

At the event, please visit a Cast Member at the Event Information Table with any questions.

Please note that due to preparations for the event, the Event Services team will be unable to respond to inquiries about this item prior to the start of the event. We appreciate your understanding and look forward to seeing you trading around town!

From Disney Parks Blog, by Steven Miller:

What is your favorite animal? I think that is a question that everyone has been asked at least once in their life. With that question in mind, we created a new Vinylmation series called “The Animal Kingdom.” The series will be released on August 27 at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park. I spoke with Dan Howard, the Disney Design Group artist behind this series, about its evolution.

“This series has been in development for a very long time,” explained Dan. “I started work on it in August 2008, long before Vinylmation was first introduced to Guests. The idea was to sprinkle a couple of animals through each collection. It was Randy Noble who suggested this be an entire series.”

The first animals Dan designed were the zebra and the tiger. The giraffe came much later. In the early days of Vinylmation, accessories were discussed but never implemented. It wasn’t until the emu’s neck accessory from the Have a Laugh series that accessories began to be added to figures.

The series also started as a limited release mystery series. The giraffe would have been the mystery chaser. We changed the series to an open window box to allow Guests to select their favorite animals.

I asked Dan if he had a favorite figure.

“I’d have to say the tiger is my favorite,” continued Dan. “When designing this series, I wanted to push the boundaries of design and feature some really cool graphics. I also like the lion as my son is a fan of ‘The Lion King.’”

In this series, you may notice that the bottom of each figure has a unique signature from Dan. We also added a description for the series – Animals Series 1. This description will be something new added to future Vinylmation figures which will help Guests and Cast Members identify the various figures.

“I created unique signatures for each of the animals,” said Dan. “I don’t take myself too seriously. I’m having fun with design, and I wanted to make the signatures a fun little detail for Guests to discover. When I sign figures in person, I typically sign ‘Dan,’ so it made sense to continue that trend on these figures.”

Dan also added a feature that Guests have come to love at Disney Parks – Hidden Mickeys. Look carefully on each figure and you will see them like the photo below.

I think my favorite figure is the polar bear. It is the mascot of my university, and I like a certain television show about an island. Now I will ask you that popular question: What is your favorite animal?

From Official Vinylmation Blog:

We are happy to present the itinerary for the upcoming Trade City, USA – Vinylmation™ Showcase event. There are a lot of great activities planned, so you’re probably going to want to start mapping out your day now.

Click HERE to download the intinerary.

A couple of notes about what to expect.

Trading Activities
We currently have planned six trading activities – three mystery 24 boxes, two open trade boxes and one more open/mystery trade.

• Mystery 24 Box – There will be three stations featuring the Mystery 24 boxes. There will be two boxes per station – Box A and Box B. This means there will be 48 different numbers for Guests to select. There will only be one trade per visit to the station which means that Guests can select a number from either Box A or Box B (but not both).
• Open Trade – There will be two stations with open trade boxes. There will be a total of 48 figures per station presented in Vinylmation™ Trays (see, they are useful). Guests will have one minute to chose one figure from either Box A or Box B.
• Open / Mystery Trade – We are looking at one final opportunity that will be a combination of open and mystery trading.

Due to popular demand, we will introduce Vinylmation, Jr. trading into the mix. This may become an open or mystery trading activity depending upon the interest. We haven’t introduced it to everyday trading yet as we were waiting for a few more series to be released. Yet, we know there are fans who would like to trade for either Series #1 and Series #2.

Passholder Exclusive Figure Featuring Mr. Toad
Quick update on the Passholder Exclusive Figure featuring Mr. Toad. To confirm, the release date for this figure will be Sunday, August 29 at the D-Street locations on the West and East Coasts. This figure will also be available at the Vinylmation™ Showcase Event at Epcot® on Sunday (makes it easier for all of the Passholders attending the event). Remember, a valid Annual Pass must be presented in order to purchase this figure.

Creation Station
From 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., a Creation Station hosted by Disney Design Group Artists will be held. If you attended the opening of D-Street in Florida, you may recall seeing this station. Basically, a Guest purchase a blank figure and an artist will be on hand to help she or he create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. The following artists have been confirmed for the station: Quynh Kimball, Adrienne Draude, Casey Jones and Lisa Badeen.

Autograph Session with Disney Design Group
An autograph session with Disney Design Group artists will be held from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The following artists have been confirmed for the session: Thomas Scott, Eric Caszatt, Dan Howard and Lisa Badeen. There may be additional artists that will join the session based on availability. By now, you have probably seen the Silent Auction lots. Yes, the one-of-a-kind figures are THAT awesome. Look for some wallpaper images coming to Vinylmation.com later this week (for all those who won’t be bidding on the items).

Early Registration
Guests attending the Vinylmation™ Showcase Event can pick up their product and event credentials on Thursday, August 26 between 12:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Convention Center.

Disneyland Release Information:

AUGUST 27, 2010
PRODUCT RELEASE

D-Street at Downtown Disney® District in California

-Annual Passholder – Mr. Toad

-Toy Story

Walt Disney World Release Information:

AUGUST 27, 2010
PRODUCT RELEASE

D-Street at Downtown Disney® West Side in Florida

-Annual Passholder – Mr. Toad

-Toy Story

Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park

-The Animal Kingdom

AUGUST 29, 2010
EVENT

Trade City, USA – Vinylmation™ Showcase at Epcot® – World ShowPlace
The first-ever Vinylmation™ Event will take place on Sunday, August 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. This “Vinylmation™ Showcase” will be held in World Showplace at Epcot®. It is part of the annual Disney Pin Celebration which this year has the theme of “Trade City, USA.” As the story goes, the newest subdivision in Trade City, USA is called Vinylmation®, hence the event. There are some unique items that have been created just for this event, and we’ve planned so much more.

In addition, at the event there will be quantities available of the following Vinylmation™ collection:

-Annual Passholder – Mr. Toad

-Toy Story

-The Animal Kingdom

-Disney Pin Trading 10th Anniversary

From Official Vinylmation Blog:

After a long break we are back! As we’re sure you can guess, we’ve been busy putting together the finishing touches on our Trade City USA – Vinylmation™ Showcase event. We really can’t wait as it will certainly be a historic occasion as it is our first Vinylmation™ event.

As part of the event we will be offering a silent auction featuring many Vinylmation™ items, including one-of-a-kind and rare figures. Click here to download the catalog showcasing all of the auction lots. We especially love the one-of-a-kind Vinylmation™ Figures by Chris Chapman and Adrienne Draude. While we tried our best to capture the amazing artwork, they really must be seen in person to get the full impact. Both figures also come with unique packaging as well which make them true collector items.

Look for more sneak previews of the event in the upcoming week. We can’t wait to meet all of our Vinylmation™ fans on August 29!

This weekend’s Star Wars Celebration V brought us a preview of the most wanted series, the Star Wars Vinylmation Series 1. Throughout the four day event the Disney Booth will be giving out four different postcards with a sneak peak at the figures.

Day 1: Yoda, StormTrooper, and Boba Fett

Day 2: Princess Leia, R2D2, and Lando Calrissian

On Day 2 of the event, a Disney Collectibles Panel was held, and they announced the Star Wars Vinylmation Series, and showed the whole series (minus the chaser of course).

The Series will feature: Han Solo, Chewbacca, Yoda, a Stormtrooper, Lando Calrissian, Princess Leia, R2D2, Luke Skywalker, C3PO, Darth Vader and Boba Fett.

From Disney Parks Blog, by Steven Miller:

By now, many of you know from previous Disney Parks Blog articles that I am a huge fan of science fiction. I love all genres probably because of the former Epcot attraction Horizons that taught me “if I can dream it, I can do it.” That is one reason why I can’t wait for the Disney Trading and Collectible Experience we have planned for Summer 2011 at the Disneyland Resort. We recently announced the theme of this one-day event at the Dateline Disneyland 1955: Pin-Vited Press Event in July 2010. I caught up with Chris Chapman, the lead designer for this event, to discuss its evolution.

“We started work on this event in May 2010,” explained Chris. “This event will feature some of the most involved storytelling we’ve ever done. The event will be for every fan whom has ever visited Tomorrowland, enjoyed science fiction entertainment, played video games in the Starcade and more. We want to immerse our Guests into the story from the event experience to the product packaging to the merchandise we are designing.”

Mike Sullivan (http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2010/03/the-mechanical-kingdom/) from Disney Design Group is the leader character artist for this project. He shared some details about the story created for Sci-Fi Academy.

“Mickey has always loved adventure stories,” explained Mike. “His good friend Professor Ludwig Von Drake created a device making it possible for Mickey to be transported into his favorite Sci-Fi tales from the late 1800s to today. After each trip, Mickey would return with otherworldly keepsakes. As time passed, he realized he could not study all of the great Sci-Fi movies, books, games and television artifacts he collected. So, Commander Mickey created the Sci-Fi Academy, where recruits could help him collect, analyze and catalog these treasures.”

As a child, I remember spending many hours in Tomorrowland watching people and listening to ambient sounds of the future. I recall riding the People Mover during my first visit to Disneyland in the early 1990s (gosh, I loved that soundtrack). Chris explained that this event will pull from those nostalgic childhood memories and experiences.

Chris also created the teaser poster and the four logos representing the different science fiction genres that will be featured at the event. Doesn’t that poster look like advertisement for a brand new motion picture? How I wish it was – sigh. Nevertheless, stay tuned to DisneyPins.com as we reveal more details in the coming months about this event. And I hope to see you at the Academy.