The Animation 2 chaser was revealed early this morning by Action Figure Times (AFTimes.com). They seem to get their hands on a release before release day from time to time. They posted a picture of the front and back of the chaser. Click the image below to see it and our commentary on it.
I absolutely hate this vinyl! He should at least have a real cape! Plus where’s his sword?! Custom artist Cesar Diaz did a much better job on his custom headless horseman http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y187/ceesdiaz/photo1-2.jpg
Good concept…wretched execution!!!! It is on the new mold as it is, so the last remaining bit of Mickey is the head! I like the set, and was considering buying a tray, but I would NEVER want to add this to my collection. Vinylmation is a celebration of Mickey Mouse and how versatile his form is, this just seems like the are trying to hide the Mickey form-so I think I won’t be grabbing a tray.
I think that going with a pumpkin head with accents of clear would have been good, or even just a clear head, like y’all said. The front is plain, too plain…I would expect this for a common blind box, never the chaser. I think that they should have gone with something more iconic, like possibly another Disney Channel character, Perry the Platypus, Tj from Recess. They could have done an Oswald-which would have been truly an homage to Walt…or even a Roger or Jessica Rabbit chaser, which would have been cool considering the mixture of reality and ‘animation’ in their movie.
All in all, pretty good set, a few mis-steps, but an absolutely AWFUL chaser!
On a different not- I also want to tell y’all what I think the variants might be-Kim Possible as a cheerleader, Chicken Little with underpants, Dopey with Jewels in his eyes, or Baloo dress up like he was when he went to see King Louis.
The ears are missing from the head, if he’s a headless horseman based on a Mickey mold Vinylmation, there should be ears on the head he is holding!!
Would be cool as well given the Mickey ear Halloween pumpkins you get around WDW during Mickey’s not so scary…
12 different Cheshire cats, Tinkerbell being replicated & now this!! We seem to go from one extreme to the next with Vinylmation :(
Very upset by this chaser. And I’m torn. I want it because its a favorite character but I do not want it because it doesn’t look like a vinylmation so it worth adding it to a collection it has no similarities to? The ball has been dropped on this chaser. There are so many other ways to create this vinyl and this is a terrible representation. At least I won’t be spending a fortune on animation 2 though because it seems like the only one I really want is jiminy. More money to put towards Furry Friends tomorrow? I think so!
Yeah, this design absolutely sucks. I understand that the Horseman’s body in the film is just solid black, but the artist could have done SOMETHING to make it more interesting. Add lighting or highlights, add a big cape, put a horse head on the torso to make it look like it’s mounted on it, make the pumpkin the Mickey head. This is is just lazy. Villains are my main thing I collect, but I’m passing on this one.
I know I said this before and you mentioned it on the podcast, but I really hope this is the last character set that the Disney Design Team does. They’re great at Park and Urban, but the characters really need to be left to the Disney Store artists. The entire Animation 2 set is so phoned-in.
I’m very happy to see and hear people voice their opinions on this series and specifically this design. I applaud Destination Vinylmation for saying stuff that in the past has been hard to state by other blogs or entities because of others “Feelings”. Artists should be able to take constructive criticism since collectors are the customers and the target audience for this product line.
The fans have been spoiled lately to the amazing stuff coming from the newer artists over the past year, I think its time for the vinylmation group to sit down and really think about the future of this product if they hope for it to last. For me im coming to the end of the rope as a collector, with the over saturation, random discounts, the noah incident and general mistreatment of collectors. You can see why the fans are starting to speak up in mass. I wish everyone the best of luck and I hope that these concerns are taken seriously.
I definitely agree with your statement about how other Vinylmation related websites will not say anything bad about certain designs. And while I agree that nobody should be mean about it, everyone should still get to voice their opinion. I have actually seen people get scolded on another site because they criticized the recent Noah design incident in the slightest way (and it was in a very respectful way that they criticized the design). That was ridiculous to me-especially seeing as if the people who were scolding others are often some of the first to pick on designs such as U5 hippie and Big Baby. Not saying those designs are necessarily my favorites either, but at least let everyone constructively criticize in a respectful way and don’t be so one-sided. That is why I love Destination Vinylmation-they are very honest yet extremely respectful and don’t pick on others about voicing their opinions.
Good to see a high profile collector speaking up about the state of Vinylmation!!
I was also considering buying a tray for the chaser — but not anymore! This chaser is a REAL let down! Where are the details? Where is the HORSE? Has all creativity been lost?
I am NOT buying Furry Friends, Animation 2, or the DS.com 25th anniversary. To me, this is not art — just a gimmick for Disney to make more money. Very sad — and I am a serious collector. Disney — start caring what your customers want — get back to the basics, and bring back the MOUSE!
I agree with everything evilos stated.
I cannot believe this is the chaser! It doesn’t even look like a vinylmation figure! So frustrating you have to wonder what the heck they’ve thinking lately just seems like vinylmation have gone down hill since the mold change. I agree with you evilos I’ve really been thinking about my collecting future with vinylmation and have decided to focus on getting older vinyl’s that’s still want and staying away from all this new stuff. Between the new mold, quality problems with furry friends, rediculous amount of releases and this atrocious chaser I’m going to stick with the older figures and hope some change comes soon before this hobby is dead.
The chaser looks great – I’m thrilled that the designers are doing more with the VM mold than simply slapping on some paint. It’s a 3D medium that could be used in so many creative ways! The Headless Horseman doesn’t have a head, so I don’t see why it needs to have a clear Mickey head. It would have looked cool either way, but it probably was going to be way too cheesy with a flaming pumpkin head, too – look at how the Nightmare Before Christmas pumpkin head looked – think about that on top of this figure. I like this better. It’s more surprising. :)
I really dont mind the chaser… It is the HEADLESS horseman, afterall. I wasnt really a fan of animation 1 though, so I didnt expect much from 2. I could go on and on about all the characters I think would be better for this series, but in the end I’m not the one getting paid to conjure obscure character designs for these figures, so alas I leave it in the hands of the experts.
I hate this figure because, he has NO MICKEY HEAD!!!!! I mean that’s what vinylmation is right!?!?!
While I kind of like the pumpkin, I think this vinylmation is definitely missing something….it comes across as very bland. I agree mickey’s head needs to be there or it’s not a Mickey vinylmation….it’s just a vinyl. I love headless horseman so I would probably still like to get this piece, but it definitely is not one of my have to haves.
I like it. I think it is good that they are finally trying to come up with other characters, rather than redoing the same ones over and over like they have been. Yes, it doesn’t scream mickey, which is a shame, but i still think it is a cool and different figure.
Definitely have to agree with this one. A lazy design and poor choice for a vinylmation. Evilos stated it eloquently. I’ve always just collected the vinyls I like, because they’re saturated the market with them so much now, that it’s impossible to actually collect them. But now, I’m finding it harder and harder to even find new vinylmation that I LIKE and want to collect. I might have to just start ebaying the ones I missed along the way from the earlier park and urban sets.
I see the idea what Disney is trying to do with multiple vinyls of the same character. They have made hundreds, maybe thousands, of designs of the same character in the Disney pin collecting realm. Can you think of how many Mickey Mouse pins have been designed?
I think when Disney released the original Mickey Vinylmation design, we got used to THAT mold defining what a Vinylmation was. Since the design team has changed the mold and now are changing things like the head on the Headless Horseman, even adding things like real ribbons like Furry Friends Marie has, people are loosing interest in collecting vinyls. Couple these disappointing trends in designs along with the massive amount of new releases that have had quality problems, the excitement is wearing off.
Collectors like a common theme in their lines of collectibles they treasure. In the case of Vinylmations, it is the Mickey Mouse shape, whether Disney wants to acknowledge that or not, it is true. The more they vary from that the Mickey theme, the more they will have problems selling to this group of collectors.
If they want to change up designs, I like the idea of Park Starz. Each design is different. There are hits and misses there too, but it gives Disney a chance to change.
Once they figure out and LISTEN to what collectors (the ones who spends lots of $$) want, they will get back to the basics of making exciting designs, even if they are of the same characters like you collect.
It’s one thing to like or dislike or hate the choice. It’s quite another to trash Vinylmation because of it. I think some of the comments come off quite childish.
First you can’t say that Vinylmation is Mickey, because of A)Park Starz B) The Rumored Duffy Mold, and C)The Vinylmation Team has said Vinylmation is NOT Mickey but Mickey is Part of Vinylmation.
Having no head is a valid dislike or like, but saying is not Vinylmation because it has no head is not right. I don’t see how that’s any different then accessories that alter the shape such as the Philharmagic Donald or Star Jets.
Final note as far as the design being boring, In the Animation series then tend to try to represent the character as they appeared in the film/show there were in. The Headless Horseman in the film extremely plain and in that aspect is represented well. Is it simple..yes but so is the actual animation.
These observations of mine have nothing to do with whether I like the figure or not, which I have not stated, because frankly I am undecided.
With all due respect, Park Starz is not vinylmation…it is merely targetted towards the same collecting base. The Duffy the Bear is just a rumor so that is a mute point. Vinylmation is on a Mickey mold…thus making the canvas Mickey. They may have said that Vinylmation is not Mickey, but the customers ultimately decide what it is, and what it isnt. I’d also like to point out, that nobody has said they hate vinylmation…they only said they didn’t like the amount that is being released, and thus the production quality…they also said that they preferred the older designs, so they don’t hate vinylmation.
There could have been very easy changes made that would have made this figure a thousand times better. 1. put mickey ears on the pumpkin. 2. put the horse on the figure somewhere or another because there is not a single instance i can think of where he is not on the horse. Isn’t that the whole point? It’s not Headless Man, It’s Headless HORSEman. I do love this figure, just more as separate pieces than as a figure. That being said , I’m not going to just sit back and complain, I’m going to modify mine so I love it as a vinylmation. I am a HUGE fan of accessories, and I love the flaming pumpkin head more as an accessory by itself than I do with the figure. I think it would work great with a Halloween or Spooky Series Vinylmation somewhere down the line. I am not gonna leave the figure like this, I’m gonna take a head from a custom vinyl, paint it to look like a pumpkin, and put it on top.
I don’t feel like there would have been any viable way to incorporate the horse into such a ridiculously restrictive mold. It would have had to be its own vinyl sculpt, something I’m not against since there are plenty of characters that would look great mounted on a horse (like a line of princes on their horses).
I think it’s silly so many folks are saying it “isn’t Vinylmation” when the series is really what you make it. Vinyl is a medium – there’s no point if you don’t make anything out of it – slapping paint on the mold is fine, but that isn’t all there is to it.
It’s too bad the “designer” sets are so prohibitively expensive and stand-alone instead of making an Urban set with established non-DIS vinyl customizers – those would be awesome. Anyone seen Miss Mindy’s Wonderland, Kingdom Hearts or Haunted Mansion Vinylmation pieces? That’s a lady who thinks out of the mold. Mickey in Carbonite is another great example. You don’t lose the “Mickey” or Vinylmation “feel” with them, but they’re not strictly Mickey-shaped.
The only thing I’d change about the horseman (if only to qualm the masses) is the above-mentioned adding ears to the pumpkin.
I also have a point about Park Starz. It says “Vinylmation” on the dang box – don’t go telling people it isn’t “really” Vinylmation just because it isn’t the same Mickey mold. It’s just a different line of Vinylmation, which I define at this point as any vinyl collectible figures produced by DIS Parks/Stores/whatever. The Mickey mold is just that. A mold. Canvas is canvas no matter the shape and size.
/end rant – lol.
You could take the NBC Pumpkin King head and put it with the Headless Horseman vinyl.
yes but i want to somehow cut a hole all the way through the figure and my custom pumpkin head and put it on a 25th anniversary stand so the head will light up
Nice! If you can find a clear plastic rod or even better, a glass rod, and insert it into your clear head, it should bring your chaser to life!! Good luck. Send pics to DV when you finish, I really want to see it.