from DestinationVinylmation.com
This is part of a series of articles spotlighting the Vinylmation that were previewed at this year’s annual Walt Disney World Pin and Vinylmation trading and merchandise event, “The Imagination Gala.” The event was held at Epcot’s World Showplace from September 5-9, 2014. Today we look at the upcoming Mickey and Friends Pirates of the Caribbean reveal/conceal set.
In my opinion, the Mickey & Friends Haunted Mansion series will go down as one of the top sets of 2014. So when the idea of a Pirates of the Caribbean version of this Reveal/Conceal concept was brought up, I was all in! After all, I am more of a fan of the wildest crew that ever sacked the Spanish Main than the 999 happy haunts. The mansion version was huge win for many reasons. Just increasing the revealed character to 2 instead of 1, made a huge difference in a 5 or 6 figure set. Having a mix Cast Member costumes and attraction characters was a great choice. And handing the Haunted Mansion set to the talented Ron Cohee assured the best looking characters we could possibly have. All that said, Mickey & Friends Pirates of the Caribbean takes a giant leap backward.
Let’s count the ways… First, there is only 1 revealed figure. That is a big mistake for a Vinylmation set. Second, the figures are NOT based on the attraction, but rather the movie franchise. You have a HUGE library of beloved attraction characters! And third, the artwork is really sub par. If this set was in Ron Cohee’s hands, we would have such a different outcome here. Instead, the design duties went to a different artist on the DDG team. They look like a simplified toy version and are probably based on the toys/action figures that have been in the stores for years (which I do love and collect by the way).
Here is a look at the set starting with the Mickey Mouse revealed character and then the 4 concealed characters:
I’ll be honest, I can not definitively tell if Minnie is Elizabeth or Angelica. She seems more like Angelica, but the hair makes me lean toward Elizabeth. Although I think both characters wore a red coat and handled a sword in the movies. I am just very disappointed in this set because I love the concept and the attraction and I think the execution was fumbled. We will see this limited release series released in November at D-Streets for $24.95 per combo blind box. For those not familiar with Reveal/Conceal, each purchase will get you a Mickey that you see and then a blind box attached that contains either Stitch, Minnie, Donald or Pluto all seeded at the same odds.