Vinylmation trading boxes to be removed from parks?

DW1

Active Member
I get all that. Although while some sets are 8 figured others are still larger, for example Marvel 2 and 101 Dalmations. Regardless though, you make a point as to the shift towards collectors but why not keep the trade boxes in the parks? Those were fun for collectors and casual buyers. Besides the fact that a lot of the collectors are AP holders and go to the parks as much for trading as for rides.

My point was, the boxes don't take up much room in the store, don't have to be stocked by Disney because traders replace as they take, and bring customers into the stores. So what would be a reason for removing them? Disney wouldn't care what product was in the boxes because no matter what they are selling them.
 

asianway

Well-Known Member
I'd say they have one. Look at the shift in the vinyls being made and marketed. I haven't followed nearly as closely as I once did, but with the introduction of eachez and the continued window boxing, the need to trade has gone way down. And even with the blind box sets, the numbers of commons are down from the smaller case size. So you still have people wanting to collect the variants and chasers, but now with a much smaller amount of commons floating around for the normal park guest to trade. They definitely seem to be moving from the overall trading into more of a target collecting. Which is slightly ironic since they phased out the 9" which definitely targeted collectors.
The 9" was too many too fast. 6 a week? No one has that much room in their house. And the last 6 parks and last few of the others hit outlets and some of them are still there
 

MissingDisney

Well-Known Member
My son bought a Vinylmation and of course opened it right away, excited to see what he got. To his surprise and glory, it was the chaser. A woman in line behind us saw it and offered him $100 on the spot. He turned her down, saying his purchase was 'kinda cool'. I thought he was nuts. When we got home I started researching the whole Vinylmation bit and found out the chaser he got was some rare find and was selling for like $250 and up on ebay. Smart kid after all. :jawdrop:
 

MarkTwain

Well-Known Member
I get all that. Although while some sets are 8 figured others are still larger, for example Marvel 2 and 101 Dalmations. Regardless though, you make a point as to the shift towards collectors but why not keep the trade boxes in the parks? Those were fun for collectors and casual buyers. Besides the fact that a lot of the collectors are AP holders and go to the parks as much for trading as for rides.

My point was, the boxes don't take up much room in the store, don't have to be stocked by Disney because traders replace as they take, and bring customers into the stores. So what would be a reason for removing them? Disney wouldn't care what product was in the boxes because no matter what they are selling them.

It is a little odd, considering how little it costs them.

One thing I will say is that because people only trade for vinyls they see as "better," every week or so the vinyls in the box are virtually untradeable, and stores will usually replace the whole box with brand new ones. Perhaps Disney was tired of that expense?

In any event, I wonder how many guests will give up on buying vinyls after this. Since buying vinyls often requires making purchases without knowing what you're getting, many guests like knowing they can theoretically trade something from the box if they don't like what they get. I wonder if that inability to trade will make vinyls a turn-off now.
 

StageFrenzy

Well-Known Member
It is a little odd, considering how little it costs them.

One thing I will say is that because people only trade for vinyls they see as "better," every week or so the vinyls in the box are virtually untradeable, and stores will usually replace the whole box with brand new ones. Perhaps Disney was tired of that expense?

In any event, I wonder how many guests will give up on buying vinyls after this. Since buying vinyls often requires making purchases without knowing what you're getting, many guests like knowing they can theoretically trade something from the box if they don't like what they get. I wonder if that inability to trade will make vinyls a turn-off now.
I was done after Urban 3, I had too many gears and not enough care.
 

SnarkyMonkey

Well-Known Member
I'm sorry they are messing with your hobby. I never really understood the appeal. I find them creepy. But I have no problem with them being around.
 

Fox&Hound

Well-Known Member
It is a little odd, considering how little it costs them.

One thing I will say is that because people only trade for vinyls they see as "better," every week or so the vinyls in the box are virtually untradeable, and stores will usually replace the whole box with brand new ones. Perhaps Disney was tired of that expense?

In any event, I wonder how many guests will give up on buying vinyls after this. Since buying vinyls often requires making purchases without knowing what you're getting, many guests like knowing they can theoretically trade something from the box if they don't like what they get. I wonder if that inability to trade will make vinyls a turn-off now.

I completely agree! The set in the stores were some of the absolute worst- ones no one wanted or could identify. I think a lot of people, were like me, and wanted figures they recognized: Disney characters or icons from the parks. High school collection? mythical creatures and knights? urban? cutesters? cutesters at the beach? what is a cutester?????? Those would flood the trading boxes but at least it was still better than getting stuck with someone you truly did not want. I love Disney and usually support their decisions or at least don't view everything they do as horrible, but this decision really bums me out. If it brings more people into the store, what was the harm? It was something fun and now it's getting replaced with...nothing. How sad!
 

roj2323

Well-Known Member
Well, hopefully they have backup plans on what to do with D-Street as it was the Vynilmation store..
They have needed a pin shop on the west side for a while. perhaps they will move the pin kiosk that's across the walkway from D street into the store. A dedicated star wars shop could be cool there as well.
 

csm

Well-Known Member
I've felt like official Vinylmation have kind of dropped in quality/creativity over the past few years. I know I personally have shifted my focus almost entirely to custom-painted figures over officially released ones. In fact, I've got a whole set of custom CM figures from all different roles! I'd love to share them, but I don't want to take this thread further off topic - Admins, mind sending a PM please to advise on the appropriate forum to post that in?

Regarding trading - I have to wonder if this specifically refers to the blind "mystery box" trading set ups and not the little clear display boxes that typically have 1-3 figures in them for open trade. I've never liked the mystery boxes to begin with. If those were to go away and leave only the less heralded clear mini-boxes, I'd have no problem with that what so ever. If anything, I'd argue that could help the hobby more than hurt it.
 

SnarkyMonkey

Well-Known Member
I've felt like official Vinylmation have kind of dropped in quality/creativity over the past few years. I know I personally have shifted my focus almost entirely to custom-painted figures over officially released ones. In fact, I've got a whole set of custom CM figures from all different roles! I'd love to share them, but I don't want to take this thread further off topic - Admins, mind sending a PM please to advise on the appropriate forum to post that in?

Check out this forum: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/forums/disney-merchandise-pin-trading-collectibles.51/ You could start a thread there.
 

dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
Well that depends. My point is clearly that Vinylmation has been overtaken by Funco Pop figures among collectors, much as Sony Betamax was overtaken by VHS

Which is a shame. I've been very disappointed in the quality of Funco's figures, especially their blind box stuff. Sloppy paint, cruddy casting (air bubbles and extra seams) etc.
 

Brad Bishop

Well-Known Member
They're just not my thing. I don't think they're cute at all - everything has mickey ears. Some aren't so bad just meh.

I'm with you.

I get the pins. They're kind of fun and have the characters and all that.

Vinylmation stuff always just seemed weird to me. Let's take a pudgy generic Mickey looking thing and paint it to look like it's not Mickey.. but it still looks like Mickey.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom