VINYL New Vinylmation Mold Comparison

Hands On with New Vinylmation Mold; Review and Reaction
April 15th, 2011

Destination Vinylmation was allowed an exclusive hands on with the new Vinylmation mold this morning at D-Street. We also had the chance to talk to Vinylmation Project Manager Donald Ferro. This weekend on the DV podcast, we will share with you the complete interview with Donald, including Disney’s take on the new mold, but first, here are my first impressions of the new mold after getting to handle it in person.

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Side by Side. New Mold on Left​

***Please note that the Vinylmation are on a slightly slanted surface; in person, they are the same height.

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I was able to view a Sea Creature 3″ (first series to be released on the new mold), a blank white new mold, and blank white original mold. Please note, the New Blank Mold is NOT a Create Your Own… we will talk about that later. My first reaction to seeing the new mold in person was a positive one. The most striking feature is the amount of flat, open canvas the artists will be working on. With the removal of the buttons and the facial contours, artists are left with a noticeably broader, flatter canvas. Donald says artists will now more accurately be able to translate their designs from 2D to 3D. Look at these close ups of the body:

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New Vinylmation Mold: The Breakdown
April 25th, 2011

Sea Creatures Vinylmation were released on Friday. They are the first Vinylmation to feature the new mold that will be phased in over time. What follows is my take on it, and a New Mold, Original Mold side by side breakdown of the differences.

My overall opinion of the new mold is positive. From the front, it holds Mickey’s shape, has a broader canvas to show off the design and has a tighter looking fit. From the side, it does look a bit awkward, but I don’t display many Vinylmation sideways. Also, after talking to Disney, the artists, and personal observation, I want to stress an important point: This new mold is not to give the artists themselves an easier canvas to design on, what this new canvas WILL do is allow for the artists’ true conceptual designs to be more accurately represented onto a Vinylmation in the printing process.

From front on, the new mold has a broader body and head. A little bit of the roundness of the head does disappear, but more design will be featured.

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Looking at the profile, more of the body sticks out in the rear on the new mold. You can also see the flatter front of the body facing out.

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The nose is a much talked about difference and it is striking from the side. Look at the arms, they are much smaller and evenly shaped, allowing for more of the body canvas to be visible. This also allows for less bumps and creases to make the final printing more smooth. The arms are also more squarely placed onto the figure.

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GhostInTheSnow said:

I may not be much of a Vinylmation collector, but I prefer the old mold. I understand that the new mold will make it easier for artists, both at Disney and collector's who do "custom" vinylmation, however the old mold, with the facial features and buttons make it feel more like Mickey.

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GhostInTheSnow said:

I may not be much of a Vinylmation collector, but I prefer the old mold. I understand that the new mold will make it easier for artists, both at Disney and collector's who do "custom" vinylmation, however the old mold, with the facial features and buttons made it feel more like Mickey.

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Bellygrub said:

After eyeballing the Park 1 Kermit magnet on my fridge the other day it occured to me that the new mold looks more like the design they've been using on pins and magnets. I wonder if that was the inspiration.

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