The Good Dinosaur: Hatch and Reveal Arlo Plush

Who can resist an adorable hatching baby dinosaur? Especially one as cute as Arlo? Here we have The Good Dinosaur Hatch and Reveal Arlo plush, available now exclusively at the Disney Store!

This soft and cuddly plush toy is based on Arlo's heart melting first appearance in the film and stands at about 10" tall. Zip up the egg to hide or unzip to hatch! How cute are his little feel sticking out?

This little guy is extremely screen accurate and quality made. He's huggable, features nice embroidered details and, as usual, has the "Genuine, Original, Authentic Disney Store'' patch on his foot.

And yes, Arlo is also removable!

This is part of the Disney Store's full line of The Good Dinosaur plush that was released this past fall. Be sure to check out the rest of the collection right HERE!

Kids will love this, but adults will appreciate how cute this is as well. If you have a Good Dino fan in your life, this might be the perfect gift. And right now is the perfect time to snag him! He is currently 40% off right now online- so get him while you can! Can't be that deal. 

Monsters Inc.: Mike Wazowski Art of Pixar Mug

Here we have another monstrously fun concept art mug now available exclusively at the Disney Store! Featuring various sketches of Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc., this mug is part of the new "Art of Pixar" collection (which debuted at the 2015 D23 Expo with concept Buzz and Woody mugs and continued recently with Wall·E and Eve).

This ceramic mug is 4 1/2'' H x 3 3/8'' Diameter (5'' W at handle) and holds 12 oz. of your favorite hot beverage. It's both microwave and dishwasher safe. Check it out in more detail below-

You can find this at Disney Stores now- or be sure to pick it up online HERE! This is the perfect item for any Pixar/Monsters Inc. fan. Add it to your collection today!

Note: There is also a Sulley concept art mug on the way as well. In fact, it's already available in the UK HERE! Looking forward to this hitting the US.

UPDATE- I found the Sulley concept art mug during our Disney World vacation! Full post HERE. 

Pixar Collection: Woolworths Supermarket Disney·Pixar Domino Stars (Complete Assorment)

Hey everyone! Sorry I missed yesterday. I was gone from the morning to late at night and just never got around to my post! Lets jump right into it-

Last year around this time, Australia's mega grocery store chain Woolworths Supermarkets (as well as their subsidiary company in New Zealand called Countdown Supermarkets), released an awesome collection of Disney·Pixar dominoes and related accessories called "Domino Stars!" I present to you the full assortment right here.

The scoop: Each domino was given out in blind bags- so you didn't know who you got until you opened them! For every $20 you spent at the store (which is about 14 US dollars), you would get one free blind bag domino.

During the limited time that these were available (March 4th-April 14th 2015), they became a huge trend in both Australia and New Zealand. Disney and Pixar fans of all ages went crazy (and spent lots of money) trying to track down each of the 44 dominoes featuring characters from every Pixar film up through Monsters University. Facebook pages, forums and other sites (as well as in person events) were created just for collecting, swapping and trading them. You could say there was a huge Domino Stars cult following.

Check out some of my blind bag stash below!

Of course, I'm not from Australia or New Zealand, so you may be wondering how I got these. No, I actually didn't resort to eBay. It's a much more interesting story...

In March last year when all this craze started, I commented on someone's Instagram post about how cool I thought the Domino Stars were (having no idea who he was or where this would lead). His name was Chris and he actually messaged me back saying that he would help me collect all of them since he lived in Australia and bought lots of groceries from Woolworths often! The kindness and generosity of this man was absolutely incredible.

For several months, Chris would go to Woolworths a couple times a week to get groceries (which meant dominoes for me) and would email me updates with what he got. He would even go to trading events to help track down the missing characters he couldn't find. In short, he eventually tracked down each of the 44 dominoes and mailed them to me along with every single accessory from the collection (which he had to go to several Woolworths to find). That was last May, so this post has been a long time coming.

Ultimately he wanted nothing in return. How amazing was it of him to help a total stranger on the other side of the world track down Pixar dominoes? Chris, if you're reading this, I really can't thank you enough!

Here they are-
(1) Buzz Lightyear, (2) Woody, (3) Jessie, (4) Alien, (5) Hamm, (6) Mr. Pricklepants, (7) Trixie, (8) Rex, (9) Bullseye, (10) Nemo, (11) Dory, (12) Bruce, (13) Squirt, (14) Sulley, (15) Randy Boggs, (16) Boo, (17) Mike Wazowski, (18) Mr. Incredible, (19) Mrs. Incredible, (20) Violet, (21) Dash, (22) Edna Mode, (23) Flik, (24) Heimlich, (25) Princess Atta, (26) Princess Dot, (27) Emile, (28) Linguini, (29) Remy, (30) Carl, (31) Dug, (32) Russell, (33) Eve, (34) Wall·E, (35) Bear Triplets, (36) Merida, (37) Lightning Mcqueen, (38) Mater, (39) Flo, (40) Sally, (41) Fillmore, (42) Francesco, (43) Frosty and (44) Mack.

Note: You might be asking yourself, who is Frosty and when did he appear in Cars 2? Frosty Winterbottom only appears in the Australian version of the film. He replaces the US version's Jeff Gorvette character. This is part of Pixar's "localization" process that they do for each of their films.

Check out all the awesome sets and accessories that were available. These were more easily obtainable than the dominoes themselves, since you could just purchase them on their own there at the register. They make playing with the dominoes that much more fun- an absolute must!

Domino Staircase and Domino Bridge 

Domino Marble Maze

 Domino Spinner (Toy Story)

Domino Spinner (Cars)

Domino Spinner (Finding Nemo)

Deluxe Domino Collector's Tin Case

How cool right? Such an amazing and unique collection to have here in the US. I'm so grateful to have the full collection thanks to Chris! If you're looking to purchase some of your favorite dominoes (or all of them for that matter), check out this direct link to current eBay listings.
Also, be sure to check back here in a few days as I'll be updating this post with a video of them in action. Stay tuned!

The Good Dinosaur: TOMY Movin' Movin' Wind-Up Toys (Part 4)

Last year, TOMY Toys (from their Japanese division, Takara TOMY) released an incredible set of 15 adorable plastic wind-up toys based on some of your favorite Disney·Pixar characters! Though these were (at one point) supposed to be available in the US as well, it seems they have stayed exclusive to Japan and other neighboring countries- at least for now. Regardless, that didn't stop me from snatching them up!

As soon as I saw the reveal for this collection early last year, I was hooked. I was drawn to the designs instantaneously and knew that these needed to be a part of my collection. I love simple, traditional toys (such as wind-ups) in general, but combine them with Pixar and I'm sold!

Last week I featured every single wind-up character in a big three part blog post. See Part 1 HERE (Wall·E, Woody, Pizza Planet Alien, Remy and Mr. Incredible), Part 2 HERE (Carl Fredricksen, Lightning Mcqueen, Mike Wazowski, Sulley, Flik and Nemo) and Part 3 HERE (Bing Bong, Joy, Sadness and Anger). I even made a YouTube video of all of them in action. Well, TOMY has just released two new fun characters to their line-up based on The Good Dinosaur: Arlo (with Spot) and Butch the T-Rex! Consider this Part 4.

As usual, each character stands between 2.5" and 3" tall. Check 'em out-

Arlo with Spot (#16)

Butch (#17)

And here's a look at the back of the package-

These are really great. I was so excited to open these up and see each one's unique movement, as no two of these wind-ups move the same way. I love Butch's "roar" and Spot's little wiggle while riding Arlo. But why am I talking about it when I can show you? Today I worked on another little YouTube video to show these guys off and how they work. Check it out below and enjoy! 

Whether you're a kid or an adult collector, I can't recommend these enough. If you're a fan of The Good Dinosaur, or Pixar in general, then these are for you!

If you're interested in purchasing any of these, eBay is your best bet. Visit this direct link to current eBay listings.

WALL·E: Eve Art of Pixar Mug

Here we have another very neat Wall·E concept art mug, now available exclusively at the Disney Store! Featuring various sketches of Eve, this mug is part of the new "Art of Pixar" collection (which debuted at the 2015 D23 Expo with concept Buzz and Woody mugs).

This ceramic mug is 4 1/2'' H x 3 3/8'' Diameter (5'' W at handle) and holds 12 oz. of your favorite hot beverage. It's both microwave and dishwasher safe. Check it out in more detail below-

You can find this at Disney Stores now- or be sure to pick it up online HERE! This is the perfect item for any Pixar/Wall·E fan. Add it to your collection today!

And another big thanks to my wife Brita for getting me this as part of her thoughtful Valentine's Day gift to me. This and the WALL·E sketchbook mug (from Monday's post, see HERE), are perfect together.

Inside Out: TOMY Headquarters Playset

I'm so excited to share today's post with you today! This has been long overdue...

From TOMY toys, here were have this super cool Inside Out Headquarters playset! This was released last summer as part of TOMY's Inside Out "core figure" collection which also includes: the "core" emotion action figures (of course), the console playset as well as the musical Bing Bong figure. This playset seamlessly helps you bring all those elements together for imaginative play. Combine them all to recreate your favorite scenes from the film or your own adventures inside Riley's mind!

Retail is $39.99.

First let's take a look at the contents of this playset and its different features; then we'll see the real magic happen when we add the rest of the collection to the mix.

Here it is all set up (takes about 10 minutes or so). Inside the box you find the main playset components, a projector, a couch/stool, three joy "memory spheres" and an exclusive glitter Joy figure (more on the difference between her and other Joy figures later in the post).

While I do wish they went for a more purple color scheme (like in the movie), everything else looks great. I really like the overall design and little details. And yes, this is geared more towards girls- but I can't help but enjoy it! I'm such a sucker for playsets and display pieces in general.

Features-
There are two main features with this playset. The first is the "short term memory" area. Drop the "memory spheres" onto the chute and watch them roll down while passing by the spinners! Lift the ramp to store the memories; drop the ramp to send them off to long term.

The second feature is memory projection! Place any memory into the top of the projector (it takes some adjusting to get it just right), turn off the lights and see Riley's memory up on the screen. Many people were disappointed by how well this feature actually works (since the projection image is not as clear as the packaging suggests), but I knew exactly what I was getting going into this. I actually had a lot of fun with it!

See all the features in my YouTube video at the end of this post.

Here is the back of the playset as well as how to fold it up for easy storage. When folded, it doesn't take up much space at all.

Now let's put in the console accessory (sold separately, see full post HERE). This gives Headquarters a more complete look! As seen below, the projector included with this playset connects to the console. Also, when the figures are placed near the console, they magically light up!

Let's go ahead and add all the emotion figures and their included memory spheres. This was the moment when I was like "ok, this playset is so cool." They look so great displayed there in Headquarters!

As mentioned, here's a comparison pic of the three different Joy figures that are out there. The one on the left is standard single pack release. The one in the middle (with the most sparkles/glitter) is the one that comes with this playset. The one on the right is the one that comes with the console.

Another note is that I had heard (before opening them) that the figures didn't stand up well. I was so happy to see that that wasn't the case (at least for me). They all stood up perfectly fine on their own without the use of stands!

Now I finally get to show you what I've been working on over the weekend...my Headquarters playset video where you can see everything talked about above in action! Enjoy- and feel free to like and subscribe.

Thanks so much for visiting and be sure to check back daily for more from my Disney·Pixar collection of merch and memories!

Wall·E: Art of Pixar Mug

Here we have this very neat Wall·E concept art mug, now available exclusively at the Disney Store! Featuring various sketches of the famed robot himself, this mug is part of the new "Art of Pixar" collection (which debuted at the 2015 D23 Expo with concept Buzz and Woody mugs).

This ceramic mug is 4 1/2'' H x 3 3/8'' Diameter (5'' W at handle) and holds 12 oz. of your favorite hot beverage. It's both microwave and dishwasher safe. Check it out in more detail below-

You can find this at Disney Stores now- or be sure to pick it up online HERE! This is the perfect item for any Pixar/Wall·E fan. Add it to your collection today!

A big thanks to my wife Brita for getting me this as part of her thoughtful Valentine's Day gift to me. More to come!

Up: My Adventure Book

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Since love is in the air, I thought it would be most appropriate to do an Up themed post today; so here we have my new Up My Adventure Book album from Amazon.com! For years I've been searching for the perfect Adventure Book replica without any luck. There are (and have been) countless listings for homemade ones on Etsy, but none of those have ever done it for me (they're just too homemade looking). The Disney Store did release an "official" one (seen HERE) back in '09, but even that one was far from movie accurate.

Not too long ago I stumbled upon this one on Amazon and it really caught my attention. It was the right dimensions and very close to the design/colors in the film- so I decided to go for it! While it's not 100% correct (it is still a custom item after all), it was close enough for me.

This book contains 80 blank paperboard pages, is approximately 11.61 x 7.48 inches in size and sells for $35.99.

The seller even throws in a random assortment of Up themed postcards (as well as a couple stickers) to start the book off right. So cool! Whether you're looking for a scrapbooking album, a photo album, a wedding guest signature book or just a cool display piece, if you're a fan of Up, then this is most definitely for you!

If you're looking to grab this for your collection, be sure to visit the direct link below. And remember-Adventure is out there!