Disney Store "Tsum Tsum" Unicorn Collection—PIXAR (Feat. Rainbow Unicorn & Buttercup)

Just yesterday, the Disney Store and ShopDisney.com released a brand new unicorn inspired Tsum Tsum set for Tsum Tsum Tuesday (cause you know, unicorns are quite trendy these days). Honestly, I normally wouldn't have paid much mind to something like this— but I paused, looked a little closer and realized, "No way! Two new unreleased Pixar characters!" Yup, the fan favorite Rainbow Unicorn from Inside Out and the lovable Buttercup from Toy Story 3 are both part of this set.

These being actual unicorn characters and all, it only makes sense that they were included here. The other four characters in this set (the ones I didn't feel the need to pick up) are technically not unicorns at all, but rather Daisy Duck, Minnie Mouse, Angel and Marie all dressed up in unicorn "costumes."

I knew right away that I needed to snag these two and add them to my Inside Out and Toy Story Tsum Tsum collections. They go perfectly with all the others! It's so fun to have a couple new characters represented from these films after all these years.

Let's take a closer look!

Rainbow Unicorn

Rainbow Unicorn might be my favorite of the two, just because her colors and details are so fantastic. I love the use of the shiny (almost glittery) fabric and they even remembered the pink heart on her side. 

Both are so well done though! Check out Buttercup. He looks great. Love all the different fabrics/materials used and embroidered detailing on both these characters.

 Buttercup

If you're looking to add these to your Tsum Tsum collection, be sure to pick these up at your local Disney Store or ShopDisney.com soon before they're gone! Highly reccomended for any serious Pixar and/or Tsum Tsum collector.

Disney·Pixar Coco Books— NOW AVAILABLE!

In case you missed it, I wanted to share the news/reminder that Coco books officially hit store shelves and online today! I had fun going to Barnes & Noble this morning to see everything they had available thus far (as seen in my pic above). This isn't everything that came out today of course, but it's what my local store had in stock. Be sure to check out Amazon.com HERE for the full gamut of titles! Standouts for me include Miguel and the Grand Harmony, the Little Golden Book, the Big Golden Book, the "Art of" book, The Essential Guide, I Love My Family: A Book of Memories and Miguel and the Amazing Alebrijes. I look forward to reviewing all those and more in the coming weeks and months! Stay tuned.

Note: Remember, if you're avoiding any spoilers or plot points not seen in the trailers, avoid opening these at all cost (even director Lee Unkrich has warned about this a few times on Twitter). If you don't care about spoiling the story, go ahead and have fun reading these now. I for one will be waiting until after I see the film so I can go in as fresh as possible. I don't want any twists or turns ruined!

Also (unrelated to the books), I just wanted to share this fantastic giant 3D Coco movie theater standee that I saw today as well. I had seen pics of this circulating online, but it was cool to see it in person! I had to document it.

What are your thoughts on the new Coco books? Will you be reading them before the film? Which ones have you purchased/plan to purchase? Let me know in the comments below.

Cars Land "Cutest Little Town in Carburetor County" (Art by Jerrod Maruyama)

Hey everyone! For those who were waiting for yesterday's blog post, sorry about that! Our internet was down, but it's back up and running and I'm ready to tackle today's post. Thanks for hanging tight.

Today I'm wrapping up my posts on all the Cars Land 5th anniversary art (5"x7" postcard size prints) that I've been reviewing over the past couple months. Last, but certainly not least, here we have "Cutest Little Town in Carburetor County" by my friend and popular Disney freelance artist, Jerrod Maruyama! I know I've mentioned this countless times, but Jerrod is one of my all time favorite Disney artists (not to mention one of the nicest guys). If you're unfamiliar with his work, be sure to check out his blog HERE. If you like what you see (how could you not), you can also follow him on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Flickr, Dribbble and Twitter. As you can see, Jerrod specializes in all things cute and is quite the master.

As a dedicated fan of the Cars franchise and Cars Land, I absolutely adore this print and was so thrilled to see it was coming! I couldn't wait to get my hands on it and it doesn't disappoint. It's 100% Jerrod's signature style that I know and love, done in the same vein as his "world of..." series of prints (which are some of my favorites). Retail is $4.95 for this postcard size.

Jerrod's cute stylization of the classic Radiator Springs townsfolk is amazing, not to mention all the nods to iconic Cars props, shop signs, logos and other designs that he threw in surrounding the characters as well. The details in this print are stunning as usual (and the title is brilliant, utilizing a perfectly suited quote from the original film). My hat goes off to Jerrod for all the thought and work that I know went into creating this piece.

As shown in my photo below (taken during our trip to California Adventure this past July), you can pick up this print at the Ramone's House of Body Art gift shop (it should also available at the WonderGround Gallery at Disney Springs/Downtown Disney). And what's cool is that this design is also available on a T-shirt, a mug, a magnet set and on a bigger deluxe size matted print! If I had the space in my luggage, I probably would have gotten it all— it's just that good.  

A huge thanks to Jerrod for sending me this signed copy of the print. It meant so much to me to get it in a surprise package he sent me a little while back! And, since I love it so much, this is a print I will also have to get in the bigger matted size for my Pixar office wall.

Final Note—If you missed them, check out the other Cars Land 5th anniversary art pieces I reviewed over the past few weeks: "New Wheels", "Race Around Radiator Springs", "Cozy Cone Arrival" and "Cruisin' to Ka-Chow." It's so fun to see how each artist captures the feeling of Cars in their own unique way!

Toy Story: "The Claw" Alien Pocket Tee (from Target)

OooooooOOooooooOOOoo....

Ready for this Toy Story fans? Check out this incredibly cool new men's pocket tee that just hit Target— featuring the iconic Pizza Planet logo and everyone's favorite squeak toy aliens! How awesome right? This design, with the aliens climbing out of the pocket as well as "the claw" coming down as if from out of nowhere, caught my eye like no other while I was browsing Target not too long ago. It was just too good to pass up.

I believe this is my first Pixar related pocket style t-shirt, so it's a most welcome addition to my collection. It's simple, relatively subtle and just plain works. This tee is black, though you might remember this same shirt released in navy blue on the BoxLunch Gifts site a little while back (which I missed originally and has long since sold out). It's decently soft and fitted, just how I like it.

This shirt is made by Fifth Sun, one of my top sources for officially licensed Disney/Pixar tees. Oddly enough though, it's not anywhere to be found on their website. This might have been distributed as a Target exclusive.

With that said, head to your local Target ASAP to check for availability! You can always pick it up on Target.com HERE as well. Retail is only $12.99. Note: you might notice some awful reviews for this on Target's website saying it fits weird, it runs small and that it's too thin/see through. Personally, I wouldn't pay any mind to those reviews, but to each his own. As you can see from my photos above, it fits perfectly fine! I don't understand some of the negative feedback this shirt got—but hey. Best to try it out for yourself before buying. I get it's not the softest or the most quality, but it's not bad for 13 bucks.

If you're interested, get this shirt while you can!

Cars: "Cruisin' to Ka-Chow" Postcard (by artist Jeff Granito)

Here I'm taking a look at another neat 5"x7" postcard print that I picked up in Cars Land while visiting California Adventure this past summer. This one is called "Cruisin' to Ka-Chow" by artist Jeff Granito! I had never seen this piece before (or heard of the artist for that matter) prior to going, but I definitely thought the design was cool enough to pick up along with the others I purchased. Retail was $4.99 at the Ramone's House of Body Art shop.

Note—If you missed them, check out the other designs I reviewed over the past few weeks: "New Wheels", "Race Around Radiator Springs" and "Cozy Cone Arrival." All of these were put out this year in celebration of Cars Land's fifth anniversary. I really like how each artist captures Cars in their own unique way!

The more I look at this piece, the more I like it. I like how McQueen's fast pace racing life is shown in contrast to his slowed down Radiator Springs life (brilliantly divided by the racing flag—really nice composition all around). I also think it's pretty cool that, even though the Radiator Springs town buildings are tiny and silhouetted in the distance, you can still make out their iconic shapes. The muted, more desaturated color palate really works nicely for this print as well.

Lastly, I do have to note that the style of this piece kind of reminds me of another one of my favorite Disney freelance artists, Tom Whalen (to see what I'm talking about, HERE is Whalen's Cars 3 piece he did this year). Anyone else think that? I guess you can say that I'm "drawn" to a particular style!

OK to wrap things up...it turns out (now that I looked up this artist) that I DO know his work (we have one of his Haunted Mansion postcards). He has some really fantastic Disney art and tons of it too! You'll want to check it all out. Learn more about Jeff Granito on his site HERE and if you like what you see, be sure to follow him on Instagram HERE and Twitter HERE. Good work Jeff! Consider me a fan.

Get this while you can at Cars Land (again, Ramone's House of Body Art) or at the Disney Springs/Downtown Disney Wonderground Gallery. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

PAGE UPDATE- Finding Nemo Character Connection Limited Edition Mystery Pin Collection

Today is a simple page update to my Finding Nemo "Character Connection" mystery pin collection post, as I just picked up one of the missing pieces to the puzzle...the one and only Squirt! It's about time. Since Squirt is just so darn cute (and this design is awesome), this one has to be one of my favorites in the set. Visit the original post HERE to see the full collection thus far! Just one more to go...

Cars 3: Color & Paint Books

Tonight I'm taking a look at a couple of Cars 3 coloring books that I picked up back in May! I always enjoy getting some of the the book releases that are geared solely towards kids, mainly so I can put them away for my own to have fun with someday. Here we have Storm Front (which is a classic style paint book that comes with a paint palette and brush) and Rev It Up! (a standard coloring/activity book that comes with four crayons).

On the back (which is usually the case with Pixar activity book releases these days) are fun trading cards you can cut out and collect! There are three character cards per book. The ones included here are Arvy, Louise Nash, Jackson Storm, Lightning McQueen, River Scott and Gudio (Note: There are two coloring books I didn't end up buying—Speed to the Finish and Ready to Race—which also include the trading cards. That makes 12 cards available total)

Also included with each book is a free Disney digital storybook that you can download on the Story Central app.

Check out some of the pages from both books below!

"STORM FRONT"—PAINT BOOK

Inside each of these books you'll essentially find the exact same illustrations and wording. The only main different is that the Rev It Up coloring book (as seen below) has activities sprinkled throughout and includes a page of stickers (as opposed to the paint book which includes only the images/scenes to paint).

"REV IT UP!"— COLOR/ACTIVITY BOOK

Pick these up for your little Cars fan today by using my direct links to Amazon below! You can also find them at Barnes & Noble or wherever Cars 3 books are sold. Retail is $4.99 each.

Coco: Funko "POP!" Collection

Earlier today I posted my thoughts on all the fantastic Disney·Pixar Coco merchandise that hit the Shop Disney site yesterday. Well—yesterday also saw the release of some other hotly anticipated merch at Hot Topic stores...the Coco Funko "POP!" vinyl figure collection! I knew October 1st was the street date for these guys, so you know I was there waiting at the store right as they opened. I was thrilled that I was able to ultimately snag all four in the series! 

Note: Oddly enough, I still haven't reviewed all my Cars 3 Funko POPs! And now we're already to Coco? Crazy. Man has this summer flown. I'll have to get to those ones asap, so stay tuned.

Other than the guitar pick that I was sent from the D23 Expo, this is officially my very first Coco merch purchase! Right now, there are three common releases and one rare limited edition "CHASE" release (more on that below): Miguel (common—skeleton face), Ernesto, Hector and Miguel (chase—normal face). The Funko POPs are usually $12.50 a piece there at Hot Topic, but there's currently a 3 for $24 sale! It's the perfect time to go purchase these.

Check out how cool they are out of their boxes...Really great designs and details as usual. The packaging is pretty awesome too. As you know (or maybe you don't; now you will), I'm a big fan of Funko's Pixar POPs, so this was a release I was super excited about. Check out all the POPs I've collected over the years by exploring the designated label to the right of this page.

MIGUEL (#303)

The detail on Ernesto is especially outstanding. He might be the winner for me as far as my favorite! Additionally, I love how Ernesto and Hector come with display stands to save them from toppling over. However, and this leads me to my only real complaint, I wish the Miguel figures also came with stands. Neither one of the Miguels can stand up very good and they can be really difficult to balance. I'll have to figure something out.

Also—doesn't it seem weird that the skeleton face Miguel wasn't the chase? That would have made more sense to me, but oh well. Just a fleeting thought. 

ERNESTO (#304)

HECTOR (#305)

MIGUEL (CHASE—Also #303)

OK so here's the deal with the "CHASE" Miguel. Yup, there's a story so hang tight! So the chase edition Funko POPs are very hard to come by (hence the term "chase"). From what I understand (according to what the lady working at Hot Topic told me), only about one out of three Hot Topic stores in a given district may OR may not get a case with one chase in it. With that said, the Hot Topic that I initially went to in the morning did not have a chase. I left disappointed, but determined. I called several more of my local Hot Topics with no luck.

My last resort was calling a Hot Topic an hour away (which is actually at the mall I work at). To my excitement, the man there said they had one chase Miguel—however they're not allowed to put chase figures on hold. I wasn't going into work until late that evening and knew the chase wouldn't be there for much longer. I needed to act fast.

I checked my work schedule and saw that one of my fellow cast members (Brooke—you da bomb!!) was going in an hour from then. I texted her to see if she would be willing to check for me before going into work and she was nice enough to do so. To wrap things up, they of course had it and I was completely relieved! All the props in the world to Brooke. She really came through for me.

If you're interested in picking these up, head to your local Hot Topic store to check for availability! Apparently these will be arriving at Toys R Us stores as well, but I've yet to see them there. Lastly, be on the look out for a glow in the dark edition of the standard Miguel POP (which will be a Toys R Us exclusive coming up). Some sellers have been listing the standard three on Amazon too, so I'll add those current links down below.

Happy hunting! Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments. Which one is your fave?

Disney·Pixar Coco Merch— Now on ShopDisney.com!

A few weeks back I broke the news that Disney·Pixar's Coco merch would be available at the Disney Store on October 23rd. Well, surprise! Though the "in store" release date still applies and remains true, the full range of Coco products just hit ShopDisney.com a full three weeks early! That was unexpected. Everything from action figures to plush to t-shirts to PJs—it's all available to purchase now.

Check out some of the massive selection below! I'm in awe over how much there is and the fantastic variety. What a gamut! They really nailed the balance of fun toys and collectibles for older collectors. I can't wait to get my hands on—what will probably end up being—most of this stuff!

6" Action Figure Line

11" Singing Figure Line

Medium Core Plush Line

Mugs, Journals, Fashion Bags & More

 Pin Set

Ornaments

Arts & Crafts Sets

 Deluxe Figurine Set

Men, Women & Children T-Shirts

Additionally, there is a handful of customizable Coco t-shirt designs! You know I'll be going for the Skull graphic tee seen below as it's very much the same tee sold at Pixar Studios.

Find this and SO much more on the ShopDisney website HERE! Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comment section below. What do you think of all this Coco merch? What's your favorite and/or what do you hope to pick up?