November 2011 marks the third year anniversary of Disney’s Vinylmation collectibles and they’re more popular than ever. The Vinylmation collectibles are figures made of vinyl that all have the shape of Mickey, but display different aesthetic patterns on their “skin”, usually in sets with a common theme.
Usually, the individuals of these sets come in a box where the purchaser is oblivious to the figure in the box until they have purchased it. From there, they trade with other collectors until they have the full series. The box contains a list of all in the series, except for one called a “Chaser”, which is a mystery figure that applies to that series. Aside from the Chaser, the other figures in a series vary in rarity. There are also a few sets that come in packages which the buyer knows what they are getting, such as the Tron set and the Nightmare Before Christmas set. These come in see-through boxes.
Within Disney, there are places the collectors can go to trade with both other collectors, and with cast members. There are also a lot of websites out on the web dedicated to collecting and trading the vinyl figures. You can often find figures on Craigslist, EBay, and Amazon.
http://eventservices.disney.go.com/static/vinylmation/index.html
