Poncho Pete’s 9″ Preview–Jafar/Genie and Kidada Combos

It has actually been a little while since the last 9″ preview, which means the releases have slowed a bit over the past month and a half (a good thing in my book).   For the remainder of the month of October, however, we have 5 9″ vinyls being released and this week we will preview handle two of them, the Villains 2 Jafar and Genie combo (scheduled for release on October 24) and the Kidada Peter Pan Desert combo (with a release date of October 30– a weird date considering it’s a Sunday, then again,this is a Sundae release). 

Let’s get to it!

Jafar and Genie–Villains 2

Unfortunately, our images of this combo are pretty limited at this point, as we can only make out Jafar and Genie’s front sides.   This is not classic Jafar as we have saw in the Villain’s 3 inch series, but rather it is representative of Jafar as a genie himself.

Jafar is one evil dude, and this nothing brought  that side of him more fully to life than this scene from the movie.   Just looking at that picture has given me the heebie-jeebies.   So much so, I think am going to have to watch some  Care Bears for a while before bed after this preview just so that I don’t have nightmares.

Oh wait, I think I just made things worse.  Back to the preview……

OK….I have my blanket pulled over my head and I will look at Jafar one more time.  This vinyl definitely captures the demonic side of Aladdin’s nemesis.   The crazed yellow eyes and mouth contrast nicely with the red “skin”.   The beard and eye brows are all angular in a malevolent, evil way.   I wish we could see Jafar’s back side, I mean the rear of this vinyl to capture the rest of the details.   Genie appears impish and terrified at the same time, which is a lot to accomplish in a 1.5 inch junior.  Two thumbs up for him.  What don’t I like about this vinyl?  #1–The price.  The $60 price point is quite high when all you get is an extra junior.   #2—This is just personal preference, but he looks way too evil for me (which I do know is the point of a villains series).   Life is too short in my book to spend $60 on and then display a scary Mickey shaped demon.  An edition size of 700 sold very well for Rafiki (I think being the only 9″ for a series ramps up demand) and I would expect the same for Jafar.

Poncho Pete’s Grade=B+

Kidada–Peter Pan Combo

This is the second vinylmation release from  Kidada Jones. The first one was the typical Minnie Mouse-looking-up-through-a-hole-in-a-donut-into-space vinyl.    Literal sweetness and creativity are two things that Kidada brings to the table and she continue that with the fascinating vinyl.   Where to start?

For the 9″ it appears that we have an ice cream sundae covered in chocolate floating in space with Peter Pan fighting and flying in front of the glass bowl.  It is a great seeing the classic representation of the boy who never wanted to grow up.  The ice cream sundae part is very non sequitor, but it does add to the artistic intrigue.  On the back side of the 9″, we have some wonderful words from Peter Pan.

For the 3″ vinyl we have Tink wriggling through a chocolate bar.  Once again, I like the classic representation of Tink, but I’m not sure what she adds to the vinyl combination, other than a much higher price (more on that later).  The packaging for the combo is wonderful and adds to the artistic quality of the combo as a whole.  I love the subtle details with the ingredients being present on the packaging.

I really want to like this vinyl.   The original Minnie Kidada has a very prominent place in our collection and with it being displayed as a companion piece to our Cutesters Too vinyls.  The biggest “sticky” point I have with this vinyl is the price…$79.99.  The first thing you will notice is that the price for the combo has been raised by $5.  I’m not sure if that is due to it being a Kidada or what, but nonetheless the price is higher.  Second frustrating point for me is that the edition size is 1500.  This is a lot of for a straight up 9″ vinyl, but for an over-priced combo it is a crazy high and no amount of Kidada chocolate sauce will cause this to be a hot seller.  The third complicating factor is that this is an on-line exclusive.  Good news…it already qualifies for free shipping with the price hike.  Bad news…people near the parks can not use their annual passes to get 10-20% off which makes this more “expensive” for many people.   The subject matter of this combo is very niche in nature.  Not many people look around the house and think, boy, I could use a 9″ vinyl with Peter Pan in front of ice cream (for the record, I find it wonderfully creatively and imaginative).  So with Disney giving this combo the triple whammy of over-priced combo, VERY high edition size, and on-line availability only, they have unfortunately placed this combo into the world of 9″/3″ combos that may never  sell out (without help).

There have been a number of wonderful 9″/3″ combos released this year and none of them have sold out.  Here are some of those wonderful designs.

Also of concern, the Urban 7 combos are coming soon and  they have LE #’s of 1500 each as well. It is sad to me  seeing them sit in stores forever.  $75-$80 is a  TON of money and best case scenario, we can only afford those which we truly love.   Now to my final thoughts on the Kidada.  Very creative, love Peter Pan, but am not sure how it will fit it into our collection.  A little too abstract for the high price tag.

Poncho Pete’s Grade=B-

If anyone is interesting a 9″/3″ combo, today is a great day to purchase one.  25% off for today only with the code..THANKYOU25.  Classy apology from the disney store for the designer princess debacle.