The Exclusive: What does it mean?
I always check DS.com. Everyday I check DS.com. Every. Single. Morning. What vinyls will be on? What vinyls will be on sale? After browsing through the items, I make a decision on whether or not I will buy any. Most days I do not, but some days I do. I was pleasantly surprised to pick up a case of Monorails the other day. Can’t wait to get them and get my Chick Hicks Chaser. (Come on, Vinylmation Team, admit there was a packing error and announce that he is the chaser).
This DS.com morning check is so engrained in my being that I even know how many vinylmations are on at night before I go to bed. At least most nights. Sometimes the morning number is the same as the evening, some days not. Currently there are 167 items for sale on the site. And I could name about 150 of them off the top of my head. That is how often I check the site.
The other morning I was shocked to see Mickey, Minnie and Goofy Disneyland Paris Exclusives on the site. Yep. Paris Exclusives. Let me repeat, these are Disneyland Paris Exclusives that were up for order on DS.com. A quote in the product description online even says
Created Especially for Disneyland Paris Resort .
That got me thinking. What does “Created Especially for Disneyland Paris Resort” mean exactly. That is Created FOR Disneyland Paris Resort, NOT created to commemorate or represent Disneyland Paris Resort, but FOR Disneyland Paris Resort. That led to the question of exclusivity. What does it mean to be exclusive? No, not in the dating pool, but in the vinylmation pool.
Currently there are 9 exclusive vinylmations on Disney Shopping. Paris Goofy and Minnie are listed but sold out. And here are the placeholders for Paris Mickey and Paris Donald (the best of the 4). New York has 4 exclusive 9” still available. New York, New York, Taxi, Bridges and Central Park. I love these, by the way. Worth every single bit of the $19.99. I will patiently wait to pick up a Central Park for under $20. 3 City exclusive tins are also still available. Two for the Windy City and one for the Big Apple. My Favorite of the bunch…
But there have been others that have been on and sold out, but may be on again. Hawaii Tiki comes to mind.
Another great looking design.
So that is the list of exclusive items available online. That is if I do not include the online exclusive D Tour Paper Cut. That one just sounds painful to me.
OUCH! That is a lot of paper cuts. Looks even more painful than I imagined. Oh those eyes. Mickey either needs some drops for a terrible case of pink eye or he is turning into a some sort of creature of the night. Are there drops for that?
Now for the question of “Exclusivity”
What do you guys think? Are you OK with all of these being available online? And what makes these exclusive designs online worthy while others are not? What about the San Fran exclusives? What about Dublin, Copenhagen, Great Britain? Hong Kong? I could even include ETO and Romantic Treats. Am I missing any? I have mixed emotions about this. On one note, I am happy to see the NYC stuff online as I was able to complete my NYC 9” collection for a fraction of the price. On the other, I am a bit frustrated to see the potential downfall of the notion of ‘Exclusive’
Part of the joy of collecting is the chase. The hunt. The thrill of getting your hands on something that maybe not everyone else can get. Toyko Pirate Mickey is one such example. I think that I actually jumped for joy when he arrived in my mail box. I experienced similar joy when NYC Grafitti and Taxi arrived. That thrill took a bit of a hit when I saw the NYC items up for grabs online. But at the same time I was happy to get a few NYC 9” that I did not have. Mixed emotions no doubt.
Up until this weekend the exclusive leak has only been for Chicago and NYC. (Oh I forgot and Hawaii) But after seeing the Disneyland Paris set online, I am not sure what to believe. Is it better to pay big prices and give up big trades for these items so that you can secure them into your collection? Or, at the risk of never getting that exclusive, do you wait it out and see if you can nab them one early DS.com morning? The choice is yours. Albeit not be an easy one. There is a risk with either approach. Copenhagen was going for an outrageous amount at one time. And, if you do not count the dumpster divers, both the 3′ and the 9” will still set you back a bit. How would you feel if you gave up, say a Plane Crazy for a Copenhagen, just to see it released online a few weeks later?
Is that an “Oh Well, I played the market and lost” sort of moment or one of extreme displeasure? A sort of, ” I just got played by Disney” kind of moment.
Exclusives should just be that. Exclusive. Sure it is to the advantage to those locals who are able to score a few and provide for others. But that is all part of the thrill. That is what the chase is all about.
So how do you feel about these exculsives popping up online?
Let us know. Don’t be shy. We want to hear your thoughts.
I for one am definitely not OK with this. To those of you who know me from the forums I will sound like a broken records but I’m really displeased about this. Living in a country with no Disneystore, off or online, this is a tough hobby and the online community is pretty much all we have next to eBay with it’s high prices. So being able to get some decent trading materials is great and since Disneyland Paris is just a two country, six hours drive away I was thrilled to learn that “we” would be getting exclusives.. oh just think of all the great trades… but that ship has sailed. Granted some of the exclusives are still there, like the DLP jr’s but who is to say that these won’t magically pop up on DS.com or D-Street in the near future. And that is my main gripe.. Disney is just using the term Exclusive so loosely, some staying exclusive, some not. Make up your minds, either make them exclusive to that location (and encourage trading perhaps) or put them all online and make sure everyone has access at reasonable shipping prices. Oh and replicate stock on all Disneystore websites.. Disneystore.co.uk (my “nearest” online DS) has 11 (ELEVEN!) vinyls, that supply is ridiculous and you guessed it, no DLP exclusives eventhough the U.K. is one of the biggest if not the biggest target audience for DLP.
Rant Over.
I don’t mean to sink your ship but the DLP jr’s are over on destination vinylmation, they were on display at D-Street, will be released on April 27th.
Sorry
At least the pairs that I see for release on April 27 are different than the Paris ones (Tink, Pluto, Chip, and Dale). Still hoping those stay on that side of the pond.
I agree arjan – Those who have availabilty to these “exclusives” should have the opportunity to trade if the wish.
I know those who live around Chicago and NYC would love to have that option as well.
I think this all illustrates a significant problem for Disney/Vinylmation. They don’t get the collector. They don’t get that we spend a LOT more money when things are hard to get and things retain their value. They don’t get that we are smart and that we WILL wait for the sale. They will continue to exist with the current plan, but what COULD have been. Remember when 100′s of people waited outside D-street…
So is Disney’s target a few collectors who will spend a lot or a lot of collectors who will spend a few?
Seems like the later is what they are focusing on. And why not, Disney sees none of the secondary market profits.
During the Vinylmation Hay-Day, I bought almost everything. Stuff was hot. Had to have more. Didn’t matter what it was. Bought Big Eyes, Juniors, didn’t matter. As the Market cooled, I kept what I loved…which was about a third of what i bought. I sold the rest. The secondary market drove me to purchase a lot more than I do now. The secondary market can be Disney’s best friend if they play it right. SLOWLY build your fan base. I worry they went for the quick buck, shot their wad, and now they have half the fan base they could have,
Good points Pete. Buying stuff with the security that it would hold value was a huge incentive back in the day. Now you are almost always better off waiting for the sale.
I dont go out of my way to get exclusives. Espesially because I cant walk into D-Street every morning. I usually dont buy vinyls online, but if i can and i dont, then i see it gone the next day, it gets me upset. On my previous trip to WDW at d-street we met a first time collecter who liked what we had to trade so he, trded what he had in the trading box. It ended up to be si/am (the chaser from eto) he was going to trade with us until a cast member there told him it was a japan exclusive. I was really disapointed.
(
Royal Guard was a London exclusive for just 2 weeks, but the previous exclusives (Taxi and Bus) were London Exclusives for a couple of months. They were then put on DS.co.uk which I am fine about because it’s still in the same country. However I don’t think it was right for the Royal Guards to pop up on the French DS website, although we ourselves got the frenchman which makes it fair, but it does spoil the exclusiveness. And now Royal Guards are now going to be in JAPAN! It’s not even in the same continent, and doesn’t make any sense, IT IS 6000 MILES AWAY.
Royal Guards in Japan is the most disturbing of them all. VMs must be really taking off in Japan
It seems like the only exclusive that are actually exclusive are in Japan. As for everything else, they will eventually find their way to disneystore.com or the parks.
I can understand wanting to make things available for the masses, but I don’t think releasing the city exclusives online is a way to do it. I treasure the 3 city “exclusive” tins that we have, and when I saw the Tiki show up on DS.com, it pissed me off a little bit. What’s the point of having someone bring back an exclusive when you can order it online? Sure, I know that my husband’s co-worker who is DVC brought it back for us, and he knows that, but hell – anyone off the street could order one. I don’t know, I’m rambling at this point. The jist of it seems to be “Leeshka Smash”, so I’ll just stop here.
You are not alone in how you feel leeshka. I felt the same way when I saw Graffiti.
ALL are good points…
I felt slighted when I saw DCL “exclusives” on DS.com…
…but on the other hand, I love my 9″ NY Taxi!
What does really gets me upset is when they list something on DS.com and it is SOLD OUT! Take it off the site then!
I honestly do not think Disney is following any plan, I think they are just throwing some S–T against the wall and seeing what sticks!
im in the uk and was so dissapointed when i saw the DLRP 20th anniversary ones on the DS.com websiite as we can’t get them on the DS.co.uk website. I even emailed Disney to express my upset about the fact that DLRP was my local disney and yet i could not access the DLRP range and yet they were available on the DS.com website, and the response i got was that they are trying to improve access to vinylmation in the uk and not to forget that the DS.co.uk are offering some of the DLRP 20th anniversary merchandise including clothing and photo frames, but this is not any good to me when i was looking forward to adding the DLRP vinylmations to my collection as it is the disney resort that holds alot of great family memories for me.
apologies for the rant but just so dissapointed over it
I am fine with exclusive vinyls being available for purchase at DS.com. I would not have been able to afford many vinyls if they were not available at DS.com. Thanks Disney!
I don’t like that the “exclusives” are even being called exclusives now since they’re everyone now, but it does make it easier for me to get the DLP 20th ones since they’re at D-Street.
Oops *everywhere, not everyone. Derp
Why do they bother calling something exclusive if it really isn’t? I refuse to buy “exclusive” vinyls unless I can physically buy them in their designated location. However, many people buy just to turn around and sell, and I think this is what Disney is trying to combat. Instead of having Chicago residents purchase hundreds of exclusives to sell at a mark-up on eBay, Disney can now sell directly to the collector. Yes, it kills the value for the collector, but it does little to Disney. On the flip side, collectors now have access to Vinyls that may have otherwise been out of their reach financially with eBay inflation. It’s a double-edged sword. I personally, refuse to take part in it, as it will only cause me frustration.
I do think that’s my problem. Don’t call em exclusives if they aren’t. Call em tributes if they’ll be available everywhere.
…exactly
A week before the exclusives were released I’d traded my P5 Haunted Mansion clock for a Chicago Jazz tin, needless to say that until they add ETOs and RTs to the stores I won’t see this as positive in any way shape or form >:(
Does anyone know exactly WHY they sell “exclusives online”? From a dollars and sense view, my theory is that they have overstock and need to somehow get rid of it. I can imagine it’d be cheaper to send it to the Disney store online distribution center and sell them that way rather than putting them on sale. I’ve never seen the SF tins online. Why? Possibly because they hit their sales quotas. Although, I haven’t seen the NY Minnie SOL tin online and wasn’t that on sale for like $10 or something super cheap? But then agin, I’m probably COMPLETELY off.
Honestly… the Paris one doesn’t bother me. these are available at both state parks too. If WDW’s 40th was available anywhere and ever where… then i feel like just because it was created FOR the anniversary doesn’t mean it was created exclusively for that park. I particularly feel this way after we were told that the cast chasers WOULD be a WDW exclusive, and then were released at various places throughout the country.
That being said, I do think it’s lame that SOME parks end up with items that remain exclusives. DLR has plenty that were not made available to WDW people or other parks. HK has plenty that stays in their country. For me… anniversary one’s should either ALL be exclusive to the parks they celebrate or available to all.
I also don’t think the argument of “Disney doesn’t get the collector” is valid. I’m sure they do. It’s why they’ve made some LE items. But we are not their target audience. I’m a collector. with over 700 in my collection, i’d argue a pretty hard-core one. but i can recognize that this is not Disney’s goal: to satisfy the hard-core collectors… it’s to satisfy the Park Goer and their desire to bring something Disney home. Let’s say someone went to DLP for their honeymooon or a super special vacation or whatever. the point is… it was a special and rare memory for them. Now, that was special, and might not happen again for them… well, now they are celebrating an anniversary in one of the State-side parks… They see something that not only can be a memorabilia from this trip, but a call back to their previous trip. Sold. that’s probably just one example of a reason someone might be drawn to these figures. the most common would probably be kid might like the pretty hat! Yes, it references/celebrates a specific park, and that’s cool… but park exclusivity is… eh. Disney will be about satisfying the broad consumer, not creating an aftermarket for the collector.
I do think, however, that an exclusive (city) should stay that way if they call it such. I traded HIGH on most of my City Exclusives, and purchased Jazz online (i may feel like it should’ve stayed exclusive, but my wallet can’t let me protest THAT much). To me there’s a difference between a City Exclusive, and a vinylmation that was made to celebrate a park. A Park is Disney, and can be celebrated at all Disney locations and have relevance to all parks as part of Disney History, where a City is… well, a city. it’s not like NYC has a sister branch in Florida.
OK. that’s my 2 cents… and i’m sure most people will disagree.