D23 Expo 2019 Exclusive Cars Lithogragh (Art by Bob Pauley)

This Disney·Pixar Cars lithograph was available last year at the 2019 D23 Expo and is so stunningly cute! As a big fan of the franchise, this was a must-get. The art is done by Pixar's very own Bob Pauley, who was also one of the production designers/supervising animators on the original Cars. I love how all three Cars films are represented here, including some more obscure characters like Shannon Spokes, Tomber, Wingo and Todd the Pizza Planet Truck. I also have to note that it's honestly so nice to see Cars 2 get some love!

The print is 11 x 17 in size and I'm so excited to finally get it framed up soon for my home office. I really appreciate what Pauley did with this piece—from the vibrant colors, to the balanced layout, to the minimal designs, to the overall stylization...it's all too good! If you're interested in this art for your Disney·Pixar Cars collection, be sure to check out current eBay listings HERE.

Let me know your thoughts down below! 

Toy Story: Sarge & Helicopter "Minis" Vehicle Set (by Mattel)

 

The Toy Story "Minis" line from Mattel continues with a fun new vehicle set release—Sarge & Helicopter! Once again (just like the "Buddy Packs" tank vehicle I reviewed recently), this helicopter never appears in any of the Toy Story films or shorts. It's a design that was completely made up by Mattel, but regardless, I thought it was a fun addition to the line and had to pick it up! I haven't spotted this in-store yet, but I know it has been found at Kroger/Smith's stores in the US and has been available in Mexico for a while now. I grabbed mine on eBay for around $10. UPDATE: It's also now available on Walmart's website HERE for $10.99

The "Minis" vehicle sets were first introduced in 2017 (see post HERE) and then continued in 2019 with the release of Toy Story 4 (see post HERE). This has been the only new Toy Story vehicle release in 2020, as the others (seen on the back of the package) are repacks of previously released vehicles.

 

 

Check it all out in more detail below! The Sarge figure is a repack of the original blind bag release, but the helicopter is brand new. Both blades on the vehicle can rotate and Sarge can stand securely in the cockpit. The helicopter measures roughly 3.5" long and just under 2.5" tall. 

 

Let me know your thoughts down in the comments! Have you spotted this at the store or did you have to resort to eBay like I did? Any other Toy Story or other Pixar related vehicles you'd like to see get the "Minis" treatment?

Toy Story: Andy's Toy Chest Gift Set—7" Scale Action Figure Collection (by Mattel)

 

Here we have another fantastic addition to my Mattel Toy Story 7" scale action figure collection—this "Andy's Toy Chest" gift set/4-pack featuring Woody, Slinky, Buzz and an exclusive Lenny! This was released at Target clear back in January this year, but I didn't end up getting it until May (for my birthday). Now it's September and I'm finally getting to my long overdue review. So, in other words, I know I'm late to the game here. ;) 

Of course I got this whole set just for Lenny, even though I already have the Woody, Slinky and Buzz figures. He's a must-have character and I was so happy to see him join the 7" collection! That leads me to my first and only complaint though (the same one you've heard a million times), which is I wish you didn't have to get so many repeated characters all the time just to get just one new/exclusive character. I get if they wanted to pack Woody in, but then maybe add two other new ones (in addition to Lenny) like Rocky and Shark? Then, sure, you would still have to get another Woody, but at least you would be getting three new characters instead of just one. I know that change would make me and so many other collectors happy. There, end of rant. 

 

Other than the exclusive Lenny, the next coolest part of this set is no doubt the packaging! I absolutely love how it's designed after Andy's iconic toy chest and think it's brilliant how the window portion of the box is as if the toys are opening the chest slightly to peek out—well done! My only question: is this set based on the original Toy Story? You would think so, since Lenny is a part of it. However, the chest is the Toy Story 3 design (with the stickers all over it) and at that point in the trilogy, Lenny was not in Andy's room any more. Interesting! 

 

Since I already took a closer look at the Woody, Buzz and Slinky last year, this post will mainly only focus in on Lenny. He's a great looking figure and looks absolutely perfect with the rest of line! Remember, this Lenny is to scale with the 7" action figure line and is not meant to be a full scale replica. He's roughly 3" wide x 2.5" tall in size. The only articulation he has is his wind-up key spins, but this is not a real wind-up toy. It should also be obvious that he is not a real working pair of binoculars either. 

Here's the full gang out of the box! I appreciate (and was honestly surprised by) the fact that Woody can hold Lenny up the way I have him posed below. Impressive!

After all these months, you can still easily find this set at your local Target (or online HERE) for $29.99. If you haven't gotten any of these characters and are just starting to collect this figure line, this might actually be a good "starter set" set for you! Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below. Did you pick this up for your collection?

Disney Parks Pixar Ball MagicBand 2

For years I had considered mixing things up and getting a fun, premium MagicBand for me to wear during one of our Walt Disney World vacations; but when it came down to it, I never really wanted to fork out the extra $25 since we already have so many of the complimentary ones you get when you book a trip. When I saw this Pixar ball design earlier this year though, I couldn't help but go for it! I actually received it as a birthday gift from my parents back in May, so a big thanks to them for hookin' me up.

As of now (things could change with how the world is), we're planing on going back to Disney World next fall. Aidan will be almost two and we thought it would be the perfect time for his very first visit! I'm looking forward to wearing this during the trip, along with some other Pixar ball items I'll be showing right here soon.

Note: "Premium" MagicBands function no differently then regular/complimentary MagicBands. The only difference is that premium bands offer lots of fun different designs to choose from like this one. If you're unfamiliar with MagicBands and how they work in general, visit the official Disney World site HERE.

You can view all the MagicBand designs currently available on ShopDisney HERE and/or purchase this Pixar ball design HERE for $24.99. Let me know your thoughts down below! Have you purchased any neat MagicBands for your collection?

Cars 3: Jae

Hey Disney·Pixar Cars fans—Tonight I'm back with another brand new Mattel Cars 3 1:55 scale diecast release...Jae! This character started hitting shelves pretty recently as part of this year's "Rust-eze Racing Center" sub-series and is available in the 2020 singles case H. I found him at Walmart a few days ago, which was exciting for me since I haven't found a new Cars release in almost two months!

In Cars 3, as shown in the screen shot above, Jae (No. 094) is one of the many next-gen rookie racers ("trainees") training at the Rust-eze Racing Center. Jae can be seen briefly next to fellow trainee Sudeep (who was released last year, but only in Europe so far), where they are both testing out the new virtual reality tech. Once again, his name and look are pretty generic, but I kind of like all the different color trainees Mattel has released over the last couple of years. It's fun to build out the Cars world through diecasts, even when sometimes that means getting a generic background character.

As noted, Jae here is pretty much brand new, so you should be able to still find him in stores at your nearest Walmart or Target. Have fun out there, stay safe and happy hunting! Let me know your thoughts or any questions you might have down in the comments.

Stay tuned for more from my Pixar collection right here daily! 

Loungefly Pixar Ball Keychain (BoxLunch Exclusive)

You know me— if it's Pixar ball related, I buy it (for the most part)! Well, I saw this Loungefly Pixar ball keychain recently at BoxLunch (it's one of their exclusives) and couldn't resist it; especially since it was on sale for a great price. I'm so happy I went for it! You might remember that I already got a Disney Parks Luxo ball keychain earlier this year from the Disneyland, but that one was made of rubber and unfortunately broke not long after I bought it. Loungefly always makes quality accessories and I can tell this metal/enamel keychain is made to last.

This gold-tone keychain is approx. 1 3/4" diameter in size and retails for just $8.90 (right now there's even a code for 25% off). I just put it on my keyring yesterday and man does it look cool. I can highly recommend this to any fan who wants to add some serious Pixar flair to their keyring as well! You can pick it up on BoxLunch's site HERE.

Let me know your thoughts down below and be sure to stay tuned right here soon for more from my personal Pixar collection! 

Mattel Toy Story Minis Blind Bags (2020 Series 1—"Andy's Toy Box")

When attending New York Toy Fair earlier this year, one of the best reveals for me was at Mattel—the continuation of their popular Toy Story "Minis" collection! I was absolutely thrilled about and surprised by some of the cool and unique new characters that would be coming out in 2020; like Transitron from Toy Story of Terror, Sid's mutant toy Janie Doll from the original Toy Story, Captain Suds from Partysaurus Rex, Karen Beverly from Toy Story 4 and SO many more. I've been collecting the Toy Story minis since they began in 2016, so I'm very happy to see the line continue to expand all these years later.

Last year, when the minis returned after a little hiatus, the line was branded and centered around Toy Story 4 and its characters (there was "series 1", "series 2" and "series 3" in 2019). This year, the series are unnumbered and are themed around the individual films. For example, this first series of 2020 (known as "Andy's Toy Box" or "Andy's Toy Chest" due to its in-store display seen below) is focused solely on the original Toy Story. The next series will be Toy Story 2 centered, the one after that will be Toy Story 3 and so on.

This first 2020 series began hitting stores clear back in February. However, it never ended up hitting the mainstream stores (Target & Walmart) and was only ever found throughout the U.S. at Dollar Tree, Kroger/Smith's and Rite Aid stores of all places. Well, I don't have Kroger stores near me and they never arrived at any of my local Dollar Tree or Rite Aid stores, so that made the hunt for these minis very frustrating. Come August (after searching high and low for six months), I almost gave up on finding them in-store and thought about paying crazy scalper prices on eBay. I'm SO glad I didn't! Thankfully, someone on Instagram reached out to me just a few days ago and let me know that Five Below stores were now getting this series in. I went immediately to check it out and, well, the rest is history! I was so incredibly excited to finally see this series on the shelf after all this time (and for only $1.99 each).

With that long story out of the way, let's take a look at packaging. I'm so impressed with it—it's seriously perfect for us Toy Story fans/collectors! I love the way it utilizes Andy's iconic cloud wallpaper design.

This series is a mix of new and previously released characters (so of course I only got the few that I didn't have). Below is the full list, as well as the blind bag codes, to help you find exactly who you're looking for (the blind bag code/letter is printed on the back of each package):

• A- Black & White Woody (technically NEW—it's an updated version/repaint of the 2016 Black & White Woody; this new one has slightly different coloring and more of a shiny finish)
• B- Translucent Glitter Alien (NEW)
• C- Rocky (NEW)
• D- Babyface (NEW to blind bags; originally only available in THIS 2018 ShopDisney exclusive 10-Pack)
• E- Hamm (REPACK)
• F- RC (REPACK)
• G- Buzz with The Big One rocket (technically NEW—it uses the same sculpt as the 2017 version, but now with an updated face)
• H- Bo Peep's Sheep (REPACK)
• I- Lenny (NEW)
• J- Janie Doll (NEW)
• K- Bo Peep (REPACK)
• L- Roaring Rex (NEW)
• N- Woody (REPACK)

*there is no letter M in this series

Check out the seven minis I picked up in more detail below! I'm grateful I was able to find exactly who I needed.

Black & White Woody (2020 version; Shiny Finish)
*only one per case

Translucent Glitter Alien 

Rocky

Babyface

Buzz with THE BIG ONE rocket

Lenny

Janie Doll

Roaring Rex

The coolest characters here, to me, are definitely Sid's mutant toys. I think this is the only piece of merch I own of Sid's Janie Doll and anything Babyface is very scarce and always welcome. They all look seriously amazing though! What are your thoughts? Who are your favorites? I'd love to hear what you have to say down below. Are you an avid collector of the Toy Story Mattel Minis like I am?

Now the hunt begins for the next series (Toy Story 2), which seems to just be hitting some locations now. Hopefully it won't take me six months this time, right? Stay tuned to my social media pages for up-to-date findings/coverage and best of luck on the hunt!

Monsters University: Mike Wazowski 3D Print

On Monday, my nephew Jack surprised me with a 3D print he did of Mike Wazowski from Monsters University! I thought that was really cool and thoughtful of him (he's really into 3D printing these days—it's his main hobby) and I just had to document it here on my blog as part of my Pixar collection.

Mike stands at about 3.5" tall. According to my nephew, he printed it using Rapid 3D Model Resin using THIS model. He said he also used an air brush technique to give the model some texture. I'm going to leave this unpainted, as I love the raw/unfinished look to it (plus any paint job I could do would look so awful it would ruin it anyway). Right now it kind of reminds me of a more textured version of a Pixar maquette (a clay model sculpted during a film's pre-production by character design artists/sculptors).

What do you guys think!? This whole 3D printing thing fascinates me; you can make just about anything! It's crazy, the tools kids have access to these days.

Toy Story: Luxo Ball Mood Light (BoxLunch)

Luxo ball? Toy Story ball? Pixar ball? Whatever you call it, you know I love collecting any and all merch relating to the iconic animated prop! While Luxo ball merchandise use to be almost non-existent (with only a few rare pieces out there), now there seems to be something new every day—and I'm not complaining! A pillow? Check. A mug? Check. A button? Check. Keychain? Check. How about a Pen? Check. Christmas ornaments? Why not. Even a playset? Of course there is. The list goes on and on and on. There's even a really cool shelf and clock out right now at Hot Topic that I'll need to pick up!

One of the latest and greatest Luxo ball items out there right now though is without a doubt this "Mood Light" from BoxLunch! This ball is plastic, battery operated (which is perfect not having to deal with wires, especially when displaying on a bookcase or far away from any outlet) and measures 5" in diameter. 2 LR44 batteries are required and included; it's ready to go right out of the box! This is the perfect display piece or night light for Pixar fans of any age.

Here it is out of the box...

...and with the light-up feature turned on! See? You cannot go wrong here. SO COOL.

You can pick this up at BoxLunch right now (on sale!) for only $13.93 (regular retail price is $19.90). What are your thoughts? Will you be picking this up for your collection? Let's hear it in the comment section down below.

Have a happy and safe Labor Day everyone! Thanks for dropping in and I'll see you right here real soon. 

Onward: "Gwinny" Van T-Shirt (BoxLunch)

*Paid support and free product provided by Disney* 

 
Hey everyone—once again, I hope you all had a great official first week of Pixar Fest! If you're not already, be sure to be following along with me on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news and updates throughout this exciting month. 
 
This week has been themed around Onward (leading up to tonight's Onward watch party on Disney+) and, to help me celebrate the film, Disney was generous enough to send a few new Onward products my way. Following yesterday's post, the next item I wanted to share with you is this super van-tastic Guinevere ("Gwinny) T-shirt from BoxLunch! If you recall, Barley's nickname for his noble steed/van is "Gwinny" and this shirt's design incorporates that (which is actually pretty unique). 

I really love the minimal graphic on this tee featuring three overlapping Guinevere vans—it feels very retro! It's made from lightweight 100% combed ring spun cotton, is super soft and has a really nice slim fit to it. I'm really picky when it comes to t-shirts, but I can honestly 100% recommend this one up for your Disney/Pixar shirt collection—especially for all you fans of Onward out there!

If you're interested in purchasing this tee, be sure to grab it on the BoxLunch website HERE (currently on sale for $20.23). I look forward to hearing your thoughts down below in the comments!

Onward: Barley's Denim Vest Inspired Water Bottle (BoxLunch)

 

*Paid support and free product provided by Disney* 

 

Hi everyone—I hope you're all having a great first week of Pixar Fest! If you're not already, be sure to be following along with me on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news and updates throughout this exciting month. 

This week is all about Onward (leading up to a Disney+ watch party on 9/5) and, to help me celebrate, Disney was generous enough to send a few Onward products my way. The first item I wanted to share with you is this awesome water bottle from BoxLunch—directly inspired by Barley Lightfoot's denim vest (and the accompanying patches) seen in the film! This 16 oz plastic water bottle features a double-wall construction, sports cap and flip-up straw. It's the perfect way to help you stay hydrated on any of your upcoming quests!

 

For a full 360° look, check out the brief video I posted to my Instagram Stories below. If you're interested in picking this up for your collection, you can purchase the bottle on BoxLunch's site HERE for just $5.99 right now (originally $16.90). Let me know what you think and I'll see you tomorrow at the watch-along!

 

Magical Light-Up Onward Umbrella w/Flashlight

One of my favorite memories this year was helping host the Showcase Cinemas Pixar Movie Marathon Event back in February. It was a blast hanging with other Pixar mega fans, watching Pixar movies all day and seeing an advanced screening of Onward. Showcase Cinemas also hooked me up with a few free Onward goodies that were waiting there in my hotel room as a surprise for when I arrived—one of the items being this fantastic Onward promotional umbrella! A huge thanks to the Showcase Cinemas marketing team for taking such good care of me that entire weekend.

For the last six months, I honestly thought this was just your basic umbrella; really nice quality with fun character images, but basic nonetheless. That is until a couple days ago when I was prepping for this review and noticed a flashlight underneath the handle. How did I not see that before?? What a neat feature.

So yah, noticing the flashlight under the handle was a cool enough realization on its own. I had never seen anything like that in an umbrella! However, when I added the three AAA batteries it needed, I discovered something even cooler: the main shaft of the umbrella actually lights up as well, featuring bright and vibrant colors with the press of a button on the handle! Magical.

You can cycle through six or seven different colors (red, green, purple, blue, yellow...) buy turning it off and on repeatedly. There's also a mode where it continuously fades through all the colors. You can see exactly what I mean in this video demonstration I posted on Twitter. Sweet right??

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any additional information on this anywhere online and it doesn't seem to be sold anywhere. If you happen to find somewhere that sells it or have any other info, be sure to let me know in the comments below and I'll update this post.

That's it for now. I'll see you right here again soon with another new item from my ever-expanding Pixar collection!