WDCC # 3

More WDCC goodness!
Here's the big one. The Snow White set. My biggest set. Well, technically, it's not mine... it's my mom's.

Let me explain... The only place where I buy these sculptures is a great little shop in Rockville Centre called 'The Gifted Images Gallery'. I've been going there since around 2000, when I started collecting the WDCC's. I have become very good friends with the owners, Mia & Richard Taylor, & I stop in there from time to time to see whats new & to buy a new piece for my collection.

Since I cannot drive yet, my mother sometimes drops me off, & sometimes she comes in with me. Every time I came in & chatted away with Mia & Rich, she eyed this set behind the glass case. One day she just said "You know what... I'll take it." My jaw dropped a fair amount as I then helped pack away the numerous pieces in their boxes & bagged them.

I think she's awfully proud of the set, but since she doesn't own a curio case of her own, I kept them in mine. Eventually they'll be moved, but for now they're safe & cozy on their own little shelf in my case.
None of the more recent sets have even came close to being as good as this one. The poses, colors & expressions of each character is so beautiful & well constructed. I especially like Grumpy & Sleepy.

Here's the bottom shelf. Goofy, Pluto & Donald are each "Animator's Choice" sculptures (whatever that means). Goofy is another on of my all-time favorites, just because he's... well...Goofy!

Jiminy is actually another "Mom" piece. She like it better in my cabinet than on a shelf at home.

This is a cute little set. I bought this at the Gifted Images a few years ago (probably in '03 or '04). I always liked Dumbo, so I snatched it up when it was available.

There's Benny the Cab from Roger Rabbit hiding in the back. Chip & Dale are relatively new. So is the awesome Donald retrospective piece. I hope that they do a Goofy version someday.

The Mickey covered in cake was actually the first sculpture I bought at the Gifted Images. David Pacheco, the head of the Walt Disney Classics Collection, was doing a signing there. I was a ten year old in a sea of 30+ year olds. I spoke to him for about 10 minutes & he signed Mickey for me. He gave me little tidbits about animation & getting into the business. He told me to date every drawing (which I have done since) & to copyright my characters (which I did). It was a memorable experience.

Mia & Richard were very kind to me, & they have been ever since.

There's my first WDCC in the back (Mickey & Mickey).

I won the Pinocchio & Gepetto piece in a raffle. It's a very rare & special piece.



While the Open Edition (for regular buyers) has a yellow-tipped feather on Pinocchio's hat, mine has a GOLD tip. There are only 750 sculptures like mine in the world & I have one.

-Well, that's my collection. I'll post more on it when new sculptures come in.

-I'd like to thank Duckman from the WDCC Duckman's Inside Report. His site is even more detailed & up-to-date than the official WDCC site. It's the only reliable source for WDCC's out there, & it's the most essential guide that anyone could ask for. Go check it out!

-I'd also like to give a 'For the Birds" shout out to Mia & Richard Taylor from the Gifted Images Gallery. They have been such good friends for so long that this web-based pat on the back is hardly enough to give them the credit they deserve. Anyone who lives or passes through Rockville Centre, NY & likes the sculptures you see here, stop by their little shop. They also sell great Rock & Roll & Disney-related framed art.

-P.S. I hope you feel better Richard. Get well soon!

See you next time!

WDCC Continued

Here's some more sculptures from my collection:

The bottom shelf in my left cabinet is home to my Fantasia sculptures. Since Fantasia happens to be my favorite film, I devoted a whole shelf to Fantasia-themed collectibles, not just WDCC's. Partially showing on the left is a Sorcerer Mickey snowglobe & on the right is a Harmony Kingdom box (Harmony Kingdom boxes are pretty cool looking. They make great gifts).

Sorry for the extreme close-up on this picture. The Mickey sculpture was a VisaCard owner exclusive. Although it's roughly the size of a soda can, it happens to be one of my favorite sculptures in the collection.

These happen to be some of my favorite pieces, especially Ben Ali Gator on the right. This is the "Dance of the Hours" set. I bought each of them on eBay, before I quit buying there.

I stopped using eBay mostly because of all the anxiety you go through bidding on items. Like a real auction or gambling, bidding on eBay is an addictive & dangerous habit. I nearly got caught in the rush... hook, line & sinker. By then, money disappears instantaneously.

My father caught "eBay Mania" not too long ago. He bought everything: license plates, train whistles, slot machines, candy dispensers, old postcards, road signs, stuffed & mounted animals, fax machines, old film projectors, 8mm & 16mm films, space heaters... the list goes on. He spent thousands on all kinds of junk.

Anyone out there who uses eBay should be extremely cautious & careful of who they're buying from. It can & will lead to trouble down the road.

There's another Harmony Kingdom box (Notice the tiny grapes beside it. Some H.K. boxes have little pieces hiding inside, kinda like a prize in a box of Cracker Jack). The cupids were also purchased through eBay. Luckily, none of the petals, wings or arms broke off in shipping. That happens pretty often when buying fragile collectibles. Luckily, I've been spared from those instances.

In the right cabinet, the top shelf is another "Misc." section.

The Scrooge sculpture is another one of my favorites. One time I took him out & drew him. It took me over a half hour to draw all the coins. It was worth it, though.

The Devil Donald on the left was one of my first sculptures. I didn't know it at the time, but it was signed on the bottom by the sculptor of the piece, Patrick Romandy-Simmons.

The Goofy on the right happens to be my LEAST favorite sculpture in my collection. I'll tell you why:

When I spotted that sculpture on eBay a few years ago, I bid on it immediately. The description said it was "IN MINT CONDITION... NO SCRATCHES, DIRT, BREAKS, ETC...". When it finally was delivered, I was shocked. The horn Goofy is playing was chipping & rusting, the base was covered in what seemed to be oil grease, the paint was chipping & the surface felt rough & jagged to the touch. It was almost like it was left out in the rain. There was nothing else to do but give the seller a dissatisfied review & a bad rating (like that does much).

That's one of the other reasons I don't use eBay no more: distrustful sellers.

The shelf below houses my "Membership" sculptures.

When you sign up & pay membership, you receive a free sculpture plus a few other goodies like sketches & pins. Each year, the sculpture changes.

When I first became a member back in 2000, I received the Jiminy sculpture on the left. Not only does membership come with a sculpture & a Certificate of Authenticity, but it also comes with a pin, a coin, a replica sketch that the sculpture is based on, a subscription to the WDCC official newsletter & magazine, plus the chance to buy "Members-Only" pieces.

The Jiminy Cricket sculpture was the only sculpture in this picture that I got through membership. Timon, Dumbo & Pooh were eBay purchases.


The Membership pieces from the past few years were not as good as the older ones. Ariel was another story. The Ariel sculpture was the Membership sculpture of 2006. For a membership piece, Ariel was a fairly large & detailed sculpture. It's simply beautiful. Scuttle was a companion piece & Sebastian & Flounder were for VisaCard members only.



Since the Bambi sculpture came out in 2004, each membership sculpture has had a companion piece to go with it. Bambi had Thumper, Belle had a sheep, & so on. While the Bambi set is pretty cute & well designed, the Belle set piece is pretty plain & unappealing. After Ariel came out, we were expecting something to top it...


We got this instead. It's a lot like the Belle set. Cinderella is somewhat plain, almost like a china doll or one of those Children of the Corn. Bruno at least looks pretty appealing. Still, it is a nice set though. I'm going to renew my membership probably sometime this week & get this set.

More to come soon!

The Walt Disney Classics Collection

A couple years ago, my parents bought me a really cool birthday present. It was this sculpture: As a Disney fan & an art fan, all I could say was "WOW". I looked over this little pamphlet that came with it & eyed some of the other Disney sculptures like this one. I studied up on the collection, started buying a couple that I liked best & eventually bought myself a membership in the collection. That was back around 2002. I now have roughly 60 sculptures in my own collection, ranging from $30 little set completers like Thumper & Scuttle here...
...to gigantic & expensive sets like this Snow White set below. I couldn't possibly imagine how much it's worth!

Thanks to a great local retailer & the magic of eBay, I was able to buy some of the coolest Disney sculptures imaginable.

Let me just say that I am not one of those "fanatical" collector types who buys every single one that's released & collects them for the sake of "resale value". I only buy the ones that I find the most appealing & because they're cool-looking. & I not only use them as "beautiful sculptures I can see behind glass", but I also use them as maquettes.

For those of you who don't know, maquettes are three-dimensional sculptures made as references for animators. The earliest ones date back to the 1930's at the Disney Studio. I've seen a few of the old ones at the old Disney animation tour at Disney-MGM Studios down in Orlando before the "big change". In fact, WDCC sculptors like Kent Melton & Ruben Procopio are/were official maquette sculptors for animation studios like Disney.

Once in a while, I take them out of my curio cabinet, place them on a table & draw them from all angles. It's a great way to know how to draw a specific character from top to bottom.

Here's my collection below:

Behold! Two curio cases filled with WDCC's, pins, COA's, Christmas ornaments & snowglobes. My pride & joy. Let me stop from the left side & work my way down...

The top shelf in my left cabinet is my "Miscellaneous Pieces" shelf. If a sculpture doesn't fit anywhere else, it goes here. The Mickey on the left is an Anniversary piece, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the collection. If you look closely, he's sculpting himself as the Sorcerer's Apprentice from Fantasia. On the right is Wart (King Arthur) from Sword in the Stone. I positioned him directly under the curio light for that spotlight effect like in the movie (I put too much time with these things, don't I?)

The right side of the shelf has these two sculptures. The big dragon is a replica of the Main Street Electrical Parade float. It actually lights up. I got it cheap on eBay because of a broken horn on his head. You can see the space on top of his head. The turtle & chipmunk sculpture looks a little questionable from this angle (for those with their minds in the gutter, the chipmunk is using the turtle as a washboard).

This sculpture of Lady & the Tramp was inspired from the original movie poster (below).

The shelf below contains my "Spotlight Collection" sculptures. Each character's pose was inspired from poses from the character's original model sheet (another animation reference). The sculpture of Donald, for example, was taken directly from the bottom-center pose from this model sheet replica, which came with the sculpture. In fact, each of the sculptures on this shelf came with a model sheet, which I posted on the wall behind them.


-Since I'm swamped with stuff to do tonight, I'll continue this post tomorrow.

For more information on the Walt Disney Classics Collection, check out WDCC Duckman's Inside Report & for news & updates about new sculptures & events, check out the Duckman's Blog.

More tomorrow!