Pin Chasing – Ellie’s Grape Soda bottlecap from UP

Every once in a while I’ll go poking around on Disney’s Official Pin-Trading website as they will list new and upcoming pins. I do that to see if there is anything coming out that catches my eye and/or bellows in loud, authoritative tones “YOU. MUST. BUY. ME.” Having those reactions can happen either for ones that I like or pins I think somebody else might enjoy…or both.

A quick side-step here about me. Yes, I do collect items. As a general rule, though, I do not “chase” after every single piece in any particular “line” that one can build collections out of. More often than not, my eye is caught by unique or interesting pieces in the range of choices or items that have some level of deeper meaning for me. To look around my home, you might come away saying that my tastes are “eclectic”.

But...back to pins...

This particular time in early June of this year I was poking around the pin-trading website and noticed one of the pins being released in conjunction with Pixar’s movie, UP.

The grape soda pop bottle cap that Ellie and Carl use to show they belong to the same adventurer’s club. The pin also takes on a more symbolic meaning over the course of the story. It gains a sentiment and the weight of emotional value that follows it as it is passed from one character to another...from Ellie to Carl, and then from Carl to Russell. The bottlecap badge came to represent a shared dream that had gone long unfulfilled. For a while, the dream looked to have been lost when it actually had just lain dormant waiting to be dusted off and the embers re-lit.

As I looked over the release date, details and location for this pin I should have known to jump on it the day it was being released. The batch size was set at 300 copies and the release point was the Disney Soda Shop and Studio Store next to the El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles. One thing that held me back was that I was not sure if the staff at the shop would be able to accept purchases over the telephone or not. By the time I took the chance to find out the pin had sold out.

While talking with the Castmember she relayed a couple of anecdotes about the Grape Soda Pop Bottle Cap pin:

A couple of people who purchased the pin when it first came out wore them when they went to Disneyland and they were fending off people asking where they found the pin; which caused an in-flux of buyers stopping by the store.

Castmembers manning the counters at the soda shop reported that a few Girl Scouts had come in and purchased the pin as well...to wear on their uniform with their merit badges (...I completely and totally <3 those girls for this idea)

Yet, with the small disappointment with not being able to buy one for myself, I did make note to keep the telephone numbers for the Disney Soda Shop and Studio Store handy as they will gladly accept telephone orders and arrange shipping of purchases. See...a silver lining to this can be found.

Since that time I have, for the sake of this entry, looked online in eBay just to see if the grape soda bottle cap pin has hit the resell market yet. From what I can see, it is beginning to trickle in to the reselling aftermarket segment. I’ve also found it priced there as quite a collector’s item anywhere from $50 to $300 depending on the source offering it.

Along with the aftermarket resellers, I have also noted a few sources offering “non-Disney” knock-off versions of the bottle cap in not only the grape flavor, but also cherry, orange and lemon-lime. Now, these have been constructed by loving fans with a safety pin, making it look more authentic to the film though still not officially licensed by Disney/Pixar. How the quality comes across in the final product, I do not know at this time.

Still...it would have been neat to have been able to get my hands on one...or two...or three (the extras to gift to special friends, of course...).

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~JoeZer