Hi all,
I’ve been reading your comments and I figured that I would respond to them or as much as I can. Sadly I can’t 100 % tell you what Master Replicas is doing right now or why things are as they are or what their policy with communicating with you guys is. I am guessing here but I do have to point out that they are between a rock and a hard place with Gonzo’s nose. I don’t even know what they would replace the reticulated foam with that would…
A. Look exactly like reticulated foam and…
B. Still be able to get the colors right.
Keep in mind that that is not an easy thing to do and I tip my hat to them for trying.
With my copies of the posers I am building them out of the original reticulated foam that Henson and Puppet Heap used. That’s why mine look the way they do. Back when I was working as a performer on Fraggle Rock I made my own set of the Fraggle Five using the original patterns. In my early days of Fraggle Rock I had no supplier to get reticulated from and I didn’t have the money to get them with so I had to use soft foam. I had the same problem with the Antron Fleece so I ended up using what I called old fleece. Boy did they look different. Not bad, bad but not 100% there. I asked Tim Miller who was head of the Fraggle workshop at the time, “If I used Soft foam instead of Scott foam would that change the look of the puppet?” to which Tim answered “Yes because the density and pliability of the foam is different so it will change the puppet to some degree.” I’m getting carried away here, sorry.
Someone had mentioned and I can’t remember who it was that the real Gonzo’s nose changed from being kind of blue to looking like flesh color. Before Gonzo’s nose gets the bluish color it is just what ever the color of the foam is. By the way I had carved Gonzo’s head out of a reticulated foam block. His nose and jaw is then painted using a scrap peace of reticulated foam. Now the reason that Gonzo’s nose went from blue to kind of flesh is because the paint does fade and or crumbles off and you’re left with the original nose color but faded or yellowed from time. Also Gonzo’s nose and mouth is not just one color. Purple and pink is also used and put on very lightly first. How blue his nose is also depends on the person painting it too. One person may paint it on thicker than another person would. I have a feeling that I am telling way too much and I may have to kill you all and that would make for a bad day.
Something that I think I will not get into is the gap in Animal’s eyes but I will tell you about the real Animal’s mouth plate. The original Animal has no mouth plate for the bottom jaw. Frank Oz had a foam thumb loop in the foam part of the jaw and it’s just the foam that is holding the black mouth fabric. For my posers the jaw wire was attached where the thumb loop would have been. They must have changed it and gave him a lower plate for a very good reason. Maybe it just didn’t work for a poser. It’s not something that I would be upset with because from what I can see in the pictures on here it seems to look pretty good.
Well I am taking up way too much time and space here so I will end this by bringing you up to date on the Miss Piggy poser. On the first or second week of December I had submitted the budget to Master Replicas and I got a hold of Travis Allen just before Christmas and I was told that Master Replicas may commission me to make the Miss Piggy posers either the last part of January or early February. So for now I have a little bit of time to do a few other things. At this point I have no idea if Rizzo will be a go or not. That’s it for now gang.
Everyone take care, have a good New Year and play nice.
Terry Angus
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