Your Favorite SST Muppet Design Through the Years

[SSLFan]

Since SS Muppets go through changes in physical appearance every few years or so, which design of a SS muppet is your favorite? Or least favorite? List any SS muppets you want and describe which era of looks was you liked the most.

-Big Bird-
My favorite design of BB through the years has to be the one in the 1990's, begining with Season 25. His head seemed much rounder and he looked a lot cuter! Lol. It seemed he kept this look pretty much up until the early 2000's.
The one that creeped me out the most was definately the first Big Bird in Season 1 (as many fans would agree)!

-Elmo-
Fav: Early Elmo's personality really made the character, but far as looks, I liked the one in Season 29, since more fur was added.
Least Fav: The new Elmo puppet in Season 34. Having his fur brushed back? This really was what made Elmo so annoying to me today.

-Cookie Monster-
Fav: Late 80's Cookie.
LF: I guess the one in the 70's. It seemed like not much fur was on him or something.

- Ernie & Bert -
Fav: Definately the late 80's puppets. I liked how Ernie's hair was still all shaggy and out of place.
LF: The one's used today. Look what they did to Ernie's hair!

-Grover-
Fav: The current one. I know everyone hates the new Grover puppet because it looks like a doll, but I love it. Espicially the more fur he has. I think that's part of the reason why more and more kids are liking the chracter again. Everyone needs a change once and a while.
Least Fav: 90's Grover puppet.

-Oscar-
Fav: The new one, though I hear Caroll Spinney has been using the same Oscar puppet since day one, with modifications added every now and then.
LF: I guess the orange version of Oscar. Though I can't judge since it was only used for a very brief time.

-Zoe-
Fav: The old, naked Zoe from Season 25! That's the Zoe I remember. Not the 'Zoe Ballerina' she is today, though I do like the glittery hairs added to her in recent years.
LF: None, though seeing her in that tutu took some getting used to.

 

[Oscarfan]

Hard to decide, but I like the E&B puppets from the late 80's. I also like the Grover puppet used around then.

 

[mr3urious]

Big Bird
MF: I like the designs used since 1975, since they're the ones I'm used to seeing.
LF: The 1st design. He just doesn't look right with lots of feathers on his head.

Snuffy
MF: The two Muppets used after that, which really makes him look more realistic.
LF: The 1st design, thanks to those piercing yellow eyeballs guaranteed to haunt kids in their sleep!

Bert
MF: The version used since 1971, because the moving unibrow adds a lot more expression.
LF: None in particular.

Ernie
MF: The design from 1983-1992. The head is well rounded
LF: The current version. The bright colors just don't work right, and the head shape looks a little weird.

Grover
MF: The 1980s Grover with the combed down fur.
LF: The Grover Muppet used since 2004. I appreciate the nods to the '70s Grover, his fur looks too bright.

Cookie Monster
MF: The version used since the early '80s.
LF: Same with Bert.

Hoots
MF: Obviously, the 1st design, which had realistic-looking feathers and eyes.
LF: The design from 2005-2006 took away the one thing that made him unique: his eyes, but it got even worse when they unnecessarily re-designed him after that to look like a stuffed animal.

Oscar
MF: The two designs used after the orange Oscar, of course. Green is just a more fitting color for him.
LF: None in particular.

Herry
MF: The purple-nosed versions from 1971-1986 and the current version. Like Bert, the addition of a moving unibrow gave the character more expression, and I like that.
LF: The blue-nosed version.

Telly
MF: The version with the moving eyelids, once again.
LF: None in particular, though I am curious as to how his original design with spinning eyes and antennae may have looked.

 

[ErnieandTelly]

Big Bird's design was I probably say 1991 i guess.

Oscar- the green one

Bert and Ernie: Mostly the mid 70's

Elmo: Early 90's

Grover: 2000'S GROVER

 

[minor muppetz]

I think it'd be impossible to name my least favorite versions of most of the puppets. But here are my favorites...

Big Bird: The ones from the late-1970s-early 1980s.
Mr. Snuffleupagus: The ones used between the late 1970s and the late/ early 200os (I can't really tell what changes were made to him during this period, but I assume he got rebuilt a few times then)
Bert: The one used from the late-1970s through the early 1980s.
Ernie: Same as above, though I also really like season one Ernie.
Cookie Monster: Cant decide between the original Cookie Monster (then again, it might not be the original puppet... In the first episode he seems to look a bit furrier than he did for the rest of his season one and two appearances that I've seen) or the one from the late-1970s through early-1980s (seen in Me Lost Me Cookie, Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, Fuzzy and Blue, and others)
Grover: The 1980s Grover, though the current one does come close, believe it or not.
Herry Monster: The ones from the 1980s, seen in Fuzzy and Blue and Good Morning, Morning (though I have a feeling that those are different puppets).
The Count: The first puppet.
Telly Monster: The one from the early 1980s, seen in Don't Eat the Pictures.
Guy Smiley: The ones from the 1970s.
Rosita: Honestly, I like her better without wings.
Mr. Johnson: I'm not sure if this character was ever a permaneant puppet or not, but I like his incarnations before A Celebration of Me, Grover! (where he started to get bigger eyes)
Elmo: I really like the one from the late 1980s (the oen from the early 1980s, seen in We're All Monsters, looks a bit too weird)

 

[Nick22]

Big Bird
BEST: The puppet that they started using during the early 80s. It kind of just looks like the perfect Big Bird to me. Not too fluffy, and not too bald.
WORST: The puppet used in Season 1. Enough said.

Oscar
BEST: Whenever he's green, rully.
WORST: When he was orange. It was TERRIBLE, but it was definitely the worst Oscar puppet that was used.

Bert
BEST: The Bert puppet that was used in the 70s into the early 80s. Right after he was changed to antron fleece.
WORST: The Season 2 Bert. His eyes looked very strange to me.

Ernie
BEST: I like the Season 3 Ernie. He just make me want to give him a hug.
WORST: I think they all looks fine, but the worst is probably the Season 1 Ernie, but only because I don't like the way the sweater looks.

Grover
BEST: The earlier Grover. Like Season 2. He looks kind of scruffy, and I think that's the way he should look.
WORST: When he was referred to as Fuzzy-Face.

Herry Monster
BEST: The one that is used now, that they've used since the 80s.
WORST: The one used in Season 2. He looks, for some reason, a tad birdish to me.


Rosita
BEST: Without wings!
WORST: WITH wings!

 

[Drtooth]

I pretty much agree with everyone else... The season 1 puppets I don't really like.

Least: I'm no fan of the old, first season versios of Ernie, Bert (especially), Oscar (he looked like an oven mitt, and not muppety enough... possibly because of the placement of the trash can made Carol have to tilt his head, making it look awkward) and Big Bird with that Bullwinkle/Clem Caddidlehopper voice and ugly lack of feathers. I also really disliked the Proto-Monotones and the Alphabeats with that small pink fourth member. And Herry with that furry blue nose. No thank you. But I really didn't like the first anything Muppets... they look really lifeless compaired to their 3rd season on counterparts. There was also some Cookie Monster puppet they used around season 32 or so that looked like a big furry couch I didn't like at all. And the first Baby Bear just didn't looked bad somehow.

For the favorites, I always say they were perfected in the late 80's... seems like now they're all overperfected- Ernie and Bert especially. But I really really did the newer, more diverse Anything Muppets.... In the old days they came in a few different types... small children/runts Pumpkin and Fat Blue.... then we got the gold and lavender ones... now we have so many different types with different shapes. I really like that new hot pink one.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I honestly don't really count the 1st season puppets as they're clearly still being developed. I don't know, it just doesn't feel fair to mention them, hehe.

I have to admit I don't like some of the more recent designs that look more bright and cuddly. Sesame Street always took pride in its puppets having unique character and not just relying on looking cute. It's very Stepford to me.

So I guess my favorite designs would be the later '70s and '80s when the characters started becoming more recognizable as we know them today.

 

[Drtooth]

I have to admit I don't like some of the more recent designs that look more bright and cuddly. Sesame Street always took pride in its puppets having unique character and not just relying on looking cute. It's very Stepford to me.

Honestly, I feel the same way but for different reasons. I think the character's looks became over-prefected. Ernie and Bert especially. And I feel the culprit is not so much making everything look cuter, but the progression of puppet designing. We have newer materials, newer techniques... and after a while they became so well made they look too good, and almost lifeless. Way I see it, that happens to all characters at some point. They stop having uniquely wacky designs, and they get streamlined or prefected (not so much modernized), and they tend to lose their uniqueness.

Look at any piece of Looney Tunes merchandise for about the late 70's and early 80's for example. The characters were all given a bland psuedo Friz Freling style (that looked like his late 60's LT cartoons) that was devoid of any Loonyness or Toonyness. Elmer Fudd looked terrible especially. They looked like Limited animation cartoons. Streamlined... imperfections were erased, making them look imperfect. Sort of the case going on here, but it's the puppet making that became totally perfected. And honestly, I don't think it's just the Sesame Street characters either.

 

[minor muppetz]

I honestly don't really count the 1st season puppets as they're clearly still being developed. I don't know, it just doesn't feel fair to mention them, hehe.

I agree. Though they aren't the best, I really have a soft spot for all of the season 1 puppets. I like the first orange Oscar (seen in episode 1) better than the second orange Oscar (seen in I Love Trash).