a great Playset/Figure Set idea?

[WiGgY]

I would at least like to see a comercial or two. These are great toys but there are no ads! Even the toys r us web site buries the figures at the end of lists and they aren't even listed together. A little advertising along with some new muppet projects would certainly help things out.

 

[Luke]

Jamie

I agree totally - i guess a big flaw in JHC's licensing plan was that in the current scheme of things the licensee's they attracted wouldn't be able to afford promotion. I see massive potential in the Muppet action figure line and so many opportunities missed - i think in the right conditions and with better distribution and promotion, sales and recognition could be at least 50% better - i know Palisades are doing everything they can but i do agree they could have been given better support.

There's either two solutions - as you say, Henson could do it as a loss leader just to increase visibilty of the Muppets and also encourage licensee's to continue to work with them or new ones to come aboard. The other is 'cross promotion' - if the individual licensee's can't afford to pay for promotion then they could team up and have the Muppets do an appearance promoting all the merchandise range.

I guess either would work well - although Ken mentioned that he'd tried contacting the other licensee's and they weren't interested for some reason. I'm sure if Henson were to find a way to help the smaller guys out a bit and keep their lines strong it would benefit them when it comes to attracting new licensee's and also the licenses being renewed.

It's a real shame to see great products from people like Palisades and Sideshow not selling so well, especially as there's not much they can do about it. Henson have done really well out promoting the anniversary last year but the interest in nostalgia IMHO is a limited one. People will make a $0-$10 impulse Muppet purchase because it's a cool thing from their past but it just doesn't stretch to $20+ playsets. Thats why i've always thought these PVC's should be loose boxed and just sold individually in card shops for $1.99 or something - people are so much more likely just to grab something small and cheap they think looks funky than go buy a set for $20. I guess you wouldn't get the obscure characters that way though but sales might be way better. I just think it's all about small impulse purchases right now and by the looks of it the action figures are benefitting from all that but the playsets and Mega's obviously aren't. Maybe once the Muppets have this weekly Fox show exposure and build on what was started this year they might develop more of a dedicated fanbase and things could change - just gotta continue to get the Muppets out there i guess !

 

[frogboy4]

Hella Long Post

With the limited run, I don't see the price point being the issue. People are just not noticing the product. I feel that it's the same way people didn't respond to Muppets Tonight. 95% of the people I have asked about the show never realized it was on. Muppet Show product has always been steeper than other characters.

We have spoken at length about the PVCs. Palisades doesn't want to do the same old junk that has been done in the past. They want obscure characters and other stuff. I agree that a 6 pack is a bit to swallow, but single packs aren't the key to pushing more product. Otherwise we would only get multiple versions of the main 5 characters. I think a 3 pack would have been best. It would still be expensive, but they could maybe slip a cost effective cardboard cutout backdrop on the packaging and stuff like that.

The playsets are a tough idea. I admit that I initially felt that one set per series would be too much. Two a year seems like a better idea. And YES, people - a key figure like Beaker or Animal *must* come with it to seal the deal. Separate carding of the figures would decrease set sales - no matter how "boffo" they happen to be. I honestly don't think Palisades should have announced an exclusive carded Chef until the Kitchen was released. It's really an either-or proposition, unfortunately. And I like seeing the sets. The characters really push the sets.

Muppet Labs Rant: Yes, Beaker should have definitely come with the Lab. I understand Lab concerns. I kept that in mind when making the MC Help menu. The real issue is that the current Lab design should have included a clock and some more classic touches. Not that I would change it oh, so much. Add a reel-to-reel super computer to stick Beaker into instead of the chamber. Put some knobs and levers on it too. That would leave room for a clock on the wall. And separating the desk/trunk from the floor and the equipment from the desk would have been a good idea that would have probably prevented the breakage issues they were trying to avoid. It was a good first playset effort.

It really is about looking at these things without fan glasses and keep in mind the average consumer *and* corporate costs and interests. The EM set is spectacular and the Kitchen set looks fun too. I think the Kitchen might be a big seller because it has the fan and kid appeal.

You Brits do get a raw deal. It's UK distributors that are messing with you. But if the US online market opened up to Brits it would cut into your economy. Wish people didn't have the need to be so greedy. Thought the Republicans were running our country. LOL!

Yeah, I heard Ken talk about trying to get together with other licensors. The trouble is, many of them do not share the same quality or concerns. Henson really needs to give it a push. They hammered the special away - and still haven't changed their front-page ad. Kermit's talk show appearance could have had less talk of porn and more of showing figures, busts and panties. That would have been a lot more entertaining. It just seems so disorganized. The Muppets are actually the lucky ones to have, not just good, but spectacular figures and bust IMHO. I haven't seen any Looney Tunes characters with such cool items - and the WB stores used to have a lot of stuff. Disney's stuff is really sub-standard in comparison to these items. The whole thing really irritates me, to be honest.

 

[Zack the Dog]

Yeah i hope this line doesn't tank as we all hope it doesn't that's why i'm in this just get it out! just get the important and cool stuff out mode. But Ken has said that he has seen too many cool line's end sooner then their time that way.

I'm not sure but i know that theres some sort of contract untill 2005, does that mean that the line can't be lost untill then? So i would hope reg Rowlf, Reg Sam, robin, sweetums, Bean Bunny, Bobo, Dr Phil, and a few lesser known muppets like Pops, Uncle Deady, Emily bear (fozzie's mom) and nigle come out before then. all the other main and part of the real gang muppets are already out or planed in a line up. this also goes for a BOP or VH ideas as well.

i don't want a line filled with MCC figures, the PCV's are fine for them, i don't think it should be part of the action figure line though. i mean what would we do with a bunsen and beaker MCC action figure as well as a MTI action figure? they didn't have the bigges of roles in MCC so PCV is the only way i would like to see them that way unless the muppet line goes on for years and years that we could get every version possable, and then died broke;-)
yeah and it would be a waste to make fozzie from both MCC and MTI as an action fig, keep MCC as PCV and MTI action figure only. TMM, TGMC, MFS and the TMTM could be mixed in the PCV and action fig line though.


Zack

 

[frogboy4]

Only if the cost of making the figures exceeds the profits will the line be scrapped, but even after that there is an online market for fewer figures in smaller runs so I wouldn't worry. Just promote the line to your friends. I give them as gifts to friends who like specific characters. Palisades has a definite deal to make action figures until 2005. There's not much that could stop it unless someone buys the contract from them or absolutely nobody buys the figures.

 

[Zack the Dog]

Just promote the line to your friends. I give them as gifts to friends who like specific characters.

Oh Jamie, they know, all my freinds know up to their ears of everything! they know that vacation fozzie had two diffrent colored shirts, they know Janice is in series 5,and they know that the WW Dr. Teeth repaint is hard to get;-) I don"t shut up about these things sometimes! LOL!

i got my friend to buy a muppet labs and a honeydew fig, my friend loves beaker and he wanted the lab and i told him bunsen came seprate and that the lab would be kinda useless with out him...so he bought him too...he did break the glasses and he isn't really careful with the lab or where he places it, i think the robot rabbit is lost and needs a search party to find him in his room. not even going to think of what happend to the gorilla detector. but he dose think it's sweet and he finds that his busnen figure with a large bandade over his head is an answer. i told him that it was a VERY muppety way to fix that problem!LOL!

I also know someone who is buying the animal stage, he wanted to get it for his younger (but adult aged) brother for chirstmas but it didn't come out till after christmas were i live. so i think he still going to buy it thought, he thought that the whole line was so cool when i showed him the toyfair mag with animal on the cover last summer.

I bought my cousins figs for their birthdays too! And i"m going to get certain figures my cosins like when they come out. i"m waitting on rizzo for one cousin and sam for another, SAM! can you belive that? a 13 year old girl likes sam the best,and she said she wouldn't mind the MTI Sam.

i'm also going to ge a janice fig for one of my best friends, she can't wait for it and she happy it's not coimng with the bus because she wouldn't know what to do with the bus! she said i could keep the bus if/and when it "was" going to come out.

My younger borther has even bought a few, he thinks they are so cool too but he doesn't open his. he wants to make money off them someday;-)

 

[Stryder Wolfe]

intersting about the 2005 first quarter thing...that leaves a lot of room...I'm not counting on seeing anything that's not been announced already or at least sculpted....I am hoping for as much as possible, but we'll have to see how it goes..I do think series 2 is selling better than series 1, and hope that this continues...

 

[Electric Mayhem]

Once we get the Swedish Chef kitchen, Swinetrek set, stage set, backstage set & Veterinarian's Hospital, I think all the ideas for successful sets from the TV show will have been exhausted. Bear on Patrol may work, but only if it came with all monsters too.

I think it's time to start looking to the movies for inspiration (Happiness Hotel, EM bus, etc..).