Anyone Find The Lack Of Muppet Merch Disturbing?

[Writersright]

The Netherlands get hand puppets but unfortunately, except for Kermit, Fozzy and the Swedish Chef, they look pretty bad. Statler and Waldorf especially look horrible:

 

[Drtooth]

The Netherlands get hand puppets but unfortunately, except for Kermit, Fozzy and the Swedish Chef, they look pretty bad. Statler and Waldorf especially look horrible:

That Gonzo looks pretty good to me... better than the Disney Plush (only because of those crazy Family Guy eyes it had). Unless it looks worse in person.

I don't see how something like those wouldn't have done well over here... the FAO Schwartz puppets were selling well at the TRU locations that have FAO stuff (there was only a lone Animal). It really seems like if there was just a little more, figures, general retail plush, and cheap Christmas stuff, it wouldn't have bogged anything down. Again, all understanding is they wanted a life long brand, and that comes with a slow building up. In that aspect they did well... but Muppet stuff seems to be flying off the shelves everywhere I go, while Cars 2 stuff just sits there.

I was able to pick up all 3 sets of Cars 4 pack Squinkies for a kid nephew for like 3 bucks after Christmas. not each... all 3 sets. And the removable top Pez too.

 

[beaker]

The Netherlands get hand puppets but unfortunately, except for Kermit, Fozzy and the Swedish Chef, they look pretty bad. Statler and Waldorf especially look horrible:

Im weird, I LOVE the look of all those Ive ordered exclusive to Netherlands Muppet merchandise on ebay in the past

 

[DarthGonzo]

You'd think the one place you'd find a lot of new Muppet merchandise would be at the gift shop at the MuppetVision attraction at the Hollywood Studios park in Orlando. I was just there a week ago and aside from the film's soundtrack you'd have no idea the Muppets had just mad a movie. Generic t-shirts, Kermit dolls (no other characters, just Kermit - 10 years ago when there were NO new movies coming out you could have gotten Scooter, Rizzo, Bean...) and those Star Wars tie-in action figures. That's pretty much it. Not the Disney store dolls, not more unique merchandise. It honestly felt like that movie hadn't even come out.

I'm not buying excuses that it's still "too soon" or "Disney is being careful". They just don't care and they don't see the Muppets as being the sort of franchise that require a huge merchandising push. People are getting excited over bandaids? Really? If that's all there is to get excited about this soon after the movie's release then that's pretty sad.

"Muppet Domination" was only as strong as the movie's publicity campaign. Now that it's over - and lets, face it the movie wasn't a HUGE hit and didn't REALLY have that impact people were expecting - I think we'll be back to business as usual with Disney very soon.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm not buying excuses that it's still "too soon" or "Disney is being careful". They just don't care and they don't see the Muppets as being the sort of franchise that require a huge merchandising push. People are getting excited over bandaids? Really? If that's all there is to get excited about this soon after the movie's release then that's pretty sad.

"Muppet Domination" was only as strong as the movie's publicity campaign. Now that it's over - and lets, face it the movie wasn't a HUGE hit and didn't REALLY have that impact people were expecting - I think we'll be back to business as usual with Disney very soon.

They're too busy with Cars stuff. Cars and Princesses are all they really care about (still better than Tween Pop Divas). And guess what? The Cars stuff (like all movie merchandise) is sitting the heck on the shelves and no one's actually buying it.

But the thing is, it isn't JUST Disney, it's the retailers. They're the ones that rather had one shot movie merchandise for crap films like Arthur Christmas and Happy Feet 2 (and like I said, NOT selling). Whereas any Muppet merchandise that hit zoomed out of store shelves.

Also, there's nothing wrong, far from it, if we get mundane stuff like Bandaids. I do NOT see any toy company coming in and giving us another Palisades like line. But we could at least have had a small posible figure line like the Smurfs have.

Still... Disney seems to be licensing the heck out of the Muppets overseas... the puppets I just posted have their own commercial..

 

[beaker]

You'd think the one place you'd find a lot of new Muppet merchandise would be at the gift shop at the MuppetVision attraction at the Hollywood Studios park in Orlando. I was just there a week ago and aside from the film's soundtrack you'd have no idea the Muppets had just mad a movie. Generic t-shirts, Kermit dolls (no other characters, just Kermit - 10 years ago when there were NO new movies coming out you could have gotten Scooter, Rizzo, Bean...) and those Star Wars tie-in action figures. That's pretty much it. Not the Disney store dolls, not more unique merchandise. It honestly felt like that movie hadn't even come out.

I'm not buying excuses that it's still "too soon" or "Disney is being careful". They just don't care and they don't see the Muppets as being the sort of franchise that require a huge merchandising push. People are getting excited over bandaids? Really? If that's all there is to get excited about this soon after the movie's release then that's pretty sad.

"Muppet Domination" was only as strong as the movie's publicity campaign. Now that it's over - and lets, face it the movie wasn't a HUGE hit and didn't REALLY have that impact people were expecting - I think we'll be back to business as usual with Disney very soon.

Well exactly. It's no shocker Disney has never, ever seen Muppets as a respectable proper brand. Um lets see, 2004-2011...and the ONLY good merchandise weve gotten were the mugs, pook a looz, big plush and vinylmation. For the movie all we got were tacky lame print mugs and recycleable bags. The kiddy shirts were kinda cool(the illustrated ones) but other than that it's been tumbleweeds.

And yikes, I woulda thought WDW would have a TON of park exclusive merch!

But yeah, "Muppet Domination" only went so far as Disney's concern for opening weekend box office.

 

[beaker]

LOVVE that Dutch commercial! And I actually dig those puppets too

 

[DannyRWW]

I want those puppets

 

[panmanthe2nd]

COOL Dutch commercial!!! And yes the Muppet puppets are also cool!

 

[Drtooth]

Seems that they're looking towards Europe for that kind of Muppet domination. If that means the movie will get an additional couple of million, at least Europe will get some great stuff. We can always trade with/buy from them.

Still, anyone even found the Pez yet? Everywhere I go they're just refreshing the Cars and Princesses.