Ask Ken at Palisades

[Crazy Harry]

I thought EB was doing pretty well with the Muppets. Last time I went to the one near my house, the only things left of series one was the exclusive Piggy and Muppet Labs.

 

[petrieboy]

Bollywood Muppets

"Then why aren't the Muppet figures and to a greater extent, the playsets selling ? At least not in the quantities that they should be for a really popular figure line."

I understand a lot of what you are saying Luke. But you are comparing Muppets with other action toy lines. Why are they not selling as well? Because the Muppets are not as popular as they once were. These toys look better than 90% of anything at Toys R Us. Who/What is to blame? I'll say it outright- Henson has not made anything of substance since Muppet Christmas Carol, and that did not make a big impact because it's a rehashed storyline. There couldn't be a better time for Henson to make a good film. You can all say what you will, but Its a Very Merry Muppet Christmas doesn't count. Muppets Tonite was flawed, but was their best project since Muppet Christmas Carol- and it was unpopular because it had an annoying host "Clifford" who had no originality- he simply took cues from Arsenio Hall. A host for a Muppet Show is just as important as a host for a live action show. I think it has to be Kermit. This is another reason that Palisades is wise to keep new characters coming, and they might want to show photos of all the characters they've had on the back somewhere- so that Joe Schmo knows this company means business. They have had some very solid creations so far, and to that extent, the sales have been out of their hands. It's the Muppets name that isn't selling, because Henson has not done their part. My personal feeling is that they have been so afraid to go outside of the box since Jim's death, that they have alienated long time fans and brought in few new ones. IAVMMCM was their most daring effort, but it was a failure mistaking edginess for creativity, having a shallow plot line, crossing the line in terms of appropriateness for children, adding dimwit human characters, and tossing God around, casually, in the form of Whoopi Goldberg.
Watch the figure sales skyrocket when Frank Oz gets his heart where it belongs and directs an original script with all-out musical numbers penned by someone who knows true melody and smart lyrics. To that end, I recommend A.R. Rahman (and Don Black) who has written the songs for countless Indian films and recently the West End play produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber- you should all buy the soundtrack to "Bombay Dreams" Its available in stores. How about a film called "Bollywood Muppets." Just imagine what the poster would look like.

 

[Luke]

Yeah i have to say even in the UK where these cost lots more they sell out like hotcakes in bricks & mortar stores. I was never able to find ANY past the first week of release. The problem seems to be that the stores order in small quanities, and when they sell out (at least here) don't get any more. Thats part of what i guess is the problem - the store buyers seem to be cautious about placing larger orders incase they get left with them, but then if they just stick to small amounts of stock they have no chance of selling a lot more that Palisades could be supplying them and getting the kinda sales numbers that might let them do more figures and playsets. I dunno if that makes sense, but it seems a wierd and maybe political situation.

I guess it's all the same right the way through the toy industry aside from big players like Hasbro etc. I heard there has been a bit of a slump financially over the last few years.

 

[Luke]

Re: Bollywood Muppets

Originally posted by petrieboy
It's the Muppets name that isn't selling, because Henson has not done their part.

Yeah i agree with you more or less completely through that whole post, Henson have had so many problems over the years both politically and creatively that there do seem to have been plenty of missed opportunites and they do seem to have been very cautious about things since Jim died. The key to great merchandise sales is to improve and promote the main 'product' (ie:- the Muppets themselves) but while the Muppets are evergreen they've also been dependant on whats 'in' at the time. Some years people didn't want to know about the Muppets, others (like this year and last with the nostalgia boom and anniversary) they've been interested.

Henson have helped Palisades in the creative process but they don't seem to have done them many favors in terms of promotion or a heads up on other projects that Palisades could have tied in with (like the Weezer promotion maybe). I think it's probably because over the years Henson have had a lot of big name licensee's with big budgets wheras nowdays they've picked up a lot of small companies with high quality products but little budget for frills like advertising. It'd be cool if they found a way to help them, and help themselves along the way - i think things are starting to get a lot better with new projects and promotion like the stuff on Hollywood Squares and things should continue to get better after the JHC sale, but yeah at the end of the day, Palisades can bring out be best product and do what they can to get it 'out there' (which they do) but to some extent it does all rest on the shoulders of what the actual Muppets do !

Bollywood Muppets would be a funky sketch, i'm sure Ken would have fun designing 'Miss Piggy In A Sari'......... just gotta hope it's the long hair sculpt !

 

[petrieboy]

Bollywood Muppets

Sketch, maybe. But I meant a full-on Muppet Movie.
Each of Jim's 3 films featured a specific place- Hollywood, London, Manhattan. So in "Bollywood Muppets," the Muppets would travel to Bombay. The colors of India would be an awesome contrast to the colors of the Muppets and the music and dance sequences, I can only imagine.

 

[Super Scooter]

Originally posted by frogboy4
Isn't it just some stores doing that? I thought the ones in shopping malls would continue to sell them.

Well, that's a relief! That's the only one around here that DOES sell them! And they sell out really well! The EB near me, all the Animal playsets sold out. It was amazing! Fozzie, Gonzo, they both were gone within days! And this was on the second shipment (I believe)! Floyd was doing pretty good, and so was Crazy Harry. The only figure there that they still had a lot of was- da-da-dum- Miss Piggy (exclusive and none). Not bad I'd say.

Beaker, for the first few weeks was gone... Everyone bought him. After that they started slowing down a bit.

So, will Super Scooter be sold in EB Games, Toys 'R' Us, or Toy Fair? If it's in Toy Fair, which issue? I can't wait!!!!!!!!!

 

[WiGgY]

Well at least Gonzo would finally make it to Bombay and become a huge star . I think the Muppets need an original movie and they need to bring the focus back onto Kermit, Fozzie, and Piggy. MFS wasn't bad, but still too much Gonzo. Gonzo is great but having a movie just about him is too much. AVMMC was a very good special and to say that Whoopi as god is inaproprate is stupid, sorry but it is. Who would you like to be god? George Burns is the only one who can play him because he's an old white guy? I saw nothing wrong with Whoopi as god. And to say it was inappropriate for kids is nuts! A few inuendos is nothing compared to some commercials that run on TV. The inuendos were not that obvious where a kid would think sex. You would only get it if you knew it was a inuendo. Heck, kids don't even know what the word means! I say if the child gets the joke then they are old enough to get the joke, end of story.

And does ANYONE remeber the muppet show? There were many sexual scenes in many shows. Raqel Welch for one. She said Fozzie was sexy, she was introduced as a sex symbol, and those outfits were very revealing. AVMMC was shown during prime time and hence for an adult audience. I for one loved it and am glad to see some new work from the muppets.

 

[Zack the Dog]

EB Games

the whole thing with EB games in my area is that the one in the mall is stopping action figures all togther and just selling video/PC games... the store is very small and there is not much room for action figures. but there is another EB games right across the street from the mall that is in a plaza so it's a bigger store there for can hold more items. this store will recive the action figures and the mall has stopped. so my guess is some of the smaller EB stores will not carry action figures all togther not just the Muppet ones.

Zack,

 

[Crazy Harry]

But, the one I buy from is rather small.



please no

 

[RockSTAR girl]

weird moment.... i walked into eb games lookin to see how expensive the figures were there, and not only did i find the eb piggy on sale for $7.50 but it was buy one get one free, so i was able to get the regular piggy free. unfortunatly they weren't running the same deals on series 2 figures, but some guy promised he'd hide floyd and eb gonzo for me until their next sale. YAY!!