Ask Ken at Palisades

[Beauregard]

Ooops, sorry I thought I had heard of him coming, but didn't see him on the sceduale. Sorry guys.

Just wondered, is his hair ment to look like it came out of a garlic press?

 

[Louis Kazagger]

Hi Ken, a couple of questions for you:

First, my comic shop owner showed me that there was a misprint on the Diamond Comics order form for the Swedish Chef playsets (not your fault, Diamond's fault). The order form listed Swedish Chef playsets as coming in "cases of 6" on the order form, when in reality for every case ordered, they were only "cases of 1". So, when my shop owner ordered three cases, expecting 18 playsets, he only rec'd three. When he got on the phone right away with Diamond to figure out what happened and to try to reorder more sets, Diamond told him they were already sold out, so it would appear that Diamond ordered from you guys based on the preorder numbers they rec'd. I was wondering if there was a significant drop off in orders that Diamond placed for this set, compared to the amount of Muppet Labs and Electric Mayhem playsets they ordered, that could be attributed to this misprint? I understand if you don't want to give out numbers, but I know from the Muppet Labs case box that I have that Diamond ordered over 550 cases of Lab playsets (over 3,300 sets), and I was wondering how this compared to the Swedish Chef numbers and if it was a significant enough drop off that Diamond should have caught the error. "Huh, we had orders for 3,000 Muppet Labs and Electric Mayhem sets, but we only got orders for 500 Swedish Chef sets. That's strange. I wonder why? Oh well.... duh....".

Second, I noticed that Wizard is now offering the PBM Express Crash Helmet Gonzo figure that was exclusive to the Netherlands chain in Europe. Now, you've told us that the cannons that come with the European Gonzo's are supposed to have stronger springs that will propel Gonzo farther, because Europe has somewhat lesser child toy safety laws compared to the U.S., which is why the U.S. Gonzo cannon springs had to be weaker. So, my question to you is that if these European Gonzo cannons don't meet the U.S. safety standards, is there some issue of legality for Wizard to even sell them in the U.S., or even potential liability in the remote chance that some accident should occur with one of these Gonzos, because they aren't "street legal"? Believe me, I don't think these Gonzo cannons are going to run rampant putting out eyes left and right, but essentially, you said yourself that these toys with the stronger springs don't meet the guidelines for U.S. safety standards, which are in place for a reason, so should these toys even be for sale here in North America? Your thoughts?

Sorry, it's the reporter in me, and there's only so many sports questions one can ask.....

 

[Hat Sharpener]

Sam

I was determined to put off purchasing Sam until his regular figure came out, but looking at the Blister shots, it's going to be very hard to skip this... especially since I collected Pirate Playmobil as a kid - I could probably dig out the ship from the basement....

Oh, so the point of this post was - Good choice on releasing Sam Arrow. It will save the regular Sam for later and you'll suck in all the poor saps like me with no will power...

- Derek

 

[Fozzie Bear]

I know what you mean, Derek. My will-power for any of these went out the window when I saw the photos of Series One.

 

[Crazy Harry]

You guys had will power?

 

[The Count]

What is this willpower of which you speak? The concept seems to be familiar to me, but I forgot what it meant.

 

[Hat Sharpener]

Originally posted by The Count
What is this willpower of which you speak? The concept seems to be familiar to me, but I forgot what it meant.

It comes in many forms.

For instance, the form of the sad, disappointed, and rather angry look coming from your girlfriend that seems to say "How can I ever trust to you be able to feed our children when you just bought 15 DVD's of the Muppet show and STILL feel the need to buy what is basically a fancy doll's kitchen instead of paying the rent on time?"



- Derek

 

[Crazy Harry]

And that's why I'm still single.

 

[uncleduke]

I am Not Ken - but have some insight into these....

Originally posted by Louis Kazagger
Hi Ken, a couple of questions for you:

First, my comic shop owner showed me that there was a misprint on the Diamond Comics order form for the Swedish Chef playsets (not your fault, Diamond's fault). The order form listed Swedish Chef playsets as coming in "cases of 6" on the order form, when in reality for every case ordered, they were only "cases of 1". So, when my shop owner ordered three cases, expecting 18 playsets, he only rec'd three. When he got on the phone right away with Diamond to figure out what happened and to try to reorder more sets, Diamond told him they were already sold out, so it would appear that Diamond ordered from you guys based on the preorder numbers they rec'd. I was wondering if there was a significant drop off in orders that Diamond placed for this set, compared to the amount of Muppet Labs and Electric Mayhem playsets they ordered, that could be attributed to this misprint? I understand if you don't want to give out numbers, but I know from the Muppet Labs case box that I have that Diamond ordered over 550 cases of Lab playsets (over 3,300 sets), and I was wondering how this compared to the Swedish Chef numbers and if it was a significant enough drop off that Diamond should have caught the error. "Huh, we had orders for 3,000 Muppet Labs and Electric Mayhem sets, but we only got orders for 500 Swedish Chef sets. That's strange. I wonder why? Oh well.... duh....".

Also, Diamond is Notorious for under-ordering the merchandise. I had a long talk about this a while ago with a saled rep for a different company.
I resist ordering toys from Diamond at all - my wife figured it out once, in a calendar year, there were 2 orders from Diamond that were processed by them correctly. We literally were ordering 2-3 times what we needed, in hopes we would get almost enough! If we needed 12, we'd order 24: maybe we'd get 10!

Originally posted by Louis Kazagger

Second, I noticed that Wizard is now offering the PBM Express Crash Helmet Gonzo figure that was exclusive to the Netherlands chain in Europe. Now, you've told us that the cannons that come with the European Gonzo's are supposed to have stronger springs that will propel Gonzo farther, because Europe has somewhat lesser child toy safety laws compared to the U.S., which is why the U.S. Gonzo cannon springs had to be weaker. So, my question to you is that if these European Gonzo cannons don't meet the U.S. safety standards, is there some issue of legality for Wizard to even sell them in the U.S., or even potential liability in the remote chance that some accident should occur with one of these Gonzos, because they aren't "street legal"? Believe me, I don't think these Gonzo cannons are going to run rampant putting out eyes left and right, but essentially, you said yourself that these toys with the stronger springs don't meet the guidelines for U.S. safety standards, which are in place for a reason, so should these toys even be for sale here in North America? Your thoughts?

Sorry, it's the reporter in me, and there's only so many sports questions one can ask.....

Anyone who wants one, but does not want to give Wizard World any more money (after last month's exclusive) should go to

http://www.palisadestoys.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PTS&Product_Code=120577PBM

Put your money where it'll do the most good!

 

[ResidentLilly]

Originally posted by BigDumbWookiee
Since Target is part of the same company as Mervyn's and Marshall Field's, will these stores also get the Muppets? Both have a very limited toy selection, but I was curious, since they all fall under the same company. Sort of like Best Buy Inc (Sam Goody, Media Play, Suncoast)

Only Target will carry the figures, not their other stores.

Originally posted by Luke
Great to see the updated release schedule - anyone know what the deal is with when we will actually see Patrol Bear Fozzie though ? I think Ken said he doesn't have a retailer yet, and it wouldn't be Target. Any news Ken ?

Well, the PO is due next week on Series 5 so we may know for sure who will be taking Fozzie then...but it is not Target. They will take Koozebane Kermit for Series 4 and 5 and 6...they will get refreshed on Kermit all year, in step-down increments.

Originally posted by Fozzie Bear
I mean in general product-wise, not just Muppets, and not like housework or anything like that. Any new things you're working to achieve, or any new licenses you're working on to get?

We have signed several new things for product to be released starting late this yera and early next...all of which are pretty cool. But marketing has a plan for announcements and I can't really talk about them. But they are all very cool to me.