Ask Travis: A Master Replicas Photo Puppet Q&A Thread

[Keeermit]

Hi travis, you asked for me to get in contact with you, i think i sent you a pm but i'm not sure now
my email address is jeyebay@hotmail.com which is the best way to get in contact. cheers have a great day.
I think gonzo is awesome and I can't wait for mine to arrive on my doorstep

 

[frogboy4]

(Reposted from the Gonzo section)

Have a good weekend Travis! And thanks again for all you do.​

I know the Muppets are in safe hands with you and that you know Gonzo (hence the all too lengthy explanations you have gracefully taken in stride). Thanks for excusing some of that passion. He he.

I am still looking forward to meeting my Gonzo. (One way or another he and I will see "eye to eye".)

I am wondering about the Michael's craft supply letter dots that can stand in as pre-cut Muppet pupils.

 

[MuppetCaper]

Have a good weekend Travis! And thanks again for all you do.​

I know the Muppets are in safe hands with you and that you know Gonzo (hence the all too lengthy explanations you have gracefully taken in stride). Thanks for excusing some of that passion. He he.

I am still looking forward to meeting my Gonzo. (One way or another he and I will see "eye to eye".)

I am wondering about the Michael's craft supply letter dots that can stand in as pre-cut Muppet pupils.

Jamie...look online for "flocked paper". It is used for telescopes and has a sticky backing on it. I will give you the website when I get home. I at work at the moment. It is only about 12 bucks and you get a lot of it. I am going to get some and cut them out myself.

 

[Rowlfharris]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kermieuk
With future Replicas, is the eye lids opening and closing something that could be fixed so it didnt need to be pinned?

Probably not. The reason is, we're working from patterns and blueprints... and they do not include the mechanism. In fact, I do not know how it would be accomplished on a non-traditional puppet. (Though, admittedly, I am not an engineer!) In a traditional puppet, when the performer's hand is inside, they control the mechanism. No idea how that would work from the outside.

There's a couple of really simple ways that this could be achieved during production, still keeping the same mechanism MR uses:

Option 1. Some of us firmed up the positioning of the moving "eyelid rims" by attaching felt under the rims to tighten up the gap between it and the eyeball surface. This could be done in-factory.

Option 2. Installing a very small but tight rubber washer or friction "c-clip" at the swivel point that the rims connect to the side of the eyeball would tighten up the mechanism, so the lid rims hold wherever posed. It would need to be small enough to not be conspicuous, maybe white or transparent.

Finally Travis, I just hope you can convince Disney et. al. to go down the 'greater accuracy regardless of higher cost' route, if custom plastic parts turn out to be the only way to avoid "sock nose" type solutions.

As you do seem aware, people that are prepared to spring for these high-end muppet replicas are not casual purchasers but die-hard and nit-picking fans like us. If there is such a thing as a "casual buyer" for these, they would probably be the type to whom money is no object!

Most of us seem like we'll be (drastically?) modifying our high-priced replica Gonzo's to varying degrees to "fix" its nose, and thus voiding our warrantees. That is surely a sign that MR or Disney in this instance has unfortunately got the price/quality/saleability equation very wrong.

 

[Luke]

Finally Travis, I just hope you can convince Disney et. al. to go down the 'greater accuracy regardless of higher cost' route, if custom plastic parts turn out to be the only way to avoid "sock nose" type solutions.

As you do seem aware, people that are prepared to spring for these high-end muppet replicas are not casual purchasers but die-hard and nit-picking fans like us. If there is such a thing as a "casual buyer" for these, they would probably be the type to whom money is no object!

Most of us seem like we'll be (drastically?) modifying our high-priced replica Gonzo's to varying degrees to "fix" its nose, and thus voiding our warrantees. That is surely a sign that MR or Disney in this instance has unfortunately got the price/quality/saleability equation very wrong.

Totally, totally agreed. Infact i was gonna bring up this point after the weekend. If its a question of accuracy, i think the majority of people buying these would be fine going to about $500. The consumers are definitely seeing these as investment type products - and they are a steal at the current price anyway. I honestly would pay $500/$600 for Fozzie. I know Travis has talked about the character selection needing to attract the casual fan (and maybe the plan is to start marketing to them now) but as is, it's been said there is no marketing. People will only be able to see these here, on Master Replicas site, or at a comic collectables store or site. So perhaps some market research of some kind is needed (if not already done) to find out peoples motivation in buying these replicas and work out what they'd like. I know there are the durability issues mentioned that would still exist, but if there was a question of getting a more accurate replica for an extra hundred bucks i would definitely prefer to do that than pay a still fairly hefty sum for one that i might not be totally happy with.

 

[frogboy4]

Jamie...look online for "flocked paper". It is used for telescopes and has a sticky backing on it. I will give you the website when I get home. I at work at the moment. It is only about 12 bucks and you get a lot of it. I am going to get some and cut them out myself.

Thanks so much, Caper! That will be a great help. I know there will be a Gonzo modification suggestion thread when we get him (no matter how he turns out) as members on here seem to like to trick-out their posers anyway. I know little can be done with the nose, but I'd enjoy seeing the attempts. I'll have to learn to accept that part of him, but once the eyes on my Gonzo look right - I'm happy. Thanks again for the Animal collar too. It's not totally accurate, but it's nice enough for me and really makes Animal shine.

I know there's no question for Travis in this post yet. I already posed the generic customizable rat (out of Rizzo's pattern) and Muppet chair questions, but will iterate them.

 

[MuppetCaper]

Here you go Jamie. What I do is I measure the pupil and use a circle stencil and cut around in the circle on the back of the flocked paper and comes out even!


http://scientificsonline.com/Product.asp?pn=3060068&bhcd2=1201994637


Oh and I forgot, it only cost 9.95!

 

[Kevin Knight]

More Questions for bright and early Monday morning! Sorry!

Travis,

Is it SOP that a final product photo is used on the MR website, once it's available to you? When items require a proto photo for pre-sale orders, is it changed as soon as a final product photo is taken?

When I asked last week concerning marketing campaigns, I guess what I was asking was what media is used? Is it mainly online, Toy Fare magazine for print, San Diego Comic Con, Disney websites, and distributors? The reason I ask is that other than a Newbury Comics franchise store, and finding out about it here at MC I would have never known about Kermit. Is there a reason that marketing wasn't extended to specialty stores such as Spencer Gifts or Toys R US? Do you think the small bit of advertising that is done attributed to Kermit taking so long to sell out? Will that change for quicker sales numbers? (Working in entertainment/media marketing and promotions I kinda love getting into that mentality.)

With the loss of the Lucasfilm account, and a majority of MR products therein can you give any insight as to what MR will be adding to (for lack of a better word) make-up for and maintain their international position as a collector's source for high quality replicas? (See parenthesis above!)


Kevin

 

[Blinky_Fish]

Ahem... More jabs, I mean... Questions

T,
Is Gonzo's head removable? I mean, with out a French Adjustment?

And, If you are up for it and give me the dimensions of S&W I would hack one out of foam for the office. By the time they get made I should have it perfected.

Are you makin' any money on the streets of SFO? Saw a lot of other BUM's out there - Thought the competition would be rough.

I was just wondering, since Gonzo has all of that stocking material - what area of the world is the crime level dropping?

Is Camilla coming with synthetic feathers? I mean, Would be better for the whole Gonzo thing.

What are the odds of making a Lucy the **** from Avenue Q? My MR Animal is getting lonley in the glass case I bought at Ikea.

And, congrats... you are my new abuse-ee (Ken II)

 

[Keeermit]

I just have to say it again but i can't wait for Fozzie - he will be awesome!. Oh and Gonzo is awesome too...... I posted in another link about the gonzo replica that I think gonzo will be great once we get him and pose him correctly - his head needs to be on a specific angle for photos or he just looks wrong, I have taken many photos of my gonzo puppet until i finally worked out his good angle - i have included a link to what i think is a good angle for gonzos head to be on. have a great day all

http://s264.photobucket.com/albums/...urrent=l_dfc7c901f7b722f58e0204022fdaafe3.jpg