Authentic, Fully Licensed, Muppet Replicas Coming!

[muppetperson]

Yeah, but I want puppets, not posers!

Can you imagine how big a Fozzie poser would be? He'd need his own chair!

Yeah, but what a display he would make!! What's half a Fozzie on display gunna look like!!

 

[Was Once Ernie]

Yeah, but what a display he would make!! What's half a Fozzie on display gunna look like!!

Um... a puppet.



P.S. When "Great Muppet Caper" was first released, they had a display up at Universal with the actual puppets of Kermit, Gonzo and Fozzie in a hot air balloon basket. That's one way to display half-a-Fozzie. I had a picture of me standing in front of it. I wish I knew where that picture was.

 

[spcglider]

Um... a puppet.



P.S. When "Great Muppet Caper" was first released, they had a display up at Universal with the actual puppets of Kermit, Gonzo and Fozzie in a hot air balloon basket. That's one way to display half-a-Fozzie. I had a picture of me standing in front of it. I wish I knew where that picture was.

Didn't Mike M. promise us a personal instruction on how to modify the posers into puppets? At least he had a few ideas...

-Gordon

 

[spcglider]

The sad thing is the disturbing trend of the Henson licensing people to want to move away from that 1st/2nd season Muppet Show Fozzie design. Less bell shaped in the head and more pear shaped. I really like the original look. I think it has alot more character than the new style.

I had a conversation with the head of development at Palisades Toys a while ago. I asked if they were going to do a "1st Season Fozzie" and he said they were specifically told that they could not do that by the licensing division.

So I would assume the rules still stand. The Fozzie poser will look like the latest Fozzie incarnation.

-Gordon

 

[Was Once Ernie]

Didn't Mike M. promise us a personal instruction on how to modify the posers into puppets? At least he had a few ideas...

-Gordon

I would think it would be next to impossible without ripping the whole thing apart and resewing it, which would probably damage the material and make it harder to hide the seams. How else would you get the armature out of the arms, for instance?

 

[Was Once Ernie]

The sad thing is the disturbing trend of the Henson licensing people to want to move away from that 1st/2nd season Muppet Show Fozzie design. Less bell shaped in the head and more pear shaped. I really like the original look. I think it has alot more character than the new style.

I completely agree. I don't like the current Fozzie at all. But then, I think Ernie lost a lot of character after they changed from the one that's in my avatar.

I think I posted this in another thread once, but I asked Jim about the puppets changing looks and his answer was that the puppeteer was more important than the puppet. The puppet was just basically a prop that could be replaced and the look of it wasn't that important.

 

[spcglider]

Hate to dis-agree with Jim on that point, but I do.

There's a subtlety in the look that really helps define a character. I think may puppeteers would agree (and has been stated in many MANY books on the subject)... the look of a puppet really sets the tone for their personality.

In my opinion, the "new" Fozzie is laid out to be a buffoon... like he was in Muppet Treasure Island. I think that character got stuck on Fozzie. He's been steadily losing intellectual power since then.

I prefer Fozzie to be a bad comedian, not an idiot. You can be a lovable failure without being stupid. And the changes in his look have followed (or perhaps preceeded) each lessening of his acumen.

But that's just my opinion.

As for the removal of the armature, I'm sure that it'll probably be a loose armature of wire inside... one deft seam opening in the back, a little stuffing removal, pull the wire out, and voila! Sure, there'll be clean-up work, like finishing off the arm hole and sewing on a sleeve or what-have-you. But I don't imagine it would be anything too earth shattering.

-Gordon

 

[muppetperson]

Um... a puppet.



P.S. When "Great Muppet Caper" was first released, they had a display up at Universal with the actual puppets of Kermit, Gonzo and Fozzie in a hot air balloon basket. That's one way to display half-a-Fozzie. I had a picture of me standing in front of it. I wish I knew where that picture was.

Good idea.Or you could go for the original Muppet hiding behind a brick wall feature

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Originally Posted by muppetperson
Yeah, but what a display he would make!! What's half a Fozzie on display gunna look like!!

Um... a puppet.

You should have followed that up with a "Wocka wocka!"

These will all be wonderful to own. Maybe someone with the money will buy a second one and make a pattern off of it. Of course, if one wants a Kermit puppet, they're on the market...but someone did once take an old 70's puppet head apart and put it on the net, linked to from MC.

 

[Bear Man]

The season 1 Fozzie looks terrible in my opinion - nothing like the Fozzie most of us know and love. Of course, I prefer the season 2 Fozzie to the new ones though as well - but if it came down to a choice between the original (which I've seen in person I might add - and it looks REALLY bad!) and the newest version then the new one would win hands down.

As for some of the replicas being huge, I can see that being a problem...what do people think about posers based off the actual patterns shrunk to 50% of the original size?