Disney Store Muppet Merchandise Released

[Muppetboy09]

I AGREE! WAY TOO MUCH ANIMAL MERCHANDISE. BUT I DO HAVE TO SAY THAT I HAVE FOUND THE WHAT MERCHANDISE THAT DO HAVE WITH MISS piggy TO BE DISAPPOINTED. GIVE US SOME FOZZIE &I Fields OR GONZO!

I second a request for more gonzo merch

 

[Drtooth]

YES, you have hit the nail on the head, my friend. On both accounts. I like Animal and all, but I find it really irritating that he's EVERYWHERE in the merch. I'd peg him below Fozzie or Gonzo in terms of "Main Character", but anytime it's 3 characters it's almost always Kermit, Piggy, and Animal. And i'd flip for anything of Swedish Chef. AND I don't think it's been mentioned but on the UK DisneyStore site every plush has a "Group Pic" of all of them, and in it is a plush Swedish Chef. HOPEFULLY he got pulled and is still planned to be released.

Animal was in the main 3 since the 90's. It was Kermit, Animal, Piggy, and then maybe Fozzie and or Gonzo. Since then, Beaker and the Chef managed to become very big hits. I have a Beaker shirt from not too long ago, I also had an Electric Mayhem one (wore it out, thought... shoulda got a second one). They are making strides to an extent, but they just go 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. Animal does sell to a more general causal fan public... but I'm sure Chef and Beaker shirts would do wonders.
I did see a Gonzo back at J C Penny like a year ago, but they only had Mediums so I couldn't get one.

 

[frogboy4]

Up until this new movie, general consumer interest for Muppet merchandised characters has been as follows:
Kermit
Animal
Beaker (3rd because whenever he's available, he sells out)
Gonzo
Fozzie
Piggy
(of course, this is when they are all placed side-by-side. Piggy is an industry unto herself, but sells less when pegged next to others. Muppet merchandise sales are sluggish without a Kermit option too.)

Unfortunately Scooter and Rowlf will have to take some extra time to catch on in order for products to be made of them these days. It'll happen. It's all about selling units and as their roles increase their product needs will too. Remember how long it took for Pepe merchandise and he was everywhere!

 

[Carl23]

Animal was in the main 3 since the 90's. It was Kermit, Animal, Piggy, and then maybe Fozzie and or Gonzo.

I know, and that's what i'm saying. It just seems odd to me, but it makes perfect sense. I just wouldn't consider him to be that "main", but maybe it's just because I prefer Floyd. Animal appeals to a wide audience, so they put him everywhere.

It also seems a bit strange that Pepe get picked over Muppets that have been around for a while longer, but nobody's complaining.

 

[Drtooth]

Animal is clearly the most mainstream favorite. Piggy seems to be used mostly as a girl's character. But Beaker clearly does quite well and the Chef has some of that same kind of popularity.

Rowlf could work, Scooter's kinda a gamble (but we're seeing more of him on stuff lately... he was at least on a pair of pajama pants). Pepe seemed to really hit in the 2000 era, but he wasn't on all that much... sure, he was added to posters and a couple things like that. But mainly there was 2 Palisades figures, a lookalike Push Puppet, a Jack in the Box promo figure and nothing much else until Disney's Pepe Plush.

 

[beaker]

I think Europe "gets" the Muppets way more than Americans do...at least in some aspects of appreciation and definitely merchandise. So much of the Swedish Chef merchandise(many different plushes, wearable items, figurines, etc) have come from Europe. Heck I have about 7 different Swedish Chef plushes from Europe(Dutch company, Mcdonalds UK, Mcdonalds Germany, Igel, etc)

Yeah Animal definitely is the Elmo of Muppet merchandise. Remember in the late 90's and early 2000's when they *gasp* had Rizzo stuff? I have a lunchbox with Rizzo on it, and I know I saw a backpack with him on it, as well as crane/midway plushes.

People love Rowlf, a shame he's been on the backburner but they need to make merch of him.

Let's not kid ourselves...the Muppet "merchandise" selection this holiday season was terrible. We got more and better quality Muppet merch when the Muppets were languishing without much visibility.

And WHY THE HECK does Disney parks get wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy better merchandise than the Disney mall stores? Is the house of mouse that seriously idiotic?
Those star wars figures, t shirts, etc from the parks stores blow away anything currently in store shelves Muppet wise(not that there's anything muppet wise in buyable form to speak of)

 

[Drtooth]

Let's not kid ourselves...the Muppet "merchandise" selection this holiday season was terrible. We got more and better quality Muppet merch when the Muppets were languishing without much visibility.

And WHY THE HECK does Disney parks get wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy better merchandise than the Disney mall stores? Is the house of mouse that seriously idiotic?
Those star wars figures, t shirts, etc from the parks stores blow away anything currently in store shelves Muppet wise(not that there's anything muppet wise in buyable form to speak of)

Too much of any franchise now rides on how well a movie does. But even with big blockbusters, I see nothing but unsellable, unwanted, over ordered stuff get cleared out in a year period... lesser movies, much sooner.

I'd consider the movie a moderate success... it made more than any of the other kid's films that were released same time, and the Disney store merchandise is reportedly flying off shelves. We'll clearly see some more stuff, even if it's smaller sizes of the plush, once the DVD hits.

This entire project was a relaunch/first step into saturating the market with more Muppet stuff in the future. But I still think there should have been at LEAST a Disney Store figure set and general retail Kermits and Animals. I don't see why the Pez comes out in January... and there are a few kids books planned for the next year.

Even when Disney bought up Marvel, they kept a distance from their appearances in stores for some time... sure, they had little cubby holes of Iron Man 2 stuff that you can find anywhere. But now they seems to have slowly integrated Marvel products into their stores... even though its stuff you can get virtually anywhere else. The only Disney Store Muppet items were seasonal things that got cleared out a couple months after hitting store shelves.

Still, the presence outside the stores is just as much the faulty of the retailers and manufactures who didn't give a crap about the license, but got all excited to do throw away movies that you'll never see again. Movies are the most important thing apparently... just not this one. But on the plus side, we're not seeing unwanted Kermit dolls thrown into a pile at Target to be cleared out a couple months later. I think Disney wants to get these guys to be marketed in the long haul... but it's going to be hard cracking markets where kids ONLY want super Hero figures of movies they just watched and girls only want stupid crap that's ugly (Zoobles? Really?!)

 

[Carl23]

On a similar note with the lack of Mass Market merch, I just realized that TRON Legacy had a full toy line, along with a few Disney Store exclusives. This boggles the mind even further because, well, I'm a huge fan of TRON it's much more obscure than The Muppets. Just goes to show Disney is all over the place with merchandising.

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

On a similar note with the lack of Mass Market merch, I just realized that TRON Legacy had a full toy line, along with a few Disney Store exclusives. This boggles the mind even further because, well, I'm a huge fan of TRON it's much more obscure than The Muppets. Just goes to show Disney is all over the place with merchandising.

I have a feeling TRON Legacy underperforming may have had something to do with the lack of Muppet merchandise. Whether or not the movie was a hit, Disney probably didn't want a repeat of TRON just in case.

 

[Carl23]

That is a very good point. Because while the movie did surprisingly well, at least better than they expected - the toy line did not. Massively mis-mananged, over-ordered, and under sold. It's just a little over a year since the movie primered and the toys are just starting to hit Big Lots, and spent a lot of the intermediate time between Clearance isles and Ross.

I can see Disney being weary of another situation like that, but it's a little different with a franchise that's been around as long, and as recognizable as the Muppets are. Still, i'd be willing to bet that that's a big part of it becuase Disney isn't really one to think about it that way.