Disney Store Muppet Merchandise Released

[Carl23]

Those big plushes are "GIANT" sized, unless they've released new ones. And i'm actually going to have to side with you on the Yellow Submarine issue. It's disappointing that The Beatles arn't going to be in theaters, but I would MUCH prefer a re-release of the current film than a re-make. I love that movie. But the Beatles themselves didn't do the vocal work, just for the actual music and the Cameo at the end.

I can't see them passing up Bean Bags. They'll be great too, it'll be intersting to see if they'll manage to do a wider range of characters in the smaller set. Everyones saying it, but it's so so true. Rowlf, Scooter, Swedish Chef, Bunsen, Statler and Waldorf, maybe more of the Electric Mayhem. They'd be swimming in money.

 

[Drtooth]

It's disappointing that The Beatles arn't going to be in theaters, but I would MUCH prefer a re-release of the current film than a re-make. I love that movie. But the Beatles themselves didn't do the vocal work, just for the actual music and the Cameo at the end.

I know they didn't. That's why I said that one. Even if they managed to get the 2 surviving Beatles to voice themselves, what didn't happen with the original movie, it still wouldn't be worth it. It would be as bad or worse than that Bee Gees Sargent Pepper movie. The original Yellow Submarine DEMANDS a home video rerelease... especially to Blu-Ray.

I can't see them passing up Bean Bags. They'll be great too, it'll be intersting to see if they'll manage to do a wider range of characters in the smaller set. Everyones saying it, but it's so so true. Rowlf, Scooter, Swedish Chef, Bunsen, Statler and Waldorf, maybe more of the Electric Mayhem. They'd be swimming in money.

If they can make bean bags of every single one of Lotso's minions and Bonny's toys (minus, of course, Totoro) they can make a Rowlf Bean Bag. If they made Peas in a Pod, they can make a Scooter.

 

[beaker]

Those figures were very poor quality. The Avatar ones, the Terminator ones... they're all just horrid below Happy Meal quality stuff. Tron was a modest meh success if anything, Avatar was huge, Terminator was a complete flop. I'll throw in the Star Trek figures... all over produced, over ordered, overpriced, undersold. All in clearance markets.

But those were all movie specific. There's no reason why Muppet anytime stuff shouldn't be considered because the Tron crap didn't sell. That's 2 distinct different properties. One based on a cult bomb movie, one based on a 50 something year old franchise that includes 7 movies, 3 TV shows, a mess of specials and other great things. Muppet merchandise shouldn't be tied down to one movie... Maybe the Walter dolls (so far).

Still, nice to see that these things became almost impossible to find when Happy Feet and Arthur Christmas stuff at TRU goes untouched.

I took a picture of my local 99 cent store...massive wall of James Cameron Avatar and Terminator Salvation figures...I think kids were more interested in the hazardous toxic
mexican power ranger and wrestling figure bootleg toys.

What idiot parent would pay $10 for a super dinky piece of dookie "figure" like Avatar, Tron Legacy, etc? Or even the DC/Marvel figures. When did figures get so fragile yet so expensive? Hello? It's called good will and thrift stores!

 

[beaker]

Exactly my point. Disney (at least in their actions) doesn't seem to realize that The Muppets has a bigger Merchandising market than TRON, and We the fans wouldn't even compare the two, on the other side they are both theatrical films. But then again this is the same corporation that cancelled The Beatles' Yellow Submarine re-release becuase "Mars Needs Moms" flopped.

And honestly, it's a lot better getting a really nice set of Plush then tons and tons of stuff in the mass market that's pretty low quality. The TRON stuff for the most part does fall into this, that's what I was getting to with "Mis-managed", it's a lot to do with Disney asked for a series of Action Figures from a company that really doesn't do "figures" because they wanted Air-Hogs to do Lightcycles. That, and they wanted really small figures to light up, and stores like Target ordered way too much of the first set.

Anyway, it's a lot better for them to do a LITTLE bit of Muppets, completly drop the ball and on top of it struggle to meet demand, then to prepare tons of merch and have it rot in the corner and go from retailer to clearance to discount store and so forth. "Leave them wanting more" as they say.

Well to me, when it comes to insanely mismanaged Disney wise, it's been the utter lack of Muppet movie merch. People point to random wallmart Muppet branded hair ties, rubber bands, baseball caps and snuggies and say "omg, there's tons of merch, what are you talking about?" But other than Walter and a few other large size plush at Disney Store, there's been absolutely nothing in the way of Muppet movie merch in stores. I'm not surprised, but disappointed. Two of the Disney stores near me dont even have the Muppet section anymore, just a couple cubby holes way in the back noone can see. Disney has this weird mindset where they will spend millions to promote the movie
on every single internet site, tv show, etc....but merchandise wise, pretend like it doesn't exist or feel embarrassed about it.

The Disney parks tho, I hear are getting some amazing Muppet merchandise as I type

 

[Carl23]

I agree with you on the lack of merch. Not surprising, but very very disappointing. They put Appearances across tons of networks, they did multiple online videos to promote it, and tons of other things, but they can only do a set of plush in an exclusive store and a few clothing items? The Terminator Salvation toys hit my dollar tree, and went pretty fast. At first, the TRON Line also did pretty well, but it is a VERY niche market. There were a few kids that were into it, but it's not a very mainstream franchise. It's just really confusing that they'd take an admitably small fanbase and aim tons of product at them, but then take a "proven" franchise with a huge wide audience and put very little effort.

The good thing, is that i'm starting to see TONS of what few Muppet merch we did get around all over the place. I've seen countless Kermit hats, and several shirts on people in the last couple days. But they really need to pick it up, They would get so much just from selling the Park's merch in Mall stores, and it would be VERY possible for them to do it.

 

[DannyRWW]

, They would get so much just from selling the Park's merch in Mall stores, and it would be VERY possible for them to do it.

Now there is a thought...there obviously is a demand for it and it would be hard to design and rush production on new merchandise. Maybe we can get some of that nice merchandise from the parks in the disney stores.

 

[Drtooth]

What idiot parent would pay $10 for a super dinky piece of dookie "figure" like Avatar, Tron Legacy, etc? Or even the DC/Marvel figures. When did figures get so fragile yet so expensive? Hello? It's called good will and thrift stores!

I swear they claim oil problems for these things. Every time there's a buzz of oil prices going up, stores sharply raise the prices on the stock they already have in stores. I've seen it happen TOO many times in the past 5 years when things were starting to go south. TMNT movie figures sat on the shelves through 3 price increases, and everyone winds up buying them at bargain stores anyway. And to make up for losing money lost by raising prices... they raise prices AGAIN! I've seen Sonic figures almost double in price since they first appeared on store shelves. I also love how TRU has shockingly high prices, makes backroom deals with toy companies for exclusive rights, and charges whatever it wants because it's the only game in town, now.

And of course, our currency value is crap... and China's actually starting to charge high prices for manufacturing. Add to the expensive shipping overseas, it's amazing they don't just do stuff here and charge the same.

Kids don't even buy toys anymore. Toy Collectors don't even buy toys anymore. Everything's all virtual crap on iPhones or something. No wonder why the skittish toy manufactures ignored the Muppets.

 

[beaker]

I swear they claim oil problems for these things. Every time there's a buzz of oil prices going up, stores sharply raise the prices on the stock they already have in stores. I've seen it happen TOO many times in the past 5 years when things were starting to go south. TMNT movie figures sat on the shelves through 3 price increases, and everyone winds up buying them at bargain stores anyway. And to make up for losing money lost by raising prices... they raise prices AGAIN! I've seen Sonic figures almost double in price since they first appeared on store shelves. I also love how TRU has shockingly high prices, makes backroom deals with toy companies for exclusive rights, and charges whatever it wants because it's the only game in town, now.

And of course, our currency value is crap... and China's actually starting to charge high prices for manufacturing. Add to the expensive shipping overseas, it's amazing they don't just do stuff here and charge the same.

Kids don't even buy toys anymore. Toy Collectors don't even buy toys anymore. Everything's all virtual crap on iPhones or something. No wonder why the skittish toy manufactures ignored the Muppets.

The toy market can completely collapse for all I care. For the longest time American toys have not been able to compete with some of the more amazing vinyl(tho higher priced) and some of the Japanese imports. Toys just make me sick now days. I hate seeing all the stupid DC/Marvel, Wrestling/MMA, latest Pokemon ripoff, Power Ranger, and yeah even by now I hate to say it...Star Wars toys.

Oh speaking of TRU, its funny they now charge $15 for the Super Mario vinyl(the same figures they rerelease every year since 2006) whereas Target has em for $8.

Youre probably like me...you like to check out toy aisles now and then just for the nostalgia, to keep it alive from when you were a kid, but may not necessarily have it in your budget to buy. Its not that I cant afford toys...if I see something I want I rarely hesitate. It's just the prices. They want $12 now for each 3.5" Sonic Riders figure, like Storm the Albatross...I mean what the heck? I'd maayyybe pay that for a 5 or 6" figure, grudgingly. Surprised more fans arent upset.

Btw, how come 99.9% of toys since the 80's that dont get sold (peg warmers) get sent back to the factory to be destroyed? Why dont they just send them to dollar or discount(big lots) toy stores? Theres thousands of figures since the early 80's I never got to buy, that should have had a second shelf life in discount retailers. Like how magazines get sent back and shredded after 30 days. Its like, why not just DONATE them to libraries or elsewhere?

Oh yeah, magazines. Now days video game magazines a slim, but cost about $10. What the heck? Least the UK magazines are coffee table books and have way better game coverage and layouts. No wonder people are fedup.

Ive stopped legitimately buying dvds, as theyve just become way too much of a ripoff and a slap in the face given none even have extras anymore

 

[Drtooth]

Everyone wants to be cheap, raise prices, cut corners and then sit back and whine about how they're not making money off everything, and they wind up passing that onto something that doesn't deserve that scorn. DVD's with no features that cost as much as the DVD's that had hours of footage (no money saved there), toys with huge, wasteful stunt packaging that don't even come with so much as a sword or a stand... I mean, can you blame Disney for not blanketing the market with meh stuff that would sit on shelves until a quick clearance of a whole buck off?

I could go on a rant about TRU's price fixing and backdoor sweetheart deals, and how they're the only game in town now, so they can do whatever the heck they want, no problem. But there's nothing remotely interesting at Target/Wal*Mart/mainstream stores like that anymore...just movie tie ins that cost more than they should. Some of the stuff sits there forever... does anyone even buy anything anymore?

But magazines are HURTING! As it stands, Shonen Jump is going to be an all online pay service. It can't be helped that their prices are shockingly high... half of the book stores that sell them don't exist anymore, everyone gets the same info off of dull looking blogs and message boards...the internet is KILLING everything, and only offering Annoying Orange (like that's a trade off)... obselecense is killing choice and the physical stores... and that's going to be a ripple effect that kills merchandising tie ins. A lot of the video stores made most of their money up by impulse buys of t-Shirts and bobbleheads.

 

[KermieBaby47]

This thread keeps popping up in the "what's new" category, but sadly, nothing new about Muppet stuff in Disney Stores! News, anyone?