eFX Collectibles to produce Muppet Replicas

[MuppetCaper]

Even bad Star Wars always sells pretty quickly. They might be fickle, but far less than us Muppet fans. I've personally sold thousands of dollars of high and low end Star Wars collectibles in the shop of different quality. There are some stellar Muppet items out there that just sit on the shelf and collect dust. It's always been different for the Muppet fan and that's been mentioned by Henson over the years and even Disney when licensing the brand to toy companies. I don't always understand why, but yeah...it be true.

But we are refering to authentic replicas....not toys. That is two different things. There is a lot of junk toys, but when it comes to props made like the original...I don't care if it is Muppets, Star Wars, Star Trek, Iron Man, Spiderman...you name it, the hardcore fans know it should look like down to every detail. Example Quantum has some awesome replicas of the Serenity ship with all the bells and whistles.

 

[Frogpuppeteer]

I want to say so much but i wont, mostly cause i already decide ,even though it hurts, ill skip Rizzo....but i wouldnt mind pepe id pay the asking price for him


anyways i wanna say Frogboy i though in your pic Gonzo was choking Animal i had to look at it real close to realize there was a swing

 

[hoopless]

I don't think $350 is an unreasonable price for Rizzo assuming the final version looks as awesome as the prototype photos I've seen, not that I can afford it any more. He's not my favourite character either but I really want to get him. If they ever get to Fozzie and the pig I doubt they'd be anything shy of $1,000 but again it's all about the quality, but if they look the same as the characters we all love they're gonna be worth it (and being replicas they should be)

 

[Luke]

But we are refering to authentic replicas....not toys. That is two different things. There is a lot of junk toys, but when it comes to props made like the original...I don't care if it is Muppets, Star Wars, Star Trek, Iron Man, Spiderman...you name it, the hardcore fans know it should look like down to every detail. Example Quantum has some awesome replicas of the Serenity ship with all the bells and whistles.

... and thats why the posers are such a hard sell. There aren't so many hardcore Muppet fans, and even less who will spend big bucks on an item. They do need to be exact quality as you say, as the hardcore collectors who actually will buy them would be very nit picky as to any likeness issues, and most of the general fan collectors wouldn't bother buying them anyway, unless in the case of the reduced gonzo's they come down to like $79 but then the company is making a huge loss so it doesn't work.

So it's such a catch 22 situation - i really don't think posers will ever work in a greatly profitable way for any licensee and i doubt it'd make much difference if they were puppets either. It's all about the limited fanbase and the price point.

Though saying that there are about 10 million people who watched a Beaker viral video and loved it so theres an argument here that maybe Disney (and before them Henson) have never done enough to actually get the fanbase together and market to it.

 

[frogboy4]

... and thats why the posers are such a hard sell. There aren't so many hardcore Muppet fans, and even less who will spend big bucks on an item. They do need to be exact quality as you say, as the hardcore collectors who actually will buy them would be very nit picky as to any likeness issues, and most of the general fan collectors wouldn't bother buying them anyway, unless in the case of the reduced gonzo's they come down to like $79 but then the company is making a huge loss so it doesn't work.

So it's such a catch 22 situation - i really don't think posers will ever work in a greatly profitable way for any licensee and i doubt it'd make much difference if they were puppets either. It's all about the limited fanbase and the price point.

Though saying that there are about 10 million people who watched a Beaker viral video and loved it so theres an argument here that maybe Disney (and before them Henson) have never done enough to actually get the fanbase together and market to it.

Exactly. I don't really know what the guidelines should be for this. There's no roadmap, just a patchy track record of licensed Muppet products. Quality doesn't insure sales and value doesn't really either. It's about what people want. I'll go back to the Palisades figures since they are the best solid standard of calculating modern interest in Muppet product.

Series 2 Gonzo is butt-ugly. There's no way around it. Terrible Happy Meal grade sculpt on him. Beauregard is a beautiful sculpt as is Sweetums, Patrol Bear Fozzie and several other great character figures in the line, but there are still many units collecting dust on shelves while the fugly Gonzo sells instantly. It's brand and character recognition, I suppose. However, his beautiful Mega version initially sold poorly at its 24.99 price point.

All 3 posers are in the store and customers who are interested are often shocked by the price. Even ones who blow that much on various other items in the store. They are the beautiful things customers like to see in the store but nobody buys. Strangeness. I wish it weren’t so. I just don’t think it bodes well for the poser future. I hope to be completely wrong!

I think a product should be attainable for the fans as much as possible without compromising quality. Maybe the inclusiveness is my Kermit the Frog view of things. I want as many people to come along for the ride as possible.

 

[dmoss]

I want as many people to come along for the ride as possible.

I love that, as applied to this, and even life!

 

[Luke]

All 3 posers are in the store and customers who are interested are often shocked by the price. Even ones who blow that much on various other items in the store. They are the beautiful things customers like to see in the store but nobody buys. Strangeness. I wish it weren’t so. I just don’t think it bodes well for the poser future. I hope to be completely wrong!

I guess thats partly the plush thing. If people see plush they expect it to be under $50 or so. Obviously with the posers they have wire and pro materials but it doesn't really make a difference .. people see plush. That and the whole Muppets are for kids thing so they expect them to be at kids prices.

I think with the Muppets its just a difficult market really. People don't really "get" it, yet you can put out some Star Wars replica at a high price point people "get" the idea because its a movie prop replica or something.

 

[Was Once Ernie]

I guess thats partly the plush thing. If people see plush they expect it to be under $50 or so. Obviously with the posers they have wire and pro materials but it doesn't really make a difference .. people see plush. That and the whole Muppets are for kids thing so they expect them to be at kids prices.

I think with the Muppets its just a difficult market really. People don't really "get" it, yet you can put out some Star Wars replica at a high price point people "get" the idea because its a movie prop replica or something.

You know, I think you may be on to something here. It seems that people don't understand what these are. They look at them as overpriced dolls rather than replicas of the actual "photo puppets" that the professionals use. And I think this goes back to the original problem of these not being puppets. At least if they were expensive puppet replicas, people would at least understand what they are. With the photo puppets, you have to go through this long explanation, "Well, see, when they're doing photo shoots for calendars and posters, rather than having puppeteers have to hold up the puppets for hours on end blah, blah, blah, blah..." And by that time, their eyes have glazed over.

It may very well be a product with an extremely limited audience.

 

[Andibcool]

Hmm im kinda happy they photo puppets.
I would have no use for real puppets, i want to let em pose and just stay there for display.

 

[MuppetCaper]

I just want to hear some kind of news.........ANYTHING Muppet Poser news!