Fun-4-All may produce Sesame Street Action Figures

[radionate]

I knew it! I can't believe everyone was more comfortable with the Simpsons line than this. The paint jobs are horrible start to finish, and the scale is thrown around. The only complaint they got was about Database!

I'm pretty much the ONLY person who actially wants this line (the Stuff on Palisades is really disparaging... ingrates) so I like what you're doing, and if no one else wants these, I'll buy up their share.

But the Simpsons line is totally different. That showed is highly stylized, and there isn't any detail to the characters at all. Therefore you can create a simple sculpt and it still looks good.

I think what people are having a problem with is the way these have been presented to us. They were presented to us as a counterpart to the Palisades line. They aren't. They are their own creation.

These are stylized "cartoonish" versions of the characters, while Palisades are more faithful to the original material.

Does this mean I won't pick them up? No. I will be getting the figures I like, especially older odder characters like Guy Smiley or Harry Monster.

I just think they was these were presented, along with the skirting of any issues we the forum members have brought up is rather shady.

If you are going to come onto a forum to promote your product, you best be ready to handle everything from nickpicking to general praise. And it isn't wise to overlook the questions posed, even if you answer with a "I can't answer your question at this time".

 

[WiGgY]

Question for the designer of the line. Dr. Tooth, please do not answer this with an assumption.

At this point in the production stage, would it be possible to stear the Sesame Street figure line in a more detailed direction? By this I mean is it possible to dump the stylized look (which most of us, your real consumers, don't like) and go for a puppet likeness style? If you wanted to make more realistic figures, could you make a case to Sesame Workshop and base figures on the puppets and not the cartoons?

Oh, and is Oscar sculpted in his can and if so what is the play fator going to be like?

 

[Drtooth]

Firstly, there's a difference between nitpicking and full bore attacking (see the Palisades forum)

But with the Simpsnons line and Charlie Brown... I don't care how stylized they are, THOISE are the glorified Happy Meal toys, not these.

Look at the Futurama Mechandise, the character designs are similarly simplistic, but the toy line had more articulation, better sculpts, and it was just a heck of a lot better.

There is always less than 4 points of articulation on each Simpsons figure, as with Charlie Brown. I liked them, but they seemed over priced to me (Charlie Brown, that is. i waited for it to go on sale).

I agree with Jamie, there really should be a little more negotiation to try to make a marrage of Puppetry and Cartoon stylization, but I'd rather see cartoon stylized Sesame Characters than none at all.

There can only be one Palisades, other than that there are imitators, they've raised the bars for excellence, but we shouldn't attack the line for just the protos.

The reason why I'm angry is people attack this line and say they won't collect it, and then they turn arround and buy things like Muppet lolipops that only have stock photos of them on the bag...

Sheesh!



But you are forgetting the fact that for every figure you buy, SW will donate it back to their projects... meaning we'll see less and less of Elmo and Zoe as Circus detectives... eek!

 

[turlem]

how does this work?

my top ten are

Cookie monster
Grover
Oscar
Ernie
Bert
Big Bird
Snufalupaogus
count
harry
two-headed monster

 

[Drtooth]

I've E-mailed the dude asking for a sample of the style guide, to see how things are going down!

 

[Drtooth]

But before I denounce the entire subject and this thread, let me say this...

At least they made it. We're going to have them, and that's that! I'd rather have a pretty good sculpt than none at all! To me collecting is not about how a figure looks, but what the figure is, who the character is, and why I like them.

The finished project may wow us, and we could all be wrong. Who cares? I'm going to get these, and leave the flat foam Muppet head recycled art antenna toppers and clip art Tissue boxes to you...

 

[pxlforge]

I think F4A was hoping for a more enthusiastic initial response (wow, cool, etc). Lack of comment from them may be because they simply weren't prepared for this negative of a reaction.

I hope the take the advice to find a way to puppetize the likenesses a bit seriously.

We all want these to be the best possible versions of beloved icons, so instead of attacking, I hope we can offer suggestions as to what it is about the protos that should be more puppet-accurate. Links to sesame source images? I'd like to see their styleguide too.

 

[WiGgY]

But before I denounce the entire subject and this thread, let me say this...

At least they made it. We're going to have them, and that's that! I'd rather have a pretty good sculpt than none at all! To me collecting is not about how a figure looks, but what the figure is, who the character is, and why I like them.

The finished project may wow us, and we could all be wrong. Who cares? I'm going to get these, and leave the flat foam Muppet head recycled art antenna toppers and clip art Tissue boxes to you...

You are way to angry and way to passive at the same time.

Just because these are being made doesn't mean we should all be thankful and praise sculpts that many feel aren't the best they can be, or even close to it. If these are going to be the same price as the Palisades figures, as has been said, that means they will be about 8-9 dollars. For 9 bucks I want a realistic figure.

We didn't make the comparison to Palisades, they did. Because of that people expected the same attention to detail. But we didn't get that.

 

[frogboy4]

I hope this criticism is being taken being honest and open. Some tempers are getting hot and it's important to remember we all have our opinions. Debates are perfectly fine, but nobody needs to change anyone else’s mind. If you want these figures - go buy them. If you think they can do better - mention it. I don't see why these guys are entitled to special treatment and I don't see where things have crossed the line so far in the criticism.

I'm not saying that this thread is shady, but. I'm have to admit to feel that way. I don't think the questions are being directly addressed or answered and in that, I feel sort of taken advantage of. The Oscar question has been asked in many posts and so far and has yet to be mentioned by pdiresta. Furthermore, the company’s history of using Palisades' designs for their animators and candles gives me a queasy feeling about their standards and practices.

I enjoy licensors stopping by, but so far I feel this is a one-way street rather than a shared experience. I hope to see the thread progress and be on the level as Ken has always done. If someone asks a question it would be polite to at least acknowledge it. This thread is leaving me cold.

 

[Luke]

I don't think the questions are being directly addressed or answered and in that, I feel sort of taken advantage of.

I agree, we are being advertised to more than interacted with. That has always been my biggest fear of licensee's and retailers using the forum for input and exposure. That said, i appreciate Fun-4-All giving us the scoop here and letting us see the pictures. Hopefully some better system of interacting can be worked out - i know some of their ALF product was quite good.