Fun-4-All may produce Sesame Street Action Figures

[BlueFrackle]

They didnt tell me anything else.

 

[Luke]

Yeah you can believe Warrick, he knows his stuff ! Uncleduke and others still seem right about the $14.99 price at Diamond though but someone mentioned on the Palisades forum that it may be a premium added by them and not Fun4All so not sure about that - maybe they will be $15 in comic shops and $9.99 at places like TRU. As far as i'm concerned, even at $9.99 with MAJOR re-tooling these are being WAY over-priced for what they are and will only appeal to select parts of the speciality figure market. The whole point of doing Sesame as opposed to Muppets is you have a greater chance of getting both the kid and speciality markets into the line and being successful. At this price i can't see the kids or parents buying them up - they needed to be $5.99'ish which with the less technical sculpting, greater distribution power and limited articulation should really have been possible.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Unless they had no faith in this line to begin with and are going with a VERY limited release up front which would increase the pricing of these figures, right?

They could still win me over, but they have a hard task of doing it.

 

[The Count]

Well, with the pricing and resculpting taken care of, I feel that I can make this comment again.

Should I hope for...
1 Success for Fun-4-All's Sesame Street action figure line? Depends on the sculpting, likenesses, articulation, and other factors. If so, there might be hope that this line could (*Note: "Could") bring us as wide an array of Sesame characters in figure form as Palisades has done for the Muppets.
2 Failure for Fun-4-All's Sesame Street figure line? Just not sure how it'll be received given recent grumblings. Sure, then another company like Palisades could get themselves the license, maybe for the 40th Anniversary if not sooner, and do it true justice. But it might not bode favorable for such a move, since any secondary license-holding company would have to wait a while before re-releasing new product to the markets after the previous lackluster performance of similar products.
Well, still got my figners crossed that these may end up looking halfly decent.

 

[Gonzo the Grape]

Yeah, I'm not going to spend that much on a regular sized action figure. $36 for an Ernie and Bert? Unless they look EXACTLY like the puppets and come with a seven dollar bill I'm out. It's dissapointing, I would have liked to collect them, but... ah. I guess it's Fun-4-a select few.

 

[Cap Backfire]

Hahahah!

OK, Gonzo, expect my cleaning bill for my wool pants I just filled with urine. That "select few thing nearly knocked me off my chair. I think that 10 bucks isn't too far off as far as pricing. My nephews (4 and 1) get some fisher price figures (Action Crap Squad or something) that run around 10 bucks, so parents can and DO shell out this kinda dough. The beanies they made of the SST group a few years ago (pretty cool set actually) ran about 5 bucks each at first... This is feasible pricing actually as long as they still come with the letters with eyes and mouths. With some retooling (I think Warrick is a corporate spy, but he works for us now or something...HAHAHAH) these could work very well. I think the guys who are suggesting a retail price of 15 bucks are using the pre-sale theory here. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Anyway, there's STILL alot of hope here and if they keep it under 10 bucks (which they should with limited articulation) I am certainly in.

PS, I LOVED that Dr Teeth had the same theory as me. Even with the 15 dollar price tag he was like ..."only gonna buy Cookie and Grover." Then 2 posts later was all "...Only gonna buy Cookie, Grover and Oscar." I was right with him but Cookie came third... HAHAHAHAAH. It's funny what we'll do for some nostalgia...

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Count, based on discussions at Palisades you might agree with this, I dunno:

Seems that the resulting sales of the F4A SS Figs will determine if any other company--whether they make the figs look exactly like the puppets or not--will ever attempt this kind of license again. Seems with the lack-luster sales of the playsets Palisades is going to base future sales of playsets (or not) on the amount of Backstage Playsets sold, or we'll get mini-environments, right?

Well, if that's the way the industry works, then they (or any other company) might look at the numbers (rather than quality) of sales of the SS figures and say it isn't worth their time or effort.

I would think that a company would realize that what the people REALLY want is something GOOD for a change. It's always be toy-like or cartoony stuff for the SS characters in any form, never something as a true representation of the characters' integrity. That being said, I would hope that if F4A sales aren't good, that a future company will take into consideration the quality of the sculpts and the pricing as a cause for sales not being too high--if that's the case.

However, I do hope that this line will be 10x better than what we're expecting. Heck, I would pay $15/figure if they look like the actual Muppet characters! But, the articulation has to be better and there has to be a promise for a better Oscar in the future.

What do ya'll think?

FOZ

 

[The Count]

Thanks for the feedback Kev. Man do we miss your managerial leadership/interaction back at the dormhouse. (Don't bother checking in right now, since we're on a field trip to SS.)
But yes, I only hope that our expectations for the betterment of these figures after the prototype pics will be somewhat rewarded. And if not, then the only disappointment will be for those who try to sell them and the stigma for the next company. Though I rully rully hope that Palisades could convince future retailers of the quality of the property should they pick up the license in any forseeable future scenario.

 

[lilcris]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but didnt Fisher Price make a line of Sesame Street figures?

As for the Fun-4-All figures they look nice but not $10 nice. From the looks of them they look like they would be $6.99 toys.

 

[Drtooth]

Yeah you can believe Warrick, he knows his stuff ! Uncleduke and others still seem right about the $14.99 price at Diamond though but someone mentioned on the Palisades forum that it may be a premium added by them and not Fun4All so not sure about that - maybe they will be $15 in comic shops and $9.99 at places like TRU. As far as i'm concerned, even at $9.99 with MAJOR re-tooling these are being WAY over-priced for what they are and will only appeal to select parts of the speciality figure market. The whole point of doing Sesame as opposed to Muppets is you have a greater chance of getting both the kid and speciality markets into the line and being successful. At this price i can't see the kids or parents buying them up - they needed to be $5.99'ish which with the less technical sculpting, greater distribution power and limited articulation should really have been possible.

That's pretty much what I am saying. Retailers would NOT sell these for 15, just indie retailers. But as far as them being 5.99 (Which I would love) realistically, I haven't seen action figures under 7 bucks for the longest time, except Playmates Simpsons and TMNT Line (even then, only at retail). The price of action figures climbs ever higher, and they seem as pricey as ever. Besides they are more worth the price tag than those God Awful MacFarline "Sports Hero" figures that the stores keep restocking... even though they never sell.

>>I would think that a company would realize that what the people REALLY want is something GOOD for a change. It's always be toy-like or cartoony stuff for the SS characters in any form, never something as a true representation of the characters' integrity. That being said, I would hope that if F4A sales aren't good, that a future company will take into consideration the quality of the sculpts and the pricing as a cause for sales not being too high--if that's the case.<<

That seems to be SW's ruling on the matter... take a look at this thread
http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showthread.php?t=10909&highlight=Sesame

That's why I've defended the line on everything but the lack of attention and the price. I want to know WHY SW wants every thing to be based on cartoon stylization. Of course I ALSO want to know why the DVD's only have 30 minutes of footage on them and cost 13 bucks, why they put so many "Celebrity songs" on Songs of the Street, why the Cookie Monster Plushes look like fat Twiddle bugs, why the Sesame merch other than T-shirts is all singing Elmos... etc.

>>Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but didnt Fisher Price make a line of Sesame Street figures?<<

They actually DID! They cost the exact same price, now that I think about it. I saw them a couple years back, and ... you think these look bad....

They came with one large accessory (I think Ernie had 2), They talked (Meaning they had a large cover on their backs to place batteries in) and they were also "Cartoon Stylized" (only not retro 80's style... the same cartoony style they use on all the Merchandise for little kids) But I didn't mention the worst part... they only had 3, Ernie, Elmo, and Big Bird and they were all the same size. There wasn't even any attempt at scale. I think the "Talking" is what sold the toys... I don't even think they had head articulation.

Anyway, If anything I still want Cookie and Grover (Maybe Oscar... haven't decided yet) if they are indeed 15 bucks. But if they are 10, I may (also haven't decided) buy the whole set, but after I'm caught up with the Muppet figures. Though I would like to see the proposed "Toxic Orange" Oscar.