How big of a Muppet / Jim Henson fan are you

[Hayley B]

By the way, I just added the pictures on the thread "JJ's first Muppet tattoo" on the Friends and Family fourm.

I'll check it out.

 

[mupcollector1]

Wow, Muppet Tattoos. Got me bet. I'm too afraid of getting tattoos. lol

Any of you guys heard about the news years ago that there was actually a line of Muppet Underwear being sold at Hot Topic or some fashion store? I think it was made for adults because there was models wearing them, I remember seeing pictures of it somewhere. Now that's just scary. lol

 

[DannyRWW]

You know I think my fandom comes out in how the muppets and Jim Hanson influence me as an educator...when you walk into my classroom you will see first a large muppet poster behind my desk as well as my autographed photo of Kermit/Steve whitmire I got a few years back from a student. I am a puppeteer and I've convinced my school/church to back my running of a puppet program at our school. It really is a joy to get to share my love of puppetry and the muppets (and truthfully all of Jim Hensons work) with my students. I love that this is actually part of my job that I get paid to do (though the History teacher part is the primary focus). I had the joy of being able to take my puppet kids to see the new muppet movie this year and probably my biggest high light of Muppet fandom was being interviewed by CNN for their Geekout blog interview with Walter. They quoted me three times and used a video of mine. I was even more excited when I found out this was psoted on all their local affiliates pages. I do have tons 0f muppet merchandiste too (including dvds and action figures galore and books...lots of books) but agian I guess I express my fandom in my work.

 

[mupcollector1]

Yeah same here. I express a lot of my Muppet fandom in my art. I've always been strongly influenced in The Muppet Show and Classic Sesame for the very silly and wild irreverent humor (especially explosions lol) and I got into satire though Dinosaurs first and then through Spitting Image then South Park.

I've had to deal with a TV news interview myself with my local Fox News. The news guy wasn't very good in my opinion. I was trying to promote my work a bit and I showed him clips of my indie puppet / cartoon show and him and a young camera guy just stared at my puppet videos totally confused and frustrated. I had a feeling after they said they didn't get it and didn't laugh at any of my jokes either spoken or on the video reel, I had a feeling they were going to get up and leave. But the camera guy kept taking his camera and running around my apartment filming every single wall while this news guy who also told me he hated his job talked to be for about 2 1/2 hours. And this was organized on the phone and email for about a month, I thought it was going to be a quick 30 minute shoot. lol So I showed them how I did the digital puppet animations that I do and they didn't become interested until I told them that I just do direct to DVD stuff now a days because there was this mean teen who stool my videos online and bullied me and imitated me bullying others and making cheap rip-offs of my puppets. So I didn't see the final story until it aired. It was a mess. Bad editing and too many shots of me randomly playing my electric keyboard which I didn't think they were going to use, and it was just goofy editing telling the tragic tale of me being cyberbullied. I was pretty ticked off because I wanted the 2 minutes to be about my art and how I express myself though it. People who work in newspapers aren't as showbizy, but then again, that was just my experience with Fox. lol
One thing I remember is they looked at my walls and he said "You like Muppets?" and I said yes I do, Jim's my hero and he responded kind of bluntly "Yeah they're okay, I've got a 2 year old at home." And that's one of those things someone can't say to me lol I take it as an insult so I told him the history of how The Muppets can apply to adults and the history of SNL, etc. Then he told me "Well your stuff seems to be more on the edge and razor sharp social satire and very unMuppet like so how can you call Jim Henson your hero?" And I told him there's a quote Jim said something about never follow your hero's too closely otherwise you'll accomplish the same thing they already have done. But what's so funny about that quote is no matter how much I try to do something totally different, Sooner or Later I'm going to find a story of Jim's career that's similar to what I'm currently doing. lol Which I totally don't mind, I find it really funny and ironic. lol Must be a sign.

 

[Zoot Fan 1981]

Electric Mayhem Tattoo featuring Rowlf. Here's the rest of the band.

Underneath Rowlf is my tattoo artist's signature.

 

[Misskermie]

lol Really? What kind of things do you do to express your fandom

*realizing I was asked this a long long time ago, shame on Jaz's lateness*


I watch straight Muppets on DVD...
When I have cable.

I draw nothing but Muppets.

Muppets is something I talk about everyday

I pretend I'm Miss Piggy sometimes.

Miss Piggy is my role-model

I tell nothing but Fozzie Bear jokes.

I use Muppet running gags...
Even if it doesn't make sense to anybody else.

 

[beatnikchick300]

I've been writing Muppet fanfiction since the ripe old age of 13 (though trust me, it's very much improved since then), I watch both MCC and VMMX every Christmas (actually, watching MCC has been a family tradition since I was about 6, before I even became a true Muppet fan), and when I was 16, and a member of the now-defunct PPG world forum, I had this same avatar (to my chagrin, most of the other members of the forum thought Johnny was a Sesame Street character. Peons...). So, maybe not as hardcore as some of you guys, but I'm still pretty devoted.

 

[animalrescuer]

I'm an animal person, first and foremost, but I've always been a big Muppet fan. I sing Muppet songs every opportunity I get, I memorize some Muppet movies and specials from memory, every Christmas, I play all my favorite Muppet Christmas specials and whenever I get bored, I find time to watch Muppet DVDs or watch them on YouTube.

 

[JimAndFrank]

Compared to some of you guys, I'm still an amateur, but I done enough research to keep up with the best of fans. To put things into perspective, The Muppets are my EVERYTHING! If course I have other interests, but none if them speak to me the way Muppets do. They have everything I look for in a friend. They're funny, a tiny bit insane, musical and most importantly, they're flawed.

I absolutely adore Kermit and it's not because he is the star. He has the most honest voice I've ever heard (courtesy of Jim and Steve). He genuinely loves the people around him and values life experiences more than money. He's down to earth, bubbly and very kind- hearted. And yet he is not perfect. He screws things up just like any of us do.

I can't stress enough how important it is for a character to be flawed. It makes them even more realistic and you can believe in them. I don't criticise Fozzie for his bad jokes or Gonzo for his chicken fetish. Instead I applaud it and cheer for more.

So to answer the question, I'm Australia's biggest Muppet fan and Kermit will always be my leading frog

 

[misspiggy5260]

Enough to the point that I got on stage the first day at my new school and sang Halfway down the stairs.