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(This isn't as much about Ulitsa Sezam itself as about its main star, Zeliboba the Dvorovoi. I couldn't find where else the thread would fit better, so posting here; feel free to move if neccessary.)
And it's been only September 2016 when I accidentally went to check a site about handmade stuff and found a master who had Sezam puppets - Zeliboba included! - for sale. They looked raw-ish, for she didn't seem to have proper references, but I decided to talk to her nevertheless.
Surprisingly, she agreed to correct the Dvorovoi's appearance, as well as make one (a 1 meter tall, plain plush, without puppet-y stuff) for me when she'll finish a few previous commissions. All I was to do was save up, draw references and send them to her.
The master and her husband (who helped out with making a wire-frame) had been building Zelly from January to May 2017. Here are photos of him at their place.
I decided it'll be better to stick to a design similar to GUND's. In their version, Zeliboba has a mantle that is actually removable, with a blue "vest" underneath. So on his bigger self, it looks more like an actual vest with a fuzzy collar.
*The master didn't happen to have yellow fleece and faux fur at the moment, so Zeli's nose and hands turned out to be golden orange rather than canary yellow.
Zeliboba has two types of fur: the actual fuzz and the feathery "fringes". So the master hot-glued lots and lots and lots of fringes on his muzzle and mantle.
Master was even kind enough to add a little bonus and make Zeli a velvet belt, a white jabot and a pair of frilly white cuffs (because I really dig E. T. A. Hoffmann's fantasy stories and would like Zeli to look a little Hoffmannesque sometimes!)
And on May 15th, the International Day of Families and the day my town was at the peak of spring blooming, it finally happened. Zeliboba, closest to how he looks on TV but smaller, had finally moved to me from master.
It's been two months since, and I'm still getting used to the... what's even the proper word, reality of this all? Of the blue shaggy mantle and tie hanging on a handle of my closet. Of a HUGE spirit who now had taken over a good half of my sofa (ours, that is. Of course, ours.) and grins to me with his whole muzzle every time I get home from work. Of him being so wonderfully heavy, silky, slender and sturdy - so very real.
Sure, I wrote him a long thank-you PM on Vkontakte. Sure, I'd been crying while writing, and crying a lot, because I owe him big time for giving the ten-years-old me a lifetime gift - love to Zeliboba, and a wish to dedicate my whole life to Sesame Street, its Muppets and other muppety projects by Henson. And on May 26th, he responded to me.
Stanislav thanked me back for a sincere and warm letter, joked about "the shadow of the blue monster still stretching after him even after all the years" and wished me a lot of luck and patience, because that's what the one who dedicated their life to the Muppets needs the most. He meant every word of it - though for as long as I know Zeli, deep down I'd been afraid his actor would react just the opposite, as some people do. Thanks god I was wrong. If anything, I'll likely ask him for an interview, but he hadn't replied on that yet. For now, I'm just happy everything happened the way it did.
So there. Glad I could share my joy with fellow Muppet fans, and hope your dreams will also come true, no matter how big. 
Part I - The Big Blue Spirit Moves In
From 2009 to 2010, I'd gathered already four plush Zellies, all by GUND - a 60 cm one and three 30 cm ones. Sadly, neither them, nor any of those produced eariler by TYCO and Mattel (hadn't seen them "in the wild", just know from magazine articles) looked show-accurate enough - which made me a tad sad.
And it's been only September 2016 when I accidentally went to check a site about handmade stuff and found a master who had Sezam puppets - Zeliboba included! - for sale. They looked raw-ish, for she didn't seem to have proper references, but I decided to talk to her nevertheless.
Surprisingly, she agreed to correct the Dvorovoi's appearance, as well as make one (a 1 meter tall, plain plush, without puppet-y stuff) for me when she'll finish a few previous commissions. All I was to do was save up, draw references and send them to her.
The master and her husband (who helped out with making a wire-frame) had been building Zelly from January to May 2017. Here are photos of him at their place.
I decided it'll be better to stick to a design similar to GUND's. In their version, Zeliboba has a mantle that is actually removable, with a blue "vest" underneath. So on his bigger self, it looks more like an actual vest with a fuzzy collar.
*The master didn't happen to have yellow fleece and faux fur at the moment, so Zeli's nose and hands turned out to be golden orange rather than canary yellow.
Zeliboba has two types of fur: the actual fuzz and the feathery "fringes". So the master hot-glued lots and lots and lots of fringes on his muzzle and mantle.
Master was even kind enough to add a little bonus and make Zeli a velvet belt, a white jabot and a pair of frilly white cuffs (because I really dig E. T. A. Hoffmann's fantasy stories and would like Zeli to look a little Hoffmannesque sometimes!)
And on May 15th, the International Day of Families and the day my town was at the peak of spring blooming, it finally happened. Zeliboba, closest to how he looks on TV but smaller, had finally moved to me from master.
It's been two months since, and I'm still getting used to the... what's even the proper word, reality of this all? Of the blue shaggy mantle and tie hanging on a handle of my closet. Of a HUGE spirit who now had taken over a good half of my sofa (ours, that is. Of course, ours.) and grins to me with his whole muzzle every time I get home from work. Of him being so wonderfully heavy, silky, slender and sturdy - so very real.
Part II - The Big Blue Spirit's Voice Shows Up
But there was even more to add to this much happiness. Zeli was on his way to me when I found Stanislav Klimushkin - the very actor who'd been playing and voicing him for the three first seasons. "My second self, my alter ego; I loved this almost three-meters tall goofball with all my heart", he wrote about Zeliboba on his profile.
Sure, I wrote him a long thank-you PM on Vkontakte. Sure, I'd been crying while writing, and crying a lot, because I owe him big time for giving the ten-years-old me a lifetime gift - love to Zeliboba, and a wish to dedicate my whole life to Sesame Street, its Muppets and other muppety projects by Henson. And on May 26th, he responded to me.
Stanislav thanked me back for a sincere and warm letter, joked about "the shadow of the blue monster still stretching after him even after all the years" and wished me a lot of luck and patience, because that's what the one who dedicated their life to the Muppets needs the most. He meant every word of it - though for as long as I know Zeli, deep down I'd been afraid his actor would react just the opposite, as some people do. Thanks god I was wrong. If anything, I'll likely ask him for an interview, but he hadn't replied on that yet. For now, I'm just happy everything happened the way it did.
So there.
Glad I could share my joy with fellow Muppet fans, and hope your dreams will also come true, no matter how big.
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