Manhattan Toys Sprocket Now available

[Kermieuk]

Hi

Just found out that Sprocket is now available from Manhattan Toys.

I posted a piccy on the Wiki,

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Fraggle_Rock_plush_(Manhattan_Toy)

Chris

 

[Drtooth]

This is the only one I'm really disappointed in. The eye placement is off and they're way too small and expressionless. The others look quite reasonable, but this one really needs to be redone.

 

[frogboy4]

These are quality made with good materials, but the likenesses are substandard.

I almost carried these in the shop, but nixed the idea. It appears Henson licenses their brands to pricier companies instead of more mainstream companies that can actually do something a little more decent-looking. I hope it's not merely money-driven because long term it tells retailers that Fraggle toys are unattractive and over-priced. That's a bad message to send and it can haunt a brand for years. They really need to get somebody on these that can crank out better-looking Fraggle toys for half the suggested retail price.

Still, I'm glad to see these out there. It's still a noble effort and I'm glad that some fans seem to be enjoying them. I have to pass.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Since Sababa did the Fraggles, I haven't seen any plush or toys yet that compares. If only they had stuck with PVC Doozers and made Mokey, Matt and Sprocket...

 

[Drtooth]

I almost carried these in the shop, but nixed the idea. It appears Henson licenses their brands to pricier companies instead of more mainstream companies that can actually do something a little more decent-looking. I hope it's not merely money-driven because long term it tells retailers that Fraggle toys are unattractive and over-priced. That's a bad message to send and it can haunt a brand for years. They really need to get somebody on these that can crank out better-looking Fraggle toys for half the suggested retail price.

I think that's the real problem. I think somehow someone at Henson is sending out the message they only want to release "upscale" stuff. I like some of the character likenesses just fine (Red and Boober especially), but at 20+ bucks each, I wouldn't see buying my kid (had I one) or even myself one of those. The Sprocket just doesn't look like they really tried hard. The eyes at least need to be bigger.

Again, I know Gund makes upscale indie toy shop Sesame Street plush (which, co-incidentally are the same price) but Fisher price still manages to put out pretty good quality and affordable smaller plushes. Why, I'd say their Count looks better than Gund's and Gund did a fantastic job. If something were actually happen with the movie, I'm sure we'd actually get some sort of deal like that. Upper scale products by Manhattan, more affordables for Target and TRU and the like by someone else.

That said, if more retailers actually picked these up and they made larger quantities of them, I'm sure they'd knock the price down to something more respectable. Even 15 isn't terrible.

Yeah, I wish Sababa renewed the license and just gave us all 5 Fraggles at once this time, but... hmm... are they even still around?

 

[Muppetfan44]

This toy looks nothing like sprocket. Sprocket was not that fat and the orientation of the plush should be sprocket on all fours, not sitting like a human. So disappointed that this didn't look better because I would LOVE a sprocket plush, but defnitely not this one.

 

[frogboy4]

How items work in store sales...

Well, imagine that the Wholesale Cost of an item a store purchases from the source is approximately 50% of the Suggested Retail Price that they will eventually sell them once stocked on shelves. And don't forget that companies have minimum orders. You can't just order one Gobo or a one-of-each assortment. You likely have to buy multiples of each character.

That means if a Gobo is $25 in the store , they paid $12 for him. But they have to buy several Gobos and of course several of the other characters in order to stock one. It's a hefty investment in this economy when they can stock Spongebob and Yoda plushes that talk for $6 and sell them for $12. Stores want to stock less expensive items from more popular brands. Fraggle items would do best if their items cost a customer under $15 to buy in a store ($6 wholesale), but that's not how the licenses have been structured by the companies Henson Co has given the right to make Fraggle toys.

This long explanation is my way of saying that the reason stores don't stock Fraggles isn't merely that they aren't a hot property. I think comic book sales prove differently. Toy shops don't like to stock Fraggles because they are too expensive and when they stock them not enough people buy them. And the cycle continues again and again.

I think Manhattan Toys is a fine company with quality plush. I wish they could nail the likenesses as good as Sababa did, but those were some amazing patterns! It's just they are a pricey brand. Henson Co should steer clear of such companies if they want to popularize Fraggle toys. My thought is that the Fisher Price and Gund sort of companies don't bid as high as these others, but one successful line of affordable toys can spark interest.

Just my two cents. It is nice to see Fraggles on the marketplace at all!

 

[Drtooth]

I think Manhattan Toys is a fine company with quality plush. I wish they could nail the likenesses as good as Sababa did, but those were some amazing patterns! It's just they are a pricey brand. Henson Co should steer clear of such companies if they want to popularize Fraggle toys. My thought is that the Fisher Price and Gund sort of companies don't bid as high as these others, but one successful line of affordable toys can spark interest.

Just my two cents. It is nice to see Fraggles on the marketplace at all!

I see what you're getting at. But then of course, it could also be very well the same situation that lead them to having to air the show on pay cable. Sure, if Fisher Price or Hasbro or someone wanted to make Fraggle Plush, I'm sure they would. The problem is, they don't want to... and I'm sure Manhattan was the only one to actually want to take a chance on it. It's like how Palisades was foiled in efforts to make Fraggle figures because the retailers (that backed out of series 1 of the Muppet figures, and some that wouldn't touch it) didn't want them. Likewise, Sababa was foiled for continuing the line because no retailers actually wanted them after the first series of the larger boxed ones and paired ones. No retailer is going to touch them and no toy producer wants to dirty their hands with anything that isn't a movie based toy line based movie based comic book based toy line based toy line.

So in the end, we wind up with rather expensive toys that are only carried by up scale educational toy stores in well off neighborhoods. I dunno what their ordering policy is, but I've never seen a Mokey or a Boober, and I only saw Wembly once.

Now, had the movie actually come to fruition, there would be no doubt a more common company would give it a try, and we'd see them in TRU and Target. Even Manhattan could pull it off at retail, since they're making more and the price is sure to go down in both production and retail. I've seen some of their generic stuffed animals in the educational aisle of Target that no one ever goes down. But we're talking about a long canceled TV show. Sure, one on DVD, and that will apparently be rerun on some weird cable channel that might be available in some areas only.... and it does have a decent following... but we don't even have T-Shirts of FR at retail yet... saw some odd knit caps, though. So unless that movie actually does something and goes somewhere, I don't think it's very likely we'll see cheaper and better FR stuff at retail.

 

[beakerfan76]

Call me the devil's advocate here but I think Sprocket looks alright for the most part. Sure, there's flaws, mainly his eyes and posture, but otherwise, he's not bad at all.

 

[hoopless]

I got all excited when I saw "New Sprocket available" but then I saw the picture. It's a real shame because it looks like quite a nice dog plush. Just not a Sprocket one.