Master Replicas Gonzo Photo Puppet

[frogboy4]

Plastic nose aside - which was too expensive and not feasible as we were told, don't you think a more muppety texture on the nose would have been more desirable to the market?

They totally dropped the ball on this one, I agree. This whole venture cannot be hinged on one muppet though. Look at Gonzo as a muppet in the making and forget about the warranty. Perhaps this oversight will result in a better end of the line?

I think the success in Gonzo comes down to how he looks. A plastic nose would definitely look better than what has been used. Plastic can be molded to look like anything. Neither solution is accurate, so they should have just gone with a better looking plastic mold.

The eyes, well. You see. I remember Palisades' original Johnny Fiama - everything was there and generally in the right location, but it looked like *****. Some minor tweaking and (in all modesty) he turned out to be one of the line's best likenesses. The weird leg thing...well that just bit hard!

I dropped an email to Travis and MR last year about pupil placement - likely after the problem could have been solved. He knows about the pupil placement deal and I doubt it will happen on his watch.

I do think Gonzo could sink the line. I have no inside word on this but I think the added expense of correcting some of these issues would have saved them the much greater expense of not selling enough Gonzos. That's where my ideas on Gonzo's strategy differ from Master Replicas'.

That's the bottom line. We'll just have to wait and see how long he sticks around the online shops and if the price continually gets slashed.

 

[frogboy4]

Well what's done is done...The issues being brought up are like harassing MR because the Han Solo blaster didn't have Harrison Ford fingerprints on the trigger!

I for one, didn't really ever like Gonzo. He was like the enoying aquaitance of a friend that you tolerated and wished would go away, but you tolerate out of courtesy to your actual friend. Thankfully the bear is on the way.

Kevin

I disagree. The problems with Gonzo are vast and seeing how long it took to sell Kermit, Gonzo's in for a long wait. I don't know how long MR sits on unsold stock before writing it off. Different companies can afford different practices. The eyes being this off is not a small deal...in the least. Especially in a product of this magnitude and expense. This is what we get, it's the closest we will get. I just wish we could be happier with it. I doubt enough fans will be.

How can anyone not like Gonzo? Different strokes I guess. But stating ideas and opinions, even after the fact is not harassment and members should not be discouraged from doing so. That's what forums are about and that's partly why our old friend Travis is here to field comments.

 

[MuppetCaper]

Well what's done is done. MR will unlikely be shipping replacement pupils, will not be sending any apologize, and will not be doing anything else with Gonzo. The photo replicas are in their boxes, packaged, in a transport container, waiting to be shipped, across the pacific, by boat, back to the US. What is done is done. The company will not be addressing or answering any questions regarding the nose iussue, tux coloring, pupil placement, or any other Gonzo issue is beating a dead horse. The only thing to do is to look to the future and tell MR that if the choice has to be made again that you would rather them not make that certain character with substitute materials. Keep in mind that enough people are quite happy to have a close enough resemblance for those thoughts to not be taken into consideration. Unfortunate but true.

The issues being brought up are like harassing MR because the Han Solo blaster didn't have Harrison Ford fingerprints on the trigger!

I for one, didn't really ever like Gonzo. He was like the enoying aquaitance of a friend that you tolerated and wished would go away, but you tolerate out of courtesy to your actual friend. Thankfully the bear is on the way.

Kevin

I kinda agree with this to the fact that if you have been around MR for awhile you would notice that sometimes things don't always goes as planned. But it doesn't mean that it is coming to an end. I have been a avid Star Wars collecter now for many many years now and I have seen flops and I have seen jems! But the company keeps going with new products. Just cause there is one bad seed, doesn't stop the whole line in it's tracks. Just means that they need to look into there future as a company. I also have worked for companies that have had this situation on many occasions. Ok, so this didn't go over very will, lets go on to the next one. If it is a continued pattern, then I can see why a company would fold due to cost, or lack of profit. But like I said for most companies, it doesn't always go down when product goes bad. Now if for example, if Fozzie and lets say Animal where to not even get off the shelves, I can see where there is a problem, something has to give. The company goes and they lose money. If this was a fact for every company, then Hasbro Star Wars line would have gone down the tube long long time ago. But they know that people will keep buying if they keep making. even though some come out bad and some come out good. It all levels out in the end.

 

[Bear Man]

....Trying to get off this rant, but don't feel it has been properly addressed by MR yet.

Dude, Travis has said that he agrees the eye placement is not as good as your Photoshopped version. I would imagine, though, that Palisades had the benefit of paint masks to make eye placement much more uniform than the hand-applied ones of the posers.

He's also explained the business logic behind not tooling a plastic nose, and ultimately MR has the best idea of what they believe is a sale-able price for Gonzo.

I agree with you on both points - long ago when we first heard about Gonzo being made I think I was one of the first to suggest a plastic nose. I also think that your eye placement is much better than what we've seen on the factory prototype. But you've said your piece now multiple times, and what with the repeated posts and the use of bold, it's starting to sound a little aggressive. I respect your opinions, but I think you've made your point.

 

[ElecMayhem]

Would Ken at Palisades have released this? Even series two Gonzo's eye focus was better. Trying to get off this rant, but don't feel it has been properly addressed by MR yet.

I don't think that's fair. While I regard Ken as a genius -- and truly, I do -- and probably the best action figure designer/engineer around, he did put out some inferior products, from time to time. Steppin' Out Fozzie, anyone? Now, was that Ken's fault? No, not necessarily. Not at all, in fact. But he "released" that into the world.

That aside, what more does MR need to properly address? You've seen what Gonzo looks like -- now you, the consumer, needs to vote with your wallet. Either buy him, or don't. And as I've said three times this week, if you don't like the way he looks, and choose not to buy him, I don't begrudge you that one bit.

Listen, I am a fan. And I do agree with some of the things that I y'all are saying. In a lot of ways I am even more frustrated than any one of you, because I pointed these things out -- eye focus, nose sock -- months ago internally as issues. But in every instance, for one reason or another, the issues couldn't be corrected. Believe me, particularly on the nose, we tried. Every single person at MR wanted as accurate as possible. It's not like we were sitting around saying, "Wahahaha, let's screw those felt loving Muppet freaks by making an inferior Gonzo! Wahahaha!"

Why is the eye focus off? I don't know. I do agree that it's not 100% accurate, but at the same time, I disagree that we owe anyone an explanation for that. (In all honesty, I don't have one other than to say when the first sample arrived, I told them...) But when Sideshow didn't make a Floyd bust, or when their Miss Piggy bust had yellow hair (vs. blonde), I didn't feel like they needed to reach out and explain their decisions to me... it was up to me to decide whether or not I wanted to support that line, and buy the busts. (Incidentally, I did.)

Idunno. I guess all that I can say is that the product is what it is, for better or for worse. And I appreciate everyone's input, whether you like him or not. But what's done IS done... no sense asking "couldn't it have been this way?" or "couldn't it have been done that way?" because we cannot impact it anymore. All I can do is strive for perfection on Fozzie now.

BTW, one last part to my rant... in defense of our engineering team, who worked on Gonzo at the factory. He IS extremely difficult, and I've watched them toil with him for the past 12 months. These people, while not Ken Lilly , are professionals, and are really quite good at product engineering. Remember, they are the ones who invented the Force FX Lightsabers! I just want to make sure that they don't take too much of a beating from the Muppet fans...

 

[Ignohippo]

I agree with you Jamie 100%. The thing that has bothered me the most about Animal and Gonzo is that they're just so darned close – just a little more tweaking would have made them almost as good as Terry's protos. While Gonzo may look WAY off, Jamie's PS fixes show how close he really could have been.

The nose problem is even more frustrating because the reaction to it was unanimously negative when it was shown at ToyFair. The idea that MR never listened to the people who actually were buying their product is completely beyond me. Never in a million years did I think they would actually proceed with something that was that far off.

For now, I'm continuing my order for Gonzo but I'm very, very disappointed. I will be buying him and considering it a downpayment for Fozzie. If nobody buys Gonzo, we'll never get to Fozzie. Luckily, I'm in a situation where I can afford to get Gonzo and have just enough moderate skill to be able to hopefully change him for the better.

I'm very thankful to Travis for posting pics and I hope the reaction here on the boards don't dampen his enthusiasm for showing us these products before they hit the streets. This stinks! It's terrible knocking a company who is working to get us something as fantastic as a Muppet replica. Sadly, Animal and Gonzo just aren't close enough IMO to be considered "replicas" and sell to anyone besides the die-hards. I sincerely hope they hit Fozzie dead-on and that they post pics and get the pre-order started IMMEDIATELY. Otherwise, I'm afraid Gonzo is going to kill this line (let's face it, Animal really doesn't look enough like Animal out of the box to fly off shelves either). Unfortunately, I can't imagine more than a handful of people are going to buy Gonzo considering how much he costs and how (sorry, honestly) bad he looks.

If I were MR, I would be offering a $50-$100 rebate towards the future order of Fozzie for anyone who pre-orders Gonzo. Let's face it, eventually they're going to have to drop the price of Gonzo pretty drastically to get him to sell past the few people who pre-order him.

My sincerest hope is that the good folks at MR can see the deficiencies in Gonzo and won't allow his poor sales numbers to affect the future of the line. It was a shame that Palisades saw the numbers of the terrible original Piggy figure and then made the conclusion that Missy Piggy doesn't sell (while PIS Piggy was awesome, they packaged it with a $30 playset so they never had any idea how well she would have sold separately).

Anyone else think Gonzo's fur is way off too? It looks more like Cookie Monster or Grover to me than Gonzo. I always thought Gonzo's fur was darker and more matted (see: Terry's original prototype).

Hey Jamie, don't you think a rubbery material would've worked better for the nose than hard plastic? I agree, either plastic or rubber would've certainly been a better compromise than what they ended up with.

 

[Kevin Knight]

GUYS, NO MR will not do anything to make you feel better about pre-ordering, or purchasing the gonzo replica!

There are and will be no rebates, no shipmnets of pupils, or foam noses, or plastic noses, no phonecalls from Dave Goelz to reasure you!

MR did hear the voice of the fans after the convention. That's why they went back somewhere along the line and say "OK Can we make the nose out of foam." The ending answer was "no, we cannot." They didn't feel they had to call or contact each pre-order at home to say "Hi, just to let you know the nose will look like the pubished prototype photos if you were wondering." Or the flip side of just going ahead and making what they felt would be an inferior product for the sake of authenticity. They didn't want their mailboxes jammed up when the nose deteriorates, or phone lines tied with fans crying ***, "I paid such and such for this $hitty product, I want money, I want discounts etc., etc." They were a company who respected your money and wanted to produce a quality product that would stand the test of time, and be worth the money you, mom, wife or girlfriend paid. Master Replicas is currently working to make a great Fozzie. That is why Travis gatiously donated his time to talk to us. For us to ask him questions like....

"Travis, have there been up to this point, or do you see any Gonzo-like problems in any way that would change the authentic look that was acheived by Terry in his prototypes of Fozzie Bear?"

Terry doesn't make policy, the buck doesn't stop with him. He's a link in the chain with some influence when a concern arises. I respect the dude for just being here. I'm really wishing MR hadn't made the blue idiot at this point.

Kevin

 

[Ignohippo]

The above reply was before Travis'. Now I gotta chime in on what Travis said!

Big props to Travis for putting up with us.

The worst part about all of this is that we vetch because we care. None of us are piling on MR just to pile on them. I think I speak for everyone when I say we truly only want the best for MR and for this line to be successful so that MR can be profitable so that more Muppet replicas will be made.

I understand the vote with your wallets statement and (while it's absolutely true) I hate it. I dislike it because we WANT to support MR. We WANT to give you our money. It's terrible because, while it hurts MR, it also hurts us because without purchasing your product we jeopordise the chances more Muppet replicas will be made. You can't just say "if you don't like Gonzo, don't buy him" because (a) if we're true Muppet fans, we want a GOOD Gonzo replica, and (b) if enough of us don't buy Gonzo, we won't even get the opportunity to buy Fozzie (or Piggy, or Rowlf, etc.).

I agree that the statement about Ken is a little rough, but it's also fair. I expect that after all is said and done we will be able to say the same thing about Travis. While there may have been a few misses in Muppets line (I must be a minority because SO fozzie was one of my favs) they were very few and far between, action figures are $10 as opposed to $300+, and Palisades listened to their customers before putting out something their customers may not be happy with.

 

[frogboy4]

I don't think that's fair. While I regard Ken as a genius -- and truly, I do -- and probably the best action figure designer/engineer around, he did put out some inferior products, from time to time. Steppin' Out Fozzie, anyone? Now, was that Ken's fault? No, not necessarily. Not at all, in fact. But he "released" that into the world.

You're right about that. And I worked hard on that Steppin' Out Fozzie if you remember. I redid that job so many times it made me nuts and he still was rather googly eyed. I still don't know what the heck went wrong with him or Rowlf for that matter. I was not pleased with what the factory did with my revisions at all. It was like "Groundhog Day" where it kept getting worse with each attempt. Of course that was a 12 dollar product.

I will most likely correct the eyes and it would be great if MR could steer us that are doing so in the appropriate place for fitting materials. I understand that's far-fetched. This dude is my favorite Muppet and I knew he wasn't going to be 100%. I just hoped he'd look a little better. I think a few of us around here thought that he really was being redone from the version up on the preorder page. I don't know how that was circulated, but that accounts for some of the dashed hopes. I still cannot wait for Gonzo's inclusion in my collection and know I will be pleased with him after making some tiny tweaks.

I commend you again on your involvement, patience and expertise on this line. Even approaching making a Gonzo is a challenge. I know the bear will look excellent! A heck of a lot better than Steppin' Out. That is a huge embarrassment in my design work.

I agree with you on both points - long ago when we first heard about Gonzo being made I think I was one of the first to suggest a plastic nose. I also think that your eye placement is much better than what we've seen on the factory prototype. But you've said your piece now multiple times, and what with the repeated posts and the use of bold, it's starting to sound a little aggressive. I respect your opinions, but I think you've made your point.

The use of bold was merely to stess certain points. I've just noticed the bolding pops so much more on a Mac! Sorry about that. Just wanted to make sure there was clarity in how I felt. With the appropriate alterations I believe that Gonzo can get as far as a 4.25 out of 5 rating from this Frogboy. Kermit got 5, Animal 4.5 just to gage. No more rants on the issue though. As has been stated, early reports of such corrections were erroneous and that has me (and several others) a little disheartened about this replica. I hope he sells well. (bolded that part)

 

[Ignohippo]

GUYS, NO MR will not do anything to make you feel better about pre-ordering, or purchasing the gonzo replica!

There are and will be no rebates, no shipmnets of pupils, or foam noses, or plastic noses, no phonecalls from Dave Goelz to reasure you!

Kevin, obviously MR isn't going to send out replacement parts. I think Jamie's statement was more meant to say that they should be redoing the pupil placement and was somewhat sarcastic that they should at the least send us additional pupils.

As for your other statements, I couldn't disagree with you more. Companies who don't listen to their customers don't stay in business very long. MR is obviously (and thankfully) on the right track now with Travis taking the lead on these products. My hope is that it isn't too little, too late and that he will actually have the chance to show what he can do.

As for the rebate on Fozzie, given the reactions of the folks on the boards it seems somewhat obvious Gonzo is not going to do the numbers MR hoped he would. You're right though, MR doesn't owe us anything and it is somewhat silly to think they would do such a thing. Still, I know it's going to hurt those of us who purchased Gonzo now when in six months he's going to be on sale. But, it is certainly our choice if we want to tkae that chance and MR isn't holding a gun to our heads to buy these things now.