MASTER REPLICAS @ Toy Fair 08

[Was Once Ernie]

I'm tempted to agree with that point. That guy is talented, but his sales bother me too. I just think that it's the difference in owning a film and television star or owning a life-size replica of him. I feel the painting example is "apples and oranges" compared to this.

I have to disagree with you on this. As much as we think of them as film and television stars, they are actually only pieces of cloth sewed together very artistically. They are works of art in the same sense as a painting.

Not that anyone could do what Jim did or Steve does with Kermit.

This is the real relevant point. I have replicas of other famous puppets, but I can't do what their creators did, so I don't think it damages the brand. However, whatever their reasons are, Disney has no current plans to put out puppet replicas anyway, so we can hold off this discussion until, or if, they do.

 

[beaker]

I've been a Muppet fan since long before you were born. I think Master Replicas' Kermit is BETTER than some of the overstuffed posers that Henson Co. used. I've always hated those. And that Fozzie poser from Muppets Take Manhattan is horrible. I can't stand to look at it.

So, I take issue with your very premise. The real posers are all over the map as to likeness. I think these measure up and surpass some of them.

Even Gonzo, who I've been very vocal about disliking, is certainly no stuffed toy. Expensive toy, maybe, but I wouldn't call it a stuffed toy. It's lightyears ahead of any other Gonzo product ever made.

If you've seen any of Anthony's (KermieBaby47) pictures, I don't see how you can claim they don't measure up.

They are meticulously detailed, just facial wise they don't strike me as looking like the real deal. Hey just my opinion(and I have seen some of these up close)
Either way Im happy they've been made and have added to the muppet excitement.

 

[frogboy4]

Very awesome. Every time I see something like this I go to the MR site and have to remind myself I don't know yet if I'll have a tax return or tax bill!

That said, two pieces of (I hope) constructive criticism: first, try to have them all focusing on the one point rather than three different places (I know this is just random posig, but...) and second, have you tried seeing what the Frog looks like with his body more at a 45 degree angle, pushing his head forward?

That's the first thing I did when I took Kermit out of the box last year was to pull his head and neck forward and it still is. There's a comic shop in the city that has him posed so stiffly with his neck perfectly upright (like how Jim Henson demonstrated as incorrect in that video on YouTube). I see no issue with my Kermit's positioning. Maybe it's just the angle of the snapshot, but I very much like how I have the frog now and view the neck placement on my poser to be fairly accurate from the front and side views.

The body is another issue. I worry that pulling his body out at a complete 45 degrees could prove to put more wear on the poser over time with little real visual improvement. I have tried it and prefer not doing that. He usually doesn't look that way in full body poses anyway. The one thing I haven't tried with Kermit is posing him with a scrunchy face. I really don't want to tax the material any more than I have. Have you had any attempts at this? I am quite concerned about longevity.

I do like the idea of having the characters focus on one spot. That's my cellphone screensaver, but the image quality isn't the greatest. I'll snap a photo of that later.

 

[Bear Man]

The one thing I haven't tried with Kermit is posing him with a scrunchy face. I really don't want to tax the material any more than I have. Have you had any attempts at this? I am quite concerned about longevity.

I do like the idea of having the characters focus on one spot. That's my cellphone screensaver, but the image quality isn't the greatest. I'll snap a photo of that later.

I've scrunched his face a couple of times maybe, I don't know that it would impact on the longevity of the material that much, but I find that it takes so long for me to get the hape of his face right that I really don't like repositioning it very often. I'll play around with his arms and legs, but that face can be so temperamental that once I have him in a classic frog-like smile, I tend to leave him that way.

Can't wait to see more photos - really like what you do with these guys!

 

[Was Once Ernie]

That's the first thing I did when I took Kermit out of the box last year was to pull his head and neck forward and it still is. There's a comic shop in the city that has him posed so stiffly with his neck perfectly upright (like how Jim Henson demonstrated as incorrect in that video on YouTube).

I'm not sure that's as much of a problem on the poser as it is on the puppet. On the puppet, if you hold him upright, his head flattens out making him look like Kermit the Duck. But on the poser, his head doesn't flatten that way.

The one thing I haven't tried with Kermit is posing him with a scrunchy face. I really don't want to tax the material any more than I have. Have you had any attempts at this? I am quite concerned about longevity.

I've been afraid to do this, too. While you can get his mouth back to being flat, from the pictures I've seen, it looks like the red material on the inside of his mouth is never the same after it's been stretched that way.

 

[Luke]

I think that if you look at anyones pictures on here about any of the posers, it would make others change there minds!

I disagree, i think theres been a lot of fan pictures of these replicas that have been almost as bad as Master Replicas. There are a couple of people on here though who do understand how to pose a Muppet, how to position them, how to re-do eye focus, how to light them and yes, their pictures look fantastic, even near real Muppet poser quality. It isn't easy to do and takes a lot of skill - which is why i think people take issue with the work to be done on these. You see the pictures and think "i want that" and then you get it home and it never looks like it.

 

[frogboy4]

Focal Point

My attempt at creating a poser common focal point. Not the best picture I've snapped, but fun.

 

[Telly]

haha I like how you have incorporated the Palisades figures with the replicas! I did that too. I had Kermit playing with the backstage playset.

 

[Blinky_Fish]

haha I like how you have incorporated the Palisades figures with the replicas! I did that too. I had Kermit playing with the backstage playset.

Phew!... I though you were going to say that you made a leather hood and chaps... That's Travis' thing

 

[Telly]

Haha Blinky! Well, I'd do that if that's what it takes to get Travis to get Rizzo into my house!