Muppet Whatnots

[Alvin]

WOW...that is surprising...I can't believe how close they are in size...I would have thought Toys R Us would have been much smaller than FAO. You would think for a REAL MUPPET WHATNOT...they would be scaled to be a genuine Muppet size puppet.....the Toys R Us one just looked so small...and chincy...I don't know...now I am torn. FAO is $100 and Toys R Us is $50 plus clothes.....what to do........

 

[DannyRWW]

Material is better on the Fao one but this might be because the velcro works better with the other material....otherwise I say get the Toys R US one because you can get clothes for cheap at goodwill unless you want a particular outfit...we did buy the princess outfit at toys r us. The puppet online wnet up to 69 dollars btw. 10 more than they were before christmas I think they are decent sized for what they are which is really a children's toy. Still they are big enough for an adult to use. I think they are decent quality. It would be nice to see some Toys R US stores set up temporary workshops next Christmas...they know they would sell as they sold out constantly in store and even online.

 

[Carl23]

I got my "Kit" WhatNot for about $50 (I had a $10 giftcard/special for spending a certain amount during Christmas sales), and I think he's pretty sweet. That's him in my Avatar, by the way. I havn't seen the FAO versions in person, so I can't really comment on the visual comparison between them, but the fleece certainly looks nicer. Their fingers really do have the wire in them, so like the FAO they can be posed. Unless you want something like the WhatNot suit, it's really pretty easy to get clothes for $10 or less.

I picked the TRU Kit because it's a little easier on the wallet, and the entire puppet is made with a Velcro reactive fabric, so it's easy to make little props to stick onto the hands or things like glasses (other than the included ones) to wear, or even eyebrows. It doesn't look quite as nice as the Fleece, but it doesn't look too bad either.

Another plus is that for those of you who are more crafty, you could also build your own parts, and stick them on the puppet. I've noticed that almost all Muppets and Whatnots that are orange have either brown, yellow, or black hair so I went to Joanns and picked up some fur and made hair for him.

The biggest issue I have with it, is the Mouth. It's that "taco shell" shaped piece of plastic, and it makes it really difficult to move, and makes any sort of emotion pretty impossible. But i've heard that the FAO ones are built the same way, which is majorly disappointing.

 

[Alvin]

Has the Disney parks set up the Whatnot Workshops yet??

 

[DannyRWW]

Has the Disney parks set up the Whatnot Workshops yet??

Are they going to? Not that it matters to me as I have never been and doesn't look affordable for the immediate future. Would love to see a temporary workshop set up in Toys R Us stores around Christmas time though (at least I think that would be a neat idea). Or at least the green body being available as a kit

 

[Alvin]

Well I had read or heard somewhere where they were planning on doing it...but yeah doing in Toys R Us would be great...would worry about the quality...of local people doing it...lol, but yeah pretty neat.

 

[Carl23]

I've heard that too, but i've also heard "Why hasn't it happened yet" so I don't think they are in the parks.

I would be REALLY hesitant if they started doing it in smaller TRU shops. Alvin, you hit hte nail on the head because picturing local employees trying to put muppets together scares me to no end. Plus it would take quite a bit of the "Mystique" out of it, it's not really special if you can just pick one up at any random TRU as going to one of the FAO shops. It just wouldn't end up right.

The Kits are a good alternative, because it's lower quality, lower price, and easier to get one local. What WOULD be a nice idea, is if they would ship Whatnots to TRU stores for free. Since TRU owns FAO, they probably could do it - and offer some form of "Store Pick-Up".

 

[Alvin]

THAT would be awesome...instead of paying an arm and a leg for shipping!

 

[DannyRWW]

I've heard that too, but i've also heard "Why hasn't it happened yet" so I don't think they are in the parks.

I would be REALLY hesitant if they started doing it in smaller TRU shops. Alvin, you hit hte nail on the head because picturing local employees trying to put muppets together scares me to no end. Plus it would take quite a bit of the "Mystique" out of it, it's not really special if you can just pick one up at any random TRU as going to one of the FAO shops. It just wouldn't end up right.

The Kits are a good alternative, because it's lower quality, lower price, and easier to get one local. What WOULD be a nice idea, is if they would ship Whatnots to TRU stores for free. Since TRU owns FAO, they probably could do it - and offer some form of "Store Pick-Up".

Nice compromise there. I just don't like the idea that the only one is in New York. At least we can order them online. I do like the kits though. The atraction to me was that you could change around the puppets features. The price was nice too, though I'm happy that I have an Fao muppet too.

 

[Carl23]

Completly agree. They really should have more around, but EVERY or even most TRU stores is not the answer.