Preorder the Animal Muppet Replica

[lithiumbrain]

I agree. Do them right or don't do them at all. The real posers are a tad smaller than the real puppets. That part is ok. The reason the real deal may have cost more than 200 bucks to make, is because the real posers had steel armatures with joints built inside them. Those can be costly. I say make the replicas from the same exact materials as the original. The foam will not rot if you take care of it, keep it away from the sun and uv light. Maybe display it in a plexiglass case. I collect masks and props from movies. I have latex masks from 30 years ago that are still holding up. If you take extreme care with these, they will outlast you. Sure, Scott foam will break down in 5 years after being on set everyday under hot lights and being twisted and thrown around. If MR cuts corners and substitutes materials, the character will not look right. They need to copy Terry's designs exact! Did you all see how accurate Terry's final Kermit prototype was? Sure the MR Kermit is cool and all...but it is sad that they didn't produce him exact. All I can say is, the suits who have the final say on the replicas, obviously do not have the same eye as Terry, or even some of us for that matter. Look at the space between Kermits eyes, the way the collar is cut and how the mouth is pointier in the proto pictures on the MR website. What happened? Animal looks darn good, aside from his pupils being too large. But, the same thing happened with Kermit. Somebody out there must love big starry eyed Muppets. Everyone is very excited about Fozzie. I am as well. BUT...we have only seen Terry's beautiful, spot on prototype. We shall see what comes out of China...

 

[Was Once Ernie]

I agree. Do them right or don't do them at all. The real posers are a tad smaller than the real puppets. That part is ok. The reason the real deal may have cost more than 200 bucks to make, is because the real posers had steel armatures with joints built inside them. Those can be costly.

The other reason the real deal is more expensive is because they're not being mass produced. Each one is handcrafted by artists and master puppet builders whose time is valuable (and worth it, I might add).

But I have to agree with lithiumbrain on this one. The scott foam will not break down in 5 years if handled correctly. That was my point about the over 30 year old puppets I have that are still in good shape. Yes, foam can break down from non-use, but it wears out a lot quicker with constant use.

 

[Bear Man]

Just a question - is there any way to preserve scott foam while sacrificing it's flexibility? (soaking with some sort of laquer or PVA for example?) That might be an acceptable middle ground - providing "instructions" so those that want to leave it flexible can do so, but those who want a more permanent (but solid) nose can also do that...

 

[MWoO]

Interesting, but I'm not sure how that could be done once the poser is put together. I do hope there is a way around it and I also hope the final products of these look a little more like the original hand made prototypes. I got Kermit today and while he is cool, it's lacking compared to the original prototype.

 

[MuppetCaper]

(sigh) All thinking is giving me a headache. I wished we knew a little something that is going on then we would all know. It would end all of this. (YIKES!)

 

[Telly]

I plan on having my replicas out in the open just hanging about in my room. Question about the scott foam...if I barely touch Gonzo's nose, but don't put him in some sort of case, how long would the nose last?

 

[Mistersuperstar]

I plan on having my replicas out in the open just hanging about in my room. Question about the scott foam...if I barely touch Gonzo's nose, but don't put him in some sort of case, how long would the nose last?

That's another good point. Most people who buy these replicas will not have money or room for a glass display cabinet for their replicas. Most people will have them just posed in their houses or bedrooms somewhere. Surely this is a good enough reason not to use a material that will deteriorate in 5 or 10 years. I would rather have something that doesn't look exact than something that only looks exact for 5 years before it's nose falls off!

 

[chequepoint]

This is why I keep saying don't make him at all. Its destined to fail. If they make it out of the right materials, all you people who are paranoid about it falling apart wont' buy it.

If they make it out of the wrong materials, and its ugly, then people won't buy it.

In the end you're going to have gonzo performing poorly no matter what. The worst part will be that its the poser they have put the most r&d $ into making it a bigger financial disaster.

Master Replicas goes.. I guess the muppet people arent' interested anymore. No need to waste any more money on this license. Lets take the money we were going to use to R&D the next character, use it to aquire a different license. Everybody loses.

Disney goes... Man, Gonzo has been the star of the last several movies, and he sold the worst.. maybe the muppets are a dead property afterall.

People take these things for granted, nobody thought the Palisades line was going to go away, but a few bad decisions and poof it was gone. With the loss of the Star Wars license, Master Replicas is going to be in a delicate position, whether they admit it or not.

 

[Reevz1977]

This is why I keep saying don't make him at all. Its destined to fail. If they make it out of the right materials, all you people who are paranoid about it falling apart wont' buy it.

If they make it out of the wrong materials, and its ugly, then people won't buy it.

In the end you're going to have gonzo performing poorly no matter what. The worst part will be that its the poser they have put the most r&d $ into making it a bigger financial disaster.

Master Replicas goes.. I guess the muppet people arent' interested anymore. No need to waste any more money on this license. Lets take the money we were going to use to R&D the next character, use it to aquire a different license. Everybody loses.

Disney goes... Man, Gonzo has been the star of the last several movies, and he sold the worst.. maybe the muppets are a dead property afterall.

People take these things for granted, nobody thought the Palisades line was going to go away, but a few bad decisions and poof it was gone. With the loss of the Star Wars license, Master Replicas is going to be in a delicate position, whether they admit it or not.

Hopefully this is not the case. The fact that so many of us are showing concerns and WANT Gonzo, must be reassuring to the fine folk at Master Replicas. It appears the people at Disney have little regard for the Muppets as a property and therefore will be happy with any profit.

I'm sure there will be a solution out there that pleases the majority of people. Many of the solutions discovered with the development of Gonzo should hopefully help the rest of the line go into production. The nose is a hurdle that needs to be overcome, but I think we're quite a way off the end of the line just because of a nose.

 

[Telly]

Just think of the feeling the fine people at Master Replicas will feel if they fine a solution to please the MAJORITY (cuz you can't please EVERYBODY) of the people and jump this hurdle?