puppetguy said:
One of my biggest beefs with Palisades is the difficulty of obtaining the Muppet figures. Short of spending $50 bucks and becoming a Collector's Club member, which I really can't justify because I'm only interested in the Muppet line and not their entrie product line, there is no good way of knowing when a particular item is released. It is increasingly confusing and frustrating when release dates are announced and repeatedly changed. Reasons for this have been explained on this list, but come on..there is a certain lack of professionalism that becomes apparent when you cannot rely on a product to be released on the date the company announces. You're better off not to announce it at all. And also the matter of where to find this line. There has been a tremendous inconsistency with retailers who only carry certain things or have carried the line up to a certain point. This forces the main connection from product to buyer to take place online. That's fine for those of us with such capacities, but you're not thinking about the broader market and those who patiently and anxiously wait for the arrival of figures/playsets and the huge let down when the retailer they've grown accustomed to purchasing from no longer carries the product. And this has been troublesome from the start. First it was ToysRUs, then we thought we were saved with Target and now Suncoast isn't carrying the later series. What gives, Palisades? Who marketed this so poorly that no one specific reliable retailer would carry the entire line, exclusives included, from start to finish? You would think that by making a product fans would want to buy, you would make it easy for them to do so. Now there is a mad scramble and search to find them online and a constant checking on release dates and an inconsistency with availability. You have "collector-ed" this right out being profitable for you and successful with the fan base you're trying to cater to. That said, I'm a fan of the line. I've got the figures I want, which is most of them with the exception of exclusive repaints (which I think are a waste), and the product is good. The scuplts on most are fantastic. So why is it such a headache to get them? And now next year's lines are ALL exclusive? What gives? Now, it seems, the likelyhood of aquiring the last lines without being a Collector's Club member is near to impossible. To me, that hardly seems fair to those of us non-members who want to get these figures. Thank you for your hard work and beautiful artistry. But please, make it easier for us to obtain the items we want.
What the **** do you want from them? If they had the choice they would have the product on Toys R Us, Suncoast, Target, and every other place! They didn't choose to have these stores stop carrying the line. It is not Palisades' fault that these figures are not in stores. As for the date changes, these things can't be help, especially when the figures do not sell well. The figures usually do get released around the time they are said to. And no one in the collector's club gets any info on release dates that you do not get. And there have been plenty of exclusive muppet figures to justify a collector of the line to join. Here is a list of all them uppet figures you could have gotten via the club:
VC Beaker
Inviso Beaker (if you joined when it opened)
Inviso Fozzie
Tour Animal
Tux Bunsen and Beaker
The Messy Chef with 3 all new pack in characters
Tux Gonzo
Holiday Rizzo with hat
Mega Camila
Super Beaker
Adventure Kermit
Vaudvilla Statler an Waldorf (some of the best figures ever)
The Ghost of Sam Arrow
The repainted modern Gonzo with 2 repated chickens in the kit
The very hard to find glow inthe dark Kermit
FREE shipping on all the minis and the Jim Henson figure
And let's not forget the giveaways you could have gotten in the "chance to buy" drawings:
Black Jacket Rizzo
The repaited Holiday Rizzo
American Flag Mini Piggy
Holiday Kermit
Gold Tux Gonzo
White Tux Rowlf
That is 15 figures you could have gotten, 6 minis with free shipping, one figure with free shipping, and 5 exclsuive gicve aways you had a chance to buy at a much lower price than on ebay.
So, subtract 9 dollars from the fee to cover buying 1 of each mini and the Jim Henson figure, assuming you buy them all at once.
Now you have 41 dollars for ao ne time fee. You get one muppet figure free, and have been for al ong time. So, subtract 15.
Now you have a 26 dollar fee to buy exclusives. You already have one, so distribute that over the other 14.
Now you are paying about 1.86 so that you can buy one of each of the other figures. And that is not even including the give aways.
So, assuming you really want all the muppet figures, you would have gotten them on ebay. Now from a lot of the prices on ebay, you would have paid more than the price for each figure in the club and you would have probably paid about 5 dollars more for each. So, lets say it's only 5 for each (even though it can be a lot more). Subtract the 1.86. You are SAVING 3.14 for each figure you buy, had you joined from the start (and it was actually on 36 from the start). And this does not include the difference in price for the giveaways, nor the content of the site. lsu there will be more figures to get in 2005!
So, for all the comlaining you do, you would actually save a little money, assuming you want to buy ONLY muet figures. So, do not use the 50 dollar fee as an excuse. Look at the bigger picture. If you do you would see tat your argument is invalid.
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