The Muppets Character Encyclopedia coming Feb. 7 2014

[minor muppetz]

At first when I heard that a different cover was posted online, I thought it was a fan-made cover redesign. Then I looked and was surprised that it was new. As somebody who never had a problem with the previous cover, I must say that I do like this new cover better (but mainly because it has more characters).

There might not be much info that the wiki doesn't currently provide, but I hope it can at least reveal the names of characters who the wiki doesn't know the official names of.

I wonder how the two Nigel's will be handled (assuming they're both included). I wonder if they'll both just be listed as Nigel, or if they'll have the fan nicknames "Nigel the Conductor" and "Nigel the Director" (though I don't think those fan nicknames have been used much since Muppet Wiki stopped using fan-created "the" names for characters with the same name as others and no name expansion).

Some of the jugband members have had multiple names depending on the source. I wonder if the book will refer to them by whatever names Muppet Wiki uses or if they'll use any of the other names (the original design sketch for the jugband labled Slim Wilson as "Jed", Lubbock Lou as "Slim", Lou as "Lady", and Bubba as "Willy", while Slim Wilson was also called "Jerry" on one album). Somebody at toughpigs was told that the book won't include behind-the-scenes facts about characters, so I guess it won't talk about, say, character names being changed. Of course that's assuming the jugband will be in the book.

It would be interesting to read new back stories or made-up (for the book) info on obscure characters. The official book description mentions that the book will mention character dislikes (and the mock-up pages prove it), and I'm sure many dislikes will be created for this book (I'm sure many of the dislikes listed on the packaging for the Palisades Toys was made-up, in fact I wonder if the Palisades profiles will be used for dislike reference).

Statler & Waldorf will likely share a page (Astoria will probably be a footnote on that page), Muppet food will probably get its own page and the Koozebanians will likely get their own page too (possibly with other aliens) and so on.

You know, before I saw the sample pages, I assumed that many characters would be footnotes (of course I also figured certain characters would be grouped into certain sections). I figured Andy and Randy (as well as Foo-Foo) would be footnotes in the Miss Piggy section, that Camilla would be a footnote in either the Gonzo or Chickens section, and so on. Of course of those characters, Andy and Randy are the only ones we know will get their own page.

 

[galagr]

Well, according to this most recent cover that I found on the wiki, the book will have at least 150 characters

 

[muppetlover123]

That's awesome

 

[minor muppetz]

You know, there's a few super-obscure characters who I wonder if they'll be in this book. Characters so rare that Muppet Wiki doesn't have any pages for them.

One such character is a pink female bird character who appeared in a promotional image for The Jim Henson Hour, but on the show itself she only appeared in footage on the monitors (sometimes with Lindbergh). Another character is a weird ball-like Muppet who pops up briefly in the goodnights for the Ruth Buzzi episode, yet it seems this character didn't appear anywhere else (I could never spot it in large crowd scenes like in The Muppet Movie, The Muppets Take Manhattan, or A Celebration of 30 Years). I suspect that character might have been in a deleted sketch from that episode, but I don't know for sure.

 

[Mr Sweetums]

I've got a fun game, how about we start guessing who the 150 Muppets are going to be? and can we do it in alphabetical order?

 

[MuppetsRule]

I've got a fun game, how about we start guessing who the 150 Muppets are going to be? and can we do it in alphabetical order?

Sounds good but I think it would be appropriate to start another thread for it in the games section. Would hate to clutter up this thread with a list of characters.

 

[minor muppetz]

I've got a fun game, how about we start guessing who the 150 Muppets are going to be? and can we do it in alphabetical order?

For the last few weeks, there have been times when I've tried listing 200 characters in alphabetical order. I never saved the list any of these times, it allows me to redo it over and over for fun. But for some reason when I do it I actually keep forgetting about a lot of characters I shouldn't until after getting past that part alphabetically, or after getting to the end of the alphabetical order and seeing who all I missed. I guess it comes from trying too hard or something.

Of course, there are matters like how many groups of characters will be featured separately or individually (I've done lists listing Lubbock Lou and His Jughuggers separately and as one), if any Muppet productions will be left out (at least when it comes to characters exclusive to one production, like a special or direct-to-video project). I don't know the official names of the Muppets Tonight Band or the Solid Foam Drummer, so obviously I don't know where they would go alphabetically (if they are included I hope the book uses whatever they were officially called and not just the fan-created titles at Muppet Wiki).

I also wonder if '80s Robot should be listed before the letter A or in the E section (The Muppet Mindset lists him first in the Weekly Muppet Wednesday index). And if characters who have "Dr." in their names will be listed under D or their actual first name (I'm thinking if they don't have a first name, like Dr. Teeth, they should be listed under D, but if they do, like Dr. Bunsen Honeydew or Dr. Julius Strangepork, it should be under the letter of their first name).

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Totally awesome! Can't wait to check it out! (Which I will probably literally do if it hopefully comes to my local library.)

 

[jvcarroll]

Totally awesome! Can't wait to check it out! (Which I will probably literally do if it hopefully comes to my local library.)

It's a $12 book. Why wouldn't you simply buy it?

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Well, first of all- I didn't realize it cost $12 when I posted that. Also, I just don't have money to spend on everything I might like- and I'm also a big fan of libraries so I'm happy to support the public library. Why pay money for something if I can read it for free? [in a legal fashion, of course.]