What Is Considered A Muppet?

[beaker]

With the exception of Bad Andy, I don't consider any of those to be Muppets.

Yeah I can see arguments against them being Muppets. Bad Andy is tricky, as he never really officially made it in the Muppet canon

I'd consider Sir Didymus a Muppet in an otherwise 'Creature' movie. I know that appearance isn't really a criteria, but that's just how I think of him.

Has he appeared in any Muppet stuff as a cameo? I know other creature shop characters have

Not forgetting TNMT - just would definately put them in Creature and not Muppet category.

What makes the question sticky is that there can be a difference between (a) what Henson Co has considered a Muppet or not (b) what is NOW called a Muppet and what legally doesn't carry the name post Disney sale and (c) what fans think of as Muppets despite a or b. Kind of like how people say they're drinking a Coke even if it's a soft drink by another company or using a Kleenex even if it's a different brand of tissue.

But first and foremost, there MUST be a genesis within Henson (or now SW and Muppet Studios) to be considered a Muppet - if it has a similar design and style (ie Great Space Coaster or Between the Lions) i can at best only consider them Muppet-like or Muppet inspired. But no Henson attachment, no Muppet designation.

It's not a perfect system and this is more just of how i *personally* think of the characters even just subconsciously as opposed to any kind of official guide (and of course there are exceptions in a lot of the Muppet families because not every single individual character has it like Cookie or Rowlf) but generally speaking if the family of characters has the traditional mouth with the heart shape tongue and often accompanying "tonsils", in my mind that places them firmly in the Muppet category.

Given the Henson "look" has pretty much become the standard
for puppetry(especially children's puppety) a lot of people can be forgiven for thinking this or that show is Muppet/Sesame related.

Im sure DrTooth can name all the PBS, Disney, Nick Jr and other
2000-2010 puppet shows that look just like Sesame or Henson Related projects but have no connection.

To me Yoda and the TMNT live action are of their own respective universe. However, creature shop/fantasy can sometimes dovetail over. Case in point, in the late 1980's and early 90's it was a running gag in Muppet productions to have a "meeting of the dogs". Basically a kind of secret meeting club, as shown in Muppets@WDW and Secrets of the Muppets, which featured a broad cross selection of both "Muppet" and creature shop dog characters. There's a lot of "muppets" that don't have any of the aforementioned physical characteristics(such as on Jim Henson Hour, some of the dog/cat characters, etc)

I have a soft spot for pre Muppet show Henson stuff, and love how Rowlf was one of the main characters next to Kermit for awhile. As well as the prominence of all those advertising characters.