When characters are shown with legs...

[minor muppetz]

I've been wondering, whenever a full-body shot of a Muppet is shown, do they usually build a version of the chracter with a whole body (legs, waiste, etc.), or do they just put legs onto the puppet (maybe by pinning or velcrowing the legs).

 

[dwmckim]

i'd venture to say a mixture of both methods based on whichever is easier (and how much future use they might get out of it)in the long run case-by-case. Characters like Kermit, Grover, Elmo and Gonzo are known to have their waist-up-only and with-legs counterparts whereas a lot of scenes with Ernie with legs seem like they've rigged the original hand puppet to include them.

 

[minor muppetz]

It would probably be easier to just attach a lower half to a character who wears pants, though I wonder how noticable it would be to do so. I have a feeling that when Gonzo has legs legs are "permaneantly" attached to the puppet used.

And I imagine for a character like Fozzie it would be too noticble to just attach legs to an existing puppet.