Why Does Disney Hate Muppet Merch?

[beaker]

Yeah I just don't get it. Not a single Muppet item at any Disney mall store, not even for the holiday season unless there happened to be a leftover plush from 2011. Not a single Muppet thing in Disney stores now. Nothing Muppety wise shown at Toy Fair 2013 save for a few tiny cheap items you'd find at Spencers. People claim there's a "lot of Muppet stuff" in stores...maybe in the UK. But in America I really haven't seen anything except the plushes at Toys R Us(which I agree are amazing)

First it was "wait and see if the movie did well". It did. But nada in 2012. Are we going to have to wait to see if the Muppets 2 movie does well and then hope for holiday 2014 merch? Ive audibly heard parents and kids at Disney store ask where the Muppet merch was. Now maybe its all being hoarded for California Adventure, which I will be going to in May. But still...

What gives? Is there any explanation?

 

[Mister Muppet]

Yeah I just don't get it. Not a single Muppet item at any Disney mall store, not even for the holiday season unless there happened to be a leftover plush from 2011. Not a single Muppet thing in Disney stores now. Nothing Muppety wise shown at Toy Fair 2013 save for a few tiny cheap items you'd find at Spencers. People claim there's a "lot of Muppet stuff" in stores...maybe in the UK. But in America I really haven't seen anything except the plushes at Toys R Us(which I agree are amazing)

I don't get it either you think Disney would be releasing loads of merch as the Muppets are now more known with the public now after the new movie and you'd think they would releasing a lot of stuff but hardly anything . I was also hoping for more Muppety things to be shown but once agian only a few items and by the way trust me ther is no more Muppet merch in the UK as there is in the America

 

[galagr]

It's because they're too busy making Toy Story and Cars toys that only sell to 2-9 year old boys. Because, you know, it's not like they have any other franchises with movies coming out in the near future.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm not buying the fact the Cars stuff is selling. I consistently see their stuff on clearance. There is some Muppet stuff, but it's not that great (except for the Funko toys and the PVC set at Disney).

I don't see why they haven't expanded the plush line in Disney stores. They continuously sold out the past 2 years and they just restocked them last time I went. They have bean bag plush of characters no one gives a crap about that go directly to the clearance bin. We should have seen Muppet Bean bags by now at least.

 

[Mark Johns]

It's not a bad thing that they aren't saturating the market with crap. But I can tell you nearly every weekend I go out to a store I find a new muppet item. Be it key chains, plushes, Ty beanies, iPod cases, headphones and a lot more. I think you just need to look harder.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm on the fence about that. There is some pretty good stuff out there, but it's hard to find or seasonal. I really think things need to step up just a bit, but it could be far worse.

Problem is, we're never going to see a Palisades like toyline again, and the way the toy industry is going we'd get an unsatisfying series one of main characters and one fan favorite (all characters we've seen before), and then nothing else.

Something tells me we will have to wait until the next movie to see more stuff because that's the way movie merchandise goes. Hopefully by then, we'll see a bigger figurine set with more characters and more plush toys of characters they didn't make yet. But all and all, there is a lot to be desired. A Swedish Chef plush at Disney would sell out much faster than Scotty Dog from Lady and the Tramp or generic background giraffe from Lion King.

 

[mupcollector1]

I think Disney needs to revive somehow The Muppet action figures like Palisades quality, The Muppet Replicas, even something on the lines of the Fisher Price quality. I feel the Muppet merchandise from the 70s and 80s with the exception of the Palisades figures, Muppet replicas of course) were the best in quality. I love the old Muppet merchandise in terms of dolls and toy puppets when it was so good in quality, it looked very identical to the actual Muppets. Personally I'm very critical of merchandise.

For example, I prefer these personally in my opinion

And not these...

Okay perhaps there is murchandise currently that aren't as bad. I started to notice some decent Kermit dolls coming out


Still it's not the same in my opinion

 

[Drtooth]

I'm sorry but...

You know those Starbucks puppet things are like 3" right? You try sewing something that small and making it look good. Detail is lost on anything that small, and that's because at that scale, fabric doesn't bend and fold the right way. And that's where plush toys get their shape, bending and folding to give shape to basically a pillow.

Secondly...

Really? That's a hideous Fozzie. And plastic head Gonzo? I have always hated plastic head plush. You might as well buy complete PVC figures if you want plastic. I had a Super Mario you could hammer a nail into the wall with his nose. Those are... okay I guess... no where near as good as Fisher Price's first assortment and not as good as most Sababa toys.

The current Disney Store plush, minus Fozzie (can't see why they got him wrong, but I blame the eye and nose placement) are quite good. Animal is the first Animal that looks like Animal. Why his likeness is impossible to get down in a plush is beyond me. I've never seen a good Animal. And they use some quality plush fabric in those. I cannot gush enough about how perfect Pepe turned out. Not to mention how top notch their PVC set was. Disney has always had great PVC sets, albeit kinda messy on the paint in some cases. Their Chicken Little set was a work of art, and the Wreck it Ralph collections are certainly much better than the way overpriced Thinkway crap you can get at Target.

I get that people are critical and everything, but when you're so hyper critical, you miss out on stuff. I don't think there ever will be a Kermit as good as Fisher Price or Macy's, but as long as it doesn't look like the Steiff plush... and that thing goes for hundreds because of the mohair it's made out of.

 

[jvcarroll]

I don't know what the answer is. Many less toys are being made these days. It's all about apps. The fact that Disney has teased many Muppet apps that haven't made it to market is a little troubling.

Let's be honest. There are many products featuring Muppet clip art slapped onto them, but there aren't enough Muppet-specific products for my taste. Some of the products in stores now...

• T-Shirts
• Books for young readers
• Muppet Hot Wheelz
• Re-issued comics (for the mainstream that missed out on the Boom run)
• Plushes and Beans
• Shoes
• Costumes
• High-concept vinyl
• Wall-sized stickers
• DVD & Blu-Ray (Muppet Movie Blu-ray coming this year)
• Bedding
• PVC set
• Muppet Star Wars (in parks only, but that could change now)
• Various knickknacks

That ain't bad. It could be better.

 

[Drtooth]

My sentiments exactly. There's some stuff out there, there just needs to be more in specifics. We all would like to see DVD release of the TV shows and specials (though, as Disney hates to even release its own specials period, that's going to be a mean task), but nothing's coming out of that except the first movie on Blu.

I'd say we need some sort of toy line, but toys don't sell like they used to. I really think T-shirts and other clothing needs to be stepped up a bit. I haven't seen any new shirts in months.