ToughPigs

Well, there you are! Welcome back! This is the second installment of Most Treasured Muppet Possession stories submitted by Tough Pigs readers. The first installment can be found here. Now, what the heck are we waiting for? Let's hear about more Kermit dolls and junk:

Marianne:
Unfortunately the Most Treasured Muppet Possessions I had in mind a little earlier are now outdated, since I just received MR Gonzo for my 16th birthday today (and he’s all adorable in his wittle purple tux, aww, etc.) So it’s a whopping three-way tie between that and the drawing I received from Elmo in Long Island:


And the 500 piece puzzle I glued to my wall (contains Lew Zealand, Angus McGonnacle, Sal, Bobo, Link Hogthrob, AND Clifford: what are the odds)



Mary Catherine:
My most treasured Muppet item would have to be my Fisher-Price Rowlf puppet. Last spring, my mom picked me up in Albany after exams were over, and we went on a road trip to the University of Maryland so I could see the Jim Henson exhibit they had set up, watch Muppet clips at their library, and of course, take a picture at the bench with Jim and Kermit.

On the way there, we stopped in Princeton, NJ to visit my aunt. Before we left her house, she announced that she wanted to pass on a family heirloom to me that she had been saving for almost thirty years. I opened up the bag she handed me...and inside was the Rowlf puppet. She said that it had been a Christmas gift from my dad (her brother) to her when she was in high school and, amazingly enough, a really big fan of The Muppet Show.

Not only is it a pretty cool Muppet item to have, but now I have proof that my dad, for all of his grumblings about my fandom, does not hate the Muppets. Which means that all is right with the world.

Emma H:
My favourite Muppet possession is probably my 1984 baby Miss Piggy doll. I had one when I was little and stupidly threw it away when I was a sulking, miserable teenager. My brother trawled eBay to buy me one for my 21st birthday. It had to be the 1984 version, though - all the others of baby Miss Piggy are hideous. Especially the 1987 version, ugh.

I'm also very fond of my copy of Miss Piggy's Guide to Life and It's Not Easy Being Green because they both contain, in their own ways, some excellent advice... The thing I miss the most from my childhood Muppet fandom, though, is my Muppet Babies wallpaper. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but I remember it being white and covered in Muppet Baby heads! My parents let me choose it when I was about four, and they were worried I'd give myself nightmares. Never.

The two Muppet things I'd like most in the world are the complete collection of Muppet Babies on DVD (a dream that I suspect will be unfulfilled forever) and a Miss Piggy purse I once saw on eBay - it was covered in sequins and was very glam. She would approve. But I've never been able to find it again. Gosh, this was a long post. Apologies!

Tim:
Number 1 is pretty easy, though I have to mention several runners-up. This Kermit was released the year I was born, and has always been one of my most treasured possessions. I have no idea how he's managed to stay in good nick.

I was also terribly fond of my Baby Rowlf, though (like the Baby Kermit I have) the costume change puzzled me somewhat. I also have Piggy and Fozzie. Muppet Babies arrived at exactly the right time for me to latch onto it properly so it remains one of my favourite Henson properties.

Much uglier but also holding special places in my heart were the Fisher Price Piggy and Fozzie beanbags. They're fairly horrendous but in the flesh they have a bizarre charisma. Judging from the picture on the wiki, I should be glad that they had to hang out with the larger Kermit instead of his beanbag counterpart.


Alex G:
My most treasured Muppet item is a Kermit wired stuffed animal I picked up in a small shop in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. I was just beginning my Muppet fandom, but Kermit accompanied me on The Ride Across Minnesota, raising money for Multiple Sclerosis.

He accompanied me not once, but twice as I completed the ride. I changed it up for two years, once with a Ernie rubber ducky and an Animal stuffed animal (hehe), but both years suffered problems... Because I didn't have Kermit. For these reasons it is my most cherished and beloved Muppet item, even topping my 1986 Sesame Street figures (some of my first loved toys), or my Palisades exclusive Adventure Kermit, which I draw enjoyment from every day.


Wes:
My Most Treasured Muppet Possession is my Pigs in Space metal lunchbox! When I was younger my grandparents managed a Mini-Storage place and they would pay me a few bucks to clean the abandoned units and if I found anything I got to keep it. Needless to say, I found a Pigs in Space lunchbox and kept it.

Several years later it went missing... I think someone stole it when everyone was in a metal lunchbox craze. Well, last year my brother got me one for Christmas, better than the old one, in mint condition and even has the thermos. My apartment's small so I proudly display it in the bathroom, so everyone can enjoy it when they come over.

Joe:
My MTMP is a Kermit the Frog beanbag doll. I've had it as long as I can remember and it's accompanied me to my first day of school, my first summer at sleep-away camp, college, apartments, and so forth. And it's still with me today. Somewhere along the line, the Frog went all pirate on me and lost his right eye. The eye has never turned up, and I've long since stopped searching. I still expect to find it in an old Cracker Jack box or something one of these days.

A few years back, a friend gave me the Fozzie Bear beanbag that completes half of the full set, which elates me to no end. So, while my one-eyed, droopy, lumpy, never-washed Kermit might not win any beauty pageants, he's a prom queen in my book, and I love him so.

Christer:
My Most Treasured Muppet Possession has to be, as with most people I suppose, my oldest. And that little treasure is the Norwegian version of the Fraggle Rock album, on tape. As a kid I *loved* the Fraggles! Actually I loved most puppetry, but the Fraggles were my absolute favorites, and I nagged and nagged until I got the tape, and then I played it and played it until my parents nearly lost their minds.

Somewhere along the way I managed to lose the cover (how could I lose that cover, and not lose the covers of any other tapes I had at that age!), and the tape is obviously pretty worn now, but listening to that soundtrack just puts me right back to when I was five years old and Fraggle Rock was the most exciting, scary and exhilarating place on earth. I never believed in Santa, I never believed in Jesus, or The Tooth Fairy, but I *believed* in the Fraggles! Just look at Travelling Matt - they were out walking around us!

Some few years later, a little older but still a huge Fraggle fan, I experienced the biggest high and the biggest low, Henson-wise, in my life. I read in my local paper that Mr. Fraggle himself, Jim Henson, was working on a project filming a book by Roald Dahl, one of my all-time favorite authors, and certainly my favorite at the time. This project, of course, was The Witches, a book which I had recently read and loved. The best part was; they were going to be filming in my hometown! Norway in the book was going to be represented by Bergen, and they would be filming right where I lived, in the yawn of a city where nothing ever happened! I was extatic!

Sadly, the joy did not last. Before the movie reached Norwegian theatres, both Jim Henson and Roald Dahl had died, only a few months apart. My euphoria had turned to absolute devastation, and I had to do some pretty quick growing up. Many years would pass without me thinking of The Fraggles as anything other than a show I loved as a kid.

This all changed when, five years ago, I happened to stumble upon my old tape. I put it on, and the memories all came instantly flooding back. After singing along to all the lyrics I still knew by heart, when I reached the end, I heard the instrumental version of All Around The World, a track that featured on most of the European releases. As a kid I always used to skip that track (I couldn't sing along to it!), but when hearing it again as an adult, it was just about the best darned piece of music I had ever laid ears on!

Today I own pretty much every Fraggle music release (as well as a fair bit of other paraphernalia, of course), and have about 10 copies of the 7" single of All Around The World, including mint, sealed and picture disc releases. People tend to describe me as a true Fraggle nut, walking around the office donning my "I Appreciate The Muppets On A Much Deeper Level Than You" T-shirt. Your post is filed with the tag fanaticism, and my Most Treasured Muppet Possession is the single piece of merchandise that truly launched the avalanche that took me from Fraggle fan to Henson fanatic - for the second
time in my life.

I hope I can still get a tape player when I'm 60. Or 80.

Scott E:
This one's easy, because my most treasured Muppet possession is my most treasured possession, period. Several years ago, a group of my friends decided to get me a Christmas present…why… I don’t know. Anyway, one of them is very big into books and frequents a lot of used book sites on the net. On one of these sites, he stumbled upon a copy of Of Muppets and Men. He knew I would love it, so he checked it out only to find that it was an autographed copy.

The woman who was selling it bought it in a huge estate sale and was selling off all the pieces that didn’t interest her. The inscription in the book reads “Christmas 1981. To Buddy with our love, Kermit the Frog, Jim, Dave, and all the gang”. My friend contacted the Henson archive to see if it was authentic and who Buddy was. They responded that it was authentic and that the book had been given as gifts to everyone who had appeared on the Muppet show that year, so Buddy was, in fact, Buddy Rich.

They also asked who my favorite Muppets and sent picture of the main Muppets, autographed by Animal and Pepe with their response. So…as a huge Muppet fan, who happens to be a drummer, and whose favorite Muppet is Animal, this book is by far my most treasured possession. It spends its days on prominent display in my great room.

It's Ryan again.  I know this wasn't a contest, but we can all pretty much
agree that Scott won, right?  I mean, I'd love to own any copy of Of Muppets 
and Men.  It doesn't even have to be previously owned by an awesome guest
star like Buddy Rich... I'd settle for one of the lesser ones, like Shields... or
Yarnell.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the great submissions. And take care of your
Muppet stuff!

Click here to comment on this article on the Tough Pigs forum!

Labels: fanaticism, merchandise, reader participation

Muppet fans love their Muppet stuff.

Beth:

My treasured Muppet possession would have to be the Palisades Muppet theatre backstage playset. I mean, how cool is it? It's a perfect small Muppet show set that I can transport back and forth between college and home. And all the Palisades action figures that go with it of course, especially Sweetums.

Amy:
My Fisher Price Sesame Street Little People playset.

I got it for Christmas when I was four or five years old. I remember being upset that David and Maria weren't included amongst the Little People, but being very happy to have Mr. Hooper and Susan. (Guess I didn't give a rat's ass about Gordon!)

Big Bird, Oscar, Ernie and Bert were cool to have, too, but Mr. Hooper and Susan really made me happy. Mr. Hooper reminded me of my grandfather, and Susan was my favorite female role model at the time. She was a nurse, she drove a VW Bug, she wasn't afraid to talk back to Oscar -- how cool was that?!

Possibly the thing that fascinated me the most about the playset was looking into Bert and Ernie's apartment and counting the bottlecaps on the wall. They had the most interesting domicile of the apartments. My brother and I also had the Fisher Price Castle. We used to have the Sesame Street people look around in the Castle for the Count. We also pretended that Snuffy lived in the dragon's dungeon in the FP Castle. Kind of dumb, but we had an awful lot of fun with that fantasy. I still have Susan and Big Bird someplace. I miss Mr. Hooper.


Jenny:
A plastic Snuffy wearing a scarf and beret. It was a toy at my grandma's until one day I never saw it again. Then, years and years later in high school, my theology teacher had the exact same toy on his desk, and I had a huge SIRE* moment. I tell him the story and he freaking GIVES it to me. Snuffy now resides on my Ledge O' Crap. (despite the name, it is where the most esteemed plushies and figurines live)

*[Editor's note: SIRE, for those not in the know, is a Tough Pigs-coined acronym for Sudden Instant Recall Effect]

Martha:
My oldest, most-loved Muppet posession has to be my Grover puppet, circa 1974. I absolutely love him. I remember taking him to kindergarten - when he was much prettier than he is now - for show and tell. I have a picture with me, age 4, with my brand-new Grover puppet, which arrived at about the same time as my brand-new baby brother. Guess which one I was more excited about...

It's not really a posession, but I'm also awfully proud of the INEBG* Bathroom, which has a brand-new Kermit display shelf.
*It's Not Easy Being Green

Melissa:
I have several, I don't have the Fisher Price puppet but I got the doll, I'd say out of TOYS, it would be that, my Rowlf puppet and my Fisher Price Ernie doll that looks like he was hiding out where they found Saddam Hussein. But I can't part with any of them.

As far as NON toys, my genuine Big Bird feather that they gave me as a Henson intern, my Muppet Treasure Island crew hat that Steve Whitmire gave me when I visited the set, and all my autographs and photos with Henson folks.

Peter:
My favorite... was probably a 3D stacking Big Bird puzzle. I can't find a picture of it anywhere on the Internet, though. My brother once mischievously hid the various pieces throughout the house and I don't know how long it was before I found the last piece in the cream cheese. I had once actually decided to give it to Danny or Scott for Christmas, but then I couldn't find it. And then I decided that even if I ever found it, I was too selfish to let it go.

Cathy:
My very favoritest Muppet thing is actually two things. When I was a wee little tot, my parents got me a Miss Piggy trinket box. It was a knockoff of a Sigma piece and it was obviously handmade, but you could tell it was made out of love.

Anyway, my parents spotted this thing at a garage sale and the person selling it said that his daughter had made it, but had "outgrown" her Muppet phase, so they sold it to my parents for a dime. I loved this little box so much. It always made me happy when I looked at it because it reminded me of how much my parents loved me and supported me and my love of Muppets.

Anyway, a few years ago when I got married, Danny (who didn't know about my knockoff Piggy box) gave me the real Sigma Piggy box as a wedding gift. And it was such a great gift, because I could tell it was really thoughtful and given from the heart. And now both boxes are displayed proudly on my shelf, and while one reminds me of the awesomeness of my parents, the other now reminds me of all the awesome people I've met through the years here. All because of a shared love of the Muppets. Who knew?


Yancey:
Well... I would have to say my Miss Piggy Fisher Price dress up doll. My younger brother gave her to me for Christmas (probably in 1982?). I sewed her a number of spectacular outfits. She is one of my Muppet things I've owned the longest. I'm also very fond of my Piggy Enesco Marie Antoinette and Cleopigtra dolls. They're just so awesome. I got those off of Ebay about 6 or 7 years ago.

Anthony:
As for my own most treasured Muppet possession . . . I've never been much of a collector of things that you can't watch, read or listen to, so it's not a toy or anything.

Actually, I've gotta say the first Fraggle Rock LP. The kindergarten teacher in my hometown found it in her classroom and gave it to me when I was about a freshman in high school. I had only seen a few episodes of the show at the time, and I used to spend hours lying on my bed listening to that record over and over and over.

Even now, when I've seen all of the first 72 episodes of the show and several of the last year, those are the Fraggle Rock songs that always come to mind - Follow Me, Wemblin' Fool, The Friendship Song, Muck and Goo, Do It On My Own, Doozer Knitting Song, Easy is the Only Way to Go, and The Beetle Song especially.


Kyle:
My most favorite Muppet possession would have to be a several because I can't just think of one. The first one would be my plush 80's Big Bird. My mom said I carried that sucker everywhere. It was mine and nobody could touch it unless it was my mom or my sister.

But my then for some reason my dad told my mom that he had to throw it away because i had ripped its head off, but my mom thinks he threw him away because I was getting too old for it. I've been looking for him everywhere but can't find him. Hope I find it on ebay one of these days.

The second one would have to be the Oscar the Grouch in a can where you blow into the hose and his head pops out of his trash can. Not mine but my cousins', and I played with it all the time.

Third one was a Fraggle Rock drum set, but then I busted out pretty much all the drums and that was it for that set of Fraggles. I feel really sorry that i destroyed lots of my toys as a kid so now if I find something I had as a kid I save it and keep it from bad little hands.

Fourth one would be still not be mine but still I played with it. It was the Kermit the Frog puppet just like the one on the front page. It was my cousins but a different one from the first one.

Fifth one would have to be a Baby Kermit that sat inside of a wheel that looked like a Ferris wheel and spun around. Don't know why I liked it but it I did.

Sixth one would be a Oscar the Grouch puppet that came out in the late 80's or early 90's. He's still in his can but you could move the mouth. It was one of the Fisher Price ones. I now have a Cookie Monster one too that I found at Goodwill. That about does it but that's pretty much my Muppet Treasured stuff I have.

Quinn:
This is impossible for me to narrow down. The Palisades action figures, taken altogether, are probably my favorite Muppet possession, but not necessarily the most "treasured." I love every single one of them, and there are some highlights like Adventure Kermit and the Jim Henson figure that stand out above the rest.

While they were all made with attention to detail and more care than most Muppet toys we had seen up until that point, there was something special about some of the figures. Purple Tux Gonzo is still my favorite version of one of my favorite Muppets, and even seeing the Master Replicas Gonzo--the eight dollar piece of plastic is a better likeness, and more fun, than the version I'd have to pay hundreds of dollars for. And because of that, I appreciate Palisades' work on the Muppets line.

As for the most treasured...this is probably a cop-out, because it's not technically a Muppet possession. My Rubber Duckie. Even though he's not a licensed Muppet(TM) product, I only have him because Ernie has a Rubber Duckie. My brother gave me Rubber Duckie for my 17th Birthday, which was 17 years ago. And even though now I'm on Rubber Duckie II, I still have that same unnatural attachment to, and affection for, my Rubber Duckie.

He goes on every trip with me, and Miles and Carter consider him almost as much a part of the family as they are. They know when it comes down to it, he's been in the family longer than they have, and if I have to make a choice, it'll get dicey. I have more expensive Muppet toys, I have rarer Muppet toys, I have a piece of Gonzo's fur on my fridge from Muppets in Space--but it's Rubber Duckie that I love. I feel a song coming on.


Great stuff, eh? And I'm only a little bit envious at all the cool merchandise other people have that I never had. Click here to jump to Friday for more sappy nostalgia!

Click here to comment on this article on the Tough Pigs forum!

Labels: fanaticism, merchandise, reader participation

Hey, Muppet fans! Picture this scenario:

Late one night, you're enjoying a pleasant dream about dancing rats when you're suddenly awakened by a bunch of aliens. Using their powers of telepathy, they explain to you that they’re working on a comprehensive project to study Earth (last week they were studying entomology; next week is toupees), and they’ve just now gotten around to analyzing Muppets. They're going to take all your Muppet merchandise back to their home planet and you will never get it back, but they're going to allow you to keep one item.

So what will it be? Your vinyl LP of the Muppet Movie soundtrack that was the first album you ever owned? The Swedish Chef plush you got on your family's trip to Disney World? Or maybe a McDonald's Happy Meal toy of Mokey Fraggle driving an eggplant? Or a doll of Miss Piggy driving a carrot, a toy that actually exists but is sadly not on Muppet Wiki?

As Muppet devotees, we own a lot of stuff, and there are happy thoughts and memories associated with all of it. But I suspect I'm not alone in having one Most Treasured Muppet Possession. Mine is that guy in the picture up there: a 1978 Fisher Price "Muppet Puppet" Kermit.

For one thing, he's one of my oldest Muppet possessions. When I was just a tadpole of a thing, my parents went on a trip to New York City (leaving me in Grandma's capable care), and they brought me back this puppet as a souvenir. My parents provided me with a lot of Muppet toys in my early years, thus ensuring that I would grow up to be a total geek and spend the rest of my life wasting heaps of money on my Muppet collection. Thanks, Mom & Dad!

This puppet has been with me my whole life, just like my Muppet fanhood. It's moved from place to place (currently residing in my apartment in… New York City, which seems poetic somehow), and it's appeared in various school projects and home videos. When those trademark squinty eyes began to rub off, I filled them in with a black Sharpie, a fact that becomes painfully obvious on close inspection. (I can only hope that somebody, someday, cares enough to fill in my eyes with a Sharpie when I get old.)

What's your Most Treasured Muppet Possession? I want to know. Where'd you get it? How long have you had it? What's so special about it, anyway? You can tell me by sending an e-mail to ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com, or just drop by the Tough Pigs forum and talk it about there. If you have a photo of it, that's great, but by no means necessary.

Then I'll post the best stories right here on ToughPigs.com. I'm not going to put a deadline on it or anything... Let's just say I'll give it a few weeks. And if you don't have a Most Treasured Muppet Possession, why not go out and get one? I bet you could find an old, used Baby Gonzo toothbrush on eBay for pretty cheap.

Click here to talk about your Most Treasured Muppet Possession on the Tough Pigs forum!

Labels: fanaticism, merchandise, reader participation

This past Sunday, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the New York Toy Fair, where all of the toy companies come out to show their wares. ToughPigs' own Martha and Andrea were with me as we used our finely-tuned Sixth Sense to spot anything with a Sesame or Muppet logo. And that Sixth Sense was invaluable, as there were hundreds upon hundreds of booths. We were lucky enough to see some great toys that are coming out in the next year, and what kind of friend would I be if I didn't share the news? A pretty crummy friend, that's what. Well, crummy ain't in my profile, so here's some fun things to whet your whistle.

Master Replicas/Corgi

It's times like these that I wish I had a business card with the ToughPigs logo. Because dropping the "I write for a Muppet fan website" shout-out is apparently good enough to get us inside Corgi's closed doors, but not good enough to take pictures or ask detailed questions. Thankfully someone out there was able to grab photos, so you can see what I'm talking about.

The Kermit, Animal, Gonzo, and Fozzie Master Replicas photo puppets were on display. It was the first time I'd seen the Animal, Gonzo and Fozzie ones up close. There's a lot of good to be said for Animal, though I'm still convinced that his facial hair is all wrong. But the ostridge feathers are very pretty, and they flow like he's alive when there's a breeze. Gonzo looks great, with the exception of his nose, which is not-so-arguably the most important feature to get right. I understand the problems that arise when using foam, but I would have much preferred if they caved in and built a nose out of hard plastic. Fozzie, as TP's own Martha put it, makes up for all of the ugly Fozzie merchandise we've ever had. He's beautiful and perfect. I can't think of anything bad to say about him. He's a little shorter than I pictured him, but it fits with the sizes of the other photo puppets. I can only hope that he's affordable, as I pretty much need to own one.


The other Muppet product in Corgi's hidden room was five small Electric Mayhem figurines. They were very pretty, but the design was just flawed enough to make a shopper second-guess. The person I spoke to didn't have any details, but she said that the figures will be sold on the higher-end. Meaning that if they aren't perfect, and they're a little more expensive, they'll probably sell approximately 3 of them. And they'll all be Animal, because everyone loves Animal. Eat drums.



Gund

The Gund showroom was also closed to the public, so we decided to be sneaky and see how much we could see before someone noticed us. Most of the toys were nothing new. Dolls and puppets and some Abby Cadabby stuff. What caught my eye was a beautiful Count von Count doll. He really looked just like the puppet, and I'll shell out some dough for it. Another new (to me, at least) item I saw was Twiddlebug finger puppets. It's an idea so natural, I'm upset with myself for not thinking of it first. At that point, someone realized that we weren't important and we were shown the door. Well, the joke's on you, Gund, because I'm promoting your products anyway! Ha HA!

MINDstyle/Dark Horse

MINDstyle and Dark Horse had two booths across from each other, so forgive me if I didn't bother to tell them apart. They had all of the City Critters out on display, which are very nice. Not quite as Muppety as I'd like, but they're fun little toys. There were three Dark Crystal statues on display, including a pretty statue of Jen and Kira with the Crystal Shard. But the highlights were the Fraggle Rock toys.


First off, there is an 8" Doozer. And he's beautiful. Though Doozers are so simple, I'd imagine they'd be hard to mess up (I'm sure that won't stop the toy companies from trying). They had just received the Doozer that morning, so they didn't have any details yet, but they said he will probably be on a slightly higher-end than an action figure. I'll do some research to try and find out more about it.


The other Fraggle surprise was the upcoming Fraggle Rock blind-boxed figures. They're maybe about 2 1/2" tall, slightly stylized, and very very pretty. Characters include: Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, Boober, Red, Traveling Matt, two Doozers on a Doozer construction, the Trash Heap's head, Pa Gorg's head, Sprocket's head (with bowl), and two generic Fraggles. I'm a little surprised that they included the two generic Fraggles above Junior or Ma Gorg, Cantus, Convincing John, or even some sort of variant (Boober dressed as the Old Gypsy Lady?). The other strange part is that each character is placed on top of an alphabet block. I'd think that these would be marketed toward an older crowd, so the "educational" value might be better left off. Plus, I have no idea what learning letters has to do with Fraggle Rock. But other than that, these figures are terrific, and I can't wait to own them. I'm not excited about the blind-boxes, but a Muppet fan's gotta do what a Muppet fan's gotta do. And that's spend a lot of money.

Toy Vault

The good people at Toy Vault were nice enough to let me take pictures, so I'll let them speak for themselves. And in case my photo skillz aren't good enough for you, here you'll see a pillow with the Dark Crystal logo, a plush Fizzgig (with giant, scary opening mouth), plush of Rygel from Farscape, Labyrinth Door Knocker plush (I can only assume the other one will be produced as well), and a Talking Ludo plush (unfortunately, the demo didn't have the voice chip yet, but he's adorable anyway).



Deal Makers

This is a Dutch company that makes Sesamstraat wooden toys like scooters, toy trains, toy cars, and the like. Their American counterpart will soon be selling these toys (with the Sesame Street logo, I'd wager), and I happen to think they're cutie patootie. I especially like the cars, which wobble as they roll. They've got a vintage look to them, and I'm a sucker for toys that don't even try to be "realistic". Just a wooden ball with Ernie's face painted on it, that's all I need. Also pictured are some Sesamstraat bicycle bells. Not yo-yo's, as I originally assumed.




Putumayo Kids

The last booth we visited was Putumayo Kids, which specializes in international CDs and DVDs. They had a video playing of their new release, called "Sesame Street Playground," which is a compilation of songs and skits from all of the different Sesame Street productions from around the world (subtitled for the mono-lingualled like myself). The video looked like a lot of fun, and it's always interesting to see Elmo trouncing about in some foreign nation. The DVD will come packaged with a CD, so get ready for some new-to-us material from Sesame Workshop! The art in the image is the final album art without the text added yet.


Unfortunately, we were not able to get access to the Fisher Price room where they were unveiling the new Elmo Live doll. But you can see some video of the unbelievable living Elmo here.

So, I hope you enjoyed this quick review of Toy Fair, and I hope you feel like you were there too. If you do, you owe me $8 for the cab. C'mon man, we said we were splitting it! Don't be that guy.

Click here to get all excited over toys that won't hit the shelves for another 8 months on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: DVD, Fraggle Rock, Master Replicas, merchandise, review, Sesame Street

Quite often, I find myself sitting at my desk, looking slightly to the right so I can't see my wall calendar (which features pictures of people ironing in dangerous locations), and slightly below the vantage point of my computer monitor, and I can't help but wonder what day it is. Here is where I take note of my options. I can either stick my head out the window and sing "O Solo Mio" until someone shouts "Are you crazy?? It's 2:30 in the morning on Tuesday, December 9th!" or I can consult my brand new Day-At-A-Time Muppet calendar!

That's right, for the Muppet fan who can't stand to see the same picture for more than 24 hours, you can now head out to your local Amazon.com retailer and purchase a year's worth of calendar.

Right there on the front of the box, the calendar is advertised as having "Full Color on Every Page". And thankfully, they aren't guilty of false advertising here. If they were, I'd sue their pants off. Though that'd be pretty easy since many of the Muppets are already sans pants.

Aside from the colors, the pictures themselves are pretty impressive. At first glance, it just looks like a bunch of poser shots we've seen 100 times before. But at second and third glance, I didn't see many repeated images, plus a significant amount that I'd never seen before. Flipping through right now, I see Piggy on a carousel, Kermit as Galileo, and a picture that looks like the Swedish Chef is smoking a joint. Wait, forget I was ever amazed by that last one.

A word of caution from ToughPigs forum member and all-around nice guy Jimmy: "It seems like the variation of the pictures is pretty good, but towards the end they repeat images, sometimes for several days in a row. August 26-September 7 show "A spotlight on Statler and Waldorf," and the images consist of just two poser pics, alternated for all the days. On November 3-7, there is a list of all Muppet show guest stars, and while the accompanying picture is one I have never seen, it is repeated for all of those days. Despite this, the overall variety is pretty good and the calendar does have quite a few pictures I had never seen before. " Thanks, Jimmy!

The calendar also claims to have "Everything You Ever Wanted To Know, But Didn't Know Who to Ask." First of all, for those of you who actually don't know where to go for Muppet trivia, may I direct you to the Muppet Wiki? No? Ok, moving right along...

A secret squirrel has informed me that long-time Muppet writer Jim Lewis was tagged to help write up the trivia for the calendar. Although Jim (whoever wrote the text) probably could have entered some Morsel-worthy trivia into the calendar, we're left with trivia bits like Who-is-Scooter? and "Say, who were the celebrity guests in season 2 of The Muppet Show?" All easily attainable information for anyone with Google at their fingertips.

And speaking of trivia, we should only hope that the trivia in the calendar is all correct. While scanning a few random pages for this article, I found one that asks "Which of these Muppets was created first?", in which the upside-down answer claims that Rowlf debuted before Kermit. According to the Muppet Wiki, Kermit was built a full seven years before Rowlf. A minor quibble, but another example of how the Muppet Wiki is better than just about everything else in the world.

After having the calendar for almost two weeks now, I've gotten over my high expectations for brilliant Muppet trivia and focused more on having a great Muppet picture every single day, and I'm loving it. I look forward to the end of the day when I can tear off that picture of Sam the Eagle and find a new image of Clifford. It's what they should have been giving us every year for the last 10 years. Daily Muppets.

Highly recommended, for people who like days.

Click here once a day to discuss this article on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: merchandise, review

After the not-so-surprising success of Tickle-Me-Elmo's younger brother, TMX Elmo, last Christmas, Sesame Workshop is following up with two new TMX characters. TMX Ernie and TMX Cookie Monster will be available in your grocer's freezer this fall at the not-so-pricey price of $40 each. They're a little bit smaller than your run-of-the-mill TMX Elmo, but $10 cheaper than the red giggler was last year.

Click here to see videos of TMX Ernie and Cookie in action. Ernie's laugh isn't quite what I expected, but I'd imagine it'd be tough to keep his signature guffaw going for two full minutes. The Cookie Monster, however, is a gem. He's hilarious, what with his "Me have to roll over this way" and "Me have to roll over that way". I'd buy him faster than Cookie can go through a white chocolate macadamia nut macaroon.
Click here to ROFL over this article on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: merchandise, Sesame Street

If you're a huge [insert obscure comic book name here] fan like me, then you're probably following all the exciting news coming from the San Diego Comic Con. There's inter-company crossovers, fanboys and girls, and writers being treated like celebrities. Of course, nobody is coming to a Muppet fan website for news from Comic Con. That's what Newsarama is for.

Thankfully, for the comic book intolerant of you, there are lots of companies presenting their wares at Comic Con, just like in the opening number of episode 511 of The Muppet Show. Except there are no pies. And no pie salesmen.

This year, we were lucky enough for Master Replicas to be presenting their Muppet line of photo puppets. Kermit was there, which was released last year. But you know all about him already. You probably have him posed in some kind of lewd position over your bedpost. Yeah, I've seen the pictures.
First up is the Animal photo puppet. A picture of him was released a while back, but you can tell there has been some minor adjustments to his design to make him a little more feral and a little less... um, pointy. His hair is still a little all-over-the-place, but you can tell that he's got potential to be great once he's officially released. Unfortunately, because of the wild hair, his head is almost completely hidden. Hopefully once we can see him in real life, his design will make a bit more sense. Most ideal photo pose: slightly hunched over, eyes closed, panting, and ready to attack.
Next we've got the Gonzo photo puppet. A very rough design of his head was released to us a bit ago, but the additions look a little awkward. The photo makes it look like the last scene in Big when Tom Hanks starts to turn into a boy again, but he's still wearing the grown-up clothes. And speaking of clothes, the last time I checked, Gonzo's tux was purple. Though I wouldn't put it past him to wear bright pink as an artistic statement (possibly while eating a hi-fi system to the tune of "Baby Got Back"). Of course, the nose is far from the finished product. It's also the most important part of the puppet, since that's how most people will recognize him. Hopefully Master Replicas will find out how to make a good-looking schnozz out of a material that won't disintegrate after 6 months. Most ideal photo pose: belly dancing in a vat of butterscotch pudding.
Lastly we've got a Comic Con surprise. Fozzie Bear is the next photo puppet to be produced, and I couldn't be happier with their first stab at the comedian. Fozzie actually looks like he's in the middle of a joke that's bombing, but he doesn't yet know that the audience doesn't find him funny. He looks like he's actually alive, and for an early prototype, he looks better than Animal and Gonzo put together. Though the first thing you'd notice is that he's going to be a huge photo puppet. And while I love the idea that all of the Muppets will be to scale, I don't know any Muppet fans who will be able to afford the giant Fozzie. Well, maybe they'll shell out the money once he's wearing his hat. Most ideal photo pose: banana in one hand, rubber chicken in the other, trying to ignore the two old guys in the balcony.

Post-lastly, Master Replicas is reportedly working on a few more photo puppets that weren't quite ready for display yet. Rizzo is high on the list, as is Miss Piggy. Personally, I'd love to have the rat in my apartment, though that's mostly so he can kick out his mousey brothers. A Miss Piggy photo puppet would be spectacular, but she's reinvented her style more than Madonna, so who knows which version we'd end up with. There's also the possibility of accessory packs for each of the photo puppets, so feel free to let your imagination run wild.

So, start saving your dollars, because the Muppets are invading your house and they're aching to be posed, photographed, and left on the mantle to collect dust.

Click here to put this article in a provocative position on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: Master Replicas, merchandise

Wouldn't you like to spend every day of 2008 looking at pictures of Muppets? I know I would. Though you've got to have a little variety in your life. That's why there's brand new calendars coming out for 2008 featuring all things Muppety. Which is good, because I doubt my 2007 calendars will stand the test of time.

First up is your basic Muppet calendar, featuring everyone's favorite character poses. You've got your embarassed Fozzie, Animal wearing sunglasses, flathead Kermit, and "I dunno" Statler and Waldorf. While there's nothing new or original, it's still not a bad looking calendar. But for the Muppet fan, it just might not be enough.

There's also a Fraggle Rock calendar coming out. We haven't seen the art yet, but it's a good guess that it'll be more production promos from the show. Wouldn't it be nice to have some new Fraggle art? Ah well, beggars can't be choosers. Especially when Mokey actually makes it onto the cover this time.


Last up is the page-a-day calendar featuring the Muppets. To my knowledge, there's never been a page-a-day calendar with Muppets before. So, for the Muppet fan who just can't commit to one picture for 30 days, now you can have a fresh pictures, trivia, jokes and quotes every single day. Unless you're lazy like me, and then you can see the same day for about 2 weeks at a time. Meanwhile, your boss will wonder why you haven't shown up to work.


No word on Sesame Street calendars yet, but if history proves right, we're bound to get one or two for next year. The above three calendars are now available for preorder on Amazon.com.

Click here to count the days to 2008 on the ToughPigs forum.

Labels: merchandise

What do you do when you’re a Muppet fan with an extra $950 burning a hole in your proverbial pocket? Might I suggest spending it on some mediocre art?

While Disney continues to try and figure out just who is left to run things in the Muppets Holding Company, merchandise continues to trickle out. And I do mean trickle. Without a production to promote, Disney’s plan to keep the hopefully-temporarily-inert property alive in our hearts and wallets is to put out stuff that we can see on their website, yet can’t buy. The latest in this endeavor is a small series of limited-edition Giclée paintings. More on that strange word in a minute.

A total of six paintings are available on DisneyShopping.com. Sadly, when you do a search for “Muppet” on the site, you come up with only one of the pictures, a t-shirt, a watch, a small collection of CDs and DVDs, and a set of (again, overpriced) pins. If you take away the stuff you can purchase at the local Wal-Mart, the selection of what you can buy from the company that owns the Frog and his pals is bleaker than anything I’ve ever seen. So when I heard that you can buy paintings on their site, imagine my glee at the prospect of new stuff to throw my money at!

Let’s backtrack for a moment to a couple paragraphs ago when I introduced a new vocabulary word: Giclée. According to Wikipedia, Giclée (pronounced “zhee-CLAY”) is a process to reproduce fine art from a digital source using ink-jet printing. So, essentially, these pictures are prints made from the Hewlett Packard printer next to my desk.

The first four pictures are pop-art portraits of Kermit, Piggy, Gonzo and Animal. As you can see, there’s just a little bit too much detail in the images, which makes the pictures walk that line between photo-realistic and illustration a little bit too uncomfortably. If you want a photo, go with a photo; if you want to capture the essence of the character, go with something cartoonier. My first reactions were that Kermit looks old and tired, Gonzo should not be photographed from straight ahead, and Animal has no neck. I actually kinda like the Miss Piggy, though I’d sooner cut her picture out of a magazine and slap it in a frame (assuming she shows up in magazines any time soon). I might not want to put these over my headboard, but I would definitely consider buying them as pins or stickers. These babies are 14”X14” and go for $295 each.

Next up is a 20”X27” picture of the Electric Mayhem. My gut reaction was that it looked like a color-by-number watercolor. I have been told that it is a parody of the style of some psychedelic rock band posters from the 60s and 70s, so if that’s true, then props to Disney. Though as I’m trying to critique the painting, I find that I can’t stare at it too long or I start to freak out about either going blind or accidentally inhaling the fumes. The one big drawback to my appreciating this one is the terrible caricature of Animal who looks more like Rip Taylor than a Muppet. Though Rip Taylor does lend himself to Muppet-impersonation more than most. I must say, I’m curious as to what this picture looks like with a black light. And what it looks like while I’m stoned out of my gourd. You can make this one yours for a whopping $595.

Last but far from least is a recreation of the scene everyone mistakes for the opening scene of The Muppet Movie. Kermit’s in the swamp, strumming on the old banjo, southpaw-style. At a first glance, you can tell that Disney staff artist James Coleman has a lot of talent in painting scenery. The swamp, the trees, the sunset, the perspective, it’s all spot-on. Even his Kermit, when viewed as a thumbnail, looks like he’s actually singing a song as solemn as “Rainbow Connection,” looking up to the Georgia sky with hope in his eyes. And then you zoom in. This has got to be one of the worst images of Kermit I have ever seen. To Disney, I say shame on you for allowing this to even come close to the public. He looks like a cheap reproduction puppet made for a 5-minute parody on MadTV. When you only make 2 or 3 new products a year for the entire brand, you’d better be damn sure they’re picture perfect. Or else you end up with quite the opposite type of picture. This 20”X20” picture will put you in the poor house with a devastating pricetag of $925.

Add $25 for shipping and handling and please allow 2-4 weeks for delivery. Oh, and start saving for that $1,100 painting of Mr. Poodlepants coming out in May.

Labels: disney, merchandise

What is this ugly thing? It's furry like a Muppet. It's got big wacky eyes, ears, nose and teeth like a Muppet. It smells like a Muppet. Oh yeah, and it sounds like a Muppet.

Allow me to introduce you to the Monster Maniacs. The name doesn't lie, they're monsters and they're quite manic. They come from our good friends at Kmart who have successfully amalgamated the cuteness of a Muppet monster, the collectability of the Furbee, the pizzazz of a singing hamster, and the hair of a troll doll.

"But ToughPigs Joe," you ask, "Why are you doing a commercial for Kmart on a Muppet web site?" Well I'll tell you, ominous voice. These furry creatures sing "Mahna Mahna" (the song) and sound pretty durned close to Mahna Mahna (the character).

I had to press the little button on the toy's foot a couple dozen times until I could guarantee that it isn't Jim Henson's voice, stolen and encapsulated inside a fur-covered hunk of plastic. What I mean is, it sounds just like Jim. But it 'aint Jim. But it sounds like him.

He sings the song, he does a little dance, he lights up. This guy does everything except cook you breakfast.

Kmart has been cranking these bad boys out over the past year or two. They made them for Christmas, Halloween, Valentines Day, and maybe even Gorilla Suit Appreciation Day. My own Valentines Day Monster may be a little pink for my motif, but I do enjoy the fact that I can squeeze his tootsie and hear Manha Manha whenever I want. Or at least the next best thing.

My suggestion: go to YouTube.com and type in "Mahna Mahna," sift through the hundreds of people who thought they were the first to upload a video of the Muppet version, and you'll find a horde of videos of different styles of Monster Maniacs doing their very best Jim Henson imitation.

And if you find yourself at the local Kmart, you can pick one up for just $9.99. Or you can press the button on every single one on the shelf and run away.

Labels: merchandise

I really apologize for the above post title, but when you're writing about checks (you know, the things old ladies use at the grocery store to make people in line behind them furious?) you only have so many options for humor, none of them good. And as it happens, checks are what I'm writing about. So there you go.

Wow! So over the past year, a certain number of events have happened in Muppet news; who'da thunk it? And now there's actually a lot of little things to catch up on. Rather than post about this years Kermit and Elmo Christmas decorations, I'll put up something that was actually released fairly recently. Let those other contributors talk about the Lenox figurines, that's what you get for being a slacker.

So!... Checks. Yeah. Still, if you're going to get excited about checks, these are the ones that'll do it (unless you're a Star Trek fan or something). Checks In The Mail personalised checks (See? What'd I tell you about check jokes?) has released a new series of Muppet-themed checks. According to the website, using these checks can help you "add a new level of humor and zaniness to your check writing". Which is odd - I always thought the humor level of writing a check peaked at zero. But hey, if you're the kind of person that gets jazzed by what is essentially filling out a form, you go have yourself a blast.

I will say the images on these are pretty nice. You have the main five Muppets as well as a group shot, Statler & Waldorf, Bunsen & Beaker and the Swedish Chef, as well as some Piggy-Kermit lovin'. You can also get a Muppet leather checkbook cover, as well as order extra deposit tickets and check registers. Although the tickets and registers don't include Muppet imagery, making them significantly less zany, as you'd imagine.

But it seems kind of moot to me - who really uses checks now? Unless you're one of the aforementioned old ladies and you are, in fact, at a grocery store, couldn't you be a little less horrible and just use an ATM card? In which case you could get the much-more-useful Muppet address labels offered by CITM, which I have to admit I really kind of like, in an address-labely kind of way.

Minor Muppet news item out of the way: Check! I'm sorry.

Labels: merchandise

Welcome to the new Tough Pigs blog! On teh Int4rw3bz! Forsooth! One of the interesting things about this newly revamped TP (2.0!) is that there's more than one person writing it. While everyone's favorite crab Danny is still going to be around, he's gotten a bunch of great people (myself included) to help out.

Don't worry about the signature Tough Pigs humor and crabbiness being toned down, however - we're all funny and I know I, at least, am just as crabby. But for real, I hope to be a worthy contributor to the site, and that you like me. Really like me. That previous joke is a contractual obligation, by the way. The other contributors should be letting you get to know them soon with their own posts.

So enough of that, onto what you're really here for: Muppet stuff! It's a new year and a new ToughPigs, so let's kick off with one of the most exciting new pieces of merchandise since the Disney merger - the Master Replicas Kermit the Frog Photo Puppet!



This product had been talked about for almost a year, and was released in late 2006. It's essentially a replica (and a Master one at that) of a Kermit poser, ie. the kind of Kermit used in professional Muppet photo shoots with no puppeteer controls and an internal metal armature (but you knew that). The Master Replicas version includes a custom display stand and numbered plaque for added fancy-tude.

I've had the opportunity to see one of these up close, and it's the real deal. The fleece MR used for the outside of the replica is spot-on. Little details like the invisible Henson stitching are there, and with a bit of effort it's possible to tweak the eyes; a lot of the replicas shipped have the "flathead kermit" wonky eye focus preinstalled. But all told, great results for a first effort. I mean, it's Kermit! For really real Kermit, not a toy! Very much not a toy!

I say 'first' because on the (tentative) slate at Master Replicas for 2007 are several more Photo Puppets, namely Gonzo and Animal - and how exciting is that? Especially since the retail price for Kermit is a decent $199 (although some looking around on eBay can get you one for as little as $169) (didn't I say it's not a toy?). Given the current status of any official Muppet productions at Disney (not a lot) you could start your own authentic-looking Muppet performances at home while you wait. Except, don't put on any Muppet performances at home. Disney's legal department could be on you like that.

Images Courtesy of Master Replicas

Labels: Master Replicas, merchandise