Hollywood Studios Muppet Shop

[Alvin]

But anyway, I am having a hard time picturing this shop. Is it like an actual store or a kiosk? And if its an actual store, that is really surprising they would barely put anything in it.

It's a shop...in Disney's Hollywood Studios Florida (that's the one where I went anyway) might as well be a kiosk with the selection that they had cause it was far and few between....which struck me as strange with the movie and everything.

 

[KermieBaby47]

I hate it... but that's how most toys are sold... action figures and die cast cars for boys, dolls and stuffed toys for girls.

Still, Disney wants to gender segregate with Cars and Princesses and it works for them, while a lot of their other franchises (Mickey and Co, Pooh, various Pixar movies) have a shared appeal of both little girls and little boys.

It's annoying even more due to the fact that the majority of parents feed into this sort of marketing, encouraging toymakers to continue. I remember when I was in grade school in the mid-eighties, it was completely acceptable for girls AND boys to bring their Cabbage Patch Kids and Care Bears to school. Things like My Little Pony and Masters of the Universe were still pretty much separated by genders though, but I don't think we as children ever saw that as wrong; girls played with girls toys, and boys played with boys toys. Now, if you were a boy (& I can only speak from personal experience) playing with girls at their parents' or the babysitters' or family members' house, it was normal to play what the majority wanted to play, which was mostly 'house' or 'babies' or Ponies and Strawberry Shortcake, ha ha. I don't remember getting any guff about this as a boy, we were a lot more innocent those days.

My wife and I, along with many other parent friends we know, let our kids choose what they want to play with. I think that's really big nowadays, especially with all the bullying awareness & the like going on. It's funny, I've got a wide variety of friends, ranging from fellow geeks to jocks, with a fair amount of naturalists and snobs in the mix, but we all agree that society today: mainly the overreactors and bleeding hearts, are much too outspoken, and we're tired of the loud few making it as hard as possible to raise a child normally. Ugh, I'm so sick of the entitlement most kids these days think they deserve, barf.

Ah, hmm, where was I going with this, right! My Boy has always picked out the "boy toys", with no pressure from us either way. Sure, he loves his stuffed animals and Cabbage Patch dolls he's inherited, but wouldn't pick them out for himself. Some of this stuff is just in the blood I believe, and that's where toy companies got their ideas in the first place! Ha ha.

Oh, and my lost train of thought earlier was regarding the Threadless Muppet T-shirts, Disney Stores should be carrying the heck out of those... maybe then I could finally get Jamie's design for myself, since the site doesn't seem to ever want to make enough for everyone!

 

[Sgt Floyd]

Ah, hmm, where was I going with this, right! My Boy has always picked out the "boy toys", with no pressure from us either way. Sure, he loves his stuffed animals and Cabbage Patch dolls he's inherited, but wouldn't pick them out for himself. Some of this stuff is just in the blood I believe, and that's where toy companies got their ideas in the first place! Ha ha.

Well, picking stuff out for yourself is one thing, being TOLD what you HAVE to play with is another, the latter being what I was referring to

 

[Drtooth]

Things like My Little Pony and Masters of the Universe were still pretty much separated by genders though, but I don't think we as children ever saw that as wrong; girls played with girls toys, and boys played with boys toys. Now, if you were a boy (& I can only speak from personal experience) playing with girls at their parents' or the babysitters' or family members' house, it was normal to play what the majority wanted to play, which was mostly 'house' or 'babies' or Ponies and Strawberry Shortcake, ha ha. I don't remember getting any guff about this as a boy, we were a lot more innocent those days.

And to think, the latest series gave rise to Bronies.... that's the magic of Lauren Faust, one of the writers of Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends... Still haven't seen an episode, though. Seen clips... not a full episode. Kinda intrigued....

When I was really, REALLY little I did have girls toys. I feel ashamed of it, actually... not for having the girl toys, but for watching half that stuff. Though, I gotta admit, the bad guys in those shows (Beastly from Care Bears, that green little guy with a mustache on Rainbow Bright) were too hip for the room.

The thing that really honks me off is when :"boys toys" refuse to add any of the female characters into the line because they don't sell... tell that to April O'Neil. I was annoyed that the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command line didn't have a Mira Nova to help round out the crew. A cartoon on CN was cancelled because they didn't want to make a toy line of a show with a girl as the main character.

Still, I like how more and more things are gender NON-specific. Boys and Girls love Elmo, they love Spongebob... Toy Story, Mickey Mouse, Scooby-Doo.... And I do think the Muppets can share in that as well. That's one of the big reasons they need to try more Muppet merchandise. Less stuff to have to make, more of a group appeal.

 

[Muppet fan 123]

I can't believe I missed the Muppet cars in the backlot tour! I would have taken that ride if I would have known about it! I just found out now