Fun-4-All may produce Sesame Street Action Figures

[floydnjanicefan]

Are Telly, Snuffy, Herry, Guy Smiley, Two Headed Monster, Biff and Sully, the Count, and Honkers all part of Series 2 and 3 or are they just a list of things that are to come eventually and some others may come first? Personally, I hope that these figures are Series 2 and 3. They are all great characters...

Also, how frequently are new series going to be released? Every two months, every four months, etc?

 

[frogboy4]

These aren't bad at all, but they are the usual cartoon representations we are used to seeing. It is heresy to even mention these and Palisades in the same breath. I didn't see any layers etc and they have the usual swivel articulation. Palisades wouldn't sculpt Oscar inside his can and stick Slimy on it. They'd all be separate pieces. His brow would probably have articulation. It's just when someone says Palisades, I expect a lot.

These are cute. I'll buy a couple. Just not stoked about them. Fun, but not extraordinary. They just look like PVCs to me. I've seen this kind of stuff in stores before.

 

[King Prawn]

Well i've just seen the pics (thanks to Jamie) and they look good, not wanting to make anyone feel bad but i'm glad those aren't the final sculpt's.

Anyway i've just realised I know Sesame Street have a large appeal towards both parents and customers and truthfuly these have a better chance than selling than the Muppets, not saying they will, just that they're in the publics eye, they've been there for what now 35 years. So finding collectors for these figures won't be hard but was it really wise to realese so many main hitters on the first wave.

Maybe leave Cookie, Grover and Oscar for another wave and have found a pattern.

Series 1

Ernie -Old main character-
Bert -Old main character-
Elmo -New main character-
Sherlock Helmlock -Secondary character- (if you can call him that)
Crazy Harry -fan fave-

Series 2

Cookie Monster -Old Main character-
Count -Old Main Character-
Rosita -New Main character-
Betty Lou -Secondary character-
Guy Smiley -fan fave-

not that i'm complaining or anything, just thinking about the future.

 

[Aerosmith]

Crazy Harry is from the Muppet Show and Palisades already made him.

 

[matleo]

I too have seen the pics and quite frankly, I think there are some rumors that need to be disspelled here.

First of all, these are Sesame Street figures and like it or not you have to design them with the very real possibility that 4 and 5 years old kids WILL want them and parents will buy them for 4 and 5 year old kids. Even if the target audience is people like Warrick, Quinn, etc. there is going ot be that cross over. So I think people kind of need to keep that in mind when thinking about these figures.

now with that in mind, let's disspell with the "this will be the same level as Palisades" rumor right off the bat. That's not possible. Yes, the articulation would have to be 'dumbed down' a bit. No, you can't really do slimey as a whole seperate accessory cause there'd be a serious choking hazard. let's think of it this way. Compring the Muppet Show figures to the SS figures would be like comparing the Muppet Show to Sesame Street. Similarities? Sure, but a whole lotta difference. So I think both we and fun-4-all would do the line a great service by trying to avoid the obvious comparison of the two lines and just let it stand on it's own. Easy? no, but I think we should give it try.

Furthermore, let's remember that what we are reacting to are prototypes. it says clearly on it "not final figure". Anybody rememebr the first time we saw the pupil-less Dr. teeth? the toilet-head Animal? The entire Series 3? Johnny Fiamma before jamie did the turnarounds? So while I have some doubts abtu the curren pics I've seen, I'm also hopeful that the fun-4-all will amek the right decisions in improving these figures so that while they may not be "the same level as Palisades" they will certainly "have a quality that stands on it's own".

So bearing that in mind, let me say I like what I see right now. it's nice. but I think there's a lot of room for improvment. right now they have a lot of charm to them, but I don't think I would buy every single one. out of the 5 right now, the way they stand now, I'd buy Oscar and grover. they're not perfect reproductions of the figures but they're okay. However, if as the rep from fun4all says they will be the same price as Palisades, I don't think I could really justify the Oscar figure. He really is just a PVC at this point and I don;t see where they could add the articulation to that sculpt.

ok, so what's would get me on board with the others? mainly fixing bert. I think he's the one I have the biggest problem with. While I think it's cool to go all stylized and whatever, Bert seems a bit too overstylized. (warning: palisades related comparison about to happen) you know how we keep asking about a "disgruntled face kermit" fig from Palisades and ken keeps saying 'no'. bert is a perfect example of why this is a bad idea. I'd much rather see bert a little happier. Smiling. that face looks like an emoticon one finds on a computer screen >:-/ it just doesn;t work. the nose is also worng too. I thnk it's too round. bert's nose is ovular. That...that might be enough ti get me on board for both Bert and Ernie. ernie isn't bad. maybe they could strengthen his dimples abit more. maybe give him a bot more hair. and maybe fix the eyes a little, but he's pretty good. I definitly wouldn't buy ernie without Bert and I defninitely wouldn't buy that Bert. Ernie is a possibility for me if Bert were little better.

I tihnk my biggest problem with cookie right now is the aint job. It's a little too light. I think this is another scenario where Henson/CTW /whoever has PMS specs that have been handed down through the ages and are 100% WRONG!! it's like a pink-headed Animal or a Blue-nosed Gonzo, or a yellow haird Piggy. it just doesn't actually exist except in the minds of Henson's licensing division. I think he could be a bit darker. Also I think the eyes are bit too big.


As I said I liek Grover, but if I were going to change somethign on him, It would be the legs. Grover's legs aren't that big, but I can see where this is something that might have to be cheated in order to get the thing to stand up right. Again I have some small problems with the colorign but not enough to really bother me. I mean, it'll pass.

In conclusion, I wish this line success. I don't think I will be as manic abot his as I am for Palisades BUt I didn't thikn I would be as manic for Palisadesas I am for palisades so things can change. I am eager to see what the future holds for this line. Could be a lot of fun.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

--Matt

 

[frogboy4]

I too have seen the pics and quite frankly, I think there are some rumors that need to be disspelled here.

First of all, these are Sesame Street figures and like it or not you have to design them with the very real possibility that 4 and 5 years old kids WILL want them and parents will buy them for 4 and 5 year old kids.

So I think both we and fun-4-all would do the line a great service by trying to avoid the obvious comparison of the two lines and just let it stand on it's own. Easy? no, but I think we should give it try.

Furthermore, let's remember that what we are reacting to are prototypes.
Anyway, that's my two cents.

--Matt

I agree that these are prototypes and should be received as such, however none of the Palisades prototypes I have seen have been this static PVC-looking. We know in Ken's hands, Oscar would be a full-bodied figure and Cookie Monster would not have a treat sculpted in his hand. These appear to have been dumbed down for the 2-4 year old crowd. That's been the primary problem I've seen with this license. The truth is that these aren't that brave and different as stated.

The Palisades comparison really bothers me. I wouldn't bring it up, but it appears that Fun-4-all is touting these figures as being "Palisades quality" and it is a major mistake that could only cause dissention and unfavorable comparisons. Heck, people can even be rough on Palisades sometimes.

They should make a name in style and quality independently. To me, these figures are cute pieces, but don't have the level of painstaking research that goes into the Muppet line. Those guys revise and polish the figures up until the 11th hour. Many of them go through several revisions even after Henson has given their okay. That's the kind of dedication Palisades means to me.

Nonetheless, I hope these are improved and end up being the best they can be. I also hope they steer away from the cartoony look and proportions and shoot for puppet accuracy. That's what the fans want. Anything less they've seen before. I want to be wowed by these!

I will pick up Oscar no matter what. I want to pick up Ernie and Bert, but both just look like the usual stuff I've seen in stores. Cookie and Grover are equally as disappointing to me. I hope Big Bird, Count and Telly turn out great. I am interested in them.

 

[King Prawn]

Crazy Harry is from the Muppet Show and Palisades already made him.

That's what I get for writting at 5:00 a.m. (I was waiting to see pictures of these guys)

Anyway I meant Herry Monster

 

[Luke]

These appear to have been dumbed down for the 2-4 year old crowd. That's been the primary problem I've seen with this license. The truth is that these aren't that brave and different as stated.

I have mixed feelings on all this. I agree with you that comparing these with the Palisades stuff is like comparing chalk with cheese, but then again with the Sesame license I don’t think it would have been a good idea if they had been done the ‘Palisades Way’. The Muppets figures are much more specialist collector orientated - mainly because the Muppets are more a nostalgic thing nowadays and the kids are the secondary market. With Sesame, the brand is much more current and still very popular with kids - they WILL want these, there is no question about it so I think Fun-4-All have taken the right approach in this case. It would be a mistake to do them in Palisades detail, with all the articulation and tiny pieces which would be popular with the adult collectors but ultimately lead to safety problems with very tiny kids. I think dumbing down to an extent is the right thing to do, with these it seems the adult collectors are not the primary target so it’s cool for them to just reach a good compromise (ie:- some articulation, some obscure characters thrown in at some point) to get the nostalgic adults into the line too as an extra consumer base. Obviously people here are so used to Palisades now that it’s going to be hard not to compare, and some people will be dissapointed - especially when the toy company itself makes the comparison early on. As long as people ‘get’ that Sesame figures are different to Muppet figures in exactly the same way the shows are different and targetted it should work out.

 

[frogboy4]

My point was that if you read the first post in this thread *they* are the ones that made the comparison - likening their figures to Palisades. I agree with a lot of what you've said. Think I stated all of that in my previous post.

I've been skeptical about Palisades getting the SS license because of the kiddie market factor. However, if these will be at an $8.99+ SRP as mentioned, most parents of tots will pass. The real main market for these is over five anyway. Why would a parent pay so much for a slightly articulated figure when there are plenty of SS PVCs available at a cheaper price with this same cartoon look? It's really a sticky situation either way you look at it, but people of all sorts will buy anything Sesame.

 

[matleo]

Yeah I totally agree. I don't think it would have been wise to do these the Palisades way. I think even if Palisades had done it, they would have lowered their 'quality level' to a certain extent. Like I said, I don't think you'd see as many small accessories that could be easily lost or swallowed and I don't think you'd se as much articulation. Don't ask me ot explain my fellings on the articulaion thig. it's justa gut felling. I think the articulation would be kept a bit simpler (more like Fozzie for charactars w/o clothes. More like Scooter for characters with clothes) Anyway, I think it's good to branch away form Palisades a bit where this line us concerned.

but this is where what jamie says is true. If you're going to branch away form that, be honest about it. be up front about. Stand up and say, " we can't be the Palisades guys for obvious reasons" but we hope you'll accept us just as much" I don't think it's a good idea for a company to come in here and start touting how great their product will be. it's not good for the company (you're setting yourself up there), and not good for the forum (we discuss Muppets here. We don't sell them). If they want to come in and say "hey, we're working on this. What do you think?" that's fine. Like I said, this is a discussion and I think a company will go a lot further here by asking our input than telling us we will see it, we will like it.

It's funny cause if a licensor comes in here and sees all the nicey-nice stuff we've said about Palissades and the open dialogue we have with them, they may think that's how we are with all licensors. Except, what they don't see is how much resistance even Ken has had with us at times or the handful of other licensors (who will remain nameless) who say "You're going to love this" and then get disappointed when we don't. How great something is is for us to decide: the customer, the fan base. For me, I think THAT's one of the main things that has set Palisades apart from other companies.

Having said all that, I am optimistic that this company is asking for feedback on which characters we like. I think it's great that they want to follow Palisades example a wee bit and do some older more obscure characters. but I also hope they can also stand on their own feet and say when they aren't/can't be Palisades. I also hope that Mr. Diresta doesn't feel too offended by any of the comments here. I welcome him as much as I welcome anyone else to this forum. And I look forward to a dialog about where this line as going and how it's doing. I'm actually kind of eager to see his response to our reactions. For me, that's really going to set me one way or the other on this line right now.

That's my 2 cents for now.

--Matt