You can own an ELMO replica for 300 bucks!

Pino

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Wow.. if I had won the lottery I know what to buy!!!!!!!!!!! :halo:
 

Splurge

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Out of interest, how legal is it for someone outside the Muppets, even a fan, to sell a replica they made on eBay?
 

Muppetsdownunder

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Splurge said:
Out of interest, how legal is it for someone outside the Muppets, even a fan, to sell a replica they made on eBay?
I've heard in another thread about this particular ebay item and it seems that its not too legal and the chances are that it wont even get sold. Ebay may take it off before it ends, hurry up you rich people out there get it before its gone, if you are rich you can use the buy it now, lol.

from,
Paul :smile:
 

Muppetsdownunder

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Another thing about this puppet is that if you used it to perfrom you would have to get the voice very close to elmo's real voice or it wouldnt be worth doing. Characters that arent well known would be better for performing if you cant do the exact voices.

Thats what I think anyway!

from,
Paul
:smile:
 

Hays

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Everything on any TV show like Sesame Street, including each character, is copywrighted. The guy on Ebay risks getting sued for infringement - and lest you think they don't go after individuals, think again - I've seen it happen in carnivals where they sell cheap foam things with muppet names on them.

A lot of times they go after people not only for the money and deterrent, but also to make sure there aren't designs that degrade the branding of the original.
 

Buck-Beaver

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Paul is right, it's very illegal and it appears to have been removed from ebay's database. Ebay has a strict policy against selling items like this. Hopefully the seller won't have any legal problems because of it.
 

Hays

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Something else just struck me about this - if this puppet is everything the builder says it is, he's selling it way too cheap.

I've never sold a muppet-style puppet, but when we used to sell the original Celastic and wood profesionnal-size marionettes, we'd figure out all the material costs first - usually between $50-$100 right there. Then we'd figure out an hourly rate for the artist - usually between $20 and $50 an hour, kind of like a lawyer, depending on the skill involved. Most professional marionettes start at over a grand apiece - and can go up to many thousand dollars if it's a trick marionette that does things like blink or move its eyes, open its mouth, fly apart, or turn into something else.

Foam and fur puppets cost less in materials, but not THAT much less. Depending on how this one is put together, it either took hours or is pretty flimsy. I don't know if he put in the eye contraption that the real Elmo has, either - but that can be a lot of time, too.

So either this guy is vastly overselling or vastly underselling his product. Either way, unfortunately for him (or her,) what people REALLY pay for is design quality - which in this case was stolen. Too bad; hope this person comes up with something original to sell.
 
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