Frustration with eFX - The Muppets License

Obi Sean Kenobi

Well-Known Member
Hi all -

Is anyone as frustrated with eFX's neglect of their license for 'The Muppets' as I am?

I can understand Corgi/MR not continuing with the photo puppet replicas because of low retail demand coupled with high production cost. I get it.

However, eFX must have known all about this before acquiring the license.

Further, what really drives me crazy is that the time to have successfully marketed & sold these products was contemporaneous with the release of the new film. It seems to me that if this line was to be produced the time to have done it was when demand was at its peak. Now that the movie is out of the theatre (and with the Blu-Ray/DVD release due next month), interest in this product will surely wane.

Which leads me to my ultimate question: is there any hope that we will see more Muppet replicas?

Is there anyone from eFX that can address these issues? The site hasn't been updated at all relative to the Muppets.

I am still searching for an MR Animal by the way....

Regards,
Sean
 
That line is dead.

It was costing MR some change a few years ago to make them and then the sales were just not there.

eFX is having problems just FINDING a factory to make them and make them well.


With that in mind I simply do not see any more Muppets replicas being released
 
Yep it is dead now. Maybe someday :confused
You can still find Animal all over eBay ranging from $300-$700. But the prices still seem to be rising. Kermit has even sold $900 +
So grab an animal while you can because they will probably only keep going up in value.

Hi all -

Is anyone as frustrated with eFX's neglect of their license for 'The Muppets' as I am?

I can understand Corgi/MR not continuing with the photo puppet replicas because of low retail demand coupled with high production cost. I get it.

However, eFX must have known all about this before acquiring the license.

Further, what really drives me crazy is that the time to have successfully marketed & sold these products was contemporaneous with the release of the new film. It seems to me that if this line was to be produced the time to have done it was when demand was at its peak. Now that the movie is out of the theatre (and with the Blu-Ray/DVD release due next month), interest in this product will surely wane.

Which leads me to my ultimate question: is there any hope that we will see more Muppet replicas?

Is there anyone from eFX that can address these issues? The site hasn't been updated at all relative to the Muppets.

I am still searching for an MR Animal by the way....

Regards,
Sean
 
Yah, What Apollo said. :thumbsup

I spoke to Bryan about this when he was first getting started...way-back-when. I reminded him how poorly the Disney license-in-general went for MR, and that was with a GREAT economy and lots of retailers and cross-publicity from MR's exposure in other areas.

The Muppet replicas also cost a LOT of money to produce at the factories and most of them didn't want to make them, for various reasons. Using a standard multiplier, the retail cost would be too high for the perceived value.

(BTW; This is EXACTLY the same problems we hit with making high-end, accurate Star Wars costumes...thus the line being dropped.)

Despite the MR Disney-department folks swimming furiously upstream with all of their might...like the proverbial spawning salmon, they simply could not overcome the mighty, rushing waters of Disney licensing's crazy rules and bizarre treatment of licensees.

Bryan thought he could strategically avoid those issues. I wished him luck. I reminded him that we were heading into a recession and that collecting world-wide had dropped on all properties significantly.

He said he had a plan for that...

Unfortunately, Bryan was NOT successful in his attempt to swim upstream to his spawning ground...

An (animated Disney) grizzly bear ate him.

A moment of silence for the salmon named Bryan.
 
Well, rats. It's unfortunate as the collection just seems incomplete without Piggy and Fozzie. If JUST those two were made, and none more, at least you would have the set of all five key characters. I really wish MR would have substituted Animal for Piggy or Fozzie as (to me, anyway) seem more key than Animal. :unsure
 
It's a shame, but I can understand eFX. I have all three muppets and while these are supercool (Kermit having quality problems though) I just do not see a mass market. To please collectors they must be über-accurate and that would result in a extremely high price that not a lot would pay.
 
It's a shame, but I can understand eFX. I have all three muppets and while these are supercool (Kermit having quality problems though) I just do not see a mass market. To please collectors they must be über-accurate and that would result in a extremely high price that not a lot would pay.

Do you mind if I ask what quality issue your Kermit is having?
 
Kermit has an ugly seam on his belly. I don't think anyone would really notice but it's bugging me since I saw it. That seam could have been stitched a lot better. Gonzo and Animal are great though. No idea if every Kermit has it or just mine :-/
 
Well, rats. It's unfortunate as the collection just seems incomplete without Piggy and Fozzie. If JUST those two were made, and none more, at least you would have the set of all five key characters. I really wish MR would have substituted Animal for Piggy or Fozzie as (to me, anyway) seem more key than Animal. :unsure

Fozzie and Piggy - that would be epic. No idea why eFX wanted to release Rizzo and Pepe first. Nt very interesting, at least for me.
 
Hmm...speaking as an outsider on the replica side of things...I prefer the screenused stuff but understand that sometimes because of money and availability you just have to go there I am really interested in what appears to be alot of licensers sitting on these and never getting them done.

Of course Ive been around since the Jim Latta days and know too well that taking on more than you can chew can bring it all down.

I too have seen with interest the muppets going for big bucks on ebay, proving there was a demand, just as the $4,000 who screwdriver went in that edition of 25.

I guess that if I had a license i would use it. Its like the world of real props. Sometimes people think they have gold and refuse to sell it under a nickel what they think its worth.

All round frustrations and I sympathise.

Poop or get off the pot.
 
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