Team America: World Police Puppets?

I was just watching Team America for the 8,000th time and I was wondering what the hell happened to the puppets from that movie?

I remember seeing some behind the scenes footage around the time it was released, detailing their internal structures and the number of servos in their tennis ball-sized heads, but after the release it seems like all of the hundreds of marionettes just got put in a Rubbermaid container under someone's stairs and forgotten about.

So what gives? Can these be seen anywhere? Are they in anyone's private collection? I just think the attention to detail in such a small space is fascinating and would love to see them in person.

Owning one of the hero marionettes -- with servos -- is officially on my "Grail List" as of this moment. :lol

-Nick

Durka Durka Muhammad Jihad.....I am on the same boat I would love to see some of these

My guess is that they are in storage at the Cheoto Brothers shop. They made them after all.

These along with a TON of props from this movie were sold on Ebay about 4 years ago. The Limo, Jet, set props and puppets were sold. Fairly cheap also ($500-$1500) is recall.

Well, at least they're out in the wild. Wish I knew that 4 years ago though. :lol

Guess I'm going to have to keep an eye out for people putting pieces up for auction. The only puppet from the film at the moment is a llama. I think I'll pass.

Though I have been finding a few great shots from the production in my hunts. Here's my favorite:



It just really helps you get a sense of scale seeing a person with the puppets and props. It's easy to think that everything was tiny, but that limo was 9 feet long! The hummer was 5 feet long!

Thanks, Brad! Now to go refresh eBay from now until eternity.

-Nick

Jedifyfe said:

These along with a TON of props from this movie were sold on Ebay about 4 years ago. The Limo, Jet, set props and puppets were sold. Fairly cheap also ($500-$1500) is recall.

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No, that's incorrect. The puppets themselves have never been seen since the production wrapped... I attended all of those auctions where the props were sold (and I own many of them), but not a single puppet has surfaced...

I asked the Chiodo's themselves, even they don't have any... They did make them, but they were kept by the studio afterwards.

The only ones I know of that are on any kind of display is a set of the Team Members and Kim Jong Il on display in Southpark Studios. (At least, they were there a couple of years ago... Probably sitting unprotected from sunlight/florescent lighting, rotting the latex faces off of them...)

I know several people that have been really trying to find them (myself included), and they just seem to have disappeared. There was also a rumor that Paramount was nervous about them 'getting out' and having some celebrity backlash (likely from the ones that look like celebs that weren't happy about how they were portrayed in the movie), and they had them destroyed to avoid this. I think it's more likely that they are just stuffed in a warehouse somewhere, slowly rotting away... Maybe once the faces have fallen off, they'll put what's left up forsale.

As for the llama, I think that's just a toy/stuffed animal they used in the background somewhere... :cool (There was a lot of miniature stuff used that was just purchased items.) They did sell a marionette camel though. That's the closet thing to a sting-hanging puppet I've seen forsale.

I finally saw the movie for the first time the other day and absolutely loved it. That's a shame that they seem to have disappeared. I hope this doesn't turn into another Hoggle incident.

Rik1138, thanks for the info. That all makes perfect sense from the legal standpoint of a major studio, but it sucks for guys like us.

I'm not gonna lie, Terrorist Gary would probably be my ideal marionette. (Assuming they didn't do any further mods to him to film other, later scenes)

If these things are still in existence (and I would guess/hope they are) maybe guys like us can help show the interest is there to have them set free...a guy can dream, right?

-Nick

I think Profiles sold some stuff:

Profiles in History

Some stuff here:

Team America: World Police original movie props.

Rik, is this your site?

MrSinistar said:

I finally saw the movie for the first time the other day and absolutely loved it. That's a shame that they seem to have disappeared. I hope this doesn't turn into another Hoggle incident.

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That's what I'm afraid will happen eventually... The skins aren't very thick, so they probably wouldn't last too long under all-day florescent lighting or any kind of direct sunlight...

TheNickFox said:

Rik1138, thanks for the info. That all makes perfect sense from the legal standpoint of a major studio, but it sucks for guys like us.

I'm not gonna lie, Terrorist Gary would probably be my ideal marionette. (Assuming they didn't do any further mods to him to film other, later scenes)

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Yeah, I can understand them not wanting to release Tim Robbins or Sean Penn, but the 'generic' Team, Spottswoode, or any background characters should be safe. Hell, you could probably Clooney or Damon to agree to release theirs, they don't have a problem with it...

I think I'd have to have Spottswoode if I could only pick one... I loved that character... But I'd happily take ANY of them.

alienscollection.com said:

I think Profiles sold some stuff:

Profiles in History

Click to expand...

Yeah, they've had a couple of those jets (as has Screenused), they had Kim Jong Il's submarine (which now seems to be at Propstore), and I think a terrorist jeep too...

alienscollection.com said:

Some stuff here:

Team America: World Police original movie props.

Rik, is this your site?

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Yep, that's my stuff... Taking over half my living room... :rolleyes It's missing a few things thought, like this:
Mini Chris 'Stunt Puppet'
Which is the closest thing to a puppet I've seen sold (it's a 1/2 sized doll really). There's also two motorcycles (one Gary and one Lisa) that are Barbie-ish sized with little mockup dolls on them as well...

I know this was posted in 2012 but here is some info Scott Land was their lead puppeteer and he would be the one to know any where about they may be he is a master puppeteer and puppet builder his contact info is Scott Land Marionettes you can find him on the u station you know what I mean Great guy nice to talk to he might have some leads for ya Thanks