40th Anniversary FP 1-2-3 SST Playset

[The Count]

Hey... Heard about this being released thanks to an article on toughpigs last week. So, has anyone seen it yet? How do Hooper's Store and the brownstone connect? Does it have anything of the arbor area/carriagehouse/Gina's vet office in between? And how would it look with Palisades figures there?

[D'Snowth]

It looks very, very hokey.

In the old days (70s and 80s), there were three different companies who came out with their own versions of Sesame playsets - Fisher Price, Illco, and Tyco (I think); the Tyco playset was very cookie-cutter compared to the other two (Illco wasn't too better, but at least it actually had a bit of an arbor), and this new one looks a lot like the Tyco one - it just simply opens up, there's no place for an arbor of any sort between them, it just opens into a straight street, with Hoopers and 123 sitting right next to each other.

The coloring is more accurate though; 123 is grayish, Hooper's is orange with a red awning, so I'm assuming they've been working on this sometime during 2002-2007. I wonder if the figures would be sold separately, if so, I could try to pick up some new ones (I could use the likes of Telly, Baby Bear, Count, among others) for my SST scale model, and yes, I know, I still gotta get pictures of it for you guys, I swear I will.

[frogboy4]

It's safe looking. Not the best, but still kind of fun. Really wish I were on the team doing these. Even with the limitations it could be better. This is nice enough. Kind of fun actually, but in the under 7 quality range.

[The Count]

Thanks guys, that's why I ask. Think I'll pass, still got my eyes on that beaut of a Palisades proto prize.

BTW: Snowths, would the PVC figures of Sesame work well with your diarama?

[D'Snowth]

BTW: Snowths, would the PVC figures of Sesame work well with your diarama?
Not Palisades, no, but most PVCs do; they tend to make all the Muppets about the same height (give or take a centimeter or two for Big Bird), so they work very nicely, they almost seem "human sized" on the scale.

I've an old Big Bird and Oscar from the Illco set, as well a Super Grover, Bert, Ernie, Cookie Monster and Zoe from a Fisher Price series from the late 90s, as well as an Elmo birthday cake figurine.

I'll try to include the figurines in the pics to give you guys an idea, especially for Big Bird's nest area. I also have crappy homemade figurines of Gordon, Susan, Maria, Luis and Alan made of little apple wood balls, and construction paper (I modeled them after the 70s Little People).

[The Count]

Mmm, okay then.

You know, I have a ton of the Applause SST PVC's, and some Disney ones too.

If you're doing Little People styled figures yourself, I'd recommend contacting Mr. Cole, he runs a blog posted in a thread here with fantastic figures he's made.

As for me, when I decide to get my counting characters into production, I'm gonna try to keep them in scale but just a smidge bigger than the Palisades Mini Muppets. Those are great, but the mini Swedish Chef's hands are just equal in height to the island, so all he can do is stand there without hands above to at least look like he's working at his station for an Iron Chef competition. :zany:

[frogboy4]

Those PVCs should work nicely for that playset. Personally, I would have created the set with an extended line of PVC characters to go with them. It's an easy way to get characters included with 2 or 3 packs. I don't like seeing Ernie without Bert. Just think of a three pack including Abby, Sherlock Hemlock and Herry. or Elmo, Roosevelt Franklin and Guy Smiley.

[D'Snowth]

Good thinkin', Jamie.

[The Count]

Yeah man, that's what we need more of. More bears and chickens and dogs and frogs and whatever! No, your friends won't watch the show... Because they're going to be in the show! Come on everybody!
*Marches out with Sherlock, Mumford, Elmo, Telly, Baby Bear, Roosevelt, Biff, Sully, Vincent Twice, Zoe, Rosita, Abby, Bert, Ernie, Cookie Monster, Oscar, Grungetta, Guy Smiley, Don Music, Forgetful Jones, Herry, Frazzle, Ruby, Two-Headed Monster, Martians, Honkers, Grover, Count, Countess Dahling, Big Bird, Snuffy, Little Bird, Bruno, and Twiddlebugs.

Extra! Extra! Somebody's getting, er, turning 40!

[D'Snowth]

It would probably behoove me to get an Abby figurine for my scale as well.

Aw heck, here's a list of some of the characters I'd like to have figurines of for the scale...


Abby
Baby Bear
Count
Prairie Dawn
Rosita
Snuffy
Telly


I don't know, has there ever been any form of merchandise for Horatio, or that little nameless Penguin Joey plays?

[minor muppetz]

It's a shame they couldn't have made two-packs contain one well-known character and one obscure character. Kids would want the characters they know, and we would want the obscures.

Packs could be like this:
Big Bird and Little Bird (or Shivers the Penguin)
Oscar the Grouch and Bruno (or Grundgetta)
Ernie and Guy Smiley
Bert and Harvey Kneeslapper
Cookie Monster and Herry Monster
Grover and Mr. Johnson
Telly Monster and Sherlock Hemlock
Murray Monster and Roosevelt Franklin
Elmo and Simon Soundman
Zoe and Betty Lou
Prairie Dawn and Don Music
The Count and The Amazing Mumford
Rosita and Hoots the Owl
Abby Cadabby and Sam the Robot

[D'Snowth]

Is Shivers the name of that penguin Joey plays?

[minor muppetz]

Is Shivers the name of that penguin Joey plays?

I don't think so, though I heard something about an episode from a few years ago having a penguin named Shivers, though it's likely a different penguin.

The Shivers I am referring to is a character so obscure that even us hardcore fans don't have any footage or memories of him. There's a Muppet Wiki page for him, and it was started when somebody saw an article on Caroll Spinney from the early 1980s, which mentioned Shivers when listing Spinney's characters. Nobody knew who Shivers was, but then oen fan saw Spinney in person and asked about the character, and it was said that Shivers was a penguin character designed to sit on Big Bird's lap, and Spinney performed both at the same time (much like how Spinney performed Oscar and Bruno at the same time). It would be great to see how that was pulled off, whether Spinney could actually have an arm out from the bottom of the top half of Big Bird and into the Shivers puppet, or if an extra Big Bird was built, with an opening near the bottom and another hole in the back of Shivers' head.

I hope that something with Shivers turns up on the 40th anniversary set. And if not, hopefully a clip will show up at sesamestreet.org. Or maybe a picture will appear in the 40th anniversary book.

[frogboy4]

Those are all great ideas. Sesame Street: Share & Spare PVC 2-Packs Mini Figures.

I really think Sesame should think of creating a new exclusive line of PVCs in those sorts of 2 packs and keep moving forward. When they've used up the main characters repeat them in costumes and pack them with another more obscure character. With PVCs they can cheaply make all-ages collectibles to be sold anywhere at a 3.99 - 9.99 price point with no dust collectors left on the shelves. If those ever got successful enough they could use the packaging to advertise a different line of more articulated figures and or playsets. There's a way to solidly do this and build something potentially lucrative.

And break out of the old clip art and spring for some new definitive sculpts in classic poses to start off the next 40 years of Sesame Street. Creating those would aid in much more usable art for the archives.

Still, why would SW latch onto an idea when slapping Elmo in a fire engine sells without a quality strategy? There is such an industry at their fingertips!

[Drtooth]

Those PVCs should work nicely for that playset. Personally, I would have created the set with an extended line of PVC characters to go with them. It's an easy way to get characters included with 2 or 3 packs. I don't like seeing Ernie without Bert. Just think of a three pack including Abby, Sherlock Hemlock and Herry. or Elmo, Roosevelt Franklin and Guy Smiley.

That sounds like a wonderful idea and something they SHOULD be doing. But the less romantic truth is half of these figures in the PVC sets have already been released (if not all of them)...

The Ernie (http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/muppet/images/1/19/Fp40pvc3.jpg) was part of a low cost PVC series that sold a couple years ago for a buck each- also at Target. And I'm sure that the Grover (http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/muppet/images/4/4d/Fp40pvc2.jpg) was already available as an Easter set.

And, as I said earlier, nothing about that playset, as good as it looks, justifies a 40 dollar price tag. I'm sorry... but it doesn't. Even the Palisades, well sculpted playsets didn't cost that much at retail. Someone has to tell Fisher Price we're in the middle of a...I dunno... recession? I doubt they will sell unless they drastically cut the price in half. I feel they could have still made a profit on it charging roughly half that. I'd expect it to retail for up to 25 bucks or so. But 40 is outrageous. But hey... anyone who follows Mattel as I do will know they are fooling themselves with those high prices. Their action figures aren't worth 10 bucks, and usually end up on clearance or even dollar store liquidation (that's how I got all the One Piece action Figures).

[SSLFan]

It's a shame they couldn't have made two-packs contain one well-known character and one obscure character. Kids would want the characters they know, and we would want the obscures.



Packs could be like this:
Big Bird and Little Bird (or Shivers the Penguin)
Oscar the Grouch and Bruno (or Grundgetta)
Ernie and Guy Smiley
Bert and Harvey Kneeslapper
Cookie Monster and Herry Monster
Grover and Mr. Johnson
Telly Monster and Sherlock Hemlock
Murray Monster and Roosevelt Franklin
Elmo and Simon Soundman
Zoe and Betty Lou
Prairie Dawn and Don Music
The Count and The Amazing Mumford
Rosita and Hoots the Owl
Abby Cadabby and Sam the Robot

Nice listing. Could you include others like Roxie Marie, Barkley, and Natasha?


It would probably behoove me to get an Abby figurine for my scale as well.

Aw heck, here's a list of some of the characters I'd like to have figurines of for the scale...


Abby
Baby Bear
Count
Prairie Dawn
Rosita
Snuffy
Telly

I diffanately agree with you on that. Those have to be some of hardest figurines of SS characters to find. They only one I have on that list is a Baby Bear (http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/File:Tyco1997BabyBearPVC.jpg)figurine, which came with the PVC set Tyco produced in the 90's (though I'm unsure whether I got the whole set or just that one figurine,strange). I would love to get all the figures Tyco released in that set, espicially Telly, Prairie, Count, Snuffy, Two-Headed monster, and Honker. And the textures on those look fabulous.


So far the only ones I have to date are
Big Bird (from the SSL playset I brought)
Elmo ( SSL playset)
Bert (SSL playset)
Ernie (SSL playset)
2 Zoe's (SSL playset, Tyco)
Cookie Monster (SSL playset)
Oscar ( SSL playset)
2 Super Grovers ( SSL playset, X-mas orniment)
Baby Bear (Tyco)and for what it's worth, I have a Count and Prairie from the 35th anniversary chess set. But I'd REALLY like to get some 'official' figurines of these characters.

[D'Snowth]

It seems to be that for every beanie Tyco made in the 90s, Fisher Price made a PVC of them; the packages the PVCs came in had collectable trading cards on the back, and the cards had the exact same factoids as the beanies had on their tags.

[CoOKiE]

i skimmed really quickly... not sure if anyone covered the Cookine Monster and Elmo 2 pack pvcs... its the same elmo that comes with the 123 sesame playset. ALSO... theres a school bus that fits these pvcs, and it comes with... the same elmo... and supergrover. In the front window theres a group shot.. i dont recall who was din it other then a honker driving.

I believe that these pvcs gave been re used so many times... except big bird.

ANOTHER THING

(seems to be) Newer PVCs of Big bird (sitting), Elmo, and Eookie monster are in the front of Target stores. You'll also find the same characters ink Stamps

[bjd624]

i bought the 123 playset for my son for xmas/his 2nd bday and it looks awsome... also picked up the bus... and the 2 packs (cookie & same elmo [now i have 4 of these elmos] and the other pack super grover [got 2 of these] & oscar...


also i saw the tlakin oscar doll it looked cool....:insatiable: