Master Replica Muppets Line Dead! NOT!

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teemu

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For those who are collecting these, I found a post by a Rep explaining the Death of the Line after only 3 Posers.

This also may explain the uncertainty of other Future products and Higher end collectibles of how the collectible Industry works. How long can Sideshow keep going? ................................................................


Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and yes, we could have done things differently or perhaps better, but we cannot change that now. What is important is the future and how we go forward. Nobody likes to be the bearer of bad tidings or give bad news, but honestly folks its tough out there. Its brutal. We do this for a living, it puts food on our tables and pays our bills. Its not a game, or a joke. So lets have some FACTS

1)Gonzo and Animal have been very disappointing. We have attempted to push sales by drastically reducing the prices and they are still very slow.
2)We showed Fozzie at all major trade and public events in 2007 and early 2008 such as SDCC and got absolutely ZERO interest from potential buyers. It was too big, too expensive and too risky were the common complaints. We did not even get a glimmer of interest, sure lots of people loved him, as we do, but were not willing to translate that love into an order, which in the cold light of day is what matters. The few retailers who did choose to speculatively list Fozzie as a pre-order had similar lacklustre results.
3)Believe us we have tried and tried and tried to get our Muppets posers in with every possible stockist, all the ones that have been suggested on this thread, turned the range down flat. They see it as simply too specialist.
4)We cannot find a factory who is able to produce Fozzie to the standard and quality that you and we both require. We want to meet or exceed expectations, and do not want to face similar complaints to those we faced with Gonzo and Animal on accuracy and authenticity. We will not simply throw out a sub-standard Fozzie out there, or any product for that matter.
5)Its not just a quality problem, it is simply an availability problem. A total of 3,631 toy exporters in China or 52.7 percent of the entire industry's businesses shut down in the first seven months of 2008. It is a bloodbath out there. Many of our long term partners are no longer in business. https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7670351.stm
6)If you do not pay your bills you do not get product. Its quite simple, we won’t bore you with the details of how the toy trade works. Just look in Wikipedia under Letter Of Credit or LC if you are interested. In most cases we have to effectively pay up-front to have items produced and this is why we always try to avoid producing anything before we have a firm number of orders or a definite idea of demand. Expensive unsold products sitting in warehouses means you go out of business quite rapidly.
7)Marketing toys is a catch 22, economically you cannot afford to spend marketing $ promoting a product that will have limited results , there simply is not the margin to pay the costs. However without marketing results will be limited. Sadly with specialty products this is even more the case. We only have limited resource and would rather put that into products and packaging than potentially waste it. So we rely heavily on viral and direct marketing for these products. We think that we have effectively reached the vast majority of the target market for our Muppets products.
8)This is also born out by the response to the Fozzie polls if we are hugely optimistic and combine all results from various forums into one it would lead us to believe there are less than 200 globally who want Fozzie. So lets be hugely generous and double that. We are still 100 away from even a semi viable edition size of 500 pieces, let alone an edition of 2000+. Producing 500 pieces if we could find a factory would mean that any costs on packaging, shipping, tooling, moulding or any production whatsoever are then divided across 500 rather than 2000 and this means a higher $ unit price out the factory.
9)We are investigating the potential of producing Fozzie and other posers in a semi bespoke method, having them effectively hand made to order, perhaps even in the USA or other locations for individual domestic markets. We are talking to all the right people. HOWEVER and read this carefully, firstly the prices that have been proposed so far would shock you, and that’s just the cost to us. This is a specialist craftsman-led business that takes many, many hours and sadly that means $. Additionally we are restricted by the terms of our license and cannot simply do what we want, everything has to be approved. The practicalities of retaining consistent quality through this method are haphazard to say the least and it is highly likely that we will be prevented from being able to do this, but we are looking at it.

Our feeling is that the Posers line is a dead end in its current form. It simply does not have the ability to support itself economically. Prove us wrong or suggest other ideas. We know the Muppets is great, we love it too, and we know that demand will grow over coming years. But are posers the right way to service that audience?

Let us know directly, you can call or email, and if anybody thinks they might know somebody who can get batches of these things produced in say 50’s lets hear from you. i am really upset to hear that. i was extremely excited for the release of fozzie bear and other muppets characters. i really hope that MR can keep it up!
 
Re: Master Replica Muppets Line !

I always was interested in that line, but never purchased any; I guess I am part of the problem then. :monkey3
 
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Re: Master Replica Muppets Line Dead!

knew that line wouldnt last. pretty much explains why lines dont continue anywhere when they cant sell out product.



PS. i actually read through a muppets forum on their opinions of these replicas and i have to say that they are about as picky and whiny as SW fans. no surprise that these didnt sell.
 
Re: Master Replica Muppets Line !

I always was interested in that line, but never purchased any; I guess I am part of the problem then. :monkey3



Oh, and I heard that they have hidden govt mind control chips in them. :horror :lol :horror

I got the 3 and they are very nice pieces....and I took the mind control chips out of them :)
 
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Re: Master Replica Muppets Line Dead!

knew that line wouldnt last. pretty much explains why lines dont continue anywhere when they cant sell out product.



PS. i actually read through a muppets forum on their opinions of these replicas and i have to say that they are about as picky and whiny as SW fans. no surprise that these didnt sell.

Not sure why they whined so much....they are Great Replicas and your not gonna get any better than these on the Market. its a shame it didnt go anywhere as I wanted Statler and Waldorf, and a Fozzie
 
Re: Master Replica Muppets Line Dead!

I wish Master Replicas would just go away. Can't stand that company any longer.
 
Re: Master Replica Muppets Line Dead!

Not sure why they whined so much....they are Great Replicas and your not gonna get any better than these on the Market. its a shame it didnt go anywhere as I wanted Statler and Waldorf, and a Fozzie
these are die-hard muppet fans. they picked out minor details like pupil and eye position and stuff like that. i kinda wanted to get into these but didnt think they would keep going with them. i wanted a beaker and honeydew myself.
 
Re: Master Replica Muppets Line Dead!

I saw the writing on the wall LONG ago but I have all 3. REALLY wanted that Fozzie but when the Muppets main champion left MR I knew this line was dead. AH well, another incomplete collection. Fozzie and Piggy would have finished this off nicely and they were the next two up.
 
Re: Master Replica Muppets Line Dead!

I'd buy a full puppet in a heart beat - the posers didnt interest me though.
 
Re: Master Replica Muppets Line Dead!

I bought the Kermit and was considering getting Gonzo and Animal in the future. Too bad they couldn't keep going, I looking forward to the release of Fozzie. That's the collectible industry for you though, just like every other industry without the demand they can't supply the product.
 
Re: Master Replica Muppets Line Dead!

:monkey2 Damnit! I was hoping they would make Fozzie and Ms. Piggy and a couple others. Right now i only have Kermit but i want to add Gonzo and maybe Animal when i can afford it. But i will get them from ebay because they are cheaper and shipping is way lower then what MR charges for shipping.

P3040397.jpg

Need to get a better picture of him :D
 
Re: Master Replica Muppets Line Dead!

:monkey2 Damnit! I was hoping they would make Fozzie and Ms. Piggy and a couple others. Right now i only have Kermit but i want to add Gonzo and maybe Animal when i can afford it. But i will get them from ebay because they are cheaper and shipping is way lower then what MR charges for shipping.

P3040397.jpg

Need to get a better picture of him :D


lol that cracked me up! Way to stick it to Master Replica Kermit..
 
Re: Master Replica Muppets Line Dead!

I guess Kermit will have to find other ways to entertain himself.

k2.jpg
 
Re: Master Replica Muppets Line !

Reminds me of the YouTube of Kermit watching 2 Hootches 1 Cup.

:monkey4
 
Re: Master Replica Muppets Line Dead!

:monkey2 Damnit! I was hoping they would make Fozzie and Ms. Piggy and a couple others. Right now i only have Kermit but i want to add Gonzo and maybe Animal when i can afford it. But i will get them from ebay because they are cheaper and shipping is way lower then what MR charges for shipping.
actually MR lowered their prices on gonzo and animal big time. they knocked $100 off each one. they really wanna clear these out and forget they ever happened. dont know if you'll find a better deal than that.
 
Re: Master Replica Muppets Line Dead!

That's an eye-opening post - I didn't know it was THAT bad in China now. I don't think Sideshow is in danger, but everyone else in this industry probably is.

I would have bought Fozzie, but I can't buy direct from MR as they won't allow delivery in a method I can receive, so I was waiting until retailers got him. But I probably would have only gotten Piggy after him, maybe Stadler and Waldorf - but not many more. But Kermie, Gonzo and Animal are all excellent, I have nothing but praise for them.
 
Re: Master Replica Muppets Line !

Hopefully I will be able to find an Animal cheapo now. :banana
 
Re: Master Replica Muppets Line Dead!

I got Kermit and Gonzo. Would have spent $1000 to get Fozzie if I had to. Sure they were always going to be a hard sell, but the pictures on their web site almost looked like they were trying to get these things to look as unlike the real puppets as possible. I guess it's not just SSC who have photography issues!
 
Re: Master Replica Muppets Line Dead!

actually MR lowered their prices on gonzo and animal big time. they knocked $100 off each one. they really wanna clear these out and forget they ever happened. dont know if you'll find a better deal than that.

There's two Gonzo's on ebay right now for $170 + $80 (the other's $106) shipping ( to denmark, whereas MR sells him for $200 and shipping the last time i checked was about $250, i think. But i just checked and it looks like i an't order it from them. All i get is this "Error: No Shipping methods are available for the selected destination.".
 
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