Recommended music: Neil Young – Old Man
It’s #SomethingElseSunday, and we’re still marking 70 years of the Muppets! Today, from Palisades Toys, it’s Statler and Waldorf!
For over fifty years, Statler and Waldorf have been known as the “old guy” Muppets who sit together in the balcony at The Muppet Theatre. They’re famous for their grumpy comments and constant heckling, making fun of everything on The Muppet Show. Sometimes, like in episodes 208 and 409, they even put on vaudeville costumes and performed a musical number on stage.
After five years on The Muppet Show, Statler and Waldorf made their move to the big screen. In The Muppet Movie, they are actually the first Muppets to speak, showing up early to heckle the film. Since then, the pair has appeared in almost every major Muppet project, including The Great Muppet Caper, The Muppets Take Manhattan, The Muppet Christmas Carol (where they play the ghosts of Jacob and Robert Marley), Muppet Treasure Island, and more. They’re always around, ready with their sharp wit to poke fun at whatever’s happening.
Before Palisades Toys released the regular Statler and Waldorf figures in the sixth wave of its Muppets line, they offered these Vaudeville versions as exclusives at the 2023 Chicago Wizard World Convention and through the Palisades Collector’s Club.
The figures looked great in the box, with their pink, red, and white striped jackets, orange pants, and straw hats. Unfortunately, the pair was designed with special hip joints meant to increase poseability, but they are notorious for breaking. This worried me that they might break right out of the box. Despite this possibility, I opened them as I am a loose collector, and sure enough, both Statler and Waldorf’s legs were broken right in the package. I haven’t decided whether to glue the legs in place, which would lose some mobility, or just stick with clear bands like I added for this photo to be possible. As for accessories, the simple canes are the only ones included, while the regular versions come with many more fun extras.
Overall, this version isn’t essential for collectors, especially with the broken hip issue, but it’s still fun to see a different design and color scheme in the Muppet display.
I know the 70th anniversary of The Muppets has already passed, but I still have lots of characters to feature on the blog. Also, if you missed The Muppet Show’s 50th-anniversary special, it’s now streaming on Disney+ and is really wonderful… even with Statler and Waldorf!
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