Recommended music: The Format – Does Your Cat Have A Mustache?
On this final #SomethingElseSunday post from the archives, we’re still celebrating 70 years of the Muppets! From the Palisades Toys Muppets line, it’s Pops!
Pops is the mustachioed senior doorman who showed up in the final season of The Muppet Show. A few years later, he had a bigger part as the owner and manager of the Happiness Hotel in The Great Muppet Caper.
Pops made his action figure in the ninth and final wave of Palisades Toys’ Muppets line, which came out in fall 2004. By then, retailers weren’t as interested in the line or other Palisades Toys products. Although several exclusive Muppet figures were released to customers over the following year, the company filed for bankruptcy and announced its subsequent sale. This Pops figure is an excellent likeness of the character. While the budget didn’t allow for him to come with his trademark backstage desk from The Muppet Show, he came with his Happiness Hotel desk (a repaint of the Muppet Newsman desk), a basic stand, and new accessories like a bell, a check-in book, a desk lamp, a fly swatter, and Gaffer the Cat.
Recommended music: Lou Reed – Walk on the Wild Side
On this #SomethingElseSunday post from the archives, we’re celebrating 70 years of the Muppets and taking a look at the Palisades Toys Muppets Lew Zealand!
Lew Zealand first appeared in 1978, in episode 310 of The Muppet Show. In that episode, his wild boomerang fish-throwing act stopped Kermit from accidentally marrying Miss Piggy during her planned wedding sketch. Although originally intended for a single episode, the character’s popularity grew rapidly, leading to appearances in over two dozen subsequent episodes of The Muppet Show. Lew has remained a recurring character, frequently appearing in minor roles or cameos in nearly every Muppet film and project released since.
Palisades Toys released this ruffle-collared Lew Zealand figure in the third wave of their Muppet toy line. This was the final wave to focus solely on The Muppet Show, as the line soon ventured into covering other Muppet productions, such as films and Muppets Tonight. For accessories, Lew comes with his signature boomerang fish, a minnow bucket, a small-mouth bass, and a swordfish – just right for recreating the famous act from his season three debut.
It’s time to play the music with this #SomethingElseSunday post from the archives. Today, we’re celebrating 70 years of the Muppets and taking a look at the Palisades Toys Muppets Rowlf!
Rowlf the Dog debuted in Dog Chow commercials in 1962 and, by the following year, became the first Muppet to achieve nationwide recognition as a cast member on The Jimmy Dean Show. Performed exclusively by Jim Henson until 1990, Rowlf regularly appeared on The Muppet Show as the resident pianist and featured in recurring sketches such as “Veterinarian’s Hospital.”
Rowlf has contributed significantly to the music and humor of the Muppets over several decades. He was the first character featured in Muppet Studios’ year-long celebration of its 70th anniversary, which spotlights a different Muppet each week. Although I am behind since the celebration began last year, I intend to catch up at some point.
The sculpt for this Rowlf in a tuxedo figure was first shown with a White Tux Rowlf giveaway at Toy Fair 2002. About a year later, this version was released as part of the third wave of Palisades Toys figures. The tuxedo Rowlf was the only way to get the character on its own card. The regular version without clothes was made at the same time, but it was only available with the rare Backstage playset at the end of 2004.
This version included a baby grand piano, a bust of Beethoven for display, and a figure stand. I chose to pick up this figure loose, as I believe the upright piano and dollhouse candelabra better reflect Rowlf’s aesthetic in the Muppet Show’s “Rowlf at the Piano” segments.
Recommended music: Humanga Danga – Lima Bean Bunny Board
It’s time to spill the beans this #SomethingElseSunday, as we’re still celebrating 70 years of the Muppets! Here’s a character you’ve likely seen a few times, but never really cared for. From the Diamond Select Toys Muppets Select line, it’s Bean Bunny!
In 1986, HBO aired a new TV special, “The Tale of the Bunny Picnic”. The program told the story of an overtly cute Bean Bunny, who naturally came from a family of bunnies, and helped to make peace with the farmer’s dog.
The character returned in 1989, appearing on 11 of the 12 episodes of NBC-based The Jim Henson Hour. The following year, NBC aired a special, ‘The Muppets at Walt Disney World’, which promoted the planned merger of the Muppets and the rest of The Jim Henson Company into The Walt Disney Company. Bean fits right in with established Muppet characters on the special, appearing at EPCOT Center with Scooter. A walk-around version of Bean, played by a cast member at Disney-MGM Studios, was part of two stage shows: ‘Here Come the Muppets’ and ‘Muppets On Location: Days of Swine and Roses’, which ran from 1990 until 1994.
Like Sweetums last week, Bean Bunny is undoubtedly most well-known for his role in the 1991 film attraction Muppet*Vision 3D, which ran for 34 years at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park. In the attraction, Bean appears in the pre-show and main-show films and also as a physical puppet in a theater balcony, playing a critical role in the show.
With all these inclusions in the theme parks, it seemed Bean was meant to be a major player in Muppet productions going forward, but his role diminished after Jim Henson’s passing. Bean’s performer, Steve Whitmire, took over the role of Kermit the Frog around this time, and while Whitmire’s other character, Rizzo the Rat, had a bigger role in 1992’s The Muppet Christmas Carol, Bean only appeared in a few scenes. While Bean did show up on Muppets Tonight, Muppets from Space, the Muppet Babies reboot, and a few direct-to-DVD Muppet films, he was in a background role for these appearances as well.
Unfortunately, the Palisades Toys Muppet toy line ended before Bean was considered. Still, he finally showed up in action figure form outside of the theme parks in a couple of lines from Diamond Select Toys. When the first wave of figures in DST’s Muppets Select line debuted in 2016, Bean was packed in with Kermit the Frog. The figure was then included in the Backstage Deluxe Action Figure Box Set, which came with a half dozen repacked figures in 2023.
I typically don’t collect the DST Muppets line because of its scale and detail. However, Bean’s exclusion from the Palisades line made this purchase a necessity. His smaller size and lack of articulation are fine, as Bean will likely be relegated to a background character in my Muppet adventures as well. Also, just a heads up that you may need to apply some heat to the figure when you open him, as I immediately broke off the neck peg, which was stuck inside the head of this now hard-to-find figure.😣
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