Last updated: May 5, 2024
In all honesty, I have been avoiding working on this page of my blog! The sorted history of Sesame Street figurines made by Fisher-Price, Illco, Tyco and Mattel is complicated to figure out as over time the four companies ended up merging into one. This resulted in figures being reissued multiple times in different packaging, under different companies or brand names, with the figures themselves given different markings, creating many variations. I figure the best way to sort all of this out is to copy all the info that I already had about these figures on other pages of this blog, and put it all together on one page. This is going to mess up the time line continuity of the other pages a little, but at at least I'll finally have figured all of this out! Here is the info that I've managed to collect so far...
Fisher-Price, Little People Playset, 1974
Here is the iconic Sesame Street Fisher-Price Little People Playset that was made in 1974. Eight figures were included with the playset: Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch and from the human cast, Susan, Gordon and Mr. Hooper. The figures are made out of hard plastic. I'm glad to have this set as I found it second hand, one piece at a time over several years!
Here are most of the accessories that originally came with this playset. I'm missing Big Bird's nest and one of the chairs (there should be two of them). Shown here are: two beds for Ernie and Bert (which originally had an actual foam mattresses!), a sofa, a fire hydrant, a table and chair, a TV set, a mailbox, a newspaper stand, the counter and stools for inside of Hooper's store (which is all attached as one piece), a truck from the Sesame Street Sanitation Dept., and the Sesame Street street sign. Some chalk was also originally included so that kids could write on the blackboard on the inside of the playset (shown below).
The two beds, sofa, table, chairs, and TV (seven pieces) were each made in three different colours of plastic: brown, yellow and orange. Therefore, a die hard collector would need to find three sets of the pieces in each colour in order to "complete" the set (21 pieces). Shown above are examples of the yellow and brown plastic pieces, I don't yet have any orange pieces. The brown version of the beds have white letters on the headboard, while the yellow and orange versions have black letters. The brown pieces may also be available in dark brown or light brown but I have yet to confirm this. If this is the case there would be two brown sets to collect.
There are also two different styles of chairs that were included with this set, one style, as shown above, is made to resemble a wooden chair (with rectangular spaces through the sides and back of the chair), while the other style is identical to the sofa but is sized for a signal figure rather than two. Both styles of chairs were available in the three different colours of plastic.
The street sign can be found with thick letters or thin letters.
Here are all of the figures that I've managed to find so far. I'm still missing Prairie Dawn and Sherlock Hemlock.
In addition to the playset, Fisher-Price released a boxed set of the original eight figures that came with this playset, as well as a clubhouse playset that included three new figures: Roosevelt Franklin, the Count, and Grover. These three clubhouse figures are slightly harder to find than the original eight figures. A second and final boxed set of figures included the three clubhouse figures as well as Snuffleupagus, Prairie Dawn, Sherlock Hemlock, and Herry Monster. These last four figures are the hardest ones to find from the series, however finding this second boxed set of figures still in the box is very rare as typically the figures were all removed from the box.
Mr. Hooper, Gordon and Susan Little People figures.
There is also a version of the Mr. Hooper figure with a full head of plastic white hair attached, which some collectors like to call Ms. Hooper! The Mrs. Hooper figure was not made for the Sesame Street playset, it was made for a non-licensed Fisher-Price Little People playset and just happened to be similar to the Mr. Hooper figure. Therefore, collectors started to call this figure Mrs. Hooper just for fun. Soon Mr. and Mrs. Hooper fell in love and the rest is history!
Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Ernie, Bert and Oscar the Grouch Little People figures.
A closer view of the Oscar the Grouch Little People figure.
The lid of the can moves up and down to reveal an illustrated version of Oscar.
The Count, Grover (with the face detail rubbed off) and Roosevelt Franklin Little People figures that were included with the Sesame Street Clubhouse playset, as well as with the second set of boxed figures.
The Snuffleupagus (Snuffy), and Herry Monster Little People figures.
Unfortunately, this Herry Monster figure is discoloured and has turned a darker blue.
Originally the figure was light blue! Sucks!!!
I'm still missing the Sherlock Hemlock and Prairie Dawn figures.
Here's the inside of the playset which has Ernie and Bert's apartment on the top floor (even though they actually live in a basement apartment on the TV show), Gordon and Susan's apartment on the bottom floor, a blackboard for kids to write on with chalk, and Mr. Hooper's apartment on the top floor above Hooper's store. Big Bird and Oscar lived outside, so that leaves only Cookie Monster without a place to live. It seems that he just loafed around in everyone else's apartments. LOL
Ernie and Bert's apartment
Gordon and Susan's apartment (with a picture of the Count on the wall)
Mr. Hooper's apartment (the opposite wall has a picture of
Big Bird signed "To my good friend Mr. Blooper")
Hooper's store
Illco/Tyco, 1980s or 1990's
Illco and Tyco produced several of the same playsets and figures. My understanding is that some of the Illco sets released in the 80's were later reissued under the Tyco brand, some were only made by Illco and not reissued, and some only made by Tyco. Rather than research all the different playsets in order to clarify what was made by who and when, I've focused instead on just documenting the figures that were available during this period by the two companies.
Illco and Tyco produced several of the same playsets and figures. My understanding is that some of the Illco sets released in the 80's were later reissued under the Tyco brand, some were only made by Illco and not reissued, and some only made by Tyco. Rather than research all the different playsets in order to clarify what was made by who and when, I've focused instead on just documenting the figures that were available during this period by the two companies.
In - Out School Bus by Illco, 1989
These are small hard plastic figures of Big Bird and Cookie Monster which are only 2 1/4 inches tall. A figure of Ernie was also made. All three figures were sold in a boxed set with a toy school bus that the figures fit into. I'm surprised that these figures were made in the late 80's as they are such small figures. By then toy companies were typically making figures large enough so that kids could not choke on them if they put them in their mouth. For this reason I suspect that this set was not on store shelves for very long.
Bert and Ernie's Crazy Express by Illco, 1991
This is a wind up toy train with figures of Ernie and Bert attached, made by Illco in 1991. I'm listing this toy here as I saw the Bert figure loose online and thought that it might have been a rare Applause pencil topper. Well, it isn't! The figure goes with this toy! Mystery solved! I've also seen this toy packaged in a window box, so there are two packaging variations.
123 Sesame Street Playset by Illco, 1991
Cookie Monster, Ernie, Oscar the Grouch by Illco
Other figures in this set include:
Big Bird, standing with both arms held up and out to the sides, a small space between his legs with feet touching/attached.
Garage Playset by Illco, reissued by Tyco
Oscar the Grouch, Elmo, Cookie Monster by Illco/Tyco
Here are Oscar the Grouch, Elmo and Cookie Monster PVC figures from the Sesame Street Garage Playset, made in the 1980's or 1990's. It was released by both Illco and Tyco. The Elmo figure from this set was later reissued by Tyco for their Sesame Bookville Garage playset (noted below in that section). The Bookville Elmo figure has a beige outfit rather than a blue one. A figure of Grover in a beige mechanic outfit was included with the Bookville set, and is exclusive to that set. An identical Cookie Monster figure from the Garage Playset was included with one of the sets in Tyco's Vehicle Playsets series, noted below.
Other figures that came with the Garage Playset :
Big Bird wearing a blue jacket with both arms folded across his tummy, holding a white rag and wearing a red ball cap.
Sesame Street Farm Playset by Illco, 1990, reissued by Tyco
In 1990 Illco released a farm playset that was later reissued by Tyco. The Sesame Street Farm playset came with a large barn, a red tractor, a green truck, a fence and several other farm pieces. The set also included several PVC figures of Sesame characters and Muppet farm animals. Shown below are Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, and Grover. A few variations exist between the Illco and Tyco sets. Big Bird can be found with either light pink or dark pink stripes on his legs as well as a light brown or dark brown hat and vest. Bert can be found with darker blue overalls and his shirt stripes are painted differently. The Horse and Cow figures can be found with black hair or brown hair. In the case of the Cow the hooves are also either black or brown. The Illco version of this set came with two identical lamb figures and one pig, the Tyco release came with two pigs and one lamb. The Lamb for both Illco and Tyco sets has a grey face.
The figures of Ernie, Bert, the Cow, and the lamb were all modified and reused in 1994 for the Tyco Bookville Farm playset, noted further below. The lamb for the Bookville set has a pink face, while the Cow is white with black spots. The Bookville set did not include the pig, horse, Big Bird, Grover or Barkley making these figures exclusive to the original Illco/Tyco farm playset. The design for the Barkley figure is very cartoon-like rather than being a reproduction of the actual Muppet character.
Ernie, Bert, Big Bird (with light pink leg stripes) and Grover figures by Illco/Tyco
Additional figures that were made:
Big Bird with dark pink leg stripes, dark brown hat and vest
Bert with darker blue overalls
Barkley in a sitting pose (he is not holding anything in his mouth)
Horse beige with black mane
Horse beige with light brown mane
Cow beige with light brown hair and hooves
Cow beige with black hair and hooves (shown below)
Lamb with grey face (shown below)
Pig (shown below)
Lamb, Pig and Cow figures for the Sesame Street Farm by Illco/Tyco.
The above cow figure is very similar to the classic Sesame Street character Gladys the Cow (shown below) however the tuft of hair and horns are not the right colour, and there are no distinctive eyelashes or pink eyelids. Though the figure does have a cow bell and is beige with light brown spots, so it's probably as close to the Muppet character as we will likely ever see as a PVC figure.
Gladys the Cow (photo from Muppet Wiki)
It's interesting to note that the Grover figure for the Illco/Tyco farm playset (above left) is dressed the same, and uses essentially the same colors, as the Tara Toys Farmer Grover figure (above right). Both were made during the 1980's.
I've also noticed that there is a paint variation for how the inside of the bucket was painted, as well as having very slightly darker brown shoes and hat. Not a big deal, I'm just a freak for variations like this! LOL
The Bert figure for the Illco/Tyco farm playset (above left) is very similar to the Farmer Bert figure that Tyco later made for the Bookville Farm playset in 1994 (above right). The same is true for Ernie. The original Illco/Tyco farm Ernie figure has a potato and a carrot in each hand (shown further above), while the Bookville version of Ernie is holding corn in one hand with the other hand empty.
Farmer Bert also has a few variations. The blue colour used for his overalls is lighter or darker, and the stripes on his shirt were painted differently, one with darker green the other with light green. He also has smaller or larger irises and his mouth is painted wider on the left. The brown section of his shoes is also slightly different colours. Variations like these are likely due to one being the Illco version and the other being the Tyco version, though I have no idea which is which as both figures have the same markings "JHP, China". JHP is Jim Henson Productions.
Sesame Street Camper Van Playset
Elmo, Prairie Dawn, Ernie and Big Bird from the Camper Van playset by Tyco
These figures are slightly larger than typical PVC figures. The Elmo figure was made to be placed sitting on one of the chairs or in the boat that are included with the set. Due to how the figure was sculpted, with the legs bent, it does not stand up on it's own. As such I put Elmo sitting on a block just for the photo.
This is barely worth mentioning, however the Big Bird figure from this set can be found with a slight colour variation, either light pink or dark pink stripes on his legs. The other difference is that one is marked "JHP" on the bottom of his feet and the other is marked "JHP China". I have two Elmo figures from this set that are also marked differently in this same way. I didn't bother to take a photo as the markings are on Elmo's butt, and I have better things to do than taking a picture of Elmo's butt. LOL
Sesame Street Airport Playset
Ernie and Big Bird figures from the Tyco Sesame Street Airport playset
In 1993 Tyco produced the Sesame Street Airport playset. It comes with a building with a revolving radar dish, three airplanes that the figures fit into, a luggage cart with a trolley, a crate and two suitcases. The back of the box for this toy advertises three other Sesame Street playsets including a cottage, fire house and circus.
Figures that came with the Airport set include:
Big Bird (shown above) This figure was reissued in 1995 with one of the Tyco Sesame Street Vehicles Playsets (noted below). The Big Bird figure from that set has a black neck tie instead of a red one but is otherwise the same.
Bert with a brown jacket over his shoulder. This figure was also available with the Illco version of the Circus playset.
Ernie (shown above) holding a black camera in his left hand
Sesame Street Fire House Playset
Ernie and Elmo fire fighter figures by Tyco
Made by Tyco between 1990 and 1993, as seen on the box for the Airport playset. Figures are all dressed in yellow and black fire fighter outfits. A figure of Cookie Monster was also made as part of this set.
Sesame Street Circus
Cookie Monster and Ernie from the Sesame Street Circus Playset by Illco/Tyco
Released by both Illco and Tyco this set included a wagon that turned into a circus stage. Other circus accessories were also included. The Illco set included three additional figures, Bert, Elmo, and a Seal which were later removed from the Tyco version. The Tyco set was released in 1993.
Illco version only:
Bert This is the same figure of Bert that was included with the Airport playset, noted above.
Elmo This is the same figure of Elmo that was included with the Cottage playset, noted above.
Seal solid black balancing on one flipper, on a yellow square
Illco and Tyco version:
Big Bird as a Ringleader
(Plus Ernie and Cookie Monster shown above)
Circus animals, all are cartoon like in design:
Lion beige with orange main
Tiger orange with short black stipes
Horse white with yellow main, light blue hooves (this is a completely different horse than the one that was included with the Tyco farm playset)
Elephant light grey with blue head band, pink blanket on its back, pink toes
Sesame Street Amusement Park Playset
Ernie, Cookie Monster and Zoe from the Amusement Park Playset
Made in 1995 by Tyco, this was a very large playset that included a roller coaster, airplane ride, rubber duckie ride, a circular train track, and Ferris wheel. An illustration of the Count is featured on the side of the roller coaster. The figures are made with a hard PVC or plastic material with bright glossy colours. Four characters were included:
This set also included:
Elmo holding some pink cotton candy
Sesame Street Bookville Playsets
Made by Tyco, these are large book shaped plastic cases that fold open to reveal a playset inside. Different figures are included with each set.
Cookie Monster from the "Big Birds Market" Bookville playset by Tyco
Big Birds Market
Big Bird wearing white apron, waving right hand
Cookie Monster (shown above)
Garage
Elmo This is the same Elmo figure as the one that was included with the Illco/Tyco Sesame Street Garage Playset, only with a beige outfit instead of blue
Grover in a beige mechanics outfit, figure is exclusive to this set
Bert from the Tyco Bookville farm playset.
Farm
Ernie This figure is an updated version of the Famer Ernie figure shown further above on this page, which came with the larger sized Sesame Street Farm playset, only this time the figure is holding a cob of corn in his left hand and waving with his right (nothing is in his right hand). Ernie's head was also updated with a completely new sculpt.
Bert As with Ernie, this is also an updated version of the above Farmer Bert figure. For this one Bert is holding the brim of his hat with his right hand and his left arm hangs down at his side. The hat is a completely different one with a wider brim and Bert's shoes are painted solid brown.
Cow white with black spots, yellow horns
Lamb white with a pink face and grey legs
Chicken white with red crest, yellow beak (it's possible that two chicken figures were included with each set, though I have yet to confirm this)
Sesame Street: Vehicle Playsets
In 1995 Tyco produced at least four figure and vehicle playsets. These were sold individually as boxed sets. All of the figures from these sets with the exception of Elmo were also included with other Tyco playsets.
1) Ernie's Grocery Stand
Includes a yellow car, a red veggie stand and a bag of groceries. The figure from this set is the exact same Farmer Ernie figure that came with the Bookville Farm playset, noted above. All of the accessories in this set including the car were also included with the Tyco Bookville Big Bird's Market set, only the veggie stand for the Bookville set was blue instead of red plastic.
2) Big Bird's Mail Delivery
Incudes a red truck, blue mail box and a figure of Big Bird wearing a blue jacket, white shirt, black neck tie, blue hat, waving with his right hand, legs together. This is the same figure that Tyco used for the Sesame Street Airport playset (noted above), only the neck tie for the Airport Big Bird figure was red instead of black.
3) Cookie Monster's Gas Station
Includes a green tow truck with hoist. The Cookie Monster figure is the same one that came with the Illco/Tyco Sesame Street Garage playset (noted above).
4) Elmo's Camping Set
This boxed set includes a blue car, campfire, and a green canoe. The Elmo figure from this set is hard to find, and it's the only figure in this series of Vehicle Playsets that is a new figure made exclusively for this series. All others are reissues from previously released playsets. The canoe and the campfire are the same ones previously used in the Tyco Camper set (noted further above), however the campfire is painted different colours.
Sesame Street Tub Puzzle
In the 1980's Illco produced the "Sesame Street Tub Puzzle" which was later reissued by Tyco in the 1990's. The toy included five figures and a yellow floating playset base. All the figures fit onto the base like a puzzle. Shown above are three of the figures from the set, Cookie Monster on a raft, Elmo in a boat and Ernie in a tire tube. The other two figures included Big Bird on a tire tube and Bert in a canoe. The figures themselves are hollow and made of rubber which allows them to float. The items that the figures are attached to are hard plastic. The raft and tire tube are hollow. Both Bert and Elmo's boats were made with solid green plastic or solid light blue plastic, so there are two variations for each of those characters. As such there are 7 figures in this series if you want the variations, otherwise there are just the 5 figures. These figures do not have any markings.
Tyco later produced a similar set with much larger figures of the characters which were designed to look like toddlers. Fisher-Price also made a similar tub toy called "Splashin' Fun Tub Puzzle", with three new figures. This time Telly is on the raft instead of Cookie Monster, Elmo is on a purple Skidoo, and Ernie is in a yellow Rubber Duckie shaped tire tube.
Sesame Street Seaport Tub Toy
Originally made by Illco in the 1980's and reissued by Tyco in the 90's, this was a playset of a seaport that had suction cups to attach it to the side of the bath tub. Three figures in boats were included: Grover in a yellow boat, Ernie in a red boat (both shown above), and Big Bird in a green boat. All the boats are the same shape but made with different colours of hard plastic. The figures are very soft rubber and hollow. Although they are not made of PVC plastic the figures are similar in size to PVC figures. A side view of Grover is shown below.
Tyco Sesame Street Super Blocks
Betty Lou, Cookie Monster, Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch Super Blocks figures by Tyco
The Count and Barkley Super Blocks figures by Tyco
The above figures were originally sold with Sesame Street Super Blocks playsets by Tyco. These figures are hollow and made out of soft rubber similar to a squeeze toy. They are slightly larger than a PVC figure. The bottoms of the figures are shown below.
All of the figures are marked "©1990 Henson Prod." on the bottom except for the Count which is marked "©1992 Henson Prod. / Made in Thailand".
Additional characters included Ernie, Bert, and two different versions of Elmo which were all sold with different block playsets, noted below. Unfortunately a figure of Grover (or Super Grover) was not made for this series, which is a shame as it leaves the set feeling incomplete. It's also quite odd that figures of the Count, Betty Lou and Barkley were made ahead of Grover, as Grover is usually one of the top six characters to be marketed when a series of characters are made. In all, this collection has 10 figures.
In my experience Cookie Monster and Betty Lou are the most common figures in this series to find while the Count is the rarest. The same Betty Lou figure was included with the Cookie's Café playset and the Sesame Playground playset. One of the two Elmo figures shows him holding a teddy bear. This figure was included with three playsets: Nursery School, Sesame Playground, and The Count's Castle. The second figure of Elmo, without the teddy bear, was only sold with Barkley as part of the Pet Shop playset. The figures of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch were sold with the 123 Sesame Street playset, and the same Big Bird figure was also sold with the Farm Stand playset. Ernie and Bert were only available with the Firehouse playset, while Cookie Monster was available in the Cookie's Café playset and the Cookie's Railroad playset. The Count was only available with the Count's Castle playset.
Tyco Sesame Street Super Blocks sets were sold in boxes as well as in large green plastic buckets. At least nine individual playsets were made. The Sesame Street Deluxe set includes the Cookie's Café playset and more (possibly the 123 Sesame Street playset as the Big Bird and Oscar figures are included.). As such, ten different boxed sets were produced:
Farm Stand store playset with Big Bird
Cookie's Railroad playset with Cookie Monster
Nursery School playset with Elmo (with a teddy bear attached as part of the figure)
Pet Shop playset with Elmo (no teddy bear) and Barkley the Dog, 1990
123 Sesame Street with Big Bird (same figure as Farm Stand set) and Oscar the Grouch, 1990
Cookie's Café playset with Cookie Monster and Betty Lou, 1990 (figures shown above)
Firehouse playset with Ernie and Bert, 1990
The Count's Castle playset with The Count (shown above) and Elmo (with teddy bear, same figure as Nursery School set), 1992
Sesame Playground playset with Betty Lou (same figure as Cookie's Café set) and Elmo (with teddy bear, same figure as Nursery School set) 1992
Sesame Street Deluxe playset with Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster and Betty Lou (these are all the same figures that came with the above sets)
Assorted Baby Toys
Tyco Preschool Sesame Street Figures
An assortment of Tyco preschool Sesame Street figures
In the 1990's as Tyco made their usual playsets with Sesame PVC figures that were styled to look like the actual Muppets seen on TV, they simultaneously produced a line of preschool toys and playsets featuring cartoon-like Sesame characters reimagined as toddlers. These PVC figures were made to be slightly larger and thicker than typical Sesame PVC figures. Below are several of the playsets that were made, however this list is not complete.
1) Sesame Street Cottage Playset
Released by Tyco in 1993, this is a house playset that opens up in half and is a carrying case when closed. It has a red roof that is separate from the walls and looks similar to an awning when the playset is open.
Big Bird head is the same size as body, arms flat against tummy, legs together, beak slightly open
Ernie with arms out to sides, legs together wearing blue shorts instead of pants
Elmo With right hand on cheek, left hand on tummy, legs together. This same figure was also available with the Circus playset released by Illco.
2) Sesame Street Nursery Playset
Released by Tyco in 1995, this is a house that folds open in half, hinged at the center. When closed it becomes a carrying case with handles on the roof. Four cartoon-like toddler Sesame figures were included along with accessories such as a crib, baby carriage, high chair, rocking horse, and a slide.
Big Bird wearing a blue bib
Ernie wearing light blue onesie pajamas holding a soother
Bert wearing an orange shirt with green collar and matching shoes
Cookie Monster wearing purple / violet pajamas with a white trim holding a cookie
3) Stack N Play Playsets
Muppet wiki states that these were made in the 1990's. Each set came with a puzzle-like playset and two cartoon like figures of the Sesame characters as toddlers.
Cookie Monster from the Stack N Play Castle playset by Tyco
3a) Stack N' Play Castle
Cookie Monster (shown above)
Elmo dressed as a knight
Horse, brown with beige hair and hooves
3b) Stack N' Play Farm
I have never seen a picture of this playset, so I don't know if it actually exists. I tried to find an image of it through a google search and on ebay but it did not turn up. I'm only including it here as it was listed on Muppet wiki, but I've seen things misidentified on that site before, so this playset is still to be confirmed.
Big Bird
Ernie
Cow
4) Elmo's Toy Shop
Made by Tyco in the 1990's, this is a larger sized ten-piece playset of a store front building that opens up to create a playset inside. It includes three figures, Elmo holding a yellow and blue toy boat in his right hand flat against his body while waving with his left hand, Cookie Monster wearing red shoes (which may actually be roller-skates) with yellow arm bands on each arm, and Ernie wearing blue shorts and holding up a white bunny puppet on his right hand. The other pieces in the set are one-piece solid colour plastic items including a rocking horse, a tricycle, a pile of blocks, a wagon, a toy truck and a toy train, each made with yellow, red, blue, green or pink plastic.
5) Sesame Street School Bus, 1995
Shown above left is the Zoe figure which may have been from the Tyco Sesame School Bus set. I've shown it next to the 1998 Tyco Zoe figure to show the size difference. The school bus figure is somewhat larger.
I wasn't able to confirm for certain where this Zoe figure is from. It seems that at one point it may have been included with a Tyco toy school bus set in 1995, which may have originally been released with three or four Sesame Street figures. In 1996 the set was re-released with only three figures excluding Zoe from the set. I was only able to find a photo of the toy in the box from 1996 which had only three figures, Big Bird, Elmo and Cookie Monster. Yet, numerous photos online show this toy loose out of the box with the Zoe figure as part of the set, so it's possible that this toy set was issued at some point with the Zoe figure replacing one of the original figures, or as an additional figure in the set. If I ever find a photo of the original box that has the Zoe figure I'll update this info to confirm for certain that Zoe does belong in this set.
Big Bird
Cookie Monster
Elmo
Zoe
6) Sesame Street Sub Tub, 1996-97
The above Elmo figure was released by Tyco in a set with a yellow and blue Submarine tub toy that says "S.S. Sesame" on the side. This set included two figures, Elmo (shown above) and Cookie Monster holding a pair of yellow binoculars flat against his chest. These figures are hollow and made with a hard plastic rather than PVC plastic. The set also came with a small green boat styled to look like an inflatable raft. The box for this set has a copyright date listed as "1997, 1996 Tyco Preschool Toys Inc." which suggests that the toy may have been released in 1996 and reissued in 1997.
The submarine toy was later reissued by Mattel under the Fisher-Price brand with "Tub Sub" on the side in place of the "S.S Sesame" name. Three figures came with this set, including different figures of Elmo and Cookie Monster along with a blue and green cartoon-like octopus. The small plastic boat for this set is blue plastic instead of green, plus Elmo and Cookie are wearing purple diving suits with a green mouthpiece. (Prototype photos of the toy show a red boat instead of blue.) The submarine toy opens up to store all of the figures and the small boat inside for storage. I haven't found a year of production for this set but it would have been made after 1997 as Mattel purchased Tyco and rebranded all of their Sesame Street products.
7) Sesame Space Explorers, 1997
This is a series of playsets made by Tyco in 1997. Figures are designed to be cartoon-like toddlers and are made thicker or more solid than typical Sesame PVC figures. All of the characters are wearing space suits. There are two different figures of Ernie and Elmo in this series which has ten figures including the very first PVC figure of the Yip Yip Martin. Sets include:
Ernie space explorer figure from the Space Buggy and One Man Rocket set by Tyco
7a) Space Buggy and One-Man Rocket with Ernie (shown above) and Bert
7b) Flying Saucer and Space Cycle with Grover and Elmo (Elmo is wearing a yellow outfit with green trim)
7c) Lunar Pod and Space Suit with Big Bird and Cookie Monster
7e) Moon Rover Spaceship, a larger sized playset with Ernie, Elmo, Oscar (holding Slimy), and a pink Yip Yip Martian (Ernie is wearing a purple outfit with yellow trim, no sunglasses, Elmo is wearing a yellow outfit with metallic blue trim, Oscar is in a spaceship trash can)
8) Elmo's Radio Control Roadway by Fisher-Price
This is a boxed set similar to a remote control racing car set only in this case there is only one car and instead of racing it does various tasks, such as drive through a car wash, pick up another car and deliver it to another location, and so on. It came with pieces to build the road with, one or two other toy cars that are not remote control, and other accessories.
The set also came with four Sesame figures including Ernie, Cookie Monster (shown above), Elmo, and Big Bird. These figures are hard plastic and hollow. They are marked Henson on the bottom. The box has the Fisher-Prince logo at the bottom right corner. Muppet Wiki states that this set was made in 1999 by Tyco and released by Fisher-Price however I suspect it was made by Mattel and released under their Fisher-Price brand as Mattel had purchased Fisher-Price in 1993.
Tyco/Fisher-Price/Mattel Sesame Street PVC Figures, 1997
The first 12 figures in this set were originally released in 1997 by Tyco. They were packaged individually and in three pack sets with the Tyco logo on the back of the packaging. In 1998 or 1999 Tyco released all 12 figures together in a box set with an additional figure of Snuffleupagus, which is an exclusive figure to the box set. Figures are made with a hard plastic rather than the typical PVC rubber-like material.
According to Wikipedia, Mattel purchased the Fisher-Price company in 1993, and then purchased the Tyco company in 1997. Using the Fisher-Price brand, Mattel re-released 12 of the original Tyco figures (excluding Snuffleupagus) and added seven more new ones to the collection, therefore packaging was changed to show the Fisher-Price logo in place of the Tyco logo. Original figures are marked Tyco on the base while the Fisher-Price released figures are marked Mattel.
The same Cookie Monster and Super Grover figures from this set was reissued a third time in 2009 by Fisher-Price/Mattel, each in a different two pack set with new3 figures of Big Bird and Oscar (noted further below).
30th Anniversary Boxed Set
This 13 figure box set was released by Tyco to celebrate 30 years of the Sesame Street TV series. The set included a large figure of Snuffleupagus which is the first time that a figure of the character was made to be more or less in scale with other Sesame PVC figures. However, as usual for sesame PVC figures, Big Bird is not in scale with the rest of the characters.
Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Super Grover, Oscar the Grouch, Elmo, Zoe, and Baby Bear figures by Tyco/Fisher-Price/Mattel.
Other figures included in the boxed set:
Bert feeding a pigeon that is sitting on his head
Ernie wearing a blue robe/housecoat with white trim holding rubber ducky next to his head, crossing his toes
Count holding his cape open to the side
Prairie Dawn in blue dress, holding her dress with right hand, sanding with legs together, leading to the left
Snuffleupagus, very large figure, holding a head of cabbage with his trunk to his left side
Telly Monster holding an ice cream cone in his left hand, holding his right hand on the side of his face/chin
Ernie wearing a blue robe/housecoat with white trim holding rubber ducky next to his head, crossing his toes
Count holding his cape open to the side
Prairie Dawn in blue dress, holding her dress with right hand, sanding with legs together, leading to the left
Snuffleupagus, very large figure, holding a head of cabbage with his trunk to his left side
Telly Monster holding an ice cream cone in his left hand, holding his right hand on the side of his face/chin
Individually Packaged figures
The above 12 figures were also sold in individual packaging by Tyco (excluding Snuffleupagus) which has a copyright date of 1997. According to Muppet Wiki, Fisher-Price/Mattel reissued those 12 and added the following seven figures to the series in 1999. The seven new figures were only available in individual packaging and are harder to find than the original 12 figures.
However, being harder to find does not make them rare or impossible to find. As such, they are not worth the stupid amounts of money that some ebay sellers would have you believe, especially not without the original packaging. They're vintage mass produced toys, they're not priceless century old antiques! I found the Two-Headed Monster at a thrift store for two or three dollars, which is likely where most ebay sellers of these figures have found theirs!
Elmo holding a puppy
Rosita with both arms raised
Two-Headed Monster (shown below)
Herry Monster holding a monster doll (named Hercules)
Magic Mumford with a rabbit on his head
Baby Natasha on a yellow rocking horse with a blue base
Honker with orange fur, holding his nose, left arm raised
To my knowledge, this is the first time that a figure of Magic Mumford was ever made. (Figures of Elmo, Baby Natasha, Two-Headed Monster and Rosita were previously made by Applause in the early to mid 90's, a Honker figure was first made by Tara Toys in the mid to late 80's, and Herry Monster was first made by Heimo as part of the "Minikins" series in 1974.)
Two-Headed Monster by Tyco/Fisher-Price/Mattel
The Two-Headed Monster figure is marked Tyco on the bottom of the left foot (shown below) which is at odds with the Muppet Wiki info stating that the figure was only released by Fisher-Price/Mattel. If that is the case the figure would have been marked Mattel instead of Tyco. Mattel made the effort to remove the Tyco logo from the bottom of the figures so that they would all be marked Mattel when they reissued them (as seen on the Super Grover figure below), so it would be quite odd of they released the Two-Headed Monster marked with a Tyco logo in a Fisher-Price box. I have seen the Two-Headed Monster figure online in the original bubble card packaging which had the Fisher-Price logo on it. I have yet to see one in a package with the Tyco logo. In any case, this is not the first PVC figure of this character as I had originally thought. The first one was made by Applause as part of a series of characters attached to drinking straws.
This Two-Headed Monster figure is marked Tyco, Super Grover is marked Mattel.
Three pack sets
Along with the individual packaged figures released in 1997, the first 12 Tyco figures were also released in three pack sets that same year. Boxes have a copyright date of 1997.
Super Grover (shown above) with Bert and Ernie
Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch
Elmo, Zoe, Baby Bear
Prairie Dawn
Count
Telly
Fisher-Price/Mattel, 2001
Individual Figures (Rap/Hip Hop Theme)
These figures show the Sesame gang wearing cool outfits which were styled on hip hop / rap music culture at the time. They were sold individually on bubble cards. The Ernie figure from this set (shown above) was reissued by Fisher-Price in 2009 in a two pack set with a figure of Big Bird that is different from this set.
Big Bird standing/walking, wearing blue jacket with red trim, red ball cap backwards, holding a white object (a radio?) under his right arm with Little Bird sitting on it, left hand waiving
Cookie Monster wearing a green shirt with yellow trim, red pants, yellow belt with a cookie buckle, yellow shoes, holding a cookie in his left hand
Elmo standing, wearing rollerblading gear, waiving with right hand, left hand held out to side, feet separated
Ernie (shown above)
Zoe standing, wearing rollerblading gear, toes pointed together, waving with left hand
Elmo's World Playset, 2001
This is a fold open carrying case playset that came with cartoon like PVC figures.
Elmo holding a green crayon in his right hand, legs together
Mr. Noodle (brown hair and moustache, green vest, white sleeves, yellow bow tie, purple pants, blue shoes)
Skateboard green with Muppet eyes
Train with Muppet eyes
Fisher-Price/Mattel, 2008 - 2010
Tummy Stackers, 2008
In 2008 Fisher Price released a set of rather unusual Sesame figures which are flat and round in the middle like a disc, which allows them to be stacked one on top of the other to form a pyramid. The set includes:
Elmo
Ernie
Cookie Monster
Big Bird
Elmo's Farm Playset, 2008
These are hard plastic figures. The farm has a giant stylized Elmo head on it and the silo has a Cookie Monster head. The set came with a tractor. Figures are made to be cartoon like and chunky.
Ernie dressed as a farmer
Cow, solid brown, small body, large head
Pig, solid pink, very large head with ears sticking out
123 Sesame Street Playset, 2009
In 2009 Mattel produced a playset of 123 Sesame Street that included two PVC figures, Elmo and Big Bird.
Big Bird waving with right hand, left hand flat on tummy, standing with legs together, no spaces
Elmo (shown above)
40th Anniversary Two Pack Sets, 2009
The same two figures that came with the above playset were also released in 2009 as part of a series of two pack PVC figure sets. Packaging for this 2 pack series shows a 40th anniversary logo with a photo of Elmo above it.
Big Bird and Ernie
Big Bird, this is the same figure that was sold with the 123 Sesame Street playset from 2009, noted above
Ernie, this is the same figure from the 2001 Fisher-Price "Rap/Hip Hop" figure series (shown above)
Cookie Monster and Elmo
Cookie Monster, this is the same figure from the Tyco 13 figure boxed set from 1998
Elmo, this is the same figure that was sold with the 123 Sesame Street playset from 2009
Oscar the Grouch and Super Grover
Oscar, this figure is almost identical to the figure from the Tyco 13 figure boxed set (shown further above) and three pack sets, however it does not have the apple or shoe at the base of Oscar's trash can, and the lid of the can is rounded around the side of the can without a banana peel on it
Super Grover, this is the same figure from the Tyco 13 figure boxed set
Sesame Street Play Packs, 2010
In 2010 Fisher Price/Mattel released another series of two-pack figure sets. For this series rather than sculpt the fur on Elmo and Cookie Monster's bodies, the figures were left smooth. Each set came with the same Elmo figure and two accessories.
The Elmo figure is pose with his right arm held upward holding a large crayon in his hand, legs are together with no space between them, left arm is flat against his side.
Elmo and Ernie
Ernie is standing with his legs together, no space between legs, waving with his left hand held up to the side of his head, right arm hangs flat against his body.
Accessories are a yellow easel with a drawing of Big Bird on it, and a red wagon
Elmo and Cookie Monster
Cookie Monster is wearing a bakers hat, waving with his left hand held out to his side, right arm flat across his tummy, legs together with no space between them
Accessories are a yellow tray with sculpted cookies on it (cookies are not painted), and a large orange lemonade stand.
Elmo and Abby Caddaby
Abby is waving with her right arm held upwards, sculpted so that it is attached to the side of her head and hair, left arm flat against body and dress, legs together with no space between them.
Accessories are a green bench and a red wagon.
Unknown figure
Oscar and Slimey, front and side view
Oscar with Slimey and three wheels on this trash can, wheels do not move. Figure is marked "Henson/ China" which let's us know that it would have been made in 2000 or earlier since the Jim Henson Company still owned the rights. This also tells us that it is not made by Applause as that company did not mark any of their products in this way. However there is no toy company name marked so it remains a mystery figure. Possibly made by Tyco/Mattel/Fisher-Price as it looks similar to their Oscar figures.