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Friday, September 13, 2024

New Kermit and Sesame Street Funko Pops!!!


Funko has just released a new Pop figure of Kermit, which is the second one they've released this year! Earlier in the year a two pack set of Kermit and Constantine was sold at Hot Topic stores. Now, a figure of Kermit with his coffee mug and his classic frowning face has been made available as an exclusive on the Funko website. Therefore, there are now seven different Funko Pop figures of Kermit:

1) Muppets Kermit, 2012
2) Muppets Kermit, metallic variant
3) Muppets Most Wanted Kermit, 2014 reissue of 2012 Kermit figure (same figure, different box)
4) Superhero Kermit, 2017
5) Muppet Christmas Carol, Kermit as Bob Cratchit with Robin as Tiny Tim, 2023
6) Kermit and Constantine 2 pack, 2024
7) Kermit with coffee mug, 2024

Additionally, two new Sesame Street Funko Pop figures of Elmo have been made available on the Funko website, and a series of four additional Sesame figures is listed as "Coming Soon". The set will include a sixth Elmo figure along with new figures of Big Bird and Cookie Monster. Plus, for the first time we will be able to add a figure of Abby Cadabby to our Sesame Funko Pop collections!!!

The six Elmo figures include:

1) Elmo, 2015
2) Elmo, flocked variant, 2015
3) Elmo on tricycle, 2024
4) Elmo on tricycle, flocked variant, 2024
5) Elmo with Rocco, 2024
6) Elmo with Tango, coming soon!

Click on this link to see a complete list of Jim Henson/Muppets Funko Pop figures! I've put them all together on their own MMMM blog page!!!


Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Tyco Sesame Beans!!!

 

This is the entire collection of 24 "Sesame Beans" made by Tyco in 1997! Technically there are 26 characters in the collection as three variations of the Honker were produced, a green one, a pink one, and a purple one, and as there are several different colours of Honkers on the Sesame Street TV show I count them each separately as different characters to collect. Unfortunately I'm missing the pink one. If Tyco did the same with the Twiddle Bug from this set I would have collected those too! :) There are variations for some of the other characters as well, which I've mentioned below. Let's take a closer look at the whole collection:

Bert and Ernie "Sesame Beans" by Tyco, 1997. 

Big Bird and Cookie Monster "Sesame Beans" by Tyco, 1997. 

Oscar the Grouch (with Slimey) and Grover "Sesame Beans" by Tyco, 1997. 

Elmo and Zoe "Sesame Beans" by Tyco, 1997. 

Rosita and Baby Bear "Sesame Beans" by Tyco, 1997. To my knowledge this was the first plush toy of Baby Bear ever to have been made. The Applause toy company had previously made a plush toy of Rosita.

Two different variations of Telly Monster "Sesame Beans" by Tyco, 1997. One is violet and the other is pink. I found the pink one while in the United States. The hangtags for the Canadian released Beans are different from the US released versions. The US tags have the character's name on the front and an illustration of the character on the back, while the Canadian hangtags don't.

US hangtag with the character's name on the front.

Canadian hangtag without the character's name.

US hangtag with an illustration of the character on the back. The Canadian hangtags don't have the illustration.

Here's a side view of two variations of the Snuffy "Sesame Beans" by Tyco, 1997. The doll itself is the same, the only difference is in the colour of the eyelids, shown below. 

Top view of Snuffy, The one on the left is missing the hangtag.

Variation: Light brown and dark brown eyelids!

Honkers "Sesame Beans" by Tyco, 1997. Two of the three variations, green and purple. The purple one has a US hangtag. I don't know if the green Honker was available in the US or not, as it would require a green Honker for the illustration on the hangtag instead of a purple one. There's also a pink Honker but I don't have that one in my collection, however I have seen a picture of it online with the US hangtag that had the purple Honker illustration on it.

Canadian Honker hangtag at the top and the US hangtag with the character's name on the bottom.

Here's the illustration of the purple Honker on the back of the US hangtag.

The Count and Magic Mumford "Sesame Beans" by Tyco, 1997. This Mumford has a US hangtag. This is the first plush toy of Magic Mumford ever to have been made.

Curiously, they left "Magic" out of his name and just listed it on the hangtag as "Mumford".

Here's the back of the US hangtag with the illustration of Magic Mumford.

Sherlock Hemlock and a Twiddle Bug "Sesame Beans" by Tyco, 1997. Sherlock was also made with a pink nose but I don't have that one in my collection. This was the first plush toy of Sherlock Hemlock ever to have been made. Oddly enough, Sherlock ended up being the biggest Sesame Beans toy in the collection. His hat makes him taller than all the others and his body was made fatter than all the others though I don't know why as he's supposed to have a slim body. That being said, Sherlock is my favourite Sesame Beans toy in the collection. I always liked Sherlock Hemlock, it's a shame they don't use him on the show anymore. The Applause toy company had previously made Twiddle bug plush toys.

Herry Monster and Guy Smiley "Sesame Beans" by Tyco, 1997. This is the very first plush toy of Guy Smiley! The Knickerbocker toy company made the first Herry Monster plush toy back in the mid to late 1970's.

Betty Lou and Baby Natasha "Sesame Beans" by Tyco, 1997.

Barkley and Rubber Duckie "Sesame Beans" by Tyco, 1997. To my knowledge this is the first plush toy of Rubber Duckie ever to have been made. The Applause toy company had previously made a plush toy of Barkley.

Here's the back view of Barkly to show his ears and tail.

Last but not least, Benny Rabbit "Sesame Beans" by Tyco, 1997. This is the first plush toy of Benny ever to have been made.

Sesame Beans Boxed Sets
At least two Sesame Beans boxed sets were released, each with three plush toys. The sets include:

1) Elmo, Oscar, and Zoe
2) Big Bird, Ernie and Cookie Monster

Sesame Beans Giggle Pals

Big Bird and Cookie Monster Sesame Beans Giggle Pals by Tyco, 1997.

In addition to the regular Sesame Beans series Tyco produced three Sesame Bean Giggle Pals which were sold exclusively through Avon. The series includes Big Bird wearing a blue T-shirt with his name in yellow text, Cookie Monster wearing a red T-shirt with his name in blue text, and Elmo wearing a yellow T-shirt with his name in red text. The shirts are removeable with a Velcro opening at the back. I've never seen one of these in person, but I assume they giggle when you squeeze them similar to Tickle Me Elmo which Tyco also produced. 

Sesame Beans Clip-On
A series of Sesame Beans clip on plush toys was also produced in 1997. These have a large plastic clip-on loop attached to the head of the toy. The set includes Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Elmo, Grover, and Zoe.

International Sesame Beans
According to the Muppet Wiki Sesame Beans page, Tyco also released Sesame Beans internationally. In Germany all of the hangtags on the toys have the Sesamstrasse logo and the character's names are all written in German. There is also a Sesame Bean of Samson, a Muppet character who is only seen on Sesamstrasse. The version of the show in China is called Zhima Jie for which Tyco produced a Sesame Bean of Hu Hu Zhu, a blue pig-like Muppet character. I suspect Tyco would have also made a Sesame Bean of Little Plum as well, as they made 24 inch plush toys of both characters. Little Plum is a red Muppet monster with pink hair which she wears in pig tails.

Take Along Huggers

Oscar the Grouch, Grover, and Ernie

Fisher-Price produced a series of Sesame Street "Take Along Huggers" plush toys in 1998 which were the same size and looked very much like Sesame Beans plush toys. Mattel had purchased both Fisher-Price and Tyco Toys in the 90's, so in my view these are essentially a continuation of the Sesame Beans series. These are clip on figures, when the tummy is squeezed the arms open and can be clipped onto something. The dolls range in size from 6 to 7 inches tall. Their heads are sewn on facing to the right. Cookie Monster, Elmo, and Big Bird were also made as part of this series.

Mini Sesame Beans: Kellogg's promotion, 2002
In 2002, five years after the release of the original 24 Sesame Beans, a miniature set of 24 Sesame beans were produced as a promotion for Kellogg's cereal in the United States. In addition to the mini plush toys a wall hanging with pockets for each character was made available as part of the promotion. In Canada the mini plush toys were available in toy vending machines packaged in clear plastic balls. Each mini plush toy has a mini hangtag with an illustration of the character on it. 

Sesame Mini Beans: Grover, Elmo, Snuffleupagus, and Big Bird plush toys made in 2002.

Sesame Mini Beans: Benny Rabbit, Sherlock Hemlock, and Twiddle Bug plush toys made in 2002.

Sesame Mini Beans: Herry Monster, Guy Smiley, and Sherlock Hemlock plush toys made in 2002.

In Canada Sesame Mini Beans plush toys were sold through coin operated vending machines. Each plush toy came in a clear plastic ball as shown above.

Here's Herry Monster's manufacturers tag which has cleaning instructions and then says "Produced exclusively for Kellogg's by Creata Promotion". The other side of the tag says "Herry / Monster / © Jim Henson Company / Made in China"

Mini Sesame Beans: McDonalds's promotion, 2002

McDonald's Restaurants also sold a series of Sesame Mini Beans in 2002. Above is Zoe, Rosita and Cookie Monster, below is the Count. The manufacturer tags on these mini push are different from the Kellogg's series.

On the left is the 5 inch tall Sesame Mini Beans plush of the Count made by McDonalds in 2002. I've shown it next to the regular sized Sesame Beans Count, which is 7 inches tall and was made by Tyco in 1997.

Here is the manufacturers tag which says "Mfg for McDonald's Corp. Made in China" with the Happy Meal logo. The other side of the tag has the Sesame Street sign logo and "The Count / © 2002 Sesame Workshop"

Wishful thinking???
There are many other Sesame characters from that era that could have been included in the Sesame Beans series. It would have been amazing if a second series of 25 to 30 characters was made, including: Super Grover, Grundgetta, Forgetful Jones, Clementine, Buster the Horse, Two-Headed Monster, Frazzle, Little Bird, Roosevelt Franklin, Gladys the Cow, Pink Yip Yip Alien, Blue Yip Yip Alien, Sam the Robot, Prairie Dawn, Biff, Sully, Lefty the Salesman, Hoots the Owl, Alice Snuffleupagus, Father Twiddle Bug (Fat Blue), Mother Twiddle Bug (Light Pink), Orange Twiddle Bug and Dark Pink Twiddle Bug (siblings), Farley (green boy Muppet), Harvey Monster, Blue Honker, Orange Honker, Dinger, Herbert Birdsfoot, Harvey Kneeslapper, Rodeo Rosie, Little Jerry and the Monotones, Little Chrissy and the Alphabeats, Countess Von Backwards, Kingston Livingston III, Segi, and the Busby Twins!

Characters that have been created since then would also be amazing to have as part of the sesame beans collection, such as Abby Cadabby, Gonnigan, Blogg, Rudy, Gabrielle, Tamir, Julia, Murray, TJ, Ji-Young, Wes, Elijah, Tango, and Gonger in baker outfit along with Cookie Monster in baker outfit. So there's easily another 50 Sesame characters that could be added to the collection!


Text and Photos copyright Mikey Artelle

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

McDonald's Muppet Babies PVC Figures

 

The first series of McDonalds PVC Figures from 1986.

In 1986 McDonald's restaurants sold Muppet Babies PVC figures that came with removable vehicles. The set included Baby Kermit, Baby Piggy, Baby Fozzie, and Baby Gonzo. These toys proved to be extremely popular in their day, so much so that within a year (in '86 or '87) McDonald's reissued them and added Baby Animal to the set. According to Muppet Wiki Baby Animal was only available in Canada. However the Muppet Wiki information is inaccurate as it states that there were only two sets of figures released in North America when there are in fact three. Muppet Wiki also states that Baby Animal was included with the first release of the figures however that is not the case. He was not released until the second go around when the toys were reissued.

The Muppet Wiki page also claims that the Canadian Baby Gonzo figure was barefoot and the American Baby Gonzo had shoes. This is also inaccurate as the figure with no shoes is from the first series and the figure with shoes is from the second series. Both figurers were sold in Canada therefore the figure with shoes is not exclusive to the United States. As I live in Ontario, Canada I don't know if the figure without shoes was sold in the US or not. Although this second "reissued" set appeared to be the same toys as the first series, they were in fact slightly different re-sculpts of the figures. I've shown comparisons of all the figures further below. In 1990 McDonald's offered a third set of Muppet Babies figures, however this time a completely new set of figures and vehicles was produced.

fourth set of Muppet Babies toys was issued in 1993 but it was only available at McDonalds restaurants in Europe. This set featured the same four characters. Fozzie Bear is attached to his vehicle which I suspect is a friction toy. I'm not certain if the other figures could be removed from their vehicles or not. The vehicles were reused from the Garfield and Hanna-Barbera series of toys that had previously been released in North America, but made in different colours.

The second series of McDonalds PVC Figures from 1986 or '87 with the addition of Baby Animal.

This is a large pin button that staff at McDonalds restaurants wore to promote the return of the Muppet Babies figures, which is why the button says "They're Back" at the top. Baby Animal is featured in the front of the other figures because he was a new addition to the set. The button is dated 1986 which suggests that the second series was available in '86 rather than '87.

Here are 3 of the 4 paper inserts that came in the baggies with the figures. They're dated 1986. The same inserts were used for the first and second series. On the far left is Baby Piggy from the second release in an unopened baggie. Below is the opposite side to show the toy still in the bag. 

Series 2 Baby Piggy in an unopened baggie. The insert card is dated 1986.

The third series of McDonalds PVC Figures from 1990.

Here are the inserts for the third series of Muppet Babies figures which are dated 1990.

Each of the vehicles from the third series was made with a pivot joint at the center that allows the vehicle to turn left or right. However, this feature doesn't work very well when the figure is sitting on the vehicle because it either knocks the figure off or cannot be turned with the figure in place, depending on which vehicle it is. All of the vehicles can be hooked together to form a train.

All three of the Baby Kermit figures, L to R: series 1, series 2 and series 3

The series 1 figure is slightly smaller than the series 2 figure. Series 1 has smaller irises than series 2, and series 2 has the irises painted more toward the top of the eye. The red inside the mouth is lighter for series 1 and the blue necktie detail is painted to be thinner. Series 3 Kermit is sitting rather than standing. Below is the side view.

You can see that Kermit's foot for series 1 is quite smaller than series 2, as is the whole figure.

All three of the Baby Piggy figures, L to R: series 1, series 2 and series 3
All three figures are in a sitting position which can make them confusing to identify.

The shape of Baby Piggy's face and the bow on her head is quite different between the series 1 and series 2 figures. The series 3 figure is much larger than the others and the feet are wider apart which prevents the figure from fitting into the pink car. Only series 1 and 2 figures can fit in the car. 

Side view

The bows on Baby Piggy's head are quite different on all three figures. 
Series 1 Piggy doesn't have a bow on her back.

All three of the Baby Fozzie figures, L to R: series 1, series 2 and series 3

Series 1 and series 2 figures appear to be identical in size and shape, however a closer look shows that the feet are shaped differently. The series 1 figure also has deeper lines on the cheeks to accent his smile. The series 1 figure has larger dots on the bowtie while the irises on the series 2 figure are larger and closer together. The series 3 figure is sitting rather than standing. 

Side view

All three of the Baby Gonzo figures, L to R: series 1, series 2 and series 3
All are in a sitting position which makes them more complicated to identify.

The series 1 figure is the easiest to identify because it's the only one without shoes and the strands of hair are bigger. Series 2 and series 3 figures are shaped quite differently and the third figure is much larger than the others.

Side view

Baby Animal and his wagon from series 2. Both are marked 1986.

Side view

In 1986 when series 1 was available, McDonalds produced two PVC figures for younger children who could not play with the regular toys due to the small pieces. The above figure of Baby Kermit on roller-skates is one of these figures, the other figure is Baby Piggy on roller-skates which I don't have. I assume these figures would have also been reissued with series 2.

In 1994 McDonalds released a series of toys under the title "All Time Favourites" which included a variety of licensed characters that had previously been featured in their own McDonalds toy series. Each character was presented as a toy that could be hooked together to form a 15 car train set. Baby Kermit and Baby Piggy were featured on toy number 11 from the set. Above is the toy in a sealed baggie next to one that is loose. When the toy is rolled forward Kermit and Piggy spin around. The base that they are on is designed to look like a record player.

The toy has five wheels on the bottom. The wheel in the center is the one that makes the figures spin around.

The complete "All Time Favourites" train set.

The 15 characters in this series include:
1 Ronald McDonald
2 Barbie
3 Hot Wheels
4 E.T.
5 Sega Genesis with Sonic the Hedgehog
6 Little Mermaid
7 101 Dalmatians
8 Cabbage Patch Kids
9 Tonka Truck
10 Berenstain Bears
11 Baby Kermit and Baby Piggy
12 Snoopy
13 Animaniacs
14 Bugs Bunny
15 McDonalds Happy Meal Guys: Hamburger, Fries and Soft Drink