The Muppet Fan's Muppet Collection Chronicle is brought to you by our good friends at Muppet Stuff! Like them on Facebook for photos and information on Muppet merchandise both new and old. If you would like to submit your Muppet collection for use on our site, email it to us at muppetmindset@gmail.com or muppetsstuff@gmail.com. Now join us in enjoying the AMAZING collection of our friend Peter Valentin!
Peter Valentin - Hi Guys, Peter Valentin here, a life long Muppet Fan and Collector from Australia. I grew up with the Muppets, starting with Sesame Street as it began and followed the Muppets to their own show and subsequent Muppet family spin offs like Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, etc. I am now in my late forties and still just as facinated with them. I have a huge Muppet Memorabilia Collection which I would like to share with you. I have a lot of figures and even neat props.
From The Muppets' Wizard Of Oz, the storybook that opened and closed the movie and the Oz For Dummies book.
Custom Gonzo plumbing truck statue
Head casts of Miss Piggy, Statler, and Waldorf. They are the only 3 characters
that used molds.
A walk-around Miss Piggy head from a Muppet live-costume show.
An unfinished Gonzo head.
A background frog photo puppet.
A pair of Miss Piggy's shoes.
A replica Doozer.
Jim Henson bust and Dark Crystal toys.
Model of the alien spaceship from Muppets From Space, Golden Gonzo statue, Croonchy Stars box and Swedish Chef doll.
One of my favorite Muppets is the venerable Fozzie Bear.I have nearly every Fozzie figure ever made(excluding Plush).
The pride of my Collection is....(drumroll) Mister Fozzie Bear himself! This is a photo puppet actually used for many Muppet photo shoots. It's really Fozzie!
I hope you enjoyed seeing my Collection as much as I do!
Thanks to our friend Peter Valentin for submitting these amazing photos! Send us YOUR Muppet collection photos to have them featured here!
Julia Gaskill - I haven't been a part of the
Muppet fandom for very long, but it's fair to say I've accumulated quite a lot
of Muppet memorabilia thus far. It's enough that if my house was being robbed,
the burglar would certainly stop in their tracks upon reaching my room and say, "Wow. Someone must REALLY like the Muppets." And at the same time, I think I
still have a bit more collecting to do before I can finally stand tall and
proud as a Muppet fan.
Anyway, here's my collection of
Muppety goodness.
Items that are not displayed
below that I also own: the wonderful Muppet Show poster that Jamie Carroll
designed (still needs a frame), the four finger puppets that came with The
Muppets DVD/Bluray (no clue where I put them), and my singing Beaker
Christmas tree ornament.
These little guys--and that
little book--decorate the top of my desk. Much thanks to my friend, Cory, who
gifted me with most of these at the tail end of last year.
This is the part of my room I've
entitled The Muppet Corner. I have a Muppet parody poster of Forrest Gump
("Green is as Green does") and a Muppet parody calendar as well. That is also a
signed picture from Caroll Spinney (and Big Bird) in the middle. (Below the
picture is a doodle of Gonzo I did and my six tickets from seeing The Muppets
in theaters).
Here are my four Muppet plushies,
which are great for cuddles.
My four Muppet T-shirts. Two were
bought last year during the Muppet contest on Threadless, one from Target, and
I still have no idea where my brother found me that amazing Gonzo shirt.
My more obscure Muppet apparel.
The Kermit beanie's pretty easy to come by, but the Kermit skirt most certainly
isn't, seeing as a friend made it for me for my last birthday. The Gonzo onesie
pjs were purchased at Spencer's and are so very, very comfortable.
My Muppet DVDs are the only part
of my collection that I feel a bit ashamed about. It's hard to motivate
yourself to go buy more DVDs when: A) all the shows and movies are available
via Netflix/youtube, and B) you are a broke college student.
My Henson related books. I love
all of them.
The Muppets poster!
Some cardboard cutouts promoting The
Muppets that a friend snagged from his Wal-Mart job. They've sadly been
residing in my closet for the time being, as I have absolutely no where to put
them (and I'm pretty sure my cat would shred them to pieces if given the
opportunity).
Probably the most random thing
I've ever owned. I found this computer game at The Dollar Tree last month. I've
yet to play it.
Finally, an actual feather from
Big Bird's costume. A friend who interned at Sesame Workshop swiped it for me a
while back. It may very well be the most wonderful thing I own.
And that's everything
Muppet/Henson related that I have in my possession! Hopefully once I stop being
a broke college student the collection can grow even larger... but for the time
being, I think I'll stick to spending my money on food and rent.
Special thanks to Julia for sending pictures of her delightful collection! Submit YOUR Muppet Fan Collections to Ryan Dosier at muppetmindset@gmail.com or Chris Stulz at MuppetStuff@gmail.com.
Today we're revamping one of our most popular series here on The Muppet Mindset. Our Muppet Fan's Muppet Collection Chronicleis now sponsored by fellow Muppet fan page Muppet Stuff, a Facebook page for all things Muppet merchandise! Check it out! But Chris Stulz, owner/operator of Muppet Stuff, has partnered with us to bring all the fun of Muppet fans' Muppet collections! Submit yours to Ryan Dosier at muppetmindset@gmail.com or to Chris at muppetsstuff@gmail.com.
Joe Vassalotti - When my
wife and I bought our first home last summer, she allowed me to take
control of the "man cave." I didn't need much time to think about what
my plans would be for the basement. Could I have decorated it in
memorabilia of my favorite sports teams–the Pittsburgh Penguins or
Pittsburgh Steelers–or my alma mater: Penn State? Sure, I could have,
and it would have been a typical man cave. But the first thought I had
was about having Statler and Waldorf watch over our shoulders and heckle
our choices of entertainment on our television, which often features
some sort of Muppetness.
And
from there, the basement took on a life of its own as it became the
Muppets' basement. My mom was able to paint Statler and Waldorf, so we
hung them up behind our couch. She was also able to paint Gobo and Red,
who are placed in a part of the basement that isn't in main view.
I
gathered all my Muppet memorabilia, and my wife and I got shelves to
showcase it all. I took stuff that came from my childhood and stuff I've
collected over the years. We even used some former calendars to turn
them into posters.
The
basement has Muppet goodness everywhere you turn, making it the most
welcoming and comforting place in the whole house. You can’t be in a bad
mood as you walk down the stairs and the first thing you see is Kermit
smashing a guitar.
Special thanks to Joe for sharing his awesome collection with us! You can follow Joe on Twitter for some awesome tweets @Muppetational.
Awhile back we told you that our friend Rocco Fonzarelli (which still is not his legal last name) got to puppeteer for musician Jill Scott's latest music video along with veteran Muppeteer Bruce Lanoil. Well, the music video is finally online and you can check out our pal Rocco's dynamite work for yourself! (He's performing the Rokko Whatnot Muppet, Bruce Lanoil performs the weasel.) Watch it below!
Another one of our good friends, Sesame Workshop's Louis Henry Mitchell, recently created some awesome chalk drawings for the 8th floor of Sesame Workshop's offices. He made chalk renditions of Elmo, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Grover, and Big Bird on the walls and they are truly beautiful. (See an in-progress drawing at right.) Sesame Workshop was awesome enough to put a Making Of article up on their website written by Louis. It's very, very cool to hear about the creative process and even more cool to see pictures of our buddy Louis hard at work. Congrats, Louis!!
Next year is 2013, and by all mathematical calculations, that means that Fraggle Rock will be turning 30 next year. The Jim Henson Company has decided to celebrate in style with a whole myriad of exciting high-end and affordable products being made available for the 30th anniversary. Perhaps the most exciting offering is A DESIGN CONTEST they're running where fan artists can design products for the 30th anniversary. The winning design not only gets produced for the product line, but the winning artist receives a private tour of The Jim Henson Company and attendance to Fraggle Rock's 30th anniversary party, a framed copy of their artwork, a feature on henson.com, and $2,500. So to all you Muppet fan artists out there... get to designing!! Designs must be submitted by June 20th and voting lasts from June 21-June 28, with a winner declared July 12th.
Over on Facebook, our friend Chris Stulz has started a brand new fan page for Muppet collectibles, aptly named Muppet Stuff. Chris plans to share Muppet collection photos, new Muppet merchandise and where to get it, and highlighting some old Muppet merchandise as well. Already there have been some fun posts to enjoy, so head on over to Facebook and "Like" Muppet Stuff!
Finally, over on Twitter, Muppet writer and keeper of the flame at The Jim Henson Legacy and Jim Henson Company, Craig Shemin, posted an incredible video of legendary Muppeteer Jerry Nelson recording the tune "Get Yourself Free Happy Little Song" from his incredible album Truro Daydreams. (If you don't own Truro Daydreams yet that must be amended immediately... head over to CDBaby.com/NelsonJerry right now and buy a copy--you'll never regret it.) The video is marvelous and it's such a joy to watch Jerry sing. Check it out below:
