Ryan Dosier - We're back again with the next installment of our Muppet Halloween Costume Spooktacular series, where we put a snarky spin on this year's crop of Muppet and Sesame Street Halloween costumes! Don't forget to
check out Part 1 before reading on... or just read on, it doesn't really matter.
"SASSY" TUTU ANIMAL, KERMIT, AND MISS PIGGY COSTUMES - $49.99 (each)
LIKENESS - ...Huh? What? Did somebody say something? I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention. I was... definitely not staring at these girls. Just the costumes. Yes. Very professionally just looking at the costumes. Anyway... there's no real likeness here (although props to the Piggy costume for including gloves, pearls, and pig ears--and to that girl for pulling it off so perfectly), but despite the lack of likeness I'm still all about these costumes... for some reason.
1 STAR
FUN FACTOR - I'm choosing to abstain from answering this one with a number... but yes, fun could definitely be had.
N/A
SCARE FACTOR - Shockingly enough, I actually
am scared of these. Not the costumes, per se, but if I ever saw a girl looking like that, wearing this, I would be so scared and intimidated that my head might explode. So... yeah. Spooky.
3 STARS
ADULT SWEDISH CHEF COSTUME - $49.99
LIKENESS - Wow! Color me impressed! Quite frankly, I'm blown away by the effort some company somewhere put into this awesome costume.
Honestly, it's perfect. The combination of the nose, mustache, and eyebrows really, really sells this. It's hilarious and everything about the outfit is really well thought out and well done.
5 STARS
FUN FACTOR - SO much fun can be had with this! Gosh, I'm just imagining someone wearing this and carrying around a stuffed chicken and sputtering mock Swedish nonsense. Perfect.
5 STARS
SCARE FACTOR - If this costume came with the Swedish Chef's famous blunderbuss or penchant to cook anything that moves, then I would up the scare factor... but alas, it does not.
2 STARS
ADULT BEAKER COSTUME - $49.95
LIKENESS - Wow. Again, PERFECT likeness. That mask is truly incredible. Why has it taken this long to get such a wonderful Beaker mask?! This is amazing. Also, HUGE bonus points for the gloves with only four fingers on them, a detail that no one asked for but make this costume that much more excellent.
5 STARS
FUN FACTOR - This costume would be a lot more fun if there was a Bunsen Honeydew costume to go along with it... but I guess for that all you need is a bald friend to paint his head lime green. Get on that, people who buy this costume! Even by itself, though, this costume is a ton of fun. I know I would absolutely go around the whole night meeping.
5 STARS
SCARE FACTOR - It is scary to think that everything bad happens to Beaker, so perhaps everything bad will happen to the person in the Beaker costume as well... maybe keep your distance from someone if you see them wearing this near anything sharp or flammable.
2 STARS
ADULT KERMIT THE FROG COSTUME - $49.95
LIKENESS - In the past, I've been very much opposed to giant head costumes like this... but for some reason, this one really works for me. I love the spindly-fingered globes, the facial expression is great (even though the man's face peeking out of the mouth is horrifying), and the collar is excellent. I don't really understand why this doesn't come with green pants and green, fuzzy flipper slippers... but beggars can't be choosers, I suppose.
4 STARS
FUN FACTOR - This costume makes a perfect couples costume. Kermit and Piggy are always a hit at Halloween parties (I assume, I've never experienced any of these in person), and with a costume that looks this surprisingly good, you'll get some compliments! Also... you can't not have fun if you wave your arms around and go "Yaaaaaaaaay!!" just like Kermit.
4 STARS
SCARE FACTOR - I will admit... the man's head looking out of Kermit's mouth freaks me out. It looks like Kermit was aiming to catch a fly and caught this dude with his tongue instead. DON'T SWALLOW, KERMIT!!
3 STARS
ADULT KERMIT, FOZZIE BEAR, AND GONZO COSTUME KITS - $50.00 (each)
LIKENESS - AHHHH!!! NO!! BURN IT!! What... why... these are just horrendously awful. Especially Kermit and Fozzie. Kermit's head is a bulbous mass of weird and Fozzie looks like a bad semi-truck accident. And then there's Gonzo... with his droopy eye, this floppy nose, and chili pepper shirt, there's not much more that could go wrong with that costume. Good lord. This also begs the question... WHO would pay $50 to wear THESE?!
1 STAR
FUN FACTOR - Nope. Nuh uh. No fun to be had here. Unless you're burning these costumes with fire. Or acid. Then you'll have a bang-up time. Otherwise these are just hideous creatures you want to flee from before they ingest you like the poor saps already inside.
0 STARS
SCARE FACTOR - Yup. All about the scary here! Not only does it look like your favorite Muppets have been skinned and worn as battle symbols... but they're also just awful, awful costumes. Gonzo especially. Ugh. I hate that Gonzo. Even the guy inside these costumes looks miserable!!
4 STARS
THE MUPPETS FOZZIE BEAR COSTUME - $35.00
LIKENESS - Now see, costume makers, THIS is how Fozzie Bear looks! Honestly, this is the best Fozzie costume I've ever seen. I'm pretty impressed. Maybe it's just lingering horrors of the previous Fozzie costume... but this is not bad at all. The mask is fantastic, the tie is perfect, and the gloves are four-fingered! Accuracy! I really love this. Well done, costume makers!
4 STARS
FUN FACTOR - Ahh! So, what did the pharaoh say when he got scared? I want my MUMMY! Ahhh! Get it? Wocka! Wocka! See? FUN. Even more fun can be had if you bring a pie to throw in someone's (or your own) face.
5 STARS
SCARE FACTOR - I guess if you got cornered by this mask in a dark alley it could be kind of/totally freaky. But mostly this is just good ol' Fozzie, the least scary bear on the planet! (Except maybe Winnie the Pooh.)
2 STARS
THE MUPPETS ANIMAL COSTUME - $35.00
LIKENESS - Huh. This costume works too! Don't you costume making people know that I can't be as snarky if the costumes actually look good?! The mask is surprisingly great, the torn clothes are wonderful, the orange arms are nice, and again the four-fingered gloves seal the deal. Even though Animal has never worn a shirt that looks anything like that... this is still a wonderful likeness.
4 STARS
FUN FACTOR - Oodles of fun could be had with this one! Just don't chase around the girls in the first costumes shouting "WANT WOMAN!!" That might not end well for you. However, if you can get four other friends to dress as the rest of the Electric Mayhem, send me a picture and I'll say, "You win!" (Which sounds great, but really mans nothing.)
5 STARS
SCARE FACTOR - Unless you're one of the aforementioned girls being chased by someone in this costume... scare factor is relatively low.
2 STARS
Well, that's it for this week's edition of the Muppet Halloween Costume Spooktacular 2012! Come back again next Tuesday when we look at
Sesame Street costumes for kids! Including this one below, which I like to call "Mitt Romney's Granddaughter Loses Her Inheritance":
The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com
Speaking of WWE, earlier this week we received the exciting news that the Muppets are returning to the wrestling show next month as part of WWE's "Tribute to the Troops" holiday special. TV By the Numbers confirmed the news and has a press release about the event. The Muppets will appear in the special which will be broadcast on USA Network on December 19th as a two hour event and on December 22nd on NBC as a one hour event. So be prepared for some more Muppet wrestling madness!
Earlier this week it was announced that D23, the Official Disney Fan Club, would be hosting a Muppet meet up event later this month. Kermit the Frog and Pepe the King Prawn will be live and in person at the Times Square Disney Store in New York City on November 27th! Unfortunately, advance tickets were only available to D23 members and sold out extremely fast. However, you can read all about the upcoming event on the D23 website and I'm sure we'll have plenty of details about the meet up after it happens. I know for a fact that our friends Joe Hennes and Ryan Roe from ToughPigs will be at the event, so at the very least they'll have some cool pictures and stories to share. 
The Muppet Domination continues as we move into March. With the March 20th release of The Muppets on Blu-ray/DVD, we're sure to see Muppets all over the spectrum once again as the promote the heck out of the release and try to get people to buy it. The first of these appearances that we've found out about comes on Wednesday, March 14th, when Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy will be appearing on ABC's The View. The show even features cameo-haver in The Muppets Whoopi Goldberg! So watch and be prepared for all the fun of Kermit and Piggy on TV again! 
Yesterday, The Muppets Studio and Wal-Mart released a promotional video starring The Swedish Chef, which features the Chef preparing mini, edible Swedish Chef's alongside someone named Shannon McCook. (Chef and McCook? Sounds like a crime drama series in which the two lead detectives also make food.) The video is pretty funny, plus it doesn't feature Angel from "The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora," so it's automatically decent. Unfortunately, the video can't be embedded yet, but you can watch for yourself by clicking these words that aren't the same color as the others.
Way back in June of 2010, it was announced that the Muppets would be receiving their very own star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard. Well, the date for this star has finally been revealed thanks to WalkofFame.com: March 20th! Yes, on the same day that The Muppets comes out on Blu-ray/DVD, the Muppets will be on Hollywood Boulevard for a special ceremony of presentation as the star is placed in the sidewalk. Guest speakers include Walt Disney Studios President Rich Ross, The Jim Henson Company CEO Lisa Henson, and Jason Segel. It seems impossible for some Muppets not to be there for the ceremony as well. My guess is Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, Scooter, Rowlf, and Walter. Maybe Pepe. Maybe all of them? Who the heck knows. But there are always tons of people there recording the proceedings, so we non-Hollywood Muppet fans will have plenty of opportunities to see the ceremony!
Performed by...
The Swedish Chef is one of the most popular Muppet characters, well known for his indecipherable language, referred to as "Mock Swedish," and for cooking up dishes that were made from false ingredients or live animals (see: Chocolate Moose, Chick-ee in the Bask-ee, etc.). On The Muppet Show, The Swedish Chef hosted his own series of sketches in which he cooked and was usually foiled by his own methods or his own ingredients.
In his first appearance in The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence pilot, The Swedish Chef's schtick was pretty much solidified. He appeared in a three-part sketch in the pilot where he prepared a sandwich with fixings including a rubber chicken. Eventually the sandwich flies away, but the Chef shoots it down with a gun. The main difference in this first sketch that changed when The Muppet Show came along was some odd Chinese subtitles that accompanied the Chef's dialogue. This joke apparently only proved funny once, so it was dropped after the pilot.
The Swedish Chef sketches were quite formulaic, yet each one was extremely different. In one sketch, The Swedish Chef could be making pressed duck with a real duck, and in the next he could be shot up and intimidated by lobster banditos. On a few occasions, The Muppet Show's guest stars participated in the Chef's sketches, including Cleo Laine who sang "You're Just in Love" while the Chef made salad and Danny Kaye who played The Swedish Chef's uncle. More often than not the Chef is unsuccessful with his cooking, but every once in awhile he completes his dish and survives the sketch.
Throughout the run of The Muppet Show, The Swedish Chef appeared dozens of times preparing various meals. He also appeared multiple times backstage, onstage, and in other areas outside of his own sketch. The Chef notably dished on rumors to Fleet Scribbler, admitted that he speaks "Mock Japanese" to Jean Stapleton, and, most notably of all, sang "Danny Boy" as part of The Leprechaun Brothers trio consisting of Animal, Beaker, and the Chef himself. 
The Swedish Chef has also appeared in almost every major Muppet project since The Muppet Show, including every feature film. In The Muppet Movie, The Swedish Chef ran the movie projector for the Muppets' private screening. He made steering wheel souffle from Beauregard's taxi cab in The Great Muppet Caper. During the "Manhattan Melodies" finale of The Muppets Take Manhattan, The Swedish Chef sang a line in the song "Somebody's Getting Married" and prepared the wedding cake for Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. He appeared briefly in both The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island, both times with talking vegetables. In Muppets From Space, the Chef tries to make raspberry flapovers, but fails after his oven explodes. In The Muppets, the Chef appears mostly in the background, but can be seen hugging a group of chickens after Tex Richman wins the Muppet Theater.
Other notable appearances by The Swedish Chef outside The Muppet Show include trying to cook Big Bird in A Muppet Family Christmas, preparing tofu turkey in A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa, Muppet viral videos such as "Stars and Stripes FOREVER!," "Habanera," "Cårven Der Pümpkîn," "Carol of the Bells," and his starring role in "Pöpcørn."
The Swedish Chef has also appeared in numerous books, video games, and on countless pieces of merchandise. In fact, in 1988, The Swedish Chef received his own brand of cereal called Cröonchy Stars. Since then, the Chef has appeared on t-shirts, in doll, toy, and action figure form. A full-size playset of The Swedish Kitchen was released around Series 2 of Palisades Toys Muppet action figure line. Oddly enough, no Swedish Chef kitchen utensils or dishware has ever been released commercially. Perhaps no one wants to cook like The Swedish Chef.
The Swedish Chef has become a crucial part of the Muppet cast and it seems impossible to imagine the Muppets without him. But why do they need him? Great question. He can't cook. By all accounts none of the others can understand him. Yet still, he belongs. Perhaps it is because he persists that he belongs. Like any Muppet, The Swedish Chef does not give up, no matter how many times he may fail. He has never prepared a dish completely successfully, yet he still keeps cooking.
But also like any Muppet, The Swedish Chef's most important quality is his humor. The Chef can entertain an audience like almost no other, and the audience consistently appreciates it. The Muppets need The Swedish Chef because he represents their never say die attitude and their make 'em laugh approach to entertainment. Because, really, that's the Chef's primary goal: make 'em laugh (and cook 'em if they don't).
STATLER & WALDORF (Statler & Waldorf) return to the balcony in Disney's "The Muppets" as feisty and curmudgeonly as ever. These two old hecklers let the insults fly—as well as serving an important public service. "We didn't want to be in the movie," explains Statler, "but we felt it was our duty." Adds Waldorf, "Yeah, somebody's got to warn the rest of the audience what they're in for." 
THE SWEDISH CHEF (The Swedish Chef) is behind some rather combustible culinary creations in Disney's "The Muppets," especially after he discovers a long forgotten refrigerator in the rundown Muppet Studios. 
DR. BUNSEN HONEYDEW & BEAKER (Dr. Bunsen Honeydew & Beaker) are still hard at work in Muppet Labs—where their latest invention shrinks poor Beaker ("The Muppet Show") to pocket size. Undeterred by this diminutive debacle, Beaker fortunately returns to normal size to complete his latest big-screen appearance, all with the help of his mentor and boss, the legendary Dr. Bunsen Honeydew ("The Muppet Show").
SAM THE EAGLE (Sam the Eagle) lends his patriotic disdain to Disney's "The Muppets" in a heroic effort to add dignity to the telethon's opening musical number and spirit to the barbershop quartet. 
ROWLF THE DOG (Rowlf) isn't exactly tough to track down in Disney's "The Muppets." Kermit and the gang fetch the piano-playing dog from a cozy hammock and convince him to return to the stage. And, it turns out, Rowlf's ("The Muppet Movie," TV's "The Muppet Show') unique canine musical sensibilities prove perfect for the all-Muppet barbershop quartet.
SCOOTER (Scooter) takes the threat to Muppet Studios in Disney'’s "The Muppets" to heart. "I'm stage manager of the Muppet Theater," explains Scooter. "I try to help Kermit save the studio, 'cause without a theater and stage, there's really not much for a stage manager to do."
DR. TEETH AND THE ELECTRIC MAYHEM BAND (Dr. Teeth, Floyd Pepper, Janice, Zoot & Animal) rock the house, shake the foundations and do both major and minor structural damage with their funky, heavy rockin' musical sounds. And even though Animal has allegedly sworn off drumming in exchange for a more peaceful existence, Dr. Teeth, Floyd, Janice and Zoot have other ideas in mind for their legendary drummer—all of which lead to a seriously rockin' rendition of "Rainbow Connection."
Dr. Teeth highly recommends Disney's "The Muppets." "If you see only one movie," he says, "this is absotively, possolutely the one to see! And if you see two movies this year, I'd recommend goin' to see this one twice. We need the gig, you dig?" 
