Peanuts Halloween poseable figures preview: Take a look at what is BREWING…
Author: JamieH
The witch has been a part of folklore since… well, it goes way back… to um… Okay, I’m no historian but I know there were witches in Greek mythology. Maybe they started there but the idea of a witch has been around for along time. When someone says “witch” a mental picture comes to mind, a creepy old crooked lady bent over a bubbling caldron with a pointy hat with its wide brim. She always has her trusty flying broom by her side. Well, that’s what I see anyway.
So building on our theme for this year’s Peanuts Halloween poseable figures, we have Lucy as a witch. I hope she doesn’t take that as an insult. In fact I’m sure she won’t as she appeared in the famous cartoon special dressed as a witch of sorts. The mask she wore in that special reminds me of the masks I used to where for Halloween. Oddly enough, I went out as a witch at least twice, both times in those old vinyl suits with the vacuformed plastic masks. Ah, the good ol’ days.
Keep an eye out for Lucy as a witch this coming Halloween.
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47 Responses to “Peanuts Halloween poseable figures preview: Take a look at what is BREWING…”Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
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September 16th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
When will these be showing up at CVS stores?
September 26th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
So are the 3 Halloween deluxe Snoopy’s cancelled now? I haven’t been able to find them at CVS or Toys R Us and it’s getting kinda late in the season. It’s a shame if these aren’t happening. They looked GREAT!
October 2nd, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Yeah, I’d also really like to know exactly what’s coming out. The ForeverFun website isn’t all that accurate or up to date. Too bad there isn’t a forum for collectors.
October 4th, 2009 at 8:26 am
Not only that but many times their products receive poor distribution from CVS and TRU and then these retail chains drop stuff because they claim it’s not selling. It’s ALWAYS a struggle to find everything I KNOW is coming out any given year (I had to talk with the district manager of the entire east coast for the CVS chain to even find a set of Easter Beagle figures last spring because no stores in NY, PA, or OH carried them at all. With such poor distribution like that we’ll see if there even is an Easter Beagle in 2010.) It’s kind of ridiculous if you ask me when they hold Forever Fun responsible for their own blunders.
October 7th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
I can’t speak for the retailers. They buy from us and we hope the product gets placed where it can perform. We’ve often looked at stores around us and have not found product on the shelves.
Deluxe Snoopy for Halloween?… not something that has been seriously considered for awhile. We pitched the idea to retailers a couple years ago but no bites. It would have used accessories from the Simply Snoopy line so it wouldn’t have been too spooky.
The frustration we run into is that sales are not found to be sufficient enough to support new accessories for Halloween. The selling window is very narrow. We do have some great ideas for next year already though. If you like this year’s CVS exclusives, there should be more to look forward to next year!
October 11th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Time & Space Toys had the 3 Snoopys up until recently. Is there any hope these may happen? Have you ever tried Walgreens? They seem to carry a lot of Snoopy/Peanuts holiday items year round. I remember first seeing these on maybe the Wicked Cool Stuff site along with other cancelled items such as the talking Charlie Brown Christmas play scenes and the Charlie Brown Christmas talking PVC set. The most disappointing cancelled Peanuts item ever is the Linus stage playset. It’s the centerpiece of the film and a bit hit with a lot of baby boomers. We need this for the centerpiece of our stage scenes. Is there any reason this still has not been released? I’d like to see a tree lot box set too so we can build our own tree lot scene but I’ve never seen any announcements of one yet from you in the past 8 years or so (I forget which year was the first for Charlie Brown Christmas off hand but I’ve been onboard since day one)
I like the Peanuts monsters line and I assume that 2010 will bring us a Linus Frankenstein, Sally as the Bride, and someone as the Wolfman. I’m not sure if you’ll be reusing characters in this line but assume so since Snoopy and Charlie Brown always seem to be a must for the CVS waves.
By the way, will the Rudolph push puppets be retuirning this year? Those are the only items you’ve ever released I’ve never found anywhere. Thanks.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:36 am
Sorry, no plans for Halloween deluxe Snoopys. Getting buyer support for items over a $10 price point for “off” holidays is very difficult.
I’m not at liberty to say on our blog what retailers we are pursuing or have pursued. We are grateful when a retailer places our product and will always point fans in their direction when they do.
We have developed a Christmas Play Stage set but we could not generate enough orders to warrant the tooling investment. We had also developed a Tree Lot set but again, we could not gain sell-in in the quantities necessary to produce it. The difficulties lie in the fact that retailers are very hesitant to buy (even slightly) higher price point items that are not a “current” and proven license. (Transformers, Batman, Star Wars, etc) Believe me. We, in the creative department, are as aggravated by this as much as the all of the Peanuts fans out there are.
Your thoughts are on track with what we hope to do for 2010 Halloween figures.
The last year when the Rudolph push puppets were released, we found that a serious engineering error had occurred at the factory. So if you would have found them, they probably would not have lasted long once you got them home. The problem has been corrected but they got no placement for this coming holiday season. We are working hard to have them placed in 2010.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
The last two times that the Simply Snoopy figures were listed on any websites for pre-orders the spin was it was Snoopy dressed in costume for Halloween. I saw it as a way to “sneak” these standard Snoopy looks out into any figure line. I do believe that the WWI Flying Ace would be the biggest seller hands down and since he appeared that way in the Great Pumpkin, again, I thought it was a great way to get him released in that form. Perhaps a WWI Flying Ace like that as a CVS Exclusive in 2010?
Is there any way to sneak out the stage playset? What would it take to prove to retailers that people want this and will buy it if they carry it?
Was the tree lot you proposed that one with the flat backdrop with sound or would this have been Linus and Charlie Brown with some trees, the fence, and some lights to suggest a lot? I would think that the latter could have also been sneaked out broken up among carded figures and/or playpacks (I learned of the theme of sneaking things out from the Palisades Muppet line when they couldn’t get retailers to carry the larger/more expensive items. I just thought it might work here.)
Sorry to hear that about the Rudolph push puppets. That explains why I never see them on Ebay.
October 15th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Are the any photos of those unreleased prototypes (tree lot, etc)? Or perhaps they are “secret”? Would love to see some of that unreleased stuff.
Also, any FEPs being planned, or exclusives? I got two that were released many years ago I guess of Charlie Brown and Rudolph’s Skinny Santa (from Buy Me Toys) and really like them.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:33 am
I’m not sure if anyone out there has retained the photos but many of the prototypes for unproduced products were seen at Toy Fairs. I remember the cancelled 2001/2002 original Frosty the Snowman line, several Rudolph products we never got to see made like the Bumble’s cave as a playset and it came with Yukon’s dogsled team in the PVC scale (the dogsled should happen someday….), there was a musical elf band and a few other things I currently forget, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town had a couple of playsets, more elves, and the talking figures, then there was the entire Drummer Boy line that was dropped when Playing Mantis was first sold or whatever it was and if you’ve been here from day one like me, Mickey’s Christmas Carol had more PVCs and a set of house playsets for them. The current Frosty line had a clip on set that was dropped but I wish they could do it any way or a PVC set would be even better but with different characters, not all Frosty himself. In the Peanuts camp there was to be a Patty, Marcy, and Violet that final year PM shut down the Memory Lane brand and a new line on a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving where each character came with a piece of the dinner table. I’d have bought that but it may not have been a huge seller except at places like CVS. I know there were even more prototypes of unmade things than I remember seeing but some of them would have been really cool and it’s sad they never got to be made.
What is and FEP? I got to see a CVS Plan-O-Gram yesterday and they have Charlie Brown figures not in the sledding line TRU will have and the Nativity set.
By the way, why was the goggle Woodstock in the playpack changed for the masked Woodstock from the CVS exclusive Snoopy?
October 26th, 2009 at 9:46 am
I’m sure Bob can comment more on all of the Christmases that never came. He was around for most of that development.
As for what CVS is carrying, they asked for a lower price point line with specific characters and that is what we gave them. TRU on the other hand were willing to carry our full blown product offering of some of our best ideas yet.
The masked Woodstock included in the WWI Flying Ace set was a mistake at the factory that was caught too late to correct.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Ed, thanks for the info. I have seen some old photos of the original Drummer Boy line some years ago, but never heard of this other stuff. It’d be great to see it!!!!
Also, a FEP is sort of like a prototype, stands for Final Engineering Pilot. I guess it’s like a test shot of an item from the manufacturer. Memory Lane released some of these unpainted and odd color Rudolph and Peanuts figures some years ago, in regular packaging, as exclusives. You can still get them at BuyMeToys.com (click on Memory Lane link).
Still would like to see some of these for new product.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Yep, no one would know better than Bob.
I know a lot of us who hope that the original PVC Drummer Boy stable gets made. Any hope for the villains next year or are they untouchable for not being politically correct?
Any hope of fixing the goggle problem with Woodstock in the future?
TRU has been very rude this year. I have the receipts from past years when your product is set (it’s always been this week of the year) and they tried to tell me it’s after Thanksgiving.
Never seen those exclusives before. I may just get some. Anyone ever buy the prototypes of the 2000 CVS Rudolph key chains? They were on the old Playing Mantis site. I’ve always wondered how big they are and what they are made out of.
November 1st, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I just found most of the Christmas releases at my local Toys R Us, nice stuff. Bought everything I could find!
I had a few questions though-
1. Regarding the Rudolph PVC figures (meaning the big box with all the figures, NOT the Cave, Sam’s x-mas, or Reindeer Games set), is there anything new this year in the big box with all PCV figures, or are they the same as last year? I didn’t see this one but know it’s out there.
2. Also will CVS have anything that’s different from the TRU releases in regards to Rudolph or Peanuts? The Forever Fun website doesn’t seem to be updated ever, so it’s hard to tell what’s coming.
3. The only expression variations I could find for Peanuts was on the single figure packs, and only Charlie Brown with his pathetic tree (smile and frown). Is that the only figure with alternate expressions on his face?
And glad to finally have a Franklin, I was going to modify a Charlie Brown of my own to make one last year but you beat me to it.
Thanks!
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:03 am
1. I don’t think there is anything new in the big PVC set that would not have come in the play packs. Reindeer games Rudolph and Fireball are new figures this year.
2. CVS isn’t carrying any Rudolph product this year. They took a different mix of Peanuts poseable figures with fewer accessories (nothing new) for a lower price point. They also took a smaller mini figure pageant set. We are working to update the website very soon.
3. Charlie was the only figure with an alternate face this year.
Glad you like Franklin. We are happy to get a new character into the mix.
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Been a fan of the Peanuts figures … Any chance adding other Holidays to the line up for next year the 6oth Anniversary of Peanuts . Thinking Thanksgiving ( could possibly do an add in with the Halloween figures ) Pigrim hats .
November 4th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Ok, I just heard that the Casual Santa on his chair is the new figure in the PVC set for this year?
November 5th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
But Jamie, isn’t the CVS Snoopy different? True it’sa variant version of the Santa Snoopy but still different.
My Toys R Us also has all of the new items but you have some serious qualitty control issues going on this ear I’ve never seen before. There were several Rudolph toys with loose or broken pieces in the boxes, I saw several Drummer Boy sets where he only had one stick, all of the Marys were missing their nose (sigh…), and all of the Drummer Boy’s had paint runs. I had to settle on one with only one pupil painted in. It greatly saddens me to see these figures I’m so enthusiastic for turn out this way. I sure hope you can fix these issues for 2010.
Also, is the white FRanklin just a mistake or did some make it into productions? I’d love to find one.
November 6th, 2009 at 10:34 am
SpaceCrawler- I missed the fact that the thrown had never been released with the PVC figures before. It had only been available previously in the ultimate castle set. The Casual Santa figure itself is the same one that had been released before. It had been strategically posed to stand or sit when it was first created.
Ed- You are correct. Santa Snoopy is offered only at CVS this year. I thought the question was if there was anything brand new offered at CVS. We had done Santa Snoopy a couple years ago in our regular poseable line. If a collector has that, there is nothing new in the CVS version other than the packaging.
We have seen some evidence that our newest production partner which handled our Rudolph and Frosty lines seems to have some quality issues. We are investigating the problems and taking them very seriously. Our number one goal is to put out quality product at a good value.
I wasn’t aware of quality issues on Little Drummer Boy however (which is done at a different factory). I’ll look into this as well. In any case, any problems will definitely be addressed.
No. No white Franklin’s were ever produced. The factory sent the first test shot of him to me in white because they didn’t understand that he did not use the same plastic color as the other characters. They just aren’t as aware of the Peanuts characters over there as we are in the states. You should have seen the blonde Peppermint Patty test shot I received last year. That one was my fault though. I had picked up Sally’s hair color inadvertently when I was putting together the paint specs.
November 6th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Jamie- I see. Thanks for the detailed info, I really appreciate it (and thanks for dealing with us weirdos who want so many specific details- must be like dealing with Trekkies).
By the way- what happens to those test shots and prototypes that you guys get? You must have tons of them? If you ever want o rid yourself of them, let me know.
I also noticed some quality control issues this year, but only with the Rudolph line- mainly faulty packaging, poorly posed figures inside packages (the Sam the Snowman I got looks like he’s having some sort of fit inside his box), pieces loose inside packages, and some minor paint issues. But overall I love the new items.
November 6th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
We feel like we should be straight forward and offer up little tidbits where we can. Unfortunately, we are extremely overloaded with all of the product we are juggling and haven’t been able to do blog posts as often as we had hoped.
We don’t have tons of test shots. Just a handful. Sometimes it is one piece if it gets done right (usually on a repeat item). Sometimes we have more because the factory is misunderstanding something. We usually keep ahold of them to check against production pieces. Many times, they might get reused for presentations or configuring new product.
Rudolph problems are being looked into. Thanks for the heads up.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Jamie – The Santa Snoopy you offered last year was indeed different though. That figure was a nonposeable rotocast Snoopy in the Santa suit. This year’s figure takes that Santa suit sculpt and makes it into a snap around for a regular Snoopy figure. I’m not sure if you would call this a variant or a new figure though.
Thanks for looking into the Drummer Boy issues. I bought 3 sets and every Mary has a flat/missing nose to some degree. I hope you’ll do Drummer Boy action figures next year. By the way, are you done with clip ons? I’d like to know before I turn a set of these into ornaments. And how come you’ve never released a Frosty PVC set? I remember the Frosty heavy clip on set proposed for 2007 but I mean a PVC set of all the characters.
I’d love to see the Blonde Patty. Perhaps your Forever Fun blog could showcase things like that the way Palisades Toys often did?
I forgot to mention that I saw a Fireball with a double “stamped” eye. It was like he had the normal eye but another was not only stamped into it but painted. It was very strange.
Since they run I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown every year, is it likely you could ever do Rerun or Spike? I’d assume their prominence in that show would translate to consumer awareness. I’d love to see a playpack of Spike with his cactus and the Merry Christmas sign Schultz used a few times in the strip. I’m still hoping we get to see a Marcy and Violet too though.
Space crawler – I’d fight you to the death for those test shots. Ha ha ha.
NO ONE is a bigger Christmas fanatic than I am. NO ONE. (You can check out some of my work http://www.jillchill.com My debut comic book has already become the fastest selling title for Cool Yule Comics and I’ve been getting great reviews to boot. Any fans of these classic shows should enjoy my own work.)
November 8th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
By the way, Jamie, do you happen to know if this would work? Would it be possible to take an Elsie figure (the girl riding Frosty) and use either elf/Hermey or Jack Frost legs on her to make an Elsie figure? It’s something I’ve wanted to do since she was first offered but didn’t want to bother if the legs wouldn’t fit. Is there any reason you guys have never done her or the other 2 boys who show up in the merchandising frequently while you wait for classic Frosty characters to be allowed? Maybe a box set of Frosty coming to life or something could even work? Everyone else fills them in for Karen but why haven’t you? Then if you can do Karen we get both?
Also, have you dropped plans for that dancing Frosty who came with the North Pole sign base? A lot of us would love to get that North Pole sign for our displays of all your lines.
Also, are there any plans to add the wisemen as seen in the Peanuts mini line to the action figure line next year? Before I build my new cabinets I’d like to know so I can plan ahead. I’ve had to redo my cabinets 4 times in 10 years now and wish to avoid having to build more for a while. Thanks.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:19 am
Is the Franklin character going to be a hard find this year, I don;t have a toys r us by me, and have a busy work week so I’m going to try and go towards the middle of the week, but I’m afraid they will be sold out.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:23 am
I thought you guys would like a heads up. The Little Drummer Boy line of figures at my local TRU all had eye problems with Aaron similar to the one a few posts back. Mine was the best of the bunch, it has a bit of the line beneath his eyes but it’s barely noticeable.
Also, are you aware that some rudolph figures have very sloppy paint jobs and some at my store were beheaded in their packages… the poor things.
Frosty and Peanuts at TRU were excellent though.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
scaredyett I check a few of the TRU here in NJ and Franklin seem to be hard to get at the store .. If you go TRU online
the there to order… Good Luck
November 10th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Hey Jamie – Last year Bob had told me that the Millie and Chillie were supposed to have removable hats but a factory error prevented that from happening and that this issue would be fixed for this year. Did that happen or are the hats still unremovable? Please let us know ASAP. Thanks.
November 12th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Ed-
Santa Snoopy in our poseable scale has always been the same- a poseable Snoopy figure in a two sided, snap on suit with hat and beard. The previous release included his chimney. I can’t recall off hand if both versions included Woodstock with antlers or just the earlier release. We have not done a rotomolded Santa Snoopy. The only non-poseable Santa Snoopy I can recall is our PVC figure.
We have been able to add “ornaments” to some of our licensing agreements including Rudolph and Little Drummer Boy. We just have to find retailers who will take them configured as such. I’m pretty sure you’ll see this in 2010. Frosty PVCs are also a 2010 possibility. They will probably be individual figures though.
Good idea. I’ll find one and post a snap when I get a chance. Speaking of Patty. Here’s a chase item for you. Look at Meijer to find Peppermint Patty in Christmas packaging. We are still investigating how these might have made it out there. We have no idea how many there are or how they were distributed. We found one at our local store. Other than the packaging, there is nothing that makes her Christmas themed though.
we’ve had plans for Rerun but budget considerations nipped it early. If we make some of the inroads with retailers that we’ve been meeting with, There should be more fun stuff like this a little further down the line.
I haven’t taken a look at dismantling Elsie to create a figure. I would think she would be too small to work like that. The general public doesn’t have any affection for the “nameless” characters. Actually, beyond Frosty and maybe Chilly & Millie, there is little interest in the other characters that are available to us. We still hold out a little hope that Karen and the rest of the gang from the original special will be available some day and those would be well received.
Dancing Frosty was too expensive to tool up for the amount of interest it received by the buyers. He would be a higher priced item that they are hesitant to take.
We had hoped to do the Wise Men in poseable play packs this year. Maybe if things sell well, we can do them in the future too.
Scott- Franklin is short packed in our regular assortment at TRU. A “downsized” version (no skis or base) of him can be found at Meijers stores. Or take a look at timeandspacetoys.com for another place that sells the full version.
Jay- We are aware of problems with Aaron’s eye paint. They showed us one thing and shipped another. Similar story with Rudolph items. That factory is in big trouble.
November 12th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Jamie – The Santa Snoopy I got last year was a solid figure and came with a chimney and I believe you’re right about antler Woodstock. This is very strange.
Speaking of Peanuts PVCs, how about reissuing the clip on set next year as PVCs? These haven’t been seen in years other than as the CVS redos and the Decor Blocks.
Are you able to spill the beans as of yet on how many Frosty characters will be available as individual PVCs? If these happen that way I hope they are much easier to find than your past efforts released as such. I never did find your Easter Pooh figures, the carded Rudolph Clip-Ons were VERY HARD to find and I only got a Morty and Melody Mouse from the Mickey’s Christmas Carol line because I happened to see one at a Toy Show. The CVS Charlie Brown figures released like this are ALWAYS hard to find at all because of poor distribution in my area. That’s why I prefer the box sets or 10.00 playpack size to the carded PVCs.
Does that Patty come with her Great Pumpkin costume then? Unfortunately we have no Meijers in my area of the country.
Perhaps the nameless characters could work in a PVC box set though? Speaking of nameless characters, if you wanted to would you have access to the Andy Griffith narrator or is he off limits due to likeness issues? Classic FRosty shares a similar aspect with Jimmy Durante yet EVERYONE knows that character when they see him. I’m not sure on Andy but I would assume he’d be as familar as Jack FRost and Crystal since he was seen through out.
Are you aware that Build A Bear is doing Classic Frosty again? How come the plush companies can always seem to get away with using the classic characters but the figural companies always have a hard time? Is there any way this can help your cause?
Could you perhaps add the North Pole sign alone to one of the Frosty figures next year? A LOT of people REALLY want that from the feedback I’ve read online.
In my neck of the woods your stuff has been selling well. It seems some online stores are sold out too. I hope that means there’s hope for the Wisemen.
November 12th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
One other question, have you ever considered doing an action figure of Adult Clarice to go with Adult Rudolph? I would think you could easily achieve this by putting a new head on the Mrs. Donner body ala the sleigh from many years back? While I’m at it, how come the Eskimos have never been added to the PVC line or Yukon‘s dogsled for that matter? I know you’re probably running short on new Rudolph characters to do but these are a couple of them that have managed to slip by. Mama Polar Bear and the Owls in the Misfits number are probably the only characters left at this point unless you can somehow manage to get the WB owned Rudolph sequels folded into the line. Speaking of which, since you were able to add Millie and Chillie into the Frosty line do you think King Winterbolt would be possible? If he is allowable under the Frosty license, I’m not sure if he’d be too fringe of a character but the pro would be that he’s a winter themed villain and he did threaten Frosty and his family more so than Rudolph. I’d also be curious if WB would allow for the Jack Frost characters to be included like Snip and Holly. A lot of people seem to be aware of that special thanks to its inclusion on tons of public domain DVDs in recent years but I‘m not sure if those characters would be well enough known or not. I only mentioned it in case it’s a valid alternative as you await clearance for classic Frosty. Do you have any way to gauge when fringe characters like the Eskimo, Snow Parson, or elves register with consumers or not?
Okay, so it quickly turned into a few questions but it just shows my enthusiasm for your figures.
November 13th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Ed- The Chilly and Millie hat issue was not resolved for 2009 product. Again issues with a new factory.
Re Santa Snoopy- It may have been that the factory glued the Santa suit on before. I vaguely remember that might have been an issue.
Peanuts PVCs next year- very strong possibility as individuals.
Frosty PVCs- Probably a couple Frosties, Crystal and Chilly and Millie. They may also get put on blocks. If they happen, they will be available through major retailers. (nothing new will be done in 2010 without a BIG retailer supporting the product)
Patty is just a figure of Patty in her normal look, shorts and all. Yellow shirt just like she was released at Halloween. The factory is denying she’s out there but they had to have put some work in to even do the blister as it is a different shape than Halloween.
Andy figure is doubtful. I’m not sure if there would be likeness rights or not.
It may have to do with what rights a company wants to use. We might have been able to gain rights to classic Frosty (though I’m not positive on this) but the actual song is owned by WB. So if we had gained the rights to the original, we could not have incorporated the actual song into our product. The rights were gained before I came joined the company.
Noted on the North Pole sign. If things go well with placement this selling season, we might explore this for 2011. Problem is, we would have to take something out of the product. Can you live without a pipe and broom if we put the North Pole sign in?
There are two ways we can judge what characters are less desirable-
1. Go to the retail locations at the end of the season and visually see what is left on the shelf. We may put 5 Frosties in a 12 piece tray and when we see we have a Crystal and Parson left that are only one per tray, we can see what’s what. Could it be regional bias? Maybe but doubtful.
2. The buyers tell us who the most popular characters are. Although this direction might not be focused on collectors, it is all about how they see the general consumer reacting to the selection. One of our current (and regular) retailers sees only four Peanuts characters as viable. We have to fight to get anyone but the main four placed in an assortment there.
November 13th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Wow a rerun character would have been awesome, i hope next year there are more characters we havent seen ever or in a while, like freida, shermy, patty (not peppermint patty, tho her too0, Marcie, and snoopys bros and sister belle that would be awesome!
also i see you make a frosty and rudolph train how about a peanuts one? that would be awesome!
November 14th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Jamie –
Any hope that Jack Frost could get added to the PVC line up? It would be great to get him in that size format and I’d assume people would recognize him just as they recognize Santa Claus and similar cultural figures.
I think you have a real winner with these décor blocks. They’re a lot of fun. I hope they catch on.
Is Toys R Us not big enough these days? What I find frustrating is we only have a single Toys R Us in my area and I have to watch it daily from mid October until I get all the new product. In the old days when you guys were in Walmart, Media Play, K Mart, Target, and the rest I could go from store to store from mid September right on through and find everything no problem. TRU is very unreliable too. I asked the employees what day they’d have the stuff out this year and he told me it’s always AFTER Thanksgiving. When I told I’ve been coming for years and it’s always the last week of October he told me I was wrong. I found the stuff there this year Oct. 30. Go figure…
By the way, if new product hinges on BIG retailer support where does the Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town line lay? I remember reading somewhere last year that it was planned to be relaunched in 2010 because that special now airs on network television again. That’s the one line cancellation I was most disappointed about.
I know that Palisades Toys had at least 3 different factory switches during the course of the Muppets line. That’s a very odd issue you have there though. How can they deny what the evidence proves? Is the Drummer Boy factory doing the same thing? One issue I haven’t mentioned is my Reindeer Games PVC set is missing the stand for Rudolph. I know it’s supposed to be taped underneath the base but it wasn’t there or in the box. I emailed Bob about it to see about getting one directly from you since picking out nice paint jobs was so hard this year but haven’t heard anything but I know he gets busy this time of year.
I’m aware that the Frosty song is owned by WB so they push their R/B Frosty likeness but there must be some sort of loophole because every now and then classic Frosty shows up. What I find most odd is they allow you the classic Frosty version on the sequel Frosty designs. (plus they use a Hocus Pocus knock off in their design packet) I just don’t understand why it’s now been ten years and these issues still haven’t been resolved because I’m pretty sure that everyone involved must know that classic Frosty will be a popular thing and both Frosty parties gain from this. Plus you’ve done the WB Frosty for 3 years now and it would be a nice gesture to now grant permission on the original Frosty. I suppose if you ever wanted to use the WB owned Rudolph and Drummer Boy sequel characters you’d hit a similar wall? Or perhaps that could all be negotiated in one fell swoop to clear the way for future potential characters?
If you’re really asking for input on North Pole sign placement my opinion would be this. Since you pack your cases with more Frostys than any other character you could do half with broom and pipe, half with the sign. Then you get your customers to buy two Frostys instead of one. A better option is to drop lifeless Frosty for one year and include the sign with Jack Frost. That would make sense character wise as well. A third option would be to drop the current sign in the family box set and replace it with the North Pole sign. Then it could fit in both this base and the stand alone base the old sign used when it was the Winter Warlock’s sign. Would any of these be possible? I’d like to see some of those birds with Crystal in the future too. Would those be likely since they’re small?
In my area for the previous two years we have only had Frostys left. Last year there were a ton of Frosty box sets left but that was because so many were sold that first week TRU over ordered for area demand. The Rudolph figures were hard to come by and I never found the push puppets. In my area Charlie Brown NEVER sells out. I still but immediately early on though.
I’m sure I can guess exactly which retailer you fight with on Peanuts. They also have VERY POOR distribution on much of these products. As long as you can get the larger assortment into TRU it hasn’t bothered me but those Valentine and Easter ones have been near impossible to get without A LOT of work on my part.
Speaking of retailers choosing character assortments, have there ever been any proposed characters that never got made due to this in any line?
November 14th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Another thing on an Andy or Jimmy. Since WB made you call Jack Frost “Mr. Winter” for a time perhaps that name could be applied to Andy then he becomes a character like SD Klugger or Sam the Snowman?
Also, since WB owns the Frosty song why is the Traffic Cop off limits for you? He used to get merchandised years ago and was always distinguished from Frosty’s Winter Wonderland as was Frosty. Even when CVS did those Beanies Frosty and the Traffic Cop were one week as Frosty’s Winter Wonderland and Karen and Professor Hinkle were another week from Frosty the Snowman. Even the shipment display box art were specific to each special. Could this precedent help your case any? Since the Traffic Cop is in the song I would think he’d be important enough to sell.
For those too new to recall, in the 2001 proposed Frosty line based on the original Frosty the figure line up was to be Frosty, Karen, Hocus Pocus, Professor Hinkle, Santa Claus, and the Traffic Cop. Only a few of the prototype images and box art were ever released though. This was when the Frosty legal issues with product began. If only these had been done a year earlier….
One other Frosty question. If you got to do original Frosty do you believe that the other children would fall into that affectionless bunch of nameless characters even though this special airs as faithfully as Rudolph? Would this be an issue of Frosty having Rudolph style sales and then the need to expand in series 2 allow for these to happen as being the only possible scenario?
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:51 am
Have the Peanuts push puppets been released? I’ve been to TRUs on both the east and west costs of the US and can’t find them.
November 24th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
I too have not found them and had assumed they were delayed till next year. Since the Great Pumpkin ones didn’t sell well in my area I’m worried we may never see these.
How about a Peanuts Play Pack next year of Santa Snoopy riding on the dog house pulled by 8 reindeer woodstocks? That’s a classic image from the strip and would be a cool display piece.
November 24th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
I have the seen the Push Puppets ( Christmas) at CVS… Each CVS around NJ carried something different
November 25th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Ed- We considered the traffic cop in our original plan and just didn’t think he would garner enough sales to warrant a tool of him. Plus visually he isn’t the same as the one in the original special.
I’m not sure I understand the question. We’ve considered doing the children as rotomolded accessories. Karen would definitely warrant a fully poseable figure though. Frosty isn’t deep enough to do a series 2 but we would replace some of our current figures with the classic ones if we could.
SpaceCrawler & Ed- CVS carried Halloween push puppets and TRU is carrying the Christmas version.
Ed- nice idea but we are too far along to add it for next year… hmmm… maybe not… I’ll keep it in mind and we’ll see…
Vader- Christmas PP at CVS?… Might be. The list I go by shows what CVS took as exclusive and its not on that list. Maybe they took them along with TRU.
November 25th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Actually I have picked up the Push Puppets at CVS in Roselle, NJ and have seen them in other CVS in Morris Co, NJ . In my neck of the woods NJ the Halloween Push Puppets were at TRU and the Christmas ones seem to be an CVS exclusive. I really was interested in picking up the Franklin figure . I know it is short packed at TRU and don’t wish to spent double at Time and Space Toys .
November 29th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Jamie – If you meant my question concerning the children from the original Frosty, what I was asking was if they fall into the same category as the nameless children in Frosty’s Winter Wonderland or if you might make them. It sounds like you have considered them?
As for the Traffic Cop, I see your point on the designs being different but if you can never do classic Frosty the FWW design would at least allow for a Traffic Cop to get made.
I had assumed you’d get at least the 5 “new” characters from original Frosty that were in the 2001 plans. Since you currently only have 3 or 4 slots and would likely keep some of the WW Frosty cast I thought you’d spread those 5 over a few years. Having each one come with a rotocast child for an accessory would be cool though.
I’ve been in 5 different Toys R Us stores in 3 states and have yet to find the Christmas push puppets. The Great Pumpkin ones were in abundance though. Weird. I just checked your site and only CVS is listed as carrying them. I’ll have to check into that in my area.
November 30th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Again here in NJ the push puppets Christmas were only at CVS. CVS carrys the three figures ( Charlie Brown , Linus , Snoopy Santa) the 6 piece mini Play. TRU here is carrying the Blocks, the six piece Figures as well as the same play packs .
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:36 pm
I finally found them in a NY CVS. Thanks for the heads up!
December 4th, 2009 at 11:53 am
I must have gotten my wires crossed about who took what push puppets.
December 4th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
No problem…. It is rather hard to find them . Not all CVS carrys them and the ones thast do only has one tray of them .
December 6th, 2009 at 10:31 am
So Jamie, what will we see at CVS for Valentines Day and Easter this year? These will be showing up next month so I hope it’s not too soon to say. Last year I had to call the CVS corporation to even get the Easter Beagle stuff so it’s never too soon to get that ball rolling. Thanks!
December 14th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
If it’s any help my TRU is sold out of everything except the RUdolph trains and a few Drummer Boy sets. Frosty is all gone including the obscure characters as are Rudolph and Charlie Brown.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Terri,
Glad to see the figures for Christmas. When will we hear or see what Peanuts figures are coming out for Halloween. Will there be Halloween figures?