Happy Halloween, Muppet Fans!

It's finally here! The one day a year where most of us (Disney World and Disneyland employees excluded) get to dress up as fictional characters or bad visual puns! It's also the one day that candy surplus stores live for! Yes, it's Halloween! And what better way for a Muppet blog to celebrate than with a collection of Muppet videos for your viewing pleasure?


















The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Muppet Halloween Costume Spooktacular 2010, Part 2

Ryan Dosier - It's almost Halloween, Muppet fans! Do you have your candy and your Bean Bunny costume ready to go? Did you finally convince your wife to go as Spamella/your husband to go as a Pa and Ma Gorg couple? ...Good luck with either of those things.

Today we return with another review of some more hideous Muppet-related costumes! This time we look at the new Fraggle Rock costumes that were, shockingly, approved and released by The Jim Henson Company. I'm sure the suspense is killing you... which is awesome, because I could use an army of zombies for Halloween this year.

Anyway... here are the "Fraggle" (you'll see why I used the parentheses in a second) costumes.

GOBO FRAGGLE COSTUME - $110

LIKENESS - It's everyone's favorite Fraggle: Hobo! (Not a typo.) Good grief, what the WHAT?! I don't even know where to begin... for starters, $110 for this? Really? Really? I'd be extremely interested to know how many of these get sold. What is that hair made of? Cheerleader pom-poms? Did Gobo mug a cheerleader when he entered male pattern baldness--which he obviously inherited from Uncle Traveling Matt? Hmm... I smell a fan-fic! 2 STARS
FUN FACTOR - At this point I'd like to measure Fun Factor against Price... just to make it clear that it's highly difficult to have enough fun with this costume to make it worth $110. In fact, I would argue that staging a live-action remake of a Fraggle Rock episode would be one of the only ways to have $110 worth of fun with this costume. 2 STARS
SCARE FACTOR - Well... I'm certainly freaked out. No amount of dancing my cares away could save this worry for another day. This looks like something that would be hanging in the Gorgs' pantry in the Henson Haunted House. I really think it's the head that scares the most on this thing... there's just so much wrong with it. 4 STARS

RED FRAGGLE COSTUME - $110 (now $59.99)

LIKENESS - Yay! It's everybody's favorite Fraggle Rock character, Red Platypus! Don't you just loved her webbed feet and her off-colored skin-tight legging legs? My favorite Red Platypus aspect is the bulky orange short shorts. Remember her trademark purple hair ribbons and her "AHHHH!!! A dingo!!" facial and body expression? Ah, such fond memories... (By the way, who knew Red had such a curvaceous mid-section?) 2 STARS
FUN FACTOR - No one who shows up to a highly populated Halloween party wearing this is going to have fun. Imagine everyone tugging your tail and your pigtails and laughing at your horribly disfigured head and pointing out that your wearing this is probably single-handedly delaying production on the Fraggle Rock Movie. (Kudos to said makers of fun if they've actually heard of the Fraggle Rock Movie.) 2 STARS
SCARE FACTOR - If this doesn't say "run and hide," I don't know what would. Well... maybe ToughPigs' Joe Hennes wearing this--that would certainly say "run and hide." (Woot! I've made fun of Joe twice this week. Three more times and I get a free sub-sandwich at any participating Quiznos.) 4 STARS

WEMBLEY FRAGGLE COSTUME - $110 (now $59.99)

LIKENESS - Oh no!! Oh no, no, no! It's happened! Someone has poisoned the Fraggle Rock water supply! Look what they've done to poor, poor Wembley!! Oh gosh, it's gotten so bad that his brains have literally exploded out of his head. Worst. Halloween. Special. EVER. I like the banana tree shirt though--I'd like to just own that. 1 STAR
FUN FACTOR - Not even Wembley would wemble about whether or not this thing is fun to wear. What on earth might compel someone to put this on and go out in public? Certainly not a fan of Wembley--because they'd be disgracing themselves. I'm trying to come up with some sort of creature to compare this heap to... but I've got absolutely nothing. It's a brand new homunculus mass of bad designing. 2 STARS
SCARE FACTOR - Fraggle Zombies are always scary--and Wembley Fraggle Zombie is the scariest of them all. This wins the Scare Factor award for the 2010 Muppet Halloween Costume season... Poor Wembley. The one time he wins... 5 STARS

MOKEY FRAGGLE COSTUME - $110 (now $59.99)

LIKENESS - This must be Mokey... the only time she gets merchandise is when it's absolutely hideous. Mokey looks like that blue haired great aunt that your parents always invite to your birthdays that gives you a check for ten dollars then steals all of your Fig Newtons and smells like cats. ...Psychotherapy, here I come! What on earth were they thinking when they saw this costume's head? "Oh, yes, delightful. My favorite character from Farggle Lock, Monkey!" 1 STAR
FUN FACTOR - Mokey's idea of fun is writing bad poetry... imagine all the awful poetry you could write about this thing. Here's a sample--run with it. "There once was a costume of Mokey/That made me want to choke-y/Her head gave me nightmares/I want to maul it with bears/And put it out of its misery." 1 STAR
SCARE FACTOR - The aunt image I put in my head in the Likeness section has freaked me out enough already. But I dare you to try to go to sleep while thinking about this costume's head portion. And you thought Freddy Krueger was scary! 4 STARS

Well... there you have it, Muppet fans. Sorry to spoil any ideas you ever had about how awesome Fraggle costumes could be... because as these have certainly proved, it's a lot easier to imagine than to actually create. Yeesh. Until next year... this has been The Muppet Mindset's Muppet Halloween Costume Spooktacular!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Muppet Halloween Costume Spooktacular 2010, Part 1

Ryan Dosier - Greetings, Muppet fans! It's that time of year again--Halloween is coming, and coming fast. Yes, it's time for dentists to break out the new drills and put a down-payment on that brand new yacht, time for girls to wear an outfit in public that consists of less than they wear to bed, and time for small children to dress up as their favorite cartoons, super heroes, and teenage pop stars!

But what is an adult Muppet fan like you (or I) to do at this festive time of year when everywhere we see Darth Vader costumes or his-and-her electrical outlet and plug costumes? How do we, the Muppet fans, show our love for Muppets, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock on Halloween? Well, lucky for you, we here at The Muppet Mindset have a look into some of the new, official Muppet costumes available through Sesame Workshop and The Jim Henson Company this year.

As you surely recall, last year we featured a similar two-part series of articles looking at the Muppet costumes from The Muppets Studio and the Sesame Street costumes from Sesame Workshop. These costumes were ranked in three categories: Character Likeness, Fun Factor, and Scare Factor. Each factor will receive a rating of up to five stars to help you determine whether it's worth your purchasing.

Today we're looking at costumes from Sesame Workshop as we see their attempts to appeal to college-aged girls (which is exactly who I'm trying to appeal to). Let's get started, shall we?

SEXY COOKIE MONSTER COSTUME - $50.00

LIKENESS - Ah, yes, everyone's favorite Sesame Street character: Sexy Cookie Monster. Riddle me this, Sesame Workshop, what on earth makes a preschool character with googly eyes who spends all of his time eating sexy? I mean, besides the girl in the costume... But honestly, is it really a good idea to produce costumes of your characters that encourage girls to dress like this? Isn't that kind of the opposite of your curriculum? Just wondering. Get back to me on that. The worst part is, it looks nothing like Cookie Monster! Kudos on the cookie-shaped belt buckle, though. 1 STAR
FUN FACTOR - I guess this depends on what sort of fun you want to have. 3 STARS
SCARE FACTOR - The only thing scary about this costume, to me, is the fact that someone at Sesame Workshop approved this and thought it was a good idea. "Yes, yes! Let's whore out our beloved children's characters for 'sexy' costumes. What could parent groups possibly have against that?" However, there is nothing scary about the girl within the costume. Call me, Sexy Cookie Monster girl! 3 STARS

SEXY ELMO COSTUME - $39.99

LIKENESS - Umm... likeness of what? Elmo? A girl wrapped in a red towel and wearing red stockings? Someone with an Elmo-looking alien eating through their skull from the inside out? Honestly... with the right amount of orange ribbon and a fluffy enough red towel, you could probably make this costume for about $10. Incidentally, about $10 is probably all this girl plans to spend on Halloween--guys like me will be buying her all the drinks she wants. 1 STAR
FUN FACTOR - Who wouldn't want to tickle that Elmo? 3 STARS
SCARE FACTOR - Once again... frightening that this was allowed to happen, but I certainly wouldn't mind being in Elmo's World for awhile. And really, there are so many other sexy Sesame costumes they would be much scarier to parental groups... 2 STARS

SEXY BIG BIRD COSTUME - $39.99

LIKENESS - Well... it is feathery... sort of. And I rather like what they did with the legs--they should've done that for the adult Big Bird Costume from last year! I cant' see the weird Big Bird thing on her head... but I just have to assume that it doesn't look anything like Big Bird. However... it's a cute blonde in a Big Bird costume. Isn't that the dream, fellas? 2 STARS
FUN FACTOR - Just tune me out for a minute here, ladies... Think of the possibilities, guys! She goes as Big Bird, you go as Snuffy--"Don't worry baby, I'm not imaginary." So many great pick up lines too... "Hey, can I buy you a bird seed milkshake?" "What say you and me go say the Alphabet later? Maybe we can put U and I together." ...And I wonder why I can't pick up girls. Okay girls, you're welcome to tune in again. 4 STARS
SCARE FACTOR - Big Bird... the face of Sesame Street for 41 years... reduced to a cute blonde girl in a frilly yellow towel with orange and pink striped leggings. Well... if she's giving me her phone number I guess that's okay. 2 STARS

BIG BIRD TODDLER COSTUME - $39.99
 

LIKENESS - See! SEE?! Now THIS is a costume! Adorable, acceptable, and well done. Some great Big Bird-like pants--even better with the orange sneakers--a fantastic Big Bird hat... now see, this is a costume I can support. I guess it just shows that Sesame Street costumes always work better on kids. Even the likeness of Big Bird is good enough that I can't really even complain! 4 STARS
FUN FACTOR - What kid doesn't want to be Big Bird for a day? Bonus points for parents who put their kids on stilts to make them as tall as Big Bird. Less bonus points if said parents end up with kids in the hospital on Halloween due to falling from stilts. 3 STARS
SCARE FACTOR - There is absolutely nothing scary about this costume. Wait... I take that back. It's scary to think that one day this little girl might wear the Sexy Big Bird costume. *shudder* 1 STAR

ABBY CADABBY DELUXE COSTUME - $44.99

LIKENESS - Everybody say it with me now... "Awww!!!" Alright, now that we have that out of our systems... How great is this costume? It even comes with Abby hair! This is adorable and I can't imagine any little girl not wanting to be Abby Cadabby for Halloween. They get to carry a wand, they get to have wings, they get to have awesome Abby hair, they get to turn things into pumpkins... Win! 5 STARS
FUN FACTOR - To quote Abby... "[This costume] is so magic!" Look at that! The girl in the picture is already having fun--and she's not even trick or treating yet (presumably)! If you can figure out a way to rig your little fairy-godchild on some sort of rope or other hanging object so that she could actually fly like Abby, more power to you! (Please don't do that.) 4 STARS
SCARE FACTOR - The only way for this Abby costume to be scary is if someone other than a little girl was wearing it. Yes, I'm looking at you Joe Hennes from ToughPigs! Don't get any ideas! 1 STAR

And with that, I bid you farewell until Part 2 of our Muppet costume spotlight. Next time we'll look at too-hideous-to-be-real Fraggle costumes. Trust me... you won't want to miss this. Look for it on Tuesday!

To see all of the Sesame Street costumes and merchandise available for Halloween this year, be sure to check out the online Sesame Street store!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Happy Halloween From The Muppet Mindset!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

The Muppet Mindset wishes all of our readers a spectacularly spooky and safe Halloween! Wondering how to Muppetize your Halloween experience? Why not check out some of our Halloween themed articles?

• The Muppets' exclusive Halloween videos on YouTube, "Ghost Hunt," "Carve-O-Matic 3000," and "Cårven Der Pümpkîn"
• The Muppets' represented on Disney's "Haunted Holidays" webpage
• Our Muppet and Sesame Street Halloween costume reviews
• David Rosenberg's amazing three part illustration series, "31 Days of Monsters" with a Muppet Monster for every day in October (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
• Weekly Muppet Wednesdays: Uncle Deadly
• Edward Cullen - A Twihard Count? article by Jarrod Fairclough
  
• Muppet Wiki's "Happy Halloween!" portal

The Muppet Mindset hopes you have a fantastic Halloween--and if you have any spare candy, you know we'll take it! If you're going as a Muppet, Sesame Street, or Fraggle Rock character, feel free to send us a picture of your costume via Facebook or Twitter!

 





Be sure to check The Muppet Mindset tomorrow for our review of the brand new book Sesame Street: A Celebration - 40 Years of Life on the Street.

David Rosenberg's 31 Days of Monsters: Final Week

Welcome friends of fright and amigos of atrocity, to the final week of the wonderfully superb David Rosenberg and his final week of his illustration series "31 Days of Monsters." A Muppet Monster for every day in October! Be sure to check out weeks 1, 2, and 3!

OCTOBER 23rd - TAMINELLA GRINDERFALL (Tales of Tinkerdee)

OCTOBER 24th - BIG MEAN CARL (Muppets Tonight!)

OCTOBER 25th - THE MUTATIONS (The Muppet Show)

OCTOBER 26th - BIG V (The Ed Sullivan Show)

OCTOBER 27th - PURPLE FRACKLE (The Muppet Show)



OCTOBER 28th - TOMMY (Kern's Bakery Commercials)

OCTOBER 29th - BUZZARD FRACKLES (The Muppet Show)



OCTOBER 30th - SWEETUMS (The Muppet Show)



OCTOBER 31st - UNCLE DEADLY (The Muppet Show)

A huge special thanks to our good friend David Rosenberg and his fantastic illustrations! They've truly made this a Muppet Halloween to remember! Be sure to check out David's DeviantArt page!

News Update - October 26th

NOTE: There will be no Muppet Comic Monday today due to lack of time on the part of me. Today's update is a very small one.


NEWS AND SUCH - October 26, 2009
ToughPigs has done a fantastic interview with Louise Gikow, author of the new Sesame Street: A Celebration of Forty Years of Life on the Street book. They posted part 1 of the interview today and part 2 should be up within the week.

Muppets.com has been updated with a Muppet Monster Halloween introduction to the main page just in time for Halloween. You can now view all three Muppet Halloween videos on the main page of Muppets.com, instead of just on Disney's Haunted Holidays page.

The Swedish Chef and Bunsen and Beaker have also uploaded their Halloween videos to their YouTube accounts. They can now be viewed in glorious YouTube hi-def. Lookie, lookie! Der Chefsken cooker der poompkins! Bork! Bork! Bork!







Tomorrow, The Muppet Mindset will feature a very special interview with a good friend of ours. So check back here tomorrow for that!

David Rosenberg's 31 Days of Monsters: Week 3

Welcome to week three of of David Rosenberg's gorgeous 31 Days of Muppet Monsters illustrations...

OCTOBER 16th - DOGLION

OCTOBER 17th - GORGON HEAP

OCTOBER 18th - LOTHAR

OCTOBER 19th - MISS KITTY

OCTOBER 2Oth - MULCH

OCTOBER 21st - BOPPITY

OCTOBER 22nd - SNAKE FRACKLE

David Rosenberg's 31 Days of Monsters - Week 2

NEWS UPDATE - OCTOBER 15th
SesameStreet.org has posted a fantastic new highlight reel for Season 40 (debuting on 11/10/09). Check it out! Highlights of the highlights include Jason Mraz, Jimmy Fallon, and Ricky Gervais.

The Fraggles have a mysterious new website called Dr. Doozer. So far it doesn't do much besides play a remixed version of the Fraggle Rock theme song, but apparently it will be the launching platform for a new line of Fraggle merchandise--so keep your eyes peeled!

It's a Friday in October again, and you know what that means! More gorgeous Muppet Monster illustrations by supremely talented fan-artist David Rosenberg!

OCTOBER 9th - LUNCHEON COUNTER MONSTER

OCTOBER 10th - MEAN MAMMA

OCTOBER 11th - NASTY FRACKLE

OCTOBER 12th - SHAKEY SANCHEZ

OCTOBER 13th - SPLURGE

OCTOBER 14th - BEHEMOTH

OCTOBER 15th - DROOP

It's a Very Scary Muppet Halloween Website

See The Muppets on Disney's Haunted Holidays Page!

As reported two weeks ago, Disney has launched a Halloween website. What does this have to do with you (or me), you may ask? Simple: Muppets. That's right folks, the Muppets are there in all of their furry, funny glory--and boy do they represent. The main focus of the site is a spell book of sorts in which you can access many different "sections" of the book that represent different popular Disney properties such as Pirates of the Caribbean, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Snow White, and The Muppets.

This webpage features some exciting new--and significantly awesome--content from The Muppets. Not only does it feature short video clips marking the triumphant return of some Muppet monsters (Big Mean Carl, Green Frackle, Pink Frackle, Angel Marie, a Muppet Ghost, a Muppet Skull, Real Old Tom), but it also features three fantastic new Halloween themed videos starring Bunsen, Beaker, and The Swedish Chef. The greatest part about this page? According to friends, this page can be seen by Muppet fans outside of the United States. This is significant because the videos on the main page for Muppets.com can't be accessed by anyone overseas.

The first video that starts playing when you open up the site is Muppet Mobile Labs: Ghost Hunters. In this video, Bunsen welcomes the viewers to the live feed from Mobile Muppet Labs, "Where we take science to the streets!" Make sure you watch it for yourself. Be on the lookout for Bunsen's hilarious penguin intern and a really bad pun.

The next video, Muppet Labs: The Carve-O-Matic 3000, features Bunsen and Beaker again. This time, everyone's two favorite scientists are back in their element (although an element that is not on the periodic table) at Muppet Labs. The classic set from The Muppet Show appears to have been redesigned and rebuilt--a sign of more great Muppet labs video that are sure to come! This sketch also features the Muppet Labs theme music and the broken clock seen and heard at the beginning of each classic Muppet Labs sketch. Make sure you watch Beaker's finger carefully after he takes off the Carve-O-Matic 3000, there's some hilarious physical comedy.

The third video in the Muppets' new Halloween lineup stars The Swedish Chef in Pumpkin Carving. Everyone's favorite deranged Chef looks right at home in the new kitchen set--another one that looks to have been designed as a modern update to the Chef's kitchen on The Muppet Show (complete with a snazzy new microwave). The Swedish Chef opens the sketch with his classic humming song and it really feels like you're watching The Muppet Show on a new set. The Chef is trying to carve pumpkins for the viewers today--but these pumpkins talk. You can imagine how this works out. This video has the distinction of featuring four new puppets, a battle-axe, a chainsaw, and a bazooka!

It's hard to pick a favorite sketch here since all three are spot-on perfect Muppety goodness and hilarity. There were parts of each video that I loved--the penguin in "Ghost Hunters," the Beaker pumpkin head in "Carve-O-Matic 3000," and the pumpkins in "Pumpkin Carving"--but there was one thing in all three that I consistently loved: Dave Goelz. Dave was hysterical as Bunsen (as always) and his role as the more experienced pumpkin was fantastic. Let's hear it for Mr. Goelz, shall we?

I give each of these videos a perfect 5/5. The content is hilarious, well done, technologically advanced, and classic. Each of these sketches are something that I could imagine seeing on a special Muppet Halloween show.

The quality of the Muppet performances here were top-notch, A+ material and a fantastic sign of the incredible things to be coming soon from The Muppets Studio!

Muppet Fan Artist Showcase - David Rosenberg

Today The Muppet Mindset welcomes a fantastic illustrator and cartoonist, David Rosenberg. David has done many fantastic illustrations of the Muppets and the Sesame Street casts as can be seen on his Deviant Art galleries for each (The Muppets, Sesame Street). David reached out to the Mindset and asked if he could contribute art for the blog--the response from us was a resounding "HECK YES!"

We've given David a Friday installment throughout the month of October which will showcase his drawings from his 31 Days of Monsters series. In the spirit of the Halloween season, every day in October David uploads a new illustration of a Muppet Monster onto his Deviant Art page and each Friday in October we'll display the past week's Muppet Monsters for everyone to see.

OCTOBER 1st - YORRICK (Sam and Friends)

OCTOBER 2nd - THOG (The Muppet Show)

OCTOBER 3rd - THIG (The Great Santa Claus Switch)

OCTOBER 4th - MAD MONTY (Muppet Treasure Island)

OCTOBER 5th - BEAUTIFUL DAY MONSTER (The Muppet Show and Sesame Street)

OCTOBER 6th - CODZILLA (The Jim Henson Hour)

OCTOBER 7th - TIMMY MONSTER (The Muppet Show)

OCTOBER 8th - GLOAT (The Muppet Show)

Many thanks to David for these incredible drawings and letting us showcase them here on the Mindset! Keep an eye out for more next Friday!