Unmade Palisades Toys

Prototypes of what could have been

Palisades Toys, during its time as licensor of Muppet action figures, considered or made prototypes of many character figures which were not released.

Muppet Figures

Action figures of Angus McGonagle and Benjamina Gunn were announced for Series 5 and 7, respectively, but later replaced with other characters. Neither of these went into production.

In 2004, Palisades had a contest on its message board where fans could nominate a pack-in character or accessory, and after a round of rejecting certain characters and a few polls, the pack-in with the most votes would get made sometime in 2005. The winning pack-in was a cow, but due to retailers having less interest in the line, eventually leading to the figures being made as exclusives only, the cow was never made.

When the Muppets line of action figures was cancelled, Palisades employee Ken Lilly posted the following tentative lineup for Series 10 through 14 on the Palisades message board.

Of these, only Uncle Deadly, Swamp Kermit, naked sitting Robin and the Penguins were produced and sold. Only a few others made it to the prototype stage. The rest never made it past the planning stages.

Series 10

• Baby Kermit with Baby Piggy
• Dr. Bob
• Sal Minella (in three variant colors with Robin and Penguin pack-ins)
• Uncle Deadly (released separately)
• Gobo Fraggle with a Doozer (Special Test Figure)

• Exclusive: Tuxedo Statler
• Exclusive: Tuxedo Waldorf

Series 11

• Baby Gonzo with Baby Rowlf
• Nurse Janice
• Bobo the Bear
• Louis Kazagger (in two variant colors)

• Exclusive: RoboBuster Bunsen
• Exclusive: RoboBuster Beaker

Series 12

• Baby Scooter with Baby Fozzie
• Nurse Piggy with Bean Bunny
• Mahna Mahna with The Snowths
• Mulch

• Exclusive: Vacation Animal
• Exclusive: Super Gonzo and Rizzo
• Exclusive: Wonder Pig
• Exclusive: Vacation Swedish Chef
• Exclusive: Super Statler and Waldorf

Series 13

• Patrol Link Hogthrob
• Dr. Teeth 2
• Clueless Morgan
• Rat Pack

• Exclusive: Tuxedo Sam the Eagle

Series 14

• Reporter Gonzo
• Swamp Kermit
• Seymour and Pepe
• Randy and Andy Pig

• Exclusive: Fozzie as Squire Trelawney (with Mr. Bimbo)
• Exclusive: Holiday Kermit with Robin the Frog

Unknown Dates

• Kermit Scarecrow

Accessory Packs

Baby Kermit, sculpted by Cynthia Woodie

Baby Piggy, sculpted by Woodie

Veterinarian's Hospital

Kermit Scarecrow concept

Sal Minella, front and back

Sal Minella, painted

Gobo Fraggle

Unmade Playsets

There have also been quite a few playsets announced that never got made. These playsets included The Muppet Theatre stage, The Electric Mayhem Bus, Planet Koozebane, Veterinarian's Hospital, and the Happiness Hotel.

The Muppet Theatre Stage was originally going to be released during Winter 2002, and later moved to a Summer 2003 release date. This set was going to be bigger than the other sets, and was to include fabric curtains that could open, Statler and Waldorf's Box, the back wall of the stage, and some removable backdrops, such as The Muppet Show title card.

This set was planned to be big enough to fit one existing playset on the stage at a time. There were plans to have it be able to connect to a possible Backstage Playset (which wasn't announced to be made at the time). It was originally going to come with Statler and Waldorf action figures, but after deciding that a Sweetums Action Figure would have to be too big to fit in the regular packaging, Statler and Waldorf were moved to be released as individual action figures, and Sweetums and Robin replaced Statler and Waldorf in the set.

Due to poor sales of the playsets and the planned size of this set, plans for this playset were cancelled.

The Planet Koozebane playset was meant to come with the Koozebane Kermit action figure, plus a lot of Koozebanian creatures, such as the Male Koozebanian Creature, the Female Koozebanian Creature, the Baby Koozebanians, the Merdidop aliens, the Koozebanian Phoob, and the Hugga Wugga creatures. This playset was going to be released alongside series 5, and was briefly moved to series 6 when The Electric Mayhem bus playset was planned for series 5, and moved back to series 5 before being canceled. The Koozebane Kermit action figure was instead released as a Target exclusive, coming with a small Koozebane base with Merdidiops, and the Male, Female, and Baby Koozebanians.

The Electric Mayhem Bus playset was planned once Palisades got the rights to release figures, accessories, and playsets inspired by the movies. This was to have been released alongside series 5 and was to come with Janice.

The Happiness Hotel playset was announced as part of series 7 in a ToyFare Magazine article from 2002, and was to come with a Pops Action Figure.

The Veterinarian's Hospital playset was planned for series 10, and was going to come with a Nurse Janice action figure.

Unmade/Unreleased Megas

A few Mega Muppet action figures were planned, and some produced, but due to poor sales of the released Megas, many of them weren't released.

The Mega Beaker Action Figure was originally planned to be released as part of a two-pack, to have come with a Mega Bunsen action figure, but it ended up being released on its own, with the Mega Bunsen being sculpted but never released.

Megas of The Swedish Chef, Rowlf, Rizzo the Rat, Pepe the King Prawn, and Kermit the Frog were announced at some points, but were never released.

A Mega version of the Vanishing Cream Beaker Action Figure was sculpted and originally planned as an exclusive to all 2003 conventions, but wasn't released.

At one point, a repainted version of the Mega Gonzo Action Figure, dressed in his checkered suit from Muppets Tonight, was planned to be sold as an exclusive, but although a repainted version was made, it was never released. However, a regular-sized Checkered Suit Gonzo Action Figure was released as a Collectors Club exclusive. 

Mega Kermit prototype

Mega Bunsen, Kermit and Beaker prototypes

Unmade Minis

Series two of the Mini Muppets line was originally planned to come with a Bean Bunny PVC. However, Bean was soon replaced with Fozziwig in order for the set to have another main character released.

Series 3 of the Mini Muppets was originally going to include Kermit in his pajamas and robe, as seen in Muppets from Space. This set was also originally going to include Rizzo the Rat, Seymour and Pepe (as one piece), and Nigel. These PVCs got replaced with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, and The Swedish Chef.

Prototype sculpts were also created of Dr. Teeth, Floyd Pepper, Zoot, Janice, Animal, and Rowlf the Dog for a proposed Electric Mayhem set.

Sesame Street Figures

Following the bankruptcy of Palisades and the sale of the company to Limited by CAS Inc. in February 2006, the proposed Sesame Street line of action figures was cancelled. Only the Super Grover Action Figure, sold at conventions, has been made available for purchase to date.

Although the first four figures in the series were apparently manufactured and listed on many sites, the cancellation of the line has prevented the figures from being released. Other figures, planned for series 2 or beyond, were never fully completed beyond prototype stages.

Each figure would have been accompanied by a Letter of the Alphabet and part of Sesame Street, to be put together to create a diorama playset.

The Oscar the Grouch figure was permanently sculpted inside his trash can, but could be pushed down into the can. He was to have removable arms, so they wouldn't get in the way of him going into his trash can. He was also going to come with removable legs, giving the appearance he has when he walks with his legs sticking out of the bottom of the trash can.

Previously, in 2004, Fun-4-All's proposed line of Sesame Street figures were cancelled; that company also went out of business.

Ernie figure, with Rubber Duckie, a picture of Ernie and Bert, a brick wall, a banana, and the letter D

Ernie figure prototype

Ernie's accessories prototype

Ernie prototype and accessories

Guy Smiley figure, with large countdown clock, a letter B, "Beat the Time" sign, "The Triangle Is Right" signs, microphone, and microphone stand

Guy Smiley figure

Guy Smiley prototype with countdown clock accessory

Guy Smiley prototype and accessories

Oscar the Grouch figure, with Slimey and other accessories.

Oscar the Grouch figure prototype

Slimey prototype

Oscar the Grouch prototype and accessories.

Oscar the Grouch prototype

Oscar the Grouch prototype

Two-Headed Monster figure

Two-Headed Monster figure prototype

Two-headed Monster prototype and accessories

Bert prototype

Bert and Ernie prototypes

Cookie prototype

Count prototype

Count prototype

Grover prototype

Grover prototype

Elmo prototype

Prototype for Big Bird, an 11 inch tall figure, with Little Bird as a pack-in figure

Little Bird as a pack-in figure

Big Bird prototype at different angles

Big Bird painted prototype

Big Bird painted prototype

Big Bird painted prototype

Prototype height reference

123 Sesame Street playset

Sesame Street Playset prototype

Sesame Street light post prototype

Sesame Street playset unpainted prototype

123 Sesame Street playset

123 Sesame Street playset

Series 1

• Ernie with Rubber Duckie
• Oscar the Grouch with Slimey (orange repaint planned)
• Guy Smiley
• Two-Headed Monster

• Exclusive: Bedtime Bert

Series 2

• Bert with Bernice
• Count von Count
• Roosevelt Franklin
• Yip-Yip Martians (repaint planned)
• Big Bird with Little Bird
• 123 Sesame Street playset

• Exclusive: Bedtime Ernie

Series 3

• Cookie Monster with cookies
• Elmo (later moved to series 2)
• Sherlock Hemlock (repaint planned)
• The Amazing Mumford

• Exclusive: Waiter Grover

Series 4

• Telly Monster
• Zoe
• Prairie Dawn
• Fat Blue
• Mr. Snuffleupagus
• Betty Lou (Prairie variant)

• Exclusive: Bathtime Ernie

Series 5

• Grover (later moved to series 2)
• Rosita
• Herry Monster
• Alice Snuffleupagus

• Exclusive: Bathtime Bert

Con Exclusives and Incentives

• Anything Muppet Play Pack
• Gladys the Cow
• Steppin' Out Bert and Ernie
• Honker and Dinger Pack
• Grundgetta

Palisades' contract with Sesame Workshop also allowed Palisades the rights to make Sesame Street block figures, but Palisades never announced any plans to actually make them.

External links

• "A Love Affair of Polyvinyl Chloride" by Ken Lilly, March 25, 2011