Toys That Time Forgot Volume 2 Looks at Palisades' Muppet Line!

The second volume of Blake Wright's "Toys That Time Forgot" book series is starting to arrive for the initial kickstarter backers. 

This volume once again takes a look at Palisades famed Muppet line and includes some rare sketches of unproduced items and photos of prototypes that never made it to production included a set of Muppet's Wizard of Oz figures. 

While the book is not available at retail or Amazon, you can order a copy from Big Bad Toy Store or directly from the author via their facebook page:

Help Kickstart Mike Quinn's Autobiography!

Muppet performer Mike Quinn has been a puppeteer since the early 80's and has amassed a treasure trove of stories working on films such as The Dark Crystal, Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi, The Great Muppet Caper, Little Shop Of Horrors, Labyrinth, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island, The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens to name a few. 

He would like to share his experiences working with Jim Henson, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis with the world in an autobiography, but he needs your help!

Quinn is asking fans of these films to help fund his book, cleverly titled "Talk To The Hand", on the crowd funding platform Kickstarter. 

Tall To The Hand: Cover Mock up

Here's a little more about Mike:

Born in an unassuming terraced house to a working class family in the south east of England, raised in a difficult, lonely, sometimes terrifying childhood and written off by my educators early on, my calling of puppetry not only saved me from oblivion or worse but skyrocketed me into the bright lights of the entertainment industry and the stuff dreams are made of. Holding nothing back, I chronicle my escape by being mentored by my hero, Muppet creator Jim Henson, later reinventing myself as a character animator at Pixar whilst battling chronic depression and ultimately becoming a performer for a beloved fan favorite legacy character in four Star Wars films.

Besides his film work, Mike worked on The Storyteller, Jim Henson's The Ghost Of Faffner Hall, Jim Henson's Secret Life Of Toys, Jim Henson's Mother Goose Stories, Jim Henson's The Tale Of The Bunny Picnic,The Muppets ABC TV Series, Showtime's Kidding starring Jim Carrey, and the UK, France, and Germany segments for Fraggle Rock!

If you are interested in learning more about Mike Quinn and his behind the scenes adventures working on many beloved films and series consider donating to the project. 

As this time there are only 5 days to go, so if you're interested head over to Kickstarter and help support "Talk To The Hand."

Adorkable Rachel: Swazzle Studio Tour!

Today our friend Rachel takes us on a tour of the Swazzle puppet shop!

You may recognize few familiar Henson names and faces along the way...

If you'd like to support their Merry Christmas, Krampus children's book, Swazzle is crowdfunding the project on Kickstarter.

The Jim Henson Exhibition at Museum of the Moving Image Fundraiser!

Just like the Center of Puppetry Arts asked for public support to complete their Henson exhibit, it seems Museum of the Moving Image is now looking to crowdfunding to complete theirs as well.

The exhibition will feature more than 40 original puppets — including Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Elmo, Cookie Monster, the Fraggles, and a Skeksis from The Dark Crystal — as well as puppet prototypes, original character sketches, rare behind-the-scenes footage and photographs, and interactive puppetry design and performance experiences.

Just like most crowd sourcing there are a lot of great pledge incentives including memberships to the museum, an invitation to the opening reception, a signed copy of The Muppets Character Encyclopedia, Palisades Muppet toys, and a personalized autographed from a character performed by Dave Goelz!

For those with more than just disposable income a set of limited edition lithographs (also offered to help the Center of Puppetry Arts) is a available as well.

The video introducing the campaign is hosted by Neil Patrick Harris and features Bonnie Erickson as well as many frequent MOMI event Muppet fans including Matt Soberman, John Papovitch, and Mo Monster creator Sam.

You can watch the video and check all the great rewards in in more detail on their Kickstarter page!

Help Fund Toys That Time Forgot!

Another Muppet related crowdsourcing project is looking for funding.

This time it's "Toys That Time Forgot" a (hopefully) upcoming book by Blake Wright that looks at unproduced toy lines.

The book would be a "first-of-its-kind art book highlighting a series of "lost" toy projects, mainly action figures, spanning three-plus decades."

Written and compiled by journalist Blake Wright, the 200-plus page hard cover book will take an in-depth look at over 20 instances of toy lines that suffered these type of fates. Stories are supplemented with supporting photographs of the production process, existing prototypes, control drawings used to create the sculpts, concept sketches and more. The stories (and supplemental materials) have come straight from the men and women that lived them — from inventors and sculptors to project managers and toy company executives.

The book's foreword will be written by Jordan Hembrough (aka The Toy Hunter), owner of Hollywood Heroes and vintage toy guru for over a quarter century.

Two unproduced Muppet lines are featured are Hasbro's original 1982 Dark Crystal and Palisade's 2005 Sesame Street action figures. 

Tim Clarke who worked on both The Dark Crystal and the unproduced toy line will share his stories working on the toys in the book. 

Some of the perks can bee seen below included a print of an original charcoal for Hasbro's unproduced Skesis figure, and a lithograph of Alex Ross' Wizard World exclusive Super Grover (Update: gone).  

According to their kickstarter page, the book is 95% complete and the funds will be used for printing.


If you'd like to see the stories behind these unproduced toys see the light of day consider contributing here.