In an issue of Toyfair Magazine from fall 2001, it was first officially announced that Palisades Toys had a license to produce Mupet action figures. Shortly afterwards, one fan contacted Palisades, and product developer Ken Lilly joined the Muppet Central forums, giving info on the product line and answering fans questions. Othe rpeople from Palisades have been members of the Muppet Central forum as well. Later, the official Palisades Toys website included a section called "The Daily Bit", which often gave news on upcoming products, and the same website eventually got it's own message board, where more info could be obtained.

I have recently been looking for sources to cite on various articles for Palisades Toys releases, but unfortunately, some is hard to find. In April 2002, the Muppet Central forum changed, and while I have found a way to get to the old forum, I don't know if that's stil possible. The Palisades Toys website no longer exists. There are also a lot of facts that were announced in online interviews with Palisades staff member,s but I don't know the exact links. The Internet Wayback Machine site can take people to older versions of websites, but unfortunately, certain pages of these sites can't be uploaded. While I can go to pre-April 2002 updated versions of Muppet Central, I can't get to the old forum. While I can get to archived versions of the Palisades website, I can't get to the message board (and daily bits are limited as well).

This page is an attemptt o list facts about the figures that I know of, but can't get to the original sources. I will try my best to list the first source I can remember finding them. In some cases I'll say that a fact was first annoucned in Toyfair Magazine or a Toyfair convention. I don't have any issues of Toyfair, and havenm't been to any Toyfair conventions. This kind of info comes from message baord posts and Toyfair coverage sites.

FiguresEdit

• Kermit the Frog Action Figure - The original Toyfair article that annoucned the line reported that series 1 Kermit would come with a banjo. However, Ken Lily reproted in the Mupet Central forum that, at the time, the license was limited to The Mupet Show, and therefore couldn't include a banjo with Kermit.

• Miss Piggy - In message baord posts it had been said that Palisades wanted to make a Miss Piggy figure with rooted hair, but couldn't get the hair to look right on such a small scale.

• Mupet Labes playset with Beaker action figure - In message baord posts by Ken Lilly it was said that Beaker would have a mouth that could open and close (the series one packaging showed Beaker with a closed mouth). However, due to prototypes getting destroyed and the size of the mouth, the figure had a permaneantly-opened mouth instead. It was also considered to have the Beaker figure have rooted hair, but the hair couldn't get done right on the figure.

• Electric Mayhem Stage with Animal - The Toyfair article that announced this line mentioned a "band stage" playset that would be released alongside series 1. However, this playset was released as part of series 2. In apost on the original Mupet Central forum it was said that Palisades wanted all of the Electric Mayhem members to fit on the stage, but due to the size of the drum set the stage would have fold-out sections from the bottom, and some members would come with special sectiosn that could be attached to the playset. Eventually, the playset was changed so that the band could play around the playset, and only Animal would be on the stage.

• Tuxedo Rowlf Action Figure - The tuxedo Rowlf variant was originally planned as a series 3 exclusive, while a standard Rowlf would be the regular figure in series 3. However, according to a post at the Palisades message board it was said that Palisades wanted some characetr figures to be released as variants first, with their standard versions coming later.

• Scooter Action Figure - At Toyfair 2002, it was announced that Scoote rwould coem with a clipboard, a headset, and a to-be-determiend pack-in figure. Of these only the headset was included with the released figure. In a Muppet Central forum post, Ken Lilly announced that Scooter would come with a door, but it was later decided that a door of the right scale would be too tall to fit in the packaging.

• Lew Zealand Action Figure - At one point Lew Zealand's bucket was supposed to have an image on it (shown in a daily bit), but in the end the bucket was plain.

• Zoot Action Figure - when a Zoot action figur was first announced for release at Toyfair 2002, it was announced that one of Zoot's accessories would be an "Electric Mayhem base section", which Ken Lilly explained in a Muppet Central post would be asmall section that would be attached to the Electric Mayhem stage playset.

• Rizzo the Rat Action Figure - A Rizzo figure was first announced for release in series 5, but was later moved to series 4.

• Janice Action Figure - At Toyfair 2002, a Janice figure was first announced to be released in series 4. In a Muppet Central post by Ken Lilly, it was announced that Janice would be moved from series 4 to 5. The reason was later confirmed in anothe rpos tto be ebcause Palisades had gotten the rights to include figures, variants, and accessories from the movies, and planned to release an Electric Mayhem bus playset, to come with Janice. This playset was soon cancled, and Janice was released in series 5 outside of the playset.

• Pepe the King Prawn Action Figure - Originally, it was announced that Pepe would come with a jar of door-in-a-jar and teh door that coems from it (both from Muppets From Space).

• Patrol Bear Action Figure - When the series 2-4 line-up was originally announced at Toyfair 2002, it was announced that Patrol Bear would be a series 2 exclusive. Eventually it was decided that Patrol Bear would be too choice of an exclusive and he was planned to be released ina regular series line-up. It was later announced that he would be released as a series 5 exclusive, but the retailer that planned to sell the figure chose not to, and the figure was bumped to series 6.

• Statler and Waldorf action figures - At Toyfair 2002, it was announced that figures of Statler and Waldorf would come with a Muppet Show stage playset. Eventually, they were replaced by figures of Sweetums and Robin (before the playset was cancled), and the two were released seperately. At first, Statler was planned for release in series 5, and Waldorf in series 6, but then Statler got moved to series 6, so that the two would be released in the same series.

• Clifford action figure - One of the accessories originally planned for Clifford was a set of tapes that represent Muppets Tonight sketches.

• Captain Smollet Action Figure - A scroll was planned as an accessory, but cancled due to budget (according to a Palisades message board post, the scroll was scuplted, yet it never came with any characters).

• Sam the Eagle Action Figure - At Toyfair 2002, it was annoucned thata standard Sam figure would be released as part of series 4. The figure was replaced by Samuel Arrow in series 4, due to both Palisades wanting to save standard versions of some of the main characters for later and because the license had extended to include movie variants.

• Dr. Phil van Neuter Action Figure - When the figure was first announced in a Palisades Toys message board post, it was announced that Dr. Phil van Neuter would coem with a cabnet to put his accessories into.