Kermit the Frog has been my favorite Muppet throughout the years. Don't get me wrong: I loved the Muppet cast from the seventies and eighties. Who couldn't get enough of Ernie constantly messing with the ever-frustrated Bert, the "Scram!" from Oscar the Grouch, the brave but often-fumbling Super Grover, and Big Bird when he tried to convince everyone of the existence of Snuffleupagaus?
Yet very few (save for Ernie and Bert, and possibly one or two others) made it to the Muppet Show, and it was the Muppet Show where Kermit took -- not so much center stage -- but the position of Stage Manager. Kermit and his wise-crack humor brought a magic to the screen. It was the first Muppet Movie that had me amazed as a kid -- this was the first time any of us had seen a frog ride a bicycle! And we couldn't make out the wires! How did Kermit do that?
One cannot think of Kermit the Frog without loving consideration of his creator, Jim Henson. Since Kermit's sock-puppet days, Henson brought life and soul to the character.
Out of the box, Kermit seems very lifeless, but when posed, the spirit of Henson lives on in him.
This is a "photo" puppet, posable thanks to steel wires within his felt and foam body. The felt does "shed" so one must be careful. Master Replicas did an outstanding job -- this is the Kermit in all his glorious design, shape and proportions as what we saw on TV while growing up, and it shames all the hand puppets out there. The box was thick and quite protective, and there is a stand with an aluminum plaque bearing MR's logo and the sequence number of this limited edition of 2,000.
The colors and texture look true to the original puppet. There are points where there look like "scars" but are possibly areas where stitching occur. You may have to brush the felt in a such a way that it hides these imperfections the best you can. The ones most noticable are the edge of the mouth (on the left as you look at him) and two "stitches" on either side of his tummy.
As a hobbyist puppeteer who can pull off most of the voices of Sesame Street characters (and then some Muppet Show ones) the "perfect" hand puppet is sadly not found in this one. While it would require some complex surgery to convert this into a handpuppet, there are no openings for you to insert your hand to manipulate Kermit. Master Replicas has chosen a poseable "prop" approach. Over the years, you might have seen photos of the Muppets posing all by themselves. In retrospect, they were probably similarly-made wire constructs within their felt and foam.
This Kermit is so incredibly realistic that it will have a special place in my prop collection. Long live the spirit of Jim Henson!
