It’s the Muppet Show, with our special guest star – set designer Lance Cardinal! YAAAAYAYAYAAYA!
This miniature Muppet Show playset was custom-made for the Palisades toy line of Muppet miniatures. The mini Kermits and Gonzos were extremely authentic and the entire line of over 82 figures captivated the imagination of Lance Cardinal, a former set designer and current visual artist attending the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada. A huge fan of the show, Cardinal purchased many of the figures and playsets (such as Pigs in Space, and the Swedish Chef’s Kitchen) from Palisades when the toys were first released in 2001. He was hotly anticipating the Muppet Theatre Playset that would have held all of the other scenes and brought the whole collection together. Unfortunately, Palisades Toys went bankrupt in 2006 and all plans to produce the Muppet Theater was scrapped. Cardinal didn’t take no for an answer though and used all of his artistic skill and patience to make his own Muppet Theater.
“I’m sure Palisades would have done an amazing job,” Cardinal wrote on his blog, “but I think I have done them justice. I have tried to capture the essence of the Palisades brand, including aesthetics, attention to detail and interactive fun!”
There was a collective squee of enjoyment in The Escapist offices when we discovered Cardinal’s website. Every little detail of the miniature Muppet Show stage, from the accurate rigging and working curtain to the painstaking paint and detail work not only completely matches the toy figures, but also Jim Henson’s DIY style of puppet crafting.
Kudos, Lance Cardinal. You have made something wonderful that transported me back in time to when I’d sit and watch The Muppet Show on Saturday nights with my family.
Go to Cardinal’s blog if you want to learn more about how he made the Muppet theater and see even more pictures of this amazing creation.
Source: Lance Cardinal
