Uncle Travelling matt

"Dear Nephew Gobo, the other day..." Uncle Travelling Matt is Gobo Fraggle's uncle and a (usually) brave explorer who ventures out into the strange and uncharted realm of "Outer Space," home of the Silly Creatures. Throughout his travels, he sends back Silly Creature artifacts for the good of Fraggle Rock, and postcards to Gobo, in which he tells tale of his adventures within our world, though he may exaggerate just a little! "Outer Space," in this context, is not "outer space" outer space, but instead the Fraggle term for where humans live. Because it's outside of Fraggle Rock. By virtue of that, you may be able to guess that "the Silly Creatures" are what Fraggles call humans. It's a not entirely unfitting name, though Matt doesn't really understand the world and so is making a lot of wild assumptions about it, based on his limited understanding of things that are beyond him. Hey, the same thing happens whenever two cultures meet. Just like a "gobo" is a lighting term, Uncle Travelling Matt is named after a special effects technique: when part of the shot is blocked off so different elements can be edited into the scene (like extending the top of a building to make it seem taller, or changing the background of a scene), that's done with a regular matte; when the shape needs to change over time (if the camera or the subject is moving), then the matte also needs to change shape over time, and thus, a "travelling matte." Most Fraggles don't wear a lot of clothing, but since Matt is out in the big dangerous world, he dresses like an explorer: a protective "Bombay bowler"-style pith helmet, khaki shirt and shorts, a loose scarf, and a pair of shoes and socks. His body is sculpted with thick fur, but his tail seems to be missing its baloobius - the big tuft at the end. Considering the dangerous world he travels in, did he get injured at some point? He has scraggly "Doc Brown" hair and a mustache poking out of his snout. The shorts are rubber over the sculpted body underneath, which is a disappointing way to do it, especially when Palisades' Muppets often had sculpted clothes. Now, Boss Fight is going for better articulation than Palisades had, but plenty of companies have made action figures wearing pants that still have balljointed hips or whatever, and none of those needed an exterior shell to make it work. Well, some may have, but that's still not the optimum way to do it. We get swivel/hinge joints at the ankles, knees, elbows, and shoulders; balljoints for the hips, tail, waist, head, and neck; and plain swivel wrists. When Palisades wanted to give their Muppets hats, they did it with magnets; that's expensive, though, so Matt's hat just plugs into an unobtrusive hole back by his hairline. (It also has notches in the front so his eyebrows will help hold it in place.) It can be worn by both heads, though! While the standard head has normal Muppet eyes, the alternate has pin-prick pupils Muppets get in moments of extreme emotional reaction. It's wonderfully funny! The hat is technically an accessory, but we've already talked about it a bunch, so what other things does he have? A backpack, a pen and notebook, a walking stick, an "Orb of Understanding" (tennis ball), and a skateboard, plus an alternate pair of hands to hold things. The backpack plugs into the figure GI Joe style, but that's a bit of a problem: when you take the figure out of the box, his shirt hangs pretty naturally on his torso; however, to get the hole in the shirt to line up with the hole in the body, you have to slide it way up, so now the lower edge sticks away from his body oddly. It also pushes the scarf forward and makes it sit weird. It seems the hole in the figure's back was molded in the wrong place. So this was a good idea, but it doesn't work perfectly. Each series of Boss Fight Studio's Fraggle Rock toys has four figures, and for Series 1 that meant two of the "main" Fraggles, a set of Doozers, and Uncle Travelling Matt. Like we once said years ago in regards to Palisades' Muppet Show line, spreading out the important characters shows a dedication to a line. Uncle Travelling Matt is a fixture of the show, but not as important as the other characters, so he makes a lot of sense as a release for this series. The choices made for his clothes are slightly weird, however. "...love, your Uncle Travelling Matt." -- 07/10/25 Would you prefer sculpted clothes? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.