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  • For tropes related to the 2011 film, go here
  • For tropes related to the 2015 series, go here

The franchise in general:

  • Adorkable: Scooter, a cute, geeky, glasses-wearing Muppet.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Professor Honeydew really as absent-minded as all that, or does he know full well he's hurting people (Beaker especially) and just doesn't care? The fact he often follows his actions with that little giggle isn't in his favor. Certain moments seem to indicate that Bunsen does indeed care about Beaker’s wellbeing, such as when he frets over Beaker being overwhelmed by the rogue president Lincoln robot during episode 206 of Muppets Tonight; perhaps he just considers scientific pursuit more important.
  • Base-Breaking Character:
    • Miss Piggy is one of the most divisive members of the main Muppet gang. Some find her to be a incredibly fun and hilarious character on top of being a great female and feminist icon, while others found her to be a shallow and unlikable Jerkass who barely develops or faces any true consequences for her oft violent and abusive actions.
    • Kermit's nephew Robin isn't universally hated by any means, but some Muppet fans can be a little bit testy when he shows up, finding him too much of a cute Kid-Appeal Character. That being said, he's still more well-liked and tolerable overall than, say, Bean Bunny from later Muppet projects.
  • Broken Base:
    • Matt Vogel as Kermit. Some don't mind Vogel's performance and have argued that his portrayal of Kermit is more faithful to Jim's performance than Steve Whitmire was. Many — including the Henson family themselves — felt Whitmire made Kermit too sappy. Others, however, hate Matt Vogel's Kermit, finding his voice to be incredibly off-putting and nasal compared to Jim or Steve's performances. It doesn't help that Matt Vogel only became Kermit due to Disney having fired Steve Whitmire prior, unlike previous cases of recasting where it's either because the performer leaves on their own volition,note  or they end up dying, necessitating a recasting.note 
    • Kermit x Miss Piggy is an incredibly divisive pairing amongst the Muppet fandom and bringing it up is a good way to set the fandom in flames. On one hand, many adore it and regard it as the One True Pairing of the franchise, enjoying their dynamic and their interactions with each other, while others deride it for being a straight case of Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male, with Piggy constantly being violent towards Kermit for laughs. It doesn't help that the nature of their relationship is different between the films and the shows (with the movies portraying the two in a better light than in the shows), nor does it help that Miss Piggy herself is very divisive.
  • Common Knowledge: The Muppet named Wilkins from the old Wilkins Coffee spots is often assumed to be an early version of Kermit, due to having a similar voice and appearance. He's not; in fact, Kermit had already existed for two years on the show Sam and Friends before the Wilkins Coffee spots started being produced.
  • Contested Sequel: With the exceptions of The Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Viral Videos, and The Muppets (2011), which are widely agreed to be good, the Muppet productions made after Jim Henson's death tend to be incredibly divisive, with fans and critics often debating and arguing over which productions are good, So Okay, It's Average, or just plain bad.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Rowlf the Dog, largely because he was the first Muppet to reach national stardom, and he really doesn't get enough credit for helping to bring the Muppets into mainstream consciousness. Many fans lament his decreased role among the cast following Jim Henson's death.
    • Originating from Muppets Tonight, Pepe the King Prawn, who appeared in over half the episodes and has wound up playing a major role in most major Muppet works released afterward. Also Bobo the Bear, who would play henchman roles in Muppets from Space and The Muppets (2011). It doesn't hurt that they're both played by Bill Barretta.
    • In an official Facebook brackets contest leading up to the release of Muppets Most Wanted, Beaker beat out Kermit as the fans' most favorite Muppet, largely due to his relatable neurotic tendencies.
    • For a Muppet that only appears once in a blue moon, Crazy Harry is pretty popular with the fans.
    • Uncle Deadly. He didn't appear much in the original show, but he became somewhat popular, especially after his major role in the 2011 film.
    • While on the subject of Muppets originally performed by Jerry Nelson, Lew Zealand, a clown-esque character whose main (and only) schtick is throwing boomerang fish. While such a concept is certainly odd and even tedious, Lew does his act with such goofy gusto that it's hard to hate him.
  • Fountain of Memes: Kermit the Frog has spawned countless memes, due to his iconic voice, Deadpan Snarker tendencies and funny design.
  • Friendly Fandoms:
    • Given that Jim Henson is involved with all three, share many of the same staff and puppeteers and the three shows have crossed over numerous times, the Muppet fandom is heavily intertwined with the Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock fandoms, to where the fanbases are often grouped into one big fanbase instead of individual fanbases.
    • Muppet fans and Star Wars fans tend to have a very good friendship, given that George Lucas and Jim Henson were friends in real life, on top of several Muppeteers, most notably Frank Oz, being involved with Star Wars. It helps that two franchises have crossed over at one point on the The Muppet Show (and have had merch collaborations), as well as the fact that they're both currently owned by Disney.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: The technique Henson and Oz used to operate the Swedish Chef became a game on Whose Line Is It Anyway? called "Helping Hands", letting the audience see first-hand just how much dexterity was required. This technique predates both shows.
  • Ho Yay:
    • Statler and Waldorf are pretty much always seen together, bicker and argue Like an Old Married Couple, and have even danced together in a couple of the At the Dance skits. Doesn't help that Waldorf's wife looks exactly like Statler, leading to jokes that it’s actually him Disguised in Drag.
    • Bunsen and Beaker have countless examples, including Bunsen calling Beaker pet names, Beaker going on a pretend dinner date with a fake Bunsen in the Flowers on the Wall music video, and even Bunsen kissing Beaker on the cheek during a live show. There’s so much of it that both Tough Pigs and the Muppet Wiki have articles devoted to the romantic aspects of their relationship.
  • LGBT Fanbase:
    • Due to the group being a Found Family of weirdos and misfits who come to care deeply about each other in spite of their differences, it should come as no surprise that the Muppets have a large following amongst the LGBT community in general. It certainly helps that the Muppets have a very pro-LGBT stance, with one of the original Muppeteers, the late Richard Hunt, being gay himself.
    • Gonzo’s status as a whatever and his struggles with identity has made him very popular amongst the non-binary community. Muppet fan site, Tough Pigs wrote an article about it that goes more in-depth. A few bits of canon even explicitly name his gender as "whatever."
  • Memetic Mutation: Has its own page.
  • Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales:
    • The Swedish Chef is a case of divisiveness in Sweden. Some people hate him for being an overtly ridiculous portrayal of Swedes, and others find him hilarious for exactly the same reason. According to Adam Hills, in Sweden, the Swedish Chef is known as The Norwegian Chef.
    • It's pretty much an accepted fact that no one loves Sam the Eagle more than his fellow Americans.
  • Only the Creator Does It Right: There is a general agreement amongst the fandom that only Jim Henson truly understood the Muppets and what made them appealing, and that, as much as they tried, neither Disney or even the Jim Henson Company have been able to truly capture their spirit after his death (bar some exceptions). This was evident even before Jim Henson passed away, as The Muppets Take Manhattan, which was directed by Frank Oz instead of Jim Henson, is regarded to be a Contested Sequel compared to the universally beloved Henson-directed The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper.
  • Overshadowed by Controversy: Any discussion revolving around Matt Vogel's Kermit is guaranteed to become overshadowed by the controversial firing of Steve Whitmire by Disney and the publicized fighting between him and Disney/the Henson family in the months following his departure.
  • Play-Along Meme: Referring to the Muppets as real actors who just incidentally look like they're made of felt is one of the biggest traditions in Hollywood. If you read an interview, most any celebrity will praise them for their professionalism and skill and claim it was a joy to work with such a talented crew.
  • The Problem with Licensed Games:
    • Jim Henson's Muppet Adventure: Chaos at the Carnival is a collection of mini-games released for the NES in 1990 by Hi Tech Expressions. However, the mini-games seem like early 1980's knock-offs, as they suffer from amateurish graphics and shallow, repetitive gameplay, often made worse by bad controls and hit detection. Your reward for being this game is a single screen where Miss Piggy chides you for taking too long. Versions of this game were released for the Apple ][, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS one year later, and they are all even buggier than the NES version, with the MS-DOS version in particular being prone to softlocking at random.
    • Jim Henon's The Muppets, released for the Game Boy Color by Take 2 Interactive in 1999, doesn't fare much better. The game's plot involves Kermit and Animal trying to rescue their friends, who have been taking to different time periods by Dr. Honeydew's time machine. The game suffers from clunky controls, sub-par graphics, horrible music, enemies that take way too many hits to killnote , and poor level design. Every level is a huge labyrinth, and Kermit and Animal take damage from falling from even the lowest of heights.
  • Signature Song: "Halfway Down the Stairs" for Robin, which even became a Top 10 hit in the UK in 1977. For Kermit, there’s "Bein' Green" and "Rainbow Connection".
  • Theme Pairing: Scooter and Walter make a somewhat popular pairing among fans on Tumblr and Twitter due to them both being younger human-based Muppets with similar personalities.
  • Tough Act to Follow: Steve Whitmire had the unfortunate luck of taking over Kermit after the passing of Jim Henson, who was practically intertwined with Kermit. While many considered his performance as Kermit to be good (particularly later on), it’s near-universally agreed that he just doesn’t stack up to Henson. History repeated itself again after Whitmire was fired and Matt Vogel took over as the frog, in which he received a similar reception to Steve.
  • Ugly Cute: Many of the Muppets, in contrast to the generally cute monsters of Sesame Street.

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