Ozmasters, The MOTU General Discussion Thread.

[kup]

I quite like Catra's face. It harkens back to the female face style of 80s cartoons imo. Her and She-Ra are the only ones I've seen in person though.

I like her face too

[Robzy]

Just in case anyone doubted Scott was a complete jerk...

Are all the mekaneck's released going to have a helmet that doesnt fit right on their head? How can you release product that is faulty? The price we all pay for these figures is crazy enough, but we pay it because we expect top of the line figures. I can't believe how often you guys screw up the most standard quality control process. It seems like every other toy you release for motuc has some type of error. I cant believe such an a-list character was released with such a defect, thanks. You can see the corners of where his eyes would be under the mask for christ sakes! It looks F--KING REDICULOUS! It seems like you guys just can't get it right, I wish I hadn't purchased a 2013 subscription. I can only imagine how many more botched figures we are going to get. Maybe Mattel should hand the brand over to Hasbro so it can be done right or even better, perhaps they should get a new brand manager who knows what the **** he is doing.

Scott's reply...

Not every figure will be for everyone. I've got a final Mek on my desk and think he looks keen. The Horsemen really captured one of my favorite vintage figures spot on! (if I could have any MOTU characters power, it would totally be Mekaneck. I always want to look over crowds.... Sometimes when translating a toy from a sculpt to a plastic articulated figure, not everything is seamless (the same thing can be seen on He-Man's hair actually). It is just part of the toy making process.

As for Hasbro, they do a fantastic job of fan relations. I particularly like how they set up a whole Direct to Consumer web business just to sell hard core collectors vintage nostalgia lines for brands not large enough to work at retail.

And their interaction with fan sites is best in class. They way they always send out review samples, and answer every fan question posted on the boards no matter how rudely typed they are. As for brand managers, clearly all of their staff are hard core fans too, doing everything they can to keep collectors line going like writing behind the scene blogs, dressing up at SDCC, recording podcasts at 6 am on Sunday mornings and holding create a character contests letting fans actually design characters in their lines.

One day I hope we can deliver close to what they do.

Sure the person asking the question was rude... but... wow...

Scott has got to go down in history as the WORST person for a PR job ever!

[Sky Shadow]

Scott has got to go down in history as the WORST person for a PR job ever!

I guess at least Mattel isn't fronted by a pointless, annoying dickhead.

Oh no, hold on...

[kup]

Just in case anyone doubted Scott was a complete jerk...



Scott's reply...




Sure the person asking the question was rude... but... wow...

Scott has got to go down in history as the WORST person for a PR job ever!

That alone shows you that he is in the wrong job. He is not just dealing with some fan, he is dealing with one of his paying customers! He shouldn't loose sight of that so easily. It is so unprofessional to response with such sarcasm.

Plus his 'wannabee' fan celebrity status and fan interactions have actually done more harm than good when you look at it objectively. Fan interaction is fine as long as you are aware that he is also your customer!

[Robzy]

Again, he just lists all the things that he wants "credit" for. That's the third time in the past 2-3 months that I can specifically remember (in writing) Scott actually doing this.

Other choice quotes...

I don't have the power to just "change things"

So... who does???

As you said, this was someone's choice and that someone was Ruben and his design team.

It's never his fault. He wants credit all the time, but never accepts any blame. Here he is, passing the buck again... First it's legal, now it's all Ruben!

I have noticed MOTU fans tend to be more "demanding" compared to other toy lines but I also think they deserve the best product possible!

This was a response to a rather condescending question - still can't work out if the poster was actually being sarcastic - like it's customers who are expecting too much from these "high-end" collectibles that will last "forever... from here til doomsday"!

Clearly, all these recent responses indicate that Scott's had about as much as he can handle. He doesn't seem to realise that many customers have had enough too. Many of us are being "rude", "unreasonable", and "demanding" because we're SICK TO DEATH of the same old problems happening over and over and over and over again! After a while, you start to get angry and take it out on the smarmy guy who posts "copy and paste" responses and NEVER actually addresses the issue. He even states that he answer every question... yeah right! There are so many unanswered questions on that forum... plus, saying "no plans right now" or "I'll pass that along" all the time (without follow-ups) are not ANSWERS to the questions.

[kup]

It's never his fault. He wants credit all the time, but never accepts any blame. Here he is, passing the buck again... First it's legal, now it's all Ruben!

So it's now my fault? (!)

[Robzy]

So it's now my fault? (!)

Ha! Yeah, man... What have you done???!!!

[Robzy]

Wow Scott's answers get more dramatic by the day...

I've always said I will maximize the number of skus we get in 2014, be that 1 or 20 or 50. Yes, there is a very real chance management may decide MOTUC isn't worth the trouble anymore. Sales are down, all most online fans do is complain, and people are very negative all the time. *Now don't get me wrong, there are clearly some issues to complain about. But come on. Look at any other collector lines. I can't think of any line that generates so much negative feelings over issues that are not life changing. Do I even need to bring up that crappy Thundercats line Bandai put out? How about that Luke that had his hair sculpted the wrong direction and a cloak that was totally off model. Yes MOTUC has had issues, but not issues that I think are worthy of the amount of negativity that sometimes generates. Other lines tend to skate by while MOTUC fans just want to throw everything under the bus as quick as they can.

All of this winds up being not very good reasons to keep a line going. (do you not realize how cool it is that we are even GETTING new MOTU each month? Remember what it was like in 2004-2007? Nothing new. very easy to take what we are getting for granted)

It would be much more profitable for the company to put the resources we use for MOTUC into Barbie or Hot Wheels which make way more money. It is way easier to just say "we are done" than to keep fighting year after year to keep this line. I do it personally because I love MOTU and I will continue to fight for every skus I can get in 2014, but at this point I simply don't know how many (if any) we will get. That is managements call, not mine.

Wow!

For starters, he promised if people bought the 2013 he would personally guarantee they would finish off the line in 2014 with A-list characters... Now, he says that he really meant he'd only fight for SKUs (be it 1, 20 or 50)

In response to the rest, somebody on the Org wrote exactly what I thought...

The management may cancel the line because of negativity bothers me. First it was sub or the line may end, now it sounds like we are being told to not complain and shut up or the line may end. That's just not going to fly.

Is this Scott's new tactic to avoid endless criticism? Is he sick of "copying and pasting" answers, and now wants us to just stop complaining about, you know, every little "minor" issue?

Well, that's today's lesson folks... Shut up and stop complaining... or else they might just cancel the line!

[Tallestblue]

Enormous six page rant cancelled for brevity.

I thought Scott's response was actually funny, but then I've always enjoyed watching the outraged rabble scream and claw at each other.

I'll stick with MOTUC until it's dying breath. It's still the best collector toy line out there and not much comes close to it. I'm just ignoring the extraneous crap such as Mattel politics and production errors. Just keep giving me neat toys please.

[Trent]

How about that Luke that had his hair sculpted the wrong direction

Oh how I lol'd at that! Would have loved to see the SW fan rage play out over that.