Roast Gooble Dinner - Episode 016 Discussion!

[Sandman]

That could be an awesome bio for Clawdeen ...

We can always petition them to have "Eamon" as Clawdeen's real name...

[DarkLiger]

Battle Cat: I'm with Eamon on this, Battle Cat/Cringer does not need to talk.
Also Sabertooth Battle Cat is freaking awesome!


Cloning the sword: Whenever I read somthing goofy in these bios I imagine the staff respnsible for writting them throwing darts at an "Idea board" whenever they get stuck.

Writer 1 "So what origin should we give the Sword of Protection?"

Writer 2: "I dunno get the darts"

Wrtier 1 throws a dart then look at spot where it landed "It says 'clones'. but you can't clone a sword"

Writer 2: "Hey man, you know the rules."

[Tuukka]

Roast Gooble Dinner #16
Great to hear a bio discussions again. I must say for my part it goes like this:

- Fun to see new BIO between figure releases
- After reading it, not that fun
- Figure arrives.. don't give a damn about the bio and it's forgotten

Reason: After 20+ figures I'm really confused a lot of things and hate some unnecessary changes they made.

What comes to talking tiger: I'm really sceptic they can make that work in the movie. It's totally possible, but like JVS3 and Pixel Dan said I'm also really sceptic for all things about this new movie. If you talk about cartoon/ comics he should speak. It worked so well in Filmation.

TO EAMON: What about Granamyr -he speaks ?!? I love him the way he is, but basic dragons should not speak.. he's special
TO JVS3: You should write number & email address to first post so people can easily see it and maybe remember to contact.

[Benedict Judas Hel]

You thought i was a worthy adversary.

WOW! Thanks. Because the last time I tangled with you I ended up having my backside handed to me. Twice. So it's an honor to receive that compliment from.

Really? I thought I went easy on you the last time we tangled...

I didn't sell out. I just have sever back problems specifically. I don't have a spine.

That's nothing to be ashamed about. That a common defect among the hero-types...

[midor]

Really? I thought I went easy on you the last time we tangled...



That's nothing to be ashamed about. That a common defect among the hero-types...

Do I at least get points for (trying to) standing up to you?

[dorrmann]

It's for the best we change subjects and move on.

I couldn't agree more.

[JVS3]

To the fans, thank you for trying to avoid the topic.
It almost feels like walking into the room when mommy and daddy are fighting and the whole situation is awkward and uncomfortable.

But I'm going to address this, and I hope in my heart this will help to put all of this all behind us, as I've hoped for some time.

*deep breath*
Well... here goes my best effort.

Normally I would try to stay out of something like this, but you are asking "why Mattel won't/can't work with He-Man.org more directly" when you know perfectly well this is directly due to yours and Emiliano's behavior over the last few years. (I went over this in detail with Emiliano in person at SDCC as it is not appropriate to go into this here. If he did not share, and this is out of the blue I apologize to you, but I presume you guys talk off line.).

I don't at all mean to throw you guys under the bus, but you keep posting as if "Mattel changed their policy" or as if "shame on Mattel" for not working with you guys when you know perfectly well your behavior has forever closed the door on this type of relationship.

I've personally done everything I can with legal and upper management going out of my way to personally go to bat for you but you guys dug your own grave here. I have nothing but love for He-Man.org, but going forward just as the last few years, Mattel will be working with He-Man.org the exact same as other sites (well, technically I post here more then almost any other fan site, so you are getting better treatment in that sense!). We will do Q & A, send out samples to Dan for review and post here as much as I can.

We'll keep working with you guys, but I do ask that you stop making it sound like Mattel pulled the rug out. It was not Mattel it was you guys crossing the line one to many times.

Again, love you guys, we really do. But for legal and logistical reasons it needs to be a fan site/Mattel relationship just like any other fan site.

If this is a matter of clearing the air, I'm all about doing it.
I'll openly admit fault when I've made mistakes.
So, since you've made this public (for which I thank you and respect that you are willing to discuss it), I'll tell the story as best as I know it in hopes of mending the fence before public eyes.

And if any of the below is contrary to your understanding, please say so!
I want to work this out.
Because I blame all of this on miscommunication.
And hopefully I can clear it all up here once and for all.
Because I want the slate clean.
And if there's still a misunderstanding, please let me know!

When you and I talked in the summer of 2008, everything seemed great.
We talked about a bright future with He-Man.org and Mattel.
But then the following year, things got wonky.


1. Mattel didn't like it when we pitched ourselves as fan consultants to Silver Pictures for the MOTU movie.
Why, though, I don't understand to this day.

We came to Mattel first and asked who we were to talk to in order to pitch ourselves as consultants.
We were directed from one person to the next until finally we were told Silver Pictures handled this.

So, we pitched ourselves to Silver Pictures.
I never heard back.
Then a short while later, you came to me over e-mail and told me upper management was mad we did this.

This was baffling to us. For starters, why would upper management be mad?
Anyone has the option to pitch themselves as fan consultants.
There's no rules or regulations preventing any freelance creators from pitching their services to a company.

On top of that, we went to Mattel first and followed the bread crumb trail.
Regardless, we ended up making someone mad.
But I'm not out to upset anyone.
And I apologized to you directly, and I also apologized to Legal about it as well when the matter came up a year later.
And we haven't pitched ourselves as consultants to anyone since this.

Another Mattel employee (whose name I won't mention just in case I'm not supposed to) even wrote to me after I apologized to you and told me not to worry and that we would be talking soon and he was looking forward to talking to us... but I never heard back again, unfortunately.


2. Someone at Mattel got mad that we did an interview with ToyFare about the 200x comic and what we had planned for it, where we also had plans to post our own comic bible on the site for fans to enjoy.

Once again, I have no idea why this was a problem.
I just adhered to a precedent.
Numerous people have done interviews in the past in regards to the history of MOTU.
The same hold true for a slew of other TV, toy and cartoon properties over the years.
None of these creators ever had negative intent. Neither did we.

As an example, if I hadn't personally done an interview revealing the proposed story for Keldor and Skeletor, that material probably wouldn't have made it into the MYP cartoon as one of the main story plots.

Plus we're talking about a comic that at the time was 5 years old and had nothing to do with MOTUC,
but people were still curious about and still are today,
just as they are about classic MOTU, POP, etc.

Plus it was an interview ToyFare did with us. Not vice versa.
We didn't set out to do wrong. In our minds, it was an innocent discussion of the past no more than any other type of interview has been with past creators working on any other property.
It was just one more thing of interest to share with fans, and one more thing to get people interested in MOTU again.

Still, as requested of us, we never posted the comic bible.
Plus I apologized for this to Legal as well. We never set out to do harm or offend anyone.


3. I was told people were upset I contacted the top brass at Mattel, pleading for intervention on this, in particular in regards to the above.
No one was talking to us, communication had been bad the entire time prior, and we were being threatened with legal action for the above.

I got desperate. And I guess that wasn't the best course of action for which I apologize. But you weren't giving us answers, no one above you was responding, Legal had no answers, so we appealed to a hirer authority.

I did that based on a similar story told to me by a fellow fan site operator for a major site centered around one of Hasbro's properties. He faced a similar problem, and had to do the same to finally get someone to sit down with him. And it worked. Now he's back in great with them, and was even invited by Hasbro's CEO to the premier of the Transformers movie. So I hoped it would work for us too if I made the appeal.

My only intent was to find someone who would talk to me about the problems, with a willingness to sit down and sort this out.
All we wanted and still want is to clear this up and mend the broken bond; a bond we never intended or set out to break.


4. When talking with Mattel Legal at this time, they also wanted us to stop doing the symbol shirts. And we had no problem with this.

The shirts may have just been something that Legal saw right around the same time the above matters were addressed, as multiple Mattel employees knew about our symbols shirts for sale for over two years and no one seemed to have issue with them, but I'm addressing it to do my best to cover anything I can think of that may have upset someone at Mattel.

My lawyer felt the symbols were derivative enough of an idea to be okay.
They weren't marketed as MOTU characters, didn't use any of the character names, didn't use any character likenesses, no MOTU logos, etc.
We tried to make something safe that wouldn't infringe on any copyrights, and we even made sure to only offer them here on our site with no efforts to mass commercialize the sale beyond a localized effort to help pay for this site.

After we were asked to stop selling them,
we then asked if we could work out a licensing deal to continue since Mattel felt they were too close to trademarked material,
but we were told Mattel wasn't interested in pursuing that.
So, we've since stopped, even though I still have hope we may be able to work something out in the future.


5. Well... I don't have a #5.
But if there's more and I'm not aware of it? Please tell me!
I can't apologize or make things right if I'm not aware of other things Mattel is upset about.
But this exemplifies part of the problem: someone or multiple people at Mattel getting mad at us for things we're not told about, or not aware of as being wrong.
If we had the same communication we had prior to MOTUC, I feel pretty confident that none of the above would have ever happened.

-----
Now you're saying the door has forever been closed,
despite Legal saying that since we've addressed the problems of the past, and if we did our best to work with you and Mattel and help do what was asked,
we could work to bring things back to where they used to be.

Imagine my disappointment to now hear you speak like there's no hope.
You talk about lines that have been crossed,
and we've been told about rules that haven't been followed,
when in fairness we never knew anything about where these lines were or what those rules are.

Whoever has this personal beef with us, be it you or someone else,
it's not going to go away unless someone steps up and is willing to clear the air as well.

If you can write me in private and tell me who specifically has issue,
I'd love to talk to them directly and do my best to right this wrong they feel we've committed.
I'll come on bended knee for the betterment of this community.

Emiliano and I both have worked hard for over a decade to keep the name of MOTU and POP alive, doing so in times when there was nothing else to keep these brands active.
In all that time we've never set out to do the brand harm, and have been some of the greatest champions for the brand mostly on our own dime.
And when people at Mattel talked to us openly prior to MOTUC, we had a good thing going.

Emiliano will also want to comment.
But please don't hold his English against him. He may not word it perfectly, or as respectfully as English dictates.
Heck, my own English leaves much to be desired.
Just know that Emiliano holds just as much respect and admiration for this brand as myself,
and he only wants to do right by it.

Believe me, we don't want this continue to hang over our heads and the heads of the fans.
It makes us all very sad, as we care about MOTU and POP deeply.

And despite it all, I have no ill will against Mattel.
Instead, I keep hope alive that we can sit down with whoever is upset and work to make amends.
But we can't do that until those who are still upset talk to us.

Do I agree with everything we see on MOTUC? Of course not.
I'm a fan. I have my fan opinions just like everyone else.
And even then, I've told you I have great respect for your accomplishments inside the walls of Mattel.
Hell, I'd love to come and work for you.

My biggest problem with all of this is that Mattel seems to treat me like an employee. Mattel Legal even told me that we were regarded as a "rogue site" because we didn't "follow the rules."
Well.. what rules? It's the same question my lawyer asked: What are these rules? We still haven't been given a list.

But it seems I'm expected to follow rules I don't know about. I'm expected to act in a way indicative of a set of guidelines about which I'm clueless.
I feel I'm being penalized because I'm not a Mattel employee, while at the same time treated as an outsider by Mattel.

I hate all of this... I really do. It turns my stomach. I've literally had many a night where I can't sleep and can't eat because of all of these problems with Mattel. It probably sounds ridiculous to some folks and I'll probably catch ridicule from some people for it, but I really care that much about this site and MOTU and POP.

I've worked hard all my life to be as good of a person as I can be. And prior to MOTUC, this site and my love for MOTU and POP was a highlight of every day. But now, all of this has left this sinking pit inside me. I feel helpless to resolve it despite my best efforts.

Do I make mistakes? Sure. I'm human. And when those mistakes are brought to my attention, I do my best to make up for them.
And that's what I've tried to do with Mattel since all of this surfaced,
and I'm still trying to do it today, but no one at Mattel seems to want to extend an olive branch in return.

I hope our tone and demeanor in Roast Gooble Dinner has helped to express how we feel better than emotionless text did previously on the forums, and I hope you'll consider that same positive attitude from the podcast in this very post.
I really hope all of this may be a good start in helping to clear the air on what I feel has been a series of misunderstandings.

I really hope whoever it is at Mattel who is still upset with me will accept my olive branch.
Why can't we have a conference call, or have a face-to-face to sort this out?
I want to make this right, and bring things back to how they used to be.

[Toyguru]

V,

While you've spelled out a lot of goings on above, I assure you there are much deeper logistical issues which I simply can not share publicly which will prevent any "deeper" relationship with the site going forward. (nor would I want to ever publicly throw anyone under the bus). I know you are hoping for an olive brand (I get it, I really do) but unfortunately we are well beyond that. I have my marching orders too. As much as people may think "Toy Guru" runs the show, I assure you and the fans I do not and I don't make the rules. I am however a liaison to a lot of the fan community and my door is always open. If you or someone from the site has an idea for a MOTU project like an interview or shirt ideas, just come to me or Mattel PR and we'd love to work with you on any logistics if possible. And I'd be happy to chat with you any time.

But going forward, we'll need to work with He-Man.org as we would any other fan site. There simply is no change to that and too much water has passed under the bridge. I understand things may be different at other toy companies but the situation is what it is.

You'll still see me popping by as much as I can (what can I say I have a soft spot for the MOTU world, Classics is a pet project of mine after all that I do in my spare time in addition to my official job brand managing the GL film line).

Nothing but respect for you, this site and all the fans. But good intentions aside, what is done is done and it is best for everyone to move forward together. I'd love to get together in person sometime soon (and I'm sorry I missed out on the SDCC fan get-together, I had two other licensor dinners to attend that night). And of course you are welcome to drop a line anytime.

Good Journey!

S

[CarKrash]

so uh.. how bout that gooble dinner, huh?

I'm indifferent to whether or not Cringer can talk or not.. I'd be fine either way, really..

[josh]

... it's funny because [pixel dan] and val sound like the same - like the typical generic american accent (i guess val sounds a bit more southern - if that's right?! - feel free to correct me val!) but i know you're from different places! perhaps it's your posh 'podcast-voices' for the show! ...

Generally, in broadcasting, their accent would be considered unaccented American English (generally from the Midwest). I actually don't hear the Southern accent you mention, though I had expected a more Southern accent when I first listened.

And you should definitely call in with your North accent!

I hear over and over that I sound like I'm from California, whatever that means.

Now that I think about it, I can't recall ever hearing any kind of Cali accent from anyone except the stereotypical Valley Girl, which would be hilarious!

Hasbro gives fan websites information and hires fan artists and writers to be professionals. Hell, fans have even gotten referred to on Beast Wars.

In all fairness, some of that credit goes to Mainframe, though I don't know what the approvals process for scripts was for the show.

Poor Starbase Rugby.

TO JVS3: You should write number & email address to first post so people can easily see it and maybe remember to contact.

I could start adding them to the Fansite, Fan art, and Collectible of the week, too. Sadly, I'm such a geek I have RGD's voice number programmed into my phone, so it's really handy:

Voice: 1-310-933-5993
Email: gooble [at] [I think everyone can figure the rest out from here, yeah?]

[Irian]

We can always petition them to have "Eamon" as Clawdeen's real name...

Clawdeen - Glamerous Cat of Catra
Real Name: Eamon Santalucia-Staples

The Sorceress magically cloned a direct descendant of the legendary Battle Lion of King Grayskull, enhancing it with the Golden Armor of Ro-Cat so that Adora could have a Battle-Cat like Adam. This ginger Battle Lion was called Eamon. But Catra captured and merged Eamon with the white extra-dimensional being called Demo-Cat, which previously had been freed by Evil-Lyn from its eon-long imprisonment in Despondos, and Eamon was forever changed into an evil pink lion - Clawdeen

[josh]

In all of my talking about accents I forgot to mention my thoughts on Battle Cat's bio!

One thing I very much like about his bio is that it isn't stated whether or not he could talk. That's the kind of minutiae I don't think we need for how little we get each month for fiction. Of course, I like the idea of not knowing what may have happened to Keldor and whether or not he did turn into Skeletor. I also like the idea of Scareglow being Skeletor after he died, so what do I know?

As for whether or not he should talk, well, I prefer Battle Cat not talk. That being said, I don't mind it too much if it's done well. I don't think Battle Cat should be a source of comedy and light-heartedness when Orko is around doing the same thing. Unless, of course, Orko isn't serving that function at the time from a story-telling standpoint.

Concerning Battle Cat needing to talk, though, to communicate, I do not agree with at all. That's like saying a mute actor can't communicate. I will admit that the execution makes a huge difference, but that goes both ways. A speaking great cat can be done just as horribly as a non-speaking great cat.

Also, non-speaking animal roles that still communicate have been done well, and not on a summer blockbuster Hollywood budget. Just ask anyone who's seen Bronx on Gargoyles; amazing!

In summary, I'm pretty sure what really matters is the execution, not whether or not he speaks.

Oh, and I love The Chronicles of Narnia, but I tried watching The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and found it utterly boring. The pace of the movie was the complete opposite of the book. I had to stop watching it.

[Emiliano]

I'm sorry to keep hijacking this thread, I'm really am.
But I believe, after a few hellish years, I finally deserve to say my piece on this whole "Mattel vs Val and Emiliano" thing.
We suffered psycologically and physically for months, I had to fear legal actions to be taken against us for being fans. It has been totally unpleasent, but somehow I managed to keep everythign to myself for all this time.
But if once again I hear about my "behaviour" like we constantly and purposely acted like rogues against Mattel's good, I feel it's time for me to be honest about the whole thing.
And I will try to do it in the most candid and nice way possible.

Because, even if this situation managed to make my life completely horrible at times, I don't hold any grudge against anyone, and I'm still really confused about the reasons behind all this.

And Scott, unless I will say somethign wrong, you don't need to reply, it's just me expressing my feeling and opening up for fans that have been wondering what has been goign on all the time

When you say we "crossed the line one to many times with things that quite frankly no other fans site does" I have an hard time understanding this statement.
Because almost all the issues we've been talking about have nothing to do with things we did on the site but essentially to me and Val as professionals.
Those have nothing to do with a Fan site. Those have to do with us being professionals in the industry.

So, has He-Man.org, the largetst He-Man community in the world, to suffer because me and Val position as professionals?
If tomorrow me and Val would step down and sell the site to someone else, would all this change?

But let me go back to our professional issues.
I do know what are the logistics you're referring to, because we talked about them in San Diego, since you're not mentioning them here, I won't do it either, as they are sensitive informations.
That doesn't mean that they make much sense to me.

Those included, it all boils down to someone at Mattel having issues with us, mostly on Mattel self imposed rules we can't know, we are not supposed to know, and on which we can't be hold guilty for all this time.

I hear us approaching Silver Pictures to work on the movie was a huge deal for Mattel and it raised a big stink.
All I see two professionals seeking work. I was seeking work as a designer, my current job.
We had no way to know we had to go through Mattel. And as stressed before, we've been pointed to Silver Picture by someone inside Mattel.
So, while we did a mistake and we deeply apologized, there is no guilt involved, and I think it's incredibly petty to keep holding that one against us.

Same with the ToyFare interview. They wanted to interview us, on a subject that has been dead for many years. We talked about our ideas for the story, like hundreads of creators do all the time.
Even if that breaks some other Mattel rule (which we're not supposed to know as we're not Mattel employes), I can't see what was the damage done, because from what you told me it sounded like everyone was running around in panic like we had spilled out everything on the next cartoons series in the work (guys, there is no new cartoon series, I'm making a hypothetical example here)
I must say, I then get the feeling the reasons are others, but I'll get into that later on.

Even the letters to the upper managment seems to be a petty problem to me.
What law did we break? Is such a horrible and totally verboten thing to write higher ups at Mattel?
I mean, they may not like it or don't want to talk to us, that's perfectly fine.
But holding that against us like we offended some sort of deity by doing that? Sorry but I don't get it, and I can't feel guilty. I can apologize and I can be told to please don't do it again. But I meant no disrepect, so I have no reason to feel - or be considered - guilty.

The symbol shirts never seemed a big deal. Mattel asked to stop, and we stopped, there never was an issue about that, and in fact no one ever brought that up again, so I tend to beleive that isnt' a sore point, but more of an example of how relathionship should normally be handled.


BUT, that's not it.
And I have to go into the stuff Val left out, probably also because he knows they touch me on a more personal level.
Let me premise, of course I don't know what's the level of your involvment in the following, and what are yours responsabilities. I'm addressing you only because you're the only one we're allowed to speak to, so if it not your fault, please don't take it personal.

Let's focus for a moment on the bible. A few years ago, when you were just tryign to get a new line off the ground, and were still consulting with us, out of trust we sent you a personal and internal document.
A collection of all the ideas including once that had been approved by Mattel that we had for the comics that I put together as the MVC comic bible which also had the form of an idea for a POG series. That document isn't on file at Mattel. the only copy Mattel has, is the one you got it. We hoped that to be helpful.

Later on we hear that was considered a Fan-Pitch, and it can't be shown or used
If it's a fan pitch, Mattel doens't own it, so I don't get why we can can't show it. If Mattel for some reason thinks they own it (even if it you owned a copy before), I don't understand why it's labeled as a fan pitch.

Still I'm suprised to see a few references to my ideas in the bios.
The Overlords of the Timeless Dimension are an obvious referece to the Overlords ot the Eternal Dimension.
That was an obscure reference to a Filmation episode, and forgive me, but I dubt anyone at Mattel would have dug that up, especially since everything Filmation can't be used from what we've been told.
Parts of He-Ro's story are suspiciously similar to what I wrote.
The Green Tiger Tribe is totally something I made up in the bible, it never existed anywhere else.

Do I want credits for these? Absolutely not. Am I accusing someone to stealing my ideas? Totally not. Am I happy that some of my ideas are surviving in the new bios? Of course.
What bothers me is all the above, beign labeled as a simple fan-pitch, etc. Like if every reference to Emiliano has to be removed from history completely.

That makes me smile, because even without me trying, I'm still there in one form of another.
Everytime Mattel uses the MOTU original logo, is not using a scan of the original art, but the digital recreations I did and that was sold to Mattel as part of the Style Guide we did in 2002.
I got the recent art prints in SD, turned the folder and I see my and Enza's art printed on the cover

And last but not least, the thing that bothered the me most.
The imposed stop to me working with the Four Horsemen.
I've been a good friend of the 4H since 2002. We loved working together when we get chance and we just click on everything Masters of the Universe.
I understand their way of thinking and working and they know my knowledge about MOTU.
A couple of years ago I helped out on pitching to you guys a few products, that eventually got successfully released. I illustrated the ideas, contributed with my own. You loved them. Scott, you told me you loved those illustrations.
Now, if memory doesn't fail me, chronologically, nothing of the above (movie, Toyfare interview etc.) happened right after that - this is very important, keep this in mind -
I was still helping out sending simple references. The last one I sent, was the pic of He-Ro. And yes, just that pic of the He-Ro prototype from the Mattel catalog. Anyone could have sent that to them, it has been out there since 1987 is everwhere on the internet.
But Mattel didn't like that.
Shortly after that, we ave been informed we couldn't keep working with the 4H.
Understanding all the legalities involved, we knew that a simple NDA with the 4H would have solved the situation, and just work as freelance subcontractors for the 4H. Exactly like I do freelance job for Hasbro everyday.

But at that point everybody was just too scared to even try that.

Why that happened is still a mistery to me.
Any legal issue could have been sorted out and done in a way that could have worked for you and made you feel secure, making everyone happy.

The only result is that suff like Gygor won't happen again.
Gygor was completely my idea. You told me you had never seen him before.
Again, do I want credits for him? Absolutely not. Am I accusing someone to stealing my idea? Totally not. Am I happy that he got released? Of course.
What I'm not happy about is that Mattel is preventing this from happening again.
It may not be a big deal, but just for the fun of it, who is loosing something here?
I won't get to do fun illustrations.
Mattel won't have extras ideas they didn't know about to sell.
Fans won't get the chances to own these extras.

Please, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the line is failing because of that!
I'm just saying that keeping us on board would have brought extra benefits, that's it.

I would keep sending you guys references, I would totally be available all the time to put my knowledge and documents to your service, Id' keep doing pitch illustrations for free for the 4H!
But do I want to do it when in return I'm always hold guilty for even trying to help Mattel out?
No, I'm sorry, I don't want that anymore.

And the same goes for the site.
The missing relationship with the .org is creating hinderings for the brand? Totally not.
Would a close relationship help to make things even better than they already are? I believe so.
That door is closed. But I deny the accusation it was my behaviour closing it.
I didn't meant any bad, so I can't see why a simple dialogue can't solve any issue, especially if that is in the interest of your own fans and customers.

Speaking of fan and customers, I have also to say something about the hostility that generated toward the site in general, to the point we felt like Mattel was trying hard to make us shut down the site.
I don't get what the problem is. I'm totally speculating here, but my idea is simply that Mattel can't stand such a big community not being completely controlled and under their wings.
I have nothing against Mattycollector's forum, I'm all for it.
But at the beginning it really seemed like Mattel wanted to just replace the .org (the legal issues concerning the site started about the same time) and OWN the fandom.
And can't stand me and Val being so popular among fans. It's not like we're going to ask fans to go rioting under Mattel's building, but it really sounded like Mattel thinks we'd do that.

Just from a PR perspective, it would just make more sense to have a close and nice relationship with the largest He-Man community.
Fan would notice that and appreciate it, It would just work in favor of Mattel.
So the logic of keeping us away fails me. I'll ask again, if me and Val would step away, would that change the relationship?

Since I'm letting everything out here let me add something about toy design (totally unrelated to the 4H).
Mattel treated me like a fan boy most of the time.
So you can imagine how ironic I find to be now one of the top freelancer for Hasbro.
I work on all their major brands, on movie stuff, cartoon stuff, I'm also asked for ideas from time to time, and they appreciate my attachment and love for the toys, including my knowledge.
How that started? I showed them my MOTU design portfolio.
MOTU!

I never even had chance to show my works to Mattel's designer. Honestly I didn't need to, because I would never want to replace the 4H, I just wanted to have chance to do what we succesfully did with them that year in SD, and Battle Cat, Tytus, Shadow Beast and Gygor are already out there to prove it.

I'm the guy who dedicated his life to MOTU and its fans since 1982.
And I successfully work on Transformers
I don't complain, Hasbro is just the most awesome company I've ever worked with. But I can't notice how funny life can be

Scott, I know you love MOTU.
But please allow me to say not only I love MOTU but I dedicated my life to it, and so I hope you can at least undersantd where all this bitterness comes from.

Eventually this is slowly going away. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially when I still read this accusation about my "beahviour", but it doens't bother me that much anymore.

What bothers me, is that just the fact that expressing my personal opinions in this post may be dangerous for the site. And for the fans community.
I hope everyone realize that there is a point in everybody's life where you can't just take it anymore.

I have a job as a toy designer, I proved I'm good at what I do. I have the praise and respect from many fans and professionals, including my beloved 4H. That's enough for me. I wish I could just contribute more to MOTU, but I'm happy to go back to be just a fan.

I really appreciate your last post and I take that as a statement of trust for the future, where we'll all try to address things differently.
As I told you, just let us be the fans and just let Mattel be the company. If someone will ever want to cross path again, we'll always be more than happy to offer our help.
If not, just let us do what we do best, be fans and let the fandom grow and enjoy Masters of the Universe

Thank you everybody.

-If my opinions should create any problem for the site as a whole, I beg everyone in charge to consider those ere just my personal point of view, and to avoid any issues, I'm ready to apologize if I offended anyone, then step down from my role as an administrator and leave the site permanently for the good of the community.
So please don't take any action against the site, just address them with me, I'll make sure to erase any involvment I have with He-Man.org if that can help the fan community.-

[Khror]

I just want to say that I sincerely hope, for the good of everybody, Val, Emiliano, MOTU fans, Mattel and the MOTU property, a discussion will one day be possible between all the parties involved to, at least, make all things be clear and shared by everybody.

I swear the highest realms at Mattel will open the door of discussion again.

I have a deep respect for all of you.

Sincerely.

[oICEMANo]

*Sigh* it's sad to say that "Masters of the Universe" is the one losing out here...
MotU could be sooooo much better than what it already is if it was just treated better by the powers that be...

[MegaGearMax]

I'm the guy who dedicated his life to MOTU and its fans since 1982.
And I successfully work on Transformers
I don't complain, Hasbro is just the most awesome company I've ever worked with. But I can't notice how funny life can be

I've noticed. And it's a shame.
The enemy values you more than the side that you want to work for.

Why do the fans have to be punished for perceived slights that only a few people did?

Man, I'm hoping for a change in Mattel leadership soon. Maybe the guy in charge will retire or move onto greener pastures and Toyguru will take his place so ideas can go unmolested. These decisions are terrible!

[JVS3]

What's done is done, I suppose.
Sins of the past and all that... I'm glad to know Scott knows we didn't mean any harm, despite the outcome.
And while I'm not happy to read what was said about the current status of this site and Mattel, I still appreciate Scott replying.
I'm happy just to finally get it off my chest.

Well... at least I know not to worry about it any more.
I can channel my energies back to this site and being a fan.
And if Mattel ever changes their mind, then they know where we are.

Hopefully we can all have a laugh at next year's fan get-together in SDCC.

Damn... is it wrong to want a beer at 10am?

[Eamon]

Clawdeen - Glamerous Cat of Catra
Real Name: Eamon Santalucia-Staples

The Sorceress magically cloned a direct descendant of the legendary Battle Lion, enhancing it with the Golden Armor of Ro-Cat so that each twin could have a Battle-Cat. This Battle Lion was called Eamon. But Catra captured and merged Eamon with the extra-dimensional being Demo-Cat from Despondos, and Eamon was forever changed into an evil pink lion - Clawdeen

Hey that's cool! I got Catra's sweet ass on my back!! Not a bad gig if you ask me!

[JVS3]

I think Clawdeen's real name is Kit Kat.

Maybe I'll color her fur pink for Halloween. I'm sure she'd love that!

[CarKrash]

Val and Emiliano,

I find you both to be classy and very tactful. I loved your work on the MVC comic (to which I just re-read this weekend.. and my heart broke with your goodbyes on the final issue) I think that Val’s coloring is the best in the industry and I love Emiliano’s art on my BCI DVDs, MOTU comics, and this site (I don’t really follow the transformers toys, sorry)

I’m indeed an outsider on all of this drama which I have watched unfold both here, and the Illumina thread a few months ago.. I respect you both as professionals, and am surprised and delighted in the amount of positivity you continue to give to Mattel. I think if it was me in the same position, I might use my popularity, and website as a call to arms against Mattel.. but you don’t do that, and encourage that to not happen.. that’s amazing..

You have both sacrificed so much in the name of MOTU, and you run the website which is –the- source of all things MOTU. I often see Mattel call the .org “another fan site” but when searching for “He-Man” on Google, this site is second only to Wikipedia. When searching for “Masters of the Universe”, this site is third behind IMDB, and Wikipedia. Obviously, the .org has built a better internet presense for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe than Mattel themselves. The .org is not just another fan site. I came here for news during 2002.. I checked the mainpage here for at least ten years. I learned that the Snakemen wave was at Aldis, and learned about MOTU Classics from He-Man.org. I imagine the org has kept more people in the know, and has sold more Mattel MOTU product in the internet age than Mattel’s Marketing Department.

I respect your love for the brand, and your desire to work with Mattel for the betterment of the franchise you love. I implore you to keep chasing the dream. Thank you for everything..

-Mac.

[Sandman]

Hey that's cool! I got Catra's sweet ass on my back!! Not a bad gig if you ask me!

...and there's the angle that can make Eamon like PoP...

[Jon-O]

Damn... is it wrong to want a beer at 10am?

I asked the same question when I was working in television.

[Eamon]

...and there's the angle that can make Eamon like PoP...

I'm still for having Etheria as a chicks only planet and all the men are enslaved.

This put Bow in a very fortunate (or unfortunate depending on your preference) position no?!

[JVS3]

I asked the same question when I was working in television.

LOL!
Was working in TV that bad?

[Sandman]

I'm still for having Etheria as a chicks only planet and all the men are enslaved.

This put Bow in a very fortunate (or unfortunate depending on your preference) position no?!

I can think of quite a few positions.

...oh man, this is going into Tar Swamp territory very very fast.

YOU SAW NOTHING!