ICONS Authentic Replicas Interview clip?

See what I mean? I was "beaten sensless in Las Vegas" ? Who started that rumour - Guy Raz? The convicted cyber-stalker.
 
Autoprops, I wish I could. But it is the same old story, anyone who tries to speak out on what really happened at Icons is attacked, insulted and ridiculed. Even with supporting documentation, witnesses etc. it does not matter, as Icons is buried under a mountain of lies, spin and negativity. Why?....simple. Following the bouncing ball of what happened with Icons licenses, prototypes, masters and molds after it was forced under.

Far be it for me to cause a great disturbance in the force here....
 
Ok, I'll bite...

Where did all of that stuff go?

And if you say Master Replicas, I will fly out there and *****-slap you...

Because I can stand before God and state that we didn't use a TOOTHPICK from Icons... Scott threatened my life if I even THOUGHT about it...

So BESIDES the inflammatory comment I just made, :lol EVERYONE promise to NOT turn this into a KNOCK DOWN drag out attack-fight.

And Jim...

This is an incredibly rare opportunity and I would really like to hear you tell us honestly what happened. Since a number of "survivors" are here, I think they would appreciate hearing your side of the story after all of these years.

I will agree to "stand down" in the greater interest. And you stay out my grill. K? :lol

I will definitely agree with you that Raz pretty-much made it his life to ruin you, and went to ridiculous lengths to interefere with your business...I got some experience with that myself when I crossed his path... He literally IS human crazy-glue...

But Guy did NOT put Icons into bankruptcy like one person has noted in their blog. That is putting a LOT on him.

And I will agree that there is a special place in Hell for child-molestors. We are on the same page there, brother.

BUT any commentary like...Guy Raz single-handedly destroyed Icons is really stretching it.

I would also ask the mods to DELETE any post where anyone stirs up crap.

How is that?

Open...honest... I am all ears.

We are all ears.

Standing down...
 
MR didn't use a SINGLE product sample, idea, or prototype from Icons.

Steve D....don't go there. Not only did MR use Icons business plan, you used our prototypes, masters, patterns, molds, concepts and methodlogy. Even our Disney product development plan / license ( no un-delivered Disney products by the way, contrary to your statements of the past ) was followed to the letter by MR. And it pre-dates MR by 6 years.

I worked in the Film and TV industry starting in 1984 Steve. I was producing original prop / miniature and wardroble exhibits in 1993. The same year the collectibles program I produced and co-hosted on the Sci-Fi Channel was on the air. We featured a prop show & tell each week. I was a lead memorabilia buyer for Planet Hollywood from their first location until their last. In 1993 Icons was first pitched to Tom Zotos of Warner Bros. Gallery stores. You and SD Studios were not even a blip on our radar. So to state that you inspired the creation of Icons is a blantant lie. You can bash Icons for it's many mistakes, and you can hate on me all you want, and continue to spread rumours and lies, but you can not take credit for the best of what Icons did accomplish.

From the day Icons launched the company drove you crazy. You never saw Icons coming. And you lost money the day it opened. By the time you turned around, Icons was already established. It baffled you. Which is why in 1996 you asked for a meeting with Icons about being a consultant. Icons already had the talents of numerous prop fabricators so turned you down. And that made things worse in your eyes. With the advent of the Internet, for years you encouraged Icons customers to cancel their orders. When Icons still had a chance of surviving.

Your reputation proceeds you too Steve. Cinema Concept Collectors Group or what ever it was called, Unobtanium and what happened at Master Replicas and QMX? You were ousted at both companies. Why? You're attitude and arrogance.

So here you are all these years later still filled with anger and bitterness spreading more lies. No wonder you are starting from scratch again.
 
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Steve I did not see your last post before you posted it. So this is sure to stir things up again. But what you are claiming is still not true or fair. Everyone in the business knows what Icons prototyped. And that you / MR used Icons R & D, prototypes, masters and molds to create many of MR's products. When Icons hired Scott Brodeen to prototype our Nautilus miniature, that was a personal dream project of mine. It cost us 1 year of Scott's salary to produce it. We left him alone to make it into the masterpiece it became. Scott B. is a genius, but I and numerous others advised on that project and Icons funded it. The photographs of the 11 foot miniature from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea were provided to Scott B. by Icons. At a cost of 300K. I personally guaranteed that license. Icons produced 50 Nautilus. No undelivered Disney replicas. And once Icons was driven under, for numerous reasons, MR then re-released the Icons Nautilus.

You also used Icons Star Trek masters that are pictured in The Vault # 3 under the Icons Fab & Design Group article and photo-spread. So to say that you and MR never used any of Icons work is simply not true. And deserved a serious response. The Monorail and Jungle Cruise replicas were in development at Icons. The list goes on and on. And at the time, there were not all of the replica collectible companies there are today. So Icons was ahead of the pack.

Compare The Vault Icons catalog # 3 to SD Studios 2 licensed products in 1996. Then compare The Vault Icons catalog # 3 to MR's entire business model. You and MR learned from what we did at Icons. It's obvious. You want to continue to strip Icons of any credit. Any accomplisment. All of it's history. Well there are 85,000 + Icons replicas on display all over the world, and many of the people who own them appreciate them.
 
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I was at a convention in Los Angeles, and I heard that story from a fellow named ROGER, who said that he was a good friend of yours, or a partner in your business, something like that, said that you were in a hospital for a couple of weeks, and then had to relocate to Florida, to live with your father while you healed. ROGER had a business card that he gave me, under the business name of 'SIDE EFFECTS', if that sounds familair?
Just FYI, I didn't get that story from anyone here! That was a long time ago.
 
So nice a way to post and run away as somebody accused Steve of. :rolleyes

Seems to me you have already passed judgement and deem it not necessary to try and clear your name and tell your side of the story.

I wonder why? :unsure



Autoprops, I wish I could. But it is the same old story, anyone who tries to speak out on what really happened at Icons is attacked, insulted and ridiculed. Even with supporting documentation, witnesses etc. it does not matter, as Icons is buried under a mountain of lies, spin and negativity. Why?....simple. Following the bouncing ball of what happened with Icons licenses, prototypes, masters and molds after it was forced under.

Far be it for me to cause a great disturbance in the force here....
 
Roger Sides...that is a name from the past. I have not seen him since 1997/1998. We produced exhibits together around 18 years ago.

Roger no doubt heard a rumor and past it on. Most likely originally generated from Guy Raz. No I did not move to Florida. I have not even visited there since 1985. 27 years ago.
 
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Apollo, what are you talking about. I just wrote long responses eariler this afternoon. And I am not trying to clear my name. That is evidently impossible. I simply answered a question that a member asked here and responed to Steve D. trying to take any and all credit away from what Icons did accomplish.
 
Nothing is impossible one has to try though

Apollo, what are you talking about. I just wrote long responses eariler this afternoon. And I am not trying to clear my name. That is evidently impossible. I simply answered a question that a member asked here and responed to Steve D. trying to take any and all credit away from what Icons did accomplish.
 
As far as the Hospital goes, yes when Icons went into bankruptcy, I began to cough up blood and was admitted to the hospital with bleeding ulcers and a complete nervous breakdown. Sure that will please many here. But that is what happened.

I never went to a Las Vegas convention. When I went to Comic Con in 2002 people were actually very kind to me. So no one ever beat me up. At least not to date. Evidently Steve D. is flying in to slap me in the face for pointing out that Icons Nautilus miniature was re-manufactured by Master Replicas.
 
Oh I am sure there are quite a few who would inflict great bodily harm on you if they could.

Employess who were never paid, customers who never got their B-9s.
 
Apollo- As far as the employees go, each of them knew what was happening at Icons as the company's investors defaulted. They heard the promises by investment bankers first hand in lectures to them. And then knew when each default happened. They voted not to sell the company in 1997, when we had the chance. All of them. They had a say in selling out and they chose not to.

The staff was told to quit if they couldn't handle the budget problems Icons was facing. But they cared about the company and they chose to stay. None of them needed to. Icons was once a large happy family. And the employees loved the company. They were proud of it. That sentiment still shows to this day in the quality of the products Icons made and shipped. Tens of thousands of replicas.

As far as customers go, what no one wants to admit is all of the customers who got refunds in full, and then kept coming back to Icons for more. Including customers who also got their products delivered. This was examined by extensive documents by the FBI, when Guy Raz, your hero, was arrested for cyber stalking. It was a bull-run on refunds and a feeding frenzy. And the Internet slander was designed and engineered for others to make money. That is the truth of it. Guy Raz was paid in props to slander Icons and encourage mass refunds.

Anybody who wants to threaten me with physical violence can message me or email me directly.
 
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Yes I have heard about Guy Raz doing that but he is not my Hero that was your buddy who turned on you.

Again did the priest ever get his b-9?
 
Jim. I just cannot go back and forth with volleyball for crazy people.

But this is theraputic, so I will play along for a bit...

You had 85,000 products shipped? Great! Wonderful. That is a serious accomplishment. I honestly didn't know that. Kudos.

MR had over three million. And SD Studios easily has well over 200,000. CCG had 50,000 plus.

And none of MY companies ever filed for bankruptcy. I didn't run CCG...That scuz Paul can smoke a turd in hell.

Now Unobtainium...

Nice try, but you KNOW that I LEFT before the company was even incorporated right? I couldn't work with Chris and Rick. It was apparent that they knew ZERO about making replicas. And I knew ZERO about running that business. They almost never attended any licensing meetings until the end. I went and secured all of the deals. Rick was the "finance guy" and Chris was the product developer.

So suggesting that I had anything to do with Unobtainium is absolutely ridiculous. I was gone long before anything was ever even prototyped.

So again...PLEASE get your facts straight.

-Scott Vogel and I wrote the MR business plan. We used the SD Studios plan as a rough guideline, but the MR plan was far more detailed. We never saw the Icons plan. EVER. Lucasfilm warned us that if we used any component of that plan, we would not even be considered for the license. THAT is how hot that subject was with them.

DID NOT USE YOUR PLAN. PERIOD. DID NOT NEED TO.

Who would be stupid enough to use the business plan from a company that just went bankrupt??? :facepalm:facepalm:facepalm

You have been saying that to anyone who would listen for like 15 years...

Dude...LET IT GOOOO.

You are suggesting that my life was over when you started.. Get over yourself dood. I BOUGHT a bunch of your stuff. I can honestly say that Icons NEVER burned me on any deals for props. I loved your products.

SD Studios was incorporated in Dec 1994. It acquired the Bond License in Feb 1995 and maintained it until about 1999. 1995 predates your operation. You just cannot argue with verifiable facts.

and really...

WHO CARES???

If you want to be FIRST...GO FOR IT. Ok, you were first!!! What did you just win??? Want a cookie? Gimme your address...I will Fedex you a cookie.

Was I happy that you snapped up so many licenses?...nope. Was I tormented by it? Nope. It just wasn't that important to me. I loved your products and felt we could certainly both co-exist. I had Dredd and Bond...You had all of the other stuff. We we BOTH too young and inexperienced to be running those businesses.

Did I make a lot of mistakes and **** off a lot of people? YES. Did I take a bunch of orders for stuff and then file for bankruptcy? NO. The company is still active, viable, and has been shipping products to satisfied customers since 1995.

No lawsuits, no chargebacks, no paypal claims...ZIP.

Can anyone else here make that claim???

As the VP of product design of MR, EVERY (as in EVERY) product that was made by MR (outside of Disney...that was a big mess because of Disney) went through me. We used digital scanning (Scansite Inc) to scan the original props and Chinese manufacturing. Our engineering and business model was completely different than yours.

We simply did not NEED your molds, tools, prints, whatever else you are claiming... Your completely absolutely INCORRECT in your statements.

Again...you were NOT there. *I* was. I know what I did.

Most of our products were diecast metal and injection ABS and PVC, so resin molds would be useless. we mostly created master patterns is PRO-E or Solidworks. I prototyed about 10 or 15 products in my shop. Not an Icons piece to be found. I had pics and dimensions from the archive...I went there like what? 40 or 50 times??? I just didn't need your stuff.

You didn't even HAVE pulls off the original Trek props, so WHY the HELL would I want your molds?????

I had all of the original props in my hands. Oh...ya know what?...I need to go steal Icons made-up patterns, so let me put this original communicator down so I can steal Jim's stuff.

:facepalm :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm

Were you at HMS when we scanned Greg Jein's phaser...or communicator...or Tricorder...or Cage laser? Were you there when I handed him a check for $10k for the permission to photograph and scan them? Mike Moore and Steve Horch were. I didn't see you in there anywhere. Were you in the bathroom?

Mike and Steve never offered us any Icons patterns because they saw us scanning the originals. Your arguement just doesn't make any sense...

They were instrumental in helping us with Greg's stuff. They stood there as watched us scan the items, take pics, measure everything. But we NEVER EVER used your molds. They simply served no purpose.

I don't know where they are coming from, but they are NOT facts. *I* was there. I KNOW what I did. A number of people HERE were there with me. THEY know what we did.

CCG...My business partner was a total scumbag and cleaned out my wife's and my bank account as well as the company's accounts. Once we figured it out, we set the FBI, IRS, SEC and everyone else we could on him. He stole millions of dollars from people. To even SUGGEST that I had ANYTHING to do with that is not only incorrect but makes you a flaming (deleted).

We even destroyed a million dollar investment because we couldn't go through with it in good faith. My wife and I called a meeting with Bala Capital Group and told them everything. All I had to do is keep my mouth shut and we could have had a million dollars. Paul even offered to pay us off with "restitution" if we kept quiet. We didn't.


-I was not fired from MR. EVER. I resigned on August 8th, 2005 (my birthday) because I had spent five years away from my family and flying all over the world, and frankly...I was missing my girl's growing up. That is awful.

I also really realized that NO amount of my input would save the company at that point. Cookson wanted to make it a publically traded toy company. I didn't. So I left on my own volition. Cookson and I got into a yelling match because he said I would never leave and he didn't believe me (or accept) my resignation letter. My last day was Dec 31, 2005.

I was even hired in Jan as a consultant to help with some projects. WHY would they hire me back as a consultant right after firing me? Again...makes no sense.

Prove otherwise or STFU. I have numerous wittnesses to EVERYTHING I have stated. What you got???

Give me a FACTS, not silly gossip you got in some back-alley. "Oh...I HEARD that Steve D...blah blah."

I have my resignation letter AND my agreement to leave in my file. Your facts are patently incorrect. You were not here. I will not attempt to change your mind because you are SURE of your "facts" but I can stand here and tell you you are WRONG. 100% wrong.

My wife and I resigned from QMx for personal reasons. One of which was that I hadn't been paid in a VERY long time and we were both just tired of the prop business. We were working 12 to 14 hours a day and were BEAT.

How many Serenity posters can you MAKE for God's sake???

So let us summarize (because if you have read this far, you are as crazy as I am for writing this long...)


QMx...still in business.

SD Studios... Still in business

Icons...not so much.


Now...

Ok, I concede on the Nautilus, but I had NOTHING to do with the Disney department. I had no input, design commentary, approval authority...nuthin.

You got that one. Point for Jim! Another cookie for you!

Here is one thing I have learned...guilty folks always try to make OTHERS look guilty of a bunch of stuff so they look better. It is called "deflection".

It is happening BIG TIME here.

If I am guilty of anything, it is being a big arrogant JERK. Yah, I was a ******. I made a LOT of mistakes in my life that I can't take back. I think I have learned from them.

But one of them wasn't being responsible for what happened at Icons.

We now return you to my original statement...

If you are INNOCENT. PROVE IT. There are a lot of people who got taken for a LOT of money by Icons. If you are innocent...OK THEN! LET'S HEAR THE STORY.

Bagging on me isn't going to change people's perceptions of you.

I am open to listening to what you have to say. Seriously.

This is a very rare opportunity...

Go ahead...address your "survivors".

The stage is yours...
 
Well, after twelve years on this forum, I can honestly say I never EVER thought I'd see *this* day. :lol
 
Perhaps this would work better if it tried to resemble a reasonable discourse.

A way to long ramble peppered with smart alecky responses doesn't help.

Perhaps ask a few (maybe 3) questions at a time. Wait for result.

If everyone just reverts to their emotions in the matter it'll come to nothing.

Let the man answer some questions.
 
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