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...