Bob Gale on Mattel's Prop Replica Hoverboard

It would appear Bob Gale is
still not happy with Mattel's
prop replica, Hoverboard.

In a interview with Rich Handley,
he said, they bit off more than they
could chew (that's what she said)
and then pretended it was, what they
promoted.

He said this typical of corporate behavior
and they should've gone back to the fans
of come to him.

What I take from this, is Gale is taking some
heat, he is proud of what he created and is
upset that Mattel maybe taking shine off
his legacy.

Here's hoping one day, a company will do
it right.

Time will tell.

PS: Gale didn't say, "That's what she said," I
wrote that for comedy reasons.

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Scott Neitlich NOT answering the ACTUAL Questions

I've  put a couple of questions and suggestions to Mattel's
Brand Manager Scott Neitlich, A.K.A toyguru.

His answers at Matty Collector's forums have been at
best ambiguous, and at times it seems he's not really
reading the questions.

Yes as he points out at the fourms, he does this on his
own time, so I guess people should be thankful for that.

But to not directly answer a question, is a bit off putting,
I've tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, and it
must be doing his head in, all these questions about the
prop/replica/toy Hoverboard form a ton of people.

But here is the deal, I put to him just the suggestion as
a bit of fun, will Mattel in the future try to create a
Skating Rink in a controlled environment where
Hoverboards will actually work!

He just wrote a generic reply about how  there are no
plans for additional Hoverboards.

Which  of course isNOT what I asked, I repeated
the question several times, but didn't get a straight
answer.

This to me is taking the Mickey out of the customer, and
is disappointing.

Anyway I thought the user KOWL had a great idea, teaming
with Universal Studios to do the skating rink at one of their
theme parks.

I dont think this will happen, I just wish Scott Neitlich would
at least acknowledge the suggestion, he can laugh it off, but
at least give an answer to the ACTUAL question asked.

Or perhaps I'm too harsh?

Anyway, still counting down the days to 2015.

It seems along way, away now, just like it was in 1989.

Who knows?

Time will tell.

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New Zealand Internet Awards 2012

Favorite Kiwi Tweeter: Goes to Thomas Abercrombie
the New Zealand international Basketballer and Breaker
player for always being honest and funny with his Tweets.

Favorite Kiwi Journo Tweeter: goes to Andrew Mulligan
for keeping the crowd informed and being serious and funny
when needed.

Worst Kiwi Tweeter: Jesse Ryder for thinking he is funny
and for bagging his employers, despite them giving him one
last chance time and time again.

Best Kiwi Blog: Kiwiblog for providing political insight
without being nasty  when getting attacks from the left,
and for having great travel tips also.

Bias Kiwi Blog: Goes to "The Standard" for their lack
of empathy for any USA victim and their pure hatred for
anything and anyone that doesn't conform to their ideology.

Gutsy Blogger: Cameron Slater from Whale Oil, for
despite having a rabid right wing base, stuck up for the
rights of Gay people to marry.

Hypocritical /Disingenuous Blogger: Has to be Anjum Rahman
from "Kiwistargazer" for her passive aggressive attacks against
America, her disgust if anyone dares give sympathy to the USA
and her self righteousness that is on a level with John Minto.
Her comment that the American Flag is just a piece of cloth was
disgusting.

Shhhh Sexism is only bad if its white Blogger: Of course
this goes to the feminist Blog "The Hand Mirror" who fails to
call up any act of sexism if the people carrying out the sexism
are non white.

Most Ill-informed Kiwi Message Board: The people
who post messages about sport, politics, entertainment on
the Trademe message boards.

Where is he/lifetime achievement Award: Dimebag, the
New Zealand version, hasnt seen him on the internet for years,
most funny kiwi person on the Internet ever.

International Media Award: Huffington Post.

International Forum Award: Democratic Underground.

Most fun I have on a Forum Award: Matty Collector discussing
HOVERBOARDS!

Last Award/Hope your webpage gets better: Garth Brooks.

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Scott Neitlich Answers Questions

(Update, let me add Scott has taken some grief by
customers at matty collector, but he's always been
polite to my questions)

Scott Neiltich has answered the questions that people
wanted answered.

The question was...

"If they could make a board 23 years ago with a lenticular surface,
how come Mattel couldn't do one in 2012?

His Answer.

"Because the boards made "23 years ago" were expensive
hand made props. The 2012 mass produced manufactured
toy needed to come in at 120.

Adding a lenticular would have skyrocketed the price. Lenticulars
are large extremely expensive. We did look into it and could
not find a way to make it work and still deliver an affordable
toy.

Making this comparison is honestly not fair. You are comparing
a hand made film prop with a high budget to a mass produced
toy for 120/130. It is not apples to apples at all."

So there ya have it, fans of the Hoverboard were getting
confuse with a prop replica with a hand made film prop.

We will know next time.

Scott Neiltich also said the Hoverboard was a success and
a near sellout, but it appears there wont be a year two, and
it will be a one off.

So Hoverboard fans, we still have some Time to wait
to get a real hand made film prop that is the Hoverboard.

It would appear an even longer wait FOR A REAL
HOVERBOARD!!!!

Time will tell.

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Bob Gales Releases another Letter

This time, he added the above photo. Bob Gale was
very kind to Mattel, which will please Scott Neitlich.

He basically stated, that many Hoverboards were used,
and it shouldn't really matter if the colors may of been
slightly different.

He said he had no problem with the basic design and
colors.

He went on to explain, how they shot certain boards for
the movie, and why they did so.

I doubt if this is going to appease Back to the future fans,
or if Bob was asked by Mattel to do this.

Design and colors didn't seem to be the big issue for fans,
and, Bob Gale in his first letter, explained what the issues
were.

His second piece can be read at bttf.com

Personally I'm just waiting for Scott Neitlich to comment.

Here's hoping he will shed some more light on why Mattel
got it so wrong.

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Breaking News: Matty Collector Deletes Customer Questions

Following Bob Gale's letter to the media, Mattel's
collector  site "Matty Collector" has seen an influx
of questions to their forums, the forum was set up
by Mattel to answer customer's enquires.

The person that is charged with doing this is none
other than Scott Neitlich. A.K.A toyguru.

Well the one question the fans want answered is
being deleted, not sure if its a legal issue or they
just think it looks bad for Mattel, but its the one
question that people want answered.

The questions is...

If they could make a hoverboard with a Lenticular
surface  23 years ago, how come Mattel couldn't do the
same in 2012.

Time will tell, if they ever answer this question.

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Bob Gale Unhappy With Mattel's Hoverboard

Wow.

Double Wow.

Triple Wow.

Did not expect this at all.

Bob Gale has came out and
criticize Mattel's Prop Replica
Hoverboard.

In a piece he wrote, he stated, he was disappointed
with the stand, disappointed with the sound
and glide feature.

He also said it's okay to throw eggs at him, of
course he was joking.

He stated if it was half the price he would love it,
but it wasn't.

He went on to say, he contacted Scott Neitlich to
tell him he was going public with it,and Scott was
very professional explaining the issues.

Of course the big issue was the lack of a Lenticular
surface on the board. Mattel used stickers.

He bought up a point, that I also cant get my head around.

Basically Bob Gale's point was...

If 23 years ago we could produced a board with a Lenticular
surface, how the heck couldn't Mattel produce one in 2012 and
why didn't they contact him  again.

Bob Gale's letter to the public can be read at bttf.com.

I sincerely hope that Scott Neitlich and Mattel will release
a public statement.

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Scott Neitlich demonstrates Hoverboard

Scott Neitlich has put a video up over at Matty's
youtube site, demonstrating the Hoverboard.

It does what he says it does, you lay it flat and it
makes the noises, and it does actually look like
the movie Hoverboard.

His bosses at Mattel has also done the right thing
by letting people cancel their order, if they have
changed their minds.

I'm still torn about this thing, as I said in a post
I did months ago, if this was 1989, it would be
a brilliant toy to have, but being 2012, I expected
more, sure the actual Hover technology stuff
is still so far off, but maybe they could've work
on some sort of magnetic stand that would make
the thing float, like some French artist did??

Still it does look like the Hoverboard, once
this thing is in the hands of its customers, I
will be very interested to see what the
reaction will be.

Time will tell.

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Scott Neitlich: Hoverboard

(UPDATE: Ive changed the title of this post, Scott has informed
me, via one of my questions at Matty Collector, it was
his mistake the Hoverboard didnt make the sounds,
he didn't need to shake it, he just had to hold it
flat, I believe him)

Scott Neitlich had an interview with MTV dated
October 16th I think.

He had the Hoverboard with him.

First off it didnt work, he had to shake it
 hard and then bang it to make the sounds.
The interviewer said, "Its not working" Scott
 said and I quote. "It's temperamental"

Once it worked the sounds itself didnt sound
like the ones in the movie, even though they
were lifted from the Movie.

Secondly, again like with every interview
 he was ambiguous, when asked "Does it Float"
he replied "Not exactly" (Is Mattel trying to fool dumb people?)

If it sells well, he suggested there will be a
year two and possibly a pitbill.

ps: (Nothing to do with this post, but I'm guessing
you could fit in some "That's what she said" quotes
in this post.)

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Scott Neitlich must be thick skinned

Scott Neitlich must be thick skinned over the
public reaction to Mattel's Prop Replica Hoverboard,
or Movie Accurate Hoverboard or now as
Mattel is promoting it "An amazing toy"

I believe he is genuine in his belief, that the Hoverboard
is an amazing toy, and I believe his team believes
it also, here's the thing, it appears the public is not
too happy, now perhaps the public is too picky, and
perhaps when this thing gets sent out, we will all
be blown away by it.

Back to the future was a special movie trilogy that
still holds a dear dear place in people's hearts, it
takes us back to our childhood, I was a teen when
it first came out, and boy oh boy, I  wanted a hoverboard,
not knowing much about Quantum Physics, I didn't
understand it will probably never be in my life time.

My big sadness with this is, too wait 25 years for
a Movie Prop Replica, that is not exactly a
replica, but just a look a like, is a let down.

I still have hope though, and I hope Scott Neitlich
understands the mindset of the average back to
the future fan is maybe different to the mindset of
the average collector.

We want to think back to what we felt while watching the
movie, we want that feeling, I sincerely hope you can
deliver Scott, because at the moment, I'm not
that hopeful, and I'm normally a hopeful person.

Time will tell.

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Scott Neitlich and the Mattycollector Revolt

There seems to be a bit of a revolt among the
mattycollector's consumers, over at their forums.

Again it's directed at Scott Neitlich and the handling
of the Hoverboard promotion.

I myself have been way too critical in the past of
Scott Neitlich, and have since toned down my
criticism, and I still have hope that the Hoverboard
will be as amazing as Scott says it will be.

Here are some of the comments that have been directed
at Scott and Mattel.

From MattyCollector forums...

Please don't insult us further with your scripted enthusiastic 
replies and explain why it has changed from a "screen
 accurate prop" to "an amazing toy". No legal team
 in the world could protect you from your very obvious
 mistakes, rushed product, and appalling responses/trolling.

At this point, I'm positive you've spoken to Matty's
 legal department and have been briefed on what 
you can say and cannot say.

Honestly, I feel bad for you because this
 mess is falling on your doorstep and you're 
being demonized as if this whole fiasco was 
entirely your fault. I, having worked in corporate
 America, understand that you're at the mercy of
 your superiors, which I'm sure is the case here.

I hope that you don't dismiss my email. It is extremely frustrating
 to see the lack of communication and dismissive short responses. 

You stressed the accuracy so much in that video 
(even showing us the Ghostbusters prop as an example). 
You STRESSED accuracy. Please don't be dismissive 
when we "call out" the team on the glaring inaccuracies
 that you yourself promised you were working to make
 it as accurate as possible. I can understand some liberty
 can be taken with the colors, but the magnets and brackets
 are just cringe-worthingly off.

I have taken a good portion of time today to
 write this. I hope you or your team would have
 enough respect for me to write something that
 was more than a one sentence answer.

I hope that any changes that need to be made to
 make this "Movie-accurate down to the smallest
 detail", your words, should be made even if this
 meant a delay in release.

Please don't answer saying that "everyone at NYCC
 loved it" or that you're proud of it. Please give me some
 honest answers as to why this has turned out so badly,
 was it the budget? management problems? etc? Orders 
were placed based on YOU saying that this would be
 movie accurate, which it isn't. You have a lot of annoyed
 buyers, who do not appreciate one line replies.

What I take from all of this, is people are upset mainly
with the one sentence answer from Scott, and believe
he is being told what to say by Mattel's legal team, he
is being very very careful with his answers.

I'm sure Scott is a great guy and his hands may be
tied, what he needs to understand is Back to the
Future fans are a different breed of people, we 
are not the usual Sci-Fi fans, it means a lot to
us and we hope anybody involved with anything
to do with Back to the Future will have the same 
passion.

Here's hoping when the Hoverboard does get
sent out and released, that the MattyCollector
forums will be full of praise for Scott Neitlcih
for a wonderful movie accurate-prop replica
Hoverboard.

Time will tell.

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New York Comic-con Hoverboard

It would appear, that the Final Hoverboard model
shown at NewYork's comic-con may not in fact
be the final model that goes out to fans.

Here's hoping this is true, although they must
be pushed for time, since shipping is in November.

Scott Neitlich and his Mattel team have taken a
lot of grief by fans all over and especially at
matty collector.

Maybe they will get this thing right.

Time will tell.

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Have I been too harsh on Scott Neitlich??

It's come to my attention, that I may of been too
Harsh on Scott Neitlich, a pervious post I did
a few months back, blamed Scott for the reason
we don't have a proper working Hoverboard.

I have been informed in the comment section of
that post, by a guy who knows Scott, and he
can confirm that Scott is a genuine toy fan, who
if he could, would move heaven and earth, if he
could've produced a REAL Hoverboard.

So I believe this poster, and give Scott the benefit of
the doubt.

My advice to Mattel would be, dont take out
internet ads with the words "Hoverboards, they're
real and Magnificent"  That leads to the consumer
getting a false impression.

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Scott Neitlich: The Final Disappointment

(Update, instead of editing this post, I have done another
dated 14th October, I received a comment on an earlier
post about Scott, by someone who knows him, so think
its only fair to mention that)

Well, It's been nine months, and as predicted, Mattel's
Scott Neitlich, A.K.A toyguru,  has given the prop replica fans,
 their final and biggest disappointment.


Never in the History of a company, did a company have
so much LUCK in the prop replica market, not only did
they decide to do a Prop Replica of the greatest fictional
 toy ever, but there was no need to spend millions on
 research.

Why, because Bob Fuckin  Gale came in with the prop
itself, yes Bob Gale, (sure he screwed Crispin
Glover and lied about if for 25 years) but that is
beside the point, Bob Gale is back to the future, and
he went along to Mattel, to see Scott Neitlich and
his designers so Mattel could create a MOVIE
accurate version of the hoverboard.

So Mattel actually had the Hoverboard, they
needed to work on!!!

So what did Scott and Mattel do, well they didn't
listen to the consumers for one, they also kept
silence for most of all the time, except for
advertising and BS promotion on sites like
Beyond the Marquee.

Then there was comic con in San Diego, and
the Hoverboard fans were shocked, but were
told, by Scott Neitlich that "It's a work in progress"

Again there was silence, and now with Comic- Con
in New York, what have they unveiled???

It anit a mother fuckin Hoverboard, that is for
sure.

It's worse looking than the one in San Diego.

It's worse looking than the one the 10 year
old kid from Slough in the U.K made for his
middle school class project.

What did Scott Neitlich, (who certainly isn't
a toy guru) say to his bosses at Mattel??

I'm guessing NOTHING!

They're got their customers money and that
is all they care about.

This has to be the most poorly handled
promotion since New Coke.

Scott, if your reading this, You had BOB
GALE at your disposal, you had the
HOVERBOARD!

What were you thinking?

Because I have no idea, what this thing
is, in New York City.

Answers would be nice.

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A Disaster for Scott Neitlich and Matty Collector

This year has been a Disaster for Scott Neitlich and
Mattel's website Matty Collector.

The collectors aren't happy and it;s all down to the
dismal marketing of Mattel's Hoverboard.

It started earlier in the year, when they promised
a working hoverboard, saying it will do what it
did in the Back to the future movies.

They then had to backtrack saying it's a prop
replica, but they're working on something.

They then had to backtrack again saying, it's
just a prop replica it wont do anything.

They then had to backtrack again after the
disaster at Comic-con, when people were
left very disappointed.

Now Scott Neitlich has come out with
possibly the worst statement anyone at
Mattel has ever made, he said...

"It wont please everybody, but we tried our best"

Yes you read that right. Uhm Scott Neitlich this
is not what the consumer wants to hear. Below
are some other statements you might want to
try first...

1: "Not the best product, but it sorts of works"
2: "Its Mattel, what do you expect"
3: "Our toys are now without, Lead"
4: " Xmas, wouldnt be xmas without a plastic doll from China"
5: "Bringing smiles to our ceo's not our factory workers"
6: "Hey at least, we didnt make apple's gps thing"
7: "Our new wwe dolls have heart attacks"
8: "Sure it will break, but what ya going do"
9: "Cheap, nasty, and doesnt work, just like your mother"
10: "Only 125 bucks for 35 cents worth of parts"

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Scott Neitlich Hoverboard Disappoints

Scott Neitlich has more contempt for his consumer base
than any other spokesperson in the history of business.

Scott Neitlich's official title is "Marketing Brand Manager" for
Mattel.

Perhaps a better title would be "Biggest Douche in the Universe"

For six months, he was out promoting the Back to the Future.
prop replica Hoverboard, thru sites such as Beyond the Marquee,
even bringing in back to the Future, writer and cocreater Bob Gale.

Various scifi website and the mainstream media picked up on this,
and the internet was abuzz with talk that this prop replica would be
the exact match they used for back to the future.

It came with a huge pricetag, over $150 bucks, plus you had to be
a paid member of mattycollecter.com.

So for $150 bucks you would expect something special.

Think again, what you got from Mattel is a cheap, tacky,
piece of crap that a fourth grader could've made in a
low stream shop class.

It's beyond a joke how crappy Mattel's Hoverboard is.
It must of only cost 25 cents to manufacture. Why they
did all this BS in promoting it, is beyond logic.

Scott Neitlich should be ashamed at what he does, instead
of signing autographs at San Diego's comic con 2012, he
should be saying sorry to every Back to the Future
fan on the planet.

I refuse to post a picture of Mattel's hoverboard on this
blog, it's just too depressing.

We deserve better, than this piece of crap.

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Last Post about Hoverboards

Every so often, in my life, I get my hopes up, when Back
to the future 2 came out, I got all excited, thinking, man
they are the most awesome things ever, I gotta get one
when they come out.

Then when a guy I did a course with all those years ago told me,
they will be coming out soon, I was over the moon.

Well that didnt happen, then I saw a tv special on the
making of back to the future 2, and Robert Zemeckis
himself said they were real, but because of parent
groups, they can't be sold yet.

Time passed, and everytime it was shown on TV, it
got me thinking  about it again, hoping, we have the
internet, big screen tvs, cell phones, ipads, but no
Hoverboards. :-(

Then this year Mattel said they are releasing, a Hoverboard,
that will do everything the one in the movie does,
except work on water, I went nuts!!!

Unfortunately Mattel  likes to promise big and deliver
little, it was actually just a prop replica and wouldn't
hover.

It didnt help that Scott Neitlich and Joe Bell were very
disingenuous half joking, with statements like "wait till
2015" then when queried, saying they were kidding, but
yet they continue to make the joke, guess they were
trying to boost sales for their prop replica.

So there you have it, hopes get up, hopes get dashed,
sometimes its by people with good intentions like Robert
Zemeckis, sometimes its by idiots like the guy in my
course or corporate business people like Scott Neitlich.

It's a sad day knowing that a Hoverboard will never
be released in your lifetime and it's just a fantasy, a
dream of a dreamer, who saw a movie that he fell
in love with and an idea that seemed unreal. A hoverboard,
as an adult it would've taken me back to my dreams,
my childhood, wondering what's out there over the
horizon.

Reality is no friend of the dreamer.

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Great Scott, Mattel Sinks after bad first Quarter

It seems it wasn't a good idea for Mattel to buy Hit
Entertainment, I guess they were thinking, we have
the rights, we can produce more cheap Bob the Builder
toys and Thomas the Tank Engineer toys and make a huge
profit.

Well at a cost of $680 million, the Market says no, also
Mattel's barbie dolls just haven't been selling. Mattel's
share price has drop 7.7% in one day.

It doesn't look good for Mattel IMHO, with their
marketing manager getting people's hopes up and
then dashing them with the Hoverboard, (it's only
a replica) and now these first quarter result, they
have lot of thinking to do.

I'm not a share broker, this post was just my opinion, 
do your own research if your looking into buying into
Mattel.

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Scott Neitlich is ruining Little and Big kids dreams

Scott Neitlich (the one in glasses) is surly the worst
person on earth at the moment, not counting criminals.

Scott Neitlich is the man who has destroyed little and
big kids dreams, he's the one who is making sure that
Billion dollar companies, spent fu*k all on product
 but but spend millions  on marketing something
 as great and  a must have product, when it
 fact its a cheap piece of sh*t.

You see, Scott Neitlich is the one who is destroying the chance of
real hoverboards begining  created.

Scott Neitlich is a marketing manager for Mattel, he goes
to events like comic con, pretending to be a fan of all
things geeky.

He is in charge of promoting the prop replica hoverboard.

As said before in this blog, if it was 1989, it may of been
a great idea, but in 2012 it's not.

If Scott was the big back to the future fan he says he is, if
he was truly a geek nerd, he would've been screaming
at every head office meeting at Mattel saying "We need
to make a real one somehow" he would've said  "We
are the third biggest company on earth, worth billions
and billions, we need to stop treating the consumer like
crap, by producing plastic barbies."

But no, alas, he doesnt, he is there to make money for
his company, he will go out of his way talking to young
science people, telling them you cant do a hoverboard,
dont even try, in the hope us hoverboards  lovers, will be
satisfied  with his plastic piece of crap at $120 dollars.

He has made a lot of money, by teasing, by joking
and giving people false hope, making people think,
maybe just maybe if i buy a replica they will make a
real one.

He's one of the reason, there are no hoverboards now,
if a hoverboard was going to be invented it will be by
a multi billion dollar company, like Mattel, except
Scott Neitlich doesn't want this, it's too hard, and
Scott Neitlich doesn't give a fu*k, a real back to
the future fan would.

Hoverboards.

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And NASA can't wash it's hands for lack of Hoverboards

While I have been ripping on the $5.6 Billion dollar
company  Mattel, for not producing real working Hoverboards,
how about  we talk about NASA.

The space technology people, the people who put a man
on the moon, and have been sending people into space
ever since, have yet to come up with a Hoverboard.

Now, perhaps I shouldn't be too angry, they have other
things on their minds, like fu*kin algae , yes NASA is
spending $10 Million dollars on mother Fu*in Algae,
and not the Algae itself, but the bags to put Algae in.

What the hell is wrong with this anti hoverboard society?

First Robert Zemeckis lies to us in 1989, then Mattel lies
and gets our hopes up, now NASA the people who
could do this thing, is spending it's money on bags
for Algae.

What the hell has happen to the future????

This is not what I thought when I was a kid.

A word to the geeks and tech people and billion
dollar companies.

A hoverboard is what we want, is that too much to
ask in 2012?

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