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.

Posted in: Hoverboards, Mattel, Scott Neitlich