All VPs and above. They are the only ones who had visibility to the new brand in the works, Every After High, the teenage children of the classic fairy tales. Anyone (specifically any designer or actual toy buyer) could have predicted that Disney would be angry that Mattel was infringing on their princess category. Mattel's arrogance is what pissed Disney off the most. C. Down should have demanded that the EAH group cease development on that brand to preserve the relationship with his chief licensor. Instead he threw his entire department under the bus. Then, the ones who weren't fired, all left voluntarily to Hasbro! They fired J. Gomez, E. Mazzoco, K. Haverly, but somehow C. Down and S. Cota made it through....What is going on there?
31 replies (most recent on top)
It's not about pretending to be ignorant as you are the ignorant one if you don't even realize the AKC exists here.
This blog is not really about hate but the truth of how this place turned into the toilet it's become.
You must be in upper mismanagement.
Is this on?
said designer turned director/VP is the epitome of a superficial managing up backstabbing douchebag who takes credit for everyone's hard work while doing nothing but socializing, online shopping and gossiping like a little bitch. He hasn't changed a bit since his days in ES. He did nothing with MH but suggest spot varnish on the packaging and take credit for everyone else's effort. The Kharmic payback is his boyfriend being spotted with another dude a week after he moved out east. f--- him.
The packaging designer that created MH is now the VP of creative in NY/EA and takes every opportunity to take credit for MH whenever it comes up, along with anything else his team conceives. Creativity falls under his excellent leadership skills.
The original concept from the twin masters of BS for mH was a buncha zombie girls and it tested for shit. If you left those 2 to design a line the whole thing would look like a bunch of drag dolls. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Just that it's probably not the product for Mattel's core demographic.
It was Stephanie and Evilyn as well as Kilpin who green lit it. But do you really think that Disney left just because of that? They left because they gave all the innovation to Barbie. They didn't want to listen to Disney's requests because they thought their research was so great that they knew it all. I'm sure Disney was full of a bunch of bat shit crazy people too. At the end of the day it's about money and profit. Hasbro promised more. But because you're likely only looking for an excuse to spew your expletives and continue your same rant about ass kissing club this and that none of that will matter to you. It's easier to pretend to be ignorant so you can continue to hate. But please continue to do so.
Enough about MH already. Who's got the real story behind Never After High? Who fought to push that turd through and bring the wrath of Disney? Anyone above designer level who brought that to fruition should be drawn & quartered.
Here is how I remember the MH saga because we were in that group when it was hatched. One day, Evelyn announced that a designer from packaging had come to her with an idea for a line of dolls featuring the teenage kids of the classic monsters, Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, etc. We all thought she was crazy but she felt there was a trend developing. "Twilight" fever was in full bloom so she figured the concept could fly. She gave a few of us a crack at styling the line because she didn't feel that the look was there yet. Several of us worked on it but primarily three groups. Research took the three sets of dolls to testing and the current look was what rose to the top. The sculptor, the artist who illustrated the characters on the packages and the original prelim designer are the real unsung heroes of the brand. They worked on the development for about two years but the powers that be held off on launching because Barbie was having her 50th anniversary in 2009 and they didn't want MH to steal any of her thunder. Catherine D was the VP for the group by this point and she carried the MH baby to full term. It was a gigantic hit but two years later, Evelyn wanted it back. A few months later, Catherine D left Mattel, they got a new VP on the brand and it was fractured ever since.
EVERYONE takes credit for designing MH, no one ever wants to give credit to the twins...my guess is a seedling came from the twins, then as more and more people got involved, it evolved into what is now MH ...but you know how some of the more egotistical designers can be--they love to take credit but hate when others do too. they rarely mention all the little folks that helped them create their masterpieces...ugh!
That's right! the guy who oversaw the packaging for MH was the one who actually came up with the concept. He was a nice guy who didn't get his due and left for spinmaster. Wonder what happened to him?
The two credit stealing Blue Beard FreakBrothers should have been let go, but nooooooo, not here. BTW, Legos profits are going through the roof/off the chain up 31% for the year with $ale$ at 5.2 Billion. Hasbro's stock pushing $80's. Funny, zero headwinds there............MattHell stock did hit the high 40's back in the Jill B days. Morale, WTF is that?............what morale, in this hell?
They weren't the original designers of MH. They got the credit though.
they don't seem to mind losing talent to competitors...they basically say "don't let the door hit you on the way out" to anyone who quits. the only people they've fought to keep are the Sanders bros., and that probably had more to do with the bad PR they'd get if it was known that the MH original designers went to Hasbro.
My boss was always consumed with checking the stockprice on his phone at every moment. Maybe he if he spent half as much time coming up with any strategy, we would be in a different place. Alas, he is still here.
we hit 47 back in 2013. that was a great bonus year.
In the 10 years I've been with Mattel I don't recall it ever hitting $32. For the longest time we piqued at $27.
I always like reading "but the stock is up" even though it's still far from being at an all-time high and a lot lower than our competitors. All the while, the company morale is at an ALL-TIME LOW. You'd figure that would be important to management so they could retain talent, or at least, keep a peaceful balance. Nope. It's all about $ which really is no surprise.
To the guy who still works on max steel: yes agreed that it was a revenue generator for latam. Was it a great movie? Subjective. Releasing a movie requires money. Not Mattel's typical behavior. The company can make as many movies as they want. But Mattel is not a media company. The debate aside on toys to movies making sense, unless any company is willing to make a financial priority to not only just making entertaining content but marketing it that scenario will continue to repeat.
Admittedly off the original topic here.
Yes, granted Max Steel was pretty lame compared to an action figure like Ironman but it was an evergreen line for 10 years in Latin America generating $100 million dollars a year before D Voss & his no talent sycophants destroyed it. The line generated more revenue than all the Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Speed Racer, & Toy Story lines put together so that has to be acknowledged. Totally agree with the wanna be actor who stared in a movie that was NEVER RELEASED. Upper mismanagement made such a big deal about that soon to be blockbuster which I never even saw a one sheet movie poster. No Monday morning quarterbacking here genius, just straight facts.
mary poppins crowd here wants to give you a spoonful of sugar to keep your ass on the merry go round.
Ev and Stephanie were the ones who green lit the Ever After High property with the blessings of their overlords. But the sales guys were only more than happy to eat it up as they were all fat from the fluke of a success of Monster High. definitely a case of hubris in the company thinking that they can recreate a trend just because. but hey that's mattel. accountability spread so thin that no one wants to take all the blame. always looking for the silver "best practices" bullet that can be applied to everything. as if everything is equal and requires the same approach. they've been fooled by the myriad ppts of shore's hocus pocus mambo jambo for so long they can't think for themselves. but never fear as the mazzocco priesthood has been dismantled and there are only a few holdouts left.
Max Steele was the worst lame ass response to action man and GI Joe that was ever conceived. So the property was big in South America! who cares. Not exactly the financial mecca to generate revenue.
Glad nothing ever came of this property. Nothing worse than listening to lame wannabe actor at toy fair trying to blow smoke up your ass touting the awesomeness of Max Steele
i'm sorry but max steel was lame. RIP. he's like the worst superhero ever. EVER... sorry
You can always tell the executive responses by their defensiveness. Love how quickly they jump on these posts. That's precisely the issue. If you have time to pursue this website, you're not working hard enough on your business. When I was employed at Mattel, I barely had time to upload design sheets, attend dozens of team meetings, present to everyone and their mother then last but not least, design product! My question is, why are some of these people in the toy industry anyhow? Do they really care about what they are doing or is it simply easy money for minimum effort.
Hey Einstein, Hasbro's stock closed at $75.75 today genius....... MattHell @ $32, yeah, go throw a party stupid as we compare numbers going forward....... but you could be right. Let's just see who's right after Q1 numbers come in. Will we be up a 1% or flat, what headwinds again?......oh no.
You must be a Director of Finance in the Tower of Power for those who cower.
wow, this got ugly fast. can't we all just get along? i love how this site is so extreme--some people make it seem like all is lost and everyone in management is bad. then others scold these dooms-dayers and act like everything is hunky dory. i tend to be in the middle, slightly more on the dooms-dayers' side since the mary poppins crowd are obviously dumb as sh**. heh heh heh
Apparently all this bitching and whining is going absolutely nowhere considering our stock is up to $32 today. obviously the company made the right choice in letting you crybabies go. Keep complaining, have yourselves a pity party wishing for the old days. Things are on an upswing and your complaining asses won't be missed!
Apparently re-hashing an old thread will change something? What do you want us to tell you? You're right? Ok you're right.
Hmmmmm has anything changed? Thought so. Stop being so lame and calling out the obvious. The New people will make their own mistakes. I'm sure if you ran things nothing would go wrong. You just like the sound of your own voice
Yes, & you should go back to your window office in the Tower.
Great Monday morning quarterbacking. You geniuses should be given seats at the big kids table. Move on from your tired argument. It was amusing 15 threads ago.
That whole thing was a debacle of the lowest grade but nobody really paid the price. I saw it as a pissing match that Evilyn wanted to show that her group could come up with another hit like Monster High because you must remember that MH was born in the Girls Inc group under Katherine Dimas. The brand was hit but it was taken from Dimas and given to her arch enemy/rival Evilyn. Dimas was then given all the money maker hits under D Voss who had one foot on a banana peel & the other out the door. Dimas is pissed, doesn't like the Boys Male Action stuff and high tails it to SpinMaster in January when we get back from holiday break. What? Then Gary Swisher lets Voss weasel his way back into boys to finish trashing Max Steel which was an evergreen line until then. Max went from Evergreen to Neverseen, great job Gary.....
Don't forget Kilpin was part of that too. He seemed to have escaped punishment for awhile. Although his exit was odd so maybe he did get pushed out?