Mattel CEO Bryan Stockton Resigns

[Trollan Magician]

Really bad news for all of us MOTU collectors, I seriously doubt MOTUC will hit the end of 2015...

Mr. Stockton took the CEO job three years ago and has presided over a long run of weak results. People inside the company and at customers attributed the slide to a growing focus on the numbers and overseas expansion at the expense of the company’s creative side. The company’s executives became entangled in a culture that valued endless meetings and long PowerPoint presentations. Meanwhile, smaller competitors like VTech Holdings Ltd. were taking shelf space and Lego A/S was challenging Mattel’s position as the largest toy company.

Source: The Toyark

[Matthew L. Martin]

Was Stockton a big backer of the line? After all, he took over only 3 years ago, which would place him in late 2011/early 2012. Wasn't that about the time we started seeing issues with the line?

If this blurb is right, then we might actually see someone attempt to boost the creative side by leveraging more of their existing IP ... like MotU.

[Black Zodac]

I wouldn't worry too much about this. CEO's come and go. I don't see this hurting Mattel's bottom line in the long run. If anything, we may see some improvement this year.

[Trollan Magician]

I think after Toy Guru's departure Mattel is cleaning up the team and that's why we are having all the issues in the early 2015... Their forums are dead, the Black Friday and Cyber Monday MOTU discounts were really bad, they don't update the web scheduler... I think this CEO departure is a sympton of how ill Matty actually is...

[Battle Ram Man]

Given how small MOTUC is, I don't think this will directly affect the line.

[Trollan Magician]

I don't think MOTC is a small line, in fact, mattycollector.com right now survives because of MOTUC.

[Battle Ram Man]

Small compared to everything else Mattel does

[Toad]

Maybe it seems small because it's not a full blown retail extravaganza like Hot Wheels and Barbie... or in recent times, Frozen. MOTUC is huge for an e-commerce line.

[Toad]

The subs were already sold. It would be in their best interest to stick with their obligations to the customers who have been buying subs sight unseen for the past 7 years. The line has always been doing very well, regardless of all the doom and gloom Neitlich has been feeding us since day one. Mattel is making money with this so called "small" line, otherwise it wouldn't have lasted this long. A CEO leaving the company really shouldn't have an impact on the line, positive or negative.

[MegaGearMax]

The subs were already sold. It would be in their best interest to stick with their obligations to the customers who have been buying subs sight unseen for the past 7 years. The line has always been doing very well, regardless of all the doom and gloom Neitlich has been feeding us since day one. Mattel is making money with this so called "small" line, otherwise it wouldn't have lasted this long. A CEO leaving the company really shouldn't have an impact on the line, positive or negative.

Yeah. Mattel isn't going to give mass refunds of the 2015 line.

I think this is a good thing for Mattel. They need to get competitive again after growing fat and lazy at the top for so long. The young lions are hungry and ambitious.

[Nemisythe]

Amen Mega! Maybe someone new who will see that this company has a somewhat rich and decent library of properties old and new; which can be reintroduced to old and new fans in possibly a number of different ways: collector, mass and specialty.

[GREP-A-TOR]

Mattel CEO Bryan Stockton Resigns:

Some people say that this was due to charging customers only $100 for a MOTUC Battle Ram. When confronted with the fact that he could have charged consumer "completists" upwards of $200, he stated, "I wanted to reward our loyal fanbase with a long awaited vehicle set for a reasonable price......You know what, I quit, I can't do this with a straight face anymore. There is no way I am going to implore that people buy more Castle Grayskulls because they are costing us imaginary warehouse costs too."

When asked what his future plans were, he responded, "I think I am going to kick some puppies, or run for Congress, you know, something more ethical".

[Mechanizor]

Haha, well said. However running for the type of congress we have is nothing but pure evil... :-)