Ruben

[PoPfan]

I have some serious issues with this guy. Ever since that Q&A at SDCC where he came off as a pompous anus. his mere name fills me with rage--I won't even eat the sandwich that shares his name because I'm afraid it too will be full of crap. I personally think a lot of the issues that Scott takes heat about--including Blade's swords, Glimmer's dress and fat armor are based off his poor decisions.

I know I'm not alone in this, right?

[shadowfall1976]

No, you are not alone. Ruben is a hack who has screwed up far too many figures. And his arrogance is totally amazing despite the half ass work he puts out.

[PoPfan]

Do you think he'll put himself through another Matty panel? or is his ego such that he'll come and make up reasons to cover up his lazy approach to his design work?

[Pinch]

I heard the Matty Panel might not be at PC this year.

[Mechanizor]

I won't even eat the sandwich that shares his name because I'm afraid it too will be full of crap.

Seriously, the guy has a sandwich that shares his name, where at, Quick Draw Subs?!

I wouldn't care much for his arrogance if he was doing a good job, but clearly he really sucks at that too!... As for Neithlich, what do you expect from a guy whose created a character that blows more than he is!

[Barbecue17]

Guys, the sandwich is a Reuben, so we're all good.

It's my favorite sandwich and I must defend its honor!

[GREP-A-TOR]

What is the background on this guy? His qualifications? Where has he worked before and with whom? Lets dig a little to find out why he is this way, I want to know what else he has worked on.

[Emiliano]

Ruben has been with Mattel for quite a bit now. He was on the 2002 team too. He designed Snake Armor He-Man and King Hiss for the 202 line, plus at least the War Whale and the Attack Squid.
He is a pretty good illustrator, I like his art, but he seems to not have a good grasp of MOTU and seems to be lacking on the engineering side.

[Brian Ozone]

So he's behind that hideous design of Hiss....

[Pinch]

Not to mention the Attack Squid. I was ok with Hiss.

[MegaGearMax]

People like that King Hsss design enough to want a variant of him.

[Battle Ram Man]

I don't really hate anyone, but he seems to make some very poor engineering choices. I miss Terry.

[MegaGearMax]

Ironically, people complained about Terry Higuichi's work too, back then. But not so much as Ruben's crazy decisions. Reversing Stinkor's arms to make them pop? Sorceress' wing drums? The Green Clawful Mace in the weapons pack? Fat Sea Hawk, the Granamyr weapons and the Trap Jaw/Roboto attachments in the last Weapons Pak were probably him too.

[shadowfall1976]

I think TP He-Man was Terry's last figure if I remember reading correctly, and I know from reading also Sorceress was done before Ruben, Stinkor I think was Rubens first figure to **** up. But yeah, not happy about the wing drums, but looking at my figures and thinking of others....PD He-Man was probably the worst of Terry's offenses which looking at the figures, weren't many....especially not compared to everything Ruben has done lately and since Stinkor....

[DJ Force]

Ruben has been with Mattel for quite a bit now. He was on the 2002 team too. He designed Snake Armor He-Man and King Hiss for the 202 line, plus at least the War Whale and the Attack Squid.
He is a pretty good illustrator, I like his art, but he seems to not have a good grasp of MOTU and seems to be lacking on the engineering side.

Amazing. He´s a rather good designer. I love Snake Armor He-Man (I guess everybody does) and King Hsss wasn´t too bad either. The War Whale is one of my most favorite vehicles of 200x and the Attack Squid isn´t that bad, too.
BUT, the engeneering decissions he´s made are... well... POOR.
If he´s such a cool designer, why doesn´t he fo back to that department and leave the engeneering decissions to guys who know what they are doing?



And btw: What is that SDCC thing everybody keeps talking about? What did Ruben do there?



MegaGearMax: People complained about Terry? Excuse my terrible memory (seriously, it´s terrible!) but what design choices were so bad that people complained?

[MegaGearMax]

During SDCC 2013, Ruben was on stage with TG, answering questions. Some fans didn't like the way he sounded.

And fans complained about Terry's design choices too, but it was nothing compared to Ruben. She-Ra having a hole in her head was a big one.

[shadowfall1976]

Oh yeah, the hole in the head, but really tally Terry's Flubs vs Ruben's in a much shorter time, and you'll see Ruben wins the award for most inept at design.

[Brian Ozone]

The hole in the head deserved debate it was walking into a gun fight picking your nose.

[GREP-A-TOR]

Does anyone have a timeline for exactly which figure Ruben started from? I think this a very, very important point/fact to get right. If anyone has any links to back it up too - that is appreciated.

[shadowfall1976]

Ruben's First I believe was Stinkor, Terry was involved in Thunder Punch, Draego, Sorceress, Fisto...etc.... and they all came just before Stinkor.

I think that was the need to make Stinkor POP.... because he wanted to make an entrance.

Also he was well in the fold after Stinkor because Blastic was his baby.

[Emiliano]

Stinkor was never meant to "pop"
The forearms where new tooling and the factory created the molds with the L and R markings on the opposite pieces. Then Scott came out with that silly excuse that makes much less sense that a simple, honest, stupid factory error.

[Robzilla]

I always knew that excuse was utter rubbish

[Barbecue17]

If that would have been the message from day one, I really think the Stinkor rage would have died down. I feel like rather than simply saying oops or making amends, Matty/ Scott/ Whoever always has to come up with a silly reason for stuff.

[shadowfall1976]

I thought it was a BS line.....

But don't you think telling everyone the truth instead of lying about it, making yourself and your Designer look like a douche in the process would have been a better idea?

Doesn't change the fact that everything else (Blastic, Green Clawful Mace....again, Diapers, Fat Albert armor...etc) was blatant and shows a lack of talent and imagination....

Oh wait I forgot it's 2014 now and the manufacturing process from a factory that a Billion dollar company uses doesn't have the ability to produce assemble a figure (that is hand assembled?) that is wearing a proper Leotard....(mind you I like the figures personally as they are, minus the coming Scorpia....they jacked her up....can't hold her Crossbow, and her diaper is really in your face)....

[Draego-Man]

Well Scott said that because he is a habitual liar. I mean seriously, you can read people pretty well by their body language, and everything about the way this guy carried himself screams "Untruthful". Owning up to one's mistakes and apologizing makes one a mature adult. Scott is stuck in a perpetual, life-long stage of juvenile behavior. The ever decreasing sales have to do with one sole macro factor, which accounts for all the other microcosms that afflict this line: Scott "Lie-Or" Nietlich.

[Battle Ram Man]

I agree that Scott has been caught telling lies, but I doubt that has much to do with sales. I think sales are dropping because most A and B and even C and D figures have already been produced. There's not much left, certainly almost no essential vintage figures left. The line is running out of steam because most of the figures people want have already been made. IMO

[Novelty]

I agree with Battle Ram Man. Most of the figures that people want have been produced. The remaining ones are demanded, but not as demanded as, say, Ram Man (who I think was the last of the original 83/84 figures). Collecting the line has been stressful, and long - We have had figures since 08, and this year is the 6th year of the line... collector are feeble people who have probably drifted to other toylines.

[Dark Horse]

The problem with these guys is they just don't seem to get toys. They don't understand it takes more than getting them to look good in photos, or meeting budgets or whatever.
These two are poor, poor excuses for people in the job role.
I find it deeply upsetting that we as customers expect at least one thing to be wrong with every product we buy. It's like a constant unneccessary batlle collecting the line, between the love for the property, and the arrogant, destructive influence of Scott and Ruben.