I debated editing out the portion where we tried to work through Scott's internet issues, instead I opted to add chapters so you can easily skip ahead if need be. He gets it fixed at the 26:00 mark!
I thought that too. In past videos I’ve noticed his strong frustration about issues. It showed in this debate video and Scott showed frustration but stayed composed. - The Disneyland Neighbor
Michael's, somewhat, understandable anger has made him insular and resistant to what Scott was trying to communicate. Scott made many points that are still valid despite the amount of time that has transpired since he worked for a particular toy company. That experience trumps passionate opinions or assumptions. And despite his not working for Hasbro there are many things comparable between Mattel and Hasbro that are based on basic manufacturing and business operations. I worked closely with Hasbro for many years, and not that long ago, and gained a lot of experience that corroborates Scott's POV. So many things happen that do not make sense to us as collectors/consumers that make business sense. Another thing that I haven't heard mentioned is how valuable shelf space is at retail and how hard it is to curry favor with the buyers and keep hold of that real estate. If a product for any reason doesn't ship in time it can lose shelf space to another toy company it can be very hard to regain that space and a single peg could be $1Million+ a year in revenue. Ever since Toys R Us went away it's become a constant battle for what little space is left at retail. Being a collector can be frustrating but lord, it's toys, let's not forget to have fun.
Well said. I hope Michael can use this experience constructively. As fans we may get frustrated but that emotions doesn’t do much in the way of addressing actual issues. If we want things to change we should at least be willing to understand why the things that frustrate us are they way they are. Michael seems to just be guessing at what he thinks the issues are and presenting his assumptions as insights. There’s no knowledge in that and it just confuses the issue making it more difficult to improve any issues that need resolved.
@@sycojp Agreed. I really like Michael, and his content, and share a lot of his beliefs on the industry and I admire his ability to leap to a friend's defense. I believe he gets a lot of shit, who doesn't when you open yourself up to the public, and that can certainly start to wear on a person's patience.
@@Spaceprince72 yeah. I don’t think you build a following like his by being rude and argumentative but that’s how I perceived him here. He may have other things going on but the video response calling out Scott was disproportionate to even his perceived slight. The alarming thing is if you look at this objectively there was no direct insult. Or at least none I could find. Michael escalated this and Scott was actually big enough to try and clear the air despite Michael’s open personal attack. And when there was an open opportunity for Michael to state his case it ended up being either “perceived slight or slightly negative passing reference.” Neither justify dragging the level of discourse to where he took it. Though at this point I’m leaning on the hypersensitive. Regardless Michael’s behavior was abhorrent and I’m sad he was given such a large platform to display his shortcomings. Most people will likely revel in our circles little celebrity crashing and burning but I don’t think his behavior invalidates all the other good content he’s produced that people enjoy. As it is I haven’t seen him apologize or take down the Spector video. He seems to want to ignore this happened and block all reference to this “debate”. I would love to see him come out, apologize for being so defensive and refocus his channel’s content back onto the happier stuff that brought him into prominence to start with. If not I imagine he will continue to attract disgruntled toy collectors who feel they are being cheated by “greedy corporations” and they can have their little group to complain in. I don’t think it represents the majority of us and they may just complain the whole thing into the ground for the rest of us. I won’t be joining them for sure. There’s no right or wrong way to collect, but being an asshole to someone who’s trying to help you doesn’t prove your point. It proves theirs.
Also I like how Michael made a lot of assumptions and jumped to conclusions without having ever been a subscriber to the line. He just wasn’t there when it happened!
Guy who has never worked in the toy industry in any capacity tries to tell an industry professional how the toy industry works, then sulks like a child when he gets owned (which was every time). There - I just saved you all 90 minutes.
No just shows how informed you are. Part of having employees is to feed them BS to get them to work . Example oh you work for 30 years you get a pension. Oh now people are loosing pensions now. As an example. So things change in jobs period sometimes employees don’t even know till later on down the road. Gents retroblasting explained how he worked for a Fortune 500 company.
Scott was a better debater but some of his points were not right. I agree with some of Scott's points but he has been dead wrong on so many things. Mattel would not have the rights to motu. They would be out of retail stores soon. We all pissed target and Walmart getting these exclusives.
Whew this was brutal. Thanks for hosting it. For me, actual experience in the business of the toy industry holds a lot of weight in discussing these topics. Way too emotional and antagonistic on the other side of it.
I used to think Scott sounded pretentious in a lot of this videos but he's NOTHING compared to Michael. Good lord that guy is insufferable to listen to. I came away a bigger Spector Creative fan.
Michael using the "I am outclassed and I know it so instead of debating I'm not going to let you answer." I work in the toy industry currently, and my biggest issue with retroblasting has always been Michael stating his opinion as fact. Spector has facts from first hand experience... Michael has opinions from being a collector. They are two different levels and it's so blatant here.
What I find offensive about Michael is that he talks on my behalf. He gets offended on my behalf. To quote Greta: “How dare you,” he has no right to speak on behalf of me or anyone else.
@@nicholasdickens2801 I agree completely. He'll say things like "This is not what G.I. Joe fans want" and yet I recall him getting angry at others speaking on his behalf.
Michael is a real clown. He's the same guy with no writing experience or education who thinks he could write the best movies. He's the guy who never worked on a car telling a mechanic that something isn't hard to fix or shouldn't be expensive. He's the guy that never played football screaming at the TV telling a coach/quarterback what they should be doing. Guys like Michael are an expert even when they aren't and will never be. It's pathetic.
When it comes to much of what Scott has to say, I think a lot of people in the collector community conflate explanation with excuse. Scott provides the former, not necessarily the latter.
@@Tim85-y2q i dont think his experience is any way invalid. It gives him a certain point if view, but he seems limited to anything that is outside the scope of that view. His talks on adult vs kid sales for example. He limits (with reason) his content to north american sales. Meanwhile there is a large global adult direct market of consumers for lines that dont go to any stores - that is outside of his experiencd. Eg he doesnt work for say takara, or bandai or any dozens of other companies doing global sales on direct market adult products.
@@JONNYSORENSEN_AU I don’t think Scott has ever claimed to speak for anything more than the USA. Obviously in countries like Japan which have massive adult collectors fanbases, the market’s going to be different. He worked for an American company with a good percentage of its consumers being American. So you’re kind of making a non-point there. He has more experience than all of the keyboard warriors combined. Yes Michael’s point about appeal to authority is fair and you can’t take Scott’s word as gospel. But ultimately following someone with actual real life experience in the toy industry isn’t such a crazy thing to do. I think Scott is trying to provide some light in the darkness. Adult collectors are an extremely small minority, and need to stop acting as if they are anything but that. Nearly everything is available for preorder nowadays, I don’t know why people are so fixated on brick and mortar stores.
While RB kept deliberately attacking Scott he presented facts and evidence. What a class act. It’s totally the knowledge about the industry vs. the how I want to get my toys. The BBTS and EE part proved a TOTAL lack of knowledge of how things work for RB. Thanks Scott once again for all you did for us MOTU fans! Thanks for Classics!
So on one side, list of facts, literally held up and quoted to camera.... other side... circular logic, lots of repeating himself, "market speak" and saying same things from his videos, rather than genuine anwers in the moment. Scott listed some generalities, sure. But nothing most people didn't already know.
I really really don’t like @retroblasting - this guy is such a Karen. The concerns are valid, but he can’t seem to get over himself and comprehending fact over opinion ….
that's not the point of the debate they got out of topic thanks to tg who's always side stepping on things just like he did with so many issues with the classics line the point is why crowdfunding for a defective product and distribution of this figurines in retail allowing scalping and prices going up of course if you are a reseller and not a collector you'll always agree with tg
I agree that Scott has the background to make a very good "educated guess", but Scott does not said it was a guess he said it was a fact,... so that was wrong, maybe it was the heat of the moment and he forgot to clarify, ... Michael talks about his experience (just one data, his), but Scott made a guess (and educated one, but still a guess), neither are (extrictly speaking) facts.
Be easier to take Michael seriously if he wasn't pissed off at everyone all the time, including his own fans who leave nice comments on his social media. I don't get it.
@@charliejeffreyjames1078 Guess Micheal is not keeping up with the video game industry (especially mobile games) in which the term is actually justified more often than not.
Jeez, lighten up Michael. I love the RetroBlasting channel but Michael has become so snobbish. He kind of takes the fun out of collecting because he’s so jaded and critical. He’s the “get off my lawn” neighbor.
I was thinking the same thing. Michael is taking this way too serious and making it way too personal. I've had people disrespect me to my face and didn't act as butt-hurt as Michael.
Wow. As rude and unprofessional as retroblasting was, it was almost tough to see him eviscerated like that. But his almost constant scowl to his flippant dismissal of Scott’s previous credentials, I can say he deserved every bit of it. Look, no action figure collector LIKED what Scott was saying, but it’s the hard reality of the situation. Big box retailers don’t care about the collectors and it shows. But that’s not Scott’s fault and this was a obvious “kill the messenger” scenario. He should be embarrassed.
I love the content of all three channels involved here. That said, I'm genuinely surprised at how bad Michael was at this. He came off as impatient, defensive, petty and, shockingly, ignorant. He kept trying to catch Scott in "gotcha" moments instead of actually making a point himself. Repeatedly shutting down Scott's experience in the industry because it isn't recent enough for Michael made no sense when, in the same argument, he at least twice mentioned his previous experience working for a Fortune 50 company and how that helps him understand things. He was all over the place, rather counter-productive, and seemed desperate to pull Scott down into the mud with him, though I couldn't find an example of a time in which Scott took any of his bait, which is to Scott's credit and Michael's detriment. These guys make great content, but Michael really lost some respectability points here because since he was out of his comfort zone and wasn't completely in control of every aspect of the video, as he is when he produces one of his own videos, he lashed out in a very childish take-my-ball-and-go-home kind of way. Scott had appropriate answers for everything thrown at him, which stymied all of Michael's arguments, and Michael did not appear to be interested in being wrong. Even when Scott had an answer that pulverized and eliminated Michael's point, Michael would answer with "fair enough," as if it were a stalemate when he really should have conceded points and identified where he was so wrong. Scott said so much more by saying so much less. I gotta say I'm pretty disappointed in Michael because I thought he'd be more polite and focused, but this seems to be a guy who will only take a loss as a "tie," when it clearly isn't.
I found it very strange that he would constantly deny Scott's comperable Mattel/Hasbro industry experience, yet expouse his own as a lifelong collector as the watermark. Scott is no less of a collector than he is, and I imagine they are close in age so tic for tac. That puts Scott as a net positive in experience on both sides of the cash register. When they got to the discussion of Entertainment Earth, I could not believe he was going to completely discount his insight because he hasn't been there for several years. If he's worked there for five minutes, that's five minutes more than you, dude. I had no idea EE was a distributer focused buisness. I want the same things Michael does, as most toy collectors do. I buy way more from makers now than I do the big companies, because as he often says, "The fans are doing the best work.". I just don't think Scott is deserving of taking shit for it and his insights are any less credible because they are a couple of years ago in past employment.
I think at one point he said, “You were somebody…” insinuating that at present, Scott isn’t someone of any importance in this game. I could have misread but that was just mean spirited.
Cringefest. Love retroblasting's actual toy videos. The channel-to-channel sniping is sad. Like a bunch of high school girls bickering about the prom. Grow up. Scott's channel is very informative.
Well, perhaps tell Scott to stop making videos going at other channels - then this never would have happened. I'm fairly confident most people here know about UA-cam negative attention, and piggy backing onto other channels to gain traffic/hits/controversy and attention. Scott made his own bed, on purpose. Many people witnessed it happen first hand over the last 12 months. Being versed in Copywriting and Marketing, Scott knew full well what he was doing on youtube - hundreds of others do it every day - go after other channels or make content ABOUT them, rather than focus on their own original content. And it works, there are poeple who have entire careers on youtube just attacking other channels. YT not only tolerates but encourages it with their search results and recommended videos. I get not everyone here saw what was happening beforehand, but enough people did see this coming a mile away, long before RB said or did *any* kind of response at all, SC was just ignored - but kept trying to stir the pot, and he did. It may have taken a year, but he got what he wanted, more attention.
@@JONNYSORENSEN_AU I’m not really convinced. The mental gymnastics I would have to perform to accept this as some sort of Machiavellian scheme by Scott to get traffic requires a lot of leaps in logic. This explanation feels like conspiracy theory and an attempt to justify Retroblastings immature behavior. If you pattern the behavior between the two men it seems like Michael is defensive and immature and Scott can be off putting and corny. At the end of the day what I saw was a “debate” between an professional and a child. If Michael really wanted to unmask Scott as a liar and a narcissist he should have done a better job because what I saw was Michael choke on his own foot.
@@sycojp i am not suggesting anything macy... the word i know, but will spell,wrong....i am saying its very basic and uncomplicated. There are 20 year olds with no business or marketing exp on youtube who use that tactic every day on youtube. I have read maybe one 5 min article once ever about youtube negative attention videos and piggybacking on other channels for clicks. The internet is full of this style of content and behavior all around us. Its common place, no mental gymnastics necesssry. British tabloids have been doing it for decades with little effort. A man as intelligent and educated as Scott knows what he is doing. His own metrics on youtube show him the results. Its not insidious, but quite ordinary, and even rewarded on youtube. No conspiracy necessary when its easy to poke a bear and wait for a reaction. All you need is a stick, and almost no effort at all.
@@JONNYSORENSEN_AU sure, I’m not saying this tactic doesn’t exist. I just don’t see the evidence for it here in this instance. The truth that Scott presents sounds much more plausible. Either way it doesn’t excuse Michael’s behavior for me. I wish Michael luck but I don’t think I will be watching his videos anymore.
@@JONNYSORENSEN_AU There is a bit of a difference between disagreeing/correcting someone, and blaming someone for all the problems in the toy industry. I have seen all the videos leading to this controversy, and while Scott says "This is a great channel, BUT this particular video is not factual.", the answer is basically a hit piece, aiming at throwing shade at an entire man's career.
Someone "Are you an architect?" Me "No but im a lifelong house liver so i know about construction" Someone "Do you cook?" Me "No, but im a lifelong eater so i know about running a restaurant" Someone "Do you color coordinate?" Me "No, but im a lifelong clothes wearer so i know about the fashion industry" Someone "Can you fly?" Me "No, but Ive been a lifelong toy airplane collector so i know about building a rocket ship"
@@michaelrlomax1977 It's coming. Plus there is a million toy collector and 80's nostalgia channels on UA-cam that are better than retroblasting...why would people watch Michael awful personality and resting bitch face when there are tons of options now? One day Michael and his buttbuddies are gonna tangle with the wrong on. The floodgate is about to open.
Scotts professionalism and manner won me over and after watching Michaels video on Scott I was certainly not a fan of Toy Guru. I am actually a little disappointed in Michael, he displayed poor form from start to finish.
Interesting points in both sides. But, Scott's experience in the toy industry can't be swept aside because it's not current. That's ridiculous. Dated or not, if you're in a dark room, someone with even a little light is more useful than having no light at all. Also, Michael looked like he was angry and agitated from the very start of this debate. Never a good sign.
I think that's just his RBF. Can't really blame him, but yeah, when the guy puts out a video just to prove that 100% of his other videos aren't sour, salty, or otherwise negative, it's kind of hilarious.
It's worth noting that Scott still works in (or at least around) the toy industry even if he doesn't work for a big company any longer. Also, if you watch his content, he's usually the first to point out when things seems to have changed from when he was there.
@@berkajr3685 I noticed that too. Nor was he particularly pleasant at any point. French came off as sour, defensive, and disrespectful. When he leapt at Scott for being patronising I rolled my eyes.
Scott comes across as reasonable, honest, and friendly. Michael comes across as overstating his case, taking things out of context, never adequately addressing the specific claims/questions that Scott commented on, and generally being humorless and rude.
I enjoy both channels, however for me, Scott was much more knowledgeable and more professional in this debate. I have been a fan of RB for years, however, disappointingly, many of Michael's responses to Scott (possibly because he did not get the response he would have liked) were rude and immature. Thank you for arranging this debate and hope to see more in the future.
It was an awkward moment when my wife came in and I had to explain that I was deeply engrossed in a video with an argument between two grown men over toys. I think I convinced her it was normal... we'll see...
I've known many people like Michael French. The uppity snob toy guy that thinks he knows everything. And whines when he doesn't get his way. Sitting there the whole time with a pout on his face. Scott on the other hand handled this with class and dignity. Scott is the everyday guy you would want to hang out with and discuss toys. Michael is the guy you want to steer clear of because of his know-it-all attitude.
VERY TRUE. Michael is a classic borderline personality. In the worlds of toy collecting and fandoms, people like him are not uncommon. The trick for the rest of us is to know how to spot them and then avoid them.
I guess Michael prepared for a mudslinging debate but instead Scott just went ahead and threw facts relevant to the topic. That made him fully unprepared, it seems, so he just went ahead and just kept throwing mud because that was all he had.
"Don't patronize me, Scott" *proceeds to patronize Scott with catty, Mean Girl comments about being an "ex-employee", or "used to be somebody" * Michael really came out looking like a b***h here.
Michael is angry and completely irrational. He comes across like a big hypocrite when he makes points, and like a typical abusive person, he makes accusations that he himself is guilty of. He has absolutely no valid points. I can't believe people watch his channel.
It's amazing how oblivious Mr. French is to his own arrogance and ignorance. All of this foolish toy drama has one common denominator. Michael French. He needs to wake up and realize that he is not the be all and end all to the toy collecting community. Mr. Spector was happy and and very professional. Mr. French.... well he was just himself. Arrogant, unnecessarily sarcastic, and miserable.
Michael is so pompous it's laughable. "The Retroblasting Archive" ...it's like, dude, we all have a toy room in our basement. And he clearly lost this debate and was sitting there like a petulant child at the end.
@@psiwire his collection is larger than most though. However at the end of the day he’s just another collector in the hobby. He certainly isn’t the god of toys.
@@strawnobi Is it tho? I haven't seen anything that his collection is particularly larger than any of the other toy UA-camrs. I just find it funny how he calls it "the Retroblasting Archive" like he's collecting toys for science or he has the Ark of the Covenant stored away somewhere in his vast toy warehouse,
RB: "Do you work for Hasbro?" TG: "No I dont" RB: "Then why do you feel qualified answering for them and their business practices" TG: "I worked for the second largest toy manufacturer in the world" RB: "Well, Im a lifelong toy collector" Yeah, this "debate" was shut down the moment RB called into question TGs credentials. He kept attacking him about another company's business practices, one he didnt work for, but his experience in the toy industry all of a sudden wasn't enough, an industry he was involved with fairly recently (within the past 10 years) and was in charge of two very successful lines (DCUC and MOTU Classics) but "im a lifelong collector" is enough to supersede any real world toy making experience. I've only seen a couple of RBs videos and honestly I got a real smug vibe from him and this only reinforced that. If RB cant get it into his dumb skull that business are in it only to make money, for them, they dont care who buys their stuff in the isles, whether it's the scalpers or the actual fans. To them that's an item sold, well, it was already bought by the retailer, the ones that should worry are the retailers having dead product they have to sell at discount later on.
@@Cyril29a Of course they have. They are idiots and egomaniacs and bullies who can't stand anyone who doesn't kowtow them or need their gatekeeping or agreeing with them 100% of the time. They are incapable of being normal human beings. I haven't watched any of their videos in over a year and my life is way better for it.
So I finally watched all of Michael's patreon video. Holy. Fucking. Shit. It was a train wreck. He looked like he hadn't slept in like 24 hours, and was more pasty and sick looking than he usually is. He does his standard internet tough guy thing and called his attack video on Scott a "throat punch", then attacks everybody involved in this as betraying him or being disloyal, plays the "righteous" victim, lies about his "overwhelming" positive response, dismisses all the negative feedback as trolls and "Junkman supporters".......it is beyond sad to watch. Little Michael's whole world has crumbled down and he's trying to spin it into some kind of great moral victory. And, in all this he has yet prove how Scott ever wronged him or committed "egregious crimes against fandom"..... It's clear as glass that Retroblasting is no longer a channel about vintage toy collecting and 80s nostalgia, it's about a sad not too bright little man-karen who has appointed himself hall monitor of UA-cam toy collecting videos....and he must "protect" us all from anyone who he doesn't deem worthy. Remember Michael's videos where he (rightly) spoke out against the ridiculousness of some anti-repo people and over the top personal attacks and false accusation made by trolls? Well, Michael's current behavior is EXACTLY like what he once claimed he was against.
@@charliejeffreyjames1078 Yeah you do. I DON'T pay to watch anyone's videos. I first read comments from people who had watched it and than somebody posted a link to it on the comment section on Scott's page and watched most of it for myself....like I said, it was BEYOND pathetic.
Lots to unpack here: I notice he uses a lot of violent and military metaphors in his speech, which strong men generally don't do. Has he ever actually served? (I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but I'm willing to be surprised.) I don't understand the drama with the original hosts, but I'm glad the debate landed here on a more neutral space. So, he says he won and accomplished everything he set out to do, but at the same time, Scott somehow manipulated him into having the debate, he's deleted all links to the debate on his socials, and he demands that Scott never speak to him again. Anyone else see how those statements don't add up? You'd think that, if he won so decisively, he'd spam the link everywhere and invite his opponent back for seconds and thirds, since he's such a tough guy and all. I honestly do feel a little bad for him, there are some clear signs of real hurt here, and his taking advice from the wrong people really doesn't help. But there's nothing that can be done if he doesn't want to change.
Yeah I’m embarrassed to say I watched it too. Got the link from where it was posted. Yeah there’s something off about this Michael character. He speaks and behaves as if he just got home from war. Honestly his entire monologue revolves around how others are failing or at fault in contrast to his heroic efforts. He said something interesting about how he knows certain people will respond to him about his role in continually having or creating issues with others and goes on to state this is not true and it’s just his experience as a lifelong victim of others inaction to come through for him. This was definitely an emotional plea to his fans, indirectly asking them to stick with him… I noticed he always wears the military style cargo shirts and the soldiers on his table were an interesting touch. It’s funny because he has all the traits that he accuses Scott of having which is typical. Bottom line, through this video debacle he has directly Name-dropped several individuals and collecting groups and continues to do so. His narrative is, “If you don’t agree with me, you’re against me.” He will not concede here and will continue to point fingers every which way he can. My gramma, always told me, “For every finger you point, there are three pointing back at you.” Poor guy and he honestly needs to get some rest.
As someone that grew really tired of his bullshit after finding his channel and loving the content. He's a basement expert desperate to have people validate his stupid rants. I enjoyed this very much. No better moment than having an expert calmly put a clown in their place.
Thank you for mediating this debate. It was a great opportunity to see both sides of the Action Figure industry/ collecting while giving each side a chance to speak (even during the connection issues). Instantly subscribed to your channel.
Micheal thinking that big bad toy store can be as big as Amazon just because they both started in a garage, is like saying I can be as successful as Steve Jobs because he dropped out of college and if I do the same I'm instantly as rich as him.
Right? I wish had known that before I spent like six years in college and still getting paid zilch. I wonder if the asbestos in the attic will let me in on the health plan?
It’s sad when someone you thought you understood & liked suddenly shows through their behaviour that you never really knew them at all. As a mature adult, I can only suggest that you note the disparity between one man’s measured, respectful & tempered points & the other man’s - which are none of these things. Regardless of the “facts” (which are questionable in many instances) the conduct of a contributor here is, at the very least, impolite. The entitlement, arrogance & petulance from a grown man shown here - I’ll never be able to look at them the same way again. Social media suicide.
@@dark5cythe545 EXACTLY. Mikey is an angry little man who knows deep down that outside of imagery world of his UA-cam channel and conventions he is a COMPLETE failure at being a human being.
As someone who likes retroblasting, Michael didn't do good at all in this debate. especially saying everything is subjective. Scott mostly gave a educated viewpoint as someone who has worked in the toy industry. that holds more weight than any collector living in a echo chamber and not realizing that in the grand scheme of things, the collector community is very, very niche when it comes to toys. there's still a stigma when it comes to buying figures. most people look at action figures as dolls and the people who collect them as man babies that haven't grown up.
I also enjoy Michael but he does wind himself up a little too much...he clearly is self employed or independent or in some line of work where he doesn't have to play politics and has people around him who appreciate and don't critique his communication style. He uses a LOT of dramatic pauses and indignation in his monologues which are a little grating when remembering the subject matter. He would probably be better suited to being the prime minister of England during WW2 in an alternate universe. I still watch and subscribe to him though...he's a very concentrated shot of nerd power though. Coming from a fellow nerd that had to knock off his nerdy corners for those around him so all love here 😅
When it comes to watching Michael in this, do people think: a.) “Yeah, this guy is championing my plight” *or* do they think: b.) “Damn, I now feel embarrassed to be involved in the same hobby as this guy.”
This is what Micheal’s disapproval of Scott feels like: A man is with his wife who is in labor. The man asks the people nearby if there’s anyone that can help him deliver his wife’s baby. A person comes and offers their help, and says they had lots of experience delivering babies for they “used to work as a nurse” and was also well known for it by the other people nearby. The man doesn’t take their word and refuses the help of the person despite having experience delivering babies, because the person wasn’t “currently” a nurse,………and also wasn’t a doctor. Unfortunately for the man, there were no other doctors in the area and the person was the only one around who was the most qualified.
This is basically facts versus feelings. RB seems to be powered by emotions and took TG's statement of being critical to videos as not watching his videos. I don't think I will watch RB's videos.
And, let us not forget how all this started: Retroblasting did a video about his feelings on how Hasbro shouldn't be doing crowed sourced products (HasLab) and just release them to retail. Toyguru then made a respectful video called "Let me tell you why you're wrong" offering a fact filled response as to why Hasbro can't do these projects for retail using his knowledge as someone in the industry. Then Retroblasting did the 45 minute mean spirited hit piece video full of half baked logic and personal attacks on Toyguru, because he was butt-hurt.
The slightest disagreement with anything Michael says, is seen as a personal attack on him. I imagine growing up being bullied has put him in permanent defense mode, but now he has become the bully and can't comprehend that he's the one guilty of what he complains about other youtubers doing. Its ok though, soon the only people that watch his channel will be his brainwashed cult of yes men and ass-kissers and he'll be the king of his safe space echo chamber.
@@ILoveMary12 Agreed. Anyone who still gives Retroblasting the time of day must be a socially stunted loser who enjoys being talked down to sickly low IQ man baby.
@@GODCONVOYPRIME he's alluded to being bullied as child in past videos. But that doesn't mean he's also not a spoiled entitled brat. I honestly believe he's both
Michael sounds like a narcissist pretender that thinks being a collector gives him insight on how things are done behind the toy making scenes. Hes seems like a very emotional person probably raised by his mama lol .he won't accept losing like a famele knowing he lost a long time ago
I have been a fan of both Retroblasting and Spector Creative, and have collected figures since the early '80s. I have noticed an innate irate nature to every perspective that Michael has. Almost every video on his channel has a negative tone in response to toy collecting and the toy industry as a whole. While adult toy collecting can be frustrating, at the core it's meant to be fun. He acted like an angry kid on the playground debating about whether a figure should have been screen accurate or not with ToyGuru. Spector was right wherein there is a definitive difference between an opinion about something and a fact. While debate is often healthy and productive, this seemed unbecoming and extremely pointed.
in response to your critique of his videos, he gives the toy reviews what he considers (and many others) an objective look. There is nothing perfect in the world, so he will point out the negative and positive aspects. If you want a person who glows and reminisces how everything of every line is just absolutely perfect, you aren't getting the whole picture and there are plenty of toy channels out there who will be the cheerleaders you seek. Retroblasting is meant for his POV and is more fair and realistic than some others. It's definitely not for everyone, and he doesn't pretend it has to be to get all the extra subs and likes that some clamor for
Michael F. is that privileged boy in school that has all the great toys and video games. But you know it might not be easy to interact with him. It's like it's not worth the mental torture just to play some toys/video games. I think there is a reason why he was rejected by the kids in his town before emigrating to the UK. I don't think that all the kids were awful or hostile, but I think that it is more realistic if one individual was just very hard to get along with. You do you. I have better things to do than to witness one man ranting over and over ,because he is unhappy with toys👍
Anyone sp3rging about toys in general deserve to be laughed at. RB is a bitter individual, first and foremost. You don't just lash at your fans when they complement you in the first place. He has a wife yet still lusts for Kylie Minogue for no reason. Oh wait, his wife acts as the mother than RB never had. Let this be a lesson to everyone that giving bitter @vtists a platform turns you into Michael French.
I just watched his Penguin vid. People with simple observations or comments get shut down by him. I am convinced his wife is actually his psychiatric nurse. Such an unpleasant human.
Thanks for hosting this guys- that was real classy of you! I'm a fan of both channels, but did feel RB's video was an attack. Maybe you could say TG started it, but he had indirect references & even a video that was a 'response to not an attack on RB'. That aside I've worked for several corporations that refused to listen to the local managers, who could have save them (company- wide) 100s of 1000s of $s. (Blockbuster, Movie Gallery & Carmike Cinemas, etc.) Red tape & regulations kept up the bad decisions so even if I knew what would sell/ rent locally I was dictated what to do. Also, I worked as a distributor of snack products, so I have a very good idea of the store level stocking & shelf rules. Sores allot only so much space a a certain product & it HAS to be that 1 & can't be elsewhere. (An empty spot near X-Men Legends doesn't mean you can put say Castle Grayskull there.) Endcaps are a special rare premium & may have to tie into a special event. So as much as I'd like to see the empty shelves, full of awesome products it is not likely to happen until major changes occur. Certain stores limit quantity @ purchase, so perhaps that could be 1 way to move forward. Anyway, thanks for reading & now let's get back to things that bring us joy!
This video wasn’t promoted on retro blasting. I can see why as Micheal didn’t come across very well at all. Only just found this Chanel and I’m really enjoying the content.
I can't believe Mike never apologized for Blasting Scott on his video. When Scott was giving his closing statements, Mike just sat there brooding- looking like he's Batman on patrol.
It seems that the problem with Michael is that it is difficult for him to admit that he can be wrong about something. He makes great content, but his ego often shows through unfortunately.
I am so disappointed that RB has gone from making great informative history of videos & reviews to being an incredibly thin-skinned egomaniac that just attacks others /or is uber defensive. I just watched the video where a fan asked if one of the lights on his GB proton pack was out. He got all upset & kept staring at the pack although his wife had moved to another topic. After fuming endlessly, he blurted out that all four lights were working, just the camera might not pick it up, & that folks are "attacking" him about it. Seriously. Then there's the Patreon video he made after this debate where he attacked the hosts & exhibited Napoleonic paranoia that everyone is setting him up asif out to get him. So sad.... What happened to you, Michael? Or is this always been how you were inside? You didn't seem so thin-skinned or angry before.
He was always this way, unfortunately. It took me a while to figure it out, but it became clear when he kept promoting and exalting his little YT buddy "Lio"; a vile, twisted and gruesome character that spews vicious hatred and warped bullying wherever he goes.
@@glenfreytag6194 Just watched it and im amazed what his takeaway from this was lol. First off, not that i found G.D.L particularily overly biased.. i felt that if anything they were slightly more supporting of RB. Then he talks about he was upse that the conditions changed which was essentially his plan to ambush Scott and just shit on him along with the moderators lmfao. What a loser, and its amazing he thought he came across remotely competant or well informed.
The big take away from this is, "if Wal-mart doesn't want it, you ain't getiin it". The death of Toys R Us was the the ringing of the funeral bells for toys as we knew them. The 80's was a golden age for our generation. My dad's generation loved trains and cowboy toys. You don't see anyone getting upset about stores not having those in stock. The new generation is into online and computer games. The cold, hard reality is, that when we die, our collections are going to get dumped off at Goodwill or in the dumpster. I have inherited several collections from guys who have passed away. When an older friend of mine had a stroke, his sister threw his entire collection straight in the dumpster. Some of his friends jumped in and rescued as much as they could. Gold and silver era comics, MTG cards, war hammer. There was even a holo charizard card in there.
Unfortunately, you’re right. All of the 80s IPs - HeMan, G.I. Joe, Transformers, etc - will all be forgotten in 30-40 years. Toys will be sold to preschoolers and that’s it. All the arguing about will amount to wasted time. People in the future will look back and wonder what was wrong with us.
Yes, exactly. As this hobby becomes more and more niche this is an important factor to consider when expressing our complaints. I think we can walk the line between complaints and constructive criticism when it comes to improving the hobby. Michael is a poor spokesperson for that agenda in my opinion. His attitude misrepresents the goal of the fans he intends to advocate for. We’re frustrated but not unreasonable. There’s very little transparency on the part of the large toy companies about how their product reaches the collectors so it does us no favors to shit on the one guy openly talking about his insights into that world. It might not be “facts” but it is valuable information.
Only thing i wouldn't be so drastic is the fate of 80's ip and collectibles in general. Certainly a franchise can't be profitable indefinitely and it depends on a large number of factors, one of which is how well the new installments are marketed and the grip they have on new generations. Transformers is a core brand for Hasbro for this reason, but in the future it may lose or not this status. Companies will also try to relaunch old ips like they always do. Vintage collections however will still have a value based on rarity and cultural significance even for those that were not yet born in that period. Stamps are the typical example of collection that transcend time and usefulness, with very costly examples based on obscure commemorations and even pranks. tldr: those ips are so ingrained in the popular culture that the rare items of that period will still be valuable even if new stuff is not made at all.
@@Bt3615 Agreed, any brand has a chance of surviving if someone can figure out how to adapt and reinvent for the current audience. It's why you see a lot of franchises trying to get their characters into Fortnite, or developing some movie or streaming show. Hell, everyone cries about how reboots are evil, but conveniently forget that 80's G.I. Joe is a reboot of a 60's toyline, and that was a WEIRD pivot from the original concept that managed to work. Granted, a lot of reboots end up not working, but dismissing them out of hand isn't productive, and sometimes you just gotta say, "It's good for the brand, but it ain't for me" and back away.
Always followed and respected both of these channels. Glad that Scott is not going away despite the recent disaster and may be collaborating in the future. Thanks for clearing it GDL!
So this notion that Scott is “appealing to authority” is not quite correct. An appeal to authority is typically a reference from somebody else that is used to bolster one’s own side of an argument. Here Scott is merely drawing on his own experience and telling you the facts about that experience. He’s not appealing to his own authority. He’s telling you what he’s learned in his experience.
@@hanleysoloway7965 You really need to look up this info first my friend… “en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority” You’re thinking of an “appeal to FALSE authority”
@@iampoch01 Michael just came off like a high-schooler who just learned about big concepts without fully grasping them. He spends a huge chunk of his video defining the difference between a fact and an opinion as if his audience were gradeschoolers. Also, lol at him trying to dismiss Scott's experience within the toy industry just because he's been a few years out of the business (still more than whatever Michael had). And then he claims Scott is the one patronizing him.
I watched some Retro Blasting videos and I was ticked at Scott about what RB said about him. When I watched this live I thought Scott was gonna get his butt handed to him and I couldn't wait! However, Scott blew this dude outta the water and I flipped who I was cheering for. Great job Scott, you're truly the toy guru!
I've followed the Retroblasting channel almost as long as it's been around and really enjoyed most of it's content from 2014-2018. With this debate (and the year or so leading up to it). Mikey and his friends have shown themselves to be garbage people. I no longer follow any of them.
I rarely ever post comments. Retroblasting has made some amazing content, good humoured, well presented and captures the passion of fellow GenX’ers and mirrors it back to the audience. Regrettably Michael over the twelve months has become quite hostile and became too big for his little shoes. Now he has come up short against Scott who has brought Michael back to earth with a heavy, heavy bump. Michael was well out of his depth against Scott. The worst of it Michael showed no graciousness, this alone would have saved him from the majority of the anti Retroblasting comments. I hope Michael will take this as a learning point, show some growth and return to making some of the best 80s toys video on UA-cam. A massive own goal which I fear has cost him a lot of subscribers and worst still, Michael has lost a lot - if not all, credibility. A massive own goal. I think Michael knows this as his facial expression had all of the charm of a scrotum. Scott did not get personal (and to be fair after Michaels video he would have been entitled to a few low blows). Scott answered with in depth knowledge and most of all - Scott was really gracious at the end of the debate, offered to collaborate on future projects, even after Michaels ‘hatchet-job’ video.
This Sums up exactly how I feel after viewing this. When I discovered RB I spent weeks trawling the content and enjoyed so much of it and Michaels passion for the subject was infectious, entertaining and informative. Recently though his videos often seem hostile and combative and you get the feeling of rage bubbling away under the surface. Toy Gurus videos, I have often found I came away feeling he was a little smug. however, after watching this 'debate' I have a newfound respect for Scott and found his professional insights into the workings of the machine made a lot of sense. We may not like how it runs, but thats how it DOES run. Micheal sadly didnt not come off well in this, in terms of showing a willingness to debate , or even consider he might be incorrect about a few things. Which is a shame because I believe he genuinely is a good personn. I think perhaps some of his subscriber base have given him the mantle of champion of the toy fans to wear and it has become too heavy a burden. And one he does not need to take on. Better to just make videos about the toys that make him happy again. Things seemed to take a turn for the worse when another toy channel starting apeing RBs content almost every week and has such close ties with RB now it feels like theyre another branch of the company almost.
@@machineman6498 That’s a great analogy. I got that vibe also from Michael’s version of how this came to be. I just wish he actually had backed away from that bad info and reset his perspective. He seems fully entrenched in it now. Good luck to him. I don’t want that type of drama in my hobby.
@@machineman6498 I can almost hear LioConvoy's Reviews and Professor Geek when Michael speaks lately, the Modern Mythology Defense Squad is assembling nicely. 😎
Wow.. i'm losing braincells watching Michael drivel on here. Trying to compare scalability to Amazon. Amazon's AWS subsidised the online retail side for over a decade. Amazon's stock value rose for such long period of time due to technological speculation although the business itself was not profitable in those early years. Mr. Fortune 50 here has the business understanding of the mailroom clerk.
A lifelong toy collector versus a corporate man who happens to be a toy collector...! Yikes 😳 Scott knows more about toys from a corporate standpoint than Mike will ever understand. Mike can’t wrap his head around how corporate toy makers work in order to make money. Scott definitely understands toys and sales, versus just being a collector.
The technical difficulties could have been easily avoided if they did a preshow warmup to work out the kinks. But these guys were super professional and handled it like pros. Love the show guys
Retroblasting doesn’t realize that adult collecting is a small market and the crap he loves doesn’t sell like actual kids toys do, so subscriptions help raise the baseline profit margin so the lines exist at all. His entitled crying as if the lines he loves are as popular with kids today as they were the 80s, is his own whiny deluded ego.
The subscription based collecting method feels a bit predatory. Why purchase a subscription for the privilege of being permitted to have a chance to purchase a figure at full price and still run the risk of the product selling out? Shouldn't the subscription guarantee your ability to purchase the product? With Hasbro Pulse the subscription is to get early access to purchase before the community at large which I guess makes a little more sense, but Mattel has a subscription service for Hot Wheels and Barbie just to purchase certain items off the Mattel Creations website which appears to be an unnecessary extra charge when the products can still sell out. I'm curious what the numbers were for the two Made to Order MOTU campaigns were because that seems to be a much better model for the adult collector.
This would have been so cool if Michael had some actual agreements. Is his channel a drama toy channel? I looked through a few videos and it seems that way. But maybe I just clicked the wrong videos.
His Dungeons and Dragons videos are good. Also his Filmation Ghostbusters video. Also the one on Masters of the Universe books. Lastly, his Kenner Star Wars videos are good.
Honest question. If Michael believes that past work and life experience don't mean anything and unless your doing something right now in the moment you are unqualified to comment about that thing. Than why should any of us give him the time of day when he talks about all the things he doesn't have first hand in the here and now knowledge of?
He’s is saying that because he has never worked within the industry himself. He’s trying to devalue the opinion so he can actually compete….it’s all just his ego trying to protect him
True. I didn't even give much thought about the bio cards because as far as I was concerned, I was getting an awesome He-man figure. Doubly so when the Filmation versions came out. I only became interested in the Classics lore when Scott talked about them in his channels.
@@iampoch01 and Scott didn't try to blow his trumpet saying those bios he wrote were the only true MOTU canon. MOTU is a 4 decade old line. There tons and tons of different storylines contradicting each other. No such thing as canon and non canon. He also said we can ignore the bios
Painful to watch. Companies are in business to make money. Fact, companies that don’t make money don’t stay in business. Fact, the consumer has complete control over how they spend their money. Fact, retro blasting is a whiner. Fact, I just wasted over an hour of my life. 🤦
Yes, but although Costco charges you an annual fee to shop there, they don't also ask you to (pay to?) enter a lottery to maybe earn the right to purchase a gallon of milk. They just let you in and then... actually stock the shelves so you can buy what you joined to buy in the first place. "Yeah, but John, when the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down the pirates don't eat the tourists." -- Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park
No one said you had to buy a subscription, as consumers we make the decisions on where and when we spend our money. I can choose not to buy a Costco membership, and get that same gallon of milk elsewhere. I can not buy a Hasbro pulse membership, and buy the figures I want at any number of different places. If I miss out on something that I wanted, due to sold out stock or store exclusivity, then I miss out and life goes on. I also have the ability to wait for the eventual reissue of figures that I want instead of feeding the scalpers. This whole video was just a bitch session between grown men with hurt feelings.
I agree wholeheartedly that this video was difficult to watch. I love a good debate, but I felt anger welling up inside me every time Michael spoke due to his disrespectful nature. I guarantee he would not speak to anyone in person the way he speaks on these videos.
Try watching the RB channel for over 6 years nearly 7. Myself I unsubbed from nearly all the toy channels. If I can recommend any channels, maybe Mikes Usual, ToyGalaxy, TheFwoosh and Pixel Dan. Channels like Lio Convoy, RetroBlasting and AnalogToys are far too negative and are now very toxic.
FOR THE RECORD, Michael used a thumbnail of my show "FANDOM POWER" in his hit piece on Scott. At the 23 minute mark he puts up a slide showing several videos that Scott has appeared in, Including mine. What troubles me is the context with which he's speaking at that point where he says that anyone like Val Staples is a "wilful agent of toy representatives". Is that what I am!?!? And what the heck does that even mean!?!? Nevermind that the thumbnail appears with other channels including Pixel Dan (who he also called out in that video) and Michael Mercy (who he also has issues with) . I actually commented on his Facebook post for the erroneous use of my show. Naturally, (and unsurprising) he, nor anyone else that has access to the Retroblasting Facebook responded. The fact is... My show has 51 published episodes to date, of which ONE is dedicated to a toy property. I am hardly "a wilful agent..." whatever that's supposed to mean. And clearly Michael didn't do his homework where my show is concerned and just lumped me in with people that he's taken umbridge with. If I am expected to believe any of the sincerity he displayed at the end of last nights debate, he's going to have to do better. Maybe start by un-hitching his wagon from the horses that are Lio Convoy and Analog Toys. Because we all know by now that if one of these channels has an issue with you.... THEY ALL DO! And it's mob mentality at it's worst.
Wow this retro guy is horrible. Toyguru your way to nice to even waste your time with someone so negative. Definitely never checking out this guys channels.
Retroblasting: " That quote amounts to nothing because Harlan Ellison hasn't made a quote since 2018, meanwhile I've been a toy collector all my life."
Im a huge Retroblasting fan but I gotta be honest he came off really shitty in this video. Sometimes it’s okay to admit you were wrong and waaaaay over reacted. Scott isn’t some monster corporate shill he’s clearly a fellow collector who has vast knowledge of figure production from his time behind the scenes. I’m a lifelong collector like Michael and even I couldn’t claim with certainty that my opinions on the toy world are factual due to experience.
Well said. I know I've been very hard on Michael on here, but I was big fan of Retroblasting for a long time too. I've followed RB for at least 8 years and greatly enjoyed his content. Yes I could tell that he was a bit of jerk and full of himself, but I could still respect him. After this, I can't.
Scott routinely replies to my comments on his videos, sometimes a bit snarky in good humor, often very positive. On the flip side his channel is pretty much based in facts, as well as insight we have no idea about. As far as "including yourself in a toy line".... G I Joe, Dusty had name of Ron Rudat(flipped to Tadur on the filecard), Tunnel Rat was based on Larry Hama, and Sneak Peek was based on Steven Kings son Owen who submitted the idea for the character Crystal Ball. There are many others based on Hasbro employees. So....
Retroblasting should avoid public debates. This was painful to watch. His responses often were only tangentially related to the immediate subject, yet he'd present them as if they were a smoking gun. Combined with his pauses before answering even simple and straightforward questions, it very much felt like he'd realized he couldn't think of any good faith response that wouldn't immediately torpedo his own side, so he'd instead bull through with trying to shift the topic without anyone noticing.
This reminds me of those vhs tapes from the 90s when two bums would fight over a sandwich but in this case one of the bums is a sandwich chef and the other guy is a schizophrenic with a UA-cam channel that talks about how every time they forget to leave the pickles out it’s a personal attack on him by the big sandwich corporations
That was a good, intense debate. Between the two, I prefer Michael's youtube content, but I really have to give the debate edge to Scott. Scott is coming at it from a pragmatic, buisness and reality point of view where Michael is doing what most of us do; not realizing our time as the main target for a product is behind us. Adult toy collecting is niche percentage wise of consumers, and that's why most decisions are made the way they are. Michael takes these things personally, which they really aren't. I've felt the way he has many, many times. edit: Starting around 37:00, Michael is really coming off badly here. There's a huge difference between being a fan of something and working in the industry when it comes to the business acumen of it. Scott was being far more polite about expressing that then I would have been.
I just know that more creative things have been done by people such as the Four Horsemen and Super 7 to give fans figures and lines that they want than have ever done by people trying to be useful to Target or Wal-Mart and their MOQ demands and people who really think the main reason to make toys, today, is for a kid's friend's birthday party. Scott's view, and the toy industry he worked in, are over. It's time for something better that serves the consumer better.
@@jeffreyyoders6366 Yes, because their business isn't based around "giving the fans what they want.", but rather how much product they can shovel out the door to children and parents, who are their real consumers (or at least the ones driving the overwhelming majority of revenue) The main reason for making toys is, always has been and always will be, kids and their birthday parties. Your argument is like going into a pizza place and asking why they don't make hamburgers because you like those better.
This was wonderful and put me on you. Because I watch both retroblasting and Spectre creative I find them both entertaining they both have some very good and valid points that they made. All I know very enjoyable would love to see more of the debate Round Table type discussion with them
This is so cringeworthy - it is like watching a movie lover arguing the logistics with a movie director on how movies are made and greenlighted by movie studios.
The whole time Michael seemed like a little kid who had to be told by his parents why Hulk Hogan couldn’t logically come to his Birthday party….. Even though this “debate” was basically Scott defending his statements with answers that could be found in his videos about the subject, Michael still got absolutely destroyed. Shows how much preparation Michael did.
Michael was super spoiled child who grew up to be a weak beta male and narcissist who can't see beyond himself. He is a nasty humorless wind bag who offers nothing as an "adult toy collector" or as a human being.
Which is ironic considering all the papers he was shuffling through with examples of Scott's past statements. I don't think any amount of preparation would've been enough to negate his personality.
@Will Teasle As much as I dislike Michael French's behavior. I do believe he has a good person somewhere inside him. He needs to humble himself and man up. He would win back a lot of viewers and gain tons more by doing that.
let's all remember that if you even slightly disagree with Michael French he will most certainly screenshot and blast you on his personal (and Retro's) Facebook pages, respectively, and set his (dwindling) minions upon you! - because that's what lifelong collectors do, apparently. These are the activities of 13 year old middle schoolers, not 40+ year old middle agers. Scott was admirable and never once malicious. I may not always agree with Scott on his views sometimes, but he delivered the goods and certainly has the experience to back it up. He's simply telling us a lot of what we don't want to hear from the corporate speak side of things, but these toy companies don't owe us anything and are simply out to make a buck, with a few passionate fans as employees mixed in that deliver some epic products when given the chance.
Agreed. I commented on one of his videos a few weeks back as his video got too personal about the collectors who supported HasLab and he wrote me back with a vengeance! Not into that grade school BS and the ego is quickly leading him to the dark side. Jesus he loves Star Wars but he likely sees not who he is becoming.
He's extremely thin skinned and obsessed with being right and having the last word. He's pretty much the living embodiment of the negative stereotypes on adult collectors. I remember my first brush with disliking him (and I really enjoyed his channel) was commenting something about Thundercats and that its popularity lingered on a little bit longer than he implied in his video, it was just a friendly comment relaying my own experiences and I got a scathing essay in response that had all the hallmarks of someone who is incredibly threatened by everything. I almost feel sorry for him, it's the tell tale signs of someone who was probably viciously bullied as a kid.
@@Newjourney14 In his day-to-day echo chamber of pure ego with the people he lives with and/or is close to, he can throw his tantrums and he eventually gets his way. But this is the real world and the same rules don't apply. The "big man" has now been exposed as a perma-petulant child.
Michael wears some rose-colored glasses regarding corporations. As if the ones back in the day like Kenner (RIP) weren’t out to make the most amount of money too.
I love Retroblasting, but he got absolutely stomped here. I don't think he's cut out for debate style conversations whatsoever. He just comes off as emotional and petty, while Spector remained cool headed and rational throughout.
I've gotta go with Scott, because working for multiple companies he's got an advantage on how things are. Michael is like me I want "MY"toys.......it was a good debate👍
Michael French = I think we need all kinds of diverse voices in the space right now. also Michael French = We don't need Scott's Corporate friendly voice in the space right now.
And Scott isn't even corporate "friendly", per se, he's simply honest about the corporate perspective and corporate approach. Yes, he says stay positive in the criticism towards company employees, but that's just human decency. Michael is just lost in some weird delusion of what the toy industry is about. Hasbro teams love making toys, and sometimes those toys fail to live up to expectations. Hasbro executives and stock holders love profits... Simple enough to understand, especially in capitalism economy such as USA.
Just 4 days ago, Michael French was ranting on Twitter about Spector Creative saying "I hope his channel burns for this and never stops sizzling." I will never remain subscribed to an individual who rejoices in the idea of a fellow collector suffering.
Notice how Michael French never smiles. Just completely consumed by his own rage at all times. I have never once seen the man smile in any of his videos. Mr. Personality over here.
That's because he's bitter since childhood. You'd think that with all the toys that he has right now, he'd be happy yet he still falls for the trolls who try to provoke him instead of ignoring them. Notice that he even berates his fans who try to make constructive criticisms at him or even pay a f-ing compliment.
@@benjerison7074 He also shadowbanned me from his channel because I agreed with some of the comments calling out his BS, and told me to "check" myself because I commented before finishing his Indian Jones 5 review.
@@tyrannozilla Dude can't get over himself since he believes that his opinions are the gospel truth. He's that self-righteous and any trivial matter or even a f-king compliment triggers a fit on his end. I don't know why his circle of shills tolerate his toxic attitude and even act as his personal internet army in the first place. Dude's a walking time bomb to everyone around him.
I debated editing out the portion where we tried to work through Scott's internet issues, instead I opted to add chapters so you can easily skip ahead if need be. He gets it fixed at the 26:00 mark!
I ‘debated’. That’s class!
Thanks for the link for 26:00! Greatly appreciate it!
Scott reported today in a video that he has a new modem to hopefully fix the issues
@@paulmualdeave5063 I heard that too. Apparently it was caused by hooking up WiFi to a toaster?!
@@RetroActionUK Shit happens.
36:45 “Don’t patronise me, Scott”.
Says the guy who’s been hostile and rude throughout the debate.
French is one of the most thin-skinned butter soft biznatch I've ever seen in my life.
I was just waiting for Mike to say "Screw you guys, I'm going home!"
I thought that too. In past videos I’ve noticed his strong frustration about issues. It showed in this debate video and Scott showed frustration but stayed composed.
- The Disneyland Neighbor
Michael's, somewhat, understandable anger has made him insular and resistant to what Scott was trying to communicate. Scott made many points that are still valid despite the amount of time that has transpired since he worked for a particular toy company. That experience trumps passionate opinions or assumptions. And despite his not working for Hasbro there are many things comparable between Mattel and Hasbro that are based on basic manufacturing and business operations. I worked closely with Hasbro for many years, and not that long ago, and gained a lot of experience that corroborates Scott's POV. So many things happen that do not make sense to us as collectors/consumers that make business sense. Another thing that I haven't heard mentioned is how valuable shelf space is at retail and how hard it is to curry favor with the buyers and keep hold of that real estate. If a product for any reason doesn't ship in time it can lose shelf space to another toy company it can be very hard to regain that space and a single peg could be $1Million+ a year in revenue. Ever since Toys R Us went away it's become a constant battle for what little space is left at retail. Being a collector can be frustrating but lord, it's toys, let's not forget to have fun.
Thank you for this and nice summation.
Well said. I hope Michael can use this experience constructively. As fans we may get frustrated but that emotions doesn’t do much in the way of addressing actual issues. If we want things to change we should at least be willing to understand why the things that frustrate us are they way they are. Michael seems to just be guessing at what he thinks the issues are and presenting his assumptions as insights. There’s no knowledge in that and it just confuses the issue making it more difficult to improve any issues that need resolved.
@@sycojp Agreed. I really like Michael, and his content, and share a lot of his beliefs on the industry and I admire his ability to leap to a friend's defense. I believe he gets a lot of shit, who doesn't when you open yourself up to the public, and that can certainly start to wear on a person's patience.
@@Spaceprince72 yeah. I don’t think you build a following like his by being rude and argumentative but that’s how I perceived him here.
He may have other things going on but the video response calling out Scott was disproportionate to even his perceived slight. The alarming thing is if you look at this objectively there was no direct insult. Or at least none I could find. Michael escalated this and Scott was actually big enough to try and clear the air despite Michael’s open personal attack.
And when there was an open opportunity for Michael to state his case it ended up being either “perceived slight or slightly negative passing reference.” Neither justify dragging the level of discourse to where he took it. Though at this point I’m leaning on the hypersensitive.
Regardless Michael’s behavior was abhorrent and I’m sad he was given such a large platform to display his shortcomings. Most people will likely revel in our circles little celebrity crashing and burning but I don’t think his behavior invalidates all the other good content he’s produced that people enjoy.
As it is I haven’t seen him apologize or take down the Spector video. He seems to want to ignore this happened and block all reference to this “debate”. I would love to see him come out, apologize for being so defensive and refocus his channel’s content back onto the happier stuff that brought him into prominence to start with.
If not I imagine he will continue to attract disgruntled toy collectors who feel they are being cheated by “greedy corporations” and they can have their little group to complain in. I don’t think it represents the majority of us and they may just complain the whole thing into the ground for the rest of us. I won’t be joining them for sure.
There’s no right or wrong way to collect, but being an asshole to someone who’s trying to help you doesn’t prove your point. It proves theirs.
Yes, Scott's not necessarily saying the industry is "right" per se for doing what it does, just explaining why they do what they do.
Jay and John trying their hardest to not laugh throughout this whole ordeal is the low key best part of this debate.
Also I like how Michael made a lot of assumptions and jumped to conclusions without having ever been a subscriber to the line. He just wasn’t there when it happened!
Guy who has never worked in the toy industry in any capacity tries to tell an industry professional how the toy industry works, then sulks like a child when he gets owned (which was every time).
There - I just saved you all 90 minutes.
Thank you Stream Labs! You nailed it!
No just shows how informed you are. Part of having employees is to feed them BS to get them to work . Example oh you work for 30 years you get a pension. Oh now people are loosing pensions now. As an example. So things change in jobs period sometimes employees don’t even know till later on down the road. Gents retroblasting explained how he worked for a Fortune 500 company.
Hands down even a year later clearly retro blasting won.
@@curtisschultz6976 No, no he didn't. Wasn't even close. Scott dominated this.
Scott was a better debater but some of his points were not right. I agree with some of Scott's points but he has been dead wrong on so many things. Mattel would not have the rights to motu. They would be out of retail stores soon. We all pissed target and Walmart getting these exclusives.
Whew this was brutal. Thanks for hosting it. For me, actual experience in the business of the toy industry holds a lot of weight in discussing these topics. Way too emotional and antagonistic on the other side of it.
yep, came here for a debate about toys and the industry but got a debate about who said what when...yikes!
I used to think Scott sounded pretentious in a lot of this videos but he's NOTHING compared to Michael. Good lord that guy is insufferable to listen to. I came away a bigger Spector Creative fan.
It's a year on, and its still embarrassing on Michaels behalf listening to this.
Michael using the "I am outclassed and I know it so instead of debating I'm not going to let you answer." I work in the toy industry currently, and my biggest issue with retroblasting has always been Michael stating his opinion as fact. Spector has facts from first hand experience... Michael has opinions from being a collector. They are two different levels and it's so blatant here.
What I find offensive about Michael is that he talks on my behalf. He gets offended on my behalf. To quote Greta: “How dare you,” he has no right to speak on behalf of me or anyone else.
@@nicholasdickens2801 I agree completely. He'll say things like "This is not what G.I. Joe fans want" and yet I recall him getting angry at others speaking on his behalf.
Not to mention every flailing attempt at constructing a new strawman
Michael is a real clown. He's the same guy with no writing experience or education who thinks he could write the best movies. He's the guy who never worked on a car telling a mechanic that something isn't hard to fix or shouldn't be expensive. He's the guy that never played football screaming at the TV telling a coach/quarterback what they should be doing. Guys like Michael are an expert even when they aren't and will never be. It's pathetic.
I can’t say I always agree with Scott but I have a lot of respect for him and his work over the years. He really knows his stuff.
When it comes to much of what Scott has to say, I think a lot of people in the collector community conflate explanation with excuse. Scott provides the former, not necessarily the latter.
@@Tim85-y2q i dont think his experience is any way invalid. It gives him a certain point if view, but he seems limited to anything that is outside the scope of that view. His talks on adult vs kid sales for example. He limits (with reason) his content to north american sales. Meanwhile there is a large global adult direct market of consumers for lines that dont go to any stores - that is outside of his experiencd. Eg he doesnt work for say takara, or bandai or any dozens of other companies doing global sales on direct market adult products.
@@Tim85-y2q Precisely. Well said.
@@Tim85-y2qin Scott’s words - BINGO!
@@JONNYSORENSEN_AU I don’t think Scott has ever claimed to speak for anything more than the USA. Obviously in countries like Japan which have massive adult collectors fanbases, the market’s going to be different. He worked for an American company with a good percentage of its consumers being American. So you’re kind of making a non-point there. He has more experience than all of the keyboard warriors combined. Yes Michael’s point about appeal to authority is fair and you can’t take Scott’s word as gospel. But ultimately following someone with actual real life experience in the toy industry isn’t such a crazy thing to do. I think Scott is trying to provide some light in the darkness. Adult collectors are an extremely small minority, and need to stop acting as if they are anything but that. Nearly everything is available for preorder nowadays, I don’t know why people are so fixated on brick and mortar stores.
While RB kept deliberately attacking Scott he presented facts and evidence. What a class act. It’s totally the knowledge about the industry vs. the how I want to get my toys. The BBTS and EE part proved a TOTAL lack of knowledge of how things work for RB. Thanks Scott once again for all you did for us MOTU fans! Thanks for Classics!
My favorite part was when Michael tried to somehow refute Scott's point by literally repeating what he had just said.
So on one side, list of facts, literally held up and quoted to camera.... other side... circular logic, lots of repeating himself, "market speak" and saying same things from his videos, rather than genuine anwers in the moment. Scott listed some generalities, sure. But nothing most people didn't already know.
@@JONNYSORENSEN_AU Strangely I agree with what you wrote, but with the sides flipped
I’m my opinion it is funny that the whiny little boy gets so red and angry and practically throws a tantrum when he is called out.
I really really don’t like @retroblasting - this guy is such a Karen. The concerns are valid, but he can’t seem to get over himself and comprehending fact over opinion ….
So satisfying to see French get torn a new 'rusty sherrif badge' by Scott😂
Retroblasting seems not to understand the difference between "opinion" and "educated assumption based on prior knowledge of the industry"
EXACTLY. Michael is clearly not that bright....nothing but a raging ego.
Honestly, a lot of what Scott says is common sense to anyone who knows the slightest thing about business.
that's not the point of the debate they got out of topic thanks to tg who's always side stepping on things just like he did with so many issues with the classics line the point is why crowdfunding for a defective product and distribution of this figurines in retail allowing scalping and prices going up of course if you are a reseller and not a collector you'll always agree with tg
I agree that Scott has the background to make a very good "educated guess", but Scott does not said it was a guess he said it was a fact,... so that was wrong, maybe it was the heat of the moment and he forgot to clarify, ... Michael talks about his experience (just one data, his), but Scott made a guess (and educated one, but still a guess), neither are (extrictly speaking) facts.
@@tazmania2723 Here's the thing: it doesn't matter if you like it or not, the industry does what works best for them and will continue to do that.
Be easier to take Michael seriously if he wasn't pissed off at everyone all the time, including his own fans who leave nice comments on his social media. I don't get it.
Amen.
I expected he'd look bad, but this was pretty much just ridiculous.
@@mpjedi212 Yeah this is cringeworthy and I’m not a fan of his use of the word “predatory.” So dramatic.
@@charliejeffreyjames1078 Guess Micheal is not keeping up with the video game industry (especially mobile games) in which the term is actually justified more often than not.
Yeah I reacted once on a video and he responded with a quite rude reaction out of nowhere and misunderstood what I wrote in the first place
Jeez, lighten up Michael. I love the RetroBlasting channel but Michael has become so snobbish. He kind of takes the fun out of collecting because he’s so jaded and critical. He’s the “get off my lawn” neighbor.
He's become a complete Karen now
@@kevsil616 wow yeah. Dude’s bitter
He hated the vintage tmnt toyline for having varients XD
I was thinking the same thing. Michael is taking this way too serious and making it way too personal. I've had people disrespect me to my face and didn't act as butt-hurt as Michael.
MR WILSON!!😀
Wow. As rude and unprofessional as retroblasting was, it was almost tough to see him eviscerated like that. But his almost constant scowl to his flippant dismissal of Scott’s previous credentials, I can say he deserved every bit of it.
Look, no action figure collector LIKED what Scott was saying, but it’s the hard reality of the situation. Big box retailers don’t care about the collectors and it shows. But that’s not Scott’s fault and this was a obvious “kill the messenger” scenario. He should be embarrassed.
Well said!
Agreed 💯
100%
I love the content of all three channels involved here. That said, I'm genuinely surprised at how bad Michael was at this. He came off as impatient, defensive, petty and, shockingly, ignorant. He kept trying to catch Scott in "gotcha" moments instead of actually making a point himself. Repeatedly shutting down Scott's experience in the industry because it isn't recent enough for Michael made no sense when, in the same argument, he at least twice mentioned his previous experience working for a Fortune 50 company and how that helps him understand things. He was all over the place, rather counter-productive, and seemed desperate to pull Scott down into the mud with him, though I couldn't find an example of a time in which Scott took any of his bait, which is to Scott's credit and Michael's detriment. These guys make great content, but Michael really lost some respectability points here because since he was out of his comfort zone and wasn't completely in control of every aspect of the video, as he is when he produces one of his own videos, he lashed out in a very childish take-my-ball-and-go-home kind of way. Scott had appropriate answers for everything thrown at him, which stymied all of Michael's arguments, and Michael did not appear to be interested in being wrong. Even when Scott had an answer that pulverized and eliminated Michael's point, Michael would answer with "fair enough," as if it were a stalemate when he really should have conceded points and identified where he was so wrong. Scott said so much more by saying so much less. I gotta say I'm pretty disappointed in Michael because I thought he'd be more polite and focused, but this seems to be a guy who will only take a loss as a "tie," when it clearly isn't.
I found it very strange that he would constantly deny Scott's comperable Mattel/Hasbro industry experience, yet expouse his own as a lifelong collector as the watermark. Scott is no less of a collector than he is, and I imagine they are close in age so tic for tac. That puts Scott as a net positive in experience on both sides of the cash register. When they got to the discussion of Entertainment Earth, I could not believe he was going to completely discount his insight because he hasn't been there for several years. If he's worked there for five minutes, that's five minutes more than you, dude. I had no idea EE was a distributer focused buisness.
I want the same things Michael does, as most toy collectors do. I buy way more from makers now than I do the big companies, because as he often says, "The fans are doing the best work.". I just don't think Scott is deserving of taking shit for it and his insights are any less credible because they are a couple of years ago in past employment.
I think at one point he said, “You were somebody…” insinuating that at present, Scott isn’t someone of any importance in this game. I could have misread but that was just mean spirited.
@@charliejeffreyjames1078 He is not somebody to me. I went through the mess with Digital River that he presided over.
@serick73 I have no idea what you’re saying man. Sorry it makes no sense in context of this conversation.
@@jeffreyyoders6366 there were not many outsourcing companies for online sales back then.
Cringefest. Love retroblasting's actual toy videos. The channel-to-channel sniping is sad. Like a bunch of high school girls bickering about the prom. Grow up. Scott's channel is very informative.
Well, perhaps tell Scott to stop making videos going at other channels - then this never would have happened. I'm fairly confident most people here know about UA-cam negative attention, and piggy backing onto other channels to gain traffic/hits/controversy and attention. Scott made his own bed, on purpose. Many people witnessed it happen first hand over the last 12 months. Being versed in Copywriting and Marketing, Scott knew full well what he was doing on youtube - hundreds of others do it every day - go after other channels or make content ABOUT them, rather than focus on their own original content. And it works, there are poeple who have entire careers on youtube just attacking other channels. YT not only tolerates but encourages it with their search results and recommended videos.
I get not everyone here saw what was happening beforehand, but enough people did see this coming a mile away, long before RB said or did *any* kind of response at all, SC was just ignored - but kept trying to stir the pot, and he did. It may have taken a year, but he got what he wanted, more attention.
@@JONNYSORENSEN_AU I’m not really convinced. The mental gymnastics I would have to perform to accept this as some sort of Machiavellian scheme by Scott to get traffic requires a lot of leaps in logic.
This explanation feels like conspiracy theory and an attempt to justify Retroblastings immature behavior.
If you pattern the behavior between the two men it seems like Michael is defensive and immature and Scott can be off putting and corny.
At the end of the day what I saw was a “debate” between an professional and a child. If Michael really wanted to unmask Scott as a liar and a narcissist he should have done a better job because what I saw was Michael choke on his own foot.
@@sycojp i am not suggesting anything macy... the word i know, but will spell,wrong....i am saying its very basic and uncomplicated. There are 20 year olds with no business or marketing exp on youtube who use that tactic every day on youtube. I have read maybe one 5 min article once ever about youtube negative attention videos and piggybacking on other channels for clicks. The internet is full of this style of content and behavior all around us. Its common place, no mental gymnastics necesssry. British tabloids have been doing it for decades with little effort. A man as intelligent and educated as Scott knows what he is doing. His own metrics on youtube show him the results. Its not insidious, but quite ordinary, and even rewarded on youtube. No conspiracy necessary when its easy to poke a bear and wait for a reaction. All you need is a stick, and almost no effort at all.
@@JONNYSORENSEN_AU sure, I’m not saying this tactic doesn’t exist. I just don’t see the evidence for it here in this instance. The truth that Scott presents sounds much more plausible. Either way it doesn’t excuse Michael’s behavior for me.
I wish Michael luck but I don’t think I will be watching his videos anymore.
@@JONNYSORENSEN_AU There is a bit of a difference between disagreeing/correcting someone, and blaming someone for all the problems in the toy industry. I have seen all the videos leading to this controversy, and while Scott says "This is a great channel, BUT this particular video is not factual.", the answer is basically a hit piece, aiming at throwing shade at an entire man's career.
Someone "Are you an architect?"
Me "No but im a lifelong house liver so i know about construction"
Someone "Do you cook?"
Me "No, but im a lifelong eater so i know about running a restaurant"
Someone "Do you color coordinate?"
Me "No, but im a lifelong clothes wearer so i know about the fashion industry"
Someone "Can you fly?"
Me "No, but Ive been a lifelong toy airplane collector so i know about building a rocket ship"
LOL!!!!!! Classic!
@@michaelrlomax1977 It's coming. Plus there is a million toy collector and 80's nostalgia channels on UA-cam that are better than retroblasting...why would people watch Michael awful personality and resting bitch face when there are tons of options now? One day Michael and his buttbuddies are gonna tangle with the wrong on. The floodgate is about to open.
Sad but true
I know because you said it Scott!!
Scott won this debate hands down
lmfao!! absolutely very prepared hands down lol michael was sweating lol
Scotts professionalism and manner won me over and after watching Michaels video on Scott I was certainly not a fan of Toy Guru.
I am actually a little disappointed in Michael, he displayed poor form from start to finish.
Interesting points in both sides. But, Scott's experience in the toy industry can't be swept aside because it's not current. That's ridiculous. Dated or not, if you're in a dark room, someone with even a little light is more useful than having no light at all. Also, Michael looked like he was angry and agitated from the very start of this debate. Never a good sign.
Not once did he smile. Could be wrong, but that was my take on it.
I think that's just his RBF. Can't really blame him, but yeah, when the guy puts out a video just to prove that 100% of his other videos aren't sour, salty, or otherwise negative, it's kind of hilarious.
He did indeed. I couldn’t help but think that this kind of attitude might have hindered his success in a large company.
It's worth noting that Scott still works in (or at least around) the toy industry even if he doesn't work for a big company any longer. Also, if you watch his content, he's usually the first to point out when things seems to have changed from when he was there.
@@berkajr3685 I noticed that too. Nor was he particularly pleasant at any point. French came off as sour, defensive, and disrespectful. When he leapt at Scott for being patronising I rolled my eyes.
Scott comes across as reasonable, honest, and friendly. Michael comes across as overstating his case, taking things out of context, never adequately addressing the specific claims/questions that Scott commented on, and generally being humorless and rude.
I enjoy both channels, however for me, Scott was much more knowledgeable and more professional in this debate. I have been a fan of RB for years, however, disappointingly, many of Michael's responses to Scott (possibly because he did not get the response he would have liked) were rude and immature. Thank you for arranging this debate and hope to see more in the future.
It was an awkward moment when my wife came in and I had to explain that I was deeply engrossed in a video with an argument between two grown men over toys. I think I convinced her it was normal... we'll see...
LOL
Chauncey Haworth! Ha! Same here! Good to know I’m not alone in it! 😆
Could be worse. Could be drugs. Lol
Same here 😂 but then I managed to get her to watch along and she actually got into it
I'm watching on my mobile phone with headphones 😉😅
This video makes Michael look so bitter. What’s this dudes problem?
I've known many people like Michael French. The uppity snob toy guy that thinks he knows everything. And whines when he doesn't get his way. Sitting there the whole time with a pout on his face.
Scott on the other hand handled this with class and dignity.
Scott is the everyday guy you would want to hang out with and discuss toys. Michael is the guy you want to steer clear of because of his know-it-all attitude.
VERY TRUE. Michael is a classic borderline personality. In the worlds of toy collecting and fandoms, people like him are not uncommon. The trick for the rest of us is to know how to spot them and then avoid them.
100% agreed!
They're both tools.
Man, Michael is really defensive here and tries to deflect questions.
I guess Michael prepared for a mudslinging debate but instead Scott just went ahead and threw facts relevant to the topic. That made him fully unprepared, it seems, so he just went ahead and just kept throwing mud because that was all he had.
If you’ve ever talked to Micheal on social media, that’s 100% how he is.
"Don't patronize me, Scott"
*proceeds to patronize Scott with catty, Mean Girl comments about being an "ex-employee", or "used to be somebody" *
Michael really came out looking like a b***h here.
He came out like a desperate man grasping at straws.
He came out looking exactly as he really is.
Was there any doubt?
He's such a smug, sad, unlikable man.
Michael is angry and completely irrational. He comes across like a big hypocrite when he makes points, and like a typical abusive person, he makes accusations that he himself is guilty of. He has absolutely no valid points. I can't believe people watch his channel.
It's amazing how oblivious Mr. French is to his own arrogance and ignorance. All of this foolish toy drama has one common denominator. Michael French. He needs to wake up and realize that he is not the be all and end all to the toy collecting community. Mr. Spector was happy and and very professional. Mr. French.... well he was just himself. Arrogant, unnecessarily sarcastic, and miserable.
Michael is so pompous it's laughable. "The Retroblasting Archive" ...it's like, dude, we all have a toy room in our basement. And he clearly lost this debate and was sitting there like a petulant child at the end.
Yup
Yeah, Michael has actually finally jumped the shark and believes his own legend at this point.
@@psiwire his collection is larger than most though. However at the end of the day he’s just another collector in the hobby. He certainly isn’t the god of toys.
@@strawnobi Is it tho? I haven't seen anything that his collection is particularly larger than any of the other toy UA-camrs. I just find it funny how he calls it "the Retroblasting Archive" like he's collecting toys for science or he has the Ark of the Covenant stored away somewhere in his vast toy warehouse,
scott behaving like any adult/emotionally mature man should: in control.
little mike behaving like all of my friends i used to have when i was 9.
LOL!!! Michael isn't functional adult male.
RB: "Do you work for Hasbro?"
TG: "No I dont"
RB: "Then why do you feel qualified answering for them and their business practices"
TG: "I worked for the second largest toy manufacturer in the world"
RB: "Well, Im a lifelong toy collector"
Yeah, this "debate" was shut down the moment RB called into question TGs credentials. He kept attacking him about another company's business practices, one he didnt work for, but his experience in the toy industry all of a sudden wasn't enough, an industry he was involved with fairly recently (within the past 10 years) and was in charge of two very successful lines (DCUC and MOTU Classics) but "im a lifelong collector" is enough to supersede any real world toy making experience.
I've only seen a couple of RBs videos and honestly I got a real smug vibe from him and this only reinforced that.
If RB cant get it into his dumb skull that business are in it only to make money, for them, they dont care who buys their stuff in the isles, whether it's the scalpers or the actual fans. To them that's an item sold, well, it was already bought by the retailer, the ones that should worry are the retailers having dead product they have to sell at discount later on.
Well said. Michael made a complete fool of himself and will never live this down. Couldn't have happened to a better person....
Yes
@@jamyers1975 It has been a year and he and Analog toys have only dug in their heels further.
@@Cyril29a Of course they have. They are idiots and egomaniacs and bullies who can't stand anyone who doesn't kowtow them or need their gatekeeping or agreeing with them 100% of the time. They are incapable of being normal human beings. I haven't watched any of their videos in over a year and my life is way better for it.
Agree 100%
So I finally watched all of Michael's patreon video. Holy. Fucking. Shit. It was a train wreck. He looked like he hadn't slept in like 24 hours, and was more pasty and sick looking than he usually is. He does his standard internet tough guy thing and called his attack video on Scott a "throat punch", then attacks everybody involved in this as betraying him or being disloyal, plays the "righteous" victim, lies about his "overwhelming" positive response, dismisses all the negative feedback as trolls and "Junkman supporters".......it is beyond sad to watch. Little Michael's whole world has crumbled down and he's trying to spin it into some kind of great moral victory. And, in all this he has yet prove how Scott ever wronged him or committed "egregious crimes against fandom"..... It's clear as glass that Retroblasting is no longer a channel about vintage toy collecting and 80s nostalgia, it's about a sad not too bright little man-karen who has appointed himself hall monitor of UA-cam toy collecting videos....and he must "protect" us all from anyone who he doesn't deem worthy. Remember Michael's videos where he (rightly) spoke out against the ridiculousness of some anti-repo people and over the top personal attacks and false accusation made by trolls? Well, Michael's current behavior is EXACTLY like what he once claimed he was against.
Wow! So why did he switch this discussion from UA-cam to Patreon? Can I ask how this Patreon works? I understand you have to pay to watch?
@@charliejeffreyjames1078 Yeah you do. I DON'T pay to watch anyone's videos. I first read comments from people who had watched it and than somebody posted a link to it on the comment section on Scott's page and watched most of it for myself....like I said, it was BEYOND pathetic.
@@benavenu4091 This guy is a loser.
Lots to unpack here:
I notice he uses a lot of violent and military metaphors in his speech, which strong men generally don't do. Has he ever actually served? (I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but I'm willing to be surprised.)
I don't understand the drama with the original hosts, but I'm glad the debate landed here on a more neutral space.
So, he says he won and accomplished everything he set out to do, but at the same time, Scott somehow manipulated him into having the debate, he's deleted all links to the debate on his socials, and he demands that Scott never speak to him again. Anyone else see how those statements don't add up? You'd think that, if he won so decisively, he'd spam the link everywhere and invite his opponent back for seconds and thirds, since he's such a tough guy and all.
I honestly do feel a little bad for him, there are some clear signs of real hurt here, and his taking advice from the wrong people really doesn't help. But there's nothing that can be done if he doesn't want to change.
Yeah I’m embarrassed to say I watched it too. Got the link from where it was posted. Yeah there’s something off about this Michael character. He speaks and behaves as if he just got home from war. Honestly his entire monologue revolves around how others are failing or at fault in contrast to his heroic efforts. He said something interesting about how he knows certain people will respond to him about his role in continually having or creating issues with others and goes on to state this is not true and it’s just his experience as a lifelong victim of others inaction to come through for him. This was definitely an emotional plea to his fans, indirectly asking them to stick with him… I noticed he always wears the military style cargo shirts and the soldiers on his table were an interesting touch. It’s funny because he has all the traits that he accuses Scott of having which is typical. Bottom line, through this video debacle he has directly Name-dropped several individuals and collecting groups and continues to do so. His narrative is, “If you don’t agree with me, you’re against me.” He will not concede here and will continue to point fingers every which way he can. My gramma, always told me, “For every finger you point, there are three pointing back at you.” Poor guy and he honestly needs to get some rest.
So lovely to see French owned so well....
If only he’d learn something.
It's painful to watch lol
As someone that grew really tired of his bullshit after finding his channel and loving the content. He's a basement expert desperate to have people validate his stupid rants. I enjoyed this very much. No better moment than having an expert calmly put a clown in their place.
Thank you for mediating this debate. It was a great opportunity to see both sides of the Action Figure industry/ collecting while giving each side a chance to speak (even during the connection issues). Instantly subscribed to your channel.
Massive thanks to Geek. Dad. Life. for being respectful and moderate in their promised neutral environment! Hasta Leugo!
Micheal thinking that big bad toy store can be as big as Amazon just because they both started in a garage, is like saying I can be as successful as Steve Jobs because he dropped out of college and if I do the same I'm instantly as rich as him.
LOL For real!
Right? I wish had known that before I spent like six years in college and still getting paid zilch. I wonder if the asbestos in the attic will let me in on the health plan?
This comment from Michael was certifiably insane. It completely killed any credibility he might have had.
It’s sad when someone you thought you understood & liked suddenly shows through their behaviour that you never really knew them at all. As a mature adult, I can only suggest that you note the disparity between one man’s measured, respectful & tempered points & the other man’s - which are none of these things. Regardless of the “facts” (which are questionable in many instances) the conduct of a contributor here is, at the very least, impolite. The entitlement, arrogance & petulance from a grown man shown here - I’ll never be able to look at them the same way again. Social media suicide.
Retroblasting is now part of the same UA-cam "hall of fame" as the Irate Gamer and Matt Jarbo...............
Dude grew up to be the bully he never could be in real life.
@@dark5cythe545 EXACTLY. Mikey is an angry little man who knows deep down that outside of imagery world of his UA-cam channel and conventions he is a COMPLETE failure at being a human being.
@@jamyers1975 I cant go that far, i dont personally know the guy. I can only go based on how he acts in his channel. But it isnt favorable.
Why is Michael so mad. One needs to calm down in a debate. Scott handled himself professionally.
As someone who likes retroblasting, Michael didn't do good at all in this debate. especially saying everything is subjective. Scott mostly gave a educated viewpoint as someone who has worked in the toy industry. that holds more weight than any collector living in a echo chamber and not realizing that in the grand scheme of things, the collector community is very, very niche when it comes to toys. there's still a stigma when it comes to buying figures. most people look at action figures as dolls and the people who collect them as man babies that haven't grown up.
Yes
I also enjoy Michael but he does wind himself up a little too much...he clearly is self employed or independent or in some line of work where he doesn't have to play politics and has people around him who appreciate and don't critique his communication style. He uses a LOT of dramatic pauses and indignation in his monologues which are a little grating when remembering the subject matter. He would probably be better suited to being the prime minister of England during WW2 in an alternate universe. I still watch and subscribe to him though...he's a very concentrated shot of nerd power though. Coming from a fellow nerd that had to knock off his nerdy corners for those around him so all love here 😅
When it comes to watching Michael in this, do people think: a.) “Yeah, this guy is championing my plight” *or* do they think: b.) “Damn, I now feel embarrassed to be involved in the same hobby as this guy.”
🅱️
Definitely B
B
B
B
This is what Micheal’s disapproval of Scott feels like:
A man is with his wife who is in labor. The man asks the people nearby if there’s anyone that can help him deliver his wife’s baby. A person comes and offers their help, and says they had lots of experience delivering babies for they “used to work as a nurse” and was also well known for it by the other people nearby. The man doesn’t take their word and refuses the help of the person despite having experience delivering babies, because the person wasn’t “currently” a nurse,………and also wasn’t a doctor. Unfortunately for the man, there were no other doctors in the area and the person was the only one around who was the most qualified.
Congrats to Toy Geeks and the mods for a professional job, Scott was gallant and made his points well.
This is basically facts versus feelings. RB seems to be powered by emotions and took TG's statement of being critical to videos as not watching his videos. I don't think I will watch RB's videos.
And, let us not forget how all this started:
Retroblasting did a video about his feelings on how Hasbro shouldn't be doing crowed sourced products (HasLab) and just release them to retail.
Toyguru then made a respectful video called "Let me tell you why you're wrong" offering a fact filled response as to why Hasbro can't do these projects for retail using his knowledge as someone in the industry.
Then Retroblasting did the 45 minute mean spirited hit piece video full of half baked logic and personal attacks on Toyguru, because he was butt-hurt.
The slightest disagreement with anything Michael says, is seen as a personal attack on him. I imagine growing up being bullied has put him in permanent defense mode, but now he has become the bully and can't comprehend that he's the one guilty of what he complains about other youtubers doing. Its ok though, soon the only people that watch his channel will be his brainwashed cult of yes men and ass-kissers and he'll be the king of his safe space echo chamber.
@@ILoveMary12 Agreed. Anyone who still gives Retroblasting the time of day must be a socially stunted loser who enjoys being talked down to sickly low IQ man baby.
@@ILoveMary12 Usually people like him aren't bullied. If anything he got everything he wanted because he wouldn't shut up about it.
@@ILoveMary12 People who feel entitled hate being criticized.
@@GODCONVOYPRIME he's alluded to being bullied as child in past videos. But that doesn't mean he's also not a spoiled entitled brat. I honestly believe he's both
Michael sounds like a narcissist pretender that thinks being a collector gives him insight on how things are done behind the toy making scenes. Hes seems like a very emotional person probably raised by his mama lol .he won't accept losing like a famele knowing he lost a long time ago
I have been a fan of both Retroblasting and Spector Creative, and have collected figures since the early '80s. I have noticed an innate irate nature to every perspective that Michael has. Almost every video on his channel has a negative tone in response to toy collecting and the toy industry as a whole. While adult toy collecting can be frustrating, at the core it's meant to be fun. He acted like an angry kid on the playground debating about whether a figure should have been screen accurate or not with ToyGuru. Spector was right wherein there is a definitive difference between an opinion about something and a fact. While debate is often healthy and productive, this seemed unbecoming and extremely pointed.
in response to your critique of his videos, he gives the toy reviews what he considers (and many others) an objective look. There is nothing perfect in the world, so he will point out the negative and positive aspects. If you want a person who glows and reminisces how everything of every line is just absolutely perfect, you aren't getting the whole picture and there are plenty of toy channels out there who will be the cheerleaders you seek. Retroblasting is meant for his POV and is more fair and realistic than some others. It's definitely not for everyone, and he doesn't pretend it has to be to get all the extra subs and likes that some clamor for
I remember when I was a kid and refused to understand taxes. Then I turned 12.
Michael F. is that privileged boy in school that has all the great toys and video games. But you know it might not be easy to interact with him. It's like it's not worth the mental torture just to play some toys/video games. I think there is a reason why he was rejected by the kids in his town before emigrating to the UK. I don't think that all the kids were awful or hostile, but I think that it is more realistic if one individual was just very hard to get along with. You do you. I have better things to do than to witness one man ranting over and over ,because he is unhappy with toys👍
Anyone sp3rging about toys in general deserve to be laughed at. RB is a bitter individual, first and foremost. You don't just lash at your fans when they complement you in the first place. He has a wife yet still lusts for Kylie Minogue for no reason. Oh wait, his wife acts as the mother than RB never had. Let this be a lesson to everyone that giving bitter @vtists a platform turns you into Michael French.
I just watched his Penguin vid. People with simple observations or comments get shut down by him. I am convinced his wife is actually his psychiatric nurse. Such an unpleasant human.
Thanks for hosting this guys- that was real classy of you! I'm a fan of both channels, but did feel RB's video was an attack. Maybe you could say TG started it, but he had indirect references & even a video that was a 'response to not an attack on RB'. That aside I've worked for several corporations that refused to listen to the local managers, who could have save them (company- wide) 100s of 1000s of $s. (Blockbuster, Movie Gallery & Carmike Cinemas, etc.) Red tape & regulations kept up the bad decisions so even if I knew what would sell/ rent locally I was dictated what to do. Also, I worked as a distributor of snack products, so I have a very good idea of the store level stocking & shelf rules. Sores allot only so much space a a certain product & it HAS to be that 1 & can't be elsewhere. (An empty spot near X-Men Legends doesn't mean you can put say Castle Grayskull there.) Endcaps are a special rare premium & may have to tie into a special event. So as much as I'd like to see the empty shelves, full of awesome products it is not likely to happen until major changes occur. Certain stores limit quantity @ purchase, so perhaps that could be 1 way to move forward. Anyway, thanks for reading & now let's get back to things that bring us joy!
Retro's thin skin & defensiveness is so appalling. & telling.
This video wasn’t promoted on retro blasting. I can see why as Micheal didn’t come across very well at all. Only just found this Chanel and I’m really enjoying the content.
Welcome to the channel!
I can't believe Mike never apologized for Blasting Scott on his video. When Scott was giving his closing statements, Mike just sat there brooding- looking like he's Batman on patrol.
It seems that the problem with Michael is that it is difficult for him to admit that he can be wrong about something. He makes great content, but his ego often shows through unfortunately.
He said on a stream last night he is never going to apologize or take down the video
@@masterfarr8265 can you point to the stream and the time mark? I’d be interested to see that.
@@sycojp me too
Par for the course with French and it’s only gotten worse in recent years.
I am so disappointed that RB has gone from making great informative history of videos & reviews to being an incredibly thin-skinned egomaniac that just attacks others /or is uber defensive.
I just watched the video where a fan asked if one of the lights on his GB proton pack was out. He got all upset & kept staring at the pack although his wife had moved to another topic. After fuming endlessly, he blurted out that all four lights were working, just the camera might not pick it up, & that folks are "attacking" him about it.
Seriously.
Then there's the Patreon video he made after this debate where he attacked the hosts & exhibited Napoleonic paranoia that everyone is setting him up asif out to get him.
So sad.... What happened to you, Michael? Or is this always been how you were inside? You didn't seem so thin-skinned or angry before.
Where is this patreon video. Is it still up somewhere?
He was always this way, unfortunately. It took me a while to figure it out, but it became clear when he kept promoting and exalting his little YT buddy "Lio"; a vile, twisted and gruesome character that spews vicious hatred and warped bullying wherever he goes.
@@dal5x5 Here it is - ua-cam.com/video/dQIB3JTzixU/v-deo.html
@@glenfreytag6194 thanks Glen.
@@glenfreytag6194 Just watched it and im amazed what his takeaway from this was lol. First off, not that i found G.D.L particularily overly biased.. i felt that if anything they were slightly more supporting of RB. Then he talks about he was upse that the conditions changed which was essentially his plan to ambush Scott and just shit on him along with the moderators lmfao. What a loser, and its amazing he thought he came across remotely competant or well informed.
The big take away from this is, "if Wal-mart doesn't want it, you ain't getiin it". The death of Toys R Us was the the ringing of the funeral bells for toys as we knew them. The 80's was a golden age for our generation. My dad's generation loved trains and cowboy toys. You don't see anyone getting upset about stores not having those in stock. The new generation is into online and computer games. The cold, hard reality is, that when we die, our collections are going to get dumped off at Goodwill or in the dumpster. I have inherited several collections from guys who have passed away. When an older friend of mine had a stroke, his sister threw his entire collection straight in the dumpster. Some of his friends jumped in and rescued as much as they could. Gold and silver era comics, MTG cards, war hammer. There was even a holo charizard card in there.
Unfortunately, you’re right. All of the 80s IPs - HeMan, G.I. Joe, Transformers, etc - will all be forgotten in 30-40 years. Toys will be sold to preschoolers and that’s it. All the arguing about will amount to wasted time. People in the future will look back and wonder what was wrong with us.
Yes, exactly. As this hobby becomes more and more niche this is an important factor to consider when expressing our complaints. I think we can walk the line between complaints and constructive criticism when it comes to improving the hobby. Michael is a poor spokesperson for that agenda in my opinion. His attitude misrepresents the goal of the fans he intends to advocate for. We’re frustrated but not unreasonable. There’s very little transparency on the part of the large toy companies about how their product reaches the collectors so it does us no favors to shit on the one guy openly talking about his insights into that world. It might not be “facts” but it is valuable information.
Only thing i wouldn't be so drastic is the fate of 80's ip and collectibles in general. Certainly a franchise can't be profitable indefinitely and it depends on a large number of factors, one of which is how well the new installments are marketed and the grip they have on new generations. Transformers is a core brand for Hasbro for this reason, but in the future it may lose or not this status. Companies will also try to relaunch old ips like they always do. Vintage collections however will still have a value based on rarity and cultural significance even for those that were not yet born in that period. Stamps are the typical example of collection that transcend time and usefulness, with very costly examples based on obscure commemorations and even pranks. tldr: those ips are so ingrained in the popular culture that the rare items of that period will still be valuable even if new stuff is not made at all.
@@Bt3615 Agreed, any brand has a chance of surviving if someone can figure out how to adapt and reinvent for the current audience. It's why you see a lot of franchises trying to get their characters into Fortnite, or developing some movie or streaming show.
Hell, everyone cries about how reboots are evil, but conveniently forget that 80's G.I. Joe is a reboot of a 60's toyline, and that was a WEIRD pivot from the original concept that managed to work. Granted, a lot of reboots end up not working, but dismissing them out of hand isn't productive, and sometimes you just gotta say, "It's good for the brand, but it ain't for me" and back away.
Horrible sister.
Always followed and respected both of these channels. Glad that Scott is not going away despite the recent disaster and may be collaborating in the future. Thanks for clearing it GDL!
So this notion that Scott is “appealing to authority” is not quite correct. An appeal to authority is typically a reference from somebody else that is used to bolster one’s own side of an argument. Here Scott is merely drawing on his own experience and telling you the facts about that experience. He’s not appealing to his own authority. He’s telling you what he’s learned in his experience.
Yeah, but it sounds cool. 😉
No it's not, it's when you cite an authority but in relation to a subject they are not an authority in. So even more wrong in this case.
And Retroblasting knew he had no defense for that, which is why his game plan was to somehow invalidate that experience.
@@hanleysoloway7965 You really need to look up this info first my friend… “en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority”
You’re thinking of an “appeal to FALSE authority”
@@iampoch01 Michael just came off like a high-schooler who just learned about big concepts without fully grasping them. He spends a huge chunk of his video defining the difference between a fact and an opinion as if his audience were gradeschoolers. Also, lol at him trying to dismiss Scott's experience within the toy industry just because he's been a few years out of the business (still more than whatever Michael had). And then he claims Scott is the one patronizing him.
One of these guys has absolutely no idea what he’s talking about. (And I’m not talking about Scott Neitlich)
Michael isn't that smart. Nothing but a massive ego.
@@jamyers1975 a classic example of a know nothing know it all.
well that was cringy for Retroblasting , (screaming and acting like a lawyer)
I watched some Retro Blasting videos and I was ticked at Scott about what RB said about him. When I watched this live I thought Scott was gonna get his butt handed to him and I couldn't wait! However, Scott blew this dude outta the water and I flipped who I was cheering for. Great job Scott, you're truly the toy guru!
I've followed the Retroblasting channel almost as long as it's been around and really enjoyed most of it's content from 2014-2018. With this debate (and the year or so leading up to it). Mikey and his friends have shown themselves to be garbage people. I no longer follow any of them.
@@jamyers1975 Good choice 👍
Same here, Scott seems like a nice guy as well.
@@jamyers1975 yeah they reveal themselves pretty clear they are what you say and worst
I rarely ever post comments.
Retroblasting has made some amazing content, good humoured, well presented and captures the passion of fellow GenX’ers and mirrors it back to the audience.
Regrettably Michael over the twelve months has become quite hostile and became too big for his little shoes.
Now he has come up short against Scott who has brought Michael back to earth with a heavy, heavy bump. Michael was well out of his depth against Scott. The worst of it Michael showed no graciousness, this alone would have saved him from the majority of the anti Retroblasting comments.
I hope Michael will take this as a learning point, show some growth and return to making some of the best 80s toys video on UA-cam. A massive own goal which I fear has cost him a lot of subscribers and worst still, Michael has lost a lot - if not all, credibility. A massive own goal. I think Michael knows this as his facial expression had all of the charm of a scrotum.
Scott did not get personal (and to be fair after Michaels video he would have been entitled to a few low blows). Scott answered with in depth knowledge and most of all - Scott was really gracious at the end of the debate, offered to collaborate on future projects, even after Michaels ‘hatchet-job’ video.
100% agree. WELL said!
This Sums up exactly how I feel after viewing this. When I discovered RB I spent weeks trawling the content and enjoyed so much of it and Michaels passion for the subject was infectious, entertaining and informative.
Recently though his videos often seem hostile and combative and you get the feeling of rage bubbling away under the surface.
Toy Gurus videos, I have often found I came away feeling he was a little smug. however, after watching this 'debate' I have a newfound respect for Scott and found his professional insights into the workings of the machine made a lot of sense. We may not like how it runs, but thats how it DOES run.
Micheal sadly didnt not come off well in this, in terms of showing a willingness to debate , or even consider he might be incorrect about a few things. Which is a shame because I believe he genuinely is a good personn. I think perhaps some of his subscriber base have given him the mantle of champion of the toy fans to wear and it has become too heavy a burden. And one he does not need to take on. Better to just make videos about the toys that make him happy again. Things seemed to take a turn for the worse when another toy channel starting apeing RBs content almost every week and has such close ties with RB now it feels like theyre another branch of the company almost.
I really believe some of his team gave him very bad data and encouraged him into a playground fight.
With a teacher....
@@machineman6498 That’s a great analogy. I got that vibe also from Michael’s version of how this came to be. I just wish he actually had backed away from that bad info and reset his perspective. He seems fully entrenched in it now. Good luck to him. I don’t want that type of drama in my hobby.
@@machineman6498 I can almost hear LioConvoy's Reviews and Professor Geek when Michael speaks lately, the Modern Mythology Defense Squad is assembling nicely. 😎
Wow.. i'm losing braincells watching Michael drivel on here. Trying to compare scalability to Amazon. Amazon's AWS subsidised the online retail side for over a decade. Amazon's stock value rose for such long period of time due to technological speculation although the business itself was not profitable in those early years. Mr. Fortune 50 here has the business understanding of the mailroom clerk.
A lifelong toy collector versus a corporate man who happens to be a toy collector...! Yikes 😳 Scott knows more about toys from a corporate standpoint than Mike will ever understand. Mike can’t wrap his head around how corporate toy makers work in order to make money. Scott definitely understands toys and sales, versus just being a collector.
And Scott is also a hardcore toy collector as well. So he sits on both sides of the table. Gives him a pretty unique perspective.
The technical difficulties could have been easily avoided if they did a preshow warmup to work out the kinks. But these guys were super professional and handled it like pros. Love the show guys
John looked like he was ready to see flying fist he man jump on Scott
Nope. That "technical difficulty" was Scott playing games to put French on the defensive in order to make him look like a jerk.
You can tell Michael was moving his legs on that chair like an angry cat shaking its tail.
LOL!!!!! Too funny!
Michael looked Disgruntled in very beginning in the video.
Retroblasting doesn’t realize that adult collecting is a small market and the crap he loves doesn’t sell like actual kids toys do, so subscriptions help raise the baseline profit margin so the lines exist at all. His entitled crying as if the lines he loves are as popular with kids today as they were the 80s, is his own whiny deluded ego.
Maybe, but here we are Masterverse and Origins planned for 2024. Scott was wrong.
@@VexNToys thats a different issue entirely, his wrong guess has nothing to do with retroblastings ignorance on sub fees vs toy sales.
The subscription based collecting method feels a bit predatory. Why purchase a subscription for the privilege of being permitted to have a chance to purchase a figure at full price and still run the risk of the product selling out? Shouldn't the subscription guarantee your ability to purchase the product?
With Hasbro Pulse the subscription is to get early access to purchase before the community at large which I guess makes a little more sense, but Mattel has a subscription service for Hot Wheels and Barbie just to purchase certain items off the Mattel Creations website which appears to be an unnecessary extra charge when the products can still sell out.
I'm curious what the numbers were for the two Made to Order MOTU campaigns were because that seems to be a much better model for the adult collector.
This would have been so cool if Michael had some actual agreements. Is his channel a drama toy channel? I looked through a few videos and it seems that way. But maybe I just clicked the wrong videos.
No, it totally is. He went after Junk man too
@@seanmanscott Junkman attacks anyone more successful than him and is a troll. Plus he catfished people...
@@seanmanscott junk man went after everyone else first
His Dungeons and Dragons videos are good. Also his Filmation Ghostbusters video. Also the one on Masters of the Universe books. Lastly, his Kenner Star Wars videos are good.
He has great videos but, unfortunately seems like this is becoming more and more common there. 😔
Honest question. If Michael believes that past work and life experience don't mean anything and unless your doing something right now in the moment you are unqualified to comment about that thing. Than why should any of us give him the time of day when he talks about all the things he doesn't have first hand in the here and now knowledge of?
He’s is saying that because he has never worked within the industry himself. He’s trying to devalue the opinion so he can actually compete….it’s all just his ego trying to protect him
The fact Scott have bios for each figure is awesome. No movies, no comics, no cartoon to push the toyline. Good branding move with a limited budget
True. I didn't even give much thought about the bio cards because as far as I was concerned, I was getting an awesome He-man figure. Doubly so when the Filmation versions came out. I only became interested in the Classics lore when Scott talked about them in his channels.
@@iampoch01 and Scott didn't try to blow his trumpet saying those bios he wrote were the only true MOTU canon. MOTU is a 4 decade old line. There tons and tons of different storylines contradicting each other. No such thing as canon and non canon. He also said we can ignore the bios
@@Dented_Battle_Armor To be fair, MOTU Revelations did canonize several of the concepts Scott introduced into the mythos.
@@Tim85-y2q indeed. Revelations most def took ideas and concepts from the bios
@@iampoch01 same
Michael French: if a migraine was a person.
Plain & simple Steve embarrassed French & he knows it!
Painful to watch. Companies are in business to make money. Fact, companies that don’t make money don’t stay in business. Fact, the consumer has complete control over how they spend their money. Fact, retro blasting is a whiner. Fact, I just wasted over an hour of my life. 🤦
Yes, but although Costco charges you an annual fee to shop there, they don't also ask you to (pay to?) enter a lottery to maybe earn the right to purchase a gallon of milk. They just let you in and then... actually stock the shelves so you can buy what you joined to buy in the first place.
"Yeah, but John, when the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down the pirates don't eat the tourists." -- Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park
No one said you had to buy a subscription, as consumers we make the decisions on where and when we spend our money. I can choose not to buy a Costco membership, and get that same gallon of milk elsewhere. I can not buy a Hasbro pulse membership, and buy the figures I want at any number of different places. If I miss out on something that I wanted, due to sold out stock or store exclusivity, then I miss out and life goes on. I also have the ability to wait for the eventual reissue of figures that I want instead of feeding the scalpers. This whole video was just a bitch session between grown men with hurt feelings.
I agree wholeheartedly that this video was difficult to watch. I love a good debate, but I felt anger welling up inside me every time Michael spoke due to his disrespectful nature. I guarantee he would not speak to anyone in person the way he speaks on these videos.
@@willarms5510, your response to @Rookie Builds.
Try watching the RB channel for over 6 years nearly 7. Myself I unsubbed from nearly all the toy channels. If I can recommend any channels, maybe Mikes Usual, ToyGalaxy, TheFwoosh and Pixel Dan. Channels like Lio Convoy, RetroBlasting and AnalogToys are far too negative and are now very toxic.
I have no interest in watching Retroblasting videos now.
Agreed. This is Retroblasting's jump the shark moment.
Your loss, he speaks for those of us who have felt the frustrations he's talking about for years. Scott's a shill.
@@kaijukidsam Says the shill for Michael French...
@@jamyers1975 Says the guys who agrees with French, yes, and not the guy who tries to censor opinions he doesn't like.
@@kaijukidsam LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *pats you on the head* Bless your heart.........
FOR THE RECORD, Michael used a thumbnail of my show "FANDOM POWER" in his hit piece on Scott.
At the 23 minute mark he puts up a slide showing several videos that Scott has appeared in, Including mine.
What troubles me is the context with which he's speaking at that point where he says that anyone like Val Staples is a "wilful agent of toy representatives". Is that what I am!?!? And what the heck does that even mean!?!?
Nevermind that the thumbnail appears with other channels including Pixel Dan (who he also called out in that video) and Michael Mercy (who he also has issues with) .
I actually commented on his Facebook post for the erroneous use of my show.
Naturally, (and unsurprising) he, nor anyone else that has access to the Retroblasting Facebook responded.
The fact is... My show has 51 published episodes to date, of which ONE is dedicated to a toy property.
I am hardly "a wilful agent..." whatever that's supposed to mean. And clearly Michael didn't do his homework where my show is concerned and just lumped me in with people that he's taken umbridge with.
If I am expected to believe any of the sincerity he displayed at the end of last nights debate, he's going to have to do better.
Maybe start by un-hitching his wagon from the horses that are Lio Convoy and Analog Toys.
Because we all know by now that if one of these channels has an issue with you.... THEY ALL DO! And it's mob mentality at it's worst.
THANK YOU.
Weak people only have power when they gang up together on others. RB/AT/LC can't separate from one another as they're all they've got.
Thank you!
Analog Toys is fine.
Can you show us on this doll where the use of the thumbnail hurt you?
Wow this retro guy is horrible. Toyguru your way to nice to even waste your time with someone so negative. Definitely never checking out this guys channels.
You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant - Harlan Ellison
Words I live by 😁
Retroblasting: " That quote amounts to nothing because Harlan Ellison hasn't made a quote since 2018, meanwhile I've been a toy collector all my life."
@@iampoch01 😂😂😂
@@iampoch01 Bwahahaha
Im a huge Retroblasting fan but I gotta be honest he came off really shitty in this video. Sometimes it’s okay to admit you were wrong and waaaaay over reacted. Scott isn’t some monster corporate shill he’s clearly a fellow collector who has vast knowledge of figure production from his time behind the scenes. I’m a lifelong collector like Michael and even I couldn’t claim with certainty that my opinions on the toy world are factual due to experience.
Well said. I know I've been very hard on Michael on here, but I was big fan of Retroblasting for a long time too. I've followed RB for at least 8 years and greatly enjoyed his content. Yes I could tell that he was a bit of jerk and full of himself, but I could still respect him. After this, I can't.
Scott routinely replies to my comments on his videos, sometimes a bit snarky in good humor, often very positive. On the flip side his channel is pretty much based in facts, as well as insight we have no idea about.
As far as "including yourself in a toy line"....
G I Joe, Dusty had name of Ron Rudat(flipped to Tadur on the filecard), Tunnel Rat was based on Larry Hama, and Sneak Peek was based on Steven Kings son Owen who submitted the idea for the character Crystal Ball. There are many others based on Hasbro employees. So....
That RB video was just an attack on Scott to appeal to the people who hate Scott. That’s a bad move and very unclassy.
@@nicholasdickens2801 I believe it was a move of distrust as well.
I’m confident that when Valaverse gets around to Scrawny McBitchy, it’ll be based on Michael.
Par for the course
Scott won this debate and disappointed in Retro’s planning. Hoped more out of him but was riddled with emotion
Retroblasting should avoid public debates. This was painful to watch. His responses often were only tangentially related to the immediate subject, yet he'd present them as if they were a smoking gun. Combined with his pauses before answering even simple and straightforward questions, it very much felt like he'd realized he couldn't think of any good faith response that wouldn't immediately torpedo his own side, so he'd instead bull through with trying to shift the topic without anyone noticing.
This reminds me of those vhs tapes from the 90s when two bums would fight over a sandwich but in this case one of the bums is a sandwich chef and the other guy is a schizophrenic with a UA-cam channel that talks about how every time they forget to leave the pickles out it’s a personal attack on him by the big sandwich corporations
Mattytime, you are Hilarious!! 🤣👌🏽
Yes
French is so slappable
LOL
Michael totally lost me w/ his attitude, hubris, & dishonesty.
That was a good, intense debate. Between the two, I prefer Michael's youtube content, but I really have to give the debate edge to Scott. Scott is coming at it from a pragmatic, buisness and reality point of view where Michael is doing what most of us do; not realizing our time as the main target for a product is behind us. Adult toy collecting is niche percentage wise of consumers, and that's why most decisions are made the way they are. Michael takes these things personally, which they really aren't. I've felt the way he has many, many times.
edit: Starting around 37:00, Michael is really coming off badly here. There's a huge difference between being a fan of something and working in the industry when it comes to the business acumen of it. Scott was being far more polite about expressing that then I would have been.
I just know that more creative things have been done by people such as the Four Horsemen and Super 7 to give fans figures and lines that they want than have ever done by people trying to be useful to Target or Wal-Mart and their MOQ demands and people who really think the main reason to make toys, today, is for a kid's friend's birthday party. Scott's view, and the toy industry he worked in, are over. It's time for something better that serves the consumer better.
@@jeffreyyoders6366 Yes, because their business isn't based around "giving the fans what they want.", but rather how much product they can shovel out the door to children and parents, who are their real consumers (or at least the ones driving the overwhelming majority of revenue)
The main reason for making toys is, always has been and always will be, kids and their birthday parties.
Your argument is like going into a pizza place and asking why they don't make hamburgers because you like those better.
This was wonderful and put me on you. Because I watch both retroblasting and Spectre creative I find them both entertaining they both have some very good and valid points that they made. All I know very enjoyable would love to see more of the debate Round Table type discussion with them
This is so cringeworthy - it is like watching a movie lover arguing the logistics with a movie director on how movies are made and greenlighted by movie studios.
Well stated
@@Canoby Brilliantly put sir !
The whole time Michael seemed like a little kid who had to be told by his parents why Hulk Hogan couldn’t logically come to his Birthday party…..
Even though this “debate” was basically Scott defending his statements with answers that could be found in his videos about the subject, Michael still got absolutely destroyed. Shows how much preparation Michael did.
Michael was super spoiled child who grew up to be a weak beta male and narcissist who can't see beyond himself. He is a nasty humorless wind bag who offers nothing as an "adult toy collector" or as a human being.
Which is ironic considering all the papers he was shuffling through with examples of Scott's past statements.
I don't think any amount of preparation would've been enough to negate his personality.
@@Takeshi357 LOL Truth!
@Will Teasle As much as I dislike Michael French's behavior. I do believe he has a good person somewhere inside him. He needs to humble himself and man up. He would win back a lot of viewers and gain tons more by doing that.
damn that was spot on assessment by both Ben's.
Wow RB comes off bad in this video. I’ve been watching RB for years and this is disappointing.
After this, I will never watch an RB video again. Michael is an awful person.
let's all remember that if you even slightly disagree with Michael French he will most certainly screenshot and blast you on his personal (and Retro's) Facebook pages, respectively, and set his (dwindling) minions upon you! - because that's what lifelong collectors do, apparently. These are the activities of 13 year old middle schoolers, not 40+ year old middle agers. Scott was admirable and never once malicious.
I may not always agree with Scott on his views sometimes, but he delivered the goods and certainly has the experience to back it up. He's simply telling us a lot of what we don't want to hear from the corporate speak side of things, but these toy companies don't owe us anything and are simply out to make a buck, with a few passionate fans as employees mixed in that deliver some epic products when given the chance.
Yeah he's narcissistic.
Agreed. I commented on one of his videos a few weeks back as his video got too personal about the collectors who supported HasLab and he wrote me back with a vengeance! Not into that grade school BS and the ego is quickly leading him to the dark side. Jesus he loves Star Wars but he likely sees not who he is becoming.
He's extremely thin skinned and obsessed with being right and having the last word. He's pretty much the living embodiment of the negative stereotypes on adult collectors. I remember my first brush with disliking him (and I really enjoyed his channel) was commenting something about Thundercats and that its popularity lingered on a little bit longer than he implied in his video, it was just a friendly comment relaying my own experiences and I got a scathing essay in response that had all the hallmarks of someone who is incredibly threatened by everything. I almost feel sorry for him, it's the tell tale signs of someone who was probably viciously bullied as a kid.
Totally agree 💯
@@charliejeffreyjames1078 Maybe we can get him to change his name to ToySith
So Michael, a “lifelong toy collector” has somehow not realized that these corporations just want money.
Nah, he thought that corporations make toys specifically for him.
This was truly embarrassing for Michael. Halfway through his body language changed and you can tell he knew he was out of his league
@@Newjourney14 Definitley. The last half hour of this just showed how little he actually knew before making that video about Scott
@@Newjourney14 In his day-to-day echo chamber of pure ego with the people he lives with and/or is close to, he can throw his tantrums and he eventually gets his way. But this is the real world and the same rules don't apply. The "big man" has now been exposed as a perma-petulant child.
Michael wears some rose-colored glasses regarding corporations. As if the ones back in the day like Kenner (RIP) weren’t out to make the most amount of money too.
I love Retroblasting, but he got absolutely stomped here. I don't think he's cut out for debate style conversations whatsoever. He just comes off as emotional and petty, while Spector remained cool headed and rational throughout.
Lil' Mikey French made a COMPLETE FOOL of himself here. He and his friends have really exposed themselves for the garbage people that they are.
How are you gonna hate on an "experience" you never had? He wasnt even part of the Motu Classics collecting experience?
I got the impression Michael based his point of view on second hand information and just went with it.
We see how that ended....
@@TheACcam the same as it always does LOL
I've gotta go with Scott, because working for multiple companies he's got an advantage on how things are. Michael is like me I want "MY"toys.......it was a good debate👍
Spoken like someone that just hears of him in the last month lmao
@@oansun it really was in the last 2mths 🤣 same with retro blasting! 🤷♂️👍
I'm a huge fan of Retroblasting but Michael comes across as a petulant child.
That's because he is.
Michael French =
I think we need all kinds of diverse voices in the space right now.
also Michael French =
We don't need Scott's Corporate friendly voice in the space right now.
And Scott isn't even corporate "friendly", per se, he's simply honest about the corporate perspective and corporate approach. Yes, he says stay positive in the criticism towards company employees, but that's just human decency.
Michael is just lost in some weird delusion of what the toy industry is about. Hasbro teams love making toys, and sometimes those toys fail to live up to expectations. Hasbro executives and stock holders love profits...
Simple enough to understand, especially in capitalism economy such as USA.
Just 4 days ago, Michael French was ranting on Twitter about Spector Creative saying "I hope his channel burns for this and never stops sizzling." I will never remain subscribed to an individual who rejoices in the idea of a fellow collector suffering.
Michael is so cocky and self centered.
Notice how Michael French never smiles. Just completely consumed by his own rage at all times. I have never once seen the man smile in any of his videos. Mr. Personality over here.
That's because he's bitter since childhood. You'd think that with all the toys that he has right now, he'd be happy yet he still falls for the trolls who try to provoke him instead of ignoring them. Notice that he even berates his fans who try to make constructive criticisms at him or even pay a f-ing compliment.
@@benjerison7074 He also shadowbanned me from his channel because I agreed with some of the comments calling out his BS, and told me to "check" myself because I commented before finishing his Indian Jones 5 review.
@@tyrannozilla Dude can't get over himself since he believes that his opinions are the gospel truth. He's that self-righteous and any trivial matter or even a f-king compliment triggers a fit on his end. I don't know why his circle of shills tolerate his toxic attitude and even act as his personal internet army in the first place. Dude's a walking time bomb to everyone around him.
I am convinced there are some major psychological issues@@benjerison7074