Jump to content

Petition: Dave Vonner Back to Hasbro


MW3

Recommended Posts

Hey guys,

 

I don't post here often, but I read the forums frequently. This was a topic that I felt should be brought to everyone's attention.

 

For anyone who doesn't know, Hasbro recently laid off 170 employees. Among them is a guy named Dave Vonner. As many of you know, Dave worked for Toy Biz back in the hayday of Marvel Legends. When Hasbro took over the license Dave went to work for them. In recent years he has been in charge of the Marvel Universe line but has remained a consultant on Legends. He has been directly responsible for getting many of the more obscure characters that we wanted made. Because he is a true Marvel fan Dave has been an advocate for all of us inside Hasbro and has worked very hard to raise the level of quality across the Marvel brands.

 

There is currently an online petition asking Hasbro to bring Vonner back. It was started by a popular action figure reviewer on youtube called Shartimus Prime. I just wanted to post the link to this petition here, in case any of you want to sign it. There is no guarantee that this will have any affect on Hasbro's decision, but at the very least it will show the fans support and appreciation for Dave's work over the years.

 

For anyone who wishes to sign, here is the link.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dave-vo...back-to-hasbro/

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are absolutely right. It would be great if we had the power to get everyone at Hasbro their jobs back. The reason why this petition focuses on Dave Vonner is the passion and commitment that he has demonstrated to the fans throughout his career. For anyone who has ever visited the Hasbro booth during conventions like SDCC, Dave has been there, always with a positive attitude, and always eager to discuss the Marvel lines and listen to fans concerns and suggestions. He really wanted to give customers what we want because, like us, he is a true fan. Dave has become the face of Hasbro's layoffs because of his popularity among the fans. And while we don't have the ability to get everyone their job back, it seems to me that doing what we can for even one individual is better than doing nothing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are absolutely right. It would be great if we had the power to get everyone at Hasbro their jobs back. The reason why this petition focuses on Dave Vonner is the passion and commitment that he has demonstrated to the fans throughout his career. For anyone who has ever visited the Hasbro booth during conventions like SDCC, Dave has been there, always with a positive attitude, and always eager to discuss the Marvel lines and listen to fans concerns and suggestions. He really wanted to give customers what we want because, like us, he is a true fan. Dave has become the face of Hasbro's layoffs because of his popularity among the fans. And while we don't have the ability to get everyone their job back, it seems to me that doing what we can for even one individual is better than doing nothing.

Already signed it, I'm with Dave and you 100%!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For anyone who doesn't know, Hasbro recently laid off 170 employees. Among them is a guy named Dave Vonner. As many of you know, Dave worked for Toy Biz back in the hayday of Marvel Legends. When Hasbro took over the license Dave went to work for them. In recent years he has been in charge of the Marvel Universe line but has remained a consultant on Legends. He has been directly responsible for getting many of the more obscure characters that we wanted made. Because he is a true Marvel fan Dave has been an advocate for all of us inside Hasbro and has worked very hard to raise the level of quality across the Marvel brands.

 

Soooo do we know this to be real truth? I found an old interview from Cool Toy Review and much of what Vonner said seems to indicate he is the guy responcible for so much recycling in the various lines:

 

Curto: The Wolverine line from last year had the same concept: a movie series and a comic series. We talked last year about more characters included in that line, but since that particular line ended with just 4 waves, will we see some of those characters brought over into Marvel Universe? We've already seen that the body of Spy Gear Wolverine will be used for a Team X Wolverine, but there are a number of gother reat sculpts from that line that are really too good to just let them go away.

 

Vonner: Like the Deadpool sculpt?

 

Curto: Deadpool was great, but I was thinking of Sabretooth specifically.

 

Vonner: Yeah, that Sabretooth was nice too. I'll definitely grab them...if I can use them, I'll take them and include them in Universe.

 

On a new female body:

 

Vonner: Really, it was a toss-up between X-23 and She-Hulk. But the She-Hulk body type was limited because we really can't get a lot of mileage out of that body type....

 

Vonner: Right. There are other other female characters with that body type that we can touch on, but X-23 offers more variety for us.

 

In fact one of the few things mentioned about diverse characters was said by Jerry Jivoin:

 

Jivoin: Yeah, there is some concern there really...I think that's something we will be addressing that in the future. With the first year of Marvel Universe, we tried to really mix in A-list heavy hitters with Marvel Universe, along with mixing in some of the lesser-known collector figures. When I talked about some of the learning we had to do in 2009, finding the balance between the two was one of them. How do we mix that balance? With a brand new line, you need to look at those lessons....what sold, and how many. Then you can figure out what's the proper ratio is that we should release to retail.

 

Vonner really said very little and even was justifying mistakes on Cap in wolvie/cap (pegwarming) pack and the (YAWN) IM/Thor pack.

 

Is there anything that really flat out states Vonner did what we are giving him credit for? I am starting to doubt it myself. This seems to suggest Vonner is the reason we saw so many IM's ect.

 

http://www.cooltoyreview.com/story/front/H...al_2_132193.asp

Link to comment
Share on other sites

zedhatch, i appreciate your comment. so many people give vonner so much praise when i think he didnt do all that great of a job. yes, he tried, but when we have a new 3 pack coming out with another thor, another iron man... and wait, one newly sculpted hulk, we are suppose to be happy? the marvel universe line is far from what it could be. if vonner was cool with repack after repack why not be creative? how about a bloodlines 3 pack with wolverine, daken and itsu akihiro or a 3 pack with red queen, phoenix and hope? such a waste of a good opportunity to make the greatest marvel toy line but no. lets be greedy and focus on what we can constantly re-use to save hasbro money because marvel fans will buy anything we put out. if anything, dont protest david vonner being laid off, protest hasbro looking at us like dollar signs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think there may be some confusion about Dave's responsibilities on the lines and Hasbro's corporate policies. It is a given with any large company like Hasbro that figures are reused and repainted to make multiple characters. This generates more proffit for the company because they don't have to design and fabricate a new body for each character. Where Dave's responsibilities come into play is in selecting and improving the molds that can be used for the most characters. Additionally if there was a successful mold from a parallel line like a movie series, it only makes sense that he would incorporate it into the main line because he can essentially get a "free" body on which to build more characters. I think anyone who has collected MU from the 1st wave until now can see that major improvements in sculpting, articulation and character selection have been made. Dave Vonner is directly or partially responsible for many of those.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And we know all this because......

 

Everything I am looking up just suggests he is as much responcible for the complaints about this line as many of the complements he is being handed, so far I am seeing nothing besides conjecture suggesting he did the GREAT things and wasn't responcible for the bad things.

 

In the above interview he even mentions getting more IM armors into the IM2 line, which became the big complaint.

 

Not seeing how all this sudden praise is being lobbed on him suddenly. Guy was never hardly mentioned until a few weeks ago. It's too early to say HE was the only one making what worked in this line, in fact it looks like the exact opposite from what I have read.

 

I mean is there anything, anywhere that might say different?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you're asking for a website that catalogs each of Dave's accomplishments as an action figure designer, then no I don't believe there is one. And in all honesty, if you've never had the chance to meet him and hear him speak passionately about the lines and figures he's worked on then I can understand your skepticism. I can tell you that I don't know of anyone who has spent more than 5 minutes with him who doesn't have a great deal of respect for him. But don't take my word for it. If you have a few minutes to spare, go to Youtube and search for "Dave Vonner". The 1st video that comes up is a fan request from back in 2009 to get him working on Marvel Legends instead of MU to help Hasbro improve the quality of the line. There are numerous other testemonials from fans as well as some clips of Dave himself from various cons. If you watch all of these and aren't convinced then I can't offer you much more. If you don't believe that Dave was an asset to Hasbro then please don't sign the petition. But if any of this does change your mind then I welcome you to join the over 300 people who have already signed since yesterday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...







Sign Up For The TNI Newsletter And Have The News Delivered To You!


Entertainment News International (ENI) is the #1 popular culture network for adult fans all around the world.
Get the scoop on all the popular comics, games, movies, toys, and more every day!

Contact and Support

Advertising | Submit News | Contact ENI | Privacy Policy

©Entertainment News International - All images, trademarks, logos, video, brands and images used on this website are registered trademarks of their respective companies and owners. All Rights Reserved. Data has been shared for news reporting purposes only. All content sourced by fans, online websites, and or other fan community sources. Entertainment News International is not responsible for reporting errors, inaccuracies, omissions, and or other liablities related to news shared here. We do our best to keep tabs on infringements. If some of your content was shared by accident. Contact us about any infringements right away - CLICK HERE