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I can't wait to hear Mr. Gibbons tell us that they are waiting for quotes and that things are really beginning to boil.

These are new and exciting times we live in folks.

Maybe he was actually hired because he knows a couple more synonyms for the same old horsegak than Kevbo does.

I remember having a manager that called the whole plant together and told everyone to "smarten up or he will hire a bunch of trained monkeys to replace you."
Are we sure this is the guy we think it is?
I keep thinking of Kevin going with this:


I am sure the new guy is starting off trying to log-in with his 256 character password (cant be too careful).
Then he will get a lesson on Palladium communication methods and policies by NMI.
Kevin, will then give a briefing on how he is best to be managed, bringing coffee is a good start.

Most of these somewhat nasty jokes are more aimed at his co-workers.
I feel some sympathy for him however, but question his career future.

Maybe he will change the wiki on Robotech Tactics saying that it is "fake news"
Then try a law suite against the dakka trolls for Defamation of character.

Only to find out all of its real...RTT is trying to break records for the most messed up kickstarter.

But I really wonder how connected to the gaming industry Scott really is.Just how someone can not know
about the Palladium / RTT train-wreak and still wants to join the company..
Maybe its just the small dream in all of us have to be part of the gaming industry some how..
but his choices seems to be bad..

Seems like he's a full-on cultist fan-friend.

So, you know, anything negative about PB or KS is strictly losers who can't appreciate True Greatness(tm).

I see that 4 days on, the PBWU is finally up on PB's Facebook page.

An auspicious start to the person designated as responsible for "positive changes in the weeks and months ahead. Starting with better communication".

Honestly, I was wondering if the absence of the PBWU from Facebook was a conscious choice, given it tends to be equal parts fans, apologists and critics, even with the wholesale removal of a ton of people. But this just indicates nope, no greater plan, just delayed by incompetence or ignorance.

Which is the Palladium standard.

Too bad the rrt wiki isnt owned or run by pb.

Across my Facebook Feed came a digital image from a sculptor talking about the new Rifts: Rogue Heross miniature game from Palladium books. The sculptor said this was the first of many more sculpts he was working on. I'm all for a company making new product and such, but this was a definite "WTF" moment. How can Palladium be making another miniatures game when they haven't finished the Robotech Wave 2 Kickstarter miniatures game? Really?

An actual Kickstarter Update.

Nothing much that wasn't already said in the PBWU.

Some good points in the commentary. Namely Drachnien (among others) with "What's the reason for the 30+ month delay?". And relatedly, Forar with the "What happened to the individual breakdown?". It's one thing to continue to not answer the question about what's GOING to happen. But an explanation of why things went completely off the rails should not be out of the question, nor covered by the "when we have details" excuse.

It will, of course, be ignored. Because it's highly unlikely that there'd be a good reason that'd satisfy anyone why this has been in a limbo of vagueness and stagnancy.

The question I would ask, but won't likely be answered, is "Does PB have the liquid assets on hand to produce, freight, and ship Wave 2 to it's backers?", given . It'd set people's minds at ease if it is, but a non-answer is arguably the same as a negative. And I don't think anyone thinks PB is capable of raising the funds if they don't already have it.

I love that he says he's not a yes man. From what he's posted so far, including his Siembieda-like ability to turn one word into ten without actually providing content, I can only assume he's more of a "Absolutely, positively, you betcha boss"-man.

I'm not going to be down on the guy, yet. But he will have to earn respect.

Same here; I'm somewhat happy a post has been made on the KS to attempt to start addressing issues, but it is a far cry from actually addressing the existing issues as of yet.

I'm watching for the July 4th update; if it doesn't manifest we're clearly in the same boat, but I'm double-crossing my fingers that this may be the Kevin Roundtree we've been waiting for.

Until I see progress or product he can say anything he wants and it will not matter.

The more I think about it, the fact he was brought in in May and is only now piping up in the KS after about a month and a half later already has dimmed my confidence that nothing will change. (2 weeks, maybe - over a month, sounds like typical PB procrastination).

Bad_Syntax's infuriating comments are not improving my mood either.

Why would he be thinking everyone thinks he is just a "yes man" unless he is already reading the dreaded Dakka Dakka forum..

The truth in the matter RTT was the only kickstarter that I have ever put a large amount of money behind.. and I have backed a number of them...
I was hopeful to have a Robotech type "epic" game. I had buddies that wanted to play a mix of RPG and battle game but that boat sank years ago.

Again.. Scott is starting at the same line as Kevin is.. I can say I will win the lottery tomorrow.. but that means I will actually have to buy a ticket.
It's just words until someone says the container is on the water and product will be shipping out a certain month... but at this point
until I have product in hand .. I don't trust anything they say... Palladium FOR YEARS has lied about this for too much and for too long .

Plus the community is dead.. and everyone you talk to about it either don't know or very afraid to buy any product. Don't think a re release will
help anything but ship trash to people that are no longer asking for the product.

 n815e wrote:
I'm not going to be down on the guy, yet. But he will have to earn respect.

This is where I'm at as well. I'm not expecting a massive avalanche of progress, but I'll give him a few months to fail on his own before declaring it so.

And with the anchor around his ankles that are Kevin and this Campaign's running gag history, I don't expect that tiny bit of benefit of the doubt to last for long.

It's not impossible for him to turn things around, but I do find it very very very unlikely.

So I guess we'll see what happens (or doesn't).

 Stormonu wrote:
The more I think about it, the fact he was brought in in May and is only now piping up in the KS after about a month and a half later already has dimmed my confidence that nothing will change. (2 weeks, maybe - over a month, sounds like typical PB procrastination).

To be fair, if I was presented with a clusterfeth 4 years in the making, I'd probably want to spend a couple of weeks getting up to speed.

Bad_Syntax's infuriating comments are not improving my mood either.

Yeah, there's some old and new faces showing up. Donkey caves like B_S and Duncan are certainly elevating the level of discourse.

So, how many two-week updates before this guy actually quits with the biweekly updates?

I mean, I know it makes me a hater to have some sort of expectation that PB would abandon a promise to improve communication, but there's no way this guy makes it through 16 weeks before he starts skipping.

It is extremely suspect that July 4th has been chosen as the next update date.

We shall see.

@Forar - two, maybe three weeks I could understand. But we're talking "hired in May", that's at least 20, probably at least 30 days ago. That, to me, is approaching slacker values.

Morgan Vening wrote:
An actual Kickstarter Update.

Here are the things that stood out to me in the update:

I have been working hard to get an accurate assessment of where Palladium Books® stands, not only overall, but specifically with regard to Robotech® RPG Tactics™

and

Wayne and Kevin spent half of Friday morning (7/16/2017) on a conference call with a manufacturer (I did not sit in on the call due to another pressing business need that morning).

So right off the bat, we see that "working hard to get an accurate assessment of where Palladium Books® stands, ... specifically with regard to Robotech® RPG Tactics™" is definitely secondary at best. He has much more important things to do. This is the ONE thing where he could have given first hand information, but it wasn't important enough to bother with. He starts off with a strong middle finger to set the tone.

As I said above, I developed it as a hobby for my own enjoyment. If it should ever be made into an actual product sold by Palladium, I would be thrilled, but I am not holding my breath for it at this time and it is not why I’m here. I’m here to make a difference and to help grow the company.

Exactly. It's not why he's here. His self promotion of his board game has no place in the update or anything to do with what he needs to be doing. We didn't need to know about his hopes for his game, only that it existed. This is the second most obvious example that he's a chip off Unca Kev. The most obvious example is next.

Over the last few weeks, I have become intimately familiar with all aspects of the company on all fronts, financial and otherwise. While it is not the biggest company I have ever worked for, the potential to become a giant in the gaming world is definitely present.

This is inexcusable. This is not an opportunity to talk about how "great" Palladium Books is. This is the LAST audience he should be trying to spin that BS to.

I've thought for a long time now that Unca Kev is just trolling the Robotech fandom. It seems even that has become so taxing he has to outsource it.

Or he got hired on the 31st and has been on the job (in business days, because counting weekends is a bit excessive) for like 16 days.

We don't know, and getting into the weeds about what constitutes him being behind in response to him saying he was getting up to speed is pessimistic even for this crowd.

We can give or take a week or two and not be that far off. 20 working days doesn't seem like that much when digging into a mess 4 years in the making.

I mean, man, you know I'm not gonna white knight these donkey caves. If anything, I'm content to let them have enough rope to figuratively hang themselves on their own merits.

He showed up, we'll see what he has to say in the next few updates. Probably not much, probably some excuses, and I did present (here? Kickstarter? Somewhere) that I'll be impressed if he manages to make wave two land in the next 18 months (yes, obviously, if at all).

Look at it this way, PB has spent years being willing to put in the bare minimum of effort to shield themselves from critique for their fans (obviously we're not buying it). This move is a step up that wasn't needed, they could have ridden that steady and ongoing silence for years more.

So at least it's a little change, and I'll give this dude a shot fair and square, and when we hit September (purely as an example) without substantial info coming our way, we can officially declare him the next failed PB RRT manager (aka: The Widowmaker)

My patience is a little bit thin when I think of product and work I need to support in my day to day.
Think about the flurry of activity that is Palladium... do you hear the crickets?
I hate to say I would be more concerned figuring out how to fill my day rather than manage it if I was him.
Most of his time initially will be figuring out how to fit in with the "group" and ensure there are no errors in protocol.
Then catching up on the "story so-far" and then strategizing on how to make things look rosy and wonderful while seeing what positive action is available to improve the situation.

I think his best action is to keep his resume up to date and out there (if I were him).

Eh, we've seen it mentioned several times Kevin & Co. working weekends, but point taken. I'm not really expecting much, any shifting of the boulder laying on top of them would be interesting at least - at this point watching it roll back on top of them is some form of entertainment.

And a day later, another Kickstarter Update.

Some more information, and he seems like a huge improvement over Kevin and Wayne.

But there's still something lacking. He's talking about an end of year release. Which means one of three things.

1) He's Kevin level full of gak (I'm giving him some benefit of the doubt, but I'm not discounting the possibility)
2) Kevin's lying to him about the progress made.
3) There's been a lot more work done than has been stated.

Given that from first test sprue (May 2nd) to the proper release (October 4th) was 5 months. And there's barely six for the remainder of the year. And that doesn't take into account all the pre-production work, or that end of year tends to be a busy time for manufacturers and shipping.

So, if 3 is possible, then the question I have, is why hasn't PB shown progress? The reason for the complete lack of faith is twofold. First, PB promising and failing to deliver. And the second, a complete lack of SHOWN progress. I can't think of a single justifiable reason why significant progress hasn't been shown, if it's true. The primary unjustifiable reason would be that Kevin's so petty that a couple hundred vocal complainers outweighs the ~5000 or so who haven't said much if anything critical.

Hope that Scott is able to wrangle things, but for every answer he gives, it leaves several very poignant questions in it's wake. Nanobadger (I think) brought up the point that if they're this close to finishing, why bring him in?

And from a production perspective, the question I'd ask, is about the other three aspects of production that haven't been addressed. Obviously, the first one is the resins. If the end of the year is a possibility, this needs to get done soon. The second, is the partnership with GHQ dead? If there is a push to finish, some backers might want some of the promo figures (specifically Breetai), and it'd be important to know if they can get more supplies. Which brings up the third one, if the "relaunch" is to happen, from a commercial perspective, do they have the capacity to print more Wave 1? This isn't an issue if they're just looking to close out the Kickstarter, but if they're wanting to make this a thing, the capacity to produce more is important. Yes, I'm aware that it's highly unlikely RRT will ever get a significant retail footing. But I can definitely see the slapstickesque situation of someone wanting to get involved, and not being able to buy the core box. Or certain expansion boxes. Which would sink any attempt at resurgence. Probably not an issue, but would be deeply ironic.

Are you forgetting that they have, apparently, thousands of restocks for anything anyone might want for Wave One?

Merijeek wrote:
Are you forgetting that they have, apparently, thousands of restocks for anything anyone might want for Wave One?

I didn't forget. And I don't think that they are running low. Yet.

But we simply don't know how much of that initial stock is left, and it's not inexhaustible. But if the planned relaunch is successful (no, I don't think it will be) and they can't restock cores then it gets sunk again.

Wellllllllllllllllllllllll..........

Depends on how you want to consider "inexhaustible".

I'm going with, for all foreseeable futures, it being inexhaustible.

I am just spit balling here....

But I know in large and small corporations, a very rich person can buy up stock in a company and become someone a chairman on the board of executives..
With the promise of the money invested would be returned later and they would help with the direction of the company. Plus if the company does well
the person also has a chance of making even more money.

So just guessing here.. if Scott was a big wig at a mid to small toy company that moved, he may been invested and was bought out..Meaning he had a large lump sum
of money sitting that he need to do something fast or pay a ton of taxes on.

The plan at Palladium was to do a super great kick starter with Carmen's Rifts game.. then bankroll the RTT wave 2 with the money in hopes they can have made
enough back in the two years before they need to product the game.

Just in the nick of time Scott came along and said he would help out and invest in the company.. and the process gets a higher position in the company than good old Wayne...
and they can drop the whole thing of spinning plates in hopes that something goes crashing down.. Now they don't need to rush Carmen anymore to get something out for money...
The Scott money can keep the company afloat till the end of the year, maybe enough to get part of wave 2 done in the process..

Just still feel something is rotten in Denmark..Gen Con is just around the corner and I am sure they will have something super amazing hot mega duper to say on what the plans
are... but we been in the planning phase for years now... most companies normally abandon a project after just a few months of non movement especially in the planning phase...

But I can say one thing.. Palladium games in not like any company out there that is still in business.

It's not a bad theory. Not at all.

I would wonder, however, if we can find his LinkedIn profile.

I won't believe for a second that someone with that much money to throw around would invest it in Palladium.

 Genoside07 wrote:

 Elbows wrote:
What a pathetic image to attempt to promote your product...

Not really.. this is true to Palladium style.. Everything starts at the top..
Can you imagine being hired as a media /public relations manager for them...
Living nightmare..

But just look at the crazy turn around of Games Workshop after the new CEO took over..hint hint..

My own quote from March... who knew I was psychic?? or is it psychotic?? always get those two confused...

Poor Scott, if you believe in reincarnation, not sure what bad things he did in his previous life to cause this...
but the punishment he is about to go though will not be good.