Syco Collectibles Public apology

[jonathan-syco]

Dear Statue Forum members,
Syco Collectibles would like to apologize to all for the recent activity here on the forums. Some of the posts were made without our approval and we have been in talks with Erick Sosa and the moderators of the forums and have now resolved the issues. Please view our public apology at our website as well:
http://www.sycocollectibles.com/cont...s-announcement

Mr Abdel was never a partner nor CEO, and we have severed all ties.

I would also like to publicly apologize to Chris regarding the the Lou Ferrigno Incident.... We were being pressured by all parties involved into having something similar to the original or there would not be a deal, we did try to do right by Chris but he was already upset over Abdel's intervention so I personally made a rash choice, one that I do regret…, and had the sculpt done, as to assure Ferrigno you were really trying to get this done and approved…

After long talks with Erick he has agreed to guide us and work with us as the Art Director on all of our sculpts in the future... So hopefully our products will turn from good ones, into being great ones.
We hope you will continue to support us and for this we will work even harder and better to bring you great products in the future.

Also in a way to give something back to you guys, we are going to sponsor the new Webinar, that Erick is setting up shortly for the next month of February.
This free webinar will cover sculpting tips, how to deal with companies, how to sell your original work, and how to contact companies for potential work.


Syco Collectibles, have learned a lot from this incident and how important the forums are and the respect for all of you sculptors. I hope that we can all put this behind us and move forwards.

Thank You and All the Best,



Jonathan Martin
CEO Syco Collectibles
Moderators if you could help us by making this a sticky I'd very grateful.

[ichiro51]

I've been been a vocal skeptic but THIS is professional. Look forward to what the future holds.

Originally Posted by jonathan-syco

Dear Statue Forum members,
Syco Collectibles would like to apologize to all for the recent activity here on the forums. Some of the posts were made without our approval and we have been in talks with Erick Sosa and the moderators of the forums and have now resolved the issues. Please view our public apology at our website as well:
http://www.sycocollectibles.com/cont...s-announcement

Mr Abdel was never a partner nor CEO, and we have severed all ties.

I would also like to publicly apologize to Chris regarding the the Lou Ferrigno Incident.... We were being pressured by all parties involved into having something similar to the original or there would not be a deal, we did try to do right by Chris but he was already upset over Abdel's intervention so I personally made a rash choice, one that I do regret…, and had the sculpt done, as to assure Ferrigno you were really trying to get this done and approved…

After long talks with Erick he has agreed to guide us and work with us as the Art Director on all of our sculpts in the future... So hopefully our products will turn from good ones, into being great ones.
We hope you will continue to support us and for this we will work even harder and better to bring you great products in the future.

Also in a way to give something back to you guys, we are going to sponsor the new Webinar, that Erick is setting up shortly for the next month of February.
This free webinar will cover sculpting tips, how to deal with companies, how to sell your original work, and how to contact companies for potential work.


Syco Collectibles, have learned a lot from this incident and how important the forums are and the respect for all of you sculptors. I hope that we can all put this behind us and move forwards.

Thank You and All the Best,



Jonathan Martin
CEO Syco Collectibles
Moderators if you could help us by making this a sticky I'd very grateful.

[AstroWho]

Are there any new updates with the situation on this Ferrigno Hulk Statue?
From what I read, whether it's the sculpt done by Chris or the one that you were gonna go with? Marvel had final say in it and not Lou Ferrigno so it was never released?
Has anything been done with Marvel to get this released yet?
Can things now be hashed out with Chris to get his original sculpt released?

[DynamicMenace]

nice to see you finally come on here and apologize where this whole mess all began.
i just hope you can understand that its going to be very hard for some of us to believe anything you say. seems how it took you so long to finally come out and say something about all that had transpired. (9 months) HulkGate 2012. why didn't you do this last year in April when HulkGate 2012 began? you should have done this then when it all came out on this forum long before it came out on the CH. but yet you chose not to. and dont say you didn't know about it happening here last April and what was going on on this forum. because if your the CEO of a company you should know every move that is being made on your companies behalf. no matter who is doing it. and no matter who your allowing to do it. specially something as serious as you copying a sculptors work and trying to pass it off as your own. it seems to me that the only reason why you are even apologizing is because your company had been exposed. again. so now after you know you cant getaway with it anymore you come out and apologize for it? i strongly believe if nothing had been said this apology would have never had happened. and you would still be doing business the way you have in the past and would still be working with Abdel.
just like when i brought it to your attention that you could still order your Lou Ferrigno Maquette up on your website a few days ago. only then you admitted it was wrong to have had it still up on your site and that you took it down only because i said something about it. cant you see how that makes you look? i really feel that if nothing was said at the Ch about Abdel soliciting sculptors for their sculpts for your company. you would have gone through with it. which i think you absolutely knew what he was doing yet you claim he had no approval. i strongly feel that he wouldn't have done it unless he did have your approval. seems how it was your company. same goes for your Lou Hulk statue. if i hadn't of said anything it would still be there up on your site for all who wanted to preorder it. because at that time you could still go through the whole ordering process and make payments on both version of it.

its easy to make someone the scape goat. and i believe thats what your doing with Abdel. making him the scape goat for all your wrong doings. not saying that he didn't do anything wrong. becasue its clear that he did and he was a large part of what went on in these forums. but i can see how easy it is to say that it was all his doing.
its just hard to believe that you knew nothing about what Abdel was doing or that he was misleading you every step of the way. cant you see how that is making you look? not making you look very smart mr. CEO. specially after what Chris told you about him and what he had done. but yet you still chose to work with him and let him do PR for your company. and yet you still went through with copying Chris' sculpt. thats just as bad a recasting IMO. specially form a company.
so why is that Jonathan? why did you keep working with Abdel after you were told of his wrong doings? i would think that a CEO of a company wouldn't be so foolish to listen to a person they hardly know. specially if it would have a direct effect on their company. even if Abdel was misleading you he ran everything he was thinking about by you and you agreed to go through with it. you said it yourself that you knew in the back of your mind it was wrong but yet it was a decision you made. no one else. it seems to me there is just to many things that just dont add up or that are unclear. and im sure we will never know.
thats why its hard to for me to take you seriously or think that your being sincere.

another reason why im so skeptical to believe you is how you word your statements on your site and on your facebook page. your first post on your FB page claimed that you asked for the mods to lock up all of your threads. which that wasn't true at all. the mods them selves said they were locking them up until they talked to you. i think they said. "This thread is going to stay closed for a while. Syco you need to talk to the mods here asap". so how could you have asked them to lock them if they hadn't even talked to you yet? its like you dont want people to know what really was going on. and that you had done nothing wrong or knew nothing about what happened. (which i think you did) but yet you come on here on these forums and word your statements a little differently and come out and apologize to Chris but yet you dont have that apology up on your site or your facebook page. i think if you were truly sorry you would word all statements the exact same and post that apology to Chris on both those sites. and let people know if you do ever get a chance to produce a Lou Ferrigno hulk statue it will look nothing like what Chris' looks like. but im sure you wont be dong that now will you?

sorry to come off harsh like this. but its the only way to get my point across and to let you know how i am perceiving all of this. i know im being bias becasue of what you did to my friend. but i hope you can see the points i am making that would make it hard for some of us to take you seriously or believe that your being sincere.

[Gannon]

Well said Dynamic Menace - i think you're spot on.

[Sup3rs3d3d]

Oh snap! Captain Justice aka Dynamic Menace drove all those points home like Matlock!! lol I couldn't have said it better myself. I agree it's all a little shady how this went down and I'll reiterate some of these points with my final post on the CH....which was never answered.

I do appreciate the apology and what you're doing Jonathon. I'm ready to move on, though I'd like to explain the situation from my end and ask one final question.

I wasn't "upset", I just didn't take the company nor the deal seriously because I didn't understand how a company would let a third party handle it's dealings and business decisions without an official representative making contact with me. I only heard from Abdel throughout the whole ordeal up until a day before I was supposed to come to some sort of agreement. There was evidently going to be a meeting or conference call with Lou's people the next day and this meant I had no time to negotiate and figure out if everything Abdel was telling me was indeed true. Can you imagine now knowing what you know about Abdel...having only his word to go on??

I was upset however, when I saw how my work had been copied. I can understand how you can be in a pinch and you were lied to as well, but I don't understand why Abdel was still tied to the company after the fact. It seems he caused enough trouble from this fiasco alone to second guess your involvement with him, yet he was on the forums posting on Syco's behalf, asking for ideas and trying to hire sculptors from around March 2012 to just last week. If only now all ties have been cut, why weren't they cut long before? The vast majority of this could have been avoided. I think this answer and/or further detail of his involvement would restore trust.

[loricstone]

Just like with any individual or company that makes a mistake(s), I will always give them the benefit of the doubt and allow them to atone for it. The end result of acquiring my trust and forgiveness is if things do indeed change.

However, after the first situation with someone claiming to be Syco and providing all this information (of what we now know to be false), I always had my doubts about whoever was speaking. Firstly, the sentence structure and wording was just all kinds of wrong, especially compared to when Syco first started on SF. The language structure was more eloquent.

Secondly, I just want to point out to dynamic and anyone else that followed this whole debacle, what was said on Statueforum, was never, and I mean never ever mentioned or talked about on their facebook page unless someone from SF specifically asked a question about it in the Others section on the facebook page (I know this cause I go to Syco facebook page every day), and that is why I was always suspicious as to what was said here on Statueforum. So I will not come down on Syco (Jonathan specifically) like a hammer. It would have been even worse if he or any other representative of Syco came on SF and proceeded to say things not knowing all of the facts of what was going on over here.

I said to all you forum members before, SF is not the end all be all of statue information. In fact, a large portion of people that buy statues and toys never even visit forums. It was only at the behest of one of the members here that Syco even joined this forum. So again, my point is that its easy to lambaste Syco and Jonathan from a forum members perspective when we are on here every day. Syco was maybe on here 2 times a month (maybe a little more) at best, and it now seems most of those times, it was an imposter or the individual mentioned that was screwing up Syco's name and goodstanding and integrity with some of the fans on this forum (myself being one of them).

The bottom line is that mistakes happen Jonathan, and I hope that all is righted with Syco and I hope you grow stronger as a person and company, and get better as a statue manufacturer. I see any association with Erick Sosa as a step in the right direction as his work is extremely impressive.

If others on SF or elsewhere don't believe your apology or care for it, that is their prerogative. But that does not mean that you aren't progressing. As long as you from here on out treat the people that buy your products with respect and appreciation, you should have no problem in the future. Those who continue to harbor hate and doubt, nod your head and keep on stepping. I know from the few previous emails and communication you sent me concerning some of the statues I bought before, you seem to be an upstanding individual, and you always spoke to me with kindness and respect.

I hope you and Syco do well and get better! Now hurry up and bring that Scorpion out!!!

[ZKULPTOR]

Hi guys,
Jonathan had no clue as to how to even post here nor at the Clubhouse, I am beginning to see how with his limited time he would allow Eduardo ( Person posting before King of hobbies started posting, and in officially in charge of the Mortal Kombat threads ) to post here on his behalf. Until a few days back he had never been active on these forums, he has had the help of Eduardo, he simply has no time at all even from now on, to be very active here, he is basically a one man show.
He is as we speak at the factory doing QC, this is the reason why he moved from England to Hong Kong, so he could allocate 100% of is time to QC.
This is also why he is asked me to help him post here, and yes I have already talked to my other clients about this, and they are OK with my decision so here I am. I truly believe he is still learning a lot in terms of this industry as a whole, and thus the reason why he has asked me to help him as an adviser.


KOH was allowed to post as he had convinced Syco he could art direct people, and that he was pretty knowledgeable of this business... which in fact he is obviously not.

I have gone over every single point you guys have made with Jonathan in regards to this whole mess. I also told him my name cannot be associated with a company that has issues with its clients and the forums. I honestly believe Jonathan made mistakes, but truly believe he understands and regrets ever associating with Abdel AKA KOH, and not finding out about his reputation until this whole thing blew up.
He had no clue about what was going on at the forums until it was very late, as soon as he got an email from some people informing him about the situation he severed any ties with KOH/Abdel.
He also had no clue that Abdel had used different screen names, and that he had bee banned before etc. He also tells me he didn't know all the details in terms of what Abdel told/promised Chris.

I promise I have been over this with Jedideni from CH and Charles Kibby, from every angle possible, he answered every question. I was asked to find out more about this and after we spoke to him ( Jedi and I via skype) we felt he was being honest and trying to fix these issues.
As for the statement on FB in regards to Syco "asking to have the threads closed" Abdel told Eduardo this, that he had asked for the threads to be closed as to dodge any possible damage to the company. This is not true, and we all know this now. Statue Forum actually did this to protect its members period, but again Abdel twisted the facts in order to dodge a huge bullet.


While it is true that it is easy to point fingers when people make mistakes, again I want you to understand that I would not be helping them out if I didn't know there was an ounce of truth in what he related to us.
All I can say I have decided to give him a chance, and try to turn this in to a positive thing, not just for his company, me, but hopefully other people in the near future.


If things work out for the best in the next few months great, but if not I will be the first one to let you guys know, somehow I feel in my gut that won't be the case. I can already see the steps he has been taking in order to do right by people since I started advising him, not once has this man given me a negative attitude, or have I sensed a lack of resolve in terms of fixing the situation, if anything he seems very eager to keep moving forward while doing right by his clientele, and fans.
I am not asking anyone to forgive Jonathan, but to just give him a chance to try and make things right.

[ZKULPTOR]

Originally Posted by AstroWho

Are there any new updates with the situation on this Ferrigno Hulk Statue?
From what I read, whether it's the sculpt done by Chris or the one that you were gonna go with? Marvel had final say in it and not Lou Ferrigno so it was never released?
Has anything been done with Marvel to get this released yet?
Can things now be hashed out with Chris to get his original sculpt released?

The sculpt will never be released, Syco contacted Marvel, they said no.
Trust me I asked a friend that works at Disney, no one seems to know the details but it seems this is a product that according to Marvel will not happen. If there was even the faintest chance for this product to happen, ( and there isn't ) I would personally make sure Chris' sculpt got picked up, and paid in full upfront, and yes even add a generous dose of royalties, because it is the right thing to do, and I just love his sculpt that much.

[ZKULPTOR]

Originally Posted by DynamicMenace

nice to see you finally come on here and apologize where this whole mess all began.
i just hope you can understand that its going to be very hard for some of us to believe anything you say. seems how it took you so long to finally come out and say something about all that had transpired. (9 months) HulkGate 2012. why didn't you do this last year in April when HulkGate 2012 began? you should have done this then when it all came out on this forum long before it came out on the CH. but yet you chose not to. and dont say you didn't know about it happening here last April and what was going on on this forum. because if your the CEO of a company you should know every move that is being made on your companies behalf. no matter who is doing it. and no matter who your allowing to do it. specially something as serious as you copying a sculptors work and trying to pass it off as your own. it seems to me that the only reason why you are even apologizing is because your company had been exposed. again. so now after you know you cant getaway with it anymore you come out and apologize for it? i strongly believe if nothing had been said this apology would have never had happened. and you would still be doing business the way you have in the past and would still be working with Abdel.
just like when i brought it to your attention that you could still order your Lou Ferrigno Maquette up on your website a few days ago. only then you admitted it was wrong to have had it still up on your site and that you took it down only because i said something about it. cant you see how that makes you look? i really feel that if nothing was said at the Ch about Abdel soliciting sculptors for their sculpts for your company. you would have gone through with it. which i think you absolutely knew what he was doing yet you claim he had no approval. i strongly feel that he wouldn't have done it unless he did have your approval. seems how it was your company. same goes for your Lou Hulk statue. if i hadn't of said anything it would still be there up on your site for all who wanted to preorder it. because at that time you could still go through the whole ordering process and make payments on both version of it.

its easy to make someone the scape goat. and i believe thats what your doing with Abdel. making him the scape goat for all your wrong doings. not saying that he didn't do anything wrong. becasue its clear that he did and he was a large part of what went on in these forums. but i can see how easy it is to say that it was all his doing.
its just hard to believe that you knew nothing about what Abdel was doing or that he was misleading you every step of the way. cant you see how that is making you look? not making you look very smart mr. CEO. specially after what Chris told you about him and what he had done. but yet you still chose to work with him and let him do PR for your company. and yet you still went through with copying Chris' sculpt. thats just as bad a recasting IMO. specially form a company.
so why is that Jonathan? why did you keep working with Abdel after you were told of his wrong doings? i would think that a CEO of a company wouldn't be so foolish to listen to a person they hardly know. specially if it would have a direct effect on their company. even if Abdel was misleading you he ran everything he was thinking about by you and you agreed to go through with it. you said it yourself that you knew in the back of your mind it was wrong but yet it was a decision you made. no one else. it seems to me there is just to many things that just dont add up or that are unclear. and im sure we will never know.
thats why its hard to for me to take you seriously or think that your being sincere.

another reason why im so skeptical to believe you is how you word your statements on your site and on your facebook page. your first post on your FB page claimed that you asked for the mods to lock up all of your threads. which that wasn't true at all. the mods them selves said they were locking them up until they talked to you. i think they said. "This thread is going to stay closed for a while. Syco you need to talk to the mods here asap". so how could you have asked them to lock them if they hadn't even talked to you yet? its like you dont want people to know what really was going on. and that you had done nothing wrong or knew nothing about what happened. (which i think you did) but yet you come on here on these forums and word your statements a little differently and come out and apologize to Chris but yet you dont have that apology up on your site or your facebook page. i think if you were truly sorry you would word all statements the exact same and post that apology to Chris on both those sites. and let people know if you do ever get a chance to produce a Lou Ferrigno hulk statue it will look nothing like what Chris' looks like. but im sure you wont be dong that now will you?

sorry to come off harsh like this. but its the only way to get my point across and to let you know how i am perceiving all of this. i know im being bias becasue of what you did to my friend. but i hope you can see the points i am making that would make it hard for some of us to take you seriously or believe that your being sincere.

I agee with you Dynamic,
I also commend you for standing up for Chris, even when things got a bit heated.
I think the biggest issue here is being addressed, Jonathan needs more help, and he needs to be aware of everything going on, and act upon any need that arises. Yet, you cannot allow just anyone to help you either, new parameters have been established and I personally am overseeing things from now on.

I honestly feel things will go smoother, and hopefully soon they can hire other talent so we can create a good relationship with artists as well.
Things like this shouldn't happen, and I hope I can help with keeping that promise.