I've stayed quiet about this for a long time, but something has been bothering me.
Recently, I've heard people claim that Titanium Titans made "no sense" or that there was no real story there. That's simply not true.
You may not have liked the story. That's fair. Not every story is for every reader. But Titanium Titans absolutely had a beginning, middle, and end. It had heroes, villains, mystery, history, family dynamics, world-building, horror, science fiction, and a larger mythology. Anyone who actually took the time to read it could follow it.
What many people don't understand is that I wasn't just writing the story. I was wearing the Creative Director hat. I worked alongside some incredibly talented people in the toy industry and we went to town trying to build something special.
The company paid for the work being done, but my situation was different. I wasn't sitting on a full-time salary collecting a paycheck regardless of the outcome. My success was tied directly to the success of the project. If the project failed, I felt it. If the project succeeded, I succeeded with it. That's a very different level of investment.
Everything became my responsibility. If a chest piece wasn't working, I had to solve it. If a helmet needed redesigning, I had to solve it. If a character wasn't landing, I had to solve it. If the story needed adjustments, I had to solve it. That's what a Creative Director does. You don't get to stand on the sidelines and throw rocks. You're in the arena making hundreds of decisions and carrying the weight of the project every day.
What I find ironic is how quickly some people dismiss original creations while building businesses around characters and brands created by other creative men and women 30 or 40 years ago. It takes a lot of gall to criticize creators while benefiting from the sweat, risk, sacrifice, and imagination of creators who came before.
The truth is simple: I created something original.
I took a chance.
I built a world from scratch.
Nobody handed me Titanium Titans. Nobody handed me Johnny Phantasm. Nobody handed me Last of the Seekers. Nobody handed me American Ninja X. Those worlds started as blank pieces of paper.
Criticism doesn't bother me. Criticism comes with being a creator. What bothers me is when people knowingly misrepresent the truth. At that point, it's no longer criticismโit's fiction.
For a long time I said nothing. I took the high road and kept creating. But when someone publicly rewrites history and dismisses years of hard work, it deserves a response.
Titanium Titans wasn't perfect.
Neither am I.
But I stand behind every page, every character, every design, every late night, every meeting, every revision, and every ounce of effort that went into it.
At the end of the day, creators create.
That's what I've always done.
And that's what I'll continue to do.
The work speaks for itself.
#titamiumtitans #riotpress #ramentoy