Tropes/Screwed by the Lawyers/ArgosyMTM Group

ArgosyMTM Group under Ellen Peck has become notorious for combining this trope, Executive Meddling, and Screwed by the Network in an attempt to make sure all subsidiaries conform to Ellen’s expectations, which includes not investing in blockchain or NFT ventures. No matter how you feel on NFTs or crypto, it’s kinda sad, because ArgosyMTM used to be known for giving creators and subsidiaries autonomy, and Ellen is a quite talented creator herself, and now, all they’re doing is screwing subsidiaries left and right because New Media Are Evil.

Literature

 * In a blend of this and Screwed by the Network, Seussibles (a planned official Dr. Seuss NFT app) was screwed over less than a day after being announced, due to Dr. Seuss Enterprises happening to be owned by ArgosyMTM Group, a company which is run by Ellen Peck, a known blockchain and NFT skeptic. Dapper Labs and Tibles, the intended NFT partners, were both served Cease-and-Desist notices. To add insult to injury, a day later, Dr. Seuss Enterprises was merged into Cloudco Entertainment and The Jim Henson Company (other subsidiaries which “coincidentally” both had NFT plans that Ellen had screwed over) to form the nondescript “ArgosyMTM Classics” division, headed by Ms. Ellen Peck herself, and former Seuss head Susan Brandt (who had the idea for Seussibles in the first place) was reportedly demoted to a role within The Asylum, Argosy’s Z-movie and Mockbuster division.

Music

 * Plans for Crazy Frog NFTs were also screwed over by ArgosyMTM management, though this was a justified trope somewhat, due to massive internet backlash towards the NFT plans. Similarly to what happened with the Seussibles incident, the intended partner, crypto startup Metabeats, received a cease-and-desist letter once the plans had been cancelled, in this case signed by Ellen Peck herself. The Metabeats website disappeared soon after.

Puppet Shows

 * Another victim of Ellen Peck: the Jim Henson Company, which had been acquired by ArgosyMTM in 2015, but retained its autonomy, planned to release NFTs in collaboration with a company called VeVe, and even had a press release out in early December 2021.. Ellen found out, and the deal was cancelled, with VeVe receiving a C&D letter as usual. Later that month, the Henson division was merged with the Cloudco and Dr. Seuss divisions to form “ArgosyMTM Classics”, which is really just a dumping ground for subsidiaries which Ellen “embraced, extended, and extinguished”.

Sports

 * The Seattle Kraken NHL expansion team wanted to release NFTs to reveal the team’s mascot. The operative word is “wanted”, because the team happened to be owned by ArgosyMTM Group. The deal with blockchain startup Orange Comet was terminated once Ellen found out, and as usual, said startup received a C&D letter.

Toys

 * One of the first of many examples of Ellen Peck and her lawyers screwing ArgosyMTM subsidiaries over due to her hate for NFTs, was in September 2021, when she screwed a LOL Surprise NFT project by the MGA Entertainment subsidiary in partnership with startup Ioconic, which (in what became a tradition at ArgosyMTM) received a cease-and-desist letter once the project was cancelled. MGA was unceremoniously merged with fellow Argosy subsidiaries, Topps and Jellycat, to create ArgosyMTM Toys later that month, and while the Topps and Jellycat brand names were retained, the MGA name no longer appears anywhere, and the MGA website now redirects to the generic MTM Enterprises site. Isaac Larian, the CEO of the MGA unit, was reassigned to writing for eBaum’s World, of all the things owned by Argosy. (Ellen seems to like placing subsidiary executives who tried getting into NFTs, into unfavourable positions within the company.)

Western Animation

 * Another victim of Ellen Peck’s hate towards crypto and the slow end of any and all autonomy within ArgosyMTM subsidiaries, plans for Care Bears NFTs in partnership with crypto startup RECUR got scuttled once an Argosy fan/NFT critic noticed Care Bears parent Cloudco was owned by AMTM, and pinged Ellen Peck’s Twitter account. RECUR reportedly received two C&D’s; one telling them to stop using the Care Bears IP, and one forbidding them from making any partnerships with anything even remotely connected to ArgosyMTM IPs. Cloudco was swiftly merged into the vaguely-defined “ArgosyMTM Classics” subsidiary, run at arm’s-length from corporate, ensuring everything had to cater to Ellen’s whim. The former Cloudco licensing head, Robert Prinzo, was reportedly reassigned to the “Alternative” film division (e.g. Troma and aforementioned Asylum).