Thread by @wizoomer95

What’s going on with Restore The Magic and the Lady prop? A thread

(Please note beforehand: All of these tweets reflect my own views and do not necessarily reflect the views of Restore The Magic as a whole.)

I know a lot of you have been wondering about the Lady prop and what happened to her. There has led to people questioning the legitimacy of the organization, with some stating Restore The Magic is a scam (it is not) or that Lady is no longer in safe hands. I wish to assure you…

…that this is not the case. But before I do that, allow me to explain my role within the organization, and my history with RTM.
My bio says #RestoreTheMagic founder, and the reason is twofold. In late 2014, Britt made a statement about wanting a director’s cut release of TATMR.

People on SiF were talking about it. A new DC campaign was slowly starting to form, this time solely targeting Shout! Factory for a potential release. We started talking about possible hashtags for the campaign. There were many suggestions, but we eventually agreed to use…

…my suggestion: #RestoreTheMagic. And thus, Restore The Magic was born as a fan-driven campaign for a director’s cut release of Thomas and the Magic Railroad. We started targeting Shout! Factory, but later went on to target Mattel and Sony as well.
Fast forward to November 2016.

Eric Scherer of Actors Reaching Out did a library theatrical program called Thomas & The Big Celebration, which Britt Allcroft was a part of. She talked a bit about RTM with Eric, and after hearing her passion for the project, Eric decided to get involved and restructure RTM.

It was a year later that the Lady prop was found. Eric then worked on transitioning RTM into a 501(c)3 nonprofit. I’m a board member of this organization, thus making me a “founding member”, or #RestoreTheMagic founder. Following a successful GoFundMe, RTM was able to buy Lady.

We were planning to create an interactive museum exhibit about railway representation in media, but a former volunteer had a public falling out with us. I won’t go into more details about that incident. If you wish to read more about it, please go here: drive.google.com/file/d/1BbjFrL…

Long story short, following this fiasco, RTM’s reputation frankly was never able to recover. We were able to move the prop to Florida, though. But other than that, there have been no updates. The reason for this has been simple: We have no updates to give.

With the TATMR Blu-ray now available with deleted scenes, the TATMR portion of RTM is now over. Whether you think RTM has anything to do with that (I can assure you we had some role), I think we all can agree that there’d be no point in petitioning for a true DC release now.

We HAD plans to start a petition for a STS DVD release, but given the backlash from the fandom for “stealing credit” for the TATMR blu-ray and not restoring the Lady prop fast enough, Eric decided to abandon that, too. But THAT’S what this tweet was about:

https://twitter.com/RestoreTheMagic/status/1296152293948239874

Which brings me to my next point: Both Eric and Katie are ready to move on from this whole thing. The whole ordeal has taken a toll on their mental health, and while I won’t speak for them, I can’t blame them after everything that has gone on. The interactive museum exhibit…

…was scrapped long ago, and while we would hope to at least finish restoring Lady and sell her to a railroad museum, that’s not a guarantee at this point. Through Eric’s other nonprofit (ARO) and his company Rainbow Sun Productions, they have a lot more other projects with…

…more support than RTM has right now. That’s from both a financial and interest level standpoint. Eric has essentially moved on from the Thomas fandom, and while I don’t plan to do so, I must admit that all these accusations against RTM have affected my mental health as well.

But above all, I want to make it absolutely clear: We NEVER mishandled the money from the GoFundMe. We bought the prop, paid for it’s move into storage, and kept paying those storage fees. It went exactly to what we said it was going to. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be surprised…

…if everything related to the Lady prop was abandoned now. And while that’s not for certain, that doesn’t make RTM a scam. We didn’t set out to deceive people. Eric didn’t take the money and run. The truth of the matter is, if this doesn’t work out, it’s simply because…

…there wasn’t enough funding or interest to keep the project alive. Finally, I want to say to all who have read this: PLEASE don’t harass Eric or Katie over this. They have been through enough. If there ever any updates with Lady and/or RTM, they will be the first to tell you.

I also know at least one individual had sent a letter to the address listed for RTM on the IRS website, which was returned as undeliverable. The reason why is because Eric and Katie have since moved (I’m not disclosing where for obvious reasons), and they haven’t updated…

…the paperwork yet. But whether Lady is restored or not, RTM will likely be shutting down regardless. That’s really all I can say on the matter. Until there is a further update from Eric or Katie, I will not say anymore on the matter. Thank you for your understanding! /thread