Fred, that's certainly a loaded question. The well-documented lawsuit (which you could go back and research on the train forums) certainly polarized people, and certainly didn't not help the image of the hobby especially to outsiders. I think hatred is a strong word... it's really a matter of choice.
Dealers are a different ballpark than the consumer, and there are a number of variables that affect a dealer's decision including: product availability and allocation, pre-order amounts (both quantity and dollar amount), wholesale availability, product backup and service/repair arrangements, return policies, product updates - and the list goes on. For every dealer who feels like he got some kind of raw deal from MTH, there's another who could say he got a raw deal from Lionel, or Williams or others.
Blowout pricing certainly annoys small dealers. They pre-order products at normal pricing to be sold at normal pricing and then all of a sudden a select few large mailorder dealers are selling the same product at a discount price to consumers that beats the small dealer's wholesale price. Which means that item either sits on the dealer's shelf until the blowouts are gone (which can take months) or the dealer sells his items at a loss. That's one small example, and Lionel and Williams have been guilty of that too.
From a consumer viewpoint, I think there are some real diehard MTH fans out there.... you see that in the train magazines. MTH has aimed their product line more towards the scale end, and they do have variety (espeically of locomotives) that is unmatched in 3-rail trains.
For me personally, they make very few undersized 027 or traditionally sized trains outside of their Rugged Rails line, which lags behind other companies. From the very beginning, MTH made known their intentions they were not making undersized, smaller trains and their advertising made good point of this in comparison ads with Lionel products.
BUT some of us like those smaller products. And some of us DO NOT like the additional electronics in our trains. Now MTH does make some smaller products: some of the Railking Rolling stock items like tank cars and flat cars are very close to the Lionel conterparts. And the Rugged Rails cars are even better in this department. I have a few Rugged Rails cars and do like them, and would have happily bought more. But MTH has put little effort into this product line with scant few new products whereas companies have done otherwise.
So for me, it's not hatred at all. It's simply a matter that MTH chooses to make product I am not interested in. Others like RMT, Lionel, and K-Line made smaller-than-full-scale products I liked. Some of the older Railking locos were very nice and I liked the modern styles and paint schemes... BUT I WILL NOT buy any loco with added electronics that I will only rip out and throw away. When they make those same locos without the added electronics, and price them accordingly, my story may change... may I say because I already have plenty of trains and very few of them are MTH.
