The Energon Pub

Rated X wrote:I think youre missing the entire point. I dont make videos so why would I create an account on a video posting site ?

Im not here for the reviewers, im here for the fandom. Thats why im posting on a fan site...duh

As we have already seen, there are plenty of seibertronians who are active on youtube, facebook, twitter, etc. If this thread gives them the inspiration to take the fight to the reviewers elsewhere, I applaud them.

You keep saying Im all talk. Well thats exactly what people come to a fan site to do. I came to "talk" about my suspicions. If my "talk" helps generate a new additude about sponsored reviewers, then its the fandom speaking on its own, not me. Like I said earlier, all I did was let the cat out the bag. Im not the martyr you want me to be.

But you're not generating a new attitude about sponsored reviewers, or really anything beyond annoyance at your constant whining about "muh shills". And that's all it is- whining. You say "Theyre totally lying to you guise!!!" without any real evidence, and what little you do put forward is quickly debunked. You are not only all talk, all your talk is utterly empty and devoid of any compelling argument, evidence or anything worth listening to.

Nobody is interested in "taking the fight to" reviewers, because there is no fight to be had. This isn't GamerGate- we don't have a whole corrupt industry dedicated to skewing reviews in favour of products that fit a certain political bias. The toy review scene isn't even big enough to have any kind of "conspiracy". The worst that's ever came out of the toy reviewing scene is a few reviews where the reviewers were perhaps a little lenient on a figure (which considering your idea of what makes an "acceptable" figure is no worthy metric to dictate the trustworthiness of anyone). You're a windmill crusader, X, and

If you really think that the reviewers on YouTube are that bad then make your own YouTube account and do your own reviews. If you're that dedicated to "fighting" these big bad toy reviewers who don't meet your standards (read: don't agree with you on everything) then it will do a lot more for that "cause" than constant complaining and FUNposting on a forum.

NOS wrote:Not to be defending Peaugh, but did anyone bother to read the comments below the video? He does acknowledge the break per another users post and I quote -

"Yeah, I just got some pliers and pulled it out, still holds just fine. trimmed the other handle to be even. It was weird though, it had only been in there for about 20 minutes and it was like the paint had somehow fused inside the hand hole."

I can't say I understand why he didn't comment on it in the video, but he does acknowledge it . . .

On topic, I personally believe anyone sponsored by -anyone- is definitely confined in some way as far as what they can and can't say. It's just standard practice. That's why it's always fair to take things with a grain of salt and focus not so much on the words said, but the content presented in the video.

True he does mention it in the comments but only when asked about is directly, in contrast in Optibotimus' review of Kronos, he not only mentions the breakage he shows detailed shots of the nature and extent of the break, Peaugh literally covers up the break with his thumb! And also fails to mention what millions of viewers can see with their own eyes. I have no doubt that sponsered reviewers are bound to some form of contract but I personally expect a certain amount of integrity from my reviewers.

i beleive the point with X has been made (which he obviously wont heed), but my one last point is with the youtube account: you seem to think that having an account only makes sense for those making videos? thats really not the case. probably 90% of youtube accounts are of people who watch videos rather than make them.

leakin' lubricant wrote:

NOS wrote:Not to be defending Peaugh, but did anyone bother to read the comments below the video? He does acknowledge the break per another users post and I quote -

"Yeah, I just got some pliers and pulled it out, still holds just fine. trimmed the other handle to be even. It was weird though, it had only been in there for about 20 minutes and it was like the paint had somehow fused inside the hand hole."

I can't say I understand why he didn't comment on it in the video, but he does acknowledge it . . .

On topic, I personally believe anyone sponsored by -anyone- is definitely confined in some way as far as what they can and can't say. It's just standard practice. That's why it's always fair to take things with a grain of salt and focus not so much on the words said, but the content presented in the video.

True he does mention it in the comments but only when asked about is directly, in contrast in Optibotimus' review of Kronos, he not only mentions the breakage he shows detailed shots of the nature and extent of the break, Peaugh literally covers up the break with his thumb! And also fails to mention what millions of viewers can see with their own eyes. I have no doubt that sponsered reviewers are bound to some form of contract but I personally expect a certain amount of integrity from my reviewers.

I guess my point is he could have simply ignored the post instead of answering it directly. He didn't really have any obligation to answer the post so, it's not as if he's pretending it didn't happen.

For that matter couldn't he have postponed the review to request a replacement from TFsource instead of just going through with the footage if he wanted to cover something up?

Please don't misunderstand me, it's not as if I'm trying to defend Peaugh. To be honest, I rarely watch any reviews for figures so, I'm ignorant to the instances in which this may have happened in the past. All I'm saying is if he was intending to deceive there are far better ways to do so than to cover it up with his thumb and hope the viewers don't notice.

NOS wrote: Please don't misunderstand me, it's not as if I'm trying to defend Peaugh. To be honest, I rarely watch any reviews for figures so, I'm ignorant to the instances in which this may have happened in the past. All I'm saying is if he was intending to deceive there are far better ways to do so than to cover it up with his thumb and hope the viewers don't notice.

I agree. Simply waiting for a replacement part and reshooting would be a far more effective deception. Maybe he should have highlighted it more, but I can't say he deceived anyone when he made a video of the part breaking and posted it to youtube.

shajaki wrote:i beleive the point with X has been made (which he obviously wont heed), but my one last point is with the youtube account: you seem to think that having an account only makes sense for those making videos? thats really not the case. probably 90% of youtube accounts are of people who watch videos rather than make them.

I don't need an account to watch youtube videos. If you are among the group of people who like to watch videos of babies and puppies and leave comments that say "awww...isn't that cute" than more power to you. I'm not among that group of people. I don't film videos so I don't need a youtube account to upload them to.

I think my point has been made, I came here to warn the fandom about my suspicions. I never took an oath to battle the sponsored reviewers on their own websites.

Nobody gave Paul Revere a musket and told him to go fight the British after he finished his legendary ride. He probably watched the whole war from his loft window sipping on some ale...and that's exactly what I'm doing right now.

I rarely say this, but why don't you get back on topic? This thread is about sponsored reviewers agendas, not Rated X's agenda.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

NOS wrote: Please don't misunderstand me, it's not as if I'm trying to defend Peaugh. To be honest, I rarely watch any reviews for figures so, I'm ignorant to the instances in which this may have happened in the past. All I'm saying is if he was intending to deceive there are far better ways to do so than to cover it up with his thumb and hope the viewers don't notice.

I agree. Simply waiting for a replacement part and reshooting would be a far more effective deception. Maybe he should have highlighted it more, but I can't say he deceived anyone when he made a video of the part breaking and posted it to youtube.

Apart from covering up the break with his thumb? Come on, if (and I do mean if) reveiwers get the figures for free are they really going to go back cap in hand asking for yet another free figure? And lets say that they are paid instead of reciving free figures I dont think BBTS and the like are going to pay for a reveiwer and go to the trouble of sending out relpacement figuers every time one of them has a fault.

Rated X wrote:I rarely say this, but why don't you get back on topic? This thread is about sponsored reviewers agendas, not Rated X's agenda.

it isnt? i coulda swore this thread was made to move your anti-reviewer rants elsewhere. so im pretty sure i am on topic. however, i know when its time to stop beating a dead horse.

leakin' lubricant wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

NOS wrote: Please don't misunderstand me, it's not as if I'm trying to defend Peaugh. To be honest, I rarely watch any reviews for figures so, I'm ignorant to the instances in which this may have happened in the past. All I'm saying is if he was intending to deceive there are far better ways to do so than to cover it up with his thumb and hope the viewers don't notice.

I agree. Simply waiting for a replacement part and reshooting would be a far more effective deception. Maybe he should have highlighted it more, but I can't say he deceived anyone when he made a video of the part breaking and posted it to youtube.

Apart from covering up the break with his thumb? Come on, if (and I do mean if) reveiwers get the figures for free are they really going to go back cap in hand asking for yet another free figure? And lets say that they are paid instead of reciving free figures I dont think BBTS and the like are going to pay for a reveiwer and go to the trouble of sending out relpacement figuers every time one of them has a fault.

If he wanted to cover it up he wouldn't have posted it on Youtube.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

NOS wrote: Please don't misunderstand me, it's not as if I'm trying to defend Peaugh. To be honest, I rarely watch any reviews for figures so, I'm ignorant to the instances in which this may have happened in the past. All I'm saying is if he was intending to deceive there are far better ways to do so than to cover it up with his thumb and hope the viewers don't notice.

I agree. Simply waiting for a replacement part and reshooting would be a far more effective deception. Maybe he should have highlighted it more, but I can't say he deceived anyone when he made a video of the part breaking and posted it to youtube.

So you are implying Peaugh shouldn't use the mouth he was born with on camera ?

How many people have watched his review embedded on fan sites like this one and will never see the youtube comments or Peaugh's replies ?

He broke the damn figure on camera and showed absolutely no emotion as if he didn't care. As the face of TF Source, that was extremely unprofessional. He could have simply said, "uh oh I just snapped the handle so be warned these things are not only tight but fragile". He could have gone on to advise people to sand down the handles a bit to avoid issues. But instead he just bit his tongue and did exactly what a company puppet would do...keep the tape rolling and act like it's nothing you should be concerned about.

Or, you know, he thought "That was my fault, if I went out of my way to say I was clumsy and broke it by accident it might seem like I was trying to cover something up". It perhaps wasn't the best decision but there's no way it's decent evidence to accuse him of being a "company puppet".

shajaki wrote:

Rated X wrote:I rarely say this, but why don't you get back on topic? This thread is about sponsored reviewers agendas, not Rated X's agenda.

it isnt? i coulda swore this thread was made to move your anti-reviewer rants elsewhere. so im pretty sure i am on topic. however, i know when its time to stop beating a dead horse.

The intention of this thread's creation and it's actual topic are two totally different things. Don't get them twisted.

My passion was to warn the fandom of my suspicions and raise awareness. I've accomplished that already.

Your passion seems to be for someone to go to war with the reviewers on an almost personal level.

I'm sure you have a Youtube account. If your that passionate about someone waging a youtube war, why don't you go do it ?

You've got my blessings young solider.

I don't see the big coverup. We see him struggling with it, we see it break, we see the uneven points in axe mode.

Rated X wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

NOS wrote: Please don't misunderstand me, it's not as if I'm trying to defend Peaugh. To be honest, I rarely watch any reviews for figures so, I'm ignorant to the instances in which this may have happened in the past. All I'm saying is if he was intending to deceive there are far better ways to do so than to cover it up with his thumb and hope the viewers don't notice.

I agree. Simply waiting for a replacement part and reshooting would be a far more effective deception. Maybe he should have highlighted it more, but I can't say he deceived anyone when he made a video of the part breaking and posted it to youtube.

So you are implying Peaugh shouldn't use the mouth he was born with on camera ?

How many people have watched his review embedded on fan sites like this one and will never see the youtube comments or Peaugh's replies ?

He broke the damn figure on camera and showed absolutely no emotion as if he didn't care. As the face of TF Source, that was extremely unprofessional. He could have simply said, "uh oh I just snapped the handle so be warned these things are not only tight but fragile". He could have gone on to advise people to sand down the handles a bit to avoid issues. But instead he just bit his tongue and did exactly what a company puppet would do...keep the tape rolling and act like it's nothing you should be concerned about.

X, I'm not about to fuel the fire of your ever-burning furnace to which you insist your views are always 100% correct. Believe what you wish to believe.

To anyone else who doesn't agree with my post I only say this . . . if your intention is to deceive people on the internet would you purposely upload evidence or would you simply not upload the material and wait for a replacement and re-shoot the footage?

If he's "the face of TFSource" he'd have easily asked for a replacement part and reshot the video.

If you want to hide something you don't post it on youtube.

Rated X wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

NOS wrote: Please don't misunderstand me, it's not as if I'm trying to defend Peaugh. To be honest, I rarely watch any reviews for figures so, I'm ignorant to the instances in which this may have happened in the past. All I'm saying is if he was intending to deceive there are far better ways to do so than to cover it up with his thumb and hope the viewers don't notice.

I agree. Simply waiting for a replacement part and reshooting would be a far more effective deception. Maybe he should have highlighted it more, but I can't say he deceived anyone when he made a video of the part breaking and posted it to youtube.

So you are implying Peaugh shouldn't use the mouth he was born with on camera ?

How many people have watched his review embedded on fan sites like this one and will never see the youtube comments or Peaugh's replies ?

He broke the damn figure on camera and showed absolutely no emotion as if he didn't care. As the face of TF Source, that was extremely unprofessional. He could have simply said, "uh oh I just snapped the handle so be warned these things are not only tight but fragile". He could have gone on to advise people to sand down the handles a bit to avoid issues. But instead he just bit his tongue and did exactly what a company puppet would do...keep the tape rolling and act like it's nothing you should be concerned about.

That is exactly what he should have done, his scilence when he breaks the piece is deafening.

NOS wrote:

Rated X wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

NOS wrote: Please don't misunderstand me, it's not as if I'm trying to defend Peaugh. To be honest, I rarely watch any reviews for figures so, I'm ignorant to the instances in which this may have happened in the past. All I'm saying is if he was intending to deceive there are far better ways to do so than to cover it up with his thumb and hope the viewers don't notice.

I agree. Simply waiting for a replacement part and reshooting would be a far more effective deception. Maybe he should have highlighted it more, but I can't say he deceived anyone when he made a video of the part breaking and posted it to youtube.

So you are implying Peaugh shouldn't use the mouth he was born with on camera ?

How many people have watched his review embedded on fan sites like this one and will never see the youtube comments or Peaugh's replies ?

He broke the damn figure on camera and showed absolutely no emotion as if he didn't care. As the face of TF Source, that was extremely unprofessional. He could have simply said, "uh oh I just snapped the handle so be warned these things are not only tight but fragile". He could have gone on to advise people to sand down the handles a bit to avoid issues. But instead he just bit his tongue and did exactly what a company puppet would do...keep the tape rolling and act like it's nothing you should be concerned about.

X, I'm not about to fuel the fire of your ever-burning furnace to which you insist your views are always 100% correct. Believe what you wish to believe.

To anyone else who doesn't agree with my post I only say this . . . if your intention is to deceive people on the internet would you purposely upload evidence or would you simply not upload the material and wait for a replacement and re-shoot the footage?

All Im saying is Peaugh is not a mute. He was born with a mouth and the one time using it would have been helpful to his viewers he failed to use it.

leakin' lubricant wrote:

Rated X wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

NOS wrote: Please don't misunderstand me, it's not as if I'm trying to defend Peaugh. To be honest, I rarely watch any reviews for figures so, I'm ignorant to the instances in which this may have happened in the past. All I'm saying is if he was intending to deceive there are far better ways to do so than to cover it up with his thumb and hope the viewers don't notice.

I agree. Simply waiting for a replacement part and reshooting would be a far more effective deception. Maybe he should have highlighted it more, but I can't say he deceived anyone when he made a video of the part breaking and posted it to youtube.

So you are implying Peaugh shouldn't use the mouth he was born with on camera ?

How many people have watched his review embedded on fan sites like this one and will never see the youtube comments or Peaugh's replies ?

He broke the damn figure on camera and showed absolutely no emotion as if he didn't care. As the face of TF Source, that was extremely unprofessional. He could have simply said, "uh oh I just snapped the handle so be warned these things are not only tight but fragile". He could have gone on to advise people to sand down the handles a bit to avoid issues. But instead he just bit his tongue and did exactly what a company puppet would do...keep the tape rolling and act like it's nothing you should be concerned about.

That is exactly what he should have done, his scilence when he breaks the piece is deafening.

Again, if he wanted to hide it he wouldn't have posted the video to youtube. That's not how you hide something.

Delta Magnus wrote:Or, you know, he thought "That was my fault, if I went out of my way to say I was clumsy and broke it by accident it might seem like I was trying to cover something up". It perhaps wasn't the best decision but there's no way it's decent evidence to accuse him of being a "company puppet".

No but it is evidence of him being a untrustworthy reviewer who is incapable of giving a fair representation of the figures he reviews.

Delta Magnus wrote:Or, you know, he thought "That was my fault, if I went out of my way to say I was clumsy and broke it by accident it might seem like I was trying to cover something up". It perhaps wasn't the best decision but there's no way it's decent evidence to accuse him of being a "company puppet".

How would taking full blame be viewed as a cover up ?

If anything saying he was at fault would take the blame off both Fansproject and TF Source.

Remember Peaugh isn't some random hobbyist reviewer. He is the face of TF Source. He is in a position where he is obligated to the fandom to comment on these issues. Isn't that why they are called "reviews" ? Or should we just start calling them advertisements instead ?

Well, something breaking on camera and saying "that was my fault, I was being clumsy there" could be viewed by a lot of people as "This toy is fragile, but I'm going to say I was just being clumsy to avoid people knowing it breaks easily". Of course, regardless of what he'd said he'd probably still be called out for being "a shill" by people like you.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

leakin' lubricant wrote:

Rated X wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

NOS wrote: Please don't misunderstand me, it's not as if I'm trying to defend Peaugh. To be honest, I rarely watch any reviews for figures so, I'm ignorant to the instances in which this may have happened in the past. All I'm saying is if he was intending to deceive there are far better ways to do so than to cover it up with his thumb and hope the viewers don't notice.

I agree. Simply waiting for a replacement part and reshooting would be a far more effective deception. Maybe he should have highlighted it more, but I can't say he deceived anyone when he made a video of the part breaking and posted it to youtube.

So you are implying Peaugh shouldn't use the mouth he was born with on camera ?

How many people have watched his review embedded on fan sites like this one and will never see the youtube comments or Peaugh's replies ?

He broke the damn figure on camera and showed absolutely no emotion as if he didn't care. As the face of TF Source, that was extremely unprofessional. He could have simply said, "uh oh I just snapped the handle so be warned these things are not only tight but fragile". He could have gone on to advise people to sand down the handles a bit to avoid issues. But instead he just bit his tongue and did exactly what a company puppet would do...keep the tape rolling and act like it's nothing you should be concerned about.

That is exactly what he should have done, his scilence when he breaks the piece is deafening.

Again, if he wanted to hide it he wouldn't have posted the video to youtube. That's not how you hide something.

The review has to be posted. That's why he was given a free figure. And Im sure somebody from TF Source is checking his youtube page to make sure he is actually doing the work he is compensated for.

So what it all really boils down to is should he contact TF Source, say he broke the figure, and beg them to fed ex him a replacement quickly so he can re-shoot the video ? How many times can he do that before TF Source decides his services don't meet their expectations? I'm sure there's a long line of amateur hobbyist reviewers who would love to take Peaugh's place and get his free stuff. I'm sure that's something Peaugh takes into consideration before he misses a deadline.

Delta Magnus wrote:Well, something breaking on camera and saying "that was my fault, I was being clumsy there" could be viewed by a lot of people as "This toy is fragile, but I'm going to say I was just being clumsy to avoid people knowing it breaks easily". Of course, regardless of what he'd said he'd probably still be called out for being "a shill" by people like you.

People are going to think one of 3 things when they watch that video:

A. The reviewer is clumsy as hell.

B. Fansproject uses poor quality plastic.

C. TF Source's products get damaged during the shipping process.


Among those 3 scenarios, which do you think is best for business ?

It doesn't take a degree in marketing to realize "A" is the best scenario to work in TF Source's favor. If the reviewer is a certified buffoon, that takes the blame off of both Fansproject and TF Source.

I don't think there's much winning for Peaugh here. He visibly struggles with the thing and breaks it on camera. He posts the footage to Youtube, totally unedited. It's completely transparent. I don't see a running commentary as helping much.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I don't think there's much winning for Peaugh here. He visibly struggles with the thing and breaks it on camera. He posts the footage to Youtube, totally unedited. It's completely transparent. I don't see a running commentary as helping much.

I wouldn't define being "transparent" as just seeing him break it. Being "transparent" also requires a verbal acknowledgement for those who wondered why it might have broke. And some people who don't have a sharp eye might have missed the breakage altogether if they were focusing solely on his words rather than the footage.