The Energon Pub

Oh man I think I want this.. it looks so good next to soundwave... =X Must not buy... until fans get their hands on it and tell us the real life issues they have. I just don't trust KFC..

Autobot032 wrote:So...pretty much none of them? All of the main ones receive samples now, these days. Or, I should say, usually. Peaugh has received figure samples he put down, such as Bad Cube's Brawn and Outback. He even said they're not worth the money.

There are plenty of reviewers on youtube that doesn't get free toys. They are just much smaller, Lots of fans make their own reviews. And while Peaugh say it might not be worth the money... lol look at how hesitant he was in saying it? And then gave you like 10 different things about how awesome it is... lol It's okay I understand the business. I just wish he we can see what he really thinks about it has he not gotten them for free.

mooncake623 wrote:Oh man I think I want this.. it looks so good next to soundwave... =X Must not buy... until fans get their hands on it and tell us the real life issues they have. I just don't trust KFC..

Autobot032 wrote:So...pretty much none of them? All of the main ones receive samples now, these days. Or, I should say, usually. Peaugh has received figure samples he put down, such as Bad Cube's Brawn and Outback. He even said they're not worth the money.

There are plenty of reviewers on youtube that doesn't get free toys. They are just much smaller, Lots of fans make their own reviews. And while Peaugh say it might not be worth the money... lol look at how hesitant he was in saying it? And then gave you like 10 different things about how awesome it is... lol It's okay I understand the business. I just wish he we can see what he really thinks about it has he not gotten them for free.

Well he is pretty blatant about it too which I take as arrogance. In his latest "review" for MBC Onslaught he brags about how it just showed up unexpected at his door. Then when talking about the different versions of FOC combaticons, he said he cant remember if he owns the retail version but if he does they must be "out in the shed". Who doesnt even remember what figures they own ? Those arrogant statements flushed any credibility he ever had down the toilet. From a business perspective, he really should keep his free toy comments to himself. The review would be a whole lot more effective as a marketing tool if he had kept his mouth shut about how he gets his stuff. We would have never known if it werent for his gloating. I always assumed they paid like us until I started watching the intros and box art which I used to always skip.

Rated X wrote:Well he is pretty blatant about it too which I take as arrogance. In his latest "review" for MBC Onslaught he brags about how it just showed up unexpected at his door. Then when talking about the different versions of FOC combaticons, he said he cant remember if he owns the retail version but if he does they must be "out in the shed". Who doesnt even remember what figures they own ? Those arrogant statements flushed any credibility he ever had down the toilet. From a business perspective, he really should keep his free toy comments to himself. The review would be a whole lot more effective as a marketing tool if he had kept his mouth shut about how he gets his stuff. We would have never known if it werent for his gloating. I always assumed they paid like us until I started watching the intros and box art which I used to always skip.

with the amount of things he owns and reviews, i can see him forgetting things sometimes.

and i agree with that. if youre on the payroll (so to speak) then youre biased. or at least it can be easily perceived that way. coupled with the fact that he rarely has a negative thing to say gives him the salesman vibe.

again, i pretty much watch him because he has a wide range of figures and i like seeing
HD videos of figures im thinking of purchasing.

Why do so many threads turn into threads about reviewers instead of what they're reviewing?

Giving something to someone for free doesn't necessarily mean he's getting "paid off". If he never wanted it in the first place it may not even be seen as a great thing getting something for the sole purpose of "hey, please advertise this".

Maybe he can't remember if he sold the retail version of Onslaught. I can see that happening. If you sell a lot you may forget if you sold something. It's not arrogance, it's just honesty.

I wonder if he's ever made a statement about his integrity. It gets brought up so often I feel like someone must have made some kind of statement.

shajaki wrote:

Rated X wrote:Well he is pretty blatant about it too which I take as arrogance. In his latest "review" for MBC Onslaught he brags about how it just showed up unexpected at his door. Then when talking about the different versions of FOC combaticons, he said he cant remember if he owns the retail version but if he does they must be "out in the shed". Who doesnt even remember what figures they own ? Those arrogant statements flushed any credibility he ever had down the toilet. From a business perspective, he really should keep his free toy comments to himself. The review would be a whole lot more effective as a marketing tool if he had kept his mouth shut about how he gets his stuff. We would have never known if it werent for his gloating. I always assumed they paid like us until I started watching the intros and box art which I used to always skip.

with the amount of things he owns and reviews, i can see him forgetting things sometimes.

and i agree with that. if youre on the payroll (so to speak) then youre biased. or at least it can be easily perceived that way. coupled with the fact that he rarely has a negative thing to say gives him the salesman vibe.

again, i pretty much watch him because he has a wide range of figures and i like seeing
HD videos of figures im thinking of purchasing.

I would think if you spent personal funds, it would trigger your memory enough to know whether you own it or not. Ryan (seibertron) has no problem remembering the thousands of figures he owns, nor do I and I have surpassed the 500 mark. But I do watch the videos. I usually watch them with the figure in hand to learn how to transform them. I always wondered if the retailers realized that half of the reviewers views were only for help transforming, would they still give out so many free toys ? Lets take quantron for example. At 400 bucks a pop, do you really want to give away 3-5 of them for free ? Thats between $1200-2000 youre losing to give to these guys. Do BBTS and TFSource compile any statistics or surveys on how many paying customers used a review as a deciding factor ? Are they getting their moneys worth from the thousands of dollars in free stuff they give away ? Has the investment really paid back ? Ive always wondered...

Rated X wrote:Do BBTS and TFSource compile any statistics or surveys on how many paying customers used a review as a deciding factor ? Are they getting their moneys worth from the thousands of dollars in free stuff they give away ? Has the investment really paid back ? Ive always wondered...

Reviewers who are 'sponsored' typically include a link in the video description to the sponsor's product page. That product link is often tagged so that it can be isolated and analyzed in their web analytics tool (whether they use Google Analytics or some other tool).

That metric's not going to be 100% accurate, since people might see the video and decide to purchase later (without clicking that link), or they might go directly to the sponsor site themselves to browse around before buying (again, without clicking the link). But, at the very least, this will give the sponsors a rough idea of a video's impact on sales.

Rated X wrote:I always wondered if the retailers realized that half of the reviewers views were only for help transforming, would they still give out so many free toys ? Lets take quantron for example. At 400 bucks a pop, do you really want to give away 3-5 of them for free ? Thats between $1200-2000 you're losing to give to these guys.

Also, you can't think of these things in terms of retail, but actual cost to the retailer. I doubt sponsors pay more than 50% of their retail cost for most of the 3rd Party products they sell.

Not only that, but a lot of the 'samples' come directly from the company that manufactures them, so it's not like BBTS or TFsource take a hit in every case.

I am fully aware that some of these video reviewers do receive toys for free from sites and companies. also aware they can't bash the toys too much or they anger the sponsors and get no more free toys.

Thing is, Most fans, When they watch a TF toy video review. Can read through the lines while watching the video. Whether or not the video reviewer praises the toy or not. Video watchers have a rare opportunity to see the toy on video moving, getting transformed, see the articulation and so on.

I don't need a video reviewer to tell me if the toy is bad or good. I can see that through the video. I get to check out the toy plastic. Articulation, features, Scale and sculpting details.

Sure their is plenty of things you don't know like the toy quality and QC issues. But at the very least The on-line pics and video do help when deciding to buy or not.

I try not to have any OCD in this hobby. I'm grateful for the on-line pics and video reviews, As they do help.

No one has anything coming to them and we need to appreciate all the hard work these TF News guys and Video reviewer guys do.

I noticed Peaugh does not give any advice to video watchers telling them to buy or not buy.

All peaugh does is transform the toy, show off the articulations and do scale comparisons.

Admire Peaugh for not giving a opinion on the toy. Because he allows the video watchers to judge for themselves.

Peaugh is One of my favorite TF toy video reviewers. Because I find him the least annoying. If anyone has ever watched a bunch of badly done or newbie amateur TF toy video reviews they know what I'm referring to.

I liked Peaugh's review of Transistor. It pushes me closer to making a pre-order and seeing the finished paint job on the figure in action (as opposed to still photos) next to Soundwave put some of my previous qualms to rest.

Rated X wrote:Well he is pretty blatant about it too which I take as arrogance. In his latest "review" for MBC Onslaught he brags about how it just showed up unexpected at his door.

I don't take it as arrogance. He might not have gotten any recent communication from MBC regarding the shipment of the figure. People have been questioning the lack of updates from MBC about this project and it's likely that MBC has been silent with other business partners as well, including toy reviewers.

Rated X wrote:Then when talking about the different versions of FOC combaticons, he said he cant remember if he owns the retail version but if he does they must be "out in the shed". Who doesnt even remember what figures they own ?

Me. I don't fully remember every figure I own because not all of them are on display. Frankly, sometimes I get caught up in things and when I get a huge pile of loot I just don't remember everything that is supposed to be there. Sure, it's not a good habit to have, but I can see where he's coming from. Also, you are more than aware that the FOC Combaticons have come out in multiple versions: US retail, Takara retail, SDCC, G2 exclusive, and Thrilling 30. I just can't hold it against him if he doesn't remember having the US retail version. Maybe he had it at one point and got rid of it because he upgraded to a "better" version? I'm sure plenty of collectors have done this.

Rated X wrote:Those arrogant statements flushed any credibility he ever had down the toilet. From a business perspective, he really should keep his free toy comments to himself. The review would be a whole lot more effective as a marketing tool if he had kept his mouth shut about how he gets his stuff. We would have never known if it werent for his gloating. I always assumed they paid like us until I started watching the intros and box art which I used to always skip.

Transistor, nor the aforementioned MBC set, is not available at retail yet. He's citing his sources and being upfront about it. If he had paid for it and got it early, I'm sure there would be more bitching from fans because he got his before anyone else.

I don't see where your need to continually bring up the "free toys" aspect comes from. I don't think ANYONE watching the review right now believes they can just get the toy now if they ordered it. We should ALL know it's an early piece and he would've had to received it either from the toy company or one of the online retailers as a promo piece. You fault him for being transparent, and I don't agree with that behavior because it just doesn't hold here.

TL;DR - just wait for one of us blockheads to make a review once we get them in-hand. Obviously you're getting more worked up over watching the early reviews than getting any relevant info from the videos.

I just wish the damn tape was also included in the review.

Rated X wrote:Well he is pretty blatant about it too which I take as arrogance. In his latest "review" for MBC Onslaught he brags about how it just showed up unexpected at his door. Then when talking about the different versions of FOC combaticons, he said he cant remember if he owns the retail version but if he does they must be "out in the shed". Who doesnt even remember what figures they own ?

...Just about any human being? People forget things. If someone has a lot of figures (and he probably does, because he is a reviewer, people send him figures- both companies and friends- and because at the end of the day he is a fan) then they're bound to forget some things. The guy's only human, he's not a toy cataloguing machine. Also there's been a lot of releases of the FOC Combaticon molds (the SDCC version, the retail version, the Takara version, the G2 version, and the Wreckers remolds, and that's just the ones I remember off the top of my head) so there's room for error.

Those arrogant statements flushed any credibility he ever had down the toilet. From a business perspective, he really should keep his free toy comments to himself. The review would be a whole lot more effective as a marketing tool if he had kept his mouth shut about how he gets his stuff. We would have never known if it werent for his gloating. I always assumed they paid like us until I started watching the intros and box art which I used to always skip.

...Arrogant statements? If anything he's disclosing that he did get them for free for our benefit, and at worst he's...happy that he got a free toy. He's a person and a Transformers fan, of course he's going to be happy that he got a free review sample. That's not arrogance, that's just honesty and, uh, liking free stuff.

Honestly you're ridiculously paranoid with regards to reviewers. Do you honestly think all they do is sit rubbing their hands together thinking of ways to decieve the customers? This isn't the games market; you can only do so much to doll up a toy review. Yes he does sometimes seem reluctant to point out flaws in figures, but if there is an obvious flaw he will mention it, and he will always mention things that he feels other people may not like. Also, he might just, you know...like the figure. Remember that not all of us have your ridiculously narrow views on what makes a good toy, and some of us do appreciate that even if a company is utterly dedicated to good QC that there will be issues- and there will of course be cases of variations between samples. using the Daca Toys Kronos example: Peaugh did mention that some people did have issues with their Kronos but that he personally hadn't had any problems, although he did suggest to keep it in mind. I actually said in the comments that the chest slider assembly looked frighteningly thin, and he replied that it isn't as bad as it looks but it is worth being careful with.

Is he perfect? No, he's not, because nobody is. But he does a good job and usually gives an in-depth, impartial look at figures, showing what does what and letting the consumers make up their own minds. He's certainly not some kind of anti-consumer shill antichrist that you seem to make him out to be. Stop being so bloody paranoid.

Delta Magnus wrote:

Rated X wrote:Well he is pretty blatant about it too which I take as arrogance. In his latest "review" for MBC Onslaught he brags about how it just showed up unexpected at his door. Then when talking about the different versions of FOC combaticons, he said he cant remember if he owns the retail version but if he does they must be "out in the shed". Who doesnt even remember what figures they own ?

...Just about any human being? People forget things. If someone has a lot of figures (and he probably does, because he is a reviewer, people send him figures- both companies and friends- and because at the end of the day he is a fan) then they're bound to forget some things. The guy's only human, he's not a toy cataloguing machine. Also there's been a lot of releases of the FOC Combaticon molds (the SDCC version, the retail version, the Takara version, the G2 version, and the Wreckers remolds, and that's just the ones I remember off the top of my head) so there's room for error.

Those arrogant statements flushed any credibility he ever had down the toilet. From a business perspective, he really should keep his free toy comments to himself. The review would be a whole lot more effective as a marketing tool if he had kept his mouth shut about how he gets his stuff. We would have never known if it werent for his gloating. I always assumed they paid like us until I started watching the intros and box art which I used to always skip.

...Arrogant statements? If anything he's disclosing that he did get them for free for our benefit, and at worst he's...happy that he got a free toy. He's a person and a Transformers fan, of course he's going to be happy that he got a free review sample. That's not arrogance, that's just honesty and, uh, liking free stuff.

Honestly you're ridiculously paranoid with regards to reviewers. Do you honestly think all they do is sit rubbing their hands together thinking of ways to decieve the customers? This isn't the games market; you can only do so much to doll up a toy review. Yes he does sometimes seem reluctant to point out flaws in figures, but if there is an obvious flaw he will mention it, and he will always mention things that he feels other people may not like. Also, he might just, you know...like the figure. Remember that not all of us have your ridiculously narrow views on what makes a good toy, and some of us do appreciate that even if a company is utterly dedicated to good QC that there will be issues- and there will of course be cases of variations between samples. using the Daca Toys Kronos example: Peaugh did mention that some people did have issues with their Kronos but that he personally hadn't had any problems, although he did suggest to keep it in mind. I actually said in the comments that the chest slider assembly looked frighteningly thin, and he replied that it isn't as bad as it looks but it is worth being careful with.

Is he perfect? No, he's not, because nobody is. But he does a good job and usually gives an in-depth, impartial look at figures, showing what does what and letting the consumers make up their own minds. He's certainly not some kind of anti-consumer shill antichrist that you seem to make him out to be. Stop being so bloody paranoid.

Well, I guess we will have to agree to disagree on him being arrogant. With people always complaining about 3rd party prices, some things are better left unsaid on a video. Especially knowing that it will most likely end up on e-bay at some point. Nobody needs to know his business. He just puts it out there because it makes him feel important. Third parties like us to believe their prices are triple Hasbro’s because small runs cost a lot more than the Fortune 500 wholesale price the factories charge Hasbro. But with all the free stuff that gets leaked into the hands of “reviewers” I’m starting to doubt the higher price excuse. I was honestly shocked when I saw how many reviewers got Quantron for free. Especially when it’s the final boxed version and not an early test run. How much does a retailer pay for one unit ? $100 ? $250 ? Even at half price, that’s a lot of money to just give away to 5-10 people out of your pocket when you’re trying to run a business.

While the reviews might be helpful for various reasons, I don’t sugarcoat the truth by saying they’re doing us a service. They’re doing themselves a service that just happens to be helpful to us. They don’t pay to play, they’re dickering. (Refer to History Channel’s “Down East Dickering” if you’re not familiar with the term.

For a while the reviews were cute, but now they’re just getting to be so stupid I want to puke seeing what they are willing do to get free stuff. It's a damn circus. I mean you got one guy with green gloves and a pillow pet giving the review. You got another guy with his silly cartoon bear taking pics. You got a guy who does dumb skits with some kind of Bionicle figure. And the only top reviewer who’s not afraid to show his face comes out dressing in Darth Vader like costumes. Maybe I’m just not a fan of dry humor, but do we really need to see all that crap ? These reviewers are shameless.

Rated X wrote:Well, I guess we will have to agree to disagree on him being arrogant. With people always complaining about 3rd party prices, some things are better left unsaid on a video. Especially knowing that it will most likely end up on e-bay at some point. Nobody needs to know his business. He just puts it out there because it makes him feel important.

You know it makes him feel important, how?

Rated X wrote:Third parties like us to believe their prices are triple Hasbro’s because small runs cost a lot more than the Fortune 500 wholesale price the factories charge Hasbro. But with all the free stuff that gets leaked into the hands of “reviewers” I’m starting to doubt the higher price excuse. I was honestly shocked when I saw how many reviewers got Quantron for free. Especially when it’s the final boxed version and not an early test run. How much does a retailer pay for one unit ? $100 ? $250 ? Even at half price, that’s a lot of money to just give away to 5-10 people out of your pocket when you’re trying to run a business.

Please name all the reviewers you think got Quantron for free. Then prove they got it for free. Then justify your suspicion that that number of 'free' samples are the reason the retail price of the few thousand other units are as high as they are.

Rated X wrote:While the reviews might be helpful for various reasons, I don’t sugarcoat the truth by saying they’re doing us a service. They’re doing themselves a service that just happens to be helpful to us. They don’t pay to play, they’re dickering. (Refer to History Channel’s “Down East Dickering” if you’re not familiar with the term.

You can't sugarcoat the truth, because you don't know the truth. What you are doing is spreading rumors, at the very least.

Rated X wrote:For a while the reviews were cute, but now they’re just getting to be so stupid I want to puke seeing what they will do to get free stuff. It's a damn circus. I mean you got one guy with green gloves and a pillow pet giving the review. You got another guy with his silly cartoon bear taking pics. You got a guy who does dumb skits with some kind of Bionicle figure. And the only top reviewer who’s not afraid to show his face comes out dressing in Darth Vader like costumes. Maybe I’m just not a fan of dry humor, but do we really need to see all that crap ? These reviewers are shameless.

I honestly think you're just jealous of the reviewers who get 'free' stuff.


I'm with you on a lot of things X, but I think you have to let this one go.

Rated X wrote:

Delta Magnus wrote:

Rated X wrote:Well he is pretty blatant about it too which I take as arrogance. In his latest "review" for MBC Onslaught he brags about how it just showed up unexpected at his door. Then when talking about the different versions of FOC combaticons, he said he cant remember if he owns the retail version but if he does they must be "out in the shed". Who doesnt even remember what figures they own ?

...Just about any human being? People forget things. If someone has a lot of figures (and he probably does, because he is a reviewer, people send him figures- both companies and friends- and because at the end of the day he is a fan) then they're bound to forget some things. The guy's only human, he's not a toy cataloguing machine. Also there's been a lot of releases of the FOC Combaticon molds (the SDCC version, the retail version, the Takara version, the G2 version, and the Wreckers remolds, and that's just the ones I remember off the top of my head) so there's room for error.

Those arrogant statements flushed any credibility he ever had down the toilet. From a business perspective, he really should keep his free toy comments to himself. The review would be a whole lot more effective as a marketing tool if he had kept his mouth shut about how he gets his stuff. We would have never known if it werent for his gloating. I always assumed they paid like us until I started watching the intros and box art which I used to always skip.

...Arrogant statements? If anything he's disclosing that he did get them for free for our benefit, and at worst he's...happy that he got a free toy. He's a person and a Transformers fan, of course he's going to be happy that he got a free review sample. That's not arrogance, that's just honesty and, uh, liking free stuff.

Honestly you're ridiculously paranoid with regards to reviewers. Do you honestly think all they do is sit rubbing their hands together thinking of ways to decieve the customers? This isn't the games market; you can only do so much to doll up a toy review. Yes he does sometimes seem reluctant to point out flaws in figures, but if there is an obvious flaw he will mention it, and he will always mention things that he feels other people may not like. Also, he might just, you know...like the figure. Remember that not all of us have your ridiculously narrow views on what makes a good toy, and some of us do appreciate that even if a company is utterly dedicated to good QC that there will be issues- and there will of course be cases of variations between samples. using the Daca Toys Kronos example: Peaugh did mention that some people did have issues with their Kronos but that he personally hadn't had any problems, although he did suggest to keep it in mind. I actually said in the comments that the chest slider assembly looked frighteningly thin, and he replied that it isn't as bad as it looks but it is worth being careful with.

Is he perfect? No, he's not, because nobody is. But he does a good job and usually gives an in-depth, impartial look at figures, showing what does what and letting the consumers make up their own minds. He's certainly not some kind of anti-consumer shill antichrist that you seem to make him out to be. Stop being so bloody paranoid.

Well, I guess we will have to agree to disagree on him being arrogant. With people always complaining about 3rd party prices, some things are better left unsaid on a video. Especially knowing that it will most likely end up on e-bay at some point. Nobody needs to know his business. He just puts it out there because it makes him feel important. Third parties like us to believe their prices are triple Hasbro’s because small runs cost a lot more than the Fortune 500 wholesale price the factories charge Hasbro. But with all the free stuff that gets leaked into the hands of “reviewers” I’m starting to doubt the higher price excuse. I was honestly shocked when I saw how many reviewers got Quantron for free. Especially when it’s the final boxed version and not an early test run. How much does a retailer pay for one unit ? $100 ? $250 ? Even at half price, that’s a lot of money to just give away to 5-10 people out of your pocket when you’re trying to run a business.

While the reviews might be helpful for various reasons, I don’t sugarcoat the truth by saying they’re doing us a service. They’re doing themselves a service that just happens to be helpful to us. They don’t pay to play, they’re dickering. (Refer to History Channel’s “Down East Dickering” if you’re not familiar with the term.

For a while the reviews were cute, but now they’re just getting to be so stupid I want to puke seeing what they are willing do to get free stuff. It's a damn circus. I mean you got one guy with green gloves and a pillow pet giving the review. You got another guy with his silly cartoon bear taking pics. You got a guy who does dumb skits with some kind of Bionicle figure. And the only top reviewer who’s not afraid to show his face comes out dressing in Darth Vader like costumes. Maybe I’m just not a fan of dry humor, but do we really need to see all that crap ? These reviewers are shameless.

Please you were asked by the Admin, Burn, To stop these attacking accusations on TF video reviewers. As all this does is make everyone fight with you in threads.

I have used the report button to report these replies of yours to the managers here.

Tsutsukakushi wrote:Please you were asked by the Admin, Burn, To stop these attacking accusations on TF video reviewers. As all this does is make everyone fight with you in threads.

I have used the report button to report these replies of yours to the managers here.

Dude, the report button becomes meaningless if you report X on every topic.

megatronus wrote:

Tsutsukakushi wrote:Please you were asked by the Admin, Burn, To stop these attacking accusations on TF video reviewers. As all this does is make everyone fight with you in threads.

I have used the report button to report these replies of yours to the managers here.

Dude, the report button becomes meaningless if you report X on every topic.

I don't report Rated X on every topic. This is only the Fourth time I reported, Rated X, withing a span of 500 days.

Attacking fellow fans is against the forum rules here. Peaugh is a Seibertron forum fan member here.

megatronus wrote:

Rated X wrote:Well, I guess we will have to agree to disagree on him being arrogant. With people always complaining about 3rd party prices, some things are better left unsaid on a video. Especially knowing that it will most likely end up on e-bay at some point. Nobody needs to know his business. He just puts it out there because it makes him feel important.

You know it makes him feel important, how?

Rated X wrote:Third parties like us to believe their prices are triple Hasbro’s because small runs cost a lot more than the Fortune 500 wholesale price the factories charge Hasbro. But with all the free stuff that gets leaked into the hands of “reviewers” I’m starting to doubt the higher price excuse. I was honestly shocked when I saw how many reviewers got Quantron for free. Especially when it’s the final boxed version and not an early test run. How much does a retailer pay for one unit ? $100 ? $250 ? Even at half price, that’s a lot of money to just give away to 5-10 people out of your pocket when you’re trying to run a business.

Please name all the reviewers you think got Quantron for free. Then prove they got it for free. Then justify your suspicion that that number of 'free' samples are the reason the retail price of the few thousand other units are as high as they are.

Rated X wrote:While the reviews might be helpful for various reasons, I don’t sugarcoat the truth by saying they’re doing us a service. They’re doing themselves a service that just happens to be helpful to us. They don’t pay to play, they’re dickering. (Refer to History Channel’s “Down East Dickering” if you’re not familiar with the term.

You can't sugarcoat the truth, because you don't know the truth. What you are doing is spreading rumors, at the very least.

Rated X wrote:For a while the reviews were cute, but now they’re just getting to be so stupid I want to puke seeing what they will do to get free stuff. It's a damn circus. I mean you got one guy with green gloves and a pillow pet giving the review. You got another guy with his silly cartoon bear taking pics. You got a guy who does dumb skits with some kind of Bionicle figure. And the only top reviewer who’s not afraid to show his face comes out dressing in Darth Vader like costumes. Maybe I’m just not a fan of dry humor, but do we really need to see all that crap ? These reviewers are shameless.

I honestly think you're just jealous of the reviewers who get 'free' stuff.


I'm with you on a lot of things X, but I think you have to let this one go.

You're a professor right? I'm sure you have your own intuitions about things you can't necessarily prove. Let’s just say these are my intuitions.

As I stated earlier, Peaugh said it himself. Microblaze Creations Onslaught “showed up unexpectedly at his door”. Anybody who pays for something gets a shipping e-mail with a tracking number. Cant remember which reviewer, but one openly stated he got Fansproject Rack n Ruin for free as a surprise on his doorstep even though he paid for one. I’m sure the free one ended up on e-bay. So essentially he got his for free. How about test shots such as the early versions of Talon and Tigris with the QC isssues? You know he didn’t pay for those, lol.

What I do think of the reviewers getting free stuff is that there are too many of them. If TF Source and BBTS each had only one guy doing sponsored reviews, I wouldn’t be as annoyed by the gimmick. I used to spin DJ vinyl back in the late 90’s. Every weekend at South Beach there was a spot where all the music promoters hung out to give away the free records. If you showed up with a well known local DJ, you would be given free vinyl too. But if you showed up by yourself unknown, they would tell you to get lost. The concept was that the “chosen” local DJ’s would play the promo songs at their respective clubs to help generate CD sales. The local DJ’s kept bringing more friends saying “he’s in the business too, hook him up” and before you know it there were 20-30 groupies raiding the spot uninvited. I envision the same thing happening in the reviewer world with BBTS and TF Source. You don’t think these guys keep send e-mails begging for “promotional” figures by saying their youtube channel gets millions of views? Im sure theres a long list of people who say “BBTS has 5 sponsors, why cant I be the 6th?” Why are their so many of them ? (Im not talking about the amateur ones) Everyone seems to have a plug at the beginning of their videos these days.

Maybe due to the high price, Quantron wasn’t the best example of a figure that was given away free in large amounts. But if you start watching reviews of figures in the $50-100 price range, you start seeing more and more reviewers with sponsors. Here’s a trio of guys that my intuition tells me most likely got Quantron for free.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2gB84hMT20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9toFbOTag-Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGXy5GtA-0Q

The reason I couldn’t be jealous of these guys is because I don’t have the free time on my hands to make videos. It’s not something I could or would want to do even for free figures. It took me weeks to put together a TFC Hercules pictorial review for Yotsuya. And Im not into the puzzle aspect of figuring out transformations so reviewing test shots without instructions would not be for me. Maybe if I had both the time and capability of doing a better job, then there would be something for me to be jealous of. I would just like to see less sponsored reviewers who don’t expect incentive to do what they do.

You know ... I, and the rest of the staff, are so **** sick to death of you two bickering.

Go into your control panel, find the Friend/Foe list and add each to your respective foe lists, then you won't see each others posts! (Unless someone else quotes them).

IT'S THAT **** SIMPLE.

Do it. If you don't, and staff have to step in between both of you again then you will both be put on a time out.

Tsutsukakushi wrote:

Rated X wrote:

Delta Magnus wrote:

Rated X wrote:Well he is pretty blatant about it too which I take as arrogance. In his latest "review" for MBC Onslaught he brags about how it just showed up unexpected at his door. Then when talking about the different versions of FOC combaticons, he said he cant remember if he owns the retail version but if he does they must be "out in the shed". Who doesnt even remember what figures they own ?

...Just about any human being? People forget things. If someone has a lot of figures (and he probably does, because he is a reviewer, people send him figures- both companies and friends- and because at the end of the day he is a fan) then they're bound to forget some things. The guy's only human, he's not a toy cataloguing machine. Also there's been a lot of releases of the FOC Combaticon molds (the SDCC version, the retail version, the Takara version, the G2 version, and the Wreckers remolds, and that's just the ones I remember off the top of my head) so there's room for error.

Those arrogant statements flushed any credibility he ever had down the toilet. From a business perspective, he really should keep his free toy comments to himself. The review would be a whole lot more effective as a marketing tool if he had kept his mouth shut about how he gets his stuff. We would have never known if it werent for his gloating. I always assumed they paid like us until I started watching the intros and box art which I used to always skip.

...Arrogant statements? If anything he's disclosing that he did get them for free for our benefit, and at worst he's...happy that he got a free toy. He's a person and a Transformers fan, of course he's going to be happy that he got a free review sample. That's not arrogance, that's just honesty and, uh, liking free stuff.

Honestly you're ridiculously paranoid with regards to reviewers. Do you honestly think all they do is sit rubbing their hands together thinking of ways to decieve the customers? This isn't the games market; you can only do so much to doll up a toy review. Yes he does sometimes seem reluctant to point out flaws in figures, but if there is an obvious flaw he will mention it, and he will always mention things that he feels other people may not like. Also, he might just, you know...like the figure. Remember that not all of us have your ridiculously narrow views on what makes a good toy, and some of us do appreciate that even if a company is utterly dedicated to good QC that there will be issues- and there will of course be cases of variations between samples. using the Daca Toys Kronos example: Peaugh did mention that some people did have issues with their Kronos but that he personally hadn't had any problems, although he did suggest to keep it in mind. I actually said in the comments that the chest slider assembly looked frighteningly thin, and he replied that it isn't as bad as it looks but it is worth being careful with.

Is he perfect? No, he's not, because nobody is. But he does a good job and usually gives an in-depth, impartial look at figures, showing what does what and letting the consumers make up their own minds. He's certainly not some kind of anti-consumer shill antichrist that you seem to make him out to be. Stop being so bloody paranoid.

Well, I guess we will have to agree to disagree on him being arrogant. With people always complaining about 3rd party prices, some things are better left unsaid on a video. Especially knowing that it will most likely end up on e-bay at some point. Nobody needs to know his business. He just puts it out there because it makes him feel important. Third parties like us to believe their prices are triple Hasbro’s because small runs cost a lot more than the Fortune 500 wholesale price the factories charge Hasbro. But with all the free stuff that gets leaked into the hands of “reviewers” I’m starting to doubt the higher price excuse. I was honestly shocked when I saw how many reviewers got Quantron for free. Especially when it’s the final boxed version and not an early test run. How much does a retailer pay for one unit ? $100 ? $250 ? Even at half price, that’s a lot of money to just give away to 5-10 people out of your pocket when you’re trying to run a business.

While the reviews might be helpful for various reasons, I don’t sugarcoat the truth by saying they’re doing us a service. They’re doing themselves a service that just happens to be helpful to us. They don’t pay to play, they’re dickering. (Refer to History Channel’s “Down East Dickering” if you’re not familiar with the term.

For a while the reviews were cute, but now they’re just getting to be so stupid I want to puke seeing what they are willing do to get free stuff. It's a damn circus. I mean you got one guy with green gloves and a pillow pet giving the review. You got another guy with his silly cartoon bear taking pics. You got a guy who does dumb skits with some kind of Bionicle figure. And the only top reviewer who’s not afraid to show his face comes out dressing in Darth Vader like costumes. Maybe I’m just not a fan of dry humor, but do we really need to see all that crap ? These reviewers are shameless.

Please you were asked by the Admin, Burn, To stop these attacking accusations on TF video reviewers. As all this does is make everyone fight with you in threads.

I have used the report button to report these replies of yours to the managers here.

If you haven't noticed by now, there is a constructive conversation going on here where nobody is getting offended but you. Even a couple of the news staff members have weighed in with their opinions. You're welcome to join in. I would be curious to hear how Burn feels about "reviewers" as well as other site staff members. I don't really create too many threads here, but I know you enjoy creating them. Why don't you create a "reviewers" thread for all of us to discuss this on ? You seem to be the only one worried about the topics always getting derailed. So instead of just bringing up a problem you have, try creating a solution.

Burn wrote:You know ... I, and the rest of the staff, are so **** sick to death of you two bickering.

Go into your control panel, find the Friend/Foe list and add each to your respective foe lists, then you won't see each others posts! (Unless someone else quotes them).

IT'S THAT **** SIMPLE.

Do it. If you don't, and staff have to step in between both of you again then you will both be put on a time out.

Debate has always been a hobby of mine way before I collected Transformers. In my mind, if I block him, I'm backing down from a debate making me the loser. I guess it's your job to figure out when either of us crosses the line. Ill try my best to make sure I don't purposely aggravate him. but if he chooses to jump into my conversations with other members, there's not much I can do.

@ tsu

More or less, when X rants, I put on "the don't listen to him earplugs on". But there are certain instances that he does make some valid points. This is coming from a not a Rated X fan mseibertron member here.

Some online reviewers are great and some, who you expect to have mastered the art of the fine toy connoiseur seems to gloss over certain flaws from a product. X maybe too jaded to the extreme but as he mentioned, or how I understand his post, he no longer puts too much faith in them. It's at time becomes more flash than substance............though given how everyone is so "wired" that you might need a gimmick to attrack attention or in this case, views at youtube.

The topic, "not" Blaster seems to look okay. Haven't seen it yet but is KFC really that bad? Can it's craftsmanship be compared to Warden (of course its a different compay) but you guys know what I mean?

fenrir72 wrote:The topic, "not" Blaster seems to look okay. Haven't seen it yet but is KFC really that bad? Can it's craftsmanship be compared to Warden (of course its a different compay) but you guys know what I mean?

s'what i mentioned before the derailment.

i had heard that KFC had stepped up their quality (im assuming post citizen stack) and the release of their slugfest/overkill was delayed because they were taking a harder look at QC. is there any truth to this?

shajaki wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:The topic, "not" Blaster seems to look okay. Haven't seen it yet but is KFC really that bad? Can it's craftsmanship be compared to Warden (of course its a different compay) but you guys know what I mean?

s'what i mentioned before the derailment.

i had heard that KFC had stepped up their quality (im assuming post citizen stack) and the release of their slugfest/overkill was delayed because they were taking a harder look at QC. is there any truth to this?

Hope this is true, I'm really liking what I see so far... but like i said before I have to see a lot more people get this in hand and let me know the problems before i make my decision. I don't normally buy 3P MPs but i brought Quakewave cause of all the great reviews. I might do the same if it comes out amazing without any QC issues. he just looks so good next to MP soundwave!!! and I have soundblaster too!! And I'm sure they will make twincast since KFC loves repaints so much. I'll deff get that as well if KFC has truly step up their game to Like MMC or FansToys levels!

Rated X wrote:I would be curious to hear how Burn feels about "reviewers" as well as other site staff members.

I honestly do not use them. For a number of reasons.

• Collecting is no longer a priority to me
• Pics are usually enough for me
• The couple of reviews I've TRIED to watch have been done by people with incredibly annoying voices which I quickly turned off.

But that's just me, I have nothing against people doing reviews, though I do think it's quite silly how some act like they should be treated as someone special.

mooncake623 wrote:Hope this is true, I'm really liking what I see so far... but like i said before I have to see a lot more people get this in hand and let me know the problems before i make my decision. I don't normally buy 3P MPs but i brought Quakewave cause of all the great reviews. I might do the same if it comes out amazing without any QC issues. he just looks so good next to MP soundwave!!! and I have soundblaster too!! And I'm sure they will make twincast since KFC loves repaints so much. I'll deff get that as well if KFC has truly step up their game to Like MMC or FansToys levels!

twincast! my brain mustnt be working cause i never even thought of that. i can see the shiney blue now... mmmm...

ill tell ya... its getting more and more difficult to stay away from 3P MP's lately. what with quakewave, apollyon, and now transistor... but i must remain strong!