Gauntlet101010 wrote:Well, since you're here, (both of you, and just to clear the air on earlier arguments in the thread) has there ever been a time a sponsor has pressured you in reviews? Where you felt you had to give a good review?
Do you feel that negative reviews hurt a relationship between a sponsor or company (especially a 3rd party company)?
Exactly how does sponsorship work? There was a LOT of speculation that you're "paid" by a weird bartering system where you get free toys or a discount on orders (personally I think it's money). Do you get paid for every review? Is sponsorship, essentially, putting a toy store's branding in front of your videos and a link in the description or does it go beyond that?
If being sponsored gives you a working relationship with the people behind a 3rd party company, do you feel that adds undue bias when reviewing?
There has been a lot of times where people have said "I wish he just said not to buy this or that it's not worth it, it'd make him more honest". Do you have a direct response to this? Or do you felt you've said that often in reviews, just not in quite the same way.
Just to clear the air, these are just my opinions and obviously not representative of Toy Dojo.
So there's some things I can't really talk about as far as the specific terms of my working relationship with Toy Dojo, but one thing I will say is that no, I personally don't get cold hard cash/check (again, I cannot speak for others how it works for others). I obviously do get money from YouTube/Google Adsense, but again I'm super small so the amount I get is a pittance compared to PewDiePie or other popular YouTubers who make literally millions a year. Beyond that, I can't get into specifics without getting in trouble : ) But yeah, I add the logos and links and recommend my sponsor, but not everywhere possible. I think as far as "advertising" goes it's very minimal pushing.
As far as sponsors and 3P companies, I don't really know. I don't think a review would have a direct impact on relationships with 3P companies. I've never been pressured by anyone to edit my reviews unless there is an inaccuracy on my part. That's the only time I've edited my review, if I screwed up and I need to fix it. If that mistake on my part changes my opinion of the figure, then of course I would update that, too. But I've never been instructed on content/opinion.
Sponsorship hasn't given me a working relationship with 3P. I was able to meet some 3P people thanks to Toy Dojo, but it's just that, just getting to meet them. I don't think I've changed my reviews based on getting to know someone who works for the company and definitely haven't gone out of my way to be more positive.
As far as saying whether you should buy this toy or not, I honestly don't think about that beforehand. I try not to make hardlined recommendations because we all have differing opinions and collecting habits. I don't even know how many times I've ever said definitively to buy or not buy (I hope not many). I don't want to sway people with my reviews (I'm sure I've probably said you should buy or not buy before), but instead I want to show the figure in as much detail as possible so others can formulate their own opinions. I'm sure that's what most reviewers and viewers want and do.
One person recently unsubbed because I said classics Prime weak in my opinion, especially that deco with the terrible QC. Okay, that's totally fine, but I'd hope that viewers watch because they like what I do, and I provide the information they're looking for (transformations, praises, concerns, etc.) and not because my opinion mirrors their own.
megatronus wrote:@Paik -
I've noticed the acidfree print in your sig and reviews - do you collect them? I have a bunch of their other TF stuff, but love the Whalen prints above all.
Honestly, I just grabbed a cool picture from the interwebs. I only recently found out where it came from. I don't collect prints because I like to spend any available cash on TFer figures. And being a predominantly MP/3P collector, I can use all the money I can get!
~Paik