The Energon Pub

Do you wait for reviews or just buy them when you see them regardless ???

The economy sucks, theres a plethora of product out there and prices are going up faster than we are getting raises.

For me it all depends but most times if it's a favourite character (optimus, rodimus) or a big bot (leader class, masterpiece) i'm sold!

I very rarely concern myself with reviews. I think they are useful, but I tend to go ahead and buy figures whether they get a bad review or not. I tend to end up buying a lot more figures than I initially plan to, but it has nothing to do with reviews. My problem is this; I grab the figures I want in the beginning, and then I pick up any strays while I wait for another wave of figures to come out that I had been waiting for. Some figures I just have to pass on. For instance, the stores here have been pretty stagnate for a while, but I refuse to buy the bike-bots for some reason. My gut tells me I will not like them.

Bottom line is that I don't pay any attention to reviews. I just end up buying what I want even if they are reviewed and people generally consider them to be duds. I like to find out for myself.

Usually I use reviews to get a look at what a figure can do before deciding to buy, but there are some that I decide I want after one picture, and all the review does is solidify that position. Mind you, considering where I live and how little money I have these days, I don't really buy much of anything anymore...

It's odd, here on the east coast we are usually about a month behind the first sighting of most regular release items, so by the time I actually find a toy in stores a review has already been done. I am really picky about what I buy, and most of the time if I am interested in a figure I check the pics/video review and get a good feeling on if I am going to buy or pass. 9 times out of 10 if I see a toy in a store I already know if it's a buy or not, and that one time that I just buy it anyway after the reviews make me say pass, I end up hating the figure.

So, yeah, I like the reviews, but I don't really have to wait for it.

Nope.

Some dude breathing hard into his webcam ain't my preferred viewing pleasure.

I actually enjoy watching reviews of a figure I've already bought. To hear what someone else has to say on it.

I tend to decide what TFs to buy based on pictures, but if they're expencive it's then that I might go to reviews. The only TF buy I didn't go through because of reviews would have to be the Gear of War set 1.

I don't see the point. With an action figure, what you see is what you get.

If the figure is a new release, I make my decision when I see it in person. I have my personal criteria for what I will or will not buy. I try to stick to that as much as possible.

There are lots of TF's out there that got great reviews from everyone and I won't buy it because it doesn't fit in with what I collect.

If I had a choice, no. By the time I get the damn thing, everyone on the internet has reviewed it.

I don't necessarily wait for reviews, but I definitely wait for quality galleries. I'm very picky about what I buy since I have limited funds to work with, so I have to make sure I'm happy with a figure before I purchase it. Reviews are nice, but not the deciding factor, because everyone has different opinions.

I do look to reviews for a heads-up of the pro's and con's of certain figures (especially the more expensive ones with MP price-points and above), especially fragility issues and other things that the promo pics try to hide, such as bad paint jobs and kibble.

For instance, I was in frickin' love with ROTF Brawn when I saw the promo pics, but when a review brought it's kibbly back to my attention, I quickly slashed it off of my to-buy list.

But if I like it enough, I'll buy it anyway, reviews be damned. Guess I didn't like Brawn as much as I thought.

Never. Most reviews are biased and incomplete. I only trust my own opinion.

I generally wait until I've seen enough pics to find out what I need to know. Usually they take so long to reach England I've forgotten about them by the time they appear so I already know loads about them before hand.

I don't give a tailpipe about reviews. When I buy a toy it's because I like the character, how it looks, or sometimes in an effort to complete a certain collection. I find that most often reviews don't reflect my opinion about a toy.

Most of the time I like to read or watch a review online before I buy a figure. Just to learn about any QC problems and how well engineereed a toy is.

At the end of the day its my personal preferences that matter most but its nice to hear/read other peoples opinions on this stuff and get many different POV's. There's a lot of smart, well informed TF fans out there.

There have been times that were exceptions and as soon as I saw the pictures online I had to have it.