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Regarding Reviews

Discussion in 'Reviews , Video Reviews and Open Book' started by Guy, Jan 30, 2011.

  1. sam b Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Guy I think you are doing us figure painter a great service and without people like you are hobby would be a lesser one. I can only speak for myself but the camera does not lie if people don’t like what they see or how you have reviewed it, then just don’t read the next one!!! I for one will be reading.
    Thanks Sam
    Blind Pew likes this.
  2. JasonB Moderator

    Country:
    United-States
    Hi Carl,
    Could have been, but I think it still applies, thanx.

    I guess that would be an option, but I get the feeling that anything posted in response would just turn a review thread into something, well, like this one. A big argument on the reviewers credentials, what criteria is being used for reviewing a figure and recommending it, and whether anyone cares that the uniform being worn by the figure is totally wrong, just as long as it's well sculpted. How many times have we had a Roman figure posted, and some of the first comments have been "well here comes the accuracy nazi's to tell us how wrong the armor is" ? To me thats important, and I would review a figure negatively based on accuracy, not just on how well it sculpted, and then it would be a big go around about what should and shouldn't be important. Thats why I refrain from commenting, it probably not going to accomplish anything, so I just look at the pictures and move on. The only reason I posted on this thread was the Guy asked for input, and I'm not even sure where the other site is that he mentioned.
    Cheers
    Jason
  3. Michael Tse Active Member

    Country:
    HongKong
    In fact yeah I would like to know too which sites are being referred to.
  4. billyturnip A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Valid points Jason and to an extent I agree. The only non controversial solution would be to show photo's of the kit without adding any comments but then it wouldn't really be a review..... and let's face it everyone seems happy with them. The people who weren't saw fit to comment on another forum... why?

    Roger

    That last question is not aimed at Jason, just a general comment.
  5. JasonB Moderator

    Country:
    United-States
    Not knowing the other forum until just the last few minutes, I can only say the perhaps when someone knows from which direction the wind blows, they decide its not worth struggling against. As I said, I just got to the point that I look at the pictures and move on. For some its fine, for others, its not. If everyone here does seem happy with it, then I guess that bringing it up elsewhere was probably the logical thing to do. Rocking the boat isn't everyones cup of tea, nor appreciated by many.Its just easier not to.
    Cheers
    Jason
  6. housecarl Moderator

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
  7. carl reid A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    I for one, (as a manufacturer and sculptor of figures) am more than happy with Guy and his reviews. I will also continue to send in reviews to Guy.

    The one thing that Guy is, is impartial! He gives a true honest, review as he see's it. We are all grown ups we can make our own choices based on what we see.

    Sadly there are a number of people out there in cyber space that are ready to critique, but rarely if ever offer a better option, or indeed offer there work for critique. Whether thats Sculpting, Painting or Reviewing.

    I do applaud Jason however for putting his hands up!

    But the key to reviewing is impartiallity, NO Agenda's or opinions. They deal with the kit as it stands nothing more! That is a good review in my eye's!!!

    Thank you for your hard work Guy over the years!!!

    Carl
    Blind Pew likes this.
  8. gordy Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-States
    To put the issue of review versus pictures of the contents to rest.. I've created a new prefix to make the distinction between the two to satisfy both camps of people.

    There are two prefixes to choose from when posting a review:

    Open Box
    Review

    Open Box, is a summary of the contents of the parts, pictures and some dry fitting

    Review, would be more in depth and contain historical points or accuracy issues or construction of a piece up to the point of priming.


    Over the next few days, I'l reto-fit the review posts with one of each of these tags.

    Critical comments on new pieces is always welcome, but be prepared to back up your claims with citations or sources when it comes to accuracy of uniforms or equipment.

    " X is wrong" or "X is inaccurate" doesn't cut it.

    Lastly, if any members feel that they are pressured into posting only positive comments and remarks here on planetFigure and not allowed to criticize, by staff or other members, email or PM me personally, as planetFigure's owner, I take this very seriously.
  9. Richie A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Hi Guy,
    I am a recent convert to the Planet (a couple of weeks), one of the many factors that persuaded me to join was the unselfish input and dedication by people like yourself to help people like me (the newbie) and to help older established members by submitting your reviews.
    When you take the jump to join the Planet it’s quite a daunting experience especially when you’re not up with all the terminology. I paint for my pure enjoyment (but do want to improve hence being here) and to relax from the 9 to 5 grind. In this unsure economic climate hard earned money you don’t want to throw away readily. (I have and made some mistakes thinking I was getting a bargain)
    I find your reviews from the prospective of the newbie to be invaluable; a picture says a thousand words. If something needs further expanse your critique is simple, clear and concise. We can all make an informed choice if we like the figure enough to purchase.
    Hey, don’t shoot the messenger!
    I would personally like to thank you for your reviews because for the newbie it’s so easily understood.
    As for the unjust comments about the “freebies” – “When life deals you garbage make compost” mate.
    All the best
    Richie
    Blind Pew, yeo_64 and pmfs like this.
  10. pmfs A Fixture

    Country:
    Portugal
    Hi Again!

    Many English terms are strange to me, wich is:
    "Planet being superlative laden"

    Thanks
  11. stu A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Hi Pedro,

    Superlative laden could be read to mean that people on the planet praise everything as great when it may not be , but praise always pushes you on to do better and this is why the planet is so successfull

    Stuart
    pmfs and housecarl like this.
  12. JasonB Moderator

    Country:
    United-States
    It means they believe that every review, post, or comment about a figure is usually along the lines of "great job", "superb work", "best figure yet","excellent", when that may not be exactly true.

    I would disagree with that to some extent. If all you ever hear is that everything you do is great, is there really a motivation to get better? If someone critiques a work and points out both it pluses and minuses, that to me is more useful and motivation for improvement.

    Cheers
    Jason
    pmfs likes this.
  13. Guy A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    First of all I would like to thank all the members who responded to this thread as there was a lot more response and support than I figured it would generate. Secondly, I would also like to thank the manufacturers who also responded to this thread as well.

    I was also tickled to see a review of myself done in good humor and is still being laughed at this morning here at home.

    Now in response to Jason’s comment, which I really appreciate the feedback Jason has given me with his perspective on reviews and what he see’s and doesn’t see in my reviews. I would love to see more feedback like this across the board on all the forums. It expresses his viewpoint which is valuable to many of us.

    I realize not all people like my reviews or find them useful. And that’s ok too. What I try to do in a review is to put myself in a hobby shop or figure shop and I am just opening a figure kit to inspect the contents. I photograph the box because its important for those who have to rely on shipping how well the box is made, the packaging material used to cushion the parts. Many kits I have received that were not well packaged and arrived in broken pieces because they were not cushioned inside the box. Years ago I worked one Christmas season in a UPS warehouse and know how these boxes get thrown around and actually kicked like a bean bag. Once the box is opened I want to see the parts and make sure they are all there. Then I want you to see the casting and individual parts as I see them.

    Again, this is a kit review and not a historical review, is there the right amount of buttons on the coat, is the coat tails too long, etc. This is up to the historians to point out and is not the purpose of my review. I put the historical aspect aside and am only reviewing the kit and the casting.

    When I started out painting figures the kits were terrible as compared to today so maybe my expectations are not the same as those who started out much later when the average kit was of much better quality. When I recommend a kit is is because I find it to be of acceptable quality for my own collection. I have rarely seen a perfect casting and only a few have come across my camera lens for a review. That is not saying the next casting may have a flaw of some sort. Those of you who only buy a perfect casting, historically correct casting, must not have many kits in your gray army. If I find on my own figure that it is missing a button, I have button stock and can add one easily as I have done in the past.

    Many of the comments after my reviews are made of the historical correctness or not correct. This I encourage. For me to do a complete Historical as well as kit review would add many many hours to each review which I am not willing to do as I have seen so many historians disagree on many aspects of clothing etc, of a figure. In short, along Gordy’s new guideline my reviews are in the Open Box style review.

    I did not mention the other forum’s name because the posting have already been edited removing the snide remarks to planetfigure and myself but these comments are referred to in other postings not yet edited. So to me there wasn’t much point in naming it when the posters can’t stand behind their comments and deleat them.
    yeo_64 likes this.
  14. JEsp. New Member

    Guy I just want to say thanks for the reviews you post. I am not a sculptor and buy commercial figures. Your review column is the first place I go to see if your listing a figure I'm interested in and yes I have not purchased a figure or atleast checked it out further before I purchased it because of your very informative reviews. And like you said, nothing is ever really free, you put in alot of time and effort for us on this forum and I hope you keep doing it so thank you!
  15. moore Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Guy,

    I enjoyed reading your response to all this.
    I think people have to remember to be civil to one another
    on these forums. I think they need some manners taught to
    them. How were they brought up at home.
    I liked Jason's comments. I enjoyed reading
    them and he was expressing them as he felt. Not pointing
    them at anyone and "cutting" them down.
    I just find some of the comments read elsewhere very
    much uncalled for.
    It is a shame it has to lead to this kind of threads.
    Being fairly new to the hobby, it does not leave me with
    any good feelings.

    Dee
    mil-mart and billyturnip like this.
  16. tonydawe A Fixture

    Country:
    Australia
    I've just read through 10 pages of comments on a thread on Timelines on the subject of advertising on the site (thanks for the link Carl) and I found the whole discussion rather surreal. It started out quite polite and civil but quickly degenerated into something else. Some of the comments became quite personal and disrespectful, but what really surprised me was who the people making those comments were.

    I made a number of observations about the discussion, and about the people participating in that discussion.

    Firstly, Timelines seems to be dominated by US modelers who share a common language and culture and have plenty of opportunities to meet each other at the numerous shows held in the US each year. The vibe I get on Timelines is of a site where many of the members know each other personally, or know someone who knows someone. In this respect, it seems to represent a fairly narrow slice of the global figure modelling community. I note that many Timelines members are also pF members.

    By contrast, Planet Figure seems to draw its membership from a much broader base of nationalities and cultures, and is perhaps more representative of the global figure modeling community because it has such a diverse membership from Europe, Asia, Australasia and the Americas.

    My point is that Planet Figure seems to cater for a much more diverse international audience than Timelines, with a wider range of tastes in figures, subjects and levels of experience.

    Many people on pF do not belong to a model club, have no other modelers living near them and have never attended a major model show. Some members may not know any other figure modelers personally. For many people on pF, this website represents their only contact with other figure modelers - it is a virtual figure modeling club.

    For this reason alone, I think we need to be extra considerate when posting comments on pF, so that we don't offend or scare off someone by making unnecessarily blunt or "brutally" honest comments about another modeler's work. It may be their first and last visit to the site and may turn them off figure modeling all together.

    Those of us who have been around for a while often forget that there are many people out there in cyberspace who feel intimidated by negative or unconstructive criticism, who lack the confidence to express themselves in English and who feel unworthy to post their work on the site because they are new to the hobby and over-awed by some of the "Masters" who inhabit the site. These people are the future of our hobby and we should reach out and make them feel welcome.

    This brings me to my second observation; Planet Figure seems to attract a higher proportion of newbie (beginner) figure modelers than Timelines. I'm only guessing, but I assume from the comments I've read on Timelines over several years, that the majority of the members of the Timelines forum are generally more experienced figure modelers than most of the members on pF.

    Perhaps this accounts for the perception expressed by some people on Timelines(and other sites) that Planet Figure is too concerned with handing out undeserved or over-generous praise, both in its Kit Reviews and in general comments to threads.

    Perhaps this is because pF has been more successful at attracting new modelers from around the world to figure modeling, in large part because Guy's reviews offer everyone, regardless of their skill with the English language, the opportunity to look at his excellent pictures and make their own decisions on what kits to buy.

    I can only speak for myself, but I see one of my responsibilities as an experienced figure modeler to encourage other figure modelers, especially newbies, to have a go, persevere and keep trying.

    I do this through a combination of encouraging comments and constructive criticism. I do the same thing in my figure modelling club, and in my role as the Chief Judge at the annual WASMEx model show here in Perth and I chose to do so here on pF too.

    I try to offer a combination of praise and encouragement (a metaphorical pat on the back), but also provide honest constructive criticism and some suggestions as to how to improve their technique.

    The fact that so many other people on pF regularly choose to do the same, and take the time to pass on their knowledge and freely offer tips and encouraging comments to help beginners, is why pF is so popular with newbie figure modelers from all around the world.

    I'm not sure if this diatribe makes any sense, but I felt compelled to express my thoughts and share them with you all.

    I encourage you to read the comments posted on the Timelines thread and draw your own conclusions. It's very interesting to see how other people see this forum, and the comments they make about the people who contribute to it.

    Some of those comments say more about the people that made them than they realise.
  17. mil-mart A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Guy, always look forward to your reviews, mainly as a sculptor I like to see how they've been engineered but also in this age of on-line shopping it's the nearest thing to handling the figure before buying.
    Looking forward to seeing many more.

    Cheers Ken
  18. gothicgeek A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Guy!

    Please continue with your reviews!

    They are part of what makes this such a vibrant site and the support and " praise " of the other forum users makes it a welcoming and safe place for new people to show their work :)

    :)


    :)
  19. Martin64 A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
    I noticed this thread a little late and therefore try to avoid repetitions of comments already made about this issue. While I follwed the thread at timelines forum that started "the fire" I still do not fully understand why planet figure was mentioned at all because the main topic of that thread was NOT about the reviews on planet figure.
    I personally like the reviews here on planet figure for the good quality pictures of the parts of a kit. They give me the impression as if I would open the box by myself and examine the contents.
    The accompanying comments are sometimes VERY forgiving - especially because the good pictures remorseless show obvious flaws of the piece reviewed and that kind of forgiving comments seem to me not just to be restricted to Guys reviews but will appear in the reviews of other members of PF as well.
    That said I still can make up my own mind about a kit reviewed while looking at the pictures and I appreciate that somebody out there is taking the time to provide me with them. Thanks!
  20. gordy Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-States
    I wish it would have stayed at that, instead of this mess. I would have preferred the high-road taken, turned the other cheek, and not fall victim to trolling on another forum, thinly veiled as defending.

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