Video Reviews of "Test Shots"

[MULTIPLEX]

A lot of the 3rd party companies are sending out "Test Shots" to popular video reviewers.

I have couple questions...

1. What is the definition of a "Test Shot"? I gather a "Test Shot" is a painted prototype that is pretty much final in design but maybe altered slightly in paint apps before release. Is this correct?

2. How can I, or any potential consumer of 3rd Party offerings, trust a Test Shot reviewer to give honest feedback? I mean, isn't it a conflict of interest? These reviewers clearly have worked hard to gain an audience. And people subscribe just to see their exclusive reviews. But if somebody has the privilege of reviewing a Test Shot for a company, what is the likelihood of them getting asked again in the future if they really tell their true feelings ex. provide constructive negative feedback and clearly list the issues that need addressing. Or is it too late at that point. I don't think it is.

I've watched a bunch of Test Shot reviews and when things go wrong or issues are noticed, everything seems to be glossd over or blamed on "it's a test shot so this will not happen on the real version". I find it hard to believe a company will send an inferior sample for review. I mean they are relying on these reviewers to showcase their product so people lock in preorders.

I mean the perfect example is Scoria. I remember reviewers commented about the loose shoulders. They claimed those tolerances will be addressed in the final product. Guess what, it clearly was still an issue. Nobody has the guts to tell the creators what the real issues are. Reviewers seem to be very politically correct and hold back.

What are people's thoughts?

[brr-icy]

depends on the reviewer, with scoria, it might have been too late, hence why they sent out replacement parts. some wouldn't mention the shoulders at all lol

[Rev]

I have wondered this myself. Obtibotimus broke Soar in two places but said he thought it might be a test shot thing. But who knows?

[General Tekno]

Well, they send out the test shots to video reviewers for two reasons, as far as I can see:

1. PR - if they're confident in their product, it's advertising for it. It's a way to build buzz.
2. It's a way to get feedback. They're called "test shots" for a reason - the best people to get feedback from are people who weren't involved in the development process and would thus have unconscious bias.

And "Test Shot" is definitely not final, and problems can be fixed - just look at Peaugh's Feral Rex test shot reviews vs the final versions. They changed a number of things in between then and release.

[Sun Swipe Prime]

I have no doubt that the reviewers take a velvet glove approach to the product reviews. They can't be too too harsh.

But here's the thing, when something is wrong with the test shot, they can only go on the word of the company promising that it will be fixed.

When a company sends out a test shot they can say to the reviewer that the shoulders are loose but that will be fixed in the final production. The reviewer can only go on that promise, and if the issues aren't fixed, that's the reviewer being deceived, not them lying to their audience.

I mean think about it, the reviewer's credibility means more to them than one review or even a bunch or exclusive reviews. If they lose subscribers and views because they do dishonest reviews, that's literally money out of their pocket.

And finally, the only opinion that matters is mine when considering to buy a product or not. I may listen to what the reviewer says, but I don't take it as gospel. The toy is there in the video for me to see, and I can tell if it's crap or not almost as well as if I had it in my hands. The video doesn't lie if you're willing to scrutinize it.

But a lot of people don't or can't because they're too dazzled by coolness of figure.

If a figure is truly good, the more videos I watch and the more times I watch each video, the better the figure looks, even if it's just a test shot.

If a figure is crap, the more videos I watch and the more times I watch, the worse the figure looks, and more of the real flaws become evident, even if it's only a test shot.

I've done this with all my expensive figures, and I'm rarely steered wrong.

With Feral Rex, the more I saw the figure, the better it looked, in quality and looks.

With Chronos, the more I saw the figure, the worse it looked in terms of quality.

[alternatorfan]

Originally Posted by Sun Swipe Prime

I have no doubt that the reviewers take a velvet glove approach to the product reviews. They can't be too too harsh.

But here's the thing, when something is wrong with the test shot, they can only go on the word of the company promising that it will be fixed.

When a company sends out a test shot they can say to the reviewer that the shoulders are loose but that will be fixed in the final production. The reviewer can only go on that promise, and if the issues aren't fixed, that's the reviewer being deceived, not them lying to their audience.

I mean think about it, the reviewer's credibility means more to them than one review or even a bunch or exclusive reviews. If they lose subscribers and views because they do dishonest reviews, that's literally money out of their pocket.

And finally, the only opinion that matters is mine when considering to buy a product or not. I may listen to what the reviewer says, but I don't take it as gospel. The toy is there in the video for me to see, and I can tell if it's crap or not almost as well as if I had it in my hands. The video doesn't lie if you're willing to scrutinize it.

But a lot of people don't or can't because they're too dazzled by coolness of figure.

If a figure is truly good, the more videos I watch and the more times I watch each video, the better the figure looks, even if it's just a test shot.

If a figure is crap, the more videos I watch and the more times I watch, the worse the figure looks, and more of the real flaws become evident, even if it's only a test shot.

I've done this with all my expensive figures, and I'm rarely steered wrong.

With Feral Rex, the more I saw the figure, the better it looked, in quality and looks.

With Chronos, the more I saw the figure, the worse it looked in terms of quality.

Man how long did it take you to write this lol?

[justprime]

Firstly the piece is not so much a prototype/test shot (and there are many levels of these) as a marketing piece,.. this puts it far ahead of an early prototype/test shots,.. that check tolerances, playability, durability, color,problems with molding, etc (well in the normal production world) it would be considered as a marketing tool, a finale production piece representation,.. hand painted in some cases to show potential purchasing agents for company's (such as wally for example) before going into full production (some times even before hard molds are built), to get sales and quantity order's..... as for the reviewer's they are only as good as the persons skill's at picking out the pros and cons of the toy and there ability to relay this to the general public as well as the company that makes the toy and of coarse if the company listens and corrects the problem if they think it warrents a correction.

[Buhawi]

Trust your instinct. You can't and shouldn't trust any of these guys.

I mean just look at their history with any of toys they review. A lot of BS. Which why they do what do and got to where they are now.

[Window]

Originally Posted by Buhawi

Trust your instinct. You can't and shouldn't trust any of these guys.

I mean just look at their history with any of toys they review. A lot of BS. Which why they do what do and got to where they are now.

There is cynicism then paranoia.

This is the latter.

Reviewers point out the good because a company isn't going to want to see a bad review posted all over the place.
A company wants a chance to correct mistakes so they do rely on these reviewers to point out the issues and send it back with feedback and not pan the product in the review because that is not what the review is there for.

The review is there to show off the product in hand.

[Buhawi]

None of the so called good quality plastic third party products that these so called "experts" proclaim. These peeps can't tell their left ear from their right cause there's nothing in between.

Buyer beware. period.