I have three of the figures on preorder through BBTS as well and I'm hoping to see some in-hand impressions before I have to pay for them. Usually waves of toys that get delayed for years do not turn out very well. A thing I've noticed with Super7 of late is that finding video reviews for new product is actually kind of tough. Funny how once they stopped supplying YouTubers with free figures they suddenly stop talking about them. It's like they don't think they're worth spending their own money on...
I have three of the figures on preorder through BBTS as well and I'm hoping to see some in-hand impressions before I have to pay for them. Usually waves of toys that get delayed for years do not turn out very well. A thing I've noticed with Super7 of late is that finding video reviews for new product is actually kind of tough. Funny how once they stopped supplying YouTubers with free figures they suddenly stop talking about them. It's like they don't think they're worth spending their own money on...
Ha!
To be both fair and also balanced; I think there's a lot at play. It's just that none of the options make your typical toy reviewers look very good. There's the possibility that without early free stuff, there's no incentive to review it because they'd be reviewing it at the same time as everyone else is getting it and therefore not getting the big views. We all are guilty of running to the first channel to show off a new toy regardless of how utterly shit the reviewer is.
There's, as you said, the possibility that if it's not free those reviewers aren't even buying the figures because they're not worth the money and they've always known it despite pretending otherwise.
There's also the possibility that it's spite. "If you're not going to give them to me for free, then I'm not giving your product free press and positive reviews."
But I mean... yeah. It's not like any of those possibilities are necessarily good. I guess the first option is at least somewhat understandable in our world of 'views = money.' I can see people that are trying to be at least semi-professional toy reviewers not wanting to put time and energy into something they feel will get fewer eyeballs and less overall engagement. But I could also argue it's not an -entirely- defensible position either.
The other two possibilities though.... well. Good thing I've never had a very positive view of most toy reviewers. Robo, Nostalgia Unboxed, and DAmazing are the ones I mainly trust the opinions on. Guys like ToyBro and PixelDan have always been utterly worthless as reviewers outside of the 'I just want to see what it looks like' element.
Oh of course, I'm just having a bit of fun at Super7's expense. I think the timeliness probably is the biggest factor for anyone who does reviews on YouTube. If you're not first and ahead of the general public then your video just gets lost. Though I do genuinely think Pixel Dan stopped reviewing them because he wasn't happy with them and he likes being all Mr. Positive and stuff. Now it seems like most of the Super7 reviews I can find come from people within a given fandom (like a big Simpsons fan, for example) that stumble unto their stuff and they're not toy people. They usually having nothing to offer me aside from a glimpse at the product. I like Johnny Nostalgia as well, but I think he mostly swore off Super7 because of bad experiences and they're too expensive. Unless people loan him stuff to review.
@misfit For sure. Thing is, I'm not entirely convinced by the 'timeliness' argument, which is why I said I'm not sure it's totally defensible. If you're a good toy reviewer, people are still going to watch. It's not like everyone that buys S7 figures has to pre-order. Plenty are still available after release, so there's obviously still plenty of potential to bring in eyeballs of people waiting for a good review even of an item that's already out and available.
And look at stuff like MOTUC. In the 'blink and it's gone' days, we had guys like PD reviewing figures that were like.. club exclusive or whatever and you weren't going to be able to get anyway unless you signed up months before that figure was even completed and available for an early review.
And Super7's popularity is clearly dwindling. I could go make a Rocker Leo review video right now, after having owned the figure since BBTS got it in however long ago that was, and I'd still be one of what... like three people that has a video review of it? So it's not like I'm getting lost in the crowd there.
So I just don't know how much I buy that as an excuse, even if I posed it myself as being a possible factor.
I think, as you implied, a big part of it is just that the figures are shit and reviewers usually like to be positive (whether for branding, or just because they want to be sent more stuff and work their reviewing into a friendly relationship with toy companies). Reviewers also need to maintain at least the slightest semblance of reliability.
I can recall, more than once, chortling like a dummy watching ToyBro reviews because he's talking about how solid a figure is while I can actually WATCH the figure wiggling around and the joints losing tension as he's talking about how solid it is. You do that too much and people realize you're either dumb as fuck, or have no integrity at all. What good is a toy reviewer if the review is a lie?
Best way to avoid that is to cut out the products that you need to lie about.
ALL that long-windedness aside; if Super7 is turning over a new pizza, the smartest thing they could do is send out a few review samples and get people excited again. Get some typically critical reviewers, like Johnny, involved. We all know he'll shit on it if it's bad, so if he says it's good - it probably is. Super7 has possibly the worst reputation in toys since Shocker, or maybe since Funko Legacy. Even just making better toys might not be enough because no one trusts you enough to buy them and find out. You need to get them into the hands of people that will talk about them to a large audience.
The lack of new reviews just reaffirms for me how shortsighted Super7 is. They probably wanted to cut costs and promotional budget is often the easiest. Even though sending out a set of figures for free to half a handful of YouTubers probably cost them less than a grand and often gets them good publicity. I can't recall many Super7 sponsored reviews that went badly for them. I know Pixel Dan was critical of the awful Krang/Samurai Leo/whatever else was in it wave, but it's Pixel Dan. It's not like he was cursing Brian Flynn for making shitty toys, he just sounded more disappointed than anything. ToyBro seemed to always rave about anything to the point where I stopped watching his Super7 stuff awhile ago so I have no idea if he ever turned on them. I rarely see YouTube even recommend him so I don't know if he's even doing much with his channel these days (I just checked and it does seem like he's cut way back and the last Super7 review is 7 months old).
I had stopped buying Super7 Ultimates for a while. But due to my love of TMNT, I just really wanted at least all the unique characters (from the vintage TMNT Playmates line) in the Ultimates line to display with all my TMNT stuff. And as I posted about 2 weeks ago, I had recently bought and placed an order for the unique characters I hadn't bought.
Which was Genghis Frog, Space Cadet Raph (not a new unique character, but had to have it), Wingnut and Screw Loose, Scumbug, and Zach the Neutrino.
And I have to say, all of them are really good. No loose joints, no joints too tight. Great paint and accessories, they stand and display well, and they look awesome. So, I was very impressed with these. Some of the best Super7 figures I've ever bought.
So, no matter what I will get Triceraton and Rat King. And I may get some other figures eventually like Slam Dunkin' Don and Punk Don, and maybe Ninja April and Karai etc.
Then after that, if Super7 never does another Playmates vintage toy as an Ultimate again, that's fine. But if they do make more, I'd likely get them.
Veebs got his figures in from Super7 (of course): https://twitter.com/VeebsToys/status/1838664739523617056
And it looks like all but the gorilla are in stock on EE right now.
Not liking that default portrait on Guerilla. It looks unpainted from that shot, but it's hard to judge. And he's got an uncanny valley thing going on with the eyes. The screaming head looks nice though. Triceraton has some nice size.
SSaw these over on the Technodrome forums, apparently from Randy Fullmer. They look pretty darn good, though most of these figures do until you start trying to pose them a bit. I like what I see so far though!
Yeah, that's the thing - Super7 figures almost always -look- good. That's never really been the problem. Glad they're making into some hands, but it would be nice for a half-way decent review to pop up sometime before I get a charging notice from BBTS.
Triceraton looks like he's not going to pose worth a damn, but that was more or less expected. I saw some pics on Veebs' social accounts of that figure specifically and it looks fine, though I wish they painted a wash over the orange. Wingnut looks so good with the black wash over his flesh and it just adds a nice grittiness to the presentation, something I feel like the old line would have possessed if it could have (if that makes sense). He just looks very clean. Also still wish they had painted up Donatello's keytar, but we knew they weren't based on the renders.
Well, Super7 gonna Super7:
Well, Super7 gonna Super7:
That’s so disappointing about Triceraton having the wrong color knee joints. How do you make a mistake like that? This was the last figure I was really looking forward to, and now I’m not sure if I’ll get him at all.
I had just opened up Ace Duck recently, and was surprised with how much I was enjoying him. It led me to getting Genghis Frog off eBay for a great price who just arrived today, and that came out really good! It’s crazy how inconsistent they are with these figures. Ace Duck could’ve used some more paint and better color matching to the vintage toy, but Genghis has this gorgeous wash over his skin that really brings him to life. And now we’ve got Triceraton with his ugly dark green knee joints matching his incorrectly colored dark green pants with no signs of any kind of wash on the skin.
Well, Super7 gonna Super7:
Lol.
I guess in defense of Super7, you'll almost never see his knee joints because that figure is a borderline unarticulated brick. I know it's 'old man yells at clouds' territory - but no one will ever adequately defend Super7's complete disinterest in just.. making the articulation they utilize more functional. There's no reason his elbows have to be borderline worthless. None. It's just bad design by people that don't care.
But yeah, the knees are pretty egregiously stupid. But egregious stupidity is kind of the hallmark of Super7.
Triceraton, in general, is a bit disappointing. They messed up the knee joints. They barely even bothered to give him articulation he could use. Very flat-looking paint/unpainted plastic. This is 100% just 'make it big and that will impress everyone.' Very typical Brian Flynn mentality of flash over substance. Look how BIG it is, guys! LOOOOOOK. How can you complain about paint and articulation when it's so HEAVY and BIG?! Guys, you don't understand how BONKERS it is that we're spending so much money making this figure big!
Hopefully Donny turned out better.
Look at that....Super7 saved me money with that Triceraton.
Thanks guys!
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