This is the seventh in a series of articles about the practice of toy reviewers being given free samples for review, and whether that represents a problem for readers looking for honest assessments to make purchase decisions. You can find the other articles in the series here.

Today’s Q&A is with Justin of GeneralsJoes.com.

1.) When you receive free samples, do you find an urge to be kinder to the item than you might be? If so, do you find yourself softening a bit, do you try to simply be fair, or do you think you end up trying to be even more objective than usual?

Well, I don’t receive free samples often…generally what a mainstream event happens as the G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra film did in 2009, Hasbro will send out a healthy “care package” to fan sites, and I choose to review those items. They’re not necessarily items specifically for review, but that is generally what I do with them. I also have sponsorship deals and BigBadToyStore pretty much sponsors my review page by offering free product for those reviews. I have also done reviews for smaller companies like Marauder, Inc., Yetibrew Design, and other places that specialize in much smaller, more focused product lines.

I really don’t have an urge to be kinder to the item, no. I strongly believe that posting reviews of product is almost an obligation to be as objective as possible. Granted I’m a pretty big fan of the G.I. Joe product line, and that generally shines through in my reviews, but the source of the items I’m reviewing does not even come into mind. I try extremely hard to simply play it fair. But that is an interesting point…I wouldn’t be surprised if subconsciously I was trying hard to be a little too objective, keeping in mind that I don’t want to come across as soft just because I’m being given product, but I don’t that comes through in the reviews. (more…)

This is the sixth in a series of articles about the practice of toy reviewers being given free samples for review, and whether that represents a problem for readers looking for honest assessments to make purchase decisions. You can find the other articles in the series here.

Today’s Q&A is with Michael Crawford, one of the best-known toy reviewers. His website is www.mwctoys.com.

1.) When you receive free samples, do you find an urge to be kinder to the item than you might be? If so, do you find yourself softening a bit, do you try to simply be fair, or do you think you end up trying to be even more objective than usual?

Michael Crawford: I do my best to be fair. Whether you pay for something or you get it for free, there can be bias. For example, I have found over the years that when someone pays a lot of their own hard-earned cash for a collectible, there is a natural bias toward wanting it to be good – if it isn’t, it implies you just spent a lot of money for crap, and people hate to admit that. I wrote an article on the general subject awhile back, since I find this sort of opinion bias interesting.

Since reviews are opinion, there’s always some bias working in one direction or the other, and I think the best the reviewer can do is to be aware of it. Awareness means you can look for it and understand it, and should make your reviews more fair.

That being said, it’s not just the fairness of the writer that can be effected by the sample, but the perception of that fairness by the readers. Ideally, a reviewer would never take free samples to avoid any perception that the reviews might not be fair, but the reality is that’s simply not feasible. There’s no one bankrolling toy reviews to allow them to afford $200 collectibles on a regular basis, which means that if they go with only the figures they can afford to buy, it will only be figures they like and want to begin with. What you’ve done is simply trade one bias for another. It also means there will be less variety in that reviewers subjects, limiting them to only the items they would buy for themselves.

I try to never ask for anything from anyone – if someone offers, I generally accept, but I don’t go looking. I also tell them up front that they should only be sending something that they really feel strongly about, because I will do my very best to be fair, and they might not like the results. At times I’ve even had the conversation telling them not to send me something in particular because I already am buying it – but that if there’s something else I would normally not pick up that they’re releasing, they should consider that instead. (more…)

This is the fifth in a series of articles about the practice of toy reviewers being given free samples for review, and whether that represents a problem for readers looking for honest assessments to make purchase decisions. You can find the other articles in the series here.

Today’s Q&A is with Pixel Dan, who’s best know for his popular video reviews. His website is www.pixel-dan.com.

1.) When you receive free samples, do you find an urge to be kinder to the item than you might be? If so, do you find yourself softening a bit, do you try to simply be fair, or do you think you end up trying to be even more objective than usual?

To a certain extent, yes. You do feel the urge to be kinder. I think that’s just human nature. Someone just gave you something. You’d feel a little bad about turning right around and bashing it. You know what I mean? But at the same time, I also understand that I have a responsibility to the viewers to give them a solid, objective review. I feel like this is an area I’ve definitely grown in over time. I started to realize that the whole point of a review is to show faults as well as positives. I just always make sure to do it in as positive of a tone as possible. I won’t rant and rave and throw out curse words. I’ll just simply point out the flaws. And I have found that both the viewers and the company that sends the samples both respect and appreciate that. (more…)