News posts on the DinoToyBlog

[DinoToyForum]

A recent post on the DinoToyBlog teasing a future release has initiated a discussion between @Suspy and me: https://dinotoyblog.com/news/upcoming-release-from-eofauna-new-for-2025/

I'm copying the conversation here to see what other people think...

@DinoToyForum: Hmm, I'm not sure I like featuring marketing gimmicks like this on the blog. It's fine for discussion on the forum, but feels like pandering on the blog. I'd rather wait until the figure is actually revealed before announcing it as an upcoming release. What do you think?

@suspsy: I think it's fine to tease it here. It is definitely newsworthy and as dubious as it may seem, not everybody browses social media or even tunes into the forum. If we're getting the word out to even just one or two people and providing them with some excitement and anticipation, it's worth it.

@DinoToyForum: It still feels grubby to me. Appropriate content for social media but I don't think content like this meets the standards of the DinoToyBlog, and it changes the nature of the site. The Dinosaur Toy Blog was always a reviews site first, with a little bit of news to summarise yearly releases. I welcome the addition of real-time news articles, I think it is of real value and interest to readers.

The problem is that the trickling marketing strategies the companies have adopted in recent years have started to be reflected here, making us feel more like any other social media site, with announcements being artificially stretched out into many parts. Meanwhile, reviews on the blog feel increasingly like asides these days. I suspect this change is affecting how visitors think of the site, consequently reducing the number of guest reviews submitted.

In this context, adding posts that *tease* future news is a step too far.

This is as much a question of identity as it is quality.

[suspsy]

I don't reckon there's any need or any desire to repost say, Safari's overly drawn out teases; I see Eofauna as a special exception because they pretty much release only one toy per year.

And frankly, I don't buy the idea that an increase in news sharing is somehow deterring people from submitting guest reviews. Indeed, I fear that if it weren't for news and announcements, the blog would be much more desolate these days. @Gwangi and I have been the only reviewers posting on a regular basis for a very long time now. And I'm sure the other regular reviewers have their reasons and their priorities, and they absolutely should be prioritizing stuff like keeping a roof over their heads or the lights on or the pantry stocked, but that's how it is regardless. On that note, it's very nice to see @Fembrogon active again. As far as guest reviewers are concerned, we did have quite a lot of submissions over this past year from Funk and Torvosaurus. Some of the best GRs in the past like Philsauria barely even show up on the forum any longer, unfortunately. And we were supposed to have a guest submission for the PNSO Spinosaurus a long time ago, but that individual seemed incapable of figuring out how to send images as attachments for some strange reason.

In any case, I do firmly believe that we need to keep on sharing news about upcoming dinosaur toys, because that can further help the blog stay relevant in an age where YouTube reviews have become so very popular.

[DinoToyForum]

I don't reckon there's any need or any desire to repost say, Safari's overly drawn out teases; I see Eofauna as a special exception because they pretty much release only one toy per year.

Okay, as a special exception. But if other companies start to do this (and they will if it gets them attention, as just worked for Eofauna), then let's cease rewarding this sort of marketing gimmick with a much coveted blog article. Maybe I'm romantic but I think a DinoToyBlog should feel special.

[suspsy]

I would dearly hope that CollectA and PNSO and Haolonggood never adopt the same practice. I have always disliked how Safari dragged out their reveals for so long, although they stopped doing that this year, so maybe that's the end of it.

[DinoToyForum]

And frankly, I don't buy the idea that an increase in news sharing is somehow deterring people from submitting guest reviews. Indeed, I fear that if it weren't for news and announcements, the blog would be much more desolate these days. @Gwangi and I have been the only reviewers posting on a regular basis for a very long time now. And I'm sure the other regular reviewers have their reasons and their priorities, and they absolutely should be prioritizing stuff like keeping a roof over their heads or the lights on or the pantry stocked, but that's how it is regardless. On that note, it's very nice to see @Fembrogon active again. As far as guest reviewers are concerned, we did have quite a lot of submissions over this past year from Funk and Torvosaurus. Some of the best GRs in the past like Philsauria barely even show up on the forum any longer, unfortunately. And we were supposed to have a guest submission for the PNSO Spinosaurus a long time ago, but that individual seemed incapable of figuring out how to send images as attachments for some strange reason.

I'm not sure, there's no way to know, but I do wonder about how the blog has evolved.

I think there's another factor at play. The quality of reviews these days has gone through the roof. This has significantly raised the bar, and perhaps expectations with it, and so many people may now be reluctant to submit briefer more succinct reviews. I've felt this way myself. We've kind of created a rod for our own back. It would be interesting to calculate how the average number of words/image per review has changed over the years, I expect it has increased a lot.

Don't get me wrong, the detailed reviews are fantastic, I'm not complaining, let's keep em coming! But it might give the impression that every review needs to be an essay when it doesn't.

Sometimes it's difficult to find much to say about certain figures, especially older figures of familiar species. But that doesn't mean they should be omitted. A short review of a few paragraphs and four or five photos is better than no review at all, and despite the usual clamour for the latest releases, there's no shortage of (especially) older figures still in need of attention. I wonder if some new simpler reviews on the blog might encourage wider and more frequent participation. I'm planning to post some myself to help make the point.

And of course I'm not suggesting anyone should prioritise writing blog articles over living their lives. Reviewers, please don't! I don't!

[DinoToyForum]

In any case, I do firmly believe that we need to keep on sharing news about upcoming dinosaur toys, because that can further help the blog stay relevant in an age where YouTube reviews have become so very popular.

They do their thing, we do ours.

Also, keep in mind you're talking to a former Youtuber here in the process of migrating all my DinoToyBlog Channel content to the actual blog!

[Fembrogon]

I'm inclined to agree that it's okay to post the Eofauna teasers, but as an exception to the rule. Eofauna's reveals are like liitle events in and of themselves with how uncommon and high-quality they are, unlike the virtual stream of content we get from PNSO or Haolonggood.
And if I recall correctly, Safari didn't USED to drag out their reveals; they had a few years when they see experimenting with different teaser methods and that was fun. And then the 2020 fallout started...

[DinoToyForum]

...unlike the virtual stream of content we get from PNSO or Haolonggood.

And Mattel. Upcoming Releases for 2024 came in 28 parts. 28!

I'm inclined to agree that it's okay to post the Eofauna teasers, but as an exception to the rule.

I notice there's already been another strip added to the teaser image - at least @suspsy updated the post rather than adding another! We can do without a new post per 3mm strip!

[Gwangi]

I also feel like the Eofauna teaser is alright, for reasons already stated. But they're the only company that I think should get a pass. As  far as the blog having so many announcements in general, would a weekly news roundup highlighting ALL the announcements from a given week be preferable? 

I think there's another factor at play. The quality of reviews these days has gone through the roof. This has significantly raised the bar, and perhaps expectations with it, and so many people may now be reluctant to submit briefer more succinct reviews. I've felt this way myself. We've kind of created a rod for our own back. It would be interesting to calculate how the average number of words/image per review has changed over the years, I expect it has increased a lot.

Don't get me wrong, the detailed reviews are fantastic, I'm not complaining, let's keep em coming! But it might give the impression that every review needs to be an essay when it doesn't.

Sometimes it's difficult to find much to say about certain figures, especially older figures of familiar species. But that doesn't mean they should be omitted. A short review of a few paragraphs and four or five photos is better than no review at all, and despite the usual clamour for the latest releases, there's no shortage of (especially) older figures still in need of attention. I wonder if some new simpler reviews on the blog might encourage wider and more frequent participation. I'm planning to post some myself to help make the point.

Tell me about it! There are figures that I deliberately don't want to review because I just don't feel like going into a deep dive over the scientific accuracy of it. This has been on my mind the last few days due to @Faelrin's discussion about the CollectA Koolosuchus. He's struggling to review it because he's feeling overwhelmed by it. I felt the same way about the Haolonggood Euoplocephalus I recently reviewed. I probably wouldn't have tried to tackle it if I knew in advance how confusing ankylosaurid taxonomy is. I have to remind myself sometimes that I do this for fun, it's just a toy review, and I'm not a paleontologist writing a scientific paper. The irony is that I was drawn to this hobby by the Dinosaur Toy Blog and it's interesting gimmick of reviewing the scientific accuracy of dinosaur toys. We've come a long way!

As the quality of toys increases, and YouTube creates competition, I think reviewers feel obligated to go above and beyond, which creates burnout. It's part of the reason I alternate brands between say, Mattel and Haolonggood, because I know that my reviews for the higher quality models will eat up more of my time and energy and I have to take brakes from them. Frankly, I have more fun reviewing Mattel products because I feel like the demand for thoroughness isn't as high. I do try to limit the size of my reviews accordingly though. Haolonggood or PNSO reviews will be longer than one of those Captivz blind bag toys. As for simpler reviews of older figures, I love writing those, but most of my vintage toys have already been reviewed! A lot of them by me! And keeping up with modern companies means I don't get to do much shopping for the vintage stuff.

I can say with confidence that the number of images has increased per review. My older reviews have 3-5 pictures. So few that I've thought about adding more to those older ones. My reviews nowadays typically have a dozen or so! 

[suspsy]

I also feel like the Eofauna teaser is alright, for reasons already stated. But they're the only company that I think should get a pass. As  far as the blog having so many announcements in general, would a weekly news roundup highlighting ALL the announcements from a given week be preferable? 

I would be against that for three reasons:

1. It could diminish the excitement and enjoyment of seeing an announcement about an upcoming toy or toys from a company you are personally fond of. If you're a particular fan of Mattel, then you're bound to get more excited about seeing a header specifically about "Upcoming releases from Mattel" than say, "Weekly Dinosaur Toy Roundup." You're also more likely to visit the blog on a daily basis to see if there's any news instead of just popping in on the designated roundup day.

2. It begs the question of what's to be done when something new drops on the very same day or the very next day of a weekly news roundup. Let's say Haolonggood reveals a Torosaurus or PNSO reveals the very first toy of Cryodrakon. Do we then wait all the way till next week to include it in fhe following roundup?

3. Single news announcements are much easier. They can be written up and posted to the blog in just five minutes or less. Depending on how much new stuff is dropped in the course of a week, a news roundup devoted to two or three or more companies takes significantly more time to write and add images to. Plus there's the possibility of forgetting to include a news item.

[Gwangi]

1. It could diminish the excitement and enjoyment of seeing an announcement about an upcoming toy or toys from a company you are personally fond of. If you're a particular fan of Mattel, then you're bound to get more excited about seeing a header specifically about "Upcoming releases from Mattel" than say, "Weekly Dinosaur Toy Roundup." You're also more likely to visit the blog on a daily basis to see if there's any news instead of just popping in on the designated roundup day.

I REALLY doubt there are that many blog visitors that use the blog as a primary source of new release information. I could be wrong, but I would wager most are seeing it first on Face Book, the forum, Instagram, etc. There might be a few old timers that only visit the blog but I don't think a few technological holdouts is a reason not to lump new releases together. Personally, I don't like how quickly the announcements appear to push down and drown out actual reviews. And I assume most visitors are there for the reviews. But your claim that the announcements help keep the blog active is valid. I've always been kind of on the fence about it, I can see the pros and cons.

2. It begs the question of what's to be done when something new drops on the very same day or the very next day of a weekly news roundup. Let's say Haolonggood reveals a Torosaurus or PNSO reveals the very first toy of Cryodrakon. Do we then wait all the way till next week to include it in fhe following roundup?

Yes. And I can see how that may make it seem like sharing the news at all then becomes irrelevant, but it's not like the reviews are timely either. Reviews for some figures don't show up for weeks, months, or even years after their release. Sometimes not until after the product is off the shelves (common with Mattel) and typically well after the product has been reviewed and talked about to death elsewhere. So it's not like the blog has ever been an immediate destination for information.

3. Single news announcements are much easier. They can be written up and posted to the blog in just five minutes or less. Depending on how much new stuff is dropped in the course of a week, a news roundup devoted to two or three or more companies takes significantly more time to write and add images to. Plus there's the possibility of forgetting to include a news item.

I can't argue with this one. Ultimately, you're the one putting in the work, so you should do it how you want to. With Adam's guidance of course, its really between the two of you. Consolidating announcements was just an idea and I'm ultimately indifferent about it.

[DinoToyForum]

@Gwangi Your comments have verified some of my concerns. So, let's make a concerted effort to keep things fun, and if that means posting short and sweet reviews amongst the more detailed ones, I welcome that.

@suspsy Re: Eofauna, since there's only three days between the tease and reveal, and since there's no real value of keeping the teaser post now, I suggest we either merge parts 1 and 2 (https://dinotoyblog.com/news/upcoming-release-from-eofauna-new-for-2025pt-2/) or just delete part 1 now entirely. I can do it (unless you want to), but you decide. This is part of the reason why I was a bit iffy about posts like that in the first place.

[suspsy]

Go right ahead, that's fine. I agree that we'll skip the teaser next time.

Perhaps it would be prudent to edit the Submit A Review page to emphasize that guests should write "from the heart" and not be overly concerned about a ton of content. Cover the essentials like coloration, size, pose, and accuracy, but there's no need to turn a review into a treatise unless one so desires. I made my BotM T. rex review 5628 words long not because I believed it had to be that great a length, but because all the words simply came naturally to me while I was writing it.

[DinoToyForum]

Go right ahead, that's fine. I agree that we'll skip the teaser next time.

Perhaps it would be prudent to edit the Submit A Review page to emphasize that guests should write "from the heart" and not be overly concerned about a ton of content. Cover the essentials like coloration, size, pose, and accuracy, but there's no need to turn a review into a treatise unless one so desires. I made my BotM T. rex review 5628 words long not because I believed it had to be that great s length, but because all the words simply came naturally to me while I was writing it.

Great, I merged them and edited it slightly so it works as a standalone post.

Good idea about editing the "Submit a Review" page. I'll look at that.

Sure, reviews can and should be as long as the reviewer wants if they have lots to say about it!