ARHaslage

- Iacon City, Cybertron - A new channel has arrived upon YouTube and social media that aims to draw Transformers fans away from dubious sources of Transformers reviews and information. According to the Transformers Reviewers website, "Be they action figures, animation, live action or print media, Transformers Reviewers promotes them so you can find them all via a single source." Operated by Anthony Haslage of HNE Games, Transformers Reviewers currently consists of over 20 member channels and continues to grow. According to Haslage, "the hope is that we can lure fans of Transformers to legitimate sources of reviews and information. Right now, there are a few channels on YouTube that acquire product stolen from Hasbro just so that they can profit from being first to review. This group does not condone or participate in this method of acquiring figures or support those who do." It is a honest take of a situation that Hasbro seems to be slow to resolve for itself. Launching on October 10, 2020, Transformers Reviewers as an entity does not actively create video content on YouTube. Short of some videos that the member channels may use for their own content and an opening theme montage, the channel is a directory. It provides redirection to its affiliate and member channels as well as featuring playlists from each. Out of the gate, Transformers Reviewers negotiated an advertising agreement with Big Bad Toy Store for a one month trial period in hopes of helping its smaller channels earn revenue. Each channel that is part of the advertising agreement has under 1,000 subscribers and are currently unable to monitize with advertising on YouTube. The agreement requires that each channel publish at least one video during that month that mentions Big Bad Toy Store and has an affiliate link in the description. A few of the channels have published multiple videos in hopes of stacking the odds. But all is not prime for this new endeavor. On October 12, 2020, someone filed a complaint with Facebook claiming that Transformers Reviewers was committing fraud. As a result, Facebook unpublished the page stating that, "recent activity on [Transformers Reviewer's] Page doesn't follow the Facebook Page Policies regarding impersonation and pretending to be an individual or business." Haslage said that when he appealed, the message that he received from Facebook was that due to the pandemic, they are short staffed and it may take an extended period of time before they can investigate the complaint. Haslage stated that he believes, "that one of the YouTube content creators that Transformers Reviewers was created to put out of business has learned about us and attempted to stop our efforts." It is at this point that I should mention that Transformers Reviewers and its member channels are not a part of Hasbro, Takara or Tomy. Historically, Hasbro has not enforced its rights of use of the Transformers brand name with fandom, except in cases where the brand was being negatively portrayed. Here is a list of Transformers Reviewers member channels: Adamantium Matrix, Bert the Stormtrooper, CrimsonRaptors, Enewtabie, GotBot, HNE Games, Kasual Toy Collector, Kato's Kollection, Larkin's Lair, N-PUT's Toy Reviews & Stopmotion, NinjaBill Reviews, Patriot Prime Reviews, Rodimus Primal, Sardo-Numspa82, Soundwave 8084, TF Collector, TFanPage101, TFfangeek, The Lazy Eyebrow, Transaaron38 and Transformers & Video Games Transformers Reviewers has also affiliated itself with Transformers Trivia, a Transformers themed game show on YouTube starring War for Cybertron Mirage voice actor, Shawn Hawkins as well as TFormers.com, a Transformers themed news website that covers the Transformers brand. You can learn more about Transformers Reviewers via the URLs below: Discord: https://www.discord.gg/SaFtjN8 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tfreviewers Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tfreviewers Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/tfreviewers Website: https://tfreviewers.wordpress.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCANFkLQTHr4FJWf6I1srZRw

I am happy these are re-releases of rather recent figures. I do not feel obligated to buy them again. Plus, after the '86 Studio Series and Thrust, my wallet is empty.