Technic General Discussion

[Maaboo the Witch]

Could just be TLG cutting more costs.

[Saruzeufel]

It really is a shame. I always liked the honesty and the clear presentation in his videos. While I sometimes disagreed with some of his points of view, I always liked his sarcastic humor.

I often found myself surprised after watching his reviews and bought sets I would have skipped otherwise...

[Jurss]

There was mentioned view count on YT @Sariel vs @kbalage . Somehow lately I like more @kbalage review. If it appears first in my stream, I will watch that, not Sariels. Don't know why exactly, hard to tell. Sariels qulity is not dropped, and other is not somehow more superior, but that is just my preference now.

[Dylan M]

I don't see any problem about that decision of TLG, 

The most basic solution is, BUY the SET and make a REVIEW(PROFIT), at least he now have the right to Judge weather the Set is "Worh buying for"...

[Andman]

14 hours ago, allanp said:

Maybe it's a view count thing? Pure speculation, but Sariels review of 42160 got 26k views, while @kbalage got 230K for the same set. It is a shame though, the youtube algorithm can make and then break you through no fault or lack of effort on your part. And while it is nice to get free sets, if I think of my hourly rate at work, and multiply that by the hours it takes to film and edit a review, the cost of the set doesn't cover that, so it really isn't for free. I didn't agree with his scoring system or many of his opinions but I still enjoyed watching his, and any video review of a new set as it lets me see it in action, and it's mechanical realism, and make up my own mind. Personally I think his choice of music wasn't bad either. 

I presume his view count fell victim to YouTube's algorithm preferences. It appears that YouTube promotes content in which creators actively engage with the audience by showing their emotions through facial expressions and vocal interactions. Sariel, on the other hand, rarely incorporated these elements into his content, if at all. I also speculate that TLG recognizes this trend and observes the declining views on his channel, potentially impacting the channel's future relevance for reviews.

And I must admit that, although I always watched his and other reviews, I preferred the ones with more social interaction, instead of just subtitles.

[Gumalca]

40 minutes ago, Andman said:

It appears that YouTube promotes content in which creators actively engage with the audience by showing their emotions through facial expressions and vocal interactions.

I guess that's how humans work, we like interaction with other humans, even if it's just listening and watching. I mean, there are famous youtubers who just babble nonsense into the camera and people follow them. Of course not kbalage, he always comes across knowledgable and likeable. I watch his videos too.

[ord]

It also appears that YouTube promotes content with catchy thumbnails and that viewers are unlikely to skip through - both of which might be seen unfavourably by the algorithm for Sariel.

It's unfortunate because he has some quality content, and I often refer to his reviews for technical details of sets/pieces.

[howitzer]

5 hours ago, Andman said:

I presume his view count fell victim to YouTube's algorithm preferences. It appears that YouTube promotes content in which creators actively engage with the audience by showing their emotions through facial expressions and vocal interactions. Sariel, on the other hand, rarely incorporated these elements into his content, if at all. I also speculate that TLG recognizes this trend and observes the declining views on his channel, potentially impacting the channel's future relevance for reviews.

And I must admit that, although I always watched his and other reviews, I preferred the ones with more social interaction, instead of just subtitles.

That's actually one thing I really liked in Sariel's reviews: all text and video, no spoken aloud content. This made them viewable even without sound and easy to rewind/stop the video if you missed something. Too bad if the algorithm is tuned against that kind of content (though I still get plenty of recommendations for non-spoken Lego videos like those of Brick Experiment Channel and Brick Technology).

I must admit though that I really like kbalage's voice and presentation style, and I tend to agree with his remarks, so in the end I prefer his reviews.

But my first and foremost preference is pictorial reviews (without video) like those that Jim and others have done here at Eurobricks, and those of New Elementary and Brickset - even when videos do have some undeniable advantages like showing how mechanisms move.

[Lego Tom]

On 11/7/2023 at 9:29 AM, Ngoc Nguyen said:

A sad day for our community. From Sariel:

https://www.youtube.com/post/Ugkx4C1KBUyuy9CTzVEPaHuNu1Vom39aXyWg

I couldn't remember who he was until I looked at one of his reviews and remembered the black gloved hands. That's really a shame as his reviews were in depth, honest and fair (IMHO). As suggested, probably a cost cutting move but perhaps someone in TLG wanted all reviews to be sunshine and roses with all warts removed before hand. If cost cutting was the chief concern, they could have handled it better such as offering kits at a substantially reduced price. Their ball and court, but the public will remember, plus his reviews surly accounted for some sales that will be missed.

[allanp]

1 hour ago, howitzer said:

That's actually one thing I really liked in Sariel's reviews: all text and video, no spoken aloud content. This made them viewable even without sound and easy to rewind/stop the video if you missed something. Too bad if the algorithm is tuned against that kind of content (though I still get plenty of recommendations for non-spoken Lego videos like those of Brick Experiment Channel and Brick Technology).

I must admit though that I really like kbalage's voice and presentation style, and I tend to agree with his remarks, so in the end I prefer his reviews.

But my first and foremost preference is pictorial reviews (without video) like those that Jim and others have done here at Eurobricks, and those of New Elementary and Brickset - even when videos do have some undeniable advantages like showing how mechanisms move.

Variety is the spice of life. I like @kbalage spoken word reviews so I can focus my eyes on the set instead of the words at the bottom of the screen, but I also like listening to some nice music while watching a review which is only really doable with subtitles. But this needn't be the end for Sariels reviews, he may still buy the occasional set if it's something he wants to buy for himself, and there's nothing stopping him from reviewing the set. I also liked his reviews of older classics like 8868, so he could always do those as well.

It would be kinda funny if TLG said to us "you think our products are expensive but we think they are good value" then when it came to sending review copies they were like "Aw hell naw, they're way too expensive for that!"

[Moz]

6 hours ago, howitzer said:

I really liked in Sariel's reviews: all text and video, no spoken aloud content.

I really appreciate that approach. And I like the way not every set always gets at least 4/5 on every aspect. Too many reviewers talk up even the worst sets so all I'm really getting is more footage of the model, not an idea of whether the "reviewer" likes the set or thinks it's worth buying. Flip side it does feel as though Sariel has been a bit down lately or at least his reviews lack enthusiasm. But OTOH *my* enthusiams for yet another Technic car is limited too.

I second the "we can't afford to give sets away to reviewers who might not gush over them to 100k fans" viewpoint.

[MangaNOID]

That’s a shame for Sariel. I liked his reviews also 🙁

Crazy what those ‘algorithms’ can change though. One video of mine of modified 42042 went from 5k views over a period of about 3 years, then in only about one or two months jumped up to 45k views and stayed there not moving since those 2 months. No other video of mine was affected.

[Mikdun]

It's sad indeed. The more reviewers the better. And I place Sariel in the "proper" reviewers, not tiktok stars.

[johnnytifosi]

Whoever thinks this was a cost cutting measure for a billion dollar company like TLG are fooling themselves. The true cost of even the biggest sets isn't above a few tens of dollars to them. The view count is also irrelevant, I have seen way smaller, even non-English speaking channels get sponsored sets for review. The reason IMO is that Sariel was (deservedly) simply too critical of most new sets, so he had to be silenced.

On the other hand, shutting down his reviews because he is not getting freebies shows the absolute state of Youtubers. Not being willing to spend a couple of thousand of dollars on each year's set to keep a business running says a lot about the inability of most channels to stay independent. I understand it is not his main job, but he did mention the declining revenue of his channel. Simply put, reviewing toys on Youtube is not going to get you any money, so either you have to accept freebies from TLG or do it independently as a side hobby.

Edited November 9, 2023 by johnnytifosi

[gyenesvi]

58 minutes ago, johnnytifosi said:

Whoever thinks this was a cost cutting measure for a billion dollar company like TLG are fooling themselves. The true cost of even the biggest sets isn't above a few tens of dollars to them.

I tend to agree with this. I think plus or minus a few of these sets to hand out for review cost only pennies for TLG.

[Jim]

5 hours ago, gyenesvi said:

I tend to agree with this. I think plus or minus a few of these sets to hand out for review cost only pennies for TLG.

Absolutely. It’s not about that.

[Seasider]

It’s a shame to read about Sariel but I have to admit that I switched off from watching his reviews a long time ago. I really liked his presentation style, it was very professional, but I just felt his reviews were overtly critical and to me felt the negatives were more important than the positives.

 

[Erik Leppen]

 

So Sariel is now not bound to a company anymore?

Wonder how TLC think this is going to help them. I can't remember Sariel being overly negative. Critical, sure, but not unreasonable. Several sets got super high scores.

In any case, I would take the chance if I were CaDA.

[Lipko]

15 minutes ago, Erik Leppen said:

 

So Sariel is now not bound to a company anymore?

Wonder how TLC think this is going to help them. I can't remember Sariel being overly negative. Critical, sure, but not unreasonable. Several sets got super high scores.

In any case, I would take the chance if I were CaDA.

Absolutely! Especially that he was not that critical about CADA...

[brickphisto]

19 minutes ago, Lipko said:

Especially that he was not that critical about CADA...

I am not sure about that one, at least considering his video reviews. There are only three CaDA reviews on his channel. The pro and cons columns are about equally filled. All three sets scored well in the five star rating though. Still if you are right maybe it is because CaDA only charges about 50% to 60% of Lego's prices for roughly comparable products.

[Maaboo the Witch]

10 hours ago, johnnytifosi said:

Whoever thinks this was a cost cutting measure for a billion dollar company like TLG are fooling themselves.

Do remember that I proposed it as a possibility, rather than stating it as fact. The truth is, I'm no wiser than anyone else here.

Edited November 9, 2023 by Maaboo the Witch

[Toastie]

1 hour ago, Maaboo the Witch said:

I'm no wiser than anyone else here.

Metoo

And as @kbalage pointed out:

On 11/7/2023 at 8:30 PM, kbalage said:

Whatever the reason is behind this decision, I can assure you it has nothing to do with the reviews themselves or the opinion of the reviewers.

I came to the same conclusion ...

Best,
Thorsten

[Lego Tom]

12 hours ago, gyenesvi said:

I tend to agree with this. I think plus or minus a few of these sets to hand out for review cost only pennies for TLG.

Depends on how you look at it. Just to give a reviewer a set that retails for say $200 probably costs LEGO $30. When looking at product costs, you have to include more than what the cost of making a part. You must include support group costs (maintenance people, janitors, supervisors, managers, engineers and the like). You must also include the cost of the manufacturing facility, such as utilities (water, gas, electricity), property maintenance and property taxes. On top of all this, there are the costs of packaging, tooling of new parts, advertising and upper management. All these costs are termed burden and must be added to every part made. The more parts you make, the less per part these costs are, but as sales drop, the post per part increases so this cost is a moving target. So before you say it only costs LEGO a few pennies to give away a $200 product, you need to consider all the extra costs I listed above, which I suspect will result in the real cost of $30 over that of pennies.

Now consider that if they give the reviewer the kit, he/she obviously isn't going to buy one, whereas they may very well have bought it had TLG not provided one. In that situation, they have actually lost a complete sale, so if the kit's actual cost is $30, LEGO loses $170 profit by giving away the kit, plus the cost of the kit.

[johnnytifosi]

Just to add another bit of speculation, I noticed Sariel hiding a political message in a plotter MOC video 3 months ago. It could have been a factor.

[Maaboo the Witch]

17 minutes ago, johnnytifosi said:

Just to add another bit of speculation, I noticed Sariel hiding a political message in a plotter MOC video 3 months ago. It could have been a factor.

In case anyone is curious and doesn't want to search through the video, that message is as follows:

"Russkij wojennyj korabl idi na..."

or

"The Russian military army is on its way..."

OR:

It could have been the "Epstein didn't k..." bit at the end, which is interrupted by a US Department of Defense login page.

I'm just gonna go ahead and let people make up their own minds on this one.

Edited November 10, 2023 by Maaboo the Witch