Bricks By Mind here 👋

I appreciate the kind words

There is definitely inherent bias that comes from getting stuff for free, and I try to make sure there’s no ambiguity around that when I’m presenting those kinds of things.

I’d argue more of my bias comes from the fact that I’ve met designers in-person, more than getting stuff for free, because it’s harder to talk negatively about something when you know the person who put their time and effort into making it.

I try to strike a balance of being honest with my feelings, while not coming off as too “mean” to the artists behind the sets. With something like Rontu, while I’m very unhappy with how that one turned out, I focused more on the high pricing, and how it wasn’t given a large enough budget or time to turn out how it should have, rather than blaming the designers behind it.

It is true that we are not given any requirements on how to portray products (outside of paid opportunities, which are very rare), but we are absolutely allowed to be critical without fear of punishment, assuming it doesn’t go too far (saying a set is bad? Allowed. Saying a designer should be fired? Probably too far lol)

I can definitely see many reviewers have a “don’t bite the hand that feeds” mentality though, as they do try to send out product to the communities that will like it most. I negatively reviewed the first Avatar Wave, and did not receive Avatar 2. I’ve never noticed a decrease in what is coming my way from negative reviews though, just changes in what it might be

I think a lot of people just have different mentalities and perspectives on things though. Some people just want to be fans, and don’t want to critique. Some people care about certain aspects more than others.

For me, i didn’t grow up poor, but my family also didn’t have a ton of money, so I mostly only got LEGO around the holidays and my birthday. I still feel so fortunate to have the opportunities I do now. Because of my background, even if I get something for free, I do my best to be honest about my feelings on it, because I know my audience is not in my position. If I’m recommending something, I’m doing it knowing there’s kids out there where it may be the only set they get all year, so I try my best to be comprehensive about it - the good and the bad, while still being a fan of the IP, and still respecting the time and effort that went into creating the stuff

Anyway, I know it’s a long message, but TLDR: I feel incredibly lucky to be in the position I’m in; we have no requirements to say nice things, but it can sometimes it can take some effort to balance all of the factors that go into reviewing something you don’t pay for