As is always the case when new sets our out, people rush to buy them and be the first to provide a review - which stands as the only such review topic allowed of that set, all others required to fade into obscurity in the Official Review Topic. I can understand why people do this. It's nice to be the first to do anything, this being no exception. However I fail to see why this should be an excuse for poor reviews. I personally glean nothing whatsoever from a review that consists of five lines of text hastily scrawled under generic headings and twenty fuzzy and obscure pictures that show even less than the official images. What have I learnt from that? Nothing. Has it persuaded me to or not to buy the set? No it has not.

This was originally intended to be nothing more than a mild rant at bad reviews (in general, nothing specific mind) but instead has turned into a piece pointing out what I think makes a good review.

Pictures

Now admittedly not everyone can take brilliant images either because they're a bad photographer (join the club) or because they lack suitable equipment. Until I forked out to get a decent digital camera I had to borrow my dad's, which was quite old and not always available. There are always things that can be done to improve photo quality, however.

1. Lighting is very, very important. Don't take photographs in a badly lit environment - or at least make sure you have a decent flash.

2. Try to hold the camera steady and don't take the picture until you're satisfied it's not wobbling too much.

3. Find some way of displaying things that shows them clearly. I myself use the Kardas box for displaying pieces and a white door as a background for set pictures. I've used some pretty poor cameras, but this has always worked for me.

I'm no expert photogropher - far from it in fact - but I honestly believe that the aforementioned things can improve photo quality, and are not that hard to do.

If you are going to be the first person to post a review, photos really are a must. This is the first time members are going to be able to see the actual, physical set in someone's hands, so you simply must have images of some kind. This is not to say you need to intersperse every sentance with an image. You can get away fine with only three or four images if necessary - just try to make sure they're as clear as possible.

What should a review include?

Now, writing the review well is very important. Your purpose in writing a review is to inform the reader about the set and to explain its good and bad points as far as possible. You want to point out anything that's new, exciting or different from previous sets - this is largely why canisters still get a mention - and try to do more than just point things out. Yes, I can see Tahu has silver things on the back of his legs. I know Gali has things stuck to her mask. I can see that. I have my own eyes, thank you very much. What I want to know is the effect that has on the set. Does it improve or hinder poseability? How does it look in real life? Better or worse than in official images? Is there anything about them that surprises you? Would it look better as it is or without them? See how many questions there are? Try to answer as many as you can.

It's also nice to include a bit of humour in the review. Completely optional, but it makes the experience more enjoyable for the reader. For the two I've done I included humorous captions beneath many of my images, put the characters in a few odd positions and included mock battles at the end. Ok, explaining how humour works really does make me sound like an old english professor or something. I'll stop now.

Format

While the almost universally accepted BZP reviewing format is good, don't stick to it simply for the sake of it. If you think something doesn't need its own heading, you can think of another one to include or you want to use completely different ones, there's no reason why you shouldn't. Say what you want how you want - just try to make it as useful and insightful as possible.

Whatever format you use, try to cover as wide a range of things as you can. The standard headings for reviews are very broad. They can be used to cover everything, but it can also be easy to miss things along the way. Before you write the review, try to note down - either in your head or somewhere else - anything you could possibly include, and at what point in your review you plan to include it.

Persuading the reader

I've mentioned explaining the good and bad points before. Remember that you are trying to convey your opinion on the set. Why is it good? Why is something bad? In the end, how does this effect whether someone should or should not buy the set? A good review should be an analysis of the set written to give the reader as complete an overview as possible of the set so that they may form an opinion on whether it's worth their money or not. Pointing out facts won't help with this - people want to know what you think and why. That's where the persuasive element comes into it.

To sum up

I hope I haven't caused anyone to bury their heads and cry at the seeming impossibility of it all. That's if anyone's actually reading this, which I doubt. Here's a (hopefully) brief checklist of what I think a good review should have:

Good images

Take the best pictures you can and use them where applicable. Doesn't have to many, but certainly for reviews of new sets they're important.

Detail

Try to include details on as many features of the set as you can. Mention the type of build, how easy or challenging it was and what new pieces are like. Anything else you can think of, throw in there. Try to do more than just state the blindingly obvious, too.

Opinion

Explain what's good, what's bad and above all why you think that. Imagine you're the person reading this and are unsure whether or not to buy the set. What would you want to know?

Good format

Don't just post one huge mass of text. Break it up with different headings. Now most reviews do this, and it's become pretty much standard now. That's a good thing, provided the headings used are appropriate. Use the headings to explain what you want to say.

...and that's it! Whether anything I've written is useful or more than just wild ramblings I do not know. I'll let you decide that.