TFARCHIVE FORUMS

Well, that's what it looks like. I know that updates are infrequent, but c'mon, it hasn't been updated since February or something! It isn't for lack of reviews to be uploaded, the forum is full of them. So... what the hell? I was actually interested in contributing a review of Animated purple Shockwave and Music Label Soundwave, but if it's just going to languish in here than I don't really see the point. I'm very disappointed at how the admins have squandered people's reviews lately.

You're right, it has been quiet for a while now, which is a pitty. I far prefer written reviews with pictures, as opposed to the slap-dash video reviews that give away transformations without giving any real insight or injection of fun. Invariably they are either the best Transformer ever on video reviews, or now and again the worst - just people showing off that they have the latest toy.

I love writing reviews, but real life has taken over for the last few months as my wife is struggling more with her illness again ('kindly' NHS doctors have decided to stop her treatment for very odd reasons, and surprise surprise she's getting worse quickly... cost saving exercise anyone?), trying to run my own company, looking after my grandmother who has advanced dementia while my grandfather is in hospital, and dealing with an increasingly unreliable 16 year old Land Rover that I need for serious offroad driving for work. And, somehow I need to find the time to get a new office for my company and hire two people, while keeping up client stuff... And then we get to my voluntary commitments (TFArchive reviews, Scottish representative of Amphibian & Reptile Groups of the UK, South Scotland Area Organiser for the Spider Recording Scheme, Raptor Study Group and many more) and research papers I have committed to write for a couple of journals. Sadly, the voluntary stuff is the first that has to be put on hold, and it's all faring the same way just now I'm afraid.

I fully expect I will return to review writing when my real life chaos dies down, but I don't know when that will be.

In the meantime, anyone is welcome to write reviews of any of my claims before I get round to them (as I always say).

Sorry about that, but real life trumps Transformers, and any other voluntary commitments.

I hope others will continue on with reviewing and I'll try and help whenever I can.

Haven't updated the reviews because there's only about six or seven ones in the review forum, while the rest are all WIP. It's kind of full, yeah.

Also, real life got in the way. Since February. Because sometimes life is like that.

It gets in the way of uploading reviews that are already readily accessible in the forums into the main site. Because leaving a couple of reviews in the Review Writing forums where anyone can find it is ind of justifiable, I think. And not exactly 'squandering'. And for that, I apologize.

As a moderator as well and a writer of many reviews on this site, it's safe to say that times have changed.

The multimedia age is much more upon us than it was in 2004-2005 and 06 when I was an active reviewer. Today short reviews with lots of pictures are preferred over our old review style. Just check any review of ours-3/4 individual, low res pictures at the most and lots of paragraphs to describe what those pictures are about.

Sadly, in a world where you can just magnify the 1024x768 picture even more, descriptions are shortened to warnings about parts and maybe a paragraph for articulation.

And even that fares badly to video reviews, who are all the rage right now. Even sadder is the fact that for every 10 words to describe a ratchet joint, a simple 1 second twist or turn is required on film. For every paragraph detailing a transformation sequence, twenty seconds or so are enough on film.

Do watch\read new "reviews" on other TF related sites and then read some of the reviews on our site. Whilst I wholeheartedly believe our reviews are embarrassingly better than most others, we're back on the internet's\multimedia's revolutionary scale

Can't say I don't share a bit of the annoyance, as I've uploaded photos for reviews like a year ago and they're still not posted.

But nobody's getting paid to do it, so I don't sweat it.

But I do have to ask why the latest update says 10/12/12. We not there yet!

We've put a real effort into getting ahead.

I been participating in time travel. I'm awesome.

Another thing to consider is that everyone here has been here for a sum of years now, and we've gotten older in the process. Part of getting older, unfortunately, is that time loses meaning and that simple tasks to do over the weekend now take several months.

For instance, the post above. It's only two sentences, and yet it's taken me the better part of a week to actually type it out.