# The Hardy Pinball Podcast: Episode 2 - The One About Grain and Mods

**Source:** Cary Hardy  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2020-08-24  
**Duration:** 15m 48s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIazb8-pRfc

---

## Analysis

Cary Hardy discusses his new Ninja Turtles Pro pinball machine, focusing on a widespread playfield artwork quality issue affecting some units—characterized by grainy, unclear artwork on certain playfields. He correlates the issue with missing artwork under the far-left star post and speculates on manufacturing causes. Hardy also reviews pinball mods and custom code modifications from the community, praising quality work while critiquing mods that look too obviously added. He wraps up with humorous commentary on podcast easter eggs and community dynamics.

### Key Claims

- [MEDIUM] Playfields without art underneath the far-left star post are more likely to exhibit grainy artwork on the playfield — _Hardy correlates two data points (his machine and Joel's from Just Another Pinball Podcast) to develop a hypothesis about which playfields are affected by the graining issue_
- [HIGH] Hardy's Ninja Turtles playfield has no dimpling, pooling, or graining; colors pop and artwork is smooth — _Direct inspection and comparison of his machine, built August 3rd with playfield dated July 23rd_
- [LOW] The graining issue likely stems from either a printer malfunction or clear coat adhesion problems during manufacturing — _Hardy speculates on manufacturing process based on the apparent timing of when Stern may have removed art from around the star post to fix pooling issues_
- [HIGH] Quality control at Stern's assembly line failed to flag the graining issue during production — _Hardy emphasizes that playfield mounted components should have caught this during normal QA_
- [HIGH] The best mods are those that don't look like mods—modifications that blend seamlessly into the original design — _Hardy's philosophy on modding: 'if you look inside a game and scroll around with your eyes...and something sticks out as a red flag...chances are that's not a good mod'_
- [HIGH] Stern employs designers to create music and graphics, but community members are replacing that content with 20+ year-old arcade and cartoon material — _Hardy observes community preference for retro Turtles arcade/cartoon content over Stern's original creation_

### Notable Quotes

> "My playfield has the art and everything looks good. The colors pop, it's nice and smooth. It is as if, you know, Zombie Yeti would appreciate what he has done."
> — **Cary Hardy**, early-mid
> _Expresses satisfaction with his machine's quality and implicitly credits Zombie Yeti (art director) for the artwork design_

> "I would see no art being on the post opposed to having art is that at some point in time during their release of their first run of pros or LEs, they saw that there was an issue with the pooling on the clear coat on that post."
> — **Cary Hardy**, mid
> _Theorizes the manufacturing root cause of the graining issue based on corrective manufacturing shifts_

> "When you have art that is all grainy and looks the way it does, that is not what, you know, Jeremy was hoping that would be on the game."
> — **Cary Hardy**, mid
> _References Jeremy (likely Jeremy Stein, Stern's artist/designer) and emphasizes the artist's vision was not realized on affected units_

> "The best kind of mod is the ones that don't look like mods. If you look inside a game and scroll around with your eyes just to kind of look at the game and admire it and something sticks out as a red flag that's like no that doesn't look like it goes there or something like that, chances are that's not a good mod."
> — **Cary Hardy**, mid-late
> _Core design philosophy on pinball modifications—authenticity and seamless integration over obvious customization_

> "You have those that are getting paid at stern to create all of this from nothing a lot of the times and then they get it out there to the world and everybody's like yeah it's nice but I'm just gonna get rid of it and I'm gonna put in all this stuff that was from like 20 plus years ago inside of this game because it looks it sounds better than what these people have created."
> — **Cary Hardy**, mid-late
> _Critique of Stern's original design choices being replaced by community-created retro content, particularly for Ninja Turtles_

> "Now what he's done means that you know maybe every other podcast can start implementing this into their intros as little easter eggs for whether it be jabs or just some interesting little tidbits to kind of freshen it up."
> — **Cary Hardy**, late
> _References a jab from another podcast creator (likely 'Franchise' from Super Awesome Pinball Show) placed in the intro as an easter egg—establishing a meta-community dynamic_

> "The perk about me not being under a network or under any other name is that I'm able to do what I do and if repercussions happen, if I get shot out of the sky for whatever reason, I'm not bringing anybody down with me. It's just me going down in flames."
> — **Cary Hardy**, late
> _Explains his independent podcast strategy and rationale for not affiliating with larger networks or shows_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Cary Hardy | person | Pinball content creator, host of Hardy Pinball Podcast, recently acquired Ninja Turtles Pro machine, analyzing quality issues and modding community |
| Ninja Turtles Pro | product | New pinball machine by Stern; subject of Hardy's unboxing and analysis; affected by playfield artwork graining issue on some units |
| Joel | person | Host of Just Another Pinball Podcast (on Pinball Network); acquired Ninja Turtles Pro with same build date as Hardy's; his machine exhibits the grainy playfield artifact |
| Jeremy Stein | person | Stern pinball artist/designer (referenced as 'Jeremy'); created artwork for Ninja Turtles; vision compromised by graining manufacturing defect |
| Zombie Yeti | person | Stern Pinball art department head; credited by Hardy as responsible for quality artwork on machines like Ninja Turtles |
| Lior Mods | company | Mod manufacturer; created Krang Mod for Ninja Turtles, priced at $119; produces high-quality modifications praised by Hardy |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Ninja Turtles Pro; subject of quality control critique regarding playfield artwork graining; manufacturing process appears to have shifted during production run |
| Pinside | organization | Online pinball community forum where playfield quality issues are being discussed and mods are showcased |
| Just Another Pinball Podcast | organization | Podcast on Pinball Network; Joel is host; featured in Hardy's investigation of Ninja Turtles playfield issues |
| Super Awesome Pinball Show | organization | Pinball podcast; hosted by 'Franchise'; placed an easter egg jab at Hardy in the intro, prompting Hardy's response |
| Franchise | person | Host of Super Awesome Pinball Show; placed easter egg jab at Cary Hardy in podcast intro |
| Pinball Network | organization | Podcast network that hosts Just Another Pinball Podcast |
| Delt | person | Pinside community member; creating impressive custom code modifications for Ninja Turtles, incorporating retro arcade and cartoon motifs with updated music (Ninja Rap, etc.) |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Ninja Turtles Pro playfield artwork graining defect, Pinball manufacturing quality control and QA processes, Pinball mods and customizations—aesthetics and integration
- **Secondary:** Community code modifications and retro content preferences, Pinball podcast culture and meta-commentary, Independent vs. network-affiliated podcast strategy
- **Mentioned:** Stern's original design choices vs. community preferences

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.55) — Hardy is satisfied with his own machine but frustrated with Stern's quality control and manufacturing defects affecting other units. He is enthusiastic about the modding community and respectful of content creators, though critical of poor mod design choices. Tone shifts from technical concern to humorous and collegial when discussing podcast culture.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Pinball community is actively using Pinball Browser to modify and customize Ninja Turtles code, replacing Stern's original music and graphics with retro arcade and cartoon content (Ninja Rap, 80s motifs) (confidence: high) — Hardy observes: 'Delt...is implementing a lot of the turtles arcade some of the 80s cartoon motifs in their soundtracks from even the movie...everybody's like yeah it's nice but I'm just gonna get rid of it and I'm gonna put in all this stuff that was from like 20 plus years ago'
- **[event_signal]** Meta-level podcast easter egg culture emerging; Super Awesome Pinball Show placed a jab at Hardy in the intro; Hardy suggests other podcasts adopt this practice for engagement (confidence: medium) — Hardy received message: 'you got a really interesting shout out on the most recent super awesome pinball show...it's in the intro' because Hardy mentioned he skips intros. Hardy responds: 'touche' and suggests other podcasts implement easter eggs in intros.
- **[sentiment_shift]** Community preference for retro Ninja Turtles arcade/cartoon content over Stern's original design; Hardy humorously critiques that paid Stern designers' work is being replaced by volunteer community creators (confidence: high) — Hardy's observation: 'you have those that are getting paid at stern to create all of this from nothing...and everybody's like yeah it's nice but I'm just gonna get rid of it and put in all this stuff from like 20 plus years ago because it looks it sounds better'
- **[design_philosophy]** Hardy advocates for seamless integration in pinball mods—modifications that don't visually or functionally 'stick out' as added; best mods are invisible to casual inspection (confidence: high) — Direct statement: 'the best kind of mod is the ones that don't look like mods...if something sticks out as a red flag...chances are that's not a good mod'
- **[manufacturing_signal]** Stern appears to have modified the manufacturing process mid-run by removing artwork under the far-left star post, likely to address pooling issues, but subsequent batches show graining artifacts instead (confidence: medium) — Hardy's speculation: 'at some point in time during their release of their first run of pros or LEs, they saw that there was an issue with the pooling...they basically went back to the drawing board'
- **[market_signal]** Lior Mods Krang Mod for Ninja Turtles retailing at $119; high-quality third-party mod market active for new Stern releases (confidence: high) — Hardy directly references: 'One of the mods that I have to pinpoint out that looks really good is from Lear Mods, and it's the Krang Mod...It's currently retailing at $119.'
- **[community_signal]** Hardy operates independent podcast without network affiliation to avoid implicating others if his content creates repercussions; intentional strategy to protect other content creators (confidence: high) — Direct statement: 'The perk about me not being under a network or under any other name is that I'm able to do what I do and if repercussions happen...I'm not bringing anybody down with me. It's just me going down in flames.'
- **[product_concern]** Ninja Turtles Pro playfield artwork exhibits grainy, unclear appearance on certain units; manufacturing defect likely related to clear coat adhesion or printer malfunction; quality control at assembly failed to flag the issue (confidence: high) — Hardy's detailed analysis: 'when you have art that is all grainy...that is not what Jeremy was hoping.' Correlation between missing art under star post and graining effect. Multiple affected units reported on Pinside.

---

## Transcript

 Alright, got my new Turtles game ready to go. Time to make it my own. Let's bust out all my old toys from when I was a kid. No, there's not many left. I guess I'll go buy some new Turtles toys. Well, they don't really look like the Turtles that are, you know, on the game, but... Ah, screw it. Putting them on there anyways. Alright, how's it look guys? You look like shit, man. Here, have another beer. This will make you feel better. Hold up. Hold up. what's up guys and welcome back to episode two of the hardy pinball podcast the one about grain and mods the game is here guys i've got it set up and i'm sure some of you out there have even watched my unboxing video that i have on my channel i released that yesterday and and honestly uh the the feedback that i'm getting on it is very mixed more mixed than usual A lot of the times the good outweighs the bad, but without a doubt, even while editing the video, guys, I really do understand why there is a little bit more of a downvotes on this one than there is upvotes. And I get it. It's definitely not my best work. It is my first unboxing, though. and whereas I could have just easily just not shown anything at all and just you know kept everything to myself and just casually put the machine together and just enjoy it I decided to share that with everybody else and just make it a little bit more interesting by throwing in some eating of really grotesque versions of pizza so if you care to watch that it is definitely on my channel for your enjoyment but without a doubt it has been a very busy weekend for me so I was exhausted and have been exhausted to where I haven't even really been able to play my game as much as I would like. I haven't even got it leveled completely yet and set up to where I can really enjoy it. That is on my to-do list today. I've been contacted by a few of you out there on how my machine looks and how it plays were there any issues and things of that nature so let's get into that my game looks great as of right now going over the play field and the cabinet i am not finding anything that really stands out to me i do not see any issues or potential issues or anything like that now still i have not played that many games on it so there's definitely room for error but I as of right now my play field doesn't have any kind of like dimpling or pooling or the grain on the playfields or anything like that and that's what we're about to get into is that I was contacted recently by Joel from Just Another Pinball Podcast available on the pinball network asking me how my play field looked because he just recently got his Ninja Turtles Pro as well and evidently his play field has the grainy artwork effect which I mentioned in my previous episode. And so it would seem I was trying to correlate what playfields would be affected by this. And mine doesn't have it. And also something to kind of like, you know, put two and two together is that chances are, as of right now, this is a lot of speculation, guys. This isn't like hardcore facts. But from what I'm gathering, it would seem those of you that do not have art underneath the far left star post, on the layer area, if you do not have art, the chances are you're probably going to have grainy artwork on your playfield. That is two data points that I able to put together as of right now that would indicate some sort of pattern on basically if your playfield is good or bad My playfield has the art and everything looks good The colors pop, it's nice and smooth. It is as if, you know, Zombie Yeti would appreciate what he has done. Now, when you have art that is all grainy and looks the way it does, that is not what, you know, Jeremy was hoping that would be on the game. So this is something that I know is hitting quite a few of you out there, and it's got to be disappointing. I know that I would be disappointed greatly. Now, the build date on my cabinet is August 3rd, which is the same build date as Joel's. My playfield date is July 23rd. I can't remember what his is. But the thing is, I'm curious as if these plate builds came from the same place in the printing process. Or, because the chances are that at some point they have switched over or they had two different kinds of vendors running at the same time. The only reason I would see no art being on the post opposed to having art is that at some point in time during their release of their first run of pros or LEs, they saw that there was an issue with the pooling on the clear coat on that post. So they basically went back to the drawing board on the art process and was like, hey, let's remove the art around there. That way the clear coat can adhese directly to the wood, and they started running more playfields. and evidently in that process something may have been going wrong with their printer that's why we're getting the effects that we are or the clear coat is once again messing with the play field in another different type of way that we're seeing with the grainy artwork and what's even funnier is that there are those of you out there that haven't even noticed this i'm pretty sure stern was crossing their fingers hoping that people wouldn't notice this if they even noticed it. And that's what's even more upsetting to me, and like I stated in my previous episode, is that no one noticed this at the factory. When they're down on the assembly line going through and through, mounting all this stuff to the playfield, it's not being flagged, and that is an issue. Will Stern make it right? What are they going to do to fix this issue? that is yet to be determined as of right now the information i'm getting is that we don't know yet so at this point i believe the flags are going up and stern is starting to take notice of this and they will make a decision pretty shortly and getting that information out to the distributors on how this issue can be resolved so if you have your turtles game and you do not have art under that star post on the left. Take a look at your art. Is it grainy? Is it nice and smooth and Marc Silk? Whatever. That is up to you to decide. Take pictures of it. Make it known on Pennside. Let's raise this issue. Let's see if we can get it fixed. And I think that's what was sad about me going to the Pennside thread about this whole issue is that there's a lot of people that were just like, yeah, this is what my play field looks like. I just thought that's how the game usually looks. And I'm thinking that's what probably Stern was hoping, that people would just accept it and be like, yeah, that's just how it looks, I guess. Okay, moving on. No, that is definitely not the way the art should look. That is not what Jeremy intended his art to look like for everyone to enjoy. We all know how colorful and great the artwork is on everything that he's done. and for us to pay thousands of dollars and get a play field that is completely just not fully representing what he done is not a good thing for this hobby Once I get my game set up and put a lot more games on it then maybe some issues will start to you know present themselves to me But as of right now I'm very pleased with what I have, and I know that this is all anecdotal, but take it for what I've got, and just let it be known that as of right now, I'm happy. But if things change, trust me, I will make it known. So now that I've got my game I'm starting to really peruse the modding section and what is currently available on the market and what people have done for their own machines. Now during this process I've come across some really cool things and I've come across some things that I just kinda have to stand back and go really? I mean you think that looks good? But okay. This is my issue guys. It's not even really an issue. When I scroll through Pinside and people are showing off their games and what they've done to them, the only thing is that I'm glad it's not my machine sometimes. I'm like, it's your machine. You paid for it. If you like it, go with it. Do what you want to with your game. That is fine with me. But I'm not one of those that I hop on Pinside and just go, you know what, that looks like shit, I'm going to make sure he knows. No. but I will hop on a pin on my podcast right here and let it be known that I don't care for mods if they look like mods the best kind of mod is the ones that don't look like mods if you look inside a game and scroll around with your eyes just to kind of look at the game and admire it and something sticks out a red flag that's like no that doesn't look like it goes there or something like that chances are that's not a good mod then one of the mods that I have to pinpoint out that looks really good is from Lear Mods, and it's the Krang Mod that basically makes it look more like a premium, an LE, by going up there in the pop bumpers. It lights up with the flasher that's underneath the pop bumpers. Looks pretty good. More than a lot they're going to be getting that. It's currently retailing at $119. Damn. Some other mods that I remember seeing were basically like sewer pipes that go over the rails. I think I've seen someone post something about that and I'm from just my memory I think that looked pretty good too so I'm looking forward to seeing where that goes but people are not just physically modding this game you have those that are actually going into the pinball browser and utilizing the ability to change the music change graphics and stuff like that on the game so I am really excited about this because that gives me a chance to really make the game my own but also as i'm going through some of the images and i'm just going to pinpoint it out right now like dealt uh everyone that's on pin side i'm sure as aware of who this person is i'm seeing things that he's doing with this game and it looks really good i'm like man that looks really good i cannot wait to start messing around and seeing what i can do with mine or even better yet if he makes it available to just download what he's done that'll be even easier but i'm liking what he's doing he's implementing a lot of the turtles arcade some of the 80s cartoon motifs in their soundtracks from even the movie like you know ninja rap and stuff like that it's all looking and sounding really good i just have to kind of laugh a little bit about this because you have those that are getting paid at stern to create all of this from nothing a lot of the times and then they get it out there to the world and everybody's like yeah it's nice but I'm just gonna get rid of it and I'm gonna put in all this stuff that was from like 20 plus years ago inside of this game because it looks it sounds better than what these people have created so I have to laugh a little bit about that because that just the way it is So for those of you that have listened to my previous episodes I tend to throw out little jabs here and there at certain people within this hobby. And it is meant to be completely anonymous, but only those of you out there that are deep into the hobby would know what I might be referencing it to or who I might be calling out or whatever like that and it's a tongue-in-cheek just you know a quick little jab just to it's all fun that's all it's supposed to be so uh i've already gotten a couple of messages from people that caught the references or whatever and so far it's all been good so it hasn't been like oh i can't believe you said that you know or whatever any kind of hatred towards me and that's not what i'm wanting guys so by all means for those of you out there fellow podcasters youtubers pinball content creators let it be known that when slash if i mention certain things it's all in good fun i love you guys it's pinball let's have fun that's what it is with that being said the most recent jab back at me i thought was kind of funny because i didn't even catch it i get messaged like hey carrie you got a really interesting shout out on the most recent super awesome pinball show and I was like really I'm only about halfway through I didn't catch it where's it at and he's like it's in the intro and I'm like oh that's probably why I didn't catch it because I skipped through it and that was part of the reason why the franchise put it in the intro is because I mentioned on my pilot episode that really long intro podcast I usually just skip through it so i messaged him back i was like touche because i honestly did not catch it and i wouldn't have caught it so now what he's done means that you know maybe every other podcast can start implementing this into their intros as little easter eggs for whether it be jabs or just some interesting little tidbits to kind of freshen it up make it interesting make it make it a reason for me to go damn it i'm gonna have to listen to this intro because you never know what you're gonna get so i i think i think what hurts me the most is that he hasn't messaged me back yet come on man i mean i'm only gonna be disheartened if he actually took offense to my pilot episode comments about other pinball podcasts and what their strategy or their style is no that's the joy of the topic guys and podcasts and other content creators is that you do what you do and I'm going to do what I do. If it works for you, then do it. We're just going to see how things go, guys. The perk about me not being under a network or under any other name is that I'm able to do what I do and if repercussions happen, if I get shot out of the sky for whatever reason, I'm not bringing anybody down with me. It's just me going down in flames. so I would take that to note that I don't want to bring anybody down with me so that's all that is so when I get questioned about why I'm not part of said group or whatever it's mainly because I don't want to have to worry about messing with anybody else and those people being guilty just by association alright guys that's going to wrap this episode up until next time peace out I'm hoping that he hasn't responded back to me, maybe because he's taking a nap or maybe playing with Barlow or something like that. I don't know. Come on. Come on, French. You better be a damn good sport. Bring it on. Message me back. Love you a long time.

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 0532a8b9-27bc-4fc0-9b70-99eadfdd2940*