# Deep Dive: Deadpool PREVIEW

**Source:** Pinball Party Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-02-17  
**Duration:** 5m 38s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://pinballparty.podbean.com/e/deep-dive-deadpool-preview/

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## Analysis

A Pinball Party Podcast Deep Dive episode previewing Stern Pinball's Deadpool machine (2018), designed by George Gomez with artwork by Jeremy Packer. The hosts discuss the game's development history, including the controversial replacement of original designer John Trudeau, the creative team behind the machine, and highlight the quality of animations and voice acting featuring Nolan North. The episode is positioned as a Patreon exclusive with additional details to follow.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Deadpool (2018) was originally designed by John Trudeau but George Gomez completely redesigned it due to legal issues with Trudeau — _Zach Sharpe on Pinball Party Podcast describing the development history_
- [HIGH] The Deadpool machine whitewood leaked very early in development — _Host discussing the development timeline and early leak visibility_
- [HIGH] Nolan North voices Deadpool in the machine, known for Uncharted and Batman voice work — _Host identifying voice actor credits for the game_
- [MEDIUM] Chuck Ernst was head of animation at Stern and worked on Mortal Kombat fatalities before joining Stern — _Host recounting personal conversation with Chuck Ernst when purchasing a Lord of the Rings machine_
- [HIGH] Deadpool was released in August 2018 — _Host providing release date as factual information_
- [MEDIUM] The Deadpool 3 movie (Deadpool & Wolverine) had the most popular movie trailer within 24 hours — _Host speculating about Deadpool franchise popularity context_

### Notable Quotes

> "Sam Stern's Deadpool, hot on the heels of the dead, the most popular trailer of all time within 24 hours."
> — **Zach Sharpe**, ~0:45
> _Sets context for why Deadpool machine is timely/popular discussion topic_

> "George Gomez scrapped the entire design and rebuilt an entire one in a very limited amount of time"
> — **Zach Sharpe**, ~2:20
> _Key detail about the scope and speed of George Gomez's redesign effort_

> "This is the perfect example of a development game where Sam Stern understands sometimes they don't always get it right, but does a phenomenal job of getting the right people to do the right things."
> — **Zach Sharpe**, ~3:00
> _Industry insight into Stern's approach to creative recovery from problematic designers_

> "The animation in Deadpool is one of the impressions, spoiler impressions, fantastic."
> — **Zach Sharpe**, ~5:20
> _Preview of upcoming detailed review/impressions of animation quality_

> "How can you not love George Gomez? But it's George Gomez, it's Tanyo Klyce's first game."
> — **Zach Sharpe**, ~2:00
> _Identifies George Gomez as a versatile creative force and Tanyo Klyce connection_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Zach Sharpe | person | Host of Pinball Party Podcast, lead speaker in this Deep Dive episode |
| George Gomez | person | Chief Creative Officer at Stern Pinball; designer who completely redesigned Deadpool after John Trudeau's involvement; known for extensive industry history in video games (Spy Hunter) and pinball |
| John Trudeau | person | Original designer of Deadpool machine before being replaced by George Gomez due to unspecified legal issues; hosts describe him negatively as 'a horrible person' |
| Jeremy Packer | person | Artwork credited as 'Zombie Yeti' on Deadpool; head of art at Stern Pinball |
| Nolan North | person | Voice actor who voices Deadpool in the machine; known for Uncharted and Batman voice work in video games and cartoons |
| Chuck Ernst | person | Head of animation at Stern Pinball; previously worked on Mortal Kombat fatalities; collaborator on Deadpool animation with his daughter |
| Brian Poussain | person | Credited with writing animation for Deadpool |
| Tanyo Klyce | person | First game as designer/contributor noted in Deadpool credits |
| Tim Sexton | person | Sound credited on Deadpool |
| Jerry Thompson | person | Sound credited on Deadpool |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Deadpool (2018); Gary Stern is CEO |
| Deadpool | game | 2018 Stern Pinball machine based on Marvel character; designed by George Gomez with extensive creative team; recently discussed in context of Deadpool & Wolverine movie popularity |
| Lord of the Rings | game | Classic Stern pinball game; mentioned as machine host purchased from Chuck Ernst, used to identify Ernst's Stern employment |
| Pinball Party Podcast | organization | Podcast hosting this Deep Dive episode, supported by Patreon membership |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Deadpool machine design and development, John Trudeau replacement and design recovery, George Gomez's role and design philosophy, Creative team and animation quality
- **Secondary:** Deadpool franchise popularity and IP timing, Stern Pinball's approach to hiring and creative recovery, Voice acting and multimedia integration

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Hosts express strong enthusiasm for Deadpool, praising animation, creative team, and George Gomez's abilities. The only negative sentiment is directed at John Trudeau personally. Overall tone is celebratory of the machine and the creative recovery process.

### Signals

- **[product_launch]** Deadpool officially released August 2018 by Stern Pinball (confidence: high) — Host states 'August 2018' as release date
- **[design_innovation]** Deadpool features exceptional animation work led by Chuck Ernst with input from his daughter; hosts specifically praise animation as 'fantastic' (confidence: high) — Host: 'The animation in Deadpool is one of the impressions, spoiler impressions, fantastic'
- **[design_philosophy]** George Gomez completely redesigned Deadpool after John Trudeau's departure, scrapping original design under tight timeline (confidence: high) — Host describes George Gomez 'scrapped the entire design and rebuilt an entire one in a very limited amount of time'
- **[personnel_signal]** John Trudeau replaced by George Gomez as lead designer due to legal/personal issues; described as controversial decision (confidence: high) — Host mentions 'legal issues' and describes Trudeau as 'questionable piece of shit' and 'horrible person'
- **[leak_detection]** Deadpool whitewood prototype leaked very early in development, creating confusion about final design direction (confidence: high) — Host: 'It leaked very early. And so people couldn't quite understand what they were looking at'
- **[industry_signal]** Stern Pinball's ability to assemble high-caliber creative talent including voice actor Nolan North, animator Chuck Ernst, and art team Zombie Yeti (confidence: high) — Extended discussion of notable creatives (Nolan North from Uncharted/Batman, Chuck Ernst from Mortal Kombat)
- **[licensing_signal]** Deadpool machine release timed with or near peak popularity of Deadpool franchise (movie trailers getting record viewership) (confidence: medium) — Host discusses Deadpool 3 having 'most popular trailer of all time within 24 hours' in context of machine popularity
- **[content_signal]** Pinball Party Podcast uses Deep Dive episodes as Patreon-exclusive content with promise of extended impressions and details (confidence: high) — Episode intro addresses 'Patreon members' and outro states 'If you'd like to hear the remaining details...please join the Pinball Party Patreon'

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## Transcript

Hello Pinball Party Patreon members. This week on Deep Dive, chimichangas, red ramps, and disco balls. Oh yeah. Deadpool. All right, Zach, episode two, we're back. This time we're talking about Stern's Deadpool. Exciting. Should we just kick this right off? I mean, we could talk about a long history of childhood and trauma and stuff, but maybe we can save that for episode three. Yeah, Deadpool, again, thanks to all the Patreon members out there. I really appreciate the support. Couldn't do this without you. Stern's Deadpool, hot on the heels of the dead, the most popular trailer of all time within 24 hours. Is that correct? Deadpool 3 or Deadpool and Wolverine? Correct. Yeah, Deadpool is so incredibly, incredibly popular. It's funny, you know, they originally they were gonna call the movie, I think Deadpool and Friend. And I think that would have been a better a better name, but like probably worse for marketing because Do you have any stance on who's playing Logan, aside from Hugh Jackman? Do you think Daniel Radcliffe's in there? I don't know. Those types of rumors I think are great. I've been a longtime Deadpool fan. I was a fan when it came out. I have the original key issue of the comic one of my favorite characters for a very long time So well I get to my opinion in a second why don you give us the facts of Stern Deadpool starting with when it came out August 2018 It a George Gomez game Then this is where it get a little a little tricky but it was originally a John Trudeau game But due to some legal issues I don know how much we want to get into that questionable piece of shit things that he did Yeah just a just a horrible I'm a terrible person, so I guess we won't go into that. But George Gomez, the designer and one of the main guys at Stern, kind of a renaissance man. That's actually weird side tangent, but that's a lot of the people I love in pinball because he just has this crazy history of designing toys and video games like Spy Hunter. How can you not love George Gomez? But it's George Gomez, it's Tanio Klyce's first game. Tim Sexton, Zombie Yeti artwork, Jerry Thompson on sound, and Zombie Yeti artwork. But it had a weird development path because Gomez due to Trudeau, the Trudeau thing didn't want to use any of Trudeau's design. So Gomez scrapped the entire design and rebuilt an entire one in a very limited amount of time but then you know it leaked very early I were you in pinball at this point in time yeah I think it was on the it was it when I was who know actually when I saw the white wood which is actually a very famous it kind of a white wood with like paper and sketch on it yeah which is Gomez design I saw that and I remember I had been taking a break roughly at the same time so my First impressions will kind of talk about because when I got back into it, this was the first game I got when I got back into it in this period. Yeah, it leaked very early. And so people couldn't quite understand what they were looking at. But I think that this is the perfect example of a development game where Stern understands sometimes they don't always get it right, but does a phenomenal job of getting the right people to do the right things. So you have Nolan North voicing Deadpool, who voices Deadpool and I like the video games and cartoons and stuff Very famous voice actor uncharted Batman He somebody in Batman I can remember who now but he a very very famous voice actor And Brian Poussain wrote all of the team animation was Chuck Ernst was ahead of it I only know this because I bought a Lord of the Rings from Chuck Ernst who's an animation at, yeah, at, I bought a few Lord of the Rings in my day. Deep cut. Yeah, him and it was on Halloween or the night before. I remember showing up there and we started talking and he's, I didn't know who he was. I was just buying a Lord of the Rings from a guy. Turns out he works at Stern. Turns out he's head of animation on some of the stuff. Turns out he used to work on all the fatality stuff in In Mortal Kombat, I think the physics of actually the guts and everything, and his daughter was helping the animation team at Stern complete this Deadpool animation. So like the animation in Deadpool is one of the impressions, spoiler impressions, fantastic. If you'd like to hear the remaining details of this phenomenal game from Stern Pinball, please join the Pinball Party Patreon at patreon.com slash pinballparty.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: a1fc3797-8434-487f-9481-66e31bdf5651*