Episode 1015: "Fans Flip So Kaneda Flips on Flipping Metallica LE"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·17m 2s·analyzed·Oct 23, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.036

TL;DR

Kaneda withdraws Metallica LE resale after backlash, launches Patreon lottery at $13k instead.

Summary

Kaneda discusses his decision to pull a Metallica remastered Limited Edition from sale after community backlash, explaining the FOMO strategy behind Stern's 500-unit production run and his own accountability standards as a media personality. He announces a lottery system for Patreon members to purchase the machine at $13,000, reflecting on the tension between personal profit opportunities and maintaining credibility as an industry critic.

Key Claims

Metallica remastered Limited Edition was produced in only 500 units, not the standard 1,000
high confidence · Kaneda repeatedly references 500 units and contrasts it with previous three-year trend of 1,000-unit LE runs
Metallica LE sold out instantly at Pinball Expo and demand far exceeds the 500-unit production
high confidence · Kaneda states 'This game was gone instantly and they ushered it out at Pinball Expo. And in there person, it blew everybody away.'
Kaneda received legitimate secondary market offers of $16,000+ for the Metallica LE
high confidence · Direct statement: 'I've had legitimate offers for $16,000 and up on this game'
Stern Pinball intentionally returned to scarce 500-unit LE production to restore FOMO to the market
medium confidence · Kaneda reasons: 'even though I think that's a good thing, even though I think Sam Stern needs to get FOMO back into pinball'
Marty Robbins (Haggis Pinball partner) knowingly encouraged pre-orders despite being aware of company financial problems
medium confidence · Kaneda's direct statement about Robbins' behavior during Haggis struggles, though this is Kaneda's interpretation of events
Jeff Teolis characterized critics of Marty Robbins' Haggis involvement as 'unintelligent' on his podcast
medium confidence · Kaneda references Teolis saying 'anyone who thinks that Marty was somehow involved with haggises like Quagmire was unintelligent and an F-head'
Kaneda has previously lost money speculating on secondary market sales of other pinball machines
high confidence · Lists specific losses: '$1,000 on Ultraman', 'more than that on Louis Toy Story 4', '$3,000 on Magic Girl'

Notable Quotes

“I now understand 100% why Metallica James Camerons Avatar (Limited Edition) Remastered is not a game, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, that anyone wants to see you flip for a profit. Because it is Sam Stern remaking NLE after they said they would not make more Limited Edition of a game where there was already NLE.”
Kaneda @ mid-episode — Core explanation for community backlash: Stern's apparent contradiction of its own policy against remaking existing LEs
“I'm going to tell you right now, I've had legitimate offers for $16,000 and up on this game.”
Kaneda @ mid-episode — Evidence of extreme secondary market demand and pricing for the Metallica LE
“For those of you out there who think this game is not going to sell for more than $13,000, I'm going to tell you right now... That is what it's worth.”
Kaneda @ mid-episode — Kaneda's confidence in Metallica LE long-term value ($15,000-$18,000 range)
“I'd rather it be like this than 1,000 Limited Edition that all go down in there value and nothing special.”
Kaneda @ late-episode — Kaneda endorsing the 500-unit scarcity model as healthier for market perception than prior 1,000-unit strategy
“If you wait and see on Keith Elwin's The King Kong. Don't wait and see on Harry Potter's CE. Don't wait and see on freaking Back to the Future SLE. If you wait and see on those things, you're gonna get locked out.”
Kaneda @ late-episode — Direct advice to audience about upcoming limited releases and scarcity strategy; names three future high-demand titles
“If I'm gonna call these companies out for lying to consumers, if I'm gonna hold them accountable for staying true to their word, I now understand 100% why... Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, that anyone wants to see you flip for a profit.”
Kaneda @ mid-episode — Kaneda's articulation of his accountability logic as a media critic holding himself to same standards as manufacturers
“Because if you flip it and you make $4,000 or $5,000, I swear I'm going to lose faith in there this community. Because that's ridiculous.”

Entities

Kanedaperson Jeff Teolisperson Marty Robbinsperson Sam SternpersonSteve BowenpersonMetallica (remastered Limited Edition)gameHaggis Pinballcompany

Signals

?
business_signal: Kaneda argues distributors operate with different profitability standards than content creators: two-unit LE sales by distributors generate monthly equivalent of his full podcast income
medium · Kaneda states: 'if a distributor just sells two Sam Stern Limited Edition, just two, they make as much mate/man as I make doing all the work I need to do for an entire month'
?
community_signal: Dispute over accountability in Haggis Pinball collapse: Kaneda accuses Marty Robbins of knowingly promoting company despite financial distress; Jeff Teolis defended Robbins
medium · Kaneda directly challenges Teolis's position: 'Marty Robbins was Haggis Pinball's partner. He knew all too well what was going on'
~
sentiment_shift: Strong negative community reaction to Kaneda attempting to resell Metallica LE for profit, with pressure exerted on distributors and threats to unsubscribe
high · Kaneda reports: 'people have been calling to my other distro friends, complaining to them' and 'three people that left my show today who were instantly disgusted'
?
licensing_signal: Metallica remastered represents a potential policy contradiction by Stern: remaking an existing Limited Edition game type after apparently committing not to do so
medium · Kaneda's core grievance: 'It is Sam Stern remaking NLE after they said they would not make more Limited Edition of a game where there was already NLE'
$
market_signal: Secondary market for recent Stern LEs shows significant depreciation and availability: Jaws, Venom, Foo Fighters, Godzilla all available within 48 hours post-release, suggesting 1,000-unit oversupply in prior years

Topics

FOMO strategy and limited edition production scarcityprimarySecondary market pricing and resale ethicsprimaryMedia personality accountability and double standardsprimaryMetallica remastered Limited Edition market dynamicsprimaryHaggis Pinball scandal and partner responsibilitysecondaryStern Pinball's strategic shift in production constraintssecondaryUpcoming limited release titles and scarcity predictionssecondaryCreator compensation and community expectationsmentioned

Sentiment

mixed(0.35)— Kaneda is defensive and frustrated with community criticism but ultimately capitulates to pressure. He expresses appreciation for his community while also being somewhat resentful about double standards. Tone shifts from confrontational early in the episode to resigned acceptance by the end.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.051

I just want to live. Don't really care about the face of the stage. Don't really care about what others will think. I'll sit, I'll sit, I'll sit, I'll sit, I'll sit, I'll sit, I'll sit up. Did you ever have one of those pinball days where you just should have not done anything pinball related? Well, that was like my day today. I made a move and I instantly recognized the mistake in doing it and what it triggered. We're going to talk about that. I also was listening to a podcast in the morning. Jeff Teolis was trying to explain to all his listeners how Marty Robbins is somehow a victim in the Haggis pinball scandal. He didn't really know what was going on. I don't buy any of it. I just for the record want to say right now, Marty Robbins was Damien's partner. He knew all too well what was going on over there. In all of those months where Haggis was struggling and Marty knew that the finances weren't good, he was still encouraging people to give money. He was going on that podcast and he was smug and he was laughing and he was refusing to be accountable and responsible for what was going on with the company that he was a part of. So I don't buy this revisionist history thing that Jeff is trying to do. And that's what started my day. I did a whole rant about that because Jeff was saying that anyone who thinks that Marty was somehow involved with haggises like Quagmire was unintelligent and an F-head. And I just don't buy that, I think all of them are responsible. Yes, I still think Steven Bowden is responsible on some level for what was going on at Deep Root. Remember, people, these aren't large companies. When you're going into a tiny pinball company and your company is promising everybody the world and your company is taking deposits, you have a responsibility when you're out there like Win Schilling the product that you feel confident the games are going to get made. And from there, I decided to try to test the market. I told you on my last show, I was going to try to test to see what the secondhand market would be on a Metallica LE remastered. And so I announced that I had one for sale to see what people would offer. And man, oh man, oh man, that was like opening Pandora's box. It was like kicking the hornet's nest. And I quickly realized that me, Kaneda, trying to sell this game for a profit was going to just make everybody upset. And the more I thought about it, and I thought about it pretty instantly, I kind of understand exactly why everyone is upset. I think it comes down to this. It's not that you don't want me to be able to do what I should be able to do with a product that I bought. And just for the record, everybody, I did not get special treatment to get a Metallica LE. I bought it fair and square off of a distributor site who listed one for sale. Melissa, who's usually my go-to, did not get me one. And so do not call her up and complain that she gave one to Kaneda and is not giving one to you. You know, she told me today, people have been saying that to her. And then people have been calling to my other distro friends, complaining to them that Kaneda is selling a Metallica LE for $15,000. And I love it. You know what I love about all this? Where were all of you when I lost $1,000 on Ultraman? I lost more than that on Toy Story 4. I lost $3,000 on Magic Girl. So I get it now. I get it now. I not allowed to buy a game and do what I want with it I have to be held to a different standard than everybody else But I understand why If I'm gonna do a pinball podcast, that's gonna sort of expose what I think are mistakes by these pinball companies. If I'm gonna call these companies out for lying to consumers, if I'm gonna hold them accountable for staying true to their word, I now understand 100% why Metallica LE Remastered is not a game, Kaneda, that anyone wants to see you flip for a profit. Because it is Stern remaking NLE after they said they would not make more LEs of a game where there was already NLE. So even before I listed one for sale, that alone has got a lot of people upset. It's easily got 500 original Metallica LE owners upset. It's also got all these people upset that just wanted one and could not get one. The part I really misread was how angry people are that they got locked out of getting this game. Because for the last like three years, ever since Stern has been making 1,000 LE machines, it's been easy to get every single one. It doesn't matter what it was. If it was Foo Fighters, if it was Godzilla, if it was Jaws, if it was Venom, if it was John Wick. I mean, some of these are really easy to get because nobody wants them, but it still was not impossible on day one to get Godzilla or Jaws. Those games were still available within 48 hours of being released. Metallica, only 500. It's not the same scenario. This game was gone instantly and they ushered it out at Expo. And in person, it blew everybody away. And the demand for this game is way greater, like much, much greater than just 500 units. And even though I think that's a good thing, even though I think Stern needs to get FOMO back into pinball, it just was not going to work out for me to try to sell one for more than $13,000. And I just want to say this for the record. For those of you out there who think this game is not going to sell for more than $13,000, I'm going to tell you right now, I've had legitimate offers for $16,000 and up on this game. And so yeah, Kanaid is not allowed to flip it. He's not allowed to make any money, but I'm going to do the right thing. I am going to give somebody an opportunity to take this Metallica LE off my hands. I am going to give someone who is a Canada Club member a chance to buy Metallica LE for $13,000. And here's how it's going to work. Everybody who wants one has to message me through Patreon. All right. No other way. I don't want to hear Facebook. I don't want to hear text messages. It has to be through Patreon because I need to validate that you're a paying club member. And I want you to tell me how big of a Metallica fan you are. And I know if you're using chat GPT, if you give me an AI generated answer, I am not putting your name in a hat. All right. I know exactly what to look for with a fake answer. And from there, I need to know your name and your phone number because here's how it's going to go down. During my Saturday morning spectacular, the greatest pinball show on the planet at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time I am going to pull a name out of a hat and whatever name that is if there is a phone number attached to it I going to call it If you didn give me a phone number you not going to win And when I call that number and we're going to do it live. So everybody here, as you've seen this before, if that person answers the phone and says they want the game, it's theirs. If they don't pick up the phone, we're going to the next number in the hat. I'm not calling back. I'm not accepting callbacks even. So I don't care if your little kid's got a soccer championship at that time. If you want this game, you better pick up the phone and it's going to be fair and square. And from there, I will connect you with how you get your game, who you're going to pay for that game, and you're going to pay no more than $13,000. Okay. And I'm just telling you right now for all you people that threatened me today that you're going to leave my show and unsubscribe. I just left. I'm telling you right now. I just left three to $5,000 on the table after I've lost money when I speculated on other games because nobody wants to see Kaneda turn into a scalper. And look, I understand it. I absolutely understand it. I'm not like everybody else. And if I don't hold myself to a higher standard, then you shouldn't listen to me. If I don't hold myself accountable for my own actions, then it is hypocritical. If I'm going to accuse these companies of doing things that I think are disingenuous, how can I hold them accountable if I don't hold myself accountable every once in a while? But here's the thing. The other thing I'm going to do moving forward, because if I'm hyping a game and I say, you should get this game because it's going to go up in value. If I tell you that for weeks, like I did with Metallica, I'm allowed to go get one and see where the value goes. I'm sorry. I'm not going to do this every time. I'm not going to allow people to shut my opportunity down and then you get to go and exercise those opportunities because every single person who has a Metallica LE, you should pat yourself on the back because you now have a $15,000 to $18,000 game depending on who you line up to buy it on the secondhand market. That is what it's worth. Don't believe the babies on pin side that think this thing is going to drop in value. There's a reason why over 12 years, Metallica LE, the original version, never really popped up for sale that often. And this is going to be even harder to get. And I always want to be honest with all of you, right? Very transparent. Like I hyped Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I did. But have I ever told you to grab an Alice because it's going to go up in value or skyrocket in value? No, I haven't. Do I need to do something like this with Alice? No, I don't. Because I still think it's going to be kind of easy to get an Alice. I think they're still going to sell through, but I don't think there's a frenzy to get those 500 Alice's the way there is Metallica. We know it's not as good of a game as Metallica. It's not even going to be as close to a good of a game as Metallica is. And Metallica sold like 120 million albums or more around the world and is one of the most iconic bands of all time. And it's a cool game to have in your game room if you're a grown adult. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland doesn't hit like that. Now, that being said, I've been honest about Alice. I think they're going to end up selling everyone. I don't think they're really going to go up in value, but I think they're going to hold value. And I just want to say it's been an exhausting day. And I've been back and forth with some of my own club members. Jaeger, I still love you. I love all you guys on the Patreon chat. It's like 40 of us. We're like a motley crew there that just can't get enough. But I get tired. I'll tell you why I get tired. I'm going to be honest right now. I get tired because I do so much work. I do so much work to make this content, to make this show, to take time away from my family my friends other things I want to be doing at times to make a thousand podcasts and do all this work And then you guys are going to bust my chops because I trying to make a few grand here and there on the side in a hobby in which are you sitting down? If a distributor just sells two Stern LEs, just two, they make as much money as I make doing all the work I need to do for an entire month. And are you on top of them? Why should they get to make that much money? Why should they get to profit on selling these games when they're just drop shipping them to customers? And those games are never going to have issues because they're at least people don't even play them. So yeah, I'm held to a little bit of a double standard. I get it. And I feel like I did the right thing. And every once in a while, gang, I'm actually going to be thankful that I have the community around me that I do. Because I think in life, it's important to have people that surround you that don't always agree with you. But for those three people that left my show today who were instantly disgusted, don't come back. They're not even listening right now because they left. If all the work I've done and all the stuff I've created for you is going to make you run for the hills because I try to scalp one game for a few bucks. I don't know what to tell you. I think that's an overreaction to what I was doing. And I think you underappreciate the amount of work that goes into it. I could count on one hand, the amount of pinball podcasters that do the amount of work that I do and do it successfully, make it entertaining, do it weekly. It's crazy to me. I only asked for $5 a month. And even when I just asked people like, Hey, are you getting more than that, I get accused of being greedy for just wanting $10 a month. I just went to get a drink, one drink, $18. That's how it is, people, before tip. And that's three months of Canada's Pinball Podcast. Let's just all wake up together and help each other out through this pinball year. It's going to be a really long year. And I think people are really triggered by Metallica. I'm glad I'm going to get it to one of you fans. And I really hope that whoever gets this game, you keep it, you enjoy it, you play it. Because if you flip it and you make $4,000 or $5,000, I swear I'm going to lose faith in this community. Because that's ridiculous. It really is ridiculous. So hopefully we get this to a fan and it all works out. Man, it's only Tuesday. It's only Tuesday. It feels like a month ago. I was at Pinball Expo and here we are. My advice to each and every one of you is this. Just listen to me. When I tell you to grab a game because it's hot and it's going to be unobtainium, don't wait and see on everything. And I think that's the thing, man, is everyone who listened to me and is like, you tell us to wait and then you go and buy one and now you want to flip it for a profit. Yeah, gang, don't wait and see on Keith Elwin's King Kong. Don't wait and see on Harry Potter's CE. Don't wait and see on freaking Back to the Future SLE. If you wait and see on those things, you're gonna get locked out. And the only way you're gonna get one is if you pay more. And we live in a world in which not everybody can have everything. Life is not fair, right? I really do like 500 LEs. I'd rather it be like this than 1,000 LEs that all go down in value and nothing special. Everybody, I hope you can hear I'm tired. I love you guys. Thank you for the support. And get ready. Let's see who gets this Metallica. But it's not going to be Kaneda. I'm not allowed to engage in normal capitalistic behavior. I need to hold myself to a higher standard. Everybody, I'll talk to you later.