Heavy Metal Pinball...

Cary Hardy·video·16m 13s·analyzed·Jun 16, 2020

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.028

TL;DR

Cary Hardy critiques Heavy Metal Home Pin: great art/theme but $8K price and lazy playfield design.

Summary

Cary Hardy reviews the Heavy Metal pinball machine by Incendium/Stern, a limited-edition ($8,000) Home Pin cabinet commemorating Heavy Metal magazine's 300th issue. While praising the cabinet art, side blades, and overall aesthetic, Hardy criticizes the vacant bottom third of the playfield art and the premium pricing for what amounts to a smaller, home-scale machine using Stern's default Home Pin layout. He argues the price point limits appeal to wealthy Heavy Metal fans unaware of what a full-sized pinball machine offers.

Key Claims

Heavy Metal pinball is priced at $8,000 and made-to-order with expected delivery in 'holidays 2020'
high confidence · Hardy checked Incendium's website and confirmed the $8,000 price and made-to-order shipping timeline
Heavy Metal uses Stern's standard Home Pin default layout, identical to Star Wars Home Pin
high confidence · Hardy explicitly states 'If you are familiar with the Star Wars Home Pin, then you're going to be very familiar with the layout for this heavy metal. Because that layout is essentially like their new Home Pin standard default layout.'
Production is likely to start around September due to Stern's factory backlog with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
medium confidence · Hardy speculates: 'chances are turtles isn't gonna start slowing down until about september if i had to take a guess'
Heavy Metal commemorates the 300th issue of Heavy Metal magazine (running since 1977) and includes an exclusive variant cover edition
high confidence · Hardy reads from official product description: 'The heavy metal pinball machine commemorates the 300th issue of heavy metal which has been running since 1977'
The game features custom painted action figures and exclusive soundtrack with Sebastian Bach, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick, and Brendan Small
high confidence · Hardy reads specifications from official product listing
For $8,000, buyers could instead get a brand new LE (Limited Edition) full-sized pinball machine or definitely a Premium title
high confidence · Hardy's direct comparison: 'for eight thousand you could almost get you a brand new le machine you could definitely get you a premium title'
The bottom third of the playfield art looks 'very vacant' and lazy compared to the rest of the game
high confidence · Hardy's primary artistic criticism: 'My issue with the art is merely this portion right here. Just this bottom third of the playfield, I feel, has gotten very lazy.'
Jack Danger demonstrated the machine in the official trailer

Notable Quotes

“I really don't want to talk about this machine anymore. It's, it's, um, I kind of almost want to talk about stranger things more than I do want to talk about this. So that tells you kind of how bad, uh, I feel about this.”
Cary Hardy@ 0:28 — Sets the tone for Hardy's reluctant and negative overall sentiment about the machine
“If you are familiar with the Star Wars Home Pin, then you're going to be very familiar with the layout for this heavy metal. Because that layout is essentially like their new Home Pin standard default layout.”
Cary Hardy@ 2:18 — Establishes that Heavy Metal uses no original layout innovation, a key criticism
“I honestly do not think that a lot of the negatives that i have to say about this title are Stern's fault because they are merely doing what they are able to do with their customers approval slash what their wallet can handle.”
Cary Hardy@ 4:17 — Hardy attributes design compromises to Incendium's cost constraints, not Stern's capability
“that's right guys that's not a misprint that's eight thousand dollars for this title”
Cary Hardy@ 5:09 — Emphasizes shock at the price point
“My issue with the art is merely this portion right here. Just this bottom third of the playfield, I feel, has gotten very lazy. I don't know another way to put this, but this does not look as good as the other parts of the game.”
Cary Hardy@ 8:18 — Hardy's primary aesthetic complaint about playfield design
“this is going to be for those that are hardcore heavy metal fans but not just heavy metal fans you also have to understand that the people that are going to get this are not only fans but also not too savvy on what you do and don't get with this pinball machine in comparison to what else is available”

Entities

Cary HardypersonHeavy Metal (pinball machine)gameIncendiumcompanyStern PinballcompanyJack DangerpersonStar Wars (Home Pin)gameHeavy Metal (magazine)organizationTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (pinball)gameSebastian BachpersonBlue Oyster Cultperson

Signals

?
community_signal: Hardy soliciting audience feedback on Heavy Metal machine in comments, indicating community opinion remains divided/developing
medium · Hardy: 'By all means i would like to know what you think about this title in the comments down below'
?
design_philosophy: Bottom third of playfield art assessed as vacant and lazy, lacking detail compared to rest of machine; Hardy criticizes missed opportunities with slingshot area
high · Hardy: 'Just this bottom third of the playfield, I feel, has gotten very lazy' and 'I feel like they could have done so much more with the slingshots'
?
design_philosophy: Layout choice (standard default) attributed to cost constraints of Incendium rather than Stern capability; Hardy credits Incendium with accepting design compromises to manage budget
high · Hardy: 'they are merely doing what they are able to do with their customers approval slash what their wallet can handle' and 'naturally whenever it comes to that chances are they going to settle for the default home pin layout for cost purposes'
$
market_signal: Heavy Metal Home Pin positioned as even more niche than Star Wars Home Pin due to IP and price point; target market is wealthy Heavy Metal fans potentially unaware of full-sized alternative offerings
high · Hardy: 'This is obviously even going to have a smaller market than the Star Wars home pin' and 'the only way it would sell is essentially that as long as they didn't know that they were missing out on a lot of stuff'
$
market_signal: Heavy Metal priced at $8,000 for a Home Pin cabinet using default layout; Hardy argues this exceeds value proposition and limits market to uninformed wealthy fans

Topics

Home Pin platform design and layout standardizationprimaryPricing strategy for niche/boutique Home Pin releasesprimaryPlayfield art design quality and executionprimaryStern factory production schedule and capacitysecondaryHeavy Metal magazine IP commemoration and themingsecondaryValue proposition: Home Pin vs. full-sized pinball machinesprimaryTarget market segmentation for premium boutique pinballsecondaryCabinet aesthetics and cosmetic customizationsecondary

Sentiment

negative(-0.65)— Hardy is fundamentally disappointed with the machine, expressing reluctance to discuss it and frustration with pricing and bottom-third playfield art. However, he praises cabinet design, side art, and theme execution, preventing a wholly negative assessment. The core complaint is value proposition: $8,000 for a scaled-down Home Pin with reused layout and lazy playfield art.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.049

what's up guys and welcome back to my channel where I talk and do everything pinball so if that sounds interesting to you then hit that subscribe button down below the reason why I sigh is because I really don't want to talk about this machine anymore. It's, it's, um, I kind of almost want to talk about stranger things more than I do want to talk about this. So that tells you kind of how bad, uh, I feel about this. And I feel like I need to go through this again. The thing is this was revealed, at least the art and everything was revealed like three months ago. But due to COVID and all that stuff and junk, this has obviously been postponed until just recently to show us what heavy metal looks like in action. So to make sure I'm still going to be falling in line with the fair use, I will not be showing the complete trailer in its entirety in this video. But by all means, if you want to see the full trailer in its entirety, I will put a link down in the description below. All right, so let's talk about what we see here in this trailer. Now, this is showing you the back glass and the speaker panel as well as the display. Now, something that we've already discussed. And I feel like I'm going to do a lot of repetition here because this is, all the information that we've essentially gotten is what we've already been over. We've been through this, guys. We've been through what this game is going to have and what it will not have and the kind of layout it is and stuff like that. But the chances are, so for those of you that know a lot about this, remember that not everyone does. So please bear with me as I do reiterate a lot of the information that is very well known to a lot of people, but not to everyone. So if you are familiar with the Star Wars Home Pin, then you're going to be very familiar with the layout for this heavy metal. Because that layout is essentially like their new Home Pin standard default layout. That's all it is. It's basically, this is the blueprint of a fully functioning, fun, interactive pinball machine. I've played the Star Wars Home Pin. And I sucked at it in comparison to Scott from PinStadiums who kicked my ass on that game. But I played it and I actually enjoyed it. I really did. It's just one of those things where, again, when we go into price for what you're getting, that's where I'm kind of like, I don't know about that. Which is going to bring us even further to the point for this title on the price. So this is what it is. Incendium has a contract with Stern. They go to Stern. They say, hey, we want a pinball machine and we want the theme to be heavy metal. Stern, I'm sure, is like, sure, we can do that. Now, just tell us what you want. Now, here are the different types of things that we can do. Either one, you can choose basically the base model of choosing their layout that's already complete and ready to use for this amount of money. or you can hire one of our designers and they can design you a whole other layout which puts it into a whole other spectrum of things that need to be paid for and gone through so naturally whenever it comes to that chances are they going to settle for the default home pin layout for cost purposes so once that over and done with then stern like okay so now we got basically your layout complete what all do you want in this title now that why when it comes to this game a lot of the things that i have to say that are negative i don't want to put that on stern i honestly do not think that a lot of the negatives that i have to say about this title are Stern's fault because they are merely doing what they are able to do with their customers approval slash what their wallet can handle. They're going to be making a limited amount of these. I want to say it's 500. I could be wrong, but I want to say it's 500. I will look it up, but apartment doesn't want to because I really don't know. Let me see. All right, so check this out just doing some quick research and here we have incendium's website now here if you want the limited edition heavy metal art print which is that's the back glass that is the back glass for this game now the game as you can tell is eight thousand dollars that's right guys that's not a misprint that's eight thousand dollars for this title that's right so it's made to order and it's this item is made to order shipping holidays 2020 wow so it's not even like being essentially built right now i wouldn't think so i honestly wouldn't because right now stern's factory is really loaded up with turtles so turtles is going to be basically pumping out the next few months they're working on their pros right now they're going out the door then they're under their le's and then they're gonna be doing their premiums so chances are turtles isn't gonna start slowing down until about september if i had to take a guess um and that's maybe when they might start doing this or they're gonna start revealing their next cornerstone i'm going to assume that they're saying holidays because i'm guessing they're expecting a slowdown at that point the heavy metal pinball machine commemorates the 300th issue of heavy metal which has been running since 1977 and inspired the 1981 animated movie of the same name. An exclusive variant cover edition of issue 300 will be included with every machine. The original art created for the heavy metal pinball machine art pays tribute to characters and worlds from the magazine's storied history. New editions from this upcoming publication joins the shared universe for the first time. Gameplay revolves around the warrior heroine Tarna and the undead tail gunner Nelson. Both will speak for the very first time ever, supporting the in-game narrative. Exclusive heavy metal soundtrack featuring Sebastian Bach, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick, Brendon Small, and more. original hand-drawn heavy metal artwork exclusive custom painted heavy metal action figures dmd display commercial quality coin operated first ever chameleon paint armor kit now that's something i do want to point out is that the armor that they're using for this title is interesting i don't have anything against it nothing negative to say about it i think it actually looks pretty cool service available united states only okay well there you go so eight thousand dollars made to order you get your heavy metal pinball machine now let's go over this uh we can go through the trailer a little bit here uh they had jack danger come in to show off what this machine is incapable of doing now let stop right here in honestly as my really only complaint about this title well I have two Two complaints One is the art and number two is obviously the price So, what is my issue with the art? My issue with the art is merely this portion right here. Just this bottom third of the playfield, I feel, has gotten very lazy. I don't know another way to put this, but this does not look as good as the other parts of the game. Almost every other part of this game looks heavy metal, and it looks pretty good. But then all of a sudden, from right here down, it looks very vacant. I feel like they could have done so much more with the slingshots and around the slingshots and this whole area, except they went another direction on that so let's go over this again so here is the nice and shiny armor that they have for this so that that looks really good here we have old jack danger pulling up to pull the plunger now let's go down here to the cabinet now they're going to do some better uh visuals of the cabinet so i just want to state that the cabinet art looks great no complaints with the art on the cabinet as well as the side the side blades look great up here looks pretty good it's just that bottom third of the plate field that i have a problem with now as i said the layout is their basic default home pin layout so there's nothing extravagantly new except for changing out the the toys that are up here on top of the ramps and of course the art that's on the targets and stuff like that but essentially mechanically the game should be the exact same as their star wars home pin once again the side art the side art looks awesome that looks good i've got no complaints on that that looks very you know fantasy and heavy that looks good i'm not going to sit here and nitpick that that is definitely doable. Showing more of the, and here is basically what these toys look like. Now, obviously I could sit here and this is an easy nitpick, but I'm not even going to really go into depth on this, but yeah, obviously these could be better, but it is what it is and we'll just move on to the other one. At least this one glows up, so that one's a little bit different and everything. That's pretty cool. Some flipper action right there. And here we have these different categories for heavy metal. Your sci-fi, your horror, your fantasy, and your metal. So I'm curious to see how the rules play out with this. That's just how I want to see that. I'm wondering how they're going to integrate the world of heavy metal into this game they're gonna be limited on what they can do with their display obviously because it's gonna be on just a regular dmd i honestly feel like they don't really show very long the bottom portion of the play field they always like right about yeah they stop like right before they get to it but it's just very vacant down here i don't know this is it's it's nitpicky i know it i get it but that's really my only complaint besides the price so this is obviously even going to have a smaller market than the Star Wars home pin everyone was very upset when Star Wars home pin was announced because it wasn a full game and it obviously not going to be for us typical people that like full pinball machines this is going to be leaning towards an even more niche market with the fact that the only people that are going to want this game are the ones that one can afford it because it's eight thousand dollars for a smaller version of an actual full-sized pinball machine for eight thousand you could almost get you a brand new le machine you could definitely get you a premium title so this is going to be for those that are hardcore heavy metal fans but not just heavy metal fans you also have to understand that the people that are going to get this are not only fans but also not too savvy on what you do and don't get with this pinball machine in comparison to what else is available i have to think about what would be a dream theme that would sell for a lot of people but the only way it would sell is essentially that as long as they didn't know that they were missing out on a lot of stuff so they were to like basically take this theme and layout and let's just throw a theme out there let's say back to the future god forbid that they did a home pin version for back to the future but let's just say they did and the thing is that theme oh my god starts tugging on my heartstrings but i wouldn't get it because i don't want it to be in a home pin cabinet and i definitely would not pay eight thousand dollars for a smaller version of that no i honestly feel that if they were to price this machine like around the same price that they did for the star wars home pin then i would have very little to complain about even with the bad art i'd be like ah you know it is what it is kind of thing because i would also know that incendium has to get their cut for profit and everything so with that being said my main complaint is obviously just the price for what they're giving you in this title but everything else looks pretty good art wise i just feel like there could have been more i mean for those of you that know heavy metal enough you know that they could have done so much more with that play field but it is what it is that's my thoughts on this heavy metal game by all means i would like to know what you think about this title in the comments down below. I'm going to try to knock out a couple of more videos before I go to bed. I don't know when I'm going to have a time to do them tomorrow. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. We'll just have to see how things go. It's going to be a very long week for me up ahead. So I'm doing what I can, guys. So bear with me. We're getting really close to hitting that 2000 subscriber mark, I'm trying to think of something to do to mark that occasion. By all means, if you've got recommendations for that as well, I'd like to hear them. I will be also starting to do a mailbag session where you send me emails, good, bad, whatever, then I will have a segment on mailbag, depending on how much mail I get. By all means, if you want to send me email, do heartypinball at gmail.com. I'll put a link down in the description below. So if you like what you've seen here, except the price, then give me that thumbs up. And by all means, if you haven't subscribed already, be sure to hit that subscribe button down below. That way you can be notified whenever I upload something for your viewing pleasure. Until next time, guys. Peace out. Thank you.