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Episode 130: Christopher Franchi

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·32m 43s·analyzed·May 17, 2018
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Franchi discusses Stern artwork, licensing constraints, and upcoming October releases under tight approval deadlines.

Summary

Pinball Profile Episode 130 features an in-depth interview with Christopher Franchi, lead artist at Stern Pinball, discussing his work on Guardians of the Galaxy and Batman 66, his design philosophy, upcoming secret projects due in October, and broader industry topics including game leaks, licensing challenges, and his passion for Batman and pop culture.

Key Claims

  • Christopher Franchi is working on two unreleased games due for October release with a special approval process requiring everything to be approved by early May

    high confidence · Franchi states he was given 3-4 weeks to complete artwork before an early May approval cutoff, with only 5 hours of sleep in the past 3 days to meet the deadline

  • One of Franchi's projects started over a year ago (around May 2017) but didn't really begin development until November 2017

    high confidence · Direct quote: 'We were cruising along. I started, well, one of these I started back last year, actually, right around this time last year. And that was only because we were putting together something to sort of, as a song and dance, to get the license. So we didn't really hit the ground running with this thing until November.'

  • People actively call licensing companies (e.g., Warner Brothers) pretending to represent manufacturers to discover which IP is licensed to which pinball company

    high confidence · Franchi describes this behavior as 'devious' and questions why someone would 'call up like Warner Brothers and say, hey, does anybody have the license for this property for pinball?' and then leak that information

  • Guardians of the Galaxy was heavily speculated to be a Stern game for 8 months before official announcement, but Stern never admitted to it until release

    high confidence · Franchi states: 'leading up to Guardians people speculating that it was Guardians for eight months before it came out And I know for a fact that nobody at Stern ever admitted it'

  • Franchi expressed strong interest in designing a Jaws pinball machine if it ever gets made, saying 'I'm your guy' and 'it can't be done without me'

    high confidence · Direct quote: 'if they did Jaws, I mean, I already told them. I said, if you guys ever do Jaws, I'm your guy. I don't want to hear any crap about anyone else. I have to do that game.'

  • Franchi has a signature artistic style centered around hexagons, particularly from Guardians of the Galaxy work

    high confidence · Teolis notes 'you're going to go down as a hexagon dude' and Franchi confirms 'I'm just going to go down as a hexagon dude' with no upcoming themed projects to change that

Notable Quotes

  • “I've got about five hours of sleep total in the past three days because today was the cutoff just to get everything done, get the packages all printed out and put together and sent off to get approved.”

    Christopher Franchi @ early in interview — Reveals the intense time pressure and deadline-driven nature of working on Stern pinball projects with special licensing approval processes

  • “Yeah, I think when you get to the point where you're calling up like Warner Brothers and saying, hey, does anybody have the license for this property for pinball? And they say, yes, Stern does. and then they go and report it... I don't understand the importance of that.”

    Christopher Franchi @ mid-interview — Directly addresses the practice of leaking confidential licensing information and expresses frustration with leak culture in the pinball community

  • “It's tough. It's tough. And it's not fun either. I would love to say, guess what I'm working on. But you know, can't do it.”

    Christopher Franchi @ mid-interview — Expresses personal frustration with strict NDAs and secrecy requirements that prevent him from sharing his work publicly

  • “I'm your guy. I don't want to hear any crap about anyone else. I have to do that game. And even if they don't get the actors, I still want to do it, you know, because it can't be done without me.”

    Christopher Franchi @ late in interview — Strong assertion of desire to work on Jaws pinball and confidence in his ability to execute it successfully

  • “leading up to Guardians people speculating that it was Guardians for eight months before it came out And I know for a fact that nobody at Stern ever admitted it”

    Christopher Franchi @ mid-interview — Provides insider perspective on how rumors become accepted as fact without official confirmation

  • “The shark isn't like Iron Man. This cool pose and that cool pose. It's either straight or bent.”

    Christopher Franchi @ late-mid interview — Discusses artistic challenges in designing a Jaws game based on shark subject matter limitations

Entities

Christopher FranchipersonJeff TeolispersonStern PinballcompanyGuardians of the GalaxygameBatman 66gameJawsgameGeorge Gomezperson

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Game leaks and rumors potentially impact consumer purchasing decisions and sales by allowing customers to delay purchases pending unreleased titles

    medium · Franchi: 'that may or may not hurt sales or it might make somebody, look, I'm going to postpone buying because that's coming out'

  • ?

    community_signal: Tension between pinball community's leak culture and desire for secrecy; rumors solidify into accepted fact through repetition despite lack of confirmation

    high · Franchi and Teolis discuss how rumors become treated as law after weeks of discussion, appearing on news aggregators like This Week in Pinball without substantiation

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinball Profile podcast serves as major interview platform for industry figures; discussed as credible source despite broader rumor/leak ecosystem

    medium · Franchi appears on Pinball Profile; Teolis compares favorably to other podcast hosts; interview scheduled to discuss games post-Expo

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Franchi's artistic approach includes signature style elements (hexagons from Guardians) and openness to major IP projects (Jaws) despite artistic challenges

    high · Franchi states 'I'm just going to go down as a hexagon dude' and expresses strong desire to design Jaws: 'I'm your guy... it can't be done without me'

  • ?

    event_signal: Chicago Pinball Expo in October 2018 scheduled as major reveal event for Christopher Franchi's two unreleased games; Franchi attending first time

    high · Franchi: 'I am going to, I have yet to ever go. And since they have things settled between the powers that be, I think this will be my first year going to that event'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.098

0:00
It's time for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teel. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us, pinballprofile, at gmail.com. And please subscribe on either iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. This guy reached out to me on Facebook and said, Why haven't you interviewed me? Even though we had made an arrangement to talk prior to maybe a couple of games, being released in October, but you know what? October is kind of long away, so let's bring them on right now. The artist you know and love from Guardians of the Galaxy and also Batman 66, Christopher Franchi joins us. Hello, Christopher. Hello, Mr. Teolis. How are you, sir? It's Dr. Teolis, but I'm fine, thank you. Dr. Teolis, well, that too. It is an honor and a pleasure, unmeasured, to be on your show, sir. Didn't I hear that same crap you said to Head to Head Pinball as well, too? Like, is that just your standard? Oh, my God, it's such a thrill. Laying it on a little thick there, Christopher. I can't hear you. The phone's breaking up.
1:06
That worked for Pee Wee. No, I'm not being serious. All right, all right. No, I didn't say that. I was also grateful to be on their show. And, you know, you've got to love Ryan and Marty or Royan and Marty. But, you know, you're the real deal. You're that guy that does that show that's really cool.
1:25
Wow, and you can't come up with words. You know it's sincere. Yeah, you know, I've had a rough couple of days, so my vocabulary and everything else is suffering right now. All right. Why has it been rough? Well. Because you stiffed me for dinner. Is that why? It's been weighing on you. I was 10 minutes from your house. I'm like, hey, man, let's grab dinner. You have to eat. Listen, I've seen you. You've seen me. We eat. Yeah, but I don't remember why I couldn't make it. I know you were going to be at the airport, and you had a layover. You had some time. Yes, I wasn't far away, but there was a reason why I couldn't go, or I would have. I don't remember the reason. I just remember the snub. Yeah, well, that's the way it always goes, right? You always remember the crappy part, but you don't remember the important part. And I don't either, so I guess we're both guilty. It could have been the start of a great love fest. You know, I certainly admire your work. In fact, I just got framed the lovely art that you did, the limited edition piece of Batman art from Texas Pinball Festival that Ryan C. brought back for me, number 7 of 50, framed, and you made some Canadian comment on it. I really appreciate it. But that's now up in my pinball room, and just the bonding could have been great. Now, you know, when you go up against me, sometimes it can turn ugly. Ask Josh Sharp. Yeah, I don't want to end up there.

  • Franchi is a massive fan of original Adam West Batman series and prefers it over Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film

    high confidence · Franchi discusses childhood connection to Adam West Batman and shares nuanced perspective that while he appreciates Tim Burton's artistic achievement, he was initially resistant to the darker tone

  • Christopher Franchi previously worked as a custom artist in high school, creating custom checkered Vans shoes and Nike modifications for $20 per shoe

    high confidence · Franchi describes: 'I took a pair of Nikes, and I drew with a black stripe. I drew white checkers on the stripe, so it was a black and white checkered stripe. And then I got paid $20 a shoe'

    • “I'm just going to go down as a hexagon dude because there's never going to be... anything coming up that can take the place of that”

    Christopher Franchi @ near end — Acknowledges his signature hexagon design element from Guardians as his lasting artistic trademark

  • “There's a lot of people involved in that company, and that may or may not hurt sales or it might make somebody, look, I'm going to postpone buying because that's coming out”

    Christopher Franchi @ early-mid interview — Articulates concern that leaks can negatively impact sales and customer purchasing decisions for upcoming games

    • Head to Head Pinballorganization
    This Week in Pinballorganization
    Warner Brotherscompany
    The Walking Deadgame
    Ryan C.person
    Josh Sharpperson
    Infinity Warsmovie
    Texas Pinball Festivalevent
    Chicago Pinball Expoevent
    Vancouverevent
    Tim Burtonperson
    Adam Westperson
    Mrs. Pinnperson
  • ?

    leak_detection: Industry practice of calling licensing companies (e.g., Warner Brothers) while impersonating manufacturers to discover which IPs are licensed to which pinball companies, then leaking that information

    high · Franchi describes someone 'calling up like Warner Brothers and saying, hey, does anybody have the license for this property for pinball? And they say, yes, Stern does. and then they go and report it'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Special approval process for unreleased Stern games indicates licensing requirements beyond standard game development; likely major IP with strong approval authority

    high · Franchi reveals one project has 'special approval process' with strict May deadline, suggesting major IP licensing with external approval authority

  • ?

    community_signal: Franchi expressing strong interest in future Jaws pinball project suggests potential continued work at Stern; no indication of manufacturer changes

    medium · Franchi: 'if they did Jaws, I mean, I already told them. I said, if you guys ever do Jaws, I'm your guy'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Christopher Franchi transitioned from general illustration work (Batman 66, Guardians) to full playfield design responsibility at Stern

    high · Franchi discusses work on multiple Stern projects and mentions being lead artist on recent games

  • ?

    product_strategy: Two unreleased Stern pinball games originally planned for October 2018 faced compressed approval timeline with special licensing requirements forcing artwork completion by early May

    high · Franchi: 'there's sort of a special approval process we have to go through. and were basically told with maybe three weeks, three or four weeks to spare, that we had to have everything done by the beginning of May to get approved'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Guardians of the Galaxy was heavily speculated for 8 months before official announcement; Stern never confirmed until release despite widespread community speculation

    high · Franchi: 'leading up to Guardians people speculating that it was Guardians for eight months before it came out And I know for a fact that nobody at Stern ever admitted it'

    • 2:38
    I love Josh. It's all a joke. In fact, some of my favorite comics, too, you see some of the Triumph of the Insult comic dog, Lisa Lampanelli, some of these insult comics that I think are funny. They only insult the people that they love. That's a good point to keep in mind, too. Oh, yeah. You know, I've never been, I don't know, I guess when you're an artist, you're kind of overly sensitive. So I was never really good at that. But I had a birthday a couple of years ago, three years ago or so. I know, happy 60th.
    3:09
    I threw myself on the slab and had a roast. And it was tough. There wasn't really a set time, but we got about what seemed to feel like about halfway through it, and I pulled the plug. I'm like, all right, I can't take it anymore. Really? Yeah. Listen, if I'm going to dish it out, you better be able to take it. The key is letting everyone know this is a joke, and I think everybody knows. Look, I'm saying it right now. Everybody knows I think the world of Josh Sharp and even Ryan Seay. I just like poking fun at them. It makes them laugh. It makes me laugh, but there's nothing but love. Well, you know, the best way to burn people is when you're good friends with people, you know how to burn them because you know them inside and out. You know what's going to get to them and get under their skin, and you also are armed with all the ammunition about their life and personality, et cetera, to fling poo at them in such a manner. Well, see, that's the whole thing, Chris. Everyone's telling me, oh, you got to go on the Trash Talkers bloodbath invitational at Pinberg. And I'm like, there's not a chance for so many reasons. One, look at the stats. I'm by far the best pinball podcaster player there is. It's not even close. Like, I don't even know where the others start. And secondly, this mouth going up against them, there's not enough Kleenex in Pittsburgh to cover the carnage that I could lay on people in a bloodbath trash talker. Forget about it. So I'm bowing down. I'm saying, you know what? First of all, as great as I am, and I'm being completely modest here, I can pick any two people and still fall out of bed and win that thing. So it's just best that I don't do it. I'm taking the high road, which is something I don't do. That's mighty kind of you, sir, to give somebody else a chance. Even before you've taken the trophy home yourself. I mean, that's mighty kind. Well, you know what? They'd just be playing for seconds, so why bother? Yeah, I know that story. So I saw the other day, it was Batman Day, and I reached out to you. I'm like, wait a minute, what? I've never heard of Batman Day. I also, like you, am a massive, massive Adam West Batman fan, obsessed. I've got my 12-year-old. We sit and watch all the Batman episodes and just laugh and love it, and especially seeing all the stock footage they would do, the Batmobile driving up to Gotham City Hall or wherever the police station is. It's the same footage every single time, and just the corniness of climbing the walls. love it all and that was it for me plus i grew up and it was it was the only kind of superhero show on tv why the obsession for you for batman is it the tights well yeah you know the the satin underwear on the outside is very attractive me too i'm right there uh batgirl no oh i loved batgirl i think it's just because well it was a huge part of my childhood but i've been discovering through the years of talking to other adult collectors and adult fans of Batman that there's just something about Batman that gets under your skin and you just can't wash it off. And it might have something to do with the character and the sort of personality that you are. And those two things just click together and magic happens. But I just had always been a fan. I mean, you can't get any cooler than a superhero that lives in a cave, you know? I mean, he's got these cool cars and helicopters and crap. And I could really relate to him because even growing up, I appreciated the fact that Batman had no superpowers. He was just a regular dude and spent his money on cool gadgets and cool technology and all that to fight crime. You know, I thought that was really cool. I was more of a DC than a Marvel fan growing up and still am, even though I appreciate the Marvel stuff as well. Hold on a second there. You just got paid for some Marvel work, so just slow down there. No, I like it. I went and saw Infinity Wars, which really pissed me off. But anyway. It ticked you off. Why? No hexagons?
    6:52
    God, I hate you. No, because I didn't know going in. All I saw was the trailer. I didn't read the articles. I didn't watch the geek news on YouTube. I just saw the trailer and went in and had no idea that it was a part one. And when they left you just completely hanging and the credits started rolling, I'm like, what the hell? Are you kidding me? I looked at my daughter and she looked at me and we're like, what a ripoff. Yeah. I've got three words for you here, Chris. Boo, frickity, who? What do you mean you didn't know it was going to be a sequel? They're all kind of interconnected. And when you go see great movies like Star Wars and you're left with a massive cliffhanger, is Darth Vader Luke's dad in Empire Strikes Back? That's a three-year wait. We're going to find out in the next year. But you know what? In those movies, there was a cliffhanger, but it wasn't right at the end of the movie. You know, there were all kinds of chapters going on to tell that whole story. Whereas this movie, there's one story. There's several groups of people that come together, but there's one story. There's an A to B story. And it just stops, you know, like right in the middle of it. And then you've got to wait a year. You know, even Kill Bill, you only have to wait a couple of months. But like the normal superhero movies you know there going to be another one But at least they put a little bow at the end of the movie You know you can go home satisfied The bad guy in jail or you know whatever This one no It just like it all builds up builds up builds up And then they turn the lights on and say, all right, get out. We'll see you in a year. Might not be alive in a year. Yeah, they said get out after two hours and 40 minutes of filming and fighting. And it was good to go. I had to pee. I'm sure of it. Yeah. Oh, definitely. Yeah, because I drank a big Dr. Pepper myself. It was a good movie. You know, I'm not pissing on the movie. I thought it was an outstanding movie. I mean, any day is a good day when you can go to the movie theater and see a superhero movie because you're in my age group. You know, I remember when Batman 89 came out. That was the first one. That was the first real superhero movie. So back then, it was a treat just to go to the theater and see any superhero movie. Nowadays, you can't go to the theater and not see one. Yeah, there's about seven or eight a year. You're right. Now, you're neglecting the Superman movies, the Christopher Reeves movies, but it's funny you mentioned the Batman Tim Burton movie. Now, the Batman we grew up with was the camp Adam West, and it was really all about the villains. So when Batman came out with Tim Burton, I was not a fan. I loved Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne, was okay with the Batsuit and the toys, just didn't like the movie. Still to this day, don't. Really? I did. I didn't expect it. I remember being on a talk radio show leading up to the release of the movie, and my whole point of view was as much as I'd like to see a real superhero movie of Batman and not something campy and comedic, we've got the TV show. We can always have that. So let's see a true, the real nature of Batman in a movie. I'll give you that. I didn't feel that the public would have accepted it at the time. It would have been like, what is this? This isn't Batman. Batman climbs up the side of a building and talks to Sammy Davis Jr.
    9:56
    So when it came out, I was surprised. and thrilled. You know, I mean, Tim Burton put his, pretty much his neck out on the stump to make that movie because even Warner Brothers wasn't really too keen on him doing a straightforward movie. We'll move off that. The two things I didn't like about that movie, Kim Basinger just drove me nuts and somebody I love destroyed the soundtrack. I love Prince. I couldn't stand listening to that. Hubba hubba, who do you love? Crap. I'm like, give me a break. That just, that ruined it for me. So anyway, so you've done Batman, you've done Guardians, now you're in full artwork mode. You're one of the guys, the go-to guys for pinball, and you've got a couple of things in the works right now. Apparently we're going to see these released in October, as mentioned on Head to Head Pinball. So you've got a lot more time to work on these than you certainly did with Batman. Well, you would have thought, and I did think. We were cruising along. I started, well, one of these I started back last year, actually, right around this time last year. And that was only because we were putting together something to sort of, as a song and dance, to get the license. So we didn't really hit the ground running with this thing until November. But, you know, the roots do go back to last May. So both of these pretty much started chugging along in November. And one of them come to find out that there's sort of a special approval process we have to go through. and were basically told with maybe three weeks, three or four weeks to spare, that we had to have everything done by the beginning of May to get approved. We could take as much time as we want after that to build the game and whatnot, but artwork-wise everything had to be shown and approved. So that kind of put me behind the eight ball, especially the last two, three days. I think I've got about five hours of sleep total in the past three days because today was the cutoff just to get everything done, get the packages all printed out and put together and sent off to get approved. So it's been a rough couple of days. It definitely took me back to the three weeks of Batman.
    12:05
    But the other one's kind of sitting in the back just waiting for me to get back to it in the next couple of days. And we can kind of relax and take our time from that point. But, yeah, it's been a rough couple of days. It's not an easy job. I can't imagine, in fact. And I wonder, I think of all the hard work you do, and you're just from the art side of it, but the people manufacturing, coming up with the toys, the play field, the programmers, everybody that's involved in any game, any company. And it kind of ticks me off when I see things leaked or people give information like, here's the next title, here's the next two titles, here's next year's titles. Personally, it kind of bothers me because I think there's a lot of people involved in that company, and that may or may not hurt sales or it might make somebody, look, I'm going to postpone buying because that's coming out or whatever the case may be. I just think it's, first of all, none of my business, but boy, there are some people that just love leaking that stuff and I don't seem to get it. Yeah, I think when you get to the point where you're calling up like Warner Brothers and saying, hey, does anybody have the license for this property for pinball? And they say, yes, Stern does. and then they go and report it. You know, I mean, that's just like being devious. You know, pretending that you're representing a company that wants to make a pinball machine just to find out if someone has the license and then running around like, I don't understand the importance of that. I've got better things to do with my time. I'm going to track people down, jump through all the hoops of calling people at Warner Brothers to get to the right person just so I can find out, you know, who's making the next what, you know, pinball machine. I don't get it. I don't understand it. I appreciate the enthusiasm, you know, of course. Pinball people are very passionate about their hobby, and I've met some amazing people through it. But just stuff like that, I just don't understand. I don't know why you can't just. These are the people who went through their parents' closet a week before Christmas and dug through the bags and unwrapped their gifts to see what it was and then rewrapped them because they couldn't wait for Christmas. It's a shame that people do that, and I read all the leaks and all the stuff. I also noticed how when people talk for something for about a month, it's suddenly no longer a rumor and sort of like just considered fact. Like, you know, I still see on like This Week in Pinball, you know, every week it says, you know, Stern titles, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, coming, you know, whatever. And this lists all these titles that have not changed over the past six months. and it just seems to be kind of like law now and no longer just like something that you're mumbling out of arcade with a buddy.
    14:47
    They just deem it to be fact, even though they've got nothing to substantiate it with. I will say this for Jeff at This Week in Pinball. I don't think he's a rumor-based guy. I think he certainly does some digging because it is his business to do that and he gets a lot of intel. A lot of people interact with Jeff, myself included, But I think for his own namesake, he wants to make sure that there's some validity to what he's putting out there. But, you know, it is kind of the hub. And whether it's himself, whether it's Pinball News, whether it's Pinball Magazine, whenever they decide to release a magazine, it's things like that. That was a shot. Jonathan, it's about time. It's been two years, buddy. Zing.
    15:26
    Well, it's such a great magazine. It's more excitement. Like, hey, dude, let's get the next one out there. Yeah, that is amazing. No, I've got nothing against Chip at all. I think he does a fantastic job. And I certainly, my comments led to, you know, make it sound like he was some kind of shady reporter. It was not my intention at all. No, I didn't get that from you at all. Okay, good. Yeah, everybody, that was just an example, but everybody in the hobby is kind of like that way. Like, you know, someone will just say, oh, I heard that, you know, Three Stooges is coming up next. Oh, really? You know, and after about three, four weeks, it just kind of becomes solidified somehow Just because people talk about it enough that they've just decided that it's no longer a rumor and now reality.
    16:10
    Because I've seen the rumors for, of course, I did Guardians. And leading up to Guardians people speculating that it was Guardians for eight months before it came out And I know for a fact that nobody at Stern ever admitted it You know no one ever said all right fine you figured us out You know, there it is. So at some point, someone just decides these things are true rather than speculation. Maybe, Chris, but, you know, I wonder, Stern is a very, very big factory. A lot of employees are all employees under NDAs. What about the manufacturers? Like, they don't make the toys there, for example. So maybe it's a toy distributor. Who knows? Maybe it's the person printing the flyer. It could be anything. So you never know where these things come from. And I can't imagine how you would harness and control that. Yeah, I don't know. I don't tell you the truth. And obviously, nothing against Stern. I don't know why. Personally, I've seen it. I saw a trailer for the animated Grinch movie like a year ago and almost wet my pants. Like, oh, my God, I've got to wait a year for this. And I've been excited ever since because I like the Grinch. I guess to side with all the, you know, the pin ciders and all that, I don't quite understand why, you know, the thought process behind the marketing either and why things are kept secret and they don't just kind of like say, you know, hey, a year from now, you know, you're going to get a whatever, Jaws pinball machine and let people just chew on that for a year, you know, knowing that it's a reality, not just an assumption. And, you know, because then you get to spend the next year going, oh, I hope they have an orca that rocks back and forth and hope the shark comes out of the play field. And, you know, we've got all that fun talk you can talk about for the next year. So why they do it the way they do, I don't know. They have their reasons. I'm sure they're legit. But it makes it tough to work on these things and have to keep secrets. I always, you know, even now when I'm talking to you, I've got to keep in mind I can't say certain things. And, you know, it's tough. It's tough. And it's not fun either. I would love to say, guess what I'm working on. But, you know, can't do it. So, but yeah, as far as leaks and all that go at Stern, I don't know. You know, the development department is all like there's paper in the windows and stuff. That's not just when people come through on a tour. It's like that all the time. So, you know, all the people out on the line, I don't think are, you know, that are building the machines. I'm privy to what's going on in there. It's just the, you know, the higher ups and whatnot, you know. And, you know, people like George Gomez aren't going to run around and go, all right, I can't contain this any longer. or guess what we're doing. He's old school.
    18:49
    I don't know where these things come from, but it's unfortunate that they happen, but every hobby's got its ups and downs. Well, I have two things based on what you just said there. One, you talked about a Jaws machine, and I heard you on Head to Head say there's no way that can be done because of how hard it is with the actors. You don't need the actors in a Jaws pinball machine, but we'll move on from that. No, no, no. Wait, Jeff. Jeff, we're not moving on from that. I'll explain myself. Okay, let me say the question before I forget, and then we'll come back to it. You mentioned George Gomez. To me, one of the best things ever was his speech at Texas Pinball Festival where he kind of threw people under the bus or a certain person under the bus for just kind of. The guy with the standard?
    19:30
    Whatever. I don't listen. Right. But it was pretty funny. So, okay, go back to Jaws. Yeah. Okay, so Jaws. When you think Jaws, you think the shark. However, when you think about the movie, the movie was not about the shark. The shark just kind of swam around and ate somebody once in a while. It was the coming together of those three different personalities. They had to learn to respect each other and pull together to solve this problem. And that's what the movie was all about. It wasn't about the shark. I know, and I heard you say that on Head to Head, so we're not going to rehash that. But I'm just saying it's not necessary. We're not trying to recreate the movie with a Jaws game. We're trying to create that. The wonderful music, the soundtrack from John Williams. I'm not denying it's an awesome theme. I just think with those important things stripped away, how many drawings of a shark can you look at? I mean, a shark isn't like Iron Man. This cool pose and that cool pose. It's either straight or bent.
    20:31
    But it could be people swimming, getting gobbled up. You could have somebody on a raft. Who knows? You could try to blow up. I think there's neat possibilities. It's certainly a great license. You're right. It wouldn't be like the movie. But then, let's be honest, is The Walking Dead an amazing game? Yes. Is it anything like the TV show? Not at all. Yeah, but that artwork gets crushed all the time, and people ridicule that art so bad. And I don't want to be that guy because if they did Jaws, I mean, I already told them. I said, if you guys ever do Jaws, I'm your guy. I don't want to hear any crap about anyone else. I have to do that game. And even if they don't get the actors, I still want to do it, you know, because it can't be done without me. Bottom line, if it's going to get done and there has to be these particular circumstances, I'll work with that. What I don't want to happen is for me to do that and have the artwork go out and everyone go, what a bunch of crap.
    21:24
    Well, Chris, how are you going to have time to do the artwork for it? You're spending all this time busy on machines. But even in your free time, when you're not stiffing people for dinner, you're doing photoshops of making somebody look like somebody they don't look like. Case in point, yours truly as John Goodman, Walter in The Big Lebowski. Dude, all I did was change your hair ever so slightly, and people thought it was actually a picture of him. First of all, I have way more gray hair. Secondly, I would never wear yellow tinted glasses or a shirt that says The Dude. And as it has been proven by Mrs. Pinn, I am the doppelganger of one magnum P.I. Tom Selleck right here. And then the following episode she said, oh, I didn't realize he had red hair. What was I thinking, Tom Selleck? Yeah, what were you thinking? I'm more like the girl from Wendy's. Yeah, well, you know, who knows? Maybe, you know, she came onto the scene rather abruptly and in a big way. So maybe she just found herself in a position where she better start sucking up to people. so that she can become friends, you know.
    22:32
    I love her sincerity and I love her honesty. Even when she admits she doesn't know things, that's, I think, the charm of that show. Yeah, I've listened to a couple of episodes and it's definitely an interesting perspective. I think, you know, it's a shame that it can't, it doesn't, I don't know that it would appeal 100% to female pinball players because there's that element of I don't know what the hell I'm talking about so I'm going to teach you about pinball when most of the girls in pinball already know about pinball. But just to have that female perspective, I think is pretty cool. And just the fact that she tells everybody she's a teacher, and then she's like, God, I swear. It's like I can just imagine this teacher throwing a fit in her classroom. I swear. But anyway. It's a lot of fun, and there are so many great podcasts out there, and we've talked about a few of them. It's fun to do this, but the reason I like doing it is it's fun to get to know people like yourself, whether, in fact, we will ever meet. I'm sure we will at some point. Sure, definitely. Yeah, I'm going to be, let's see, where am I going to be at? I will be in, I think my next show is Vancouver. Are you going to be in Vancouver? I have a wedding that week. Oh. I know, you're a guest speaker there. Tommy Floyd told me that you're going to be one of the featured persons there, and I think that's great. Well, yeah, it's a bummer that I'd have a lot more to talk about if it was about four weeks later, but I'll do my best. I will also be at, are you going to be in Chicago for Expo in October? I am going to, I have yet to ever go. And since they have things settled between the powers that be, I think this will be my first year going to that event. I've already been to Chicago once this year, but I love the Windy City. Yeah, well, that's the two big reveals, so it's worth it to go just for that. And we will talk on Pinball Profile about that? Afterwards, absolutely. Boy, I've got plenty of stories to tell. We might even do an extended mix. Awesome. Yeah I think I hold record on head podcasts as being the longest podcast still to this day I pretty sure It just because you stutter I sorry what It just because you stutter
    24:41
    Anyway, all the best. I don't shut up, Jeff. That's the point. I don't shut up. You know, I never even, Ryan C sent me a question. He wanted me to ask you this. And hold on, let me see. It's right here. How'd you get into pinball? No, forget it. I'm not reading that. But I do wonder, as far as getting into the art, you had to be. I've seen your signature and stuff, and I looked and I went, I know nothing about art, but my guess, if I'm a betting man, and I am, you were a graffiti artist at some point, some sort of tagger. You would doodle on your school books, admit something to that effect. Is that correct? Well, I've definitely tagged many a trapper keepers, but no brick walls or billboards or highway overpasses. There's a few canvases in Michigan you could do.
    25:25
    Well, yeah, but I don't like drawing that big. It's hard to see, you know. You're standing in front of a 20-foot wall, and it's like, I can't tell if this is, you know, proportionate or not. Got to keep backing up, you know, take a hundred steps back. No, my thing in high school was I used to draw all the characters from the Pink Floyd The Wall album cover. Oh, wow. All those crazy characters, you know, that represented his wife and his teacher and all that. Oh, I just loved all that stuff. And I also got paid to draw. I took my, for some reason, I don't know why, maybe because it was the 80s when I was in high school. I was big into black and white checkers. Like I had black and white checkered shirts, like dress shirts that were black and white checkers. Did you have Vans shoes? I had the Vans shoes, except I hated the slip-on ones. I had a pair that tied up, and then they got demolished, and I couldn't find a new pair. What? Yeah, I know. The slip-ons were the Spicoli specials. Eh, that's not my thing. Didn't like them. Loved Spicoli. Didn't like the shoe. So I took a pair of Nikes, and I drew with a black stripe. I drew white checkers on the stripe, so it was a black and white checkered stripe. And then I got paid $20 a shoe to do that for everybody else in high school because they wanted them too. Wow. I did a couple different ones. Like I did paint splatters with, like, neon colors. You know, I had a whole business between that and changing IDs.
    26:48
    Yeah, cash in high school. so in high school you were doing the checkered squares and then it moved i assumed to pentagons to where we are now with the hexagons wow what's next you think it was backwards because the older i get the more i feel like things are falling off of me so you think it's start with a hexagon and then end up with a pentagon because one of the sides fell off that's a really bad joke leave that in and embarrass me hey they're not all home runs yeah i'm right there with you let me think about the two that i'm working on there is nothing there's not really anything in the two that i'm working on that is sort of themed out in in a way like guardians was with the hexagons so there's i'm just going to go down as a hexagon dude because there's never going to be i don't think there's going to be anything coming up that can take the place of that you know and i'm fine with that because i can post pictures on your website of urinal covers in the shape of a hexagon with my two shoes on the bottom of the photo. I remember firing that thing off in the bathroom to your page, and I'm like, I should have looked at that real good and made sure there was no reflections or anything, because I was actually taking a whiz when I took that picture. It was crazy, and I'll post it on our Facebook page again for those who missed it, but just a little tip from me to you probably not a good idea to bring a camera into a bathroom it's a phone everybody brings their phone everywhere no one's snapping shots well no and you know nobody was in there i wasn't you know because it it would have looked like i was not taking a picture of a urinal filter to anyone else you know a point pointing the camera the phone down between my leg region let's talk about something else no i think that's the best way to end i think we'll just we should just leave it right there and people will be like what what have i listened to you know they're going to tune out anyway after this anyway so i i think we should probably call today all right you got to get back to work don't you uh actually i'm going to go home and i'm going to watch a movie called cold moon which i'm really excited to watch i love horror movies and horror movies are a crap shoot most of them are you can lose in two ways low budget, crap because anybody who's like I think I want to make a movie starts off with a horror movie and then somehow Walmart buys it and sells it for five bucks and it's a piece of junk or the big studios will make a horror movie but they want the little kids to go see it so they can get the most money they can so they churn out this PG-13 garbage that I'm not interested in So rarely do I get satiated with my thirst for good horror, but I stumbled across this movie called Cold Moon that looks just like a genuine, creepy, supernatural, spooky movie. So I, of course, went to Amazon and ordered it, and now it's waiting for me to watch. I'm a big fan of older horror movies for sure, and even something new like Get Out, which I thought was spectacular. Some of those Japanese ones scare the bejesus out of me. So, yeah, I don't usually go to see them at the theater because I'm pretty much a chicken. And, you know, theater, the good thing about watching it is no one can see you when your eyes are closed.
    30:07
    See, that doesn't bug me being around people. But, you know, I'll admit something embarrassing again. Does it involve a urinal? No, it doesn't involve a urinal. But I cannot to this day watch The Exorcist at night if I'm alone. it just creeps me out too much still the scariest movie ever no question about it oh I think so I don't think that will ever be topped it really creeps me out my daughter falls for the latest in horror technology which is the people who walk and crawl around in abnormal ways like that seems to be the spooky thing now is have the person walk oddly down the stairs on their hands and knees and then we'll play it in reverse and it'll look really crazy and that freaks my daughter out But I watched that, and I'm like, really? This is the best you've got? Give me a Vincent Price movie.
    30:57
    Well, just to let you know, I have boys, but if my youngest was born a female, the name we agreed on was Sidney, only so I could say, hello, Sidney.
    31:09
    Some scream action, nice. Exactly. Yeah, I wanted to, my daughter's name was Presley, but I wanted to name her Reagan after Linda Blair's character in The Exorcist. But my wife at the time said, Reagan, where did you get that from? And I wasn't going to lie, and I also couldn't think of a good lie that fast. So I just said, it's the girl from The Exorcist. Oh, we're not naming her that. Oh, crap.
    31:34
    How's Beetlejuice sound? I got Beetlejuice for a kid. No. Would we spell it Beetlegeist? Yeah. No, no. You don't want people to say it that way. No. Christopher. Do people call you Chris or Christopher? To tell you the truth, most people call me Franchie, and I couldn't tell you why. All right. Maybe because people know so many Chrises. It's a common name that if you were talking about me to someone else and you said Franchie, there's no question which Franchie, you know? All right, Franchie. It's been a pleasure talking to you. Get back to work. I look forward to what comes next from you with two titles in October, I assume, being released at Expo, and I know I'll hear from you between now and then. I am the James Brown of pinball, the hardest working man in pinball biz. It's been a pleasure to talk to you, Jeff. Thanks for having me on, and hello to all the pinball people out there. I love you all. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com, and please subscribe on either iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. I'm Jeff Teola.