Swords of Fury Hardtop Unboxing

Cary Hardy·video·9m 38s·analyzed·Apr 1, 2020

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.015

TL;DR

Cary Hardy unboxes Swords of Fury hardtops from Outside Edge/Pinball Gifts after 18-month wait.

Summary

Cary Hardy unboxes hardtops for two Swords of Fury pinball machines after waiting over a year and a half since the November 2018 announcement. He discusses the benefits of hardtops as a restoration alternative to full playfield replacements, examines the product quality and lighting design, and explains how the hardtops will enable him to continue his Saving Swords of Fury restoration series on Straight Down the Middle channel.

Key Claims

Hardtops were officially announced in November 2018 for the Black Knight series and later became available for Swords of Fury
high confidence · Speaker directly references announcement timeline and connection to Black Knight hardtop development
Hardtops cost $315-$325 compared to $900-$1,000 for a full replacement playfield from Merco
high confidence · Speaker provides specific pricing figures for both products
Pinball Gifts currently has 16 hardtop titles available
high confidence · Speaker explicitly states inventory count at time of video
Hardy has two Swords of Fury machines—one personal collection piece and one project machine for restoration series
high confidence · Speaker explains ownership of both machines and plans for each
Hardtops have brighter colors and more reflective finishes compared to original playfields
high confidence · Speaker directly observes and comments on visual quality of the hardtop product

Notable Quotes

“it took well over about a year and a half to finally get here, but because they announced it back in November of 2018”
Cary Hardy@ 0:00 — Establishes the long wait time for hardtop availability after initial announcement
“knowing that there was a hard top on the way was gonna automatically negate any possible work that i knew i was gonna have to do with my swords of fury when it came to removing mylar and getting things touched up”
Cary Hardy@ 0:54 — Explains strategic decision to defer restoration work pending hardtop arrival
“the hard tops have like such more brighter colors to them and just real nice and shiny and reflective”
Cary Hardy@ 1:18 — Describes aesthetic advantages of hardtops over original playfields
“I'm glad that Outside Edge has developed a product that is able to make these games that are so rare to find. And then, not only that are they hard to find, but hard to find that look good.”
Cary Hardy@ 4:16 — Praises Outside Edge for solving availability and condition issues for rare games like Swords of Fury
“hardtops are one-third of the price of a brand new clear-coated playfield from like Merco and stuff like that. So a typical play field is usually around $900 to $1,000, whereas the hard top can range anywhere between $315 to $325”
Cary Hardy@ 7:56 — Quantifies cost advantage of hardtops as restoration solution
“if you are very intimidated by dismantling the front and the back side of a playfield, then hardtop might be something that you're interested in because you only have to take everything off the top of it”

Entities

Cary HardypersonOutside EdgecompanyPinball GiftscompanySwords of Furygame Black Knightgame Straight Down the MiddlecompanyMercocompany

Signals

?
community_signal: Content creators like Cary Hardy actively promoting hardtop products and manufacturers through detailed unboxing and recommendations
medium · Hardy provides strong endorsement, directs viewers to Pinball Gifts, and highlights product benefits throughout video
$
market_signal: Hardtops positioned as affordable alternative to full playfield replacement ($315-325 vs $900-1000), expanding accessibility to restoration for cost-conscious collectors
high · Speaker explicitly compares pricing and recommends hardtops for those intimidated by full playfield swaps
?
product_strategy: Outside Edge hardtop products provide visual and functional improvement over original playfields with brighter colors, shinier finishes, and reflective qualities while preserving lighting effects
high · Speaker directly observes and praises visual quality improvements and notes that lighting effects are maintained in design

Topics

Hardtop playfield products and restoration alternativesprimarySwords of Fury machine restoration and preservationprimaryClassic pinball game restoration techniquessecondaryAftermarket playfield solutions and pricingsecondaryContent creation and YouTube documentation of restoration workmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— Hardy expresses strong enthusiasm for the hardtop product quality, appreciation for Outside Edge's product development, and excitement about resuming restoration work. No negative commentary; tone is consistently appreciative and encouraging toward the product and company.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.029

Alright, it's here. It took well over about a year and a half to finally get here, but because they announced it back in November of 2018 and I've been waiting to get this and I finally have got it and that is the hard tops to my Swords of Fury games. now let's put this right there for right now like i said it was a year and a half when they first announced it like november of 2018 because i want to say that's when i was doing the hard top for the black knight series and they officially announced it and i was like yes i mean i planned on restoring my swords of fury in the process anyways without the knowledge of there being a hard top but knowing that there was a hard top on the way was gonna automatically negate any possible work that i knew i was gonna have to do with my swords of fury when it came to removing mylar and getting things touched up and stuff like that i was like oh that just knocks out all that potential work that i'm gonna have to do with a hard top and it's gonna look even better with a hard top because the hard tops have like such more brighter colors to them and just real nice and shiny and reflective and uh but i don't really know what this one looks like yet that's what the meat and potatoes of this video is going to be is unboxing these swords of fury hard tops now the reason why i've got two is because i've got two swords of fury games i've had mine that i've had for years and i've got one project machine in the garage that i started doing the Saving Swords of Fury series on Straight Down the Middle. I put a halt to that series because I wanted to make sure I didn't want to get to a certain point with the playfield being all taken apart and stuff like that and just be waiting on this. So now that I've got this, I can pull the cord on that one and start chugging along on that series again. So look for that in the future. And once I get done with the Swords of Fury for Straight Down the Middle, then I will begin my restoration on mine. And that one is going to be different than everyone else Swords of Fury Let just say that So without further ado let see what this bad baby looks like Oh man. Oh man. Thoroughly read before attempting to install hardtop. I got all this taped. I got all this taped. So as most of you know, there is an upper playfield and then there is the lower playfield. Oh my goodness, it's so beautiful. And this is with a protective coating on top of it guys. So this will actually look even better once I pull this layer off, once it's on the playfield. I'm not taking that protective layer off until it's on the playfield. Because I don't want any type of unnecessary damage coming to it until we get to that point. Oh, man. This is one of those games, guys, that this is so awesome to have. I'm glad that Outside Edge has developed a product that is able to make these games that are so rare to find. And then, not only that are they hard to find, but hard to find that look good. And this is one I was kind of curious about how they did this portion. Okay. So, on the original, you have like a giant circle like this. Probably about two to three inches. Probably about two and a half inches diameter right here and this basically how I wanted to see how they did the lighting on this so this whole area still is going to light up in comparison to everything else so it still will do that effect so that's cool but I think it's actually going to look even better than the original oh yeah holding it up to the light you could see it uh so yeah there's that and for those of you that are not familiar with hardtops, I highly recommend going to Pinball Gifts and checking them out. So this right here is able to be pulled off and then it sticks down to your blank wooded playfield. I can't wait. I can't wait. But I've got some plans on this install. And these are all just probably things that they would recommend you do for the best install. I've done this before. I know how to do this. Throw these instructions out the window. In case things have changed, but I doubt it. Either way, let's get the camera over here and give you some much better footage. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 © BF-WATCH TV 2021 Thank you So there you have it A complete unboxing of the Swords of Fury Hardtop. If you care to see what other Hardtops are available, or you want to order your own Swords of Fury Hardtop, by all means go to pinballgifts.com. I will put a link in the description down below so you can check out their inventory to see if this is something that you need. I highly recommend hardtop for those of you that are a little iffy on the full playfield swap process. If you are very intimidated by dismantling the front and the back side of a playfield, then hardtop might be something that you're interested in because you only have to take everything off the top of it. Also, hardtops are one-third of the price of a brand new clear-coated playfield from like Mirco and stuff like that. So a typical play field is usually around $900 to $1,000, whereas the hard top can range anywhere between $315 to $325. They currently have 16 titles available to choose from, so by all means, check out the link below for more. And of course, if you want to see what I currently have available for the Saving Swords of Fury series, then go to Straight Down the Middle's YouTube channel page. I want to say I've got three episodes up, and I need to get more made, obviously. I've already got a bunch of footage I just need to edit and put it together now that a lot of other things are out of the way and done with I can start putting a little bit more effort into getting footage edited and put together for that so look for that in the future more videos are on the way I've got a couple of other episodes that I've got to film including getting a new game back here and yeah until next time guys peace out and if you're curious to see what i've got in the store for you when it comes to the swords of fury series and of course if you want to see more of my swords of fury series that is already available go to straight down the middle of the website