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Stern Pinball Mandalorian Has Arrived (Ep. 54)

A Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·34m 34s·analyzed·May 12, 2021
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.035

TL;DR

Host analyzes new Mandalorian pinball with praise for design/artwork but detailed concerns about mechanics and Dwight Sullivan's code.

Summary

A pinball enthusiast and content creator discusses the newly announced Stern Pinball Mandalorian machine, offering both praise and detailed critique of its playfield design, mechanics, and code direction. The host contextualizes Stern's design philosophy within the broader pinball industry, encouraging realistic expectations based on the manufacturer's consistent output rather than comparing to classic Williams titles. Key concerns include Grogu's static design, upper mini playfield flipper sizing, scoop placement, and plastic ramp ball trails on the Pro model, though overall the speaker expresses genuine excitement about the game's shot design and artwork.

Key Claims

  • Mandalorian has been announced as a Stern Pinball release with Pro, Premium, and Limited Edition variants

    high confidence · Speaker explicitly states 'it's called The Mandalorian and it's by Stern Pinball' and discusses the three tier model throughout

  • Dwight Sullivan is coding Mandalorian, replacing earlier rumors that Lonnie would handle code

    high confidence · Speaker states 'everybody was expecting lonnie to be on code and that's because rumors got out everybody ran with rumors and then it came out that dwight sullivan was on code'

  • Brian Eddy designed the Mandalorian playfield and Grogu was the first toy sculpted

    high confidence · Speaker references 'brian eddie did mention on the news article that came out on starwars.com he mentioned somewhere in there that grogu was basically the first thing that he put on the play field'

  • Randy Martinez created the artwork for Mandalorian

    high confidence · Speaker states 'the artwork that was made by Randy Martinez I like this type of artwork now'

  • Mandalorian playfield contains 7-9 distinct shots depending on how you count them

    medium confidence · Speaker says 'I feel like it's funny. I'm going back and forth on it. Part of me wants to think that this will be a little bit more difficult shooter' and earlier 'there's anywhere ranging between seven clear up to nine shots'

  • Stern releases new pinball machines multiple times per year while some customers still await earlier releases

    high confidence · Speaker notes 'Stern is the pinball company that we can rely on to bring us pinball machines several times a year' and 'there are people that ordered a Guns N' Roses on day one that still have not got their machine'

  • The Mandalorian has a moving upper mini playfield with two flippers on Premium/LE and one on Pro

    high confidence · Speaker discusses 'that upper mini play field' and notes 'on the pro, it only has the right flipper on it' while Premium/LE have two flippers

Notable Quotes

  • “my expectations are staying level. I'm not going to get myself too hyped up...I fully understand it. My expectations are in line with what Stern consistently delivers. I'm not out to think that all of a sudden they're going to be Williams.”

    Host (unnamed) @ early in episode — Establishes host's realistic framing for evaluating Stern games against nostalgia-driven community expectations

  • “Stern is Stern. Stern is not Williams. They're not Bally. They're not Jersey Jack.”

    Host @ mid-episode — Core thesis about accepting manufacturer design philosophy differences

  • “If it's not fun for you anymore, take up another hobby...We have so many different options. And these games, there's always going to be more pinball to play.”

    Host @ mid-episode — Direct advice to dissatisfied community members; reflects competitive marketplace perspective

  • “I love the wire forms on the Pro and on the Premium, or on the Premium and on the LE...when I think about the pro and I see those plastic ramps, one thing I'm really worried about is what will that look like on location...that's going to get super dirty”

    Host @ playfield discussion — Specific concern about Pro model durability on location machines due to plastic ramp ball trails

  • “Grogu holding his little hand out, that he was kind of using the force, I guess, stopping the ball with that magnet down below...I wish Grogu would have done something.”

    Host @ Grogu discussion — Primary mechanical critique: static Grogu vs. expected interactive toy

  • “I don't mind multipliers in a game for the most part. What I don't like is when you can just get them just easily...I like that it feels like you've got to do a little bit of work to get to it here.”

    Host @ code discussion — Articulates preference for earned multipliers over casual accessibility

  • “what I can say [about Star Wars code] is the shots made sense where they were at the hurry ups in Star Wars made sense to me...It's almost like you had to earn your way through that game”

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyBrian EddypersonDwight SullivanpersonRandy MartinezpersonMandaloriangameStar Wars (Stern game)gameMunstersgame

Signals

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Mixed community reaction to Mandalorian announcement with some skepticism about Dwight Sullivan coding despite his previous work on Star Wars and Munsters

    high · Speaker acknowledges 'I do understand people's apprehension about Dwight being on the code...Some of you guys that were on Star Wars, you felt burned already...Some of you Munsters fans, still burned'

  • ?

    community_signal: Broad geographic support for Mandalorian across local arcades, Star Wars fan communities outside pinball, and online forums, though online forums show more critical response

    high · Speaker notes 'everybody's fired up about Mandalorian. Everybody's happy about it' at local arcade, 'their minds are just blown' among Star Wars fans, but Pinside forum has mixed reactions

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Brian Eddy designed Mandalorian playfield by first placing Grogu toy then building shot layout around it

    high · Speaker references 'brian eddie did mention...that grogu was basically the first thing that he put on the play field, or at least the first toy or the first sculpt, and that he pretty much built the game out around that'

  • $

    market_signal: Community habit of comparing every new Stern release to classic Williams titles (Medieval Madness, Twilight Zone, etc.) as unrealistic benchmark

    high · Speaker emphasizes 'everybody believes that it should just act the exact same as a medieval madness, as a Tales from the Arabian Nights...but guys there's over what like 800 pinball machines in existence'

  • $

    market_signal: Supply chain constraints: customers who pre-ordered Guns N' Roses (Jersey Jack) still waiting for delivery while Stern simultaneously announces new releases

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.104

0:00
All right, guys, welcome back to another episode of a pinball podcast. Thank you guys so much for being here. I greatly do appreciate it. And if my voice sounds a little off, a little funky, it's just because I've been talking all day today. We had pinball night tonight. It was pin golf and I was shouting over the machines the whole time. And, man, I have pretty much all but lost my voice at this point. But the news is, if you're watching on YouTube, you can tell I have my trusty mug with my green tea. I'm going to drink right now and boom I feel all better so shout out to Green Tea thank you so much for not sponsoring this video but anyhow so I'm sure you guys know this already there's a little game that came out that was announced earlier tonight it's nearly midnight right now but it was announced a little earlier and it's called The Mandalorian and it's by Stern Pinball in case you've been under a rock now this game has pretty much just I guess the way that I want to do this podcast, I don't have any notes in front of me or anything like that. I just want to kind of just talk off the cuff and I don't know how long this will go, but it's, it's funny because days like today, I'm very thankful to be in the pinball hobby because I'm always excited to see new pinball. And I always get fired up to see new pinball. Now, excuse me. Now, if you guys saw on the YouTube channel earlier or on Marv Loco, You guys would have seen my reaction to the trailer. You guys would see my reaction to, I believe, the Premium and LE features. And I've looked over the Pro. I don't know if I'm going to put that video out. I probably am just to kind of go over some stuff on there. I know we will have a play-filled layout analyzation to kind of just analyze everything and just see what we see and kind of see where the shots are. But, you know, one thing I've noticed today, and again, love days like today. but it also brings out not just a bunch of joy, but it always seems to bring out a certain amount of negativity, which is fine to a point for me. I like, I get it. I understand it. I'm critical of things too. And we will be critical on, on some things when we talk about the Mandalorian here in a few, but man, it is just, it sometimes just boggles my mind. The things that I read and the things that I hear, and it's just, man it's just wow it's almost like when you see what pinball people are saying and i totally respect the majority of opinions out there even if they don't agree with mine because i tell you guys this all the time i do not want to echo chamber in this at all but there's just some of the critiques it just they feel like they're out there you know and it's it's just it's funny to me because I will read something online and it'll have one opinion that I'm like, okay, I might agree with that. Or no, that seems like way out there. And then you'll go over to Penn side and my God, it's all over the place there. And then I'll talk to people in person at our local pinball arcade and everybody's fired up about Mandalorian. Everybody's happy about it. And then I'll talk to my friends that are into video games that don't play pinball at all, but no Star Wars are into Star Wars. And I show them this pin and their minds are just blown. As Star Wars fans, they are extremely happy with it. Now, of course, that's not to say every Star Wars fan is going to be happy with what they saw today. And if you're listening to this podcast, I have to assume you have seen The Mandalorian. So, you know, it's like anything else. Your mileage is going to vary according to what you love, according to what you enjoy, and according to what you prioritize, especially when it comes to a pinball machine. Now, I do think this hobby is unique in the sense that I feel very much that there is a lot of people out there. And again, this is exactly why on my last podcast I said my expectations are staying level. I'm not going to get myself too hyped up. And a reason for that is I understand what I'm going to see. I fully understand it. My expectations are in line with what Stern consistently delivers. I'm not out to think that all of a sudden they're going to be Williams. I don't believe that Stern is built in that way. And I feel like that there's a lot of people out there, and you may be one of those that's listening, that you have this idea in your head for what you believe a Stern pinball machine should look like, and then when it doesn't look like what you believe it should, it disappoints you. So what I'm getting at is maybe at the end of the day, it's just time for some people to accept this is what Stern Pinball does. This is the playground that they play in. This is their sandbox. We should know by now what to expect out of Stern. Sometimes it might blow away expectations. Sometimes it might just meet them. Sometimes it might fall way below. There's been plenty of pins out there in the past in which it did not meet my expectations at all. Monsters is a prime example. When I first played Stranger Things, I was not blown away by it. I just was not. When I saw Guardians of the Galaxy, I liked what I saw in the layout because I'm a huge Marvel fan. I did not like what I saw in the code, and that's why I didn't get a Guardians of the Galaxy for nearly a year. These are things that I was picking up, that I was looking at, and decisions I made for me. But now I feel like every single time there's a new Stern that comes out, for whatever reason, everybody believes that it should just act the exact same as a medieval madness, as a Tales from the Arabian Nights, as Theater of Magic. I mean, those are the go-tos. Twilight Zone. Those are all the go-tos. and what's amazing to me what is amazing to me is these are all time bangers they're great games they are tremendous games but guys there's over what like 800 pinball machines in existence over 800 if you go to the museum of pinball out in Banning California you'll see so many pinball machines if you go to the pinball hall of fame in Las Vegas You will see so many pinball machines. It has been around for decades. There's so many different eras, so many different types, so many different versions of different themes, right? There's a whole world out there, and we have it in our heads that every single release has to be an all-time great. And, guys, it's like you go to the movies, and you're expecting – you go watch a Michael Bay action film, and then you walk out of there wondering why it wasn't like a Quentin Tarantino film. Do you get what I'm saying? And that's why I was saying just the other day during my last podcast that my expectations were staying level.

Grogu does not have any mechanical action, instead acts as a static magnetic save mechanism

high confidence · Speaker states 'he was kind of using the force, I guess, stopping the ball with that magnet down below' and 'it's obvious what they were going for'

Host @ Dwight Sullivan code discussion — Positive reference to Dwight's previous work despite community skepticism

  • “This is what I like. It's almost between a Franchi and a zombie Yeti. It's that between...I kind of prefer something in the middle. But I don't like art that's photorealistic.”

    Host @ artwork discussion — Specific aesthetic preference framing Randy Martinez artwork style relative to other Stern artists

    • Guns N' Roses
    game
    Led Zeppelingame
    Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
    Spooky Pinballcompany
    American Pinballcompany
    Deep Root Pinballcompany
    Christopher Franchiperson
    Zombie Yetiperson
    Medieval Madnessgame
    Tales from the Arabian Nightsgame
    Theater of Magicgame
    Twilight Zonegame
    Metallicagame
    Guardians of the Galaxygame
    Ninja Turtlesgame
    Stranger Thingsgame
    Game of Thronesgame

    high · Speaker notes 'Stern is releasing another pinball machine in May, and there are people that ordered a Guns N' Roses on day one that still have not got their machine. They're still out there.'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Randy Martinez is identified as Mandalorian artist; artwork style balances realism and comic book aesthetics per host analysis

    high · Speaker discusses 'the artwork that was made by Randy Martinez...It's almost between a Franchi and a zombie Yeti. It's that between.'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Premium tier positioned as superior to Pro primarily due to wire forms on ramps instead of plastic; LE and Premium share most features

    medium · Speaker states 'that's why I actually prefer the Premium more than anything else' due to wire forms and later notes 'I love the wire forms on the Pro and on the Premium, or on the Premium and on the LE'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Upper mini playfield flipper sizing appears disproportionately large relative to playfield real estate; may cause trapping and visibility issues

    medium · Speaker notes 'the flippers are too much oversized for that mini play field. Almost like they take up too much real estate...there's going to be a lot of situations that even with that upper mini play field moving around that there's going to be...it's going to be difficult for that ball to actually get through'

  • ?

    product_concern: Concern about Pro model plastic ramps accumulating ball trails that will be visible during location play

    high · Speaker worries 'what type of ball trails is that going to leave across the ramp. And it's going to be smack dab right in your visual view...I just think of, oh my, God, that's going to get super dirty'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Earlier rumors that Lonnie would code Mandalorian were circulated in community before Dwight Sullivan's involvement was officially announced

    high · Speaker states 'everybody was expecting lonnie to be on code and that's because rumors got out everybody ran with rumors and then it came out that dwight sullivan was on code'

    • 7:08
    They were staying level. And again, enjoy the hobby any way you want, but I think it has to come to a point that people have to accept Stern is Stern. Stern is not Williams. They're not Bally.
    7:26
    They're not Jersey Jack. And Jersey Jack is not Stern. You know, it's like there's already been the Guns N' Roses comparison to Mandalorian. And guys, this is the third Stern game in which we are comparing Guns N' Roses to. The third.
    7:44
    Third. Three. You guys know what I'm saying? Avengers Infinity Quest, Led Zeppelin, Mandalorian. So this is what Stern is. Stern is the company that we can rely on to bring us pinball machines several times a year. Stern is the pinball company that we can rely on, that when we give our money to a distributor, we will get a pinball machine. Stern is the company in which we can rely on, that if something goes wrong with our pin, it will be made right. Now, of course it might not be perfect, but there will at least be an attempt to make it right. And Stern is also the company that continues to update their games. And Stern is also the company that has many different designers many different coders several different artists So we have the opportunity that if we don like a game that comes out I don know like this month in May then all we have to do is just wait until what? Maybe September for the next release. That's it. Just four months, just four months. I mean, think about this, guys. Stern is the type of company in which they are releasing another pinball machine in May, and there are people that ordered a Guns N' Roses on day one that still have not got their machine. They're still out there. I hear from them. And that doesn't take away from anything Jersey Jack has done. Guns N' Roses, believe it or not, even though I've said in the past I enjoyed Led Zeppelin more than Guns N' Roses, don't get it twisted. Guns N' Roses is still a fun game. The LE is still outstanding. It is a crazy-ass light show, and we go over that all the time. So I don't want to get it twisted that this is just a stern love fest, and I know I'll get the messages, stern shill and all that, and that's fine. But I want to just put some perspective in this. At the end of the day, it's pinball, and pinball is fun. Pinball is fun. If it's not fun for you anymore, take up another hobby. If you're not a stern fan, that's great. That's fine. Guess what? Jersey Jack will come out with another pinball machine. American Pinball, coming out with another pinball machine. Spooky Pinball, coming out with another pinball machine. Deep Root Pinball, maybe. I don't know. But you guys get what I'm getting at. We have so many different options. And these games, there's always going to be more pinball to play. And that's great. That is great. Because if you look back in history, there was a time where pinball was nearly dead. And here we are now. The pinball machine gets released today to one of the biggest shows on the planet.
    10:32
    And it has full assets. It has full assets. And there's been plenty of times in the past in which a pinball machine has come out, and all the complaints were it doesn't have the assets. Full assets, guys. Custom call-outs. I'm just keeping it real. You know, this is just perspective. Now, when I look at this game, and we're going to finally get it into Mandalorian here, and we're going to talk about this a little bit more. Now, I did totally geek out about this game, and that's for a various amount of reasons.
    11:03
    One of them being that I am, of course, a huge Star Wars fan, and I am a big Stern pinball fan, and I am a big pinball fan. So, put those three things together, it's a lightning rod or whatever you want to call it, lightning in a bottle, makes me a happy camper. These are, I mean, the game for me just looks cool. When I look at it, there's a lot of parts to it that speak to me. Now, I'm trying to figure out how I want to approach this. There are some critiques that I have about it, and there's a lot of positives I do have about it also. So what I'll do here, let's just go over, for instance, I want to go over the things that I see as potential issues. That's what I want to do at first. and the things that i see as potential issues that could be minor i don't know maybe i'm just nitpicking but let's just get it out there first and foremost grogu let's let's just let's just say what everybody's thinking we all wish grogu would have done something now brian eddie did mention on the news article that came out on starwars.com he mentioned somewhere in there that grogu was basically the first thing that he put on the play field, or at least the first toy or the first sculpt, and that he pretty much built the game out around that. So when you look at the pictures of it, you can kind of get an idea for what he was going for. Now, for me personally, I wish Grogu would have done something. I kind of wish that that little pod would have had Grogu in it, and maybe it moves, maybe that was a ball lock or something like that. I don't know. I'm not a mechanical engineer, so this is just off the top of my head what I think might have looked cool. Now, looking at the photos, it's obvious what they were going for, that with Grogu holding his little handout, that he was kind of using the force, I guess, stopping the ball with that magnet down below. Now, one thing that I feel like is a miss that, well, I call it a miss. I don't know. Maybe it'll get revealed that you can actually do this. I would have loved for there to be something coded in to where with that action button, we can actually control what Grogu was doing in terms of stopping the ball at different parts of the play field, such as that magnet up top. Where it's almost like instead of the magna save down towards an in lane or out lane, it's all the way up there where we can control it. To where we can either send it to the C, to the H, to the I, to the L, to the D. that child area up there with all the rollovers and the switches up there. I would have loved that. I keep calling it rollovers, the in-lane switches. You guys know what I'm talking about. I'm tired. Leave me alone. So that's something I wish could have happened. And I don't know. Maybe it's still possible. Probably not. But that's what I would have liked to have seen.
    14:01
    All right. Sorry, guys. I'm drinking a whole lot of green tea right now. getting all hocked up on caffeine and trying to make sure I keep my voice.
    14:08
    And, you know, I understand why people are a little disappointed whenever they do see Grogu, when they're thinking, okay, I wish it would have moved. But at least I can say on the positive note, it is a 3D sculpt, and it's not just one little plastic thing as it appears. I mean, it looks good on the Pro, looks good on the Premium, looks good on the LE. And, let's face facts, on the last pin that was out, that Infinity Gauntlet did take a lot of flack from a lot of people. And this right here, it looks really good. To me, I like the sculpt and I like what it looks like. So the other little nitpicks I have with the upper mini play field. Now I'm curious to see exactly how this does work during a game. And it's not so much the targets. Like I don't mind targets, drop targets or anything like that. I'm just curious to see how this works with the regular size flippers on it. When I see it, it almost looks visually to me, at least on the premium and the LE because there's two flippers on it. If you look at the pro, it only has the right flipper on it.
    15:18
    It almost seems like to me it's like the flippers are too much oversized for that mini play field. Almost like they take up too much real estate. and I feel like there's going to be a lot of situations that even with that upper mini play field moving around that there's going to be I don't know it's almost like it's going to be difficult for that ball to actually get through between those flippers and maybe that's just me looking at it but I almost feel like having lightning flippers on there could help that out a little bit make it more aesthetically pleasing maybe if there was many flippers on it that would have worked, but I have to believe that they probably tested that out a lot in-house, and they figured, okay, let's just go with the regular size. It just, when I look at it, something seems off about it to me, and even when I was watching it on the features or the trailer, there was a lot of trapping up happening up there as well, which I don't mind as much. Like, Game of Thrones, something like that, I actually do enjoy doing something like that, But that upper play field has so much more real estate than this one does. Now, I do like the idea that it moves. That I do like. I'm just curious to see how it moves and then how that relates to the large flippers as well. So that's one thing I'm kind of keeping an eye on. And the other thing, just going back, and I forgot to mention this with the Grogu, when we're looking at the child rollovers up top, what I'm concerned with is whether or not we can actually see that from a player's perspective what I don't like in a game and was just a pet peeve of mine is when I cannot visually see that from where I'm at like I want to be able to see is the ball going across the C is it going across the H is it going across the I is it going across the L and I'm not so convinced from our angle and with everything in there that jam in there that we be able to see it But that being said that just one of the trade When a pin gets jam like this that means things have to get covered up. And that's just the reality of it. I'm just personally not a fan of that. I wish we would be able to see up top, but that could just be a result of the angles that I'm seeing from the pictures. Maybe it'll be a little bit different once we do get to play. I'm curious about that. I'm very curious about that. The other thing I'm slightly a little worried about, but you know, this is, again, I'm really getting nitpicky on this one is just that the, the mode start happens to be at the scoop that's on the left-hand side and they call it the foundry. And there's an extra ball there. Uh, I guess one of the missions too. I'm not exactly sure. I guess it's, it's one of the mode starts, basically. And that in itself, I don't know. I'm just not a fan personally of hitting scoops. I just, I don't really like them in pinball games for the most part. If they are in a pinball game, I would rather them be off to the side, kind of like Metallica or Guardians of the Galaxy. I don't really remember off the top of my head the last time that there's been a scoop on the left-hand side. I'm trying to think. I'm trying to jog my memory. Maybe there has been at some point in the past five years. I just cannot think of it right now. But again, I'm just not a huge fan of that,
    18:43
    and that's just a personal preference. Maybe you guys out there, you guys enjoy something like that. But I could see that type of shot, especially the way that the post is slightly offline a little bit because there's a ramp right there. So the ramp has a post that basically sets closer to the player, whereas the post on the left orbit sets a little bit further away. So what's interesting about that is I wonder how that will affect forehand shots. I'd have to think it makes it a little bit tricky. But on the flip side, I think backhanding that will be actually a really easy shot for the most part. So it's almost like one of those give and takes to where you have to make decisions on how you want to approach that. But again, nitpicking, I'm just not a fan of scoops, is what it is. Now in terms of the rest of the play field and everything that we're seeing with the shots, there are a lot of shots on this. I think that off the top of my head, there's anywhere ranging between seven clear up to nine shots, depending on what you count. whether you count the center ramp being able to be seen after that razor crest target allows you to go through, whether it's the, what they call it, the horseshoe, when that comes up, and then the ball goes underneath and back around to the right orbit.
    20:00
    So that's basically two shots in one. So this game is filled with shots, and that's what I'm very interested to see. Now, of course, they have targets on the side. I wish those would have been drop targets, but it is what it is. we get targets and at least it's individual targets. I like that better than just the full-size target that just happens to be one giant target. So I do like that as well. Just off the top of my head, looking at this play field, I feel like it's funny. I'm going back and forth on it. Part of me wants to think that this will be a little bit more difficult shooter than previous games. but then another part of me thinks that well all the shots happen to be more towards the back side of the play field there's nothing on the front half except for your targets to the side but overall there's no post near those targets that means it's not going to be like ninja turtles where we might get some cheap drains on the out lanes i feel like anytime we miss a shot we won't generally be in too much trouble overall and plus all these shots are pretty much the same distance It's at least the same feel. Whenever we look at that, they almost all seem very symmetrical in that way, especially when you start taking out the toys and you take out the wire forms and you just kind of really focus down in to where the inserts are and to where the shots are, especially the entrance of the shots. Now, what is really fascinating is that when you do go through all these, once you look where the center ramp is, it's all the way back in the back and probably one of the furthest center ramp shots that we've seen in a while compared to every other shot on the play field at the same time. I can't really recall seeing something quite like that when I think about it from a design perspective when I look at how the shots all come together in that way. Now, we hear the term flow all the time, and obviously Brian Eddy, he does a lot of fan layouts, and with this particular game, it's funny. It's almost like, to me, it's a fan layout, but it's not a fan layout at the same time. There's something unique about it, and I cannot put my finger on it quite yet. I really need to see this game in action. I really need to dig down even further and just really see where these shots go to. And I can almost visualize it in my head whenever I am looking at the play field, where the different geometry is, where these different shots are. And honestly, I think that overall, a lot of shots will be safe. I think overall, if you miss shots, you won't get punished too much. I think that the ball will return back to the flipper in a smooth way. I don't think, just looking at the post on the side, there's no area where there's big fat posts sticking out from, you know, the ball guides coming back. I just think everything's going to return nicely back to the flippers. And that's exactly what we want. Now, one thing that I am a little alarmed about looking at the Pro and kind of thinking about it more is the ball returns to the flippers in terms of coming across on the plastic ramps. Now, while I think that that is cool, I love the wire forms on the Pro and on the Premium, or on the Premium and on the LE. Sorry, I'm losing my train of thought. It's tired. Get all the way off my back, guys. But when I think about the pro and I see those plastic ramps, one thing I'm really worried about is what will that look like on location. Now, obviously, the pros are going to go on location. And obviously, the pros are going to get a lot of play, and rightfully so. But I just wonder what type of ball trails is that going to leave across the ramp. And it's going to be smack dab right in your visual view. So I'm just really curious. I mean, that's one thing. That's where my mind goes, guys. That's one thing I see. When I look at those ramps, I just think of, oh, my God, that's going to get super dirty, and I wonder what that's going to look like if somebody's not paying attention and keeping up with that. And that's why I'm more for the wire forms. I wish something like that could get added on to the Pro. You know, I don't know what the cost is for that, but the wire forms, it just looks so much cleaner, and it just feels like Mando. When I look at the wire forms, for whatever reason, that more or less, it just feels like Mando to me, more than a plastic ramp does. But again, nitpicking, told you guys, that's where I'm at on it. But I just think that that would look a lot better if we could have gone with the wire form right there. And therefore, that's why I actually prefer the Premium more than anything else. But that being said, the Pro is obviously loaded for the most part. I can't think of any game in the past that feels like it's had this much in it. Now, again, feeling like that and seeing it in action, two different things. But I suspect that it will remain packed even after we see it in action. There just seems to be a lot of stuff that has been done. And I feel like Brian Eddy has done a great job of getting these shots together and filling up the space in this pinball machine. And a lot of the shots, again, make sense. There's nothing that stands out in particular that I'm like, oh my, that could be a problem shot. You know, there's no obvious layer shot like from Ninja Turtles. There's no upper flipper shot like Led Zeppelin where that's very difficult to get. I feel like a lot of these shots should be accessible, should be challenging enough, but should be able to get done. I don't know. Am I talking myself in circles? I probably am right now. But I'm excited about this game though, guys. The artwork, I love the artwork. I know a lot of people are kind of up and down on it. I did not like the Star Wars comic book artwork that came out I preferred the previous artwork to it But when I see this and this artwork that was made by Randy Martinez I like this type of artwork now When I look at it, this is what I like. It's almost between a Franchi and a zombie Yeti. It's that between. Now, obviously, it leans more towards Franchi, but I feel like it's just got that equilibrium of looking kind of realistic but kind of comic book-y at the same time. Kind of going back and forth. And I don't really like, personally, I don't like art that's photorealistic. I kind of prefer something in the middle. But I don't know. Maybe this is my untrained eye telling you guys. I know nothing about art. I freaking got a C- in applied design my freshman year of high school. That's as close as I got to being an art major. So, again, that's just what I see. That's just what I think. now code code code code oh my god code let's talk about that right now after i get some more green tea all right code we have no idea what it's going to be let's just say that now of course everybody is everybody was expecting lonnie to be on code and that's because rumors got out everybody ran with rumors and then it came out that dwight sullivan was on code now i do understand people's apprehension about Dwight being on the code. I get it. I understand it. Some of you guys that were on Star Wars, you felt burned already. I understand. Some of you Munsters fans, still burned. I get it. But, I will say this. I want to be able to give Dwight a chance. And I'm encouraged. The fact that there's only a 5x multiplier chance that I see. I don't know if the 2x is on the right ramp, if that could go up to 10. but what I'm reading when I see the inserts and I see what's possible, I feel like that this is an opportunity to kind of tell that story within there, that we're going to bits and pieces from the Mandalorian world that makes sense. And if there's one thing Dwight is really good at and that he's outstanding at, is being able to code a machine to where the light show is very cool, to where that part makes sense. And I feel like as long as we're being led down a path towards different moments, I feel like that that would be a win. And that's what I'm looking for. And I'm not so focused on right now worrying about, well, what could this score? What could that score? I'm more worried about will it feel like I'm able to explore the entire play field? Will each mode make sense of the shots that I'm going for? Will the hurry ups in there make sense? And I think the way that the inserts are laid out, it gives me hope that we are going to see something that could be great. I really do. I like where the scope shot is on that left end lane. I like the fact, or at least that it gives you a chance to start the scope shot. And I like where the shots end up. If you do look at it on the play field, you'll see that it ends up on, what is it, that helix ramp? It's on one of the targets, and it's on the horseshoe ramp. So all three of those are right together. And I like the fact that that is going to be something of a hurry up to where you still need that in order to get a multiplier, I believe. I like how the hunters kind of work in with the multipliers, and I like how Boba Fett kind of works in with the multipliers. What I'm getting at is I don't mind multipliers in a game for the most part. What I don't like is when you can just get them just easily, and any rando could just run into a massive multiplier. I like that it feels like you've got to do a little bit of work to get to it here. I do like that. And I do like that there's a bunch of multiballs built in, in which you work through your multiballs to get to Wizard Mode. I do like that as well. Now, what I don't hope for is that this game is just multiball heavy. I think it's like any other Stern, there will be a multiball close to the start button, and that's fine, you have to have that. I just hope that each one has a purpose. I hope each one has a radically different rule set in of itself in which we're going after jackpots, super jackpots, or we have reason to explore the entire play field. That's really what I'm looking for out of this pen. And this could be one of the first pens that I get that I'm really not going to worry too much about score at first. You know, when I play at home, God's honest truth, guys, I don't worry about score at all when I play at home. I'm more focused on I want to get to a wizard mode every single time. I want to explore the entire game. Now, of course, once I get to tournaments, I can't do that. There's no point of trying to get to a wizard mode at a tournament. You know, you might as well just try to maximize your score as much as you can. And one of the things with Dwight's codes is typically speaking, at least for me, there's one very specific way to approach the game in order to maximize your score. but I will say as somebody that owned Star Wars for three years even though parts of it felt disjointed in terms of like a mode happening from one movie and all of a sudden I jumped two movies ahead that felt disjointed what I can say the shots made sense where they were at the hurry ups in Star Wars made sense to me I liked how the multi balls came out and how you got rewarded for finishing stuff with something like that. It's almost like you had to earn your way through that game in that way when we're speaking of it from this perspective. And I kind of expect this game to be the same. This is what I'm looking for. Now, I don't know if that'll be true. That's just kind of where my mind's at. I hope it is. I want a pin with a rule set in which I have a reason to aim for nearly every single shot. I want a game in which there is a risk-reward built into it, into where I do need to take risk in order to get to certain wizard modes, or I need to take risk to complete certain modes. I don't want them all to be easy, necessarily. So I do look forward to that. I am excited to see what Dwight brings this time, and I have to believe that he is going to bring his A-game to this, because obviously he was on Star Wars before. I'm sure he's heard the criticism of everything from there. And it's not even to say that he's trying to fix what everybody's thinking. I think he's out to have something to prove. And I look forward to it. And I hope it turns out great. Now, the other thing I did notice, the impossible mode, I think that's what it's called. I was pretty excited when I first heard about that. And then I heard that it's something to do with a timer on flippers. and I'm like, oh my gosh, it's GNR all over again. They're going to make me drain out. But that's another mode that I'm interested in seeing. I think I just need to see it happen, and I can go from there. I did see that co-op is coming back. That's pretty cool. I don't know exactly how co-op's going to work, since you're supposed to play as Mandalorian. I don't know if all of a sudden you're going to just play as somebody else along with Mando. I don't know. Maybe I'm kind of interested to see how that's going. Sorry, if I'm starting to stumble over my words, it's because my mouth is just incredibly dry, and it's 1230 at night, so I'm going to end it just there. This is just me rambling on. What do you guys think? Are you guys excited for this pen? Did this work out the way that you thought it would? Did it meet your expectations? Did it exceed your expectations? Are you just a little bit, blah? I mean, let me know. For me personally, for the most part, it exceeded my expectations for the most part. I don't think it's a perfect pin by any stretch of the imagination, but it's still a pin that I'm excited about. It's still a pin that 99.9% will end up in my collection. I like the look of this. I like the feel of it in terms of just the shots, just how they appear. I like it better than what I saw with Star Wars that I owned for three years. So that in itself really has my attention. And I do hope once the gameplay gets revealed that it is something that exceeds our expectations in that way. But that's all I got. I'm going to end it right there. Thank you guys for listening. I'll catch you guys on the next one. Later, guys.