Stern Pinball Announces Avengers are Assembling.....Again.

Cary Hardy·video·13m 3s·analyzed·Aug 29, 2020

Analysis

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TL;DR

Stern announces new Avengers pinball; Hardy predicts Keith Elwin design with comic-book licensing.

Summary

Cary Hardy analyzes Stern Pinball's teaser announcement of a new Avengers-themed pinball machine. Based on visual and audio cues from the trailer, he predicts the game will be designed by Keith Elwin (not Richie Knoblich) with Yeti artwork, and will feature Marvel comic-book IP rather than movie licensing. Hardy speculates on potential gameplay modes involving Infinity Stones and the snap mechanic, and expects an official reveal by Monday or Tuesday.

Key Claims

The new Avengers game will be designed by Keith Elwin, not Richie Knoblich
medium confidence · Hardy's prediction based on designer tendencies: 'I do not see richie getting deep and interested into the whole marvel scene... Elwin, I think Elwin, this is right up his alley.'
The game uses Marvel comic-book licensing, not movie licensing
high confidence · Hardy analyzed the teaser music and visual style: 'this is not going to be a vault edition this is not going to be from the movies... they've got a license from Marvel slash Disney for the comic book based material'
The artwork is by Yeti (Stern's art director)
medium confidence · Hardy's visual assessment of trailer art: 'When it comes to art, it looks Yeti. If that's not Yeti, then that is somebody else that's got talent'
This is a full-size pinball machine, not a home cabinet or vault edition
high confidence · Hardy explicitly states: 'It is not a home pin. This is a full-fledged size pinball machine. It is not a vault. It is not going to be a revamped version of Gomez's The Avengers.'
An official reveal is expected by Monday or Tuesday of the following week
medium confidence · Hardy states: 'We're probably going to get the actual reveal on Monday, Tuesday at the latest, but chances are it's going to be on Monday.'

Notable Quotes

“I do not see richie getting deep and interested into the whole marvel scene... Elwin, I think Elwin, this is right up his alley.”
Cary Hardy@ 5:12 — Central to Hardy's prediction of designer attribution based on personal interest and past work patterns
“This is not going to be a vault edition this is not going to be from the movies... they've got a license from Marvel slash Disney for the comic book based material for Infinity War slash Endgame or the Infinity Saga”
Cary Hardy@ 6:08 — Key deduction about licensing scope and its implications for design freedom
“I would rather it be something that is not based upon the movies. I love the movies, trust me, I love them. But for a pinball machine, I'm much more interested in it being a comic book style.”
Cary Hardy@ 7:12 — Expresses preference for comic-book aesthetic over movie adaptation for pinball viability
“if it's Keith Elwin like I think it is, the chances are this game is going to be freaking awesome.”
Cary Hardy@ 10:20 — Expresses confidence in Elwin's design capabilities based on recent titles
“It is not a home pin. This is a full-fledged size pinball machine. It is not a vault. It is not going to be a revamped version of Gomez's The Avengers. It is going to be a full-fledged new Avengers game.”
Cary Hardy@ 11:49 — Clarifies the scope and nature of the announcement; dismisses speculation about home editions or revamps

Entities

Cary Hardyperson Keith Elwinperson Richie Knoblichperson George Gomezperson Zombie YetipersonChris KanedapersonStern PinballcompanyMarvelcompany

Signals

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design_philosophy: Comic-book aesthetic chosen over movie-based photorealism for pinball design freedom
high · Hardy's explanation of licensing choice: movie-based would be 'much more linear' and restrict design possibilities; comic-book approach enables broader gameplay and visual innovation
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event_signal: Official game reveal expected within one week (Monday or Tuesday following announcement)
medium · Hardy prediction: 'we're probably going to get the actual reveal on Monday, Tuesday at the latest'
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licensing_signal: Game uses Marvel comic-book licensing rather than movie licensing, providing broader design flexibility
high · Hardy's analysis: teaser music is original composition, not theatrical theme; comic-book license allows more creative freedom than movie-based constraints
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market_signal: New announcement may cause cancellations of existing Turtles pre-orders as players shift to new title
medium · Hardy speculation: 'it's a matter of how many people cancel their Turtles because now they're more interested in the Avengers'
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personnel_signal: Keith Elwin predicted as designer based on thematic alignment with Marvel IP and artistic sensibility
medium · Hardy's reasoning: Marvel theme aligns with Elwin's prior work; art style appears consistent with Yeti's direction; Knoblich ruled out due to sci-fi preference
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Topics

New game announcement and designer attributionprimaryMarvel licensing scope (comic-book vs. movie IP)primarySpeculation on gameplay mechanics and modessecondaryDesigner work patterns and thematic preferencessecondaryStern's production roadmap and release schedulingsecondaryImpact on current Turtles pre-ordersmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.78)— Hardy expresses excitement about the announcement and confidence in Elwin's design capability. He prefers comic-book licensing over movie adaptation. No criticism of Stern's announcement timing or decision. Enthusiasm tempered by lack of concrete information and acknowledgment that speculation awaits confirmation.

Transcript

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And no, just because I'm drinking beer doesn't mean I'm about to rip this game to shreds. It just means that today was suckville. So, I'm at work all day. Today sucked, but I was busy all day. I'm literally just like underneath a machine putting things together, and my watch is beeping, going off. My phone's vibrating in my pocket. So I know that something evidently has dropped, or my wife is in need of an emergency or something like that. One of the two. Either way, I didn't have time to answer it. So I was like, I'll get to it later. I'll get to it later, I'll get to it later So get done with it finally Get to the point to where I'm able to check my phone And it turns out Stern Announced their next title Well, not so much the title But they At least announced What game it was going to be Themed for And then I even Evidently like Chris Slash Kaneda put up a live video And I caught like the very end of that So I missed any kind of information that could have been divulged or talked about during that. I plan on watching that later. But now we're going to actually go through this teaser trailer that's starting to be released and see what we think about it. Let's do this. All right, let's go ahead and stop right now. let's go back to the beginning here and we're gonna go by this I don't want to say frame by frame but we're gonna go through it so right off the bat what do we see well we obviously Captain America and what looks to be Black Widow and I'm trying to see there's any other kind of details that I'm trying to see what's on the far left right there. Sorry I cannot detect what that could be. Then we've got Hulk, Thor's hat and hammer. Iron Man looks like Vision behind him. I can't tell who that is. And another flying person Iron Man obviously then you have Thanos and then right here it looks like you are getting the enemies at this portion there's Thor and total I don't know who this is I'm sorry but I I like Marvel and everything but I'm not a hardcore fan door I'm gonna know who everybody is and all that stuff in joke but I don know who this is trying to think of who it could be but I honestly don know who it is More of Thanos Captain America and someone with claw feet Then you have Doctor Strange Then you have the Infinity Gauntlet Then you have Captain Marvel. So from this point of view, in the far right, you can see that Thanos is next to Captain Marvel, Iron Man, and Thor. Now here's an image of someone that I cannot pinpoint who that is. is a couple of people actually right there in the far back right that i cannot pinpoint who that is and that's pretty much all the details that we get guys that is all the images that we get of who is in this trailer but the most significant portion right here is right here at the end of the trailer what do you hear and see you hear finger snap and John Youssi the words coming soon fade away into dust and that's all that trailer's got i really wish this should be a short video there's nothing much to discuss here guys i know i've been getting a bunch of messages and people wanting to get my input on this and it's like okay i'll do something but there's not a lot to say all i can say is what we can pinpoint from what we see and what we know is that this is going to be either a richie title or a l1 title i'm going to say it's a l1 title because you've got to remember that when designers choose a theme it's something that they have to be passionate about and really want to dedicate months of their life in doing i do not see richie getting deep and interested into the whole marvel scene i don't see it he's uh i could see him doing sci-fi that's why he did star Trek and into metal and stuff like that. And I mean, that's why he did ACDC and, but like, I see it. Elwin, I think Elwin, this is right up his alley. When it comes to art, it looks Yeti. If that's not Yeti, then that is somebody else that's got talent and I'm glad they are on the Stern team, but that looks like Yeti. when it comes to the music that is obviously going to be music because they always do that every Stern trailer, teaser, whatever the music that they put into that video is music that's from the game so that is obviously not going to be the Albie Silvestri theme from the theatrical releases this is not going to be a vault edition this is not going to be from the movies and this is a good thing guys because what this does is that they've got a license from Marvel slash Disney for the comic book based material for Infinity War slash Endgame or the Infinity Saga, if you will. This is giving them a lot more options. If they dedicated themselves to the movie then that makes things very linear for what they can do one people would get so frustrated that we don have you know the actual voice actors from the actors and the images are going to be all photoshopped on the play field in the cabinet more than likely it would just make it much more linear and i feel like the designer and everybody on the team would be much more with they couldn't do as much as they could with what they look like they're going to be able to do with this comic book edition so with the comic book edition that gives them the ability to do a whole number of things when it comes to visual audio and like play style and stuff like that i think this is a good move honestly because i would rather it be something that is not based upon the movies. I love the movies, trust me, I love them. But for a pinball machine, I'm much more interested in it being a comic book style. So I am going to say this is Elwynn Design with Yeti artwork. We're probably going to get the actual reveal on Monday, Tuesday at the latest, but chances are it's going to be on Monday. That is, what day does that fall on? hmm it might be tuesday first of the month might be might be i'm really excited to see what elwyn we're not confirmed but i'm gonna go ahead and call it right now if it's not elwyn then i will be surprised we'll just say that but i'm really am excited to see what elwyn's gonna do with this theme because his last two titles have been very fun for me to play i've really enjoyed them and i am a marvel fan in comparison to dc i don't know the ins and outs of all the characters and their backstory and stuff like that and a lot of people are deep into this i'm not i do enjoy the movies i don't enjoy dc as much as i do marvel i think marvel has got much better content and characters than DC there you go that's just my preference but I am really curious to see what he's going to be doing with this when it comes to the modes are we going to be having to collect the infinity stones are we going to have to keep the snap from happening and what if like you know the snap does happen and you like lose your ball because now this has gotten to the point to where I start thinking about what they are going to be able to do with the game. And it's difficult when you don't have any kind of layout or design in mind. But when it comes to rules and just concept ideas for modes and stuff like that, that's when I start brainstorming. And that's something that I'm going to be kind of festering about for a while just to get an idea. I had a lot of ideas on what I wanted the turtles to have, and some of those came true. so maybe I'll fester some more about it over the weekend do another video to give you some ideas on what I think they should do and who knows maybe some of those will come true but people are kind of curious of what the title for this game is going to be is it going to be Avengers Assemble or avengers infinity war or in or whatever i don know what the title is going to be obviously but it can be just in because i feel like it needs to be the saga in general so it's probably going to be like an avengers infinity saga that's what it is or something like that but it's probably a name that isn't licensed, obviously. But I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'm not going to diss it yet because I want to see what it is, but if it's Keith Elwin like I think it is, the chances are this game is going to be freaking awesome. So look forward to seeing that Monday or Tuesday of next week. Until then, I've got nothing really else to talk about, guys. That's all I've got. So I know a lot of you are messaging me, PMing me and everything throughout the day, wanting to know what my take on it was. And I was like, I'm sorry, I'm real busy. It was taking me a long time to even message people back. But I'm letting them know now. Here it is. I think I might just settle for this one beer. I might get one more. I don't know. Prepare for tomorrow. But I'm really surprised that they have announced their next game so soon. I'm thinking that they are really wanting to stay on their original release plan. Even though Turtles was a little late from what they originally wanted it to be, I'm thinking that they are still wanting to stay on their cornerstones where they originally wanted them to be. So even though they're backlogged on backorders and they're pumping and going on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, they still announced their next title. And it's a matter of how many people cancel their Turtles because now they're more interested in the Avengers. But what I've got to say is it's not a home pin. This is a full-fledged size pinball machine. It is not a vault. It is not going to be a revamped version of Gomez's The Avengers. It is going to be a full-fledged new Avengers game. that should be completely visible in just the teaser guys it can't be evolved if it's showing off thanos and everything because the original avengers was just the avengers at that point we didn't even see thanos duh but that's all i've got for right now until uh more information gets obtained uh i honestly don't even have the energy to seek out anything right now but i i wanted to get stuff out to you guys because i know a lot of you out there are kind of curious on what my initial take on this stuff is so here you have it so until next time guys peace out