Journalist Tool

Kineticist

  • HDashboard
  • IItems
  • ↓Ingest
  • SSources
  • KBeats
  • BBriefs
  • RIntel
  • QSearch
  • NName Review
  • +Health

v0.1.0

← Back to items

The Pinball Show Ep 127 BONUS: Sewie And Me

Pinball Show Patreon Feed·podcast_episode·20m 20s·analyzed·May 9, 2023
View original
Export .md

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

Hosts pan Whirlwind 2.0 2.0 kit's theme as creatively incoherent and disrespectful to original game.

Summary

Two hosts express severe disappointment with Pedretti Gaming's Whirlwind 2.0 2.0 upgrade kit ($2,500 USD), criticizing its chaotic, thematically incoherent design that strays far from Whirlwind's storm-chasing identity. Despite praising the technical specs (FAST System 11, Pinsound XL, new modes), they condemn the aesthetic and creative direction as a mishmash of unrelated elements (sewage monsters, scarecrows, donuts, Mac and Me references) that disrespect the original game's theme and lack conceptual cohesion.

Key Claims

  • Whirlwind 2.0 2.0 kit costs $2,500 USD

    high confidence · Host states directly: '$2,500 US for this kit.'

  • Kit includes FAST System 11 MPU, Pinsound XL, 14-inch LCD HD display, new speaker panel, custom side blades, and custom Translight

    high confidence · Host lists technical components explicitly during product breakdown

  • Kit includes 8 new modes featuring thematic elements like zombies, acid plants, Area 51, Donado (donut tornado), and scarecrows

    high confidence · Host enumerates the modes: '5G zombies,' 'acid plants,' 'Area 51,' 'Donado,' etc.

  • The kit's back glass depicts a sewage monster named Suey, pigs with Venetian blind sunglasses and turquoise mohawks, and a reference to Mac from 'Mac and Me'

    high confidence · Host describes in detail: 'A booger looking monster that's composed of actual shit and piss, Dennis... his name is Suey' and 'they stole the depiction of the alien Mac... from Mac and Me'

  • Mark Silk provided voice work for the kit (voices, call-outs, and chickens in Chicken Run mode)

    medium confidence · Host states: 'I think Mark Silk did that again' and 'The reason they did this is because Mark Silk voiced the chickens in that film, Chicken Run.'

  • Installation of 2.0 kits is difficult and not enjoyable, as evidenced by complaints about Funhouse Rudy's Nightmare kit

    medium confidence · Host notes: 'the installation isn't that fun. It is really not that fun to install all that stuff' and references complaints about Funhouse Rudy's Nightmare

Notable Quotes

  • “This is Total Chaos. I think the name is very accurate given what they decided to do.”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 0:22 — Acknowledges that 'Total Chaos' is an apt title given the chaotic thematic choices

  • “Whirlwind was never about piss monsters and grannies and fucking donut sack.”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 6:33 — Core criticism: the kit fundamentally betrays the original game's thematic identity

  • “It's not Whirlwind. They didn't have to do this. They didn't have to go in these directions.”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 7:45 — Emphasizes that creative choices were optional, not necessary

  • “I am the number one demographic for this type of product. The fucking number one, Dennis, because I love Whirlwind... Everything makes sense on this except for the entire presentation. The entire creative decision-making behind it.”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 9:01 — Target audience disappointed; technical execution is sound but creative vision is flawed

  • “They need a creative director so bad.”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 9:59 — Core suggestion: lack of creative oversight led to the incoherent design

  • “It's tongue-in-shit. The problem isn't just that it's stupid humor, like dad joke humor... This is all over the map.”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 15:27 — Critiques tone and coherence; contrasts to Punny Factory's deliberate humor strategy

  • “Total shit show. Donato. My reaction to the choices made on this theming is I hope to not see another 2.0 kit from them. They're fucking it up.”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 16:15 — Strong condemnation of Pedretti Gaming's creative judgment; suggests loss of trust in future projects

Entities

Pedretti GamingcompanyWhirlwind 2.0productMark SilkpersonFunhouse Rudy's NightmareproductPinball PlanetcompanyFAST System 11 MPUproductPinsound XLproductWhirlwindgameMac and Megame

Signals

  • ?

    product_concern: Hosts express severe criticism of thematic design choices for Whirlwind Total Chaos 2.0, citing incoherent aesthetic, mismatched references (Mac and Me, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Chicken Run), and lack of creative oversight

    high · Extended discussion of chaotic visual elements, repeated assertions that 'it's not Whirlwind,' explicit request for 'creative director,' and statement 'They're fucking it up.'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Whirlwind Total Chaos 2.0 represents a significant business model: selling complete thematic overhauls/conversions of classic games to home collectors and operators

    high · Hosts discuss it as 2.0 kit category; pricing ($2,500) compared to full P3 modules; extensive technical spec list (FAST, Pinsound, LCD); framed as upgrading existing machines

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Kit exemplifies tension between maximalist 'anything goes' approach and thematic integrity; hosts argue for restraint and coherent creative vision

    high · Repeated contrast between Punny Factory (coherent dad-joke theme) vs. Total Chaos (random mashup); suggestion that scarecrows, donuts, zombies, etc. lack unifying thread; hosts praise technical aspects but condemn creative vision

  • ?

    community_signal: Hosts (representing engaged collectors/enthusiasts) express disillusionment with Pedretti Gaming despite prior respect for company direction

    high · Zach: 'I have a lot of respect for Pedretti Gaming... but when it comes to the creativity aspect of this it's just it missed the mark so poorly'; statement 'My reaction to the choices made on this theming is I hope to not see another 2.0 kit from them'

  • $

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.061

0:00
Thanks again for the ongoing support as a Pinball Show Club member. Enjoy this exclusive TPS content, and make sure to visit the Pinball Show Club Discord to chat about the bonus material.
0:13
So let's continue, Dennis. We know that Pedretti Gaming comes out with Whirlwind Total Chaos 2.0. You know what? Right there. I'm going to give them some credit. I'm fine with the name, Total Chaos. I think the name is very accurate given what they decided to do. Unfortunately, yes. $2,500 US for this kit. A little bit more, I think, than I think the price increased a little bit more than Funhaus Rodeo Nightmare. We don't know how much it is.
0:43
My conversion is one thing. NAPS is another. CoinTaker right now it's a $500 deposit but then it says balance dues $1,300 which is only $1,800. I don't know if that's not including shipping but I can't think shipping is going to cost $600. I don't know. So contact a dealer or them direct for the actual pricing because I'm confused on that. Plus VAT. I don't know what VAT is. That's value-added tax. That wouldn't apply to the U.S. Okay. I thought it was like a VAT of the sewer goo guy. We'll get to that. So with this kit, you get new graphics and animation, new music, sound effects, voices, call-outs. I think Mark Silk did that again. New modes, multi-balls, wizard modes, Dennis. You get a speaker panel that is wood with artwork. You get a new 14-inch LCD HD display, new high-quality speakers. My favorite board system, that Fast system. Love you, Fast. Fast System 11 MPU. You get a Pinsound XL. I freaking love Pinsound. This all sounds great. Custom side blades, custom Translight. Oh, did they have a typo?
1:44
Customized packaging that nobody cares about. Okay. So you get that. You get, that's a lot of stuff. And then on top of that, listener, get this. With total chaos, there's a top hat wearing gopher with wooden pistols. A booger looking monster that's composed of actual shit and piss, Dennis. I joke you not, his name is Suey. I cannot make this up referring to sewage or a sewer system. He's made of shit and piss. There's pigs with 80s Venetian blind sunglasses and turquoise mohawks. I'm not tripping balls on mushrooms. You are. Not only do they have the Eye of Providence here in this package, but the Eye of Providence, this one, has four jet thrusters under it. It's got donuts, chickens, crabs, aliens, a nuclear blob monster named simply Nick, creepy-ass scarecrows, a granny wearing hair rollers, and that's just in the back glass.

  • “The sanctity of a license at some point has to amount to something... I just asked for the creative aspects to be reviewed better.”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 19:07 — Questions whether Planetary Pinball (licensor) is providing adequate oversight

  • “We're just going to take these platforms that people own and instead of selling full games we're going to say convert your other thing into a totally different theme because this is not Whirlwind. This is some totally different alien shit monster theme.”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 19:40 — Broader criticism of business model: selling complete thematic overhauls on existing cabinets

  • “I love the idea of upgrading old code so that you can use still the same game, but upgrading it in a way that contemporizes it... I love everything. I even think the price makes total sense... Everything makes sense on this except for the entire presentation.”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 9:32 — Encapsulates the core tension: technical execution and price are justified, but creative direction is not

    • Conker's Bad Fur Day
    game
    Chicken Runfilm
    Punny Factorygame
    Zachperson
    Dennisperson
    Rudyproduct/character
    Pinball Brotherscompany
    CoinTakercompany
    Rickperson
    Yelseyperson

    market_signal: Whirlwind Total Chaos 2.0 kit priced at $2,500 USD, described as 'a little bit cheaper even than like a P3 module'; pricing appears justified by technical specs despite creative criticism

    high · Zach: 'I even think the price makes total sense. It's a little bit cheaper even than like a P3 module... Everything makes sense on this except for the entire presentation'

  • ?

    regulatory_signal: Hosts question whether Planetary Pinball (licensor of Whirlwind IP) is providing adequate creative oversight; concern that licensing sanctity is not being respected

    medium · Zach: 'i question why rick at planetary pinball is even approving this stuff... The sanctity of a license at some point has to amount to something'

  • ?

    product_concern: 2.0 kits (including Total Chaos) reported as difficult to install; prior complaints about Funhouse Rudy's Nightmare kit's installation and weak extra modes

    medium · Host notes: 'the installation isn't that fun. It is really not that fun to install all that stuff... There's not really a good way they can help that with everything. There's not with boards and wiring.'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Zach (primary target demographic: Whirlwind collector/enthusiast) expresses emotional disappointment and loss of trust; describes being 'torn apart sad about this because I was looking forward to this'

    high · Zach: 'I am the number one demographic for this type of product... Everything makes sense on this except for the entire presentation... I am upset, sincerely, as a pinball enthusiast. They're fucking it up.'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Kit demonstrates strong technical implementation (FAST System 11, Pinsound XL, modern LCD display, new sound/music by Mark Silk, 8 new modes with multiball/wizard modes) but undermined by weak creative vision

    high · Hosts repeatedly praise technical specs; Zach: 'I love utilization of all of these add-ons too, the side blades, Translight, the new sound. I love everything.'

  • ?

    content_signal: Trailer for kit received negative reception from hosts; described as worse than recent trailers (though better than Final Tap); poor representation of creative vision

    medium · Dennis: 'I dislike this trailer more than any recent trailer I've seen. Not that this is Final Tap bad, though. At least this one shows the game.'

  • ?

    industry_signal: Hosts raise concerns that poor creative execution on Total Chaos could damage Pedretti Gaming's reputation and raise questions about what they might do to other classic IP in future projects

    medium · Zach: 'it just makes me wonder like what would happen with like if this is this and this does well enough like what have they what would they have done to taxi... what would they have done to diner'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Hosts speculate about creative influences (drug use, video game references, pop culture mashups) and whether Suey/scarecrows/etc. might be inside jokes or intentional absurdism

    low · Host speculates: 'Maybe that's the not-known wizard mode is the fucking apple dumpling gang'; 'Maybe this just be because I don't know who the creative director is. But maybe I'm missing something'

    • 2:47
    I feel like, do you ever see the SNL skit, Stefan? Yeah. where he's talking about. I wish I had a good stuff on the press. It's just like, and it's just like, it's got, Greg's wearing sunglasses. That's right.
    3:02
    Let me see about you. Yeah. Venetian blind sunglasses, turquoise mohawks. Not only the eye of Providence. New York's hottest club is Slash.
    3:12
    This place has everything. Glass, steam, bear traps, and just when you think the fun is over, knock, knock, who's there? It's Black George Washington. All that in a party room filled with human bath mats.
    3:31
    What is a human bath mat? It's that thing of when, like, midgets have dreadlocks and they lay face down on the floor.
    3:44
    Oh, my gosh. That's what this feels like to me. There are eight ways to fix the van. So those are the new modes. van fixing mode. Which include 5G zombies. There's acid plants. There's Area 51. Which really irks me. Because you've been researching all these real life aliens. Right? First off, can we not have a game that doesn't include aliens? But more importantly, if you look at the mode Area 51, son of a bitches, they stole the depiction of the alien Mac. Remember from Mac and Me? Mac and me?
    4:23
    The Mac is in there. It's drawn just like Mac. He's in one of the alien ships. I'm like, you bastards. They stole Mac.
    4:33
    Run, chicken, run. The reason they did this is because Mark Silk voiced the chickens in that film, Chicken Run. The scary boys with a Zed. I hate when people do that. I like how you said Zed, though, instead of Z. Because I wanted to make it stupid as well. The piggies, the piggies, Bermuda Crab and Nuke Nick. Multi include I embarrassed to even say the Donado So like a tornado but with donuts in it
    5:13
    Donado. And then the other multivolves just armor the house. They gave no context to that one. Wizard mode include, oh no, here he is again. Suey versus nannies. So that's that pile of shit and piss. literally shit and piss versus grandmas uh defeat the storm holy shit an appropriately titled mode slash wizard mode in this kit defeat the storm how about they know you had it in you and then the third one they just they say there are three but they don't list the third one all right so that's what you get listener with this package dennis what are your thoughts oh my God. This is terrible.
    5:59
    This is Pony Factory fucking terrible. No. Oh, my God. Pony Factory has a theme and sticks with it.
    6:10
    That is true. It does. It's like you might not like the theme that it's about putting puns together. Oh, I see what you did there.
    6:20
    Sorry. Let me take a drink here. Oh, my God. I'm wiping tears at this point. So it's about, I mean, the concept is, you know, you're assembling these puns. That's from the ground up. That's what it is. Whirlwind was never about piss monsters and grannies and fucking donut sack. Scare bros. I mean, half these things maybe would actually make sense in Honey Factory.
    6:49
    The artwork looks the same. oh but this the whole i i get that they're like okay we got to this is whirlwind the kitchen sink this is why i get a little judgmental about people that do a lot of drugs because because they think it makes them creative and in a way it's true but and then you get this and okay it plays to the name total chaos but whirlwind was about storm chasing and this you watch the trailer and by By the way, I dislike this trailer more than any recent trailer I've seen. Not that this is Final Tap bad, though. At least this one shows the game. So, okay. All right, that's fair. That's fair. This one at least shows the game. We're going to stop doing the Pinball Awards and we're going to do a Razzie's version. We just got to. There's so much content now. It's just, it's not Whirlwind anymore, Zach. No, it's not even close. That's the fundamental issue with it. It's not Whirlwind. They didn't have to do this. They didn't have to go in these directions. It's the cellar. Why'd they make it go stupid? It's wind. There's so many catastrophic things with wind. Even go into the twister motifs of flying cows. Okay, I'll give you a cow. I'll give you stuff that's capable of flying in the air with twisters. Zombies, though? Acid plants? Alien? Mac and me? No! Fucking Mac and me.
    8:13
    It's like they wanted to do an original theme, and so they just did, and then they took one of the greatest System 11s and used it as a platform. Bastardized Whirlwind in the process. And so I'm torn. Well, I'm not torn. I like the idea of, as you noted, the 2.0 kit. And I know people that they love Whirlwind. They have a Whirlwind. The idea of having like eight modes to play in Whirlwind, all that's really attractive to me. I just don't understand how you sit around the table and you're like, we're going to have like Scarecrows and Donuts. Scarebros. I call them Scarebros. I'm like, why? Why would you do this? It doesn't make sense. None of this makes, aside from defeat the storm as a wizard mode, none of this makes any sense to me. I totally love the idea. I am the number one demographic for this type of product. The fucking number one, Dennis, because I love Whirlwind. I have a fully restored Whirlwind. I love it so much. I love the idea of upgrading old code so that you can use still the same game, but upgrading it in a way that contemporizes it, that makes it newer to where it matches up with the depths of at least a 90s Ballywilliams, if not more than that. I love utilization of all of these add-ons, too, the side blades, Translight, the new sound. I love everything. I even think the price makes total sense. It's a little bit cheaper even than like a P3 module. It totally makes sense. Everything makes sense on this except for the entire presentation.
    9:59
    The entire creative decision-making behind it. Yes. They need a creative director so bad And people can Maybe some people love this No they don Dennis I hoping at least the people who created it do But here how I would approach it Here's how my mind is working with it. I want you to take a total turdburger of a game, like Gottlieb Street Fighter II, and imagine you put these modes in it. 5G zombies and scare bros and chicken run. What would you think? Would it not still be just an abomination? It would not actually make the game worse, and that's how I feel about this. This is not whirlwind stuff. No. I see where people maybe started with the idea of, well, it's just about tornadoes. That's not really a thing we can theme around. It's like, there was a whole fucking movie called Twister that did it. They could even deviate a little. They could get into the – My dander's getting up here, Zach. Like the dialed-in stuff. It'd go with acid rain maybe. I get that. It's all weather-related whirlwind. Or add some other weather things like, oh, let's add hail and let's add thunderstorms and let's add a hurricane. You do that. But the piggies? The piggies with Venetian blind sunglasses and turquoise mohawks. What's going to happen if you fail the piggies mode? Does Kermie die?
    11:16
    Did you get the fucking permission from the Muppets? Might this just be because I don't know who the creative director is. But maybe I'm missing something. Crack. Maybe.
    11:30
    like the the monster suey is i just can't get past i can tell the suey monster has it's like someone just got done playing conquer's bad fur day and was like i'm gonna stick the shit monster into this game somehow it's got sound effects too it's like oh my god let's know jeff goblin where are you with the whole you thought about whether or not you could you didn't stop to think You should. Stop thinking poot. Oh. And the only thing that I can see, it is actually missing something. It's totally missing something. It's missing, what about me, Padrini?
    12:12
    I've got the bullet. It's missing Don Knotts. Maybe that's the not-known wizard mode is the fucking apple dumpling gang.
    12:26
    And fuck off, MB. It's me and silly now. Maybe the modes are fun, Zach. And here's the other thing, Dennis. But conceptually, thematically, I'm so disappointed. I am torn apart sad about this because I was looking forward to this. There's a couple complaints on the whole Funhouse Rudy's Nightmare thing. One of them being that the extra modes really weren't that great. I fear this is going to be similar. That's one of the biggest complaints on that. And they said the installation isn't that fun. It is really not that fun to install all that stuff. And I'm not surprised at that. There's not really a – I don't think there's really a good way they can help that with everything. There's not with boards and wiring. I mean, that's always just going to be unfortunate. But, I mean, with this – now, because the announcement just came out, they didn't start, like, these modes under the writer's strike, did they?
    13:21
    It's a spin ball. There are no writers. Well, not with this. Deeper was going to have a writer. They had storyboards. Quinn, didn't they? I think he's a Turner now.
    13:34
    More crossover. The scary bros. This fucking sucks, man. I was looking forward to this. This sucks. It just shows. It goes to show when you're stealing fucking Mac from Mac and Me, like that that is the prime example of where this sits for me because of all movies to steal from you fucking stole i hope that's like such an inside joke like maybe i'm just i don't know maybe i'm missing it i don't think so this the dennis the the fucking donato the thing with the donuts is the first thing that stood out to me watching the trailer and i was just like okay so They're going to make this about the guy driving the weather van. I thought, okay, the storm chaser angle. I get it. And coffee. Five seconds on coffee. No, and then I felt like, oh, right. So someone was just like, well, Homer Simpson loves donuts, and Simpson's Pinball Party is popular. Maybe it started like that. But I just, like, there's all this, like, you caught the Mac and Me thing, and then the poo monster is Conker's bad fur day. It's like they just poached all this stuff from other things, but there's no silver thread that ties it all, that sews it all together. No, they're not weaving. They're weaving. So what's the 5G zombies thing? Is that like some sort of reference to the pandemic where people were talking about the vaccine, having 5G chips in there and stuff? Or did they just finish reading Stephen King book Cell where anyone who answered their cell phone got turned into a zombie Because that a book Poor Stephen King Yeah it a good book too but it shouldn be in Whirlwind This reminds me of Punny Factory because it their idea of comedy and it just not It's not tongue-in-cheek. It's tongue-in-shit. The problem isn't just that it's stupid humor, like dad joke humor. Like, Punny Factory's dad joke humor. But that's the theme. This is all over the map. Yeah. And it's all over, like, chicken run mixed in with Bermuda. I don't even know what that means. And then a shit monster and zombies. I might be able to get behind it if Zombie Yeti did some of this. But the artwork, the line work. Oh, come on. I can't save this. It's bad. It's just bad. The animation looks questionable. The game theme that they have established, Zach, is not good. Yes, correct. Total Chaos, though, is completely apt. They properly named this kit. Total shit show. Donato. My reaction to the choices made on this theming is I hope to not see another 2.0 kit from them. They're fucking it up. I am upset, sincerely, as a pinball enthusiast. They're fucking these things up. You think about all these passion projects like Cactus Canyon Continued and all of that and how – it's like – and I don't know the people behind this, and I don't want to – it's not my goal to be cruel. It's not my goal to be cruel. I always want to be fair about things, so that's where I have to know – I don't know if the modes, like the rules and stuff could very well be good. But as a decision-making on – this doesn't respect the theme, and it feels weird saying that because it's just a game. but the theme was about a serious weather event and you put in scarecrows because I guess you thought farms and tornadoes destroy farms and bear in mind Zach you're in Indiana I'm in Kansas, we take our tornadoes very seriously this has not shown respect to our culture to our tornado culture it's the one thing we have all I have in Kansas is Wizard of Oz and you're just pooping all over it Scarecrows could work. Those could be characters, but they're shitty in this game. As in the art, they could, but what the hell are you doing making them the scary boys? They're not... Scarecrow is a DC villain. Are they paying Batman for this? Did you see it? It's a rendition. They're trying to make it of that. And then why is all of a sudden Rudy from Rudy's Nightmare one of the Scarecrows? What are you doing?
    17:51
    I don't understand what you're doing with my Scarecrow. It doesn't belong in Whirlwind, Total Chaos. You might as well stick it in Galactic Tank Force, and then we can airball over the flippers.
    18:04
    An airball would make more sense in Whirlwind, because there's a tornado. Why don't you put in some dubstep while you're at it? I guarantee you it's in there. I fucking guarantee you. I want to hear wub wub with the Bermuda Crab. Royalty-free wub wubs. I think in conclusion buy it if you like it that's my conclusion buy it if you like it I'm sad not only because this is a theme that I love not only an idea in general that I love that the industry is looking into but I have a lot of respect for Pedretti Gaming like they seem to be like they're going to be a powerhouse with Pinball Brothers and stuff like that so I love what they're doing overall with their company's direction and stuff but when it comes to the creativity aspect of this it's it's just it missed the mark so poorly that i question why rick at planetary pinball is even approving this stuff like i get the money is there but the sanctity of a license at some point has to amount to something i just asked for the creative aspects to be reviewed better this is to me it just it opens up and it's not fair because we're only you know we really are only evaluating this one game but it just makes me wonder like what would happen with like if this is this and this does well enough like what have they what would they have done to taxi i know i don't want them to touch anything right what would they have done to diner i it's like just imagine all the nonsensical stuff that that basically they're like we're just going to take these platforms that people own and instead of selling full games We're going to say convert your other thing into a totally different theme because this is not Whirlwind. This is some totally different alien shit monster theme. I'm just bad about the art, too, because the one thing on Whirlwind that I hate, the original Whirlwind, is that ugly ass. I'm sorry, Yelsey. That ugly ass back glass with those characters. I hated the looks of those. So they lean in it here and have that guy drink coffee and don't like.
    20:09
    That's Whirlwind total chaos. or should I say world total chaos