#11 - Stern Pinball Avengers Reveal Speculation

A Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·18m 3s·analyzed·Aug 30, 2020

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

Host speculates on Avengers designer, story approach, and gameplay modes.

Summary

A Pinball Podcast episode speculating about the newly announced Marvel Avengers pinball machine by Stern. The host discusses whether Keith Elwin is the designer, argues for an original story approach over movie assets, and proposes various mode concepts including the possibility of playing as Thanos or the Black Order. The host emphasizes Marvel's cultural dominance and predicts strong commercial performance.

Key Claims

Keith Elwin typically releases games around Pinball Expo (Pinnberg), which would have been mid-July
medium confidence · Host notes Pinnberg was canceled this year and current date is late August/early September
Avengers teaser shows original comic art, not movie assets
high confidence · Host analyzed official Stern YouTube teaser trailer
Using movie assets locks designers into specific narrative constraints
medium confidence · Host's design philosophy opinion based on Deadpool example
Marvel properties perform well as coin-op earners, especially with young demographic
medium confidence · Host's observation of location performance across various Marvel-themed games
Marvel Avengers video game launches in less than a week; Fortnite has active Marvel crossover
high confidence · Host references upcoming game release and son's interest in Fortnite Marvel event
Stern consistently releases comic book and rock band themed games
medium confidence · Host's pattern observation of Stern releases

Notable Quotes

“The question that everybody wants to know right now, is this the Keith Elwin pen? I don't know. I speculate that it is, but that's also my bias that I hope it is because he's my favorite designer.”
A Pinball Podcast host @ early in episode — Establishes designer speculation as primary question and reveals host's bias
“Why limit yourself as a creator? Why limit yourself to that? So I'm glad that they're going this direction.”
A Pinball Podcast host @ middle section — Core argument for original story over movie assets
“It is very much a Thanos story. It's not an Avenger story. this is a Thanos story this is all about Thanos courting death”
A Pinball Podcast host @ speculation section — Reveals host's thematic interest in villain-centric gameplay
“What if we could be Thanos? What if we controlled the Black Order? What if we were trying to collect the Infinity Stones?”
A Pinball Podcast host @ mode speculation — Central gameplay concept proposal
“DC is not as popular as Marvel. Nowhere close. Nowhere close.”
A Pinball Podcast host @ competitive IP discussion — Host's assessment of IP market dominance
“Comic book pins...for the most part, in most areas that have them out, they're making money.”
A Pinball Podcast host @ commercial analysis — Asserts commercial viability of Marvel-themed games
“If Elwin's the designer, you know, his typical designs are very flowy. He doesn't like having too many stops.”
A Pinball Podcast host @ designer analysis — Describes expected design characteristics if speculation is correct

Entities

Marvel AvengersgameStern PinballcompanyKeith ElwinpersonA Pinball PodcastorganizationTransformersgame Deadpoolgame Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesgame Guardians of the Galaxygame

Signals

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competitive_signal: Avengers positioned as high-commercial-potential earner; host expects strong location performance based on IP familiarity and demographic appeal
medium · Host discusses comic book themes performing well with young demographic, acknowledges variability in competing Marvel games but predicts strong Avengers performance
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design_philosophy: Stern choosing original story over movie assets to avoid narrative constraints and enable creative freedom
high · Host analyzes teaser showing comic art not movie assets; explicitly states this enables designers to create original moments, plot twists, battles independent of movie script
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licensing_signal: Marvel IP scope includes multiple characters (Avengers, Black Order, Doctor Strange, Black Panther implied) enabling diverse story settings
medium · Teaser shows Black Order members, multiple character representation; host speculates locations from Sanctum to Wakanda to Helicarrier to Titan
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market_signal: Marvel intellectual property leveraging multiple media launches (video game, Fortnite crossover) coinciding with pinball announcement
high · Host notes Marvel game launching within a week, Fortnite Marvel crossover active, extensive retail presence (Target/Walmart), 20+ films and Disney+ content
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announcement: Marvel Avengers officially announced by Stern via teaser; full details expected within 48 hours
high · Host confirms teaser released yesterday, states more info coming very soon, references Stern YouTube page

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.054

0:00

Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of A Pinball Podcast and we're going to get right into it today. We're talking about Marvel Avengers. Yes, it was just announced just yesterday as of this recording that Stern Pinball, they released a teaser and we went over it yesterday. They're going to be putting over or putting out Avengers. Now, there's lots of different news rolling around and all that. What I'm going to talk about today is what we know. I'm going to talk about also what it could possibly be. Now, as of this recording, nothing else has been released officially. There's lots of things swirling around unofficially. We will know really, really soon, though, probably within the next 48 hours or so. I imagine very quickly next week, there'll be a lot more information coming out. The question that everybody wants to know right now, is this the Keith Elwin pen? I don't know. I speculate that it is, but that's also my bias that I hope it is because he's my favorite designer. And this is my dream theme. If those two things can combine up together, then I will be extremely happy. But that's just my speculation right now. Don't know for sure. We've heard from plenty of different people what they think it might be. But, again, I stated the other day when we were talking about this that usually Keith Elwin, his pins, they typically come out around Pinnberg. Obviously, Pinnberg was canceled this year, but it would have happened earlier or much earlier, actually, this year, sometime in mid-July, I believe. And obviously, we're nowhere near July right now. We're nearly in September. So I would have to assume that he would have been the one due up. Again, don't know. He's been dropping hints on Facebook, though. And he's been known to do that leading up. So we can only hope that it's Keith Elwin. All right. So that being said, this story, just as I said the other day, I believe it again, not officially announced, but I believe that this will be an original story. And I base that on the teaser. If you have seen the teaser yet over on Stern's YouTube page, they what they showed, you could tell. Obviously, it's not based on the movie. There's no assets from the movie. It's comic book art. And it's the same characters that are on there. They're not necessarily pulled directly from the stories from the comics either, because I talked about this again, that the lore is huge. There's all kinds of characters on there. And again, you cannot, there's no way you can fit all those characters onto this pen. Maybe Jersey Jack could be the only one to do it as they've shown on pirates. Maybe they could have done that. But for now, Stern's the one coming out with Avengers. And I just, I don't see them having just all these different characters. So that's why, obviously, I think the characters that we saw with the teaser trailer, I think that's what we're going to get.

2:52

And those characters, too, they had, obviously, the villains on there, the Black Order. And it appeared that every single member of the Black Order was on there, which is several different members over the course of all the comics. But it looks like it's going to be the prime ones, which is great. So that's what we can tell from the teaser. Now, why, for those that want the movie, why is there no movie assets on here? Well, obviously for several reasons. The cost. The cost is astronomical, all right? So let's just get past that. Two, if you use the movie assets, you have to tell the movie story. You're automatically locked in, not only in design, but in narrative that you have to produce to be the same as that movie. And to me, why limit yourself as a creator? Why limit yourself to that? So I'm glad that they're going this direction. Again, I love the movies, huge fan, but I'm glad to see that it's going to be an original story. It needs to be an original story because it'll enable them to tell the story that they want to tell. And to me, that will create more moments within this pen. They can create their own epic moments. They can create their own plot twists. They can create their own battles. They can do all that. They are not tethered to what the movie script is. They can create their own script. So to me, that's I mean, that's a win. That's the way I would rather have this pin. I mean, just like Deadpool, Deadpool went through the same thing. People want the movie. But again, we got the narrative that we got with that. And it was a good little story to tell If we would have went with the movie we wouldn have had time travel We wouldn have fought a Megalodon We wouldn have had the wizard mode that it had So an original story I like that Go ahead and take something They can take elements from everything. And again, they are. It's obvious there's certain elements from the movies that they're taking. There's certain elements from the comics that they're taking. So why not take the best and bring it all together? I like that. I personally, I think that's a great idea.

5:34

That would be to me, that would be, that would turn everything upside down because Infinity, the Infinity Saga is very much a Thanos story. It is very much a Thanos story. It's not an Avenger story. this is a Thanos story this is all about Thanos courting death and it's I mean it's a great the lore is great now I don't think that this story is going to have anything to do with death although that would be pretty badass if they added her in there lady death or whatever however they said it was like the personification of it so that that in itself would lend a really awesome story now I don't think they'll go that direction but what if we can play as Thanos like that would that would be so excellent. Think about the things that they could do with that. They just turn it on its head to where we can play as the villain. Now, why not just take it a step further? You could do it similar to Transformers where you can play as the Autobots or Decepticons. Why not play as either the Avengers or as the Black Order? Maybe it might be that. Maybe it might be something similar. I don't know. That could very well be something that they could easily do with this. And I think they have the ability to code something like that here in 2020. So why not go for it? I can imagine, you know, a situation in which you are, the narrative is, is that you're Thanos and you're trying to collect the stones and you're trying to eat different. You have different battles with the Avengers over time. Maybe you're trying to assemble part of the black order. You're commanding the black order. I mean, there's so much that you could do in that. And then of course, on the flip side, if you end up going the normal route and you're going to be the heroes, maybe it's going to be to where it's similar to Ninja Turtles where we get to pick certain heroes obviously I don't know if we're going to pick all of them but maybe we get to pick a few of them and there's certain power-ups that we can achieve there's certain team-ups that we can have there's certain ways to assemble I mean that it writes itself let's come let's let's just face facts it writes itself pretty much so possibly it could be something like that maybe it's you you're playing as an Avenger and you are trying to prevent Thanos from getting the stone. That's, you know, that's logically the direction that they're going to go with this. But I don't know. I would like, it would be awesome if you could do both. You could do both. That'd be awesome. And of course, you know, if you're going to be the hero, I would imagine mini battles. It could be against the Black Order. There might just be a mini wizard mode. Maybe the episodes are you simply defeating each one of the Black Order little by little or winning tiny battles and then you build up to this mini wizard mode in which you just take some of the Avengers and you fight off most of the Black Order and then ultimately the main wizard mode of course is the final battle against a Thanos that is fully powered up with the Infinity Gauntlet that just happens to be able to get the stones. Could be something like that. I can imagine some of the things that they could possibly do I mean, something so crazy to where, you know, maybe it's like you play a timed multi-ball, to where no matter what, if you don't do a certain thing, like a certain frenzy switch hit, or you're winning a certain battle or whatever, maybe then, all of a sudden, you just hear a snap on the audio shuts your pin down It shuts everything down drain lose I mean that right there that a moment That is a moment And they could easily do that moment I mean, there's stuff that's similar in Hot Wheels right now with the red light multiball. It's Cherry Bomb. You know, any of those. Any of those modes, you could easily do it on Avengers. So I see them definitely doing something like that. That would be very interesting to see. You know, and with a story, with an original story, they're ultimately going to be able to take this into all kinds of different places. So this story doesn't have to just take place on Earth. It could take place anywhere. I mean, Doctor Strange is on there. It could take place in the, you know, in the sanctum. It could take place in Wakanda, assuming that that was Black Panther. It could take place at the Avengers Tower. It could take place on Thanos' home planet, you know, a Titan. It could go anywhere. It could be on, I don't know, maybe they might have the Helicarrier. I don't know if they'll have S.H.I.E.L.D. There's just so much that they could do, and that's why it's really exciting. And that's, you know, circling back around, that's even another reason why it's so much more important. Just to have an original story, not worry about movie assets, not worry about anything like that. It's definitely going to be a fun pen. and you know obviously if elwyn is the designer i assume he's going to be the coder that would be my assumption just because he's done that on iron maiden and he's done on jurassic park and you know those two pins they were they were pretty decent you know so again i don't know exactly who it is that's just my speculation we shall see it's it's definitely a pin that i feel is going to also be a great earner. You know, when all this is said and done, when things get back to as normal as normal can be, you know, it's the reality is, is comic book pins. I know there's a lot of people out there that don't want to necessarily see comic book pins, but for the most part, in most areas that have them out, they're making money. They make, they make coin drop. I mean, it's again, a lot of it depends on your demographic, but if you've got young kids around, that's what they tend to flock to. I mean, that's just, that's just the reality of it. And you know, there's no rhyme or reason to it. There's no science. You know, I've seen guardians of the galaxy to get out earned by old school Williams pins. Whereas I've seen guardians of the galaxy out earn iron maiden sitting next to it. So again, you just, you never know, you never know. But I would have to assume that anything Marvel, when you're dealing with Avengers and you're dealing with something in which it's very much known by society today. Everybody has heard of the Avengers. Like if you live in the first world, you have heard of the Avengers just based off, you know, two years ago with infinity war a year or so ago now with about a year and a half ago with end game, the fact that it's all over Disney plus the fact that they have 20 plus movies and they have all these other movies down the line. It's, I mean, it makes sense. And also to keep in mind, guys, There's a major video game that's due out very soon. It comes out just in less than a week, as a matter of fact. As of this podcast, it comes out in less than a week. And it's a game I plan on playing a ton of. A ton of. And there's going to be a lot of people involved in that. There's a huge thing going on in Fortnite right now with a Marvel crossover event. And I'll tell you what, my son, this nine that plays that game a lot, him and his friends, they are like beyond the moon excited. It's nuts. Marvel is fully integrated in terms of a lot of people being aware. The product awareness of Marvel. You go to Target. You go to Walmart. What do you see everywhere? Marvel, Marvel, Marvel. I mean, that's the reality of it. Now, I know some people might want to see Justice League. You know, that's a thing. But let's face facts, guys.

14:23

Like, where do you exactly go? You're fighting a shark. and that's about it so to me even when i try to map out this game in my head and i try to map out what could the modes possibly be it's unless you're playing as the shark and you get to eat people i don't know and then what you're not if you're if you're playing as a shark you're not going to talk talk to yourself at least i assume sharks don't talk so it's like i i don't know that theme? I just don't know. 007. Heard a lot of people mention that. And to be perfectly honest, I've never even watched one movie of 007. I'm aware of it, but I couldn't tell you anything about it. But if people are wanting that theme and they're interested in it, and you could touch base on, I imagine a lot of background on that, a lot of story in that, you know, maybe that might be a good theme, you know, and with Stern typically going to certain themes in which they've been done before with, you know, 007, I believe is GoldenEye that's been done before. Then, you know, never say never. Maybe that's something that could come out. Me personally, if we're going to deal with action movies like that, I personally would rather see John Wick or The Matrix. That's just me. Those, I just enjoy those a lot more and I've actually watched those. I just, I have not had any desire to watch anything James Bond related. It just doesn't, I don't know, maybe if I watched it, it'd be cool, but I've, I also tried to watch Jason Bourne a long time ago, and I fell asleep during it, so, you know, my mileage varies in terms of movies like that, so I guess, apparently, if Keanu Reeves played 007, I might watch it, I guess, I guess that's where I'm at on this, but other than that, guys, what do you guys think about this pin overall, you know, what's the, what's the pulse on this coming out of you guys, and And I'm curious to see what we get. I imagine, again, if Elwin's the designer, you know, his typical designs are very flowy. He doesn't like having too many stops. Doesn't like having scoops. Or I say doesn't like having scoops. He doesn't have any scoops. Who knows? Maybe he's going to put in a scoop. Never know. But he obviously has upper flippers. And there's a lot of sequence shots in there. There's a lot of combinations you can do. And this pen, I hope it's just that. And we'll see. You know, maybe all this, maybe me talking about him being a potential designer, maybe it'll all come out in a couple days. And it's not him. Don't know for sure. And to be honest with you, even if I did know for sure, I'm going to wait until Stern officially announces it. Because that's really the only way I would even think I absolutely know for sure anyhow. So hopefully we get an announcement pretty soon. Once we do, I'll have a video up shortly on YouTube after that, just detailing my initial thoughts with what I see, reaction, all that. Pretty excited about that. And again, I think it's going to be a great weekend. It's going to be a great hype leading up to it. I'm excited. Huge Marvel fan. I can't say anything bad about right now. I just, I'm excited to see it. But other than that, I appreciate you guys being here. Thank you guys so much for listening in. And also I do have an episode coming up tomorrow around noon, I think is when it's coming out. You have central standard time. And my special guests will be none other than the man, the myth himself, the leader of the pinball network. I don't even got to say his name. You know, I'm talking about, he'll be in tomorrow for a, quite a long chat that we recorded just a couple of days ago. So I think you guys will enjoy that. Otherwise you guys take care and I will talk to you guys soon. Later guys.