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SDTM: Unboxing a TRON Legacy pinball machine

Straight Down the Middle·video·25m 53s·analyzed·Aug 15, 2017
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.019

TL;DR

Unboxing sealed 2012 Tron Legacy pinball machine in excellent condition after 4-year storage.

Summary

Zach Sharpe from Straight Down the Middle unboxes a sealed, never-opened Stern Tron Legacy pinball machine that was purchased around 2013 but built in November 2012. The machine has been in storage for four years and appears to be in excellent condition with no rust on ramp flaps, minimal cosmetic wear, and all systems functioning properly. Sharpe identifies it as likely a second-run machine based on the presence of car toys rather than light cycles, and plans future modification videos.

Key Claims

  • Tron Legacy had three different production runs with different Translight designs (3D Translight, girls version, and Clue Translight)

    medium confidence · Zach Sharpe describing the three runs at beginning of unboxing

  • First run Tron machines had direct print (like The Simpsons, Lord of the Rings, CSI), while later runs used decals

    medium confidence · Zach Sharpe examining the machine and noting decal vs direct print differences

  • The specific machine examined was built November 14, 2012, not 2013 as originally thought

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe reading the build date from the machine documentation

  • Light cycle motorcycles are more preferred than cars for Tron machines

    medium confidence · Zach Sharpe stating preference and noting this machine has cars, requiring $200+ in mods

  • Machine was stored in a house for four years with no rust on ramp flaps

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe visual inspection and confirmation during unboxing

  • Tron Legacy uses lithium batteries rather than AA batteries that can cause battery bleed

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe confirming lithium battery presence during inspection

  • Tron may be vaulted by Stern in the future

    low confidence · Schmitty's speculation about vault potential during conversation

  • Modern Stern machines have quality issues including power stickers coming off

    medium confidence · Zach Sharpe noting power sticker coming off on the new machine and commenting on manufacturer quality

Notable Quotes

  • “This could be the first run with the 3D Translight. This could be the second run with... I don't know what the Translight was on the second run. Maybe the girls. Third run could be with Clue Translight.”

    Zach Sharpe @ early in video — Identifying the different Tron production runs and their variations

  • “There could be an effing Popeye in there. I have no clue.”

    Zach Sharpe @ early unboxing — Humorous expression of uncertainty about what's inside the sealed box

  • “I think these are protectors. I think they're protectors for the legs, and I'm not sure all Trons came with that.”

    Zach Sharpe @ during visual inspection — Noting production variation details across runs

  • “We can confirm that we got the cars, or the car which is not ideal. So that's another couple hundred bucks that I'm going to have to put the light cycles in there.”

    Zach Sharpe @ during playfield inspection — Confirming this is a car-equipped version and expressing preference for light cycles

  • “This game was built November 14, 2012. So again, in the comments section, as we look this over, let me know what run this is. Not that it matters. I really don't care, but it would be interesting to know. I would think it's the second one, though.”

    Zach Sharpe @ mid-unboxing — Establishing build date and his hypothesis about production run

  • “So far, no signs of trace of rust, which is good. I didn't think it would have rust just because it is so new.”

    Zach Sharpe @ during detailed inspection — Confirming machine condition after 4-year storage

  • “Who doesn't love Tron? You much prefer just to call Larry at Flip N Out Pinball and have him deliver one right to your house and all is well.”

    Zach Sharpe @ during closing discussion — Comparing NIB purchase to standard distributor purchase experience

Entities

Zach SharpepersonSchmittypersonStern PinballcompanyTron LegacygameJersey Jack PinballcompanyThe Hobbit (Standard Edition)gameStraight Down the MiddleorganizationStern AC/DC (Premium)gameSpider-Man

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Straight Down the Middle producing unboxing and modification content to drive engagement and collect viewer feedback on machine identification

    high · Zach asking viewers to identify the production run in comments, planning future mod install videos

  • $

    market_signal: NIB machines from out of production titles command attention and premium pricing in secondary market

    medium · Zach explicitly purchasing and creating content around sealed 2012 Tron, discussing buyer interest in NIB purchases

  • ?

    product_strategy: Tron Legacy had at least three different production runs with different Translight designs and cabinet print methods (direct print vs decals)

    medium · Zach Sharpe discussing three runs with different Translight variations and noting this machine uses decals rather than direct print

  • ?

    product_concern: Issues noted with power stickers coming off on new Stern machines, suggesting quality control problems

    medium · Zach observing power sticker coming off on sealed machine and commenting on modern manufacturer quality issues

  • ?

    technology_signal: Transition from AA batteries to lithium batteries in Stern machines to prevent battery bleed issues

    high · Zach confirming Tron Legacy uses lithium batteries and noting this as standard for machines of that era

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.078

0:00
What's happening everybody this is Zach from Straight Down the Middle of Pinball Show. Thanks for clicking on the video. Today we're going to unbox another game. And this one's special to me because this is a Tron, the Tron Pro. And I don't know when they stopped selling these things. It's been a while, though, and I happened to meet a nice guy with one that's been sitting for a while, so I figured why not record it and you guys can see the Tron as I'm going to see the Tron. It is sealed. It's never been opened. And the mystery of this is it's four years old. I'm told it was bought in 2013. We know the Tron came out in 2011. There's three runs of Tron that they did, and I don't know what run this is. This could be the first run with the 3D Translight. This could be the second run with... I don't know what the Translight was on the second run. Maybe the girls. Third run could be with Clue Translight. So I don't know. I have no clue. I might open this thing and it might not work. The guy was really cool and he seemed like he'd have a working machine, but I don't know. I bought this thing. There could be an effing Popeye in there. I have no clue. Things I want to look for. I don't think it has the AA battery, so I don't have to worry about battery bleed. I think at this point they had lithiums in there. I want to see if this series has the light cycle motorcycles on it or if it was the run that had the actual cars. I think the light cycles are more preferred, but I'll take either. Other thing I want to look at, ramp flaps. We know that if something's going to rust on a machine, it's going to be those ramp flaps. So I don't know. I was told it was stored in a house for four years, but I have no clue. You guys want to check it out? Let's go.
1:56
All right, so I've done an unboxing video before explaining how to unbox one. I don't do it right, probably, compared to some of you collectors.
2:07
game
Flip N Out Pinballcompany
The Simpsonsgame
The Lord of the Ringsgame
CSIgame
I pick those up later. But I do it the best way that I can. And Schmitty's nice enough to record it for me, so thank you, Schmitty. I can confirm that it is a Tron it's a Tron okay Schmitty Company can talk we've got a Tron so check number one we've got a Tron, that's good alright I don't know enough about Tron to say what run it is just based on looking at this. I can say that it was new enough, I believe. I think these are protectors.
2:56
I think they're protectors for the legs, and I'm not sure all Trons came with that. What else I can tell you is that this is a decal. I believe on the first series of Tron that was ran, it had direct print, like your Simpsons or your Lord of the Rings, CSI, etc. So, I can't say that I don't think this is a first run, but then again I'm not a Tron expert. While I'm looking at the top here, if I'm nitpicking, I see over here a little decal rip. You guys see that?
3:27
So that's something I particularly don't like seeing, but I'm nitpicking, I believe. Alright. So now we're going to pull this bugger out.
3:42
Another thing that I thought I might see, because this has been in the box four years, I might see decals starting to peel off a little bit, so I'll have to look for that. Again, there's probably better ways to do this, but I don't know what they are.
4:12
It'd be good on video or video. More views. The main focus out of his eye while unboxing a bit longer.
4:40
Alright. I think I'm going to do the back here real quick because usually when I'm trying to put those legs on, it's a pain in the butt crawling inside that box.
5:12
What's that train like? Thank you. Is this killing you seeing me rip this box up? It is. Schmitty's a box keeper. He prefers to keep the Jersey Jack boxes. I have this as well to put in it. Nice. Ooh. But you like keeping the boxes, don't you, Schmitty? When we unboxed Jason's Hobbit, we had to do the heaviest pinball machine ever made, maybe besides Pinball 2000 Return from Mars. But we had to slide this thing like a hot dog out of the bun as to not hurt the precious cardboard box.
6:03
We got it out there, didn't we? Yes, sir. All right, come on over, Schmitty. Looks good to me. Looks like a drone. You can look at it overall I got some flags out here I get some flakes out here
6:35
Any other hiccups you see on it? Power sticker's coming off. Oh. There we go. That's the other thing, guys. I have no clue if this... This isn't under warranty anymore, that's for sure. So I do have the ramp lights that I have to install. I have the 3D back glass that trades light. I also have, what else do I have to do?
7:32
There's a bunch of mods that I'll probably waste my money getting. This is the part where you guys can see my bald head. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's a two-girl backpack. Oh, did you pee? No, no. Oh, you peed.
8:00
Were you that kid at Christmas that had to pee at your presents? Just in the back of the package. You know what Schmitty and I would do? my parents would send out presents and at that time, what was hot? Super Nintendo, right? Super Nintendo was the shit. So what we would do is we would open up the presents when my parents were sleeping and there's a fine art in cutting tape. Or not cutting tape, pulling tape so that no one knows you're in there. And we'd slide it out just like we did that Hobbit right out of the box. And we'd play the Super Nintendo games until four in the morning and right before we went to bed we would carefully package it right back up. And that's what we did. I know where the light bulbs are this time. In my Aerosmith video, I had to fast forward it because I know where the light bulbs are.
8:58
So I'm going to put the top two on, set it down, and bring it back. You peaked. Now I'm peaking. I can confirm it's not. I'm not going to tell you. You can go over and see. Maybe it is what you thought. Maybe it's not. I have no clue, actually.
9:33
So, Schmidt, do you like Tron? Yeah, I do. Cool game. It's a fun game. It's never been on my top, top list.
9:43
I just wanted to open up a brand new game. And how often do you get to open up a game that's been out of production for a while? Do you think they'll vault this one?
9:54
That's the word. The word is this could be the next vault. But as nowadays go with the quality issues and stuff that some manufacturers are having, I kind of like the anxious face on ACDC Pro. Call me crazy. Yeah, crazy. Crazy? I did. Call me crazy. Don't think I ever had that with Helen. Yeah, see that's the thing. I like the Helen art package, and you can't do that with the new one.
10:38
Helen is not possible. Why not? Because they put the new Angus in a spot where you can't put Helen or Angus will be hanging out of Helen.
10:52
What do you want Angus hanging out of? Helen. So I don't know. Now Spider-Man vault. That's really cool. I like that one.
11:16
If you guys are still watching, thank you. I guess you have to be watching, otherwise you wouldn't know.
11:25
Oh, okay. So far, no signs of trace of rust, which is good. I didn't think it would have rust just because it is so new. So everybody out there watching this, comment in the comments section whether or not you would even buy a machine like this, new in box, you can't see it, no distributor. Would you do that? No warranty. No metal. Would you, Jason? No method.
12:22
Would you, Jason? Depends. If I really wanted to, the game. Yeah. I can't say I really want to. I mean, I really want it because it's new, and it's Tron, man. Who doesn't love Tron? You much prefer just to call Larry at Flippin' Out Pinball and have him deliver one right to your house and all is well. That works good. Yeah that works good Alright they on
13:21
Come and look back here if you want. I don't know if your leash will carry you, but you get a sneak peek inside of that. We can confirm that we got the cars, or the car which is not ideal. So that's another couple hundred bucks that I'm going to have to put the light cycles in there.
13:54
That's okay. It still has the USA sticker. Well, it's made in the USA. So let's see the directions here on the front. I just love when people comment that. What's that? It still has the USA sticker on it. That's right. It's going to have the USA sticker. So up here we have Tron the Legacy comes equipped with the added feature of an up post in the shooter lane. This feature was designed to redirect pinballs into the pop bumpers for additional play field action. All right, so we'll read all this crap. New lockdown bar latches. Okay.
14:34
Good, good, good. We'll put this over here. All right. Now I'm going to need... Do the new ones still save you 75 cents a player or is it a dollar? I have no clue.
14:55
No clue. These are the days of inflation. Inflation. Strange. Let's see if I can botch this. You ready? Ready to get this on video?
15:11
The lift and tuck? Sure. Ready? Lift. What would you do if this thing blew? Alright, so I see the build date on here. And this game in fact was not built in 2013. This game was built November 14, 2012. So again, in the comments section, as we look this over, let me know what run this is. Not that it matters. I really don't care, but it would be interesting to know.
16:24
I would think it's the second one, though. That would be my guess. I don't see any of the big decals. Any of the head details peeling. Doesn't look like it. They're pretty good. They do. These head details look good over here. I don't see any peelage. any peelage action.
17:38
All right, almost done guys. Now we'll open it up and look inside. Smells new. This is the point where everybody fast forwards a little bit until I see the anemone.
18:08
Thank you. Now, we're going to do what? Champagne to the sides of the boat? That's my favorite part. Not focus something on. Double check. I'm not doing something stupid. And down. Okay. Okay I knew I was messing with you
19:49
Don't use this as a bowl plunger as I mean it. See what's inside. How are these stern balls going to look? What do you think Jason? Rusty. There's a goody bag, extra stuff in there, extra incandescent bulbs because I'm going to need a whole lot of those. Let's see some ball action.
20:57
They don't look bad. They'll clean up. I've got some extra Titan competition, shiny balls. Got some shiny balls. Put it in there. And for tonight only, we're going to play without that tilt ball going.
21:28
Alright, usually I try and light in there and make sure everything is good. I'll do that once I lift the play foot.
21:41
Lift it up. So I don't know if the clue is the second run, third run. I have no clue. That's what it looks like. We've got some wear on the T-molding since it's been sitting. Looks like a Neutron to me. So I don't see any rust on the ramp flaps.
22:38
But, you don't really know until you turn on the lights a little brighter. Everything else looks good, right?
22:51
Looks good to me. Let's see what's behind the back glass, shall we? I'm 98% sure it's a lithium, but we want to check anyway. So lithium is right there. That looks good. Everything looks good. Nothing looks out of sorts to me. We can always go back and look a little bit closer later on here.
23:28
All right, so now we've got it all set up. It all looks good. We're about to turn this thing on to see if it turns on. You guys ready?
23:37
All of those beautiful incandescents said no one, ever. All right, so it fires up. It looks good to me. All GI seems to be working. All LEDs are not in here yet, but all inserts seem to be working.
23:51
This is what a stock second run, I think, Tron Legacy looks like, guys. Thanks for checking out the video. Should we come on up and do a scan of this thing? We looked over all the plastics. Everything seems to be in good shape. Doesn't seem to be any rust on the ramp flaps, which I was happy about.
24:11
Overall, it looks fairly good. Hopefully we can get some mod install videos up for you guys, and you guys will see a big difference between what you have now and what you have once we get done with this.
24:33
Oh, there are three LEDs. Look at me lying. There's three LEDs in here. How about that? All right guys, thanks for checking out the video. Check out other SDTM videos on YouTube. Watch us streaming live on Twitch. Check out our Facebook page. We always have some really cool giveaways. Until next time you guys see the Tron, this is what it looks like before. Hopefully we'll see a nice after.
25:13
We rolling? Hair looks okay? Looks like you just fucking got out of bed. Really? Or maybe, did you stick your head out the window when you came back? A lot of girls watch this show.
25:43
Alright, you ready? That's a good point.