Stern Pinball Finally Announces XMEN!

Cary Hardy·video·12m 42s·analyzed·Aug 31, 2024

Analysis

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TL;DR

Stern announces X-Men with Jack Danger/Zombie Yeti; Cary speculates on mechs, notes 811 LE count, driven by nostalgia.

Summary

Cary Hardy reacts to Stern Pinball's official announcement of The Uncanny X-Men, designed by Jack Danger with art by Zombie Yeti. He analyzes the teaser, speculates on mechanical features (articulating Sentinel head, mysterious upper-left mechanism, possible ball-eating mouth), notes the LE production cut from 1000 to 811 units aligned with X-Men lore, and expresses cautious interest driven by 90s cartoon nostalgia while emphasizing that gameplay quality—not theme—will ultimately determine his purchase decision.

Key Claims

The Uncanny X-Men is designed by Jack Danger with Zombie Yeti on art
high confidence · Cary states this was confirmed on social media and George Gomez had previously mentioned Jack Danger was 'in the shoot' for his next game
LE production has been lowered from 1000 to 811 units, aligned with X-Men storyline significance
high confidence · Cary directly states '811 is also significant in the X-Men world' and confirms this reduction was publicly announced
The Sentinel mech will feature articulating head mechanics with bash targets on the forehead band, similar to Circus Voltaire
medium confidence · Cary speculates based on teaser video: 'the head raises up and maybe the mouth opens' and notes similarity to Circus Voltaire mechanics
There is a mysterious upper-left mechanism on the playfield that moves, possibly a ball launcher or Newton ball
medium confidence · Cary states he asked Jack Danger directly and received non-committal answer: 'just wait until you see it'
Stern will build 811 LEs first, then Pros, with Premiums shipping mid-range, prioritizing 'big spenders'
medium confidence · Cary speculates on production order based on industry patterns, states 'chances are, I'm not going to be able to play this game until Expo'

Notable Quotes

“Dangerous mutants have been detected in the area.”
Stern Pinball (teaser)@ 1:43 — Official announcement tagline for The Uncanny X-Men
“nostalgia is very strong at motivating you to do something that you normally probably wouldn't”
Cary Hardy@ 2:54 — Cary's core thesis on why X-Men appeals to him despite reservations
“I'm willing to bet that there are two things even in this short little clip that are only going to be in the premium le and you're not going to see them in the pro”
Cary Hardy@ 4:24 — Cary predicts tier-exclusive features (Sentinel head mechanism, upper-left mechanism)
“if Rogue is in the game, now I know visually she's on the art, I saw that at the beginning of the teaser, but if you have a sexy-voiced Rogue in the game and she's calling me Sugar, that'll be nice”
Cary Hardy@ 8:09 — Reveals nostalgia-driven interest in 90s cartoon character representation and voice acting
“American Pinball, get your head out of your ass”
Cary Hardy@ 10:22 — Criticism of American Pinball's lack of new game announcements amid competitive marketplace
“what matters most to me is how well the games play and that won't really know anything about that until Expo”
Cary Hardy@ 10:56 — Reiterates that gameplay, not theme or nostalgia, is the ultimate decision factor

Entities

Cary Hardyperson Jack Dangerperson Zombie Yetiperson George Gomezperson Todd Tuckeyperson Keith ElwinpersonStern Pinballcompany

Signals

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business_signal: American Pinball criticized for lack of competitive announcements while Stern, Jersey Jack, and Dutch Pinball release major titles
medium · Cary directly addresses: 'American Pinball, get your head out of your ass' in context of competitor activity
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community_signal: Uncertainty about whether game will deliver 90s cartoon X-Men aesthetic/audio despite being based on comic canon; community expectations for code customization to fill gaps
medium · Cary states: 'I know it's not based on the 90s cartoons, but I would really like that theme song...but we're not going to get it. But chances are, there's some talented people out there that are probably going to tinker with this code'
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community_signal: Content creator using real-time speculation and community commentary to gauge and track sentiment shifts from announcement through full release and Expo play
medium · Cary explicitly states purpose: 'I'm trying to get a feeler out there every time a new leaked image is out there i want to see how much of the public is changing from being which is right now dominantly not interested to when the game is fully released'
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sentiment_shift: Nostalgia-driven appeal of X-Men theme, particularly 90s cartoon references, creates strong emotional motivator for purchase despite reservations about Marvel saturation
high · Cary emphasizes nostalgia multiple times: 'tickling the nostalgia bone,' references Saturday morning cartoons, 'theme song that is always going to be embedded in me'; Rogue character interest driven by 90s cartoon memories
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Topics

Game announcement and teaser analysisprimaryMechanical speculation (Sentinel head, mysterious upper-left mechanism, ball-eating mouth)primaryProduction strategy and LE/Premium/Pro tier differentiationprimaryDesigner pedigree and track record (Jack Danger, Zombie Yeti)primaryNostalgia-driven purchasing decisions vs. gameplay quality as primary factorprimaryCompetitive landscape (Stern vs. Jersey Jack vs. Dutch Pinball vs. American Pinball)secondaryMarvel fatigue in the pinball marketsecondaryCommunity code modifications and customization culturementioned

Sentiment

mixed(0.62)— Cary expresses cautious optimism driven primarily by nostalgia and Jack Danger's solid track record, but tempers enthusiasm with skepticism about Marvel saturation, theme execution, and price point concerns. He positions X-Men as interesting but not a guaranteed purchase until gameplay is tested. Competitive marketplace context adds competitive excitement alongside some frustration with American Pinball's inactivity.

Transcript

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It's the month of Marvel and Stern at the last minute has finally dropped their next title, The Uncanny X-Men. But is this a title that I'm like even interested in? Uh, yeah. now in 4k what's up guys and welcome back to the channel where i talk and do everything pinball so that sounds interesting to you then hit that subscribe button down below and join the over 10 000 individuals that have done this before you and i actually hit the 10k mark on tnt or Todd Tuckey's channel during a live stream. I'll show you that moment right here. We need two more people. Oh, God, we're so close and yet so far. In 10,000, that's the first play button, right? I just, oh, God, Johnny Barnett. That's our anime. Our anime master just did it. You should be one away now, Carrie. Please tell me you're one away. I think Stringer just had his wife subscribe as well. Are we at 10,000? There it is. He did it. Congratulations, Carrie. And Mark LeBlanc did. $10,000 for our carry. So a special thank you, obviously, to Todd Tuckey and friends out there for making that happen. But along with that special event, the event that we're talking about right now is Stern dropping this teaser today. Dangerous mutants have been detected in the area. So there you have it. Now stick around until the end of the video and I will show you my version of that trailer. Now, look, I know this is not going to be based on the 90s cartoons, but damn it, it kind of does because it's X-Men and it's a comic book, and I did grow up with a little bit of X-Men comics growing up, but I really grew up on Saturday mornings with my bowl of cereal, whether it be at my house or staying over at a friend's house. We were watching TV in the mornings for X-Men. And it's one of those theme songs that is always going to be embedded in me. And when you're talking about cartoonized versions of X-Men, then you're going to be tickling the nostalgia bone. And that's why this theme interests me is because it's kind of nudging the nostalgia part of me. And whenever you're dealing with nostalgia, that's a very dangerous thing. And when I say dangerous, I mean dangerous towards my wallet. Because nostalgia is very strong at motivating you to do something that you normally probably wouldn't. So what can we dissect from this little bit that we see in this teaser Let me kind of just narrow down some of the things that I noticed and that pretty much all we needed to do at this time because the game is going to be fully revealed and everything next week after Labor Day. So what little information do we know at this point in time? One, the designer is Jack Danger. We kind of knew this months ago whenever George Gomez was doing his interviews for John Wick. He did say that Jack Danger was in the shoot, meaning he was up next. And it's already been specified on social media that this is Jack Danger's game. Along with that, we got Zombie Yeti on art, which is kind of like the no-does situation whenever you're dealing with Marvel. He's well experienced in that area, so why not have him continue to do what he's great at? And then the other thing that we know is that the LEs have been lowered to from 1000 down to 811. Now the 811 is also significant in the X-Men world. I don't really need to go into details about that but they're going they're coinciding the 811 LEs along with the storyline of the game. So what can we tell on layout? Not a whole lot but I'm willing to bet that the short little video that John Youssi in here of the play field and the major mech I'm willing to bet that there are two things even in this short little clip that are only going to be in the premium le and you're not going to see them in the pro if John Youssi the raising head sentinel in the pro i will be impressed i will be like wow something that moves is in a pro that's not the typical so the main feature of this sentinel mech is going to be twofold i think one while the mech is in the down position, you're going to have what looks to be like a bash or targets going across the Sentinel's forehead. I think that's going to be where the ball is going to be able to hit and bash normally. It's not going to go all the way down because there's nothing good for the ball to roll across and it would just basically be a ramp and nothing good can come from that. I think it's going to go down just enough to where the band around the Sentinel's head is going to essentially be like the bashed portion of it and eventually the head raises up and maybe the mouth opens don't know we'll have to wait and see but that's what i'm visualizing this game is going to do when it comes to that particular mech now the other portion or the mech that is more than likely not going to be in your premium is actually towards the upper left corner of the screenshot that we see for this game i don't really know exactly what this portion is i even asked jack I'm like, what the hell is this? And he said, just wait until John Youssi it. So it's something that moves. Don't really know what it is. It looks like it's some sort of possible ball launcher or maybe a Newton ball that's raised up. I don't really know what's going on there. So we're just going to have to speculate and wait and see. But I think the burning question that is going through a lot of people right now is does the Sentinel eat the ball And judging solely on what we can tell it looks like it might I mean, at least it looks like the mouth moves. So it may open enough to where a ball can come in, or it may open enough to where a ball shoots out. We don't know yet. And it's already been well-versed by many other people that the way the Sentinel raises out and does its thing is very reminiscent to the Circus Voltaire, which I'm perfectly fine with. I don't consider that an insult or something that's, you know, ooh. I like Circus Voltaire. It's very quirky, original, and crazy. Beautiful game. Now, we also see that he's going with wire forms and not plastic ramps or anything like that, so that's also a plus. But yes, I am interested in the theme because it's tickling the nostalgia bone for me a bit. I don't know how it plays, but if it plays enjoyably enough like Foo Fighters was for me, which it more than likely will, that's the thing with Jack Danger is that he's got a couple of games under his belt, but not enough to where we can say, oh, it's a Danger game. It's obviously going to shoot good, kind of like we do with Keith Elwin. We kind of just know that every game he makes is going to be amazing. so far jack has done two games one of them a big major cornerstone and both of his games shot great so let's hope that continues and it more than likely will fingers crossed that it does because that's also another sway to get me to own this game so you're already getting the nostalgia and if the game shoots great then that's obviously the number one factor right there but But what are some little things that I think would really push me to getting this game? I know it may sound stupid, childish, but if Rogue is in the game, now I know visually she's on the art, I saw that at the beginning of the teaser, but if you have a sexy-voiced Rogue in the game and she's calling me Sugar, that'll be nice. What are we going to do now, Sugar? I'm more than willing to bet that a lot of us guys that watched X-Men back in the day, Rogue was probably our favorite character. Just saying. Now, I know it's not based on 90s cartoon, but I would really like that theme song. The theme song thrown in there, that would be great, but we're not going to get it. But chances are, there's some talented people out there that are probably going to tinker with this code and find a way to make it 90s cartoon based like they did with Jurassic Park, the ultimate code back there. Just throwing that out there, somebody. Please. So we get the full reveal next week and I want to say they're also going to be building the LEs first, which is a little bit out of the ordinary. Ordinarily, we get a good amount of pros out to the location so everybody can get their hands on it. But they going to be building the 811 LEs first prioritizing those big spenders it sounds like And then they going to get I think some pros after that And the premiums are going out somewhere in mid is what I want to say And then they're going to do some more pros. So chances are, I'm not going to be able to play this game until Expo. Which I'm fine with. That gives me a chance to really experience all the new games that are going to be getting announced from now until Expo. So I'm fine with that. I can wait. I can really figure out if this game is going to be something that I want to add or replace something behind me with. But we've got a battle royale about to begin, if not already, guys, between Stern and Jersey Jack. And then we've got Dutch Pinball Exclusive coming in with The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland. Not to mention, if we have anybody else that decides to launch a game here pretty soon, American Pinball, get your head out of your ass. But, who knows? It's one of those things, as of right now, I mean, I'm leaning more towards X-Men because it's tickling the nostalgia, and I've kind of got an idea of what I'm going to be expecting. Avatar is going to be beautiful. I had no doubt about it. But that price point and the theme doesn't speak to me, but there's going to be a lot underneath the glass. and then you have the beautiful and limited adventures of Alice in Wonderland but above all what matters most to me is how well the games play and that won't really know anything about that until Expo so that's it I didn't want this video to be extremely long because it doesn't really need to we don't really have much to go on but I wanted to kind of get my my feelers out there and that way you have an idea of how it changes and evolves over time and that's also what i'm doing with jersey jack pinball's avatar i'm trying to get a feeler out there every time a new leaked image is out there i want to see how much of the public is changing from being which is right now dominantly not interested to when the game is fully released to see how many of those not interested go, well, you know what? On second thought. But I just, it's pure curiosity at this point. So what are your thoughts and opinions on the uncanny X-Men? Are you at a point of Marvel fatigue? Are we done with having Marvel games? Are you interested? Are you waiting to play it like me? Let me know in the comment section down below. And until next time, guys, peace out. And here is my cut of the X-Men teaser. Dangerous mutants have been detected in the area.