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The Pinball Show Ep 193: Transformers Vs. Tales Of The Arabian Nights Remake

The Pinball Show·podcast_episode·1h 15m·analyzed·May 18, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.035

TL;DR

Stern Transformers Gen 1 pinball announced with enthusiastic layout analysis and strong sales projections.

Summary

Zach and Dennis of The Pinball Show discuss Stern's upcoming Transformers More Than Meets the Eye pinball machine, covering its Gen 1 animated series inspiration, layout design, toy features, production schedule, and sales predictions. They also touch on Spooky Pinball market strategy from a previous episode and industry trends around pre-owned game trades and collector behavior.

Key Claims

  • Transformers More Than Meets the Eye will launch on Wednesday, May 20th, breaking Stern's typical Tuesday release pattern

    high confidence · Zach (The Pinball Show host/authorized Stern dealer) stating official Stern product information

  • Transformers LE units will be limited to 750 units, same as previous title, not increasing to 1000

    high confidence · Zach citing formal Stern meeting information

  • No pricing change for Transformers compared to previous Stern releases

    high confidence · Zach stating he's allowed to report this from Stern communications

  • Production timeline: Location Pros first week of June, LEs mid-June, Premiums late June

    high confidence · Zach citing official current production plan from Stern

  • Game images and artwork leaked from Stern's Insider Connected app before official reveal

    high confidence · Zach and Dennis confirming they saw leaked photos from Insider Connected

  • Optimus Prime toy on the playfield is a static bash toy that doesn't transform or move

    medium confidence · Zach citing Chris from Kinase Pinball Podcast who allegedly spoke with George Gomez; secondhand report

  • Transformers will sell out its 750 LE units in the first week

    medium confidence · Zach's prediction based on market trends and pre-order blind trade requests he's receiving

  • The lead coder on Transformers is someone Zach is highly confident in and believes could be a 'long-term catalog seller' highlight

    medium confidence · Zach speaking from dealer meetings but not revealing the coder's identity; highly enthusiastic but speculative on code impact

  • Dealer preview occurs Tuesday, May 19th; media preview and game launch on Wednesday, May 20th

    high confidence · Zach confirming official Stern schedule

Notable Quotes

  • “There may be more that meets the eye.”

    Zach @ mid-content — Playful tease about Transformers tagline while respecting embargo on details; shows awareness of marketing-sensitive information

  • “I told Stern that that piece alone potentially guarantees them this being a long-term catalog seller.”

    Zach @ mid-content — Extremely strong endorsement of an unidentified lead coder; indicates Zach's high confidence in code quality as game's defining feature

  • “It looks like he's pooping on the toilet.”

    Dennis @ mid-content — Community reaction to Optimus Prime toy design; leaked images triggered immediate aesthetic criticism about proportions

  • “The left area, I think, is not being talked about enough. It's so cool.”

    Zach @ mid-content — Technical playfield analysis showing enthusiasm for complex left-side layout mechanics and innovative design decisions

  • “I think it could last a while. I wonder if this will do better than Star Wars Fall of the Empire.”

    Dennis @ late-content — Comparing Transformers' long-term sales potential to another recent major license; indicates designer expectations for staying power

  • “It's not enough for a game to be good or even great anymore. It has to be greater than what they already own.”

    Dennis @ late-content — Market maturity observation—hobby collector psychology shift post-pandemic affecting purchase decisions and trade behavior

  • “People are willing to trade in games for games that may not even be announced or rumored without even knowing all of the details.”

    Zach @ late-content — Signal of FOMO-driven blind pre-trades and high speculative demand for Transformers and other rumored upcoming titles

  • “I think 90% of them sell in the first 24 hours.”

    Zach @ late-content — Dealer-level prediction of rapid LE sell-through based on market momentum and pre-order patterns

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyZach SharpepersonDennispersonTransformers More Than Meets the EyegameElliot EisminpersonGeorge GomezpersonSeth Davisperson

Signals

  • ?

    announcement: Stern officially announced Transformers More Than Meets the Eye pinball machine inspired by Gen 1 animated series with teaser trailer Monday and storyline trailer Friday before dealer/media preview on May 19-20

    high · Zach confirms official Stern announcement with timeline: teaser 'Autobots roll out' logo trailer, followed by storyline trailer showing nostalgic cartoon-based vision mixed with pinball animations

  • ?

    leak_detection: Transformers playfield images, artwork, and mechanical details leaked through Stern's Insider Connected mobile app before official reveal; included visible toy designs and layout mechanics

    high · Both hosts confirm they saw leaked photos; Zach states 'this leak came from Stern' via Insider Connected; photos showed Optimus Prime, Megatron, Soundwave, Grimlock toys and full playfield layout

  • ?

    product_launch: Transformers production ramp: Location Pros first week June, LEs mid-June, Premiums late June; Pokemon Premium likely shipping this week; Transformers launch Wednesday May 20 (unusual Wednesday release date)

    high · Zach citing official current production plans from Stern meetings; notes atypical Wednesday launch vs. typical Tuesday; dealer preview Tuesday May 19

  • ?

    product_strategy: Transformers maintains no price increase for 3-4 years; LE units capped at 750 (not expanding to 1000 tier); consistent with Stern's current strategy across portfolio

    high · Zach reports 'no pricing change' and '750 LE units again. We're not going into the thousand sphere' from formal Stern communications

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Transformers features three-flipper playfield with complex left-side mechanics including angled posts, captive ball-like staging mechanisms, paths underneath, and unique shot sequences; departs from standard two-flipper design

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.226

0:00
Warning, the following episode contains adult language and screaming goats. Listener discretion is advised.
0:12
Hey everybody, it's the Pinball Show. Zach and Dennis here with episode 193. Dennis, how are you? I'm doing pretty good, Zach. It's been a busy time. Been a lot of sand out there lately, blowing around. Not here in Kansas, but we have a little sand. But we're pin side famous. We are. I thought that was really nice that I brought that to your attention this last week that apparently someone or someones enjoyed our conversation on episode 192 so much. I think surrounding the whole spooky pinball. Are they making customers angry? Are they are they doing what they need to do to limit a product and increase value? But it was such a popular discussion and thorough dissertation that someone on Pinside created a thread titled Zach plus Dennis equals spooky. And I agree, dot, dot, dot. A wonderful read, several pages long and stirred up a lot of conversation over there. So it was very flattering. It was actually quite civil. A lot of people had different opinions on whether we were both wrong or one of us was wrong. But it was really interesting to hear other people in their theories. Yeah, it was. It was thoughtful. So you know what, pin side people? Bravo. A nice dignified discussion. Maybe your top 100 is right.
1:37
Too far, I suppose. But that was nice to see. I think we're maturing in our podcasting years where even though we're kind of the listen to one, we have very thorough discussions. I can't promise that we're going to have some gold, Jerry, on this episode, but we're going to try, right? Maybe some silver.
2:01
Let's talk about Stern Pinball because we've got releases. I want to get to these releases. Stern Pinball. Over the last couple of weeks, they've been creating and making producing Pokemon Pro. I think at this point in time, Pokemon Premium probably on the line as well, as we will see those start shipping this week, very likely this week.
  • Transformers features a three-flipper playfield with unique left-side layout mechanics including angled posts and complex shot sequences

    medium confidence · Zach's analysis of leaked playfield photos; not yet officially confirmed in full detail

  • Pokemon Pinball
    game
    Pinsideorganization
    Spooky Pinballcompany
    Jersey Jack Pinball (JJP)company
    Chrisperson
    Pedretti Gamingcompany
    Mark Seidenperson
    The Pinball Showorganization
    Star Wars Fall of the Empiregame
    Jawsgame
    Deadpoolgame
    Godzillagame
    Walking Deadgame
    Insider Connectedproduct
    Flip N Outorganization
    FlippinOutPinball.comorganization

    high · Zach detailed playfield analysis: 'This is a funky, unique layout that I think is going to be awesome...there's a lot of stuff going on to the left of midway...paths underneath...a post that comes up that can hold a ball...looks like Black Rose mechanics'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Transformers includes sculpted character toys (Optimus Prime, Megatron, Soundwave, Grimlock) with interactive mechanics; Optimus Prime is static bash toy per George Gomez via Kinase Pinball Podcast; Megatron features drop-target bank blocking ramp

    medium · Leaked photos show toys; Zach reports Gomez comment via Chris/Kinase: 'static bash toy, basically...he doesn't move...doesn't interact with the ball'; describes Megatron drop target bank as 'killer mech'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Dual-color lockdown bar (Autobot red/Decepticon blue split) and asymmetrical playfield art layout drew criticism from hosts for visual balance; Zach plans recoating lock bar to solid red on personal LE unit

    high · Dennis questions color splits; Zach states strong dislike: 'I've been pretty strong on the whole symmetrical, two-colored...I hate it' and will recoat lock bar and rail to red on his own machine

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Lead coder on Transformers is unidentified but described by Zach as highly capable, early-career emerging designer whose code quality could be game's defining feature and guarantee long-term catalog success

    medium · Zach: 'I told Stern that that piece alone potentially guarantees them this being a long-term catalog seller...this person is heralded for pinball, albeit early into career...I have so much confidence...people are going to be doing backflips'

  • $

    market_signal: Pre-owned pinball market showing high activity with dealer receiving 'blind trade requests' where collectors offer trades for Transformers LE or other announced/rumored titles without full details; indicates strong FOMO and speculative demand

    high · Zach: 'people are willing to trade in games for games that may be announced or rumored without even knowing all of the details...Transformers LE or rumored Sonic or Nex Spooky or Toten...pre-owned market just seems hot right now'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Hobby collector market showing signs of saturation post-pandemic; collectors citing lack of physical space and reluctance to purchase unless new game is significantly better than existing collection; shifts purchase psychology

    high · Dennis: 'It has to be greater than what they already own. And that's hard...I've seen even amongst our own Patreon members...I want this game, but I don't want to get rid of what I have...people are not building additions...have to start picking and choosing'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Elliot Eismin (Transformers designer) positioned as emerging talent on 'redemption tour' after earlier career; directly compared to Mark Seiden (JJP) as contemporary new-generation designers; career trajectory important for future Stern releases

    medium · Zach: 'Elliot and Mark Seiden from JJP kind of came in around the same time, new engineer type of designers...I like to see what both of them are doing...this move with Elliot, I think, is a redemption tour...is going to fare very well'

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern accelerating release cadence: Pokemon and Transformers staggered production suggests 2-3 month cycle between major releases; indicates strong sales trajectory and manufacturing capacity allocation

    high · Zach: 'They're going to be cranking out products this year...when do you think their next game after Transformers?...September...October...a good year for Stern'

  • ?

    community_signal: Episode 192 discussion on Spooky Pinball market strategy (customer satisfaction vs. deliberate scarcity/value creation) generated significant Pinside thread engagement with civil multi-page discussion; shows community maturity and interest in business model analysis

    high · Zach: 'someone or someones enjoyed our conversation...so much...created a thread titled Zach plus Dennis equals spooky...several pages long...stirred up a lot of conversation...it was thoughtful...civil'

  • 2:24
    So that's over the next couple of weeks, Pokemon Premiums, and then we're going to get the new game that's going to go on the line likely in a week or so, maybe a little longer. What could it be, Zach? Their recent announcement of Transformers.
    2:41
    It's not Robots in Disguise. It's Transformers More Than Meets the Eye. Well, I think the song also said originally in the Robots in Disguise. I don't recall. What did they name?
    2:56
    Is the game just Transformers Pinball? I think the game is Transformers More Than Meets the Eye, which is interesting. Interesting. Yeah, because I look at the, well, I look at the Flip N Out page and I see the little image says the Transformers more than meets the eye.
    3:12
    I guess it's the Transformers. But I don't know if that's the official. I think it is. The super official. All right. No, I'm looking on Stern's page. It's not without, it's without the. It's Transformers more than meets the eye. But the logo is the Transformers? The logo that you posted? Is that the logo? I mean, I assume you use official stuff because you're an official dealer, but I dare not assume.
    3:38
    Stern, you got to correct that on your website. I don't know. So that's coming. We're going to jump into that soon. It doesn't have a picture. It's doing that. Who's that? Pokemon. It's just a white image on their official Stern Pin. Mystery Pin. Yes. Q3. We've talked about Q3, Q4. Visit other episodes if you want to hear. They're making all the popular stuff.
    4:02
    When do you think their next game after Transformers, I think we're going to get maybe August, September?
    4:11
    Well, I was actually going to say October, but... They're going to be cranking out products this year, I'll tell you that much. Yeah, you're probably right, though. I do feel like saying October is way too low. I'll say September. Good year for Stern. Just a good year for Stern. I mean, we'll have to see how this sells. I don't know. I saw the leak. Yeah. A lot of people saw that leak. It was a flood. Did you see the leak? I saw the leak. Okay. Before that, I will say, remind everybody that over the last week or two, they did announce over at Stern, Spike 3 Speaker Light Kits now available. We had them for the Spike 2 games. Now, Spike 3. So your Walking Dead, your Pokemon, your Transformers, all of it, that universal speaker light kit now available. It took him a week or so to start shipping, but I think ours start shipping this week. So bye, bye, bye. Order, order, order. FlippinOutPinball.com. We spoke on the Patreon episode last episode. That was a good one, too, where we discussed and dissected everything that we thought, Dennis would take each manufacturer to the next level. What would make them nearly unstoppable from where they're at now? And people really like that one, too. So you've got to go back and listen to that. That stuff was so good, we can't even give it in the main episode. We'd be, yeah, we can't do that. It would be unfair. And we're fair.
    5:48
    So we spoke last on that Patreon about who gets out of the gate first, Stern or Jersey Jack. And the answer was Pedretti Gaming. We'll talk about that. So technically Pedretti did. Technically, yeah. And technically right is, of course, the best form of right.
    6:06
    That's right. Don't misremember. Yes. Pedretti Gaming. And that's our that's our second story today. So we were both wrong. Now, I think you were more correct. Technically, more, more, more correct or less wrong. You were less wrong because, in fact, Stern did announce formally and Jersey Jack has not announced their next one. So they may have had something leaked to this last week, but all right. Transformers more than meets the eye. Inspired directly, viewer, by the legendary Transformers G1 animated television series, which if you're going to pick an IP around Transformers, I think that most of the hobbyists in our industry would prefer it to be about the G1. They would. Players are going to join Optimus Prime and the Autobots in their mission to stop Megatron and the Decepticons while taking on missions inspired by major stories and events from the original show. Now, we had seen on, what day was that, Tuesday, Monday, something like that, where they announced, it was like the teaser trailer announcing Autobots, roll out. And they had the logo transforming. So you knew that was the game. And then this past Friday, they had a storyline trailer. I liked that trailer. Yeah. Storyline, that was cool. So they said in a meeting I had with them said that they were this was kind of something new where they were wanting to let people know kind of where their vision of the IP for Pinball was going to be coming from. So it felt very nostalgic, old school cartoon based. Oh, yeah. There were still animations mixed in there of Pinball and stuff. So I was like, oh, I do like that. So people like that. But for over 40 years, Transformers has remained one of the most recognizable entertainment franchises in the world, spanning animated television, blockbuster films, toys, comics, gaming, collectibles, and global licensing. The franchise continues to maintain – I'm not reading this. This is coming straight from my AI brain. And the heart. It's here, too. He continues to maintain massive multi-generational appeal across nostalgic adult fans, collectors, families, gamers, and don't forget the pop culture enthusiasts worldwide.
    8:26
    Mr. Worldwide. Wait, that's Pinball. Never mind. Sorry. Mr. Worldwide. Now we know our age. I know who needs to do the call.
    8:44
    Mr. Worldwide. That's right. I don't know Spanish. I'd start saying it. We've been silver here, Zach. We've been silver. That's right. Well, with instantly – Mr. Worldwide. With instantly recognizable characters, iconic sound design, and decades of fandom behind it, Transformers resonates extremely well across both the enthusiast and broader entertainment audience. So it makes sense for it to come to Pinball.
    9:14
    So what's to come? We haven't seen everything yet. It has not been officially revealed. The information we do have, viewers, that I don't know when people are going to be watching this, but the dealer preview comes Tuesday the 19th. A lot of the authorized dealers around the world are going to go up to Stern, put their hands on a plate, and learn more about the product they're going to be selling. And then come Wednesday, the media preview happens on the same day as they're going to launch the game. So they are launching the game Wednesday, the 20th of May.
    9:46
    That's they don't do Wednesday releases typically. Not usually. I can't remember the last time they did. I'm sure someone will write in and tell us, well, actually, guys, The Walking Dead was a Wednesday. That's right. And so I don't know how this is going to work. New territory here. I'm going to be honest. I think it will work just like a Tuesday, except to me, it was a Wednesday. The reason I'm wondering is because typically the dealer, they do a dealer webinar as well, usually an hour before launch. Right. So that may be Wednesday. However, I had not received yet an invitation for that webinar as a dealer.
    10:25
    Could they not do the dealer thing still on Tuesday since they're doing the preview on Tuesday? One would think. Granted, this doesn't change the fact you still don't have the invite. Yeah, but I don't know how that's going to work. They typically don't like dealers knowing. Right. But since they're doing the preview, you're going to know stuff. Those that go and do the preview are going to know stuff on Tuesday. And last time there were some dealers that leaked stuff then too. Yeah, have you considered that you are not a member of the Justice League of Dealers? Oh no, not again. It could be that.
    11:00
    Yeah. I still don't think I'm going to the dealer thing. Maybe I fly out there. I don't know. But the game, no, what I was saying was if they do the dealer seminar Wednesday and the media and the game launch, how many people at Stern, like that sounds like hell if I'm in sales or marketing at Stern to try to wrangle. It's like wrangling cats or opossums. Well, yeah, well, opossum is really just it was quaint of you to actually pronounce the O in their name instead of just saying, I mean possum. They're basically just dumb cats. I've heard this from people who own them, referred to them as dumb cats. They're hissy. That's what a possum is. Like as a pet. Who in the hell, what kind of backwoods Kansas has possums as pets? I didn't say they were in Kansas. Granted, we do have possums right now.
    11:54
    So anyway, back to the – How are they going to deal with the media and launch just that on the same day? You don't need – like the guy handling the webinar doesn't need to be the same as the gal who's dealing with all the content creators who just need someone to throw them in a conference room. Everyone will gush about the game. You get one designer. Like it could be the coder. It could be Elliot, whatever, who talks to them. And then the dealer webinar, maybe Seth's going to – like they've already built his PowerPoint. He's going to go through the slides with you. Maybe he's AI. Maybe. Hi. Hi, I'm Seth Davis. He's going to like the Walt Disney animatronic. Hi, I'm Seth Davis. Welcome to Transformers. Whether or not it's the more than meets the eye. That's right. The reason I say that is because the people that do the same thing are doing the same thing. Like the person that does the dealer seminar is typically the people who are going to be doing the media thing.
    12:54
    They can change it, though. We don't know yet. They can change it up. And then usually during the dealer seminar, if it's the hour before the launch, that's typically done by Seth. And then usually the designer comes in. The coder might come in. Sales might come in and talk. So we'll see what happens. It's going to be very interesting.
    13:16
    The good thing, I can report a lot of good things, one of them being no pricing change. I think I'm allowed to say that, no pricing change. That's a pretty good thing. Good on them. We're at three, four years now with no price increase. That's great. LE units, they're going to be limited to 750 again. We're not going into the thousand sphere. We are staying at 750, 750 LE units. Current production plan, location pros, they plan on going out first again. Going back to that whole thing, the whole Pokemon thing. So location pros beginning the first, let's see, Being made here in a couple of weeks. They could be online next week, but I'm thinking the week after. Then they're going to move to the LEs mid-June. So I think we're going to see in early June those location pros start to ship. Mid-June will be LEs and then premiums will come late June. So the entirety of June should be Transformers.
    14:16
    All right. Now the meat and potatoes of things. Another leak. Another leak of pictures of the head, the artwork, an overhead of the game. I can't even say purportedly because this leak came from Stern.
    14:37
    Purportedly. Yeah, their Insider Connected app had oozed out a little bit of this. It's good to be an insider. That's the point. Maybe this was promotion for Insider Connected. Maybe it was. Are they still doing like the $30 a year thing? I don't know because I don't do it. So it did leak and not that they wanted it to leak, but it's out there. Once you get it out there, you can't zip it back up. It's not easy to put the biscuit back in the can, if you will. Isn't that a phrase? Toothpaste back in the tube. Why do I go biscuit out of the can? Because you're thinking of the Pillsbury Poppin' Rolls and you can't put them back in either. I'm thinking once you bust that biscuit out of that. Yep. It's all going over like a – I don't want to bust my biscuit here. I can't. Yeah. Woo-hoo. I was going to do a kinkle thing, but – That's right. The overlap.
    15:40
    I'm sorry. This episode is terrible. Somebody's retaining. Retaining water there. We're weaving bronze here, Zach. You need to look at that checked out, man. Jeez.
    15:54
    Got some gout. This is horrible. Okay. Photos of the game did leak. I got gout after I got over the consumption. Busted biscuits out of your sock. Tube sock.
    16:11
    It's going to be me. So we can I think it's out there. We can at least comment based on what we've seen. More will be seen on Wednesday. I will say based on formally what I've been presented, I can say there may be more that meets the eye.
    16:34
    How about that? So in a sense, I don't think this leak did them any favors. I don't think it helped them at all. I mean, it confirmed for people, but it wouldn't matter. So I agree with you. I was going to say it confirmed for people that it is indeed Gen 1, which I agree is the one that everyone wanted. But yeah, I mean, my initial reaction to the leaked layout wasn't all that great.
    17:03
    We've discussed. After it was discussed, I was walked through some things. I was like, okay, there's more cleverness to it than I initially realized. What about the art? Just from the art perspective, I think this was – I can't say that. This is – what can I say? I think that's all I can say. What do you think about the art? It's fine. Okay. It's very Gen 1. It's very Gen 1? Yeah. They don't have – it's very montage-y. I'm talking Playfield art in particular. The cabinet and the Translight and stuff, I liked them. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it looks good. Solid. It looks good. I don't know how. I'm not a big fan of the color splits like on the. Oh, yeah. Like on the bar and stuff. I get it. Autobots, Decepticons. And I'm fine with the play field being like Decepticons on the right, Autobots on the left. But the whole like clowning the lockdown bar with two different colors. I get it because I remember the dual version that they did of the last Transformers game and all that. But I'm just like, visually, is it really a good idea? I question it, but. I'll give it. I think people who have watched me in the past, whether it's Straight Down the Middle or whatever, I've been pretty strong on the whole symmetrical, two-colored.
    18:29
    I hate it. And that not soft at all I strongly dislike it Just aesthetically can stand it I going to own an Ellie of this game for reasons that I about to explain because it going to be a phenomenal game But I will be re coating that lock bar and the right rail and it will be all red on mine Red would be the better color There's a few other design toys. Again, not big deal stuff, but okay, so we're going to montage the Decepticons and Transformers down at the flippers as you often do rather than having – and I would have preferred a bigger set piece. Like why not just have Optimus on the left and Megatron on the right and give them more attention? Oh, I see. But instead, you've got Optimus basically dead center, and then Megatron's in the back right as one of the smallest drawings. He's the leader of the – he's like, hey, you guys. I got a boom, boom cannon. You're the leader of the Decepticons. Soundwave's in front of him. Soundwave?
    19:36
    Soundwave was my favorite Decepticon. Yeah, because he had the cassettes, and I had the toy, so I could eject laser beak and stuff out. The toys were so cool. They were. The toys were awesome. Speaking of toys, apparently this has toys. So I'm seeing in this leaked photo, I'm seeing Optimus Prime, I'm seeing Megatron, I'm seeing Soundwave, I'm seeing I think Grimlock. Yep. And they're sculpted toys. Yeah. Do they do anything? We'll have to wait and see. We see, but some of the discussion, because it's so hard to know, because stuff like this comes out and then you have like podcasters reaching out to Stern and Stern actually answering them.
    20:19
    But then is that formal? I don't know what is true and what's not. I do know from looking at this play field that there are some of the cool things about this release. IP number one is really great. Number two, layout. This is a funky, unique layout that I think is going to be awesome. I'm extremely excited about shooting this thing. This is not Pokemon fan. This is a three-flipper game. Yeah, I didn't see that flipper at first and I was concerned. Oh, yeah, yeah. So three-flipper game that has some funkies. I don't know how well the leaked photo you can see, but there's a lot of stuff going on to the left of midway through this playfield by the Grimlock. There's paths underneath. There's a post that comes up that can hold a ball, stage a ball, maybe even provide, because it looks like it's at an angle that it's going to sit on post. So maybe you can do this captive ball kind of thing. Think hopefully this is true. I don't know if this is true. Think Black. Was it Black Rose?
    21:26
    What was Black Rose? Wasn't Black Rose like you hit something in like to the left, you hit something in like a lock and then you could like. Oh, gosh, you may be right. I haven't played Black Rose in like 10 years. I don't remember. Or maybe it's like didn't Iron Maiden do something like that? The sarcophagus where you have the ball behind it and you can hit it out to free up the ball for multi-ball. It looks like there's something there that looks really neat.
    21:54
    Then we're working our way up. Optimus Prime. There's some controversy about Optimus Prime. That's why I said this leaked to them no justice. Because it looks like Squatty Prime. Yeah, it looks like he's pooping on the toilet. He does.
    22:11
    I mean. It does look like that. But it's a perception. They're Decepticons, not Deficons. I see. Well, they were weaving bronze again. We've even puter here now. That's not bad. So Optimus Prime, the controversy is he doesn't transform.
    22:29
    That's what everybody's talking about right now. I think Chris from Kinase Pinball Podcast, he was speaking with George Gomez purportedly and saying that George Gomez said that he doesn't do – that it's a stand-up. I think it's like stand-ups for the target stuff. He doesn't move. He doesn't interact with the ball or anything like that. Static bash toy, basically. So that's what he's reporting. But then again, I'm just an authorized dealer. I don't have access to George Gomez. Maybe if I called for the firing of the entire marketing department, then maybe I could have contact with him. Speaking of that, Patreon content.
    23:12
    Go to Patreon. This industry just amazes me. I do see it looks like a green lock with a buck. We love bucks, right? Yeah, I see that. But where's the lock then? Oh, it comes around, and it looks like old Soundwave there with his cassette player. What did your toy do, Dennis? You get to eject out his little mitt. You could see them in the art, like the little panther and the bird and stuff. He had those in him as his cassettes. Yeah. So maybe there's something there. It's today because that's how we used to listen to music. And then they come unraveled and you got to take a little pencil and hope that you didn't mess them up. I do that a lot. Yeah, I had a lot of cassette players that could not rewind properly. And then we've got Megatron with a drop target bank, which thankfully, I love drop target banks. I don't like these stand-up target stuff. And it's blocking a ramp, which I'm a huge fan of. They don't do enough of. I like things that open up a shot behind them. Like you can use drop targets in that such a cool way. So it's opening up until it looks ramp ish that goes under Megatron. What does it do? I don't know. And then you got a right ramp.
    24:28
    All I'm saying is that's a cool mech. I think it's I think it's one of the coolest damn mechs. I haven't seen it in action, but there is a lot of action. And I don't even know if people are grasping how cool that mech is.
    24:47
    Probably not. Not until we see the video showing the gameplay. That's a killer mech there. And then Pop Bumper Low Right. Interesting that they keep doing that. They're taking it. This is just like, Gary's out of the way. We're going to have fun with our Pop Bumpers now. Gary's the way designers will play. Yeah, but this layout and even that third flipper, it looks like it's got a side, man, it's got a side shot. It's got a side mini orbit or orbit shot. Yeah, it may have a ramp shot. That feels George Gomezy, that whole area. That is damn cool.
    25:27
    The left area, I think, is is not being talked about enough. It's so cool, but that's it's going to be a freaking hell of a game layout wise. So Elliot Eisman is the rumored, I think, I mean at this point, it's Elliot's game. Elliot. So this looks fantastic, Elliot. Nicely, nicely done. Okay, what about, speaking of sound wave, what about the sound of this game? We've already heard in the teasers some familiar voices. Stern's doing it right. I mean, they're really, when it comes to some of the assets and stuff, you guys are going to be very happy with what they're doing.
    26:15
    And maybe the most excited that I can be about a Stern release or a release in general, we don't know what the code's going to be. However, I can confidently say that that might be the highlight of this entire game. And one category that you wouldn't think is like if you talk about Transformers all about the looks of it, the theme, the toys, the layout, right? The sound, the code might not be, but the code is what's going to shine. I mean, pressure's on, lead coder, but this person, I think people are going to be doing backflips once they hear who is on code as we've been waiting and hoping for this. I have so much confidence in the lead coder, Dennis, that I told Stern that that piece alone potentially guarantees them this being a long-term catalog seller. One of those type of, okay, this person I know is nuts about pinball. This person is heralded for pinball, albeit early into career. I don't want to put too much pressure, but this person is going to get some shit done and people are going to love it.
    27:39
    And we'll see. We'll see how far along that code is. It might surprise people by what they're going to get on launch day.
    27:46
    Sales predictions. Do you think this does well? Is this going to be a good selling game? Poor selling game? It'll be good. Overall, I think this will do quite well for them. Do I think it will do Pokemon good? No, I do not. That'd be tough. Yes, it would be tough. Do I think will it do Jaws good? Not quite that level. Again, it doesn't have the Elwin name. It has a name attached to it as near as we know. That iconic of a license. Jaws is big. Right, right, right. Yeah, but so, I mean, Transformers. But it's been done before. It has. I think overall, though, I think Stern will be pleased with how this one performs. I think it will perform very well for them. And I agree with you that I think this one, obviously, Code will make or break this aspect of it. It has the potential to be a multi-year seller. Like going further than like how they've already pulled X-Men sort of stuff. Like I think this one could could last a while. I wonder if this will do better than Star Wars Fall of the Empire.
    29:00
    Oh, that's a that's a tricksy one there. New new out of the gate, I think. Yes. Long term, you know, as much as I make fun of it, Star Wars is Star Wars. And there's just this huge fandom that collects everything Star Wars. But this ain't D&D. This is Transform. I know. I know. But Transformers is, again, I don't think the first game moved mountains. Granted, it was the Bay Universe.
    29:27
    And yeah, I mean, come on. It could. I don't think it'll be Star Wars, but it could. I think it I think it may because this is a it's this is going to be whether or not the pinball hobbyists show up because this is a game, in my opinion, the layout. And subsequently the code, everything is going to be more aligned for hobbyists than General Joe Public.
    29:58
    Sure. So we'll see. We'll see if the hobbyists show up. The rub is I don't feel like the hobby is dramatically growing like it did in the pandemic for obvious reasons. And there are I've seen even amongst our own Patreon members in our quasi public, quasi private discord that have talked about, like, I want this game, but I don't want to get rid of what I have. And I do not have room. Like people are not there are some who will just build additions to their house and more games. Most people will not do that. And it's like they have to start picking and choosing and they'll want to try it. And then it'll just it's not enough for a game to be good or even great anymore. It has to be greater than what they already own. And that's hard. So I don't know if the hobbyists can step up to the degree that you might be suggesting, because it's like when you're telling them this is a great game. Now sell your Jaws or sell sell your Pokemon or, you know, sell your Harry Potter.
    31:03
    Don't know if they're all going to be ready to do that. That's a good point. People are moving around games, though. There are some that are happy to, you know, that will be able to go, you know what? I've had my fun with D&D. I'm ready to let it go. You know what I've gotten recently as a dealer? We've been receiving more trade requests for, like, I call them blind trade requests because people are willing to trade in games for games that may be, They have been announced or rumored without even knowing all of the details. They're ready to sign up for, hey, I want to trade this towards a Transformers LE or a rumored Sonic or Nex Spooky or Toten. It's amazing to me. And I was going to do a pinball. I was going to add two pinball market trends. I don't think we're going to do one this week. But the pre-owned market just seems hot right now. And maybe it's just because I'm selling a lot of pre-owned games right now, but man, people are gobbling up pre-owned games. So they're finding a way, and there's been a lot of trade stuff recently. So to your point, maybe people are more willing to pull in something new by getting rid of something old and replacing it. But that's been a hot little commodity lately is all the trade stuff. I think that it will sell very well. I think it's going to be a great catalog game and a long-term seller. I think it's going to go down as like that to where you can always buy it and it always be cool. It doesn't feel dated by a television show or anything like that. It's like the Deadpool thing where it's like, well, if you went to the movies, the movies do get old. Where you went to the comic book, it has a great code set on it and everybody still, people still buy Deadpool. People, same as Godzilla, people still buy Godzilla. I think that that's what this is going to be more so than I think is going to sell better than D&D. I think this is going to sell better than most. I think this is going to be a really hot title, and I think it's going to give the confidence for Elliot to continue on as – because I like to match up whether I should or not. Now, Elliot Eisman and Mark Seiden from JJP kind of came in around the same time, new engineer type of designers. And I kind of like to see what both of them are doing throughout their career. And this move with Elliot, I think, like I said, is a redemption tour. I think it's going to fare very well. Now, will the Ellie sell out $750?
    33:47
    Yes. That would be, you know, Walking Dead didn't sell out. Star Wars Fall of the Empire? No, I think Transformers will. That's a pretty big feat. Is it? It's only 750. Do you think it sells out immediately? Do you think it sells out over three months? I think it'll sell out in the first week. That's damn good.
    34:16
    But I also don't think that we're going to see a large premiumization on the value of them. Okay, so we talked about that too. So you don't think it goes above MSRP? It might, but not by, we're not talking Pokemon. Sure. Yeah, I'm with you there. I think it could be hard after a couple of days to find one of these.
    34:37
    And that in return for the next couple of weeks may inflate the secondary market price on a spot for one. I do, yeah. So I do think it sells out. It's hard. I don't know what dealers have what. Some dealers are just notoriously poor at selling products. But I think 90% of them sell in the first 24 hours.
    35:04
    Any surprises you think we're going to see? I mean, we pretty much have seen what we're dealing with here. Maybe. I don't know who all they've got like for the voice cast and stuff. So there might be some pleasant surprises there. Yeah, I think that that main toy is damn cool. It looks like the Soundwave. That's cool. I'm kind of bummed out about the Optimus not doing anything. I'm not going to lie.
    35:30
    It looks like it needs to do something. I wish that would have happened. And sadly, I don't know that there's going to be a surprise. Why no Optimus eat ball? Yeah, Transformers don't transform. They didn't transform on the last game either. If it is true what George Gomez was telling Kineda Chris, that sucks, man. Like, do you see these things? Like, my brain has a hard time computing stuff like, you know, at the end of the day, we just couldn't get it to work the way we wanted to, so we scrapped it. My brain just does, it's like a… The show must go on, Zach. Yeah, I have a hard time with that. You know, triple spinning discs and pirates. It's had to go away.
    36:19
    I don't know. My brain just doesn't. It's like, well, no, just then figure it out and make it happen. If they end up getting it to work and it's not as fun, why would you do it? Because it does shark thing. Because shark eat ball. Shark didn't eat ball. Then everyone threw a hissy fit about it. And it's like, I think based off of the sales, it was probably an okay decision not to have shark eat ball.
    36:43
    Yeah, I don't know. What was it going to do, sell better? No. Yeah, could. No. Maybe initially, but in the end, people were like, oh, wait, it's actually fun. I forgot. That's what pinball is about. Not stupid moments you quit caring about after 10 games. I love moments. I know you do. That's why I was mean and called them stupid. Do you think that the hobby community, like the mod makers can fix this? No. No? Not to the degree that you're wanting. I bet they could do something. Like the top of Optimus can change so his head pops up and down or like the upper body transforms. But you still need to have his little booties be able to be a bash toy, right? You still need to stand up there. What if, call me crazy, and nobody steal my idea. What if the figure like this, right? What if you could like you have a hood that just and then the front of the truck is the bash toy Do that Instead of that do that
    37:52
    Okay, but is it going to be exactly where the boots are or are you now altering the geometry because it's sticking out too far? I've got to see the game in person. Sticking it out too far, Zach. You're going to ruin the geometry just like everyone ruined the geometry with their other – What do you think would prevent them from making it work though? So there's like maybe a BOM thing or is it maybe like a there's ball hangups thing or I mean, I want to know. I understand that you want to. Here's the thing. So assuming that the.
    38:22
    Transforming aspect is involved in where the ball hits. So like we got to get like his he can't keep his shoes out. Right. He's going to become the truck. So the boots have to move or something. It's on the ground, baby. I think the issue becomes think building in Godzilla. They had to start doing stuff because what do you do when you're still shooting and the buildings in between levels and moving? Like the game doesn't stop. That's like the Batman 66 thing. It's like, come on, come on, spin so I can hit the phone. And that had that carousel had hangups and stuff because the ball, you'd still be shooting. You're in multiball or whatever, and it gets stuck. And that's what I think maybe was the issue. But what if – I wonder this. Maybe that's how it was always intended. Maybe it was always intended just to be a stand-up and it was intended never to move or anything.
    39:14
    They could have probably sold me on that. I don't know. I'm a little not that naive to think that. But until George Gomez comes out and says what he did, then I'm like, ah, do you think – what would prevent them from selling if they – if it was something else, they have plans for it, And they probably worked around that but still have the fixtures in place.
    39:39
    Why not just do you think they would sell their plans? I'm a dreamer, Dennis. Can I buy their plans? No. Why not? Because Hasbro probably already agreed, probably signed off. That's pretty speculative to think that they got the license approval after they got the thing worked. Did it even work? I want to know more. Why do you want to answer something that doesn't work? I would love George Gomez to talk to him, but I don't have that kind of access. But I would love to know what happened, and I would love to know if it can be purchased so that that accessory or mod can be made later. I mean, then you got to – It's like the Proton streams on Ghostbusters. I'm still waiting for them. I'm like, and what happens if people are trying to install this mod or make this adjustment and they start screwing up their game and they start wanting warranty replacements and repairs? You know that you're buying something. Yeah, but there's going to be that pressure. Here's the thing that I keep falling back on. The Mandalorian Pinball.
    40:46
    All the people, because they were stuck at home in the pandemic and the worst idea for a mod ever. Not because the idea was bad, but because it was 21 pages of instructions to have Baby Yoda move his hand. You're wanting a full Transformer here. Zach, no, these people should not be doing this. It's wrong. Don't do it. But it feels so right. I want it so bad. I always want any manufacturer that makes something that doesn't hit the cutting room floor, reach out. I'm a dreamer. You can make money for doing nothing. You were going to throw it away anyway, those plans. Let your boy send a lot of money your way so that some of us collectors that are up for that risk get what we want. That's all. Zach, you can't take the dream out of this man, Dennis. If you want to make money, why don't you just make some custom plaques for the LEs that say, like, number one, Optimus Edition, number two, Bumblebee, and sell those. It's not about money. It's about making dreams come true. This is making a dream come true for all the people that wanted a special Optimus-only edition. I was the guy that was trying to find the original Nordman design for Elvira ramps before – because one, like, went back behind. I was trying to find that because I was like, I want mine to have that. So sorry, Stern. This is just me. I'm talking out loud.
    42:35
    But also, let me know. Let's make something happen. If you want to get on that interest list for the new accessory.
    42:45
    So that's Transformers. Yeah, it's a big one. It's going to be great. I don't know why I'm so excited about this because I was it was like right before my time. I was born in 84. So this thing came out in 84. So I was too young. But I hit some of the rerun cartoon things. I hit some of the toys, but I wasn't like all in. I was a softer Disney child of the late 80s, 90s, more so than I was Transformers. But it still does something for me. It still rings true to the nostalgia of my childhood just because those were simpler times. And I can still fondly remember Transformers and the song and the toys.
    43:32
    So I think it's a great theme and I'm really looking forward to it. This is a great, great job Stern Pinball. True coat though. All right. Pedretti Gaming. Look at Big Boy Pedretti. Yeah. Look at Pedretti. After 30 years. So this is their post right before Transformers. I love they jump out in front of this. They announce Tales of the Arabian Nights by saying, I mean, they did, they did. The post said, after 30 years, the lamp has finally been found. Rub the lamp. Dot, dot, dot, dot. And make a wish. Something magical is about to return. Emoji lightning bolt, emoji genie and lamp. Hashtag. Tales of the Arabian Nights. So yes. Okay. The hashtag might have been a little on the nose. Okay. So they announced a remake of Tales of the Arabian Nights. I know a lot about this game as well. I'm very excited about this game as well. And I think most people will be, too, once they see it. But how do you think – we've talked about how well of tales will do. Do you think it will do well?
    44:51
    What are the ups and downs, upsides and downsides of Pedretti remaking Tales of the Arabian Nights? I mean, Upsides are known entity in terms of the known license.
    45:09
    I think it's one of my preferred ones from the J-pop era, so that's going to resonate well. It's a beautiful game. It's got a very interesting layout.
    45:21
    Cool toys. Yeah, and those are going to be a built-in nostalgia with a pinball collecting community for it, so those are the strengths. The negatives are Pedretti is not exactly known for their build quality. For Fun House, it was a little tough. Its sales might in part be influenced by people having concerns about how well this is going to be. We don't know yet whether or not there's any enhancements. The code set of Tails is not a particularly interesting code set, common to all the 90s games. I enjoyed playing it. People love CGC games. Right, right. But this ain't no CGC.
    46:02
    I'm talking about code. People are good with CGC, Attack from Mars and Monster Bash. We know that the rules of this, I don't even think arguably, the rules of Tales of Arabian Nights are deeper than Lyman's Monster Bash. They just are. I would argue Monster Bash is a better balanced game. Okay. All right. That's fine. But tasks-wise, it's Spellathon for Monster Bash. Yeah. Stacking things and starting. The toys are more interesting on Monster Bash 2, though. Okay. I like the Genie a lot, but that's really the only highlight. Everything else is just windy ramps. Okay. But that's just my take.
    46:42
    And what they end up pricing it as. I don't know where the Tales games Totan currently go for used. So if they price it too high, I don't think it's going to move well. Okay. Yeah, they're pretty high still. I remember when they did the Funhaus remake. Funhouses weren't selling for that much. I was surprised they did Funhaus, quite frankly. Yeah, I was as well. I even told them that. I was like, I don't know about that. It was your first one. But if you're getting your feet wet, maybe Funhaus is the best way to do it. I guess. To me, it was better than remaking Bright at Pinball, but not by a ton. The rumors I'm hearing, I don't know if it's true, but people are talking about them making this whole release pretty limited.
    47:28
    Pretty limited. So I think that would help. It's such an iconic game for pinball enthusiasts and collectors and players all around. I mean, when you talk about one of the reasons that I think this will do very well, I think this will do three times what Funhaus did. And not because it's more iconic than Funhaus, but I think pinball people like it more than they like Funhaus. And non-pinball people just flock to this game, especially when you talk about virtual pinball. This has got to be one of the most downloaded and played virtual pinball games. Remember this was on, what was the iPhone app, that everybody had pinball. And this was like the game that everybody played, Tales of Arabian Nights. Because I remember non-pinball people would always be like, oh, I love that game. I got that on my iPhone. People, there's just something about, I think it was like a free table that they gave people when you download the app. But this is, people are really, really aware of this game, more so probably than any other John Papaduke game, just because of that virtual pinball app that came out that everybody got. Even my brother, non-pinball person, is like, I like the pinball game with the genie and I'm like, okay, yeah, I know what you're talking about. He's like, I play that all the time. So I think that really will help it.
    48:51
    If it is limited, I think that will. I don't know when they're coming out with this, though, because they teased that. But now we're getting into the week of a Stern launch. Are they going to launch it this week?
    49:02
    I mean, they've already, the genie's out of the lamp here. Well, do you think that it will be greatly impacted? Like the audience for this versus Transformers, do you really think that Venn diagram is going to matter too much? Because I'm a little skeptical that their sales are going to be dramatically hurt if they launch against Stern. I think it's two different. They don't compete in the sense of that landscape. I think they compete because they're two luxury products coming out near the same time. That's their competition point. That's always a risk. Also, I'm sure the answer is no, but I want to ask you, do you have any sense of what pretty limited even means? I do, but I can only go off of what the rumors are being proven. I mean, for me, I'm like, does pretty limited mean 100 or does it mean 500? I mean, today's World 500 is pretty limited, but I don't think 1,000 is limited. I don't think – well, I think 1,000 is limited, but it's not like a point of like – Yeah, at 1,000, you're like a barrels of fun run, so I'm like – I still think that they should whether they do or not. You should have – you should be like Chicago Gaming Company. Anybody doing remakes should just do what works. And that is like you can always come out with a standard edition over time if you want to just for the people who miss out. They want to buy a medieval madness standard or an SE or whatever. It's not limited, but we can run it every couple of years kind of thing. I think anybody remaking should definitely always do that. But it's still like if there's an LE model.
    50:45
    Yeah. So what I will say about this, I'm very excited about it because one of the things I'm most excited about is Pedretti is very open to evolving and changing over time based on what the consumers want. And this time around, I think it's going to maybe surprise people how much different they are doing things compared to the Funhaus remake. And how they are very much, some of the changes they are making are very significant. And it is more what we want in a remake compared to what they've done in the past that we don't necessarily want. I'm not saying people don't want Suey and the Grannies, but I'm saying people don't want Suey and the Grannies. I don't think people, I don't think they want that type of 2.0. And I could be wrong. And maybe we haven't really seen a fleshed out 2.0, but I'm not sure that's it. I think people and we talk about this for the last month or so, Dennis, people want the remakes for reasons. We want what we love and we still buy in a 90s game, but we want it to be modernized to the 21st century. That's all we want. We don't want to have incandescent. OK, give us a damn cool light show. Give us that kind of stuff. Give us a – did Arabian Nights ever have a topper? It's not. It needs one. Like, we want the cool stuff. And that's what CGC learned. They were like, okay, so they like the RGB lighting. They like the extended display. All right. They like a topper, the integral. Okay. All right. We can do that. And they sold. Great. Did CGC really go in and say, let's change all of the rules? With the Cactus Canyon, they were doing – they're dabbling in kits. But prior to that, their record sales not doing any of that. They updated. And one of the interesting things with Pedretti that we know, they hired on some new people. And oh, by the way, those new people were responsible. This is public knowledge. Responsible for doing some of the animation and coding work for those CGC remakes. Those updated dots for Attack from Mars, from Monster Bash, from Cactus Canyon. And they got some of those people. So I don't think it's a stretch to say that maybe they got those people because they know that's what people want. So I think we see more of that than we see of what they've done in the past, which I think people are going to. But the proof is in the pudding. And it's not in the pudding. It is the pudding, I think.
    53:32
    The proof of the pudding is in the eating. It's the actual original expression. Yeah, nobody likes that expression. It's too wordy. You like it. It's two words. The proof's in the buzzword.
    53:42
    And we'll see if the quality has taken a step up or not. I'm excited. Speaking of Pedretti Gaming, this last week there was a little controversy from a team pinball that they worked with on Funhaus. Wasn't there? There was some...
    54:04
    A little dust storm brewing. Yeah, Team Pinball not too happy. I don't know who Team Pinball is out of France. I don't know where they are. Out of the UK originally. Maybe. Somewhere over there. But they threw up a nice little long grievance. Is that fair? Grievance? Yeah, grievance, diatribe. Regarding their previous relationship with Pedretti Gaming. So it would be kind of fun to talk about that and what our takes are because we have some takes on that. And you can hear that in our exclusive Patreon as a member, patreon.com slash the pinball show. That's going to be a juicy one. I like it. But also, I think we need to give them more. There's been a lot of Jersey Jack Pinball, a lot of rumored Sonic the Hedgehog chatter among the community, maybe even leaked pick or two. As some people are saying, where did that leak come from? What was it of? Was it an Eggman? What was it? What are we hearing about Sonic? A lot. Maybe we talk about that too in Patreon. Become a member today. If you're not, it helps out the channel. And we'll love you for it. We'll truly love you. And then we'll love you even more if you become a Nordman level and you hang out with us at the happy hours. That one's coming up, isn't it? Yeah. And over a week, though, it'll be on May 27th. That's a Wednesday at 8 p.m. Central. And that's already posted the link on the Patreon for the Nordman level and above. I love that. And then the Screaming Goat Club. We're going to thank them in a minute. But we'll really love you then. But yeah, let's talk about all that. I did want to clear up one thing before we go thanking people. So, yeah, patreon.com slash the pinball show. Do it now, please. You're going to forget. Do it now. But Jersey Jack Pinball, last episode we talked about some discussion that maybe there was no more standard or entry level model moving forward for their games. They were the least selling of all the three models on Harry Potter. They've tried it in the past and they abandoned it because it just wasn't a great seller. So I had been hearing they were going to say the hell with it.
    56:31
    I was wrong I was wrong Yeah Yeah I was I not too big to say I was wrong I was wrong I not too big to say I was wrong I was wrong And I know that very formally I was wrong So from a very great source was able to educate and inform us and the reasons behind it which is very much appreciated So it sounds as if there's a good likelihood. I still don't know for sure.
    56:59
    But this week's was that the windsock blows in the direction of we're going to be seeing a another entry level standard edition. Maybe a rings edition. I don't know what they're going to call it. They're not going to call it the what's the what's the thing you get the end the jewel diamond gym gym. I don't think they'll go with Jim Edition. I think they would do a Ring. Would you get a Rings Edition if it came out? No. I'm all CE, baby. Is it not precious to you? Yes. No. I like the gold. I like the CE.
    57:38
    I long for the day where you see a release from starting to go, yeah, I'm going to get a pro. What was it that I was just talking about? I was going to do a video again on pros that I prefer, preferred pros. Like I just listed an Aerosmith Premium.
    57:56
    I would like to have an Aerosmith Pro. I think it's the prettiest version. I like the light blue. I like the layout better.
    58:07
    Yeah, I want a Pro of that. And I prefer the Pro on Ghostbusters. I prefer the Pro on Walking Dead, Black Knight. But there's a couple that I prefer the pro. So, yeah, let's talk about all of that stuff in the Patreon, the paywall.
    58:30
    Team Pinball. We got to thank some people. They're our screaming goats. We love you. I still would like to have a goat at some point. Buy a goat. I bet they stink.
    58:45
    I really bet they stink. Thank you, Rodney, for not stinking. You're a bobcat. If you were an animal, Dennis, have we done this? Probably. I did this. Family and I were eating dinner last night, and I try to figure out what everyone's animal is based on their personality. Maybe even we'll sprinkle in some physical attributes that may help round out the conceptualization of what animal one might be. Listener, I want you to send in what animal you would be because I think everybody's got an animal that they are very much like.
    59:30
    Do you have an animal? I'm still I don't know what mine is, but like my wife is like a Persian cat. She's like a donut very much. Very sly, very intelligent. I don't like this, Kyle. I don't like this at all. Very beautiful. Probably can rip the face off of somebody but won't because she's just a little domestic cat. She's just too precious to do anything. And she's like the cat to my dopey dogness. But, yeah, think about that. I don't know what she would be. It takes me a while because there is one right answer typically. There is? Yeah, typically there is one that just – I can't just say like I'm a red panda and just be done with it. You have to figure out why. It has to be based on personality. It has to be based on looks. Yeah, personality-wise, basically red pandas are just like me. Okay. All right. I will look into the characteristics of a red panda. I'll report back to you. You don't need to. You already know one.
    60:31
    Okay. What would I be? A regular panda. Just a normal panda. If I'm a red panda, you're just a normal panda. The bobcat. I don't think Rodney is a bobcat. You don't? But he's been attacked by one, or his wife has. Oh, shoot that fucker! Shoot that fucker. Rob, thank you. Rob is a panther.
    60:55
    I always think of Anchorman with that one. Yeah, that's right. Sex panther. Rob is a good livelihood. 60% of the time it works every time. I saw an interview where he was upset that he didn't ask in the contract to get that little prop, the open cologne that he comes up. Oh, that Rodeoar movie. Yeah, they wouldn't let him have it. Oh, man. Yeah, wouldn't let him have it. He tried. Rob, thank you for the support. I think there's a 50-50 likelihood that Rob gets a Transformers LE. Mm-hmm. I think it's coming home. Frankie, baby. Kirk.
    61:32
    Thank you. In your little claws. That would be funny if we met Frank. I don't know if I have met Frank in person. My apologies, Frank. If I have, I've forgotten what you look like. But if we met him in person and he fucking looked like a falcon, his face, if he just looked like, like if he had like greased back hair that kind of flared out, he had a big beak on him.
    62:00
    I was shit, dude. Oh, my God. Nailed that one. Oh, Frank, please tell me you look like a Falcon. Oh, my God. Just think if these people really look like what we named them. Charlie.
    62:18
    Ding dong. Thank you. This is going to get really bad. So I know what Charlie looks like. He does not look like a bell, but he can ding my dong. Charlie, I love you. Charlie's a very normal looking, good looking dude. So he doesn't look like a bell at all. William, the dude. You know what though? William has some dude tendencies in the way he looks and acts. Kind of talks like you'd think. He does, the dude. Very mellow. I've never seen him with a white Russian though. But he can get feisty if he needs to. This ain't going to stand, man. Like he, yeah, he can, he can get dude. Yeah. So that, that fits actually. Thank you, William. Appreciate you. Heads up. We'll be shipping you your new games here very soon.
    63:12
    Adam. Papa. Now, Papa, he is a Papa. So he looks like, he's not, he's kind of young to look like a Papa, but I don't know. What are we in May? He looks more like the baby's in the sling, the pinball playing sling. He does. Baby Bjorn Papa. Yeah. I don't know if he's got dad bod yet. I think Adam's got dad bod. Fasha! I don't know. Dad bod is like pasty, sun hasn't hit yet, and a bit of a beer belly. Not horrible beer belly, but no abs. No abs. Adam, report back in our happy hour hangout maybe if you guys come there. In a couple of Wednesdays, you'll see Adam. Maybe he'll pull up a shirt, show us whether he's got the abs or not, or if it looks more like Leo on a boat with an 18-year-old.
    64:08
    That's quintessential dad bod there. Do you think, Leo? Ted! I don't know if he looks like... Something's not to react well to bullets. Does Ted look like Sean Connery or does he more resemble a submarine? Can he acknowledge with a single thing? Those are the only two choices. Can't be Alec Baldwin. Can't be Sam Neill. Nope. Can't be Scott Glenn. None of them. It's either submarine or it's Sean Connery. Maybe he's a Cowboys fan because of the other stuff, the Dallas. Way to go, Dallas. That's a stretch. In the movie too. We got bronze here. Maybe looks like a pushy.
    64:51
    Has John Connery ever said pushy? I guess in pushy galore. Okay. Thank you, Ted. And I'm sorry. I'm surprised you're still a screaming goat at this point. Davis, what would we do without you? I've never met Davis, but please tell me he looks like George Costanza. What if it is George Costanza and he has an alias as his name for us? That would be amazing, actually. It's like some 4D chess. Oh, my gosh. Davis, do you look like, give us a mug shot.
    65:28
    You know, if it was a regular salad, I wouldn't have said anything. But you had to have that big salad. Doug, sweet, sweet Dougie. Maybe Doug does look gofresh. Fish. Maybe talk to an orthodontist.
    65:49
    What would you do, Dennis, if you met these people and he was like, hey, Dennis, I wouldn't say anything. I'd be right. You would be like Austin Powers on Goldmember. Austin Powers, who's like, moly, moly, moly. You would absolutely call out his gopher teeth. Why pandas don't do that? What if we named people based on their fit? We would not have any friends.
    66:17
    I still, Frank, looking like a falcon. The Zen philosopher Basho once wrote, Doug, thank you for the support. Maybe he looks like, what's his name? Off that show, we're waiting, Ted Knight. Maybe he looks like, maybe Doug looks like, a donut with no hole. So, Dana. Thank you, Mike. Yeah, Ted Knight. Damn, why do I know Ted Knight reference? Fuck, I'm old. That's horrible.
    66:46
    Ted Knight wasn't even popular when I was alive. Okay, where's my notes? And Wally. Sweet, sweet Wally, the used car salesman. I'll talk to my boss. Do you think Wally owns a tweed plaid sports coat? I think he has one.
    67:06
    That's fantastic. Do you think that he looks like Wally the Robot? Wally. Yeah, he just has one thick finger and then a claw. Yeah. What if he had like webbed fingers?
    67:21
    He's like, it was a burn incident, guys. You guys are the worst. We're not making fun of any burn victims out there. But I can only imagine if you were burned, they would mold together.
    67:34
    Well, this took a turn. Wally, please, if you have that sport coat, wear it and nothing but it. And the hat. And we want the checkered hat. Oh, OK. All right. I'm trying to think what else salesman. They have to have those those sunglasses that start brown, but they like get like the shade is different as you move up and down gradient. Yeah. Great. There we go. Forehead. Yeah. Absolutely. Can I have like the the sunglass little rope? You can add that. Also, veneers. The teeth need to be too white. Super chiclet. Yes.
    68:13
    What's it going to take? I'm kind of envisioning both Kurt Russell in used cars, but also Bill Paxton in True Lies as the used car salesman.
    68:26
    Man, True Lies. That's a good one. We need a pinball machine based on True Lies. I think it would sell.
    68:36
    Okay. If Stern did it, the horse wouldn't even move. Oh, come on. Why? People would mod it to be our tax from Never Ending Story.
    68:48
    Sinking. He just can't get out of it. Reminder, happy hour hangout. Come the 27th, I think we said. Sorry about that. Yes, the 27th. What is Joel texting me? Joel wants to know what we're going to stream this week. He's suggesting Dialed In. What do you think? Dialed In? No, those aren't for sale anymore. You are going to suggest John Wick. See if it gets an Elliot bump from Transformers. Elliot! We need an ET pinball machine too. You think Disclosure Day is going to be good? You think Disclosure Day is going to be good? The film by Steven Spielberg coming up? I haven't seen a thing about this. Sorry, first I've heard it. This is next big. It's about UFOs. Okay. I usually like Spielberg's work. I do too. His autobiography, fictional. Was it Fablement or something? I haven't seen that. It's fine.
    69:51
    All right. Patreon.com slash the Pinball Show. Appreciate you all. Dennis, where can people catch you? They can always email theclecticgamerspodcast.gmail.com. That's right. Or emails at thepinballshow at gmail.com. A lot of spam coming through there as well lately. Oh, gosh. Business manager, Facebook. What is that? I gave that to every email account I have. So am I. I just delete. Can we not fix that? But they're like two a day at least.
    70:16
    Gosh. Facebook, figure it out. Figure it out. Oh, shit. We don't need meta business manager. Manage our own affairs here. Thank you. The private-ish Discord if you're a Patreon member, so go sign up today. Facebook, Instas, all of that. Straight Down the Middle is a video series I do on pinball. Go sign up and watch that stuff. And the sponsor of this show is proudly Flippin' Out Pinball.
    70:59
    Product showcase this week is, it's got to be the duo Transformers and Tales of the Arabian Nights remake. Get your, oh, I didn't discuss this. I was supposed to discuss this on our interest list. Both of those interest lists are like, they're doing well. They're growing. I'm a proud papa. But I was surprised that they're actually staying at the same pace.
    71:27
    Would that not surprise you? People are really interested in Tales of the Arabian Nights. But now, granted, a lot less dealers on Tales. Thus, that's going to be heavier on our interest list than the ginormous growing list of Stern. Trending down this week. How many damn dealers does Stern need? I mean, every time I look online, there's a new dealer. Shenanigans, I say. Shenanigans. Yeah, all kinds of dealers. You want to be a dealer, didn't you?
    72:03
    Viewer, you want to be a dealer? I need to stay as a sub-dealer. You know what? Sign up today to Flip N Out Pinball. At this point, fucking wild west of distribution. Anybody can be a dealer. Anybody can sell. Do you have a pulse? The ability to take an order? Fuck, man. Jeez. It will get to the point where we try to not have sub-dealers. We don't have any sub dealers, but man, it's the way of the world now. Everybody's just becoming a damn sub dealer. So if you want to sell games, make a little money, contact us. Hell, if you can't beat them, join them, I say.
    72:39
    Can't people just do things right? Where am I at? We sell a lot of stuff at Flip N Out Pinball. Harry Potter's, Pokemons. I still have Harry Potter Arcade and CEs. I think we're at a Wizard edition to the Fall. So Pokemon, we have premiums we're going to have in stock as soon as they start shipping those. We got extras. The Walking Dead Remastered. I'm still hoping. Holding out. They got a new topper mode that I heard is great, but I'm holding out on more. Like, what are we doing there?
    73:11
    Medieval Madness Merlin pre-orders. Get those. But, yeah, if you want a new game, hit us up. Do the trade thing, too. A lot of people doing the trade stuff. If you want to sell your collection, apparently I'm that guy, too, now. Buy, buy, buy. So sell your collection. We'll do a video. We'll have a lot of fun.
    73:28
    Escaleras, Big Buck Hunters, Golden Tees, Papa Shots, all the arcade stuff we do as well. You can email Ken at flippingoutpinball.com for that. Dennis, I'm so damn excited about the website we're working on. I hope it turns out. Spending a little fortune on it. But, yeah, I'm excited about it. This summer, we're going to have it launch. Hopefully it will offer all kinds of great things that make buyers and supporters of Flip N Out Pinball go there as well as non-supporters. Hopefully it's a nice place for people to go to for all kinds of stuff. YouTube, go sign up for the Flip N Out YouTube channel. Joel streams and makes videos and I do some videos as well. And the podcast, Flip N Out Pinball Podcast with Ken and Greg, they do a phenomenal job over there. They just had a recent episode where they were all going into their own little tangents and yelling at clouds. Loved it. Go check that out. And then to close us off, Dennis has something very important to tell you guys. Yes. I've been wondering with Transformers now, two things kind of. One is our former goat, Bumblebee, going to be getting a Transformer. And does he actually look like Bumblebee? Oh, it just looks like a V. He does.
    74:46
    And always practice safe pinball and a little nugget for those of you who stuck around to the end when it comes to the upcoming Transformers game. Remember, I was saying this is kind of geared towards hobbyists and stuff like that. It is so much so that this is one release that I don't think anybody will argue that when it comes to comparing the pro to the premium LE, say what you want. But on this release, there's really no going pro on this one. You're going to be all in on the premium or LE. Mark my words. Just saying. That's the way it's going to be. Every release is different. This one in particular, it's very much premium LE.