Let's see if this is any better. I don't know. right. All right. How's that sound? I didn't say anything yet. Does that sound better? Hey, Brenda, could I get a cup of Joe, please, if there's any left? Could I get a cup of coffee, please, if there's any left? I have a cup here. My non-refundable mug. Thank you, Renie. Is it still crackling? All right, sounds good. Brenda's in the hen house. Is it the hen house? Is the penalty box? I don't know. She came home last night like we she was she was three sheets to the wind as they say in Ireland. Not Not a happy daddy. I have no idea what she was saying. Like I was like, "What do you just go to bed? Just go to bed." So there's that. A fresh summer's breeze. Good. All right. So, we're going to talk about everything going on in the pinball horn. Let's start with King Kong Ellie. Franchie, you're an artist. What do you think of the King Kong artwork? What do you think? Do you think they nailed it? Do you think it's still too busy? I do feel the um the repetition of the art on the cabinets is highly disappointing. It just does not make the Ellie feel special at all. So, I I'm really disappointed in that. It's not sold out. It's not sold out. I could I think if I go to Flipping Out's website right now, there's those you could put a deposit down on one. If you call around, you'll find one. I just I think that um you know, we've been talking about He pleads the fifth. We've been tu just say it's not what I would have done. You know, that's always like the nice polite way to say uh yeah, I don't know. Uh, it's clear that Ferris just went bananas on the playfield art like bananas. And if Ferris was doing the and Kevin O'Connor were doing the cabinet, I mean, they kind of it is a little like unfair that they're like using Yeti for just two images for cabinet artwork and then they're going to pull that across all three models. I I think that's lame. I think it's lazy. And look, I think it's one of the reasons why the LE is not like flying off the shelves. I just don't think the LE stands out enough. I've already said it publicly. Kong is Lwin's best. Um, I don't I don't I don't I think Kong might be Elwin's best shooter to date. I don't think it's going to end up being the most fun though from a software standpoint. I don't I don't Thank you, baby. It's good having you here, Brenda. It's good having you here. It's good marrying you. How could no one at Stern say it looks like X-Men during development? Look, I I think I don't I don't know, gang. I really don't know. I don't know. I I feel like Jaws's clips were a jumbled mess. I feel like these clips are looking a little bit like a jumbled mess. Am I the only one who sees that? Like, is it is it is it not that way when you're playing? I'm just curious. I feel like every time you hit the ball in a different area of the playfield, like all these clips are popping up. I don't feel like you're really progressing through a mode. And I I don't know. I just feel like every every time I watch both Jaws and now Kong, the clips are just all over the place as gameplay is happening. And is that normal? Is that how a game is supposed to be? I I don't know. When I watch Spooky's Evil Dead, it doesn't feel like that. like every time you Yeah, it's like okay if you're hitting switches and scoring stuff, but I think the problem is is they keep cutting to like a different visual and it just pulls you out of whatever mode you're in. But But code never fixed that with Jaws either. Franchie said, "I wish they were flying off the shelf so I wasn't continually inundated with hundreds of podcast, play games, streams, interviews, and other shameless promotional BS." Um, let's talk about that, right? I don't think I've seen more Win Schilling of a game in the history of pinball content that has been happening with this game. It It is like the biggest shillest ever. Like, how dare a content creator go on a a neverending praise of a of a of a company and its games. No, but I agree, man. Like, it's just too much. It's too much. Like, it's there's too much like that stern. Do you see that stern edit it together? like all those content creators just like sucking up to the game when they had just played it and when they had just spent their own money to get to Sturd it's like the game is bananas the game has Rams it's the best like it's just are you do you have any pride left do you have any pride left because if your job as a pinball content creator is to kind of absorb something new make up your mind about it and then maybe formulate a little bit of a balanced opinion about it. Like I look again, there's no such thing as pinball media. Nobody's objective. Everybody's like, you know, they're they're just making ads for Stern. And I just like I I don't know. Like I think this game does shoot really well. You can tell it shoots really well, but when you ask when you start like asking questions like what's the one wow mechanism in this game, right? Like where's the engineering in this game? Like what's the wow mech? Like you carried over Incredible Hulk from Avengers. Like same mech. The gong is not that impressive. And then you've got the the magnet with the spider. So where's the wow? I get the wow is the shots, right? The wow are the upper flippers and the pathway of the upper flippers. I get that. Like, and it's again, but people are acting like this is the new greatest pinball machine of all time with unlicensed assets, no real wow mech to speak of, and and then, you know, all the content creators are are basically now the biggest fanboys ever. And it and I yeah you look I I kind of happy I wasn't there because they probably would have caught me on camera saying something like yeah man I just thought it was like really fun. You know it is what it is. It is what it is. Like half those guys that were on camera ordered Ellie's already. The other half who the hell are those people? Right? Did Did you did you notice that? You're like who are these people? The fact that Stern is now like broadening its content creator invites to people who have no pinball experience. They have no pinball audience. They have no credibility. So, you invite these content creators, you know, all they have is a much larger audience because they have a large audience that tunes in for stuff that's not pinball related. So, um, you know, when all the dust settles, think about it. Think about it, gang. Keith Elwin, right? Like Orbiter Albert saying, it's his best shooting game ever. Keith Ellen, zombie on artwork, King Kong as a theme, right? King of the Monsters, all of it. All these influencers doing jumping jacks for Stern, making hours of content, convincing us that this game's amazing. All of it, right? You add it all up. They couldn't sell out. Couldn't sell out. You got to think about that. What that means? Stern knows that this is like they've got problems now. Like they're throwing everything at this and they still can't sell 932 games. Games are overpriced. There's too many of them. 932 is too many. Should have been 500 King Kong LEDs. Especially when you're stealing the artwork from the pro and the premium. Especially when you're not including a topper. especially when you're not going to go the extra mile. They're not selling out. Okay, it's good news. It's good news for for consumers. Now, I I went on the record for saying I think King Kong Ellie is 10K um it's 10K by the end of the year. I I do and I'm I still believe it will be because I don't think there's enough that makes the LE special at all. I don't. It'd be different if it had really unique artwork. It'd be different if the armor was amazing. It's not. Once you get your premium and you throw all the accessories on, you have the same exact game. Stern Pinball needs to start putting an exclusive topper on top of these exclusive LE. There needs to be only 932 special toppers that are re are a a reward for those who paid $13,000. It's just stupid. you know, you're going to end up spending closer to $15,000 on a Sternle LE that's not even hard to find. He's still going on and he's So, that's it. That's it. Now, look, I of course I don't blame Stern for doing this. I I just I just think the people who paid their own money to get there need to like re-evaluate. Just re-evaluate what you're doing. You know what I'm saying? You're literally helping a company sell its products and you make nothing for it. You know, I understand if a distributor is going there and filming content and you guys are but remember they paid for you to go and look at John Wick. You have to remember this people like the fact that they initially paid people to go try to move John Wick units and now how did they treat you during X-Men? How do they treat you during like King Kong? You got to pay your own way. All right. I think King Kong Ellie will hold value better than almost any other modern su Albert. And none of them have held value. Only Jaws has held value. Keith Elwin's uh James Bond 60th has lost $12,000 in value basically if you bought it new on Stern's website day one. So, it's saying nothing. Yeah. So, Carrie, I heard the same thing from Retro Ralph. Like, he's like, "Dude, it's so crowded. It was so crowded, you know?" And look, I'm just going to say this, Carrie, Franchie, um, Loser Kid, I don't know, the Zack Manny, like I'm sorry, but like the the creme de la creme of pinball content creators should be invited on a different day. Thank you gang. Thank you Jeffrey. So Jeffrey, I really appreciate this when you guys because we've moved over from Facebook to YouTube. Um I really appreciate you guys sending money um with your comments. So I I found a way to turn it on. So if you want a beautiful art deco pin by Shadow, what game will do better on location? Evil Dead or King Kong? um King Kong will do better on location cuz Jeffrey like just real simply there's just more mainstream awareness of um King Kong and it you know it's like it's just got a more broad appeal. I I absolutely think Kong would do better on location. I think location's all about theme and also like let's face it like most people go and enjoy the latest Stern on location and the Stern Pro is perfect for that. Um, but Jeffrey, I want to thank you so much for bumping your question. Hey, does everybody see how to do that? How to comment like with like a super comment? I don't know what they call it. What do they call these comments, Carrie? Where you can like donate? Let's see if we can set a goal here. Super chats. Pick a goal. Let's pick a goal here. Let's do 20 super chats. Let's set a timer of one hour. Share how you'll celebrate. Um, I'll uh I don't know. I'll do a I'll do a jumping right. I started a goal of 20 super chats. See what happens here. Um, all right. So, look, well, first I want to say gang, like the last six weeks I've been recovering from my hernia surgery and it was really painful and this week was the first week I could get back to the gym. I feel already so much better. I feel more like myself. It was really depressing to not be able to work out for 6 weeks. It really was. And And it it was also like incredible to see how much of your strength you lose when you stop exercising weekly. So, um I really do um feel like I wasn't myself and I was very short-tempered and I was very cranky and it carried over into work. It carried over into my family life and I really really um you know feel blessed to be back on the road to recovery and being able to work out again. Thank you so much, Keith. Thanks for the work you put in. Awesome, Keith. I appreciate that. Um, why isn't it counting see. I'm figuring these super chats out. Okay. You don't look like JeanClaude anymore. Do you get a hernia from carrying the weight of pinball podcasters for so long? Ah, Christopher Franchi, Christopher Franchi, Christopher Franchi. Um, so all right. So, can't wait for Halloween to get my King Kong Ellie. Look, I'm happy you guys are getting your Kongle's. I I am. I I just think I'm worried about the code a little bit. It's It's not that the people on it aren't good. I just worry that it's not they're not going to be plugging in assets. Okay. So, Stern Pinball, let's talk about this. So, after King Kong, because King Kong is out. It it's it's going to be a great pin. Not, you know, absolutely. I I don't see the value in the LE. I think it's going to be a great pin. And then it's going to be May and May 2nd, we're supposedly gonna get something for Harry Potter because it's International Harry Potter Day. Now, I I don't know what's going to happen this Friday. I I'll tell you uh on Potter, which house are you and why? I don't even know the Potter houses to be honest, gang. Like, Rivendorf or Gryffindor? Like, like ah I I saw the movies. I've committed almost none of them to memory and I didn't read the books. So my my knowledge of Harry Potter is like uh like very small. I don't think in Harry Potter lingo. Um so I'm I'm looking at this game as a way to reignite my understanding of the franchise and the universe. It's like one of these properties where like you get it right. You get it. It's easy to understand what's going on, but it's not a property uh when that that like left an indelible impression on me. You know what I'm saying? I really don't feel like I think about Harry Potter fondly and I don't, you know, I didn't go to the Broadway shows. I don't collect Potter stuff. I don't it doesn't click with me. And I think one of the reasons why too is I think for a generation of people it did right. So like a lot of people sort of put themselves in the role of Harry and I I would rather be Maverick and Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. I would rather be Darth Maul. I would rather be uh Karate Kid. I would rather be a member of Cobra Kai. I would rather be Ferris Beller. I would rather be the Terminator. I would rather be in Die Hard. I would rather be watching Young Guns. I would rather be watching Blood Sport. I would rather be the last star fighter. I'd rather be He-Man. I'd rather be Optimus Prime. I'd rather be Rodmus Prime. I'd rather be Galvatron. I'd rather be Megatron. I'd rather be so many things before I would want to be Harry Potter. And it's just a generational thing. It's nothing against Potter, but I do think that people think that um I I think it's going to be an interesting experiment in the the carryover of how many people are going to buy Harry Potter that also buy Pinball. The thing I'm worried about, gang, yeah, Rambo. Absolutely. The thing I'm worried about is why do no I don't understand. Uh did any like none of the super chats count it. So I'm just curious like where the money went because it still says 0 for 20 and we have we have like people have been giving stuff. understand, Carrie. When you do super chats, does it does it tally up as it as they go? Well, it's um Okay. Well, what's the point of setting a goal if it's not counting? You have it. You have to say Oh, you have it set at only $5 a count. Okay, hold on. Let me let me see if I can edit that. Let me just remove the goal. All right, let's try it again. Ah, I see. All colors. Let's do that. Now, we're going to start a new goal. And all will count. Someone tried doing something right. This is how I This is how I Someone try giving a $1.99 and see if it counts. Big trouble in little China. Absolutely. All right. So, I don't know. So, what do you guys think? Do you think we're going to get Harry Potter on Friday? And do you think it's going to be at Allentown? So, that's the crazy part cuz like I don't know like the games are on the line. They've got games made cuz the games are going sent um the games are going to be sent to uh to Europe to be in at European shows and that normally takes like two to three weeks. So games are going to be going out the door. We we'll talk about Ninja Clips. Okay, see it is counting them now. We'll talk about Ninja Eclipse for um Thank you guys. I really appreciate it. All this stuff is really great. Um I really do appreciate it. Um uh do you so do you think that there's going to be a har the Harry Potter video will drop on Friday, International Harry Potter Day, and Joe New Hart from Pinball Star is going to have one of the first ones on location at the show. What do you think? What do you think? It should be at Wizarding World as well. Well, it it could be. I mean, what I know they wanted to do, this is why I don't think it's going to be there. I know that Harry the plan to launch Harry Potter was to have a global launch. So, games would be in Australia, in Europe, in America, everywhere, and they would launch that way. Okay. And And I think that's um Thank you, Dave, for this for the chat, man. I I definitely want to be Darth Maul. Man, I'd get my robotic legs and still be kicking ass. I think that's what they want it to do. So, uh I also know that they want media to come play the game. I forget how they did Avatar. I know they did the Avatar reveal video first, then they invited us to come down there and play the game, but but that was when Jersey Jack had a little bit of a delay between reveal and games on the line where this one's going to be more like Guns and Roses. On the day they reveal it, I think there's going to be like 100 to 200 already made in boxes making its way into people's homes and it's going to be non-stop Potter production for two years. I my guess is they're going to be making this game for two to three years straight through. They'll have to set up a second line for Richie's next game. Um, nice. Okay, everybody, thank you for the super chats. All right. Make a Warriors pin, Jeffrey said. Um, no, don't make a Warriors pin. Don't, you know, look, if you want to make Warriors come out and play, you you gota you got to expect 500 or less to be sold. I think kids should be excited. If you're an adult, it's just another day. Who here is into Pokemon? We have 145 people here. Who here is like actively into Pokemon? Like legit. Like, have you seen Pokemon episodes? Do you play with the cards? Do you collect Pokemon? Do you talk about Pokemon with your friends? I was born in 1990. So, me. But elemental element element only. Oh, wait. Do you have money for pinball machines if you were born in 1990? I I just I just don't think people realize like the It's the same way Avatar is one of the biggest movies of all time, but it just didn't translate over into pinball. out. I'm in on Pokemon Elliot. I think everybody here would rather have Super Mario Brothers and Sonic the Hedgehog Sega Genesis version over Pokemon. Um, it's not the de Harry Potter's not does not hit the pinball buying demo on its head. So, let's on its head, you know, it b it's not a bullseye, if you will. Let's talk about Dune, gang. Let's talk about Dune because I I had a conversation with David Van Es and Dune is going to be at Allentown on uh Friday, so I will be there. So, if anyone's going to Allentown in uh what is it? Pinfest next Friday. I will be there Friday and I'm going to have a nice time there. I'm going to drive down in the morning in my little GR86, my little uh you know, to tofu drift car and I'm going to play all these new games. I think Kong will be there as well. So, I I think Dune, you know, David said it's selling better than Labyrinth at at this stage. Um, games are are sort of going out like they're trickling out. The demon's in storage, bro. It's still too cold for the demon some days. I got to get the demon out. I also don't want to bring my demon to a pinball show. You know why? Take Take a guess why I will never drive my demon to a pinball show. Take one guess why I will never let that car which people know I have sit in a pinball parking lot. No. Exactly. Someone would key my car. There's just too many haters and and like it just takes like that, you know, like that CJ dude that booed me. Like I you know the thing about these haters gang is they're cowards and they would never come up to my face at a show and tell me how much they hate me but they would definitely damage my property. I I and I don't put it past them. I I think there are some real cranky losers that have a big problem with my presence in this hobby and they would never say to my face, but they would definitely take it out on my property. Look, I like I've seen it, man. The hate lives inside these people. Like, I don't even know them. Like, that's the thing. I didn't and I didn't even do anything to them personally. I That's the thing that sucks, right? is like they take what I do personally, but I I don't, you know, I'm not getting hate mail from Keith Elwin and Dwight Sullivan. You know, I talk to all the manufacturers. David Fix is the only chump who won't talk to me, but I don't care. Like, he's he's gone. You know, I I will also say this on just a pure automotive level. It's not fun taking a demon on like twohour highway rides. The car is more fun red light to red light. So, did anybody buy a Dune? Has anybody here ordered a Dune pinball machine? We have 140 people. This is great. We're getting way more people on YouTube than we ever did on Facebook. But gang, we're we're 17 super chats away from our goal. And I'll do my jumping jacks. Um, no Dune. No Dune. I want to just hear all you guys. Come on. You're on there. You're watching. Unless you're driving. Did you buy a Dune pinball machine? No. Said. Okay. No. No. Negative. No. No. I will play it first. No. No. Not one person has ordered a Dune. No. Like I I don't think I've seen so many universal nos too broke theme kills it. We're getting too locally here, said Ian. I ordered one. We got one order. We got one order. Billy boy. Hey gang, tell the marketing department you guys hooked Billy Boy. Yes. Yes. Wait, play, decide. Um, thank you Tilpin for the um, world's second best podcast. It is true. It is true. Even though I got almost a hundred more first place votes, I lost. Colin got his finger on that scale. Do you notice how he never released the the second and third place tallies? Do you notice how he never released that information, right? It's like, I got almost a hundred more first place votes for favorite pinball podcast and lost. And then he never released the data on how many second and third place votes did electric bat get. Interesting. Colin hiding the info. Finger on the scale. Um, who cares? Like I've literally what the the net net is like I'll just I just won't care nor support the Twippies ever again just because it's done now. To me, it's the whole thing is just a it was a terrible show to begin with and done. Like not even going to tune in next year. So, you won't get another drunk Canada rant. H, you know, there should be an award for most successful, most financially successful pitball podcaster. And the winner goes for eight years in a row, the only one who's ever monetized it successfully, Canad Pinball Podcast, who by the way, when I did monetize it for the first time, everybody came at me with pitchforks. Albert, I didn't I didn't lose. I lost by a weighted system. You understand that, right, brother? Like there there's It's really weird, right? You finished first the most in the race, but but someone who's finished second and third actually gets the championship. Okay, welcome to the woke world, people. The woke the woke world strikes again. I dude I don't care, man. Like I really like I my my voters didn't show up, bro. I got over 600 votes last time and this time I only got 200 for first place, which means nobody cares about the Twippies anymore. That's all that says. Like when they say this was the most voted on Twippies ever, that's a flatout lie. lie. Good call. We waited voting is woke. Yeah, it is woke. All right. So, Doom pinball. So, nobody bought it but Billy Boy. So, what do you think's next for barrels? So, I And when I say next for barrels, I really am just trying to think as if I were them. Well, what do you do now to get more interest in the title? So, I I'm a little worried that they came out just too early. And I and I and I told this to to David now. Now, David said something to me that was funny, and you're going to laugh at this. So, so I was talking to David on the phone, and you know, nice guy. He's like, "Chris, like I just want to let you know, nobody here dislikes you. Like, you you have friends here. Like, get you down to Houston." And it's funny because when he says like I'll get you down to Houston, part of me is like, "Do you guys want to fly me down to Houston?" Because like again, like I just I just don't want um I I'll tell you this, true journalism, you pay your own way. Like if the New York Times gets invited to go review a product, they won't take money from the company because they want to remain completely unbiased. But the difference is is the New York Times pays their reporters and the New York Times makes money. So maybe what I'll do is I don't know maybe I'll ask like my supporters and set up a fund a senda where you know some wherever you want to fund and I bet you my wealthier patrons would like that would be pretty fun to do like you know if you if you support if you donate to the Canada trips to these manufacturers I will make exclusive content for you first so you get an excl exclusive first look and and I'll go live just for you guys so you get an exclusive first look at at um the trip. I don't know. Maybe Maybe I just you know for me personally I just don't want to get into this whole like tears and compartmentalizing the content. You know people have been saying like you should do something for people who spend 10 or 30. But what does barrels do now? What does Barrels do now? What would you do if you're them? So, obviously they need to get some gameplay footage up where the clips are in the game. Has anybody here played it? Okay. Because I think that's going to be key. Like it's unfortunate that it's going up against King Kong at the same time because I have a hard time believing that this game shoots as good as King Kong. And so that's going to be tricky, right? Because at all these shows now, you know, you want to get people excited and of course this game plays better than Labyrinth, but that's not how buyers work. Like we we don't live in a vacuum where the only thing we're crossopping this against is your previous title. We're cross-shopping this against Keith Elwin's latest game. You know, people are crossopping this game against Evil Dead. And it's not a cheap game. It's It's not a cheap game. You know, it's 116 plus additional items you're going to want to get. So, I think that this is going to be a slowburn. I don't think they're going to sell a thousand because again, like I just I don't think they're going to get momentum around this title. I would have waited. I just would have waited. I would have waited. I would have waited for Potter to come out. I would have just made a couple hundred of these. You know, you're going to sell a couple hundred. But when you do reveal to the world, you're putting your best foot forward. Um, and you know, so, okay, back to my conversation with David Van Es. So, David said something to me that I just I I did call him out on it, and I I'll I'll share it with you. He said something like, "I don't want to sell out on day one, Chris." He said that to me. I I don't want a day one sellout. He said, "If I if that happened, I did something wrong." And And what he means by that is he was there when those are those are mommy's glasses. They're your glasses. Come here. Come say hi. Come over. Come around. I'm going to try to get Killian on on camera here. Hold on, gang. We're 15 short of super chats. Come here. Okay. There your glasses. Come here. All right. You want to come up? Come here. All right. Okay. Don't Don't touch that because it'll disconnect and then I have to start the whole show over. Killian, can I ask you some questions? Okay. Would you spend $13,000 on a King Kong Ellie? Yes. Okay. Kill. Okay. My shirt. Kelly, would you ready? Would you order a Dune pinball machine? Yeah. Oh man, the the market's going to be strong in the future. Okay, Killian, would you order a Pokemon pinball machine? Yeah. Okay, let's test him out though. Here, do you think David Fix did a good job running American Pinball? No. That honestly honestly unscripted insanely accurate. Killian, I love you. You've just given everybody you you're you're now the most credible voice in all of pinball. Oh my god. Can Okay, go back to mommy now. Close the door. Please close the door. I I that was insane. Like there is a god up there because literally the fact that he said yes to everything. He doesn't know about any like wow. wow. I'm glad we captured this. I'm glad we captured that on camera. He is on point. He is going to be the the country is going to be okay. He's already better than loser kid. I mean, dude, some of these like interviews, gang, it's like you just they they put so much butter on Keith Elwin, you you think the guy's a piece of toast, right? I mean, the amount of like ass kissing people do when they talk to Elwin. I mean, I just I I like I Jesus gang. Like it's like have again like just have some a little bit more like just chill out like chill like talk to the bro the whole time and there was that one interview where I think it was a loser kid. He just you know look at Frank Mack by the way. Frank this guy like my new best buddy. Like Frank shows up yesterday helps me solder Guns and Roses. Um dropped off stuffed animals for the kids. brought a potted plant for the house. Brendan now is like in love with this damn potted plant. Um, get him his own podcast. So, like the thing is, gang, the thing is it's like it's at the point now um where see I have to make sure I set up my like tag everything so I can Dune is a great buy. You did it. You did it. Um, you know, it's at the point now where, you know, these companies are going to have to like really turn the marketing up. And I still think everything is about theme. So, I I'll I'll give you guys another bit of news, right? Is that that Back to the Future is most likely not shipping this year. Just Just not shipping this year. Uh, you know, Alice is barely making its way out and I think that Oh, I was I was talking about how Keith Owen just kept rocking back and forth in his chair and it's like, "Bro, bro, you're the world's best pinball designer. I'm going to give you that. Stop moving in your chair. Like, we're recording you. Stop moving back and forth. Just just, you know, just tell him to stop. Just tell him to stop the whole time. Don't Don't make me turn to Carrie Hardy. Camera A. Camera Camera B. Camera A. It's the same C. It's Carrie Hardy. Same. It's just you, Carrie. Why do you keep talking to different cameras? What is that? What's happening, Carrie? Like, I would actually increase my donation to you if I could just get one camera. I I'd pay more for less cameras. You know the thing is uh do you guys want to I couldn't do what Carrie does with like the scrolling names because mine would just keep scrolling for the entire episode. You see that what I did there? Just keep scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. Um, okay. So, I think Dune will I think Dune will max out around 800 sold. That's That's my if that because I think what's going to happen to Dune, it's just it's it's more expensive than Labyrinth was. there's too much else out there and too many people have lost too much money and and the vibe is just shifted in pinball now. This is not just like keep supporting and and I think what's gonna happen too is you got to remember like they're not they said they're going to be done making all these by the end of the year. I don't think that's going to be the case. I think they're going to like I just think there's too much coming too much out there and it's just I don't know if like it's a theme that people are going to want to open up space for. will will make Dune a better seller is is if barrels can attract Dune fans and you know leverage the relationship with Legendary to excite new people to buy the game. They were never going to use the David Lynch one, gang. Like that that movie's terrible. Like it's not good. Like these were better movies. Like without a doubt, Dune seems to be a very tough shooter, which is good for tournament players. Yeah. And tournament players don't buy new inbox games. Yeah. You know, look, Billy Boy, I I agree that um the mechs and the toys have been underwhelming across the board as pinball prices have gone through the roof. the amount of mechs and toys and games has been really underwhelming. Uh I I wish X-Men would have been a better game because I do I do actually think X-Men from a a toys and layout is is phenomenal. I just I just feel the game though, the code just lets it down. Now George Gomez is is now saying that they're going to like throw three coders at it. They're going to make X-Men good. He's He's a little bit ashamed that it's not and he's angry like like I I hope so. I hope so because it is a great layout, right? And it's easy to it's easier to change software than layout. Yeah. I still can't believe they made two brown powdercoated pins. Yeah, it is a um a brown beige world over at Barrels. Did anyone here get Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? You know, I I feel like that game and I talked to Melvin, you know, a lot. He's a good friend. Um I Yeah, I I just You know what's funny is Melissa hit me up. She's like, "Chris, your Alice is ready. I'm going to invoice you." I'm like, "No, no, no, no." Initially, I had two invoices for Alice, but I let one go and I held on to the one that's much later on in the run. Melvin's awesome. He's like, dude, he's like, you know, he's like, if you get it, you get it. Like, it's like it's I'm not going to I'm not going to be upset if you like, you know, walk away from your order. Raz is next. So, that is like that is going to happen. Here's what's going to happen, gang. I'm I I'm going to tell you right now. Raza will be the next game from Dutch Pinball, not Back to the Future. The I'll tell you exactly what's going to happen. They will finish the Alice run. Back to the Future will not be ready. And the only way to save the company will will be to put another game on the line. It will be Raza. There will be less Razas than Alice. I think somewhere around like 300. So, not everybody who buys an Alice is going to be able to get Arazza. And Melvin's going to have done what nobody else could do. He's going to have two working J-pop titles. Um, and that's that. Um, I don't think the tariffs are in effect. I think they're paused for like 90 days. I wouldn't have been more shocked if they had asked people to put their pins in front of windows. Um, you know, here's here's the one. Um, the company that needs the most help in my honest opinion right now is Turner Pinball. You know, how many Chris Turner uh Turner Pinball Merlin's arcades are they going to sell? So, I I I've been very um I don't know. I think I've been very candid about this. I don't think he's going to sell a 100red at 90 whatever 500 a pop or 94.99. I I just don't see it happening. And for some reason like Chris gave or sold to Melvin the better titles because you remember people forget this. People forget this. I believe Chris Turner initially owned the Alice stuff and the Raza stuff. Now, for some weird reason, both these guys, Melvin and Chris, are like strangely like obsessed with the world of J-pop, and Turner sold the two games that are going to sell easily for Melvin and kept the Jon Norris Melvin's Arcade from Deep Root. Chris Turner also owns food truck, Berio's food truck. So I I don't know what the strategy now is. The you got to remember Merlin's Arcade fully loaded is the same price as King Kong Premium. I don't know how you sell any any with that reality. Right. King Kong Premium or Merlin's Arcade. Like look at the two next to each other. Turner Pinball needs to hire Canada to make all of its licensing, merchandising, and marketing decisions. I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll I'll um I will everyone will know that's what I'm doing. It'll be um I will do it. Uh I would sign a deal with them where I would get royalties on games sold based upon the marketing decisions that I gave him. He can't, you know, I'm I don't think there's many salaries going out the door over at Turner Pinball. I'm back. Damn, this is hard watching grandson's soccer game. And I know. I know. Like I'm I'm in a lot of ways I'm more entertaining than your own family members. You know this. Come on, Robert. Like that soccer game is boring. Those kids are just They don't even know. Like all those kids are off sides. Like the only time kids at that age score is when the entire team is off sides just cherry-picking for goals. Been there, done that. Nobody has done Halo yet. Look, I I just got back into Halo. It's awesome. It's like a fun game. It just I would never want a pinball format of it. Of course, Pee-Wee Soccer is so so bad to watch. Wow. Do we have like a fake Franchie here? Christopher Tranchy. I mean, that's that's a weird name. Um, you know what game? Like did did anyone get a Merlin's edition of Medieval Madness? Should we Should we block Christopher Tranchy? I think we should, but I'll I'll let Franchie decide. Yeah, let's let's get rid of him. Christopher Tranchi. Um, hide user on this channel. Sorry, Christopher Tranchi. You're gone. All right, he's gone. You could troll, but I I won't let you troll a personality like Franchie, who we want here. His real name is not Christopher Tranchy. That That is that is not Is it spooky Luke? He was using that name, was he? Have any of you guys like um you know, have any of you guys just felt like you're um you're reaching a point in your adulthood lives where you're kind of getting a little tired of like the overconumption being the pathway to feeling good about life and who you are? And do you want to like thin out your life a little bit? Like own less things? Um, you know, I I might be for any of you guys out there that collect arcade machines. I I think I'm ready to let go of my Disneyade uh Fix It Felix Jr. machine. So, like if you are an arcade collector, there's like maybe eight of them in the world that are in personal collections, but I'm going to list her and I can't wait for all the people to get mad at the price I asked for it. But again, it's just um for the for the right collector that loves Wreckit Ralph and wants a piece of Disney memorabilia. Um it's kind of epic and it was $9,500 10 years ago. I I love triggering the anger of arcade collectors. I've just reached a point where I um I just don't care anymore, you know? I don't care. Like, kids are so rewarding and I've got too much of everything. And right now, what I want is I think what you buy says a lot about what your priorities are in life. And for me, I again, I'd rather spend money experientially. So, spending money going out with Brenda, putting money away for my kids, taking them on vacation, paying off, you know, all, you know, making sure there's no car payments, like all that, taking care of. And And for me, I'm in a stage now where like just getting this house paid off is is my number one thing because I didn't have a mortgage for 25 years. And so, um, this house is 2third paid off in less than a year, which I'm very proud of. Uh, I could pay the whole thing off, but I just don't want to, you know, I don't want to wipe out too much of my investments and my savings. But I I want to tell you something that happened to me when we fixed Guns and Roses and I went over to it and I played it again and Frank was here and we soldered the end of switch issue that was happening with the game. Uh and I just like I don't know I just felt for the first time completely over the game. Like I just I I love the music. I love the elements of it, but I just the game play just doesn't make me want to keep playing it. Well, you know what I've noticed with like collecting stuff is like the anxiety, the OCD nature that comes along with it kind of like removes a lot of the fun, you know, and then you you kind of walk by it and you know, like it's just I don't know. Sell it and get a King Kong. Um I I don't want a King Kong. I I don't want a King Kong. I don't I don't I I I'm so content to go to automated and play King Kong whenever I want. I don't want a King Kong. I I just It's not It's not a dream theme. It's not uh a game that when I look at it, I I get giddy watching what's happening in the game. I just don't. And I 100% agree with all of you. It's going to shoot great, but I don't I don't I only want to own something that is a reflection of something I love. So, that's the same reason why I'm not going to own a Harry Potter for the most part. Like, I might put one in the garage, but I don't see myself like owning Potter. I I just don't think in Hogwart, you know, mindsets. I I don't know what's happening with Predator. I thought that was I I told you I was going to buy Predator. Good or bad, I was going to buy the game because I love the theme so much. I don't even think that game is that game is coming out. It was supposed to be revealed uh yesterday. That That was the plan and it was supposed to be at Allentown and now it's not. Um, I'm curious to see what happens with um, you know, I'm I'm curious to see what happens. Thank you, Eric, for the stars. Disable commercials for live. They keep interrupting your show. And all right, I'll do that next time. I don't think I can do it now. Um, I didn't realize that I put that on, Eric. I don't. Let's see if I can do that now. Monetization activity. Oh, wait. Was that moderation activity? Okay, hold on. I can't change it now. I will I Ah, see I think I Yeah, I think I turned it on by mistake. Um, let me see if I can turn it off. Hold I don't think I'm going to make any money with those. So, sorry. Sorry about that, gang. If it if it makes watching this week's annoying, I really do apologize. No ads in Canada. Yeah. Yeah. It It gang, I'm a work in progress every week. Um, what do you guys want to talk about? How do we want to spend the next few minutes? I'm I'm probably going to go another like 10 15. Yeah, I I don't want to lug another Jersey Jack up the stairs. I'd rather I don't know. Do you think Guns and Roses CE knowing there's only 500, do you think over time if they make all these unlimited CES of Harry Potter and thousands of Sternellies? I don't know. I think GNRCE may may only because there's only 500 may in the end still be something that's at least a little bit unique. Let's go to the marketplace and see if um Guns and Roses CE is for sale. Guns and Roses. It's Yeah, here we go. Wow. one for 9,900. How the mighty have fallen. Zach has one for 10,000 or best offer which means which means he probably offered like he probably gave the guy 8,500 for it. Yeah, I I am I don't know. I'm I'm uh I'm pretty I'm pretty happy not buying games right now. My checking account's just been getting bigger. Life is expensive in other areas for me. You guys know I'm pretty transparent. Daycare is 6,000 a month. 6,000 a month for daycare. I'm also getting I'm also saving up more money now than I ever have before because I'm worried. I'm worried. I'm worried about what will happen in the world. I'm worried about what's happening to my industry. I'm worried about what's happening to my company. I'm worried about what's happening to my clients. And I'm worried that no one has really much job security anymore. And I'm worried that even though you have a family and even though you've given over 10 years of your life to a company, I'm worried that that doesn't translate anymore into any loyalty or any sort of like seniority anymore. So, I'm just worried that um it's really hard as a grown adult to plan out your 50s, like your your 40s into your 50s in a lot of careers that aren't in your in your control, right? I I'm not a lawyer who is a partner in a law firm. I I'm so I'm just expecting the best but planning for the worst is my new sort of mo. So that's that's um that's an anxiety that I I have. And now the thing that alleviates some of my fear is that I know I'm really good at what I do and I know clients appreciate what I do. Um, but you know, it's just it's just I've just seen too many people who feel the same way get blindsided. And I know one day it'll happen to me and it's just the way it goes. Like you just I mean my dad got pushed into early retirement when he was 55. He He retired at 55. The only difference is is my dad spent 37 years at a company that was a multi-billion dollar company that, you know, they they gave equity. They gave they they had a pension. They had they matched 401ks the right way. They They gave stock options, you know. So when my dad retired, he um he worked really hard his whole career, but he retire he, you know, when he was when he was thrusted into retirement, he was always very smart with his money and then doesn't have to work again. But I and I remember watching him when he was pushed out at an early age. It It made him severely depressed. Wasn't about the money. It was it was a sense of purpose. All right, let's see if that worked. Are we back now? Are we back? All right, we're back. I don't know. I just sign in. Okay, enough. My point long story short, I love my job. I hope I can do it as long as I can possibly do it. There's good days, there's bad days, but I feel very blessed to uh wake up and have a creative job. I I get finance makes you more money, but um you know, I'm always thinking about what's next and what's around the corner. You know, I have an 11-month old baby. Cassian's birthday is next month. He'll be one years old. He's so adorable. He's starting to walk with the help of his little walking toys. Um but I I hope you guys are enjoying the show recently. I think it's been a lot of fun covering these these launches. I still think uh we're not, you know, we're not getting those take my money now. OMG, I need this. I need this. I need this. I need like the vibe has changed. Everyone knows it. I I don't even think it's negative. I just think there's a there there's a new reality. And when you wake up and this is the way the world is, it doesn't upset me. It's just so much easier than it's ever been before not to throw money at these companies. And it's not being negative, right? It's like, all right, go play the games. Go enjoy them on location more. Support location pinball more. I don't I I And when I said on my last show, for those of you who are not members, I just think Ellie's now are like you're in the chump club. And And I've said I've I've said it. When you buy an Ellie of a Stern or a Jersey Jack CE, you are now in the chump club. And there's two kinds of chumps. You're either a chump that hasn't done your homework and will lose a lot of money on the game and you'll kick yourself the entire time you ran at it. new and box right away because you could still go get that game. Like if you bought an X-Men LE right away and and you're you're on the chump club because you could go get an X-Men LE now for like 9 grand. So you could have saved yourself $4,000. Why would you do that when you know like there's enough data that shows you just wait a little bit and you'll be able to get the same game for much less. Now, the other side of the chump coin, if you will, are just people that have so much money that $13,000 is chump change. Now, I've said this before. I think the majority of people, the majority that buy a Stern Ellie and a Jersey Jack CE, it's chump change to them. They don't care. They don't care that they're losing potentially thousands of dollars. They don't care to wait. These are men with money who don't want to wait. They just want to play now and they can afford to and they don't care. And that's fine. Like I I'm I'm like I think there's more men who approach this hobby who look at all this stuff like it's chump change than there are men who are chumps. The The real chumps, like, you know what I'm saying? Like if you were to use it in a derogatory term are the newbies. There are so many newbie chumps that came into pinball during COVID that got burned. They got burned. They listened to the newbie content creators. They ran at all the less and they got destroyed. You know, you don't hear people saying bye bye anymore. I mean, let me go on right now. Let me go and see if King Kong Ellie is still available. And it is like it's still I All right. What's What's going to change between now and a month from now? I don't like you calling any person who buys an Ellie a chump. A Albert, what's the matter? What's the matter? Does that upset you? Is that bullying people? Am I bullying rich white men for buying $13,000 pinball machines? Is that is that really upsetting you, Albert? Yeah. But you know what the difference is? We all know we're chumps. Like, you know what, Albert? Like it's it when you go and talk to like other grown adults and you tell them that two pinball machines are $30,000. $30,000. They're like, "What are you are you okay? Like has your wife stopped putting out? Like, are your kids flunking out of school? Like, do do you not realize there's like Europe and Tokyo to go visit? Like, $30,000 for two of the limited games that are not even limited. And then you ask them, "How much were those games five years ago?" Well, I don't want to say, but less were like half that. Uh, you're not allowed to talk like that because the bomb they they've doubled the bomb, right? Have they doubled the bomb? Are there double the toys in the games? No. Kelly, you have $1 million in pinball machines. $1 million. I I mean, I I don't God bless you. But any man who has $1 million in pinball machines has at least $20 million or more in net worth, right? I mean, probably 50, Kelly. I I would assume more like 50 million. Um, $1 million. is I bet we all wish we put our pinball money into Netflix stock. Look at that stock. Damn. Damn, Gina. The um you know, when I walk into automated, what's great is like, yeah, Mike's got about easily Mike's got about $300,000 $400,000 in pins just you know, all brand new right out of the box. stock. Look, the smartest move I made was not selling my apartment and putting it into the market before all this tariff stuff. I I just threw it all against my house. I used to buy every LE. I mean, we all used to buy every LE. You know what I'm saying? It was It was the It was a smart thing to do. It was a smart thing to do. Um, everybody look, everybody look, um, it's 11:30. I want everybody to have a great Saturday with your families. I thank you all for hanging out here talking a little pinball, talking a little life. I want everybody to be happy. I want everybody to make decisions that make you wake up in a good mood. I think there's a lot to love in King Kong. It's not my cup of tea with the art package. And I I bet after I play one, I'm probably going to want to own one after playing Guns and Roses, which doesn't shoot very well, but I'm very content to wait. I'm in a state in my life right now where I I want to save money for things that matter more to me. Um, that doesn't mean I won't buy new inbox pinball machines, but these games currently don't check enough boxes for me. they might check enough boxes for you. Uh, as I uh evaluate these companies, I want to just reiterate my commitment to each of you as Canada watchers and club members that I will do my best to give you a balanced objective point of view, but it's all an opinion. It's all an opinion. I I there's a million people interviewing all the Stern folks. There's a million people doing all the interviews and, you know, the circuses. In the end, if you make a great game based on a theme people want, you don't have to do any interviews. You don't have to fly Canada over. You don't have to make $100,000 launch videos. You don't have to do anything. You don't have to speak to anybody. If you nail it, the game will speak for itself. It'll sell like hotcakes and you'll be fine. I think what I'm noticing in the modern pinball world now is that in in lie of magic, there's just a lot of talk. There's a lot of content. There's a lot of salesmanship. There's a lot of marketing. There's a lot of there's a lot of there's a lot of like trying to get you hyped, but I don't think people feel the level of excitement you did years ago when new inboxes hit. You don't feel nearly as excited to spend 13 or 15 as you did when an LE was 7500 and we were getting better themes. And so as much as these companies would like you to forget what it used to be, I don't think you have. And I think that's the big challenge is not enough newbies have come into this hobby that are going to drive the modern machine of these companies at these prices. It's not going to work out for them and they know that. And there are games piling up. orders aren't rolling in like they they used to. And it's almost inane to me that these companies haven't figured it out. If you're gonna charge $13,000 for an LE, you only make 500 LE's. Don't be jackasses and greedy, Stern. It doesn't work anymore. You used to make 500 LE's for 7500. Heck, they were like 5,500 back in the Okay, but I'm willing to give it to you if you want to charge 13,000 for an LE. only 500, bros. You've got to you got to give some value back to the customers. All the money went to you and all the money that was lost was your customer base. So, are you surprised your customer base is now walking away? Even the great Keith Elwin, even with all your like marketing people that don't even have any any clout or credibility with the people, people don't wake up. Nobody just wakes up on a random day and says, "Honey, I'm going to go buy a $13,000 pinball machine." The people that love pinball, you know who they are. And too many of these companies turn their back on those people with greed over making, over supplying the collector amount. And it's b and it's come back to bite you. And nobody has the guts. Stern did it once with Metallica Remastered LE and they seemingly don't want to do it again. Go right back to a thousand. Oh, 932. It's a thousand. It's a thou and you can't even sell 932. In LA should sell out day one. So should a CE. The more you keep them, uh, yeah, we're going to make as many as people want. Harry Potter CE the way they're going to launch it. It's not going to work out. It's not going to work out. They're They're gonna they're going to end up telegraphing to everybody. There's no need to get one right now. Canadas Pinball Podcast. Maybe Maybe next time, gang, I need to come in with a little bit more fire. What do you think? I'll turn the ads off. We'll do the super chats, but speak more candidly like that. I mean, that's what I enjoy doing because I I think it's wake up time. It's wake up time. You seriously there's no more levers to pull. There's no more levers to pull. You We know what the prices are. We know what the volume is. We know there's thousands of games new in box unsold piling up in a factory somewhere in Chicago. You know, the white walkers are coming and and all these content creator shills that are just like making like they're not going to be able to prevent what's coming. Winter is coming for these big companies. Jersey Jack doesn't matter. They got, you know, I was talking to one of my friends. I'm like, "Dude, you realize they have thousands of millions of dollars?" Like my friend Frank was like, "A Harry Potter costs $4 million to get the license, right? $4 million. I bet you Brett Abbis' apartment in Miami is more money than that. Do you understand? I was like, dude, they have thousands of millions, thousands of millions. Think about it. If I gave you just $1,000, right, in singles, I gave you a thousand of them and I took $4 away. Did you feel it? Has it changed anything? Do you feel like you now need to like make unlimited CES to recoup that $4 million? Nothing. It's nothing to them. Nothing. A billion is $1,000 million. It's nothing. Okay. The world's second most favorite pinball podcast. Canadas Pinball Podcast. Everybody, happy Saturday. Go make love to your wives. I'm out. Peace.