"Stern Has the Power!" Masters of the Universe Pinball Coming Soon

Knapp Arcade·article·analyzed·Jul 3, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.018

TL;DR

Masters of the Universe confirmed for Stern; designer and timeline remain speculative.

Summary

A Pinside forum user with a strong track record of predicting Stern releases has confirmed Masters of the Universe is coming from Stern Pinball through a cryptic post. The article speculates on designer (John Borg vs. Jack Danger), artist (Randy Martinez), and timeline (2024, possibly revealed at San Diego Comic-Con 2023), while acknowledging uncertainty about immediate reveal vs. future announcement.

Key Claims

mnpinball, a Pinside member with a legendary track record of predicting Stern titles, has posted confirmation that Masters of the Universe is coming from Stern Pinball
high confidence · Article cites the Pinside post as the primary evidence for the announcement
John Borg is designing Masters of the Universe, not Jack Danger, because Danger wanted to work on other themes
low confidence · Author states 'I recently heard that he actually is NOT this game's designer' but acknowledges this goes against conventional wisdom and that 'Time will tell'
Randy Martinez is likely the artist for Masters of the Universe based on his 2022 Comic-Con quote about Masters of the Universe artwork
medium confidence · Author quotes Martinez from mid-2022 interview saying 'Hopefully by next year's Comic Con I will have some Masters of the Universe artwork'
Masters of the Universe was initially expected to release in 2023
low confidence · Author's 2022 article title mentioned 'Coming in 2023' but current article suggests 2024 timeline
Masters of the Universe may be revealed at San Diego Comic-Con, though Venom is considered more likely
low confidence · Author states 'the smart money is probably still on a Venom release now with Masters of the Universe in 2024'

Notable Quotes

“By the power of Grayskull, Stern has the power !”
mnpinball (Pinside forum user) @ Earlier today (from article publication) — Cryptic confirmation post that triggered the article; a verifiable signal from a trusted community predictor
“Hopefully by next year's Comic Con I will have some Masters of the Universe artwork. I'm really excited about that because besides Star Wars and basketball, Masters of the Universe is my thing.”
Randy Martinez (artist) @ Mid-2022 interview — Evidence connecting Martinez to Masters of the Universe artwork; indicates artist involvement in the project
“I recently heard that he actually is NOT this game's designer. I've been hearing that John Borg is designing it because Jack wanted to work on some other theme.”
Author (Knapp Arcade) @ Article publication — Challenges conventional wisdom about Jack Danger designing the game; introduces uncertainty about designer identity
“Time will tell. It's most likely one of those two gentlemen.”
Author (Knapp Arcade) @ Article publication — Acknowledges low confidence in designer attribution; speculates between John Borg and Jack Danger

Entities

Masters of the UniversegameStern PinballcompanyJack Dangerperson John Borgperson Randy MartinezpersonmnpinballpersonVenomgame Jaws

Signals

$
market_signal: Growing certainty that Masters of the Universe is definitively coming from Stern, shifting from speculation to near-confirmed status
medium · Author frames the Pinside post as moving speculation from 'doubt' to 'almost certainly' confirmed territory
?
event_signal: Speculation about San Diego Comic-Con 2023 as potential reveal venue for Masters of the Universe or competing Venom announcement
medium · Author cites Randy Martinez's Comic-Con 2023 timeline reference and Venom as likely alternative reveal
?
leak_detection: Pinside forum user mnpinball with proven track record posts cryptic confirmation of Masters of the Universe coming from Stern
high · Direct quote: 'By the power of Grayskull, Stern has the power !' from trusted predictor on Pinside
?
personnel_signal: Uncertainty about designer identity: Jack Danger conventionally linked to Masters of the Universe but rumor suggests John Borg is actual designer because Danger pursued other themes
low · Author states 'I recently heard that he actually is NOT this game's designer' but acknowledges this contradicts conventional wisdom
?
announcement: Masters of the Universe Stern Pinball machine is confirmed (or near-confirmed) through trusted community source
high · mnpinball's post; author states 'now we almost certainly can put it in the books'
?

Topics

Upcoming game announcements and leaksprimaryDesigner and artist attribution for unreleased gamesprimaryRelease timeline speculationprimaryCommunity prediction accuracy and insider information sourcessecondaryComic-Con reveal strategy and competitive announcement timingsecondaryIP licensing (Masters of the Universe, Star Wars, Jaws)secondary

Sentiment

positive(0.72)— Author is excited and speculative about the announcement; treats it as newsworthy and interesting. Tone is enthusiastic about Masters of the Universe coming to pinball, though tempered by acknowledgment of uncertainty about designer, artist, and timeline. Use of phrases like 'I like it!' and 'keep us guessing and make things interesting' conveys positive sentiment.

Transcript

raw_text · $0.000

People have been saying forever that He-Man Masters of the Universe is coming from Stern Pinball. Earlier today, a Pinside member named "mnpinball" who is legendary on the message boards for correctly predicting future titles from Stern Pinball posted the following message: "By the power of Grayskull, Stern has the power !" I don't think that there was any doubt previously that Stern had the Masters of the Universe license, but now we almost certainly can put it in the books, write it in pen or whatever colloquialism one wants to use. Interestingly, I had been planning on writing my next article here on He-Man, probably tomorrow or Wednesday, but this prediction by the Nostradamus of Pinside moved my timeline up a little bit. With the What? part of the questions surrounding this upcoming Stern Cornerstone pinball machine answered, the next questions are Who? and When? Let's look at the Who? first. For a long time now, the new Stern designer Jack Danger has almost exclusively been linked to a potential Masters of the Universe game. However, I recently heard that he actually is NOT this game's designer. I've been hearing that John Borg is designing it because Jack wanted to work on some other theme. Is this change actually true? It certainly goes against conventional wisdom. Time will tell. It's most likely one of those two gentlemen. One of those two is the likely designer, so who is on the art? Back in mid-2022 I wrote an article here speculating that Randy Martinez may be doing the art for a Stern He-Man pinball machine: Taking Stuff and Running...Stern Pinball Masters of the Universe Coming in 2023? https://www.knapparcade.org/post/taking-stuff-and-running-stern-pinball-masters-of-the-universe-coming-in-2023 At the time I wrote the following: "From the quote that I shared at the top of this post, you can see that he obviously knows that us pinball people grab ahold of every single nugget of information that we can find and completely over-analyze it LOL. That's exactly what I'm going to do here. Early on in the interview, Randy said the following: "Hopefully by next year's Comic Con I will have some Masters of the Universe artwork. I'm really excited about that because besides Star Wars and basketball, Masters of the Universe is my thing." There has been a rumor floating around out there that Stern Pinball is working on a Masters of the Universe pinball machine. So, let's add this smoke to the Stern He-Man Pinball fire :)." Besides the two Star Wars-related Stern pinball machines that Randy has done the art on in the past, he also has been rumored to be the artist for a possible upcoming Stern Pinball Jaws pinball machine. Could he be doing both Jaws AND He-Man for Stern? I suppose that it's possible. So the last question here is When? If Masters of the Universe is really coming, when might we see it? Above Randy Martinez actually associated his Masters of the Universe art with San Diego Comic Con 2023. Could He-Man be the Stern's big reveal at this month's convention instead of Venom? I personally think that the smart money is probably still on a Venom release now with Masters of the Universe in 2024, but between the Random Redditor rumor and this He-Man stuff there's enough uncertainty about what Stern is going to show off at Comic-Con to keep us guessing and make things interesting. I like it!