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Episode 60: Is There REALLY a Problem With Transformers Pinball?

The Flipside Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·51m 32s·analyzed·May 28, 2026
4fe9e1f0-de5f-422f-8ddc-a288faf9f5df
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Transformers pinball's Optimus mech controversy stems from internal Stern leak, but game delivers strong code and theme integration.

Summary

Retro Ralph analyzes the Transformers pinball controversy, tracing the Optimus Prime transformation rumor to an internal Stern leak reported by Kaneda's Pinball Podcast around February, which created community expectations that went unmet. He defends content creators attending media days, explains the mechanical complexity of mech toys, and pivots to highlighting the game's actual strengths: advanced code development, strong theme integration with licensed G1 clips and original voice actors, accessible gameplay design, creative toys (Megatron cannon, Soundwave cassette deck), and deep rules including Energon cubes and combiner multiballs.

Key Claims

  • The Optimus Prime transformation rumor originated from Kaneda's Pinball Podcast around February, traced from a Pinside post citing that podcast as the source

    high confidence · Retro Ralph conducted research and found the earliest public source on Pinside referencing Kaneda's Pinball Podcast

  • Someone inside Stern leaked the mech information to a content creator, violating internal contractual obligations

    medium confidence · Retro Ralph's speculation based on the rumor origination from a podcast rather than official Stern channels; he states 'I don't believe that the content creator made that up. I think someone told the content creator'

  • The Optimus Prime mech was likely designed to block the Vuk shot when lowered, requiring players to hit it once to raise it before accessing the lock shot

    medium confidence · Retro Ralph's analysis based on early leaked images showing tracks and the current dual-shot lock mechanism; he notes 'AI folded it down' to theorize original intent

  • Transformers code is more developed at launch than typical recent Stern releases

    high confidence · Retro Ralph played at media day and interviewed Elizabeth (Stern designer); he states 'the code is so much farther along than any stern I've ever experienced out of box'

  • Content creators at media days are not controlled by Stern and are not told what to say

    high confidence · Retro Ralph's direct experience attending multiple media days since John Wick; he states 'They don't tell you to say anything. They just want you to go there and experience the game'

  • The game features original voice actors Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime) and Frank Welker (Megatron, Soundwave)

    high confidence · Retro Ralph states 'you've got the Peter Cullen stuff, you've got the Frank Welker stuff' and experienced them at media day

  • Stan Bush's 'The Touch' from the 1986 Transformers movie is featured as a special mode in the pinball game

    medium confidence · Retro Ralph mentions it will be added: 'There a special everyone loves that the Stan Bush song The Touch That in the game as a special mode / There a custom mode that in the game / It not in there quite yet but it will be'

Notable Quotes

  • “The only thing that we had to do was we had to sign an NDA for that short period of time because there was a period of time where we got to see it before it got launched. But we're talking hours, right?”

    Retro Ralph @ ~12:00 — Defends media day NDAs as standard industry practice to protect IP licensing agreements and prevent competitive leaks

  • “Like you leak it, it becomes the expectation. Then you pour gasoline on the disappointment of it knowing damn well that someone shared that with you in confidence right even though they shouldn have shared it in the first place. And then you blame the company for not meeting an expectation that you helped create.”

    Retro Ralph @ ~18:00 — Core criticism of how leaked information amplifies disappointment and shifts blame; identifies the feedback loop problem with unverified rumors

  • “The code is so much farther along than any stern I've ever experienced out of box while I've been in this hobby.”

    Retro Ralph @ ~35:00 — Positive assessment of Transformers code maturity, addresses long-standing community complaint about unfinished Stern launches

  • “When you're designing a game, that's a hard thing to do because you have to say, okay, I need new players to be able to have fun with this and enjoy it, but I also need someone that's a higher skill level to feel like there's a lot for them to chew on.”

    Retro Ralph @ ~45:00 — Articulates the design challenge Elliott Eismin (Transformers designer) faced in balancing accessibility with depth

  • “I think when you play the game, the main game is very far along and I think you're going to be very happy with that.”

    Retro Ralph @ ~37:00 — Direct endorsement based on hands-on experience, attempting to set realistic expectations despite mech controversy

Entities

Retro RalphpersonKaneda's Pinball Podcastperson|content_creatorStern PinballcompanyTransformers (Stern)gameElizabethpersonElliott EismanpersonPeter CullenpersonFrank Welkerperson

Signals

  • ?

    product_concern: Optimus Prime transformation mech from truck to robot was planned but removed or failed to function; community expectations exceeded deliverable

    high · Leaked images showed tracks for folding mechanism; current design has dual-hit lock sequence instead; community furor centered on this absent feature

  • ?

    leak_detection: Internal Stern staff member leaked Optimus Prime transformation plans to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast during development, which propagated across Pinside and created false community expectations

    medium · Retro Ralph traced rumor origin to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast around February; Pinside posts cite podcast as source; Retro Ralph states 'I think someone told the content creator' rather than invented rumor

  • ?

    community_signal: Leaked information about missing mech feature was amplified by content creators and community members despite originating from unverified sources, creating self-reinforcing disappointment cycle

    high · Retro Ralph criticizes cycle: 'you leak it, it becomes the expectation. Then you pour gasoline on the disappointment' and blames both leaker and those who amplify unconfirmed rumors

  • ?

    code_update: Transformers pinball shipped with unusually mature code for a Stern release, departing from pattern of incomplete software at launch

    high · Retro Ralph: 'the code is so much farther along than any stern I've ever experienced out of box'; attributes to Elizabeth's extended development timeline

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Elliott Eisman designed Transformers with accessible entry for new players while maintaining strategic depth for experienced players; contrasts with Star Wars: Fall of the Empire's tight shot difficulty

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.155

0:00
Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the Flipside Podcast. I'm your host, Retro Ralph. It's episode number six zero. And today's episode, you know, the title would look a little misleading. Like maybe I'm going to be all about the drama on this episode, but you know when you come here, this is a relatively drama-free zone. But there's some things I want to talk about because I put on my super sleuth hat really quick and I wanted to see like how did we get here? Because I'm somewhat fresh off of media day for Transformers and I'll tell you as an 80s kid who sat there Saturday morning cartoons and watched the Transformers, I was pretty freaking amped up for this game and for good reason. But before we get started, I just want to share a little bit of like, you know, the sort of like dark side of this launch. And are we really focused on the right things? And it's not meant to deflect or to, you know, kind of ignore the things that aren't in the game. Because we're going to talk about that, but there's so much in the game that to focus on this one thing seems just a little silly to me personally. And I'm going to die on that hill no matter what because I played it and I can tell you it's pretty freaking spectacular as someone that is a big fan of the Transformers. So anyways, I'm coming in hot on this episode. Because I don't like this. This stuff bothers me. It bothers me because I feel like we have this amazing hobby that we're getting all these great games and these great themes from all of these manufacturers. And it just seems like with every release, there's just something. There's got to be something that the corner of the Internet, the corner of our hobby latches onto and just can't let go of. They get obsessed with it. And it's just a small group, but the small group is loud. So, of course, we're not going to ignore it. We're going to talk about it, but I want to talk about the origins of how we got here. But first, quick word from our sponsor. If you're looking for a new pinball machine or a used pinball machine, go check out Zach at Flippin' Out Pinball. All the information will be in the video description. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it will also be in the description of that. So anyways, let's get started. So obviously Transformers came out and it got launched and we went to media day and we had a really good time. And the majority of people that played this game that actually played this game, I want to reiterate, played it, really enjoyed it. And I will say I want to I want to defend my content creator friends because we've all been going to these things ever since John Wick came out. And so a lot of us have become personal friends. We see each other at shows. And I just want to tell you that there may be sides or corners of the Internet that would make you believe that these people are devious and they have some kind of ulterior motive. But all the people that go to these are pinball players first. They love and adore the hobby that we're all in. So to think that they're doing anything malicious or being told to say anything is actually quite ridiculous. And the thing is, if anybody really truly cares about these games and how they play and really want to give you like a fair assessment of it, it's the people that go. They really are a bunch of pinball nerds that just happen to make content. Some have podcasts, some have YouTube channels, but I'll tell you, they're all really good people. And I've known a lot of them for a long time because some of my new for my YouTube days, which I'm still, you know, I still kind of classify myself as a YouTuber, even though I have a podcast. And they're all great people. So anyway, so my buddy Sean, real quick before we get into the meat and potatoes of everything, my buddy Sean, he's Arcade Gaming Central on Instagram. He started to gain a lot of traction with his Instagram. He's been someone that's just really been into pinball for a long time. He does graphic design and all sorts of stuff for his day job. So he's really good with all that stuff.
Pat Lee
person
Eric Meunierperson
Pinsideorganization
Back to the Future (upcoming Stern)game
Christopher Franchiperson
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
Barrels of Funcompany
Spooky Pinballcompany
Zach Sharpeperson
Seanperson
John Wick (Stern)game
Harry Potter (Jersey Jack Pinball)game
Pokemon (Stern)game
Star Wars: Fall of the Empire (Stern)game
Evil Dead (pinball)game
Hasbrocompany

medium · Retro Ralph analyzes design challenge: 'I need new players to be able to have fun with this and enjoy it, but I also need someone that's a higher skill level to feel like there's a lot for them to chew on'; notes shot difficulty is moderate, not extreme

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Obtaining Stan Bush's 'The Touch' from 1986 Transformers movie required separate licensing negotiation with Hasbro beyond base G1 TV show rights; indicates complex IP compartmentalization

    medium · Retro Ralph notes TV show and movie are treated as 'separate entity' in licensing; special mode was not in initial code but will be added later

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Community narrative centered on missing transformation mech expected to shift once players experience full game on location; Retro Ralph predicts positive reception upon hands-on play

    medium · Retro Ralph: 'I'm going to call it right now. These games are going to start showing up on location in the next couple weeks probably. People are going to play it, and I think they're going to go, wow.'

  • ?

    industry_signal: Stern media day program includes NDAs for pre-release access but does not control creator messaging; standard across industry; designed to create surprise for community while enabling creator credibility through firsthand experience

    high · Retro Ralph defends media day: 'They don't tell you to say anything. They just want you to go there and experience the game'; describes NDAs as protective of IP and licensing agreements

  • ?

    design_innovation: Megatron cannon fires pinballs onto diverter ramp; Soundwave cassette deck fires balls during multiball; both creatively integrate theme with toy mechanics

    high · Retro Ralph played both: Megatron rotates and fires to left flipper; Soundwave deploys balls during multiball referencing character's cassette deployment lore

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Transformers features elaborate rule set including Energon cubes, Dinobot missions, tech spec cards, and combiner multiballs; rules deeper than expected for modern Stern release

    high · Retro Ralph: 'the rules to me...are deeper than I expected. There's a pretty elaborate rule sheet that already exists'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stern invested heavily in G1 theme authenticity: licensed TV clips, original voice actors (Peter Cullen, Frank Welker), commercial break transitions, focus on first two seasons; positioned as nostalgia-driven product

    high · Retro Ralph catalogs: 'They have tons of the TV clips...the remember remember when you were watching it as a kid...That's in the game. And a lot of the clips from the show are in the game'

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Transformation mech removal or failure likely due to reliability challenges; Jersey Jack Harry Potter staircase required 50+ iterations and multiple staff testing cycles; mech toys represent manufacturing risk

    medium · Retro Ralph references Eric Meunier's conference talks: 'each person on staff shot at that thing 100 times each to make sure like, hey, are we getting rejects? Is it unreliable?'

    • 4:11
    And he really wanted to go to a media day. And I was like, look, man, I'll have you come with me. You know, you'll get, you know, and I think you'll, he makes really great content. So, and I tried to tell him, I was like, look, everyone there is really cool. No one's going to be like, why is this guy here or that guy here? Why are these people? That's not what the vibe is there. Everyone's really cool. And I want to give you the other like kind of insider thing.
    4:36
    There's sometimes I see things that make it sound like people go there and Stern's like controlling what you say. I just want to let you know, if anything, that couldn't be, that's so far from the truth. They don't tell you to say anything. They just want you to go there and experience the game. And I like that they do this because it allows someone to go there, get that firsthand experience so that you can really understand like, all right, we know we can see a picture. And in a picture, you see like what mechs are in the game and all that stuff. And we're going to get to mechs in a second.
    5:07
    And you can like formulate an opinion of how it looks, but you're not playing it. And you can see the videos, but again, you're really not experiencing it for yourself. So I'm very grateful personally that they let us do this because they don't control anything we say. They don't control anything we do. The only thing that we had to do was we had to sign an NDA for that short period of time because there was a period of time where we got to see it before it got launched. But we're talking hours, right? So they're trying to protect themselves as any company would do, whether it be Barrels of Fun or JJP or whoever. Very common practice in the field of work I work in. They have NDAs so that we don't leak things out to the community for competitors to get a hold of. Or, God forbid, the license holder has an agreement of a date and they expect everything to be launched on that date. And if something leaks, that also can cause conflict between whoever the manufacturer is, not just Stern, and that license holder. I've actually seen in my arcade days deals not happen because things got leaked out into the open and they were like, hey, that was just a prototype. Like, what are you guys doing? And it broke trust. So to think that there's some something devious with an NDA is just kind of silly. And it just means that that person doesn't understand how NDAs work. And I don't mind saying that because that's that's like fact. OK, so how did we get to this weird, crazy because there's so many things to celebrate. So about this game. So how did we get, especially for you guys that are Transformers fans? I'm telling you, when you play it, I'm so excited for the narrative to shift because it will. The overpowering narrative right now is all focused on Optimus Prime and it not transforming. But I wanted to get to the root of like, where did this start? Because Stern doesn't come out, nor does JJP, nor does Barrels of Fun, nor does Spooky. They don't come out and say, oh, by the way, we're releasing this game and it's going to have this amazing mech in it. They don't say that. They don't say anything. Like, think about Barrels of Fun. Did we have any clue that there'd be a sandworm in that game? No, no. Do we have any idea that there I mean, there might be some people that knew things about Spooky and maybe they saw the game or whatever. But for the most part, especially with the bigger companies, especially with barrels of fun, they don't let anything out. And I like that because we're all surprised at the same time and then we all see it at the same time. So we're not like formulating our our impression of the game is that when we first see the game and that's what I think all these manufacturers want. They want us to see it for what it is, and they don't make any promises up front. Whether you like that or not, it is what it is, but that's how they do things. They launch the game, you get to make your assessment at that point, and of course, because we're big nerds, we do, in our minds, formulate what we wish that theme would be, right? Because we got Back to the Future coming out later this year. I have things I want to see, like I hope it has a DeLorean in it, I hope it has a flux capacitor in it. It'd be really cool if it had Marty on a hoverboard. I don't know. There's like a bunch of things. I hope it has images of the cafe 80s. There's a ton of things. And that that game is going to be especially hard because you have like multiple years within the timeline, multiple movies like, you know, and I think Christopher Franchi's on art. So he's really great at capturing multiple elements of everything. So I wanted to know, like, because Stern never said to anybody that this would have this mech in it. Right. Now, I'm not trying to, by the way, this isn't in defense of the mech and where we are now because now we know things about it. Some is speculation. Some is we think we know. But whatever. At the end of the day, the only people that really truly know are the people at Stern. But I wanted to know, like, where were the origins of this information? So the reason why I said I think Stern has a problem here. So I took notes just because there's almost too much for me to decipher off of memory. So I went out and I went, all right, where was the earliest public source of this Optimus Prime transforms from a truck to a robot rumor? And what I what I could find and again, this is the last thing I found or the first thing I found in the timeline was sometime around February time frame. It could have been earlier, but that's the first part I found. And of course, you know, I'm not a professional investigator, so I don't I'm not a private investigator. So, you know, this is just what I found by doing research.
    9:17
    It looks like the first public point to it was not framed as a as a firsthand confirmation, but it was someone that posted on Pinside and is framed as I found out about this listening to Kaneda's Pinball podcast.
    9:32
    And it says specifically it was in the Transformers G1 G1 hype thread, and it said basically that Optimus was going to transform into something. So the rumor became more prevalent on Pinside. Basically, there were some things that were said along with that thread that Pat Lee would do the art and it was going to be a split color. So that actually ended up being accurate. And then the Optus mech was going to transform into a truck to a robot.
    10:01
    And another user said, I heard that too, which meant that all the sources came from Kaneda's Pinball podcast. So keep in mind, so these all these rumors all came from that podcast, according to Pinside. Now, if we if if we know the rumor started there, like I don't believe that the content creator made that up. I think someone told the content creator. Now, keep in mind, that's speculation on my part, but I don't think he made up that fact. Someone and he and he likes to, you know, not that I want to make this about another creator, but he likes to boast that he gets insider information. This is where it gets a little dangerous, because if, in fact, and this is what I believe, that someone in at Stern leak this information to any content creator. But in this case, it was Kaneda Spinball podcast. This was then delivered to the audience. So this wasn't Stern saying this publicly. This was someone inside Stern, is my belief, told a content creator, and then that formed this impression that this was going to have this mech that transforms. It's a little dangerous because no one within any of these organizations, right, whether it be Stern or JJP or whatever, I'm assuming most of them, or if not all of them, Are contractually obligated to some to not talk about games that are in development with people outside of the company. So when I look at it that way, this then started from that. Right. So this rumor started from a podcast person. So now, of course, that propagates through all of Pinside and all these places. So now people start having this expectation that it's going to transform.
    11:42
    The danger in this comes from the fact that now this impression is out there. This information shouldn't have been made public, and now it is. So regardless of how it ended up being, we know now that it doesn't transform at all. And there's also this belief that it was supposed to transform at some time. But that information should have never been shared. So I don't really blame Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, although I kind of blame Stern. Like I feel like Stern created this problem by a leak internally that went outside and then of course it set this into motion and it became this snowball of everyone believes it's supposed to do this thing. And of course then you're disappointed when you find out it doesn't do that thing. So all the focus has been on that. But what I find even more disturbing about it, what kind of gets it to the point where it's disturbing is it's like you leak it, it becomes the expectation. Then you pour gasoline on the disappointment of it knowing damn well that someone shared that with you in confidence right even though they shouldn have shared it in the first place And then you blame the company for not meeting an expectation that you helped create So I don't like that. Like, I don't like that because I feel like it feels a little gross to me, like someone's going out and trying to intentionally amplify something. When if we like rewind and none of that happened and it came out like this, we would just be disappointed. But we wouldn't have had this preconceived notion that it was going to do this thing. And again, I'm not trying to defend Stern at all here. I'm actually trying to point fingers at Stern internally. I think there's a problem. Like you should not have members of your staff leaking out things that are from games when a certain thing is in development. Because maybe we don't know the real reason why it doesn't work, whether it was unreliable, whether it was whatever. And am I disappointed as a Transformers fan that it doesn't do that? Sure. But the advantage that I had is I got to play it. So I got to immediately get over that fact quickly if the sum of its parts was really good. Now, if the sum of its parts wasn't good, then we'd have another problem because now I'd be like, oh, man, the other things that make that are going to make this game great aren't there. But that's not the case with this. It is there. And there's a lot of things there that actually make this a really great game. So I'm going to kind of like give you guys a little bit of my assessment as to like why I think this game is great. Again, I'm not trying to defend Stern, but I'm trying to level set so people get a good idea of like what they should expect from this game so that when you do ultimately play it, I think it will.
    14:29
    Will you still be disappointed that it didn't transform? Probably because it was this expectation set that probably shouldn't have been set in the first place. But again, I'm not making excuses. It probably was supposed to transform. We can kind of see it by looking at it. Anybody that looks at it or has looked at it closely can see it was supposed to. And then some of the early images, maybe it was the one that leaked with the Insider Connected stuff, showed tracks going up to Optimus, which would indicate that it would have folded down. And I have an image I'm going to share here. This is AI. This is not an official image. But with AI, I took the truck and folded it down so you could see it because I was trying to figure out like if it did fold down, what was the purpose of it folding down in the first place? Other than it's a Transformers game and Optimus transforming or any of the Transformers transforming is part of that universe and part of that world. So you'd kind of expect it, although the last Transformer game, there was no transforming mech. And I know that mechs are complex. They can be difficult. I got a chance to work on the JJP Harry Potter video. And when I worked on that, I got to see a no joke, a box. And this box was filled with probably, I don't even know. It could have been 50 different iterations of the staircase to get it right. And if you listen to Eric Minier talk about it at several different conferences, he talks about how each each person on staff shot at that thing 100 times each to make sure like, hey, are we getting rejects? Is it unreliable? Whatever. Again, I don't know if that's the reason why it didn't transform, but I'm just saying there's a lot of work that goes into getting these mechs to work properly.
    16:05
    So anyways, that being said, what do I feel like it's knowing from playing it? What do I feel like it was there for and what was the purpose of it? Outside of just a gimmick to have it transform, which would be cool. What I believe the reason why it was there was this. So the Vuck that's on the right-hand side of Optimus, it's also where you lock balls. So you hit the Vuck once, and then the lock is lit. Then you hit it again, and it sends the ball over to Soundwave and locks it in his chest, which then the balls come out during the multiball. You then repeat that sequence, and for every shot on the Vuck, that lights the lock again. Then the second shot on the Vuck locks the ball in Soundwave. What I believe was going to happen in the original design is when you start the game, the truck was going to be in the down position. So Optimus was going to look like a truck. You would have had to hit the truck once. He would have came up. Optimus would have stood and that would have given you access to the Vuk. So it would have blocked the Vuk while he was down. When he raised up, you hit it once. You hit Optimus once. He raises up. You hit the Vuk. It locks the ball. In the way it's deployed, the way we played it, you hit the VUK twice. Once to light the lock, once to lock the ball. So that's what I believe it did. It was down, you hit it once, it stood up, you lock the ball. And then you repeat that sequence until you start the multiball, which I can't remember the name of that multiball, but it's like probably the easiest multiball to obtain within the game. So that's it. So that's the thing that isn't there. Would I have loved to see that? Yes. Do I think the modding community will probably have a field day with this? Probably because what they did, and I don't know if this was in the original design because we don't know that. We're not internal to Stern. There's two sort of targets on his, I don't know, I guess you could say his shins. And when you hit that, it's a bash toy now. So it's a bash toy, but it doesn't have any bearing on the lock now. The lock is just you hit the shot twice, once to enable the lock, once to lock the ball. And then you repeat that sequence four more times for six total, and that will start your multiball. So that's what you're missing out on. But I guess the reason why I wanted to bring up that timeline is that that wasn't stuff that was ever delivered by Stern. And I think the disappointment is really because someone leaked something that they shouldn't have while a game was in development. Because when stuff's in development, it may or may not come out, right? It may not come out that way. It may not come out at all that way, and it may get changed at some point during the development cycle. So that's why I wanted to bring it up. I didn't want to spend too much time on it because I think that we've beaten that dead horse, and it's just unfortunate to me because I've played it. It's unfortunate that that's the focus, but here's the thing that's going to happen. I'm going to call it right now. These games are going to start showing up on location in the next couple weeks probably, the pros. People are going to play it, and I think they're going to go, wow. And I'm going to say why they're going to go, wow. Okay, the code is so much farther along than any stern I've ever experienced out of box while I've been in this hobby. It's probably, according to Elizabeth, I had a great interview with Elizabeth. I didn't air the interview in my full video, but I think I'm going to take the whole interview and just put it out as its own clip. Because Elizabeth goes into a lot of the details around the game and she dives in a little deeper on some of the ideas she has for the code. But the code is so far along right now. So I think when you play the game, the main game is very far along and I think you're going to be very happy with that. And that is something that we've, as a community, complained a lot about with Stern releases for a while now. We've complained about, oh man, it takes a long time. We get a game, it's hurry up and wait, and the code doesn't develop for some period of time. This is not the case with this game. I don't know the reason. I don't know if it's because Elizabeth's been working on it for a really long time. I didn't ask that question, but one could assume that the reason why this game is so much farther along is they really had a long time to work on it. And mad props to Elizabeth for her code development efforts because it's really good. And you're going to see that when you play it. So don't just take my word for it. I'm not expecting you to listen to me and go, oh, it's great and place an order. That's not my motivation. It's never my motivation. My motivation is to give you information and then you hopefully seek out the game. And if you're crazy like me, you're going to buy it because you're a big Transformers fan. But I realize that it's a big investment. It's a lot of money. So you should go out and play it. And there's going to be plenty of them on location in the next couple of weeks for you to do that. So I think that's great. The gameplay is fast. It's pretty accessible. It isn't super easy or anything. So like if you're coming from Pokemon and like maybe you're newer to the hobby, Pokemon felt really good to like a player that's average skill level because the shots were pretty easy to hit.
    20:58
    The shots are not difficult to hit. There's plenty of stuff for you to do in the beginning and then build on that as you get better. So like approachable is a weird word. I've used it in the past. I accidentally used approachable with Star Wars, Fall of the Empire. That was a bad take on my part. I don't think that game was very accessible. I think that game actually is a pretty difficult shooter because the shots are so tight. The shots are not extra tight on this, and there's plenty for you to grasp onto initially, which is a hard thing, right? When you're Elliot Eisman is the designer, when you're designing a game, that's a hard thing to do because you have to say, okay, I need new players to be able to have fun with this and enjoy it, but I also need someone that's a higher skill level to feel like there's a lot for them to chew on. Um, you've got, you know, I'm trying to try to highlight some of the other things I think people will think are cool. You've got Megatron, which is this fully animatronic, basically toy of Megatron and his fusion cannon. Well, first of all, he rotates, he rotates around and in the initial code right now, he moves a little bit. He'll probably move a lot more and may do more than just he fires the ramp. He fires the ball like onto a platform ramp and returns it to your left flipper. I do think they'll probably find some other ways to creatively incorporate that mech into the gameplay and then to lock balls in him for him to shoot it out. You hit the right ramp. The one thing that I, you know, I played it a lot, but I don't remember like what you have to do to qualify that shot. But but it is the right ramp shot. You hit the right ramp shot and it locks the ball or not really locks, but it sort of is a diverter there. It loads the cannon that fires fires it out. So it's a really cool little gimmicky toy. It's cool. It looks cool. It's interesting and fun when it happens. So I think people will get excited when they see that and they play it for the first time. You've got Soundwave's cassette deck. That is a really cool theme integrated thing. It is very cool that we all know that Soundwave would deploy enemies out of his chest. Laserbeak would be one of those enemies, but instead of deploying an enemy out of his chest, he fires pinballs out during the multiball, which I personally think is a really cool feature. And if you're a fan of Transformers, I think Soundwave is someone that a lot of people really gravitate toward that character. Probably had that toy as a kid. I know I did. I loved that you could take the tapes out. It was just cool. And in that 80s era, tapes and cassettes were really popular, so it was a really cool thing that Hasbro did that kind of got us all into it. It was like pop culture like and then, you know, obviously it was it was brought into the Transformers world.
    23:42
    I think the theme package as a whole is really, really strong. Like we're talking G1 nostalgia craziness. They have tons of the TV clips. They have the remember remember when you were watching it as a kid and the commercial breaks when it was going to a commercial and coming back sort of that transition. That's in the game. And a lot of the clips from the show are in the game. It mainly focuses on the first two seasons, but there's a ton there right now. There's more than enough there right now. Like, honestly, if it didn't if they didn't even add more than what's there right now, I think it would satisfy a lot of people. And that strong theme integration is really important, right? You've got authentic clips from the show that are licensed that if you're a Transformers fan, you're going to absolutely love. So the reason why I'm trying to highlight these things is I feel like it's got this unfair shake out in the market right now where no one's played it yet. So there's a corner of the market that's really loud that's just talking about the negative and not all these awesome positive things about it. Then, of course, if you're a big fan, you're like, I need the original voice actors of Optimus and of Megatron and of Soundwave, and those are all there. So, I mean, again, that stuff, if it wasn't there, would be a bigger deal to me than a single mech that maybe doesn't work the way we anticipated it working. So that again, awesome. Like you've got the Peter Cullen stuff, you've got the Frank Welker stuff. That to me just really brings the theme together. It's kind of like how I felt about Evil Dead when you have the original voice actor doing the lines. And then it's just it just it's more magical. It pulls you into the world and it's very recognizable because it's what you remember as a kid. And when you're talking about a property like G1 Transformers, you want to feel like they did this the right way. And they absolutely did. They got a lot more than I thought they would get. And then there a special everyone loves that the Stan Bush song The Touch That in the game as a special mode There a custom mode that in the game It not in there quite yet but it will be Now that was interesting because in order to get that that had to take some extra effort because when you licensing these types of things you going to go to Hasbro and you going to say I want the TV show And they going to view that as a separate entity than the movie that came out So the movie I can remember the year the movie came out I want to say it might been like 1986 By the way, that movie killed a lot of our childhood excitement because our hero, the one person that we gravitated towards the most, Optimus Prime, dies in like the first 20 minutes of that movie. So it's really sad. I hadn't watched that in a really long time, so I went back and watched it. I watched it on the plane ride out to Stern, and I was like, man, it gave me flashbacks as a kid being so sad because that was our main character. And then, of course, that made me do some additional research because I don't remember this as a kid, but I found all these message boards and blog sites and videos on YouTube where people were talking about like kids crying and their parents bringing them out of the movie theater because Optimus died. Like it's kind of crazy, right? And the reason Hasbro's motivation for that is they felt like the characters were getting stale. That gets into a whole other thing because then it spawned off all this other, you know, all these like alternate Transformers and new characters. But I didn't know this. I don't remember this because, you know, as a kid, you don't you're not you know, the access to information wasn't there like it is now. But with the access to information now, there were parents that were writing to Hasbro like, how dare you kill Optimus Prime? How dare you? Kids were crying. There's kids that had rough childhoods that thought of Optimus Prime as like a father figure. And when you're a kid, you're so impressionable. And when things are not going well in your personal life, you gravitate toward anybody that has that like hero that feel good, you know, good versus evil, especially when you feel like life is kicking you down or you have you have a rough childhood. And there were kids that were really upset because that was their hero. And you know what? Hasbro brought Optimus back. And so it's very cool that they put the touch into the game. And I think a lot of people, you know, that's like something that's very emotional to fans of the franchise. So, again, another thing to celebrate that they did. I think the rules to me, and I've mentioned this before, are deeper than I expected. There's a pretty elaborate rule sheet that already exists.
    28:22
    There's Energon cubes. There's Dinobot missions. There's tech spec cards. There's combiner multiballs. There's a transformer multiball. There's a Bumblebee double scoring mode. I did talk to Elizabeth. She thinks that maybe like her only – I didn't put this in the interview, but I will put it when I publish the whole interview. She was like, yeah, you know the one thing or the one character that I didn't focus on as much as maybe Bumblebee. So they're trying to figure out – she's trying to figure out how to maybe incorporate Bumblebee a little bit more. And Bumblebee is in there to a certain extent, but maybe not as much as people would want. But everyone else really is. So there's Starscream Frenzy. There's an Autobot Hurry Up. There's the mini wizard mode One Shall Stand. I published this to my – I actually clipped the – if you're interested, go to the gameplay trailer. Jack Danger gets to One Shall Fall. I got to it a couple times when I was playing it. One Shall Fall is awesome. As a Transformers fan, it's Optimus versus Megatron. It's super cool. You hit certain shots to put damage on Megatron. And then ultimately you can defeat Megatron in that mini wizard mode. And the mini wizard mode only you can get there by only completing two modes. So it's very accessible to even beginner players. You will get to it, I think, without, you know, it's not like a mode that you'll never see, you know, and that's the thing with some of these games. The code has gotten so complex on some of these games that you don't ever get to those modes. So I love that about this. Like you will get to it, you will see it. And then also there's going to be special modes that you can get from the game menu that you can start. Like the touch will be its own mode. It won't require a topper or anything like that. And so like right now, think about all the stuff that I just rattled out that's fun that we can celebrate. So when I see people write something like they failed and they didn't, like, no, this is not a failure. Yes, that mech, it would have been great if it did that. And again, not trying to defend them on that. I don't know the real reason or origins why it didn't do it, but it doesn't. So like I could dwell on that forever or I could look at all the other things and go there's a lot more here as a Transformers fan. So maybe that's what I should be focused on and not the one thing. But that's just me in life. I'm not like that. I don't focus on the one thing I don't have all the time. It's like let's focus on the stuff we do have because I'm sure like if you look at any game, Harry Potter for instance, I'll use that. There's probably things in the Harry Potter universe that people wish. They wish there was a castle under the playfield. Well, there isn't one. There's one on the topper, but they're on the CE, but there isn't one. But that game is a freaking amazing game. A little different circumstances because we didn't have anybody leaking information about Harry Potter to say there is a castle underneath the playfield because Harry Potter tight, or J.J.P. runs a tight ship.
    31:16
    I'll touch on this one more time. I do think that Stern should really get this under control because they created this problem. Like this PR issue they're dealing with right now didn't even have to happen. People would have been disappointed that Optimus didn't transform, but it's like their own doing because someone internally had loose lips, and so here we are. But I'm trying to give you the facts of this game, and then you can formulate your opinion when you play it. But I'm just trying to say from a Transformers fan to a pinball fan out there listening to this, I think you're going to be really happy. The tech spec cards are in there. The game uses tech specs that are tied to stand-up targets and shot progression, which connects directly to the old toy card nostalgia, and it goes into combiner progress and scoring. There's the Cybercoins, which is like an insider connected thing. So the way they, and I'm reading based on my notes from when I was there, they didn't have this available for us to play. But it says, you know, the game's going to introduce a Cybercoin wallet system where players can earn Cybercoins to unlock exclusive challenge modes. It could be a big, you know, connected play hook, you know, if they end up doing that well as the game, you know, continues to progress. So Elizabeth was very honest with us as to where the code was. She said the base code is about 95%. I mentioned that already, but sorry, I'm burpy again. I'm gassy. I'm always gassy when I do podcasts. No freaking idea why. But yeah, that's another thing, right? And then the layout, like the layout, Elliot, I think did a good job on the layout. I know a lot of people didn't like, for various reasons, John Wick. I was one of those weird people that did like John Wick. My issue with John Wick was the code, and they just recently had another code update, and they did a really good job, I think, on retooling the code of that game. Now, will that game see a recovery or a resurgence because of it? I don't know. But I felt like John Wick was a good theme for pinball. I still think it is a good theme for pinball. And I hope that game continues to get legs and continue to have traction because I think it's a fun game. I think Elliott created something good, but I think this is a great follow-up to that where I feel like he put even more in it. Like there wasn't that many unique shots in – like I would say the layout of John Wick wasn't ultra unique. You know, there were some things in there that were fun, like the car mechanic was pretty cool. But other than that, there wasn't like – you know, in the case, you know, you had the case that opened. But I find myself, as I play John Wick more, I prefer the game without the case personally. I think the Pro, you can get a much better flow without the case, but it is there on the premium NLE. But if you're a fan of that game and you've never played the Pro, I'm usually not one that really loves the Pro. I usually like those extra features, but in this case of John Wick, I actually prefer the Pro now after playing it for a long period of time. And I kind of wish I still had that game in my collection, but I don't anymore. But people at Media Day seem really excited about the layout. I love that there's those cross playfield shots. You can hit the Grimlock shot and it brings the ball across the playfield and it kind of perfectly feeds that third flipper up there. So there's like a lot of cool things like that that I think make this game overall a fun game to not only shoot, but the way the code is integrated into it. And then you pile on Elizabeth's rules and her plans for the future of this game. And I think what you'll find is this game is a really interesting game that you'll probably end up liking quite a bit, especially if you're a Transformers fan. And I'm not saying that you'll – some people get fixated on something, and I don't want to at all say I'm dictating why you should like it versus not like it. Some people just really love mechs, and those moments are important to them, and maybe that Optimus mech is a deal-breaker. I don't personally understand that because unless there was nothing else in the game, I think I'd be like, okay, this kind of stinks. There's nothing else in here as a mechanism that interacts with the ball, but there's many things here that interact with the ball, right? There's a captive ball. There's the Megatron. There's Soundwave. So there's things in here to interact with. And the sculpts are big.
    35:40
    Maybe the pictures don't do it justice, and probably the videos don't either. But when you stand over it and you see it, it's impressive how big these sculpts really are. Now, my one thing is, is now that we know we got that all out of the way and we know Optimus doesn't transform, I hope the modding community, if in fact they don't make it transform, you know, like if someone can't figure that out mod-wise, but they can put a better sculpt of Optimus, that would be kind of cool. Because I do feel like out of all the sculpts in it, Optimus is kind of a little bit weak. Like he doesn't really look – I mean he kind of looks like the 80s toy, but they definitely modeled it off of this one toy. I did a short on it. It's this toy that you can get at Walmart that's pretty cheap. It's like a $40 RC car toy that transforms.
    36:31
    It's kind of a neat thing actually for $40. It actually transforms from car to standing. Optimus will go from truck to standing position, and you can drive it around. It's not like a full-fledged RC car. It's kind of got a weird D-pad to control it. So it's definitely like a more budget toy, but you can tell it's exactly that toy that they modeled that off of to a T. It's that. It's that toy. Anyway, so, you know, I can't wait to get the game. I did order the LE. I can't wait to get it and stream it with Rudy because hopefully, you know, the pros will be out first. So the pros will be on the line first and then shortly thereafter, we'll get the LEs. So I should be streaming it sometime in mid-June. So I'm excited to do that. And then what's also cool is, you know, I know this is a podcast focused on the Transformers game right now, but there's a giant other game coming out pretty soon from Jersey Jack that's going to land at around the same time. So we're going to have like two nostalgic properties hitting you at the same time. So if you're someone of my age group, I'm in my later 40s.
    37:41
    Again, I'm burping. Uh, which honestly guys have been struggling with lately because inside I don't feel like I'm 47. I feel like I'm in my 20s still, but you know, it's hard to see yourself age even though, you know, at 47, that's not old. Like I don't, I'm not an old, I mean, I might, I might be considered old to like my son or my daughter who's in there, you know, eight, one's 18 and one's 23. But it's funny because we were out at TPF, Jamie and I, and we went to this restaurant and this girl was saying she was our waitress and she's like, yeah, she's like, I'm so annoyed because this guy called me Unc earlier. I'm like, what's Unc? So I was like, what does that mean? She's like, well, when you're older, like the younger generation calls you Unc. And I was like well how old do you have to be to be called Ankh Now this girl was young I mean she was like in her 20s right She like oh in your mid you Unc And I was like what So like yeah So if you young and someone like just five years older than you I guess that means you old But yeah I don feel old I feel like I young at heart I feel like I a big kid I love all this stuff And I was really excited when I knew that Stern was going to come out with a G1 Transformers just because that is my childhood as it probably many of yours as well It was around that time you had Voltron, you had He-Man, you had Transformers, and all those things were part of my childhood. So knowing that a game would come out that's geared around that, it's pretty cool. Like I was talking to, if you've never seen Mel Plays Pinball, when we were out there for the Pokemon Media Day, she was so into it. And I was like, man, Mel, I don't know this. I feel a little bit out of place because you know Pokemon so well, but the roles were sort of reversed at this Media Day. Because she's like, all right, so there's Autobots and there's Decepticons and Autobots are the good guys and Decepticons are the bad guys. I'm like, yeah. And she's like, okay, okay. Like she's like, all right, I got that down. And, you know, it's funny. We were just like kind of playing some trivia back and forth about like the universe. And the thing is like even Vic VP, he didn't grow up with Transformers, but he was really into the game. He loves pinball though. So I think if you – that's a little – that's an interesting thing. I was listening to – I think it was the Facebook group. It's like something like pinball documentary or something like that. And Zach Sharp was talking about how he owns a Iron Maiden, and he's like, before owning this game, which Iron Maiden's a really fun game, great Keith Elwin game, great flow, fun game. I think that was Archer was the game he made, and then he got hired at Stern and ultimately turned it into Iron Maiden. I'm also not an Iron Maiden fan, but it is always interesting to me when someone cannot be the fan of a theme, but they like the way the game plays so much that they become a fan of it. And I'd say for me that was Evil Dead because I didn't really grow up with Evil Dead. I was terrified of Evil Dead as a kid. My cousin, I think I told this story before, and actually Don's Pinball Podcast. I should get it. Here, I'm going to get this real quick.
    40:52
    Hold on one second, guys. All right, so Don of Don's Pinball Podcast heard the story on one of my podcasts about Evil Dead and how I said it was duct tape. It wasn't rope, but hey, he did a really good job on this. And there was a time where my cousin, I had two cousins. One was like super nerdy and the other one was like blasting NWO in his bedroom. And he would like bring me in there and I would listen to all these like curse words. And my mom would be like, get out of Bobby's room. Like Bobby, he's going to rot your brain. But he duct taped me to a chair, like a computer chair. And he had me watch Evil Dead. And I was completely terrified. I had my eyes closed most of the time. So Don created this for me. I never put it in my game, but this was the TV and this is supposed to be me. Let me see if I can get that to focus. This was supposed to be me tied up watching Evil Dead as a kid being terrified. So Evil Dead was one of those themes. Not really into it, but I enjoyed it so much that it made me go and watch the movies as an adult, which as an adult, they're not as scary as it was when you're a little kid. But you know what I mean? I do think there may be some people that maybe fall out of the demographic that really just enjoy the gameplay and the flow of the game that Elliot put together, and they may become fans of Transformers because of it, and that's cool. And actually, Elizabeth was one of those people as well. When she was working on the code on this, she wasn't really a Transformers fan, and she engulfed herself, which I think is great. When someone is making a game, but they they're like, I want to do like all of the research. So I understand this. Well, she's now like one of her favorite characters now is I think it was Soundwave that she said is like her favorite character. He's like she's like Soundwave is my character. So we may see some of that. But anyways, I just wanted to do this because I get I get a little you know, it's tough when you're a content creator and you're a fan of something and people label you as like, oh, well. They have motivations that go beyond what it looks like at the surface. And I could sit here all day. I'm not going to defend myself, but anybody that knows me knows I love this stuff. I really love playing pinball. I've gone into every element of it now. I play competitive sometimes. I play on location just for fun sometimes. And I play at home. So I'm an on-location player. I'm a tournament player. And I think, you know, you start at sometimes people start at home now because it's it is something where the majority of the sales go to the home. But you don't have to participate just that way. You can go play on location. So you don't have to go and buy a pinball machine. You know, they're expensive, like they're expensive things. You can go and enjoy it on location. Once you start enjoying it on location, a lot of times locations have tournaments. Now, all of a sudden, you are meeting people and it's a very social activity. So I just love this hobby so much. So it's painful for me to see no matter what company it is, people kind of like shitting on things without really experiencing it first. And I get it. Like we all look at pictures and not everyone has been able to experience the game. But I think, you know, don't go out and buy it before you've played it, but check it out on location or somewhere, a buddy's house that maybe got it. And I think if you're a Transformers fan, it's going to be hard. I would be shocked if someone is a Transformers fan as I am that you would play this and not fall in love with it because of how well they integrated the theme. So that's kind of what I wanted to talk about today. Maybe sometimes I do take this too seriously. I get offended when I see people saying things, and I know how that gets taken. And it gets taken like, why are you defending Stern? And it's not even really about defending Stern. It's more about like just being level-headed about the hobby. And I'd hate to see a game get passed by because someone has this notion that the whole game is ruined because of, or ruined if you're a Family Guy fan, that the whole game is ruined because of one thing. Like it's just kind of silly. And I don't want this video or this podcast to at all come across as a stern apologist thing because I, like you, wished it did transform. And my hope is that the modding community kind of figures out a way to maybe bring some more magic to Optimus, whether it means him looking more like he should or maybe even transforming. And if you do look at it, if you take a close look at it, I do believe that it's going to be very easy for someone that's a modder to take that whole mechanism out and probably transfer those targets onto something else very easily. So it seems like it's ripe for the picking when it comes to modding. And of course, I know there's going to be some of you out there listening to this going, but I paid this and I didn't get the thing. So I can't really like, yeah, you're right. You're paying a price and that thing doesn't do the thing that I guess it was supposed to do. But there's lots of games like that where there's something that I wish did something a certain way or looked a certain way. I mean, how many of you guys are in this hobby and you mod it because you're like, man, this sculpt doesn't look great.
    46:08
    Now, I know the flip side of that is some of the boutique manufacturers are putting more emphasis on the sculpts and they're doing a better job than Stern in some cases. But I'm grateful to have a G1. I'm grateful to have a G1. And I think the software, the design is very good. And what Elizabeth has put into it and what Elliot has put into it is a really good effort. And it should be celebrated. And I do feel for these people sometimes because they put their heart and soul into this stuff to produce something great for us. They don't have, you know, the people that are working on it don't have any motivation other than bring us a great game to the best of their ability. And of course, you know, of course, the bigger the company, the more influence they, you know, especially with Stern, they have a big private, you know, they have private investors. They need to make a certain amount of money per game. Of course, some of those decisions are probably money motivated. And maybe sometimes things get removed from the game. And like I said, I don't have the answers as to why it doesn't do what it was supposed to do. But the thing is, this whole thing was sort of created via a rumor while the game was in its development that unfortunately got out and it became sort of the this is what it's going to do. And maybe they didn't even know at that time whether it was going to work or it was going to be feasible or if it was going to get cut from the game. So that's why it is a little dangerous when you're on that side of the house, if you're working for one of these companies to be loose lips because it can hurt. And this is a react. This is what we're seeing now. We're seeing the community or a portion of the community focus on one thing. And I guess the reason like I do, you know, because I'm so passionate about this hobby, I wanted you guys to hear it from me as to what I feel about this game as being someone that played it. And my motivation isn't for you to go buy it. That would be like offensive. That'd be offensive for me to think that the person listening to this does not have their own mind and cannot think for themselves or any, you know what I mean? And so you're not going to buy the game because I think the game is good because I may like different things about games. Some people like fan layout. Some people don't like fan layout. Some people like unique layout. Some people don't. Some people like three flipper games. Some people like two flipper games. Some people, you know what I mean? So everyone's different. And that's the beauty of pinball. There's many options out there. So if the game isn't for you, well, that's a good thing because there's a million other manufacturers making a bunch of games and stirring themselves. So you will undoubtedly find something that's there for you. But I did feel like the game needed to be defended to some degree because I've gotten to know Elizabeth over the time, and she's just such a passionate pinball person. Same with Elliot. He just wants to create something good. And I would hate for this thing that they created, which in my opinion is really good, to be tarnished by this one thing and have all the focus be in that direction. So hopefully you got a level-headed overview of this, and I know I'll probably get into some hot water by mentioning that person's name. I don't care because that person talks about me all the time. And I didn't make it about him, but that's the source of it. So that's I just wanted to go. That's where it started from. That's how it got out to the open. And that's how it got all over Pinside and all these other places. So anyways, that's all I wanted to say. We're at almost an hour. I feel like that was a pretty solid overview. And I cannot wait to get it so Rudy and I can stream it. And you guys can also seek it out over the next couple weeks as it starts to make its way on location. And I think you're going to be really happy with it. And I want to know, come back to the video or come back to the podcast and let me know what you thought after you played it. Because if you were one of those people that were so laser focused on the one thing you didn't get, I think you'd be really happy with the sum of its parts. Not to mention all the other stuff we didn't even talk about. The artwork is Screams G1. So Jeremy Packer and his team did an amazing job on the artwork. The armor, the armor, I like it, but I know a lot of people don't like that split thing or there's like, you know, there's a split. Haha, there's a split in the community on that maybe too.
    50:05
    But hey guys, thanks so much for listening to me. I appreciate all of you that come here. You know, I try to do these every other week. So I appreciate you that come every two weeks, listen to me, talk about pinball, this crazy hobby that we know and love. And it's our escape from all of the day-to-day bullshit that happens in our daily lives. And that's why I also get frustrated because I don't really want to dwell on shit that I don't have. I just want to enjoy the stuff that these companies create for us, no matter who it is. And I would say the same thing if this happened to be a JJP game that people were shitting on or barrels or whatever. Because I think these companies really try their best within the constraints they have to build us something that not only they're proud of, But we're proud of owning and playing and enjoying. And it's a good representation of something that we knew and loved from our childhood. So anyways, guys, that's it. I hope you enjoyed it. Give me a thumbs up if you did. Put your comments in the video. I really want to hear from you. And that's it for now, guys. We will see you on the flip side. See you guys. And thank you, as always, for all your support.
    51:18
    Thank you.