The One About Grain and MODs

The Hardy Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·15m 46s·analyzed·Aug 9, 2020

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

TMNT Pro playfield artwork defect identified; mods and community content quality discussed.

Summary

Host Kerry discusses his new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) Pro pinball machine, focusing on a widespread playfield artwork quality issue affecting some units with grainy, poorly-rendered graphics. He speculates on the root cause (printing or clear coat issues), correlates the defect to missing artwork under a specific star post location, and urges affected owners to document and report the problem on Pinside. He also reviews pinball modifications for TMNT, praising quality mods that integrate seamlessly while criticizing obvious cosmetic add-ons, and comments on community modders creating content superior to factory designs.

Key Claims

Playfields missing artwork under the far left star post correlate with grainy artwork defects
medium confidence · Host Kerry based on his data correlation and Joel's experience; explicitly stated as speculation
The grainy artwork effect was not caught during factory QC on assembly lines
high confidence · Host Kerry describing the issue and expressing frustration with lack of detection
Stern likely removed artwork from around the star post to fix previous pooling/clear coat adhesion issues
low confidence · Host Kerry's speculation about manufacturing process changes
Lear Mods' Krang mod for TMNT Pro costs $119 retail
high confidence · Host Kerry citing specific pricing for available modification
Community modders are creating TMNT content (music, graphics) superior to factory designs
medium confidence · Host Kerry's observation of Delta's work and other community modifications on Pinside
Host's unboxing video received mixed feedback with more downvotes than usual
high confidence · Host Kerry describing feedback on his YouTube channel
Build dates for both Kerry's and Joel's cabinets were August 3rd, but playfield dates differ
high confidence · Host Kerry comparing his unit (July 23 playfield) with Joel's

Notable Quotes

“the only thing is is that I'm glad it's not my machine sometimes I'm like it's your machine you paid for it if you like it go with it do what you want to with your game that is fine with me”
Host Kerry@ 8:48 — Philosophy on not gatekeeping aesthetic choices while maintaining personal taste standards
“The best kind of mod is the ones that don't look like mods. If you look inside a game and scroll around with your eyes just to kind of look at the game and admire it and something sticks out a red flag that's like that doesn't look like it goes there or something like that chances are that's not a good mod”
Host Kerry@ 9:19 — Core modding philosophy; quality mods integrate seamlessly rather than appearing cosmetically bolted-on
“you have those that are getting paid at Stern to create all of this from nothing a lot of the times and then they get it out there to the world and everybody's like, yeah, it's nice, but I'm just going to get rid of it and I'm going to put in all this stuff that was from like 20 plus years ago inside of this game because it looks and sounds better”
Host Kerry@ 11:21 — Critique of factory design quality relative to community-driven custom content and 80s nostalgia preferences
“it would seem those of you that do not have art underneath the far left star post on the layer area, if you do not have art, the chances are you're probably going to have grainy artwork on your playfield”
Host Kerry@ 3:37 — Key diagnostic indicator for identifying affected units; pattern correlation from limited data
“I am not finding anything that really stands out to me. I do not see any issues or potential issues or anything like that”
Host Kerry@ 2:25 — Assessment of his own unit's quality; provides baseline for comparison against defective units

Entities

KerrypersonJoelpersonJeremyperson Zombie YetipersonDeltapersonFrankiepersonStern PinballcompanyLear ModscompanyTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) Progame

Signals

?
product_concern: Multiple TMNT Pro units exhibiting grainy, poorly-rendered playfield artwork; quality control failed to catch issue during assembly; appears correlated with missing artwork under specific star post location
high · Host Kerry and Joel both reporting defects; pattern analysis suggesting manufacturing or clear coat process issue; multiple Pinside reports confirming widespread nature
?
quality_control_failure: Defective playfields not flagged during assembly line inspection at Stern factory; suggests either inadequate QC procedures or deliberate oversight
high · Host Kerry explicitly stating 'no one noticed this at the factory' and 'it's not being flagged, and that is an issue'
~
sentiment_shift: Community members normalizing defects as expected appearance rather than reporting as issues; suggests Stern's hoped-for outcome of problem going unaddressed
medium · Host Kerry noting Pinside thread responses like 'I just thought that's how the game usually looks' and interpretation that 'Stern was crossing their fingers hoping that people wouldn't notice'
?
design_innovation: Community modders (specifically Delta) creating TMNT content using arcade and 80s cartoon aesthetics, music, and graphics that community perceives as superior to factory designs
medium · Host Kerry observing community modifications and comparing favorably to Stern-created content; noting that players prefer 20+ year old aesthetics over contemporary factory designs
?
product_strategy: Third-party modification market thriving for TMNT Pro; Lear Mods offering cosmetic upgrades (Krang mod) at $119; multiple sewer pipe rail mods in circulation

Topics

TMNT Pro playfield artwork defects (grainy/pooling issues)primaryQuality control and manufacturing issues at SternprimaryPinball modifications and aftermarket aestheticsprimaryCommunity-driven custom content (music, graphics, artwork)secondaryPinside community moderation and issue reportingsecondaryPinball podcast culture and cross-promotionsecondaryIndependent content creator strategy and network independencementionedFactory design quality vs. community customization preferencessecondary

Sentiment

mixed(0.45)— Positive regarding his personal TMNT Pro unit quality and excitement about modding possibilities; negative/frustrated about widespread manufacturing defects, lack of factory QC, and Stern's apparent indifference; playful and light-hearted about podcast community interactions; appreciative of quality modding work and community innovation

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.047

Alright, got my new Turtles game ready to go. Time to make it my own. Let's bust out all my old toys from when I was a kid. No, there's not many left. I guess I'll go buy some new Turtles toys. Well, they don't really look like the Turtles that are, you know, on the game, but... Ah, screw it. Putting them on there anyways. Alright, how's it look guys? You look like shit, man. Here, have another beer. This will make you feel better. Hold on, hold on. What's up guys and welcome back to episode 2 of the Hardy Pinball Podcast, the one about grain and mods. The game is here guys, I've got it set up and I'm sure some of you out there have even watched my unboxing video that I have on my channel. I released that yesterday and honestly the feedback that I'm getting on it is very mixed, more mixed than usual. A lot of the times, the good outweighs the bad. But without a doubt, even while editing the video, guys, I really do understand why there is a little bit more of a downvotes on this one than there is upvotes. And I get it. It's definitely not my best work. It is my first unboxing, though. and whereas I could have just easily just not shown anything at all and just you know kept everything to myself and just casually put the machine together and just enjoy it I decided to share that with everybody else and just make it a little bit more interesting by throwing in some eating of really grotesque versions of pizza so if you care to watch that it is definitely on my channel for your enjoyment. But without a doubt, it has been a very busy weekend for me, so I was exhausted and have been exhausted to where I haven't even really been able to play my game as much as I would like. I haven't even got it leveled completely yet and set up to where I can really enjoy it. That is on my to-do list today. I've been contacted by a few of you out there on how my machine looks and how it plays, were there any issues, and things of that nature. So let's get into that. My game looks great. As of right now, going over the playfield and the cabinet, I am not finding anything that really stands out to me. I do not see any issues or potential issues or anything like that. Now still I have not played that many games on it so there's definitely room for error but I as of right now my play field doesn't have any kind of like dimpling or pooling or the grain on the playfields or anything like that and that's what we're about to get into is that I was contacted recently by Joel from Just Another Pinball Podcast available on the pinball network asking me how my playfield looked because he just recently got his ninja turtles pro as well and evidently his playfield has the grainy artwork effect which i mentioned in my previous episode and so it would seem i was trying to correlate what playfields would be affected by this and mine doesn't have it and also something to kind of like you know put two and two together is that chances are, as of right now, this is a lot of speculation, guys. This isn't like hardcore facts. But from what I'm gathering, it would seem those of you that do not have art underneath the far left star post on the layer area, if you do not have art, the chances are you're probably going to have grainy artwork on your play field. That is two data points that I able to put together as of right now that would indicate some sort of you know pattern on basically if your play field good or bad My play field has the art and everything looks good. The colors pop, it's nice and smooth. It is as if, you know, Zombie Yeti would appreciate what he has done. Now, when you have art that is all grainy and looks the way it does, that is not what Jeremy was hoping that would be on the game. So this is something that I know is hitting quite a few of you out there, and it's got to be disappointing. I know that I would be disappointed greatly. Now, the build date on my cabinet is August 3rd, which is the same build date as Joel's. My playfield date is July 23rd. I can't remember what his is, But the thing is, I'm curious as if these plate builds came from the same place in the printing process. Or, because the chances are that at some point they have switched over or they had two different kinds of vendors running at the same time. The only reason I would see no art being on the post opposed to having art is that at some point in time during their release of their first run of pros or LEs, they saw that there was an issue with the pooling on the clear coat on that post. So they basically went back to the drawing board on the art process and was like, hey, let's remove the art around there. That way the clear coat can adhese directly to the wood. And they started running more playfields. And evidently in that process, something may have been going wrong with their printer. That's why we're getting the effects that we are. Or the clear coat is once again messing with the play field. in another different type of way that we're seeing with the grainy artwork. And what's even funnier is that there are those of you out there that haven't even noticed this. I'm pretty sure Stern was crossing their fingers hoping that people wouldn't notice this if they even noticed it. And that's what's even more upsetting to me, and like I stated in my previous episode, is that no one noticed this at the factory. When they're down on the assembly line going through and through, mounting all this stuff to the play field, it's not being flagged, and that is an issue. Will Stern make it right? What are they going to do to fix this issue? That is yet to be determined. As of right now, the information I'm getting is that we don't know yet. So at this point, I believe the flags are going up, and Stern is starting to take notice of this, and they will make a decision pretty shortly and getting that information out to the distributors on how this issue can be resolved. So if you have your Turtles game and you do not have art under that star post on the left, take a look at your art. Is it grainy? Is it nice and smooth and Marc Silk? Whatever. That is up to you to decide. Take pictures of it. Make it known on Pinside. Let's raise this issue. Let's see if we can get it fixed and I think that's what was sad about me going to the pin side thread about this whole issue is that there's a lot of people that were just like yeah this is what my play field looks like I just thought that's how the game usually looks and I'm I'm thinking that's what probably Stern was hoping that people would just accept it and be like yeah that's just how it looks I guess okay moving on no that is definitely not the way the art should look that is not what Jeremy intended his art to look like for everyone to enjoy. We all know how colorful and great the artwork is on everything that he's done and for us to pay thousands of dollars and get a play field that is completely just not fully representing what he done is not a good thing for this hobby Once I get my game set up and put a lot more games on it then maybe some issues will start to you know present themselves to me But as of right now, I'm very pleased with what I have, and I know that this is all anecdotal, but take it for what I've got, and just let it be known that as of right now, I'm happy. But if things change, trust me, I will make it known. So now that I've got my game, I'm starting to really peruse the modding section and what is currently available on the market and what people have done for their own machines. Now, during this process, I've come across some really cool things and I've come across some things that I just kind of have to stand back and go, really? I mean, you think that looks good, but OK. And this is this is my issue, guys. It's not even really an issue. when I scroll through Pinside and people are showing off their games and what they've done to them the only thing is is that I'm glad it's not my machine sometimes I'm like it's your machine you paid for it if you like it go with it do what you want to with your game that is fine with me and um but I'm not one of those that I hop on Pinside and just go you know what that looks like shit I'm gonna make sure he knows no but I will hop on a pin on my podcast right here and let it be known that I don't care for mods if they look like mods. The best kind of mod is the ones that don't look like mods. If you look inside a game and scroll around with your eyes just to kind of look at the game and admire it and something sticks out a red flag that's like that doesn't look like it goes there or something like that chances are that's not a good mod then. One of the mods that I have to pinpoint out that looks really good is from Lear Mods and it's the Krang mod that basically makes it look more like a premium, an LE, by going up there in the pop bumpers. It lights up with the flasher that's underneath the pop bumpers. Looks pretty good. More than a lot are going to be getting that. It's currently retailing at $119. Damn. Some other mods that I remember seeing were basically like sewer pipes that go over the rails. I think I've seen someone post something about that, and from just my memory, I think that look pretty good too. So I'm looking forward to seeing where that goes. But people are not just physically modding this game. You have those that are actually going into the pinball browser and utilizing the ability to change the music, change graphics and stuff like that on the game. So I am really excited about this because that gives me a chance to really make the game my own. but also as I'm going through some of the images and I'm just going to pinpoint it out right now like Delt uh everyone that's on pin side I'm sure as aware of who this person is I'm seeing things that he's doing with this game and it looks really good I'm like man that looks really good I cannot wait to start messing around and seeing what I can do with mine or even better yet if he makes it available to just download what he's done that'll be even easier but I'm liking what he's doing he's implementing a lot of the turtles arcade some of the 80s cartoon motifs in there soundtracks from even the movie like you know ninja rap and stuff like that it's all looking and sounding really good i just have to kind of laugh a little bit about this because you have those that are getting paid at stern to create all of this from nothing a lot of the times and then they get it out there to the world and everybody's like, yeah, it's nice, but I'm just going to get rid of it and I'm going to put in all this stuff that was from like 20 plus years ago inside of this game because it looks and sounds better than what these people have created So I have to laugh a little bit about that because that just the way it is So for those of you that have listened to my previous episodes I tend to throw out little jabs here and there at certain people within this hobby. And it is meant to be completely anonymous, but only those of you out there that are deep into the hobby would know what I might be referencing it to or who I might be calling out or whatever like that. It's a tongue-in-cheek, just a quick little jab. It's all fun. That's all it's supposed to be. I've already gotten a couple of messages from people that caught the references or whatever, and so far it's all been good. It hasn't been like, oh, I can't believe you said that or whatever, any kind of hatred towards me, and that's not what I'm wanting, guys. By all means, for those of you out there, fellow podcasters, YouTubers, pinball content creators let it be known that when slash if I mention certain things it's all in good fun I love you guys it's pinball let's have fun that's what it is with that being said the most recent jab back at me I thought was kind of funny because I didn't even catch it I get messaged like hey Kerry you got a really interesting shout out on the most recent super awesome pinball show and I was like really I'm only about halfway through I didn't catch it where's it at and he's like it's in the intro and I'm like oh that's probably why I didn't catch it because I skipped through it and that was part of the reason why uh Franchi put it in the intro is because I mentioned on my uh pilot episode that really long intro podcast I usually just skip through it so i messaged him back i was like touche because i honestly did not catch it and i wouldn't have caught it so now what he's done means that you know maybe every other podcast can start implementing this into their intros as little easter eggs for whether it be jabs or just some interesting little tidbits to kind of freshen it up make it interesting make it make it a reason for me to go damn it i'm gonna have to listen to this intro because you never know what you're gonna get so i i think i think what hurts me the most is that he hasn't messaged me back yet francie come on man i mean i'm only gonna be disheartened if he actually took offense to my pilot episode comments about other pinball podcasts and what their strategy or their style is no that's the joy of the topic guys and podcasts and other content creators is that you do what you do and i'm gonna do what i do if it works for you then do it we're just gonna see how things go guys the perk about me not being under a network or under any other name is that i'm able to do what i do and if repercussions happen if i get shot out of the sky for whatever reason i'm not bringing anybody down with me it's just me going down in flames so i would take that to know that I don't want to bring anybody down with me. So that's, that's that. That's all that is. So when I get questioned about why I'm not part of said group or whatever, it's mainly because I don't want to have to worry about messing with anybody else and those people being guilty just by association. There it is. All right, guys, that's going to wrap this episode up until next time. Peace out. I'm hoping that he hasn't responded back to me, maybe because he's taking a nap or maybe playing with Barlow or something like that. I don't know. Come on. Come on, French. You better be a damn good sport. Bring it on. Message me back. Love you long time.