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Episode 19 - TRANSFORMERS

Nudgecast·podcast_episode·55m 37s·analyzed·May 26, 2026
f9d03d5a-5951-11f1-bb2d-27ea12da7044
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.034

TL;DR

Stern's new Transformers pinball impresses with code and layout but disappoints on mechanical toys.

Summary

Shane Told of Silverstein visited Stern Pinball for a hands-on preview of the new Transformers pinball machine designed by Elliot Eisman, with Elizabeth Agieski as lead programmer (Stern's first female lead programmer). The game features a clean, mid-difficulty layout with strong code completion, excellent voice acting from original Transformers actors, innovative split-flipper competitive modes, and intuitive rules, though it lacks the transforming Optimus Prime toy that was originally planned, leaving some collectors wanting more mechanical toys compared to recent Stern releases like Godzilla.

Key Claims

  • Elizabeth Agieski is the first-ever female lead programmer on a Stern pinball machine

    high confidence · Shane Told discussing the Transformers preview visit, stating she 'seems like such a cool person' and is 'a huge part of this'

  • Transformers code is nearly complete except for final wizard mode and split flipper mode

    high confidence · Elizabeth told Shane that 'the game is pretty much code complete other than the final wizard mode and the very cool...split flipper mode'

  • An Optimus Prime transformer toy that could change from semi-truck to robot form was planned but removed from the final game

    medium confidence · Ian Jacoby: 'the rumor was that they had an Optimus Prime that could change back and forth from a semi-truck into a little guy. And now in the premium, there is not that, right?' Shane confirms: 'if the rumors are true...if George confirmed it that they couldn get it to work properly'

  • The Transformers topper is 'incredible' and Jack Danger wants to put it in his bedroom

    high confidence · Shane relaying: 'Jack Danger told me this...the topper for Transformers is like incredible. He's like, yeah, I just want to put this in my fucking bedroom'

  • Transformers playfield layout is fresh and doesn't heavily copy other modern Stern designs

    high confidence · Ian Jacoby: 'this layout is not that crazy...this game feels fresh without feeling weird' and Shane agreeing 'it really presents as its own game'

  • Original voice actors from the Transformers animated series provided call-outs for the game

    high confidence · Shane: 'they actually got those guys...The voice actors they had, who I guess are like the original actors from there' and 'these are the best call-outs I've heard in a long time'

  • The game has a one-pop bumper on the right side, similar to recent Stern designs

    high confidence · Ian asking 'Is it a one-pop game?' and Shane confirming 'Yeah, there's just a one-pop down on the right side. So they're just doing that now'

Notable Quotes

  • “The code feels great already. The call outs are awesome. There's so many of them too...the rules are great too. I mean, what I really like about this game is like you walk up to it and right away you know what to do.”

    Shane Told@ 19:55 — Positive assessment of code clarity, rule intuitiveness, and accessibility—core strengths of the game

  • “this game feels fresh without feeling weird, and I like that about the layout”

    Ian Jacoby@ 7:26 — Praises the layout's originality without alienating players—key design balance for modern Stern

  • “Is it really like you're going to cry adult tears over the fact that you don't get to see a robot turn into a semi-truck?”

    Ian Jacoby@ 28:07 — Playful dismissal of complaints about missing Optimus Prime transform toy; reflects pragmatic take on expectation management

  • “you shoot the ramp and then the gun shoots back onto that kind of platform that goes down and feeds to the left flipper”

    Shane Told@ 24:29 — Technical description of main interactive toy mechanic in the game

  • “the voice actors they had, who I guess are like the original actors from there, they actually got those guys. It's awesome. It's like the best call-outs I've heard in a long time.”

    Shane Told@ 14:54 — High praise for original IP voice talent and audio quality—major production value signal

  • “I'm going to be playing this game a lot probably at my local watering hole, tournaments, all that stuff. I'm going to be playing this game all the time.”

    Shane Told@ 31:55 — Strong endorsement of location play appeal despite criticism about toy count

  • “perhaps you're not getting the most toys in your stuff, but you're getting a super-duper high-quality game that's going to run on location, like, non-stop”

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyShane ToldpersonIan JacobypersonElliot EismanpersonElizabeth AgieskipersonGeorge GomezpersonSeth Davisperson

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: Stern Pinball's Transformers officially previewed to content creators; machine approaching feature completion with strong code foundation

    high · Shane Told attended official preview event, played first game, met with designer Elliot Eisman and lead programmer Elizabeth Agieski

  • ?

    design_innovation: Split flipper competitive mode where two players control opposite sides of machine and fight for center button control of upper flipper—novel innovation not previously implemented

    high · Elizabeth Agieski designed split flipper mode; Shane detailed mechanics: 'each person is on either side, and the shots are going to be lit left and right...the center button controls the upper flipper'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Elizabeth Agieski becomes Stern's first female lead programmer on a pinball machine; elevated to significant role on major IP title

    high · Shane explicitly stated: 'Elizabeth Agieski, who's the lead programmer on this game. First ever female lead programmer on a pinball machine'

  • ?

    product_concern: Optimus Prime transforming toy (truck-to-robot conversion) was planned but removed from final game due to technical/mechanical issues; community views this as disappointing given game's title

    medium · Ian cited rumor 'confirmed by George Gomez' that transformer toy couldn't work properly; Shane acknowledged disappointment: 'if the rumors are true...if George confirmed it that they couldn get it to work properly'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Stern positioning Transformers as exemplar of design philosophy prioritizing code depth, layout quality, and playability over mechanical toy complexity compared to recent releases

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.167

0:00
What do you think of my powers now? One to twenty powers activate, form of some fly shit, yeah I recognize, Zarrface, come on. He just hear a mouth, he don't hear a mouth, he just hear a mouth, he don't hear a mouth, he just hear a mouth. Hey everybody, you're listening to NudgeCast, the official podcast of Nudge Magazine. As always, I'm Ian Jacoby, a.k.a. Doc Monday, the editor-in-chief and publisher of Nudge Magazine. With me is my co-host, Shane Told of the band Silverstein and the Lead Singer Syndrome Podcast. Hey Shane. And what's up, dude? How you been, man? I've been good. So, yeah, that intro music you're listening to right now is the song Air Him Out by Zarface. I just want to bring a little Nick playoff energy into the pod this week. A little bit different. Different intro, different kind of pod. We kind of figured on, right? Are you supporting the Knicks right now because the Bucks are out? Or what's your basketball vibe? It's good. My Buck fandom is quite fraught these days. I actually try to avoid news about it, which is always a bad sign with your team when you're avoiding the news. But I guess the team that I'm really rooting for to win everything is the Spurs. I don't know if that's going to happen, but I do think Victor Wembenyama and their young team is so fun. But I think in the East, yeah, it's always fun when the Knicks are good. They haven't won in like 50 years. It's been a while. Yeah, it's been – not in my lifetime.
1:40
Yeah, I remember they had some really good teams in like the late 90s, but they never got there. I think they got to the finals, but they never like really put a good dent in trying to win a championship there. It was also just rough I think for them. It's like when Patrick Ewing was good is when Michael Jordan was good. It's just like a whole bunch of people didn't win championships then. That maybe could have at other times. It's like the 90s and early 2000s in golf when Tiger Woods was just winning everything and it's like, man, what a brutal time to be in the sport. Yeah, for real. Okay. Maybe I'm trying to figure out a way to segue this, but really what I want to do is – well, Shane, this is actually kind of a momentous thing for me a bit because I'm always used to being like the insider on this podcast. I'm always used to being the one who's got the info that maybe you don't know and I'm letting you into a world. That was how this relationship worked, right? You're bringing the likability and the star factor and I'm bringing the sauce. But unfortunately today for me, not even that. You were the insider. You got to go to Stern and play the new Transformers game by Elliot Eisman.

Game difficulty is medium-hard, easier than John Wick at launch but comparable to current John Wick

high confidence · Shane: 'I would say this game is kind of medium hard...I'd say easier than John Wick when it was launched. I'd say maybe about the same now'

  • The Megatron gun toy is interactive but limited—it shoots back onto a ramp platform for clean returns

    high confidence · Shane: 'you shoot the ramp and then the gun shoots back onto that kind of platform that goes down and feeds to the left flipper'

  • Pro and Premium versions differ mainly in the Megatron gun shooting mechanism, Soundwave physical lock, and two additional sculpts

    high confidence · Ian: 'the only two things is the gun shooting out...in the premium, that shoots out. And then the physical ball lock...Really other than that and two other sculpts, there's really not a lot of difference'

    • Ian Jacoby@ 26:58 — Positions Transformers as reflecting Stern's emerging design philosophy: code and layout over mechanical complexity

  • “if Optimus Prime transformed, I think there you go. That's the chef's kiss.”

    Ian Jacoby@ 27:28 — Concise statement of what would have elevated the game—the missing centerpiece toy

    • Jack Danger
    person
    Donperson
    Transformersgame
    John Wickgame
    Godzillagame
    Jurassic Parkgame
    Star Wars Fall of the Empiregame
    Uncanny X-Mengame
    Black Knightgame
    Foo Fightersgame
    Nudgecastorganization
    Nudge Magazineorganization
    Silversteinorganization

    high · Ian observed: 'this is how Stern, I think, is defining themselves. Like, perhaps you're not getting the most toys in your stuff, but you're getting a super-duper high-quality game'

  • ?

    code_update: Transformers code is substantially feature-complete at preview stage, unusually polished for Stern launch; only wizard mode and split flipper mode remain unfinished

    high · Elizabeth told Shane: 'the game is pretty much code complete other than the final wizard mode and the very cool...split flipper mode'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Stern secured original voice actors from 1980s Transformers animated series for game call-outs; represents high-quality IP collaboration and talent retention

    high · Shane: 'they actually got those guys...The voice actors they had, who I guess are like the original actors from there' and praised as 'the best call-outs I've heard in a long time'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Extra ball shot positioned as tight, difficult center ramp requiring skill rather than accidental scoop feeding; intentional design choice to make extra ball feel earned

    high · Shane: 'This shot is tough. And I like that. You feel like you earned that extra ball...the shot up the middle with the lock is pretty tight'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Medium-difficulty game positioning; easier than John Wick at launch, comparable to current John Wick code; accessible to casual players without being trivial

    high · Shane: 'I would say this game is kind of medium hard...I'd say easier than John Wick when it was launched. I'd say maybe about the same now'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Pro/Premium split features only two key differences: Megatron gun shooting mechanism and Soundwave physical lock, plus two additional sculpts; minimal differentiation strategy

    high · Ian detailed: 'the only two things is the gun shooting out...in the premium, that shoots out. And then the physical ball lock...Really other than that and two other sculpts, there's really not a lot of difference'

  • ?

    content_signal: Stern continues practice of granting exclusive preview access to major content creators before public launch; Shane Told treated as insider/ambassador

    high · Shane attended official preview event with other creators; Ian acknowledged: 'You were the insider. You got to go to Stern and play the new Transformers game'

  • ?

    product_feature: Transformers topper design is exceptionally high-quality, generating enthusiasm from Jack Danger to explore standalone topper operation and possible 'Vegas mode' functionality

    high · Shane: 'Jack Danger told me this...the topper for Transformers is like incredible...he's like, yeah, I just want to put this in my fucking bedroom'

    • 2:54
    And we're going to talk about it. We just wanted to break it down a little bit. Let's break it down. Yeah, of course, my third time over there for a new game launch. And yeah, it's kind of like the same kind of thing they do every time. They have everybody there in the morning. You go in, you kind of shake hands, see all the other creators and some of your friends that you've made now at the company. And basically, you wait for everyone to get there. You eat some donuts, drink some coffee, and they put you in this very small room. It's like the room is quite small. It is. And then they come and talk about the game. And usually it's George Gomez that does it. This time it was Seth Davis. Oh, really? Yes. George didn't do it. I did see him there too. I thought maybe he was like out. But it was Seth Davis that did it. Sure. Did a great job explaining a lot about the game. And then we went through the whole slideshow. And then Elliot and Elizabeth Agieski, who's the lead programmer on this game. First ever female lead programmer on a pinball machine. We got to have her on the show. She seems like such a cool person. I've talked to her a little bit. I talked to her so much about this game the other day. So, yeah, she's a huge part of this. And so they came up and answered some questions. But yeah, and then we got to play. I was actually the first player one on the first game of Transformers. That's cool. I was in there like a dirty shirt. I think it was me and Don were player one and player two from Don's Pinball podcast. He put up a good first game too. He had like a $300 million first game.
    4:42
    But yeah, man, so it was a good time there. And yeah, overall, the game. Yeah. What do you think? It's pretty good. Pretty good. We can get into the specifics. Sure. I don't even know where to start. I think it's interesting. Like for me, the layout looked cool. I like it. I like a three-flipper game. Always happy about that for sure. Yeah. So I talked to Elliot quite a bit about the layout. And what I said to him was, your second game, I don't know, you look at Wick and how it's had, John Wick, his first game, has had a really interesting kind of growth. Yeah. Whereas at first it seemed like people, there was a lot of hatred for the game. For sure. And part of it was the code, part of it was there were no guns anywhere on the game. Way more guns on Transformers than John Wick, by the way. True. Guns all over the goddamn place. I kind of asked him about that, and he said he pulled a few things from that, but all in all he was looking to do something different.
    5:54
    And what I asked him was right away, when I look at this layout for Transformers, I don't see that many other games.
    6:04
    There isn't a bunch of shots that jump out at me. A lot of games, you look at it and you go right away like, oh, that's from this game. That's from this game. And this layout is not that crazy. It's interesting, but it's not completely psycho like Uncanny X-Men. That's kind of what I want, right? That's a great mixture of a traditional layout and with some fun – just something new, right? Exactly. And the layout to me is great. I mean, there's a few shots that are pretty tight. That first game, I struggled to find the shots and I was like, oh boy, is this going to be another clunker? But, you know, it's like every pinball machine. Once you kind of find it, the flow is actually pretty good. There's some really nice returns. Some of the shots feel great. The right ramp when you can get it feels awesome. And the side flipper and all those shots over there on the left side of the game are pretty awesome too. So the layout is cool. And I really like that it doesn't feel like, oh, I'm just going through. Like, you know, I'm hitting the left orbit and this feels like Stranger Things, Pokemon, and Bond again. The game doesn't have – and I'm sure the true nerds will go, well, actually, this is from this game. But this game feels fresh without feeling weird, and I like that about the layout. Yeah, I think the game that I've seen it compared to the most, or the one that made the most sense to me at least, was Jurassic Park. But even that, I think there's some pretty good differences between the two. And only the layout really – it's funny because it's sort of in how the shots – it's not in how the balls necessarily return, but it's sort of the shots themselves are sort of Jurassic Park-y. But what's interesting about it is the layout looks totally different to me. I mean it doesn't like present itself in the same way at all.
    8:07
    Yeah, I don't see Jurassic Park that much actually the more I think about it. Well, I think it's because you've got ramps on both sides, like kind of in those similar positions. And then there's sort of the, I guess the Megatron shot that has the drops in front of it. That would be sort of the, what's when you have to shoot the really crazy one for like the missile? Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like that, I can see it. I'm just saying I can see it. But you're right. I'm agreeing with you in that. I think it really presents as its own game, and it sort of feels like a layout we should have already that don't, which is cool. That's kind of what we're saying is what we're looking for. It feels like sort of a classic layout. The interesting part about this too, right, was like, again, just like a one-pop. Is it a one-pop game? Yeah, there's just a one-pop down on the right side. So they're just doing that now. That's kind of like a thing. That's a thing they're doing. I mean, yeah, it's very much very similar to like the position of Star Wars Fall of the Empire, except that has it on both sides. I guess Uncanny X-Men has one down there, too. Exactly. Yeah. But yeah, this that and that's a that's a bit of a fucker, that thing, man. That's unpredictable. And that loves loves to shoot it in the left out lane from there. So that's that's definitely one you got to be careful of. But I'd say because people always ask, they go, how hard is it? I would say this game is kind of medium hard. It's not crazy. It's not a total drain fest, but it's not really easy either.
    9:50
    You'd say easier than John Wick though. Well, I'd say easier than John Wick when it was launched. I'd say maybe about the same now. This layout stays the same. Yeah, I guess so. Obviously, code is such a big part of what makes a game hard or easy.
    10:08
    Because of what you're shooting, I guess? Yeah, because of how easy it is to do things in the game, start a mode, start a multi-ball, get a ball save, things like that. And John Wick went from being so hard to do things when you have to keep lighting the locks, for example, right? Right. Or, you know, whatever it is now. It's like – or how many times you had to hit the car to start the multiball. You know, things like that in code obviously can make a game feel much easier or harder. But, yeah, I don't know. I think this game is kind of in the middle, which is fine with me. Yeah. But, yeah, like the code I think is – was what impressed me the most about this game. It is pretty much complete, which you never hear that about a new Stern. No, they're usually in demo mode, yeah. And this, Elizabeth told me that the game is pretty much code complete other than the final wizard mode and the very cool, and I'm sure you've heard about this, the split flipper mode that they brought in, which we should talk a little bit about as well. For sure. Well, let's get into the – so I know – I mean I watched them play the game on YouTube. I kind of told you I did try to do some homework for this. Sure, yeah. And so it starts with your missions are already like pre-started. Like you can just start a mission immediately going into the game. And it sounds like you have some sort of way to even choose kind of like X-Men style, but do it before you go in. You can kind of pick. So how does that code kind of – I didn't really understand the modes or anything like that. Yeah. What do you kind of see? Well, the mode – I mean the Megatron shot that's kind of on the right scoop that's behind the drop targets. Megatron is the bad guy, right? Megatron is the bad guy with the big gun. Okay. Word. Yeah. I did watch Transformers as like a very small child, like very young, but it was not like a huge – yeah. Yeah, I mean I was more – I think I was more into the toys than I was into the show. Yeah. But yeah, like I'm a little older than you, so I think it was a little more in my wheelhouse. But I definitely watched the show all the time and – but I was very young. So it's – Yeah, but Megatron is the bad guy because Megatron is kind of – Megatron is the bad guy. It kind of sounds like a good guy name to me. I've always been confused by that because I'm like, oh, Megatron. Like that sounds kind of nice. But Optimus Prime is the good guy. Yes. Who turns into a semi-truck. That's right. Not in this game, but – Yeah, but in the world of Transformers. That's right. And then does Megatron turn into – he turns into a jet or something? Yeah, I think so. Okay, so wow. Yeah, Megatron is just way cooler than – like the bad guy in Transformers is way cooler than the good guy.
    13:15
    Wait, does he turn into a gun? Oh, wait. He turned into a bigger gun. He turned into a gun originally, I see. Oh, word. Oh, so kids could walk around with a gun. That's so funny.
    13:30
    But does he turn into a plane? Yeah, he turns into a jet, yeah. Okay, word. But that's so funny because they were like, yeah, a kid would love to walk around with a gun that turns into an action figure. They're like, that's the coolest thing in the world. It is, though. I know. It would be funny if Optimus turned into a pack of cigarettes.
    13:49
    Like ah kids would love this It like no Mom I playing with my action figures Then immediately it just transforms back into cigarettes
    13:59
    Okay, word. But yeah, definitely kind of one of those things. And sorry to get off topic. No, no, no, no problem. I mean, I'm interested in exploring the world of the show. I think perhaps the listener is as well. Well, and I mean to do a little sidebar on that part, they've done an awesome job with like the music, the call outs. The call outs are so good, man. They're funny. I thought they were funny. They're funny, but they're so well done. Like when I was – for Stern, they kind of like – you play the game in their little bar room with everybody in there and then they give you like 20 minutes with the game. So you can hear it a little better and take some photos or whatever. I took some pictures of the game and stuff. And when you can hear the call-outs, they were like, this is going to sound dramatic, but kind of giving me shivers. Yeah. Like the voice actors they had, who I guess are like the original actors from there, they actually got those guys. It's awesome. It's like the best call-outs I've heard in a long time. And the music, obviously the theme songs that they have in there from the game, but also the other original music. It's all awesome. Animations look great. All that stuff is top notch. It must be good for those voiceover guys because I don't think they're dudes who probably are doing a ton of work these days. They're on the older side. And so it's actually an argument for me to cast more people like that doing these roles because they give it their all. There is no kind of like, eh, that was like where we phoned in that call out. These guys are like, they love the character. They understand its kind of place in their lives and their legacy is kind of in this, so they're going to do an awesome job. I mean, if they're older too, they probably understand Pinball and what it is.
    15:54
    Totally, they get it. Maybe it's a bit of a bigger deal to them too. They're like, oh, you still make these things? I didn't know they still made these things. Totally. They're like, oh yeah, of course. Well, also, the voice that's the funniest to me, so they got Optimus Prime and they got Megatron. And then did they also get, because the one that just hit me so hard was so funny to me, was when the preview for this game came out, they were using, it sounded like, I think that was the guy who was the VO guy, the voiceover guy, who is like the narrator for Transformers. And he doesn't exactly talk like a normal voiceover guy. It's a little more like FM radio DJ. He's like, a million years ago, Opticon. He's like, Transformers and Decepticons were in an entire war. Like, he kind of sounds like that. And I just thought it was so, uh, I just, I did a series of videos on our Instagram, but I was literally talking like that all day. The thing is though is like they did a great job incorporating that kind of like humor. Humor, yeah. That like we didn't – went right over our heads when we were little kids watching the show. But they like put that in there and it's like – yeah. There's some funny modes. I don't want to spoil anything. It's really good. Well, I saw – The animations like – Go ahead. Well, I just saw Dirty Pool post or I watched him talk about – he calls it Piss Lake. Yeah, the Pist Lake Mode, exactly. Golden Pond or something. Yeah. The first time I saw that, I was like, that? What are they doing? Yeah. Pretty wild. No, amazing. And, like, that's exactly – look, this is a kid's, like, theme, really, right? I mean, it's not an adult – like, there aren't even – even as a guy who likes Star Wars, I'm like, Transformers is for kids, you know? So it's good. These games are for adults, so it's nice to have that it's working on both levels. A kid's just going to have fun and be like, yeah, Transformers. And there is kind of like in Toy Story or something, there's sort of like an elevator. We're having fun with this as well. Yeah, it's just Pokemon for Gen X, basically, right? I mean, you can look at it like that. Of course, it's not exactly the same, but in a lot of ways that is what it was. It behaves exactly the same way, for sure. And so, yeah, Elizabeth coded this whole game. Can you talk a little bit about her idea? Because did you get this explained more? The thing that jumped out to me from that preview as well was the split flipper. Like you're playing against each other. One person's Optimus, one person's Megatron. How does that work? Well, essentially, you have split flippers, so each person is on either side, and the shots are going to be lit left and right. So you're trying to hit the shots on the other side of the game to score points, I guess. And of course, you can hit your own shot for the other person or whatever. But then what else is kind of interesting is the center button controls the upper flipper. That's cool. So people – she said you're kind of fighting over the center button during the game to I guess to hit those side shots when the ball goes to that area of the game. So yeah, it's – I mean that is such a cool new innovative idea that I don't think anyone has done before. No. So – You'll have to like tickle the other person or something. Yeah, I don't know if the game knows you're doing that. But no, so yeah, that's the gist, I think. I mean, there isn't a demo, I think, of anyone doing it yet. Sure. They might have had like people, but I know it's not programmed yet. She wanted to finish the main game first and actually did that. And yeah, I mean, this thing, the code feels great already. The call outs are awesome. There's so many of them too. But yeah, but the rules are great too. I mean, what I really like about this game is like you walk up to it and right away you know what to do. It's like knock down the drop targets, shoot it in there to start a mode. Super easy. To light the lock is the lock. So basically you just hit the... Word, you're just shooting the same thing. You're shooting the same thing to light the lock. You know how many games do you walk up to and you go, okay, how do I light the fucking lock? And it's something completely unrelated to a game. So I love that too. It's like very simple. Like that's how you start the multiball, the main multiball, and that's how you start the mode. Cool. There you go. That's like, you know, there's your strategy. Can you do it? I mean, that shot up the middle with the lock is pretty tight. Nice. You know that pressure, right? Most games I find the extra ball is a scoop. They love to do that. And a lot of times it's like kind of an easier shot or like, oh, it accidentally went in the scoop. I had a multi-ball like, oh, I didn't even know I got my extra ball. That's happened to people all the time. This shot is tough. And I like that. You feel like you earned that extra ball, which I was a big fan of that. I know it's a very small thing, but... No, that's a good point. But the code is very intuitive, smart, doesn't feel overly complicated, and of course there's so much other stuff, collecting different things and all that stuff that goes into it. But overall, the game feels very, very complete. All the shots feel good. And yeah, I can't – there's not really much negative I can say about the game. Even the playfield multiplier, it's just you hit the captive ball. Okay, cool. There you go. That's how you get the two times play field multiplier. Well, now let me go deep into my Kaneda bag and pull out some stuff that perhaps the pinball community is talking about. Yes, okay. Some of the more toxic elements. All right. Let me do it in my guy's voice. Let me go down to the primordial booze where the toxic pinball opinions lie. Here we go. They have been there for one million years. We will solve this for the future of humanity.
    22:50
    So, yeah, some of the talk out there is that there's just not enough toys in this thing. Yeah. And it is kind of light. I mean, I don't really care that much. It does feel weird. The rumor, let's just start with the rumor, right? And I think this was maybe confirmed by George Gomez, but the rumor was that they had an Optimus Prime that could change back and forth from a semi-truck into a little guy.
    23:20
    And now in the premium, there is not that, right? It is just an Optimus Prime who stands there and just gets hit in the shins. I'm not sure why you'd want to bash the hero of the show, but that's what you're doing. Yes, she's now a bash toy. So that's kind of like in a game that is literally called Transformers. There is not one Transformer. Like you have a guy, you have our boy shoots his gun. He shoots his gun. And that's cool. It kind of reminds me of a reverse big guns. Like he shoots his gun, like the ball, onto a ramp that is just a clean feed. Like it's not even really kind of adding a chaotic element to it. It's kind of like just a clean return. Yeah. That's what it does. Yeah, somebody from the coding team told me that they were experimenting with the gun shooting onto the playfield and stuff, but they were kind of worried about that over time not being great for – Yeah, damaging stuff. Yeah, for damaging stuff. So I don't know if they're going to add anything like that into it. That was unclear. But right now, it just shoots it onto the – Yeah, you shoot the ramp and then the gun shoots back onto that kind of platform that goes down and feeds to the left flipper. And then you can shoot the ramp again.
    24:38
    It kept happening where Elizabeth was watching us play and someone would hit the ramp and it would shoot onto – and she'd be like, oh, hit the ramp again. Something cool is going to happen. And we're like, okay. And no one could do it.
    24:53
    I'm like, well, what's the thing? What's the cool thing? She's like, you got to do it. You got to – That's funny. So I don't actually know what the cool thing is if you hit the ramp twice in a row. It just like shoots it again at you, but faster? I don't know. Well, we'll find out. But yeah, I mean not the easiest shot in the game. So there's that toy. You've got to hit it dead on. Right. So there's that toy and then the only other quote-unquote toy is – I think his name is Starscream. There's like another Transformer that has like a box in his – Soundwave. Yes. Soundwave. Wow. That's so funny. So dumb. These Transformers names, they get you. But he's got like a box in his chest and like little bad guys fly out of it in the show. And then in this one, pinballs shoot out of it. It's like a lock. It's the physical ball lock. Yeah, that's what it is. And people were asking me like, oh, the pro versus the premium. It's like, well, that's really the only two things is the gun shooting out. The gun is the same. The Megatron gun is the same in both the same sculpts, but in the premium, that shoots out. And then the physical ball lock where they come out of his chest when you start the multiball.
    26:09
    And really other than that and two other sculpts, there's really not a lot of difference between – and all the shots are there. Everything else is the same. I believe those are the only two differences. So yeah, but it does feel kind of, I don't care, I truly don't care about this, so this is truly me being devil's advocate right now, but it feels, it does feel, if you care about, like, if you're expecting Beetlejuice and you play this game, perhaps would feel a little bit empty, right? Because there's just a lot of mechanical interesting things happening in a game like that. Whereas this one, it's a little bit more, right, it's in the code, it's in a really fun layout. It's sort of like, this is how Stern, I think, is defining themselves. Like, perhaps you're not getting the most toys in your stuff, but you're getting a super-duper high-quality game that's going to run on location, like, non-stop. It doesn't have a ton of mechs, but the playability of it is really good just from how cool the layout is and how good the code is. And the lighting actually seems really good on this game. The light show is awesome, yeah. The light show looks great on this game, no doubt. Yeah, I agree with you. I think if the – I almost called it Megatron 2. If Optimus Prime transformed, I think there you go. That's the chef's kiss. I'm doing the motion.
    27:37
    I think that that would really have put the game over the top and the fact that if the rumors are true I mean if George confirmed it that they couldn get it to work properly and that why it not in there I mean because you got to figure that that was supposed to be the main toy the main wow factor Yeah. So I understand that that would be disappointing to people because there's nothing replaced it, I guess. You know what I mean? Yeah, but also at the same time now, I will refute my own argument by being like, is it really like you're going to cry adult tears over the fact that you don't get to see a robot turn into a semi-truck? Like, it's like, I don't really care that much. And I'm sure that wasn't going to be in the pro either anyway, right? Right, yeah, absolutely. The whole game should transform a la Galactic Tank Force. Right.
    28:31
    You should be able to, like, pull arms up and then you put the Foo Fighters top around top and it, like, does something crazy, you know? Yeah, and I did hear from, actually, Jack Danger told me this. I guess the topper for Transformers is like incredible. Okay, word. We might be getting some Transformers. So I'm not sure exactly, but Jack told me like he's like, yeah, I just want to put this in my fucking bedroom. So he – yeah. And he's like, because of this topper, because it's so cool, I've been trying to find a way or figure out a way with like the team. Why can't we just make something that can operate a topper on its own if somebody wants to have one? Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a haunted house mech or something. Yeah, just something that can run the topper, something it plugs into and have it on some kind of a – in the music industry, we call it Vegas mode when the mixing board just does a bunch of cool stuff by itself. Yeah, yeah. Not actually affecting the sound. Something like that. It's like an attract mode without the game. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Figure out how to how to be able to do something like that, too. So. So, yeah, maybe we'll see if the topper is is awesome. I mean, they've some good toppers lately. The Fall of the Empire topper was awesome. What was it? I don't even remember. The C-3PO? Oh, yeah, that's cool. Great. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of like I think the thing with toppers now is you make them talk to you. Yeah, yeah. That's kind of as well. It's like it started with Black Knight and then we got Fubot and then we got But yeah, we have Talking C-3PO. I mean, even the other one had an R2-D2. I did like that they had those. I was hoping Jack was going to say that depending on what it was, is that you could make different toppers. This would be the ultimate that you could never do with IP, but just imagine if you could put the Fubot on Transformers and it would do different stuff and put the Transformers one on Foo Fighters and it would do something. But that would be pretty fun. We'll just have to wait for open source code for that stuff and have a bunch of hackers.
    30:46
    That's a Scott Danesi project. Who knows what kind of weird, nerdy stuff they're doing in the back rooms at Stern? Oh, if you plug this topper in, it does this. We spent all day working on this dumb thing that no one's ever going to know about. I know they do stuff like that. I know they do. I mean just knowing what a freak jack is, yes, I think that's pretty accurate for sure. Yes, no. Absolutely. Yeah, go ahead. So I was just going to say your overwhelming come away from this is quite positive. Yeah, I mean I like the game. I think you can obviously say there's not enough toys in it, especially if you want to compare it to like Godzilla or something like where you have the building that collapses. You've got the magnetic Mechagodzilla, the thing that turns around and you shoot it with the spinner built in. Those insane toys like Godzilla had, for example, there's not really anything quite like that here. I think there was supposed to be, but I think that does not take away at all from the gameplay.
    31:53
    I'm not buying this game. I'm going to be playing this game a lot probably at my local watering hole, tournaments, all that stuff. I'm going to be playing this game all the time. For me, a lot of times with pinball toys, once you've seen it, do I really need to see the building in Godzilla collapse again and again and again? It's cool. Right, you're trying to skip through it. Yeah, that happens all the time with games. Now anytime there's something on the screen, everyone just double flip, click, gone. And, you know, I saw people doing it the first time they ever played Transformers. I'm like, you're clicking through. Like, I was, like, embarrassed. Like, Elizabeth's watching, and you're just like, click. Who cares? Who cares what she programmed? I was like, come on. Like, it's the first time you've ever played this. I love that. Like, watch the – at least watch it this time. Hey, dude, people play games for all kinds of reasons. I do love that, though. And, man, that's so funny. Right in front of – it's just like next. It's like you're so compulsive with it. You're like, bro, I got to keep this flow going. That's awesome though. Well, again though, when a ball is in a scoop and you don't know when it's going to pop out, it's like, well, I'm going to hit the flipper so I know it's going to pop out when I'm ready for it. No, definitely. I love it. And like, dude, I mean you're speaking my language. I love that Stern is like actually catering to that with people, that they allow you to do that because my big argument was like when Kaneda and all these people sort of argue, They're like, they want these big elaborate mechs. It's like, okay, well, when you had those back in the 90s, you would have to shoot them over and over and over again. You know, and it gets really old. It slows down flow. You can't really have good code when you're like constantly having to go to these like samey shots over and over again. So I love this direction for Stern. Like I think I was actually, this is a good transition if we can to just like put a pin in like Transformers is cool. We like it. I, in general, want to talk about where Stern is going with their coding team and how good it's getting because we just had a feature come out online. You can read it right now on NudgePinball.com about how good I think the Star Wars code has gotten since release. It started okay. Yeah, pretty good from the start, I'd say. And since then, though, man, has blossomed into this crazy, truly, you know, they call Star Wars a space opera, right? Because it sort of is these giant, high-arcing, almost like fantasy elements that play out across these giant stories.
    34:30
    The pinball machine lets you do that now, which is crazy. And that's all because of the code. None of the shots have changed, but it's all because of the code of Raymond Davidson and his team, Aaron, who is also working on Pokemon, I think is the lead on Pokemon. But they're having this next generation of coders come up, you know, Elizabeth, Ray Day, Aaron, like all these people who are kind of the next gen, more our generation of programmers. And there's really cool stuff happening. They just had some updates with Star Wars where, so we've always had the character modes, right? So if people aren't too familiar with the game, basically you hit force target stand-ups and you'll be able to start one of eight different character modes based on a shot that it has all the characters on the play field, so it's really easy to tell. Once you now beat one of those modes, it lights like a super mode for the character, essentially. Something that's like a really blown out, either it takes like, like the Luke one, it's like 28 shots to get through it. For other ones, they're kind of like two-tiered, or that's maybe Obi-Wan. For other ones, there's like two-tiered things, so I did Luke. This one was really cool. I hit rate it up about this. So you beat one Luke mode and then the next one it's like called Dark or like Evil Cave or Dark Cave or something. It's basically the moment in Empire Strikes Back. Remember he is in Dagobah and he goes into this cave. He's having a dream. He doesn't really realize it though. We don't realize it. He goes into this cave and he confronts Darth Vader and he fights him and he cuts his head off and then it rolls down and it's Luke's head there. You know, it's like, oh shit. So in the super mode, you start by doing kind of like one thing. And I was like, oh, that's cool. Like you have to hit these 11 shots and they're kind of hard. But each kind of clip that it's playing is associated with the shot that you're shooting like directly. Very cool. And then when I get to there and it's like, okay, you've entered the cave. Oh shit. This is a two tiered mode. Now there's another thing where you're going one by one. You have to hit the force targets and to like progress it. And it'll start with F and then you have to hit the O1. And you can hit the other ones, but the only way you'll get it to progress is through this thing. And then once you do that, you're having the fight with Darth Vader and it's this kind of chaotic thing as you're hitting stand-ups and it's rocketing all around. And then you beat it and his head falls. I got like $186 million from this mode just by doing that. But I'm like, this is such smart. This is so fucking smart. This is how you get people to come back to a game again and again and again. And this is how you like integrate points with actually telling a story, actually doing something that like raises the stakes, like really felt on there. I'm telling you, once I got in the cave and it like did something different and all the lights come down and it's kind of like red, like it's really vibey. I recommend people just try that mode out specifically. But each character has their own one of those. Yeah. Wow. That's awesome. And that's all just like – that's come out since Star Wars has been out. And there's not just character modes. There's the Jabba things. There's the Vader things. There's Millennium Falcon stuff. Like you're doing – there is like literally you could play that game differently every single time you play it and have really good games and it would be like a totally different game every time. Well, I remember at the Star Wars launch talking to Ray Day about it and him saying, you know, we have so many clips. We have so much in this game. I think he said they were only like halfway at the time. So, yeah, they've followed through and they've continued to make the game better and better. And, I mean, we see this all the time, you know, and whether it's Bond, people hating on that game early on because of the code or John Wick now. People are starting to really like that game, and it's going to happen with Star Wars. And you were really the only person from the get-go saying, you know what? This game is actually good. Give it a chance. Don't just poo-poo on it because it's another fan layout or whatever. This game is not bad.
    38:46
    Yeah, and it's starting to come around for me too, especially now that they have the Elliot Stern is super dialed in. All the shots are like butter on that one. I know they've obviously fixed the Death Star reject, which was pissing everybody off when the game was launched and things like that. So yeah, I think it's going to be one of those games that people go, it's really not as bad as the critics were saying when it came out. It's so dumb that, not only that, I mean, dude, it's Star Wars. And it's the original movies that everybody loves, has universal appeal. You do the speeder bike chases, another one of the super modes. I think that's the Leia one. And it's so fucking fun. And it's got all the clips of them in Endor zooming through. I'm like, dude, this is the game. I love Star Wars in the 90s and we were so hard up. That was the time of when you're having to read the novelizations of what happened later or play the weird video games and stuff. I just think like, man, if this, if my, if I could transport just the consciousness of like my young self to like right now and just like see that game, I think I'd be so excited by it. And so like, wow, you can truly like play out the adventure the way that you want to, you know, whatever thing that you like, whatever character you like. I was literally doing this as a fucking grown adult. I was playing the Obi-Wan Kenobi modes because that's my favorite guy because his last name rhymes with my last name. And I like – so that's always who I'm associated with, Obi-Wan Jacoby. So I'm just like – I'm like, bro, you're a fucking kid. Like what are you doing right now? But it's like that's what's so cool about it. So I even – yeah, I even hit Ray Day up and I was just like, dude, just so you know, like there's like three things getting me through life right now. It's like weed, starting antidepressants and playing your game.
    40:41
    Wow. Dump that on him, why don't you? No, I mean – No, he got it. I mean, I don't think his head's necessarily in that place, but I think he understood what I was saying. And yeah, it is just like, it was very heartening. And I think Pokemon's going to get there. You make a really good point in that, like, it does, I've really tried to grapple with the fact that, like, these games don't come out code complete, and that's just how it is. And I honestly – like I wrote that article kind of talking about how I think maybe it's kind of a cool thing because we learn the rules piece by piece and it's kind of like lore. Sort of except I will say this game, Transformers, is an exception. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Elizabeth, I mean I think maybe part of it is like it was her first game and she wanted to really make a splash. Yeah. She basically was like there saying you know saying like she nervous because everyone playing for the first time but she excited but she feels really confident in the work that she did And she worked so hard tirelessly on this game getting it ready And it really is, I think they call it a .85 or something, but that doesn't fucking mean anything anyway, what they want to call that number. But I think compared to Pokemon, which came out as a .8, I think, it's way, way further ahead. No, and it's her first game as lead, but I mean she's done a great job on like Jaws and she was a huge part of Dwight's team on Dungeons & Dragons. And she's like – I think she was a big – I mean I know her and Rick are working together on Jaws and Rick always works with Keith. But I think a lot of those fun modes and like the shark is broken and that kind of stuff is from Elizabeth's mind. And she really likes to add value in those kind of DLC kind of ways. She almost thinks that way. For sure. It feels like that, yeah. Yeah, and I remembered her even, I think it was the D&D release, where she was just standing behind us. I remember what you were talking about with Transformers, where she's taking notes. She's even using us as play testers in the moment. It's very much like a scientist watching their lab rats. But no, I think she's just such a great – that's what I mean, dude. It's like this generation is cool. I'm liking what I'm seeing from these young guys and I'm glad Stern's letting them kind of take the reins on some of these projects because they're bringing in good ideas. No, no, 100 percent. And I think you're right. It's really great to see. I think when you talked about Jaws, and yeah, that might be – I don't think it's too crazy to say that might be the best coded game ever. Word. I think you could say that about Jaws, and I think that that probably is the game where everyone went, oh, yeah, we got to give Elizabeth her own gig here and see what she can do. And yeah, I mean it seems like so far and we're still – again, we're not code complete. We're not even there. I'm sure she's going to make it even better than it already is. And yeah, it's really, really great to see. Cool, dude. Well, this was like a fun – I mean, yeah, you were our man on the street. Amazing. Oh, and foiled artwork is back on the LE cabinets, by the way. Thank God. Hey, you know what, everyone? Our long national nightmare is over, baby, because foil's back. Foil's back on the menu, boys.
    44:22
    Who gives a shit? I mean, no, that's cool. It's so funny because I'm just like, it seems like the pro is kind of the way to go on this one and I'm down with that. It was weird. I saw Dirty Pool say almost the exact opposite. He's like, there aren't very many mechs, so what you want, you're going to want the premium. I'm like, I don't know. You could just do a pro.
    44:45
    Physical ball locks to me, I never really think that's worth it for me. Exactly. I mean, all it really ever does is you've got to wait for it to say ball one. I guess sometimes it's nice to know which ball you lock because sometimes you know. Is that my first, second, third? Which ball lock am I on? Not worth $3,000 or whatever the difference is. No, and to watch the gun shoot out is cool, but it doesn't change anything about the game. So yeah, if I was a buyer, I think I'd probably go pro. The LE looks beautiful, of course.
    45:23
    And it looks way better in person. The split powder coat in the pictures looks kind of lame a little bit. And you're like, oh, the two different colored legs. But when you see it in person, it looks way better and not as like, I don't know. The colors look way better. Does it kind of join around the action button then? Is that where it kind of comes together? Okay, interesting. Yeah, I would love to see one. I think they'll probably, they usually get LEs at Lit. We're usually pretty lucky with that, so I'm wondering if they'll get this one. But yeah, I'm very excited to play it. I think everything I've heard has been good, and I like how the layout looks. Yeah, we'll see. Well, thanks, Shane. Good job, Intrepid Reporter. We're going to have to get you one of those hats with the little card sticking out of it. That's right. No, I'll be like – I don't know why I was thinking Inspector Gadget. Maybe just because he's an idiot. That's why. No, I think we're going to get you a nice gray trench coat, one of those hats with a helicopter or a giant boxing glove that comes out of it on a spring. Right. Dude, Inspector Gadget? I'd play that game. Dude, definitely. You could just re-theme a junkyard into Inspector Gadget. I feel like it would work. No, because if you do Inspector Gadget, you have to have the craziest mechs ever. That's true. Yeah, I want that thing to be helicoptering around. Damn, I can't. I mean, the songs would – well, just the one song would definitely slap. That would have to be a multiball when you hear that for sure because that would just – man, I'm doing everything in my power not to sing it right now. Oh, and they did get the song for Transformers. I almost forgot. Oh, yeah. You've Got the Touch from the 86 movie is in the game. They got it. They licensed it. When Seth showed that and played the song, the room cheered. It's so funny. It's like grown men just breaking down. It's so funny. But then they specifically said that they wanted the game to make sense. So the main game is the G1 cartoon. But then the special mode is the movie. So that's a cool idea too. They did a good job with that. I picture it happening like that clip of all the Microsoft people when it's like Bill Gates and the guy who owns the Clippers are dancing together. It was like Tom Graff and what's his name? Carrie Hardy are like dancing to the touch.
    48:11
    I actually mentioned that song to my buddy, or Brian. We were working on the magazine last night and I was like, yeah man, you've got the touch. And he was like, what the? But he looked at me and he's like, you better not fucking touch me right now. I was like, no, dude, the song. He's like, yeah, I was not familiar. I'm like, oh, it's kind of a banger. It is. Oh, it's a banger. Oh, it's a banger already. We should end with that song. You got to end with that song. Oh, I already had that on freaking you, dude. You got the touch button right here on my keyboard ready, dude. But yeah, and I guess the other piece of controversy was that down the street from Stern Pinball is Jersey Jack Pinball who has been teasing a new Steve Ritchie game, which I think it's the worst kept secret in pinball right now is that it's Sonic the Hedgehog. And that I guess some of the content creators that were at the Stern launch here went down to Jersey Jack to check out that game. I would like to go on the record to say that I did not go. You did not. I did not go. I felt dirty. It feels dirty to do that. And I don't know. I didn't want to go. So I didn't go. I think word. I think I did do that one of the times when I went down for a Stern thing. I went over to Jersey Jack. What game was it? It definitely wasn't Harry Potter. Maybe it was Elton John I saw earlier or something. I will neither confirm nor deny that Jersey Jack also extended me that invitation. Obviously I didn't go because I didn't even go to Stern. But it's funny. I think the Sonic game will be cool. I'm excited to see. I don't have any, like I haven't seen anything. I don't know anything about it, so I can freely speculate. I do like that Steve Ritchie has basically been doing the Sonic hairstyle for like the last 10 or 15 years. So like he was prepped. He's kind of got that like, you know, gotta go fast type blown back look. That's right. Fresh off a car chase or whatever the legend is of high speed. What do they call him? The Lord of Flow? What's it? King of Flow? King of Flow? Yeah. I don't know. Seems like the right guy. King of Flow. The King. Lord Flow. He may have given that nickname to himself, but we still call him the King. Did he? I don't think. That's what I was told. Oh, that's really funny. Well, okay. Yeah.
    50:50
    But you know what? I will say this about Sonic since basically it's already been announced because everyone knows it's coming.
    50:58
    I probably in my entire life and like I'm 45 years old so this is like that era of video games is like in my wheelhouse. I have probably played Sonic the Hedgehog five times in my whole life. Oh, wow. I didn't have a Sega. I was a Nintendo kid. Sure. I had one friend that had a Sega, but I didn't really like him, so I never went over there. And yeah, I probably played – barely ever played Sonic. So for me, the Sonic nostalgia is not – there isn't any. Interesting. So yeah. Yeah, I guess I have some. It's funny that you said you weren't very good friends with the guy who had the Sega machine because honestly I would kind of determine how good my friends were by how good their video game systems were. So that would have actually probably bumped someone up if they were low. Well, somebody told me, when I said that on a Discord server, someone was like, oh, I guess we know who comes from a rich neighborhood. And I was like, oh, I never really. Because one kid had a Sega? I guess Sega was like the cheap, was like the poor kid system. I don't know. I didn't even know that. I don't think there is a poor kid system. Poor kids played in the street with micro machines. I said that poor kids played in the street and the rich kids had both. Yeah, that's true. They would get one at Christmas and then they'd get the next one at their birthday and you're like, what the fuck? Dude, I remember that. I won't even care about putting them on blast. I remember Evan Swenson, his third grade birthday party. His dad had skydivers jump out of a plane and they landed and then they handed him a birthday present that I think was a Sega. Oh, fucking way. That's the most insane thing I've ever heard. I know. His dad was a lawyer in town, so his dad had small-town rich guy money, so you could kind of do stuff like that. But yeah, and I remember him saying, dude, I don't know if this is in my – I'm pretty sure he did say this. I remember him kind of like leaning over and being like, all right, pay attention. I paid a lot of money for this, which I just love saying to like a third – That's insane. Like some dumbass third grader. You're just like – Pay attention to a little snot. I remember they dropped a wind thing and it went down like a rock and I was like, I hope that's not them. I remember that. Yeah, this is a great way to traumatize your child on their birthday when the fucking parachute doesn't open. Exactly. Can I still pull the Sega out of their mangled corpse? Can I just pull it out of the divot in their chest?
    53:36
    That's an insane story. Wow. Well, there you go. A little lore there. And Transformers. Transformers, it's coming out. And that's the great thing about Stern is that these games are going to be on location. They probably already are getting delivered.
    53:57
    So yeah, it's exciting to have these games come out so quickly and it's not like some of the other companies, the boutiques, which obviously it is what it is. But sometimes you see a game and you can't play it for six months. At least. We'll be seeing them. All right. Cool, dude. Well, good. Thank you. Thanks for the update. And I don't know. We've got some plans for future guests that will be real good. Yeah. Just stick around and keep us on your feed. That's right. And if you need a game, MAD Pinball is the sponsor of the show. Hit up info at madpinball.com. Get a game. Get free shipping on any Stern, new in box. Maybe a Transformers is coming your way. Maybe I've inspired you to buy one or not. But if you're getting any game, hit up Jeff at MadPinball. They're the best. And Corbin.
    54:49
    See you guys. Alright. Peace. You got the touch. You got the power. You got the touch. You got the power.
    55:09
    Yeah!