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DPP #242 "Transformer's! It's a game!"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·35m 40s·analyzed·May 21, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Don reviews new Stern Transformers pinball: solid layout, exceptional 80s TV assets, complex rules, no Optimus transformation.

Summary

Don attends Stern's media day for the new Transformers pinball machine and provides an extensive hands-on review covering layout, mechanics, code, art assets, and production details. He praises the game's solid B-tier layout, exceptional video assets drawn from the 1980s TV show with original voice acting, and complex rule set designed by Elizabeth Gieske. He notes that Optimus Prime does not transform due to unconfirmed licensing or design constraints, discusses accessory timelines and code roadmap, and gives trim-level buying recommendations.

Key Claims

  • Transformers is the first Stern game Don has been as excited about since Jaws

    high confidence · Don's direct comparison and emotional assessment during his playthrough

  • Elizabeth Gieske is the lead programmer on Transformers, bringing her expertise from Jaws

    high confidence · Don explicitly names her and credits her role during gameplay

  • The game will launch with complete mode set but missing final wizard mode, challenge modes, and coin currency system

    high confidence · Elizabeth Gieske confirmed these pending features to Don during playtime

  • Optimus Prime does not transform in the machine; Don speculates it may be a Hasbro licensing requirement

    medium confidence · Don's direct observation and speculation based on typical Hasbro licensing strictness

  • Video assets are sourced directly from 70 episodes of the original G1 TV show in original 4x3 resolution

    high confidence · Don's observation while playing and watching the screen assets

  • Accessories are coming in 'a couple of months' rather than many months like D&D or Venom

    medium confidence · Stern team verbal comments during media day, not a formal timeline

  • Foil decals return on Transformers cabinet and backbox, contrasting with recent releases

    high confidence · Don's direct observation of the physical machine

  • Pokemon is Stern's fastest-selling game in quite a while

    medium confidence · Stern team comment during media day event

  • Hasbro licensing moved faster than Pokemon Company licensing, which requires multi-committee approval

    medium confidence · Stern team explanation of licensing timelines at media day

  • Games will start shipping this month with Pros first, then Premium/LE next month

Notable Quotes

  • “This is like X-Men, only better. The problems with X-Men weren't in its cool, crazy layout...it was just in some of the rattle and inconsistencies when it came to the production machine...I can see this as having likely less problems, less issues than X-Men did when it went into production.”

    Don @ ~12:00 — Direct comparison to a recent complex Stern release, suggesting improved manufacturing quality and design lessons

  • “This layout's a solid B. It's not an amazing, incredible layout, blowing my mind, doing things I've never seen a ball do before, but it's a solid B. This is an above-average effort as far as layout.”

    Don @ ~15:30 — Honest assessment of playfield design; establishes baseline expectations

  • “Playing a game with the game's coder standing right next to you, kind of like as your base coach, is kind of incredible, man. I want to bring her to tournaments with me.”

    Don @ ~17:45 — Praise for Elizabeth Gieske's hands-on presence and expertise during playtime

  • “I think this is really coming together in a way for Stern that we've kind of been wanting them to get back to...this is probably the game, the first one from Stern that I've been as excited about as I was with Jaws.”

    Don @ ~23:00 — High-stakes emotional endorsement; positions Transformers as returning to Stern's best practices

  • “They got custom callouts from Frank Welker doing a lot of characters, including Megatron. They got I think his name is Peter Collins the guy that did Optimus is doing some custom callouts too. So it just feels like a great homage to Transformers.”

    Don @ ~21:30 — Original voice actors from 1980s G1 series returning; confirms high production value and fan service

  • “If you don't like Transformers, that not going to do that much to you. But if you were a child of the 80s buying these toys playing them and you want to play a game from that era...with the actual assets there, with the voice actors talking to you, like, I think this is really coming together.”

    Don @ ~22:30 — Honest assessment of the game's appeal; acknowledges IP-dependent nature of enjoyment

Entities

DonpersonElizabeth GieskepersonFrank WelkerpersonPeter CollinspersonShane ToldpersonStern PinballcompanyHasbrocompanyTransformersgameJawsgame

Signals

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Don praises Grimlock shot as best-designed on the playfield, highlighting multi-step ball path with wire forms and return mechanics that feel effortless and rewarding

    high · Extended description of Grimlock shot flow, ball physics, and post-lock mechanic; 'effortlessly bobs off of it' indicates well-tuned design

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Rules exhibit high complexity with stackable multiballs, independent playfield multipliers, modes with multi-step progressions alternating between ramps and drop targets, challenge modes with shot selection

    high · Don describes moment-to-moment gameplay with Elizabeth explaining setup where multiball + mode + playfield multiplier stack; notes complexity beyond X-Men

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Game balances intricate rules and multimode stacking with accessible core loop; Don characterizes layout as 'solid B' and notes no overly complex mechanical problems like X-Men's crisscrossing wire forms

    high · Don compares favorably to X-Men while noting Transformers avoids those design pitfalls; describes ability to repeatedly and successfully hit ramps without dialing in

  • ?

    product_concern: Optimus Prime does not transform despite being central Transformers character; Don speculates this is licensing constraint but acknowledges uncertainty

    high · Don's extended discussion of why Optimus doesn't move/transform; speculates Hasbro may require authentic G1 transformation vs. simplified pinball mechanism; notes nobody at media day asked clarifying question

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Don believes Transformers will have fewer production issues than X-Men based on simpler, proven mechanical solutions (standard Foo Fighters-style ramps, no complex crisscrossing elements)

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.107

0:00
Hey guys, it's Don from Don's Pinball Podcast, doing what I do best, just talk about pinball, especially new stuff. I'm back from Stern's Media Day for Transformers. Feel the Beast? What was the tagline for that? Robots in Disguise? We're going to talk about all of that.
0:30
KABOOM! Man, it's been a busy 24 hours for me. I just got back late last night from the Stern Party Media event for Transformers, Robots in Disguised. All three trim levels were available to be played in person with the designer, with the rules encoder teams, with the person responsible for all of the video assets. And yeah, this game's kind of cool. I haven't even been back long enough to go online and see whatever the drama is going on. Is it the non-transforming Optimus Prime? Is that it? Is there something else? I saw a brief thing on Kineticist doom scrolling in a traffic light, but I haven't really got into it. So this is all unbiased information just based on me, pinball hobbyist. I like to play the pinballs. I like to play the new pinballs. Here's what I think of this new game as of whatever code it's on right now. All right, so I'll cover this thing in a traditional manner here. We'll go shots and layout first, okay, because once I got into the factory, I had the pleasantries and everything, got my phone unlocked. Shout out to American Airlines Lost and Found for finding that for me. And then myself and a couple people from the Patreon, the socials in tow, we descended on the place. Once we got right into the streaming layer, it's that area that looks like a brick paneled streaming bar lounge. It's been the home of the streaming and media content ever since the days of John Wick and that media day release. I walk up, I'm there with Shane Told, and yeah, we just went hit and start on the LE and just got to playing. You know, it's always awkward when you bring 20 people into the room. We're staring at the new game. We all just want to play it. And then, you know, they're waxing about, like, development and issues and this, that, and the other. And we're like, that'll make a lot more sense to me in about 40 minutes. Can we just play, please? So that's what we did this time. We just went in and we played. Hit start. I walk up there. Fresh plunge on a brand new game. Is there anything more cool than that? You know, it only happens once. You know, so I plunge in. And I happen to have a rather good ball one. So my very initial, initial feedback of this game was everywhere that I was shooting the ball, something fun was happening. There was something cool to do there, whether it be a shot, an orbit, a ramp to a fun rail, to a little mechanism, to a semi kind of bash toy. I was having a lot of fun with this, and I was noticing there was a heck of a lot of content dripping all over that screen. More of that in a bit. But it was fun to shoot up around Optimus. The best shot of the game that I found wasn't even with the Megatron fire and the ball out of the cannon. It was the Grimlock shot. This shot is kind of to the left of where the Foo Fighters lower left ramp is. So you shoot into that area. It goes around Grimlock, pops right up onto this little two rail wire form, crosses the mid range of the gameplay field. And then it's got that little 45 degree rubber tipped area that Kong had on its ramp. And the ball just effortlessly bops off of it, drops down, slow feeds the right upper flipper, causes enough of a pause that you're like, okay, here we go, man, swing and a miss. Let's go, boom. And you can fire it around the orbit or on Optimus. You can fire it into the little hidey hole. This was really hidden with that leaked image that we got first off. To the very extreme right, the very next thing you can hit after that left lower ramp, there's a little alcove, as it were, in there. It's underneath this metal landing plate that Megatron's balls land on. Beneath there, there's just a stand-up target in there, a little hidey hole with a stand-up target. And when you hit it, occasionally, this post can pop up and kind of soft-lock the ball right there, giving you a moment. This is the shot of the game where the extra ball is. This is where bonuses and jackpots are. This is where one of the better skill shots of the game is located. And so it's fun because you can fire it in there. It'll hit that target. Boom, a post comes up and it'll give you a moment to like watch your reward, you know, screen by on the screen or hear the call outs or watch the animation for the extra ball or something. A cool little area that doesn't take up hardly any real estate at all encompasses only one switch at the standup target and then an up post. So it'll coil underneath there. But it's like a fun little area. Every time I got it in there, like I was happy, you know, whenever that was a shot to say end a mode or get a jacket, Jackpot or go for the skill shot and you nailed it. It was like, all right, all right. That was kind of cool. That was kind of cool. Oh, I suppose there is the captive ball right adjacent to that. So it's right around the corner from there. But all in that little Grimlock area, there's like five kind of satisfying things to shoot all right in there. That's super fun. The stacked wire forms were fun. You've got that one that careens around Optimus Prime up at the corner and then the other one that feeds, you know, above the other ramp. I like ramps and things and wire forms that are leading here, tither and yawn, and it's up to me to figure out how to get the ball up there and what to do. So the balls can lock at lots of places as well. Megatron there in the back. First off, walking up to the machine, Megatron is freaking massive. You know, from the top-down shot, you can kind of see like, okay, he's there, but we had no perspective. And I guess now that the trailer's been released, you can kind of see that. But even me sitting in the reveal room prior to going and seeing the actual game when they played us all the trailers, the teasers, and all that business, the featurette, I still didn't grasp exactly how freaking large this thing is. It dwarfs Optimus. It dwarfs even Soundwave, who's huge in his own right.

high confidence · Stern communicated production timeline at media day

  • “Each licensor kind of has their own method for going through everything. When you license a theme for a pinball machine, the license holder owns basically every aspect of it, and you are obliged to move at their pace for everything.”

    Don (quoting Stern team) @ ~27:00 — Explanation of licensing bottlenecks; contextualizes why Pokemon accessories took longer

  • “The Grimlock shot is kind of to the left of where the Foo Fighters lower left ramp is...it goes around Grimlock, pops right up onto this little two rail wire form, crosses the mid range...and then it's got that little 45 degree rubber tipped area that Kong had on its ramp...and the ball just effortlessly bobs off of it.”

    Don @ ~10:00 — Detailed mechanical praise; shows Don's technical appreciation for playfield design and ball physics

  • “I'm thinking a matter of months...for code, the code in this game seems to be great for launch. I mean, it looks like this game is already replete with mode, multiballs, even some mini wizard modes.”

    Don @ ~29:00 — Specific timeline estimate and readiness assessment; sets expectations for content roadmap

  • “Why doesn't it transform again?...Maybe he rolled his head backwards, tucked his arms in, got down in position like the original 1980s toy. But in pinball, I would have been fine if he just kind of hinged, bent over at the waist, and then his truck form was shown.”

    Don @ ~13:30 — Main design criticism; suggests potential solutions and licensing constraint theory

    • X-Mengame
    Pokemongame
    John Wickgame
    Foo Fightersgame
    Konggame
    Lord of the Ringsgame
    Munstersgame
    Tortoise and Haregame
    Star Warsgame
    Bondgame
    D&Dgame
    Venomgame
    Pokemon Companycompany
    Joshperson
    IFPAorganization
    Stern Spike 3product

    medium · Don states: 'I can see this as having likely less problems, less issues than X-Men did when it went into production'; cites specific mechanical design choices reducing complexity

  • ?

    content_signal: Game integrates 70 episodes of original G1 cartoon in native 4x3 resolution with letterboxing; custom animations for ball locks/extra balls showing characters like Bumblebee; full voice acting from Frank Welker and Peter Collins

    high · Don observes letterboxing approach, original resolution preservation, custom animations, and discusses voice talent directly encountered at media day

  • ?

    product_strategy: Pro lacks Shockwave toy and cassette ball ejection, loses Grimlock toy detail; Premium/LE feature foil decals; trim levels otherwise 'interchangeable' on art/glass; Don recommends Pro as sufficient

    high · Don provides detailed breakdown of Pro vs Premium/LE differences and buying recommendations; notes foil decals as main LE differentiator

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Hasbro approval process faster than Pokemon Company's multi-committee model; accessories expected in 'couple of months' vs. many months for D&D/Venom

    medium · Stern team comments at media day about licensor-specific approval processes; Don's inference about Hasbro speed vs. Pokemon Company bureaucracy

  • ?

    product_launch: Pro production starts this month; Premium/LE production next month; Pokemon production continues; existing stock (Jaws, John Wick, Rush) being closed out as distributors finalize year-end orders

    high · Stern communicated specific monthly production schedule at media day; Don mentions impending stock cutoff

  • ?

    code_update: Game launches with complete base modes, multiballs, mini wizard modes; pending final wizard mode, challenge modes beyond split-flipper, and coin currency system for continues; expected post-launch in subsequent updates

    high · Elizabeth Gieske confirmed pending features to Don; described launch as 'complete game' with roadmap for challenge modes and currency system

  • $

    market_signal: Expected tightening of new game availability may increase secondary market prices for recent releases like Jaws Premium, especially if topper-equipped versions are in short supply

    medium · Don speculates that 6-month wait for new Jaws may drive demand for used Jaws Premium on secondary market; notes this is speculation pending market analysis

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Don's enthusiasm for Transformers marks potential sentiment shift toward Stern after expressing frustration with licensing delays on Pokemon; frames Transformers as return to 'best practices' Stern had abandoned

    high · Don repeatedly compares Transformers favorably to Jaws and notes it's his most excited Stern game since Jaws; explicitly credits Stern for 'coming together in a way we've been wanting them to get back to'

    • 6:03
    But yeah, dude, that guy back there is massive. And then watching him move, he articulates a lot more than I thought he would. You know, he's got a left and right of the torso, and then the barrel of the gun can dip up and down. So there's kind of two axes of motion there. Kind of fun. Causes some cool little sweeping movements and hopefully more will be incorporated into that as the game progresses and everything. But he was fun to shoot into. That right ramp, the Decepticons ramp, seems really steep, like Foo Fighters steep. But I can tell you, I had most of my shots that went up there that were fair shots would roll all the way up there. So it was not as steep or as unforgiving as that ramp is on Foo Fighters, which is located kind of in the same area. So that was nice. That was nice. Even on the fly, you could hit it and a good shot would go up there. And then there's a diverter to either feed into Megatron's barrel or to kick around into the wire form. Now, on the Pro, I was surprised they left Megatron intact up there. Of course, he doesn't move. But the diverter is also intact. And on the Pro, the balls will lock in there, release with the same mechanism that would then feed the cannon. It's just they kind of dribble out and fall and roll out from behind Megatron. A little bit awkward, but I do love that they kept that whole sculpt there. Optimus is probably the least interesting thing on the playfield. I mean, it's two stand-up targets that are his shins, and that's it. There's no lights flashing inside of him. There's no JJP-style mech armor arm going up and down in rage fist when you get an extra ball or anything, or continue. So he's just kind of there. It would have been great if he did something. Rose and lowered into the play field, lowered down into position. I kind of think that this wasn't insurmountable to find a way for him to transform. Now, maybe he rolled his head backwards, tucked his arms in, got down in position like the original 1980s toy. But in pinball, I would have been fine if he just kind of hinged, bent over at the waist, and then his truck form was shown. And then he could then stand back up and his head would pop up. I think that would work too. Perhaps it was an issue with Hasbro, like, hey, we can make this much simpler for Pinball, and they're like, well, no, it's got to transform like the actual robot does, or nothing at all. I didn't hear anything clarification-wise at all. Nobody was brave enough to bring up that question in the initial, hi, how you doing? We're watching the trailers and everything, like, hey, anybody have a question? Yeah, so why doesn't it transform again? So I'm sure we'll find out more down the road. I think this would be a great opportunity to continue to work on this mechanism, find a way to put the extra time in to overcome whatever issues there are, and have it as an add-on accessory down the road. And okay, so maybe sometimes when it's transforming, it's a ball trap or something. The glass has to be removed and reset. Maybe you wouldn't want this for your sweaty kid's cafeteria that you're putting this game at. But if you have the game at home and most of the time we just looking at these games anyway It would kind of be nice to have that option to put it in there before somebody goes Grogu style sticking servos in this thing making his head spin around and his knees kick out or something So we'll see what happens with that. It's fine. It's a bash toy that's back there. It takes up a lot of real estate, and it looks like something that should do something, and it doesn't. You can orbit around them a couple different ways. There's a ball lock on the right there. It goes into the vertical up kicker, into the wire form, and that's kind of it. That's kind of it with there. Soundwave is fun. Again, you shoot up the ramp, the balls will curl down behind him. The cool little metal device they have at the end of the habit trail that feeds the right flipper there. Kind of interesting how it works, a swooping metal. I don't know why they designed it like that rather than wire form. I would expect just a wire form to return that ball to the right flipper in lane. However, it's cool how it looks. It functions just fine. And so a little bit of artistic flair on behalf of someone on the team. It's cool. It's cool. It works. I like a non-traditional little ball habit trail when I could see one. The Deadpool sword katana was cool. It worked good on Lord of the Rings. So yeah, where you can, you know, throw something in there that's not strictly a wire form every single time. That's fine. That's fine. A wire form would have been fine too. So, but occasionally a diverter will kick off and balls will load. I'm assuming into like some sort of vertical up kicker or coil behind Soundwave. I didn't get to get in there and dissect them. You know, I couldn't pull the glass out of this machine and really get my fingers in all the crannies. But, you know, when the multi-ball starts for Soundwave and the balls kick out, it's kind of fun. You know, it looks like the ball's launching out of the JB5 from Bond. So, it's a very quick motion. You know, if you're watching the screen or listening to the music, you might not even notice it. So, yeah, it's kind of cool that he's there. I like that he's the sculpt of the actual toy. That's super fun. On the Pro, you get this plastic of him, which is like gargantuan in size, man. It's almost like an uncomfortably large plastic that's sitting there. But, yeah, I will say, you know, while it was fun watching it, you know, it's okay. There's another stand-up target that's down there. It doesn't really do anything else other than inject balls from the center. It's fine. It looks cool. That's the main thing about it. So this game, with all of its various sculpts and toys, it looks fun. The shots are fun to hit. And when people were asking me what I thought, the first thing that crawled into my mind was like, this is like X-Men, only better. The problems with X-Men weren't in its cool, crazy layout. That was amazing. It wasn't in the raising and lowering Sentinel head that was right there. That was cool. It was just in some of the rattle and inconsistencies when it came to the production machine that were causing problems. Now, this is not the production machine that I was playing, but I can see this as having likely less problems, less issues than X-Men did when it went into production. I was having no problems on the plunge. To get the skill shot, you short plunge. There's a little skip ramp at the end of the shooter lane, and the ball will fall into the orbit, and then there's about three red shots flashing that are available to you. You hit them with the upper flipper, grab one of them, you'll get a skill shot of some kind. A full plunge went right around straight down the spinner right to the right flipper every single time. There was no rattle. It didn't feel weak coming around there. The ball wasn't getting stuck behind Megatron. So like this is fine. It's a functional shooter. That's all we really want. The auto launch and a full plunge felt similar. So no issues here on my end with this.
    12:19
    The scope and the scale of this game, you know, with all the characters and it's obviously like, you know, cartoony, just like X-Men was. It seems to fit the same level of detail and complexity of a game. If you were to look at something like Munsters, it's obviously less intense, less complex.
    12:38
    This is more of a complex modern layout. There's cool little ball paths, there's diverters, there's wire forms, there's ramps galore. Well, there's two. But it was fun. It was fun.
    12:50
    I want to get to the assets, man, because that's easily the best part of this. This layout's great. This layout's a solid B. It's not an amazing, incredible layout, blowing my mind, doing things I've never seen a ball do before, but it's a solid B. This is an above-average effort as far as layout. When we get to the assets, though, in equal measure or increased is my level of enthusiasm for these. I'm going to go ahead and marry this with the rules as well because the rules, the code, the modes, and the animations go together so well that you just have to talk about them the same. So Elizabeth Gieske, bless her heart, she is on this game as the lead programmer now. Fantastic. Now she's got a whole team with her so it's not just her doing solo work here. But she did, look at what she did on Jaws, right? Bringing in all those fun modes, collectability, collectibles that make sense, the shark teeth and all that business, the 8-bit video modes and all that. That was incredible. That rose Jaws up to the pinnacle of what Stern has released in the last five years. And I think she's bringing that same energy here now. Fantastic. You know, the modes were all fun. It wasn't just hit two white shots, hit the scoop, and then start a mode. That may actually be the code, you know, or however the codes are active. You hit some shots and then Megatron will be flashing. Go ahead and put the ball in there and you start a mode. It doesn't bring up the menu with the select a wheel like X-Men did. It would go ahead and launch into whatever mode was highlighted. There's a way to change which mode will launch. You can do that with the flippers, I think, before you plunge. I didn't really mess with it. I was having fun going to just modes randomly. And I had a good chance to either play or watch five or six of them all together. So those are super fun. They all played differently. It wasn't just like, oh, this is the ramp mode. This is the stand-up target mode. This is the orbit mode. It was like, okay, in this mode, you hit a ramp, and then a drop target will light up. And then you hit that drop target, and you alternate between another ramp. So each ramp hit would progress it, and then a drop target hit would progress it, and you do that three or four times, and there's like a big payoff. I can understand that. I can understand that. Other modes, such as the challenge mode that was also teased where you can play split flipper with a friend, that mode is in the game in single player. So when you go into that, half the shots are red, half the shots are purple. It's like you're playing Tortoise and Hare from Spooky's Looney Tunes. And essentially it's hit the purple shots, avoid the red ones, or vice versa depending on how your mode progression has been doing. And then depending on how you've been playing the game and the shots that you've been hitting, there's other perks that come into the modes as well. The multiballs are stackable with the modes. The playfield multipliers are independent and stackable as well. So we were having moments where, unbeknownst to me, I had a playfield multiplier. I was in a mode and I started a multiball. Elizabeth starts going crazy, telling me about, like, you know, you're set up to potentially really kill it with the points here. And can I just say that playing a game with the game's coder standing right next to you, kind of like as your base coach, is kind of incredible, man. I want to bring her to tournaments with me. It was awesome. So playing the game, the modes, they have a level of complexity that hasn't quite been reached by previous games, such as X-Men. So I like this as like X-Men, but everything X-Men had problems with, this game seems to have fixed it. So I dig that. The layout of X-Men was incredible. I wish I had more time to cook so that everything could have flowed a little more smooth. I didn't need so much dialing in. This game doesn't seem like it needs that. It doesn't quite have as high of a level of complexity like those crisscrossing wire form ramps at the back of the Sentinel head. These are simple metal ramps. We know they work. They probably came from other games. That's probably the Foo Fighter ramp on the left, the left lower ramp. You can backhand it. It won 80s. It works good. I like that. I like being able to repeatedly, you know, successfully hit a ramp. And then I like the right upper ramp, and it's not as steep as Foo Fighters, so that is fun for me. But when you're playing this game, and you're going through the modes, and the assets are all brought directly from the 70 episodes from the TV show. Incredible. And they're presented in their original, like, 4x3 resolution. So you've got that big, I don't know what the aspect ratio of the Stern Spike 3 screen is. But when you're watching like full resolution video clips from the show, it'll letterbox itself and then give you that nice square just like the television had. And then they can display scores and messages over the content. So that's nice. Everything's not restricted like it was on Star Wars or like it was on Bond. So that's fun. They were able to take clips from the show and reanimate them with pinball aspects too. So like when you lock a ball or when you get an extra ball or something, there's a ball animation that comes on. And there's a little bumblebee there, and he looks just like he did in the show, and he's smiling and laughing. And they got custom callouts from Frank Welker doing a lot of characters, including Megatron. They got I think his name is Peter Collins the guy that did Optimus is doing some custom callouts too So it just feels like a great homage to Transformers Now if you don like Transformers that not going to do that much to you But if you were a child of the 80s buying these toys playing them and you want to play a game from that era you know or with toys and modes from that era with the actual assets there, with the voice actors talking to you, like, I think this is really coming together in a way for Stern that we've kind of been wanting them to get back to. So this is probably the game, the first one from Stern that I've been as excited about as I was with Jaws. Jaws is one of the greatest movies of all time, and they really killed it with getting Richard Dreyfuss and putting in, like, every clip that I wanted to hear in the game was in Jaws, and I feel like that's what they're doing here with Transformers. So I played the game five or six times. I played the pro. I played predominantly the LE, and I got a good look at it. The art is the art. It's Transformers. The Transformers, I think the Pro Premium and LE are all kind of interchangeable. There's nothing really that, oh man, that LE art is just completely amazing. It's just, it's all Transformers all the time. You know, the back glasses, I don't know which one's the best. They all seem interchangeable. You know, find out which one you like the best and throw that in your machine.
    18:59
    But they're all like equally cool. I don't have a problem with them. It's just like, oh, I like that one because Megatron's kind of ominous in the background here. He's kind of running forward at me. You know, it's Transformers. It's toys. It looks just like what I would expect. But the mirroring on the LE back glass was okay. It wasn't like – like John Wick was incredible, okay, with what they did with that R package. This one is – it's fine. It looks good. It's okay. Like it wasn't knocking my socks off like John Wick did, and it's a lot better than what I've seen from some other releases. So it's fine. It's fine. What I am happy about is the return of the foil decals, man. Thank freaking God for this. Both the cabinet, front, back, sides, well not back, front, both sides, and both sides of the back box are all foiled. And the interior art blades on the LE are foiled as well. They look good. They're shiny. You know, if you got that version, that's kind of like one of the real aspects that sets it apart is at least the stickers that are on the outside. So that's what you're getting. We don't get the shooter rod like we did with Jaws and like we did with Pokemon with the LE. I wonder what thought process goes into that. Is it like, you know, if we got approval for it, go ahead and throw it in. If we haven't, we'll just charge them $225 later. I don't know. I would have liked to seen, you know, something come in there. Or if I knew if I bought an LE, Stern would say, you know what, when it's ready, go ahead and register your game. We'll ship you the shooter rod. You know, as a thank you for going in for the LE and being a loyal customer of these 750 games, I don't know what decisions go in there. Maybe it's a decision that Hasbro made and Stern's not allowed to talk about it. I know it's only $2.25, but it's just one other thing. What we did hear is about the future planning of this game.
    20:38
    Accessories should not be very long was the sense they were giving us, like a couple of months. There shouldn't be another D&D or Venom took forever to come out. So it sounds like things are moving a little quicker when it comes to Hasbro. They did make a comment on Pokemon with regards to licensors like that. Each licensor kind of has their own method for going through everything. When you license a theme for a pinball machine, the license holder owns basically every aspect of it, and you are obliged to move at their pace for everything. There is no, like, we need to get this game out. You guys need to hurry up and approve. You're going to go on their timeline no matter what. Hasbro worked very quickly, it sounds like. Pokemon is a Japanese company following their Japanese method of this has to go to this committee, then this one, then this one, then this one, and then we'll convene. And if approved, we'll then move forward with it once we get signed off by all these five different teams. And so I don't blame Stern for the slowness of the release of Pokemon accessories or Pokemon code. I'm sure the code is really far along now for Pokemon. It's just a matter of the approval process, and they cannot move any quicker than the Pokemon company or whoever sold the license. We'll let them. So it seems to me, now we don't know the final dates. They didn't tell us July 27th you're going to have this thing or you're going to have this for your Labor Day barbecue or anything. But the sense that I got, speaking between the lines, was that it's not going to be very long. I'm thinking a matter of months. And as far as code, the code in this game seems to be great for launch. I mean, it looks like this game is already replete with mode, multiballs, even some mini wizard modes, which I got to one of those with Elizabeth's help standing next to me. That was awesome. I collected all the little trading cards or whatever, and then I got to go into a mode that was, I don't remember much about it, but I did do it. So accomplishment for me. The final wizard mode is still pending. The challenge modes are still pending. The coin currency system is still pending. They were getting this game ready for launch, getting all the modes ready, and then Elizabeth is telling me that the next thing they're working on will be those things. So I think that's fine. So at launch, you're getting pretty much a complete game, at least something you're not going to get through And then be twiddling your thumbs waiting for new content. I think by the time you were to see everything that's in here and play it several times, there should be some new code coming. So the challenge modes and the currency. This isn't like Shark Teeth where you'll collect these coins and they'll save to your Insider Connected account. When you're playing the game, let's say you're on location. As you're doing things, a skill shot, a super jackpot or whatever, you'll earn yourself a coin for various accomplishments. If you collect 10 of them during your game, then when your game is over, you will have the option to continue with one of these challenge modes by utilizing your coins. Similar to scoring enough points and getting a free game, you score enough coins, you get a free little bonus interactive game that you can play, one of the challenge modes. The split flipper mode is one of those. You can also go to those from the start menu by holding the button and then picking which menu you want as long as it's unlocked on location or you have it at home. So that sounds fun. There's going to be a topper mode as well. So we did get confirmation of that. I did pass along some of the things that I like about toppers. Obviously, I can't design or give design hints and wants because I know that they're handling that. But as far as things that I like with a topper, when the light shows in the game, which are pretty good, especially incorporating the expression lights in the cabinet in interesting ways to use those as progress bars for modes. For instance, when you were to lock a ball into shockwave and you get the ball lock, shockwave is flashing green, but also the expression lights in that region are flashing green. And the expression lights on the outside of the cabinet right over that area are also flashing green. So kind of neat, kind of neat. They're doing fun stuff with them. I like whenever the expression lights, the speakers, and the toppers are all kind of synchronized, you know, or if there's like a countdown or a crescendo of lights, if it can start from the top and move its way down, I pass those things along because that's what I like to see with topper. If you're going with a first-party topper, really what you're getting is that one-to-one direct synchronicity and interactivity with the topper and the game. I can't replicate that. You know, I can have a GI light go off and I can have that trigger effects on the topper, but I can't do that one-to-one, like synchronized with the sound stuff, you know, unless I got expansion boards out and then my homeboot topper is going to end up costing $1,500. And for that, you can just go get the first party one. So those are what I'd like to see. Also, there will be a mode exclusive to the topper. I mean, yeah, if you have paid this money for the topper, it's nice to have that. You know, it's nice to have something bonus there. So good or bad, happy or sad, that's it. How that is in the state of Transformers. Been talking 25 minutes straight about this game and I think I just about covered all of my just initial aspects of it. Games will be made this month starting with the pros and then premium LEs next month and then more pros and more Pokemons and what have you. We get clarification. Pokemon's been fastest seller for Stern in quite a while. So there's a lot of those on the line. So if you want some of their back stock, if you want a Jaws, if you want a John Wick, if you want a whatever, Rush, are they still making those? Let your distributor know because they're about to close out the rest of the year now as far as orders. So stocks are dwindling. I think that can speak to a slight resurrection for used prices because if you want to get a new Jaws premium and you're being told now it's going to be at least six months until you can get it, Well, maybe that Jaws premium that's sitting on the secondary market that already has a topper may become more desirable. So I think we may see a little bit of help there. We'll have to check with Josh over at Loser Kids as he does the Pinball Market podcast on Facebook. We'll have to see what his perspective is on that, but I could see that happening. So Pro Premium LE, Don, should I get the premium? Should I get the LE? Should I get the pro? I think the pro is fine. The pro has all of the shots. The pro has Optimus and Megatron. The Pro does not have Shockwave If balls spitting out of a cassette deck are important to you you lose that You also lose the low Grimlock toy He there but he doesn really do much I don think that a big loss on the pro I think you can ask your neighborhood friend with a 3D printer to go ahead and stick one in there or head over to eBay and get an actual toy and stick it up there The one in the game, not incredibly detailed, I'll have to say. The other thing you miss, while Megatron is there in all of his glory, he does not load the gun, does not shoot. As such, you don't need to have that landing platform to the wire form where the ball would land on. But because of that, you can see that area with the stand-up target and the pop-up post a lot better. So that was kind of fun going to play the pro after the LE. I was like, oh, when I put that ball in there, I can actually notice what's going on. Really hard to see that your ball went in there and soft-locked with the up post on the premium LE because of that landing pad that's up there. So there it is. I don't think there's much else that's missing with the pro. I'm trying to think, you know, Megatron, him shooting, him locking balls, Shockwave. Shockwave and yeah, the Grimlock. You still get the stand-up targets in front of Megatron. So Pro's kind of a cool way to go on this and the LE has foil art blades and the premium comes with none of the lights. You'll have to go and buy those. I will say if you were to make an investment in accessories for this game, I think the interior cabinet lights and then the speaker lights would be by number one, number two, as far as what I would get. As far as shooter rods, I don't know what the first party one's going to look like. I know what the third-party ones are going to look like because we're designing them now. And the topper should be kind of cool if you're into toppers and whatnots and what have you. So all in all, it was a fun time at Stern. Congrats to my buddy Mike on Patreon. He won the drawing to get out there. Ozzy made his way there too, so we're very happy to see both of them. And, yeah, we had a good time there amongst the other invited media dignitaries for this game. This game is going to be out there very soon, so regardless of if you're even in the market or not, You're going to be able to play this thing really quickly. It's going to be at the Northwest Pinball Show coming up here next month, a show I have not been to, and I should probably go to it. Otherwise, it's going to be rushing out of the factory, and it's going to be in your typical spots here pretty soon. So all of that is super fun. We covered the Pokemon code this morning, as of this recording. There was another media day in Elk Grove Village, and it was over at the house of Jack Built. Jersey Jack Pinball had their media day for Sonic the Hedgehog. Now, unfortunately, due to prior commitments with my home sales, I wasn't able to make it. Also, I wasn't invited anyway, so it all worked out no problem. As of now, I haven't heard or seen any leaks other than what we already had before, the AI images, that blurry play field that's floating around. I've seen people's Patreons pop up some photos of that. Not that much you can really tell other than, yeah, this is 16-bit Sonic. It's not movie Sonic, so we put that to bed. And I think we're all kind of waiting with bated breath to see this game. JJP's been kind of on fire lately, I would say since Avatar. I really liked owning Avatar, at least the CE, the day-night cycles, that was cool. Harry Potter speaks for itself. So Elton John was incredible. So I think this is great. This is Steve Ritchie, the guy who did Elton John, and I think he did some other games before that too.
    29:53
    Back with a 16-bit license, we're talking about 90s retro now. Hell yes. We're all waiting to see this game. What does it do? Does the ball dive below the playfield and come up in a vertical loop? Please, please do that. What else is going to be integrated in this game? What exactly is going on with the cabinet? What's going on with the cabinet lighting? Is this game going to project green, no, gold rings all over my playroom while I'm playing? Hopefully, hopefully. What's the topper look like? Is it a bunch of Chaos Emeralds? What are we doing? We should know something soon. The only things I've heard so far from folks that would know are this game's awesome, I'm totally getting it. I heard between this and Transformers, Sonic is the one to get. I don't have much credence to give to these, it's just what I'm hearing. But media people have seen it. Hopefully that means around the corner we're going to get a launch. When it comes to Stern's release, they were planning on the 20th, and they just didn't release that at first, just in case the licensing didn't get approval for marketing in time. But Hasbro came through like some Hasbros, and so they were able to launch that game on the 20th. So I'm hoping that with media there on the 20th, we're not going to have to wait that long for this game. They did release that graphic that said June, and so I think that buys them at least another nine days here. So sometime after, is Memorial Day this weekend? Did Memorial Day already happen? Sometime once we get into June, we'll have this freaking game. And then what a time to be into pinball, particularly modern pinball now. So, Padretti, where are you at? Why have you not released this game at least a week ago, man? That game, okay, alright, listen, I was at Golden State Pinball. I was told this game was going to be there. The game is in the vicinity, it just wasn't on the show floor. I don't know why it didn't make it, but the game was there. The planetary guy was giving his final approval or something. The game was in a back room. Someone got a picture of it, and that's what Kaneda's been putting out there. I'm putting the dots together and everything. So, I was not wrong. I had good information. And the game was there. It just wasn't available to the public to play. Why? I have no idea. Because that game should have released at that show so that they could have collected some deposits before we see Transformers, before we see Sonic. Now, okay, you know, you're like, okay, I love Transformers, but I'm holding on to my money. Let me see what Sonic looks like. If I don't like Sonic, I'll go ahead and go on Transformers. If I do like Sonic, we'll put the money there. Nowhere in this conversation is, okay, if I don't like both of these, I'm going to get Tales of the Arabian Nights. Because Transformers smokes that game right now. Oh my, there's already so much, there's already way more code and assets and nostalgia and fun in Transformers than there is in Tales of the Arabian Nights. So Pedretti, what happened? Why did you wait so long? You knew this was coming, right? So we got Pedretti's game that's out there. I think if you've already got one or both of these two new games and you want to pick that one up, fine, fine. But my Pedretti money would go to Transformers for sure, if not Sonic, if I'm in the market for a new game. And then we still have another game for Spooky that's coming this year. Barrels of Fun has confirmed to me that they're planning on having all their Winchester Mystery Houses done by September. That means that all their Dunes are done or close to being done or will be done this summer. And if they hold true to that and all 575 Winchester's Mystery Houses and the extra 300 Dunes that they sold are all complete in September and we have a big pinball release show in October, I think we might see something new from Barrels. And I'm still, I don't know if I'm just manifesting or if I'm hoping for a Dungeon Crawler Carl at some point. I have heard nothing official at all. I've seen no leaks at all. This is just my own wishful thinking. But you got to have some money partitioned, you know, for the spooky release. So if you want to go in on that, that's something you have to make a quick decision on, move quickly. And Joe at Pinball Star, he doesn't do lists. So if you missed out on a list, Joe at Pinball Star is probably the one to go to. Otherwise, you should have emailed mad, info at madpinball.com already for Transformers for Sonic. The Transformers is ordering right now. Sonic will be ordering pretty soon. I'm on a list with them for that.
    33:56
    But make sure you're in on the Spooky. And then Barrels of Fun may come with some magical fire once again, And it may be a situation where you need to move fast to secure one or you've got to wait. And then there's the big balloon in the room, which is Back to the Future, may be revealed by Expo, before, slightly after. That's going to be a game that if you want to entertain having it in any kind of reasonable time frame, you've got to be one of those first deposits that goes in there. Because if they're only making 300 games a year and you're number 400, it's going to suck, man. You got to wait forever. Where's Halo? Right. What a great time to be in pinball. What a great time to be in pinball content. I'm going insane. I'm going to try to rest up and get ready for the coming week. But this is going to be fun settling into Benton. Now the homes are selling soon. It's a great time. I can't wait for summer to get kickstarted. We're going to build out the studio. Everything is awesome. Send me an email. Don's Pinball podcast at Gmail dot com. Send me mail. Don's Pinball podcast. P.O. Box 92, Benton, Wisconsin, 53803. And I'll go and make me some cookies or something and send them to me. I'll check them out and I'll try them.
    35:15
    All eyes are on Sonic now, JJP. Come on, man. Clean up all the dishes from the media day and get them over here. Also, if possible, let me know. I'll come swing by, dude. I want to go check out this game. Otherwise, thanks to all the content creators who are currently creating content. I'm looking at you, Kerry Hardy and Ralph, Josh from Loser Kid. Bring it. Bring the Sonic content. Give me a hint. Is it good? Should I get it?