Venom Reaction! Stern Pinball release trailer

Don's Pinball Podcast YouTube Feed·video·8m 21s·analyzed·Jul 18, 2023

Analysis

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TL;DR

Don's enthusiastic breakdown of Venom reveal trailer highlights innovative toys and playfield design.

Summary

Don reacts to the official Stern Pinball Venom reveal trailer, providing detailed breakdown of playfield mechanics, toys, and aesthetic design across Pro and Premium editions. He notes the purple/dark color scheme, innovative mechanics like the tilting doppelgänger toy and inverted ramp, and expresses enthusiasm for the overall design despite some unusual design choices like the bare tilting tower mechanism on Premium.

Key Claims

Venom features a carousel mechanism in the backbox area visible in the reveal trailer
medium confidence · Don observes what he interprets as carousel or tilting building elements while watching the trailer; he expresses uncertainty ('was that a carousel what the heck') indicating he's not entirely certain of the exact mechanism
The tiny bell on the playfield is exclusive to Pro Edition
medium confidence · Don states 'The tiny bell is on the Pro Edition' while comparing editions in the trailer breakdown
Premium Edition features a tilting tower with no graphics and a doppelgänger swing arm toy
high confidence · Don explicitly identifies these features: 'Premium Edition. You get the tilting tower with no graphics. You get the doppelganger swing arm' and compares it to Elvira's crypt mechanism
The Premium Edition includes three sets of 'doppelgänger truck nuts' wire targets
high confidence · Don states 'It's three sets of doppelgänger truck nuts' comparing them to similar wire targets from The Mandalorian pinball
There is a subway-style shot that launches behind the playfield on an inverted ramp
medium confidence · Don observes 'does that go like a subway and then launch up behind there and do like this inverted great coasters international or uh rocky mountain coasters freaking inverted airtime ramp love it'

Notable Quotes

“I heard a rumor that Venom's head was going to be between the flippers can i just give them credit for not just making a giant genie simmons kiss head of Venom with the tongue”
Don@ 4:52 — Reveals prior industry speculation about Venom's design direction and expresses relief that designers avoided an overly literal/extreme approach
“I have to have a doppelganger toy. That's worth it. What is this big silver tilting mechanism thing with no graphics on it?”
Don@ 6:29 — Indicates enthusiasm for the mechanical innovation but questions the bare/unfinished aesthetic of the tilting mechanism
“It's like somebody took the crypt from Elvira's House of Horrors and didn't put the crypt around it.”
Don@ 6:43 — Don's comparison of the bare tilting mechanism design to Elvira's iconic toy, suggesting unusual design choices
“I'm fired up for Venom. I have not watched this reveal trailer yet.”
Don @ opening — Sets context that this is a genuine first-watch reaction to official reveal trailer
“There's a whole city in there on the back of the game. I don't know if I even picked up on everything.”
Don@ 1:36 — Notes complexity of backglass artwork with multiple character references and imagery

Entities

Venomgame DonpersonStern PinballcompanyCarnagegameSpider-GwengameHulkgame Wolverinegame Captain Americagame

Signals

?
design_philosophy: Potential concern about bare/unfinished aesthetic of Premium Edition's tilting tower mechanism lacking graphics or visual integration
medium · Don questions bare mechanism: 'What is this big silver tilting mechanism thing with no graphics on it? Does that look weird to anybody else?' and compares unfavorably to Elvira's crypt design
?
design_philosophy: Venom design appears to incorporate inverted/unconventional ramp mechanics and innovative toy design (tilting doppelgänger, subway-style shots) suggesting technical ambition in playfield design
medium · Don identifies 'inverted airtime ramp,' subway mechanism launching behind playfield, and describes doppelgänger toy as innovative compared to standard targets
$
market_signal: Edition differentiation strategy visible with Pro including only tiny bell, while Premium adds tilting tower, doppelgänger swing arm, and three wire target sets
high · Don explicitly compares features across editions: 'Premium Edition. You get the tilting tower with no graphics. You get the doppelganger swing arm'
?
community_signal: Pre-release industry speculation existed about Venom's head placement between flippers, suggesting design decisions were subject to community/insider discussion before official reveal
medium · Don states: 'I heard a rumor that Venom's head was going to be between the flippers' and credits design team for rejecting that approach
?
announcement: Stern Pinball officially released Venom reveal trailer featuring playfield mechanics, toy designs, and edition-specific features across Pro and Premium tiers

Topics

Venom playfield mechanics and toysprimaryPro vs Premium Edition feature differentiationprimaryBackglass artwork and character appearancessecondaryMarvel character roster and licensingsecondaryDesign philosophy and aesthetic choicessecondaryComparison to classic and recent Stern gamessecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.75)— Don is enthusiastic and energized about Venom's reveal ('I'm fired up for Venom'). He expresses genuine excitement about mechanical innovations (inverted ramp, doppelgänger toy, wireform elements). However, some concerns emerge about design execution: he questions the bare/unfinished aesthetic of the tilting tower, finds the overall color palette not quite matching his expectations ('I wish it was more purple'), and notes unusual design choices that seem incomplete. Overall enthusiasm outweighs reservations, but mild skepticism about some design decisions is present.

Transcript

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What's up everybody it is time for another Don's Pinball Podcast live react episode it is Venom Day what is it Tuesday the 18th it's time it's time to go to Venom so I'll get to it now let's not let's not let's not fuss around I've got this stuff all ready to go here I'm fired up for Venom I have not watched this reveal trailer yet it's a minute long what I'll do is I'll play it and then I'll make some comments as we go through let's go It's purple. It's purple and there's Venom stringiness. I believe they call it biomass. Okay, we'll see those four characters. Gross. What? All right, vertical wall, snorch chamber. Ah, tiny little bell! The tiny bell is on the pro. Oh, there she is. What is that? What? All right, vertical ball storage. Go back to the carousel. I want to ride the carousel. The heck? Oh, some doppelganger action. Yes, that is fantastic. change the game all right anything anything anything any no any no no no all right let's go back all right first impressions here guys um there's like a whole city in the back of the game um I don't know if I even picked up on everything it's different with the premium was that a tilting building back there was that a carousel what the heck was I'm gonna go through again I'm gonna go That was my first time I watched that. Hence the reaction. Man, look at this, though. Let me go bigger All right Hang on Hold up hold up hold up Let go to that backbox give me that backbox goodness yo is that agent venom up in the corner um all right so so correct me if i wrong but i think i'm seeing a venomized version of hulk down here is he in the game can we play as hulk do we fight hulk do i get a little hulk to wear around and dance around my game room um stop it you guys there's a Wolverine down here and who's this guy is that Rorschach from now oh he's holding it is that a vibranium shield is that a Captain America there any other Marvel guys oh I guess they're all Marvel guys I know that's carnage I think scream is in here I'll have to learn these other people I saw a doppelganger a six-armed doppelganger let's go through to the cabinet so there's your pro edition so this is kind of like the color sequence that I was thinking of like a purple and a black I thought this thing would be like all jet black which is venom on the side but yeah very very comic book II here I like the purples the purple school all right there's okay there's the drone guys is Is that Insane Clown Posse version Zombie Captain America? Fantastic. He's better connected, of course. Captive. So, what's going on here? Is he slowly advancing and you get to knock Carnage back? Was that powered or did he take the momentum from the ball to push him up there? I wanna go back here for a second. Then we're gonna do a trailer. This will be a trailer breakdown, not just a reaction. Stuff happens so quick in here though. All right, so shots, what do we got? What's over there to the left? That looks like a sling. I don't think you can access the left there. Left orbit ramp carnage slide ramp big bend bell tower So would you hit that stand up target and ring the little bell man y have y played fire fire is a old game Themed around it a burning town or something but there a little bell up on top and it like the cutest dang thing Is this thing gonna ding ding or is it gonna come through the sub? How does carnage come out of there he's got to be powered I don't think there's enough momentum to just hit a captive ball and knock them all the way up there all right shot for shot orbit ramp carnage ramp steep ramp bell can you go behind the tower um another vuck shot there and then is that the other side of the uh the other side of the orbit i'm not going through this again and just break it down but there's venom there down at the bottom and i heard a rumor that venom's head was going to between the flipper can i just give them credit for not just making a giant gene simmons kiss head of venom with the tongue hanging out um what else am i seeing down here not much else that's revolutionary different uh no in-lane targets like we've seen with fighters dong look at that man all right diddy get to work on a new bell tower bell tower says bell tower on it all right whoa did something just what the fuck whoa stop it all right oh does that go to like a subway and then launch up behind there and do like this inverted uh great coasters international or uh rocky mountain coasters freaking inverted airtime ramp love it that's sweet that's all on pro bro look back all right here we go carnage versus spider gwen on the side there all right i'm digging it i wish it was more purple but you know what are you gonna do is that the same that's a different back glass too take me in on there how's that different i'll have to go back again later and look at how it's different from the pro Okay all right okay okay all right So on the pro it looks like there was a shot that goes behind the bell tower This there like some kind of rocking mechanism And is that oh that an extra wire form There an extra wire Oh there doppelganger Well all right I in on premium now Forget it I have to have a doppelganger toy That worth What is this big silver tilting mechanism thing with no graphics on it? Does that look weird to anybody else? It looks like there's an opto inside it. What in the heck? How does this thing work? It's like somebody took the crypt from Elvira House of Horrors and didn't put the crypt around it. All right. What the heck? Okay, so premium. You get the tilting tower with no graphics. You get the doppelganger swing arm. What does that do? Those are like the little hangy targets from Mandalorian. The truck nuts that were underneath the Razorcrest. It's three sets of doppelganger truck nuts. Okay. Alright. I mean, I love wireform. That's so weird. What? It locks under there? Get out of here. We'll do a whole podcast on this game. I don't even need more time to go look at the art. so your hopes change the game bruh that's venom all right don't start playing don't start auto playing something else all right all right that's the venom reaction there's a video everybody you know no doubt you've seen it now you've got my breakdown i'm gonna go through that again a little bit more now but shout out to everybody don spinball podcast gmail.com head to the facebook page give me a follow i'm trying to build up to 1000 and this is the new youtube channel so be to subscribe to this if i get another 95 000 subscribers plus another few thousand more i'm gonna give me a silver freaking youtube button and i'll put that play button as a belt buckle all right thank you everybody for watching this and i love the comments keep them coming stay safe or not it's up to you you're an adult probably