Yes, I made it easy to me, I'm the one who's in your life. You go through all the pain in your life, you turn your back, you go so fast. Oh yeah, you go so fast. Sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit. Welcome everybody to the most unhinged pinball podcaster in the history of pinball podcasting. I'm your host, Kaneda. Happy Monday, everybody. It's a new week. I want to welcome Kyle to the show. I want to thank Hector for raising his amount every month to the $30, baby. He's in the Omokase Club. And I think Hector just likes it when I rant and rave on the weekends. D'Nada putting everybody on blast. But here's what we're going to do. Even I know when things get old and stale, I'm no longer talking about Optimus not transforming. I'm beating a dead horse and I'm not going to talk about shilling in the pinball content space anymore. Everybody do your thing and this game's not going to change and nothing's going to transform and we're moving past it. The past is the past. The future is in front of us and we are going to dwell in the present baby on this episode of Canada's Pinball Podcast. I'm going to be asked hearing a rumor that ACDC is next. It is not going to be Ozzy Osbourne. We shall see. I mean, this rumor that Jamborg is next in the lineup is going to happen. Now whether it's an all new ACDC game or an Ozzy Osbourne game, I think they're trying to misdirect people, but I've heard from my source that heard it directly from someone over at Stern that it is going to be an all new ACDC game. Let's talk about this for a minute. Do we think this is going to work? Stern going back to the theme well and recreating a game they've already made. Now look, it makes total sense when you think about it. They already made a Transformers game and here's a new Transformers game. And they already made an ACDC game about like 15 years ago. So is it not time to make a new one? Now, I think the issue with music pins especially is that it's still ACDC, right? It's that ACDC game by Steve Ritchie with Lyman sheets on code with all those fun toys in it. That game is amazing. There's a reason why I think ACDC is definitely within the top five best-selling Stern machines of all time. So how do you remake it and make it special? See, Transformers made sense because nobody cared about the Michael Bay movies, and this is the theme that everybody wanted, G1. But if you remake ACDC, you're still going to have all the same songs. You're still going to have all the same source material. I don't know how you make it all new and original and top the game that came out already. How are you going to beat Lyman's Code? How are you going to beat that Bell mech, which is awesome? So ACDC is a game I think a lot of people have enjoyed for many, many years. And I don't know, maybe it would make more sense just to remaster it, but I think they don't want to let Steve Ritchie have a game for sale when he's over at Jersie Jack Pinball. So my thing is this. I do think Stern is doing moves right now that sort of reek of a company that's a little bit out of solutions. And they don't really have the answers. And I'm not sure what Seth and the leadership team are thinking. I think they need to slow down and just get what's out there in better shape versus remaking or bringing back a theme we've already had. And thousands of people have it. So I'm looking over my shoulder right now and I'm like everybody else just wondering, where's the Pokemon code? And where's the communication around the Pokemon code? And there's none. And it's very, very frustrating. And I think it's leading to some of my sort of strident fly off the handle content lately, because I just feel like as a community, we should all be pushing against Stern right now. We shouldn't be showing them support. And the reason why I don't think we should be supporting them is I don't think we should be rushing to cover their next game when they've left thousands of people so unsatisfied with this Pokemon game. And before they've even made a decent code update, they're serving us up the next game. And it sort of put me in a bad mood because I don't turn this game on much anymore. In 10 minutes you can basically see everything there is to see in Pokemon And everyone out there is in the same boat I still enjoy the way the game shoots There just nothing to aim for There no journey in this game Where are all the assets? The freaking Pokemon show is all about the characters and the relationships between the humans and the pocket monsters. And none of that is coming through in this game right now. It is absolutely devoid of all of that beautiful storyline around friendship. And I really hope that comes out in some of these code updates. I'm hearing rumors that like Stern's being sued by the Pokemon Go people. I don't think that's the case, but clearly they can't use the Pokedex the way they were planning to use it. We saw this weekend a leak of the Optimus Prime topper, which is a reskin of the Foo Fighters topper. It's very cool. It's very cool. And as I said in my post, again, I'm not going to beat the dead horse. The more they put special stuff into this game, the more painful it is for me because I just could never own something knowing that it'll never be what it was supposed to be. It's just like a kid that never lives up to his or her potential. They might achieve something, but if they don't really make it all the way, you're going to be a little bit unsatisfied forever. All right, so we got that topper. That's going to be like $1,500 to $2,000. Wasn't the Foo Fighter topper $2,000? So I'd be shocked if Stern actually sells it for less than $2,000, $15,000 all in now on a Stern LE. And again, I think if they want to charge these prices, they've got to slow down. They've got to get these games in better shape when they reveal them. I think universally we all can agree on that. I think most of what I say when I put people on blast and I say the strident stuff deep down inside, I know that all of these men deep down inside, they agree with this. And, you know, I know we're all having fun making content and we want to celebrate new stuff, but I'm not ready for new stuff unless the old stuff is finished. Imagine being a John Wick buyer and for the first year you got pummeled. The code wasn't there. Your game lost $5,000 in value and maybe you sold it with a $5,000 loss on your John Wick LE. So then two years later, they finally make the game good with better code. But man, what's up with that? Why should an owner have to wait two years after they bought your toy for it to come to fruition, for it to have magical moments? Name me another product you buy where you wait two years for it to get good. Your car? Nope. Your watch? Nope. Your house? Maybe if you have to do renovations, but you know what you're getting yourself into when you buy a house and you need a house. If you were dating a girl, would you date her for two years until she developed a personality? So why? Why does Stern keep doing this? And the reason why is simple. As long as we empower them to treat us this way, they will continue to do it. And that is really at the heart of all of what I've been feeling lately. As a community, I just don't want to continue to reward Stern's behavior, which is basically treating its customers like crap. Now, look, nobody's making us buy it. And that's the thing is we still have all the power. If you don't buy this stuff new in box, they're not going to go out of business. They're simply not going to release games until they're in better condition, until the code is further along. We have a power collectively as a community to see the change we want to see in Stern, but we've got to speak with our wallets. Now, I also think in just a few weeks when we get Sonic the Hedgehog, what's going to happen is something that's really never happened before. We're going to get a Steve Ritchie pin based on a theme more people want. Elton John did not have the love affair that Sonic's going to have. I think we're going to see one of the greatest shooting games with some of the coolest stuff ever in pinball. And it's just going to be an amazing smile on your face game. And unlike Pokemon, Sonic the Hedgehog is pretty much going to be code complete on day one. And that is going to be great. And that's going to make everybody very, very happy. And that's not something we can say about Stern. Spooky Pinball games come much more code complete. Who else out there? Multimorphic games come much more code complete I think everybody else out there I can name another company that really does release games so incomplete like Stern And, you know, look, some of you might like to see how the sausage is made. I don't. All right, so look, if it's ACDC next and then it's Brian Eddy's Dracula before we get to Keith Elwin's fallout and then we're going to have another James Bond goldfinger thrown into the mix, what kind of 2026 do you think Stern's going to have? I don't think it's going to be a very good one. And I do think they're in trouble. And I think people don't realize that. And I think they've put themselves in trouble. It's been nobody else's fault but their own. They have the most talent. They have the most resource. They have the most ability to create the greatest pins ever. And yeah, and most of their games eventually get there. But I just don't think eventually works anymore when you've got so many other companies have taken, you know, a decent amount of the market share. The biggest threat to Stern is absolutely Jersey Jack Pinball because if you think about it, how many of us wake up and if we're going to drop 15K on a Sonic the Hedgehog CE, you're going to be good for a while. You're going to be satiated for a while. And Jersey Jack, look, they don't make at the volume Stern does. I think on a good week, Jersey Jack's around 150 to 200 games max. Stern Pinball can make almost 800. But man, it's volume, it's quantity over quality because Jersey Jack, just look at their games. You put a Jersey Jack game next to a Stern machine and it does look like it should cost twice as much money. It just does. And then it's going to be code complete Sonic for the most part. Jean-Paul DeWin worked on this game. It's going to get a topper on the CE that's exclusive to the CE owners. There's real differentiating things inside the CE. They usually give you glitter on the playfield. Stern doesn't do any of this stuff. You don't get a nicer playfield on the LE. You just don't get the extra items, the details that matter. And so I think it's going to be a really bad 2026 for Stern. And I think the door is wide open for everybody else, for Back to the Future, for Goonies. For Fifth Element, right? When I start to list these games, all the excitement, the next game from Barrels of Fun, all of the excitement, the things that you're really, really giddy and can't wait to see, they're not starting with Stern Pinball anymore. And this is why Seth, I just think, needs to recalibrate everything. Like, what's the plan here? What is the plan? I'm still shocked that Stern takes its biggest IPs like Star Wars, like Pokemon and doesn't give it to its biggest designer. The fact that Elwin's making Fallout instead of Star Wars doesn't make any sense to me. And so, yeah, I just think it's a very like politically driven, like cost cutting driven organization. And I think the other companies are going in the other direction. They are really, really, really focused on every single game that comes out. They can't afford a misstep. When you're a boutique, you got to make sure you get it right. Because if you don't, you are most likely going to go out of business unless you've got like a billionaire backer. I don't think people realize how close Barrels of Fun was to going out of business when Dune launched. It didn't sell well. People forget, I mean, Dune only sold like 300 units after a few months. And think about all the money for the license and all the work that went into the game and the engineering around that mech. I mean, they put a lot into the game. And now I think there's only going to be in total 700 of them made. Now, I get that those of you who have one are loving it, but you can't deny the fact that even though the game is now good, releasing it early and not getting the right launch almost put that company out of business. And I do worry that even making Winchester for these guys isn't very profitable. So I still think when it comes to the financials, I'd be a little bit worried at barrels. Their next theme is so important. And I am going to say that I think it is big trouble in little China. I think David knows he needs a banger within this demographic. Dune is not a banger in this demographic. Someone was arguing with me that the Dune movies made billions of dollars So what So did Avatar Those games did not sell well Back to the Future did not make billions of dollars at the box office but it will outsell all of these billion dollar new franchises which don have the nostalgia Another theme I heard Stern is making next year is Fast and the Furious. Talk about another theme. Billions at the box office, but we're sort of over it. It's been oversaturated. The enthusiasm for the IP is gone. And if you make a Fast and the Furious pinball machine now, I don't think people want it. They would rather have stuff that is like stood the test of time. We would rather have Matrix and Die Hard and Total Recall versus Fast and the Furious. And so I think it's going to be eye-opening if they have the license. If the Pinball brothers release the fifth element and they do it right, I think it's going to be eye-opening how many they sell and how fast they sell out. And I think Stern could have got the license probably if they went the extra mile. Everything's gettable. You just have to pony up the cash. I just don't think they want to pony up the cash. And I'm hearing great things about Goonies. I'm hearing great things about the next three games from Spooky are going to create a feeding frenzy. Yes, I think there might be an SLE of Goonies. Yes, there's going to be an SLE of Back to the Future. Every Back to the Future is going to be limited. You know it's going to be really hard to get it. And here we are. It's June 8th. June 8th. And in just what? 15 days, people, we are going to see Sonic the Hedgehog. I think we're going to get theme confirmation this week, and then we're going to see the game in just 15 days. I don't know about you, but I'm very excited. Our expectations are very high. I've been a little bit worried that maybe Sonic might not live up to our expectations of this game. The thing is this, the people that have seen it who can't admit that they've seen it, I've heard nothing but great stuff from them. Yes, they do speak offline about it. They know how great it is. It's another reason why I was just like a little disappointed that they have that inside information and then they're off selling us on this Stern machine that they know is not nearly as good. But it is what it is. No harm, no foul. As I say, we're all losers. We're all like losers making content every single day. Nobody should take this stuff very seriously. It was crazy to me the amount of people lining up to look at that $3 million boat that wasn't even impressive. And when you think about it, if all you need to do is sell a thousand pinball machines at like 13K a pop to a global audience of people, it shouldn't be that hard. It really should not be that hard to get it right. People are just like printing money, apparently. I don't know where everybody gets this money and then the boomer money is going to trickle down and the poor kids can't afford anything anymore. The world is upside down. But everybody look, I mean this when I say this. Life is very short. What we talk about on a weekly basis is silly. Taking the piss out of it is where it's at. And we need more people to take the piss out of it. And we need more people to hold these companies accountable. And we should be rooting for magic. It's almost like we've all been gaslit. You walk across a row of Valley Williams games and you see what's possible mechanically. 35 years ago when these freaking games were like two grand and now we're spending $13,000 on empty games because they filled them with artwork. It's like really the gaslighting of this community is incredible. And then again, everything is fun in pinball. It's a toy. It's supposed to be fun. And that always becomes the default excuse by all the apologists. But where do you play it? But I don't care. I don't care. ACDC has way more in it than Transformers. And it was half the price. Explain that to me. If you can get me to understand why that is the case, then I will. I don't know what I'll do. Maybe I'll take my show down for a month. Maybe I'll start putting ads in front of my show for dealers. Never doing it. Never doing it. My integrity is not for sale. And you guys subscribe. Someone said like, yeah, but you sell out to your fans. Yeah, I've sold out to each and every one of you. My loyalty is to each and every one of you. I will always remain true to you and put your best interests in front of the manufacturers. Look, they have a duty to make games that are magical. And if they do, they're going to be just fine. Nothing I say will ever not make a game great. When a game turns great, it's a great game forever. And that's all I want to see. And the other thing is this. All of us will change our minds after playing a game and realizing what does it truly have. And I say this and I mean this like I might even jump on Transformers and have a change of heart one day. But I will never buy one because I still don't want to support a company that can't answer the brief and execute properly. I just won't do it the same way I won't buy Predator without Arnold. If they make Fifth Element and Bruce is not in it, I'm not a buyer. You know what I'm saying? There's just non-negotiables. Things have to have certain things. I'll use a bad analogy. It's like imagine buying a house and it doesn't have a front door and there's no door. It's just open to anyone who wants to walk through it. Still a great house, but it's missing something that makes you not want to have it. And that's how I feel when there's no Arnold, there's no transformation happening, and there's no Bruce Willis in Fifth Element. Everybody, happy, happy Monday. Thank you for being a member of the Kaneda Club. We're holding strong at 715 subscribers. If you've got buddies, bring them on board. Give them the gift of Kaneda. It definitely is the gift, especially on the weekends when I'm going live, baby. It's the gift that keeps on giving the whole year. Later.