Does it sound like a theme that you're really into and that you're excited to do? Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely. Cool. Yeah, it's something very, very different. It's a license, but it's very different, and it's right up my alley for the style. A lot of people want me to give them the stern style, which I do a lot of different stuff, but ever since I came into the pinball scene with that realistic look, that's what people want. So until I get an opportunity to do something different, them offering me this, it fits perfectly with that style, which I'm more than happy to do. Work is work, and I certainly do it. And you do it well? Yeah, I mean, I think any aspects of art I enjoy doing, whether it's this style, that style, whatever, I tend to like to be a chameleon and, you know, sort of mimic any sort of style. I really don't have a style, actually, you know, of my own. I never bothered to develop one because I wasn't interested in that. I figured, you know, if I did, if I had a very particular look, then people can come to me for that. But if I didn't and I could do really any kind of look, people could come to me for anything. That would be, you know, more desirable as a hire. so that's the path I kind of followed because I knew, you know, I'm not in it for the pride you know, like as far as like a fine artist who's like, you know, I've got this emotion that I need to convey in this painting and I, you know, I do it for a living and I'm a commercial artist, I'm not a fine artist such as like, you know, later on in our show in the game show we have Rachel Best who used to work for Marco and she's an amazing painter but she doesn't paint you know, like superheroes and stuff for pinball machines, she does her own thing and it's amazing, you need to check her out Yeah, she's really good. Yeah. But, you know, what I do is more commercial. So, I mean, I take pride in my work as far as doing the best I can, but it's not personal. You know, it's a commercial thing. You had mentioned before that you were trying to kind of mix it up a little bit with your next CDC title and maybe not do the same kind of artwork that you've always done. Do you feel like it's going to be very different? It's not going to be very different. It's going to be a little different. I can't really explain how. I mean, I could if I was allowed. Did you know Stern kept you in a box, Chris, when you worked for them, that you had to do something specifically a certain way? And now CGC or these other companies will let you be more of Chris? We never really had a discussion about it when I was at Stern. They sought me out because they needed help with Batman. And they found my Batman art online, and that's why they got a hold of me. So that's what they were expecting from me. And once I did that, the next title I did was Guardians, and their attitude was, you know, oh, this is perfect for what you do. You know, just do the same thing you did for Batman. So we never really talked about it. You know, I never really said, like, hey, can I, you know, kind of spread my wings a bit? They were happy with that look, and I was happy with, you know, giving it to them. So that's just what we did. That's just how that ended up. But when you go to different places, you know, even so, you have to kind of fight that going to CGC. I'm sure they expected the same thing. Like, oh, well, we've seen your work and we're happy to have that. Well, that may not be what I want to give you. Especially because the title could be different. It could command something completely different. Yeah, exactly. I kind of actually had those talks with people that approached me as far as what I can do, what I have to offer, and that it's not just the Batman look or whatever, the Munsters look. It's something different than that. And that's not to say that Stern was against that. We just, like I said, we never had that discussion. That's just what they knew I could do. So when the next game came along, we're like, you know, Frenchie's got to do that one. That's perfect for his style. And that's just the way it worked out. But, again, I was happy to do it. So, anyway, that's been my two weeks in pinball. Well, let's see what Joe has been up to. Joe, what have your last two weeks entailed? Well, the highlight, obviously, you already covered, which was coming out to hang out with you and play pinball and have lunch and install your coin door. But you covered that. I think the biggest thing that happened in the last two weeks was, listen, at the end of the day, these games are pinball. They're mechanical machines, and sometimes things break. Sometimes things even come out of the factory broken. People like to bitch and complain about, you know, this company's quality control and this company's quality control. And, you know, do I get aggravated if a game comes and there's already things that are issues? Sure. But at the end of the day, I'm glad that they're still making pinball machines, right? So if I've got to deal with a little bit of headaches here and there, so be it. And one of the most notorious ones has been over the last couple weeks is that the new game from Stern Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the LEs that were coming out, the pros didn't have this issue because the LE has a little bit more feature, which is the big thing was the turtle van diverter. So the game starts off, you put the game together, you load all the balls in there, three of them kick into the turtle van. And they go up the ramp, they shoot around, the diverter opens, it loads them in the van, closes off, and you're ready to go. Well, a lot of people were finding that when they set their game up, the ball would come up the ramp and either just spin back around, come all the way full circle and never go in the diverter. And people were discovering the reason why is because the diverter wasn't even assembled correctly or had already fallen apart. So essentially, it was a screw and a nut that were holding a link in place that would open and close that diverter with a coil. And either A, from the factory, they weren't screwed in all the way, or B, the screw is short. So maybe it was during transit, it got jumped around or whatever. So bottom line is a lot of people are having those problems. So Stern sent out a service bulletin to basically show you the easiest way to disassemble the least amount of parts you needed to do to get to this part to either A, put it back together if yours was apart, or B, as a security, take it apart even if yours was together, which mine was, thank God, but to basically get it to the point where you then took it apart so that you could loctite that screw and make sure that it didn't happen, that if yours was maybe on the brink of happening, that it wouldn't happen. So a couple people had that problem right off the bat, and they had to have either pinball attacks or do it themselves and try to find the best way, and it's in a really, really tough spot. So, you know, before the service bulletin came out, people were talking about it took them three hours, four hours to get this thing back together. I waited and figured that, you know, they'd come out with some solution or some recommendation, which they did, which was a 16-page service bulletin that step-by-step showed you how, in what order to take what pieces apart, break it down, re-secure that part, and then put it back together. So it ended up taking me about an hour and a half, hour and 45 minutes total to get it together. And all I did was re-secure mine, Loctite that screw so that it won't come out. That seems like a lot of work, man. I mean, you know what you're doing. So for the average show, that would take a while, right? So do you feel like this was something that they missed in the factory or may have just been a little bit loose and come out in transport? Because the reason I ask you that is Borg is known to playtest every single LE before it leaves the factory. And there were pictures of him, like, touting that on a certain website. So you would think he'd pick up on this if it was something that was just not assembled at all ever? There was two guys that I know personally. The game doesn't function when this can't happen. So the first was right out of the box. He called me right away. He's like, hey, did you have this problem? And he showed me a video, and the ball just kept shooting up the ramp full circle. because it's trying to load the van because the van needs to have the ball staged and then five stay in the trough. And if the balls can't stage, then the game won't even start because it knows that the balls have to be in the van. The other one was one that came apart after initial, like maybe the first 10 games, and then he started saying, hey, I can't get the van to load, and we figured out the issue. Do I think? Who knows? I have to think that since the video and the notes were saying that Borg tested every LE before it got boxed up is that they probably were not 100% secured in production. And, you know, sure, it lasts for a game or two or three. And then the addition of shipping it and bouncing around in the truck and going to a distributor and then him shipping it to wherever it's got to go, you know, adds all that wear and tear already. It's probably that way. I don't think that Borg would have, because he would have never been able to start the game if balls can't load into the turtle van. So I'd have to say it happened after the fact. Now, whether the production line forgot to lock tight screws or whether they forgot to screw them all the way in, whether the screw should be a little bit longer, I'm sure it won't happen on the premiums. We know that because the pros don't have that feature. Therefore, there was no problem with those. The premium will have that feature, and I'm sure they've already addressed it because that's the good thing with these companies is when they find out something. I always want the first game because I'm so anxious I want to get it, but part of me is okay with waiting sometimes because I want to see the bugs ironed out and then know that I'm not going to get game number one that's going to have all these issues. So, yeah, I don't think the premiums are going to have that issue. They're going to address it in the factory, and that will all be tied up and done with, so people with the premiums will be lucky. The other issue I had was Sunday morning, Top Whales had a new update, and I updated it, and I went to go play it, and I had no power at all. I had no flippers. I wouldn't shoot the ball into the shooter lane. So it was Sunday morning. I started messaging on the forum on Pinside, And I instantly got, you know, responses from Josh Kugler and from Dave Brennan, who's their service manager, and Joe Schober. You know, try this, try this, try this, try this. And we ultimately came down to, by the afternoon on a Sunday, that the 48-volt power supply had basically gone bad. You know, it wasn't that long. Obviously, out of the box, it was only 40 or 50 games. But, you know, things happen. So Dave emailed me on Monday, got all my contact information, shipped me out a new power supply. I was here Wednesday. I replaced it right away, and boom, right back into action. So stuff happens, and that's okay, and they addressed it right away. And on a Sunday afternoon, I've gotten a diagnosis and had the part out on Monday, and Wednesday I'm back in business. I mean, everybody knows that pinball machines are complex, and there's a lot of things that could potentially go wrong. You've got a steel ball hitting into every component of that machine. But as long as companies will give you the service that you just described, that's okay, right? I mean, this is something that we, as pinball, you know, hobbyists, we know that it's going to happen. And as long as you're not falling on deaf ears when you contact these companies and they do right by you, then that's all you can really ask for. Yeah, I couldn't. I mean, aside from them driving out from, you know, Illinois to come and put it in themselves. I mean, what else can you ask for to have Sunday, you know, morning, afternoon responses from these guys and then just take care of it. And, you know, it was an easy fix. You know, it took me probably 20 minutes. Not all stories have such happy endings because we never got our swag from those. Do you really want that T-shirt? The guy sounded like he was going to send me like a treasure trove of goodies, but I never got a single thing. He asked for all of our addresses. American Football, if you're listening, Cranchy really wants a shirt. If you could hook him up, he's going to be a very happy guy.