Joy...Can't wait to get mine Saturday and see what's going on.... Ugh..Will hope for the best. Will put it on the bench first for sure..

Does the clock actually run continually while powered on, or just during game play?

I really like the look and interactive features...Will fit nicely..But sounds like some QC issues are coming my way...We shall see. appears alignment of clock wheel could be getting knocked out during shipping?

I thought the raven would pop out and taunt you? Would like to see more topper interaction via code updates.

The clock is supposed to turn while in attract mode and during gameplay. The raven pops out whenever you get raven callouts in the game. I also had a LED out in the clock. Both were packed very nice with no signs of poor handling during transport. I would expect broken plastics before damaging a metal gear if they were mishandled.

Thanks for the videos. The topper is nice looking, but I'm usually so busy playing I barely have time to look up at the video scoreboard. The raven and the clock are mostly eye candy to allow for a boosted up price. I think.

Stern could sell me a broken one to use as a static display topper. For less money. And I would be perfectly happy. But for this level money I am going to pass.

Sad part is the returns will not be economical for Stern to repair, IMO. My guess is the returns will have a meeting with a sledge hammer.
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My dad owned a Ford auto dealership back in the 50s. After he sold out, and several years later, he told me that you never wanted to buy the first 200 cars coming off of the line; It would be a new model of car with new parts and it would take the line workers a few cars to get warmed up and understand how to put the car together.

And I saw this first hand on the assembly line of a brand new airplane the company I worked for was starting to sell. The first 20 plane down the line had to have all types of fixes and repairs because we, assembly line workers, and engineers had to learn how to build it.

That said, my LE is number 380 off of Stern's line and other than one small glitch, I have no complaints at all with how it was put together. A couple of wires under the play field were mis-routed. All cab decals are nice and straight. Nothing is falling off and landing on the floor of the cab.

So, maybe everybody needs to hold off and let Stern get some religion on how to build these toppers before they start shipping them.
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Does anybody know if Stern is building these toppers in the USA or is some contract manufacturer in China putting these together?

I'm going to have to wait and see about the topper. There are way too many problems, especially for over $400.

Too late for me, but the power of AMEX..

I won't mind tinkering w it if that's all that's required ( have certainly been through that many times w pin stuff), but if defects are present, back it goes.

Good idea

For me in Sweden it's 700$, so I'll wait as well.

I got my Topper in the mail yesterday. Got it all hooked up with no problems. I flipped the machine on and noticed my Raven doesnt open up, and my machine started acting a little wonky ( kicking two balls out on startup, Dragula activating up to 5 times in rapid succession, flippers stopped working entirely for a moment.) not sure if this is all due to the topper but it was 100% fine before installation.

Re-check the connection plugs making sure all pins are properly connected.. Just a thought.

Yeah I did all that. I unhook the topper and everything was normal again. Plugged it in again and everything went haywire. Seems like the topper has some sort of issue. I’m going to take it apart and check for any pinched wires otherwise it looks like I’ll have to send it back to Stern for a replacement.

I sent a message to Stern asking about the topper and when can we expect to see them shipped. I also asked about the problems I've been reading on Pinside about the problems the topper has been having.

I received a message from them, stating "our demand for the toppers far exceeded our expectations so we ran short on our first production run. We will have more in stock at the beginning of next week. There were a few instances where an opto was not aligned correctly, but this was rectified."

So that's good news and I still would like to have one for my pin. Pretty nice of Stern to respond back so quickly, so thank you to them.

Careful on taking it apart. You could void your warranty

No offense but i wouldn't believe everything that they tell you. Thats just a bunch of BS.to make you feel better about buying one. I am one of Sterns biggest supporters but im telling you right now that there is no way in hell that they are testing these toppers before they leave the factory....assuming that they are built there, they may not even be made there for all i know. Trust me though, the topper that i recieved no way in hell was tested to see if it worked properly or it would have never been able to pass inspection and leave the factory.

That is totally unnacceptable and total bullshit for such an expensive topper. I love Stern but im none too happy about these topper issues that people are having. I understand that shit happens when you are dealing with manufacturing but this isn't shit happens, this is piss poor quality control period!

How could demand exceed expectations? I thought no one bought the game....

In truth, Chas at Stern has always been amazing in customer support, and I like tinkering w things. I have zero concerns that if there is a true defect, they won't give me a new one. Just watching the videos gave me a couple ideas, but i'll dig deeper when mine arrives. As long as I'm not dealing w clearcoat bubbling up...

Topper looks way cool, but definitely appears to not be quite "plug and play" on first batch. I'll post Saturday when mine is here....

total disclosure though.....I bought a very nice TWDLE that arrives tomorrow, so might get sidetracked a bit.....

Wow that's a weird one....at least we know it is truly interactive....

The topper is definitely sweet and i have no doubts that they will help customers who get bad ones, Stern has always been great about that. My concern is, is this thing going to be reliable in the long run, because if they aren't Stern isn't going to help people 6 months from now even if they are tearing up because of poor quality. For 425.00 dollars i expect quality and long term reliability.

True statement. Being as interactive as it appears, problems could definitely arise down the road. I suspect a "robust parts replacement thread" could be in order for this thing at some point. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until I start sourcing some of the parts (that clock motor probably first on my list).

$425.00 stinks, but I've seen pieces of plastic sell for $250 that break after an air ball w zero warranty. Doesn't justify this, sort of puts it all in perspective though.....love the game too much to give up on a cool topper yet (really like what they are doing with it, just have to make sure the damn thing stays reliable)....

Now that's another great game and miss mine dearly. Congrats

TWD is definitely a great great game and it has the most awesome topper ever made imo. Congrats MK you are going to love it.

Thanks guys...played in the wild quite a bit and always loved it (except it always ate all my quarters too fast). Having one in the lineup has always been on the radar......topper is badass for sure. A zombie pin on bourbon night...good combo!!!

It’s part of the new game code. When you plug in the topper, new mode “clock madness” begins on your table...

I did end up cancelling my Ebay order and will wait. Its definitely a cost to benefit analysis for me. Risks at $ 450 are different than risks at $ 250. Will follow and stay on the bleeding edge rather than the cutting edge- lol

Received my topper today. Notice anything wrong?

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what time is it?

No hands for you!!!

And no they did not fall off in the box. The nut that holds them on is still on the end of the shaft. Maybe the hands were sold was an option and I didn't realize it.

Those darn summer interns!

If Stern is using a contract builder for these it is time for a conversation out behind the woodshed. By now, it seems fairly obvious that whoever is building these is taking shortcuts and Quality Control is nonexistent.

Those interns are already behind the woodshed smoking something!

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I am now being told the clock should Not be running all the time. In test my topper is not registering opto test. So I was told the clock should show the hour on the topper. Clock should most likly run during raven multiball. I guess we need stern to announce what the topper is supposed to do.
Magicchiz

I would send them ALL back so they get the message on quality.

Well, I got my Topper this afternoon. Got all excited, and installed it immediately. Clock runs most of the time, stops at certain times during the game such as end of ball, tallying points. But, the main thing is the Raven never came out of the clock, even during times he's taunting the player. Not good.

I could hear the motor in attract mode like it was supposed to be running and was told it should turn almost continuously in attract mode by Stern. I would prefer it to show the actual hour and only run continuously in certain modes. Mine didn't show the correct hour either. We definitely need some clarity and QC.

Oh, and also when first started a game, it wouldn't eject a ball at all. Once I turned it off, and restarted the machine, it loaded the balls fine, but Raven still would not work. Inplugged and replugged. Same thing. Contacted my Distributor, he has another and he'll swap with me.

Has anyone received a topper that is functioning correctly?

I ordered one directly from Stern over 10 days ago and have had no contact other than the the confirmation email.

I'm thinking of canceling but appears no way to do that on their site.

Years ago (1970s) I had a 1956 Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Harley parts were like gold. Money was scarce. If you could find a broken part you could work lots of magic to make it serviceable again.

Eventually, I sold the bike and moved on. New job, etc. A co-worker told of working at the local Harley dealership and the Harley factory guy was there taking care of business. And part of the business was taking a sledge hammer to defective parts so they could never be used again. I almost cried.

I'm guessing these units being returned to Stern will meet a similar fate. For Stern, paying factory prices, it will not be cost effective to return these to the builder for a repair. It will be cheaper to just get new ones which means these go to the crusher. It is just a guess.

I would not mind having a lower cost unit that is just a static display that just sits there and looks pretty---but Stern will not let that happen.

So, it sounds like we are running 100% failure rate with the pinside buyers.

Its unbelievable Cotton. Im not even excited about getting my new topper because im afraid that its going to be bad just like the last one was.

Will provide my update after it arrives tomorrow.... definitely going to dismantle a bit before installing to identify anything obvious...

Good luck MK and let us know. May the force be with you.

I shall proceed w caution....

Jesus the toppers seem like a nightmare. Thought the high price tag would warrant a sturdy product, but it seems to be the direct opposite

Received my topper yesterday and unfortunately not great news to report on the functionality. The clock hand turned for one rotation then stopped, although I can hear the motor buzzing inside. The topper itself looks absolutely fantastic, and the raven seems to be working properly during attract mode and gameplay. I'm going to attempt to remove the top of the clock which seems to only be connected with four screws as Magicchiz posted, to see if there is something that can be done to repair the hand mechanism.

IMG_7813 (resized).jpg

I wanted one of these but no way am I spending $400 on a hunk of crap with a 100% failure track record . Hard pass !

It is sad. It looks so nice.

Well, postman didn't bring mine today (rescheduled for Monday)....the suspense continues.....

Can’t wait to hear your report. You’re going to do what I’d do, namely take it apart and ensure everything is lined up and able to rotate properly to begin with. If the gear is flat and rotates on a solid spindle, think that would be the beginning of it working properly. Ensure coil firing properly on the Raven. You know the drill, some QC that should have been done by whomever made the clock to begin with. Hoping that a third party did this and not Stern. They have upped their QC game so can’t imagine they’d let these leave the factory this way, knowing what the blowback would become. Look of the unit is there and coding will be there, now just mechanical items...testing at assembly point is not hard and a must! Unless (if) 3rd party company did not have a machine to test on...