I agree with you (but I love my WOZ...).

Anyway, the reason for all the irrational exuberance:
-GoT is a hot, hot, license right now.
-Stern has had some experience at this point with the new platform, so maybe they're ready to push the envelope.
-People frustrated awaiting fantasy-licensed Hobbit want to see something fantasy-themed, to see if it scratches that itch.
-SR design (confirm?).
-Stern's first LCD definite possibility.

But who knows? It could be that it comes out at same time as Hobbit, and Hobbit blows GoT away? Hot licenses make it hard to predict, because, as much as some people will hate this, the truth is that the presentation of the license might be more important than gameplay for sales volume. And so jjp's lcd might therefore be the deciding factor (assuming stern doesn't have a monster lcd presentation itself).

But then again, stern might have some radical ways of presenting GoT license footage that no ones ever done before, and that would sell alot of people without ever seeing the playfield.

Sad but true.

Jack surviving the Shark Tank!

Well done, my man!

Exact same drama as with WOZ when it was at this stage of development as well, and WOZ has NO problem with power.

I strongly suspect it is because the expo machines are going to get a LOT of play while on display, and now is NOT the time JJP wants a highly visible and public mechanical failure. Doesn't mean the machine is poorly built or designed, just that this is not supposed to be a field test, just a reveal/demonstration.

I'd probably do the same thing if it were me at this stage, presupposing I would ALSO eventually have one on location for field durability testing. Which I am certain JJP is going to do.

Same here re: lines too long for me and Hobbit.
But I'm impatient and I thought the lines were too long for Lebowski too.
But it was fun enough to watch others play.

Two observations:
-the finishes for both LE and SE are SWEET!!!!! Images can't convey the TEXTURE which is great. Feels like "antiquing". Not remotely like anything out there.
-the ring button appears to be very multifunctional. At end of ball, I noticed that the screen was showing some kind of minigame on the left margin of the big lcd wherein a marker was moving up and down and one had to press the ring button when the marker was in the red zone. Kind of reminded me of timing the MM catapult launch. It was brief, I only caught a glimpse, but you get the gist. The main player didn't notice at all. Which I don't consider a problem, but rather a good thing. This pin will have a ton of surprises, and you'll want to be aware of what's going on all around! Challenging...

I got to feel the heft of the suspended play field... it is impressive. But handles nicely with hinge system.

Oh, the ramps do NOT appear colored at all on the engineering sample at expo, fwiw. I think it's just color artefact from internet photos, and I confirmed that with Jack.

Matt's work looks great in person. And Matt's a great guy, too, and was there showing off his wares. (If you haven't gotten his spider man buildings for your pin, get them, especially with hemis light mod, btw)

Beautiful stuff, Alex!

Hard to describe for everyone until they've had a chance to actually run their own fingers across the surface. It's remarkable!

I think we as pinball fans generally uderestimate how much time it takes to really, REALLY, integrate media assets into the JJP platform, which is a "burden" that Stern does not have to contend with (nor can Stern demonstrate the fruits of that labor).

Not bagging on any manufacturer. Just saying that the product development time is longer on JJP, at least PARTIALLY because they do a lot of multimedia asset integration, which Stern isn't doing. The advantage with JJP is when the pin finally arrives, the integration is dramatic. The advantage with Stern is it takes less time for the pin to arrive. Like a LOT less time.

Just saying when people compare product development time between Stern and JJP, they probably underestimate the time it takes to develop on the JJP platform, but the payoff is in the multimedia presentation. Stern doesn't have either that advantage of dramatic presentation nor the disadvantage of longer product development.

That's all.

Smartest thing I've read on this thread.

It's all a matter of perspective.

Don't look at it as a three-year and counting wait until TH is produced.

Look at it as TH as already being produced on a very, very, very, slow assembly line.

Like "ice age glacier" slow assembly line.

Or simply "Americans," as there is no proof they are not from Jersey, either.

And Tim Horton's FTW!

Canada is a metaphor for the third flipper:
it's located up north, starts on the right but shoots left, and is aiming for SOMETHING but no one is entirely sure at what.

2014 Environmental Performance Index ranks Canada #24 and USA #33 (#1 ranking is best ranking, held by Switzerland).
http://epi.yale.edu/epi/country-rankings
Methods: http://epi.yale.edu/our-methods

China #118.
India #155.