Thought I would post a quick update on my Alien pin.
The other night I went downstairs to the mancave and decided to play the Alien pin. If you read this forum long enough, you REALLY start feeling paranoid about getting, or better yet, staying with your order on Alien.
But DAMN, I love playing this pin! I can't put in mere words how fun it is to play! The lights, sounds, theme, shots, and monitor interaction just makes you feel like you're fighting for your life thru the Alien universe. I can't get enough of the hypersleep lock shot. On bad days, I will play 20 games in a row if that what it takes for me to get hypersleep multiball! ( I know, I'm persistent) Like I said before, I got Alien around the same time I got SW Premium and let me just say I just sold my SW Premium for an ACDC Luci. Thanks Zach and Greg from SDTM. More on that in a minute.
Do I still have minor issues with the pin? Yes, yes I do. Does it bug me somewhat? Sure it does. The left flipper is still a little wonky, every once in awhile after playing a couple of games the playfield monitor turns a light green color (which goes back to normal once I power down the pin), the ball still doesn't eject every once in a while (even after tweeking) and the alien mouth rod will every once in awhile get stuck on the jaw as it tries to snatch the ball during gameplay. But after all these minor gripes, I still can't muster up the courage to sell it because it's just a blast to play. After all, when I unboxed my Luci pin I had some minor problems with the Stern NIB (ball getting caught up in the lane under the cannon, LED lights won't stay in place behind the lightning bolts, etc) I don't remember these kind of problems when I originally owned the ACDC premium version out of the box. Not to Stern bash, but I guess every once in awhile a NIB pin will cause you headaches.
That being said, Heighway pinball really concerns me though. If you didn't know my story, I had an LE on order for awhile, but decided to change over to the regular version because the container coming in to Cointaker had an extra regular version on there. I ended up having to pay more from the original LE payment to the regular version, but I just wanted to end the waiting game. Heighway obtained an absolute beautiful licensed/theme with Alien and a huge fanbase and it bugs me knowing why this pin isn't in deep production by now. I would be lying to you if I told you the fear of being stuck with an excellent pin that has mechanical problems I can't get fixed because of hard to get replacement parts or a support cast from the company later down the line. I mean, I appreciate the software guys coming on here and doing their work on this pin, so a HUGE thank you to you and your hard work. It is appreciated! If I ever decide to sell my Alien pin, it would be for this reason (partially because I'm not that mechanically inclined and would rather avoid the headaches and trade it towards a NIB pin). Flame suit on!
One last point. I'm a HUGE Star Wars and Alien fan, so it was a no brainer for me to get these pins because of my fanboy attitude. While I did like the SW Premium, it just didn't "side" with me and I don't know why. Now Alien on the other hand just clicked with me and made me feel like a part of that universe and I found myself playing that pin more. Maybe it's because I felt like SW was more for pin players who was more of a "professional" player than I was (going for mulitpliers, etc), where Alien felt more mode based to me which I like more in pins.
I would sometimes think what would have happened if this Alien pin was built and distributed by the other pin companies mentioned above? Buyers will (and have) jump ship for other titles being released by Stern, JJP and Spooky, and it's a shame because, in my opinion, Alien is a blast to play if given the chance to grace the confines of a home arcade.