Definitely excited to see details on this.

Zach on SDTM was dissing this theme a few months back, but I couldn't disagree more. A cool space sci-fi theme is a great choice in my opinion. I like the look of the art direction based on this teaser, too. Put that with a solid designer in Dennis Nordman, and I'm hoping this turns out to be a great pin.

Honestly the theme has been a turn off on all of the AP machines so far to me, LOV excepted - GTF is more like it to me, hope the execution works out.

Somebody leak and post up some Playfield images soon pretty please.

LOL I'll be ordering from Flip N Out most likely if I get one. You guys kick ass

This is really getting ridiculous to discuss now, lol, but who cares - why wouldn't a futuristic tank be relevant for a space military?

Seems reasonable to think a group of space marines landing on a hostile planet might still want armored vehicles and mobile heavy weapon support like tanks offer, assuming there still exists any need to take and occupy ground. Could be hover tanks or something, but...

Someone already mentioned the Aliens movie example - they had an APC but stands to reason something like a heavier tank would still exist.

So let's talk about what tidbits we can see - forget the silly cabinet. Looks like it has Expression-style lighting at least on the shooter lane area - I'm guessing more than that. Pretty serious RGB lighthshow highly probable - you can see that strip lighting up brightly as well as the right sling area.

It has two buttons on the right side, suggesting a magnasave or maybe a cannon or something. There is a label on the side art that seems to be "Master Tank Controls" pointing to the flipper button area, but it looks like the same be on the left side cab too. So I presume you're playing as if in the tank (kind of implied with the theme, but...). I hope there is an enemy tank or something bash toy or targets to shot at... Anyway, someone posted a basic PF sketch that seems to have something that looks like what would be a magnasave over the right inlane, so I'm guessing that is the extra button. If so, I'm glad they went the extra step and didn't just use an action button ala Stern and BKSOR. I hope it's the pulse-style magnasave like Grand Lizard/Pharaoh/Solar Fire too, but I'm happy to have it either way...

Wish they would show some dann PF images already.

Hmmm, so what's the deal with the upper wire form running across the back of the game, above the left ramp? Am I seeing things?

You can definitely see the ramp is plastic and runs above the rollover lanes, and this wireform is then above that.

And what is going over in the right corner with the ramp and diverter setup. Clearly there is one vuk and wireform to flip up onto the right return wireform, but there's to be some other crazy stuff up there.

And that swinging target shot or something to the right of the tank looks interesting. Definitely don't see drops I the slot in the PF.

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This jumps out as a swinging target slot center of this image, right and behind the center tank thing. Perhaps target leaning to the left currently behind that tank/ship nacelle??

No drops that I can see in that slot, but there is something odd there. This has to be something to shoot and not just a rubber bumper area, right?

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If there is interaction like a shaker or coil to move the tank/ship thing when you're bashing those stand up targets, that will be really cool. Even with just lightshow integration, that could be super fun and dangerous to bash. I like that it's 5 small targets, with obvious likely significance to hitting the center one. I hope they do something cool with inserts, looks like a long slot insert across the front like a shield. Be cool to see how that is used.

Not sure what to think about the center drain and flipper setup yet.

I could do without the ice cream element too, but whatever. This looks really interesting so far.

Swinging target surely. From other shots, I keep feeling like maybe there is something else behind that area to the above to the right of this swinging target.

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Oh cool, the swinging target is actually attached to the UFO. I think the UFO is tractor beaming up a cow. The whole thing swings and you bash the target.

Looks like a magnet core below the tank, someone pointed it out earlier. Could still just be an asteroid in the art I guess.

I see a physical ball lock on the wireform above the rollover lanes. Looks like sensors for 3 balls to be held, then released dumped down near the ramp diverter. So looks like a VUK near the back left as well to kick balls up into that lock. Maybe in the pops or maybe fed by something stopping the ball in the orbit. I guess that's some kind of lab or ice cream shop.

The stand-ups next to the ramp and the right orbit are A, I, and R targets for "Air Strike Locks", so I take it you have to hit them all to light locks for Air Strike Multiball.

Targets or at least inserts in the pops on the right side are interesting, randomizing hitting them off the pops if they are indeed targets. Gives the pops a little more of a purpose.

Also, don't the expression lights look they are on a frame connected to the back board or down to the playfield, aka they raise and lower with the playfield, and aren't mounted to the cab like pinstadiums.

There is a post/standoff that supports the wireform at ramp near the diverter area, that looks like it would be right in the middle of the back of the tank/ship thing. I don't get the impression that would be there if balls fed in the back...

I bet a character or figure can raise out of the tank out the hatch. Or maybe it blows open to signify a destroyed or damaged tank?

I think I see standup targets and inserts on the left side of the pop nest too, under the left ramp. Coiciding with the targets on the right side of the pops.

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You know that latest image does make it look like the left ramp bottom lifts to shoot under the ramp to that lab/lock saucer and VUK, to feed the lock wireform, or into the pops.

Just above the little decal with arrows on the bottom of the ramp, there looks like screws holding the ramp bottom section to a cross-piece that might rotate it up.

It's odd to me the placement of these rivets and what looks like a cross support piece that those rivets attach to. That seems like a potential pivot spot for a lift ramp? It already has rivets attaching the ramp flap. Why would that second set be there on a ramp?

That clearly looks like a decal on the ramp to me, with the four arrow/chevron symbols pointing up the ramp that stops near the cross support.

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I think I'd definitely be in a $7k Stern Pro level pricing, but I'm thinking they'll be over that at around $8k for the standard model at least. LOV was around there. Even that might be wishful thinking though. That's my hope at least though, as I'm not paying $10k for any pinball machine, and even $9k is pushing it.

The only thing I'm not digging is the silly ice cream crap. It's already campy enough with retro atomic 50's vibe and Galactic tank forces. Why the friggin ice cream thing??? I hope it doesn't go too overboard with that crap.

Has it come up yet that it looks like there is a lane coming down from behind the swinging target, coming from the upper right orbit area I presume, that seems to dump into the lane below the right VUK shot?? You can clearly see a lane and rollover switch here under the ramp trail in this shot with the swinging target leaning out of the way.

I wonder if this would have something to do with the planet. Could be a diverter making the right orbit feed this for a mini horseshoe type shot? Maybe a magnet or up post direct a ball there from a orbit? Not sure how satisfying that will be if the ball basically has to dribble back out the VUK lane. Skill shot short plunge drops in there? I don't see an up post, nor any indication that would be a lock...

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Franchi said more info (don't recall if he started full reveal or what...) was coming "within 7 days" last night (Wed, 3/15) on the Flip N Out stream last night, right near the end of the stream.

https://www.youtube.com/live/ZdXh3PhA1dM?feature=share

He also confirmed there are 4 stand-ups on each side of the pops area, as we had guessed by the inserts.

And there will be merch, including a lunchbox with thermos.

This whole tank model cab is some big time Popadiuk-level retardation, and a motorized backbox ratchets it up several levels beyond that. Deeproot food truck game anyone? Please God don't let them have even wasted 5 minutes/$5 dollars even contemplating this stupid motorized backbox.

But I still want to see the full game reveal and am interested in possibly getting a standard model, lol.

Cool shot of the bare playfield - so we can see the 2 sets of stand-up in the pops each award 2x multipliers when you complete either 4 bank. I presume those light the multiplier X inserts on the main shots, and the next one you shoot gets locked in at 2x, guessing to the end of the ball. I love that rule in other games, I think that's my favorite style of multiplier.

And the set of lanes in the right orbit are interesting, wonder if those will be short plunge/ weak shots only, or if there is a diverter or something to feed them.

I had a hunch that may have just been artwork - oh well. Curious to see what is up with the tank/ship. I'm guessing a figure pops up in the hatch when hit or at certain times. I'm thinking it won't be balls that are launched out, as there is no trough or scoop to fed them. Sure would love it if the targets dropped or the whole thing raised to have another target or scoop or something under the tank though...

The wording here about hitting showrooms on Wed. 3/22 implies they actually be hitting the ground soon/immediately following reveal... Doesn't it? Just one more interesting thing to see from the reveal

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Yeah, $9k with shaker, light rails, and "magic glass" puts it solidly under a Stern Prem to which this seems comparable.

I dig the Deluxe cab and artwork too. Looking forward to more details and I hope some gameplay video...

Hopefully the cutscenes fit better on the actual game display, with hud graphics and other effects, etc, than this video. I think I voiced some concerns when it became apparent it was going to be live action - definitely cringe-inducing. But could still be ok in game.

But the game itself looks cool. We can see at least 2 magnets, obviously the one in front of the tank, which looks pretty active, and one to serve as a diverter for the lanes in the right orbit I believe. But I also felt like there was some action in this video that looked like a magnet may also be in front of the swinging target/UFO too. Super short clip, so I could be wrong, obviously. No exposed core, but AP had several magnets under the playfield in Houdini and Oktoberfest too. Somehow seemed to be more active in those titles than a magnet in your typical Stern, too.

The enemy tank is quickly shown shaking from one of the hits, very subtle in the clip, but I was really hoping it wasn't static. Awesome. Adds a lot to have that basic interaction imo. Whatever it does with the hatch on top will be nice too.

I take it there is a second spinner in the back of the right orbit too per the flyer description - cool.

I'm still interested in a deluxe if the display and video aren't tooooo bad in game... Bring on the gameplay footage.

The Deluxe for $9k looks awesome and comes with all the "extras" like shaker, light rails, and invisiglass. I think the art package looks pretty sweet. Now for the hat trick - don't ruin it with the display, fingers crossed.

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Have we figured out if it has UV lights with these rails, and UV paint on the playfield for some cool effects ala Stranger Things? Some of these pics suggest it.

Either way I bet the lightshow here is going to be insane, hopefully without the rainbow puke usage with JJP's of late.

I needz gameplay footage damnit.

Just rewatching the reveal vid again in better quality just now, and I think this will work just fine on the game screen with graphics overlays, text and hud details, etc. Less worried about that than from my initial take.

I had also missed there was clearly was a short feature highlight of "multiple ball magnets" showing clearly 3 sets - the tank magnet, one in front of the swinging target, and one in the right orbit to divert balls. Be fun to have those used with both main toys/targets.

EDIT: Correction, the orbit magnet is the left orbit, to drop the ball into the lab lock VUK. Which leaves me wondering how you shoot the "rank" lanes at the top of the right orbit.

Some interesting shots from the video.

The cow hangs freely from the swinging UFO by wire or something, so it and the UFO really move around from hits. Magnet in left orbit, stops balls for the lab lock VUK
Screenshot_20230322-211238 (resized).pngScreenshot_20230322-211324 (resized).png

Picture from left orbit towards right orbit, can see the one way gate and spinner for right orbit shot. You can lso really see the planet well from this view, rings are obviously lit from behind the back panel, hopefully to good effect.
Screenshot_20230322-221243 (resized).png

Can see the tank has a spring/coil mech of some kind that causes it to react and move when the targets are bashed.

A shot to those targets can raise the center post at least some of the time, just popped up in this second shot after targets hit.

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I can't necessarily disagree - I'm not super amped for these changes down at the flippers/center drain either. I'd have rather seen something creative with some outlane save posts/gates and such vs this weird center drain config. But I need to see more/play it...

I think the comments about the footage in the reveal vs during gameplay are referencing how they're used on screen vs just bare full screen clips shown in the reveal. We haven't really seen how they fit in the actual game yet, yet Levi and others are mocking and have written off the entire thing.

One of the only still pics we have of the display shows the video of the Captain in a small section of the window, with the image of the enemy tank that seems to be displayed during battles. I think that works just fine, imo.

I'm sure they'll be some full screen footage in game, but the integration with the HUD and scoring displays, bits of separate animation, etc, will make these fit a lot better I expect. Heck, just the art and control panel style of the speaker panel/bezel area will make the videos look better in game. I'm curious if the green lighting is just art or if that panel is actually actively lit too.

This image is all I recall seeing thus far...
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Had a quick walk through going over the playfield, maybe another 20 second or so of gameplay that wasn't in the reveal trailer.

There wasn't much to it, half was his footage from the reveal. But the main things that jumped out to me were just cosmetic mostly
:
- The custom LED pop bumpers actually look to each have a number of controllable LEDs in each, both cap and body, if I saw it correctly, so they had wave effects and such with the lighting. Actually looked pretty cool.
- The tank hatch opens (he lifted it open and you could see a grey figure down in the tank) and he stated a "robot" pops up to taunt you.
- The planet body/core is lit seemingly separately from the rings. It looked pretty sweet too I thought.
- Had a few brief sounds from the gameplay, the spinner jumped out with an interesting effect.

That's about all I got before I closed the window, not realizing it had been removed...

In the recent factory tour video on YouTube they showed footage of their 3d printer farm and showed printing production parts for Oktoberfest. I believe the Sonic Spinball guy was running the printers. Seems likely these parts in GTF will be 3d printed too. Hopefully they'll be higher quality prints, if these are indeed lacking.

Injection molded custom plastics/molds are exorbitantly expensive as I understand it. I don't have a problem with 3d printed stuff, if it's decent quality.

Factory tour vid - 3d printing stuff around the 5 minute mark:

I'm kinda digging the overall display actually. The control panel bezel and lighting on the bezel (wonder if those are controlled/interactive and rgb?) Looks great. Love that effect.

Game is looking fun, looking forward to seeing more, higher quality streams.

Not sure if the obvious LEDs or wiring are what he was referring to, but someone on Cary's stream confirmed all those "spy bot" toys have rgbs in them.

That should be cool - I'm interested to see how those are coded, like multiple shots to destroy them with color changing to indicate damage level on each, or similar.

It was hard to hear on Cary's stream, but I believe Fix said Franchi did the art in like 21 layers or something, so the lenticular 3d backglass sounds pretty sweet.

On Cary's stream, when he asked who did the music, he was told "Matt Pern" (sp?) And "David Thiel also helped out"...

Nordman indicated the center post raises when hitting the tank dead on, as he didn't want to just kill you with SDTM rebounds. It will come up/stay up less as you defeat tanks and go to higher levels.

But then on Neils's video the player looks to score a center hit and die SDTM with no sign of the post, soooo...

Maybe I misunderstood and you need the full methane level special tank shot that Rosh mentioned, and hit the specific lit "one shot kill" target to get the post up?

I stumbled onto this on YouTube - a decent short gameplay video:

Looks pretty fun - lightshow seems pretty awesome and it's still early code. Reminds me of shooting the Monger in IM - I think trying to glance hit the outer targets in some scenarios might be a good idea, even if doing less damage?

Yes, it's confirmed there are 3 magnets in the game:

1. Main magnet in front of tank. Supposedly used in several ways including acting as a shield somehow (holding a ball during Multiball maybe, nor sure what they meant?).
2. Hidden core magnet in front of swinging UFO/Cow target.
3. In upper left orbit. Catches orbit shots to drop into the Lab saucer/lock VUK.

Few shots zoomed in on the display during that gameplay:

Bumpers build toward lighting a super jackpot with this gauge/something increases value too I guess, not sure if that is bumpers too or what.
Screenshot_20230325-020000~2 (resized).png

Flank target advance upgrades
Screenshot_20230325-020142_kindlephoto-123376665 (resized).pngScreenshot_20230325-020432~2 (resized).png

Robot defeated (Robot was raised out of the tank) while in a ramp/berry collecting mission, seems to differ from a regular tank defeated?
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That berry mission is to shoot 5 ramps.
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Meanwhile, during Toygate 2023, I was happy to see they bothered to add interaction with the tank and RGB lighting to the spybots.

You clowns can keep your flat plastic butyrate shrinkydinks that Stern throws all over the place. I'll take lit, 3d printed toys all day long.

Stream was great - Game looks really fun to me. I like a lot of the effects when hitting the tank, cool sounds and lightshow for solid hits on it. Really reminds me of the Monger in Iron Man, only it's always a target obviously. Clearly need to try to get the methane charged hits or go for Multiball before concentrating on the tank. I like that it's dangerous.

Pop bumper lighting effects with how it has multiple controllable lights in each pop was actually really awesome. I swear I felt like there was really electrical arching or something going on when meltdown or other things were going on with the pops.

For the light rails - I've not been a big fan of pinstadiums, but having the game/code designed to use them from the factory looks next level. Lightshow in general here looks killer. This looks way superior to JJP and Sterns expression lighting - they don't have this kind of entire playfield drastic effect with uv light-style effects, etc. Both of those are more like graphic equaliser effects only or something

The ramp was clearly make-able, but required a solid hit. That seems good imo, needs to be a challenge. Looked like fun to divert to the right flipper and try to make multiple ramps in a row, though I don't recall seeing anyone hit multiples in a row successfully.

For a criticism, I have been disappointed by the spinner action - only getting a handful of spins for a solid shot. Someone mentioned the switches seeming really tight, not sure what that is about. I'm hoping you can juice the spinners up or they break in more or something. Just not satisfying to nail a spinner and get 10 lousy spins.

I'm also a little put off by the stupid ice cream sundae crap. I mean AFM and many similar games have corny bits to the story, straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa, etc, but they aren't so over the top to have the core story really about lame crap like saving ice cream for crying out loud. Boo to that...

Oh yeah, and it won't look as good as without it, but they definitely need a clear plastic guard extending out over the targets enough to quash the airballs. If not the aftermarket will offer something...

Maybe they can do something with just a bracket behind the targets like I think someone from AP mentioned, but I don't know how effective that truly will be. I'm also not sure why they haven't already addressed that by now. SDTM from a dangerous target is one thing, jumping the flippers or lane guides is BS though. I expect that is fixable one way or another though.

I believe there may be multiple different colored robots as they appear on screen as you go through the game. The actual robot figure has a gauge or something cutout on the chest, among other cutouts, on the model that are then lit different colors to "match" for the specific robot you're fighting, unless I'm mistaken - but that doesn't really come close to the metallic on screen representation. Maybe some of the on screen graphics are placeholders or something...

The robot is the worst looking toy in the game, still hoping that what we're seen may not truly be final finishing for production versions. Again though, I still come back to it being better than a butyrate shrinkydink from a Stern Pro, and easily modified or replaced if it still bothers you. I know this is more money, but it's a boutique game and definitely has more in it than a Pro.

Oh, and it used to take weeks or even months for a typical Stern raffle to sell out with those guys. Recent raffles aren't the norm...

This taking a couple days to close out at a full $200 entry price is still pretty crazy.

Guess the judges weren't put off by 3d printed toys...