Yeah Star Wars, Dune, and pretty much any galactic space theme really stretches the imagination a bit too far. Thank you for keeping the conversation so grounded…

This is the way it appears to be. Everyone who wants will buy regardless and those who chase the next shiny thing were never potential customers in the first place.

I want my first NIB to be a solid reliable product and the current data suggests American is the best bet. And they finally have a decent logo…

In my few years of pinball I have seen nothing that would indicate there is a limited pool of money. Now over hyped product and value? Yes all day long.

If GTFo has a sweet layout then American will do just fine…

I think they picked up a surplus of red and yellow back when they did Deadpool and have been trying to use it up ever since…

It’s not just Pinside. Pretty much any forum has all the Usual Suspects.

Might be like the reverse inlane target where one gets to wonder who actually came up with it first…

Yeah base model just got a whole lot more appealing…

Options.

Wife is wicked into cows and has been asking for any pin with farm animals. I just got the green light…

Cows, ice cream, retro Sci fi… It’s hitting the right spousal spots. There is your marketing folks!

Considering all the missions are labeled as ice cream sundae ingredients you might need a life jacket…

So the Company President apparently worked at I.C.E. and they are a large redemption game manufacturer. Also he was originally hired by American Pinball to manage marketing. This direction clearly has his blessing if not his fingerprints all over it…

Many thought the same until the “Tale of the tape” showed there was about 9” space due to forward lean of back box.

Look man they call it Imperial for a reason…

Wise words but not the ones wanting to hear from someone who had physical possession for 2 months…

Irrelevant detail but seriously thank you for sharing your opinion.

I’m in the camera camp. Not only does it look like one despite all the gymnastics to explain otherwise but it is there to incentivize the raising and lowering of the turret.

Just having it folded up for looks is going to get old fast. I don’t care how hopped up on the theme you are. So the camera takes your pic by using the master tank control button and after you fold the head (And yes manually flip the cardboard dust cover as well) your likeness gets included in the game. Yet another reason for the real actors. We have already seen a screenshot where they show up as an incoming transmission. Now you are in there too.

Brilliant use of a near useless feature actually…

Testy bunch. I can’t wait for the reveal…

Yeah? Well I can tell you right now I’m putting a friggen camera in mine. Or at least a couple wires coming out of it. Screw my ass…

Then suddenly Estes Rockets sells more kits than at any other time since the 70s…

Too busy casting turds for GameStop to markdown on clearance.

9 inches. That is the measured space behind a slanted backbox when the rear legs are pushed to the wall.

Don’t read too much into it. He just got run out of the Scooby thread and needed to vent a little…

I still say a camera gives a reason to put the head down. Why go thru all the trouble making a folding head only to never be put back down when you could easily provide incentive?

Cut into the graphics and bevel the edge only to house a meaningless screw? LOL I say…

Only it’s not a topper. It’s a backer. And not nearly an innovation as the JPP PinShins…

Best speculation yet. The Keyscrew…

All your Pinbar needs will be supported thru Turner Pinball. He has both subtly and thoroughly cornered that market…

A folded head on a playable pinball machine makes no sense. Yet here we are…

I think that is the reasonable share of the market American can expect. Let hope they can handle it…

I know you all are having a hard time with this but it is just as an absurd conclusion to think that it’s a screw all cleanly oriented on the the top of a backbox where there has never been one before and appears to serve no purpose.

The whole folded backbox on an active machine is bizarre enough to the point where blowing the BOM wad on it automatically raising is somehow more realistic than a friggen $10 camera? Yeah ok no camera that’s just unpossible…

Hot Wheels. That’s the title for you. All day long at that price. Not a bad game either…

One has to look no further than the Turner Pinball thread to see a couple FOMO monkeys swinging on the nuts of that tree…

They could have gotten my kid to do the artwork and it would have only cost them $8900…

Is he known for his humor? Because I think I’m funny but my wife not so much…

I knew this was exactly what we were going to get. That’s why I wished it went into BOM…

That is notably absent. 100% was a camera feature and they bailed on it…

You know I was actually concerned about this but then I realized I have no friends…

The magnet that we now know it has could fling them with some creative programming theoretically…

I pointed this out before but it got no traction. As reported in an old AP press release David Fix was originally hired as a marketing manager. I think we surely know who is to blame for all of this…

Free up more BOM. That’s all I can think of. A tank that shoots back. A screw that winks at you. A couple drop targets even. The possibilities are endless…

Is that like when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

You cannot tell me the campy retro spacey theme Stern shoe horned into FF was just a coincidence…

Yeah unheard of business practices. Sorry I brought it up.

What kind of marketing sorcery is this?!?

Just to be clear this illustration justifies excessive markups due to the high price of the product being upgraded?

I guess now I know why dealers charge so much for an oil change…

These are thoughts I have every time I’m whittling toothpicks on Whoa Nellie…

Even still your justification of pricing is a questionable one. One that needs no analogy…

I can’t wait for this reveal. It’s going to be a real teat…

Tits on a bull…

American Pinballs marketing mystery continues…

I do really like the playfield lighting. Looks really easy on the eyes.

Clearly footage is being smuggled out discreetly. Many phones must have been destroyed or confiscated.

Don’t know how that Neil guy just ripped some footage and not only lived to tell the tale but later worked the mic during the seminar. That’s some real James Bond shit right there…

It goes with the rest of the post and is self explanatory. Sorry my wit escapes you…

I’m concerned by those air balls SDTM…

I have some standups I bought for a homebrew that have some pretty significant forward lean to them. Also PBR has and “improved design” that eliminates air balls. I wonder if the ones they chose have enough forward angle on them…

Balls leave the atmosphere in that game…

I will take the opinion of someone who was there seeing it in person over those just looking at a photo. Granted many of those look to be ball divots there also appears to be something else going on there…

With most everyone’s hopes dashed in various ways I feel that AP marketing truly believes in equal opportunity disappointment…

And add a camera…

My daughters Galactic Force recruit.

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Not when referring to the whole marketing fiasco…

Yeah I’m good. Thanks…

And this is why no accurate data can be gleaned from these listed pinball collections.

In on the glasses! Those better be for sale…

Ok now that’s funny…

That with all the prime real estate taken this surprisingly does not do…

I am a firm believer in no game can be judged unless you put 50 games in. Every title I have initially disliked has grown on me with enough plays. Except Whoa Nellie…

Lol wrong thread…

My thoughts exactly. I was all hopped up on an American title that finally spoke to me. And now this. All of it.

I don’t think you can really point to one single aspect of this release and say “That was a good move…”

$7-10k is huge for someone who can pick up a WPT for three grand and be about as thrilled to play it as many of newer titles out there. Just saying… It’s a tough sell for me.

I will. When it is anywhere in New England. I love how you been propping this one up Flynn but to dismiss EVERYTHING to date with “play the game” is just a straw man argument.

In your face targets that bend back and airball with no fix in sight? I’m good for now. Maybe some time in on it after it’s FIXed I’ll change my mind. Like I said my money went elsewhere…

This we can agree on.

FF an awesome playing game with a theme that does nothing for me built by a cookie cutter company.

GTFo has a cool theme with some concerning play aspects to me that are mostly unaddressed by a tone deaf company.

After 2 months they only made a dozen…

There has to be some genius marketing move to all these delays and not just to insult the unwashed Pinsiders…

That looks like Levi about to do a game critique…

One. A marketing director.

That’s some used car salesman shit right there…

And just for the record I still fully intend on purchasing one of these at some point. The theme and aesthetics really hit home for me and the fam it’s just that like most AP titles I fully expect the opportunity to pick one up down the road for considerably less than retail.

That is a very accurate assessment on any earning claims.

Literally every non design issue can be traced back to this guy. What is his backstory?

Obviously he has the passion for pinball and his age says probably for a while now.

He did marketing for redemption machine manufacturer ICE before landing similar job with American. Then fairly quickly became the president not sure what kind of vacuum was being filled during this time.

We have seen him say and promise many things that have not come to fruition but that is not uncommon for sales pedigree.

After seeing the heavily throttled and bungled release of GTFo along with an expressed disdain for Pinside criticism I would have expected some more effort to right the ship yet trends continue.

I witnessed a lifeline thrown by Fix when JGW was being a drunken ogre at a Pintastic forum any many subsequent referrals by John about Fix being pro Trailer Trash Pinball until it ended up being just that.

Bottom line is how can a solid pinball manufacturer with a decent lineup allow themselves to be managed by and in such a way and end up successful?

He just may. I was trying to keep my assumptions to a minimum. This is Pinside after all..

I actually have a couple tank treads I string along the railings come Christmas time. Very innovative stuff…

Where there is smoke there is fire and a particular someone has been blowing a lot of it…

Imagine how little we would know without this guy…

Dude. Come on…

Assembly is one area that AP does not seem to struggle with. That’s a Spooky concern. The design and code that AP’s current title has is not going to be an issue. I’d buy with confidence.

Yes.

Clearly this is because as Fix said they were all spoken for…