The Batman movie complete with shark is available on Netflix

Lloyd, the question is....what DON'T you know??!! You are the man!!!

I'm doubting many people are going to drop $15K on this. however we have no way of knowing but my guess is Stern *said* they'd increase the number to 80 in order to get some more people to buy the LE. By saying that they're increasing the number might get people to think there was a big demand.

That's just my guess.

Evidently they had 400 applications so there was more demand than you may think ....

Seems to be lots of people with deep pockets in this hobby.

Wait till all the Star Wars SLE versions come out (that's my guess ... but they'd be silly not to cash in, seeing the demand for BM66SLE)

rd

If they keep pulling this crap going forward, it would be nothing short of a dick move (there's nothing special or outstanding in these games aside from the price itself).

If this was my dream theme, I would be absolutely furious. You finally get the game you want and Stern decided to jack the price up thousands of dollars over the norm to "celebrate" 30 years in business. Some celebration. Some "special treat" for the fans.

Went out to houston the last few days.
Did the shopping thing there on Black Friday.
At a mall, a hallmark store had just opened today. And they had this.

Wasn't even on the shelf yet. I saw it in the aisle box that I thought I'd thumb through a little. I asked a guy there if I could get it. He said, yeah excellent grab, said the other stores don't have any left that he knew of, and this last one was in their opening day stock planned a few months ago. He said they only got 1.

Wow. Hope this fits nicely in the pin somewhere

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Wish I had gone with the SLE now but will be happy with the LE. If they do this again with Star Wars( which I totally expect they will) I will be in on an SLE.

Haha well I did offer!

Watch for the following Star Wars SuperLEs ...

100x Luke Skywalkers
100x Darth Vaders
100x Hans Solos

Possibly

That's 300x $15,000 = $4,500,000 ... and you watch them fly out the door.

That's just a wild guess. But you see those numbers, and you'd be doing it too.

rd

Well, next year's the Star Wars 40th anniversary, so probably 40 of something.

Ahhhhh true!

40 Luke Skywalkers at $20,000 instead.

rd

$19770

That's the Black Friday deal.

rd

I'd like to see something like TF, that can incorporate all the characters nicely across a couple models and then a couple set versions for people who want something a little specific like -
Light side vs Dark side
Force Edition
Jedi Edition
Sith Edition

Either way I agree about them flying out the doors!

If they do several Star Wars SLE editions it would be interesting if instead of a simple art decal on the sides of the pins they do something 3-D'ish like what was done to these pianos...

The Millennium Falcon and R2D2 pianos have a 3D art looking effect. The Darth Vader piano is just the high-gloss black and too plain though.

Oh man, A SWLE or SLE Sith edition is a dream theme, I really hope they do something like this, my wallet won't like it but who cares, I gotta say this 15K SLE shit is a little much but a BM66 SLE beside a ST OG Trilogy SLE is pretty special, I hope Stern keeps going with this boutique style now and then, theres always the LE/Pre models and it gives some of us the chance to own dream themes in the best possible way.

Those went on sale Oct 1 and each store just a fixed amount since it was a limited edition. Once they are gone they are gone. Still easy to find online via re-sellers though for a slight markup. They did a joker in 2015 and batman in 2014. The batman one is based on the famous batman life magazine cover. Some people used the ornament to make a nice shadowbox display with life magazine cover behind it.

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Damn I can't wait to play this game!

Honest question: Besides paying a LOT more, what is special about this? How is the "best possible way" to own a pinball machine?

Fair enough but if the demand is so high and there were that many chomping at the bit why are people that skipped the deposit deadline getting emails to pay the full amount by Dec 1st?? I would think that if you skipped out on the deadline for the deposit someone would be behind you pretty quick to take your spot. Right??

It's going to be a bit. 2017 is looking likely.

It special because in addition to the premium and LE versions it also has: limited to 80 machines worldwide, special embossed metallic "Hyper-Chrome" side art, 4 translites, red cerise pinstripping, unique front panel with back lit bat emblems, upgraded speaker package, bat signal projector mounted to topper, extra toys on playfield, headphone jack and volume control on front of coindoor, and some type of personalized voice message/call from adam west.

I agree with you that for me this is overpriced for what you get. However it appears there are somewhere between 80 to 400 people who think its worth it to them and are really looking forward to getting it since they love the theme and want the version that has all of the bells and whistles. I think its cool to see people so excited about this theme and can't wait to see some unboxing footage for the lucky buyers.

Value is in the eye of the beholder. Most pin heads think a Ghostbusters, AC/DC, Metallica, or Tron at about 5K is a good value but 99.8% of the rest of the population would think you would be nuts to spend anywhere near that much on a box of blinking lights and switches.

I thought you said in your last podcast you were going to stay more positive?

Its special in regards to the theme, besides all the stuff mentioned by docquest its a dream theme for certain collectors and that in itself makes the SLE a must have. If Stern made lets say Predator or Blade Runner, Total Recall or Running Man I would drop the 15K in a heart beat, I want the best example available and it wouldn't be going anywhere so who cares about value down the road. The main thing is I don't care how much it is if its something I want, I mean theres limits but if you have the coin why not buy the best?

Yeah I figured. I know people who are getting premium, LE and super LE, so whichever they release first I will hopefully get to play right away.

Huh? I don't follow. If you've agreed to buy something it's time to pay up .. they are asking for the money. Gary told me they are shipping SLEs "before Xmas".

They don't want 80 unpaid machines sitting in the warehouse. They want to make them, box them, and ship them. Probably all on the same day.

Remember, this is the first time in 30 years that Stern has sold machines direct to the public. Normally they ship to a distributor and bill them. This time, they are dealing with the end user. It'll take a bit of time for them to get their heads around that, I would suspect.

rd

Still no game play or a peek or peep on progress.....

Limited to 80 machines - Was promised to be "NO MORE THAN 30," but they more than doubled it without dropping the price. They devalued it in the process. Also, they only limited to 80 so that they could charge more. These were also supposed to be ONLY available to business partners and special buyers that Stern preselected. Oops, they found a way to fleece the public and ran with it.

Theme - We've never had to pay insane extra amounts of money for that before.

"Hyper-chrome" side art - Buzzword for a print process

4 translites - Nice touch, sure. But they're translites...this is supposed to be SUPER SPECIAL. Why not glass?

Pinstripping - Again, buzzword for a print process.

Front panel with back lit bat emblems - Pretty ordinary, to be honest

Upgraded speaker package - Standard upgrade in upper models

Bat signal mounted topper - It's a flashlight in a plastic shell

Extra toys - Off the shelf $5 toys at Toys R Us (literally, not an exaggeration)

Headphone jack - An inexpensive upgrade a 3rd party has already been doing better

Voice mail message - Uh, ok!

Justifying the price on this just sucks. Seriously, giving Stern and JJP a pass for what they're doing with their asking prices is just asking for them to continue doing it. All this price jacking is being done arbitrarily. Ok, so the SLE is only 80 machines, so you can use that list above to make yourself feel better about it, I guess. But what about the premium (which is totally a pro)? There's no valid defense for that price increase. It's not limited to any number, there's nothing unique, and it has LESS features than a premium typically has. It's a stripped down premium selling for LE money. Total joke.

Buy the game, whatever. I don't care if people decide to buy the game. But to come here and say "we're lucky" or that this is the "best possible way" to buy a pinball machine is doing a disservice to future of pinball. If this continues, it's bad, bad, bad.

If they had pulled this with Ghostbusters, I wouldn't have one sitting behind me right now. There has to be some limits placed on how far Stern can just abuse their buyers. I hope people enjoy their games, because man, they're paying a silly markup on this one.

It all depends what happens with the next release.

If they return to the $5000 pro, $6500 premium and $7500 LE (ish prices) then who cares if they have a SLE at $15,000. Someone will buy them. The same people pay $5000 for a handbag and $20,000 for a watch. They may as well cash in. They'd be silly not to.

However, if the Batman range is the template for "how it is now" moving forward, then I don't see too many new pins joining my lineup.

rd

Unless Stern is lying, they are going back to the normal pricing for the cornerstone games, or whatever they are calling them, with some boutique titles mixed in.

I think its great. A ton of options to suit whatever anybody wants. I'm looking forward to whatever else Joe puts out there.

But there's nothing different. It's just more expensive. I really don't understand why this is even a discussion.

This is the "it goes to 11" scene. You're all Nigel.

It's also disheartening to see 80 people dictate the direction of pinball. If Stern can always find 80, well, screw the rest.

I don't get the "bad, bad, bad" argument. People will either buy it or they won't. In this case, they have. Time to get over that fact.

It will have ZERO impact on future sales and/or the future of pinball, other than expand it.

Watch what happens with Star Wars.

I'll say it again, we pinheads have ourselves to blame as well, how many people were crawling all over themselves to buy a GBLE at $8k so they could flip for $9500? A ton of people did just that. Can't blame Stern.

It's only a part of the direction. It's not going to drive pinball in the future. How is that "screwing the rest"? That's crazy.

While I agree with you, if you look at it from a business point of view (the way they look at it) they make the same profit on 80 SLEs as they do making probably 1000 pros.

rd

Well that is kind of my point if someone is not jumping on the train when asked why wait around for them and give out a second chance to pay up two weeks after the deadline has passed? Why not just give it to the next one waiting willing to shell it out sight unseen?? Unless they are that committed to the 80 they picked which I doubt given everything I have learned up to this point.

I agree 100% man.

If there really was 400 applications to spend $15K on this, Stern might even toy with a $17-20K Super Duper LE model then. I'm sure people who literally shit money will line up to buy it and not care if they need to sell it for half that down the road. Why not even make a $30K machine and test those waters too. There are always fools with too much money in a collectors market.. same thing with the rare artwork scene.

Look at the results of a Christie's auction- people pay $5m for a piece of shitty Japanese artwork that they may not be able to sell for half that later on as there are so few buyers. But man will they feel good showing it off to their friends.. and in this case, showing off their uber expensive pinball machine to Pinsiders to get the ultimate bragging rights.

Let those people spend all their hard earned money, hopefully they will take those profits and give people like Ritchie, Dwight, Trudeau, Lyman, etc raises so we get better game designs and code in the future, and those crazy expensive games keep Stern from raising the prices on us "Poor people" (or should I say the financially savvy) with their Pro and Premium offerings.

It's a win/win for everyone.

You can't expand pinball by selling fewer games and making machines that won't go on route. That will do the exact opposite.

The gentrification of pinball.

Not sure I follow... I sent my deposit to my local distributor. Nearly certain I'll be picking my game up from my distributor's warehouse. There's still very much a middle man.

For SLE?
I think its just the SLE's that were direct from Stern. The LE's and premiums are still bought through distributors.

So you're worried about the impact of " expanding pinball" ? Seems to be more titles and interest now than in recent past, and pinball itself is a very, very small segment of the home entertainment market. Value in the eye of the beholder...this has been beaten to death. I'm actually impressed that these companies have been able to identify and gain revenue from our small hobby. Business wise, it's a win, period ( believe it or not). Companies that don't sell things go out of business.

It seems your beef is with Stern in general. This is a BM66 thread...maybe start a thread about being done with Stern....oh, wait....

All good..I'm happy w my LE choice, and happy for people getting what THEY WANT, whatever that is ( this includes you, btw...life too short to bitch all the time)....

oh sorry. yeah LE for me. Didn't realize they were keying in on the SLE's. You're right SLE's are direct from Stern.

The wait continues... plenty to keep us busy over the holidays. At least we aren't waiting in like Feb/Mar or something where there's likely less going on in actual life outside of pinball.

Jeff (jar155),

I think it's time to stop beating the dead horse with this. It's really getting old. I am not defending the pricing model, but I am tired of seeing you repeat yourself for the last month. Just give it a rest. We get it. You are done with Stern. All of Pinside knows.

Eric

I hadn't checked this thread in about a month. Shame no new pics or gameplay vids have been shown. Nice to see the discussion is the same versus the haves and have nots.

I guess my feeling is I wish Stern would have kept with a low cost model, mods that you could buy at your leisure, and a higher cost model with mods installed.

Oh well. Hopefully I'll get to see some gameplay next month.

He's lost any ounce of credibility he (may have) had.

He titled one of his recent podcasts "Stuck Fern." Someone posted that he said in a recent podcast that he promised to be "more positive?" What a joke!

Beating a dead horse indeed.

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http://www.sideshowtoy.com/collectibles/dc-comics-meanwhile-at-the-sweet-shoppe-sideshow-collectibles-500454/

For you Batman fans!

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Just pics of Premium and LE from expo that I found on my phone....looks way better every time I remember seeing it in person...: ( just a refresher)

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More batman pics. Also... The pro exists!

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You hit the nail on the head. If Stern only intended to make Batman Super LE due to their 30th anniversary they would have called it a "30th Anniversary Edition" and limited it to 30 games. Instead they increased the SLE count after announcing their would only be 30, implied in their application that more SLE's would be coming (after they said this would be a one time thing...), and eliminated a model of the game (the pro) just to increase prices yet again (the premium Batman 66 is a pro).

Agreed

If this was a 'special' game I'd expect for more than 6 color changing LEDs. I realize Lyman has yet to have a full color changing PF but he had AcDc which had a number of color changing inserts used to good effect.

ST pro for crying out loud has as many color changing inserts as the flagship anniversary nee plus ultra SLE edition which instead relies on $5 trinket toys to differentiate the PF.

Not even lighted etched side rails like STLE a clear money saving decision.

I'm not totally down on this title because it looks good but for a premium that now costs what STLE did this is ridiculous. Look at STLE then look at BM premium it's insulting they cost the same. If BM premium is really a premium and not a pro why'd the remove the $5 toys?