It is designed by Gomez.

One of Gary Sterns design requirements is all their games need to have a manual shooter rod.

The reason they always want a manual plunger is to never have a ball stuck in the shooter lane that can't be launched just because of a faulty switch or coil on a button style setup. I don't see them ever changing their mind about this, but like you say they finally caved in with the 3 pop rule.

I've owned Deadpool pro and prem I think the pro is a great game but it doesn't play faster than the LE/prem.

The drops might slow down that part of the playfield on the LE/prem but on the pro every left orbit dumps off into the pops instead of a fantastic flowing orbit shot back to the right flipper.

The pops dump off on the pro slows the game down way more than the standups vs drops on the LE/prem. I could see the argument for the pro being more difficult because of that but not faster. I love the disco loops.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/what-will-be-the-next-stern-pinball-machine/page/664#post-7152224

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I'll wait for the Gomez Bond to see how the code ends up.

I'm way more interested in the Elwin version right now. It's cool to see Mark Penacho is working for Stern his last game was Fish Tales 30 years ago.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/what-is-on-the-line-at-stern-pinball-delays/page/79#post-7166019

Happy Birthday to Sir Roger Moore he would've been 95 today, a great Bond actor.

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I'm down for an LE now after deciding to wait for a Prem to see how the code will develop during the next year but I love the theme. I'm a Bond/Gomez fan and wanted the LE I think this is one of the best themes they've done in years so I'm dropping the cash on it.