Link? I can’t see anything there ...

rd

https://www.aussiearcade.com/showthread.php/59669-TAG-Thunderbirds-Pinball-Parts-updates-ONLY?p=1137848#post1137848

It wasn’t Mike.

Nice of you to jump straight in as fast as you can when it is just people talking crap and speculating. If you look in the thread you linked to, you will see the poster was a well known troll that has been deleted from AA. Not Mike.

And the apology is about to be posted .................. (waiting, waiting)

A troll with a podcast and a Magic Girl pin?

Don’t hold your breath.

Last I read about the posters identity was stated by Arcade King

"Just for the record falckenell uses the same ISP/VPN as Homepin when accessing AA, I just checked. I'm not saying it is him however."

So what, K got a ticket to China and posted from Mikes local Starbucks?

I would not put it past him.

no you need to go back and read some more.. he said the peanut used a public / commercial vpn exit point that mike had used once.. mike has tried most all the VPN companies to get a good one that works from china and has long since moved to another one. If you ask the troll in question ( may as well post it here hes reading cos hes a sad little man with nothing better to do) you'll find its a company you also could pay and appear the same IP from your house in NC

And how did K trace and identify the VPN?
Only Arcade King has the logs.

Did Arcade King then, following your logic, contact K and begged him to post as Mike and instructed him to use Mikes VPN? So that he can announce that Falckenell is indeed Mike when really K is Falckenell.

So - in your words, Arcade King is behind all of this?

I would like you to investigate further, hahaha....

just for a laugh ill humour you mr idol its nothing to do with your little friend "K".
mike has in the past posted about the different vpn companies. its all really dull to be honest. we would be far better discussing the weather than giving this crap any further airtime hey.. other than the troll in question getting a bit excited its not really achieving anything much

I really don’t care for all this shit. I just want to know when this pin will be ready??

At this point I’m so frustrated I can’t get a straight answer. The last two Pinfest’s was told pin is 3-6months away!! From what I can work out this will be missed again.

Mike update your customers when our pins will be ready.... 6 months ago we were asked to select type of coin door then nothing! What’s the latest with code? PF changes?

this is indeed the important but but you wont get answers here. email him or msg to https://www.facebook.com/homepin.factory/

Yes, after 4 years of holding your $$, the buyer should be running after Mike for updates

after any period a buyer with a question for a vendor still needs to ask that vendor .. not post it online for others to play "stacks on" with..

and the updates that Mike has posted lately;
saw highend cars
ate cake
controller board for Bad Cats
filed tax return
gained a certificate for trademark
mentioned that TAG plastics had to be redrawn (two weeks ago)
made more Hankin cocktail cabinets
assembly of WMS MPU boards

bored pete? ok you stay here and cause as much shitfight for him as you can so he doesnt focus on building your game.. good luck

I thumbs up Homepin post as he says he is crawling back into his safe place again.
Pathetic, why bother posting that here. You already said you wouldn't be back. GO AWAY YOU KING TROLL and build something.
Baby got his bottle. BYE! You definitely create sxxt where ever you go.

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Is this a joke!!

I have requested many updates and emailed Mike! At this point as Pete said FB is not worth the effort, yet we were told this is where to get updates. Hmm I have no where else to go, so I posted here and surprise Mike responds...hmm!

There could also be a reason why people are quick to “stacks on”. If you have been following for as long as I have you should understand Mike has brought this upon himself! Cheers

He should go into Public Relations, he'd be a hit.

“This will likely be my last post on Pinside because I just don't have time for the nonsense and negativity around here - I'm just not interested. I have tried to give an insight into what it takes to manufacture something but it seems there are just too many trolls here to accept that I did that in good faith and because that is the side of things that interests me the most.”

Crap who had 46 days in the pool?

If this was built in Australia it is guaranteed to be a much better product, on time and making money for Homepin and operators by now. GUARANTEED.
Look at all the crap that HOMEPIN is copping due to building in China. Will probably cost more in the end and not just monetary. Any regrets there I wonder?

Regardless of our high labour costs, we just make it happen. This statement is also based on other manufacturers and Government experiences.

Now HOMEPIN are whinging ( again ) that it is so hard to build in China because of all the hurdles. Is there another time frame given for this who pre-ordered or will that slip by due to more licensing issues with new toys, legalities and getting things right the first time etc.?

I feel for those who have had faith in this venture and are constantly let down. May it come to fruition soon and all concerned be happy.

I might add that not all people in OZ want high paid jobs making manufacturing unviable, absolute BULLSHIT.
Job security and job satisfaction generally counter acts the associated labour costs benefits that appear to be better in offshore endeavours.

GOD BLESS AUSTRALIA

Nothing formal only what was posted on AA “March 17” I think he ment March ‘18!

Reading his post I was surprised to read there are still issues with licensing, I won’t say about other comments in post as nothing positive...felt like I had read it several times before! Way overplayed.

Hope to get details soon if it is shipping in March? Still pumped to be getting new pin(s) in Jan TNA and Mar?TAG.

almost 5 years and still licensing problems,maybe e.t.a is 2020

Have you got a machine on order or are you just another pathetic excuse trying to cause trouble by putting in his useless 2 cents?

I think he's just a guy who's pointing out the obvious to those who may still be living in a delusion of confusion.

So he took a break from tinkering with his pinball machine to "organize" a way to post updates on a forum.

1)turn on computer
2)open web browser
3)type on keyboard
4)hit send

Took weeks to perfect... but only a few key strokes to continue to offend the very audience that represents his customer base. Wow.

stern announced (see below), which will either help Homepin or make it harder as Homepin will have to ensure he is at the same level of his competition now (lcd, decent rules etc)

http://sternpinball.com/community/2247

11/30/2017 7:14:17 PM

Guangzhou Stern Electronic Technology Company Ltd. as Exclusive Importer for China

ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL – November 29, 2017 – Stern Pinball, Inc., the world's oldest and largest producer of arcade-quality pinball machines, proudly announced today the appointment of Guangzhou Stern Electronic Technology Company Ltd. (GSET) as its exclusive importer and distributor for China. Witnessing the resurgence of pinball around the world, a group of Chinese companies experienced in gaming operations, marketing, and distribution formed GSET. These companies began the relationship by distributing Stern Pinball’s titles including Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Batman, Aerosmith, WWE WrestleMania, Metallica and AC/DC. GSET will also be distributing Stern’s newest title, Guardians of the Galaxy.

GSET will be adding personnel to their already experienced staff to facilitate sales of Stern Pinball machines to the commercial and consumer markets.

“We selected GSET as our exclusive importer and distributor because of its various related businesses, financial strength, knowledge of our industry, and passion for Stern Pinball products,” said Gary Stern, Chairman and CEO of Stern Pinball.

As the world leader in pinball manufacturing, Stern Pinball has captured global attention for fueling the resurgence of pinball across the world. SPI’s expansion into China marks a monumental distribution accomplishment.

“We are very pleased to have the opportunity to represent Stern Pinball and serve the Chinese market,” said Aaron Wong, CEO of GSET

There are 1b plus people in China ... I think they can absorb as many pinball machines as the current manufacturers can produce.

The problem is, nobody in mainland China has any idea what a pinball machine is. They don’t exist there, outside of a couple of expat bars (foreigners bars) Mike says the Chinese like the machines when they are introduced to them and shown how to work them.

If someone (be it Mike or Stern, more likely Mike as he lives there) can get pinball accepted by the mainstream population (maybe with a chinese pop star licence and endorsement) then they will be opening the door to a pile of cash.

rd

I am curious if Chinese culture embraces the type of luxury spending on something like a pinball machine the same way that a lot of people in the rest of the world do. Perhaps it would do well in Arcades and bars and such in China, as arcades are actually still a bit of a thing there that never really went away. Could they also have a home market for these games? Perhaps among the wealthy Chinese folks? Are Chinese wreckless with their lines of credit like we are? I am sure you all know a lot of average Joes who probably shouldn't own pinball machines, but do, thanks to the magic of credit, or funneling money away from their normal retirement/rainy day savings into the hobby instead.

Hmm. China is the second largest Ferrari market in the world so luxury spending isn’t an issue for some.

I’d think space would be an issue. Even the expensive city real estate is small by US and pinball standards.

I've only been to Hong Kong and Macau so not the fullest representation of "the real China" but certainly representative of affluent Chinese areas and the one constant, for me, is the lack of personal square footage for home pinball machines. However, as someone mentioned, they do have a culture of congregating together so arcades and theme parks could be a winner if they catch the imagination.

The post has merit so not sure why you would attack Gamesmart and if the counter attack ( yawn) is:
"If you haven't got money in this, you shouldn't voice an opinion", then get your buddy Mike to privately email those still financially in this farce , no reason at all to post on any forum if only those with a ,(QUOTE "vested interest" need bother. After all, this system was good enough for deposits and full $$ amount up front
Not sure anyone still believes there are any licencing issues at all, its more than likely just a line to pull out when you need to buy some time and deflect attention.
He had a machine and it was made public at Pinfest so no licencing issues there because if previous rhetoric is to be believed then it had a full tick of approval by ITV and I believe at least 1 machine was sited in a bar somewhere in China(?).. so again, no licencing issues there.
The post by Gamesmart is simply a polite and sarcastic way of saying, if you can smell bullshit, then it is bullshit

china could fill all their ghost shopping malls with machines and create pinball metropolises.

What garbage, we tried making parts in Australia, we are all lazy shits

that don't give a shit about quality and charge a fortune, a heap of Stern parts come from china, legs etc as well, its the big labowski now from china

China has nothing to do with it

Slavers have tons of money. Communist slavers have even more. I'm sure Stern games will sell fine there. I'm just wondering how long before the pipeline fills with counterfeits. I see this in the longer term as a coming IP battle Stern may not survive.

Australia may be dearer but if you order a thousand parts and they are wrong, you have recourse. If you imported those parts from China good luck getting any satisfaction.

WTF

Pathetic

vachina (resized).jpg

Tell that to the metal place that made siderails with dents and say they are within spec

dunno, from what ive seen, they are just interested in online gaming...

(and our baby formula, but thats another story)

This from Facebook:

The toy factory stuffed up the first time and moulded the name of the ship (Thunderbird 2) backwards. After making a new mould the fresh samples look great!

IMG_1571 (resized).JPG

Another Facebook update from Homepin for those interested:

"We are almost finished the build of two final sample machines. These are flushing out a few small issues that we need to tweak before we make a full production run. Some small changes to mechanisms to improve the operation and proving the final version of all the boards used.
We are also making the final assembly jigs - things like the wiring harness frame - there is a lot of work doing this and it's very time consuming to get it right"

One of these machines will be placed at a Canadian expat bar in Guangzhou and possibly the other at the Hard Rock Cafe in Shenzhen for some site testing.

IMG_0595 (resized).JPG

There are lots of great updates on Facebook for anyone interested. Here is one of the latest:

"A couple of pictures I took this morning for no particular reason other than FINALLY - after four years of hard slog - there are pinball machines actually being MANUFACTURED, from the ground up, in the Homepin factory!!!"

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Looks like a sweet game.