Will never get old.

To everyone going nuts about Drogo being included on the backglass, I'd put him in the same camp as Ned Stark -- didn't make it past the first book/season, but was a pivotal character and his death remains a key part of the storyline. Plus he was a badass. And at the end of the day, if this is the "House Targaryen" machine, they needed to go with characters from Daenerys' story line -- pasting Tyrion or the Stark kids into the frame wouldn't have made much sense. Daenerys and the dragons would have been the better way to go, but the final result looks OK to me.

The playfield, on the other hand, is downright uninspiring, and unfortunately much tougher to mod than a crappy translite.

Well that's a brutal take, Ned Starks character was our introduction to how unfairly the Game of Thrones is played. So the Dvd boxart with him chivalrously bowing to the throne is great imagery. It was the destruction of our innocence in the series and though his character wasn't around a long time his impact is still felt and enjoyed. Drogo's impact is nowhere near that of Starks.

I don't care about Drogo being there. I think you can make a case for it. You're never going to make everyone happy. If the LE had been all White Walkers with Ice Blue powdercoating it would have been awesome. And you'd get someone bitching that the show isn't about the White Walkers. You can't win that.

Just whatever choices you make, back them with a little thought and care.

Agreed that Ned Stark's death was more of a shocker (and reverberates more because of the revenge angle), but I stand by my statement that Drogo remains a "key character" in the Daenerys storyline. If you're arguing that they should have just put Daenerys and the dragons on the backglass you'll get no argument from me. But what other characters could they reasonably have added to the "House Targaryen" LE?

While Drogo was an main character for a time, he's not on the level of Ned Stark.

First Ned is the first main character in the books, introduces the series and you'd have thought the whole series was going to be about Ned. But past that all Ned's children as well as the parts Ned played in the back story about the rebellion against the Dragon lords. John Snow and all the children have major parts.

Wereas Drogo did not have any surviving children and is more like a colorful interlude to the entire story and has nothing at all to do with Westeros.

This goes to the core, I think the Lannisters (Tyron, Cersi, Jamie, Joffe, Tywin, the Mountain, the Hound, Littlefinger etc..) who sat on the throne and were the Kingsguard or the Hand of the King) *or* the Starks should be the main lead roles of the series and therefore should be on the LE.

Whatever, all the talk I the world won't change the LE, I'm look out for the premium art package.

Perhaps they decided to go with the House Targaryen angle because it allowed the use of brighter more vibrant colors. I'm sure Stern noticed how the Hobbit got a lot of initial criticism for its dark earthy colors and subsequent praise after brightening and expanding the color palette.

I would have said to myself "Targaryen LE is a bonehead idea, maybe when I pay an artist all this money to create something it should have relevance to the product I am selling" instead of "Yea, put the Handmaiden on there, who gives a shit"

Curious, I went to a website that listed the relevance of the characters from 1-150 looking for characters in the Targaryen storyline.

Here are the rankings:

7 Daenerys
22 Jorah
32 Drogo
61 Viserys (Daenery's brother)
72 Missandei
76 Greyworm
80 Daario

So they have five out of the seven main characters in the Targaryen storyline depicted on the cabinet and backglass. I would say the content was given some thought..

I could care less about the cabinet art and the backglass at this point. At least they have some semblance of the actual franchise. I don't even notice those now, or the lack of an LCD (which before the reveal I thought was going to be my main sticking point), when compared to the "artwork" on the playfield. The cabinet and backglass are the least of my list of disappointments..

Basically Targaryen is a small sample. Ok it's got the dragons, likely that's what Stern wanted to emphasize as both MMR and The Hobbit have a dragon. But the interesting characters specifically Tyron might not appeal to people who don't know the books or the TV show. So put a cute girl and dragons even though to me they are more or less fluff (IMO).

Who the f*** is buying an $8000 Limited Edition Toy who doesn't enjoy the show?

I think you are way off base here. Daenerys and the dragons are key to both the series and the books. She's the mother of dragons whose birth brought magic back into the world, and the rightful heir to the throne of the Seven Kingdoms. Not quite sure how that equates fluff...

The implication of "House Targaryen" is that of family, of which Daenarys has none that anyone knows of. Drogo was her husband, and Missandei is her translator, and one can argue that Jorra Mormont, Sir Barriston, and Gray Worm all had significant and more lasting influence with her, as they were her means to become a conquering queen. But I wouldn't worry about it, all the cabinet art and backglasses are superior to the playfield.

Well you have (fake?) Aegon running around the Stormlands with the Golden Company...

The shields and general artistic look on the bottom part of the playfield have a playskool look to them. Maybe one of their employees is now working for stern.

Sword_and_Shield1.jpg

If we are passing things to Mr Stern, maybe I could take some glamour shots for the side of the GOT premium machine. Some say I resemble a white walker...

playskull.jpg

that would have made more sense.

Daenerys had her clothes burned off. Skin to win.

I bought the game as it will be an awesome player. I'm not planning on jerking off all over it.

Sounds like the ultimate Jerkoff response to me

Hey, "It's what's inside that counts".. or how about .."Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder...

Mental note for next pinball gathering.

Reminder... Black light for all used game purchases before playing.

"If I turn on a black light, this place will look like a Jackson Pollock painting!"

No way do I let a new employee come in and tell the boss anything ... Ever. Experienced managers have the ear of executive management. But greenhorns? Stfu and LEARN. Your new ideas just may have been tried already. You will never know if you are intent on telling the boss how your way will be better. Lmao.

But this looks terrible. Is there any chance these are preliminary images / more is to come? If this is it....I feel gut punched. Ritchie is the designer right? I have been in on an LE for over a year ... Now ... It looks terrible. Where is Mccune?

Not talking about a "new employee" straight out of prison like you hire Rommy! But you know everything so nobody can tell you anything

LMAO

Could this have been avoided with a focus group? Or some outside group of knowledgeable pinball hobbyist that could sign an NDA and give comment before they unveil a pin? Should have been caught internally, but more feedback would have helped. JJP's trickle of updates (though limited) sure as hell helped him sure up the hobbit a hell of a lot. Pinside critiqued the PF, toys, lighting, ... heck even corrected the Dwarf names for crying out loud. Made an impact on the final product.

Paramount asked them to use it.

If the reason was because it appeared in the cliffhanger episode between seasons, would people identifying the ship with a point of conflict not also wonder why Data wasn't evil in the game? Maybe he was, always shining me on about my ball trajectory.

I have to say, I probably won't buy one, and I am a fan of the show and books.

I have to say cudos to Jared for not sticking his neck out in this thread.

I never see him post anymore. Once you go Full Stern Pinside isn't really the spot to talk.

Me neither! Feels good

Join the club.

Although in my case it went from
"My dream theme. Start saving now, you may have enough to buy one when code is ready"
To
"Game better be so good you can forget about the art. Let's see what modders will come up with"

Something is clear to me: it will be a Premium or nothing.

Honestly, I think this is the best policy for Stern. No one actually representing Stern would ever be able to put out a constructive post without it turning into a multi-page bash thread. Well, maybe Lyman, Borg, Ritchie due to their reputations, but I am sure they have better things to do than get into an interwebz conversation about every single decision they make.

everyone should just email gary, isn't his email [email protected]?

Relevant link from the horse's mouth: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.games.pinball/-A5EyNEbDc0/IatDqU4X064J

Maybe they should have chosen Maester Aemon instead of Drogo. Drogo is not a Targaryen and lasted only a couple of episodes. From Wikipedia: Maester Aemon is a recurring character in the first, third, fourth and fifth seasons. He was born Aemon Targaryen. He is the Great uncle of Daenerys.

he has not had his thumbs down privilages stripped by Stern yet...