I don't know what to think of Pinside. I see people now criticizing those that haven't played it, like.. "how dare you until you flip it!!". Like we don't know pinball!
Under normal circumstances, I'd agree.... flip it first. But I'd define normal circumstances in pinball as the following:
1. Not a machine that is $3K more than the competition and $3K more than their last release with LESS toys.
2. A title we can relate too that makes sense (IE, Toy Story 4 vs Mandalorian). Imagine if the Mandalorian came out and was then based on a movie no one knew of that happened to feature Mando, for example. Toy Story 4 MAKES NO SENSE.
3. Artwork that matches a good, neutral representation of the title. Here we have a very strong 10 year-old ish girl feel to the machine and art. Not Slinky Dog, Mr. Potato, Army men, etc. A carnival with a girls head (
gabby gabby?") WTF.
4. A machine that took 2 years to make. TWO YEARS. This machine should be absolutely ground breaking and blow our minds. NOPE.
Also, while I was able to forgive the problems with the GNR playfields because I loved the game... now imagine taking a risk on this one, paying $3K over, and again being told to pound sand if you had a legit problem.
ZaphX, I appreciate your enthusiasm and absolute willingness to be optimistic about this one, but there's more here than just... it's a good flipping game. It has to be a good flipping game for price, with a good theme, and should all around feel good. BTW, you're youtube videos on GNR is one of the reasons I bought one. But I feel the price on that one was more acceptable, loved the theme, and the pin made sense.