nevermind

Kings chamber is labeled here:
http://magicgirlcode.org

It is behind the big central spinner, technically I guess same area where he was placing the ball to get shot up.

LMAO!

Wait! Rob, you have Magic Girl?!

When will we see you build this thing back to complete?

The value is going to skyrocket. Congrats to the patient owners.

He should sell those folks 1000$ NVram. So they can sleep at night not having to worry about battery acid ruining their POS throphy game.

Highly prized, rare collectible, I don't even consider it a true pin. It's a delusional illusion at best. A large dust collector.

Marketing hype.

"Patient" huh? I don't think they had much choice. The congrats probably should go to those that instigated legal action...

Without the legal stick waved over his head I suspect the owners would have had to have "endless" patience.

This.

The squeaky wheel got the oil

According to this thread they believe there are enough people out there to buy it just to say they have it. I don't believe it.. but even if he gets a few grand less than he paid, it still works out as a reasonable investment for him and his needs. 3-5k spend.. and he gets more return and exposure than he could any other way.

The guy has no room for a collection... does anyone think he really is going to keep a non-functional game as his only pin long term?? Nope, he can sell it on and claim he had to.. and it all dovetails nicely.

hey kaneda I know your reading this. thank you for the videos. I Think the special K thing is funny. Any chance you could open up the back box to see what is inside and how the speakers are mounted? or is there nothing in it? maybe I missed that. When you open the coin door is there a big annoying alarm sound? look forward to your next video jeremy.

Lite the kings chamber again and put it in the center hole and see if the magnet catches it instead of shooting out the top....

i think it's potentially a crappy path to fetishize and fixate on all j-pop merchandise and detritus as valuable and collectible. if every drawing and whatnot becomes some desirable collectible, well, that dude no doubt has rooms full of the stuff and you might wind up providing him with a rather comfortable living as he feeds that stuff into the pinball community through pseudonyms and back channels.

although i do hope anyone who invested money in this fiasco finds a way to make themselves as close to whole as possible.

Thanks to all involved with the videos... they are fairly enjoyable and as informative as could be expected in the circumstances.

Still such a tantalizing heartbreak: so much is dripping ideas and potential... have to wonder where it all *really* began to fall apart to where it was abandoned for so long. I'm sure many folks who have undertaken a major project (restoring a car, building a complex custom model, painting a masterpiece, building a house... restoring a pin...) has had that "eff it moment" that became "more than a moment"... on some level maybe we could relate to a point. To. a. point. I just want to ask him, especially given all the promises and money and livelihood at stake: DUDE WTF HAPPENED?

I have to think a seasoned pro tech, or even a stubborn focused hobbyist, could find a way to resolve most if not all of the mech issues. Adding the missing mechs/features and code is relatively easy too. Will it all work "as once intended and dreamed" is the question we still long to have answered, but that journey is only now just beginning.

But man, I don't know what to think of a character like JPop. Obviously had talent and maybe some nobler intent, but damn. The cynical view is this group of 19 pins is a lawsuit shield. The naive view is he really tried in some way to get something out there finally ugh. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle...

...and yet, that afterthought spinning outlane disc is pretty damning. As stupid-little-detail-obsessed as he seems to be, I can't believe he didn't cover the disc with some sort of custom art to fit the pf or theme. Nope. Just a black shitstain that kinda works half-assed? Sadly, that really sums up the whole project.

In the video with the playfield lifted up, there appears to be a bunch of Molex connectors that are not connected to anything, near the rear of the playfield.

Does the schematic show what these were intended for? Switches? Coils? Magnets?

Is there a manual? Will hopefully contain the schematics.

Imaginary features inside John's head that will never come to light

There's a lot of pinball collectors, but very few of them have an extra slot in their gameroom for an un-fun game just for bragging rights. I know there are people like that, but most of us, say 95%, we have restrictions on space and we actually enjoy playing pinball.

Unlike MM or other games, no one has nostalgia for playing this title in the arcade. I'm sure they'll always be expensive but I don't expect them to be easy to sell. You have to hope one of the other ultra-wealthy collectors just *has* to have it at the time you're selling it.

That seems extremely unlikely.. this game was put out under duress of lawsuits and not finished. Producing a manual, schematic, seems unlikely. Although, they did have to build cabling harnesses so there should be something at least in AP or JPOPs possession.

I wonder when the lawsuit will change from "games weren't delivered" to "games don't have advertised features"

Jpop just jumped from one fire into another.

rd

Luckily we have some of the most talented and skilful people imaginable in this hobby, a lot right here on pinside, so hopefully some of the features can be added back in to some degree down the road.

In what way? Everything about him has been revealed:
* He can't really draw beyond rough sketches, he can only collage other's work
* He has ideas, but has a hard time actually implimenting them
* He can't stay focus
* He doesn't work well with others
* He suggests to foamcore to prototype, yet I've never seen a foam prototype that was anything more than a static art piece
* Every layout (whether it's williams, or attempted MG or Houdini) has ball hangups (or paths that go to nowhere)

If you see ever hear about John again, it'll be as art director (if he's so lucky).. not as a designer... He's had too many chances.

Houdini was his last chance and they threw that into the garbage and started over than continue on it. Don't know how many more last chances he should be given.

None!?

After the way he's treated the community and the people that put their faith and time into attempting to help him I'd say he's all out of chances.

I won't support until he makes customers and vendors whole.

16k pos, garbage
i got a totan, tom and whirlwind for that money.
so many great titles out there and people taking risks on these boutique pins. just crazy, i dont get the pin hobby.

I agree, this is more of an art piece than a pinball game. Pretty to look at, but don't play it.

Oh, for certain, I agree, but its not up to me, and I agree with Ice that pinball is weird, and John seems to cast spells on people.

well, it will always be very, very rare and it will always be a fascinating curiosity. that doesn't necessarily mean it will sell for megabucks. but it ensures there will always be some desirability, especially for people with larger collections.

Magic Girl's historical significance: The first NIB project machine.

Maybe he should have gotten a sponsorship from the DIY network.

Now isn't John supposed to fly out and help build the machine? Oh that is what the extra $1k is for.

First add-on!

repair_tool_kit (resized).jpg

That was BHZA (without Ben knowing). You have no idea how close I came to being in on that one and got away. Not the "kit" version. But you got to pick the style of robot or alien you wanted so each game is customized to your taste and unique

Now looking back it all seems so stupid. Like Ben says, it is a zombie pin, what are aliens even doing on it.

Did anyone download a copy of that advertising poster and other pictures from the original website?

I almost sent a deposit on BHZA when I saw the lazy Susan underside playfield. That looked like that was going to be pretty cool. I held back and waited and found it was dropped. Then the artwork changed, and I moved on to want AIW. I inquired about it, but I didn't want to send a deposit until I saw some type of artwork and general playfield layout. I am still waiting to see that to this day.

Was that the Atomic Reactor? Man, what a flea circus. Here are some low rez flyers. (one #44 bulb, white rubber ring and real bumper cap)

benheck1 (resized).jpg
plan_robot (resized).jpg

plan_playfield (resized).jpg

plan_game (resized).jpg

I didn't think it was possible to make a machine harder to work on than WOZ. Looks like Jpop has accomplished that with the metal box pushed even further back in the base cabinet.

I thought the design your own custom robot was one of the coolest ideas with that machine.

I'm not sure. It was the 3 room rotating playfield that you can view through a 33 degree window of the main playfield. It is pretty much what BM66 has on the main playfield with the TV screen and the Batphone, etc.

That'd be silly if true. You'd be much better to get a real tech around and get the thing going properly.

Levi would get the thing working properly in a day or two.

rd

Dunno. Star Trek Next Generation is a pain, especially with that subway octopus. The Hobbit beast popup mechs are TERRIBLE to work on (if you've done the upgrade, you know what I'm talking about). I think WoZ is easier to work on than TH.

Yes that Hobbit popup mech upgrade is horrible!

The lower PF rotating was my idea. The flipper would stay put, and one of three "scenes" would rotate in. You'd have to clear them all to reach the reactor which you'd bash at. (Not sure if there would have been room to make it all fit)

There was also a window in the side of the cab that showed a glowing neon "reactor core" which was kind of a neat idea until you realize collectors pack these [pins] side-by-side like sardines. It served no purpose besides looking cool.

My pitch [that fit John's pre-existing ideas of a) Ben b) Zombies c) Theme park] was that you (the player) sneak into an abandoned theme park late one night to make out with your main squeeze. But then she's captured by "Evil Ben Heck" who has an army of zombies and he's going to transform her into their queen by midnight. You must battle [things] to get her back!

I don't think that plot was even considered. I mean just look how random the game became after I left.

John clearly just wanted to make an amusement park theme, but that's SO dated nowadays. I really pushed for "decrepit, decaying park" because I thought that would be much more visually interesting.

don't forget the promo video:

I was in about $3k on zombie adventure game #8. I got a refund at some point way before all the craziness started. I wonder who took my spot.

The lucky one took your spot.

I sure would like to see Spooky make this game! Make is so. I wanted to buy the game just because of the lower rotating playfield. The art package helped too.