That is a fair point , not 2K fair but fair .

Should come from Distro

its cool!

thanks to cointaker!

Well, they probably have less than $200 in actual COGS.. and if wholesale is only like 10%.. you have gross margins of $1700 per unit. 1.7 million in gross revenue? Pretty sure that can cover the hours of a programmer, art guy, and ME. Heck, give them 500 in COGS and still you're talking 1.2mil gross. The plastics look pretty simple tooling wise. Pretty sure Stern is doing ok there even with <500 units.

Agree. Maybe they should have taken the stickers off the top of the topper to cut costs and increase profits. Plus, the expense of 2 led's that blink (after all, they are 3-color) in the background is too premium for this. God only knows how lucky we are to have that LCD screen in there to simulate a hologram (reflect video of a hologram, that is). We are spoiled.

I sure hope Stern doesn't go under making this topper, we are so lucky to be able to buy it!

Pic because I saw tatman had Family guy next to Mando and I love Family Guy...

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Mine appears a bit crooked too at least when there is text there !

Just got mine installed as well, but also the glass or mirror is crooked. Left side seems to be hanging a little lower than the right.

I haven't looked into the best way to adjust it yet. Looks like the front comes off easy enough but would be tight to get in there and tighten the set screws holding the mirror in place. I think the screen is just a little bit off to, so when I run out of better things to do I'm going in there to take a look.

So, did anyone confirm if the topper plugs into the HDMI port? Or is it node based only?

I’m working for a large international corporation (semiconductor). A typical run rate for small evaluation boards is between 200 and 1000 units. These boards are extremely expensive to make in such low volumes (esp. because of compliance) and they are a whole lot less complex than that topper.

Do you actually have applicable real experience with development, manufacturing and logistics in a professional environment or are you using your own hobby experience where you once outsourced a PCB drawn in Eagle to some online shop for a few dollars and you think that this can be scaled?

I installed my Mando topper today. Quick question for other topper owners.
On the left side of the topper are 2 round lit circles, does the left one look like it’s flickering in attract mode? Just confirming that’s intentional and not an issue. Thx!

Yes - biggest networking company in the world

But i also know pinball companies have achieved small runs at reasonable prices too… because us hobbist have bought their designs from their china suppliers (see HWP )

Besides… don’t forget they never have to run this at high optimized costs. They can afford to pay a premium for 1000 pcs when charging out the wazoo.

Plenty of hobby projects in this space operating just fine in the 10-500 piece scale

Plugs into the HDMI port. I believe the node board is only required to drive the light shows.

If that’s the case, someone could easily make just a HUD if the signal is back.

I think it needs to detect the topper to turn on the signal . So you would need the node board .

The truth is nobody here actually knows the true BOM, nobody knows the development costs, nobody can give us accurate manufacturing quotes, none of you can tell us the salaries of the people who worked on this, and how many hours they spent on it. Or, for that matter what the dealer margin is.

Stern knows, we don't.

Pretending otherwise is pointless.

The cost is the cost. Buy it or don't. If no one buys it then Stern can re-evaluate their process. Since it's (apparently) selling out I doubt they're really caring about the people who can't stop posting mad over it all.

I think the idea is neat, and I wish it did more when it was sitting in idle. That's my only real complaint. I've become convinced that toppers are mostly useless to players, and are about making game rooms feel good.

I'll put my money where my mouth is on that. Everyone else should do the same, in my opinion.

I agree. The only time I really watched the topper was my first ball when I played like shit and drained out a multiball just so I could see the topper. When I am really playing I can barely watch the screen let alone look all the way up at the topper.

As with all toppers might I add

Correct. Except this time they tried to add stuff you should watch in game, which really isn’t that feasible.

I confirmed that the node boards used in this topper are the same used by Lockheed in the F117 Stealth Fighter and by NASA. You could pull the board out and help launch the space shuttle, FWIW. You shouldn't always complain about price when it comes to high quality Stern products.

We are blessed to have this amazing, rare, and over the top engineered product for the low price of $1999 plus tax and shipping.

Completely agree. Stern doesn't.

“The Mandalorian-inspired Topper is a game changer for The Mandalorian pinball playing experience,” said Gary Stern.

So you confirmed the node boards are of the same quality that NASA would use, that's good to know. Could you also confirm whether the stickers used to adorn this overpriced piece of plastic are also of the same quality that NASA would slap on the side of a launch vehicle. Honestly it doesn't surprise me that Stern used stickers to dress up this piece, what does surprise me is that they didn't come on a sheet that you have to apply yourself upon receiving it to save a nickel in production cost. Sorry if I'm come off as cynical, I love my mando and I have a gz premium. Overall I am happy with Sterns products but this just seems like a money grab to me. Seriously stickers?

Gary's having another bonfire watching all the folks dropping $2k on this thing. Hell they might as well charge $2,500 for the upcoming Godzilla topper at this point.

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Strong rumor that the GZ Topper will be $3K. And people will snap it up fast and ask Stern for more...

I think Rush will be $699.
Godzilla if mechs will be $999, if plastic like JP $699.

The price for this IP/licensing probably drove up the cost by another $500 per piece. Have to consider the licensor in all this - Disney financially shaken at the moment and vacuuming up nickels wherever it can makes sense.

If stern sees us with more money than sense, certainly the IP holders will realize the same thing and demand accordingly.

I'm starting to come around wrt to being charged these prices. Just because someone can afford to pay a certain price doesn't mean they should.

It must be increasingly tough for operators.

150 plays per week = 7800 plays
100 = 5200
50 = 2600
25 = 1300

So you are looking between to 1 to 6 years before it earns money for you - and that does not consider any maintenance, troubleshooting, etc.

It seems you need to have beer/soda/food something that can make other money while the pins draw ppl in for the higher profit margin stuff.

Looking at it through the lens of the operator, they do it to share pinball with the world where I do it to collect a thing and only share it with family and friends. There is some guilt for lack of altruism there.

Maybe I am wrong though and operators are doing just fine.

Two words for you… residual value

Why would i grind a game for 5 more years to just break even when i could sell it to you for more money NOW and then roll that money into something that makes more right now.

Stern should go ALL THE WAY and make history for the GZ topper........

THE 1st TOPPER TO COST MORE THAN THE PINBALL MACHINE!!!!
$15K TOPPER!!!!

jump the shark (resized).jpg

So in other words the operators are doing just fine and can easily deal with the increase in prices.

See that's the problem with my collector mentality, I didn't take reselling them into account after you made a thousand or two in quarters.

When I heard that these toppers are coming with crooked glass and loose screws it just made me laugh. At $2K, you still can't get QC from Stern. We're not paying for extra quality or even technology with these price increases, you better believe that!

And I see someone mentioned that Stern might not be making much on this topper... That has to be the biggest joke in this thread. The reality is they wanted to make the same profit margin with the toppers as they do with their machines and now they are.

Flame me all you want, especially the ones that spent $2,000 plus tax for this... but you know I'm right.

Yeah, quality control is lacking all around... I had to heat shrink no less than a dozen leads on Rush, it's like someone took a cigarette break and passed it down the line before finishing their station. How it made it past QC is beyond me.

At least the glass and monitor in our mando topper are aligned.

And you are right, so I'll thumb you up. The manufacturer is soaking us and those of us that bought into this are part of the problem.

On the bright side we (Mando topper buyers) are at least subsidizing Stern's physical relocation more than the local taxpayers are.

It still makes it harder… higher prices can also lead to higher amounts of depreciation… while customer revenue remains largely flat.

But when people talk about absolute prices and needing to break even before making money… that’s not the only possible model and not necessarily the model in use. Operating is about driving income vs operating expenses…. Not as much about capital cost.

Just still wondering……..

Don’t believe mine does that .

The one I saw does not flicker. Not sure what the code was though.

Mine does not flicker.

Mine was crooked as well so it looks like that's just the standard. Definitely disappointing QA for the money. I'm sure it's probably a pretty easy adjustment as well.... Lemme know one of you remove the front and fix it haha. Just hoping I dont have to remove the whole topper lol.

For the people that did get their toppers in, did you order direct from Stern or did you go through a dealer?

Got mine from Cointaker

Mine arrived to my distributor yesterday

Distro

Distro, and got it Thursday

So looking at the topper, that off centered mirror isn't really hurting anything. The image is well below the edge of the mirror so it should not be an issue. I think my screen that lays flat may need some slight adjustment though as it is a tiny bit crooked. I haven't looked at moving that part yet, but it would be nice to move it a half an inch to an inch forward so the shorter people can get a better view of it. I see it fine, but my wife gets the bottom cut off a little, even with the wedge in there. I really do hope they get it fixed so it goes into attract mode instead of showing the software version until you start a game. The beskar bug is a must to fix as I shut my games off every night and would never see that mode if it always resets. One cool thing I don't think anybody mentioned is when you hit the flippers in attract mode after a while to get the machine to taunt you, the topper shows the character saying the line. I've seen at least Mando and Moff show up there while the line plays. Everybody loves the topper though, but they didn't toss down the cash for it either.

I don't own the machines but I think I'll ask if he would take $750 each. Since they don't do anything for the machine anyway. 2k for a mandalorian topper seems like a bargain considering what this guy wants.

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Dealer is where I got mine.

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I paid $2200 for my IJ topper. With smoke machine, a billion leds and real gold.*

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Got mine today. Unfortunately it’s not working. When connected, it searches for node boards 1,8, and 9. It eventually gets through startup and but everything is out. When I power down, disconnect the Ethernet cable, and power back up, it’s fine.

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Hopefully there is some decent customer service for this issue

Are you on game code 1.40 for your game version?