i'm in the same boat as zene10, two new Sterns in the last 4 months or so and they both have some similar issues. Drain hole chipping on Metallica Pro that i got early August (no ghosted inserts so far or any other clear coat issues that i can see.. fingers crossed), playfield date of March 19 2016. Ghostbusters Pro i got in late April, developed ghosting on the Storage Facility insert after a few weeks and then just recently started chipping along the insert by the ghosting, and also pretty bad drain chipping that was getting close to the artwork. Stern has both my games on file now with those issues recorded, with the support of my dealer. It is not clear what will happen in terms of dealing with Stern. These two games were my first NIB purchases, and though my issues arent as bad as some GB LE guys got, or all the SMVE ghosting issues ive seen, its certainly rocked my confidence in buying a new game again, or recommending anybody else to. With a few older games I bought, i never thought twice about examining the playfields as often as I have with these new games. I know they wont stay pristine forever, but the rate that these issues are appearing, it makes me wonder what they'll look like in a couple years.

Does anyone know who sells the extended plastic protector that goes in above Sparkys feet to calm the airballs? i believe it was orange colored. checked Pinball life and mezelmods, didnt see them.

Quick question about the grave marker shot, and the magnet and hoping someone else has noticed this. On my pro, my magnet/opto do seem to be working fine when I do the Grave Marker Multiball.

What I noticed with this game a long time ago, and I am pretty sure I have seen other Metallicas that I've played do this, but with a different multiball mode... say electric chair multiball for example, if during the multiball I happen to knock down all of the gravemarker drop targets, with further shots, the magnet doesn't really seem to do anything in terms of activating to soften the impact on the decorative cross grave marker at the end of the shot. It seems to me that the magnet should activate and fling the ball back at you, or at least that would make sense.

Has anyone else noticed this on their Metallica, and maybe even had the cross break from impacts over time?

My cross has broken on the bottom from hits last night. It was a pretty clean break, I've got it gluing back together the next 24 hours and we'll see how it holds up. Such a rigid piece of plastic doesn't feel like it should break like that, thats why i was curious if the magnet should have been doing something to slow the ball as it crossed the opto. I'm about 1300 plays on my machine over two and a half years, but i've seen Metallicas with 15K+ plays that the cross has held up no problems. I'm almost thinking of strapping a small piece of grey colored foam on the bottom of the repaired cross to absorb some of that impact. Replacement cross from Marco is $44 USD, so will probably order one to have for the long run, or hang onto it until I sell the game if the repair holds up.

Yeah, the ball can hit the cross with some pretty good force, even in Grave Marker multiball if you hit hard and fast before the magnet can really grab it. I have now heard of a few people who have had broken crosses in my adventure to find a replacement. Must just be luck of the draw when they get broken. I have seen Sparkys with broken legs before, so the cross doesn't surprise me.

While I am able to order a replacement no problem, I have ordered some Bondic to see if it can repair the old one, and curious if it will hold up. I will save my replacement for when/IF I sell the game someday.

Yup! There is a mechanical post there. It’ll drop if you hold the left flipper during the plunge, or if you start Lady Justice mode, or if the orbit shot is made as part of a combo, and probably a couple other modes.

If you full plunge without holding the left flipper, the ball will hit that post and roll back down through the pop bumpers. During normal play if you shoot an orbit, that post will be up and the shot will bounce back from that post either down the pops on the right orbit shot or roll back out of the left orbit.