Quoted from vdojaq:So here we are at Nov 1. 33% of the build time has come and gone. I do not need to state the obvious.
What I do want to say is what this has really become. This is no longer about a pinball build, that is actually the secondary story at this point. This has become a daily, or almost daily blog of one man's daily life. We all know the routine, buses, shopping at Sobey's, cooking at the shop, drinking beer, keeping a wife happy every few days with a 36 pack of beer, and a few minutes of actual work on a pinball machine that someone else is paying for. On top of that, working on everyone else's machines are a priority.
This is not a joke on any of us. This is a cruel joke that John unconsciously is playing on himself. There is a complete disconnect between the knowledge of how a pinball machine works vs having the knowledge to execute an actual build. This IS the exact same scenarios with John's playfields that went from promises of months to years and years before paid customers got their products. There were lessons to be learned, but once again that disconnect has reared it's ugly head. We are $4K deep here, and there is really nothing here to see. Does anyone else here see that the $10K budget is most likely on the VERY short side?
We are all witnessing a troubling look at me. The name dropping, the stupid breadcrumbs, the daily beer counts are all of a person screaming for attention. That in itself is very sad. While the products that John eventually put out, the playfields and the backlglasses, were of quality work, the bottom line is they were all financial disasters. It did not put him in the spotlight of the other pinball replacement part manufacturers. He was actually the butt of many jokes. So now this ill conceived Trailer Park Boys machine was going to be his savior, his shining moment, finally at the level of the others in the pinball industry. Well, we all saw how that went and how many jumped at the $100K whale opportunity.
John finally lands our infamous Iceman as his mini whale. Ice has many stories of his own with upstart pinball builders that have not gone well. The machine has gone from a STERN pro style machine to a STERN style solid state era machine with a 6 month build time. Professionals in the business pointed and laughed and they have all but excused themselves from this thread. 60 days have passed since we were all told that the hardcore work on this build was going to begin. What do we have? Nothing that would suggest anything hardcore has been accomplished.
On top of that, seeing the amount of work John does for other people all in the name of "having space to work in", I firmly believe John is being taken advantage of.
I have personally met John at Pinball Expo. He is a VERY happy go lucky guy. He is also a nice guy, but being a nice person doesn't mean you have what it takes for whatever. As others have suggested, most people are in the positions they are in because that is exactly where they put themselves. There are times that being a fly on the wall would most likely generate much disbelief. I cannot view things the way he does. It's so oddly different that it becomes appealing to those of us following all of this.
What does it all mean? It means John has set himself up for personal failure. Along the way it has also become sad. The desire for attention in the pinball world, the drinking, the self deprecation over his poverty level and more and more I think a poor relationship with his wife. I feel for the guy, but at the same time wonder how someone can go through life with such blinders?
What is it we are all waiting for at this point? It's not for a machine to be built, we all know better. It's the next hammer to a computer, the next paneling playfield dropped and smashed, it's the next grey ham or expired funeral sandwiches, the next 12 plus beer count, the next off the wall comment that has nothing to do with anything or the next kick of the can down the road because it's impossible for him to work on more than 1 thing towards the build at a time.
So yep, I will carry on, keep reading this thread and wait for the next head shaking moment to happen. Why not? I have 3 months in on all of this. Might as well see how it ends. I predict, not well.
Crystal Lake, IL
Regina, SK
