What I see is that the goblin king with a nutsack for a chin gets top billing, and there's no f***ing Smaug anywhere. What's the matter, someone said "we crammed 45 different characters onto the cabinet art, there's no room for the god damn dragon"?

The powdercoat color looks nice enough, but not particularly unique. Until I read it was "seaside bronze" on the flyer I just assumed it was plain old armor. For an LE I'd prefer it stood out more as special, because that's really the point right? You don't get a whole lot else compared to a standard, so every part should really sing.

And really? A button in the middle of the lockdown bar? I mean, fine, whatever, but when I see that I see "hey, let's be like Stern" which isn't exactly what I thought the JJP mantra would be. It feels like Star Trek or Mustang or AC/DC or TWD LE when I look at that.

They still didn't recess the Start button, and that sucks. It looks bad, and people are going to bump it on accident. Recessing was figured out years ago, there's a reason why companies do it. Easy enough to change out the yellow side buttons for something that looks nice, but hard to fix the Start button.

Sorry, don't mean to be a downer, but if this is what they've got to tease so far it's disappointing. I hope the full package when seen in person (Expo please?) really makes me change my mind. I want to like this. And I'll happily change my tune if it looks great. But so far ... eh.

If you're gonna join my bitch fest at least read first!

I don't hate JJP at all! In fact, I love the Hobbit theme, and I want it to be great. I don't see any value in staying silent though, there's zero chance things will be fixed (instead of really low chance) if we don't say something. It worked with the playfield, our concerns were at least partially addressed. I love that JJP listens to their customers, it's an admirable trait.

Does anyone love the collage of movie characters art? If you could have this, or a big bad ass picture of Smaug on each side which would you take? I know what I would want!

_{Post edited by moderator: Pics removed, copyrights claim.}

Quickie photoshop of the above images, obviously it could look better than this, but man, I wish the studio would approve this look instead.

_{Post edited by moderator: Images removed, sorry, copyright claim.}

Bilbo in the image with Smaug is one of the most iconic moments of both the book and movie to me, personally. I'd take that on one side and Bilbo with Gollum on the other.

Nutsack goblin and stupid white orc? Not even a tiny bit. Bilbo and Gandalf look great on the side of the head, that's easily my favorite part.

The playfield suffered from this "over montage" effect too, and they fixed a lot of it. So maybe it's not too late.

Hey, that's fine. I mean I just slapped some cropped poster images in there, they don't really fit the shape of the cab all that well. And even if they did you're of course free to like the other look better.

I just don't care for the "let's show EVERYBODY" collage look. It feels like a giant copout to me.

Honestly? I really only take the time to write about things I care about. And TWD doesn't really do much for me. I don't watch the show, though I read a lot of the comic. The actors and the AMC part really mean nothing to me. It's a dream theme for some people, and I love horror pins, but this one just doesn't excite me. It looks cool I guess, but nothing compelling at the same time. I'll hopefully play it at Expo. At least for the art they didn't cop out, it's full of the gore people wanted, and it looks solid.

Stern is what Stern is. I've written plenty critical things about them. But they're kind of their own lumbering force, I don't really expect them to change much. JJP is still new, they have the ability to be something different.

Hobbit is a theme I can get excited about. I wish it was hand drawn art, and not movie studio PR photoshop. Even Stern's LOTR, a game I think looks like shit with muddy awful print quality, had a hand drawn translite. Jack made a lot of noise about being different, bringing pinball art back, etc. I want them to stick with that, not cave.

It's like every time you come on Pinside you just bust out the shovel and dig yourself in a little deeper. It's called a critique and fair use, it's not illegal. Take it up with Robin I guess. But why do you even feel the need to go there?

Guess what? YOU picked the license. The game looks like it does because of your choices. If you hit your thumb with a hammer don't blame the hammer.

I think The Hobbit is a great theme. The world is full of great themes. Pick one that doesn't handcuff you. I want to love what you're doing. I want to be tempted to pay the ridiculously high prices that you're selling toys for. But for that kind of money I simply can't settle. It's too much. "The studio made us" doesn't matter to me, it's the end result that your name is on that counts. It's the game in my garage that I look at that I think about. Not the process. I don't want my pins to look like ads. End of story.

We still haven't seen the full game. If it's at Expo and I love it I'll say so, there's no grudges here, even with your silly demands that I remove my critique. I want it to sell well, and I'm excited that your third game is unlicensed.

Yes, but it was news, not a personal expression. I love pinball, and I want it to thrive and succeed. Stern announcing a title that our audience at Ars loves (we've covered TWD show before) was a great chance to spread the news. And unlike these slow leaks (Hobbit, and even TBL) Stern puts out something that I can cover as an event. It's hard when bits trickle out slowly over months to package it together in a way that's fresh and interesting to both pinheads and those who aren't intimate with the hobby.

Sure, agreed. I personally think JJP is talking to a less mainstream audience, simply because of the price tag, and that they should cater to more of the pinball side, and less of the "grab that hot license" side. That's a Stern move. But I don't run the company. All I can do is be my own voice. The playfield had issues, several of us spoke up about them in a constructive way (not just bitching, but trying to provide actual helpful feedback) and the game came out better for it.

That's all I want now. I doubt anything will change on the cabinet, but I don't actually know that, so why not speak up?

Man, I came so close to buying that, but I already had one of the earlier Ring Wraith prints from Mondo and didn't want to double up. Seeing it again I'm regretting it though! So nice.

("Servants of Sauron" see it here: http://geektyrant.com/news/2013/1/23/two-awesome-new-lord-of-the-rings-mondo-posters.html)

I'm so 100% behind your point though. And if the studio won't play ball, find a licenser that will.

Who said they copied TWD? AC/DC, Star Trek, Mustang, all had that. And really I don't care, if it's a good idea it's a good idea. Maybe once we know what it does it will just feel like the best thought. But to reveal it without context just makes it look "me too". Should have waited to reveal it with the full game.

Honk twice when you get here, I'll be right out.

Really simple - no one took anything, don't go around making nonsense legal threats. Call your lawyer and have him explain the concept of fair use to you, specifically in the context of commentary and criticism. You'll learn something and you can stop looking foolish while throwing around words like "legally obligated" when you have no standing.

I'm trying to cut you some slack here, but you just want to keep digging your hole deeper. And frankly you're kind of pissing me off and making me less likely to want to buy your game.

Is this what it's really come to? You post some criticism of Hobbit, in a constructive fashion, and Jack shows up to throw a tantrum and make vague legal threats?

Thanks, and if people don't agree that's fine too. This is a discussion, no need for cheerleading, and I'm far from infallible.

I'd argue every time Jack shows up to open his mouth here he just stirs up shit. He trash talks Pinside and then appears to make sure that he can self confirm his opinion.

Whatever, Jack can have his lawyers call me, until then (lol) I'll continue posting critiques. Of any company, I'm not out to get JJP in any way shape or form, just here to talk pinball.

Here's another one for the file, I'd love to see a "Ruby Red" version of Hobbit that has Smaug instead. Bring the red armor, and new decals that focus on Bilbo and the Dragon. Something along these lines:

Fan concept art, lawyers need not pick up telephone

I got lazy.

If you like that image I made I suggest you save it before a moderator removes it. I'm draining this thread and will no longer be participating in it.