I don't remember seeing much info/hype about Metallica prior to the release. I look at this thread & the Predator thread, and now I see why.

I'm talking moreso not about the pin itself, but the hype around it prior to release. Any pre-release discussion turns into shitstorm of drama, arguing, and people trying to buy/sell/flip something that hasn't been created yet.

This. We need new pinball designers. NEW ones. Fresh ideas & minds into the game. I don't think they are going to be able to demand a lavish $100K salary, for they have no prior experience. This is a good thing for budgets & getting a fresh pin company off of the ground. Gotta start somewhere.

This is no disrespect to any established prior pin designers. But variety is good. Do you want all the music in the world written by just one musician?

My 2 cents.

The claims of "slave labor" once any announcement that a pin, normally a USA-made seems like a kneejerk reaction. That seems more like a blanket assumption more than anything. We've all been told the Foxconn stories involving Apple products, and yet they sell like hotcakes time after time. Apple? An American company, with outsourced labor to keep up with product demand. I'm betting more than half the red-blooded American users here have something made in China.

If I boycotted any product made in China, my house would be 100% Amish. Hey, I love my tech, and know where it comes from.

We balk at high prices of new pins made in the USA, and we now balk that someone's planning on operations in China(which would save costs). You can't have it both ways.

I actually don't mind the cussing/etc at the end of the article. Better than sugar-coating the usual PR statements we see. To be on this site, you gotta have thick skin. To be making pins, you need even thicker skin.