Not so "original" themes

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#1 5 years ago

OP

BAM

balt

Pinside member

6y 114K 466 45 1

Manufacturers sometimes avoid licensing fees by creating an "original" theme that was certainly inspired by an existing intellectual property or person. Examples:

Alive = Elvis
Barracorra = Alien/H.R. Giger
Beat Time = Beatles
Black Pyramid = Indiana Jones
Bone Busters = Ghostbusters
Eight Ball = The Fonz
F14 Tomcat = Top Gun
Genesis = Metropolis
Gold Wings = Top Gun
Hollywood Heat = Miami Vice
Jungle Lord = Tarzan
Mars Attacks = Mars Attacks trading cards (1962)
Medieval Madness = Monty Python's Holy Grail
No Good Gofers = Caddyshack
Raven = Rambo
Secret Service = James Bond
Space Invaders = Alien/H.R. Giger
Special Force = Rambo
Tee'd Off = Caddyshack
TOTAN = Aladdin
Vacation America = National Lampoon's Vacation

Can you name others?

Post last edited 5 years ago: “Adding to list as Pinsiders point out examples.”

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#2 5 years ago

MGP

mgpasman

Pinside member

8y 51,400 558

If the existing IP can also be another pin, then No Good Gofers = Tee'd Off

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3

#3 5 years ago

BBR

orangegsx

Pinside member

12y 80,550 832 8 7

Hey this is steve requesting a whiz by

Whiz by denied steve

IMG_5984 (resized).JPG

IMG_5985 (resized).JPG

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#4 5 years ago

CHS

Chuck_Sherman

Pinside member

Vancouver, WA

11y 77,050 873 12 9

Bally Eight Ball

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#5 5 years ago

HBS

herbertbsharp

Pinside+ Frequent

Ballston Spa, NY

12y 146K 6,106 23 24 2

TOTAN = Aladdin

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1

#6 5 years ago

EVN

EvanDickson

Pinside member

Charlottetown, PE

10y 91,550 2,677 5 49

I think Bone Busters was supposed to be a salvage operation after a Ghost Busters license fell through. Same machine with somewhat altered art and a new title.

https://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?any=bone+busters&search=Search+Database&searchtype=quick#347

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#7 5 years ago

HBS

herbertbsharp

Pinside+ Frequent

Ballston Spa, NY

12y 146K 6,106 23 24 2

AFM = Mars Attacks

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#8 5 years ago

MGP

mgpasman

Pinside member

8y 51,400 558

Capcom Airborne = also Top Gun.

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#9 5 years ago

CRD

chad

Game Guy

11y 140K 15,164 9 5

Black Pyramid by Bally Midway (Indiana Jones)

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1

#10 5 years ago

JPJ

Frippertron

Pinside member

Sparta, NJ

7y 60,800 2,301

High Speed - Steve Ritchie's reckless driving habits

Stellar Wars- Star Wars

Robo-Wars - Transformers

Space Invaders- (video game but really Alien)

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4

#11 5 years ago

TSC

Bowlingpin

Pinside member

Nassau County, NY

9y 62,900 636 3 41

Quoted from herbertbsharp:
AFM = Mars Attacks

Pretty sure AFM came out a year or so before Mars Attacks was ever made.

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2

#12 5 years ago

ZZZ

CaptainNavidad

Pinside member

Philadelphia, PA

10y 64,050 626 7

Quoted from herbertbsharp:AFM = Mars Attacks

The movie was made in 1996 - about a year after AFM was released. Perhaps the pin inspired the movie?

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1

#13 5 years ago

HOW

hlaj78

Pinside member

Monroe, MI

12y 69,650 2,148 11

Perry Hotter would have potential.

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1

#14 5 years ago

ZZZ

CaptainNavidad

Pinside member

Philadelphia, PA

10y 64,050 626 7

Beat me to it, Bowlingpin!

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#15 5 years ago

JIG

jwilson

Pinball Art Prints

Toronto, ON

9y 106K 5,051 6 7

Quoted from herbertbsharp:
AFM = Mars Attacks

AFM pre-dates the movie.

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#16 5 years ago

HBS

herbertbsharp

Pinside+ Frequent

Ballston Spa, NY

12y 146K 6,106 23 24 2

Quoted from Bowlingpin:
Pretty sure AFM came out a year or so before Mars Attacks was ever made.

Oh good call, missed that! EDIT: But Mars attacks was around long before the movie, see post below

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#17 5 years ago

BOZ

ausretrogamer

7y 69,050 751 4 9

There was an AFM movie released in 1988, but the AFM game wasn’t inspired by it - https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/attack_from_mars?

Post last edited 5 years ago: “Corrected spelling”

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2

#18 5 years ago

JPJ

Frippertron

Pinside member

Sparta, NJ

7y 60,800 2,301

AFM was inspired by 50's pulp comics just like Tim Burton was for Mars Attacks!

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1

#19 5 years ago

RPG

tilted81

Pinside+ Addict

11y 104K 2,389 45

I was gonna say, I had some mars attacks trading cards back in the 80’s.. so it was nothing new

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5

#20 5 years ago

RYC

FalconPunch

Pinside member

Melbourne

9y 106K 1,816

OP
Quoted from balt:
Manufacturers sometimes avoid licensing fees by creating an "original" theme that was certainly inspired by an existing intellectual property.

Avoiding licensing fees?

Predator.

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5

#21 5 years ago

JNG

aingide

Pinside member

12y 83,800 667 55

Mars Attacks has been around since the 1960s. AFM is definitely riffing on it.

The trading cards basically look like a storyboard for AFM.

B8396425-0F53-4F11-93B6-D4D7FF255D39.jpeg

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1

#22 5 years ago

HBS

herbertbsharp

Pinside+ Frequent

Ballston Spa, NY

12y 146K 6,106 23 24 2

Quoted from aingide:
Mars Attacks has been around since the 1960s. AFM is definitely riffing on it.
The trading cards basically look like a storyboard for AFM.
[quoted image]

Oh yeah I forgot about that, I was right all a long suckas!

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4

#23 5 years ago

LAW

dung

Pinside member

12y 86,050 5,578 6 30

Saying airborne ripped off top gun is a bit of a stretch. Top Gun is a movie about naval aviators training and having a brief skirmish at the end. Airborne is a game about flying a fighter jet at air shows around the world. The two things they have in common are the plane, which was a navy fighter at the time both were made, and that airborne has a call out for buzzing the tower. Since the game and the movie came out 10 years apart their really isn't much connection from a cashing in standpoint.

Gold wings ripped off top gun. F14 cashed in on the craze, but makes no real references that I know of.

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4

#24 5 years ago

???

Sinestro

Inactive member

Unknown

7y 59,400 2,410 1

Dialed In = Will & Grace

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#25 5 years ago

MCD

dasvis

Pinside member

Salem, OR

12y 101K 4,796 11 16

Embryon = Rock Hudson movie "Embryo"
pasted_image (resized).png

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#26 5 years ago

LSW

Runbikeskilee

Pinside member

7y 43,150 722 10

Firepower building off of Star Wars ?

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2

#27 5 years ago

KDF

fisherdaman

Pinside member

Waitsfield, VT

11y 72,300 1,546 8

Quoted from Sinestro:
Dialed In = Will & Grace

This comment just made me laugh out loud in a very quiet office...

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1

#28 5 years ago

???

wdennie

Inactive member

Canandaigua, NY

8y 37,350 1,321 17

Strange science spun off the Weird science movie.

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#29 5 years ago

CRD

chad

Game Guy

11y 140K 15,164 9 5

Could Heavy Metal Meltdown be a prelude to the Stern music pins?

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2

#30 5 years ago

HBS

herbertbsharp

Pinside+ Frequent

Ballston Spa, NY

12y 146K 6,106 23 24 2

Deadly Weapon = Lethal Weapon
Torpedo Alley = Shitty Porno Movie

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#31 5 years ago

JMO

kst8cat

Pinside+ Frequent

Kingman, KS

9y 107K 952 40

When I play Space Station I think of 2001: A Space Odyssey

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#32 5 years ago

JMO

kst8cat

Pinside+ Frequent

Kingman, KS

9y 107K 952 40

The Bally Game Show = The Price is Right
Blackwater 100 = Rad
Meteor = Asteroids
Beat Time (The Bootles) = The Beatles
Middle Earth = Lord of the Rings

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#33 5 years ago

JON

J85M

Hot Mods

Warrington

12y 147K 10,466 32

From behind the scenes features, the draft/concept for Mars Attacks had been doing the rounds in Hollywood nearly a decade before getting picked up and developed by Burton & WB.

So who knows who inspired who, luckily we ended up with both as the pin is awesome and the film is a good laugh with the kids specially around Halloween.