Since we have an absent op, I move that we close this topic until more TH/Smaug news hits the the street. Second?

Second

third!

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Mods - we have spoken.
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There is little to talk about with Smaug. that's why we talk about other things. Smaug is the joker coffee can all over again with moving mouth. Until Jack reveals more on his plans, right now it is a borefest.

Ok, so they will likely keep the Smaug toy, but is there a chance that he would at least get some teeth?

What? Hope you're wrong.

with little to no time left... I'd be happy with dentures

5 posts in a row that are on topic!

Just to keep the streak alive - I think the Smaug toy is dumb.

I hope he gets some teeth or the mold gets revisited. I really liked seeing the entire body of Smaug like in mock up someone did shown on the first post in this thread. My expectation for this game was that he would look just like shown in this mock-up, his entire body and not just a head. His head would be down and sleeping default, but would pop up at set-times and the tail would divert the ball.

I also really want to see a mode where he is sleeping and the player must avoid hitting certain switches not to wake him up.

If he does stay as-is I hope JJP fixes the head mold (gets him teeth) and gets a nice looking mountain with surrounding molds to make it feel cohesive.

I hope they get rid of the turning of Smaug! Rather always facing the player, starting in a sleep state. The fact he can follow the ball and talk is fine by me. Athough he should look much more like the Smaug -> dark reddish, more angry look and WITH teeth.

Btw... When leaving the rotation out, Smaug could easily get rid of his stone collar.

P2K is a gimmick, at best. My local Pinball arcade has both of them. I hardly ever play RFM, and never play Star Wars.

I wonder how much they can really change the mechanics of it though at this point....

Maybe Smaug could rise up out of the PF from under the pile of gold?

Meh... that might suck too.... ugh.... I suspect JJP went through plenty of iterations on Smaug.... Perhaps the recent reveal wasnt so much about trying to build it up as epic as it was they were still trying to figure what they wanted to do with it?

Maybe they could have a snoring sound in the background while he is turned away so we can pretend he is asleep.
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Agreed. I still think the head should be stationary and the 'mountain' rotates from out in front of him to reveal him.

I would be so happy if this happened, even if it means delaying the game. Plus I think if this portion of the game is re-worked a bit JJP will be selling more Hobbits. This is how he should have been in the first place, but who knows did anyone ask if Smaug was placeholder or going to change?

Anybody thinking the smaug as shown was intended to be a placeholder has full blown fanboy syndrome. You dont put that much work into a placeholder mech. And you certainly don't do that about 2 months prior to shipping.

Smaug with teeth and smaller gold? I'd bet on it.

New Smaug all together with new mech? Don't hold your breath.

JJP is listening, and I think some people may be surprised by how much they can change, but I'd also temper your expectations. The game is what it is, I wouldn't expect new mechanical redesigns at this stage. Minus whatever goes where the book is I guess, no idea if that will be interactive or not.

agree, I was just asking what others thought or if anything was mentioned about it direct from JJP or heard at expo. I do not assume anything mechanical will be re-done @ this point.

Smaug might get prettier, but I doubt the form factor and function will be any different.

If you froze him facing forward, there would be a bunch of people clamoring for peekaboo action.

I like to picture Smaug in a tuxedo T-Shirt because it says I want to be formal, but I'm here to party.

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since jjp got taken behind the woodshed at expo, i am really curious what a 9k pinball machine will look like. that's a huge amount of pressure for the company, i sure hope their product can live up to the price.

if that's what you truly think, then you have no vision or able to look beyond what you see.

I'd think for someone that travels to the final frontier, you would be more open minded.

Plenty of vision! Enough to be practical. RFM was a good gimmick. To think all Pinball would have been P2K is scary.....