Yes, it is a re-skin and not a true VE. That said, the video of SM VE looks awesome and I now like the new look. The dots are great - when color DMD gets on it they will be outrageous. The callouts are stepped up a notch - they seem to be "cartoony" and fun. It is like being in the comic book world. Great job by Stern. They respected the legend that is Spider-Man.

And as the owner of a modded up HUO SM, I think that a small run of higher priced re-skinned pins does nothing to offend me. It likely protects the resale value of my machine. If they did a large run at say just under current market value for an older SM model then my value takes it on the chin... I think they did it respectful of their current ownership base while still making available an awesome machine for the "uber" fan.

So serious pinside question.... Is SM VE going to get it's own rating or is it going to be lumped in with the current SM rating... or like the special edition black spiderman and out there in no-man's land???