So, uh, on a game that has been criticized for being a near clone of the Spider-man layout, they decide to remove one of the few unique differentiating design features... and replace it with the exact same style of flat loop VUK that has only ever been used before on - get this - Spider-man?

I see what you're talking about in STTNG, but those are essentially completely enclosed boxes and I don't really relate them so much with the "open" SM (and ST) VUK "slinger" design... like I wouldn't relate the STTNG or SM/ST styles with a standard wireform VUK, even though they do the same thing.

Regardless, it's not exactly something new on Steve's part.

And what does the VUK actually do differently - or how does it add value for Premium/LE buyers - when compared to the Pro's saucer kickout?

Search through my posts. You will find that I have never yet sold a pinball, and the first one of mine to go will be BDK, not BSM. So resale value of my collection is not a concern (now I may have pegged your point wrong there, but I'm not sure why else I would be "scared").

My *problem* is Star Trek is one of my absolute favorite themes, and I can't say that about very many Stern games. (Otherwise I would own more.) I was expecting something great in the layout department from Steve after 20 friggin' months development time, and instead he phoned it in and created a near clone of SM (seriously, overlay the schematics from one on top of the other and it's indisputable).

No one with a small collection like mine can afford to have two games with the same basic layout. So yeah, I'm pissed about that, because I expected more. And then he adds a SM-style slinger to replace one of the very few unique design ideas? Geez.

Perhaps I'm just a bit grumpy right now. So many new pins coming out... and I don't feel like any of them actually want my money!

I think if you take away the theming elements from both (art, lights, audio, dots), they would end up feeling very similar as whitewoods. Same number of shots. Almost the exact same shot location. Same three-flipper arrangement with the *exact* same side ramp shot angle. This isn't just the old argument of one fan design looking like another, this is actually SM's layout with some adjustments. With the unlimited creativity that can be expressed in pinball designs, in a 4 game collection there's no room (in my opinion) for two games that offer nearly identical challenges.

Is ST's layout better than SM? Very likely - I know when I revise something, it typically gets better. Like the change to the behind-the-upper-flipper-shot, which was originally created for SM but done too late to enter production. And if I didn't already have SM, I really wouldn't care one iota about the similarities. But I do own that game, and since SM is a very recent title and also very popular design, doing what essentially amounts to a re-theming this soon seems... cheap. Even lazy.

This is, of course, merely my opinion, based on the unfortunate coincidence of already owning a great game that happens to have been the basis for another game featuring a theme in my top five all-time favorites. So, I reserve the right to be personally disappointed!

Don't forget that all the original actors did custom voice work for TNG pinball.