If they made an animatronic rubber godzilla head they could've charged anything for it..

So for those who speculatively put a, say, $100 non-redundable deposit down on this last week on a first batch topper assuming "It can't be that bad, I'll sell it if I don't like it"

Are you actually going to buy it now? or let the $100 go. I am leaning admit a bad bet and "let the $100 go." At first I thought that no matter what there would be enough demand for resale on the first batch... but now not so sure. At least, not enough to justify the hassle. Long term it saves me money as I have 0 toppers as is and this would have been breaking the seal...

The first thing I thought when I saw the mod was that Stumblor was going to have to release mods for it. A topper. Mods for a topper.

It’s a good day for GB owners. You now have the second worse topper of all time.

Makes me want to watch season 6 of the Sopranos.

Or, do you honor your commitment to your distributor? I'm not happy with this, but I pre ordered, unseen, so I'll follow thru and keep my word.

I get the expectation has gone up. But what is wrong with this vs avenger topper? JP topper that cost the same?

We're not topper people, but being that we splurged on a GZ pro we thought it'd be nice to spring for our first topper for the pin we love so much.

After seeing it, we're definitely not doing that.

It looks like something cobbled together with off the shelf parts using the least amount of effort possible. To make owners wait a year and a half, and cough up $1k for this chintzy dollar-store playset is actually kinda funny because they'll still sell every one they make.

Cringe-worthy describes it best I think.

-Paul

I was so young and naïve...

So was I... thinking they would sell a couple thousand easy.

The Ghostbusters topper at least has some originality to it, plus it's used in multiple modes. At $500 the Ghostbusters topper looks like a steal compared to this mess. However, that was before the crazy topper price increases. That same Ghostbusters topper today would be $2k from Stern.

Stern Purposely released a shitty topper to sell a new subscription service for "exclusive" topper modes.

Any truth to this?

Apologies.. That was sarcasm.

I think given this is one of the best games in most people's collection, there was an expectation of a topper that matched.

When you look at what Mandalorian got - huge disappointment.

What percentage of people do you think paid to remove the playfield sculpt ? I did and paid $280 to do so . Stern ,your the powerhouse of our beloved hobby , please call on the Pro’s in the modding community just like you plucked top tournament players to design/code and you’ll reach heights never imagined .Please !

No. Stern did this same thing with JP and then included the mode for all machines on a later code update.

Anyone else notice that ever since that fake ass Disney CEO took over Stern, we've seen, what, 2-3 price bumps on the pins while the quality has gone far down, Mando and Rush toppers @ $2k (which is a crazy price compared to what toppers DID cost, like wtf?), now the most successful highest rated pin of all time gets a 3rd grade contest winner-designed topper for $1000 that has the same figure that nobody likes (including the very visible zip-tie... nice Stern...) that lights up kinda sorta with a fart cloud coming out of his hand.

I have my middle finger up for a lot of people and companies right now. Don't give them shit.

Someone at Stern said How can we get rid of all these Hoakie extra Greenzilla toys,Voila its a topper.

This matches the art !

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I don't buy this. Not like they're going to sell a better GZ sculpt or a better atomic breath sculpt. Or additional plastics/mechanisms.
Nobody is going to subscribe to get a better light show on the topper.

I think expectations were just high after Mando and Rush toppers. In the last few years with the CGC toppers, and those 2 recent ones from Stern, was hoping manufacturers have seen what the consumers really want. and it's not flat plastics and LEDs, and certainly not that same sculpt that a freaking dozen people have already released mods to replace.
Maybe the pins' design team is in charge or oversees toppers and Team Elwin just sucks at toppers compared to others. I dunno how it works.

Yeah , I said at the time there’s now 2 people making Gary $$ and it’s showing .I have nobody to blame but myself .Time to regroup and think things out haha .

So conspiracy theory time....

Is it

A) Stern is outsourcing accessory work to a team that his horrible and that explains the extremely long delays and pathetic designs

or

B) Stern's own teams are sabotaging accessories in a form of protest to sink the ridiculous pricing strategy leadership is pushing...

I just can't get my head around how the team that comes up with these great designs are so bad with the toppers. I mean, it's so disconnected I can't see how they can be coming from the same people.

Decided on the Tilt Topper - I'll wait. It's ok!

https://tilttopper.com/shop/ols/products/godzilla-pinball-topper-limited-run

Now we know why they made a small run and the 2nd run will be decided by orders received.

Ok. I will buy it if someone from the mod community makes a bong for GZ to hold in the gap i between his hand and the billowing cloud of whatever that is.

The topper was a letdown, but that incredible new shooter makes up for it all, right?

I didn't think they could top the Stranger Things shooter, but wow!

That topper is a joke and Stern is ridiculous for asking that kind of money for it....

You could've paid $50 and thrown in one of the NECA movie toys yourself that looks 1000x better than Stern's dog pooh of a sculpt. Then they went ahead and double downed for the topper.

I'll stick with my NECA on the playfield and a bare top.

Be the 1st to mod your Godzilla topper, and make it truly special!

For $29.99 you can make your Godzilla come to life, and bring fear into the hearts (and pants) of everyone in it's presence!

We're offering the limited edition Godzilla Tail hold-down Kit.

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Replace that nasty, unrealistic, cheap one from the factory, and be the envy of the entire world-wide pinball community!

Act now as supplies are limited!

All of Elwin's games have lame toppers. Is he involved in the topper at all?? It's disappointing his games are so good and then the toppers just feel like plastic cash grabs

I was thinking Godzilla was competing in one of those vaping competitions.

That's what I did for about $60 total including the planes and heat ray/splash

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I swear, I never knew that Godzilla's heat ray also came out of his hand!

Am I the only one that never knew that?

I love it so much I ordered 2!

I wasn't aware of this... Had they also referred to the JP extra mode as topper exclusive? In other words, is there still hope for KotM mode for those of us who won't be willing to spend the $1000?...

Yikes. I didn't think it was possible to make a worse topper than the Stern one. I've come to appreciate how nice my pins look without toppers on them, sometimes nothing is better than something.

Yes, there was an uproar about it when it came out. Lots of pitchforks were sharpened about Stern pivoting to DLC and whatnot. Then they added the goat mode for everyone around the time Insider Connected came out.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/topper-dlc-stern-s-new-low

For what it's worth, it wasn't until Shin Godzilla that we learned that the heat ready can apparently come out of his dorsal fins! So maybe his hand will be the method in the next film, like the Palpatine in Jedi!

I'm very happy with how my 3d printed modular Topper is coming along!!

I think The Electric Playground wins the topper wars? For now?

Stern: no comment
Tilt: it's a decent effort. but I really just don't need any more GZ or Mothra or MGZ depictions, Most already have "Flaming frames", and I -really- don't need it to say "Godzilla" again. That's a pet peeve. Also 3d print lines, which this has.
Electric Playground: No print lines, no redundant Kaiju or title. Got some mechanical aspects which is cool. It does not come close to their TZ topper but eh. It's decent.

For GZ I guess it's hard to find elements that don't feel reundant (kaiju, buildings, flames). The Stern topper would have been fine if it had been better executed (better sculpts, mostly) Especially if they took the rising UFO from the Electric Playground topper! Oh man. But still. The translite (and most cabinets) already has atomic breath godzilla...

The real winners are the people who spent effort making their own nice toppers (dioramas, etc). I bet those dudes are feeling smug today

Interesting that they haven't done this for Mando yet. I'd be really surprised to see Stern offer a "free" mode. I wasn't aware they did that for JP though so that's promising.

I try not to be negative on pinside but I have to be honest and say this was a real let down. I'm trying to find the good in this topper, and aside from the flaming buildings, it's just meh...the zip tied GZ is a real phoned in effort and the heat ray, isn't a ray at all, I just don't know what this is, but it's not good...was so looking forward to this morning, ah well... first world problems

Well now we know why Godzilla didn't get a special mode yet like Jurassic, Avengers, Rush, etc got.

No it’s bad. But not as bad as this so congrats!

Happy with my Rush topper (aside from the price) - but the cool factor got me to bite. This GZ topper is an easy pass.

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I can't wait to see all the sales for this in the marketplace. I can see the excuses now:

Moving and need to make room

Wife needs emergency earlobe surgery

Ordered one for a friend that get sent to the foreign legion

Ugh, wish I didn't have to sell this awesome topper but my gecko just had babies

Isn't "king of the monsters time attack mode" a special mode?
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I’ve never had to crawl back any money from my distro, but I did today. I’m keeping my Sparky topper. Affordable and add a light strip and it looks much better.

here's a great idea Stern if your listening.
if your just trying to make free money or get money for adding extra game modes. Sell the node kit needed separately to 3rd party topper makers, and just make an API they can use or publish the wiring info "here is LED1 it goes high when... x occurs in the code". License this to 3rd party makers and concentrate on just adding your DLC code for $500 per machine or whatever.