Meh.. it's another cookie cutter Stern. Its weird Led Zeppelin is just party music and snowboard music for me. The whole LSD color scheme just makes it so dated. Zeppelin is like AC/DC its timeless teenage music. It just resonates when your that age and invincible. The theme just makes it grandpa music and that is a bummer. Immigrant Song is a tune I used to play on my Walkman and rip in the backcountry snowboarding in the early 90s. It's aggressive and powerful, for me it was part of the anger of the 90s not this old guy hippy shit theme.

Did they really go linear progression on a music pin so you have to hear the same songs over and over and over every time you start a game? If that is actually true that is not new in a good way. Its new in the way that no one has ever been dumb enough to think that is a good idea.

Thanks, I got sucked in to that one, it did sound impossible to believe.

Can you hit a ramp or orbit through the lift spinner. The video seems to show the ball just kinda rattling around after it goes through. It just seems kinda lame, the ball needs to travel to make a spinner satisfying.

I’ve never understood why Stern hasn’t done a Rockband or Guitar Hero style pin. If each song had some basic video and code they could probably charge $100 a song. They could do quick button combination “fills” during orbits and ramps. It would work perfectly on a pin that is just all ramps and loops. Just flow and combos to the music. It would just print money.

The whole it would be hard doesn’t hold water with me. It’s just business, common place in other industries. Just for a single cover athlete in a video game you may deal with a dozen licensors.

It was a massive success with insane revenue and profit. Yes people moved on to other things nothing lasts forever. The staying power of those games was unheard of at the time. Years later people were still pumping money in. They defined success and it’s still the model today.

Just can't get in to this one. I'm supposed to be excited for a spinner and it's is only on the playfield on occasion. This is a big reward you get to earn a spinner? I feel like I have Stockholm syndrome, Stern has cheeped out so bad people are rejoicing a spinner. Also decimal multipliers WTF this is what we have come too, nothing like a little Led Zeppelin and math class. Hit the Icarus on a stick. I feel like I am being punked.

Led Zeppelin is known for being one of the biggest blockers online, I think the Eagles are the only band worse. Why Stern/Deadflip thought they would get away with it on any third party platform is laughable. There is no way Facebook or YouTube would let this fly. That they even tried it just shows how completely uninformed and ill prepared they were. If your interested check out Rick Beato on Youtube he has great content and is super informed, he has even testified before the senate on the subject.

Stern can set up a stream, they just can’t stream on a third party like YouTube and Facebook. It’s the third parties that are advertising and earning revenue and not willing to share. If Stern had streamed via there own ad free website they would have been fine. Just like they are now with insider.

They are so big they just don't care, why deal with the rights holders, how much ad revenue did they lose by just punting the stream. Stern and Deadflip just hoped Facebook would sort it out for them and negotiate a deal with Led Zeppelin to come to an amicable agreement about sharing the revenue from the content containing their copyrighted work. I know I was shocked when Facebooked decided it was easier to remove the content. Nothing will change until people stop posting everything on these platforms.

This is false if Stern got approval for Facebook to collect revenue from the copyrighted works of Led Zeppelin that stream would certainly be up with millions of views. Facebook will not share that revenue and Led Zeppelin is certainly not going to be ok with that.

Personally I believe they knew full well the stream would go down. They played up how they were felons and rebelling. It was a poorly planned PR stunt. A lame attempt to be “Rock n Roll”. I guess it worked people are still talking about it.

Anyone that has made a nickel posting content knew this video was coming down. This was as surprising as getting wet when you go outside in the rain. I find it hard to believe Stern is that clueless but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Jack 100% knew this was coming down, that is why he is playing it up the way he is. It is possible he thought he had the chops to manipulate the audio in such that the system couldn’t detect it. Pick your poison incompetence or a clever stunt.

I have never streamed anything so I have no idea. But even I know there are bands that do not fuck around. Queen, The Eagles, Led Zeppelin and others. Some of them you so much as say the name of one of their songs in a monatized video and they are having it taken down and sending lawyers. A live stream is laughable.

That is why I think it was a PR Stunt.

It would be so nice if one day pins could be discussed without the brand. Since when is being a fanboy something to be proud off. I could give two shits whose logo is on the cabinet. I don't care what band is better GnR vs Zeppelin. I think objectively you can look at these two pins and one of them has a little more love passion and detail. If that doesn't make it a better pin for you that is fine. If there is something in one box that you enjoy more than go with that one. That people get so upset what other people think is baffling to me.

I think the issue is GnR just did everything that should have been on LZ. LZ was about music and the instruments. I think LZ and I think guitar and drums but GnR has all that stuff, even if Stern wanted to increase the bill of materials (which they didn't) it would just have looked like they were following in the foot steps. That lifting spinner to me would have looked better as a drum kit more suited to Motley Crue. They dropped a Motley Crue with basically that exact same mech with some drum set plastic it would have been praised as a revolutionary integration of theme and they would have deserved the accolades.

The one thing Stern seems to really struggle with is connecting with the target audience of the theme.

This is one of the things I really don't understand about this hobby. Some people enjoy score, some people enjoy the art, some people enjoy the world under glass, we all have different things we enjoy. If the theme was Motley Crue and that toy came rising up as Tommy Lee drum soloed people would lose there minds. It's a trademark of the band. It would perfectly integrate pinball, music and the theme. There are people in the hobby that find the stuff cool and enjoyable. It has no connection to Led Zeppelin and that is why some people find it uninspired.

Just a few example, I was jacked for Deadpool love the sex, violence and sarcasm of the films. The Stern pin has no connection to that, so for me it fell flat. I was jacked for Star Wars, I wanted to take a journey to time long ago in a galaxy far far away, the pin is a tournament players dream, but it has no real connection to theme. Recently through some of my friends I'm kind exploring guitar and really finding new life in music of the 70s, bands like Led Zeppelin. The pin has the music but for me at least it doesn't connect to the guitar and drums of that era. It doesn't have that theme, how this band and their technical skill changed rock and roll. I was hoping for modes around the drums of Bonham, the iconic front man that is Plant and the riffs that are Page.

I'm not saying its not a fun enjoyable pin to shoot, but I like pins for theme and feel. For me personally this pin doesn't seem to capture that. That doesn't mean its not a great pin or not fun if it has what you enjoy. I love my AC/DC it just has that feel, I love my Star Trek to me it feels like Star Trek.

I think that's kind of thing with this band, I enjoyed them but was never in to them. I am just learning to play basic guitar but as soon as you step into music from that perspective, Led Zeppelin is everywhere. Every band, every youtuber, every thing you see about why people learned to play and what inspired them and its endless Led Zeppelin. I know I didn't get it before I tried to play an instrument and I wish the theme captured that somehow. To me that is a huge part of Led Zeppelin, there would be no Dave Grohl without Bonham. Led Zeppelin is as much about what they did to everyone else's music as much as what they created themselves. Give me this for a mode, covers are cheaper usually anyway

Or how about this version as an Easter Egg, Karen O just belting it out, with Trent Reznor.

I don't get why anyone cares about score or multipliers, all I ever cared about was how cool it was and how long I could make my quarter last. To each their own and all that. I do think its fair that when your talking about Led Zeppelin the theme matters as much as the shots.

These are different for you guys? To me the only difference is the line up they are in, if the arcade had a video game I could blow up it got my money. If it didn't I would gravitate to pinball. The only real difference to me was in general I felt you got a little more time for you money on a pin. These days it has flipped I tend to play pinball, when my wife is getting ready or the hockey game is on soon. I have a short period of time to kill. If I have a couple hours than I'll play a video game. Maybe it was just because if I found a quarter I would bike to the arcade just to play one game.

Anyone else used to exploit the shit out of Galaga with the no bullet hack that took like 20 minutes but then no enemy could shoot the entire game. It would drive people crazy, they would put a quarter up and you would be like this could be a couple of hours. LOL

Went by Nitro to pick up some balls and they had a Led Zeppelin Pro on display. I was on my way somewhere and with covid I didn't want to just hang out and play but did check it out quickly.

I was surprised how much better the Pro playfield looked compared to Premium. I really dislike the Unicorn heads and how cluttered the premium is around the Electric Magic. The premium playfield is just kind a bit of a mess and the pro more balanced. The faces are bigger and more recognizable, it is the opposite of AC/DC on this one the bigger faces actually look way better.

That being said, as far as stuff on the playfield it is baron and empty and I thought it would feel a little empty but its even worse in person. The Icarus is much smaller than I expected I don't know why but I just thought it would be bigger and feel like a toy. It doesn't at all, it so small and insignificant it might as well just be a plastic mounted vertically. It really is just a leaper that doesn't make any sense. On Elvira at least they go with the theme.

Third flipper is completely wasted, Stern really just half assed this one when they ripped stuff off to reduce cost. They might as well have just removed the flipper for all the good it is now. I would expect an update just like how they added a Swinging Bell on AC/DC Pro. Stern or someone else is going to change that target to a switch and put the ramp back in. The other option is what cooked71 mentioned make it a roll over and loop around to the back, so its repeatable, this would add basically zero cost. It just doesn't make sense the way it is now. It took one game to go, well that is broken. How Stern just didn't give a shit is really embarrassing. I get they need to reduce cost but the game still needs to make sense.

I don't know if it is just Led Zeppelin or something Stern is starting to do on pins but not having the lanes above the pops is really weird. Another reason it just feels broken. I know people will say there is no skill in moving the unlit lane with the flippers to complete an objective but it's fun and just part of Pinball. Sure it's not challenging but its just what you do as the ball bounces around up there. Didn't Steve Ritchie invent it?! Have they done this on other pins recently?

The rest of the art is what it is, no point in beating a dead horse.

Icarus goes with the theme, the little jump up mechanism makes no sense. At least on Elvira the were little leaping frogs. The leaping Icarus is just silly, that little mech has nothing to do with the whole flying to close to the sun or Led Zeppelin.

I really appreciate all the feedback and counter points. It was very informative and brings a lot to the discussion. The beauty of the internet is you don't have to read or validate my opinion, feel free to hit that ignore button down below.

Here I thought we were here to bullshit a little. Is there some criteria for your approval that lets me know what I'm allowed to say?

Yes I'm aware but even with the update I think the Pro looks better. The faces are just bigger and more clear. Everything has room to breath. I didn't expect the Pro playfield to look as good as it does. Its like they did the art in reverse. Typically they just throw in some art (Angus anyone) in the space for whatever they remove for from the playfield. With LZ it seems like they added the rising mech after the fact and just wedged it and those 6 extra inserts in. What are the 4 purple ones for? The art (it kinda looks like a rocket trail of fireworks) leading to each shot looks really good on the pro, kind accentuates the flow. That is lost on the Premium.

Man the cash grabs in pinball are so out of control and it's not just Stern. I just do not understand how you can mark up an LED by like 100x and people will buy it. I just made a set of pin stadiums with an RF remote and it could not have cost me more than $30 USD. $450 WTF, how far can they push it till the bubble bursts.

You seem to be lost, this is not the owners thread.

It's really fascinating what different demographics evaluate the cost of software. Pin heads think the RD on blinking an LED to music adds hundreds of dollars to the cost. On the flip side every kid has an RGB LED Strip with controller mounted on their bedroom wall that perfectly integrates to music and it cost's a few dollars. Those kids also think a video game with a budget of a hundred million should be free. Good luck trying to explain reality to either group.

People believe what they want to believe. If you think the software cost justifies that $450 LED strip or that $1000 topper all the power to you.

Not exactly, both extremes are nonsense. I fully understand the effort it would take.