Can’t wait to play it!

What in the flying fk is this? Who in the hell would approve this color combo as this is the most un-Led Zep thing I have ever seen. No respect.

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Stern, channeling the spirit of Led Zeppelin... thanks Stern

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F’n nailed it

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The art package is really poor compared to any games released lately (playfield included). The premium is probably the laziest I’ve ever seen, probably looks like 5min tops work, same pic everywhere.

Now Aerosmith is the *kind* of art that Stern is capable of doing and this is what I was expecting - a proper and respectful treatment of this iconic band - not some phoned in lazy slop.

So here it is, imagine just taking the same art approach for Led Zep as for Aerosmith by people who actually care about making something special. Imagine what the art on Led Zep could have looked like if someone cared.
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This is what Stern is capable of. Look at how the LE pops and everything goes together (including armor). Look at the playfield art.

So what the fk happened here w LZ? Fk. What a shame.

Now look how fn stupid this looks in comparison:
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Well the eternal excuse whenever the art is shit that their hands were tied by the licensor. I agree there could be more or less restrictions depending on the licensor, but there is still a lot of leeway and license that can be taken to produce something cohesive. I’m sorry, I know many of you love it, but my personal opinion is the playfield art looks like a talented high school artist did it for an assignment. It is a photoshop rainbow nightmare, disjointed and incohesive. Ridiculous really and one of the worst I’ve seen in many years.

I guess its a fitting nail in the coffin for this shit year we will never forget.

So basically I’m saying I don’t like the art.

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Ok, I feel better now - had to get that out

So if you’re new to pinball you may not know that pinball art is an art form. One aspect to great art is when care is taken to incorporate the inserts artistically and cohesively into the playfield art so they become one. Again here is AS by Stern:
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See how the inserts and rest of art become one?

Now look at this from LZ:
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Notice how amateur it looks in comparison with almost no consideration or coordination relating the inserts to the art. Basically an insert pattern that does not tie at all into the art and just covers over it. No care taken. Amateur hour for what we expect in 2020.

Exactly.

Dude, it’s OK you don’t see the difference. Some do some don’t. The art in AS is drawn in coordination with the inserts (dice for example).

A picture is worth a thousand words and those pics you posted is all the proof that anyone needs to see clearly how shit the art on LZ is across the board.

And playfield art has come along way in recent years - the industry has simply moved forward and much of it coming from Stern (see pics above). This is why it’s such a shock to see this - clearly a release where no one really cared at all about the art or someone clearly said, fck it, release it, the sucker fan boys will buy it regardless.

So where do we go from here?

The art is so bad and Led Zeppelin so legendary that this pin qualifies for having a completely new art package done. Send in your playfields to someone and have them reprinted with art thats worthy, new backglasses and cab art everything. Or at least have one person do this to make a statement.

And with every LZ playfield that’s sanded clean, we will honor Led Zeppelin and maybe send a message that...

PINBALL ART IS AN ARTFORM AND THIS SHIT ART ON LZ DOESN’T CUT IT ANYMORE!

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(BTW, the Hermit would look great on sides of backbox)

And seriously, someone start a patreon page or kickstarter and it will get funded. Even just to make a point.

The worse the art the harder it must have been for them. Poor Stern. We should all just be happy they made it through and pony up.

No accountability is the new way of the world so I guess you’re right.

Since Stern seems to have forgotten how to do playfield art or simply just didn’t care for LZ, perhaps an amateur like myself, with no background in art, could provide a bit of insight. Then the “pinball art professionals” who spend full-time on this topic (even a career), and have obviously been trusted with skinning multi-million dollar projects for this growing industry, could learn a few things.

So this morning I was playing my MM (1997) and took a few pics as an example of what pinball art looks like - what those who know anything about this hobby appreciate. At the very least I want to make the point that people used to care - they simply used to give a fck an put effort into playfield art. Now I don’t even care enough to look up the name of the human in charge of art on LZ, but I’ll leave it to you all to judge how much thought and effort he put into his work compared to what was common in 1997 and is even common these days.

So regarding playfield art, the first thing is that the placement, shape and purpose of each insert should be tied into the design of the game from day one.

Next the art around each of those carefully considered inserts ties directly into the surrounding art and even plays a large part in conveying rules and gameplay direction to the player.

Lets begin.

Here are the wizard inserts that are designated by stars:
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Notice how tied into the art they are. Also here is a shot of the other star for wizard (example of conveying rules and telling rhe player what is connected to what)
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Notice the surorunding stars, the scroll for extra ball and troll helmet.

(Continued)

For joust in the outer loop, look at this artwork. Notice theme integration for joust (lances) put into the surrounding art of every fkn insert:

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Here is the main goal of the game in artistic form - the inserts are castles. And notice even the insert between the flippers, theme integrated everywhere.

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The seal of the scroll that describes the main goal of the game.

Next, look at the deeper goals of the game, each fkn insert has art tied directly to the game.

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Now look at the royal madness bank and the damsel sword
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Look at how much care has been taken with the art to convey the madnesses even conveying with banners under banners how you need to complete them all to get royal madness.
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Here is catapult... look at the attention to detail, the arm coming across and loading the cannonball.

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Every insert carefully thought out and crafted with care.

The revolting peasants:

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Here is the super jackpot insert:
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Even the outlane inserts, full care and attention:

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So for those of you new to pinball (including the artist for LZ), welcome. I hope this served as a small introduction to what pinball art and insert theme integration can be and has fkn been for decades.

Now I will leave again with the current insulting garbage art that has been presented to us.

Clearly there was no coordination and planning when the playfield was being designed. It’s very clear someone was given a weekend to paste some art on this shit. Look at the fkn Icarus image with inserts just covering up random parts. No care. No consideration.

And no respect for the pinball artform or for this hobby.

Again the work speaks for itself and I hope by showing pics of my MM this morning, those of you new to the hobby, on the Stern payroll or just apologists and shills can at least understand WHY this disrespect for Led Zeppelin and the pinball art form leaves us wanting more.

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I look forward to to seeing how it shoots and all other elements of the game might be great.

Many comments above from people with double-digit collections who spend hours everyday on pinside telling us not to take pinball too seriously or that art isnt everything.

I don’t recall anyone including myself saying art is everything. There is good art, OK art and poor art and most people can tell the difference.

What 90% or 95% of us are saying (each in our own ways) is that the art for LZ is poor. Some say it could be better, some say bad and some say shit. All the same way of saying it’s not good.

It’s simply, undeniably one of the worst art packages that we have seen in years. Even Jeff Teolis, whose dream theme is LZ, hinted it’s not fantastically fantastic which translates for him into being not great.

I look forward to to seeing how it shoots and all other elements of the game might be great.

Fair enough, SW playfield looks way better than LZ!

Look at how at least on SW, the location of the inserts were clearly designed with shots and art in mind.

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Now compare with LZ. Clearly art was just pasted on after design and even a poor job at that. Look at how inserts cover up art haphazardly. Lowest in the industry. Other Sterns games are great, this is just clear as day really poor work.

Now if you don’t see it, I’m happy for you as maybe ignorance is bliss. But for those who have an eye, which is pretty much most of us, one can tell the difference.

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And if you don’t care, then don’t care enough to comment. I care because I care and that’s why I comment.

100% exacty how I feel