I think this is a great move by Stern. It shows that they aren't blind to what's going on around them. Seeing Robin's picture at their factory today also reinforced that.

I think it 's nice to see and looks good. As others have said Stern should include these on the Le's. Or at least give an option like the armor or you get topper,rod, and blades.....either or.....

The announcement says the mods are available - where?

stern is becoming the walmart of pinballs. Next they will start offering led kits for all their previous games.

Stern should have been doing this all along rather than making a half dozen models to sell, limiting runs, changing up model types, then wondering why a particular model isn't selling and another is over-bought. Just make one model and sell the mods, separately and in upgrade packages, installed at the factory.

Yea, maybe they just sell a standard edition pin and people can customize/personalize it. It can be like burger king and people can have it their way.

From a sales perspective that kills the idea you are buying something "limited", which stops the frenzy that gets people to pay big bucks for a toy. The limited idea is what causes the pre-orders . . . I'm not sure why anyone would ever pre-order a pro (though I know some people do that) as they will be available for at least a year.

With an LE there is at least a risk of buy now or miss out. The premiums tarnished that thought of missing out and that may be why we aren't seeing the premium (yet) . . . they want people to buy the LE thinking it is the only way they will ever get the features.

I'm going through with my TWDLE pre-order . . . still . . .

Wow, well it is about time! I mean ... I wish these typical mods (blades with art, custom legs/armor, toppers, etc) came standard on games but at least they're offering them as extras if nothing else.

Right, and ultimately it's no extra effort from a manufacturing standpoint as compared to what they are already doing. 1 game, 2-3 optional trim packages.

I think the rails ($500) are extra even on the LE as Stern is showing them on the LE in the advertisement.

I wish Stern would send someone to my house to get the machine out of the box and put the legs on it, for those prices they should.

All for it, so long as they don't come after 3rd party modders. Smart move by Stern. Hopefully other manufacturers follow suit.

Forcing pre-orders is getting old in this industry... over/under promise, over/under estimate demand. When reality says Premiums are more limited than LEs, what is driving the frenzy to purchase the LE that will tank in the after-market? Usually it is just like you said, it is the full featured version of the game, the best looking version of the game, with the most mods. Stern can still upcharge $2k for the best trim packages... and make it available for a limited time if they want to force a quick decision. I'm a heavy proponent of providing everyone the same game-play experience, and a build-to demand business model, it's a win-win for everyone.

It's all good, I was just kidding anyway.

lol -I didn't mean that other mods are NOT quality, (though they aren't all!).
It is nice to see that the pricing will allow some others to continue to do what they do.

Count me in for the topper. To me, it's a must have to make the LE's even more limited.
With that said though , I can't see myself buying many mods from Stern. Just too pricey for me.
Hopefully we can buy these mod's from our distributers at a more reasonable price like we do the games. Good and smart move for Stern though.

I think this is a great, and overdue, idea.

I much prefer the ability for us to customize our pins at the dealer just like when buying a car than limited editions.

Game is more affordable for those who don't want the window dressing. But ultimately the same game experience itself.

Good job, Stern!

these really are WAY overpriced and if anything are an indicator of how much mark up is on a game. At the same time, it makes me wonder if they are seeing the trend of fewer games sales and trying to get creative with upselling on the ones they already have.

The mods themselves look cool, but would have me scratching my head if I were a LE buyer when my blinged machine does not automatically come with all the bling.

Art blades have the AMC logo in case anybody needed it again, and the side armor looks to have something white just beyond the flipper button - anybody make that out?

Well thank goodness, I wasn't getting enough of that AMC logo yet..

Wait until they hold stuff off LEs and sell it to you aftermarket. It's like the recent video game add-on phenomenon where they pull whole levels and features out of the games to sell to you after the game is bought instead of just including it in the game from the start.

Is this the first Stern topper since Southpark?

Maybe if they keep adding them you can get over the fact the company that owns something wants their name on it.

Stern may just be capitalizing on the appeal of this pin in particular - not sure if they will do pins too far back, or even in their next pin. I think it is fine for pinball manufacturers to provide additional accessories as mods. I am sure other moders will provide more selection and perhaps improved quality. I for one, don't mind Stern creating them.

Damn it feels like I'm paying $25 at McDonald's for a Big Mac value meal and they are telling me that ketchup and the straw are extra money...

I hope they make a "mod" for the Wolverine bash toy on the X-Men LE

That's called a "Pro" and there are features left off that you can't add-on no matter the cost.

Agreed. One of the reasons I have bought LEs in the past is because I want the most blinged out version. Now the LE isn't the most blinged out version they produce. Asking customers to spend another several hundred for a "super blinged" LE seems like a kick to the groin, especially given the skyrocketing price of the LEs to begin with.

The LE with the new rails, topper and a shaker is how I would go. Just not for the cash they are asking for.

i wonder if in the future, Stern will offer a price mod ?

Is the glass half-full, or half empty?
When I had my Met Premium, I enjoyed it a ton! The fact that my friend had one with a custom Sparky didn't make mine "less fun".

It's awesome that Stern is making mods. Especially great looking mods!
There are probably a lot of Pro owners out there who are happy they can add custom side armor now as well!

I just don't get some of you guys; if you don't like them enough to buy the mods, why are you treating it like a bad thing? Lighten up! It's just pinball.

This is a great idea. They need to add to the line a few things:

Real knocker (this is a no brainer)

They also need to start selling cabinet decals for older games like LOTR, TSPP, SM, FG, etc, etc using the new high res process. They would sell hundreds for each game.

How could this be anything other than a good thing? Ok, should these extras be part of the LE package I say yes but I'm glad Stern is making mods.

Whoops meant to give props to the original poster, for some reason the "quote" part did copy across correct.

Totally agree with the AMC comment above, thank goodness we have another callout for AMC on there...

Yes yes yes !!!!!!

For those that can't afford the machine, there is always the topper....

I wouldn't say it's a bad thing but it would've been nice if Stern gave some of us mod makers the opportunity to work with them (like they did with Pinball Armor) instead of blatently ripping us off. It's pretty obvious at this point that Jody and his crew scours Pinside for ideas.

hehehe
...on lay-away

Well I guess on the bright side none of these mods are on the playfield.

When you can buy a game for the price of a mod...

A playfield prison mod that actually did something other that just open to reveal another bash toy would be cool...

If they start selling code updates...I'm getting a pitch fork...

or any non Stern mods will void warranty.

Only here these are purely aesthetic add-ons and cost 50+ times more. Imagine how pissed you'd be if you bought a level pack for a game and it was just an empty world of scenery?

Technically, they could do that in the same way Apple does it with jailbroken phones.

I'm holding off judgement till after they start showing up on peoples games. The way people have complained about Stern quality let's just see what the quality of these mods are going to be and what the street price will be also.

$500 for the armor kit?? Couldn't you just buy a can of red paint, stick your hand in it and grab the legs and side rails etc. in random places and come up with the same effect? Ohhh, maybe that's how it's done?

Yeah because there were so many amazing, licensed, three-head zombie toppers and blood spattered armor kits on the market already here on Pinside. Jody surely must have read about the custom shooters that Williams put on the prototype Scared Stiff 20 years ago here on Pinside also. How dare they steal our ideas!

Sorry, but these mods are both original and cool.

$500 is what people are paying for Iron Man armor.

Comments about armor are well deserved. The topper though, is killer in my opinion.

I'm going to have to get that topper. It would be nice just as wall art, I like the pinball refinery side panels better.