I don't like judging people based on what they like. If you dig Supreme then okay. But the fact of that matter is, it's a really douchey brand. It's built around artificially constricting the supply of overpriced items that aren't particularly interesting to look at, it's just a rip off of Barbara Kruger.

People who wear Supreme are basically advertising that they paid too much for a t-shirt because it has a logo on it, and they want you to know it. They probably paid double too much too, because someone else is paying their way through college grabbing the drops and marking them up to sell to people who have more money than sense. (Make that hustle.)

Hey, it's your life, and if you're happy rocking a logo for some money more power to you I guess. But it shouldn't come as a surprise that a douchey brand attracts douchey people. I know some real idiots who love Supreme gear, and that for sure colors my impression of anyone I see wearing it.

Anyways, this pinball is ridiculously stupid. It could have been visually interesting with the color scheme, except it succumbed to the whole LOOK THERE ARE SUPREME LOGOS ON THIS OBJECT thing. I'd just laugh if I walked into a house and someone was displaying it.

I'm probably going to really laugh when the price is announced too.

It's a lifestyle brand that people spend thousands and thousands of dollars on annually. It's not for broke skateboarders, it's for rich kids, or ones who want to look like they are.

It's probably the biggest streetwear brand in the world, if you haven't heard of it that's just because you probably give people who say "streetwear" a blank look. Don't get me wrong, your life isn't missing anything because you haven't heard of Supreme, but it is a genuinely large phenomenon.

I think it's totally smart for Stern, and I bet they all sell out fast. Just because the brand is douchey doesn't mean it's not huge, with a following full of rich idiots. Everyone here going "I never heard of Supreme", no offense, that just means you're really out of touch, not that it's niche. This isn't some underground thing only kids know about, it's a massive brand that's had more than a fair share of wasted ink news coverage.

Seriously, it's a billion dollar brand now: https://www.gq.com/story/supreme-billion-dollar-valuation

Covered in Vogue: https://www.vogue.com/article/history-of-supreme-skate-clothing-brand

Fast Company: https://www.fastcompany.com/40480149/supreme-is-now-a-unicorn-500-million-carlyle-group-deal

Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-streetwear-brand-supreme-is-worth-1-billion-and-abercrombie-isnt-1508331601

New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/22/fashion/guerrilla-fashion-the-story-of-supreme.html

Wired: https://www.wired.com/2017/05/using-bots-to-buy-supreme-limited-edition-streetwear/

I could go on. Point is, you haven't heard of it, fine, you're just not paying attention, it doesn't mean you have any insight into anything about how popular it is.

I'm not friends with anyone who likes Supreme. The entire premise of spending a ton of money to wear someone else's rip-off logo as a status symbol that's purposefully sold in small quantities to jack the price up is utterly douchey.

Idiots are spending $1000 on eBay to get a brick with the Supreme logo on it. Those people? Douchebags.

If you like Supreme that's fine. It doesn't make you a bad person. But while the box logo might impress some people, there are others who are going to assume you're an idiot for wearing it. Just the nature of the beast, have to be at peace with that if you want to be into it.

I like your example, I feel the same way about anyone buying a Supreme brick as I do a Super LE. Your money, waste it however you like. At least Supreme didn't make the people who wanted a brick fill out an application to see if they were worthy.

It doesn't. Nor does liking Supreme. But it's a douchey brand, and the idea of paying extra so you can wear a logo that says "I have a limited thing that's expensive on and you don't" doesn't really endear the idea to me. It's just streetwear, I don't take it all that seriously, but it's played out fake limited streetwear, so if you're really a hypebeast you could do better. Wear Rebel 8 or something instead, at least you'd be supporting real artistic talent then.

Just because a brand gets their logo on a pinball machine doesn’t mean anyone needs to celebrate. I’ll feel how I want about Supreme all I want, pinball or not.

Yeah, I just think the brand is kinda dumb. It's enjoyed by millions of people, and they're not all jerks or anything, nobody should take it personally. If you like Supreme enjoy. You've gotta know that that rich kid with the Supreme Ferrari is how a lot of people see it though, you'd have to be really not paying attention to not realize it, so I feel like you gotta just own those lumps. I feel the same way about say, Kanye West. He's a douchebag. You're never going to convince me otherwise, he's proven it over and over. Doesn't mean I think you shouldn't listen to his music if you like it. Be happy. But don't get mad when people call him out for being a self absorbed idiot just because you like his songs or beats or whatever.

Stern is doing this because someone figured out how to make minds meet to make money, let's not pretend otherwise, but good for them. There's no reason to hate on Stern here. Sure, it's recycled home Spider-Man, but so what? You think Supreme deserves some custom game made just for them, that no one who buys it will appreciate?

As for the Instagram views and exposure thing, I just don't think it's a big deal, like it's some amazing thing for pinball. It could be that brick, you know? Sure, maybe the hobby will pick up some new rich collectors, yay, but the 10 people who become full on collectors because they got their dicks wet with a Supreme machine aren't anything to write home about. The people on Pinside who op games deserve 200x more credit, and they barely get any.

Rich enough that you have $300 in disposable income to spend on something that makes you happy? No one should throw stones about spending stupid money on stupid things on a forum for people who think it's reasonable to own pinball machines.

I'm not down on anyone here who buys Supreme, I don't mean anything personal with my takes. People can buy Supreme bricks, or a ColorDMD or blow $9k on a JJP game. I just bought TNA. Cost a bit more than a Supreme t-shirt.

Buy the Stern Supreme game if you want one. I'd love to play one, I'm curious. I can think it's dumb, and a waste of money, but I don't begrudge anyone doing it, it's just my personal take. I like that the sounds are old school, that works for me.

But look at it. The red and white is interesting, it could have gone somewhere, but the whole thing is just their name plastered left and right. Look at the translite. We talk crazy shit about the smallest details in the art, how come Starlord doesn't have his helmet on, that mirrored part looks like 2 dicks, and no one cares that the whole backglass is just their logo half cut off?

It's not a pinball, it's a branding exercise. It's like the box the game was supposed to ship in got accidentally printed on the game instead.

As an ad, like a concept game for the cover of their latest catalogue, that lives in their flagship store or something? Sure whatever, it's a good ad. The graphic design is strong, Supreme design is basic but solid typography and boxes, it's fine, albeit derivative and uninspired. But does it make a good pinball machine? Does it sitting next to that tacky Ferrari as a trophy in some rich douchebag's garage make you love pinball more? Eh, that's what I say.

But it's a free country, buy what you want.

All of their art is and always has been done by Mike Giant, who's ridiculously talented. He was a friend of a friend when we were both in San Francisco, I hung out with him a bit, but never knew him well. He did the art for one of my first album covers, sent me zines, and I followed his career. His drawings have been ripped off a lot, which sucks, but he's always found a way to move on to the next thing, while still maintaining a consistent style.

Put it this way: if Rebel 8 did a pinball machine, sure, it might have big 8s on the side of the cabinet or something, but I promise you the translite would look amazing, even if it was black and white. I'm a graphic designer, I dig typography, text in a box is cool, but I need more than that. Pinball needs art, not just type. IMHO!

Haha 12 games, so much for the "this is awesome, it's going to introduce millions of people to pinball!" narrative.

Even for a retheme that's too much damn work for 12 games, I admit to being pretty curious about the economics of it all now. Can't wait to see what these actually sell for.

Because they saw an instagram post with a pin in it? Come on, that's meaningless. No one was introduced to anything. The whole "expanding the market" narrative of this thread fell on its face. It's a limited edition vanity project, and that's fine, I'm not hating on Stern for doing it. But this is as dumb as the idea that Magic Girl was going to make unannounced appearances at laundromats when it comes to spreading some pinball gospel.

That Saudi guy with the shitty looking Ferrari will buy one, his hanger on friends will play it, and that will be the end of the great pinball market expansion. A single Pinsider putting their first game on route will expose more people to real pinball.

I will freely admit to being too lazy to re-read 7 pages of thread to find examples, so I'll concede the argument and simply say that this is a funny little project, I'm not mad that it exists, and I personally believe the impact on pinball as a whole will be unmeasurably small.

I'm going with that, no one said that, yes.

If I had known from the start they were only making 12 of these I would have saved myself a lot of typing, this is an utter nothing burger, with a few funny pictures, and some pretty cool sound effects. The impact of this on pinball will only manifest in some fashion if Stern uses this as a stepping stone for some other retheme project.

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