I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way, but it needs to be reiterated nonetheless:

I'm tired of recycled themes made from a movie, TV show, hard rock band, or any other franchise made for a built-in audience. It's been a consistent theme for 30 years and the industry needs to evolve past this.

Granted, you can't go to the theater or turn on a TV these days without this same problem, but that's a separate issue & pinball has been this way since the 90s. This isn't to say I don't like the games themselves, mind you. The Munsters is fun, but, on the other hand, why the Munsters? Who was demanding a Munsters game? With the current resurgence of pinball in pop culture, there comes a new generation of younger people (myself included) who may have seen the Munsters, but definitely don't care about it. Even younger people may not know who or what the Munsters are at all.

A good example of a properly utilized theme would be the American Pinball game Oktoberfest. It's a recognizable theme, but still generic enough to where you can make it a unique play with an original design. That's a great game!

To their credit, Stern has straddled the fence on some of the newer games like Black Knight: Sword of Rage (a sequel) & Elvira's House of Horrors (sequel / character based). These games work because to the average person who doesn't play pinball they would assume these themes to be original & not the third installment of a previous game. To them, a Black Knight would just be a Black Knight.

Don't get me wrong, when they putt'em out, I'll play'em. However, the industry needs to pick themes more holistically. Instead of several games featuring several, specific hard rock bands, make one game that encompasses the theme of hard rock as a whole, like Heavy Metal Meltdown (1987).

Again, I will still keep playing AC/DC because it's a fun game, but I much prefer Bon Scott as a singer for that band and will therefore always pick his songs/modes over Brian Johnson's every single time. This is also the problem with built-in audiences because in every built in audience, there are also built-in detractors.

Still waiting on that Van Halen game.

Well, there's my answer. Thank you. Demographics will change though, they always do. I'm speaking from a perspective of someone who is younger, relatively new to pinball, can't afford to own or operate a machine, & hangs out at (b)arcades to play. I accept the industry is not built for people like me, but it won't be long before the old guard goes away and Millennials are blamed for killing another industry (i.e. changing demographics). It's just my opinion.

I've learned a lot from this post. Thanks. Nevertheless, I want Van Halen pinball more than ever.