RUSH line is halted due to parts availability as of this afternoon. They're building Mando Premiums that should have been built in Dec on the line instead until more RUSH parts show up. So...great for Mando Prem buyers?

If they're running full bore, that's almost 500 a week, so do they need to run the rest of Jan to do all the Mando? Seems like 500 Prem would catch them up, but maybe not...

I heard Mando was a Brony, so that checks out.

I think it's great that the US is finally getting a clue about chip manufacture at home being tied to security, but this is mostly PR.

Phase 1 of the factory won't be ready for 3-4 years, so it's not a quick fix, and it will barely scratch US production capacity which is at 12% (it was more than 40% of world chip production in the 90s) and still falling while the factory is being built. We need about 10 of these projects to make a difference. $20 Billion is nothing for a chip fab project.

They're not cliffies. Stern ripped him off. Shamelessly.

But Cliff will be plenty busy making up for Stern's bad knockoff protector.

I'd at least mylar it until you can get a cliffy on there. Chipping would be bad.

Penny pinchers cost reducing past the point of failure. Did it with the cabinets, too and had to back off. Rip off Cliff to avoid paying for his innovation, then cheapen the spec by not using the right steel. It looks the same, so who'll know they went cheaper steel...right? Right?

You can add insider connect to Iron Maiden if you want it for around $200.

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/502-5420-01

Marco's OOS, but email terry at pinball life with the part number and he might be able to get it for you.

It's not in Stern's "archive" section, so maybe they still have the license?

Here's the video

An embedded youtube video is way more convenient than an offsite facebook link complete with invasive tracking. I always try to offer a youtube embed where possible. The less people that go to facebook, the better.

They are both evil, but Facebook is arguably worse. They have been caught doing more bad things in the corporate scummery olympics. Also, Google is tough to cut out of your life. Facebook is COMPLETELY unnecessary and can be cut out without much damage. So start with the easy stuff. Google's time is coming.

Where's Rush Prem? Is it just not listed because he has none to sell?

Thanks for the clarification. So Rush LEs are on the line now, then Premiums in a couple weeks, then back to Pros?

That's actually good news. Catch up on the backlog before announcing ANOTHER game you can't make on time. Give time for parts for the next game to fully arrive so there are no line delays once production starts.

Training camps don't matter to pick the best players. Stern's already playing Moneyball. Consistent base hitters are the order of the day.

Never use a uv light in a bathroom. They look like a crime scene because the residue from ingredients in cleaners used over the years are picked up, too.

Maybe Stern was waiting for the Idiot Sandwich new protectors to be done so they can ship with the direct-sale LEs.

Well, they had WWE LE machines they couldn't sell and some Pros they were literally giving away as prizes to get rid of sitting in the corner of the warehouse for YEARS, so it's not like it's never happened.

Might be because Stern didn't complete all the LEs due to parts running out for Rush LE. Would make some sense...

Also, Mandalorian is on the line right now. No idea why. Some dists have had it in-stock to buy anytime. We need more?

I don't know what the "parts" were that were the problem, but I doubt it was scoop-related. They were fine with sending out regular and idiot sandwich scoops on the LE and later Premiums.

Godzilla Pro and Prem are after the Mandalorians on the line now.

Apparently not?

If Stern's running at full speed, they can do ~500/wk, so the Mandalorians will be done probably this week if they aren't already (no idea how many they're doing). That would leave time to run GZ Pro and Prems in March, maybe spilling into the beginning of April.

Probably building what they have all the parts to run. It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to keep the line moving.

The value just isn't there for the abhorrent jump in price. If Stern had made the 40th Elvira really special and put Nordman's original ramps back in and the wheel of fate, they would have sold out immediately. But some extra trim for 2x as much? Uh, yeah...no.

But just like with auto manufacture, a supplier Stern uses that's local to them may incorporate parts in the product they make for Stern from overseas, which causes shortages anyway.

Nice that Gomez confirmed that the home market is over 50% of their business now. HOW MUCH over 50% is the question.

I guess they're all "in production" until they're in the archive.

I think a slow start for it until code matured coupled with the more complicated and expensive build with the projector and the finicky ball lock made it more trouble than it's worth. But maybe they'll run more when the next season shows up later this year.

Also, parts issues GETTING the projector may have fed the decision...

They'd be better off not running or significantly cutting back the TMNT Pro & Premium run in Dec and expanding the Elvira Premium run instead. There are a lot of unsold TMNT already chilling at distributor warehouses. It did not sell great. It seems like Elvira is oversold.

Yes.

I don't think so. But if someone has a line pic from today that would be helpful. More like next week for AIQ.

AIQ, Rush, then JP Prems, so probably not until the 3rd week in April at the earliest.

Forced bundles of garbage accessories was basically the same thing, and Best Buy has no problem whipping that trick out as needed.

Gamestop, Walmart are notorious for it, but I think Best Buy isn't above it, either. At least that's my memory when I was trying to get one for the kiddies.

I think the freight company used is up to the distributor. Aside from the IC sales, I don't think Stern drop ships anymore.

They're making more, but that's the problem. Many distributors have Mando in stock right now from prior runs with no takers. So Stern making more Mando just makes that problem for the other distributors with stock already worse because judging by sales it's not that popular. If Stern concentrated on the popular pins that are massively backlogged, you could go to another dist that has Mando right now and get that and Stern could work on reducing the backlog of Godzilla, Deadpool, Elvira, JP, etc that are in heavy demand.

If you're taking Mando off the hands of a distributor with stock of them that isn't moving, you're making a friend, and probably getting a deal ("deal" being a relative term in these inflated days).

It really varies by distributor, but generally speaking, once you have a tracking number, it's 5-10 days before it's in your home (or much less if you're very close to the dist).

Possible a distributor nickel and diming disinformation operation. I've just heard from a lot of places for a while now that Stern stopped drop shipping for distributors (which doesn't make a lot of sense to double the shipping by not doing it) and that's why shipping fees are a thing now.

Look at the resale history for Mando. In an era of crazy used market pricing on Prem and LEs (and sometimes even Pros), it's stayed around MSRP or even less on the secondary market, lagging its peers like Elvira, Godzilla, Deadpool, etc. Demand is not great enough to push it over 1-2k or more over MSRP used and stay there like prices have routinely gone for other Prem/LE.

Now, will that change when they have a new season of actual Mandalorian? Maybe. Hard to say. But right now it's not one of the "hot" pins on either the new or secondary market, and hasn't been pretty much since shortly after its release.

Not fully.

They ran out of parts on the GZ just last week and are finishing it up (now that they have the parts?) after AIQ gets off the line shortly.

If JJP Toy Story-themed pin really is coming in June, maybe Stern will do their usual and make an announcement just before to steal some of JJP's thunder...

The LE really should be the CE to just take the word limited out of there. Make as many as the market will bear. Multiple runs. Some people want that mirrored backglass, which ONLY comes on the top machine. Why limit it? Make the top one the Collector's model and make all the market wants, on multiple runs. Sure, you'll have a WWE LE dud with leftover stock stinking up the warehouse for years every now and again, but with a small initial run of the "normal" 500 or so, Stern can gauge the market and re-run more if the market demands. It really is leaving a not-insignificant amount of money on the table, and Stern hates that, so why are they ok with it now?

December.

After AIQ. Around the 3/4th week in April.

I can't say FOR SURE Rush isn't on the line, but they also had to fill-in the GZ units they ran out of parts on earlier in the month after the AIQ run is done, which will take a short bit also, so I think Rush being on the line right now is really unlikely, but it'd be great if they FINALLY were running their CURRENT game for everyone that's been waiting.

Yes, but I think most distributors are taking orders now for next year on GZ Premiums. No real FOMO. Stern will be making it for a long time, I think.

The big negative changes with Stern in parts cost cutting and BOM reduction happened after the investment company came when Stern almost went out of business around the economic crash of 2008. Higher prices for less game started right after that point, and clearly has the investment group's fingerprints all over it.

Speaking of highs and lows, I *highly* recommend watching the Tony Hawk:Until the Wheels Fall Off documentary on HBOMAX. It's excellent. Having seen it, I would love to see sk8ball do not just a Tony Hawk pin, but a Legends of Skateboarding type pin with the Bone Brigade and all those guys you see in the documentary. Rodney Mullen spitting Nietzsche callouts in his zen way would be fantastic.

Yeah, when they announced those 6 month adjusting US bonds that are giving 7.25% currently, I was like, "WOW" - pretty crazy inflation for that to happen.

1/4/22 for me. I think it was launch day. This is the launch RUSH Pro that was delayed 4 months. I ended up just getting a RUSH LE so I could do the mods in a timely fashion and have already sold the now-unneeded Pro that will ship to the new owner directly.

Womp, womp. Maybe not. RUSH Pros are halted for running out of parts. They're making RUSH premiums now. RUSH Pro may resume later this week or early next.

Yeah, they had a good start, then hit a wall. Frustrating for a lot of RUSH Pro customers waiting for their day-one orders for just shy of 4 months now...

Cabinet art, translite, badge, plastic apron, static ramp, etc. I'm sure there are a lot other smaller differences, too.

Do not want naked Woody cabinet.

Certainly a long way to go for a JAWS tie-in, though.

I enjoyed Deadpool Prem a LOT, but it really is hurt by missing those two quests/bosses they cut. Makes it grindier than it should be once you're not dazzled by the facade of lights and humor.

You may not have to do either of those things. Hit up Borygard here on pinside. He fixes node boards. If he's not too backed up, he might be able to get you back in business reasonably. I don't know if he keeps spare parts like CPUs in his node board boneyard, but it's worth a shot to see if he can help.

What year are you shooting for?

A Stern throuple.

Get Maiden while you can at NIB price if they're really making them. It's a GREAT pin. I went from Pro to Prem and they both play very differently, but I prefer the Prem.

I'd get on the horn and see if you can find a dist that has stock or incoming stock. If you do it in the next few days, you might get lucky. If you fail, you can always settle for a Pro to get you by until your Prem is ready next year, then sell the Pro.

This is correct. Just got word my JP Prem's coming. Can finally fill that hole in my temp testing chart.

Maybe they have parts to build them and if there's a delay with the other games, they'll slip it in. Does seem weird it's not archived, but GotG 3 is only a year away, so...

May 2023. Almost exactly a year from now.

It is kind of pot luck, but on balance most of the recent NIB Stern machines I've received have glass that is a little to a lot too tight.

We have little humidity in the central valley of CA, so it's not that. Loosening the rails and bending slightly helps, but it's a pain.

It's been going on long before they got flooded.

Elvis Limited Edition was the first LE, metal collector's plate, brass armor and everything. Beat Avatar by like 6 years.

Probably has to do with blowing through the parts they have for it then retiring it. Definitely hasn't set the sales charts on fire.

If you look at what I quoted, I was talking about LZ.

Probably, but not anytime soon.

T-Force (apparently used to be UPS freight?) is the only one that I've received pins from that SUUUUUUUCKED. Worst customer service and logistics, ever.

I only experienced T-Force after that point, then. Whatever they are now is TERRIBLE. I will absolutely ask that any pin I buy is NEVER shipped with T-Force. Completely awful experience, and over 2 weeks to get from IL to CA, which is crazy when some can do it (and have on other pins I've received) in as little as 4 days.

Not enough information. Really depends on the distributor you ordered from in a lot of cases.

Pro->LE->Premium->Pro

This completely ignores the reality that licensed themes have contracts and contracts have deadlines. COVID lockdowns softened those contract deadlines a little, but those days are pretty much over from a licensor standpoint. They need to hit their marks on licensed releases.

Stern isn't the same Stern as it was then. It's basically controlled by an investment group now that bailed them out after they almost went under in the housing crash era.

In 2009 it was Hagerty Peterson and Company that invested in Stern when it was on life support and Gary had fired most of the talent because he couldn't pay them. After the deal, Gary stayed on as CEO. Money terms were not disclosed. No idea if the investment company has since sold their stake to another investment company or are still holding it because the namesake Bill Hagerty was a Trump appointee for Ambassador to Japan and then rejoined Hall Capital in 2019.

As of 2013 Gary had said that the revenue since the investment partnership had tripled. I'm sure it's done a LOT more since then because the 2022 BOM and 2008 BOM are wildly different while the price is literally doubled or more.

Caught Somewhere in Time

Just an FYI because it's pretty-rare these days, but Karl DeAngelo is competing in the Match Play (various times, Thurs-Sat, Playoffs on Sat) and Pro Pinball (Sun 4-10pm) tournaments at Yegpin that starts tomorrow.

He's also doing the tournament software, so I'm not sure if competing will have his full attention, but I hope so!

When I have a streaming link, I'll post it. It may be on iepinball twitch , but not sure.

Call around. RUSH Prems are in stock here and there. Get it today.

There you go, DanQverymuch - TILT has one ready for you right now, and you couldn't ask for a better dist.

Finding them elsewhere will definitely be onesie-twosie, but they're in stock at a number of dists that I know of. There's really no reason to wait months more because you're on a list somewhere for the indeterminate future delivery.

Moral of the story is if you WANT one, you can make it happen, but you have to put in a moderately intense few days to weeks of work seeing what's out there and make yourself known.

Those dollar waiting lists are marketing, that's it. Unfortunately it makes for LONG lists.

Stranger Things Premium models are a pain to assemble so they work correctly is the most-likely reason. Second most likely is they can't get the premium-specific parts in a timely manner.

That'd be great, but I think it's still a week or two away.

I think Munsters was less. A fart in the wind and sales died completely once it was clear no more code was coming to fix it.

Do we know for sure there ARE pros for Bond? If it's a kapow release prem is the starting level.

It's easy to sell out a run of a few hundred just there to use up remaining parts. That's why there were no more. It was a disappointing seller by the numbers and TERRIBLE on route for us and others. Fastest in to out of the route of any pin, ever. Which was a shame because I was super-high on the theme.

I'm glad I got to experience the expression lighting with the RUSH LE I had. I can't believe people are STILL waiting to purchase it for their non-LE RUSH machines...

I think the key words are "around here." It's probably a regional thing. I know of dealers sitting on LZs for a long time, too, but in other areas of the country.

zeppelin map (resized).jpg

Supposedly around 6 weeks from now for the LE with Prem right after. Non-location Pros are said to be APRIL 2023.

It sounds like you just need to have that heart to heart with Trent about going steady with him as your distributor. He won't beat you up, and even though he has a large plate of customer chicken on the side, he'll always make you feel like his #1.

Yeah, it's messy, but the timing is probably a contractual obligation to meet the 60th Anniversary celebration with a "release" and some Bond blinky light boxes for the celebration in London even if the actual builds with more complete code came two months later.

The fastest way to move the Mandos out of the channel is to revisit the code and make it better. It's just dull the way it is. The market knows and that's why they're languishing at dists.

That would mean a totally new playfield design from Borg. Do you know how much you're asking?

But the amount of rapid fire playfield layouts RIGHT NOW he's churning out that are very unique, one right after another, all of them working at a high level, is unprecedented for the modern era.

Why? You're not talking about the ebay "Mad Amusements" guy, right? That's someone different...

Couple weeks if Stern is full steam and there are no parts issues.

Inaccurate NOW. Because Stern backed off saying that first run of Pros was all location when the market freaked out. AFTER that Gomez and Stern's story changed to "we might be able to get enough pros made so some non-locations can get machines from that first Pro run. That was NOT what was communicated first. The story and intent changed after the freakout.

But even if they do, it's not going to be enough pros to satisfy 1/10th of the demand, so most people that want pros will be waiting months or giving up and buying a Premium from the Dec run (which is much more profitable for Stern).

In general, if the price is changed, that's a material change of your contract and you can get your deposit back if you don't want to pay the new price. Your deposit is only non-refundable if the price of the machine you put the deposit on does not change. IF it changes, you have the right to receive your deposit and walk away if you do not agree to the new price.

Lots of examples of better "luck." It really isn't luck at all, but depends on what distributor you ordered from and if you were ok with calling around to see what was out there from other distributors to move yourself up in the line. If you're really motivated, it's not out of the question that you could have one in a month if you do the legwork.

No luck there. That was just good old fashioned proactive action to lock one down instead of passively waiting on a deposit to come through.

That's another point, too. Subscribe to ALL the distributor's mailing lists.