What you said is it in a nutshell.

STERN has figured out the mentality of collectors in the last couple years. No matter what collectors say about costs, bill of materials, "think of the noobies", blah blah blah, they all ultimately want one thing: the same or better toys than other collectors.

The funny thing is I don't think it has anything to do with the gameplay, which is marginally different in the LE/Premiums, and sometimes, arguably inferior (TF mini-pf comes to mind). It's just one has a LE badge, and other has a Pro badge, therefore, "if I'm playing a Pro I must be having less fun".

Ha ha, I just talked about this and sure enough here it is. The gameplay is very marginally different between the models. At least, the features in either one don't make or break the pro or LE. This "different rules" argument that's continually harped on is vastly overstated. I have yet to ever meet a person who said, "Wow Tron Pro sucks, but the LE is great."

Going to tournaments? At a tournament, unless your name ends in Kerins or Elwin you can expect 50% of the games or more to be ones you've never seen before. But Stern should change their product strategy because a player might have to be aware of an additional mode or two?

Pinball ownership has ALWAYS been an elitist club. Who are these poor, destitute collectors being crowded into homeless shelters and using a translite as a blanket? How many people do I know who can come up with 5k for a pro but would descend into abject 3rd world poverty if they had to cough up an additional 2k for a premium/LE? By God, why is there no charity for this forgotten underclass?