It worked as far as recruiting. My brothers best friend in High school always loved watching the movie. About 5-10 years after he graduated I ran into him. He was flying F15’s.

Just out of curiosity how did all the homoerotica stuff get in the movie? It just seems odd if they had rights to the script they where ok with all of that especially at the time. Was it some kind of trade off like we agree to military propaganda so long as we get all the soft gay stuff and the movie still ends with you can ride my tail anytime I came out of the the theatre at like 15 thinking well that was weird.

Are you talking about the OG, the new one or both. And it's probably billions of dollars as a single F15 costs nearly 90 million dollars and a carrier full of them is going to be well over a billion. I'm guessing both as where else could they get not only access to the planes / ships but the permission to fly them at the altitudes and areas they use for filming. The interviews with the pilots that did a lot of the flying in the first one are entertaining as they were allowed to do stuff that would have instantly gotten them court-martialed and possibly jailed if not for the film.

Anyway, back to pinball. If this were the 90s they'd just do an F22 pin as a follow up to F14 and just mimic the movie enough for you to get the gist but not pay for any license, worry about assets, etc.

Oh it was geared to a male audience there is no doubt about that. Was it just the stereotype of the navy? It runs through the entire film. I’m not familiar with the history was it during the whole don’t ask don’t tell of the US military?

Yeah, that was just you.

I joined the navy in 1988 (Seabees) Got out in 1991.. If I had a
nickel for the number of guys lied to by their
recruiter about how they could end up like Tom
Cruise from top gun I'd be a rich man.

That movie definitely reeled in some gullible
dudes. Felt sorry for them tbh.

First I think it’s a great movie and there is no negative connotation. There are a thousand breakdowns on the film. Tarantino has an entire monologue on the subject. I didn’t realize it was influenced by the military so it surprised me they approved it at the time.

Of course he is out there, it’s what makes his movies amazing. My point was only the homoerotic subplot is as much a part of pop culture as the movie itself. This isn’t some obscure conspiracy or a secret it’s a widely accepted theme of the film. If they could afford it, it would be on as double feature with the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The puzzles are training tools for those who get unpopulated PFs and have to do the swap.

Fair enough. Just found it interesting that the military influence was a surprise to me. I’m Canadian though so none of that aspect existed for me but the other side did. Funny cultural difference.

P.S. I wasn’t trying offend or insult anyone was just shooting the breeze and will let this get back to speculating what’s next from Stern.

You are reading way too much into man!

There is a private message feature that would probably be a better fit for your blossoming bromance.

Much respect to all who served but like you it never really held a lot of appeal to me. I had a Navy recruiter tell me they'd put me in charge of the reactor on a nuclear sub. I thought to myself I don't want to be on any ship where they would let someone as bad at advanced math and physics as me be in charge of the reactor LOL!

Godzilla could be hilarious.
Make it right Stern!

18FF4830-0288-412E-AC30-8A5E83B22C11.gif

No shit "Hard to Kill" confirmed. I loved that movie as a kid. Im going to Steven Seagal this bitch, LOL!

I feel like Lyman is the only Stern employee who could make good use of the assets. If it ends up being like Munsters, where they had the assets but were criminally underused, or JP/AIQ, where they had almost no assets, it’ll be a waist of time IMO.

So bad it’s insanely good, I need this in my life. Come on Stern!

100% agree.
If Lyman is on this and gives it his magic touch, with the same level of theme integration and attention to detail as BM66, then it could really be a fantastically fun game.

Anyone who has experienced Gappa angry in Elvira HOH knows the masters potential w/Godzilla.

EXACTLY this! Gappa angry is one of the best modes in pinball history.

I wish, I’m dying to play HOH! Unfortunately I think there are only about 10 in the UK, and all in private collectors homes, zero on location that I know of.

So then, extending this logic, do we interpret the wizard puzzle to be hinting at a vault or other variation redoing LOTR?

That's what I started thinking...

Every time I get to Gappa Angry I brick every shot until I drain. Arrrrgh! One of these days I'll actually progress in the damn thing!

Nippon is an awesome place where I’ve lived and done business for over 30 years. Headed up a nutraceuticals company as the shacho. Much of the time I haven’t spoken my first language English lol, so not rusty. Can’t wait for a ToHo Godzilla machine. LE here we come! 3rd reptile machine I’m buying. (First JP2, second TMNT, third Zilla!)

Yeah hoping Lyman is on code and agree completely with @Cooked71, Munsters assets were “crimminally underused” by Dwight.

I had a game where I completed GAPPA six ball twice! Completed directors cut Twice and completed everything else in the game as well as sold the house. Score was about 3.6 Billion. Havnt got close since! Wild game. Probably the best game of pinball I ever played.

That must have been awesome. I really love that game. I would really like to see Godzilla.

Keith writes his own rules so he doesn’t need Lyman......

I agree. Every time I play pinball I think how great it would be to fly and F-22... In fact I have never played a game of pinball listing to that horrible rock and roll music...Those two things definitely don’t go well together.

Puzzles of some backglass art are available.
https://www.pinballartusa.com/puzzle

I met this guy at TPF one year. Really nice fellow.

Keith doesn’t write the code. Lyman, Tim, and RayDay are all coders and great players.

He designs the rules or at least the overall framework and then has a coder implement it. Lyman designs rules AND implements it. Though all lead software guys delegate stuff to others.

I like the Elwin approach, as far as I understand it.

He’s definitely proven himself with rules and design, but he hasn’t yet made a game that makes good use of the theme and assets. No way I’m buying Godzilla with Stern generic cgi animations like Deadpool/JP/AIQ/TMNT etc etc. I want clever and humorous integration of Godzilla footage and sounds, combined with good gameplay and rules. That’s why I’m curious who else is working with him on code for Godzilla.

He does write the rules. On the whiteboard. For another programmer, wich is not Lyman because that would make no sense/ be a waste, to programm it.

Theme integration definitely doesnt seem to necessarily be a huge concern of stern, which seems strange considering their reliance on theme to sell machines. I do think that Deadpool and TMNT are done well and I, personally, like the way JP makes me feel like I'm in Jurassic Park rather than playing Jurassic Park but I understand people's concerns with it.

Do you have any predictions for 2021? You were spot on for 2020. Only one you mentioned we didn’t see yet was Bond.

Awesome stuff but pricey.

It’s an intentional choice by Keith, is my understanding. He’s got a rough budget to work within and can spend that budget on licensed material like real actor callouts/movie footage, or he can use Stern created footage and have a dinosaur mech above the left ramp with the money saved.
Some people prefer more licensed material and less on the playfield.

And yes, he’s very much responsible for the code despite not being listed as the coder.

So any guesses on the next Stern Puzzle?