Teaser maybe today. With it being Labor Day weekend, timing makes more sense next Friday. The usual unveil is teaser end of week with a distribution conference call on Monday, then release on Tuesday.

Nothing on their Youtube page yet, and they haven't mapped /Godzilla/ on their website so far.

The wait continues.

Yes

I am baffled by the prevalence of opinion that Back to the Future is a more profitable license for a pinball machine than Godzilla. A good-but-not-great 80’s movie that is far from the purchasing public’s consciousness vs. a monster movie franchise with three American releases in the past five years and literally toys on Wal-Mart shelves right now. And that leaves nothing to say about the apples vs apples comparisons of legacy and cult status of each respective franchise.

Either way, it is Godzilla, and I have never seen Stern more sure of what they have than they are with this title. They are letting operators buy 3 and are pumping out location games first like they have never offered to do before.

I hope you get BTTF. I fear for the marketability of that license beyond the 40-50 people here that are so enamored with the thought, but I don’t know a thing about such potential. In my opinion there are far better 80s movie licenses for properties that have carried much more general popularity into the 2020s: Ferris Butler’s Day Off, E.T., and Goonies come to mind top of head.

But I do think that Godzilla will prove to be a wildly popular license. I just don’t think there is any objective truth to the belief that a random family walking by a row of operated games will be drawn to a Back to the Future title with anywhere near the frequency of Godzilla. I mean, screeching Kaiju and mass destruction vs. Delorean and MJF likeness. Come on.

9/8

Listen fellas, I’m no stranger to the cinephile, uber dork , and geekdom culture. I’ve been a member of the 501st since 2007 and I’ve been to every con and comic show and cosplay event there is and you can name. I know dudes that go to LebowskiFest, which is an annual event. I’ve been on RPF for 15 years. All that said, I think I have my finger
on the pulse of pop culture and what licenses do and do not move the needle for large numbers of people.

That is not to say that there isn’t a loyal following to a particular movie. That isn’t to say that replica cars from certain movies and shows aren’t highly prized and collectible and outlandishly priced. All very true. But BTTF is not, on the grand scale of pop culture fandoms, anywhere near the behemoth some here will have us believe. It isn’t close to Indiana Jones, for example - a license having produced two machines.

And give me a break on certain items being produced for BTTF or a gathering of celebs at a con. Firefly gets that same treatment and was a tiny property. Godzilla has had posters and figures and merch released on Mondo literally in the last week that sold out in seconds. You don’t dig Godzilla. Cool. But to suggest it’s a niche or “left field” license is absurd. It’s massive and ubiquitous and global - a perfect international recipe. I’m not in any way suggesting I don’t like BTTF (the sequels blow, but I digress). But I am saying that it’s just not a heavy-hitter property and there is no comparison here between the two potential licenses. Wanna know how I know? Gary licensed Godzilla and gave it to his MVP and is pumping the hell out of it behind the scenes to the distros.

That’s fundamentally untrue. Why do you think AC/DC was chosen before all the other bands that Stern produced? The first run of pros go onto shipping containers to Europe and Australia. The worldwide market is 100% relevant. A license that leaves Europeans and Australians (in particular) scratching their heads is a non-starter. Hell, Munsters was a questionable choice in that department.

Two different conversations. The point to which I was responding here was the assertion that Stern doesn’t consider global interest for licenses. I wasn’t weighing BTTF vs Godzilla in Oz. I have no clue.

JJP with their one game per 18 months production capability, biodegradable playfields, and up-to-the-minute razor’s edge licenses like Guns N Roses and Toy Story? Stern needs worry about them? Please.

Why wouldn’t they be putting equal effort into pushing the standalone system to connect to the other Spike 2 games that Ops already bought and are far more likely to buy en masse? Nobody is buying multiple new pins for location because of the Connected system.

Rush is rumored to be a boutique run. That would make more sense.

I missed that. If he said it, it is true.

Steve gets a bad rap starting with Star Wars, and it was undeserved on that one. That machine is fun as hell. Where he really seems to have started to slip was on BKSOR. It just didn’t work and it really exposed how far the pin world had passed him by. The avalanche of opinion was off and running by that point and it swept LZ up into its wake. I think LZ is a good, but nothing special game if it was judged standing purely on its own. But when you know it’s a SR game, you look at it sideways and wonder why it’s not Star Trek or Spider-Man good.

Yeah, it could have been a great game had Gary not forced the BOM cuts at the time. But as far as the design itself and layout, the game shoots well and is fun and fast.

Eh. That’s my opinion. But I concede they are close comparisons in the pop culture zeitgeist. If you wanted to argue that BTTF sells more than Ferris, I wouldn’t argue that point too much. They’ve already made one BTTF pin, so you have evidence in the past that it was true. I personally wouldn’t pick either for a pin license today. But I would make a Goonies pin and expect it to sell all day. I stand by that. I’ve heard clamoring for Goonies in this hobby for 20 years.

Gary told Jody to go get the Godzilla license because it’s a huge get. Jody made a big scene of cockblocking Charlie (according to Charlie, who I have never heard any reason to think exaggerated or misrepresented the events). Yes, Charlie got screwed out of Godzilla. But Gary isn’t in the business of being petty on licenses. It’s a huge property and he wanted it. Jody was just a prick and crashed Charlie’s meeting with Toho.

Oops.

Honestly, who gives a wet fart about the story line in a Kaiju movie? Your description leads me to believe you are always on the prowl to root out woke lib SJW types and own them with things like scathing movie reviews of Kaiju movies that don’t even mention the Kaiju.

What just happened? Complained about the plot of a Godzilla movie with specificity and angst, then made my point and went Zen. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

I don't know who needs to hear this, but I have been buying and trading and flipping machines since 2004/05, and the conversations have literally never changed. The prices of NIB Sterns and secondary market prices have been lamented and debated and cursed and lambasted for 20 years. Anyone around in the hobby back then will remember the constant insistence that JUDGE DREDD IS NOT A $1000 MACHINE!!. TAF hit $3500 and everyone was going to quit the hobby. LOTR LE NIB price was the apocalypse. TAF hit $5000 and the sky was falling. AC/DC LE NIB and secondary prices was the bubble that would end it all. TZ IS NOT A $6,000 GAME!!!! JJP took preorders for WOZ and the price was enough to send everyone out of the hobby forever. Avengers proved that the NIB LE buyers were submarined forever and would end the "buy before you play" practice. MM hit $10K then $12K and nobody would ever be able to afford this hobby anymore. Stern raised prices to be competitive with JJP and it would send Gary to the soup line...

It's the same conversation year after year after year. But I'll tell you that this hobby and this place are more chock full of buyers and players and people in the hobby than anytime in the 20 year history I have in it. the only difference is that the barn finds are found and the great deals on slightly broken machines are bought and repaired.

The couple of people that are actually in the know say it is so, thus it is so.

I warned you guys about that huckster. I don’t care who is actually in charge over there now, that’s the House that Jack built and it’s not on a foundation you can trust.

BOOM!

Toho doesn’t own Kong, Warner Bros. does. This is only classic Toho Godzilla.

Toho is the producer, distributor, and owns the rights to Godzilla.

It’s my BDay week too. My distro is getting me an LE.

About once a month or so. I watched Shin Godzilla with my kid about 3 weeks ago. Classic Toho Godzilla is a thing, dude. Huge fanbase.

Should I buy TWD over BTTF, also?

25 or 6 to 4 Multiball doesn’t sound like fun?

Those posts are just exhausting. It’s like reading code. But nonsensical.

Same-same.

They have a big conference stream with the distros about now, where they show them the game and all the features and talking points, etc... That's also when they let them know how many LEs there will be and the distros get their allotment counts.

Word is that the assets on the screen will be very much like JP, in that they didn't pay a bunch of licensing for clips and video. It'll be animated in house. And that decision was made to put max BOM on the playfield. Rumor of lots of metal, ala AIQ, and a killer mech.

The Toho films are broken into 4 eras. Showa was first.

Millennium

I would love to see them use Heisei stuff, but I suspect it will be early Showa.

Yeah, me too. Godzilla and Pulp Fiction are the only themes I could imagine would make me commit to a price I don’t know and a machine I haven’t seen. But dammit, I’m pot committed now. Hearing somewhere between $9,995 and $10,995.

Distros get the info tomorrow and then it’s off to the races. This is going to be a bloodbath.

The reveal will be right after the distro presentation. They don’t want leaked pics from that meeting being the first thing we see.

LE locked and loaded. This looks incredible.

Over the figure? Lol. Dump it to someone that wants it, then.

Maybe a tribute to the original 1954 film poster, instead?

godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-1954,mg0083978 (resized).jpg

That's awesome.

Underrated game.

BTTF LE armor should be brushed stainless steel, like the DeLorean.

Thank you for coming to my BTTF Design Ted Talk.

Plutonium case that opens.

C109CD2A-9357-4CE0-86F3-C6DD9048A300 (resized).jpeg

Universal Studios holds rights to Marvel and has a bunch of Marvel rides and character stuff in their park.

Seems weird to bring a team out to sign a dead for a Marvel license at a Mickey Mouse park, too. *shrug*

Tom Sawyer
Limelight
Spirit of Radio

Snatch is an original idea that you could do so many great things with. Bullet Tooth Tony. One Punch Mickey. Boris the Bullet Dodger. Hare coursing. All. Bets. Are. Off.

Man, I’m convinced. Let’s do this.