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- Aug 2, 2011
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What has 2 flippers??? Your avatar?
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Hobbit early pics
- Thread starter johnwhitfield
- Start date
I am looking forward to this pin though, it will be nice to see another high end machine on the market with a theme that also appeals.
I am too. I would be quite happy though for them to not trickle out info to be overanalysed and studied to death years before the game is even out - yes there may be some momentary excitement with every titbit of info but by the time the game arrives there is little surprise and you feel like its been out forever already. Thats how I feel with WOZ.
WOZ certainly was an ongoing onlaught, I was wozzed out by the end (well after the 1st few months TBH), lets hope we don't get bored with the rings also 
do you have yours yet?
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2013
- Messages
- 81
The trickle of reveals would've been fine if it hadn't been for the delays. It's like getting a crowd raring to go and then all loudly count down from ten then make them wait another week before anything happens. Damp squib but I suppose these things don't always go to plan especially for a brand new company.
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Err, so the announcement has been pushed back. Not exactly doing themselves any favours here. (cue obvious jokes about if they can't get a press release out on schedule then what chance do they have for the real machine hitting the June deadline)
Really hoping for something good, but now seriously considering swapping my pre-order for an AC/DC. Do I really want to tie up my money for so long given the continuing WOZ delays? Really thought their WOZ customers would have been treated better. Fingers crossed for something that will grab my attention (And wallet!)
Really hoping for something good, but now seriously considering swapping my pre-order for an AC/DC. Do I really want to tie up my money for so long given the continuing WOZ delays? Really thought their WOZ customers would have been treated better. Fingers crossed for something that will grab my attention (And wallet!)
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Deleted member 181
I like your avatar john , I need that 
Oh and with the last Hobbit movie pushed back to December don't expect to see The Hobbit pinball out before then. They aren't going to allow spoilers on the artwork and LCD 6 months before the movie is released
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Sure it'll come back Will. I go through highs and lows. Picked up a Ripley's recently and that's grabbed my attention. Think I got sick of constantly repairing machines.
200 machines a month is good news, does this mean they've broken radio silence and given you a date yet Jon? (If you were an early order then within the next 3 months? When did you first have to put cash down?)
Bit worried though about the claims that new orders are being queue jumped (See today's pinside), I'd be fuming if I prepaid and then other people get prioritised. That's not good business sense as it's ripping off your existing sales base. Short term gain vs long term loyalty. That's part of my current discontent. I'm prepaying on a schedule for June 13 release but there's no commitment as to an arrival date. July 13 - fine, no stress. Possible slide to May 14? - then they can stick the machine sideways up their ****!
Got very different feeling to this compared to the Predator pre-order. $250 down and then the rest in delivery month, no stress and minimal risk.
Maybe I'm just getting nervous about the next 2 grand payment as 3 grand spent with sod all to show for it doesn't make that much sense.
Part of the whole stress is this stupid trap customers are in about pre-ordering and paying if you want a limited edition when there is no real information to make decisions on. Sooner or later people are going to get really stung. Fancy being the owner of a limited edition Rolling Stones? Never been interested in making a profit from machines but obviously don't want to pay 6k for a machine that basically sucks. Think I'm right that the limited Editions LOTR came out AFTER the regular, so people had a chance to play it first. That is a model that makes a lot more sense for me.
Although JJP may have caused Stern to up their game (hey I own BBH but even I'm not daft enough to buy Monopoly as well) they've also been extremely inflationary (not helped by exchange rates). £6,000 (soon to be 7) is an insane amount for a toy especially with the frankly **** poor quality control that's been going on with some machines.
Err, bit of a rant. I'm not a morning person....
200 machines a month is good news, does this mean they've broken radio silence and given you a date yet Jon? (If you were an early order then within the next 3 months? When did you first have to put cash down?)
Bit worried though about the claims that new orders are being queue jumped (See today's pinside), I'd be fuming if I prepaid and then other people get prioritised. That's not good business sense as it's ripping off your existing sales base. Short term gain vs long term loyalty. That's part of my current discontent. I'm prepaying on a schedule for June 13 release but there's no commitment as to an arrival date. July 13 - fine, no stress. Possible slide to May 14? - then they can stick the machine sideways up their ****!
Got very different feeling to this compared to the Predator pre-order. $250 down and then the rest in delivery month, no stress and minimal risk.
Maybe I'm just getting nervous about the next 2 grand payment as 3 grand spent with sod all to show for it doesn't make that much sense.
Part of the whole stress is this stupid trap customers are in about pre-ordering and paying if you want a limited edition when there is no real information to make decisions on. Sooner or later people are going to get really stung. Fancy being the owner of a limited edition Rolling Stones? Never been interested in making a profit from machines but obviously don't want to pay 6k for a machine that basically sucks. Think I'm right that the limited Editions LOTR came out AFTER the regular, so people had a chance to play it first. That is a model that makes a lot more sense for me.Although JJP may have caused Stern to up their game (hey I own BBH but even I'm not daft enough to buy Monopoly as well) they've also been extremely inflationary (not helped by exchange rates). £6,000 (soon to be 7) is an insane amount for a toy especially with the frankly **** poor quality control that's been going on with some machines.
Err, bit of a rant. I'm not a morning person....
The plan is to have all WOZ LEs delivered before Xmas. Jack has hired Stern's old production manager on a 5 year contract and relocated him and his family to NJ. Staff shifts on the factory line have been extended and now cover Saturdays too to meet the 200 games a month quota.
I paid up a while ago but that was only because the money was eating a hole in my pocket. I think Phil had paid up front for the machines so my debt was to him, not Jack.
As someone who has been waiting for 2 years for his machine I can totally empathise with people having second thoughts about the hobbit. All I would say is The Hobbit production will be ten times easier than WOZ. The factory, staff, vendors, distributors, hardware, base code and everything else is in place now. The rest is **** easy in comparison! I wouldn't foresee any problems with JJP meeting their projected date for The Hobbit.
As for queue jumping, there's lots of claims on Pinside about big orders being jumped up the queue. Zero proof has been provided however. The issue has come from distros like Automated services ordering 40 games in day one. They have asked to have some of those games swapped to standards to put on location. I know of a couple of guys suffering from cancer who were jumped up the queue but I'm more than happy for that to happen.
Regular joes can unfortunately now buy direct from a distro and get their game before a pre orderer. I'm not sure how there is any way around that though unfortunately
I paid up a while ago but that was only because the money was eating a hole in my pocket. I think Phil had paid up front for the machines so my debt was to him, not Jack.
As someone who has been waiting for 2 years for his machine I can totally empathise with people having second thoughts about the hobbit. All I would say is The Hobbit production will be ten times easier than WOZ. The factory, staff, vendors, distributors, hardware, base code and everything else is in place now. The rest is **** easy in comparison! I wouldn't foresee any problems with JJP meeting their projected date for The Hobbit.
As for queue jumping, there's lots of claims on Pinside about big orders being jumped up the queue. Zero proof has been provided however. The issue has come from distros like Automated services ordering 40 games in day one. They have asked to have some of those games swapped to standards to put on location. I know of a couple of guys suffering from cancer who were jumped up the queue but I'm more than happy for that to happen.
Regular joes can unfortunately now buy direct from a distro and get their game before a pre orderer. I'm not sure how there is any way around that though unfortunately
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2 years - F***! That's a long time to have cash tied up. It's only been a small amount since Feb for me and it still annoys me.
If Phil sold 20 or so machines that's quite a risk to him if something goes wrong.
The pinside thing is interesting today http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/so-i-decided-to-pickup-a-woz-today-2-in-fact#post-1019889
From this it doesn't look like bull**** for a change unless someone really has a grudge and is photoshopping boxes. While I can understand the temptation to jump larger orders ahead of existing customers it's a very short term view. I think most people expected the limited versions to be built first unless someone had pre-ordered a standard at the same time as them.
Anyway, kind of de-railing this thread. Hopefully we'll all have some pics to look at tonight. Although I'm pretty sure it won't be artwork or anything to do with Smaug until after December. Will be a bit disappointed if it's a shot of the flippers! Wonder if they would dare release a plan of underneath the playfield. Lots of speculation to be had there.
If Phil sold 20 or so machines that's quite a risk to him if something goes wrong.
The pinside thing is interesting today http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/so-i-decided-to-pickup-a-woz-today-2-in-fact#post-1019889
From this it doesn't look like bull**** for a change unless someone really has a grudge and is photoshopping boxes. While I can understand the temptation to jump larger orders ahead of existing customers it's a very short term view. I think most people expected the limited versions to be built first unless someone had pre-ordered a standard at the same time as them.
Anyway, kind of de-railing this thread. Hopefully we'll all have some pics to look at tonight. Although I'm pretty sure it won't be artwork or anything to do with Smaug until after December. Will be a bit disappointed if it's a shot of the flippers! Wonder if they would dare release a plan of underneath the playfield. Lots of speculation to be had there.
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not the most exciting of updates - but another small section of the design....
Had to wade through God knows how many pages of ranting on pinside to find any back up info - got a feeling I wouldn't like a lot of those guys if I met them in the flesh. Lots of opinions and none of them seem to be about playing/enjoying pinball mainly about trashing one company or the other.
Anyway, not really sure what to make of this. A Newton Ball and is that a trap door at the bottom? Bloody hell they've remade TOM! Presumably the magnet is to catch the ball on the loop and drop it into the pops. Hope this works better than in my SST as it's a large wear area and the ball often hangs there. Think there was a similar arrangement in DH which worked better.
Assume it's a VUK next to the spinner but as it's above the flap maybe it doesn't feed from there. Maybe the flap is a MM style troll?
DH has a magnet at the top right orbit, Magna Force (Magnum Force ...geddit
) - it catches and holds the ball , and then releases to feed it back slowly to the upper right flipper to allow a shot to the left ramp.
I don't get why there are two entrances/exits/gates at the top of the bumper area, it doesn't make any sense to me?
Looks like the VUK is fed by a subway too?
Looks like the VUK is fed by a subway too?
I would guess that there is one entrance gate, one exit gate and a VUK if the ball makes it to the bottom.
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Well, that's looking more interesting? Presumably the flap are for some pop up toys and the VUK feeds from the missing top left corner. Trolls initially come to mind but I was then wondering about the whole Barrel riding scene in the escape from the Elven Hall
Trying to work out where the top right flipper goes to. The angle looks to tight for the back ramp, so the main shot would be to the targets. Not sure how satisfying hitting that would be, I like a shot to go into something (Like TAF thing flipper going into the swamp)
Guess the missing section is Smaug, so will we see anything before Xmas for that section?
Trying to work out where the top right flipper goes to. The angle looks to tight for the back ramp, so the main shot would be to the targets. Not sure how satisfying hitting that would be, I like a shot to go into something (Like TAF thing flipper going into the swamp)
Guess the missing section is Smaug, so will we see anything before Xmas for that section?
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2013
- Messages
- 81
The full blueprint isn't going to show anything from the film that can't be shown. The Smaug toy will just be a circle or something I'd guess. I hope we get a whitewood video soon. That was what made me put down a deposit for WOZ.
Think it would be better/more exciting to just release some info - think there was too much with WOZ which made it old before being properly out,if ya catch my drift?Less is more n all that