Quoted from necro_nemesis

Why is it a lot of good pins get licensed after SHITTY movies?

Easy...licensing is cheap when the movie stinks! What would you rather have... a Judge Dredd pin that plays great, or a Matrix pin that really sucks? Sometimes, the movie companies or whoever is offering the license asks for WAY too much money, so the pins are either ordinary, crappy, or never made.

Perfect example? Alien. The pin was designed by Bally, and at the end, the movie company wanted more money... so Alien became Space Invaders!

Another one (and I will get flamed for this), is Kiss. REALLY ordinary gameplay, but the theme is great. Could you imagine if Kiss had the playfield layot of Flash Gordon with speech and multiball? Man, I get shivers just thinking about it.

Yeah, there have been exceptions, like IJ, Terminator 2..., but there have been TONS of great pins-shitty movies examples, but then again, there have been many great non-licensed pins.

And BTW, newer Stern pins do not apply, due to their inexpensive construction. That's where they save money. And don't even try to get me on this one... I have witnesses!  

Sparky

Quoted from Moonlit_Knight

Easy...licensing is cheap when the movie stinks!

I'm not sure about this. Usually licensing is in place before the movie makes it to the theatres. That's why there will often be a ton of licensed products that sell cheap if the movie doesn't do well.

There were alot of BAD movies in the early 90s and I think that is the reason there are so many pins based on terrible movies: JM, DM, Shadow, etc. I'm sure the scripts read great AND they had known actors, but...

In some cases, the designers selected the license. For example, Lawlor selected Addam's Family and Twilight Zone -- 2 GREAT license -- he also selected Ripley's ouch!

Duane

Duane

Twilight was a no brainer. It had run it's course between tv and movies. Thankfully the pin stayed true to the original which in my humble opinion is just one of the most outstanding tie in's in the business. Ripley's though. Is that even a viable theme? This guy was a huckster of his own B.S.. If I were Stern I would expect Ripley's to pay me to use the theme.

MrMikeman if that is the case then there is hope for JD in my collection. Comics are cool, very cool when it comes to pin. So are classic's of literature/radio. Put two collectable items (pin and comics or classic characters) together and you get extra cool. Too bad they put Alec Baldwin on Shadow or else it would hit the A list. Again classic story line from the 1930's and 40's, art deco theme, side art fantastic, Alec's mug on the translite...? He even looks worse in this picture then he does on film. What's with the weird proportion to his chin?

The Shadow can overcome this shortcomming due to gameplay. Ahh but what it could have been if they had stayed true to the original. Without Alec I believe we would have been an absolute classic.

Quoted from MrMikeman

JD pin was NOT based on movie.  It was out before the movie and it's based on comic.

Mike

Thanks Mike for pointing that out....

It's based on the strip Judge Dredd / 2000AD

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/comics/2000adstrips/dredd/dredd01.shtml

The movie came in later....and was a VERY BAD depiction of the strip.

In response to Spacecadet:

I am not an operator, I am quite simply a pinball collector and enthusiast. I have a few video games as well and recently acquired a few neon lights for my gameroom.  Hey did I mention I collect shooter glasses too!  Anyways.....

I have been collecting for about 7 years now and I tech my pinballs although I am not an amusement technician either.  Okay suffice to say I am not at all affiliated with any amusement company although I have been lucky to get a few good deals in the past with a few amusement companies before they folded.  

I don't like the RGP site.  Everytime I go there I seem to waste a lot of time and don't really seem to get much out of it.

Believe it or not I know a great deal about pinballs, but there's a great deal more that I need to know.  I have a fairly good idea what my machines are worth but it doesn't hurt to ask the org. to see if I am off track.  Hey, if two heads are better than one, I suppose three are better than two and so forth.    

Nacro_Nemesis
Mr. Mikeman is right JD is based on the comic and not the movie, but the movie is kind of based on the comic and not the pinball, or something to that effect.  Is any of this making sense?

Yeah. I do. It's a lot along the lines of what came first? The chicken or the egg?

Glad you were able to clarify that for me. Let me put my thinking cap away now.

Ha...Ha...