Skip to content
Kaneda’s Pinball Podcast
Kaneda’s Pinball Podcast
50 episodes tracked since 2026 about →
Copied!

Episode 1221: "Transformers & Sonic Word of Mouth Week Begins!"

PodcastAnalysis updated today20 min listen
TL;DR

Transformers and Sonic week arrives amid market saturation warnings and calls for industry coordination.

From the creator

Which will win the hearts and souls of pinheads? So much coming this week!

Listen on Kaneda’s Pinball Podcast

Synopsis

Kaneda discusses an unusually packed week in pinball featuring Stern's Transformers reveal and Jersey Jack's Sonic the Hedgehog announcement, warning against FOMO-driven purchases and predicting market saturation. He expresses frustration with mid-week reveal schedules, analyzes specific game design details (Optimus Prime's static nature, Sonic's fan layout), and advocates for patient buying strategies given oversupply and declining secondary market values. The episode also covers American Pinball's Circus Voltaire Ringmaster Edition and reflects on broader industry concerns about too many launches cannibilizing demand.

Highlights

  • Optimus Prime in Transformers does not move or do anything mechanically
  • Stan Bush's 'The Touch' is not in the Transformers game
  • Sonic the Hedgehog playfield features Sonic on one side and Shadow on the other with a Dr. Robotnik mechanism
  • Circus Voltaire Ringmaster Edition will have 772 units produced
  • 32 Pokemon LEs are currently for sale on Pinside alone
  • Star Wars Fall of the Empire has 'insanely good code' that is among the best of all time
  • Star Wars Fall of the Empire Limited Edition pricing has dropped to ~$10,000 in secondary market
  • Back to the Future SLE will cost around $20,000 or more at cost

Notable quotes

“If they did it on a Thursday or Friday, actually Friday would be the ideal day where most of us could probably get away, fly out early in the morning, see the game and then fly back early Saturday morning.”
Kaneda
“Imagine being in a restaurant and you ordered a very expensive meal and your meal comes out and it's not fully cooked. And then you look over to the table next to you. Someone who came in after you ordered a similar meal and their meal came with more on the plate and it was better prepared.”
Kaneda
“The only smart buy when you look at the three-tier model over at Stern is the pro edition of the game is holding value the best. And that's the opposite of what is supposed to be happening with this three tiered model.”
Kaneda
“Sonic the Hedgehog is the perfect thing for Sonic because he is like a pinball. He literally spins into a ball and flies around, does loop-de-loops.”
Kaneda
“I think the one thing that I definitely want to buy and definitely want to buy it right away, because the wait for this one is going to be long for everybody, is a Back to the Future SLE.”
Kaneda
“It's going to be hard as a dealer now and absorb all of these launches one after another.”
Kaneda
“There almost needs to be like a meeting of the five major pinball companies...to slow down a little bit.”
Kaneda
“If you wait two months, you'll be able to march in and get everything for a little bit less money because there's just so much out there.”
Kaneda

Entities

  • American Pinball· company
  • Barrels of Fun· company
  • Jersey Jack Pinball· company
  • Pinball Brothers· company
  • Spooky Pinball· company
  • Stern Pinball· company
  • Back to the Future· game
  • Circus Voltaire Ringmaster Edition· game
  • Fallout· game
  • Ozzy Osbourne· game
  • Pokemon Pinball· game
  • Sonic the Hedgehog· game
  • Star Wars Fall of the Empire· game
  • Transformers Limited Edition· game
  • Pinside· organization
  • Brian Allen· person
  • John Borg· person
  • Kaneda· person
  • Keith Elwin· person
  • Peter Cullen· person
  • Ray Day· person
  • Steve Ritchie· person

More from Kaneda’s Pinball Podcast

→ All content from Kaneda’s Pinball Podcast
Comments
Contact us about this coverage