Game of Thrones - 14 big pics

[Metalzoic]

It is depressing, but artistic quality of nearly everything - movies, music, books - has declined to almost zero in the last 20 years, with not much effect on sales. It's a general cultural trend, I think. Hopefully art will eventually make a comeback.

You could say it has, or at least it's trying. The art on The Big Lebowski, WOZ, Hobbit, Full Throttle, The artwork on Magic Girl was so good it's a crime, Metallica isn't a Stern in-house artist but still awesome, Timeshock (not new, but still great pin art). Wrath of Olympus. Can't remember what Predator looked like before it imploded... Whether or not you like the style all those tables have good to great artwork. Alien Pinball has a chance to be great as well with who's behind it. Those are all recent or upcoming so the newcomers are all bringing the art, it's really just Stern that doesn't seem to care about their quality.

 

[karl]

I totally agree, Metalzoic.

PS! And a warm welcome to the Alien pinball Club

I just finished watching Alien for the first time in 20 years to prepare myself. Aliens is up next.

Love the shot map for Aliens pinball. So much potential.

 

[Kolchak357]

If it plays well, then all sins will be forgiven. A lot of people didn't like the art on AC/DC, but it sure seemed to sell very well. As mentioned above, Stern may have been handcuffed by the license holder and forced to use specific fonts and clip art. By this point Stern has to know that most love hand drawn art like they did with Metallica. So I'd like to think this art wasn't Stern's first choice.

 

[karl]

I think almost everybody would prefer Hand drawn art. But this is not why I criticize it at all. I am actually fine with the fact that some licenses must be photo realistic in style. Alien will be photo realistic, The hobbit also, etc.

When it comes to the decals and backglass you might be right, kolchak, but I doubt that HBO told them to make the colors bright and bland or to have the playfield dominated by ugly inserts or clash together lots of different art styles that only have a vague resemblance to the license on the playfield

 

[invitro]

The art on The Big Lebowski, WOZ, Hobbit, Full Throttle, The artwork on Magic Girl was so good it's a crime, Metallica isn't a Stern in-house artist but still awesome, Timeshock (not new, but still great pin art). Wrath of Olympus.

Big Lebowski is (mostly) great. Hobbit is Sternish crap. Magic Girl is unimpressive but at least somebody's trying; same with Full Throttle. Metallica is eye-pleasing but totally unoriginal. Timeshock is pretty great. No opinion on WoO yet...

 

[invitro]

If it plays well, then all sins will be forgiven.

Exactly... to almost everyone, art is almost completely unimportant.

As mentioned above, Stern may have been handcuffed by the license holder and forced to use specific fonts and clip art.

This is important if true (and I'm very curious if it is), but it doesn't make the art any less crappy at all. It doesn't excuse Stern, either, as Stern chooses who they get licenses from. As evidence for this theory not being true, Williams didn't seem forced to use specific fonts and clip art for any of their licensed machines... or at least for things like the Star Trek font, their artists were able to make a very eye-pleasing form of the font.

 

[Heretic]

i suspect georgie r martin had more say than this, the tv visuals are what everyone wanted but its more toliken high fantasy and cheesy just like the books, so blame the ****er thats gonna die before he finished he ****ing books, i was in the the nut house and couldnt finish the first book

 

[Kolchak357]

Invitro, agreed, it doesn't make the art any less crappy. But it does shift the blame a bit. We will probably never know the whole story.

 

[Dedpop]

Big Lebowski is (mostly) great. Hobbit is Sternish crap. Magic Girl is unimpressive but at least somebody's trying; same with Full Throttle. Metallica is eye-pleasing but totally unoriginal. Timeshock is pretty great. No opinion on WoO yet...

100% agree.

 

[karl]

i suspect georgie r martin had more say than this, the tv visuals are what everyone wanted but its more toliken high fantasy and cheesy just like the books, so blame the ****er thats gonna die before he finished he ****ing books, i was in the the nut house and couldnt finish the first book

You will not be missing anything if he can't finish the books. He completely lost it after book 3, in my view. I have read book four but it was such a bore, with no progress at all. On top of that, only half of the characters are in the book.(he decided to split up the characters into 2 books) The Tv series are doing it their own way, thank god.

Regarding the author having more to say than HBO, I think you might be on to something, Heretic. Sounds plausible to me.

I do not agree at all with what you are saying about other art examples, invitro. Sounds like we are coming from totally different viewpoints here.

I can actually accept the art on games like ac/dc and Mustang (2 of the most loathed art packages Stern has released) because to me, they still represent the license in a truthful way. I even have both games

I do not agree at all that the hobbit is Stern quality. I am seriously wondering how you can even say such a thing.

To me, it represents the theme very well, all though the artwork is a little busy. But Artwork on pinball playfields have always been busy.

Is it the colors, the graphics or the lack of hand drawn art that bother you so much about the hobbit?

Just wondering, since you find it so horrible. Maybe I just have bad taste and if so, I can live with that

 

[Metalzoic]

Big Lebowski is (mostly) great. Hobbit is Sternish crap. Magic Girl is unimpressive but at least somebody's trying; same with Full Throttle. Metallica is eye-pleasing but totally unoriginal. Timeshock is pretty great. No opinion on WoO yet...

The Hobbit looks like Stern art? It doesn't look anything like a Stern. At all.
I honestly don't see how someone could look at it and possibly think that.

 

[Dedpop]

The Hobbit looks like Stern art? It doesn't look anything like a Stern. At all.
I honestly don't see how someone could look at it and possibly think that.

I personally made a confusion between The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings.
Maybe invitro made the same confusion.
Because you're right on this point.

 

[Metalzoic]

I totally agree, Metalzoic.

PS! And a warm welcome to the Alien pinball Club

I just finished watching Alien for the first time in 20 years to prepare myself. Aliens is up next.

Love the shot map for Aliens pinball. So much potential.

Thanks, still haven't made my deposit yet as I'm waiting on an email from them first. I'm not sure if I should put the deposit on the LE or the Standard and if I can switch between the two.
Even after making the deposit I may not end up with the table. I don't have the bank account you do and can't afford to pick up more than one NIB table. I'm just not sure which it will be yet, but I don't want to miss out because I didn't lock it down.

...still you never know. Maybe I'll end up with 2 brand new pins in the next year.

 

[Locksley]

Once I got over all the poppy bright coulors on the playfield it atleast looks like it will play cool.

I agree with the first poster about doing emboss and shadows. I think allot of pinball playfields are too bizzy in the wrong sense - they seldom hold together but look like much of peoples tattoos where they started of with one, ended up with a bunch of different ones and then try to bind them together - yeah, I think many tattoos look like a bizzy mess too

EDIT: And what really was one of my first thoughts where "gotta mod the playfield with new art". I think there could be a market for someone repainting it with a better look. Maybe use clear glass for the shields with coulor LEDs. Too many disparaging coulors fighting your eyes.... END EDIT

 

[Kolchak357]

The Hobbit has too many little heads on the table for me. The rest I like a lot. I've played it and thought it was super. I like it much more than WoZ. WoZ is too cluttered for me I think. Have they started shipping Hobbit yet? That's one thing Stern does very well, get the games out into people's hands.

 

[Slam23]

What was interesting about the Hobbit (Jersey Jack Pinball to be sure ), is that the company took the art criticism on the prototype seriously and let somebody else have a go at it with far better results in terms of color and cohesiveness overall. The first Smaug in the art (not the toy) was barely visible, and now it's a centerpiece on the playfield. Stern could learn something from this process because although I'm all for letting the artist express his vision as he/she sees fit, we also live in the age of Kickstarter where would-be customers can influence design to some extent before the product becomes final. In such a niche product as pinball, companies would do well to integrate that in their design cycle.
I think it would have been a no-brainer to use the visuals of the series trailer in the art production for GoT, and theme it darker visually. Maybe there was a rights thing involved? Same goes for the music, that opening theme is so recognizable that not using it in attract mode would be a crime....

 

[karl]

I am just hoping that they won't overuse the main theme. Attract mode or high score, great. In game, not so great. Could easily just be to much. It will be there in some form, no question.

 

[Metalzoic]

New Hobbit playfield pics released. Here's a comparison.

 

[Kaibun]

I'd say JJ has the upper hand. Man, would it hurt for Stern to add at least one dragon or a single character on the artwork?

Did everybody die or something? How fitting.

 

[Kolchak357]

The dragon looks pretty cool up close. Check post #3727 in the following pinside forum thread to see it. Maybe this pin will look better in person.


https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-game-of-thrones/page/75