All of this assumes that this person’s time is worth $0, and they’re not paying for a 200,000sq foot space.

Are toppers pricey? Of course. But there are so many factors that go into a topper that most here don’t consider:

1. Designer’s time as it relates to their wage and the time they take off from other projects
2. Artist’s time as it relates to their wage and the time they take off from other projects
3. Assembly line workers’ time as it relates to their wages and the time they take off from other projects
4. Custom parts, inventory, surplus, storage, quality control, sub-assembly stations, testing (ie, that Deadpool head is cute, but would fall apart the second someone tries to move it or the pin. I’m talking about the standards for COMMERCIAL VENDING/AMUSEMENT DEVICE TESTS)
5. Licensing fees as it relates to printed works, 3D sculpts, audio, animation, etc.
6. Training, instructions, diagrams in order to make more toppers 10 years from now
7. Order fulfillment logistics
8. Workspace costs (property taxes, assembly space rental, parking, offices, loading bays, etc.)
9. Cost vs. volume realities of low-production runs of hand made items in the USA.

To further elaborate on that last point, a toy you buy at Target is $20 because of the offset costs of all of the above via large scale orders from China. That same toy, with the same profit margins, would have to be hundreds, or even thousands, if Stern made them in their factory in the same numbers as they do toppers.

Do I think I made a wise financial choice buying a foo fighters topper? Not at all. Nothing in pinball is a good deal, least of all, toppers. Does Stern make a bag and a half on their toppers? I hope so. It’s a completely cosmetic item that doesn’t add or take away from the game. If my foolish addiction helps keep a pinball company’s bottom line healthy, then I’m happy with my contribution to this hobby.

I’m not sure about any of this. My uneducated bet is these are made overseas cheap.

Does anyone have pictures of toppers being assembled on the factory floor.

My guess is these are a super high margin item.

Even if they ARE assembling them at their own facilities , it’s still a very high margin item . Unless you believe that just a couple years ago they could put toppers for 400-600 bucks ( at a profit ) but it now magically costs them a couple grand to make ?

lol. Excellent arguments for justifying that ridiculous purchase Vidiot!

It’s all ridiculous but that topper BLOWS for $2k

We all blow money. And that’s a good one

It's a topper made of node board, leds, wires, nuts, bolts, flat plastic.
it is entirely a subset of assembling a pinball machine which is exactly what that factory is designed for.
The head, whether it is molded or overconformed or whatever probably comes from somewhere else.

We toured the factory at expo last year and they were making toppers, so yeah, in house.

If I think about buying 4 playstation 5s for the same money, it kinda makes me sick.

I've paid more for pins than my car...

Definitely don't think about it, that is the wrong approach entirely.

Yeah but in several years you'd be lucky to get 25% of what you paid per PS5. Not that these are investments, but the depreciation is generally way lower.

This is pinball DLC is it not? The toppers include new software/modes..

DLC is commonplace in video games, I personally would love to buy new code and expand games in my current lineup, but I don't want the topper part

They added what the topper does into the base code. It's just easier to get to if you have the topper. It's almost more like when some companies tried to put cheat codes as paid DLC instead of just being in the game (which were often just left overs from game developers testing the game and engine)

Example Stern JP added Goat Mania. Just capture enough dinosaurs to spell out Jurassic Park on the topper. It could take a few games to spell it all out, but you'll see it every so often. Without the topper, you need to do 43 loops in a single game (only 34 with the triceratops perk ) and be logged into IC. So basically unachievable for most mortals.

The "topper DLC" modes are always throwaway stuff you don't need. Like the 2 "bonus tracks" on a Japanese import on a Scorpions CD.

People don't need $13,000 toy pinball machines in their house either. We're already way past the "do you need it" logic

Or the way people go bonkers over Midnight madness modes.

I received all the accessories a little over a week ago. Outside of the Shooter Rod not lighting up during gameplay, no issues.

Expression lighting is always going to be more noticeable to the player but the topper is nice, just wish it had some vertical movement to the head but it’s higher up on the list of toppers stern has put out in my opinion.

The lighting of the band members kind of sucks in a dark environment but that’s easily fixed.

Price is meh but it’s a game I plan on keeping.

The worst POS topper is that JP with the dumb goat DLC.

What was it? $1k. Just awful.

With Bond, at least you get a little light show integration and it doesn’t feel like it might crumble in your hands

Deadpool topper, GOTG topper they don’t do anything really either

Mine shipped yesterday, I am told. I'll let you know how I feel about it once I got it sternly staring at me.

Honestly paying $2K for a topper is insulting to the customers and I'd rather people NOT do it so they'd stop pricing them so ridiculously. And when you sell it do you think you're going to get 2k more for your used machine? Probably not...you're most likely going to have to sell them separately and you will lose money on that topper.

Gotta be getting close to first unboxing and “so worth it” comments..

Finally! An example I understand.

Not only no. But hell no.

Well at least his user name is truthful.

Iceman44, Im gonna go out on a limb and say he’s a fan of the great George Gervin of the San Antonio Spurs

Bond topper weighs like 16 pounds?!

Make sure you bolt that one down good and tight on the backbox for sure!

n/m i'm in a bad mood.

Does the foobot voice come from the topper or from the table speakers?

Speakers. The game has 2 speakers facing the player & the Foobot voice is already part of the audio package, why would they need a 3rd speaker on the topper? Then it would cost $5000 lol

Don’t give them any ideas

Seriously.

I’m happy they are making nice toppers for folks, looks cool. But that’s the price of 1/3 of a new Jaws machine. I prefer the clean look of my Foo Premiun without topper

Add Stranger Things to that list…quite literally just a box of lights.

*Full disclosure I have both StrTh and DP toppers. Can confirm the not-worthed-ness.

So ….. I’m gonna admit that I like and want the topper . However , It’ll be a cold day in hell before I spend 2 G’s on it .

My brother got one for his foo, and I will say it’s pretty cool. Lots of layers and a ton of lights per square inch. Is it $2K cool? Idk he thinks it’s great and says he has no regrets. Comparing this one to the Mando topper, I’d say this one is WAY closer to being worth the money than the Mando one is. If it were my game I’d have a hard time paying $2K but I’d also be a little sad if I didn’t get one because I think it does add to the enjoyment of the game. I feel like it adds the same x-factor as the Black Knight topper. When you play one without it, you definitely feel like you’re missing that little extra jawing from the knight up top. It definitely stinks that the cost is so high on these newer ones.

I'm caving you guys, sorry. I understand that makes me part of the problem. Some rationale is I'm almost out of room and as they say it's cheaper to build up than out. Also, fuck me that thing is so cool!

Truth. I’m all righteous in my indignation about topper prices until the Jaws topper comes out…then it’s:
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I make a great income and pinball is my allowed vice.

Almost $900 just so you can fufill whatever oddball desire you have to turn your pinball machine into a shelf and you don't think you're getting screwed? It doesn't interact with the game, it technically doesn't match the game, it literally serves no purpose. Guys, theres a much more simple answer- no topper at all. I honestly do not understand people's fascination with toppers, particularly home made or 3rd party ones that do nothing.

why have art blades? Why have sculpts inside of machines? Why have light shows? Why have cabinet artwork on the outside of the machine
Aesthetics.

It's not trivial properly lighting 3d sculpts placed above eyelevel for dark rooms. You don't have a lot of room to properly throw light at the object from the side, you can really only do it from below, which looks very awkward for characters. In our world, lighting whether natural or artificial almost always comes from above. The way that light highlights top surfaces and shadows bottom surfaces is what we've come to expect beings to look like, and makes lighting from below look very unnatural.

Two benefits of flat plastic toppers: You can use the same artist and have a cohesive aesthetic. And since the artwork is flat, the artist can easily create the illusion of lighting, and then you just have to light up the plastic (from below, behind, doesn't matter) and it looks "right.

You can paint 3d objects to fake lighting effects in the same way, but if you light them in the opposite way, it's going to be awkward.

Most pinball collectors have terrible aesthetics taste and so they're going to buy dumb signs to put on their toppers, or stick some shit up there and poorly light it and be happy with it, but I hope you can understand why a company trying to sell these things for a lot of money can't do that.

(FWIW I definitely prefer sculpts over flat plastics in pinball machines. I would of course prefer the same in pinball. Just saying its hard)

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Flat plastic with the EXACT same art that’s on the playfield. They just copy pasted.

At $2K at least have new/diff art
And the Artist is in-house, an employee of the company…

The topper is cool. It’s an interactive toy to go with your 8-13k game, which is in itself, a big toy. My personal philosophy is all in or all out.

If you’re going to buy an le, maybe the topper gives that high end look. Or perhaps it helps bring the game to life for somebody. Either way who cares what someone else buys and enjoys?

I'm a huge topper fan..I have 4 or 5 of sterns..including GZ, Mando, TMNT, DP, etc...I AM A TOPPER GUY..but I stopped at Foo..no way I'm paying that ridiculous price for any NIB topper...I already stretched that leg on mando (nib) for 1700... only exception is Medieval Madness topper, but not paying stupid, inflated prices on it.