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Toppers

Andy Hancock

Site Supporter
Joined
Mar 30, 2015
Messages
979
Location
Peterborough
Am I the only person on here who thinks toppers are pretty stupid ?

I have TAF with the topper obviously and I had AFMRLE which was supposed to be one of the best ever but I still don't see the point .

I mean if I showed someone my line-up of great pins without toppers and they said 'these would look good if I made you some plastic things to sit on top that light up a bit and maybe move about', I'd just look at them gone out

I know , it's probably just me isn't it ?
 
Am I the only person on here who thinks toppers are pretty stupid ?

I have TAF with the topper obviously and I had AFMRLE which was supposed to be one of the best ever but I still don't see the point .

I mean if I showed someone my line-up of great pins without toppers and they said 'these would look good if I made you some plastic things to sit on top that light up a bit and maybe move about', I'd just look at them gone out

I know , it's probably just me isn't it ?
It’s you ;)

I’ve built a reproduction topper for Fish Tales based on a Pinside thread, and am planning - when I have the space and can afford a 3D printer/design software - to ‘top off’ my Alien Poker with a custom interactive topper (if I can work out how to make one).

The AFMRLE topper is a thing of beauty.
 
Totally agree with you about the afterthought toppers, Andy. £1000 for what’s basically a hat for your pinball machine is daft beyond belief.

As a kind of protest at Stern and others taking their customers for a ride I have made my own range of low cost toppers for Diner (a sausage), Earthshaker (a car), Mousin Around (a mouse) and Deadpool (a unicorn)

Happy to sell them to anyone who wants one for
£1000 each…
 

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Totally agree with you about the afterthought toppers, Andy. £1000 for what’s basically a hat for your pinball machine is daft beyond belief.

As a kind of protest at Stern and others taking their customers for a ride I have made my own range of low cost toppers for Diner (a sausage), Earthshaker (a car), Mousin Around (a mouse) and Deadpool (a unicorn)

Happy to sell them to anyone who wants one for
£1000 each…
Great collection right there . The machines , not the toppers 😂
 
As a huge Star Wars fan, I had to have the R2D2 one and I am very happy to have it.

I personally love Toppers and I think it finishes a machine off.

The prices are a bit silly!
 
I find the varying degrees to which people will accept pinball decoration fascinating.

For pure functionality alone a pinball machine requires no theme or artwork.

The playfield could be plain with numbered shots and ramps and callouts which say "Hit the spinner" or "shoot for ramp 3 follow by the scoop".

However everyone seems to want a bit of bling, some artwork on the playfield, themed artwork, a sticker on the drop targets and a few flashing lights.

Considering nobody buys a completely plain and ungarnished pinball machine, it's purely an argument over how much bling, lights and toys are acceptable.

The line was crossed the moment the first drawing appeared on the playfield.

Yesterday somebody who owns pinball machines told me mine weren't very subtle...... without a sense of irony 🤣🤣🤣. I did ask him to name a 6ft box of flashing lights, mechanisms, speakers and steel balls that was 'subtle' but I've not heard back yet.

Good luck to the topper collectors..... if I had the ceiling room and money I'd probably have them all.

The prices do take the p!$$ though.
 
I find the varying degrees to which people will accept pinball decoration fascinating.

For pure functionality alone a pinball machine requires no theme or artwork.

The playfield could be plain with numbered shots and ramps and callouts which say "Hit the spinner" or "shoot for ramp 3 follow by the scoop".

However everyone seems to want a bit of bling, some artwork on the playfield, themed artwork, a sticker on the drop targets and a few flashing lights.

Considering nobody buys a completely plain and ungarnished pinball machine, it's purely an argument over how much bling, lights and toys are acceptable.

The line was crossed the moment the first drawing appeared on the playfield.

Yesterday somebody who owns pinball machines told me mine weren't very subtle...... without a sense of irony 🤣🤣🤣. I did ask him to name a 6ft box of flashing lights, mechanisms, speakers and steel balls that was 'subtle' but I've not heard back yet.

Good luck to the topper collectors..... if I had the ceiling room and money I'd probably have them all.

The prices do take the p!$$ though.
At least you're looking at all the stuff on the playfield while you're playing though
 
At least you're looking at all the stuff on the playfield while you're playing though

That's true mate, and for the record I'd have all the bling.

But playing devil's advocate...... you can't see the cabinet whilst playing so why decorate it?

If you're going to slap a massive picture of Batman on the cabinet then might as well pop Robin on the backbox. And whilst we're at it why not pop the Batmobile on top too?
 
Nah , I think theyre awesome , but you would be bonkers to spend a ball of money on one .
Ive just got one of these cheap off fleabay :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/17564952...FiVbErHQeS&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

for my Jurassic Park Lost world , its almost 3 ft long ! Ill post a pic when I get it on and lit up properly ,
I was thinking of 3d printing a giant borg cube for my STTNG , kind of like this :

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1003974867/borg-cube-3d-printed-led-sweep-hand

but 10 times bigger , I was planning on 350mm x 350mm x 350mm with green leds inside.... someones done a great stl of it on thingiverse :

https://www.thingiverse.com/make:592841

theres also a brill Stargate on there too , Ive printed it before , its super detailed ,that could easily be scaled up to similar size or larger :

https://www.thingiverse.com/make:218626

with a 3d printer and some painting both these would cost less than £5 in materials to make .....
 
Never really paid to much attention to the latest toppers really, as almost all the new ones are a bit crap.

Well... Apart from Cactus Canyon Remake, Black Knight and now Pulp Fiction.

Oh.. and the AFM one is stunning also in my opinion, here's the one I seen jumping about at Pinfest 😃

IMG_20220826_232341534~3.jpg
I also like the look of some of 90s ones also, you cant go wrong with big bright flashing beacons either I think.

For me a topper should be grabbing people's attention, maybe not so much the player at the time but if anyone is around or when you walk in a room if you have never seen that game before. Therefore it has to be mechanical, bright or interactive.
 
I do not like the direction they have gone
Simple toppers help attract people when the game is on location
The dancing duo on Pulp fiction looks great, but it would not last 10 minutes on location and in the home, it is just something else that will break
 
I do not like the direction they have gone
Simple toppers help attract people when the game is on location
The dancing duo on Pulp fiction looks great, but it would not last 10 minutes on location and in the home, it is just something else that will break
Definitely agree with the worry that it's something else that may break down. If most now are going the simple route they should come standard across all new games out the box. The more fancy type should be available upgrades only for the rich 😂
 
IMG_20220826_232341534~3.jpg
OK …… TAF, WH20,FT..…and AFMr!

The alien reminds me of the ghost train at skegness amusement park 🤷‍♂️
 
I do not like the direction they have gone
Simple toppers help attract people when the game is on location
The dancing duo on Pulp fiction looks great, but it would not last 10 minutes on location and in the home, it is just something else that will break

I don't agree with you on that. The pulp fiction one will be rock solid. CGC games are built like tanks.
 
Some toppers are great but very few are worth the money.
Stern are absolutely ripping the **** with their range. They have maybe five great ones but just are just naff. (Kiss, black knight are in the great camp.)

Wh20, addams etc look great.

They are all better than the bits of plastic crap people stick all over their playfield as mods and then get upset that it hasn’t added value 😉
 
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