It is hard not to associate pinball machines with pop culture icons. The industry practically survives on collaborations with popular IPs. Stern Pinball knows this best, and nobody’s complaining. Speaking of which, Stern has rolled out a major collaboration with Hasbro for Transformers-themed pinball machines.
Called Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye, the new machines turn the eternal battle between the Autobots and Decepticons into a chaotic silver-ball warzone. This is not just a couple of decals slapped onto a pinball table, either. Stern went full nerd mode on this one.
The machine features a custom sculpted animatronic Megatron, complete with a rotating fusion cannon that literally fires pinballs back at players. There is also a sculpted Soundwave toy whose cassette-deck chest locks and launches pinballs, because of course Soundwave would weaponize mixtapes. Meanwhile, Optimus Prime shows up as a bash toy, while Bumblebee gets captive-ball duties.
Other highlights include a Seeker-themed drop targets featuring Thundercracker, Starscream, and Skywarp, ramps with laser-cut Autobot and Decepticon logos, an Energon optical spinner that stores Energon cubes to power up, and a custom Grimlock figure.
Gameplay pulls missions and story arcs from the original 1984 cartoon series, while also celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie. That means Stan Bush’s “The Touch” is here, too. Meanwhile, original voice legends Peter Cullen and Frank Welker lend their voices to custom callouts.
Like many modern Stern machines, this is not the same pinball machine your grandpa played in an arcade decades ago. The machine blends physical and digital gameplay through Stern’s Insider Connected platform, introducing a Cybercoin wallet system that unlocks challenge modes.
One of them, Optimus Prime versus Megatron, even allows simultaneous split-flipper competitive play between two players in real time. Yes, two people can now battle for Cybertron while frantically slapping pinball buttons. Well, if only this eternal conflict were this simple. If only…
Do note that the listed features may not be available to all variants. For example, the Grimlock toy figure and Soundwave with a pinball launching mechanism are only found on the Premium and Limited Edition.
The Transformers pinball lineup is available in Pro, Premium, and Limited Edition models, with the latter capped at just 750 units worldwide, and you guessed it, it sold out. The Pro is priced at US$6,999, while the Premium goes for US$9,699. The sold-out Limited Edition model had a grand US$12,999 sticker.
Images: Stern Pinball.
