Gav,
I like backbox lightshows. Nothing bad about that. Lightshows are not 26 inch LCD screens, which no one can really decide on yet til the machine is finished and the programming for the machine is finished. Still months n months away til finished games arrive with finished code. but so far, it doesnt change often enough during gameplay with the early code, and I like translites, or backglasses.
Stern does traditionally 3 or 4 titles per year averaged out over the 13 yrs. They now do 3 or sometimes 4 variants of the machine. Because X Men and Avengers are super hero related themes (very closely related themes) its not unusual for people to wait to see the next superhero title before deciding which superhero title suits them best. In this case, Stern made two superhero themed machines back to back, which to my knowledge hasnt been done before, so yes, its normal for people to wait n check out the new title before deciding. It doesnt mean they are producing too many titles per year, because all titles are still selling well going by the amount of people on all the various forums worldwide talking about their recent Stern purchases.
JJP could do at least 2 titles per year, once they really get going, versus 2 only in a 3.5 year period, and they could potentially do more than 1 variant. Pro is like a variant, LE is like a variant. But JJPs LE versus the STD widebody is too close for me to call it a major variant. If they did a Pro or a std body, that could be a proper variant perhaps. This is up to JJP and potential JJP clients to decide on with their feedback.
Personally, I dont think JJP is really going to do anything major to upset Stern, because Stern are producing machines which are being sold out within days of release, plus they cater for the $6600 buyer and the $9300 buyer (or pro-rata the same in the USA.
JJP will have to make some broader changes to take more of the broader market before they ever really upset Stern in my mind.
The fact that Stern is making great machines now, means they may even grow their own business, so it looks like a promising future for Stern, with or without JJP anyway. Thats my view. Any growth in pinball is great for the industry, no matter how or who does it.
