your missing the point cavey..

you can't compare pinballs to cars, nor being a communist society.

I think if everyone had the opportunity they would like every machine to have the same game play, and then if you wanted the dick johnson (Ford) or the brock (Holden) version being the LE they pay the extra $1000 for the trim but every game plays the same with the same rules. I am pretty sure a few years ago Spiderman came out and the standard played the same as the Black version but you just paid a little extra for the uniqueness of the black trim and parts. Then LOTR was similar, then we blended to a Tron which had drops on the LE with lit ramps but the rules tweaked a little different and then it went silly to removing toys and the game play changed.

Now with Stern introducing vault games like the IMVE, it is a big rip off as all the designing was done but it is $2150 more than when it was originally released and it is the Pro equivalent. Don't get me wrong it is a great game and I miss my game but Stern have been successful of driving prices up as IMVE has been the most expensive Pro to date and they are enjoying lots of cream on this one.

If you took say LOTR Pro and then TWD LE the difference would be a few trimmings (looks) but the number of game play features probably would be very similar but the price is shot through the roof. A pro now is a lot less in game play features compared to those of a few years ago. Stern is the company that I believe has driven the price of Pinball up as they created the LE and the Premium, and from that companies like JJP (theme aside) wanted to set a place in the market that their quality is a better and they have some extra features (lcd) so the price needs to be a little higher than a high end Stern pin.

Companies like Spooky have a full LE equivalent pin for the price of a Stern Pro, so why can't Stern. Companies like DP have a higher price as they are starting up but on quality and features they are ahead of Stern. I bet if you looked at the game play features of a Stern LE to Stern Pro the cost difference would be lucky to be $200 if mass produced and maybe the assembly throw in $50 for labour so why is a Premium about $1250 different.

All I am saying is why don't they make a pro with all the features with the standard trim for the price they are now, then people that want the premium look buy the mods and the people that want the unique look buy the LE for extra $1000. It's not Stern hating but Stern questioning as obviously they are conditioning people to what the new norm is which in effect is pushing all the market up, which flows on to the competitors and then the resale market.