POTC - Black Pearl!

[Cap'n Crunch]

The BP is awful.

First, the sail atachment, the sails, the rigging are copied from the QAR. The sterncastle is much set too low. The only thing that is good about it is the large amount of black pieces, black sails and the black hull. Perhaps the absense of a DSS is also a good thing, but we can't tell if there aren't any stickers at this point, though.

Second, as many other members have said, there are not enough crew members. C,mon TLG, three minifigures to crew an entire ship? This isn't the Interceptor!

Just to defend the QAR:

The stern looks awful

The sterncatle was being true to the movie.

If you look at this photo, you can see that the stern of the 4195 QAR is very accurate to its apperance in the movie.

Edited July 19, 2011 by Cap'n Crunch

[Delta 38]

I still don't know how it got here. And yes, that is Maccus's head. I got it instead of the replacement for the misprinted part after a long wait. It's a nice head though, and might be useful for another FDC member.

Good thing the part I needed a replacement for wasn't too badly misprinted.

Wow, that's a rather odd coincidence. Maybe they couldn't replace the skirt and threw in the head as an apology.

Interesting piece though, I guess you're lucky considering the head is only in the Black Pearl set.

[Kerntechniker]

Wow it looks great. I've to buy one, may be 2 my girl friend said. Great a long desire becomes true.

[Zzz]

Black Pearl - they rely too much on the name I am afraid. They do it in this whole series, all the models lack quiet a lot of detail and vibe. Indy and PoP were by far better themes. Did they know it'll be a tough sale and put more effort in quality there? If I had to go for one ship, it'd be the QAR, but right now it seriously looks like I will skip this whole theme..

[Gryphon Ink]

The sterncatle was being true to the movie.

If you look at this photo, you can see that the stern of the 4195 QAR is very accurate to its apperance in the movie.

I know it's true to the movie, but in my opinion the design from the movie is ugly and unrealistic. In reality, the only reason for building up the stern so far was probably to disguise the fact that the QAR is really the Sunset, the same ship that "plays" the BP in the second and third movies.

Yes, I am that geek who was annoyed when Han Solo used parsecs as a unit of time. And yes, the BP looks cartoony as well. I admit it. I just like its lines more than the QAR.

[Zilcho]

I think that new picture does make the BP look a lot better and I will definatly buy at least 1.

in my opinion the design from the movie is ugly and unrealistic.

It's based off Blackbeards real ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, although it may be a bit of exageration. I like it. It adds individuality to it.

[MstrOfPppts]

I think that new picture does make the BP look a lot better ...

I have no idea what you are talking about. Apart from this image being of higher resolution and with no white printing on it, the ship looks exactly the same and still dissapointing. As I've said before, this is about how much sets change from preliminary pictures to the actual set ...

[brick-a-block]

I know it's true to the movie, but in my opinion the design from the movie is ugly and unrealistic.

I don't think it has to be realistic.

We are talking about POTC here, where voodoo and the occult are just as important as pirating.

The fact that the QAR appears to be just one of many enchanted vessels like the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman, in the sense that the ropes come lo life at the command of Blackbeard's sword, and the ships can travel very quickly, seems to suggest that if it can do these things I'm certain it can hold up it's very high stern with ease.

I like the stern, particularly because of the stain-glass windows like the Flying Dutchman's too.

And I do like the imagination of those on set designing the POTC ships. It's good to see they have hallmarks that make them memorable.

However, on-topic, the same imagination cannot be said for LEGO's version of the Black Pearl

The only explanation for its apparent austere look is the affordability/playability for children ratio.

Though with a likely 75% tax hike on top of the US price, Australian families will feel the pinch when Christmas approaches, and perhaps not as many Aussie kiddies will get the Pearl for Christmas this year. Anything else would seem like coal. See what I did there...

Edited July 20, 2011 by brick-a-block

[Dr.Cogg]

To see a better picture and whats inside, click the link on the bottom of page 16.

[CaptainBermuda]

has anyone else noticed that the bow is way off? and that the masts are built the EXACT same way as the queen annes revenge

[Weil]

I actually think TLC did quite a good job with the set, I think it looks pretty true to the films and it looks particularly good in the second picture here.

While I do approve of the Davy Jones mini-figure design I do agree that the mini-figure choice isn't ideal. Having Barbossa, Pintel and Ragetti would have been far better in my eyes than Davy Jones, Bootstrap and the hammerhead person as at least these characters do all spend a decent amount of time on the black pearl throughout the films and still allow for decent role-play.

I am however very much a classic pirates fan rather than a PotC fan and for that reason won't be getting the set. The mini-figures are of little use to me and the ship itself doesn't interest me enough for the high price tag. The only PotC set I've bought is the Captain's Cabin as I liked some of the pieces in this set (the globe, the bottles, the shoulder strap etc) and wasn't too expensive. Apart from that I've just bricklinked the Red Coat Officer to get his torso and white rimmed hat.

I'm not overly opposed to the set and think it achieves what it set out to do, it's not for me though. Personally I'm just looking forward to the PotC line finishing and some new unlicensed (and therefore better value) pirate sets being released instead - hopefully including some of the nice new bits and pieces from the PotC line.

[Zilcho]

I have no idea what you are talking about. Apart from this image being of higher resolution and with no white printing on it, the ship looks exactly the same and still dissapointing.

You're right. I think I just looked at it as another random lego pirate ship instead of the BP. If you forget what it's meant to look like it's quite decent.

[Bfahome]

Pretty nice ship. I like the way the sails look.

Not sure how I feel about Davy's claw being attached like a normal hand, which it looks like it does.

[General Magma]

Not sure how I feel about Davy's claw being attached like a normal hand, which it looks like it does.

Nope, it probably isn't.

In the videogame, it was just a 'handpiece?' on its own too, and probably in a similair style as the boxer gloves from the collectable minifigures. So I think it's just a seperate piece.

The color is seemingly the same as Elizabeth Swann's hairpiece.

I hope the theme will continue - they could use one in tan for Penrod as well, like in the game, might they make him into a real minifig.

~ General Magma

[Wellington]

Actually the stern of the QAR was much easier to make than the BP's stern. They simply used a tent to cover the side area of the QAR-stern...clever and it looks good and accurate. But the BP doesn't give them this chance...instead the real ship has a slope shape plus the window corona which are together quite complicated to replicate with just a minimum amount of pieces.

If you take a closer look at the Lego-BP you will see that TLC used a similar technique for the stern-sidewalls as the RBR had...but right now TLC has no stern-piece for their pirate ships and that makes stern-constructions even more complicated (in general).

I can't understand why they didn't design a proper stern-piece for their new pirate ships. This whole mess started with the BB and has been permanently criticised. For a good set not only a good colour-scheme is needed but also a good style. The Lego-BP definitely lacks the latter.

Maybe the BP-set will be useful as foundation for a good MOC-BP...we'll see when we get a piece-listing.

Best regards,

Wellington

Edited July 21, 2011 by Wellington

[CarsonBrick]

The ship doesn't look that great but the mini figures look amazing!

[Bfahome]

Nope, it probably isn't.

In the videogame, it was just a 'handpiece?' on its own too, and probably in a similair style as the boxer gloves from the collectable minifigures. So I think it's just a seperate piece.

The color is seemingly the same as Elizabeth Swann's hairpiece.

I think that's what I was trying to say. It's a claw piece that replaces one of his hands rather than slipping over it like the claws on the crab guy from Atlantis.

Can be seen here and here.

[deskp]

Lookie here, new images: LINK

The wings on the figurehead is made from 2 black freathers/flames/plumes(?)

It doesent look bad, Even if it is about one segment too short.

Edited July 21, 2011 by deskp

[Jack Bricker]

Lookie here, new images: LINK

The wings on the figurehead is made from 2 black freathers/flames/plumes(?)

It doesent look bad, Even if it is about one segment too short.

First I want to thank you for posting those pictures.

Second I want to say that the stern looks absolutely horrible. I mean I could have designed that when I was 10 years old. Come on Lego you can do better then that. I mean what happened? The rest of the sets for 2011 look pretty awesome and are very well designed so what happened here. I almost wonder if because Prince of Persia flopped last year that the lego executives thought that the new POTC movie would also flop and they then stopped any further development of the sets right in the middle of their design process. I mean the way some of the sets like QAR, BB, and London Escape look half-finished it would lead one to think that Lego just pulled the plug on this theme. Very sad because the Black Pearl had so much potential for being a really cool set but, the way it looks now I know I will not be wasting $100 on that.

Edited July 21, 2011 by Jack Bricker

[Aanchir]

First I want to thank you for posting those pictures.

Second I want to say that the stern looks absolutely horrible. I mean I could have designed that when I was 10 years old. Come on Lego you can do better then that. I mean what happened? The rest of the sets for 2011 look pretty awesome and are very well designed so what happened here. I almost wonder if because Prince of Persia flopped last year that the lego executives thought that the new POTC movie would also flop and they then stopped any further development of the sets right in the middle of their design process. I mean the way some of the sets like QAR, BB, and London Escape look half-finished it would lead one to think that Lego just pulled the plug on this theme. Very sad because the Black Pearl had so much potential for being a really cool set but, the way it looks now I know I will not be wasting $100 on that.

If there's one sort of comment that makes me bitter, it's seeing someone comparing professional design work to something a child could have done. Perhaps I'm just jealous because I wasn't designing cost-effective, marketable sets when I was ten years old. But in general, I feel these sorts of comments are extremely insulting, especially considering that MOCs of this caliber by ten-year-olds never tend to crop up anywhere, whether in the LEGO Magazine's cool creations, Brickshelf, or at LEGO fan conventions. This sort of comment isn't a realistic criticism of sets; it's just a tasteless insult that demeans the hard work of people who probably did their very best to make sets with all the most important design considerations.

Really, how is this set any worse than this classic ship? You could argue that because it is a likeness of a ship from another company's intellectual property, it ought to be more impressive. But whether licensed or unlicensed, it has the same function as that ship: a simpler and more affordable ship that's an alternative to the larger flagship of the theme. A lot of people suggest that the Black Pearl should have been the flagship of the theme, but consider this: it is by far one of the least impressive pirate ships in the PotC franchise. And the reason is obvious: it was the first pirate ship in the franchise, and being a "good guy" ship in later films it always had to be significantly outclassed in terms of size and design by the opposition. Even though the QAR is the same size, it still is much more grand and intimidating in design than the Black Pearl, and so pretty much necessitates a higher-budget set.

So this is what we get: something that basically amounts to a scaled-down QAR with fewer skulls. And in general, I think it was designed well for a LEGO pirate ship. There are things about it I think amount to design flaws: for instance, the big empty space behind the figurehead is pretty ugly. But in general, I feel it shows just as much design effort as the QAR or the "typical" LEGO pirate ship: the only significant difference is that it is designed to meet a lower price point, and so it had different design considerations.

[MstrOfPppts]

Saying that the design is similar to a 10 year old boys MOC is not as insulting as it is critical! Otherwise it is insulting for a 10 year old boy as well. Who sais that those MOCs can't be good - maybe even better than this ship. Just look at the most recent pictures from the back - who can't build that? A straight black wall with no whatsoever decoration or detail! I'm afraid to look even lower, where the mast touches the water. I think they're using new little arcs instead of the bigger ones (same piece count) and it looks bulky, unfinished and rushed at edges. At least from the perspectives we get in current images. As already mentioned plenty of times I'm really afraid there's no second wave and that the ship was just designed for beeing announced earlier. The reasons to me are unknown but I still believe they had plenty of better solutions. From using more pieces, delaying the arrival of the set to postponing it to next year and making the interceptor istead! That way you get a 90ish € ship this year and the same size as QAR BP next year!

The comment that makes me bitter is a protective comment for a thing that is clearly bad. I mean look at all the 18 pages thread out of which 90% are criticism and disagreeings with this set. I know that noone is perfect and also LEGO can't do everything right but one thing is a fact: they f***ed up with this one ... I mean we all are adults here and we all understand what is meant by each word even if sometimes they are too harsh, noone is insulting nobody or wishing anyone any bad! The problem of this set is that LEGO rarely makes mistakes and all of other POTC sets were designed so cool, that noone can go past this set without getting a grim expression on his face. This is just like Blizzard would create an average or even worse game after so many hits they have!

[Hinckley]

Look, I saw the ship at ComicCon:

I'm sure this topic is littered with pics of this, but if you'd like to see some more from the LEGO ComicCon setup check out my Flickr photostream.

[The_Chosen_1]

That looks different from official pictures we've seen so far. I'm thinking MOC on this one...

[Aanchir]

Saying that the design is similar to a 10 year old boys MOC is not as insulting as it is critical! Otherwise it is insulting for a 10 year old boy as well. Who sais that those MOCs can't be good - maybe even better than this ship. Just look at the most recent pictures from the back - who can't build that? A straight black wall with no whatsoever decoration or detail! I'm afraid to look even lower, where the mast touches the water. I think they're using new little arcs instead of the bigger ones (same piece count) and it looks bulky, unfinished and rushed at edges. At least from the perspectives we get in current images. As already mentioned plenty of times I'm really afraid there's no second wave and that the ship was just designed for beeing announced earlier. The reasons to me are unknown but I still believe they had plenty of better solutions. From using more pieces, delaying the arrival of the set to postponing it to next year and making the interceptor istead! That way you get a 90ish € ship this year and the same size as QAR BP next year!

I'd say it is insulting to say that a professional designer's model is something a ten-year-old boy could have built. There are a lot of decisions that go into designing a LEGO set, and those decisions are often rooted in the extensive background knowledge and design experience of the set designers. It's essentially like saying a ten-year-old could have written The Lord of the Rings. Whether or not there is some magical ten-year-old who can produce such a celebrated fantasy world, it's still demeaning to the writer to say that their hard work could as easily have been done by a person without the same expertise or background knowledge.

Meanwhile, as seen in Hinckley's photos, it's not just a straight black wall-- it's on a hinge, as are the side walls of the captain's cabin. While this is a simple enough technique for an AFOL (and even for some particularly apt kids), it's every bit as complex as I feel a the Black Pearl's stern needs to be (hey, it was good enough for Brickbeard's Bounty, the flagship set of the 2009 Pirates line). The Black Pearl is not an especially complicated ship compared to the other ships in the PotC franchise, and so using advanced building techniques where they aren't necessary would be wasteful.

Personally, as a MOCist I often try to imagine my MOCs as if they were sets, and you might not believe how difficult it sometimes is to simplify a complex idea without removing the most important characteristics. So just because a set is simpler doesn't mean that less hard work and design experience went into it. In this case, practically the whole ship is scaled down compared to the Queen Anne's Revenge, and I personally feel it was done fairly effectively. As mentioned, the main flaw I see in the set design is that ugly hollow area between the figurehead and the bow of the ship.

The interceptor isn't nearly as familiar a ship as the Black Pearl. If TLG were to release another ship from the franchise, I imagine that they'd make the Flying Dutchman-- something that might very well justify releasing the Black Pearl as a smaller vessel. It's entirely possible that there were plans to do just that, even if they are not still standing (and we don't know that there aren't). We know the Black Pearl has been designed since February at least since its piece count, price, and the film it is taken from have been known since the New York Toy Fair. I imagine the reason for it not being shown until recently, rather than because it's a recent design, is because TLG planned a later release for it and wanted pictures kept under wraps until its release was closer.

The comment that makes me bitter is a protective comment for a thing that is clearly bad. I mean look at all the 18 pages thread out of which 90% are criticism and disagreeings with this set. I know that noone is perfect and also LEGO can't do everything right but one thing is a fact: they f***ed up with this one ... I mean we all are adults here and we all understand what is meant by each word even if sometimes they are too harsh, noone is insulting nobody or wishing anyone any bad! The problem of this set is that LEGO rarely makes mistakes and all of other POTC sets were designed so cool, that noone can go past this set without getting a grim expression on his face. This is just like Blizzard would create an average or even worse game after so many hits they have!

The fact that a forum of adult fans tends to dislike what is at its core a kid's toy doesn't really strike me as evidence that the set is inherently bad. In the beginning of BIONICLE, that theme was massively rejected by AFOLdom, but today there are many AFOLs on this very site that grew up with it and appreciate it as a theme. As I see it, obviously any kid will be able to tell that the QAR or the Imperial Flagship is a better set than the Black Pearl; I'm not denying that. But I take issue with how many AFOLs had unrealistically-inflated expectations of this set. I'm sure kids who are looking for a pirate ship within this price range will be plenty happy with this set.

When we first learned about the set, there were some minor grumblings about price point and piece count, but in general there was a lot of anticipation. Since pics emerged, however, nobody's stepped up and proposed big improvements that would maintain a similar price point, besides the occasional people who suggest alternative minifigures or minor color changes. Instead, people suggest the Black Pearl should have been a higher-priced set in the first place, with some people going so far as to suggest it should have been to the caliber of the Imperial Flagship! Personally, I think TLG is wise to price it and release it as they currently have planned, even if it is not much more extravagant than the typical LEGO pirate ship.

Of course, I'm not much of a LEGO Pirates fan, so I may be a bit naive in thinking that $100 dollars is a high enough price point for any non-D2C set from a licensed theme. I also may be getting behind the times, considering how Ninjago's flagship set, the Fire Temple, is a non-licensed, non-D2C set with a $120 price tag. But I still can't help but think that the Black Pearl is not such a special ship in the grand scheme of things and does not demand a hugely-intricate LEGO incarnation like the QAR-- or, were it to happen, the Dutchman.

[Wellington]

Oh My Goddess! Is that really the BP or is it a MOC? This set is awful! Current prices in the Eurozone (which I found) range from about 90 to 130 Euro (equals 130 to 187 USD). That's shockingly expensive for such a horrible set. I'm really shocked!

Edited July 21, 2011 by Wellington