29 replies to this topic

[Izzy]

Do you want your child to be able to protect themselves?


We will teach them the best methods of self defense.


We will make sure they never get lost at sea.


We will teach them creative techniques for burying treasure. Who would think to look under a cobbled street? And you can conveniently mark out an 'X' in coloured stones.


They will learn to navigate and man the helm. "No! Not that left! Your other left!"


We will teach them to walk the plank without fear.


Do you want your child spending all his hard earned gold on ale? No?


Well we can teach him how to charm the beer wenches with some cheap perfume or a flower, so he will get all the free ale he can handle.


Upon graduating all students receive signed documentation of their qualifications.

All these valuable lesson and much more are available now at your local Pirate Training School.


Comments are more than welcome.... help me refine my building techniques.  
Cheers, Iz

Edited by Cutlass Iz, 20 December 2009 - 04:52 PM.

[NewRight]

It's the one, two, threes of being a pirate!

I really like your entry and the rock work is very niceas with the small cobblestone path. I just feel that there is no flow from the water to the green island. Maybe some sand would help to improve that. Or positioning the entire island on rocks.

Like I said I really love your entry though. Keep it up!

[saberwing]

This a very funny and creative idea!  
How did you get this idea?
Maybe you could put in some targets, where the kids can practice shooting.

[Eskallon]

I love this MOC, it is so funny.

Well we all need a place to train so this dosn't happen:  
Where did you come up with this very creative idea.

Edited by Eskallon, 04 October 2009 - 01:49 PM.

[Wout]

This is a great idea   
It reminds me a bit of Harry Potter, but then Piratised.
Also a bit of Thiefguild like in Dungeons and dragons, Train to become a master Pirate.
Do you also get a certificate when you are done?

[MetroiD]

That's a great entry, Iz :) Seeing as my project for the Contest is something along those lines, I guess I'd better refrain from critically criticizing too much  

To be honest however, I must say I love how full of life this one is. I really feel that the "guilds" idea is a very good one - you could try and differentiate between the separate activities even more. Oh, and how about adding a "walking the plank in style" course for young governor's daughters?

[Bricknave]

Amazing.  Absolutely amazing, also very impressive and quite clever!  A pirate training school?  Such a unique and creative thought!
I admire the landscape, the monkey, the cobblestone road and the scene itself.  It is all so wonderful!  

The only thing I think this MOC could use is a "Firing the Cannon" lesson for Piratelings.  Sword combat and ship navigating are vital for a pirate, but another vital thing is ship combat.

Edited by Bricknave, 04 October 2009 - 04:52 PM.

[Captain Blackmoor]

I really like this one! Great idea, and nicely built too!
Nice idea to give the monkey flesh or brown hands, I should try that myself as well.

Now off to the possible improvements!

- I really like the water already, but it could get even better if you add transculent 1x1 plates where the sea meets the rocks. After that it looks like the water splashes against the rocks.

- Some coconuts under the palm leaves, pale brown head bricks for example. It will add more detail.

- What about a cannon? A pirate has to know how to handle it! I think you could remove one of the helms, and place a nice cannon there. A brickbuilt one does a better job then the common LEGO one. There are some fantastic examples here.

- Some tan plates here and there to create a sand effect, a beach is always nice to have on an island.

- More colour variation in the middle of the island, now it's pale green. Some colours like grey, tan, black and dark grey would do a nice job.

I think you have a wonderful entry after those improvements! Good luck at the contest!

[Izzy]

NewRight, on Oct 4 2009, 11:43 PM, said:

It's the one, two, threes of being a pirate!
I really like your entry and the rock work is very nice as with the small cobblestone path. I just feel that there is no flow from the water to the green island. Maybe some sand would help to improve that. Or positioning the entire island on rocks.
Like I said I really love your entry though. Keep it up!

Thanks NewRight, I'll see what I can do with the whole water issue.    

saberwing, on Oct 4 2009, 11:44 PM, said:

This a very funny and creative idea!  
How did you get this idea?
Maybe you could put in some targets, where the kids can practice shooting.

Hey saberwing, I was going to do target practice, but I was running out of room. I've got all the guns ready.

Eskallon, on Oct 4 2009, 11:49 PM, said:

I love this MOC, it is so funny.
Well we all need a place to train so this dosn't happen:  
Where did you come up with this very creative idea.

I'm glad you thought it was funny. It was meant to be. Funny rather than 'good'.  

Wout, on Oct 5 2009, 12:08 AM, said:

It reminds me a bit of Harry Potter, but then Piratised.
Do you also get a certificate when you are done?

Oh you your child would  definitely get a certificate. I guess I might have got the idea from using HP Lego so much. I was just thinking of what Pirates might do when they aren't aboard ship and I though... "Well, they'd have kids right?" and went from there.

TheOtters, on Oct 5 2009, 01:04 AM, said:

I really feel that the "guilds" idea is a very good one - you could try and differentiate between the separate activities even more. Oh, and how about adding a "walking the plank in style" course for young governor's daughters?

That is a good idea, thanks Otters! Maybe off the higher rocks? Or the Helm wall?

Bricknave, on Oct 5 2009, 02:51 AM, said:

The only thing I think this MOC could use is a "Firing the Cannon" lesson for Piratelings.  Sword combat and ship navigating are vital for a pirate, but another vital thing is ship combat.

I'd have to do a brick built one a Cap'n Blackmoor suggests... it's going to get even busier in Pirate School.  

Captain Blackmoor, on Oct 5 2009, 06:21 AM, said:

I really like this one! Great idea, and nicely built too!
Nice idea to give the monkey flesh or brown hands, I should try that myself as well.

Now off to the possible improvements!
- I really like the water already, but it could get even better if you add transculent 1x1 plates where the sea meets the rocks. After that it looks like the water splashes against the rocks.
- Some coconuts under the palm leaves, pale brown head bricks for example. It will add more detail.
- What about a cannon? A pirate has to know how to handle it! I think you could remove one of the helms, and place a nice cannon there. A brickbuilt one does a better job then the common LEGO one. There are some fantastic examples here.
- Some tan plates here and there to create a sand effect, a beach is always nice to have on an island.
- More colour variation in the middle of the island, now it's pale green. Some colours like grey, tan, black and dark grey would do a nice job.

thanks Captain, you've made some really good points there! I love how everyone is so eager to help in this competition. We need more, just to help our MOCing techniques. Haha!
I don't know if you can tell but the 'flesh' monkey's hands are the 'dark flesh' from the new Indy sets. I've always thought they look funny with yellow.  

[Tom Bricks]

I love this one. The only thing I can think to add would be more palm trees, I think it would make the island more secretive, as you wouldn't want imperials discovering it.

[David Thomsen]

I love the idea of this MOC, and not just because I was going to do some short stories a while ago about Pirate School.

I think it would look good with a fence along one or two sides, and a gate where it crosses the path, just to make it look more like an enclosed school ground.

On the rocks in the background you could have a mast where people learn to put up sails...

A pity there isn't a mortarboard piece so you could represent someone graduating. Of course, with the right pieces you could design your own mortarboard...

[Izzy]

I have updated the first post with fresh pictures. I hope some of the changes made are for the better! Please feel free to comment!  

Edited by Cutlass_Iz, 06 October 2009 - 08:18 AM.

[Edgehead]

Teaching the valued arts of piracy at a young age, doesnt get any btter than this.

I like the way you've incorporated all the different training items into the one moc without over-clutering the scene, very well done.

This is one of my all time favourtie land based MOCs.

[Dr. Steve]

I really like your idea and story behind this moc. I really like how you can brush up after being shipwrecked.

[badboytje88]

Wow! There sure is a lot of stuff going on in your MOC, and I think that's the biggest plus of this creation. I like idea that there is a pirate education. But there still is some room for improvement:
- I'd add a castaway pirate like you told us about in the discription.
- I'd raise some of the land. especially near the water. If the land is on the same level as the water, the water would fludd over the land. I do happen to like the colours you used for the water.

I absolutely love the kids hat in the last picture, that's just brilliant!

~Badboy

[Ratshot]

This is pretty good I would send my kids there if I had any
You had a very creative idea by building a Pirate school.

[Big Cam]

WOW, thats spectacular.  I saw the first picture and thought huh, cute, then you spin it around and there is so much going on.  I love the theme!  You have so many activities going on, it's hard to comment on them all.  I think my favorite two are the Guys buying beer preparing to work over the bartender with gifts and the blackboard by Brickbeard or whatever the head pirate is called.


Very very creative!

[Lorentzen]

You've come up with a very unique storyline and I really really like it.

As I look through your pictures I can't help but laugh. There are so many great things that I can't even remeber all of them.

I really like the fact that the training school is hidden away behind those rocks. It's also a great idea to have a shark jump up from the water. Perhaps you should try to angle the shark's jump.

You have used too many varieties of blue for the water. Sometimes it works with many different colours of blue, but I really don't think that it works here.
I think you should stick to one blue colours, because right now it looks way to disturbing for my taste. I understand, however, that water turns darker, the farther away from land you get.

Here's a perfect example showing that you don't need to use many different colours of blue, or even do SNOT water.
(found on brickshelf - made by Apocalypse)


The island itself could use some more plants, or something to clearly divide the different lessons into areas, as I feel that it's a bit crowdy. Perhaps plants or paths in the green grass could help create the illusion that all the different lessons are separated. You could add some grey bricks or tiles to create paths of rocks, if you don't want more plants on the island.

My favourite part of your MOC is the student's black hat. That is very original, and deserved it's own mentioning.

Good luck in the competition

[General Armendariz]

Very creative! The one thing I would suggest is give the graduate kid a scary mean face with a beard.

[The Alchemyst]

Ah, I should have posted on the earlier revisions, but better late than never.

The sawfish is a cute addition, jumping from the sea. And on that note the sea is really nice. The color transition from the 3 blues is nicely done. The jumping the plank addition is also nice, and a very good part in the Pirate Curriculum. :P The rocky wall is pretty neat, with some good foliage. I'm a little confused on where that open archway goes to.

For the interior, the overall look is really nice. There's a lot going on. The trees with the animals adds some flavor to the island, the rocky path was well done with the varying studs, the transition of water on the beach was executed excellently again, and the bits of standing grass here and there add some fullness to the scene and makes it less boring. I'm not sure what the gray [and sand blue] flat top wall is doing there, other than hold the wheels. Is it a practice wall? I think extending the wheels out from the wall, and adding some wooden poles to hold them would be better. Then you could make the wall part of the natural rock. Of course, this is only if the wall isn't there for something else. It just seemed funny with its flat top.

I really like all the little bits, from fighting, cannonballs [Nice cannons, by the way], burying treasure to bribing the wench [Really nice touch!]. The graduation hat looks really nice.

The minifigs are various, with emotions in their faces sometimes. They're all so different and I really like them [especially the one with the Hagrid Hairpiece].

The use of the Harry Potter Blackboard really helps wit the "School" part of the MOC. All the small details, such as the Islander head on a pole, the coconuts and the flag all really give a nice feeling to this MOC.

Good luck!

[-TA-]

[Captain Zuloo]

Great job Cutlass_Iz, I love the cannons! Certainly the place I'd send my kids were it real!

[badboytje88]

Looks like you made some changes! Or am I mistaken? There are some female pirates, that's a plus. And I see a castaway with the hagrid hair. Very nice!

[Izzy]

They were always there!  

I'm afraid I cannot make any more changes as this MOC is not longer in commission, a certain little girl got to it.  
Feel free to still creatively criticize it though, I shall remember everyone's tips for the future.

[MetroiD]

Yeah, for some reason I'd also missed the updates, sorry for that Iz :] That little girl who has her hands on this must be rather happy :) Hope she's learning some real swashbuckling skills!

As to C&C - I really like the addition of the marlin. I do however feel that putting it at an angle would have made it look a bit more realistic - as if it were jumping out of the water. You could have used one of various combinations of bricks to achieve that and then you could have hidden those by creating a "splash" out of blue and trans-clear/blue plates. One more thing regarding that first pic - I really like the 3 different shades of blue you've used, it sorta reminds me of the way computer games portray places where the hero can swim and those which are to remain "out of reach"... Having that along the half-sunken treasure is a wonderful idea :)

I also love the plank there - I noticed you've made use of my earlier suggestions :) Sure looks appropriate to me - especially in combination with the marlin! For some reason tho, that teacher's reassuring words don't sound too inspiring to me The "charming the wenches" area is another personal favourite of mine (not that I'm a womanizer... me... nooo! Ask my significant Otter!!!). I would have absolutely loved to see some more details there - a few bar stools and something reminiscent of bottles, kegs of rum, etc. You could have made the whole area a bit bigger so that it would also be able to fit those who are learning the ropes of those ever-so-useful-and-popular bar brawling skills!

Of course, there are pleny of other piratey and generally useful skills such as cheating, sleeping on the job, lazying around, etc. and there would be no way for any pirate school to encompass each and every one of those! So I'd say this is a really wonderful beginners' school and I would love to see what they teach them in Pirates High School! I reckon that would also be quite a nice present for your aspiring pirate lady  

[Oky]

Very nice entry, but what would make this perfect would be a black board with lots of R's written on it. You know, for training Pirate language.

Edited by Oky Wan Kenobi, 09 November 2009 - 12:25 AM.