47 replies to this topic

[Bjornu]

I'm back on the Classic-pirate forums again after a busy period.
This time I would like to do some Islanders MOCs but I dont have the right information at hand now.
So I got some questions:

-Did the Islanders keep Goats/Pigs ?
-Did the Islanders live in Stone Huts ?
-Did the Islanders have Horses ?
-Are the Islanders mainly Cannibals or just tribesmen?
-Did the Islanders Use row boats or those Canoes only?

Maybe more questions will follow...

Thanks in forward!

Greetz Bjornu

[Foremast Jack]

 Bjornu, on 16 January 2012 - 05:14 PM, said:

I'm back on the Classic-pirate forums again after a busy period.
This time I would like to do some Islanders MOCs but I dont have the right information at hand now.
So I got some questions:

-Did the Islanders keep Goats/Pigs ?
-Did the Islanders live in Stone Huts ?
-Did the Islanders have Horses ?
-Are the Islanders mainly Cannibals or just tribesmen?
-Did the Islanders Use row boats or those Canoes only?

Maybe more questions will follow...

Thanks in forward!

Greetz Bjornu

Well I don't know of any kind of official LEGO canon regarding them, but had I to guess I would say the answers are:
No.
No.
No.
Tribesmen.
Canoes.

However, seeing how they are constantly fighting with the pirates they would have come into contact and therefore had access to pigs, goats, rowboats, and horses. So I think they could justifiably be built into a scene.

[Sebeus I]

There's plenty of room for your own interpretation, the Islanders are not fully defined however some of your questions can be easely answered assuming the Islanders are some kind of variant of the Inca's /Maya's / Aztecs

 Bjornu, on 16 January 2012 - 05:14 PM, said:

-Did the Islanders keep Goats/Pigs ?

Very unlikely, they probably only keep wild animals which they tamed (crocodiles, parrots and monkey's perhaps ?)

 Bjornu, on 16 January 2012 - 05:14 PM, said:

-Did the Islanders have Horses ?

Probably not, I'm not sure but I think the spanish brought horses to america and traded them with the locals for gold and stuff (didn't last long before it was no longer trade but theft) so it's possible anyway.

 Bjornu, on 16 January 2012 - 05:14 PM, said:

-Did the Islanders Use row boats or those Canoes only?

I assume they use boats made out of one single tree trunk so the prefab rowboat does not fit very well, however, they could fabricate different boats too so it's really up to you.

[Yawgmoth]

As I see the islanders, they are from South America, not any region in particular, but that's the idea it gives to me as seeing 'em..

Of course, no horses, pigs or goats, these were brought by the european..

[Bjornu]

With "Stone hut" I mean:

A round circle of stacked stones with a Palmtree roof on it

[Scorpiox]

 Bjornu, on 16 January 2012 - 07:27 PM, said:

With "Stone hut" I mean:

A round circle of stacked stones with a Palmtree roof on it

Probably not. There buildings would use stone but in blocks and chiselings of large blocks, not stacked rocks. The roofs would be wood or stone. Or no roof.

They wouldn't have kept cattle, and mostly hunted wild animals.

They would use canoes, not row boats.

I think of them more tribesmen than cannibals.

[Sebeus I]

 Bjornu, on 16 January 2012 - 07:27 PM, said:

With "Stone hut" I mean:

A round circle of stacked stones with a Palmtree roof on it

I like the designs of the sets, maybe you shoudl go for stone sculpted houses decorated with sculpted faces.
like this face for example : forbidden cove

[Foremast Jack]

I've seen several references to the Islanders being natives of South America (Mayans, Aztecs, etc.). This is incorrect as I see it. My impressions have always been that they are a loose representation of the Polynesian Islands of the Pacific. They very much maintain this in look and style.

[Yawgmoth]

 Foremast Jack, on 16 January 2012 - 09:23 PM, said:

I've seen several references to the Islanders being natives of South America (Mayans, Aztecs, etc.). This is incorrect as I see it. My impressions have always been that they are a loose representation of the Polynesian Islands of the Pacific. They very much maintain this in look and style.

These you quoted were rather from the north,..Inca's were the ones from the south..and well.. I was kind of imagining some natives from the Amazon or something, or that was the impression they gave as a child, but disscusing with my brother about this some weeks ago, we end up believing they has some heavy influences from a far distant land ...not in America ..as you can see the bones on their hairs, the horned mask from king kahuka.. guess thats its name, and some other several details,..Inca's were more of a civilization than a tribe..

That stone face from the forbidden cove, and the one from the enchanted Island sets always seemed to me as similar as the Moai statues from Pascua Island, and that's kind of near to the Inca's civilization, so ..another reason to kept me thinking they were from south america, but .. well.. they could be some kind of strange mix after all..

[Big Cam]

My thought line goes like this, if you are trying to stay true to the Islanders brand as portrayed by LEGO, then don't contradict anything that they have officially released in a set, otherwise with so few sets, the rest is open to interpretation.

For example, we know they used canoes so don't give them a solar powered motor boat.

[Foremast Jack]

 Big Cam, on 16 January 2012 - 10:10 PM, said:

My thought line goes like this, if you are trying to stay true to the Islanders brand as portrayed by LEGO, then don't contradict anything that they have officially released in a set, otherwise with so few sets, the rest is open to interpretation.

For example, we know they used canoes so don't give them a solar powered motor boat.

But having been in contact with pirates and the Imperial Armada these 20 years past, surely they could have something a bit more advanced than a canoe?

[Sebeus I]

 Foremast Jack, on 16 January 2012 - 11:03 PM, said:

But having been in contact with pirates and the Imperial Armada these 20 years past, surely they could have something a bit more advanced than a canoe?

Don't forget about the catamaran  

Edited by Sebeus Iniwum, 16 January 2012 - 11:22 PM.

[Foremast Jack]

 Yawgmoth, on 16 January 2012 - 09:45 PM, said:

These you quoted were rather from the north,..Inca's were the ones from the south..and well.. I was kind of imagining some natives from the Amazon or something, or that was the impression they gave as a child, but disscusing with my brother about this some weeks ago, we end up believing they has some heavy influences from a far distant land ...not in America ..as you can see the bones on their hairs, the horned mask from king kahuka.. guess thats its name, and some other several details,..Inca's were more of a civilization than a tribe..

That stone face from the forbidden cove, and the one from the enchanted Island sets always seemed to me as similar as the Moai statues from Pascua Island, and that's kind of near to the Inca's civilization, so ..another reason to kept me thinking they were from south america, but .. well.. they could be some kind of strange mix after all..

I'm hesitant to get too in-depth with arguments here for I fear it takes us too far afield of the post's intent. However, I feel that while the Islanders are without a doubt a blend of several cultures all mentioned here, had they to be attached to a single one, more than any other it would unequivocally be that of the Hawaiian Islands at the time of their discovery. Even King Kahuka's name bears witness to this. (Kahuka being a town in Hawaii, about an 1.5 hour's drive from Honolulu.)

[Piranha]

 Foremast Jack, on 16 January 2012 - 11:21 PM, said:

Even King Kahuka's name bears witness to this. (Kahuka being a town in Hawaii, about an 1.5 hour's drive from Honolulu.)

Um I think you mean Kahuku.

[Foremast Jack]

 Macoco, on 16 January 2012 - 11:33 PM, said:

Um I think you mean Kahuku.

Yes, I did.  

But I think the resemblance still holds true.

[Weil]

 Foremast Jack, on 16 January 2012 - 09:23 PM, said:

My impressions have always been that they are a loose representation of the Polynesian Islands of the Pacific.

I would agree.

[Yawgmoth]

For some of you islander lovers..check this:

http://www.ebay.com/...=item3cc0d41e5c

bid fast, its almost gone :P

Edited by Yawgmoth, 17 January 2012 - 02:34 AM.

[Brig. Brick]

 Foremast Jack, on 16 January 2012 - 09:23 PM, said:

My impressions have always been that they are a loose representation of the Polynesian Islands of the Pacific.

agreed!

The MOAI ornament is more accurate for polynesians, but for south america, the line adventure made ACHU from the amazons, and for central america, cames the new minifig series 7

Edited by Brig. Brick, 17 January 2012 - 04:14 AM.

[Foremast Jack]

 Brig. Brick, on 17 January 2012 - 04:13 AM, said:

...cames the new minifig series 7

Anyone have an idea when the new series will be released? I'd like to get a hold of the scottish bagpiper for use as and with a Napoleonic Highlander unit.

[Mister Phes]

Here is Classic-Pirates.com own unofficial interpretation of the Islanders:
Guide to the Pirate Mini-Figures - Part IV - The Islanders

[Sebeus I]

 Bjornu, on 16 January 2012 - 05:14 PM, said:

-Did the Islanders Use row boats or those Canoes only?

here you go:
Modernisation for the Kahuka's  

Edited by Sebeus Iniwum, 17 January 2012 - 01:22 PM.

[Ardelon]

I used to thing about the Islanders as Caribbean natives, until I read previous discussions on this very site that persuaded me that the Islanders were, in fact based mostly upon Polynesians, with a bit of Caribbean thrown in to make the Islanders more generic.
Apart from tell-tale Polynesian signs like the catamarans (possibly used in the Caribbean, but made famous by Polynesian travellers) and Moai, I don't know whether there were any Caribbean islanders populated by natives left in the era LEGO Pirates are based on (17th-18th centuries).

So, my answers to the original questions are based on Polynesia:
-  The islanders kept pigs. Though I don't know if they go the pigs from European sailors or whether they brought them originally from Asia.
- Don't know about stone huts, but there was stone-working in Polynesia, the Moai are the best known example.
- No horses, as far as I know.
- There were Canniblistic tribes in Polynesia, but mostly in neighboring Melanesia (Fiji (called the "Cannibal Islands"), and Papua New Gunea).
- Canoes. Of course they could have used captured rowboats, but canoes have their advantages, and if they were trained to use canoes from an earl age, why switch to rowboats?

[Big Cam]

 Sebeus Iniwum, on 16 January 2012 - 11:21 PM, said:

Don't forget about the catamaran  

Built by two canoes

[Bjornu]

 Mister Phes, on 17 January 2012 - 07:12 AM, said:

Here is Classic-Pirates.com own unofficial interpretation of the Islanders:
Guide to the Pirate Mini-Figures - Part IV - The Islanders

Phes, I thank you really much.

This Story about the Islanders made my day.
Very informative, and very very Useful!

Greetz Bjornu

[Justindale]

 Bjornu, on 16 January 2012 - 07:27 PM, said:

With "Stone hut" I mean:

A round circle of stacked stones with a Palmtree roof on it

I like that idea of a round hut with palm roof, maybe build it with 1x2 and 1x1 round bricks like how the round towers are being built, makes me want to put my islanders back together