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Pontelli
An almost empty street.
Two rivals meet.

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Commodore T. Spoon: Look who's there - the infamous Captain Cookie.

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Captain Cookie: Well, look what the cat dragged in: my old rival Spoony. Are you still sneaking around Lady Beetle?

Commodore T. Spoon:   Don't you dare sending her any more tulips!  You just want her to become part of your dubios harem of ladies of the night.

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Captain Cookie (grinning): What's wrong with that? 

Commodore T. Spoon: And what have you got there?

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Captain Cookie: A fine tulip certificate that I just found.  Maybe it fell from a carriage.

Commodore T. Spoon: You stole it from me! It is mine! I know it is mine!

Captain Cookie:  Don't waste your time. The tulip certificate is mine.
(if you want some musical interpretation for this line, pls. refer to M. Jackson)

Commodore T. Spoon (drawing his sword):  Enough, you scoundrel!  Let us fight it out!

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Captain Cookie (drawing his weapon):   Say hello to my little friend!

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(they start fighting)

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MEANWHILE SOME PLACE NOT TOO FAR AWAY...

Cut to a backroom in a tavern.
The tulip traders are sitting in uncomfortable silence around their usual table.

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Slim Shady is worried.
He has just offered 20 Ad Rem tulips for a decent price (in his opinion) of 8000 dubloons - and was met with an unprecedented awkward and surprising silence.

His mind is racing.
If that price is not accepted, then for the first time he would be selling these tulips at a lower price than the week before. Unimaginable!
That would mean that the profits in the tulips trade would start to go down.
Or maybe he would not be able to sell them at all!
All of his investment would be lost. All of his dreams of wealth would be gone.
He would be lucky if he were just able to keep his shop.
To avoid that worst case, he would have to lower his prices significantly. He has to sell!!!

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Willem "Chuck" Norris is also confused and hesitant. 8000 dubloons is a lot of money, a fortune. And what would he get for this money? Merely a few colourful plants...
No, this time, he will not bid for the tulips. Somebody else can.
But when he looks around the table, he only sees unsmiling faces. They are probably also not buying.

Sir Krantenhagen is nervous too. Why is nobody bidding for those tulips? What is happening?

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Slim Shady breaks the silence again:  I offer these beautiful 20 Ad Rem tulips for the price of just 1000 dubloons, if you react quickly, that is.

- no response - 

Slim Shady: I might go down to only 500 dubloons for the first bidder. Come on!

- no response - 

Slim Shady: Actually, as we are such good friends, I could sell them to you for a mere 80 dubloons.

- no response - 

Slim Shady:  .. they will go for a Thrupnenny! 

- no response - 

Slim Shady:  Ok, what would you like to give me for those twenty flowery thingies? I am willing to accept any offer!

- no response - 

Slim Shady:  Does it mean that those tulips are worthless?

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Then the collective panic set in...

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END OF INTERLUDE - BACK TO OUR RIVALS

Commodore T. Spoon  and Captain Cookie are still swordfighting.

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Commodore T. Spoon (interrupting the fight): Sorry, I think I just got a message.

A little white pigeon has landed near them on a barrel.

Commodore T. Spoon: Allow me to read that?

Captain Cookie: Sure.

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Commodore T. Spoon opens a letter that the pigeon was carrying. 
He reads. His face turns slightly pale.
He takes a second to pull himself together.

Commodore T. Spoon: Cookie, bad news: the tulip market has just crashed.
         That certificate, that we were fighting for, is now worthless.
         You can keep it.

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Captain Cookie (laughs and drops the certificate on the floor): I don't collect scrap paper.

Commodore T. Spoon:  So this seems to be settled. Then what about Lady Beetle?

Captain Cookie (after a thoughtful pause):  Well, her dreams were built upon tulips.  You can have her.

Commodore T. Spoon:  One last question - Ismael Oldton?

Captain Cookie:  Brother of Isaac Oldton?

Commodore T. Spoon:  Yepp. Did you bring him to Pontelli?

Captain Cookie:  Nope.

Commodore T. Spoon:  Then who did?

Captain Cookie:  If I knew, I wouldn't tell ya.

Commodore T. Spoon:  Right then. So this round was a draw.
             It won't be so easy for you next time.

Captain Cookie:  Arrrr!

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As they leave in opposite directions the tulip certificate remains lying on the ground.

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As the sun sets on Pontelli, the crazy tulip trade has come to an end.

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Everyone has tried to sell their tulips at the last minute - but to no avail.

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Two lonely figures are cleaning up the streets.

First road sweeper: I think we are almost done now.

Second road sweeper: It's about time. I am quite hungry.

First road sweeper: Will you get yourself something to eat for your payment?

Second road sweeper: Yes, a bunch of fine bananas!

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THE END

 

The story overview:

Something for a Lady

Buying Some Flowers

Captain Cookies next move

Gray's Universal Store

What is he doing here?

The Tulip Traders

Tulips in the Garden

The first LTP

Those Terrible Tulips

The first LTP - continued

The Holdup

Neighbourhood Watch and a New Idea

Tulips ... and sistershipping

A Good Idea?

A modern coin system - and someone buys a house

The Final Tulip Duel  (You are here)

 

Tulips of Pontelli - 1st Epilogue

New Projects

2nd Epilogue

3rd Tulip Epilogue - Back at HQ


Some additional comments:

I enjoyed creating this storyline and I want to thank my collaborators for their creative additions (Garmadon, Kai NRG and Capt Wolf)

For those who think that this whole affair is far fetched: The storyline is based on the tulip mania that took place in the Netherlands during the Dutch Golden Age).
It is considered to have been the world's first speculative bubble. So this is my simplified version of the events.

I have presented the "holdup"-scene at Brickmania Antwerpen and one thing that keeps puzzling me since then is, that - while I was way from our pirate layout - someone tried to get in touch with me and
missed me by half an hour or so. I would have enjoyed a serious discussion about my silly MOCs and maybe this forum is a way to reach out to me again. Please feel free to do so. 

What's next? We will see!

Edited by Captain Braunsfeld
title picture added

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26 minutes ago, Captain Braunsfeld said:

Captain Cookie: A fine tulip certificate that I just found.  Maybe it fell from a carriage.

:pir_laugh2:

Very funny and interesting sequel story, too bad that it is over. I liked it very much. :pir-love:

The facial expressions of all participants at the table are well chosen. Well done, the certificate even has a tulip certificate written on it. Those of the half-timbered houses built together look beautiful.

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Nice continuation of the storyline.

Nice street view, colorful as expected for a golden age dutch street like.

I like your take on the SMS old way with the pigeon. :pir-grin:

However, I don't think this arc reached its end...

 

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Ach! The bubble has burst! But don't tell Willem Guilder, as he still likes those pretty flowery thingies. :pir-grin:

This has been a great storyline. Sorry to see it end so suddenly, but that's how speculative trade goes. :pir-bawling:

I love how you have created the tulip certificate (I presume that's a sticker :wink:). And are the torsos in the first trading room pic (other than the classic striped pirate torso) also stickers? If not, where are they from?

 

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That Urgent Tweet tile is so good! :roflmao:  Great ending to the story, I love how we have such a variety of scenes to tie all the characters together.  This has been super fun to follow and I hope we don't have to wait too long for the next crazy adventure! :pir-grin:

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I just found out about the Tulip mania a couple months ago! People are crazy. Excellent premise for a story though! Also that final street scene looks amazing! Love how drab it is.

Edited by Jeff of Clubs
Me new

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On 12/11/2021 at 9:47 AM, NOD said:

:pir_laugh2:

Very funny and interesting sequel story, too bad that it is over. I liked it very much. :pir-love:

The facial expressions of all participants at the table are well chosen. Well done, the certificate even has a tulip certificate written on it. Those of the half-timbered houses built together look beautiful.

Thanks. Well I was not sure whether the facial expression of Commodore Spoon should change during the fight. But then he is supposed to be a bright and shiny character - so he kept smiling.

On 12/11/2021 at 1:30 PM, Professor Thaum said:

Nice continuation of the storyline.

Nice street view, colorful as expected for a golden age dutch street like.

I like your take on the SMS old way with the pigeon. :pir-grin:

However, I don't think this arc reached its end...

You want the story to continue?  There may be some epilogue-scenes... :pir-grin:

On 12/11/2021 at 10:22 PM, Capt Wolf said:

Ach! The bubble has burst! But don't tell Willem Guilder, as he still likes those pretty flowery thingies. :pir-grin:

This has been a great storyline. Sorry to see it end so suddenly, but that's how speculative trade goes. :pir-bawling:

I love how you have created the tulip certificate (I presume that's a sticker :wink:). And are the torsos in the first trading room pic (other than the classic striped pirate torso) also stickers? If not, where are they from?

 

The bubble has burst and pigeons are spreading the news fast! 

"flowery thingies" - yes, I like language to be precise!

The tulip certificate is a product of Photoshop (and one picture contains a spelling error...). The "Urgent Tweet" is also me photoshopping.

And the torsos of the tulip traders are TLG products. I might not recall where they are all from. From left to right: old pirate torso,  this one I don't remember, new ninjago, 2nd pirate wave, 2nd pirate wave, Pirates of the Carribean.

I was using stickers for many years until I started to have my custom torsos printed (luxury!).:pir-laugh:

On 12/12/2021 at 1:55 AM, Kai NRG said:

That Urgent Tweet tile is so good! :roflmao:  Great ending to the story, I love how we have such a variety of scenes to tie all the characters together.  This has been super fun to follow and I hope we don't have to wait too long for the next crazy adventure! :pir-grin:

:pir-grin: Thanks. Yes, modern communication has come to Pontelli.

My stories tend to be a bit crazy, but in this case everything is thoroughly historically grounded.

On 12/13/2021 at 2:32 AM, Jeff of Clubs said:

I just found out about the Tulip mania a couple months ago! People are crazy. Excellent premise for a story though! Also that final street scene looks amazing! Love how drab it is.

Thanks man, welcome to Eurobricks and BoBS :pir-huzzah2:

On 12/11/2021 at 10:22 PM, Capt Wolf said:

And are the torsos in the first trading room pic (other than the classic striped pirate torso) also stickers? If not, where are they from?

 

The second to the left is a Dumbledore torso.

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