The end of LEGO Pirates by mid 2010

[Darth_Legois]

Pirates haven't even made it to any shops here in Australia besides Target and they've already canceled it! (The other shops should have them in December according to the LEGO Catalog..)

I bet POTC will be crap. Except for some pieces but otherwise crap.

I hope they'll do Pirates again one day after POTC (if they do POTC... Hope not, Is it confirmed?)

[mania3]

This is a huge bummer. And now I hear that Castle is in trouble for being canceled too? Yuck. This doesn't bode well for my collection next year. And here I was expecting the sad Pirate news to be that we can't get any Advent Calendar's here in the states. What a bummer.

[Edgehead]

i dont think i can say anything that hasnt already been said......

such a shame

And now, with that over with, it's time for International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Everyone, drop what you're doing and run on over to LEGO.com!

Oh, but don't look for it there next year. Pirates are overrated. LEGO is doing the smart thing, discontinuing them by summer 2010, and keeping the same old sets on the shelves for another year!

I mean, who really wants the Pirates theme? Perhaps a poultry 99.999% of LEGO fans? I mean, who needs the line? LEGO has much bigger and better things planned for us, things that come in lime green and hot pink!

You know what would be really smart? Discontinuing the City theme! No one buys those! We should change this forum to "Power Miners" and the Town forum to "Belville."

Sarcasm is oh so sweet when it will do nothing at all. Why have LEGO Ambassadors if LEGO won't listen to them? Bye bye, Miss Piratical Pie.

the internet really needs a way of expressing sarcasm, just like how USING CAPS is considered yelling or shouting

[Alldarker]

I was pretty excited to see the first preliminary pictures of the current Pirate line, but to be honest, when we were able to get a good look at the sets I was very disappointed with the sets. Big pieces, unoriginal designs, and they put a tiny little octopus in a set called Kraken Attackin'! So as far as I'm concerned (which is a very small concern, I know) I don't mind, although I certainly do sympathise with all those who regret Lego's decision.

The fact that there will be a new PotC movie coming out, combined with the Disney license, makes PotC Lego sets in the future a 99% certainty, and a no-brainer: unlike other licenses (Harry Potter and Spiderman come to mind) which went down a darker path, the Disney connection will keep PotC child-friendly, keeping very much in tune with Lego's image. If TLC are able to pull the PotC sets off as well as they have with the Star Wars and Harry Potter sets, I'm sure no one will really mind when the new sets are revealed.

Like others have said, though, it's the 'licensed' price bump which will be the real stinger with the PotC license. It also means that they can't make any new sets, seeing as anything they put out early or late 2010 would probably still be lying on the shelves when the movie + merchandising comes out. And Disney definitely doesn''t want any competing products on the shelves in the publicity run-up to this movie!

Edited September 18, 2009 by Alldarker

[David Thomsen]

This is a depressing surprise. Nothing I've seen for 2010 interests me so far, and I'd been hanging out for new Pirate or Indiana Jones sets. I guess now I'm just hoping for Indiana Jones and maybe some good Exclusive sets.

I really, really wanted an Imperial ship to battle my Bounty.

I would have bought the 2009 Pirates anyway if I had known this beforehand, but why did they wait until now to tell us? I mean, they must have known for ages.

I'm not putting my faith in POTC sets either, though they would be awesome. I guess I'll just have to wait and hope something catches my interest.

[Bonaparte]

This is a depressing surprise. Nothing I've seen for 2010 interests me so far, and I'd been hanging out for new Pirate or Indiana Jones sets. I guess now I'm just hoping for Indiana Jones and maybe some good Exclusive sets.

Don't forget the new Prince of Persia theme. I'm pretty excited about that one, it seems to have fantastic figs and it brings us camels

I really, really wanted an Imperial ship to battle my Bounty.

Maybe the God's will still bring us one or a few more pirate sets before the curtain falls

[Captain Blackmoor]

Don't forget the new Prince of Persia theme. I'm pretty excited about that one, it seems to have fantastic figs and it brings us camels

I heard of it some time ago, but I didn't know the details yet. Camels would be awesome!

[phoinix]

i have to get the pirate ship before it disappears!!

i was really hoping for a lot more pirates!

the minifigs are amazing and so are the details in the sets.

why make all those molds for one wave?

the little plastic island

the new cannon

the new palm tree.

remaking the soldiers hats and all..

this is so sad...pirates for only one year?

its like lego threw us a bone and then left us with it..

[Bonaparte]

I heard of it some time ago, but I didn't know the details yet. Camels would be awesome!

You can find some pictures of the upcoming PoP theme here.

[schlangus]

I am saddened by this news. That, and the impending doom of castle remove two of my favorite themes

I can't say I'm a fan of any licensed themes. Although PoP looks kinda cool, it doesn't make up for the loss of the other two.

[Edgehead]

a PotC line wouldnt be so bad i guess, the tradional LEGO line would have been much better tho imo

and for the love of whatever people worship, PLEASE KEEP THE MINIFIGS IN THE POTC LINE YELLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Thee Pirate]

I doubt that LEGO releases a wave with a life expectancy of only six months.

Why? It's happened before... only the life expectancy was more like 4-5 months.

Dearest Lego,

what the crap? I've bought way, way more Lego in the past year than at any other time in my life. Admittedly, some of those have been rather large purchases, like the UCS Millenium Falcon and all the modular buildings, but I've also spent a crapload on Lego pirates (2 BB, 2 Forts... erm Ports, 3 Hideouts, and multiple copies of all the other sets. Hell, I even bought the playing cards, and magnets but left them unopened.)

I'm cancelling all the other purchases I had planned on making, which includes the rest of SPIII, PM, and the Fire House because I need to stock up on my lovely soldiers. If SPIII, PM, and the Firehouse get canceled before I get the opportunity to buy them, I DON"T CARE!

All I wanted was Pirates, all the Lego I buy I usually end up using for Pirates. I've held off buying more sets because I was hoping for a second run. And to everyone that said the sets weren't the great, what did you buy that was sooooo much better? Pirates II was easily the best line of 2009. I'm not biased at all.

a PotC line wouldnt be so bad i guess, the tradional LEGO line would have been much better tho imo

and for the love of whatever people worship, PLEASE KEEP THE MINIFIGS IN THE POTC LINE YELLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First point - couldn't agree more.

Second - that'll never happen They're gonna be fleshies, which isn't so bad, I suppose. It's better than nothing. Oh, and it also means I'll have to BL a ton of heads.

[CDC]

F A I L

i'm really sad about this news

[Admiral Croissant]

Very sad news.. I think it will be very hard to get used to the fact I can't just buy Lego-Pirates in the stores anymore any time I want. On the other hand it might cause people to get very inventive with the bricks they have and of course a lot of people will still be making custom buildings and things in this theme. Hopefully we don't have to wait decennia long for the next release. And otherwise I hope they will release something else which we can also use for the pirate-lego theme.

[Front]

Pirate is small buisness, power miners and similar are big buisness. You should all be glad that Lego makes room for small buisness too.

I see the statement in the first post here, that the 2009 wave will be available till mid 2010. That is the only fact I see.

[lego hand]

Doesn't anybody else think that TLC is stopping Pirates for a year before the new Disney-Pirates of the Caribbean movie?

This is the perfect opportunity to build the excitement for a Jack Sparrow minifig! Capt. Barbosa and his monkey!?

[BearHeart]

WOW! This is new is a huge shock to me!! I was sure that the Pirates theme was here to stay for the next couple of years at least. I was personally hoping for an imperial ship in the next wave.

LEGO has done so many things right in the last couple of years with its choice of new themes that this news is hard to believe. I guess with the rumors of POTC LEGO on the horizon this move would make sense since LEGO wouldn't want two pirate lines competing with each other.

[jerba]

Disappointing. I hope they'll reconsider.

[Habakure]

I have only just recently signed up to this website and I have to agree with most of the comments made regarding lego stopping this fantastic line. Its the first line in quite some time that I have bought more than one set (5 sets in total).

I do hope this is just a tempory thing and not a pause to get the pirates of the caribbean line going, though I'd take that rather than nothing at all

[BearHeart]

Why? It's happened before... only the life expectancy was more like 4-5 months.

And what about the SpeedRacer license. The movie flopped and so did the sets.

[Uvga]

This is really bad and sad news. I really want to think that Pirates will return in 2011. :pir_bawling:

Even if Lego will stop the pirates line, I will continue to create a pirate's MOCs .

Uvga

[Alldarker]

Doesn't anybody else think that TLC is stopping Pirates for a year before the new Disney-Pirates of the Caribbean movie?

(...)

Perhaps if you'd taken the time to read this thread from start to finish you'd have seen that about three posts after the very first one by Bonaparte, a relationship with PotC, Disney and Lego had already been mentioned, and has been mentioned several times since then. So, to answer you question, I 'm sure no-one else thinks so, Captain Obvious...

[Bonaparte]

Perhaps if you'd taken the time to read this thread from start to finish you'd have seen that about three posts after the very first one by Bonaparte, a relationship with PotC, Disney and Lego had already been mentioned, and has been mentioned several times since then. So, to answer you question, I 'm sure no-one else thinks so, Captain Obvious...

No need to be so negative, thanks for keeping that in mind in the future.

Personally I would prefer to get some conquistadors and a trade faction, but if POTC is all that we can get, then I will still be happy if it has useful figs and parts. But at this moment we can only speculate what the future will bring.

[blueandwhite]

Pirate is small buisness, power miners and similar are big buisness. You should all be glad that Lego makes room for small buisness too.

I see the statement in the first post here, that the 2009 wave will be available till mid 2010. That is the only fact I see.

On what evidence do you base this conclusion?

Perhaps you should be greatful for your power miners instead. It seems to me that lines like Power Miners and Agents fall under a long tradition of short-lived lines ripe with neon pieces and "cool" action figs. If Power Miners manages to achieve a decade's worth of sets then we'll talk.

Regarding the sudden demise of the Pirates line; in all honesty, it doesn't surprise me. I just can't see Disney passing on the opportunity to produce a Pirates of the Caribbean line. Licenced themes are obviously a big part of LEGO's future. They sell really well with fans of the licence and LEGO fans making them quite popular so long as the licence is a hit. It's not all bad though as a PotC line would undoubtedly give pirates fans a wider range of bricks for MOCing. Licenced themes seem to bring about a wider variety of theme-specific bricks in order to mesh well with the licence. As a castle fan, Harry Potter was both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, Castle died for several years making way for Harry Potter. On the other hand, Harry Potter provided us with a great assortment of bricks for castle. The same would surely hold true for a PotC line. Sure; the figs might not be as useful. On the other hand, the brick assortment may actually be incredibly useful.

The fact LEGO is giving fans a heads up this early really suggests that this could be related to the Disney license rather than based on the actual sales of the Pirates line.

[Dr. Steve]

Not to be the materialistic weasel of the group but, does this mean the sets will go on clearance at some point and time?

Any chance the Ambassadors could ask Lego to Notify them when and If they go on clearance (just to give us loyal AFOL's a few days notice so we can pounce on the remaining sets if the prices get reduced.