'Behind The Helm' Episode #11 - Cap'n Blackmoor

[Captain Zuloo]

Yargh! Welcome aboard, this be Classic-Pirates.com's 'Behind The Helm'. The 11th episode to be exact, and joining us on this fine Saturday evenin' be Henk de Boer, known as Cap'n Blackmoor in these parts. A MOC expert in the making and a hunted criminal, Blackmoor has a few interestin' yarns of the sea to share in this here interview. So grab a swag of rum and yer box of tack and settle in for episode #11 of 'Behind The Helm'!

Listen to 'Behind The Helm' Episode #11 - Cap'n Blackmoor

Download 'Behind The Helm' Episode #11 - Cap'n Blackmoor (Right click link and "Save target As...")

As promised, here be the whole interview in text format courtesy of our very own Cutlass_Iz:

Captain Zuloo: Hello! Welcome to this episode of Classic-Pirates.com’s ‘Behind the Helm’. I’m Connor Hicks otherwise known as Captain Zuloo, joining me today is the fantastic ‘Behind the Helm’ co-host Izzy Kilmartin otherwise known as Cutlass_Iz. Today we are lucky enough to be talking with Henk De Boer, known as Captain Blackmoor on Eurobricks and Classic-Pirates.com to find out a little more about him and his involvement with the LEGO hobby. Welcome to the show Henk!

Cap'n Blackmoor: Hello there!

Cutlass_Iz: I'll start us off by asking, what got you into the LEGO hobby? What started the addiction for you?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Well, LEGO is quite a big hobby of mine. You can build everything with it. I was thinking about something I wanted to have and I could build it with LEGO. You can make everything with it, so I think it’s fantastic.

Captain Zuloo: Do you remember what your first LEGO set was?

Cap'n Blackmoor: I do not exactly remember that, but I think it was something small like a car or something. After that I got some large Western Sets, and the Gold mine was the first of them.

Cutlass_Iz: That sounds good, but is Pirates your favourite theme?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Oh yeah, definitely. Yeah, Pirates is a hobby of mine, that went into a passion and now it’s an obsession. Yeah… pirates. It’s just Pirates for me.

Captain Zuloo: That’s a good obsession to have mate, a very good obsession. So other than Pirates, do you really get into other themes at all?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Yeah, History and Adventure. Since I am quite fond of History, like Castle and Western and I like some action, like Adventurers.

Cutlass_Iz: What would your favourite non-Pirate set be?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Well, I had some Adventurers set from Egypt. I don’t know the exact…

Captain Zuloo: Ah, the Johnny Thunder line!

Cap'n Blackmoor: I had the large temple, that’s really a favourite as well. I played so many hours with that.

Captain Zuloo: So you’ve been a member of Classic-Pirates.com and Eurobricks for just over a year now. How did you find out about the two sites?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Well I was Googling to find some examples of ships, since I was starting on my first large ship at the time. Some great ships...

[Henk's voice cuts in and out then stops]

Captain Zuloo: Henk? You still there buddy? We lost you...

Cap'n Blackmoor: I’m still here.

Captain Zuloo: We just lost you for a minute. You Izzy? You still connected?

Cutlass_Iz: Yes, yep. He was just saying about building large ships. Have you got any projects at the moment that you are working on Henk?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Yes, I’m starting with a quite large one, with seven or eight midsections. It’s pretty big; I’ve been working on it for a couple of months now. It will take another few months to finish it. Right now we are in the PTV contest.

Captain Zuloo: Ah, yep! Pillage The Village II!

Cap'n Blackmoor: And I’m building a small kind of ship for it as well, which takes all my time right now. So the large ship is taking a break.

Captain Zuloo: Can you give us any hints as to what your entry is going to be like? How big is this ship that you are working on, this ‘Pillage the Village’ entry?

Cap'n Blackmoor: It’s my first ship that is not build on prefab hulls, so it will be brick built just to learn how to do that. So it will be about 40 centimetres. So it’s not that big, otherwise it takes too much time.

Captain Zuloo: My first brick built ship was probably about a metre long but er, it looked like rubbish [laughs] so 40 centimetres is a good starting place. You do some work for Classic-Pirates.com, you are part of the crew. Can you give us some information about what exactly you do?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Well, I was a video editor first, and I really enjoy video making. But it also takes quite time and you always need to have some programs at hand. Now I have volunteered for front-page news writer which goes quite well in my opinion, and I’m still doing that.

Cutlass_Iz: That’s good, what are some of your other favourite LEGO websites, other than Eurobricks or Classic-Pirates.com?

Cap'n Blackmoor: I’m active a MOCpages as well, I have a small community there. I try to be more active on Flickr, which is also a kind of community site in my opinion. I think that’d be all then.

Captain Zuloo: Yeah, Flickr is probably not ‘up there’ with other LEGO discussion forums but er, it’s getting better. So do you look up to anyone in the LEGO community? Like, in particular?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Yeah, some MOC Experts from Eurobricks like, Captain Green Hair and SlyOwl are really the people, yeah, I really like their creativity with bricks. Almost jealous sometimes.

[All laugh]

Cutlass_Iz: It’s hard not to be, isn’t it?

Captain Zuloo: Some of the stuff they come up with, like putting a piece on a 45-degree angle when it’s usually meant to be straight… it’s very interesting.

Cutlass_Iz: Amazing indeed. So Henk, you play the drums don’t you?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Yes.

Cutlass_Iz: What sort of music inspires you?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Well, I like quite heavy stuff like rock and metal. It’s wonderful to drum on these rhythms. It’s just much better than classic music… to drum to at least.

Captain Zuloo: [laughs] You could have some fun drumming to Mozart! You have any favourite bands?

Cap'n Blackmoor: My favourite band at this moment, it quite changes all the time. But my favourite at this moment is Alestorm. I'm sure you know that one?

Captain Zuloo: Ah yes, I love Alestorm! Very good!

Cap'n Blackmoor: Yeah, they are quite different from other bands.

Captain Zuloo: True, Pirates and metal. You can't get any better than that!

Cutlass_Iz: So where do you buy your LEGO from? Is there any particular place you like to purchase your bricks from?

Cap'n Blackmoor: First I ordered some large sets from LEGO.com itself, just only for the bricks. Then eBay had its turn, to order a large bunch of bricks and so on. After I was a member on Classic-Pirates.com I became familiar with Bricklink and now I think that is the ultimate store of bricks for me.

Captain Zuloo: It’s a lot cheaper than P-A-B as well. If you buy pieces individually, what would you say would be your favourite official LEGO piece?

Cap'n Blackmoor: There are quite a lot, it depends if I need a lot of them, like bulk. Or if I like really unique bricks, I think er, FOOD! Like the new drumstick, and the bananas.

Cutlass_Iz: I’m a fan of the cherries also.

Cap'n Blackmoor: I like the cherries also yes.

Captain Zuloo: I think the ice creams are fantastic. The amount of things we have seen... Like with the last ‘Pillage the Village’ contest. With the ice cream pieces as cannon smoke and all that. It’s just incredible the imagination and creativity of some of these people in our community.

Cap'n Blackmoor: I plan something for my entry to the contest to do with those ice creams. Although not for cannon.

Cutlass_Iz: We can't wait! You’ve paid a couple of visits to real ships. Is that for inspiration?

Cap'n Blackmoor: It’s partly for inspiration, indeed! And also because I really like to be on such a large ships. I've been on the Amsterdam in Amsterdam and the Batavia. I plan to go to the Victory in Portsmouth in England this upcoming summer holidays. Sadly now one of the largest ships in the Netherlands has burned down to the ground.

Captain Zuloo: Ah yes. Oooh horrible. Hopefully they will make another replica of that one.

Cap'n Blackmoor: I hope so, I was just planning to go on that one.

Captain Zuloo: That's the Prins Willem which burnt to the ground recently for anyone who missed that.

Cutlass_Iz: What would be your favourite ship that you have visited?

Cap'n Blackmoor: I think the Amsterdam, because I really like that kind of ship, the later, late seventh century style.

Captain Zuloo: How much money do you think you spend on LEGO on an annual basis?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Well that is about, well, I place one or two orders per month and they are around 75 or 100 Euros in a month.

Captain Zuloo: OUCH! [laughs] That can add up pretty quickly.

Cutlass_Iz: That's quite a passion to have!

Captain Zuloo: And I thought I was bad...

Cap'n Blackmoor: Well I have a job, but school costs a lot of money, so I have to be a bit careful for now. I just became addicted to it!

Cutlass_Iz: What was your reaction to the dis-continuation of the Pirates theme in 2010?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Well I was quite disappointed because it was quite unexpected. I was really hoping for a new Blue Coat round, I was almost selling my old blue coats. Lucky now I still have them. Its not that I cry about it every night or something but…

[all laugh]

Cap'n Blackmoor: I’m quite disappointed, it sells quite well, and I see no reason to stop it.

Captain Zuloo: Yeh, I’m not really sure either, but from what I've gethered from Tom Jacobs, our LEGO Ambassador, he seems to think they will be making a return in the next few years. Hopefully that is the case.

So what would you say about The LEGO Groups product quality now as in comparison to what it was in the 90’s?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Well I really like the new pieces, and new colours, like dark red and dark blue. But the quality of the sets, I think the old sets like the Black Seas Barracuda are just better designed and more realistic. LEGO is getting more um, more childly.

Cutlass_Iz: I agree, exactly, I find with the new Pirate sets some of the torsos and things are more cartoon like rather than the older ones. What would you like to see happen to LEGO in the future? Is there any sets or themes that would be like a dream of yours to see them go into production?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Well I’d like to see a unique with a large ship, that is realistic, nice colour scheme, and it should be nice thing to build, not as in ‘done is 15 minutes but really where you need a couple of hours, like the Café Corner, and other of those great buildings.

EDITORS NOTE: The above statement was made before the announcement of 10210.

Captain Zuloo: They are the ones that are definitely designed for an older audience. So, word has it there was a strange Pirate crew running around in your area on the night of International Talk like a Pirate Day (September 19^th). Can you give us some insight into that?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Well er, we dressed up like pirates and um, its just co-incidence that 19^th September is a Birthday of a friend of mine, so we came as a surprise, we were all dressed like pirates. We went to his house and we had an amazing time there, then we went into the village, its almost a tradition, we take stuff from gardens [all laugh] and place it on the road. Normally we don’t destroy anything, we just haul it over, but a couple of people, seems to me they didn’t like it and they called the Police. So we were just busy with our activity and suddenly the Police came. So we had to hide behind a couple of crates and boxes, [all laugh] lucky enough they didn’t find us. An amazing night!

Cutlass_Iz: Lining garden gnomes up on the side of the road, things like that?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Yeah

Captain Zuloo: I’d imagine the old lady down the road wouldn’t be too happy to find the contents of her front porch have been moved into the middle of the road. [laughs] That’s great! So do you have any building tips you’d like to share with the community?

Cap'n Blackmoor: Well mostly I just post on the forums every time I’ve got something new, it’s quite hard to tell different techniques so I’d rather do it with help from some pictures. I update things now and then and I explain exactly how I’ve done it, it’s not secret what I build.

Captain Zuloo: Ah well, we will keep an eye out then.

Cutlass_Iz: We will. We like to ask everyone that we interview, where their screen name came from, where did ‘Captain Blackmoor’ come from for yours?

Cap'n Blackmoor: I decided to make a back story on my sigfig. So I came up with Captain Blackmoor because he fled from Scotland to France because he killed somebody, and now he is active in the French Navy that’s the small story behind it.

Cutlass_Iz: That's quite a yarn!

Cap'n Blackmoor: Yeah, Captain Blackmoor has a bit Scottish feeling, and I had to do something with the fact that he is suddenly French so I like that way.

Captain Zuloo: Yeah, that makes me feel like ‘Damn, I’m going to have to come up with a story now’ for my sigfig, damn! [laughs] Ooh yeah, I dunno. I’ll work on it. Anyway...

Cap'n Blackmoor: Your name is from Star Treck right?

Captain Zuloo: Er no. No, that was from me not being able to spell Zulu as in Z - U - L - U when I signed up and spelling it O - O, then feeling like an idiot but being too scared to PM the admins about changing it.

[laughs]

Cutlass_Iz: I'll be suprised if you don't walk away from that with a new title...

Captain Zuloo: No need to make that public... Oh! Hold on! I shouldn’t have said all this in an interview then. Oh, maybe not the best of ideas. Anyway, [laughs] we’ll wrap it up now I think. Thanks very much for joining us Henk! How do you reckon you went with your first interview, Izzy?

Cutlass_Iz: I think that was excellent!

Cap'n Blackmoor: Yeah, it was nice talking to you guys, and girl. [laughs]

Captain Zuloo: Well righto, thanks very much for joining us Captain Blackmoor, and we’ll talk to you quite possibly sometime in the future.

Cap'n Blackmoor: Oh, sure!

Captain Zuloo: And we’ll have you guys listening for the next episode of ‘Behind the Helm’ Seeya!

Stay tuned for Episode #12 with someone very special...

[Ratshot]

That was most interesting.

Thanks for typing this Cutlass

I still think Zuloo should be interviewed, that would be really interesting

[Commodore Hornbricker]

Another great interview. You two are really rolling. Thanks again. Always interesting to learn something new about the enemy!

[Etzel]

Nice work! Your interviews are very interesting and well done, I'm looking forward to the next one

[Joey Lock]

Well its good to hear my nemesis's voice!

Im actually amazed since when people do Dutch impressions they make it sound completely diffrent with "sh" sound mixed into a word. Well I guess thats just Top Gear and Al Murray!

[Admiral Croissant]

Nice interview, nice work for Cutlass_Iz as well. Now I finally know the story behind that mysterious 'Captain Blackmoor' Well, what I didn't know was that you killed somebody in Scotland..what was that all about?

I'm also very curious about which 'special' person will be interviewed next time

[General Armendariz]

Once again a wonderful interview! I enjoy this series alot

[/color]Captain Zuloo: Er no. No, that was from me not being able to spell Zulu as in Z - U - L - U when I signed up and spelling it O - O, then feeling like an idiot but being too scared to PM the admins about changing it.

I tried Changing my name once, because of me mispelling 'General' and Hinkley gave me the title 'Horrible Speller' which was funny

[Joey Lock]

Once again a wonderful interview! I enjoy this series alot

I tried Changing my name once, because of me mispelling 'General' and Hinkley gave me the title 'Horrible Speller' which was funny

I think the General should be interviewed next!

Then Ill have my Nemesis's voices on record! I can see it now "If you hear this voice, report to a soldier immediately."

[SlyOwl]

I enjoyed the interview, thanks guys (and gal)!

I'm looking forwards to the icecream technique unveiling already I must get me some of those sometime...

40cm for a brickbuilt ship? That's still pretty huge.

And it's good to know that pirates, even if they are land-based, still exist to disrupt people's gnomes!

[Captain Blackmoor]

We should be more careful next time pillaging gnomes.

I had a great time chatting with you guys! We sure do that again somewhere in the future.

The ship is progressing nicely and till now the icecream technique works well, although it's not complicated at all.

I'm curious about who's next to be interviewed!

[Joey Lock]

I'm sorry to dig this up but I have noticed that this and a few other Behind The Helm's have been deleted since Captain Zuloo resigned, Is there a reason?

[Erdbeereis]

Hmmm... I don't know.

I didn't hear of any plans to delete any, so I'm not sure. Which ones?

[Rick]

I'm sorry to dig this up but I have noticed that this and a few other Behind The Helm's have been deleted since Captain Zuloo resigned, Is there a reason?

Apparently it has to do with 'The ALL NEW Classic-Pirates.com'