General Pirates of the Caribbean Theme Discussion Thread

[caughron01]

I don't know if anyone has done it yet but I wired up my Queen Anne with LED's in the rear lanterns and in the cabin area, if someone has done this would they mind sharing it. I am just curious to see if there was a better way to do it and see how they did it.

Here is a video of how mine turned out-

Thanks.

[Hewman]

This was reported on Brickset

flump6523 said:

Incidentally, since TLG have now chosen not to continue with the PotC license (due to poor sales), The Flying Dutchman, despite already being designed and built will not go into production! :o(

As far as I'm aware flump6523 has been a reliable source, but if anyone knows otherwise, please speak up!

Edited March 14, 2012 by hewman

[LEGOman273]

This was reported on Brickset

flump6523 said:

Incidentally, since TLG have now chosen not to continue with the PotC license (due to poor sales), The Flying Dutchman, despite already being designed and built will not go into production! :o(

As far as I'm aware flump6523 has been a reliable source, but if anyone knows otherwise, please speak up!

NOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo!

:sing: :cry_sad:

Edited March 14, 2012 by LEGOman273

[Nagyzee]

Btw I was surprised how small the boxes of this theme are. For example the cannibal escape and the mill sets had way smaller boxes than some half the price City sets. While I think this is a welcome change it does give one an "oh, this is way overpriced" feel when you see the box and might have contributed to the poor sales. Of course in this case that feel was spot on, too. The Cannibal Escape set for example has a retail price of about EUR 40 here which is crazy. (The others weren't much/any better either except maybe for the biggest sets.)

[Captain Heineken]

I hate it when they just throw one wave of a theme on the market, especially when there are 4 movies available as a source of inspiration. I think these sets are just too pricey and some sets were - just as Isla de la Muerta and Captain's Cabin - just poor (except the minifigs) and overprized. There were no impulse sets either (Captain's Cabin for EUR 15?!). It's a shame that we won't see a Flying Dutchman as long as it wouldn't have been as tiny as the Pearl.

And what I absolutely don't understand is why Jack Sparrow is in every set. Only one set with British soldiers...

Edited March 14, 2012 by Captain Heineken

[Space Odysseyer]

This was reported on Brickset

flump6523 said:

Incidentally, since TLG have now chosen not to continue with the PotC license (due to poor sales), The Flying Dutchman, despite already being designed and built will not go into production! :o(

As far as I'm aware flump6523 has been a reliable source, but if anyone knows otherwise, please speak up!

The recent annual report for 2011 says that the PotC theme was selling well:

http://aboutus.lego.com/en-us/news-room/2012/march/annual-result-2011/

[Cammo]

Great, now i really want to see the design on the Flying Dutchman...

Let's hope we see it in a year or two eventually.

[LEGOman273]

The recent annual report for 2011 says that the PotC theme was selling well:

http://aboutus.lego.com/en-us/news-room/2012/march/annual-result-2011/

Then, perhaps this guy is lying.

Or, TLG is spreading false information, so that it will be a surprise when the FD is released.

[lightningtiger]

Perhaps he only tells a half truth, the Black Pearl has been a HUGE seller (a particular Lego retailer I know are nearly sold out after buying over a pallet load of them ) so how could Lego say POTC sold well...only a handful of sets haven't set the world on fire.....but compared to Cars2.....POTC totally rocked.

[Piranha]

This was reported on Brickset

flump6523 said:

Incidentally, since TLG have now chosen not to continue with the PotC license (due to poor sales), The Flying Dutchman, despite already being designed and built will not go into production! :o(

As far as I'm aware flump6523 has been a reliable source, but if anyone knows otherwise, please speak up!

Well that doesn't sound very good.

[Hewman]

Then, perhaps this guy is lying.

Or, TLG is spreading false information, so that it will be a surprise when the FD is released.

If you look closely, this was carefully worded by TLG

Sales of licence based product lines in particular were well above expectations in 2011. This was the case with, for example, with LEGO® products based on Star Wars™, Harry Potter™ and Pirates of the Caribbean™.

I think there were two Lego products based on the PotC that probably sold well, the two ships, the Black Pearl in particular. However, I think the above does not state that all products in any particular line sold well. I know one Lego retailer who through his own experience and from what Lego reps said to him that PotC did not sell well at all in Australia, however we had extremely high prices for these sets compared to all other themes except possibly Star Wars.

Edited March 14, 2012 by hewman

[Aanchir]

I'm fairly confident that Pirates of the Caribbean is not gone for good. It has to be considered that in the toy business, licensed toys don't necessarily work the same way as non-licensed ones. So, for instance, if Ninjago went away and the cartoon ended, it probably wouldn't come back.

But movie merchandise always tends to peak when there is a movie soon to appear in theaters. So it's not unreasonable to think LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean was successful-- just not successful enough for TLG to maintain strong sales when there isn't a movie doing all of the product's advertising for them.

Look in a typical toy store, and there will ALWAYS be Star Wars merchandise, or super hero merchandise, or Cars merchandise. Scoff at Cars all you like, but it's the most successful Pixar franchise by far in terms of merchandise, and was selling products from the time the original Cars came out for years before there was even any sign that "Cars 2" was immediately over the horizon. And sales continue to this day, both in LEGO and non-LEGO merchandise. The same isn't true for some other franchises like Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Caribbean, which will blossom on store shelves when a movie is due for release soon and then wither by the time the year is out.

Spongebob Squarepants has been far less of a constant presence in LEGO than Star Wars, but it's still one of those perennial licenses. There are kids who aren't even dedicated Spongebob fans who buy Spongebob merchandise due to the character's iconic status in pop culture. And while fans will rant about the quality of the episodes decreasing, Spongebob as a character has demonstrated immense staying power. Spongebob is of course also a slightly different case than these other examples, since that license is based on a TV show which always runs rather than a movie franchise that enters the public consciousness in short bursts, but it's easy to see why the Spongebob license had more staying power than the Avatar: The Last Airbender license: the Spongebob franchise simply moves more merchandise, full stop.

This effect is visible with the Harry Potter theme as well. In the early installments of the Harry Potter franchise, merchandise was everywhere. You could get any product you imagined with Harry Potter branding, and this was the case even before the movies were released. It seemed destined to be a "perennial" product like Star Wars. But with later installments its merchandise became more like typical movie merchandise, and likewise the LEGO sets began to disappear when there wasn't a movie in theaters.

Harry Potter has probably passed its peak now that there are no other films planned for the franchise. But I think there's a very strong chance that when another Pirates of the Caribbean movie draws near, another line of LEGO PotC will come with it. Even if it's not a perennial license like Star Wars or Cars, it's certainly got enough brand-name recognition and critical acclaim to keep the movies coming for a while, and I'm sure the LEGO sets will follow suit.

[Krake]

With Sideshow Collectibles announcing a partnership with Lego, perhaps we'll see The Dutchmen through them?

[caughron01]

I hope it sticks around a little longer, we just purchased every set they have made so far. I still would like some more sets from the movie to come out. Fingers crossed they don't give up on the POTC sets just yet. See my thread we start our building Saturday night.

[GuntherThePenguin]

As I've heard before, the top 2 POTC sets are the 2 ships. So why wouldn't Lego release just one more big ship set? Just an angry fan question for Lego.

[caughron01]

As I've heard before, the top 2 POTC sets are the 2 ships. So why wouldn't Lego release just one more big ship set? Just an angry fan question for Lego.

I agree, and I am still hopeful

[just2good]

Perhaps he only tells a half truth, the Black Pearl has been a HUGE seller (a particular Lego retailer I know are nearly sold out after buying over a pallet load of them ) so how could Lego say POTC sold well...only a handful of sets haven't set the world on fire.....but compared to Cars2.....POTC totally rocked.

Exactly. I've only seen three POTC sets (White Cap Bay, The London Escape, and the magnet set) on clearence, compared to seeing half of the Cars 2 sets on clearence. Additionally, I tried getting Isle De Muerta and Queen Anne's Revenge back when the theme was first released, and they were sold out.

Edited March 16, 2012 by just2good

[caughron01]

Exactly. I've only seen three POTC sets (White Cap Bay, The London Escape, and the magnet set) on clearence, compared to seeing half of the Cars 2 sets on clearence. Additionally, I tried getting Isle De Muerta and Queen Anne's Revenge back when the theme was first released, and they were sold out.

The Black Pearl was recently on sale/clearance at our Walmart here in Oklahoma for $79.97. Pretty good deal, they all got picked up fairly quick.

[______]

Well, that doesn't bode well for an official FD. It's a shame that TLC already had designed it, I'd love to see the design.

[Captain Barbossa]

It really is too bad. I was hoping for a nice fort to go with my two Pirates of the Caribbean ships. So I guess pirates will be on hiatus untill the next pirates movie. Wikipedia currently has the next pirate movie listed for Summer 2013. (Yes I do realize that making a bet on this date would be extremely foolish) I guess we'll just have to enjoy the sets we have 'till then. Ebay here I come!

[Captain Barbossa]

It really is too bad. I was hoping for a nice fort to go with my two Pirates of the Caribbean ships. So I guess pirates will be on hiatus untill the next pirates movie. Wikipedia currently has the next pirate movie listed for Summer 2013. (Yes I do realize that making a bet on this date would be extremely foolish) I guess we'll just have to enjoy the sets we have 'till then. Ebay here I come!

[BrickBob Studpants]

Somehow I've seen that coming, but still sad news I'd really like to see the design TLG has come up with for this ship, but I don't think they're ever going to reveal it (unless someone finds that prelim pic a few people had seen).

[Walter]

I think Aanchir said it very well in his post. I have high hopes that we won't be seeing the last of witty Jack.

And who knows, maybe with the release of another movie we will see the Flying Dutchman as a set.

[Cammo]

If the 2nd wave is built up the same way as wave 1, we'll probably get:

- 5 sets of the fifth installment

- 4 sets of other movies (probably movie 1-3 because Movie 4 has already got its share)

4 sets from previous movies:

XL set: The Flying Dutchman

L set: The Kraken/ The Brethren Court

M set: Tia Dalma's Shack / Sao Feng's bath-house

S set: Smugglers Island / Cutler Beckett's Office/ Tortuga Crew Sign-up

I know this is mere speculation but anyway

Edited March 17, 2012 by Cammo

[caughron01]

We were bored and combined the Black Pearl and Queen Anne, has anyone else done this?