Yawgmoth

2015 LEGO Pirates Rumors and Discussion

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I think those frogs in the Soldier's Fort are stand ins. If so, could they not be a new monkey mold? Eitherwise, we can just use the monkey from the Zookeeper CMF.

I'm still trying to figure out what the frogs are for. They're too short for a monkey mold, and we already have the Zookeeper monkey, which they would almost certainly use rather than a new mold.

Are we finally journeying to the mystical

Frog Island, rumored burying place of the Croaking Treasure, held in the evil, slimy clutches of the Dark Toad???pirate_oh3.gifpirate_oh.gif

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Not sure if anyone's noticed this yet, but one nice thing I see about the skull island set upon closer observation is that pushing down the palmtree would seem to lift up the skull and reveal the treasure. Not super amazing, but better than the last skull island where the play feature was basically "Rotate the door to open just like a real door!"

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I am happy pirates will be back. It's a chance to get some blue coats which I don't have. And maybe a ship and more cannons.

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On closer inspection, I'm not entirely convinced these are real. They just seem so junior-like. I doubt 7-9!year olds will want these, and that's where they're apparently aimed at.

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Without wanting to jump on the negative bandwagon, the line looks like a disappointment to me. Its clear these sets are targeted at the lower end of Lego's age bracket. Fair enough, apart from us jaded AFOL's this is the age group that a pirate theme will most appeal to but you can't help but be disappointed with these pictures even in comparison to the 2009 line which struck a nice balance in appealing to its primary target audience of 6-12 year olds while also catering for us older fans.

The pirate ship is probably the best of the bunch but it still looks like an inferior Brickbeard's Bounty despite having a larger number of pieces! While its nice to see an enclosed cabin, the cabin itself looks smaller and there isn't much in the way of detail. I really don't see the incentive to buy this ship if you already own Brickbeard's Bounty.

The soldier's fort is the biggest disappointment. I thought the use of 'fort' for the 2009 variant was tenuous but this new set makes it look valid. It just feels like a jumble of bricks with endless amounts of open space and no coherent structure.

Its great that Lego are bringing back the classic themes likes pirates and castle but I just wish their treatment of the subject matter was a little more sophisticated. The 2013 castle line was a big disappointment and I didn't buy a single set. I've been looking forward to this line since it was announced but my optimism has been crushed.

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I really hope the final version of the ship will use different sails and they simply used what they had available at the moment for the prelim picture. The way it is now, not only is its name almost identical to Brickbeard Bounty's, but so is its overall look. Almost as if LEGO were ripping off themselves. It reminds me of all those clone-brand Black Seas Barracudas I've seen over the years - very similar to the original yet always slightly different. Only this time it's the guys who actually made the original that are now presenting us with this knockoff.

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Looks like that gallery I made was taken down. pirate_laugh2.gif

If anyone's still looking for images, just PM me. I wish there was some way to spread the word other than posting the same message in each topic.

-Sci

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I just did a very quick piece count of http://www.familiens...digung-des-Schi, and I can see about 70 pieces which tallies with the 84pieces listed on the box, remaining few bricks being structure that can't be seen from the illustration. Price and piece wise it's a direct comparisson to http://brickset.com/.../Riverside-Raid from the agents theme, 10euros, 88 pieces.

Apart from the minifigs which have to be stand-ins, I think what you see is what you get. Just like Castle 2013 it's aimed at the lower age bracket so the builds are simple, in-expensive and just what young kids will like.

Edited by The_Cook

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Does anyone know why they didn't include Islanders in 2009 and now?

I thought the S11 Island Warrior was a foreshadowing for this line

I think I'm just a dreamer default_cry4.gif

Islanders are a bit problematic when cast in an actual Lego theme. They push the story from a simplified one with orderly soldiers versus chaotic and lawless pirates to one that borders dangerously on real world controversies like the effects of European imperialism and racism. Indians in Western themes have similar issues—idealizing the old notion of "Cowboys vs. Indians" can have the effect of whitewashing a period of U.S. history marked by atrocities against an indigenous population.

Licensed themes can avoid these issues since they're a part of staying true to the license, and the context of the movies they're based on generally leaves less room for ambiguity of the characters' depictions. And CMFs have the benefit of no context whatsoever—the Tiki Warrior does not necessarily interact with the Pirate Captain at all, let alone stand with or against him in a conflict with a Redcoat military. But I would be very surprised if we see Islanders playing as big a role in a Pirates theme as they originally did in this day and age.

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My first reactions: the ship looks nice and soldiers look like they will be some form of bluecoats. The crappy "buildings" means the designs in the Ambassador Project thread will look amazing compared to these. ;)

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The builds looked pretty immature, which seems to be the same trend everyone else is seeing.

The figures could be good. It makes sense they would use bluecoats this time. Interesting that they came out with the CMF revolutionary soldier (which makes a perfect bluecoat), so they will probably have yet another torso variant. Hopefully they can look okay together.

It is interesting in the one cheaper set they used the old bluecoat from the 90s, but in the other sets, the bluecoats were just a blue torso. I think the ship had a fancier bluecoat torso (which might have been Barbossa's). But still, interesting they used the first blue coat torso design, but then didn't use it for ALL of the blue coats. Maybe more than 1 variant of a blue coat??

Edit: Now I wonder if me buying 17 revolutionary soldiers was too much...

Edited by TheLegoDr

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Uhm... I've probably exagerated my reaction. The best way to know if TLG did a good work or not is to try to reinterpretate them.

I'm personally on using digital designer and replicate the concept from the kits I like less, and try to make my interpretation using the maximum amount of pieces written on the box..

It will take a while, I'm not that good with LDD ;)

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Islanders are a bit problematic when cast in an actual Lego theme.

You're probably correct. Maybe they could release the Islanders as a different theme, without including the pirates/soldiers. default_look.gif

Edited by Robert8

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They also replaced the big shark from 2009 with the older shark design? Wonder if that's a placeholder too? Kinda disappointed in the fort. It looks really small and more like an outpost. The outpost should be a shack lol

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They also replaced the big shark from 2009 with the older shark design? Wonder if that's a placeholder too? Kinda disappointed in the fort. It looks really small and more like an outpost. The outpost should be a shack lol

It's not the older shark—it's a redesign of the old shark that's been around several years. Less oversized than the newer shark, but much easier to attach to baseplates or other parts.

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The ship is very disappointing, another rehash of brick beards bounty! I was hoping for another ship with a different design and colours.

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I'm not sure where I stand on the inclusion of the new shark mold. It's more accurate, I'll give it that, but it's already been in a $5 set - easy to collect multiples of. And I need a spare 2009 shark for a building project...

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I've seen preliminary pictures of sets before, but I've never seen anything as hilarious as the chef torso for a pirate. He even has a pan instead of a cutlass in the largest set! pir_laugh2.gif

The frog that is seemingly glued to that palm tree hit me funny too.

I'm surprised that some think that these builds are final, I would be quite surprised if the end results are this barren and unimaginative. I mean, I don't expect huge changes to be made, but I'd bet that these will be touched up a decent amount. Perhaps I'm just being overly optimistic though.

But I do hope that white bandanna stays. So I can make my own chef pirate. That's a nice recolored part. The dark red tattered cape sail too, I've wanted that element in that color for a long time, and the Chima sets don't interest me in the least. Those pieces and the dark red mason bricks are the only things this generation of the Pirate theme has going for it if they don't have nice prints on the minifigs and/or improve the sets some.

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As a Castlke fan I think these are great partspack! The Skull island is lovely and I will probably focus just on buing these.

I like they gave us more accesories in sets- bottles, fish, guns but sets miss the coins. Are they really THAT expensive to make?

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I think the BB looks the same as the BBB for the same reason that most cars these days look almost identical — after a long period of evolution they have reached a kind of optimal design. Any ship this size produced by Lego is going to have the same shape because that is the optimal shape for a ship to be in — same number of sails and everything. Complaining that the two ships look similar is like complaining that all the cars in Town have four wheels, a windscreen and a steering wheel.

But if you look at the fine details they are actually quite different, apart from the sails which are clearly a placeholder. And if the ship has black and white sails, Fingers crossed, I think it will really bring out the colour scheme of the rest of the ship.

Edited by David Thomsen

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I think the BB looks the same as the BBB for the same reason that most cars these days look almost identical — after a long period of evolution they have reached a kind of optimal design. Any ship this size produced by Lego is going to have the same shape because that is the optimal shape for a ship to be in — same number of sails and everything. Complaining that the two ships look similar is like complaining that all the cars in Town have four wheels, a windscreen and a steering wheel.

But if you look at the fine details they are actually quite different, apart from the sails which are clearly a placeholder. And if the ship has black and white sails, Fingers crossed, I think it will really bring out the colour scheme of the rest of the ship.

I agree,the ship might be the same size as the previous BB but that doesn't mean that it'll be exactly the same and I also agree about the sails,we might get lucky and get them in a new color(maybe black and white?) Edited by LOTR343

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I agree,the ship might be the same size as the previous BB but that doesn't mean that it'll be exactly the same and I also agree about the sails,we might get lucky and get them in a new color(maybe black and white?)

I opened the Brick Bounty into Pixelmator (poor person's Photoshop) and quickly changed the sails to black and white, it didn't look too bad, definitely made it look less like Brickbeard's Bounty. Then I looked for other pirate ships with black and white sails, and observed that the Skull's Eye Schooner also has the figurehead of the skeleton wearing a bicorn holding a cutlass...

I feel almost sure of it now, that the Brick Bounty will be to the Skull's Eye Schooner what the Brickbeard's Bounty was to the Black Seas Barracuda.

Edited by David Thomsen

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I opened the Brick Bounty into Pixelmator (poor person's Photoshop) and quickly changed the sails to black and white, it didn't look too bad, definitely made it look less like Brickbeard's Bounty. Then I looked for other pirate ships with black and white sails, and observed that the Skull's Eye Schooner also has the figurehead of the skeleton wearing a bicorn holding a cutlass...

I feel almost sure of it now, that the Brick Bounty will be to the Skull's Eye Schooner what the Brickbeard's Bounty was to the Black Seas Barracuda.

Yea now seeing Skull's Eye Schooner I have to admit it's pretty cool for a set that old,especially with the black and white sails,I hope that your theory about the Brick Bounty being the new Skull's Eye Schooner is right.

I also just noticed like you said that looking on the ships they have alot of similarities for an example the Brickbears Bounty has a mermaid for a figure head and so does the Black Seas Barracuda,the same goes with the new Brick Bounty and the Skull's Eye Schooner.

Edited by LOTR343

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The SES had colours on the ship itself that matches the black and white sails. This new ship doesn't; in fact, it's colours doesn't really lend itself to the sails being anything but red and white. There's simply too much red in it. But I'd love to be wrong on this, as differently coloured sails is about the only thing that can save it from being a poor ripoff of Brickbeard's Bounty.

And honestly, I think that those people saying that they can see tons of differences between the two ships (as it looks now, in the prelim pics) are fooling themselves. Sure, there are subtle differences and variations - but 99 % of the build is exactly the same, and the colours aren't even that different. I don't mind LEGO being lazy and rehashing an older ship, but why on earth not do the BSB or SES then? What dissapoints me the most is that the stern is identical to that of the last one, even down to the weirdly placed cannon.

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I think the BB looks the same as the BBB for the same reason that most cars these days look almost identical — after a long period of evolution they have reached a kind of optimal design. Any ship this size produced by Lego is going to have the same shape because that is the optimal shape for a ship to be in — same number of sails and everything. Complaining that the two ships look similar is like complaining that all the cars in Town have four wheels, a windscreen and a steering wheel.

But if you look at the fine details they are actually quite different, apart from the sails which are clearly a placeholder. And if the ship has black and white sails, Fingers crossed, I think it will really bring out the colour scheme of the rest of the ship.

If this is the optimal design, why do the first two pirate ships they made look better than the newer ones?

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