2015 LEGO Pirates Rumors and Discussion

[tafkatb]

And the irony is, unless I'm very much mistaken, based on the global reaction, their sales records are going to tank even more because of that.

You are indeed very much mistaken. The reaction has not been "global" so much as "a handful of dudes on the Internet that, let's be honest, complain constantly no matter what."

[Ardelon]

At first, I was disappointed by the preliminary pics, but Ive managed to get regain some optimism. Good to see the bluecoats back, to balance out the redcoats. And the swivel gun concept is interesting - well, we AFOLs have been asking for it in the past.

I actually like the pirate ship - its different enough from the BBB for me, with a nice color scheme. Will be interested in the color of the sails, but black stripes like the SES just dont suit it as much as red stripes. Maybe there will just be a different skull face on the sails, to match the new flags?

The Soldiers Fort looks pretty lame. It isnt a fort even in the loosest sense, just a flimsy tower with a pier. But the dark red masonry bricks are a saving grace, I thought htey were reddish brown at first (that wouldnt be bad either). The one improvement over the 90s sets is the use of brown parts for piers and quays and masts and such. And I dont mind the new palm trunks, it adds to the variety of the local flora. I do wonder what the frogs are standing in for, if indeed they arent meant to be frogs in the first place.

I wonder whether going for a younger demographic is really the reason for simplifying the sets so much. Were the previous iterations really that complex for kids?

A skull island was a given, I guess. Its not bad. Neither is the Soldiers outpost. But they cant be serious with the catapult on the raft!

The smallest set is weird. Did the rock grow around the ship?

Anyway, the minifigs look promising. Bluecoat prints, wigs, something in place of the bowler hat (I hope...), and a white bandana so far. I wonder what the female bluecoat will be. Not a fan of PC in history, but I can always leave her out.

In sum, the positives somewhat outweigh the negatives. I expect it will get better when the final images appear.

[Pate-keetongu]

Dark red masonary bricks in the kraken set are quite sweet. Otherwise this theme seems to suffer from the same blandness than the latest Castle wave. Blue coats are nice touch too, I'm not a regulat pirate builder but those might have some nice steampunk pieces.

[David Thomsen]

You are indeed very much mistaken. The reaction has not been "global" so much as "a handful of dudes on the Internet that, let's be honest, complain constantly no matter what."

Very true. So many people have complained that the BB is a step down from the BBB, when they are more or less equivalent... the fine details are different, but the level of build is the same. And while the price point of the 'fort' is much too low, the set is perfectly adequate for that price point. But if the low price point means that these sets sell well and encourage Lego to continue the Pirate theme, then I think it's a worthwhile strategy.

I actually like the pirate ship - its different enough from the BBB for me, with a nice color scheme. Will be interested in the color of the sails, but black stripes like the SES just dont suit it as much as red stripes.

I think it might be a case of everyone having seen the red and white sails first, and after that the white and black sails look 'wrong' just because they are different. I've been using my copy of the BB picture with black and white sails for reference for a week now and after a period of 'wrong'-ness I think they really do suit the ship.

[jodawill]

You are indeed very much mistaken. The reaction has not been "global" so much as "a handful of dudes on the Internet that, let's be honest, complain constantly no matter what."

Eh… I would say that there's a large consensus among AFOLs that the set designs are pretty poor if the final versions look anything like these. But, of course, that doesn't necessarily mean the sales will be bad. I expect a lot of people will buy these even if these crappy designs are final because there will probably be a lot of good minifigures.

[Ardelon]

I doubt it, as it seems to be the replacement for Castle next year. Even the set numbering is in the same range as this year's Castle line. They skipped set numbers 70405-70408 so far though, so maybe there are Castle and/or Pirates sets we haven't seen yet.

Why, if Castle is a summer theme, we may still see Castle sets nexy year. The set numbers are significant, but are they conclusive?

ps. if she was a soldier rather than an officer, that would actually be completely historically accurate.

How so? I know there have been a few documented cases of women in the army disguised as males, but I dont know of any openly female soldiers from that era.

I think it might be a case of everyone having seen the red and white sails first, and after that the white and black sails look 'wrong' just because they are different. I've been using my copy of the BB picture with black and white sails for reference for a week now and after a period of 'wrong'-ness I think they really do suit the ship.

Yeah, could be. Though I think the promo image of the bowsprit sticking out of the box would have shown black striped sails if the ship was to have them.

[jodawill]

At first, I was disappointed by the preliminary pics, but Ive managed to get regain some optimism. Good to see the bluecoats back, to balance out the redcoats. And the swivel gun concept is interesting - well, we AFOLs have been asking for it in the past.

I actually like the pirate ship - its different enough from the BBB for me, with a nice color scheme. Will be interested in the color of the sails, but black stripes like the SES just dont suit it as much as red stripes. Maybe there will just be a different skull face on the sails, to match the new flags?

The Soldiers Fort looks pretty lame. It isnt a fort even in the loosest sense, just a flimsy tower with a pier. But the dark red masonry bricks are a saving grace, I thought htey were reddish brown at first (that wouldnt be bad either). The one improvement over the 90s sets is the use of brown parts for piers and quays and masts and such. And I dont mind the new palm trunks, it adds to the variety of the local flora. I do wonder what the frogs are standing in for, if indeed they arent meant to be frogs in the first place.

I wonder whether going for a younger demographic is really the reason for simplifying the sets so much. Were the previous iterations really that complex for kids?

A skull island was a given, I guess. Its not bad. Neither is the Soldiers outpost. But they cant be serious with the catapult on the raft!

The smallest set is weird. Did the rock grow around the ship?

Anyway, the minifigs look promising. Bluecoat prints, wigs, something in place of the bowler hat (I hope...), and a white bandana so far. I wonder what the female bluecoat will be. Not a fan of PC in history, but I can always leave her out.

In sum, the positives somewhat outweigh the negatives. I expect it will get better when the final images appear.

This is largely how I feel about it. The fort is really the only exceptionally crappy set here. The small shipwreck set looks a lot better than the 2009 cannon set.

Like you said, the BB is basically the exact same quality of ship as the BBB. It's not really a step down, and it looks like it has a better selection of minifigures.

I'm really hoping they release a huge fort set, like the quality of set the 2010 Imperial Flagship was. There really hasn't been a decent big fort since the '80s, whatever that set is called that has the cargo sailing ship and whatnot. I think that's what most AFOLs are really hoping for.

[2maxwell]

How so? I know there have been a few documented cases of women in the army disguised as males, but I dont know of any openly female soldiers from that era.

I was referring mostly to the disguised women (of which there were more than a few), as I think it wouldn't make any real difference when translated to a children's toy. That being said, I have read accounts of women serving "openly". One that comes to mind is a woman who was in the royal navy, started out disguised as a man and was found out. But she was good at her job, so her superiors let her stay. Plenty of women also lived openly on naval ships of the era. They weren't soldiers but they did take part in combat.

Edited September 21, 2014 by 2maxwell

[Darth Punk]

You are indeed very much mistaken. The reaction has not been "global" so much as "a handful of dudes on the Internet that, let's be honest, complain constantly no matter what."

Not to mention these sets are targeted at 5-12 year olds who have very different expectations from an adult. Plus the minifigs are clearly not finals and are what will drive sales in the dude demographic.

[VintageLegoEra]

We know it is targeted for 4-12 years but at least we want something like the 10210 imperial flagship

[Darth Punk]

We know it is targeted for 4-12 years but at least we want something like the 10210 imperial flagship

So,do,I but you cannot place those expectations onto these sets and expect them to make up for the lack of one. And we still might get one or something along those lines.

[dr_spock]

So,do,I but you cannot place those expectations onto these sets and expect them to make up for the lack of one. And we still might get one or something along those lines.

Would that be something of second half of 2015? Technic theme usually release their flagship set in the second half of the year.

[Raubritter]

Would that be something of second half of 2015? Technic theme usually release their flagship set in the second half of the year.

The Imperial Flagship 10210 was released in 2010, a year after the 2009 pirate theme. It was the same with the Great Joust.

If there will be a set like the Imperial Flagship, I would expect it to be releast in 2016.

Edited September 22, 2014 by Raubritter

[VintageLegoEra]

I mean, we have seen a big ship from the imperial flagship theme and never seen a big ship from Pirate theme. The biggest pirate set was in 1993 set #6286.

The Barracuda ship ( 1989 and 2002 ) is the ongoing set but in modern way as we saw in 2009 and what is going to look like for 2015 set. If you notice, the 2009 and 2015 ships are same as the original one just modified with new pieces and look.

Really hope to see a giant Pirate ship soon whether in 2015 or 2016, but must be done...:-)

[David Thomsen]

I mean, we have seen a big ship from the imperial flagship theme and never seen a big ship from Pirate theme. The biggest pirate set was in 1993 set #6286.

The Barracuda ship ( 1989 and 2002 ) is the ongoing set but in modern way as we saw in 2009 and what is going to look like for 2015 set. If you notice, the 2009 and 2015 ships are same as the original one just modified with new pieces and look.

Really hope to see a giant Pirate ship soon whether in 2015 or 2016, but must be done...:-)

I don't think we'll see a giant Pirate ship this time around, that would mean the pirates got two ships and the soldiers got zero, which doesn't work with Lego's Team A Versus Team B dynamic. Personally this time around rather than getting another large Imperial Flagship I'd like an Imperial Trading Post type set with a well designed harbour building and a smaller ship, either Merchant or Soldier, preferably the former. I already have a large Imperial Flagship and unless there was a serious difference of some kind, I wouldn't necessarily feel the need to get another one. The two Bounty ships are small enough and different enough that I'd want both.

Edited September 22, 2014 by David Thomsen

[2maxwell]

It looks like the hull on the Brick Bounty is narrower than the ones we currently have. Is anyone else getting that impression, or am I just dumb? I'd really been hoping for some smaller hull pieces, so it might just be wishful thinking too.

Edited September 23, 2014 by 2maxwell

[Dreamweb]

Looks like a standard type to me. Although if they did release a ship with a narrow hull, for the soldiers perhaps, as a counterbalance for the Brick Bounty, I'd be very, very happy. Something along the lines of the Imperial Flagship, the old one, not the 2010 one. We really miss those smaller hulls.

[The_Cook]

We know it is targeted for 4-12 years but at least we want something like the 10210 imperial flagship

Again, I would counsel against raising your hopes. The range is clearly tragetted at that younger age bracket and there is no recent evidence of them making expert D2C set to tie in with such a low age range. Your average 7year old isn't suddenly going to be capable of building a 1500piece set when they're only ever built 200 piece sets before.

As evidence I point to the recent castle range. Targetted at a younger audience it hasn't had a D2C set; the old Kingdoms Joust which is still around is thematically tied back in to the earlier Kingdoms range that was targetted more towards the 8-15 age range in terms of size and build complexity.

[KristofBD]

@The_Cook: Haunted House (Monster Fighters)?

[The_Cook]

@The_Cook: Haunted House (Monster Fighters)?

Monster Fighters was 8-14 age range, ie. teenagers rather than young children.

The last pirates wave was 6-12 which is older children rather than the 4-12 ranger for younger children and it produced a D2C set but that was when D2C sets were still in their infancy and TLG was exploring what did or didn't work.

Much as I personally would love another Imperial Flagship or an Eldorado Fortress I'm approaching it from the hard-headed business stand-point that TLG will be approaching their decisions from. That is; What is likely to make the most money? There is probably a lot more money selling hundreds of thousands of smaller sets to children across the world than there is selling a couple of thousand bigger D2C sets to xFOLs; therefore their finite design and manufacturing capacity will be directed towards producing sets that hit that target market.

Edited September 23, 2014 by The_Cook

[VintageLegoEra]

Again, I would counsel against raising your hopes. The range is clearly tragetted at that younger age bracket and there is no recent evidence of them making expert D2C set to tie in with such a low age range. Your average 7year old isn't suddenly going to be capable of building a 1500piece set when they're only ever built 200 piece sets before.

As evidence I point to the recent castle range. Targetted at a younger audience it hasn't had a D2C set; the old Kingdoms Joust which is still around is thematically tied back in to the earlier Kingdoms range that was targetted more towards the 8-15 age range in terms of size and build complexity.

In both cases i have to buy this theme as i am a collector but really hope they come up with something big soon

Edited September 23, 2014 by VintageLegoEra

[VintageLegoEra]

I have a strong feeling that the 2015 ship will have more pieces than the 2009 ship.

2009 ship has: 5xx pieces...

[TheBrickPal]

These sets really don't hold a candle to the 2009 Pirates theme, but I am sure I will buy one or two sets, anyway.

[dr_spock]

I would buy these sets too. Can't go wrong with more cannons and some bluecoats to go against my 2009 redcoats.

[Alcarin]

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.

Yes but atleast use the totally different color scheme then...... fine Ships were brown, we can live with that, but everything thats red (and white) on this ship should be totally counter colored, so it does not look identical to older ships....

Our complaints are not that all cars have 4 wheels etc. but our complaints are that all cars are red and white colored in the town........... thats converting our complaint into your analogy.