Ambassador Project - Haven Guard Flag & Torso Designs

[jodawill]

This is the first time I've seen this topic. I love the idea of designing a new faction, but that orange is a nasty color. I don't think TLG would use it. They will undoubtedly go with a brighter color.

[Mister Phes]

They will undoubtedly go with a brighter color.

You can't win either way, some said the brighter orange looked like a popsicle!

But we did conduct a poll to determine the shade of orange, here is a 3D rendering by Yooha of the torsos in each shade of orange.

[jodawill]

You can't win either way, some said the brighter orange looked like a popsicle!

But we did conduct a poll to determine the shade of orange, here is a 3D rendering by Yooha of the torsos in each shade of orange.

To be honest, I don't think orange really works for this type of minifigure myself. I can't really imagine anything other than blue or red. The armada theme had some really good green torsos. That worked really well for them, but I don't think it would for this type of soldier.

Actually, a dark blue like the revolutionary war minifigure would work really well.

[Mister Phes]

The point of choosing orange was to select a colour which hadn't be previously used.

[Lind Whisperer]

I personally support the dark orange, and here's why:

When I first saw the Haven Guards, the first nationality that came to my mind was that they looked rather Dutch. Of all of the navies in the world during the Age of Sail, there were five European powers that were the most powerful - the English (represented by the Imperial Guards I and II,) The French, (Imperial Soldiers), the Spanish, (Imperial Armada), the Portuguese, (unrepresented), and the Dutch (unrepresented).

Orange is in many ways the unofficial color of the Netherlands, a trend that has existed since the days of Willem van Oranje of the House of Orange. This might be a fine time to ratify this lack of representation of a major world power in the LEGO Pirates universe. If this theme is based around a harbor, (where trading presumably is a large part of the economy), then the similarities continue, as the Dutch were known for their successful and widespread trade endeavors.

Edited August 14, 2014 by Lind Whisperer

[Mister Phes]

When I first saw the Haven Guards, the first nationality that came to my mind was that they looked rather Dutch. [...]

Orange is in many ways the unofficial color of the Netherlands, a trend that has existed since the days of Willem van Oranje of the House of Orange. This might be a fine time to ratify this lack of representation of a major world power in the LEGO Pirates universe. If this theme is based around a harbor, (where trading presumably is a large part of the economy), then the similarities continue, as the Dutch were known for their successful and widespread trade endeavors.

That pretty much sums up purpose of the Merchants and the Haven Guard factions!

[Capt Wolf]

I'm not surprised at all. People want there to be continuity/connections to the older Pirate lines. It is nostalgia. I have no problem if you want to tweak the cannons/crown design but we were basically presented with minor variations and this is the nicest looking version. I voted for that design because it says to me "LEGO pirates" and "soldiers" while the change in colours is good enough to distinguish the factions.

While I don't want to cause any problems for Mister Phes since the vote is already underway, I'd be happy to come up with some other crossed cannons designs that looked more like LEGO cannons but still distinctive from the existing designs.

[Mister Phes]

While I don't want to cause any problems for Mister Phes since the vote is already underway, I'd be happy to come up with some other crossed cannons designs that looked more like LEGO cannons but still distinctive from the existing designs.

That's fine, we do need to make those cannons look a bit different so please do so...

[Capt Wolf]

OK, I pulled out a LEGO non-shooting cannon from one of my old Pirates sets (part 518 on Bricklink; it appeared as an alternate to the shooting cannons in several sets) and came up with this:

[Mister Phes]

For easy comparison I've inserted the existing design which is similar into your post.

[Capt Wolf]

A slightly simpler variation:

As for the flags themselves, have you considered lumping all the crossed cannon votes together when considering which flag design people like best, then dealing with what cannons to use in some other manner?

Edited August 18, 2014 by Capt Wolf

[Mister Phes]

As for the flags themselves, have you considered lumping all the crossed cannon votes together when considering which flag design people like best, then dealing with what cannons to use in some other manner?

Not at this stage.

At some point we'll need to vectorize the desgin and convert it to Illustrator or Photoshop format so I'm considering enlisting some experience customizers to get their opinions on the best way to proceed. They may even produce a unique design we haven't considered yet.

[Capt Wolf]

Oh, I understand the need to vectorize the design. And given the fact that the cannon design we choose may not exist yet, I was just saying that the flags with the most votes so far are combos 1-1 and 7-1 (5 votes each), but if you lump all crossed cannon options together, background #5 actually has more votes (8) than background #1 (6 total with cannons) or #7 (7 total with cannons). That might be a better indicator of what flag design people want.

[michaelozzie]

I'm just looking at this project now and it's quite interesting. If your thinking of a dutch inspired faction that's cool but the uniforms need to be more 17th century inspired when the dutch were most prominent. The ones I've seen are all too late 18th- beginning 19th century designs.

[Mister Phes]

And given the fact that the cannon design we choose may not exist yet, I was just saying that the flags with the most votes so far are combos 1-1 and 7-1 (5 votes each), but if you lump all crossed cannon options together, background #5 actually has more votes (8) than background #1 (6 total with cannons) or #7 (7 total with cannons). That might be a better indicator of what flag design people want.

Just to clarify "background #5 actually has more votes (8) than background #1 (6 total with cannons) or #7 (7 total with cannons)" - do you mean "or #7 (7 total without cannons)"

If your thinking of a dutch inspired faction that's cool but the uniforms need to be more 17th century inspired when the dutch were most prominent. The ones I've seen are all too late 18th- beginning 19th century designs.

We'll be needing more designs then!

[michaelozzie]

Just to clarify "background #5 actually has more votes (8) than background #1 (6 total with cannons) or #7 (7 total with cannons)" - do you mean "or #7 (7 total without cannons)"

We'll be needing more designs then!

I'll see what I can come up with

[michaelozzie]

Just whipped this up to give you an idea. This is a typical musketeer type uniform from the era with a shoulder belt and powder pouches

attached. I will print some decals up and make up some minifigs today.

musketeertemp3 by michaelozzie1, on Flickr

[Mister Phes]

Just whipped this up to give you an idea.

This is an interesting and different direction to what we've seen previously - that could work well with a cape.

It reminds me of the Dutch captains in Sid Meier's Pirates! Here's a screen shot ableit, not a very good pose for revealing the Dutch Captain's torso...

However, I assume this is what you're going for....

[michaelozzie]

Yep that's what I was aiming for. This style fits nicely in between the Armada period and the original Pirates in terms of uniforms an allows the use of the Musketeer hat.

[Mister Phes]

This style fits nicely in between the Armada period and the original Pirates in terms of uniforms an allows the use of the Musketeer hat.

I'm quite open to that approach for a military theme as it provides an alternative to the blue/red coat paradigm, but ultimately it comes down to a vote by the majority whether we pursue that direction.

Which program do you use to make your decals?

[michaelozzie]

Just the old MS-paint programme. I should by now look for something new to use I guess.

[Mister Phes]

Just the old MS-paint programme. I should by now look for something new to use I guess.

You do a mighty fine job with the old MS Paint, however any design we use will have to be vectorised in Adobe Illustrator of EPS format.

Hopefully those who can vectorize MS Paint designs will present themselves soon - otherwise I'll have to do it myself.

[tedbeard]

Love it!

[Bob De Quatre]

Just whipped this up to give you an idea. This is a typical musketeer type uniform from the era with a shoulder belt and powder pouches

attached. I will print some decals up and make up some minifigs today.

musketeertemp3 by michaelozzie1, on Flickr

That's really nice!

But aren't we kind of limited on the number of printed colors?

[Lind Whisperer]

That's really nice!

But aren't we kind of limited on the number of printed colors?

Edit: Yes, to four, NOT including base color. Black is to be considered as one of these colors.

I took Michaelozzie's, and tried to recolor it to these specifications while maintaining this limit:

Michaelozzie torso recolor Mk. II with four colors and base by Lind Whisperer, on Flickr

I changed the belt buckle to tan, as the buckles in the provided pic are somewhat gold(and thus arguably somewhat tan), and I changed the collar of the shirt to red. Keeping it white might be a little bit more time-accurate, but then we'd have to change the belt from brown to either tan or dark orange, and I thought it looked better as brown(although I'd be glad to produce examples of either of these if other people feel differently.).

Edited August 19, 2014 by Lind Whisperer