Mazin

If You're looking for a title for this Contest i propose "Steve's Guide to Pirates Multimonkeyverse" to keep all the ingredients ;) Or "Legos of the Carribean: on Stranger Vibes" ;) As for Your Poll, I opted for Popculture, even tho i'm more into expanding Lego Pirates universe into more extotic, distant eras and areas ;) However, there are reasons why i opted in a more "conservative" way. Firstly, during the last contest whenever we talked about more exotic vibes, polar pirates, asian pirates, barbary pirates... etc, i felt that there was a strong "no" by many partcipants, as they prefered more classic approach, with all-time-famous carribean branch running the whole pirate business ;) My second reason is that keeping it with general popculture may be easier for builders and observers, as many folks here may not be that familiar with neither non-carribean sea dogs nor Monkey Islandv & Steve, and perhaps even more importantly, many may not have pieces needed to build attractions, scenes, characters connected with those more exotic cultures... It just might be too dificult to obtain proper headwear, weapons, or sails for say, an Indian Ocean cutthroat, or some straits of Malacca sea robber... So I think it will be simply easier to go with any pirate oriented popculture and more people will be able to find something to dig in, to participate in one way or another. Also, i have always felt that Lego Pirates was largely build on classic pirate flicks, so maybe now it's time for us to give back to that world... mimicking scenes and characters from our favourite titles, while creating something new and worth adding to the Lego Pirateverse, all while hiding Monkey Island references and Steve's cameos, plus introducing "distant" vibes here and there if anyone will have such desire, bricks and talent ;)

At first i thought this was the same guy on the left, all grown up, then read Your description :) As for pics, i had a few, not sure if they were joyfull enough, but will try to dig them up from my excavation site in the attic ;)

Classic - Printed Baseplate !!! There's just something magical in that design - without using any bricks or effort you already get an important peace of the play and the whole pirate universe, you automatically feel like you're on a beach, in a warm tropical setting ready for an adventure on an intriguing island... and there's no need to build anything to be honest, as during childhood years we often used it just like it was. Compare it with every other type - in all of them you still need to construct the whole damn thing out of sand and form it into an insular shape and to be honest, none of them look as attractive as the printed baseplate ;)

I actually like this one quite a lot, while i typically dislike modern town lego sets, this one is something i'd realy like to grab, as it's got this good old lego feeling, pure fun, with cool packaging and lots of playing possibilities, bricks usable in pirates world as well, nothing that would seem too modern... tho maybe one problematic thing is that pirate-park uniform, as it's not very likely someone would wear it outside of the park. I mean, usually with most of lego clothing we can do plenty of stuff, but operatore of a theme park, well, i don't know, it's not somethig a civilian or housewife would wear so it can only go with pirate-themed business - piragelato, pirazerria, nesspirates, pirate burgers etc ;) And i wonder about those walls with stickers, are usebale as proper pirate/soldier structures, or are these supposed to look like something from kids friendly area? ;) i guess it's up to the builder/owner anyway! ;)

I'm surprised that so many people are pointing into Governor's office or obvious leaks in Eldorado's defences, but is it just Lego, a toy, not a superrealistic model of a fortress to be that detailed. So if i would look for problems i'd look for it somewhere else. I can name two so right away 1 - is that the head of my Governor is somewhat missprinted which never happened in my Legos before! But, i guess i can live with that ;) ( Did anyone else find this kind of defect in their sets recently? This particular one or any others.... ) 2 - someone who greenlighted those booklets with instructions should be kicked out for not thinking to put numbers on them, cause honestly, i freaked a bit when i saw them, but i manage to learn how to read them quick anyway ;) Still, this problem shouldn't even exist. To me that's a major flaw, and i saw some people online pointing out to that as well. So i'm rather suprised fellow Eurobrick members didn't note that ;) But booklets are not realy part of the toy... so when it comes to judging the toy itself... I don't know what to think honestly, i was very fortunate to be able to win this set, so i didn't have to buy it on my own, and after building it i don't know if i would try to get an another one. For parts maybe, sure, getting new bricks and in large quantities is always great, and it sometimes makes me even more happy then constructing the actual set. New muskets, new cannons, new animals, new faces... and there's plenty of them here. So that's already a plus. But the biggest problem to me is that building this whole thing... didn't feel like playing with Lego. Or maybe i'm just to much of a kid to fully understand what's 18+ category was all about, to be able to enjoy it as others would. Let me put it this way, if i could compare it to last two big sets that i bought for myself - i mean LOTR with Cave Troll scene, and Turtles Lair. And boy, as much as i'm not a fan of licences sets, those felt great! I absolutely loved building them, putting all the stickers, arraning all the parts on my shelf, and after toring them down i was always happy to build them again... and i can't wait to do it again. Building part was the kind of Lego experience i didn't even expect... after a long hiatus from the franchise in my life. The thing with Eldorado, was that, aside from constructing the ship, it didn't feel much like building Lego. Sure, it's better to be fortunate enough to construct such set and to put it on the shelf, but before i finished it up i honestly felt like a regular construction worker at times ;) I mean, some bit were fine, creating all those trap doors, ladders, even the crane, tap room, etc, those were legit Lego elements i was looking for. But building up that baseplate and fortifications... it was a nightmare at times! :P I mean, i understand that Lego changed and it's more detailed, but does it realy nececary to use dozens and dozens bricks just to construct a tower or walls? I mean, does every surface needs to be polished? And one this about the baseplate... i was constantly surprised that after building some very detailed segments the next step was to almost completely cover them by adding new segments! And i can't understand the point of doing that... Like, who's gonna enjoy all those detailed little tunnels that even a minifig want be able to explore? Minilego bats? Spiders? Maybe i didn't get something, but this part i didn't understand. Sure, using tons of elements to build those fortifications, towers and general baseplate did come with an amazing effect, it looks great in the end. It sure enjoyable as hell to be able to have such a view in ones room and i would have lots of fun with it if i was still a kid and i would actually use it as a playground ... But all those tunnels within the baseplate were kinda pointless to me. Then, most importantly, i'm not sure if i would like to building it again. It's honestly, like building a house, once you are finished with all the work you don't want to tore it down and start again ;) But again, maybe that's because i was targeting into something more kid-friendly, like the original, and i'm not a fan of more complicated adult-model-makers oriented approach. To me the coolest thing is that i did manage to get Eldorado after all those years, and that i now own so many elements i never had before and i could do so many things with them... tho i will seek to get the original version anyway as well. The thing is, i got some other toys from other classical franchises this year - He-Man, Skeletor and their battle mounts, and even tho those weren't 100% the same as 80s originals, they absolutely feel that way, and i was shocked i was actually able to buy them and they were the highlight of that year for me. It's like completing a lifelong goal to finally be able play with them. And Eldorado remake unfortunately doesn't have the same spark. Feeling were different. It looks great on a box, it looks great after being build, i like the addition of the ship, i don't think that it's crucial for it to be completely the same as the original, and i don't mind female heads that much... but it just doesn't feel the same... becaue it doesn't feel as the toy.... it doesn't give the building experience i would expect... So i would prefer it to be less complicated and more kid oriented next time, if they will try to reproduce it again :) BTW, now that they used that merchant vessel here and they probably won't reuse it in Imperial Trading Outpost, should they remake it too, i do hope they wil fill that gap with some other classic miniset from the franchise, like a pirate raft or islanders's cataman perhaps :) Actually mixing those elements between sets, "stealing" them from one to add to another one again and again, like they did between Eldorado and Trading Outpost, would be an interesting marketing idea :)

One can never know, with all the crap going on in so many other franchises.... They even abolished monarchy in He-Man recently!... so let's hope they won't touch at least some things. Plus Lego is a family company so they MIGHT not be affected by controversial fasgions and strategies as much as other, just might. Then again, it's a private company and they can do whatever they want.

Wow! This is great! Your project looks even more awesome than the Fortress itself, seems much more playable now with open spaces, when compared to Eldorado's boxiness ;) That brown warf and water and all the details look fantastic. And i absolutely love the staircase with flowers :) Could You say what parts did You use or even make a tutorial? Did You combine it with any other specific set or did You just experiment with random bricks? If i could i'd buy me a second set of 10320 just so that i could build Your own design :)

Yellow or death! I do have couple of sets with fleshies and don't mind them, but generaly i wouldn't never greenlight this idea, as it's clearly creating division within the Lego toyetic universe and often plays against basic Lego rules of elements from different themes fitting to each other for playability values - as some torsos/body parts from fleshies can't be realy used with parts from yellow figs and vice versa... Plus, it's Lego damn it. It can and should be simple in design, it doesn;t need to resemble characters that are being adapted that much, nothing wrong would happen to those intelectual properties if they would use yellow faces ( unless licence holders ordered them to do so? ) and most importantly, YELLOW FACES ARE LEGO :) So introducing different skin universe does indeed feel a bit like heresy ;) Still, if Lone Ranger or Lotr/Hobbit and POTC would come back and i would have money i would buy whole lots of them, whether they would be fleshies or not, cause after all this is only a toy and a good toy, and kids and grownup kids will always find the way to play with them ;)

Very cool review. I actually like this set even more now, after Your presentation. it does look much cooler than on the box... which is unual ;) My only suggestion is too keep the music down a bit, it was too loud at the beginning of the video and created conflict with Your narration, tho later it seemed ok. Love that idea with moving a minifig on the stick btw, and wouldn't mind if You'd do a tutorial for it :) Unless it's already there among Your clips, will go trough them and check. Anyway, hope to see more of Your stuff. Oh, and i have to dissagree on one thing with You - pink and yellow are ok for me ;) Perhaps that boat would fit better in Paradisa or some other moderns themes that would profit from pastels and 80s vibes, it's might seem a bit of place for some, but the table itself was ok, as it corresponded nicely with black bricks :)

wow, those are realy nice :) and honestly, at first, seeing the first pic, i thought You've simply uploaded more of Your AI generated images, christmas-themed, but it seems they are all classic builds :)

I guess new colors would depend on what kind of factions Lego would be willing to create with them and what kind of stories to tell. I went with yellow as it's does look great and original on some old pictures, as You've shown, and it was also the third color of Soldiers from Crimson Pirate, which i believe had some serios impact on our beloved Pirate franchise. With black it's always kinda associated with darker, schwarz-characters, bad guys or some brutal good guys, elite guard, mercenaries, etc, boys that do their job well, but don't nececarily care who's innocent and who's the enemy. So here i would mix those two ideas, to create a new soldier/pirate faction, like what if Empire would decide to recruit some former pirates into their own ranks, supply and get them into those black uniforms, so that they would get rid of all the sea dogs... only to discover that in reality they want to whipeout all the competition to rule the Carribean by themselves. With shakos... i guess unprinted could be simply used for privates and printes one for officers/sergeants/corporals... and that's because i like and own both versions, so i'd prefer to keep them in the universe ;) With types of print on uniforms, i voted for classic 80s/90s design, but honestly, even tho i'm very sentimental, 2009 is the one i would pick if i would be running Lego. Classic one seems little outdated when combined to all the changes that we've witnessed in the business and 2009 is a good mix of classic feeling and new printing possibilities. 2015 and 2023 try to be too many things in my oppinion. Anyway, i'm glad that my proposition to do a poll with colors got picked and sparked such an interesing discussion :)

Lego was much simpler back then and not so obsessed with details, and so it was common to force kids to simply use their imagination to "magicaly" move their figures from one corner of the set to another, thus, stairs and ladders were often deemed unecessary ;)

He's a Governor! That's how. He just made a proper good use of his powers and AI had nothing to say, but obey ;) Woah! Dear AI, I totally want this for a Lego Pirate Haloween movie!! Preferably even this year since it's halloween tim... oh wait... oh no... this window had closed already. Christmas forces came to town. Guess we will have to wait till the next year :( And speaking of AI inspiring custom made sets... this native guy needs a custom figure now! And it's only the first in the whole wave of wallpapers. We're excpecting delivery every new week... Oh wait, it's christmas season, advent calendars are obligatory! So better make it one per day. Two are already done. 22 to go ;)

As much as i'm not a fan of HP or it's Lego incarnation i'd totally love to get this just for that magical vibe on the box packaging ;)

I realy like those scubadivers (orwhaever/whatever they are) :) Are they Your original creation? Could You throw in some closeup of them?

I'm totally comandeering this idea! ;)

Woa! These two are great! i didn't even notice they were AI generated at first

Thanx! You most welcome :) Barbary pirates could serve as a nice link to other historical themes, if the pirate world would be expanded to more areas of that period, and if they would opt to go that way they wouldn't nececarily even need to jump directly into arabian fashion as there were many christian renegades among those "muslim" cutthroats, with their very own infamous republic of Sale on the northern african coast... So i guess throwing some "european" dressed pirates into that new territory would be a way to play it somewhat safe, for starters, to try the new ground, and possibly exand it into more factions and more orient in the theme.

Depends if You want to go toyetic, kid-friendly way, as in the past, or explore darker sides of piracy, cause there's obviously a lot of potential in smuggling, slave trade, fake lighthouses etc, all those fields that pirates were heavily involved with, but all of which play against the romantic image of pirates as "the good guys". Tho, even in the very first pirates lego comics, it's said clearly that there were "good" and "bad" pirates, and i think it's an obvious route Lego should go, in reinventing the franchise and expandind it. Especially that "bad" vs "good" pirates was always a popular motif in hollywood movies, so i guess this says a lot about what was left out during the creation of lego sets. Also, except from some POTC sets, lego pirates didn't realy try to expolore land, everything was and is connected to the sea, while historically pirates ventured into land operations quite a lot. So there's also some potential. But to keep ideas within the range of classic lego sets and name things that weren't done yet... I think that concealed vessels should be done among first. Pirates almost never acted in a traditional navy way, launching an open attack, they were much more cunning, relaying on deceiving their pray and showing their true face at the last moment. So i guess any ship that could pretend to be a merchant vessel, or a fishing/whalers boat would be a big thing, as it would alow a double play, one as a small pirate vessel, when transformed, the other as a civilian unit. I'm surprised they didn't create a whole line of them actually. Other than that, i always wanted to see a small secret pirate dockyard or careening place perhaps, where a set would allow a lot of playing possibilities, from "constructing" and repairing a small vessel, to launching it, and just using it as a fully operational unit. Just like in other lego franchises, where they had some repair shops for cars, carts, bikes etc Castle had some own small sets like that as well. And so there could a whole line of them withing pirate theme - shops offering steering wheels, weapons, cannons, hats and other clothing accesories, all those places that pirates and sailors would have to go to to quip themselves for new adventures... perhaps with other "unofficial dealings" taking place in the back of such businesses ;) Speaking of a secret rooms, since taverns had been mentioned by others, i always wanted to see something like they did in "Crimson Pirate", with a tavern being a tavern, but, with an extra secret hiding/dealing place, entered trough fake wine barells. But anyway, i'd bomb You with more ideas before or during our last Contest, but i'm kinda burned out since it's end ;)

Black Seas Baracuda is best by few lenghts, it's not just the best ship in the pirate franchise, but an icon of the whole Lego franchise, and one of the most iconic and influential pirate era ships ever.

3 millions, mind You those numbers are in millions

I wanted to mention this earlier, but honestly, during the Contest i didn't even know whether some entries were digital or built. The sole idea for a set and delivery were far more important to me. It's like with drawing and painting realy, these days a lot of people constantly differentiate between digital and "real" drawings, and i don't get that. I don't care if it's done with a pen and paper or if it's done by computers, if it's done with left hand or right hand, if it's done with teeths or feet, it's final "product" that counts. And same goes here... Plus a lot of those digital dudes ( and dudettes ) actually wanted or tried to handbuild those sets later on. Obviously digital builders had an advantage of using unlimited pieces ( or did they? ) and could pull all sorts of magic with photo composition and lighting, packaging etc, but it still not so easy to construct anything with those programs, it requires tremendous amount of skill and time to do what they did, so i'm not very eager to separate them from real-bricks-builders. It's all like looking for differences in the community to me, rather than being happy of all the new possibilities that we have thanxs to those renders. And i remember that a lot of those digital ideas actually even failed to be constructed according to builders' original intentions, because of some limitations, as we've seen it even in one of the winning imperial sets, where both sail and mast in a pirate boat had to be so thick because the Builder couldn't do them differently in his/her software. Same goes for the hungarian guy who did an amazing amazing skull island, but had very uninteresting minifigures, because again, he had problems with doing them in his software. And it'sobvious in both those cases it did cost them losing some points in the ratings, even tho they were still quite popular... Besides, digital build or real, it's not really hands or software that gives anyone an advantage in those contents, it's the ability to create great final presentation - photography, box design, background design, catalog design, web comics etc... all those factors were important in collecting points for many of those entries as it was clear some entries were ignored because of their unattractive presentation, bad photography and lack of any staging, while other got popular because of all the fancy stuff they came with. So if we are realy separating real bricks from digital builds, then it's probably as important to talk about those other factors as well. But does it lead to anywhere?

Went for Eldorado and Black Docks... Eldorado, cause it's like brinding back magic of old sets ( even tho i kinda felt like the remaster was designed by a madman forcing me to take a role of the construction worker to finish the whole thing ) and black for docks, cause that's how i remember them from my childhood days. It's Lego, so toys don't have too be too precise and realistic, and i don't mind wooden elements being black not brown ;) Tho i guess it depends on a set and overall color palette used...

I love those leaves outside the window, simple details, but it incredibly enriches the final effect.

this madness is ruining a lot of other hobbies right now tho, it's not just that scalpers do that to toys, but same for most products i'm interested in, it applies even history books and all other sorts of products no one would consider to be objects of speculation, and this was never the case before... tho i don't even think it's speculation anymore, if someone puts up a new product for double the regular prize or more, especialy that some of these are easily available with large discounts, then they are either targeting some casual buyers, who don't know the prizes and so they might just grab it without knowing there are being scammed, or it's moneylaundering oh yeah, they look usable :) well, the only i would have doubts is the old guy, cause his pink neck would clash with yellowfigures ;) I got mine from the fight with a Cave Troll set, in that dwarf mine that got run over