B-Lister

Dynamite was first used in Power Miners, tho. also, Dynamite isn't really correct to the period. Granted this is just a 'fantasy' world, so I'm willing to forgive.

fantastic, I love the 45 degree turn from the base to the platform.

I remember getting that set when I was about 8 or 9. I remember playing with it at the doctor's office, after just having bought it, and dropping the coins accidentally into a leather sofa. I remember some old guy helping me tear the couch apart to find all of the little coins.

Like many others, this was my first set: still got it too. Including the original treasure chest.

I too, have never seen the 'hard' cutlass, but I do have one of the early, working cannons from the US (actually, it's a modified 'transitional' cannon). so, yeah....

Not trying to judge you there Diamondback, but let's get honest...... Space wasn't exactly realistic to begin with, what with all the robots we saw, not to mention the countless starships, it was only a matter of time before the aliens started to show up. Castle has had elements of the fantastic since the 80s, starting with the Black Monarch's Ghost, so I'm not really that put off by the recent addition of Orcs, or even earlier additions of wizards, witches and dragons. so, with the elements of the fantastical creeping into the Pirates theme, I'm just rolling with it. It's not like Lego ever CLAIMED that they were re-creating things as historically accurate. They're toys, and I'm having fun. your mileage may vary of course, and you have every right to do things for your own reasons, and I'm not trying to judge. I'm simply mentioning my own reasons for why I don't mind the fantastic inamongst my sets. if we want to do historical accuracy, then we need to jettison the treasure maps, too.

I love the mods. That's the way it should be done! Every mod had a purpose, and actually improved the overall quality of the ship. Incredible work, it makes it a thousand times better!

the ones I'm most interested in are the founding fathers, so the fathers of the Revolution would be a lot of fun. but yeah, 40 minifigures, one of each president would be cool, especially if done well! :D

You're a saint, Rick! :D

thanks. I guess I'm gonna hafta play 'trial and error' on bricklink, I need VINTAGE, not new.

I like the use of the beard piece on the shipwrecked pirate. I like the painted Shako, and want an army of the new Imperials (I loved the old redcoats, but the new ones are even better!) And I really quite like the telescope. so, yeah.

Yup.

oh, it's got nothing to do with that, I'm buying one as soon as I can, but it's still hard to justify it. save for the fact that I'll own the biggest ship Lego has ever produced. and it's got nothing to do with blowing anything out of the water......the Renegade Runner is all about speed, the Flagship is all about power. and the fact is, I have no intent to let the Imperials keep this. It is Captain Redbeard's prize.

the first US pirate sets DID come with the shooting cannons, but they didn't have the spring in them, and there was a stopper in the barrel that prevented you from pulling back the knob. we discovered this when my brother got his first Pirate set and it didn't shoot. it was simple enough to pop the end-cap of the plunger end off, remove the stop, and replace the spring with a pen spring, which actually gave it MORE power, and lobbed the cannonball pieces clear across the room! My guess is, we weren't the ONLY ones to make this modification, and that's why they stopped shipping them with the firing cannons (that had been neutered) and switched to the single-piece construction. I do like the non-firing cannons insofar as design, but I like the firing ones for their functionality. IMO the perfect middle ground would be a firing cannon that featured the touchhole and emblem. as for the emblem and touchhole not looking very Lego-y, I guess it all depends on what you grew up with. There is a US law in effect that says any spring-fired projectile has to be 2" in length or longer. It has nothing to do with injury to the eye, and everything to do with blockage of the windpipe. Dumb kids were shooting the damn things into their mouth and choking on them. or rather, a kid did that with a Battlestar Galactica toy in the late 70s. It was enough to get that toy manufacturer to change the molding on that toy immediately, but the appeals process left the fate of every other launching toy up in the air for the better part of the 80s. In the late 80s the new law took effect, just as the first pirate sets were rolling out, and that's why the transitional cannons, with the stops were released, until they could produce the new mold for the non-firing cannons. which is why all the Transformers Reissues either come with strangely elongated missiles, or non-firing launchers. I do not know how Lego is now allowed to use the firing cannons in current sets.

Harry Potter and Star Wars kept the embers smouldering, but it wasn't until Castle was relaunched with much aplomb that I really started to take notice. As a kid I always thought it would be cool to have Star Wars sets, but then when Star Wars sets arrived, I realized that we paid too steep a price, in sacrificing the Space Theme to it. so it's nice to see the classic, Lego-Owned themes making a comeback alongside the licensed stuff. I am REALLY loving the relaunch of "Pirates" despite not liking EVERYTHING about it (The Flags and Parrots are really kinda cheap looking, IMO). for the most part though, I'm impressed. I'm glad that they returned to firing cannons in the US after a 20 year hiatus.

don't laugh, but the best non-petroleum distillate lubricant is KY Jelly.

sorry to bump this up, but I gotta weigh in on the parrot issue. I definitely prefer the classic painted parrot to the two-tone one in the new sets, but my two-tone parrot has a pretty sweet swirl on the back that makes a heart shape, so that's kinda neat. that said, I think we should get a few parrots done in the classic style, but blue or green this time!

I understand people's want for Spider Man, and the character is EXTREMELY toyetic. but DC just has better characters all around, IMO. and FAR more iconic. it'd be great to get some full teams in Lego Form.

being a lifelong DC fan, I gotta give my vote to DC. Minimates take care of the Marvel block figure need just fine, but DC needs the love.

Prince of Persia is the only licensed theme I really think I like. I don't know anything about it, and therefore, I seem to like the sets more. I can't wait to add the ostriches to my collection. I have some Toy Story, I have some Harry Potter, but personally, I think the only License I truly LOVE is Batman.

I would like to see a return to ALL the classic themes. Lego has rebuilt Castle and Space into powerful brands once again, and it seems that Pirates (while it IS going on Hiatus) is poised to do likewise. so, yes, I would LOVE to see the Western theme return. I missed out on the first run, because I felt I was 'too old for legos' at the time. how wrong I was.

My first castle set was the Forestmens Hideout, followed very closely behind, by the Black Monarch's ghost. after that it was the Wolfpack Renegades. I have a soft spot for all three sets, and am one part away from completing all three (I have the Renegades complete, I have the Black Monarch's ghost complete (the saddle is broken, so I do have a placeholder saddle at the moment), and I'm only missing one part of the Forestmens Hideout, but it should be here tomorrow.

my favorite Pirate from the new sets thus far is a tie between the Pirate Wench, and the Shipwreck/Marooned pirate exclusive to Loot Island.

I know I'm the new guy, but could you maybe change the topic title to 'cheap plastic' or 'poor plastic' I saw the title and thought you were cluing me into a great bargain, not a warning against poor materials.

amazing. plain and simple.....just outstanding.