ZCerberus

I will make this post prettier later- important info is that I am working on the sails and rigging to finish the Phantom as well as a few other little modifications. The pics are dark and too big to post here- so I will link to a few new brickshelf ones to hold us over until I finish the ship and get some better pics. Besides the sails which I am working on- I also revamped part of the front end and tied all the knots on the rigging- which is a giant improvement over the old rigging. Squint and maybe you will be able to tell!!

Buy one get one 50% off meant 10 cannon battles yesterday!

I think maybe there should be more small ships or ships with a variety of sails-- Even small ships that have brickbuilt hulls like the ship in the imperial trading post would be nice. Sure, we get an occasional raft- but what about a few more merchant ships with a raiding pirate longboat hot in pursuit? As far as a variety of sail configurations, maybe Lego could build a schooner that actually has a schooner like sails configuration! I vote ships- but I ships that are not all the same.

I clearly need to watch more Veggie Tales!

This comment is lost on me... what does that mean? Mind blowing!

Well I am certainly working on some MOCs- even if not with the new parts-- I did some castle work and some Mars Mission stuff- but right now I am finishing up the Phantom! I am tying hundreds of knots to finish the rigging on the Phantom- then some sails, and I can start a new MOC. I am considering rebuilding the Xebec I had with a new all brick built hull. The Man-of-war I was working on was not satisfactory- so I dismantled that for the time being. I do have some cannons from the new sets and I would guess the mid sections on the Viking ship are the same length (and color) as the ones on Brickbeard's Bounty- maybe there is something there to build a bigger pirate ship with the new theme and pieces- we'll see! I definitely like some of the new pirate stuff- the gold spy glasses, gold accents and epaulets, fish and flame elements and the new cannons... I'll keep you posted!

Yeah the new ones are nice and bright! But that is hardly a bad thing... I compared them as you did and they appear to be pretty close- I think it is just fade! As was stated before- there are no yellow eps- but there are Gold eps. I got an extra set with the shipwreck pirate base and they look GREAT on my sig fig. I, however, happen to have several sets of yellow eps. that I would be willing to trade you for blue and or white ones (the white are rather rare). PM me if you are interested- it should be fairly easy for you to acquire some blue ones for trade with an extra set being available in the new sets when the sets are obtainable in cheese-head land!

I do not know if this has been addressed, but a happy surprise with the '09 pirates line is the extra parts that are in the sets... The new sets have one extra epaulette in each color that is in a set and an extra cutlass-- this is excellent news for those of us looking for more of either!!

Thanks for the review! Now I will have to wait to find one in Minnesota-- come on Imagination Center in the MOA! svelte_corps-- those are muskets, well they would be if a soldier or pirate was just carrying them around-- but I think, as arranged, they are supposta' be "swivel guns". We have had several members add them to their ships in a more brickbuilt fashion!

This is an excellent set-- a great army builder and a good way to get some cannons. I wish it had two flintlock weapons instead of only only one though!

I can confirm these sets have also made it to the Minnesota twin cities metro as well. I went to three TRUs last night and two had two of the four sets mentioned on the front page. Cannon battle for 5.99 seems like a steal to me for two figs and a cannon- still no imperial fort, ship or impulse though. I have also noticed at TRU (on the over pricing thing) they often release sets at the MSRP then rise the price if it sells well. Just a thought, might want to get them early before the price goes up 3 or 4 bucks!

ohh no! thought that would teach a lesson...

On occasion, I did in fact. I was in the hospital right when the first wave of Pirate sets hit. I remember building Forbidden Island while there. But the hospital stay time was very small as compared to the amount of time I was bed ridden at home, or not allowed to play outside. I might have missed out on learning how to ice skate, or ski, but luckily I learned the art of brick instead! Thanks! I wasn't aware it was even posted until this morning. I usually check for updates on some of my buddies, but I missed this one!

Very, very nice. Here are some details of note that I really like... The front mast leans forward, the rudder is control by hand, and the back end slopes up away from the boat. All classic Xebec features. Good work on the rigging too, as is to be expected from the Green man. I also like how you got it to work using "classic" pirate pieces like the regular, prefabbed pirate hulls. I wonder though, since Xebecs have such a unique shape, if a brick built hull could look even more authentic? We'll have to wait on that I suppose. Until then, double thumbs up!

Not so. Here in Minnesota TRU has the Volcano Base and Peril in Peru and the Lego Imagination Center at the Mall of America has none of the limited edition sets. The limited editions do tend to show up at TRU first if the TRU exclusives... Lego Store does generally beat the other retailers though. No Ultra-Drill Walker in MN yet.

I don't care about the place holder issue, I was a little saddened when I first clicked and the review wasn't there yet, but what we should really be upset... err.. jealous over is the fact that VBBN found one in the US and the rest of us can't!

This is a very nice design!! Excellent work with the prefab hulls. I like the flags and the cabin a lot. Can we also get a close up of the deck? It looks like you have a custom long boat in there that we should all get a good look at as well! I think this might be the best "first ship" we have seen. A few suggestions if I may: 1) Regarding the ship's cannons... are the guns on the top deck (there appear to be a few) directly over the guns on the lower deck? I would consider changing that so they are off-set... 2) The upper most sails (the "royals") appear to be a little undersized. Check out the second picture under "ship construction" in this link to see a technique on making the masts taller! Construction Link If you are happy with them, then don't bother, just an idea that others have enjoyed. Keep MOCing.

LI-8 smart "stinger" missiles... yeah, that is what those things are called! I bricklinked some more cockpits, so I hope to construct a few more of these guys sometime in the near future!

The M4-ZC-X5 "Ultra" Wasp VTOL fighter is specifically designed for mass production, overwhelming enemies with a swarm of the highly maneuverable fighters. Armed with four heavy laser cannons and four LI-8 smart missiles, the Wasp highly outclasses TLG's lighter "Astro Fighter". The VTOL system allows the Wasp to move in any direct, allowing the Wasp to keep up with even the most agile Martian Fighter. Wasp with the VTOL system ready for vertical take-0ff Wasp with the VTOL system ready to move forward Wasp with the landing gear down Designer Notes: again I wanted this to fit with the Mars Mission theme overall, though I didn't have any decals available for this fighter. Luckily the parts are common enough (with the exception of the trans orange windscreen) that I can make a few of them to battle the Martian fighters. I am considering printing my own decals for this little guy at some point in the future, maybe a mean looking set of teeth for the front and a Wasp looking orange white and black decal for the body. More shots of the Wasp Brickshelf when Moderated

Well like I said, I just needed to stick some decals somewhere to fit with the MM theme!

Just be aware... stray from the beaten Pirate=y path and some may think you a traitor!!

I actually rather like the orange and white! that was my whole reason for choosing MM!!

Very nice, your rigging skills have no equal!!

I also have considered this. I thought initially I was going to make the tracks double wide, but it just wasn't practical with the pieces I have. Lego also has the larger technic treads like the ones on the reaper, but I don't have any of those. I guess Lego is making a "wide tread" booster pack type thing, so maybe in the future I can move to those!

Well first of all it is clearly a laser pistol (lol) and why wouldn't it work on mars... lack of Oxygen for the combustion chamber? maybe it is all internal and such... or maybe I just needed to stick something in the guys hands... maybe I should have opted for one of those sweet circular buzz-saws!