Mazin

Yeah, but my thought was that makign a custom flag would be a bit harder than using a lego crab that's already existing :) But what do i know ;) If You'd be able to do the flag, it would be even cooler :)

Thanx for answering and i'm Very happy that You liked my thoughts :) And nothing to worry about, i think You did a terrific job for someone who's just started. I'm not sure how far this one will go, but it was and still is one of my favourites. And i hope You'll share those upgrades with us :) Can't wait to see Your other design posted.

Well, the reason i came up with this story was because i wanted to see to see on screen or read is a book/comic book on this subject and since there wasn't anything like it available on the martker i had to do it myself. And in order to keep writing i need some inspirational food constantly, so again, since there's nothing realy no intelectuall property on 17 century european history except 3 Muskeeters and perhaps few other things, i get inspired by genres that offer somewhat similar vibes - adventure, duels, all types of great action sequences and awesome locations, like ghost towns or little undefensible outposts that need to be defended, and of course good guys, villains, henchmen, sidekicks, comic reliefs, oneliners, gimmicks etc etc... And westerns typically offer a lot of them :) Quite a lot of movies set in different genres started or got inspired by western or knights of the round table sort of flicks, space operas included, so it's even easier to transition all those western elements to 17 century Europe, just switch revolvers to sabres, cutlasses and one-shot pistols, winchesters to muskets, cowboys to polish nobles, bandits to swedish invaders, indians to cossacks or crimean tartars, add few galleons and it works quite nicely ;) And i'm looking forward to see Your moc :) Preferably with a crab having a cameo, as it was a symbol of Courland's navy :)

No presentation of the crew this time? :) Or are these the same faces as in Your Sin Island? :) Interesting design, ship itself looks quite nice, i'm not sure if it's not too brown, but You've explained it already, and besides, we dicussed this matter previously in Your Sin Island entry, so i won't be picky about that ;) But, just for the sake of the review, i have to state that, well, color choices were noted ;) Besides, sails probably take a lot of attention from the bow, nice. I wonder if it wouldn't look even better if You'd put golden pirate crests on the both front and back sail? Or would that be too much? I like those shapes of those boards by the gun ports. And with stern, i might be controversial but it could use even more decorations actually, i refer to that space above captain's windows. It's all brown now, and a bit more gold or red color in there could break that monotony. I also wonder if hulls could get some custom paint job? A stripe of red or black, or both, would be an interresting visual upgrade. Lastly, I like Your approach to creating those huge masts, but i think it would be even nicer if You could somehow incorporate some protruding elements into it, to help those sailors climb into the crow's nest and to hoist pirate flags. And i don't mean it as being logical technicality, but it would provide ways to attach figures to more places. I just always loved the fact that i could position my characters almost everywhere on masts of my classic ships. And i miss it here. Same with yards. They a lot lot more different than Yours and the best thing was that i could stick my figures all over them, and constantly had them fight in those sections of the ship, or i would just left them while letting the vessel sail while they would just sing their sweet pirate song into the sky or would simply observe the horizon ;)

Interesting concept for a moc, but a bit oversized and minecraftish for a legit Lego set :) That hull would need a serious reshaping to be greenlighted, and with You so much interested in building the whole thing, i think the only way to do it would be if the ship wasn't operational, that some even occured that forced it to come out of water, like for careening on a beach, or where it would be stuck in some shallow waters, so the crew would have to unload guns, or perhaps they could just use it as their improvised base, thus, in such case You could blow some holes in it. I always like the idea of a wreckage being used as villain's/hero's headquaters, so maybe it's the right direction? I mean, in short, this vessel will not sail in the Lego universe ;) So it could be used only in different ways, tho, of course, kids could play with it whatever way they would want ;) I wouldn't go with so many guns too. 12 is a bit too much, thought that 6 was too much already. Big number of guns usualy doesn't make any diffence on Lego ships, for plays that is, it's only a visual upgrade and i think Baracuda was the limita already. It's different with all sorts of fortresses, hideouts etc, where every cannon can be placed in different locations of the set, creating a wider range of playing possibilities. But there are things here i definitely like. Like that quaterdeck, with little armory, Your color choices, gunports look very nice, at least i like those colors and mixing these shades of green with blue/purple (?), some people don't. And You made some realy nice decorative elements on both upper sides of the vessel. That circular bow, i'm not sure, i think it would be great for a different type of a ship, a mediterranean galliot or some merchant ship, they were sometimes built this wat. Perhaps, if You'd like to keep the number of guns then maybe two of them could be placed on that bow? Chase guns. They could bring additional play value, and break this monotous look of Your bow :) I won't comment on sail, caused You've explaned it already, but be prepared that people will complain about them without even reading ;) Oh, and i love the idea of using purple piece for inkpot! :) Briliant :)

Yoy must be joking right?? This would never work in real life! Why do You want to waste my time on fantasy like this? Ironhook would never be able to HOLD THAT CHALICE with a hook! Other than that, it's perfectly fine, tried it myself, tho obiously without an a hook, an eyepatch and a wooden leg, as i'm just more skilled than him ;) Maybe that's how he lost them all he? Training for this race? But anyway, as funny as it is, i woulnd't mind seeing more of those actually. A whole line, each per faction, with different animas - we had a croc, octopus, sawfish i believe, hammershark (?), so it could offer nice variety of themes and pieces :) Marvel got it's "What if?" line and had or has all sorts of selfinduced parodies, so why not Lego? ;) And POTC had this sort of scene in it's last movie. Tho we're also crossing into the fantasy territory here a bit, and not sure how it processed by rule keepers ;) But about the build. Not sure if that shark is connected properly to the crows nest tho, and no idea what could be done here, i' not familiar enough with parts, besides, can't find any other way he could be attached to anything. I thik that a fishing rod might be too much, it's a logical thought to use it as it's own carrot device, but it complicates the simplicity of Your initial design. Less is more sometimes. First one was lovely, stupid yet brilliant, because it's not trying to be taken seriously, and new version just started to do things seriously. So i'd suggest to take that rod away and perhaps use it for a different set of the same fun line :)

Lovely little moc. I always liked the idea of a ship burried to the point where only it's top mast is sticking out of the sand, or even where a wreckage is overun by nature so much that it actually forms the core of the new mini island :) I wonder if that mast can hold still tho? Like, could that monkey or a pirate climb on it and stand, without the whole thing collapsing? Or is it sort of loosely attached to the ground?

Thanx for responding and thank You for all those explanations :) It's a lot more clear now and a very insight into the whole planning/engineering/building process as well designing with future sets in mind :) Very cool. And glad i could help. Realy looking forward to see Your upcoming mocs :)

Polish corsairs fighting Swedes in 1650s during "Deluge", but since Latvia was part of both Poland, and Sweden ( and Courland ) back then there'll be a whole bunch of locals on both sides. Gonna show some latvian places obviously - Riga with Dynamunt, Ventspils, Jelgava, Ilukszta, and will mention some others, like Daugavspils where the main hero will be from, as well as Tobago and Gambia, which obviously aren't part of Latvia, but i guess everyone knows the connection ;) It's sort of a mixture of pirate movies, classic aventure flicks, action flicks, Indiana Jones, G.I.Joe, all sorts of westerns, Lone Ranger included. And of course with Lego Pirates being a huge source of inspiration. Had few sites dedicated to it, but haven't realy blogged much lately, as i focus solely on writing now... and some drawing too ;) https://www.facebook.com/KorsarzRzeczpospolitej/ https://korsarzrzeczpospolitej.blogspot.com/

Very cool updates, glad You've made it, i thought that it looked good enough without that crow's nest already, but with it, well, it's somewhat unexpected and unique i guess ;) little tribute to the Forbidden Island set i suppose? :) And the beach looks so much better now. Good job. Characters seem interesting as well, surely would like to feast with them, i miss that original raftman tho ;) But hopefuly he will resurface in some future moc ;)

Yeah, there used to be plenty of them, quick google and i could find tons of free flash games, etc, mini-Lego games among them, like Indiana Jones, coast guard rescue and some others, but it's harder to find them these days and I've never seen LR between them, hoped it will eventually be thrown into that bunch, after a while, like everything seems to find a way into internet. And i need that cause i used it - both game and soundtrack - for mood and inspiration to work on my history&adventure project set in Your very own Lavtia :) Sometimes stuff like that helps to open imagination quite a lot and words write themselves. I liked the LR movie, but to be honest, game was even cooler, as it had this magic childhood dust all over it... even tho i wasn't a kid when i played that ;)

Hi folks Can't find if there's such topic already, and perhaps some Lego games addicts could help me... When Lego launched the Lone Ranger series, they used to promote it with a mini game, which had a couple of missions and an awesome sountrack. It was rather short, but very cool anyway. Once the Lone Ranger line was canceled the promoting site was taken down too, and so was the game. Been trying to find it ever since, the game or at least the soundtrack. Asked Lego, asked in different places, nothing, so I gave up after a while. But i guess after so much time passed perhaps something has changed and maybe it resurfaced somewhere? There's a video with the whole walktrough on Youtube, so i guess it's not entirely forgotten...

By "mini-builds" are You thinking about entering a mini category as i've suggested or do You think about something that could be added to this bigger set? With Your mad scientist approach to constructing, i guess it would be hard to come up with something challenging for You, and something that would not be too time consuming and would give You a chance to do more engineering. And honestly i'm a bit tired with boats, rafts, buried treasures and sacrifices after so many entries... and i guess there might be few more of them as so many people have similar ideas ;) So i'd go with something that wasn't done yet and where there's very little chance it will be done. Like, i don't know, a shooting range for the cannon/catapult or shooting contest, with members of each Lego Pirates faction present and competing to hit skulls or other distinctive targets, that could trigger some play feature effect, like that they would collapse, fall, turn etc and thus open a stash with a golden idol as a trophy.... IF that would suit You and if it could be done with limited amount of pieces and limited amount of time.... and if You'd have those pieces :) At least i'd like to see something like it made by someone, maybe i'l try it myself. I have it in my head, but can't tell it if could be doable, i don't know ;) Anyway... Just throwing ideas at You, cause You asked for it ;)

Wonderful design of the bow! and a very nice idea for a legit set, as it's not only a display piece, but clearly something with a real story and play values. BTW, since You said You plan to create more sets like this, You could definitely go with a bow, comes to my first :) And then if You'd look for other possibilities for this theme than pehaps a gun deck, turned into sort of a cave, as most of the wreck could be buried in sand, would be interesting, not ery carribean but still attractive. But back to Your design! I realy love attention to detail, very appealing, but not overdone! Those curves, even that line attached to the mast, wow, and that lantern is very well positioned. And the fact that You've managed to achieve all that with very few pieces, that's some achievement, with surely a lot of planning behind. The interior of the bow looks a bit empty, but i guess we can blame it on that damn storm and all that sand that got inside ;) Plus, hardly any pieces that could be sacrificed to put a brown "wodden" baseplate in there i believe. If it would be even worth it ;) I wonder if that fence below the window is a good thing tho? The other fence, one from the more open side, looks gread, but since there's already a window in that preserved side, is it a good element to place in there? I mean, if it's a part of the original ship then it would be a bit weird. Like, why would they build a ship in that way, even with all that tropical heat. But i guess we can always presume that Your hero simply built it onto that space himself, probably to secure that entry point or something. Also, i like the ladder very much, and i guess it has to be that long, but the way it's placed it covers a lot of space on top of that bow. Makes it hardly accesible for the figure. Sure he can climb on top of that cute yellow railing, but i'm afraid he could fall as it's so nice and shiny but slippery ;) Tho, he could probably take that ladder off in order to stand firmly on that lover part, still, i think it would be better if he could just use a shorter ladder. IF there would be such element available and if You'd be willing to do so of course ;) And btw, looking at that back wall in the bow, with a window... am i wrong or does this part look like its openable? Lastly, wonder, if it wouldn't be better to change Your character's hook into a golden one, as this simple change would give You an another attractive element to go with the set, and without sacrificing any pieces. Then again, with so much yellow around, and with his own hands being so yellow, i'm not sure if gold would look good on him ;) Then again maybe there are other colors of hooks that could go along with it, diamond one or somesuch.

I'd stick with Your original entry, there's no point in altering something that is already simple but great, as i don't see real visual improvments. And the same with Your lead character, he was already great, no need to change him only cause they looked different in previous original sets. Folks constantly switch torsos, heads, headwear and decorative elements or create their own, so i think it was just fine. Note that this plume, or whatever you call it, makes him actually look taller and that creates a bit of inbalance with the rest of the boat. Boat is boat, he was small, and it was just the right choice. I don't mind it if he would get a taller during plays, it's just a toy, but for presentation purposes i think it's important. Even the angle of the photograph and the way You've placed that turtle can be important factors :)

Ah, ok, You're right, i got it now. I didn't realize it could slide, i thought it was more about those elements in front of the statue - little island and rock/statue formation. Kinda thought they can do something, be moved away, so that statue could be moved in there between them or somesuch :)

Awesome build! Lovely little space that would make a great display piece, might offer some good parts as a set too. I love all those elements, and the rat brings a lot of charm. Makes a great duo with that parrot. And what a cool looking place to sit that parrot has, almost as good as captain's chair. I think the whole think might look even better if You could use those two things that are sticking out of wall in both top corners as a fire holders, this would give Your captain a bit more light to work and ( if it wouldn't burn the ship of course ) and bring more life to the top part of the set... that is You could find one piece that could be sacrificed. I understand that white beard represents melting wax from that candle? :) Interesting. Not sure if it wouldn't be confusing for others tho, as they just might wonder why there is a beard in such place ;) Then again it's a nice element, and i guess Your captain could use it for christmas parties, wouldn't he. Anyway. Great stuff and Great presentation.

Simple, but lovely, i understand that it's an important set for You, not sure if it will be a fan favourite in others' eyes. I think it would be more sellable if it would have a packaging similar to the original, that would make it stand out, as many other entries gain good reviews thanx to that factor, and classic packaging would probably bring some good old memories for many too. But the way it is it might be just too similar, by the character. I like it, cause i prefer classic minifigs more than most of modern ones, but most of folks might be more strict about bringing new pieces for remakes, new torsos, new faces, even legs. And it's hard advice on anything to upgrade it, as You've chosen a very little set, with hardly any charasteristics that would give creating options. Then again You kept it to the basics, which is also nice, as many remakers tend to completely overdo and oversize their designs. But if anything could be changed to make it better? Hm... if You could use more pieces, and this could be done only by using a single baseplate, or one with less elements, You could probably make that rock formation a big bigger and try to create a little cave thanx to it, one that could fit that chest, create a small tunnel that it could be placed in. Would be better tho? I don't know. But always an option and always a play value. But should anything be changed, i'd play with these rocks. As it also could be a stash with an openable top, or even the entire rock could be placed on a little stash, to hide something. But what could be inside it, since it would not fit that chest? A diamond maybe? One that could make all those coins look like pennies. But that's only if You'd see a need for such reconstruction. And if it would be actually doable. "X marks the spot" could be doable tho, could be made out of those rocks. I haven't realy seen it in Lego sets yet, other than that crossed palm tree thing in one of the entries. But anyway... hope You will find Your classic monkey again and have a lot of fun with it :)

Great! Fishnet is an interesting and original option :) I see some extraordinary way You used for that bridge, btw, both of them. Hope all those elements would hold and not fall away tho :) And that's a lot of pineapples! I guess someone will finaly make a use of that kitchen area, and prepare a pizza feast :)

Nothing offensive dude, we are normal people here ;) I hope ;) Awesome looking statue, and great engineering work, i'll give You that, it's simple but very impressive, i love those tiny eyes, and feather element, nose and tongue that kids would probably play with till they would break it, and those flaming horns, that kinda resembles ears or even hands of a crazy dancing shaman too :) And nice choice of baseplate, plantwork too. Perfect little piece. Not sure if it would be a hit or miss, it's like one of those many nice classic ittle sets, where it was always hard to to choose from, but then again everyone had an option and all of them offered something different, so they do their job, for some they might be the best toy they got ever, for others they can be forgetable, are they just a puzzle in big Lego family. So i can't find any reason to be picky about it, but i can't give it the 1st prize either ;) I wonder if Your tongue requires any specific amount of weight to trigger the coin effect?

Love the overall design, custom sail is impressive, Your pirate is a very intruiging character and i guess he's got this love-hate relationship with his seagull sidekick ;) Awsome. And that Barrel with fish is a a nice addition too. Should he get a fishing rod or a spear to be able to hunt them tgo? Or perhaps his seagull is specificay trained for this purpose and he's angry that she doesn't want to do her job ;) Speaking of barrels tho, maybe You could use their covers to replace those two central elements in the base of the raft? I mean, wooden stuff is very nice, but i'm not a fan of those shiny pieces sitting between them :)

Lovely moc and an impressibe display set, all those roofs, and walkways, towers, battlements, decorations are just superb. Brilliant. Well done. Not sure if it's a proper Lego set tho. Definitely a collector;s special rather than something for toy shops. Then again, obviously it brings a lot of idea that could be used to create a proper Lego approved seaside town, and there's a whole lot of things to get inspired by, little details that could and should be used. Seaside town is a set people have always asked for, at least fans on this forum did, so that's already a good start. And i guess all of these houses offer different playvalues as they are supposed to represent different divisions of this town's life? I think that it would be useful to give them more room, space between all those buildings tho, as they are quite tight. Probably they could offer some shade from the carribean sun because of that, but accesibility should be an important factor, especialy that You said this set is not modular, so it would be impossible to move those buildings away from each other a bit. Or did i get something wrong and it's actually possible expand them and perhaps connect with selfbuiolt bridges? Then again, with all those roofs and floors i wonder if these are openable to reach their exteriors, can't see much on those pictures and You didn't provide a lot of trivia about Your work, so i guess it might be there it might not. But what's above is one thing, i'm even more curious about what's below and this town seems to be sitting entirely on piles driven into the sea floor. Or is just the jetty and all buildings are actually on land? Anyway, as with all sets of this kind, i believe such location give excelent excuse to indlude some secret entrences in our out of those buldings, trap doors, smugglers' routes, hidden stashes etc. And once again, i can't tell if there's anything like it there. Still, i believe that such design would be every Pirate fan's dream anyway, as it's great for either display, or parts, or it could be rearanged with little work into whole lots of things. I only wonder if it's not too peacefull in there. Or maybe that's just an illusion and there's something wicked in this town ;) Folks might complain that there's much action there, no pirates in sight, no intruders planning to turn this location into hell or steal local's day's earnings. Then again, do we have to include conflict into every set? I don't know. And surely, i anyone could afford Your offering, he/she could order an additional sets with pirate hordes to spice or blow things up ;)

That's what You said. I was simply refering to MstrOfPpts who said that lurkers will probably focus on top entries, and he's probably right, that's all. You're the one who thinks it's getting messy, we're only suggesting how the voting could be done and what would be a proper way to make people involved and how to make it fair for contestants.

Oh, i didn't know that... to hell with him then!! ;P honestly tho, most important thing is that it's not the same, i'm not familiar enough to judge how much of it is borrowed, ispired etc, it looks different enough for me, it's not like it's ripped off or anything. Then again, all toys borrow from each other. I would think that that You'd rather point to that turning bridge, that it might be too similar to the idea presented in the Enchanted Island, but even if it is similar, should we complain? I can't agree with You saying that it's too much tho. I'm always pushing the "less is more" philosofy in a lot of fields, even with some of the entries, but i wouldn't say it's a problem here. It would be a problem if it was doomed to be too expensive as a single set, and there fore it would be more profitable to sell it as few separate pieces, and i actually suggested it in a Enchanted Island entry... tho, that was poorly suggested because i was worried that our friend there would not be able to finish before the deadline, so i thought that it would be smart to use his completed ideas as separate entries, rather than have a heart attack while trying to merge them together to a single set ;) But in here it's all finished and i don't see a problem. Sure... for some it might be too big just like some other iconic sets from Lego or other toy series. But there were even bigger and we all wanted them anyway. So i'm all in. I guess that the amount of locations withing this lagoon would make some of those areas used more or less during plays, some stuff would be poorly decorative, but then a lot of reviewers complain about a lot of elements that aren;t actually needed to enchance the play experience, but they want them poorly for decorative reasons or because "historically they would need a linstock to fire a gun" etc ;) Lego is all about magic and storytelling to me, buiding too, and this one is one of few that took my straight into my childhood :)

But if those lazy lurkers get 3 or 5 votes it won't change a thing, cause, as You've just said Yourself, they will vote for those top entries anyway, for 3 or 5, doesn't matter, it won't change the outcome and won;t change the fact that it simply might not be fair contestants. Then again that's democracy, folks vote for whatever they want, usually not bothering to check what most of the contestants have to offer. It's up to Governor Phes do decide whether we want this here. But then again, should this voting process be completely democratic, than logically every contestant, reviewer and builder should be able to decide on how we shoudl vote ;) And it doesn't look like there's a lot of folks involved in this discussion ;) Is this discussion democratic then? It is open for everyone tho... :)