Shadows

The show is cancelled, we're never doing another interview. I've had enough. If it isn't one thing, it's another. I can't deal with the pressure anymore. Now that I have concluded the April fools portion of this post, I just wanted to let you all know that I am a bit behind schedule, but hope to get the next interview posted later this morning. Until then, go build something Pirate-y (look at the banner in The Big Billboard o' Doom).

All animals are allowed, even dragons. Yes, I know it would make no sense to include a dragon, and you will be ridiculed horribly for it, but it's allowed. *wacko* Therefore, horses, parrots, monkeys, sharks, octopi, and all other LEGO animals are allowed, within the specified limits. Don't forget, animal accessories count extra, so a saddle adds another piece.

Since voting has the same effect as posting in this thread, and someone just voted, moving it to the front again, I don't feel too awful for posting in it after so long. That said... for all of you who had great ideas for a future return to the Pirates line, why not show LEGO exactly what you want by entering ... I can tell you, they do look at all of the major LEGO sites, and when it comes to Pirates, we're clearly the one, so what you say and do here could have an impact on any future plans. Make your voice heard! Power to the People On! *y*

If I had a template at 600dpi, I'd try them. I may scan a real shield later and use it as a template. If that works, I'll scan all the major shield shapes and start on them. Only thing is... how useful would this be? I mean, sure, we could apply the elven pattern to the skull shield, but what good is a skull decal with no source of blank round shields?

Why can't you use the hull you own? It's allowed in the Large set class, assuming it's real LEGO. Paper sails... Yes, that seems reasonable. They will count as 1 piece each though. RULES ADJUSTED TO ADD CUSTOM SAILS

Aw, shucks. :-$ I voted for ... SupremeCommanderGrievous. He beat me in the one category I really thought I had a chance in, so I think he deserves it.

Yes it may. There is no physical size restriction of the creation, only for the baseplate itself. That's simply to keep someone from building a small set with a huge plate that LEGO would never do. Prepare to be SHOCKED! Preprare to be AMAZED! The prizes, without saying too much, are REAL LEGO! I'll even go a step further ... They're REAL PIRATES LEGO! *sweet*

I also used the coin sprue as treasure, I just imagined it was either a lump of unminted gold, or a small golden object taken from a local tribe. Eventually they introduced a golden idol type of piece in the Adventurer's line that is basically what I used the sprue for before. I used any trans coloured 1x1 round plate as a jewel, and yellow ones as lids to those fancy yellow goblets. Square ones could be a different cut of jewel. Piled together, it looked pretty good. Now you can get 1x2 chrome gold tiles that look like gold bars to go along with the jewels and coins. Aquaraiders includes a golden plate in a set, along with various pirate parts to signify a sunken ship. I also used to put 1x1 rounds in the back of the window panes (the lattice kind) to make them look like stained glass from the outside. Then again, white classic-space minifigs were stormtroopers in my world, so there is no telling what I did. ;-)

Please post your entries for "A Pirate's Life" here, before May 12th, 2008. Each entry should appear in a seperate post, even if that means triple posting, but only in this thread. Be sure to specify the piece count and class of your entry, Impulse, Small, or Large. Any discussion should occur in the discussion thread only. Please refer to the rules and be certain that you are following them. If you have any questions, please ask them there as well. You may use up to 3 photographs for each entry. The first one you post will be your official entry picture. If there are any comments you wish the voters to see, or a backstory for your entry, be sure to post it here with the entry. Thanks for participating and good luck, me hearties! *y* Searching for an idea? Checkout the A-Z of Things to Build thread for some building inspiration.

Welcome to "A Pirate's Life!" the latest and greatest contest from Eurobricks and Classic-Pirates.com! I'm your host, imperialshadows, and for this particular ride, I'm all you've got. >:-) Prepare to have fun, Pirates style, and maybe even pick up some booty! Har! *sweet* Imagine that LEGO has announced the return of Classic Pirates in all it's glory! YAY! *y* But, instead of simply launching an entire line that could fail, they're being careful. They want YOU to design sets to test the waters, so to speak. There will be three classes of entries: impulse, small and large. You may make one entry in each class, if you wish. The classes will be explained below. They could be almost anything! With nothing to limit you but your imagination (and the rules below), what will you design? The Contest: 1. Build a set or sets that you think that LEGO could use to sell the world on a new Pirates line. 2. Take pics. 3. Present your work in the entry thread. 4. Vote! 5. You just might win a prize ... or several prizes! Whoever receives the most votes in each class will win a fabulous prize! Each of our three prizes has been kindly donated by popular EB personalities who are greatly appreciated for their contributions. What, you want to see them? Oh no, not yet. It's a surprise, but I'll tell you this, they're well worth the effort, so get building! The Classes: Impulse: Build an impulse set with no more than 25 pieces, 1 minifig and 1 animal, and 1 parrot. No baseplates, no burps/lurps or large ship hulls. All other rules apply. Small: Build a small set with no more than 100 pieces, 3 minifigs and 2 animals, and 2 parrots. A single baseplate up to 16x16 may be used. 3 burps/lurps (total, not 3 of each) may be used. No large ship hulls. All other rules apply. Large: Build a larger set with no more than 200 pieces, 5 minifigs and 4 animals, and 4 parrots. A single 32x32 baseplate, or 2 16x32 baseplates may be used. 5 burps/lurps (total, not 5 of each) may be used. Ship hulls are allowed. All other rules apply. The Rules: 1. The contest will run from March 31st to May 12th, 6 weeks. No entries will be accepted after that date, unless something comes up and a new date is announced. 2. One entry per class, per person. 3. Only real LEGO brand parts are allowed, with three exceptions. You may use custom decals on minifigs, which will not count against your piece total. Decals used any other way will count as 1 piece. You may use non-LEGO string, if you must, which will also count as 1 piece. You may use custom sails (paper or cloth), which will count as 1 piece each. 4. A standard minifig does not count against your piece total (hat or hair, head, torso, leg assembly). Extra accessories are extra pieces however, even if attached or worn (like a backpack). 5. Digital entries will be allowed. 6. You may present up to 3 pictures per entry. You will post those in the entry thread, along with any backstory or notes you wish to make about your creation. One creation per post. The first picture will become your thumbnail for the voting round, so pick well. 7. Be prepared to offer additional photos if requested for part count verification. In other words, once you've posted your entry, don't take it apart, we might need to see more of it. 8. My judgement is final. I may mention violations in the discussion thread, I may not. Entries may be changed until the end of the contest if you need to fix something. At the end of the contest, violations will be disqualified. I don't want to do that, so please be sure to follow the rules or ask questions. 9. Have fun. Or else. Don't push your luck here, I mean it. :-P These rules may be updated at any time necessary, please refer to them often. So there you have it. Treasure is out there to be had, and only you can decide how you will attempt to claim it! Get building, there be fame and glory ahead! RULES UPDATED 4/1: Custom sails are now allowed. See rule 3. RULES UPDATED 4/5: Decals on minifigs no longer count as a piece. Parrots seperated from the animal category and limits given. RULES UPDATED 4/7: Major change to the way minifig pieces are (and now aren't) counted. See rule #4 and rejoice.

I don't really "get" the Black Fantasy theme, but I do know well-built when I see it, and this clearly is. Good job! Is neon orange a traditional element, or could that be neon green? Not sure why, but for some reason, it seems that green would be more pseudo-organic to me. I'm trying to understand the theme, it just isn't clicking. That said, please share any further creations with us. I like what I see looking at it in terms of alien military machinery, something designed by a distant race to emulate things from their own world, so maybe I'll eventually grasp the Black Fantasy part.

Nope, but too much Douglas Adams has left me with a certain mindset that lends itself well to such creative license. Actually, my creative license was revoked, but you know what I mean. ;-)

I'm finding all of these 6'5"+ people to be a bit... unlikely. So the question is, are we failing in math or does LEGO attract abnormally tall people? :-D Let's try some more math. For those of you using metric measurements already, that makes life easy. For the rest of us, let's convert inches to cm then multiply times 10 for mm. Inches to cm tool From that, I am 190.5cm or 1905mm. 1905mm/9.6mm = 198.4375 bricks. Putting that into perspective, there aren't as many freakishly tall people as it seemed, except for steelharbingerofdeath... 8-�

I need more bricks! Seriously, someone do the math on this. I'm 6'3" plus a couple of plates, I suspect.

Don't ask me how I know this, but if you save fruit snacks like this for too long, they'll eventually turn black. They will not mold, however. I picked up a big box of these one day (something like 50 packs inside) and honestly, they aren't great, but they're basically the same as all the other fruit snacks out there (they aren't great, either). I would have appreciated a mail-in offer on these for a small set, like LEGO has done in the past, but no such luck. Last one of those I got was the Studios Pirate promo years ago.

Name: Aluvar Species: Enchanted Human Age: 190, but doesn't look a day over 76. Alignment: As good as he can be. Faction: Tolerated by many, claimed by none. His alignment keeps him away from the evil factions. Born a Black Falcon. Armament: A simple staff, a few wands, some somewhat confused magic. Armour: None worn, none needed. Clothing: Black robes and hat. They're slimming, and people confuse you for an evil wizard and tend to not bother you much. Special Ability: Saving teleport. Only spell he always gets right. Something goes wrong... *POOF*. Part of why he's made it to 190. Possessions: A chest of improbable volume. Basically, it can hold whatever you can get through it's opening. It's primarily filled with Aluvar's modest riches, books, potions and ingredients, small odds and ends he's picked up here and there, and bird food. It cannot hold anything ridiculous like a horse. Hobbies: Wandering the countryside looking for people who need help and then generally mucking it up. Hilarity ensues. Companions: 4 talking birds. In the very first installment of the Aluvar Chronicles, as I'm planning to call it, he'll cast a spell to make them speak in English. It might even work. Aside from being his only source of decent conversation while traveling (and he travels a lot), they are able to deliver messages much like carrier pigeons, except with clearer accents. Now, having looked at the examples of writing commonly used for this, I will probably vary somewhat. I envision my portions of the story ending up a lot of like an episode of EB News (link below), or the example I posted previously (the one that probably triggered your "no talking bird as your character" rule).

As I said in the Hoth Officers thread, Luke has often been represented by customizers as a standard Hoth soldier with a white police hat and goggles. The hat and goggles are fine, since we don't have a better alternative, but that torso is wrong. Matter of fact, it's wrong for Hoth soldiers as well. Standard troops wore white vests, only officers wore tan. Both wore the same thing underneath, and it was white as well, so both decals should really be applied to white torsos instead of the tan that LEGO uses. Check out this page for close-up pics of the actual Hoth Luke costume. Hoth Rebel Soldier Luke: Flesh, Yellow Hoth Soldier: Flesh, Yellow The only future addition I may make is a version of each with a white scarf tucked in at the collar. Depending on the picture, sometimes they wear one, sometimes they don't. Sometimes the collar is more open, sometimes it's more closed. It varies a lot. The flesh and yellow versions should satisfy most needs.

Not to mention his medical insurance. X-D

Thanks everyone! I'm doing a proper decal for a Hoth Luke right now. Up to this point, I've just used a normal Hoth soldier with Luke face and white police hat, but it's completely wrong. I found pictures from a museum exhibit, so I should be able to get this one fairly accurate. It's nice having good source material. *y*

Congratulations to the winner, an excellent job by all, and an excellent job by everyone who took the time to enter! Thanks again to copmike for the prizes and to what's-his-name for whatever it was he did. ;-)

I wouldn't classify myself as an addict. I don't make a lot of orders, but I can't stand making them too small. If I need a few parts from a seller, I'll dig around until I get it to $25, at least, before I order. If I can't find enough, I'll pass unless it's just too important. Typically, I like to keep orders over $50 and take full lots instead of 1 of this and 3 of that. As a result, I don't order often, maybe a couple of times a month. So far, no really bad experiences. Had one seller who misrepresented some minifigs, but when I wrote and explained the situation, they paid me back for them. I learned that they were honest, but sloppy, and probably wouldn't deal with them again, but at least I wasn't left with a bad experience.

Too many soldiers and not enough officers in your Hoth forces? Same here, until now! Add General Carlist Rieekan, commander of Echo Base and Major Bren Derlin, deck officer who gave the order to close the doors, all with these simple decals. General Rieekan Major Derlin For yellow heads, I'd suggest: & Not sure about flesh.

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I've added a generic Hoth Rebel to the first post. Currently, I'm using a spare one of these as a Hoth Luke, since LEGO has never seen fit to provide us with a proper one. There are no variations, as it isn't really the most widely used torso on Hoth. My next attempt will either be General Riekkan or Captain Antilles. Riekkan will be useful as other Hoth officers like Major Bren Derlin, while Captain Antilles is pretty much a one shot deal, but we do have the perfect helmet for him. Hmmm... Except both, eventually.

Whoa... these are very VERY nice! *wub* I was lucky enough to buy a few of these just as I was coming out of my dark ages, imagining that they would serve some purpose in a Star Wars display, but if I hadn't, I'd definitely have to find a way to use these decals. *y*

Welcome to EB! For most of us, coming out of our dark ages means going in a store and picking up some little set. You managed to end up working for the company... Nice job! Glad you've made it to our happy LEGO world as well! Be sure to check out the Big Billboard o' Doom™ at the end of my post for some great ways to get involved in this wonderful community that you have joined!