Shadows

Koji Kondo and Toru Minegishi - Pirate's Fortress from the Legend of Zelda ~ Majora's Mask

Poison Ivy has the great hair, but toxic lips... had to throw my vote in with our leather bound kitty with attitude ... MEOW *y*

As another plagued by the lack of UPS to PO Boxes, I'll just forewarn you. S@H has primarily switched to DHL shipping, which uses the post office to do the real delivering. Since I had always let UPS deliver to my street address, when I placed my last order, I didn't change that (no idea of the change) and instead of delivering the package, USPS left a note indicating that if I wanted it delivered, I would need to sign the slip and wait several days. Had I known, I would have just had them deliver it to my PO Box (it was literally sitting in the same post office). Only complication is having to get there while the inside is open to claim it. On the good side, it arrived quicker and in better condition than any previous order ever. As for LEGO service, I've had a lot more missing pieces lately, but in every case they've taken care of it immediately and usually included a few extra parts for the bother. If someone can get the colours stabilized a bit more and keep introducing great sets, I see a very bright future for the company.

Every military organization, official or renegade, needs your basic troop. This is him. From pirate ship to medieval battlefield to a galaxy far, far away, he has his place. I remember the day I bought the original B-Wing. Oh, the surprise and delight of meeting up with a friend from the past, still supporting the real stars and making his valuable contribution behind both the scenes and his anonymous moustache and stubble... Potentially, he could even make the transition to fleshie one day, should LEGO decide to use him again in a SW set. I'm not sure I approve of that possibility, but if the day comes I'm sure he'll serve well.

I doubt they considered that but it's an excellent point. *y* For years I've had a little pirate display consisting of a skeleton in a pirate captain's hat pinned to a ships wheel by a cutlass. With him standing firmly in place in front of the wheel and the sword inserted just right, it ends up in the spokes of the wheel making a solid and convincing display of either a mutiny or a last battle gone bad. My own version of 'Dead Men Tell No Tales.'

If I was prone to dabbling in such things, which I'm not, I'd take a close look at the railings, the crows nest, and possible the tan riggings. It's just too hard to tell how good they might be from the pics, and personally I hope they're terrible because I'm rude like that when it comes to clone brands. X-D

Well, Happy Birthday Norway! You know you've been sitting in a LEGO forum too long when this ... ... inspires thoughts of "hey, I could do that building in the back. Let's see, I'll need..." ;-)

I hope that redoing it involved adding some official LEGO parts, because I see a few pieces in there that are way too close to looking real. 8-o I will admit that there is the occasional bit there that I would be happy to see out of LEGO themselves. Still it's the basic juniorization style for most of it, so it doesn't interest me (who am I kidding, the fact that it isn't LEGO takes care of that). That said, I'm going to continue to hold out hope for a new Pirates System line with nice surprises in store and until then, I'll pillage and plunder every collection I can, so consider this a warning to all who sail too near! :-P

Assuming you survive the voyage from the old world to the new one ... For the sailor, realistic means hard months at sea on worm infested rations of hard tack and questionable water once the harder stuff runs out, if you're lucky enough to get that. It means sickness and disease, famine and pestulance, and the occasional good days of pillaging, after some of your shipmates have died in the battle, assuming you're not one of them. On the other end it may be endless days and nights spent watching the horizon for potential threats, always uneasy knowing that an attack could come from any quarter. We'll just skip life for the 'native' population. I'll take my pirate theme without realism, thank you very much, same way I'll take my Wild West, my Castle and the rest of my LEGO. Even in battle, it's a lot better life than the real ones they represent, just the way I want it.

She's from set #10159, LEGO City Airport (2004) Peeron

#1 it is, with the exotic feminine look. #5 was a close second because of the hair and better clothes. A #1 head on a #5 and it's all over :) #2 just looks crazy to me. It's the eyebrows meeting the hair and the white pupils. *shudders* #1 Bricklink Peeron #2 ... still looks crazy to me. Bricklink Peeron #3 Bricklink Peeron The rest are the classic smiley we all know and love.

My old stock pirates are still packed up from my dark ages. My 'new' ones are all recent eBay and Bricklink purchases and right now I'm just recreating every one of the 80 or so combinations of official minifigs. Once I've done that, I'll start the mix and match. Pics when I can, but right now it's just boring lines of standards (about 30 types and a bunch of imperial dupes) Good idea though, I'd like to see some of the mix and matching stuff that's been done using all official parts for future ideas. Technically my sigfig is a pirate, or former pirate, or undercover imperial officer, or ... he's still a mystery, just the way I like it. Obviously he's composed of primarily a Qui Gon mixed with pirate head and tricorn.

An excellent rendition of an unexpected type of ship! Great work! For those interested in the type, I found this: It is, as I recall, a particularly American type of ship which could have been seen along her coasts or further south, I'm sure.

First off, great review as always *y* The set itself was a real mixed experience. As you said, Qui Gon was in practically every set, but I picked up a small pile of these sets when all of Episode I was so overstocked that they were being dumped for $2. Lots of Tatooine citizens, castle and pirate civilians and spare jedi walking around in Qui Gon's clothes, I'll tell you that. One of his extra heads is currently making a decent custom Kyle Katarn. The Darth Mauls became more generic SW citizens and jedi. Most useless alternate purpose head ever. He was actually in a third set as well though, the darkside figures set #3340. The Maul speeder is adequate, but uninspired. I've converted all of my spares into other speeders. A generic small Tatooine speeder (with a Qui Gon bodied citizen). I mixed one with a spare Endor speederbike to make a long bounty hunter swoop that I'm quite fond of (I'll have to take pics sometime). I ended up mixing and matching parts of moisture vaporators with spares from other duped sets to make taller, more movie authentic vaporators to spread around. All in all, I'd give it a 7/10, mostly as an incredibly cheap parts and minifig pack.

That leaves a nasty scar too. *lifts back of shirt* See?

It must be an amazingly safe and peaceful world when all we have to worry about is how much a bit of ABS plastic looks like a gun. When I was growing up, we had toy guns that made sound effects, shot caps or water or little yellow plastic pellets or ping pong balls or rubber darts, or we just picked up a stick and used it for one. In the days before me, kids ran around playing cowboy and indian or cops and robbers or army men or gangsters or whatever. We did the same thing for swords to play pirate or lightsabers etc. Sometimes, you'd swing that broom handle too hard and wallop someone. They didn't die, they learned to duck. LEGO included swords, guns, rifles, axes, spears, and all kinds of things that were meant to represent weapons (the old space 'torches' which were clearly intended as laser pistols). Then one day someone decided that it was toy guns that were the cause of violence in the world. I clearly remember it happening in the 80s. There were big piles of plastic guns collected and destroyed and everyone smiled and said, "we're making a safer world." Might as well have had a book burning while they were at it. I don't recall gun violence in those days. Oh, don't kid yourself, criminals had and used guns. Stores were robbed, people got in fights and murders happened, it just wasn't as common as now. School shooting? Never heard of such a thing. Road rage? Huh? So fewer toy guns were being made and people were told not to let their children play the kinds of things they always had. The LEGO position on the matter always confused me. Pirates, knights, space explorers, cowboys and indians, they can all have guns, swords, etc. Purely fantasy lines like Star Wars or Batman? No guns. Isn't that backwards? Now they've reversed on that and I'm thankful to have them, and I haven't noticed a sudden increase in LEGO crime to match. Time passes. Things change. People look to blame their problems on other sources. Violent kids are a result of bad parenting, not toy guns, it's just easier to blame someone else for the problem than to take responsibility.

... and in a pinch, the handy brick seperator makes a convenient minifig stand or motorcycle ramp ;-)

ROAD TRIP! *calls shotgun* X-D

Lagoon Lockup for me. To be honest, it was very close between it and Sabre Island, and I'd love to see a MOC of the two of them together. That would be an epic little set. Now I just need to start picking up these sets.

Aye, 'round these parts, we never be hearin' of these Pirates you speak of. X-D

I'm in that thread too, so I had to comment here. I have never in my life seen a stickered pirate flag. There is a skull and crossbones sticker in a WW set, as I recall, indicating a mine hazard or something, but that's it for stickers of that sort. I too, would have been upset to receive that item in an order, though I would have communicated my displeasure in a clearer manner. I still don't think he was being threatening though, just suffering from language complications.

Between all the new Star Wars and things like Cafe Corner and it's family, 2007 looks like a disaster financially, but one seriously good year for LEGO. Because of that, I had very seriously considered bypassing the new Castle sets. That said, you sir are a foul and evil person. May legions of undead swarm your battlements, pillage your towns and carry off all your female minifigs. >:-) In other words, now that I've read your excellent reviews, I will have to add these three sets to my already decimated budget. Nice work! *y* Castle on!

Yes and no. I didn't have her confused with Jet, I was just tricked into thinking she'd been in a Rock Raiders set by this description: Orange Rock Raiders Shirt, Brown Ponytail Hair, Life Jacket http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?M=twn022 Of course, I should have noticed that it's a town minifig number, so *hangs head in shame* Now, back to the babes!

News Flash, dateline Billund: In an effort to clear out existing inventory of islander heads, a free mime will be inserted in 1,000 randomly selected boxes of the new Eiffel Tower. But only in the US. I'm not sure who's getting cheated in this deal ... *ducks and runs*