Andy-Roo

Congratulations to all the winners! I am impressed by the amount of creativity and skill that these contests bring out, and I found it helpful to have this sort of inspiration in my own builds. I appreciate all the feedback and all the good vibes from everyone who participated! Cheers!

Nice to see a build like this done to fit within the "classic" era of lego pirates. Even without newer profile bricks etc, I think a build like this could benefit from some additional shape or contrast. Instead of a flat wall, the gate house by 1 or 2 studs or give the wall something that breaks it up from being one solid piece. I know in many forts a straight plain wall is what we see in real life, but it seems like the most visually appealing builds give more variation in shapes. The other thing that could be done is a repeating shape around the canons, or a support structure etc. That would also give some visual variation.

Great little build! You can't go wrong with the "overside" henchmen fight scene! Makes me think that Steve could have used some gunpowder just about now...

I think this build maximizes the amount of detail one can fit in 200 pieces. This build feels very full, as well I like that you were able to help build the scene with the background elements. This is well thought out and a good execution!

Great build of the ship, and the details are very well thought out! I like the story and the way of displaying this. Well done!

Great little build. Very effective for 200 pieces and the lighting and photography really bring this to life! Well done!

Great build! Props to your daughter on a job well done as this is very recognizable and a good mini build of such an iconic set. Great use of colors to really help stay true to the original. Some good part usage all around!

Great merchant ship! It's great to see more boat of this slightly upsize scale from the official lego sets. The smooth accent lines of the red and yellow work well, and you used the curved slopes very skillfully here. It's great that you were able to fit in a place for canons that didn't feel out of place. I thought that worked well! I like the shape of this and it still feels true to the original. A great interpretation of the merchant ship! The coast guard ship itself is nice in how the hull is constructed, but that canon feels a bit massive for that size of the ship. It is obviously more threatening but it would be interesting to see the smaller ship with a few fixed brick built cannons or some swivel guns.

Great build! I like that you were able to capture all the details in this scale and this was instantly recognizable! Clever use of the shoulder pads armor for the boats. Works really well!

A very skillful build and the rockwork is impressive on how it all fits together. The only thing that would be good would be some sort of contrast to help the build stand out. It seems that the rockface is supposed to be part of a larger mountain but perhaps a combination of some dark grey sections and some foliage would help accent this.

Great ship, and it seems like all the details are masterfully placed with intention. No filler. Everything feels like it belongs and it is all very cohesive. Rigging and sails are wonderful as well! This is good inspiration! I hope to create more ships and builds like this are good motivation to revise and learn new techniques.

Great concept and I like the literal and metaphorical layers to this! Build is well *executed* and It keeps on getting better the more you look at it. Photos are great as well!

Great build, and good attention to detail! I like that you went with a modular approach and that it fits nicely within Sleepless Night's Lagoon Lockup MOC. I've been looking at that and this might help motivate me to build that MOC as well. It would have been nice to see a few more photos, and to include the upstairs as well. A closeup photo from the perspective of a minifigure would be great in a build like this.

Thank you for your insightful feedback! This was a fun build and was my first original ship MOC so I wanted to push myself to go beyond modifying an existing design. It was a good challenge to balance out the proportions, detail, as well create the sails! The "figurehead" was meant as greebling. I use the chicken and frogs to give that front of the ship shape, I thought of it more as a carving, or the kind of details you'd get in crown molding. Just wanted something to match the end of the ship and with the limited pieces I had in gold, that's what I went with. I liked what it did to the profile of the ship at a distance, but unfortunately up close, most people will spot the chicken and the frogs.

Excellent build, story and craftsmanship! I like the modular nature to the build and the attention to detail especially when it comes to playability. Everything was used in the story which helped highlight the build. The only thing that would be nice to see is some additional texturing of the grass plates and the floor of the caves to match the level of detail of the rest of the set. Great job all around!

My vote goes to @Horation While reading the threads on other entries the feedback was consistently insightful.

Large Category The Merchant vessel Margaret Hamilton by Elephant Knight Tapu Island by Marooned Marin Escape from the Imperial Trading Post by A_Goodman Captain Steve of the Revenant by Sebeus I and Legostone Caught by the Armada Coast Guard by Quotenotto Small Category Infamous Steve and the Fountain of Fortune by Juhlhaus The King’s Merchant by Marooned Marin Steve Origins: Meeting Redbeard by Oky Steve Arrives at the Enchanted Island by Horation International Society of Steve by BrynnOfCastlegate

I appreciate the feedback! I like the dark red and was really trying to find a balance of how much to use, and how much black the ship should have. As for the gun emplacements, that height was based on what height would give me the most space on the deck (any lower and boat hull forces you to move inward. I can see how covering the grey would be good as well. I will keep that in mind for future builds.

It was very last minute! I never thought that countdown clock would be so useful haha You encouraged me to create another small entry... but I had ideas for this ship brewing, so I pushed a bit to make it happen! Hope people enjoy it!

Thank you! Well I almost ran out of time but I created another entry. A larger ship this time and some cloth sails! Made a brigantine for Pirate Steve.

This story explains how Steve went from his small merchant cutter, to becoming Captain Remington, of the The Crimson Raider. *For those who don't want to read you can listen / watch here: ___________________________________________ What drives a man to piracy? Profit? Defiance? Rebellion? Perhaps it is freedom? Steve was a cunning merchant, at heart. His time as a privateer led to some business with Captain Red Beard. Word travels fast and The Imperials do not take piracy lightly. Steve's Merchant cutter was confiscated while at port. Steve was determined to make his mark and became a quartermaster, as his knowledge of trade routes made him very useful. After many months at sea Steve helped capture a lone Brigantine and he was awarded the ship to captain as he pleased. At this point, Captain Remington was born. The Crimson Raider was a fast and agile ship. Exactly what was needed to hunt down high value targets. Unlike the more savage pirates, Remington maintain a strict code of conduct and vetted his crew closely. One could say they were men of honor, navigating an dishonorable trade. For years the ship stayed strong and true as Remington and the crew accumulated more and more prizes... but bigger problems loomed on the horizon. The pirate captains banded together with the dream of a pirate nation, a free island for free men, without the oppressive boot of the imperials. Fortunately, there are those in power who are easily persuaded by a little bit of gold. These bribes helped clear his name, and Steve dropped his pirate persona. With a new and improve cutter he bought his way back into the merchant trade. Steve was tasked with establishing key trade routes and harbors where stolen goods could be sold back into the market. Without this trade, the new pirate nation would slowly bleed out. Will Steve's efforts pay off? Will the Imperials destroy any attempts at a pirate nation? Only time will tell. All that is clear is that the drive for Freedom, is strong, especially in the outcasts, misfits and those who want to craft their own destiny. ______________________________________ *If you want to learn more about Steve's Upgraded Cutter, check out my first entry here. Both of these stories are linked, and I made them fit. The only difference is Steve's Upgraded Cutter is told from the perspective of the Imperials. *Note I transformed old box art and posters into the historic looking photos. I used Photoshop AI Generation to create a plate for some of the scenes, this removed some of the other "action" and gave me a clean slate. Mostly just replacing things with rocks and water. *The bribe scene was from my other entry and was shot on the deck of The Triton Warship By Marooned_Marin . It is an amazing build and I would highly recommend. *I used a combination of greenscreen and practical photography using my TV as a background and a water theme table cloth as the water. For larger shots I needed to greenscreen. *First time using cloth sails. It was a really fun experience to try to figure this all out. I used untreated canvas. *In addition to the voice over, I also composed the music for this. I wanted something more rhythmic and upbeat as this was a more inspirational story. Not sure if anyone is interested but I used Cubase 12.5 as a DAW, CSS for strings, East West Stormdrum 2 for percussion, EW RA for Hurdy Gurdy, Cineharps for Harp. Wish I had more time to do another pass but that's how it all turned out. *Boat hull is from the original Imperial Flagship with 1 added mid section. I thought this was a good sized hull for a brigantine. Let me know your thoughts and feedback on this!

There is something magical about some of the original product photos that Lego did before everything became digital. I think some of the landscapes used similar techniques to model train sets. I don't know for sure but that's my feeling. That certainly adds up! If you use this technique with the water I am curious to other use cases with it. Smaller scale it works well, and I'm in the process of taking photos of a ship larger than this cutter so I'm testing to see if this looks good. Can't use the TV as a background for wide shots however so I will need to greenscreen some of it. Thank you! It was a fun project to do and it took a combination of a few different skills. It has reinvigorated my love for building. It was my first project like this in over a decade so I'm excited to do a few more MOCs.

A lot of people take photos of ships on flat blue or a white background instead of brick built water which I agree would be crazy expensive. In this case I wanted something a bit more immersive. I'm looking forward to seeing this technique used by other builders! I'm happy to share the behind-the-scenes it really was a quick and cheap setup all things considering I didn't even do too much with lights so that is just soft bounce of white walls. You're welcome to use this technique I'm curious to see other creations filmed like this! Thank you! The idea just came to me and seemed like a good way to create a bit of immersion!

Thanks glad you liked the angles in the bow. This was my first MOCs / adaptation in decades as I had all of my Lego in storage since 2006. I've just started to organize my pieces and when I built this I could have used a few more pieces for options but worked with what I had. I have now started using bricklink and found some local stores which is helpful to get parts a bit quicker. I might do a pass and revise a few details including the grill but to me at the time of building treated that as more of a decorated wooden railing, something with a bevel rather than a mechanical vent. The technic half pin is an echo from the original designs that I kept as a greeble. I believe the original had these as cannons, but I removed the cannon portion and left this as more of a porthole as I added actual swivel cannons on the bow. At the time I thought it helped add variation to the stern of the ship. Yes it was a greebling but also a ruminant of the original design / implied canons there. I felt it just added some variation to the stern of the ship. I can understand how some builders could look at that as an unnecessary or confusing detail. I appreciate getting a range of input and eyes on this as I find everyone sees something different. I only had a range of parts to work with at the time and this was a greeble that I agree might not be as effective as other options. I wish I had a pig to add to the cargo in addition to the chickens! The base is a tablecloth, it's a water texture. I will add a photo below. Both the water and the sky was done in camera but the colors were adjusted in post to make the water feel more natural. The water was a $10 water themed tablecloth. I was originally going to lay it flat but when it arrived wrinkled I was a little disappointed. Then I realized that water is a little "wrinkled" so I decided to put a towel under that and I added shape to the water to give it volume. The TV was placed behind and I got the background in without having to do a greenscreen. For a larger ship I might need to greenscreen and replace the background in post.

The black portions of the decks were mostly because I was adapting and expanding from the original. During my first past the all black cargo deck was too dark and I needed a different color to help differentiate between the different levels. Brown did not give enough contrast against the primarily brown cargo so using dark grey gave a different shade from black. I could have used dark tan perhaps but I did not have those pieces at the time and I wanted to get that submission out of the way earlier.