Mister Phes

This review is truly impressive! So many details and comparisons covered its astounding!

This information is not official and is subject to change without notice, but the pricing could be: Shipwreck Defense (70409) – 17.99 NZD/$12 USD Soldiers’ Outpost (70410) – 39.99 NZD/$20 USD Treasure Island (70411) – 39.99 NZD/$20 USD Soldiers’ Fort (70412) – 59.99 NZD/$40 USD The Brick Bounty (70413) – 179.99 NZD/$90 USD

By the way everyone... We will be having a separate poll thread to vote for the preferred designs so you may want to save your opinions and feedback for that thread.

I think HJ Media Studio's designs are brilliant! However, the feedback provided by others is very useful for fine tuning the designs but I think we should have a poll to determine which design concept to pursue. Once the design is selected then the critiquing and fine tuning should begin...

Excellent work! Although I merged a few of your suggestions with similiar ideas, which by default had to adopt the other name. Although some of your names may work better, for example: Haven Guardpost sounds better than Haven Checkpoint... well in my opinion at least.

We've got three sets of different Haven Guard torso designs so it's almost time vote on the preferred design. We'll wait a bit longer in case HJ Media Studios still wants to submit a Haven Master design, so if anyone else has designs now is the time to share them.

Some awesome designs have been submitted - keep `em coming!

Thank you for submitting these design concepts (Dutch)! After we've finalised the Haven Guard designs we'll focus on the Merchant and maybe HJ Media Studios or Yooha will produce a 3D rendering of your designs so we can get a better idea of what they'll look like on an actual minifigure. In the meantime, everyone feel free to keep submitting design concepts or leaving feedback on what's already been submitted.

By all means do so!

Thank you Phred, your sacrifice is definitely our gain, it must have been horrible for you to pay all that money to explore a ship that is obviously of no relevance to us! You have trained her well - but exactly where were the pirates?

Incorrect, we've only focused on the Haven Guard thus leaving much room for further development of the Smugglers and Merchants. No it's not. The Merchants could be antagonists who prevent the poor Smugglers from using their port in order to maximise their profit - so the Smugglers have to smuggle just make ends meet! Really it's up the individual to decide but to kids the Smugglers will look like pirates anyway... To them "The Smugglers" will be little more than a faction name. In reality the Merchants are intended to be protagonists - their role is to provide a non-military faction which the other factions can pillage or compete against. And by other factions I'm referring to Pirates, Smugglers and even Imperial Guards or Imperial Armada, as the nations were at war with each other at some point. Historically, even Islanders have been known to have uprisings against the local settlements... The angle I'd take with the Smugglers is make them like a secret society... Kind of like a thieves guild... So they have their own insignia which they only reveal amongst one another... They're also saboteurs who are constantly attempting to hinder the Merchants honest trading efforts in order to maximise their own. So Smuggler sets could have accessories like dynamite or a saw to represent the tools they use for their nasty handy work. But they'd still have guns, swords and cannons like regular pirates. Despite what elaborate back-story we may devise as AFOLs, the below catalogue scan below illustrates all the back-story necessary. Some of the larger catalogues even had a sentence or two for each set but overall it's very minimal...

You may send me a Private Message if you wish. Your older works seems fine - if you wish to contribute designs please do so.

Yes, the Haven Guard is essentially the harbour patrol for Port van Brickhaven where our LEGO Merchants are based. We've been establishing a backstory in the Defining the Factions thread although it's complete, so everyone is welcome to contribute more ideas.

Feel free to submit as many variations or different torso designs as you wish - it's always good to have options.

Excellent work Michaelozzie, Lind Whisperer and Yooha! Now we really do have some exciting fresh torso designs to really differentiate the Haven Guard from the Imperial Soldiers. However, we'll need three different torso designs: Regular Haven Guard - we're pretty good here. Commander - should look like the regular Haven Guards only more important. Leader - so maybe that should be the Harbormaster - although in the context of the Haven Guard the title "Haven Master" seems more appropriate.

There is more than one way to get ideas to the LEGO Group! I've created a new thread with information that should answer your question. This project will probably run throughout the rest of this year but ideally we'll have it finalised before the release of any new LEGO Pirate set(s), although a release date has not been specified so it's difficult to achieve precise timing. Any information we submit to the LEGO Group probably won't be used for at least 12-18 months after its submission so therefore this project is intended to be a catalyst for the next time they want to release non-licensed Pirate sets.

What is the LEGO Ambassador Program? OVERVIEW Please note this thread only concerns the LEGO Ambassador Program in relation to the LEGO Pirates Forum and Classic-Pirates.com, if you're seeking general information about the LEGO Ambassador Program or other LEGO themes please visit the Embassy Forum. What is it? The LEGO Ambassador Program is an initiative officially run by the LEGO Group to enable greater communication between the company and AFOL Communities, whether they be online communities like Eurobricks or traditional LUGs (LEGO Users Groups) where the members meet in person. How does it work? Each LEGO Community has one or more Ambassador who acts as an intermediate between their AFOL community and official LEGO Representatives. LEGO Ambassadors generally: Work on projects assigned by LEGO representatives. Assist in collecting data - usually through surveys. Provide feedback to the LEGO Representatives and raise concerns discussed by their AFOL community - usually in the hope of gaining useful information to return to their AFOL community/ Deliver official announcements to their AFOL community - these are usually Press Releases for new sets. The Ambassador Program is undergoing a major overhaul later in the year and the above may change, however that is how the program has been operating in recent years. Classic-Pirates.com Ambassador Projects Even though the LEGO Group did not request us, in the past Classic-Pirates.com has taken initiative and worked on its own Ambassador Projects. Generally this involved conducting a survey to ascertain specific information and then collating the data into a presentation. The presentations were submitted to the LEGO Group via the Ambassador Program and some of the concepts were eventually utilized in their Pirates of the Caribbean Theme and Minifigure Collector Series. Two of our most significant Ambassador Projects have been: LEGO Pirates Animal Battle Pack Survey LEGO Pirates Part Requests If you browse through the presentations you'll observe which ideas have found their way into recent sets. The Latest Project For our latest Ambassador Program we're being really ambitious! This time we're designing an brand new LEGO Pirates Sub-Theme in it's entirety! We want to make it so good the LEGO Group decides to produce the sets with as little revision as possible - maybe that's dreaming, but that's the attitude we need to have if we're ever to succeed. Questions? Comments? Feedback? If there is anything you'd like to say or ask in regards to Classic-Pirates.com's involvement in the LEGO Ambassador Program, please post in this thread.

We've only been working on the Haven Guard so far but if you come up with something in the next few hours just post them in the Haven Guard thread the Merchants and Smugglers: Torso & Flag Design thread. I'll create some new threads for Merchant and Smuggler designs when I have some more spare time later today. You may also want to read up on the past threads concerning this project as we've established some design standards and aesthetics.

In which case all you'd need to do is make the buckle on Michaelozzie's version the same colour as the collar and that would preserve the correct colour count. No, I'm mistaken, that would still be 5 colours! Here is the original version - I'd modify it myself if I was using my regular computer with my preferred software.

The Haven Guard Torso and Flag Design We're designing a brand NEW LEGO Pirates Sub-Theme which we'll submit to the LEGO Group via their official Ambassador program. YES, the LEGO Group WILL see this! Here are some flag and torso designs already submitted for our new faction called the Haven Guard. Think you can do better? This is your chance to have your skills and business details showcased - we'll even send them to the LEGO Group when we submit the final presentation. Haven Visit this thread right now! Star contributors will receive a tag - the more quality contributions you make, the nicer the tag you'll receive! And if your contribution gets used you'll also earn one of these... We'll also credit you for anything you submit and even send your details to the LEGO Group when we submit the final presentation. Having your name and work in already front of them may be advantageous when they are Haven recruiting for designer jobs like this. P.S. Our blog receives over 15,000 unique visitors per month and our mailing list has over 1,500 subscribers, so if you're a graphic designer or have a minifig customization business we'd be happy to give your business a plug to say thanks for your contribution! So Visit this thread right now and show us what you've got! Comments? Suggestions? Feedback? Post them here! Some awesome designs have been submitted - keep `em coming!

You've since stated "torsos, head pieces (and presumably also leg pieces!) can have a maximum of four printed colors, (NOT including base color!) and black is counted." so now you can incorporate one more colour into your revised torso design, if you wish.

Excellent work! I'm gradually adding these important details into a summary "What has been defined" in the first post of this thread.

That could be interesting for smaller vessels, but for the flagship vessel I'd envision a Dutch cargo fluyt which in itself looks distinct:

Thank you! Does this include head designs or are they separate?

So a question we need to answer is how many printed colours per torso and face design?