Mister Phes

Series 5 has began so start building! Here are resources to find further information: A pirate-focused BrickLink Designer Program Series 5 blog post The official Series 5 main page Questions? Comments? Feedback? Potential Submissions? Just reply to this topic...

I vividly recall emerging from my Dark Age back in the early 2000s... I entered my Dark Age towards the end of 1993 so it had been almost a decade since I'd paid attention to any new LEGO Pirate sets released thereafter. I was vaguely aware of couple of Islanders sets but beyond those, anything released after 1993 was uncharted waters. I think it was 2002... I'd just discovered LUGNET and was browsing through the Pirate sets for the first time. As I was passing through sets released during the latter years, I somewhat got the sense that the Pirate theme was "winding down". Many of the sets had a reduced part count and were less nuanced than those released in the earlier years. So it was a pleasant surprise when Pirates Perilous Pitfall appeared on my screen! Sure, some may criticise it for being merely a couple of structures atop a raised base plate, but the concept was admirable - the designers had attempted something new, not previously explored in sets like 6270 Forbidden Island, 6273 Rock Island Refuge and 6279 Skull Island. Ok, granted the ship skeleton was transplanted straight from 6296 Shipwrecked (or vice versa) but pirates defending a crown, hidden within mountain temple, protected by a devious boulder trap was completely fresh! Even though Pirates Perilous Pitfall was 5 years old in 2002, it felt so new to me! So that's how this particular set has became firmly lodged in the depths of mind for the past 22 years, even though it wasn't a set that existed during my childhood.

It appears I'm a bit late to the shindig here... The file size limit will be increased after you reach 10 posts. Eurobricks does this to prevent people from signing up to use the forum as an image hosting site.

A very nice addition to any Imperial Guard fleet! But is there any chance of seeing a render with sails? Or is that beyond the capabilities of the software you're using?

And now this Lagoon Lockup Remake has been blogged on Classic-Pirates.com! A BIG thank ye to @Rogue Redcoat for making this blog post possible!

Out of curiosity, which orange soldier design did you find most appealing? Just an orange palette swap of the modern Imperial Guard torso? Or something a bit more innovative and not yet officially produced in LEGO form like the Dutch musketeer?

The project stalled because I realised I didn't have the sufficient time to oversee it... then 6 months later The LEGO Group announced the 2015 wave of pirate sets.

We started doing that back in 2011-2014 and arrived at three sub themes: Dutch Merchants - civilian faction The Haven Guard - imperial faction The Smugglers - basically pirates in disguise... looked like merchants, but through clever play features (E.g. glow in the dark and heat sensitive insignias, transformable sections, hidden compartments, etc.), their treachery could be revealed! But as it turned out, coordinating an entire sub theme among a group of remote team was quite a difficult undertaking, so it never progressed past the conceptual stage. As demonstrated in the recent contest... tasking fans to emulate official designs is hit and miss. So people nail it... while others you might as well have said built whatever you like because the creation is that far off the mark. So for the next contest I oversee, I'd prefer to move far away from the "create an official set" concept as much possible.

Thank you!

I'm having trouble locating that discussion nor do I have permission to post in the botbs-chat channel. So I that I am able to write a blog post for the weekend to instruct people on how to vote, I'm looking for the relevant information to include.

Thank ye for the update! I'll catch up on that in the near future. But for the benefit of BoBS newcomers or general observers who haven't joined the Discord, it may be beneficial to post some information on voting and winner selection in the forum so they know what to expect.

Thank you for the update! Where is all the planning for this? I can't seem to find it in the forum - is it on Substack?

So what happens after March 31st? How are the winners determined? Do we get to vote? Or is there a panel of judges? When will the winners be announced?

A blog post covering Rocky Mountain Minifigs has been published! Yer might want to give it a quick read over to ensure all the details are right...

This is a common sentiment LEGO Pirate fans have towards BrickLink Designer sets... they saw the wave of sets from the 2022 pilot program and have assumed that's the precedent for all BrickLink designer sets to come. I.e. they're fan designs, rather than official LEGO sets. However, from Series 1 onward, finalist submissions undergo a period of refinement in which the designers work with the "Model Governance" and "Building Instructions Teams" to fine tune their creation. But how this plays out with Ominous Isle and whether it gives the design that sense of official authenticity remains to be seen.

While I'm certainly not against the release of a proper Classic Castle wave... (a wave of sets from classic theme would be fantastic, if done properly) However, I do acknowledge what The LEGO Group is aiming to achieve from a distribution perspective. Waves of LEGO sets are aimed at children 5-12 years of age and have a general retail release, I.e. the broader market. While, BrickLink Designer sets are aimed exclusively for adults. I.e. a significantly smaller, niche market, which is perhaps too small to generate sufficient revenue at retail in modern times. So to hedge against potential financial loss, the crowdfunding approach allows The LEGO Group to produce Castle sets (or designs which may not be financially viable at retail) for the AFOL market with a guarantee of sufficient customers/revenue before the sets enter to production. But that still begs the question; could they use this approach for an entire wave of thematically aligned sets? Or are they lacking confidence that enough customers would buy an entire wave in one purchase?

Photos of LEGO Pirate fans in front of a LEGO Pirate display would be phenomenal!

Series 4 Finalists Have Been Announced! Here be a overview of the finalists

That would be awesome!

Thank ye - that is most useful!

Does anyone have any happy snaps of themself with their LEGO Pirate sets or MOCs? Past or present.. doesn't matter! Just so long as the photo presents of the joy of experiencing LEGO Pirates. Here are are a couple of examples already provided by fans... James Kirwin and brother with 6285 Black Seas Barracuda on Christmas Day, 1989 Brian Steffensen Vestergaard (Piraten) and son with LEGO Ideas submission, “The Fortress“

Any chance of re-posting those images? Or have they already been edited into your other posts? After you've officially launched your website, this could be something we can cover in a future blog post.

What's happened to the images?

What an old fuddy duddy I am!