Mister Phes

Ah yes, let's post that here too...

I have replied your Email and received your images. Many thanks!

That would be fantastic! Just let us know if you require any assistance in The Shipyard.

This MOC would make a nice little blog post! I'd blog it myself, but if you're interested in blogging, this perhaps this is a great starting point. You've already got most of work done in this forum topic, it would just need to be rearranged to suit the blog format.

Sure, please send them to phes@classic-pirates.com. And also... if anyone is interested, an entire blog post has been dedicated to the Skeleton Pirate:

And what a re-imagining it is! You've retained the essence of the original while making the vessel sleeker and more detailed. The Porche bow pieces make it look very aerodynamic - like it cuts through the water with the greatest of ease.

Yes, I know what you meant. When I said straight-forward re-release I was specifically referring to the Legend sets released ~20 years ago. I.e 10400 Black Seas Barracuda, 6292 Enchanted Island, 6292 Armada Flagship and 6290 Red Beard Runner. In short: Re-releasing older sets in their original form doesn't work, but updating their design with modern building pratices and more pieces does work. Thank you for sharing these great sources!

I was going to suggest using them in the latest Classic Pirates blog post about the Skeleton Pirate. But that won't be possible if they're on your laptop.

I was referring to straight-forward re-releases, not modern remakes/updates. Is there an online source with this information which can be quoted? I ask, because one day I might write a blog post about this so it's useful to have references which can be cited.

Thank you for sharing that link. The question of why more classic set aren't re-released occurs every so often but people don't want to believe reasons. So I'll paste a quote of the most relevant information here for safe keeping: Now, just need to remember I pasted it here.

Are these photos also available on Flickr or Brickshelf or somewhere else?

Ah yes, such accidents are common... And then you accidentally recruited some skeleton pirates?

No, I'm not. Where did you read it was more like 20%?

These particular themes are not completely "dead" because the LEGO Group continues to release new sets, just not in waves. They've just focused their business model differently to be accommodate the demand. Waves of sets on retail store shelves are intended for children while exclusive or individual set releases are aimed at AFOLs... who are less than 1% of the market share.

Well yes, the fuller figure does give that appearance, doesn't it? Anyway, he's been sighted in a MOC by First Mate Rummy.

It's wonderful you're putting that Castle set to good use - the Imperial Armada need as many strongholds as possible! But is this island named after a fish?

And we got nothing for Pirates! No 90th Anniversary set... No BrickLink Designer Program set.... so let's hope that's not also a precedent! After Pirates of Barracuda Bay was released, for a few months during the middle of 2020, new Imperial and Soldier submissions were automatically rejected on LEGO Ideas due to "overlap" of concept. And by that I mean, nobody could even submit them for others to support. @Piraten raised the alarm and we made a fuss. Not long after the "ban" was lifted and Imperial submissions were accepted again, but despite half a dozen reaching 10K on LEGO Ideas, obviously none have passed review.

"Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station..." Ok, let's see a video of the Pirate Death Start blowing up an entire island!

Aye, they've kind of cheaped out with the torso and limbs compared to the traditional skeletons with the moulded bones. So extending the torso design to the arms may perhaps mitigate this... although it may also be nice if the the LEGO Group used moulded bone arms. But they would probably need to mould new arm sockets to connect them to standard minifig torso which would no doubt add too much expense to produce the figure. Both moulded incarnations of the skeletal arms used different shoulder joins to the traditional minifig shoulder joint:

A NEW OFFICIAL Skeleton Pirate has been released in LEGO Build-a-Minifigure (BAM) Quarter 2 2023 selection. These minifigs are available at BaM Stations or the Certified LEGO Store website in 3-pack blister cards which cost US$9.99 / AU$19.99. Has anyone got one of these yet? ---------------------------------------------------------------- Even more details are available in the Classic-Pirates.com blog post!

Thanks a goodin' alright!

Thank you, Sir Dano - your sacrifice has been my gain! But that's also a good point, something only gains value because it become rare and has demand, so you would need to store your unused LEGO boxes for a period of time before they begin increasing in value. And like @Lion King mentioned, boxes take up valuable space which not everyone has.

There's not much on Bricklink at the moment, but an Eldorado Fortress box sells for around $30. So might that be an incentive to sell boxes, rather than discard them.

Which would make it around US$270... or US$55 more expensive than the alleged price.

Thank you for that additional information! Is that how the pricing works based on the exchange rate? Currently US$215 is 196.87€