David Thomsen

They already had one Bounty in 2009 and no one raised a fuss over it.

I normally skim over reviews like this but I actually read it all the way through. So many insights and details! I'm slightly too young to remember this era of Classic Space, but that doesn't mean I don't feel the same nostalgia. I really hope the Lego Ideas Exo Suit compliments this set, since I'll be getting both.

I doubt they'd do anything larger than 10210 Imperial Frigate, but I can imagine them doing another one the same size, if it was popular enough... and I do think that the IF represents an enormous ship in Lego terms, if not in 'real' terms. It's like the way a Lego house with a separate living room, kitchen and bedroom is a 'large' house. I'd like to see smaller ships too, if just for variety... preferably I'd like to see a navy or merchant ship the size of Brickbeard's Bounty, a pirate ship one hull piece shorter than that, and for the large D2C set (fingers crossed they have one) to be a large harbour set, either a merchant port or a fort. If they do another IF-sized vessel, I'd like for it to be a merchant ship, or an Armada Flagship... I think a pirate ship that size would be overkill. At least in the fiction I'm familiar with, pirate ships were smaller than their targets? Edit: Actually, it would be good for the pirates to have a smaller, more affordable model, because more kids will be able to afford it, and I imagine kids would be more excited by a pirate ship than a navy ship. Also if there were two ships in the theme, it would be easier to afford a 'sea battle' without having to buy the expensive adult-oriented IF set. That's one thing I always found odd about the 2009 pirate range, only one ship.

My store has just started selling the Simpsons figs, so naturally I come online to try and find details of the next 'regular' series out... I can't even find a list based on rumour! Is there really nothing to go on yet? Not even parts found through data mining?

I just looked at the winner and realised that 'legobuffproductions' is actually probably not the name of a kid, and a quick search of the internet shows that I am right...

I think it's important to remind people to be polite when giving feedback, it might be that some kid is really really super excited about winning, and it might not be so appropriate for a bunch of angry AFOLs to go and rub their displeasure all over the announcement page. Most kids who get this ship will probably never have received the Brickbeard's Bounty, so from that perspective the 'Brick Bounty' is a perfectly fine name. I'm disappointed too, but kids come first.

Glad I'm not the only one who finds the name a little unimaginative... makes me wonder why I spent two hours brainstorming original names...

So it's the 1st of May, at least in my part of the world, they should have made their decision by now. Best case scenario, they tell us who won, along with pictures of the entire pirate range. 2nd best, they at least show us the ship we named. 3rd best, they only let us know the name of the ship. Worst case scenario, they don't actually tell us who won for half a year...

I hadn't looked at those sets closely but you're right, that flexi-vine thing would make an excellent addition to a Pirate Island set. Maybe in a darker colour, though... the lime green shade from those sets seems too Friends-y. I would LOVE for there to be a new Forbidden Island/Rock Island Refuge set. It's one of the things I missed out on when I was a kid.

The Lego Movie finally reached New Zealand! Yay! And I saw it today and... ...what do you mean the movie has been out in the rest of the world for two months??? It was a strange experience, because I'd watched all the trailers, all the TV spots, studied all the toys and listened to all the music, so there was hardly anything about the film that I wasn't already familiar with... and yet somehow I managed to avoid any spoilers about the end of the film, so that bit at least was a nice surprise.

They say judging will end on the 30th of April, so that's the earliest, although they don't specifically say that the winner will be announced at that time.

So it's like, if I had to choose beween the 2009 Pirates range and the 2010 Imperial Flagship, which would I go for? Personally, I would choose the Imperial Flagship... My favourite part of Lego Pirates are the sailing ships, the larger the better. The next best thing after that is a harbour or port town for the ships to dock at, so I'm half hoping that we get the Pirate equivalent of MMV as a D2C if we get a new pirate range. It is possible that this is just a standalone Creator Expert set, but then why design a new logo?

I also think a large single set based on a huge ongoing franchise is very different situation from Lego Pirates... A single Pirate ship with nothing to support it would be kind of untethered. Even other large standalone sets, like the Emerald Night and the Horizon Express, fit in with City sets. It would be a very odd strategy to release a single standalone Pirate sailing ship, out of the blue. For one thing it would have to be a 'Creator Expert' set or something, and what we've seen so far is a brand new logo.

I submitted my names, and now the long wait... they say judging will end on the 30th of April, but doesn't necessarily specify if they'll announce the winner at that time, or even if or when they'll unveil the ship. I hope we get to see something, because it'll be eight or nine months at the earliest before we might be able to buy these, a very long wait for those who have long been pirate deprived. I wish at the very least they would stop doing 'themed' collectible minifigure ranges, and release one that could potentially include pirate related minifigs. Hey, it just occurred to me, we're all speculating on whether this will be just one pirate ship, or a one-year theme, or a revival of the ongoing theme, but we have our very own Lego Ambassador who can try to find out for us... Edit: Also, there's nothing to stop us going through the list and selecting 'fan favourites' of our own. If there's enough interest we could start a thread for it, otherwise I'll submit mine here.

To me it just looks like like a cone held in place with a half technic pin, with some kind of peg attaching it to the sail. I've done a few comics using photoshopped Lego objects, and these Lego bits look more photographed and cut out than computer generated to me. Anyway it's probably not that important to the discussion. I need to go to bed now, so no one had better have stolen 'The Prisoner's Dilemma' before I wake up.

Yes, I'm pretty sure the sails are from the Brickbeard's Bounty, and to my untrained eye the lego parts themselves don't look computer generated, just the rest of the box. The ends of the masts don't look completed to me, with no flags or even flag poles, and I'm wondering if they just threw these parts together to create the illusion of an entire sailing ship. They wouldn't wait until the ship is fully designed before thinking of a name. My conservative guess is a 25th anniversary re-imagining of the Black Seas Barracuda. I doubt they'd have designed that logo for just one set, but if I keep my hopes conservative I won't be disappointed if a whole new theme doesn't eventuate. Incidentally, anyone notice that they re-designed the classic shark to give it gills? And it seems to have been a replacement item for a few coastguard sets from 2013... why would they redesign the shark just so they could update a few old coastguard sets?

Do we do this separately from posts containing our own suggestions?

My idea was for 'Smugglers', so the wind is taken out of my sails a bit that it it's been used as an example, but I'll pitch it anyway, because I've been waiting for so long to do so: The Smugglers The Smugglers sail in modified merchant ships that outwardly appear to be normal, but have hidden panels and hatches that give access to weapons and secret cargo. They are rebelling against the corrupt Imperial Forces, who take the liberty of searching and seizing goods from innocent ship under the excuse of 'tax collection', and are little more than pirates themselves. If The Smugglers can distribute enough arms, maybe they can create an uprising against the Empire? The Smugglers used to be honest merchants, but being forced into this lifestyle has affected their wardrobe and ships to be more bold and colourful. The Imperial Forces The Imperial Forces have been given too much liberty by the Empire. Their dress code has become lax, often having tears in their uniforms, their buttons undone and their faces unshaven, and their ships and quarters have become decorated with their dishonestly taken 'tax' plunder, with valuable paintings and furniture where other armies might live a more spartan lifestyle. They will do anything to stop the secret rebellion the Smugglers are preparing.

When I think of market research and Lego, I think of the Friends theme and the ensuing controversy. We sell Lego where I work and I have some co-workers who still get very angry when they handle the 'sexist' Lego sets for girls. But it wasn't a case of TLC being intentionally sexist, they were just following their market research, and if anything were only guilty of following their research too closely. Well, that and the idea of having 'a Lego line for girls' to begin with. (I don't want to start this particular discussion here, and if anyone wants to agree or disagree with my words, please transfer them into the well-established Friends Controversy thread.) That's a special case though, and 'market research for a Pirate theme' is already a much better position than 'market research for a Girls' theme'. But I think it demonstrates that while research is important (obviously TLC are a company who sell mostly to children, and few companies are going to survive by trying to sell to children what adults think they should buy), with a toy like Lego that is more educational and cognitive than most toys I think it's important to balance 'what children want' with 'what adults think children need'. I personally think the Pirates theme needs more girls... on both faction. There's a token pirate woman in a couple of sets, and a couple of female 'civilians' on the other faction, but why can't there be a female soldier? Historically inaccurate, perhaps, but the City theme has a female criminal this year, something I never thought I'd see. What does it tell children that, on the Soldiers' faction, all the soldiers are male and all the civilians are female?

Wow, people really didn't understand the 'theme suggestions are later in the process' instruction... Like everyone else, I have a theme suggestion with set ideas already in mind, but I'm happy to brainstorm other people's suggestions as well. I have some basic design skills too, and I think I can put that towards designing some torsos and maybe things like flags.

I've been working on a YouTube project for a while now, called 'Three If By Murder', where people ask me questions and I answer in the form of an allegory played out by several board game characters. (Don't ask me where the logic is in this, there isn't one) My problem is that I don't currently have any questions to work with, so I can't make more videos. I'd ask my friends for questions, but then I'd have to show them the videos I've already done, which I'm strangely reluctant to do since I'm still learning how to make these videos and I'm not yet producing them to my own high standards. And I don't want to really advertise the project yet for the same reasons, and also because there's not much point advertising a project that's still so small. So if you want to help me out by giving me some material to work with, go to the 'Submit a Question' page on my website and ask me a question... when I finish it and post it online, I'll add a link to your own project if you have one, or some other content of your choosing. Thanks!

Yes... actually, a female pirate captain would be perfect. Ever since the negative public reaction to the Friends theme, I feel like Lego have been trying extra hard to establish gender equality, far more than other toy manufacturers I think. We even have a female criminal in this year's City sets, something I never thought would happen. So why not a female pirate captain?

Oh... I think you are right. It would make sense, if they already have some stickers in the set. That makes it easier, I think, because there will be a lot of unwanted sticker sheets on bricklink and I just need to find the appropriate tiles.

Wow, it's been so very, very long since I saw this map... not only have they recreated it, but they've made another one in a similar style. I guess I will have to bricklink these after all.

I don't know why people are so disappointed, it's clearly aimed at younger builders, it's like being disappointed that a Duplo grocery store doesn't have the detail of a Modular Building. It's disappointing that they don't seem to have any more advanced Castle buildings this year, but this Juniors set doesn't really deserve any ill will for being what it is. I think you just did.