David Thomsen

I'm wondering if the floors of the two buildings are interchangable. I don't think I've read anything to confirm this, but it seems logical. The problem with interchanging the floors of the Construction Site, the City Corner and the City House is that the buildings don't really co-ordinate that well, so it's usually best to leave them as they are. If the two buildings in 10218 are co-ordinated so that you can mix them up without creating a grotesque Frankenstein building, I think that's a good reason to have them together in one big set. Also, if part of the trim of one building remains unpainted... I wonder if there are extra bits so you can have the building fully painted if you want.

Oooooh... excellent. By the time I wake up tomorrow morning, I fully expect an abundance of pictures. Or maybe I'll just sit here all night and keep hitting refresh. Exciting? I love the idea of it being split into two buildings, and that the building are more CC/GG in appearance. This is sounding more exciting all the time. And just when I was beginning to wonder if I should stop collecting these to save money...

I find it really weird that the composition of the promo images would influence the nature of the building that way...

Hmm... starting to get a bit off topic here...

I'm really not sure why so many people are resistant to the idea of a pet shop. We haven't even seen the architecture of the building yet. I won't be the least be surprised if the building is unveiled and most of the sceptics exclaim "Oh man, I wasn't sure about the pet shop theme at first, but this design is awesome!" I actually like the way the buildings vary in how commonly they are found in the real world. If they were all ubiquitous buildings like a bank, fire station, police station and post office, the street would seem very bland and utilitarian to me. A pet shop is just rare enough to counter the obvious fire station. I am all for it.

I don't mind brick-built animals, but I like them to be consistent. The pet shop should have all brick-built animals, or none at all. And since the other modular buildings already have one-piece animals, I think the pet shop should as well.

That's been, hasn't it? When's the next likely event for them to unveil the pet shop at?

I was expecting the QAR to have no deck, but I'm really surprised and disappointed by the open cabin. I guess it means you won't have to take bits off the boat to move minifigs around in it, but I like taking bits off. I need to start saving money, and details like this help me.

So, no news at the New York toy fair? I was really hoping they'd have something. What's the next big event the Pet Shop might be revealed at?

I do love the little Bumblebee, Optimus and Starscream minifigs that come with these sets. I might wait to see more of these. Of course, the fact that they're clearly ripping off Lego with some of those pieces makes me unenthusiastic.

Aha! The book I found in this thread more than three months ago. I'd forgotten about that.

To be honest, I only expect one version of the Black Pearl. We've seen 'affordable scale' and 'UCS scale' versions of the Millenium Falcon, but that makes sense because the 'affordable scale' MF is so out of proportion with all the x-wings and tie-fighters. Also, there are a lot of Star Wars fanatics out there willing to buy some very expensive sets. An 'affordable scale' Black Pearl is already going to be in scale with the other boats in the series. What would be the point in making a bigger one? Also, POTC fans aren't that fanatical about the franchise. If anything, I'd like them to make a Diagon Alley-type set based on Port Royal or Tortuga.

Doesn't the poll reset if you alter it? You could add it if you're sure it's not going to reset everything, I don't want to break it... This'll teach me for trying to play with polls.

Oh yeah... I spent ages trying to think of all possibilities, but the most obvious one didn't occur to me.

I think the Black Pearl will be the same size, or slightly smaller, since they are based on the same ship but the QAR has a larger rear section. I know they historically have had one ship larger than the other, but this is whole new territory. In fact, looking at the latest police sets and how the three vans and three police cars have the same core design, I wouldn't be surprised if the Black Pearl and the QAR matched their constructions step by step up to a certain point.

Having just reached 500 posts, I can't resist the temptation to create a poll. Everyone is talking in minute detail about the new sets and the new minifigs and the new pieces, and what they want or expect to see in the future, but what do you actually plan to do with the theme? Me, I've reached a point where I have to budget my yearly expenditure on Lego, and sadly this means not collecting the POTC theme. However, I will definitely buy a lot of the new pieces to compliment my classic pirates theme. I'm already compiling a list of how many buckets, new soldier torsos, new soldier hats, gold ingots, new gold coins (?), globes and bottles I need.

$200? The box is kind of munted, and to me it just looks like a whole bunch of beige pieces... it has a high piece count, but most of those pieces are quite small. And beige. Considering they sent it to me in the first place, I kind of think it didn't have a high demand in the first place... also I tend to devalue stuff I got without paying for... (I once won 50 DVDs, kept six and let my friends and co-workers take the rest) Actually, you're right. I might retract my offer, get the train station and sell Fallingwater, the train bits I don't need and a whole bunch of other bits and pieces on TradeMe. Thanks.

[edit]: Offer retracted, since Legoman made me rethink my options.

Thanks - I was having trouble finding a clear picture of that at the right angle with no whip or cape in the way. It actually does have flesh. I really can't see it on the 2011 soldier though. There's a small patch of white, but no flesh. I'm already making a list of how many of the new torsos and hats and accessories I need. six tricorns with the white line. Six of the 2011 soldier torso. Three of Barbossa's soldier torso. One of his soldier hat. Three of his musketeer hat. One tan tricorn. Six gold ingots. Six plain bottles. Two buckets. One globe. It's going to be an expensive Bricklink order.

Hmm... Barbossa's torso 2009 Soldier's torso 2011 Soldier's torso Can't see Blackbeard's torso under the beard, unfortunately, but it's possible. So that's two confirmed, one we've already got, and one 'maybe'... where did you get five?

All of the soldier's torsos - forgive my bad photoshopping, I wanted to see what they looked like with yellow heads. I actually think Barbossa's torso could work well on a civilian, what do you think?

I'm definitely not switching to flesh. I'd have to abandon my yellow pirate torsos for flesh pirate torsos, and there aren't enough generic flesh pirate torsos in this range so far. There were about five pirate torsos in 2009, and two soldier torsos... but now there are two new eligible soldier torsos. That makes things more even. I personally don't believe in sharpie disfigurement. I'd also have trouble finding enough flesh heads to fill my pirate and soldier ranks. I just finished my armies last night, and have 12 pirates with unique heads, 18 soldiers with unique heads and five women with unique heads and torsos. 35 unique minifigs altogether in my pirate theme. I'd never be able to do that with fleshies. I have a hard enough time making more than six 'enemy soldiers' for my Indy theme. I saw that, but thought it was the same bag in various new police sets... but you're right, this one is tan and that one is dark tan.

I still don't think the ships on the bottles are stickers. I can't see these sticker edges everyone is talking about, just the ridges of the bottle. Does Angelica have Elizabeth's hair? If so, does this mean the hats are removable? I wonder if Blackbeard's hat would be able to fit on Jack's or Elizabeth's or Gibbs' hair, or if Jack's hat and Angelica's hat can be put directly on minifig heads... Every picture just makes me ask more question. If all of Jack's heads are unique, does that mean we'll be able to populate the Black Pearl entirely with him?

I had something shipped from England last month, when it didn't arrive after 18 days I sent them an email and they replied with this: "We are experiencing significant delays with Australian deliveries at present, as it appears that adverse weather have resulted in postal backlogs." Actually my parcel arrived yesterday, 22 days after it was dispatched. 13 days isn't anything to be worried about. Edit: Actually, if they think New Zealand is in Australia, that might explain some of the delay.

I guess not everyone has been following the Castle theme this year - the bucket has already been seen in the windmill and the blacksmith sets. The soldiers torsos should be perfect for Classic Yellow minifigs. Unfortunately there are only two new ones, one in the London Chase set and one in the Aqua da Vida set, so it's going to be quite expensive to build armies out of them. Although if you think about it, if they've created these new soldier torsos with deliberately no flesh colours on them, it might be a sign that they intend to use them when they bring back classic pirates... (Or it could just be that soldiers don't have exposed flesh on their torsos. But you could humour me if you want) Also, I think some of the tricorns do have a white stripe on them, it isn't just a reflection. Look at the London Chase - three black tricorns, two with a white stripe and one without it. If it was a reflection it would probably be on all of them. I can't believe they still haven't made the tricorn in dark brown yet. Tan is good though. Hopefully there will be enough baldrics in these sets to make them cheap on Bricklink.