MiloNelsiano

I have another question I forgot to ask earlier. How exactly does one go about choosing land from Avalonia?

Ah, OK. That helps a lot, thank you.

Hello, I'm not a big poster here on eurobricks, but have always been more of a lurker, at times even lurking in GoH. Several times now I have considered joining, but have not yet for several different reasons, especially being overwhelmed and confused by everthing (I still am quite a bit). Long story short, I've decided to give it a try, and have chosen Avalonia, as it seems to be most like my building style. I am currently waiting on a bricklink order so I can build an appropriate Avalonian banner. I will post a picture of my sigfig when that order arrives. In the meantime, I am hoping to clear up a few questions regarding tasks/free builds/Phase I-III builds. From what I've (quite possibly falsely) gathered, tasks 1, 2, 3, and 5 are posted in this discussion. Task 4 is posted in the General GoH area and then linked in the Task 4 discussion. Can everything that is not part of the main challenge may be registered in the free build discussion? How exactly do the Phase I-III builds work? Can they be the same as Task 4 builds? I'm pretty sure I found a discussion to post links to your Phase I-III builds once, but I haven't been able to find it again. I realize all of this is probably clearly written somewhere, but I'm having an awfully difficult time finding and understanding it all at once. Any Information you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Those reddish Brown pieces that say Lego are real Legos. He's using them for molding or showing that they are the same size. The whiteish Pieces on top of them are the chocolate pieces.

Pm sent!

I really did not want to bump this topic so I sent you a PM but after over a month it's still unread so I thought I would try here. Your mini figs are fantastic and quite honestly not getting the love that they deserve. You should really consider posting these videos if not pictures in the Historic forum where I think they will get a bigger audience interested in these figures. I would also be interested if you'd be able to create a list broken down listing which figs and parts of figs you used to create each figure. That may not be very realistic and if not I understand. As a huge fan of the books and tv show I really enjoyed your figures. Thanks for sharing!

I certainly don't post very often on this site, but tend to lurk fairly regularly. Although I usually build in a historic or pirate theme, I really enjoy the steam punk mocs I see on here. I always wanted to try some but unfortunately don't have many appropriate pieces. With nearly all of my legos thousands of miles away at the moment, I don't have many pieces for any mocs, but as I was attempting to remodel the LOTR pirate ambush set into a ship resembling the ships in A Game of Thrones, it seemed possible to make a small steam-punkish craft. I think all the pieces used (other than the minifig and ice cream pieces) is from that set. Please let me know what you think. I'm not entirely satisfied, but as I've said, I've never built anything steam punk related. Untitled by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr Untitled by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr Please forgive the terrible pictures!

As appealing as the West Brick Trading Company is to me, I can't see it appealing to kids that much. Some may find it interesting, but overall I really don't think kids today will be all that interested in a merchants faction, nor do I think they'll be more into smugglers smuggling goods versus pirates on the hunt for gold. The West Brick Trading Company would be an awesome line for any pirate AFOL. However, I think the Quest for the Lost City is more of what kids in the target age group of this project are looking for. I also think it has the possibility for expansion as more factions hear about the legend and try to steal the map pieces from the current factions. I voted for the Quest for the Lost City--not because I think it sounds like the most enjoyable for me, as I think I would probably enjoy the West Brick Trading Company the most--but because I feel like it will be more successful among the target audience.

Legend of the Lost City When former Imperial Captain, Captain Quick learns about the Legend of the Lost City, he seizes a ship of his own and signs on a mysterious rag-tag crew of Pirates to help him hunt down the ancient artifacts, which serve as a map, as well as keys to the city. However, the artifacts are still guarded by the local Islanders who wish their sacred city of gold to remain hidden from outsiders, as well as a monstrous sea guardian. Captain Quick hopes that no one else learns of the Legend or tries to find the artifacts before him... I really think think that this can allow for some nostalgic sets, while capturing elements of other recent successful Lego themes, while allowing room for more factions to join the hunt, and therefore the theme has room for grow. There have been some very good entries so far. Keep it up!

Cara and Mister Phes, I think you're both 100% right. Cara touched on some stuff I previously mentioned, but as Mister Phes has stated, we cannot use any kind of license to create the kids' familiarity with the product. I also don't think it very practical or even possible to start with a cartoon show before the product would be released. This will have to come from other means, which could be Lego comics in the Lego magazine (you can't imagine how popular those have been at work, and there has been at least a page hinting at the release of (off the top of my head) Chima and the TMNT lines before their release) or any number of other creative ways to introduce a story or implication of how the sets are "supposed" to be played with. I feel like I need to clear this up quickly--not all kids need suggestions on how to play with their toys, but an increasing number of kids are becoming less imaginative and creative, probably (my suspicions) due to watching more TV and playing less than previous generations. This may be also be a little farther ahead than Mister Phes had intended for us to get in this discussion however.

Sure. Of course I can only provide insight for the kids I've worked with, which may not reflect kids around the world entirely accurately. One thing I have noticed however, is that kids seem to really enjoy competing with each other. This should be pretty obvious, and doesn't only apply to their toys, but in most everything they do. I will only stray from Legos momentarily here, but one toy that the kids I work with really enjoy are Beyblades. They are customizable, and are used to compete against other kids' Beyblades. Lego came up with Ninjago Spinners, but I'm not sure how successful they were, as I have not seen them for a while now. Lego also made those rip-chord racers for Chima (sorry, I don't remember the actual name), and those were also very popular among the kids I work with, as they were seen as a way to compete against each other. Obviously, it would be very hard to use either of these in a Pirate theme--at least I can't think of a way it would work--but someone may be able to think outside the box and create a way for kids to compete with each other within the Pirates theme. Then again, maybe not--it may take away from the main goal of the theme. Another observation that I have made is that kids today do not seem to be as creative as they were years ago. Now, this may just apply to the type of kids that I work with, and not to the entire population, but they really do seem to need want an implication of how to play. While most kids 20 years ago with a pirate ship in front of them knew exactly what to do with it, a lot of kids today would either be uninterested or get bored very quickly without some directions of what to do, or a story they're supposed to follow. At work, The Avengers Legos were much more popular than other themes, because the kids had seen the movie, and knew how they were "supposed" to be played with. Again, this is may not be the case with all kids. Another factor that made toys more desired, as others have mentioned, is weapons or violence--it sounds bad to say, but it's true. However, since I think Pirates are inherently linked with weapons and violence, I think it's safe to say that they would be a part of the theme. This is very true. While I, and probably some other AFOLs prefer the look of the classic Lego dragons, kids today hands down prefer the dragons in the new Castle line. The Pirates theme would need a similar revamp to appeal to kids. This is almost exactly what I think would be the most appealing to kids, but we are not to this stage yet.

I'm not a very frequent poster here, but this topic seemed worthy of a response. First off, I can't imagine anyone being opposed to this idea, especially anyone reading a Lego Pirates Forum. Everyone here wants a new Pirates theme, and everyone wants it to be their ideal theme. However, if we want to create a successful theme, we really do need to strategically and carefully think about this. I don't have any idea what percentage of Lego sets are sold to kids, and what percentage are sold to AFOLs, but I would guess that the majority would be sold to kids (also keeping in mind that a lot of AFOLs buy sets for pieces to create MOCs, and are not always sold on the entire content of a set). That being said, I do think it would be wise to market it more toward kids than AFOLs. It may not even be entirely wise to approach this from a position of reviving the 80s/90s line of Pirates--as much as we would all love that happen. Kids today are just different from kids 20-25 years ago. I have a Psychology degree and work with kids in a residential treatment center, and have mainly worked with boys ages 8-12. Watching them play with Legos (and other toys) has given me a very interesting perspective on what kids expect out of their toys (it also got me out of a very long dark age ). I think you're absolutely right here. Surveying kids can be a very dangerous thing without parental consent. It may even be illegal in some countries. At the very least, it's considered by many to be unethical. All that being said, I think that if this were to take off, as I think it will easily get enough support to move into the planning stage, I think it would be very prudent for whoever is designing the theme to take the current successful Lego themes into very close consideration. As I said, kids today are very different from kids 20-25 years ago. This should be appealing to kids today, not kids 25 years ago. Look at the development of Chima. They started with only a few factions and a good story, and have grown to...how many factions? I have lost count. Also, Chima thas no clear-cut "good-guys and bad-guys", which, as others have mentioned, should also be the case in a Pirates theme. Anyway, I hope someone was able to follow my rambling.

One Thing I've noticed from Shopping for legos in the us and Europe is that any Set with a license costs significantly more in Europe. I would guess thats why they are more (Assuming they are--this is the first I've heard of it)

I won Prize A, which I am satisfied with. However, if anyone had Prize E and wanted A, I may be persuaded to trade.

I seem to remember someone posting an interesting design for terra cotta roof tiles using plates and technic connectors if I remember correctly. I haven't seen it posted here yet, though I believe it should be.

Wow. When I entered into this I figured there would be one minifig a day. This is incredible! Thank you so much to CopMike for organizing it!

A lot of stores have different sales the Monday after Black Friday on their websites. It's called "Cyber Monday", which I had never heard of until last year. Correction: It is Cyber Monday, not Saturday. I was confusing it with something called "Small Business Saturday" which was a sale day local stores had where I lived last year.

Wow. Everything in and of itself is impressive. Together, it's beyond words. I can't get over all those minifigures! Very impressive battle scene--in the water, and on land.

Kept mine pretty simple. While it works great on a tree, I think it'd also work hung up on the wall. Anyway, I hope the picture works--haven't posted any pictures on here in a while. wreath by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr

Very nice! I wanted to do this same mod as I have the set and nearly enough pieces in brown to make it work. Good to see someone else had the same idea.

Wow. This is an awesome video. Thanks for making my day.

I thought that he might be a favorite for people, as it's something you don't see that common in pirate MOCs. I was laughing before using the Jack Sparrow hat for the him, as It didn't matter what minifig I put the hat on, it still looked like Jack Sparrow. But then I started making the witch doctor, and it really seemed to work perfectly without looking too Jack Sparrowish. I think I agree to have the weather deck access in the center. This makes more sense to me as well. Thanks! And a balcony on the stern is definitely something I've been considering, but because of the finances I've mentioned I'm simply unable to do it at this time.

I'm calling this MOC "next-to-complete". Some of the colors do not match and will be changed eventually, and obviously I need to add sails and rigging, but with our first baby on the way, I just simply can't afford to place another order on BrickLink. I have really enjoyed building this ship, and although it isn't anywhere near the kind of quality I have admired from many of you members here on EuroBricks, I am quite proud of it, especially considering the amount of Legos I have at my disposal. Building it really filled a gap in my childhood when I could not afford to have the amazing pirate sets I always wanted. Anyway, here is my pirate vessel that I have dubbed Easy Eleanor. Please give me honest feedback--don't hold back any nasty comments! (But please forgive the picture quality) Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr And now for the crew. First is Captain William Quick, AKA Captain Quick. Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr Next the Quarter Master, Edward Moody. Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr And here is the Helmsman, Samuel Martin. Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr The Cannon Master, Benjamin Brown. Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr The Navigator, Nathaniel Van Horn. Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr The Cook, Thomas Griffin. Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr And the VooDoo Witch Doctor, only known to the crew as "Bones". Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr I really want to ad a carpenter as well as other basic deck hands, but the remainder of my pirate type minifig pieces are tied up in my chess board, capturing two of my favorite Lego themes--obviously heavily influenced by the official Lego chess boards--but with a few of my own touches. Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr Ship by milo.nelsiano, on Flickr I hope you have enjoyed at least something from this. If you have, please let me know. It means a lot. If you have honest criticism, let me have it, please--I appreciate it just as much.

I'm actually a little disappointed in this series. Some surprised me and I will definitely have to buy some. However others especially the grandma were a big disappointment.

I love that statue.