Berry Syedow

Happy birthday, mate! Share some of your castly presents with us if you will.

Happy birthday and have a merry Christmas, vahki!

Enjoy your stay and may your shopping go smoothly. :-)

The slide out beds are a convenient solution! I

Excellent work, landlubber! I would have like to have purchased this set, but it was discontinued in U.S. before I could order it... ah, speaking of which there is another Harry Potter set perfect for pirate fanatics (Minus Mister Phes, most likely. :-P). Next up is the set

This MOC has the fingerprints of a lego land builder all over it. Everything, right down to the waves is a piece of artwork. A point of interest is that there are two cannons located in the rear of the ship. Very few fan made MOCs do this

Ooh, that

Yup, that's why I suggested they keep the original arm with a "clip" added on. And I pretty much agree with you on all counts. 2007 is looking to be a promising year! Err, that's a woman trapped in that bone basket contraption, aye?

Well, this is a nice surprise. I see there probably won

I

Hotdog! This is an excellent boat. The curves are done so masterfully that the blokiness hardly takes away from the boat. The green and red combination is also beautiful. Props to the builder. *y*

I like the design quit a bit! I honestly didn't realize they were brick-built when my attention was focused on the scenery. The SNOTed ship looks very good too. Mr. Bonaparte, what is your opinion of this creation? Coincidently it was also entered in the "CCC".

Are you a rabid Pirate fanatic who

Aha! That's ingenious 007! I completely agree.

Since we be a LEGO fan site harboring LEGO smilies... why in the world does the "code" feature a dash between the mouth and the eyes? (Which I presume is a nose?! :-P) Some of the smilies, it would seem, have been fixed, such as :) or :( . Still, one must wonder... The pirate smilies are also a great addition to the pirate forum. *y*

Brick Miner? The Islanders are a notch above alright in my book. Some more realistic sets would have been nice. (A few mini-figs dancing around the fire, or a few islanders hunting some wild boar...) They were a nice addition to the pirate theme, but I feel they weren't as flushed out as they could have been. A lot of people voice their distaste for the theme, simply because they don't like the islanders, but do like Imperial soldiers. To sell more sets, TLC could have produced a little story involving Imperialism. It wouldn't be anything too brutal; a few sets would focus on the Spanish or the British encroaching upon the Islanders' land. This story line would have had much more potential. Pirate fans would get a larger selection of the Spanish/British; because of this there would be a strong incentive to buy Islander sets.

They are two different things. What I was getting at is that TLC began alienating their original audience by focusing exclusively on conflict and changing the tone of the atmosphere to seem more

TLC began a treacherous journey down a slippery slope of doom when it started marketing to a slightly older audience. By doing so it overextended itself and alienated its older audience. Why, just take a look at some of the crazy images loaded on those flimsy cardboard boxes. With KK or even the Vikings there's a lot dark and cloudy weather and maybe a few bolts of lightning here and there. In contrast the playmobile images are all rather tranquil. The pirate line for instance features a lot of sunsets in the background of their products. They are all very pleasant and were I a parent, I'd snatch 'em up! These images are also very similar to the ones featured in TLC's Pirate line. (The old one of course.) Today, TLC would probably feature ships locked in battle with a maniacal twister in the background or something dark and gloomy. We can take this a step further and examine the essence of the themes featured on the boxes. Take the KK, the Vikings, the aqua-raiders, Dino-attack, Star Wars, Exoforce, etc... They all feature conflict. Everyone of them. That seems to be the only thing any of these themes are concerned with. I don't believe it was always this way. TLC once allowed an opportunity for conflict by presenting two different Castle themes simultaneously; however, neither was labeled good or evil. (In the early stages did their stories even tie together?) By doing so they were able to market to kids (adults too) who desired conflict without alienating their still innocent audience of children (By the parent's standards at least. :-P) Today this is not the case. TLC is very upfront about the conflict. Someone mentioned that the 2007 Castle line might be "testing the waters." If no conflict is being presented in the theme then it very well could be "testing the waters." In this sense I think TLC overextended itself. They tried to go after a slightly older audience with these newer darker themes and in the process alienated their younger market. Maybe TLC is afraid to revisit their older practices that appealed to the younger audience in fear of losing their older audience? (The ones that are still kids, mind you.) These are merely observations so take my opinion with a grain of salt. X-D

Nay, this has been a good learning experience for our friend Willy. This topic will serve to remind those that think they can escape the grasp of the pirate forum that in reality it just keeps pulling you back in. :-D

So, what is the consensus? Yea or nay? Will pirate fans consider purchasing a set or two or was TLC

Indeed, Phred. Well, this information will relieve my aching heart for now. I suppose I

Aye, though it would seem that miniscule space is a wee tight for so much stress.

Yowsa, that

Thus the perils of SNOT and other crazy techniques... But one must admit that this is a very creative solution to the complex nature of the crow's nest; and in almost all situations dealing with circular shapes these sort of abstract designs are necessary unless one wants his crow's nest to result in something blocky and hideous. And hey, Mr Phred, if the solution displeases you, then by all means search for a new solution. Creativity is what the LEGO hobby is meant to promote after all!

Evil Willy, might I suggest posting more frequently in other forums to relax your paranoia. {It might not feasible considering your constrained situation(maybe one or two posts here and there?) and if you are then forgive me, because I haven't been keeping track of people's posts.} Soon enough all of your time spent at foreign places will rekindle the pirate fire within! Unless another forum somehow manages to assimilate you. Then I fear there is nothing more that can be done. :-P P.S. These new piratical smiley faces are neat-o!