jamtf

Yes, depends on the size of the town and the country you are in. I am Dutch (European) and sometimes when you go to small towns with a small population, you just could run in something like this. Small towns have too less children for all the Lego toys they sell and usually, the kids want something of the new lines which they think is more cool and go to the city, especially if the local store only sells old stuff (that I am coincidentally looking for!). You will not find this in the cities since these are crowded each day with people shopping. Also, collectors go to cities rather than small towns since they can hit more stores and discounters such as Wal*Mart to find less old sets on clearance (also good if you need cheap parts packs). The old sets can only be found in small towns and then you need to be lucky that no one else went there before to do the same thing: clear out the store. The small retailers do not have clearance sales. They basically run their own store and do not need to listen to the store policy of for instance Toys 'R US. When they say a new line is coming, the stores need to get rid of discontinued sets as fast as possible. The small retailers just keep it on the shelves until someone comes along to buy. They are usually not in a hurry and in this case, Lego was not the main concern since they sell lots of other stuff and they run a printing shop as well. I did not know what happened to me when I saw this. I just kept picking boxes and had them being carried to the counter (too lazy to do it myself and too busy picking more stuff). The prices were quite OK compared to what nowadays is being paid for these on eBay and BrickLink. The value pack does not have a number. I liked the box although I do not collect divers. The sets inside are 6555 see hunter, 6556 scuba squad and 6517 water jet. Originally, one of the sets - the cheapest - was a free bonus set. They still had similar castle bonues packs with fright knights sets (such as 6027) that I forgot to take with me. I will buy them if they are still there.

New sets added: 1747 Pirates Treasure Surprise (1x MISB) 6251 Pirate Mini Figures (1x MISB) 6262 King Kahuka's Throne (4x MISB) 6263 Imperial Outpost (2x MISB) 6270 Forbidden Island (1x MISB) 6278 Enchanted Island (1x MISB) I seem to be the only one here still buying Lego pirate theme sets... or..?

I always thought that the Islanders were a strange bunch of people. Got almost all of the sets, except the 6264 Forbidden Cove has not arrived here yet and I do not own the enchanted Island legend 6292. I do have all the others I think. Also, I got a loose Pirate / Islander poster from approximately 1994. It basically is an enlarged version of the pirate theme picture in the 1994 catalogue.

Seems that I hit a store similar to the one that was cleared out by eBay seller onebreeze during last couple weeks / months, except not THAT exciting (no MISB 6086 castles, 6285 pirate ships and 6277 imperial trading posts). And yes 37 sets till now and I am not done yet!

The retail prices I paid for the pirate sets were PM' ed to Mr. Phes at his request since I did not like the idea of sharing prices with anyone. Please don't ask for more, it is something I know and that I think is nobody else's business actually. No intention to be rude but I do not need to know what others have paid for their sets either. I'd like to keep this confidential. Anyhow, here are some pictures of sets I purchased. It was a total of 37 sets all perfectly new and sealed and I did not even care to photograph the biggest sets such as the 2 Sail 'n fly Marina's and the Poolside Paradise sets. Enjoy! Lego sets 1 Lego sets 2 Lego sets 3 Lego sets 4

This was a store owned by elderly people, they were independant retailers and also sell lots of other stuff + they have a printing company. They own 2 different shops in 2 villages that are not far apart. I found Lego sets in both stores. In 2 weeks time, I will go back since I was told that there was perhaps more in the attic. They will have some time to clear out the attic and in a few weeks, I will see what they found + buy some stuff that I forgot to take with me (including Flame Fighters from 1994 + the Paradisa Fun Fair and some more Paradisa sets since I only took 2 of the Poolside Paradise sets an only 2 Sand Dollar Cafes and they had more of these left). I will make some pictures later today before everything will be transferred to the place where most of my sets are stored away and share them here.

Went to visit some stores today and I literally struck gold! Found many discontinued sets from 1985 to 1995 (including Basic Building Sets, Town, Castle, Paradisa etc.) and they all went with me in the car. Got some pirate sets as well, namely 6278, 6263 (2x in pristine box), 6262 (4x), 6270 (neat set!) and the pirate comic 6255 with the 2 figs! All are new unopened sets that were found in an old toy store. And since these were all priced at the original retail prices I guess you can say this was a lucky day! *sweet*

Basically, that would be me after being subject to heavy radioactivity while wearing a tricorn hat! *alien* ;-) Still hope for the old hulls though, although we all know they made new ones for the 7075 4+ ship. They could have sticked with the old 6285 and 6286 hull pieces (in a different color see if I care) but of course that would have been too cool for pirate fanatics who want to make MOC ships out of new sets. It is sad if the old hulls are truly gone forever... nice parts to build on.. only the second hand market will provide those... Why change something that is built to last? If I would have had a place on the Lego board of directors, their ship would sail a different but steady direction for sure.. :-(

Well, no cannons means this could be a nice MOC project to get that solved!

I am going to Legoworld (5 day Lego convention in Holland) with my girlfriend tomorrow. I guess I am a very lucky man!

Perhaps they still have the molds from the carribean clipper / renegade runner since this looks to be another example of a small ship. I am however not sure if these hulls were still used in the recent 4+ pirate series or other recent or current sets with small boats included.

Yes, the reason is that is the way Lego intended it. The non-shooting cannons were introduced due to restricted laws in the US. They were supposedly hazardous to little children and prohibited. Lego was forced to make a change, I prefer originality and purity as it was meant to be. Probably a crap reason but hey, I needed to come up with something!

I had the game when I was younger, both the Secret of Monkey Island and LeChuck's Revenge. They were running on my 386 sx computer I had at the time (mid 1990s = ages ago!). I recently downloaded the Secret of Monkey Island on my XP machine and it runs well except my game is without the sound and music. That's a bit of a shame but it is a neat game that brings back old memories. I did not collect Lego then but I certainly had a preference for pirate things so it seems!! It is a fun game with Stan and his previously owned vessels shed (see Puerto Brico thread). Could not get rid of him let alone buy a boat from him!

A non-shooting cannon can be recognized by the crossed cannons mark on top. I have 2 or 3 non-shooting cannons that I purchased some time ago with a shed load of minifigs, horses and rowboats. One non-shooting cannon that I own does not have the "casted" crossed cannons markings but it has a different color end pin. I prefer the euro cannons myself with the 1x1 round bricks. All of my ships have that and the non-shooting cannons are my reason for not buying ships from US sellers.

I have not that many and have not checked but this could be either a pre-production torso, a misprint from Lego itself or a digitally altered image. If it is a pre-pro or genuine misprint, this should be a rare shirt.

Depends, really. Some sets are more expensive on eBay compared to BrickLink and some sets are the other way around. I find it good to buy directly from merchants though, after examining the set and determining it meets my expectations. There is no disappointment conditionwise. Furthermore, there is no competition for the set at the time and buying outright might also result in a lower price since you can talk about it, while bidding on stuff in auctions will basically always result in a higher price. The only way is up if you want it. Plus, there is the benefit of no shipping charges + a lesser risk of things getting damaged during shipment when you take the set(s) home yourself. I found very nice copies of 6259 + 6265 + 6261 + 6279 for a decent price that way and more is on the way (see the sets that are pending, they are located in a place nearby that I pass by each day when I drive to my work vice versa).

There is BrickLink, there is eBay, there is Marktplaats (Dutch site) and sometimes I buy directly from merchants or fellow collectors. My sets literally came from everywhere and what not.

The small ones were really affordable. I do call $10-$25 for a nice box quite OK. The big ones were several hundreds of dollars each. And being aggressive is OK for a pirate, I agree. And I happen to like what I bought and that's what counts!

Yes, correct and I too think I should apologize for being that aggressive! No seriously, I found some small sets that were decently priced and grabbed them since I did not have them. The 2 big ships and 6277 + 6273 were the really expensive purchases. Their boxes are in good shape as well.

I thought it was time to revive the thread and cut the edited list from the original post above this one. Added since first post (date of writing = October 15, 2006): 1747 Pirates Treasure Surprise (2x MISB) 6204 Buccaneers (1x MISB on the way) 6235 Burried Treasure (1x MISB) 6236 King Kahuka (2x MISB) 6244 Armada Sentry (1x used with box) 6246 Crocodile Cage (1x MISB on the way) 6254 Rocky Reef (2x MISB) 6256 Islander Catamaran (1x MISB) 6259 Broadside's Brig (1x MISB) 6260 Shipwreck Island (1x MISB) 6261 Raft Raiders (1x MISB) 6263 Imperial Outpost (1x MISBCBTIAH = Mint in Sealed Better Condition Box Than I Already Had) 6265 Sabre Island (1x used with box) 6273 Rock Island Refuge (1x MISB) 6277 Imperial Trading Post (1x MISB) 6279 Skull Island (1x MISB) 6285 Black Seas Barracuda (1x MISB on the way) 6286 Skulls Eye Schooner (1x MISB) Following sets I will get soon from a close friend of mine. She needs to track them first in her attic and then there is the payment thing she will be expecting: 6248 Volcano Island (1x MISB pending) 6264 Forbidden Cove (1x MISB pending) 6296 Shipwreck Island (1x MISB pending) Mind you that most of the above sets are European sets (except the bonus packs and 6204 Buccaneers) and that the ones with cannons are the shooting type versions. And of course I also have many pirates and soldiers that were purchased separately without bricks etc. As you can see no 6267 Eldorado Fortress and no 6286 Skull's Eye Schooner (edit: I got one now!) included although I will get them some day sooner or later. I refuse to buy 6289/6290 Red Beard Runner (still do) since I do not like the design. Same goes for the smaller ships such as Renegade Runner, Cross Bone Clipper, Caribbean Clipper and Imperial Flagship (edit: but I changed my mind and decided to go out and look for these as well since I already completed the challenge of finding the 2 big ships in MISB condition). I have made an exception for the 6280/6291 Armada Flagship / Spaniard Ship since I like the colour scheme of these.

I do, got some pirate things on my list that I need and me wants to go hunting for treasure. Yes, and last week I got my MISB 6286 SES and just yesterday a MISB 6285 BSB through eBay. Both were expensive but at least I got the big ships in the MISB condition that I was wishing for. I need to edit that list a bit since more have been added since then. All MISB except an extra used copy of the 6244 with box. Neat little set totally worth the price I paid. I am still keeping my only opened ship set, the 6285. I like to build it and perhaps modify and turn it into an Imperial Frigate or something.

This week, Legoworld Zwolle is coming up again. I actually pre-applied for a day off from work just to go there. I plan to search for pirates and raised baseplates mainly. I only have 5 ships now, 2 BSBs (not the legend), 1 SES, 1 Armada Flagship (6280) and 1 Spaniard Ship (6291). I am looking for the smaller sets such as the 2 Clippers, the Imperial Flagship and the Renegade Runner now. I might be tempted to get a Red Beard Runner but still I do not like it that much. In case I get it, it will be for adding to my collection only and then it must be a sealed one so I won't be forced to build it for real. It looks really ugly to me, sorry to say but hey, freedom of speech is something well fought for!

They also used other modifications and a different variety of figs. The Enlighten brand is similar to this. I was wondering if this is illegal stuff. Probably not since it is available on the open market and they do not use the Lego name nor their Logo. Also, they only make retired sets in other words, not the things Lego is making now. Besides pirates, they also make former Lego royal knights sets such as the king's carriage and the hemlock stronghold forestmen set with slight modifications. Also, the knock-off Spaniard ship has more figs and an actual pirate prisoner included. The buy it now price is OK, the shipping fee however will kill the price.

The box I am talking about is the 6286 Skulls Eye Schooner box. Also the picture of the set on Lugnet shows the front cover photo of the box. If you look at it, you can see that "Steve" was given the Captain Roger head by accident. The head in the set itself is the one with the red beard but without eyepatch, a unique head that was only used on this fig and the merchant in 6277.

Well, to me he looks like a pirate. Not all pirates have a pegleg and an eyepatch. He belongs to the ship anyway and fits the other guys nicely. Also, merchants sometimes became or were actual pirates! Perhaps the lady on board isn't a pirate either. She is most likely the governor's daughter. No, to me they are all pirate crew and I think Lego intended it that way. They wanted to have more different minifigs and I think they added the rather unique ascot guy to the crew just for diversity.