jamtf

I like them all. The impulse sets and the shipwreck are new and never seen before. All sets contain useful parts. About the missing parrot on the ship... as you can see the top of the masts is not very well visible because of the box size. It might be there, if only we could have a peak at the box top. There is something that is very different compared to the old sets. Almost every set, except for the impulse line of course, contains both pirate and soldier minifigs. All of the old pirate and soldier ships that we know did not have any other factions included. Only the classic outposts, fortresses and ports such as 6263, 6266, 6267, 6276 and 6277 for instance usually contain pirates and soldiers combined. Most sets however were either pirates or soldiers.

Closest ones are Eindhoven or Arnhem. I reckon the one in Eindhoven is the easiest to get to coming from Venlo. I am going to visit the store in Arnhem one of these days.

Pirates will be introduced world wide. It is capable of becoming one of the more important lines besides Star Wars, Castle, City and some others. After all, Lego Pirates was the best selling line in 1989, when this range was introduced. Pirates was also the first line of products with minifigs with different heads / faces (no standard Lego heads). It still puzzles me why Lego dropped the line somewhere around 1997 / 1998, although I must admit that designwise things had gone a bit worse compared to the first years (1989 - 1994). All TLC did since then is introduce Duplo and Jack Stone Pirates + a few classic re-issues such as 6290 Pirate Battle Ship, 6291 Spaniard Ship, 6292 Enchanted Island and 10040 Black Seas Barracuda. Perhaps the sales figures of the re-issues might have made Lego understand that there definitely is a market for Lego Pirates. And this market is worldwide, from Europe to the Americas and Australasia as well.

(...) depending on how different they are compared to the older items. I once read about the rumour that TLC had destroyed the mold for the shako and that they were unable to reproduce this part. Hmm, makes you wonder why this new shako - apart from the color of the plume and the sticker or whatever - looks so similar compared to the old model. Making an entirely new mold is a costly enterprise, mind.

Someone managed to snag a 7780 Batman Batboat and Killer Croc set off this seller for just $203 . Both buyer and seller exchanged positive feedbacks indicating that this transaction was completed to mutual satisfaction... I can imagine if I would have been that seller...

Don't forget that Lego sometimes does not introduce certain lines in specific countries. For instance, I live in Holland. In our most recent August 2008 there is no trace of Batman sets. My expectation is that Lego found out that Batman was not such a beloved item here (compared to for instance the States where Batman originally came from) and decided to cancel the Batman line for Dutch retailers. Only way of acquiring those is through foreign sources or through Lego Shop@Home. This also reduces the risk of Dutch retailers having to handle overstocked Batman items (i.e. putting them on sale to get them out of the way) that did not get sold and only real dedicated fans will know their way to get the sets anyway. The scanned pages were in Spanish language. This might be a catalogue for Spain or for certain countries in South or Central America, who knows. It is very well possible that TLC decided that the new Power Miner line will not be introduced in those countries.

Wouldn't that be hilarious? Lego decides to let certain selected people have a peak at the new lines, knowing that there always is a smartass taking pictures without permission and letting the AFOL crowd believe there will be a new Pirate line. And then, all of a sudden, when those pictures of the new sets with the 62xx set numbers and names widely known already do not show up in the January and August 2009 catalogs, and people start making inquiries, TLC calmly informs us that on second thought they decided to drop the line as a result of someone leaking these pictures a year early. A TLC spokesman: Well, we gave it some thought and we decided that it would not be fun to make the sets since someone grossly interfered with our policies regarding secrecy... this person owes the AFOL crowd big time for us deciding to drop the plans of introducing a new Pirate line. If the AFOL community still might have a need to buy new and unused Lego pirate related sets, all I can say is good luck on eBay to ye all! In that case we might want to forget those other new Indiana Jones and Star Wars sets as well. God knows how much time, efforts and costs were involved in designing and developing those new lines of sets.

Personally, I think pirates will not be part of the new January 2009 line-up. My estimate is that the new pirate line will be introduced somewhere around May 2009. Don't ask me why I think this, I simply do. Same might be the case with some of the other releases such as the SW line and the Indiana Jones sets. I mean, come on, the current Lego line is not that old and not outdated enough yet to be replaced and overhauled that drastically. Some sets need to be sold for at least another year or so in order to earn back costs of development, etc. The new catalogue does not hold many sets that are currently part of the range so my estimate is that the current sets will still be available for some time (some might end up in the December 2008 or January 2009 clean-out though which happens every year) and after that, they will gradually bring new items including the new pirate line.

Mine is this one: Forget the head. It's easily exchangeable for a different more civilized one without that typical eyepatch. It can be used as a standard sailor, pirate, merchant, citizen or officer. One can even add epaulettes (check out the pictures in building book 260 where this guy is hanging off a rigging wearing red epaulettes) or change leg color into black, grey, red, light blue, orange or even green although that is not my favorite color match. And the brown or black tricorne can be changed into a bicorne, a standard pirate rag or a male or female hairpiece in different colors which makes him look different all the time. I even made some black pirates off this torso since the lack of yellow (flesh) arms and visible yellow necks makes this torso quite "versatile" so to say. All you have to do is exchange the hands into brown ones and use the heads of those NBA players and there you go.

Yeah, yeah, we got the point. Calm down a bit will you. Using this type of font in a post is really unnecessary and quite disrespectful, as if we don't listen in case you ask the same using normal font. Since you seem to be new here (seeing this is your 2nd post) we will not have you marooned or hanged... yet. Why not check out the online building instructions for ships like 6274 Caribbean Clipper, 6285 Black Seas Barracuda or 6286 Skulls Eye Schooner. That should get you started and of course you can alter things easily if you think that is necessary. You might want to look in the library and tutorial part of this forum. Perhaps there are some useful tips to be found when it comes to building special sections of a ship. Good luck.

Luckily, I found my used copy for only € 30 (boxed with instructions and some extra's that did not belong to the ship) a year and a half or so back (which is about $44 at today's exchange rate) . At the time, I found that a fairly reasonable price and I did not want to spend much more for this model. Seems that prices for the last of the big ships have been increasing fast since then.

Nowhere except in a forum here long time ago. It was a thread about the rare pirate with the brown vest that only appears in 6277 Imperial Trading Post (wearing brown tricorne and blue legs) and 6286 Skulls Eye Schooner (wearing black tricorne and grey legs). Someone decided to call the merchant from 6277 "Steve" and this name was from then on more or less adopted as the unofficial name for that character. If we refer to "Steve", you will know it's him, that red bearded merchant with the brown vest from the small vessel in the 6277 Imperial Trading Post set.

Not really... Alpha Team was some futuristic arctic snow base while Agents is a range with mostly new secret vehicles and "cool Agents" chasing the bad guys on their secret missions.

Don't want to look smart with this reply but Ogel was part of the Alpha Team range, a Lego line that was discontinued a few years ago. Last year, I saw some of these still on stock in a small toy store somewhere near Straelen (Germany). One of those was the largest Alpha Team base. Unfortunately, priced at original retail price and no discount. Obviously, seeing those prices (and the fact the theme did not appeal to me at all) I left them untouched and only purchased a HP 4762 Rescue from the Merpeople set. The Ogel face was indeed re-used in the Evil Wizard from the new 2007 Castle line. In fact, I used the Ogel face with a black beard (same style as the wizard, a special color for this item, they are available on BrickLink for about $1.50 each, most of them being offered by German BL stores) and added a black tricorne and as a result, MOC-ed together another evil looking pirate with a strange looking red eye. But I agree to the fact that the Gold Tooth Agent head is quite useful for the new Lego pirate range.

1) maybe 2) for the younger kids they might have made a friendly looking pirate head with a typical eyepatch My point however is that they also did not use the Agents head in the other pirate sets i.e. the pirates that will be the crew for the new ship for instance. Oh well, I will simply MOC a new pirate with the gold teeth myself and call him "Jaws".

Alright, sorry, did not know.. Anyway, about the stickered torso... looks to be a sticker indeed. Let's hope that this is only a preliminary image and that things will be edited. This sets is meant to be for children between 4 and 7. Offering this set with stickers is not such a good idea if you ask me. I know that Lego used stickers in more ranges (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, City, etc.) but all the torsos are printed. Stickered torsos were typical for the late 1970s and early 1980s figs. Ever since, Lego has always used prints on torsos. Nonetheless, this is in my opinion a very neat torso design for a helmsman or a generic pirate. What also wonders me is why they do not seem to use the new head with the gold teeth and eyepatch which is available in the new Lego Agents line. See this pic: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?P=3626bpb301

Not much has been written about this new small set or perhaps I was drunk or something. This could be a new army builder (on the other hand, who needs an army of pirate captains?) with some extra useful bricks. The guy in the picture looks like a friendly captain despite his eyepatch. He could become Brickbeard's counterpart. Interesting new torso design if you ask me which does not seem to be available in any of the "normal" pirate sets that are available as of May 2009 or something. Link to Image

6243 What I like colour scheme (or color scheme for our members from the US) first pirate ship with soldiers included latticed windows Polly the parrot mermaid figurehead (finally!) new torsos for soldiers and pirate figs although I thought I noticed the return of the vest and anchor tattoo What I don't like shark castle-like gown on lady (sort of captured Elisabeth Swann look-a-like instead of another Pirate wench) skulls on sails white oars stickers or prints on shako's cannon at the back of the ship (not too realistic, might put holes in own sales if aimed in the wrong direction )

The decal is perfect. As for the headdress.... I would rather have chosen an Achu temple priest headdress although that is not exactly accurate either and perhaps the yellow does not fit well with the flesh tone head.

I just checked the inventory of the new Indiana Jones set 7627 Temple of the Crystal Skull and it appears that besides the (weird looking) new type skeleton with the long straight arms, euro armor and the Spanish conquisador or morion helmet, there are some new native people included called Ugha warriors. These could be used as an alternative tribe for islanders if you ask me. They come in dark orange and they have tattoos on their bodies and heads. Check these links to get an idea: Ugha Warrior with Hair Ugha Warrior without Hair

I uploaded my Impulse entry called "The Merchant" yesterday. It is quite simple but I like it that way. With reference to the rules: Impulse: Build an impulse set with no more than 25 pieces, 1 minifig and 1 animal, and 1 parrot. No baseplates, no burps/lurps or large ship hulls. All other rules apply. 25 pieces, 1 minifig and 1 animal and 1 parrot. That means that 23 pieces including a rat + a parrot (= 1 animal and 1 parrot) are allowed right? If not, forget the rat, the little rascal was not invited to show up anyway.

Lego Pirate impulse set: "The Merchant" Contains: 23 pieces (including the parrot and the rat) and one minifig (consisting of 4 elements being legs, torso, head and headgear). The thought behind this is creating a number of smaller sets similar to this one (like the current 5614 Good Wizard and 5615 Knight impulse sets) with useful parts that can be used for pirate MOC-ing and adding to Lego Pirate sets and ships. Includes: - "Steve" the merchant fig - "Polly wants a cracker" the parrot (she was found on Monkey Island which explains her food preference ) - rat - skull with conquistador helmet - trans dark-pink jug - barrel with weapons (flintlock musket and cutlass) - empty treasure chest with dark grey shovel - map (for locating a treasure) - working compass - handheld telescope

The whole line seems to be a bit <insert that tiresome argument> if you ask me, especially the vehicles. Apart from the huge bike which is cool this new line of sets reminds me of Alpha Team and sets like 7045 Hovercraft Hideout, and World City police sets from the 2003 era (7032, 7034 + 7035 just to name a few). Not too exciting and didn't we already get too many police sets in the Lego City lay-out each year?

It is because it is work in progress + there are no minifigs in sight. It looks great for a start and most people would like to see the thing completed before making any comments, at least that is what I think. Some of the roofs are not entirely finished and it needs some habitants (soldiers) first. And it is Christmas time, many regular visitors are offline. That reminds me... Merry Christmas! X-D

Great find! Too bad we can not relate these preliminary pictures to the actual scenes in the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull movie since it is still in the shooting process - as far as I know. Seeing this huge set, they should also make a thugee ceremonial Temple of Doom scene.