Mazin

Thanx You kindly :)

Damn, don't know about other tshirts, but as a fan Kahuka Islanders that's realy an item i'd love to have ;) Great presentation. Speaking of cool items, where did You get that big pistol? Is it custom made, or did it come with any official set? Same thing about the parrot. Anyway, so how long do You intent to keep it in this place? Or is it/was it just for some event? Surely being a Lego fan You will miss being away from Your sets after a while ;)

I'm not realy sure, like i still remember my exact introduction/s to Gijoe as if it was yesterday, but with Legos and Pirates there's a bit of blur. Like i have a weird memory of playing Eldorado at someone's elses home in Paris... in 1987. But it's obvious it's not possible, so i must have messed it with something else, perhaps it was something similar and my brain must have connected it with "Eldorado" some time later ;) Anyway, just as You said, at that time i was obsessed with catalogues that would be obtainable in every toy shop or that would come with toy sets, spent probably more time with mu eyes stuck in them than playing actual toys. And my guess is i must have gotten some small city vehicle or a little space ship, cause those themes were among my first, and pictures with Pirates dioramas must have popped right into my eyes. So i'm pretty sure that's the way my dream about getting them was born. Also i had a somewhat richer, or a lot more spoiled, cousin who would collect practically every toy, comic book, movie, game on the market, so i might have already played with his Barracuda before i got any of my own. But my first set was probably 6251, at that time i was more into He-Man New Adventures, but those were more expensive and my parents were hesitant about buying me and military/mutant toys, but i got them into getting me more history/fantasy oriented Pirayes. And here it was - a small lineup of figs only, but it was enough to have a fantastic time and dream about getting more. I already a big blue cargo ship from the City, and placed some space elements as "cannons" and this served as my first pirate "galleon" :) Then i got a Castaway Raft with a shark, then my aunt, who was much more willing to throw expensive presents at me, bought me Forbidden Island and Carribean Clipper. But my Holly Grail - Baracuda - came in a weird way that wouldn't probably ever happen these days. My uncle flew from the US for Christmas, and brought me gifts, among them Lego Pirate set, guess which... another Forbidden Island :) One which i already had from my aunt, as i mentioned, so "grown up" present collectively decided that it would be stupid to have two same toys and my uncle wanted to immiately RESELL it to get my something else. As i lived in a small and rather poor town that wasn't much stuff available from the range he was opting for, but there was this market for superuberduperrich called Pewex, where they would have all sort of non-affordable toys and... they did agree to trade my already opened american Forbidden Island for something else! So i had a choice, either one of the Castles + some small set as a bonus to it OR Baracuda and just Baracuda, as my uncle had to pay few extra dollars for it. Guess this says a bit about prices at that time, and about employes of luxury shops being open to all sorts of strange agreements, no one would allow nowadays :) Anyway, no question what i wanted more and what i had to pick. Baracuda, here it was. And i built it completely by myself, when it took 2 older cousins to help me with Carribean Clipper :) And thus i lost my only chance to play with american version of lego cannons at the same time, but i didn't mind :)

But You were still lucky that Your cousin didn't break them all all loose them playing in the sandbox ;) AND that eventually You did get those back :) With my cousins, whenever i "grew" out of say matchbox cars or He-man figures etc, my parents would give them to the poorer part of my family, kinda our version of hillbillies, thinking they would enjoy stuff they couldn't afford, only to discover it upon another visit, that they would typically have it all lost within just days, discarded in an ugly way etc, so that's probably why i managed to save some other toys when i got into my "dark age" - at some point my parents simply stopped giving them away to relatives and they stayed boxed at home. And i'm happy that You've manged to regain all those lost treasures, in a sort of way :) That's my personal goal as well, tho, getting to the point where i could afford them is one problem, figuring out what those lost toys were is another :)

Very cool. Even those tree/bush works perfectly in that left corner, as if that boat was coming from there, investigating if it can serve as a cover for pirates, while ironically they approach from the open sea ;)

i love the fact that those boats realy look like if they were on the body of water, because of the reflection :) i dont know if Youve done this effect for purpose and if it looks this way all the time, rather than only ot this particular photo, but its realy something :)

Damn! and there goes my whole Steve the Skeleton idea ;)

Thanx, i'm happy You took good approach to any critique and turned it into Your favour. Even new Steve is definitely a knockout :)

Woow! :o Bravo!! These are fantastic changes. I'm sorry if i seemed to be too harsh for You, i just knew Your level of skill and here we can finally see it :) Damn. It's basically the same set, but little redecorating and home/hideout-staging does a lot of good :) Few details changed in the pier and it's outstanding, roofing is genious, and that raft and the fact that it's chained into the island so it wouldn't float away, now that's some carefull planning i envy very much! And the new plant work is a great addition, even those changed palmleaves somehow make it look better, like if Steve's life was deteriorating on so many levels, affecting the environment he's been forcifully exiled to by his fate. And the door laying in the water. Like if he had to rip it off even to get into this abandoned safehouse. Still, goold old Steve somewhow keeps his smile and he seems to be happy there. And the whole set is actually quite fun, more vibrant and more colorful than the previous attempt :) So it goes straight into the top of my list :) And oh, remember to put those new photos of the new version on top of Your post! :) At least i'd suggest doing that, cause some folks might not notice that it's different now :)

i did, thanx :) Still, i'll defend poor Steve, i know that he's sometimes called "infamous", but i don't believe he would dare messing with God and nature... surely he was framed... or to put it correctly, chained into this situation ;)

Glad to hear that. Hope Yu gonna expand this universe of Your own into other entries :)

Well it worked beautifully. Nothing wrong in basin Your own design on classic work, but hey, the whole idea is awesome and Your skills allowed You to conduct this whole creating process very nicely. Getting those instructions would be lovely! and thanx for responding! BTW... guess there is another reason to get oneself a wife ;) They come handy at times ;)

Thanx, very happy You liked it. Hopefully You will find enough time and enough passion to make that next entry :) Looking forward it :)

Thanx :) Btw i only just noticed that my post repeated itself, not sure what happened... or maybe it repeated itself for purpose as it represents my own worst nightmares, of having to write same posts twice or in the nevernding loop ;)

Yeap, i am surprised Steve's dad looks completely different tho ;) Still, i know many such cases where kids are nothing like their parents ;)