Svelte

Thanks for your feedback, Evil_Wizard. I see what you mean about the supporting leg, but it would block too much of the seabed in pics - that's why I left it off. It's such a tall and skinny MOC that I think it suits that it looks a bit delicate - after all, Brickbeard's business model (farming mermaids) is built on flimsy foundations itself! What happens when he runs out of mermaids? I am lucky to have the new sets, but without them I would not have entered the contest, as I don't have any of the classic sets. Shameful I know

I was really impressed and surprised that the designers made a new torso/ dress print for Pirates that matches with the Princess from the 07 Castle line. It's typical of the attention to detail going into minifig design these days From two years ago when we barely had any female figs at all, we're now spoiled!

And City Farm.... And Star Wars.... and Medieval Market... and new Indy.... God, January is a beautiful time Anyway, advent calendars start in a few days so that should tide us over.

Thanks for your excellent and comprehensive overview of this new line, The Brickster. It exceeds your already high standard for reviews! It is great to have a 'one-stop shop' for information about the new line with summaries of set names, piece counts, unique pieces etc. I think your assessment of the sets is very fair as well. I rated the article an 'Outstanding', but the line itself only an 'Above Average'. While it certainly is a good collection of sets, I don't think it is an amazing line overall. Don't get me wrong; I think the minifigs and new elements are unsurpassed but design-wise the sets themselves could perhaps be a little better. Actually trying to pin down what I mean is kind of hard, as I think TLG has perfected a commercial range of sets that will sell - from small army-building Impulses, to the cheap and friendly cannon set, to the well-designed raft and mid-ranged island set, to the larger shipwreck base/ Imperial fort and huge Brickbeard's Bounty - I think there is something here at everyone's pricepoint. It is also really great to see human vs human factions, which don't involve cyborgs, mutants or energy-thieving aliens or rock monsters. Having built all the sets, I just get the feeling that some things could have been done better. The 6241 island set is probably most emblematic of this. They go to all the trouble of producing a fantastic, versatile new baseplate which can connect to other baseplates and sit on regular studs, and all that goes on it is a little dock, a little stone skull building, and some terrible trees. Great pieces! Not so great design I kind of feel the same way about the 6242 fort as well - the modular design is interesting, and there are some nice techniques (like the little bridge) but overall I find the set a little bit bare and uninteresting, despite great touches like the prisoner luring the key-holding monkey with the banana. And I'm one of the people who really likes the new panelled walls and even applied the stickers! Even 6243 Brickbeard's Bounty, which is probably my favourite set overall, is quite a simple build - the hull and masts are quite straightforward and only really the cabin at the end is bricky enough for me. I feel like I sound too harsh, but as I said, I do really like the new line - I just don't think it's brilliant yet. Great pieces and figs but no 'wow! how did they do that?' factor. Pirates 09 doesn't quite yet have the resonances that the Castle 07 relaunch seemed to have with their ABS ancestors - great looking sets with a solid design foundation. I do however look forward to seeing what the designers come up with for the theme in future. I am also curious to see if the results of the polls change in 6 months time once more members have the chance to get their fingers on the new sets as there does still seem to be a residual hostility to the new line (as you can see in the 'which is better? BSB or BB' poll thread). Maybe it will be time then to come back and do a 'Pirates 09: Restrospective' And yes, we *do* need more palm trees!

Hilarious! That's a great idea, well-executed. I love the cherry, flower and minifig arm blood detail with smiley face decapitated minifig head - it encapsulates perfectly the spirit of the overthrow.

I like them too, but once a year is enough. For that reason, I voted no to 'more often'. I am curious as to what next year will bring.

I have terrible impulse control Guss, Darth_Legois is waiting for his 10184 and Motorized AT-AT!

I just built this one and I have to say it far exceeds the not-so-great City sets from 2008 (Cargo and Coast Guard). Great little build, clever details, and it looks fantastic. It feels like proper 'classic' Town too - not the weirdly sized mishmash of Coast Guard big parts and small parts. The functionality is great too. Thanks for the review!

The new piece isn't dark brown; it's red-brown. It is confusing because the Troll Warship parts *are* in the new dark brown.

A 1/2 price 10186 General Grievous from S@H, thanks to Sinner!

Woo! That's a bargain. Must... resist... urge... to... order.... Looks like it shows up in other European countries as well.

I never change arms but will very occasionally change hands - usually just to match fleshtone/ skintone for heads for MOCs. Many of my surviving figs from the early 80s suffer from a debilitating and severe flopsy-joint syndrome and their legs constantly fall over in front. It is so sad to see these once-proud citizens of Lego Town bowed down and broken in the path of oncoming traffic.... in the street... anywhere at all really There's been a few hip-replacement operations around town, I can tell you.

Great review, Grevious! This was my favourite set of Aquraiders - amazing part selection, a fun build for the angler fish, a couple of minifigs, some rock work and trans-green seaweed. The perfect small-sized set!

I love this entry... it's very crisp and clean-looking, and the shape of the island is cleverly done. The huts especially are cute I want to see a whole Islander mini-island filled with them!

I don't know how the old ones stack with the new ones as I don't own any old ones! If somebody wants to donate a BSB for me to compare I will be happy to do so The new ones do stack really well - as Razzer says, you cannot see the join when putting the top hull section on top of the bottom hull section, and multiple top hull sections stack equally well on top of each other. Here you can see the end hull sections split apart: And stacked together - very neat:

Clearly functional shooting cannons were much, MUCH more expensive parts than we thought!

According to the box art, BB has 592 pieces, not 566. I doubt BL is accurate on this one since the set has only just been released. 6285 was released in 1989 for $US110, according to Peeron. According to a few online CPI calculators (eg this one), that equates to approx. $US180 today (rounding down slightly). With 876 pieces, that comes to $0.205 per piece. BB costs $US100 and has 592 pieces, equating to $0.169 per piece. So actually, BB does have a better price per piece ratio when you allow for the CPI increase between 1989-2008. Bear in mind I don't think this has anything to do with the relative merits of the sets; I just don't feel that an unfair comparison should be made and allowed to stand.

Yes - just like the other sets. I didn't want to spoiler it by posting it here. Enjoy it when you get your set!

Ditto! And I wasn't planning on getting this at all - I thought it was bigger from the pics. I am glad they kept it in scale with the two '07 vehicles - they were probably my favourite City sets from last year. Thanks for the review, Mariko.

I think that's probably the intention - release to a wider market. Target released all 3 SB sets this year as special sales items and stocks vaporised instantly, so they probably figure there's a market and retailers want more. Even if I find the sets personally disappointing, it probably makes sense from a retail point of view to re-release the two most recognisable buildings from the series.

It's a shame the Lego Collector's Guide left these sets out. I had a look last night and couldn't find it. I was sure I would have noticed it before!

This is a great MOC, Sandy. As others have noted, that bridge especially is The overall design is great. It reminds me of the classic old catalogue layouts - lots of small buildings joined together to form one massive, busy landscape. Highlights are the dock, clever use of the baseplate and the lion column portico. The only thing I would change is some of the colour selections, but I think you said your part selection was limited? I think you could lose the tan third floor of the white tower as it looks a bit delicate and skinny, and the Harry Potter clock face from the grey tower. Apart from that, as I said, I love how all the little areas interconnect. I like the studdy water too - sometimes SNOT is used for SNOT's sake I think. And rampaging female pirates? Woo!

Thanks for all your kind comments, guys. Hahaha, that's a great idea! Maybe I will do a larger MOC in the future but I don't think I have time now for the contest - I only decided to enter at all last week after getting some of the new sets - my first Pirates ones! Many thanks for your detailed feedback, zorro3999. 1) An excellent idea! I will incorporate this shortly and update the pics 2) I left the studs in to give the wooden planks a bit of texture - I also like a bit of studwork too. What is Lego without studs after all? 3) I like to think Brickbeard spent all his booty on wine, women and song - that's why he's reduced to abducting and imprisoning innocent mermaids! And now he squirrels his profits away in the bank like a responsible pirate! I did think of treasure, but in the end the MOC felt too crowded... it is hard to strike the right balance, especially with an 8x8 size creation (and this is the first one I've done!) Grammatical error noted and I will update the pics.

Like a few others, I would never have known this set existed if it wasn't posted here. It's excellent! I really like the open plan and internal scenes. It's the DS2 of hospitals

I've never really liked sand blue (or had that much of it) but it looks lovely there next to the dark orange. Good work!