David Thomsen

Picked this up today, useful set, I was going to Bricklink the new pirate torso and a couple of other elements but there are enough non-Junior elements to make it worth it, I think. Lots of essential pirate swag. Like most people I was disappointed by the unnecessary new bandanna, but now that I have one I don't think it's too bad. I have plenty of old fashioned bandannas so this one just presents an alternative style for my pirates to wear, and I do think the white new bandanna suits the cook of the Brick Bounty better than the old one would have. Not that a white bandanna in the old style wouldn't have worked, but this on has a very 'professional chef' look about it somehow.

I've read some speculation that this might turn into a Minecraft-like ongoing theme, but I have some doubts about how this would work. Minecraft had a lot of possibilities for larger set locations, but Doctor Who doesn't have many larger build options other than the Tardis. It's not like other licensed themes where every superhero has their signature vehicle, or the Star Wars sets with its infinite variety of spaceships. Doctor Who has one spaceship, the Tardis, and no other recurring vehicles or even recurring locations. So that would mean the builds would have to be genral locations, which would be things like 'abandoned quarry' and 'council estate'. Or the street corner with lamp, which is shown in the "Doctor Who and Companions" picture. The Scooby Doo sets seem to be taking locations from specific episodes, which could work and makes me think of things like a carriage from the Orient Express. But while something like 'Mystery Mansion' works well as a set even if you're not familiar with the episode of the cartoon, a flying train carriage doesn't work as well out of context. (Which, I have to admit, wouldn't prevent all of the Doctor Who fans from buying it anyway.)

I'm not really surprised any more, I long ago gave up on the idea of them properly colour matching the printed yellow on a torso to the other yellow parts. I'd be curious to see pictures of how bad it is though. Another one I expect to have a poor shade of yellow is the torso with the brown waistcoat and the anchor tattoo, because the almost identical one from the 2009 theme had a lemony yellow shade. Anyway! I am griping. In spite of all of the issues, I am still super excited about getting these new Pirate sets. I want to have my Imperial Flagship beset on either side by the Brick Bounty and the Brickbeard's Bounty. They will be trying to rescue the collectible minifigure pirate captain from the brig of the Flagship, who forms the third in their triumvirate of Pirate Kings... Yes, I realise I am probably too old to be making up stories about my lego toys.

Fantastic, just need a feature where you insert a brick-built cotton bud into the ear to make the mouth open. Incidentally there are a couple of Monkey Island projects on Lego Idea at the moment, if anyone hasn't already they should totally go and support them.

Then you are unfamiliar with adult toy collectors.

I guess I prefer the new crocodile to the old for nostalgic reasons, but if I was not familiar with it already I'd choose the newer one. I just don't like the eyes though, they seem un-Legolike somehow? Like even the updated horse had the right kind of eyes.

I like the use of the space beneath the cabin in the Brick Bounty, better than just having it as empty space. And the cubby next to the Treasure Island is cute, although there doesn't seem to be any treasure it which is odd. Maybe it's there to store the map? I had been holding judgement on the Brick Bounty versus Brickbeard's Bounty, but yes, it is actually worse. There is no decoration at the back of the ship, the cannons are not on wheels and the lack of a second door holds no design purpose. I get that it's supposed to be some kind of... balcony? But two round bricks and a tile do not make a balcony. Even without comparing the models in hand, just by looking at the instructions I can see that the Brickbeard's Bounty is richer in detail. The secret hole under the cabin and the inclusion of an anchor don't compensate for the failings. Like a lot of other disappointed AFOLS I was probably going to get the ship anyway, but I'm having second thoughts... I might wait to see if there a good D2C set later on. I'm quite happy with my minimalist D2C Castle layout with only the MMV and the KJ, maybe I could be satisfied with only D2C Pirate sets from now on?

Personally I was sad that the last Tintin movie didn't get a Lego license. Partly because I love Tintin, but also there were a couple of good Pirate ships that could have been made into sets.

I few people have complained about repeats of ideas used in previous series, but I don't think that's fair. The primary target audience for these figures are children, and every year lots of new children become old enough to start collecting Lego. It wouldn't be fair if a kid was really into ninjas, but Lego never released another Ninja figure because they'd already done that in series 1. The CMF series is always going to be a mix of ideas that pop up over and over again (knights, spacemen, cowboys) and utterly unique ideas that will never be seen again (Demolition Dummy, Lady Liberty). Looking back through them, it's actually amazing how few of them are so unique that no variation of them is likely to be repeated again.

Looking good, a little disappointed to see that there are definitely no gold coins in the theme this year, but the lady pirate looks really good with the unique hair piece, face and torso. Rather ambivalent about the eye details on the crocodile, to be honest. Also I was really hoping for a new version of the parrot, never really liked the 2009 version.

I think even if the 'civilian' figs are from other eras, they're still just that — civilian figures. Just doing... Domestic stuff. Only about a quarter of them are doing anything out of the ordinary. Where's the dragon slayer? The superhero? The steampunk adventurer?

The opinion of an ageing population to whom Lego set designs seem to be getting less sophisticated every year. :) Other than that, the ages on the boxes are exactly the same, so none.

A few people have pointed out that the most recent Castle line didn't get a big D2C set, therefore this Pirates theme won't either, but if you look at when the big Castle sets were released, they were in 2009 and 2012, so having one earlier than 2015 could have been too soon. The last big Pirate set was in 2010, which is plenty of time ago.

For a long time Transformers couldn't do an accurate representation of Bumblebee because the Volkswagen company refused to give the license to anyone who would create a war-related product. But at the end of this year, we're actually finally getting a VW Beetle Bumblebee. Companies change their policies and it may be time for TLC to drop their opposition to war related toys. They've already stretched the rules with things like the Indiana Jones sets, and I believe there was actually a prototype tank in development for that theme. So I'm not dismissing the list based on the 'Army Guy' figure. But the lack of Space, Castle and Pirate minifigs does seem unlikely. And if the list is true, it's disappointing because then I won't have anything to buy.

So maybe the sheath is owned by the whole of Disney rather than just limited to PotC? Still seems rather silly, though. I can imagine something like Jack Sparrow's hair being restricted, but a generic sheath?

Okay let me put it another way... If adding baseplates meant the fort had even less detail, then I'm glad they didn't add baseplates...

I don't mind the lack of baseplates at all, if they had to choose between putting more detail in the water and more detail in the fort, I'd rather they choose the fort. Also I feel that, for playability, the lack of baseplates allows the boats to get in closer to the fort.

This is one of my favourite games from when I was a kid! Very nice reproduction, though I with there was a view of it perfectly side-on...

Actually, if you look at where the ropes attach to the side of the ship from the sails, they're in exactly the same place. The basic layout of the ship is exactly the same, only the details are different.

I have to let my inner feminist out for a moment... this is (at least) the second time I've seen this female figure referred to as the 'daughter', there is no evidence that this is the daughter of anyone, other for the tradition of female characters in the Pirate theme being the 'Admiral's Daughter' or the 'Governor's Daughter', but those were all damsel in distress type figures, which is nothing like this new character... Why can't she be a soldier on her own merit, without is being assumed that she's only in the set by virtue of her relation to someone with a high rank? Feminism out.

I hadn't noticed the lack of coins, I just assumed they would be there, especially in the Fort set since I always assume the gold coins are there to pay the soldiers. I doubt they'd be paid in jewels. So that's another thing the sets are missing. Coins, monkeys, sword sheaths... tricorns for the soldiers...

Have you seen pictures of inside the ship or know what's inside it? I was just speculating that inside the ship is something different from the 'captain's cabin' we're used to, and that maybe it does have a small kitchen compartment. Regarding the hair on some of the soldiers, I have no problem with this because in my own Pirate setup I have my soldiers wearing a mixture of hats and hair, so this is very familiar to me. After a night's sleep, the red bandanna is looking not so bad to me, but I still have a problem with the white bandanna on the Shipwreck Defense pirate, maybe blue would have been better but that would have meant making the bandanna in three colours, which is many.

I just find it odd to think that a captain's cabin would have a kitchen off it, which is why I though the door would be out onto the deck... but then, I'm assuming there will be a captain's cabin in this ship, it might have a crew's quarters instead, although I think that would be unprecedented in a Lego pirate ship, to have no captain's cabin? A crew's quarters might have a bunk or two, a bench and somewhere to store weapons, although I think there might not be enough room for that much detail. Hopefully more official pics will show us exactly what is inside the ship. The increased price count and the placement of the door intrigues me. More thoughts: The fort and the outpost are clearly meant to connect using that bar sticking out of the fort, there would be a clip hidden under the step of the outpost. It seems to be a bit silly then that two of the pirates from these two sets double up with the same red bandanna and torso, since the sets are meant to compliment each other. This is only a minor quibble though. Also, is the printing on the shako exactly the same as for the 2009 pirates?

Here are my thoughts: The shade of red used for the sails seems to be different from the shade of red used in the Brickbeard's Bounty, which is good. It's not black and white like I'd hoped, but at least the different shades of red will make the ships looks slightly more different than they otherwise would have. The ship's cook needs a kitchen... is it just me, or is the door to the cabin slightly asymmetrical with the opposite side, which looks like a smaller door? I'm wondering if the captain's cabin has been made smaller so that a small kitchen can be built next to it. This might account for the mysterious increase in the piece count. Love the new torsos, especially the female soldier. Can't wait to see the female pirate in the skull island set. Like everyone else I'm not that fond of the new bandanna, except the white one on the cook, which actually works. Not so well on the shipwreck defense pirate! Glad to see the tricorn finally in reddish brown. I was hoping the fort would redeem itself but the prison has no back, the tower is on stilts without proper walls and the top of the tower just looks silly. Actually the outpost looks more nice and solid than the fort, although it could have been raised a little higher. Love the references to Classic Pirates!

No, I think everyone agrees, since that seems to be the angle Lego are going for. This is why I'm hoping that if they do a D2C set for this new Pirates theme, instead of doing another Imperial Flagship style ship they do either a nice harbour or fortification. We haven't had any sizeable Pirate buildings since the 90s (although to be fair, some of those sets had the large moulded baseplates that give the sets more bulk than they would otherwise have had)