Wes

I found a similar thread: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16575 It seems like a lot of use kept the chrome gold sprues as gold nuggets! It occured to me that statues and armor could also make good booty. They'd be valuable historical items!

In my cabins, I always try to include, at minimum, some windows, a desk with a map, and a bed. Other good stuff is bottles, lanterns, cards, mugs/glasses, and navigational accessories like a magnifying glass and a sextant. It's fun to use uncommon colors in the cabins, as decoration. Here's the small cabin of the Geisha:

Durmstag, because it's the closest to a legitimate pirate ship. It's got a nice interior and could have sails and serve as a Spanish treasure galleon for pirates to raid.

Recently I've seen the gold peruvian idol statue from the Indiana Jones set selling for nearly $10...I'm thinking of getting one anyway for "treasure." It got me thinking... We all know gold coins are the main "treasure" for our pirates. But what other "treasure" have you used in addition to gold? By treasure I mean stuff for your pirates to steal and/or hoarde. Some treasure I've used: - Chrome gold 1 x 2 tiles as gold bars - Minifig gems (such as the red on found in the mummy sets) in various colors - Belville chrome gold plates - A chrome gold crown and broadsword from castle sets - The 1x1 "antique brass" round plate (HP golden snitch) - but mainly as a ship ornament - A rare chrome silver 2 x 4 brick - Misc 1x1 transparent plates as gems - Trans-clear blocks as crystal - Barrels, large barrels, chests, and boxes as stolen cargo - Large piles of minifig accessories, eg musket pistols - Chrome gold sun disc - Stolen Inca gold! What have you used?

The sails were made from light canvas I got from a fabric store. I reproduced the LEGO jib (triangular) sails: 1. Trace LEGO sails onto cardstock (a file folder will do) with pencil for the template 2. Cut edge of template along the inner edge of the pencil line (keeps it the original size) 3. Using templates, trace pattern onto the fabric 4. Use anti-fraying solution to harden/secure the edges and dots where the holes will be cut. Wait for it to dry. 5. Cut out the sail from the fabric, along the inner edge of the pencil line 6. Carefully cut the holes out. In the case of the gaff sails, I just tried to emulate LEGO designs by giving them the same size holes and rounded corners. I set the mast on the fabric to estimate the right size. Originally the side windows were white, but it looked kind of generic, so I bought pink windows instead and put them it. I think they add interest and go with the "geisha" name. I will consider a "decorative" stern on my new version that I intend to build after I an reunited with my collection...but sadly that might not be until Christmas. I also want to put more sails on the next one (more topsails, maybe a fore topgallant and a flying jib). Thank you for the comments and suggestions, Mr. Tiber!

No offense, but shouldn't this be in Adventurers or something? Pith helmets aren't pirate-related.

You're right, I was thinking of the bow for some reason. Anyway, the "box" is there because I wanted to put a cabin on the ship, and such a cabin has to be tall enough for minifigs to fit in. I have considered making some of the railings lead up to it, but that would obscure some of the quarterdeck (which is bad because sometimes I stick a cannon there). On a later vessel I intend to try it, though, along with higher sides. The jump from the railing to the rooftop is only 3 bricks...it's not that extreme. I am pretty satisfied with the look of the ship. With Geisha, I think I've achieved a good balance of aesthetics and playability. It's not perfect in either area, but neither are Lego sets. I am planning to design an improved version in the next 3-4 months, based on some of the suggestions I've got, more studying of ship books, and some ideas of my own.

I think this is almost a direct result of the failure of classic-pirates.com to provide useful content instead of a bunch of "Coming Soon" pages that never arrive. The site seems to be a clone of our community. It's direct competition, which is bad.

I edited my post to show just how overpriced it is...82 guardsmen!

It's about $9.25 per figure...individually the figs on Bricklink are currently selling for an average of $6.72 (going by the price of a bluecoat soldier with backpack--red coat average is $6.95) with the lowest under $5. This means that the lot is overpriced. The value of the lot is closer to about $1,365, not $1,935 (It's overpriced by $570 (about 38%), enough to buy 82 Imperial guard minifigs).

If anything, this info from Lego's support gives pirates support: We can see that: A. Lego has some money to work with. B. Lego knows classic lines are selling well. Pirates is a classic line and should fit this trend. C. Lego knows pirates are in demand, because they can see: - Pirates of the Caribbean Mega Bloks sets are selling well - Enlighten knockoffs proved Lego pirates are still in demand - They can see the pirate fans right on this site

Hey, I've fixed that issue with the Geisha sailors years ago... But yeah, the majority of my pirates fit a general description: Red/white striped shirt, standard scruffy pirate head, and pants in sand green, sand red, or light blue. The reason for this is that the torso + head combination were bought from the BULK LEGO Bricklink store (torquay's) by the hundreds, along with the legs. Since the bandannas are expensive, I don't have enough to put headgear on all of them. I am working on increasing the variety. Currently I have no pictures of them all together. I would love to take that picture, though! Unfortunately much of my Lego are up at my parents' house for the moment (wouldn't fit in my car when I moved) and I probably won't be able to get them until a major holiday, since I live a 12-hour drive away. I'll be sure to post them when I can!

But can they stand against my 950 pirates?

Although these aren't Lego sets, it still made me sad to see them destroyed. Such a waste!

Upside down fig near the center.

But the real question is...do these knock-offs come with shooting cannons?

My question is: do the plate fit exactly with Lego plates? I remember when my little brother accidentally bought some Mega Bloks, I tested them and found that the elements are not compatible, due to size differences. Tyco bricks, on the other hand, seemed to work okay. They were scattered in my childhood Lego collection (before my dark ages) and seemed to work fine. Currently my collection is about 99.7% Lego (some old childhood Tyco bricks might be around still). I prefer Lego minifigs strongly over clone brands. Hopefully, Lego will come out with a new pirate line in 2009 that will reclaim the pirate niche that these clone guys are exploiting.

On the subject of disturbing non-military pirate subthemes, it also occurred to me that a whaling/fishing subtheme would also have a lot of potential (big ships, port town bars, fishing boats) but could be bloody.

Imagine if Lego introduced slavers as a "bad guy" subtheme, complete with a slave ship, an African village, and an auction block, and maybe a plantation house. The Imperials would try to crack down on the illicit human trafficking (as the British did). Pirates could of course take over the slave ships and recruit the captives as crew for high seas adventures! I don't like slavery but it's a major part of the pirate era and I think these sets would have good play potential.

I never saw them in the first place...I use the Adblock Plus extension with my Firefox browser. >,>

New pieces have the highest "clutch factor" and are also the shiniest.

I'm SO EXCITED! Pirates are more expensive than ever these days and it'll be nice to have new set available to keep the pirate market open! I am already dreaming of the days when my old pirates will look from their crow's nest and spot a never-before-seen vessel on the horizon!

Thank you for your comments and suggestions. Raising the sides and adding gunports: I prefer to keep the cannons on the deck, so I can move them around if needed. Basically, I don't want to be trapped with broadside guns on only one side of the ship. With the guns on deck, my crew can roll them to face port, starboard, or even diagonally. Schooner sails: I love the schooner design and it's something that fits pirates (they loved schooners) but wasn't found in any Lego sets, so I figured I'd try it. The only consideration/drawback is that you have to watch out for the boom on the bottom of the mainsail. It limits the height of your sterncastle and can make the poop deck a dangerous place to put anyone (if the wind changes, it could suddenly jib the mainsail and send the boom slamming into whoever is standing by it. For this reason, Geisha typically keeps the boom secured with a preventer). Cabin: I tried to make the sterncastle more rounded than squarish by using slops and inverted slopes on the side, and later by adding an angled aft wall (it opens too, ala 6285). But, for the forward area, I didn't want to obscure the quarterdeck so it's still at a right angle. I'm pondering alternatives. Index: Thanks for adding Geisha! Stern too big?: I don't think the stern is too big...I'm going to assume you meant the bowsprit. I extended the bowsprit a little when I added the staysail. Many LEGO ships on the narrow hulls use somewhat undersized sails, but I used a large sail plan with the full-size (even extended) 6285-style masts so a proportionally large bowsprit was a necessity to keep the staysail and the jib from overlapping too much.

I chose Pirates because I like the time period better. Pirates brought SO much into the Lego world, like mini-fig faces, new parts, and an exciting part of history. Pirates theme includes castle elements in its forts, but expands to golden age sailing ships...and I love tall ships! I love both themes but I made my decision long ago...It's a Pirates life for me! ARRR!

PNGs should work fine in IE 7, and who still uses IE 6? Vista and XP SP3 come with IE 7. I looked at my webstats for my site and I found that only 3.5% of users are still using the obsolete browser IE 6, while 20.6% are using IE 7 and 59.2% enjoy Firefox and 9.2% use Opera. Opera, like Firefox and all modern browsers, also supports PNG transparency. Using inferior file formats for the sake of a small percentage of people that have an obsolete web browser doesn't make sense.