Which Is Better to get Western or Pirates?

[Col. Whipstick]

That's it! *throws down gauntlet*

You have all insulted the Pirates forum for the last time... Consider this a declaration of war! :-P

Pirates are way way way better than western because western is pretty much limited to use in half of the US for about a century so historically your figures are considerably limiting in their use. True the 'Indians' can be used to cover the several hundred years of their culture and can even be used in conjunction with some of the pirate fractions to emphasize early European colonization of North America. At a stretch the 'cowboy' type figures can be used to represent some other colonial areas of the world during the 19th century such as Southern Africa and Australia where the landscape and lifestyle resembled the wild west. Anyone who says western is more versatile propably hasn't picked up a good history book in... well, forever.

But now consider all the pirate factions... The Armada figures can represent almost any European army from 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. Thereafter the Soldiers and Imperial Guards (Blues and Reds to you illiterate, bean chopping, whiskey stained cowboys) can be used to represent any European or early colonial government forces including the British Empire, France, United States etc throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Our pirate figures are way more colourful and variable in design than the western figures and as far as bad boys go our own bad guys - the pirates are way better at being bad than yours are. Then add the islanders into the mix - they are hugely versatile and can be used to represent a native populace of the entire southern hemisphere and all of Meso-America. They can be used in conjunction with the Johnny Thunder stuff easily. In fact, most of the pirate stuff is historically compatable with the ninjas, the native characters and sets from the adventurers and the 'Indians' from western.

And all that isn't even considering how beautiful and original our ships look in port or out on the high seas. Our fortresses aside from being militarily more formidable have an abundance of tropical flora and fauna that takes you on holiday when you spend your time with Pirate lego, whereas western lego sets only accentuate the local Saloon as your most spectacular models and likewise the atmosphere is less than impressive. I'd agree that you need a bit more money to make Pirates look better but in the end it's simple, Lego Pirates is way more visually appealing and our following proves it. Just look at Eurobricks... western has to share a forum with castle and adventurers, whereas Pirates has it's very own. Our post count is twice that of this forum and that isn't shared. So it's simple... why don't you all go drown your sorrows on whiskey and beans in your smelly little saloons, or go make a camp fire and smoke the peace pipe - anything to help you forget that Pirates kicks western butt any day of the week! :-P

Edited January 3, 2008 by Col. Whipstick

[Joey Lock]

That's it! *throws down gauntlet*

You have all insulted the Pirates forum for the last time... Consider this a declaration of war! :-P

Pirates are way way way better than western because western is pretty much limited to use in half of the US for about a century so historically your figures are considerably limiting in their use. True the 'Indians' can be used to cover the several hundred years of their culture and can even be used in conjunction with some of the pirate fractions to emphasize early European colonization of North America. At a stretch the 'cowboy' type figures can be used to represent some other colonial areas of the world during the 19th century such as Southern Africa and Australia where the landscape and lifestyle resembled the wild west. Anyone who says western is more versatile propably hasn't picked up a good history book in... well, forever.

But now consider all the pirate factions... The Armada figures can represent almost any European army from 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. Thereafter the Soldiers and Imperial Guards (Blues and Reds to you illiterate, bean chopping, whiskey stained cowboys) can be used to represent any European or early colonial government forces including the British Empire, France, United States etc throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Our pirate figures are way more colourful and variable in design than the western figures and as far as bad boys go our own bad guys - the pirates are way better at being bad than yours are. Then add the islanders into the mix - they are hugely versatile and can be used to represent a native populace of the entire southern hemisphere and all of Meso-America. They can be used in conjunction with the Johnny Thunder stuff easily. In fact, most of the pirate stuff is historically compatable with the ninjas, the native characters and sets from the adventurers and the 'Indians' from western.

And all that isn't even considering how beautiful and original our ships look in port or out on the high seas. Our fortresses aside from being militarily more formidable have an abundance of tropical flora and fauna that takes you on holiday when you spend your time with Pirate lego, whereas western lego sets only accentuate the local Saloon as your most spectacular models and likewise the atmosphere is less than impressive. I'd agree that you need a bit more money to make Pirates look better but in the end it's simple, Lego Pirates is way more visually appealing and our following proves it. Just look at Eurobricks... western has to share a forum with castle and adventurers, whereas Pirates has it's very own. Our post count is twice that of this forum and that isn't shared. So it's simple... why don't you all go drown your sorrows on whiskey and beans in your smelly little saloons, or go make a camp fire and smoke the peace pipe - anything to help you forget that Pirates kicks western butt any day of the week! :-P

Col Whipstick... Your just speaking gibberish!

Lego was invented for the use of children to create. They did not invent the pirate theme for a history lesson mate! :-D

Going on about native culture and centurys! Lego is about creativity and fun! Kids play with lego to put school outta there minds not straight back in! :-)

And talking of post counts we dont sit around all day talking about history and culture, we have to many MOCS to post! Ha ha ha! : )

Edited January 3, 2008 by Joey Lock

[Col. Whipstick]

Col Whipstick... Your just speaking gibberish!

Lego was invented for the use of children to create. They did not invent the pirate theme for a history lesson mate! :-D

Going on about native culture and centurys! Lego is about creativity and fun! Kids play with lego to put school outta there minds not straight back in! :-)

And talking of post counts we dont sit around all day talking about history and culture, we have to many MOCS to post! Ha ha ha! : )

Is that it? That the best you've got gunslinger? I'll have to make sure we give you a good dose of grapeshot!

For a kick off when the hell was school last educational??? And how can you continue to suggest that western is more creative when clearly as I've pointed out Pirates are more versatile and mean a lot more to the rest of the world for those of us not born in Montana. :-P

We have more posts because we're more popular and that is that good sir! Now run along... I think you're missing an episode of Bonanza. :-P

[natelite]

alright, i'm qualified to speak on the basis that i have most major sets for both western (legoredo, sheriff lockup, bandit hideout) and pirates (6271, 6274, 6276, 6285, 6286, etc)... :-P :-D not really but i'm going to speak type my mind anyway.

western is fun with just the minifigs or one set. you have the regular establishment (the union soldiers), the local law enforcers (sheriff and deputy), the civilians (bankers and town folks), and the outlaws. you can have mini fights with just those three sets and still have a fun time.

pirates are more fun on a grander scale. but the catch is you need more sets to have your fun. you probably can't have much fun with just one ship. you need a fort, an imperial ship, a pirate ship, a pirate hideout/fortress (6273, 6270 or 6279), maybe an islander or two forts thrown in. but it is more fun once you have at least 4 sets. you can have red coats vs blue coats. you can have pirates vs pirates. you can have edicts and pardons for pirates who invade your enemies (ie red coats using pirates to fight the blue etc).

so those on a budget, western is probably a great set. build a wooden town here and there and have your outlaws wreck havoc on the town and the sheriff will come save the day. any set will be fun. you have 3 outlaws vs 2 union soldiers in the bandit hideout. you have 2 vs 2 in the sheriff lockup and you have 3 outlaws, one civilian and 6 union soldiers in legoredo.

[Joey Lock]

Is that it? That the best you've got gunslinger? I'll have to make sure we give you a good dose of grapeshot!

For a kick off when the hell was school last educational??? And how can you continue to suggest that western is more creative when clearly as I've pointed out Pirates are more versatile and mean a lot more to the rest of the world for those of us not born in Montana. :-P

We have more posts because we're more popular and that is that good sir! Now run along... I think you're missing an episode of Bonanza. :-P

You can pompous and think your smart all you want but judging by the amount of people who said Western your losing! :-D

So over should we put a close that there both as good!

[Col. Whipstick]

You can pompous and think your smart all you want but judging by the amount of people who said Western your losing! :-D

So over should we put a close that there both as good!

That's probably because half the pirate people who would vote are hardly bothered enough to come here. X-D

Actually all this aside I think it's a shame that Adventurers, Western, Vikings, Castle etc all have to share the same forum. When I was growing up Castle was the biggest, bigger than space, pirates or town and yet it seems to only hold a parking lot space here.

[Brick Miner]

Actually all this aside I think it's a shame that Adventurers, Western, Vikings, Castle etc all have to share the same forum. When I was growing up Castle was the biggest, bigger than space, pirates or town and yet it seems to only hold a parking lot space here.

whipstick, we are talking about which theme is better, not which forum. once upon a time, all the history themes shared one forum here on EB, but the pirate community needed it's own hub, just like classic-castle is for the castle community - EB was decided to be that place for the pirate community.

im glad to read all of the positive relections on the WW theme, cool !!! makes me feel good about MOCing in the theme *sweet*

oh, and joey lock, it seems your question has been answered !!!

- BM

[blueandwhite]

That's it! *throws down gauntlet*

You have all insulted the Pirates forum for the last time... Consider this a declaration of war! :-P

Everyone loves a good war :-D .

Pirates are way way way better than western because western is pretty much limited to use in half of the US for about a century so historically your figures are considerably limiting in their use. True the 'Indians' can be used to cover the several hundred years of their culture and can even be used in conjunction with some of the pirate fractions to emphasize early European colonization of North America. At a stretch the 'cowboy' type figures can be used to represent some other colonial areas of the world during the 19th century such as Southern Africa and Australia where the landscape and lifestyle resembled the wild west. Anyone who says western is more versatile propably hasn't picked up a good history book in... well, forever.

Versatility is a pretty broad term. If you're interested in US fronteer history, the Wild West line would undoubtedly be very versatile. In terms of actual building potential, the Wild West provides a plethora of building opportunities; from trains, to saloons, to forts and trading posts. The Western theme may not span a large time frame or geographical area, but I don't think that alone speaks to the versatility of the line. To objectively say that one period of history is better than another is simply impossible. The question is purely subjective.

But now consider all the pirate factions... The Armada figures can represent almost any European army from 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. Thereafter the Soldiers and Imperial Guards (Blues and Reds to you illiterate, bean chopping, whiskey stained cowboys) can be used to represent any European or early colonial government forces including the British Empire, France, United States etc throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Our pirate figures are way more colourful and variable in design than the western figures and as far as bad boys go our own bad guys - the pirates are way better at being bad than yours are. Then add the islanders into the mix - they are hugely versatile and can be used to represent a native populace of the entire southern hemisphere and all of Meso-America. They can be used in conjunction with the Johnny Thunder stuff easily. In fact, most of the pirate stuff is historically compatable with the ninjas, the native characters and sets from the adventurers and the 'Indians' from western.

Again, this probably doesn't mean anything if you're not as interested in those time periods. Moreover, it's a pretty big stretch to use Armada figures as 14th or 15th century soldiers. Plate armour was still developing during that period, and would continue to be used for another two centuries. The Armada figs are clearly out of place for anything short of the 16th century. The Comb Morions that those minifigs wear are clearly late 16th century. If using a Western minifig as an Australian is a stretch, throwing an Armada figure into the 14th century doesn't work either.

And all that isn't even considering how beautiful and original our ships look in port or out on the high seas. Our fortresses aside from being militarily more formidable have an abundance of tropical flora and fauna that takes you on holiday when you spend your time with Pirate lego, whereas western lego sets only accentuate the local Saloon as your most spectacular models and likewise the atmosphere is less than impressive. I'd agree that you need a bit more money to make Pirates look better but in the end it's simple, Lego Pirates is way more visually appealing and our following proves it. Just look at Eurobricks... western has to share a forum with castle and adventurers, whereas Pirates has it's very own. Our post count is twice that of this forum and that isn't shared. So it's simple... why don't you all go drown your sorrows on whiskey and beans in your smelly little saloons, or go make a camp fire and smoke the peace pipe - anything to help you forget that Pirates kicks western butt any day of the week! :-P

Using that logic, I suggest you bow down to Castle instead X-D. Forum-shmorum: We have an entire website :-P .

[Kanduu]

Exactly, forget this Pirate/Western nonsense, Castle is the way to go! But on topic now....

I've been thinking Pirates through reading most of this thread (excluding late 1990s, which were awful, and Jack Stone was, well, a horrible waste of time...), but it depends on what you want. Ships can be difficult to moc--at least for me, and I haven't seen too many great, different mocs out there either (yes I know of a few).

I like the Pirates line more than Western because it has better minifigs, both in type and quality, and many more sets (pirate, western). The Indians of the Western sets are more difficult to work with too. Not all Indians painted or dressed like that, so I'm kinda limited if I want to stay more accurate.

This fewer-sets thing presents a interesting point: Lego has only produced one line of Western, more or less, and what, three, four of Pirates? And Pirates are more pricey on Ebay. So the people have spoken to what is "best." Though neither have been seen for a while.... (ooh, does this mean Castle is the best by far?!? ;-) )

For displaying the actual sets Pirates wins too. Thinking about the Imperial Trading Post , it's open, visible, but still very playable--this was an amazing set as a kid. Fort Legoredo is nice, but not nearly as crisp.

I'll say that I have my pirate ship moc on my shelf, and three (small) tubs of Western stuff under my bed and in my closet. If someone were to offer to buy me one or the other, I would say Pirate, partially for nostalgia, partially because it's just downright cooler. I guess this means I'm choosing Pirates, but I certainly see good several good points for each. (Maybe I'm swayed some because I like that period of history more...)

Overall, my favorite themes are, in order: Castle, Pirate, Space, then maybe Western....

--nice topic by the way, you've gotten me out of lurker-mode, and writing too much

[KimT]

That's it! *throws down gauntlet*

You have all insulted the Pirates forum for the last time... Consider this a declaration of war! :-P

Bring it on Pirate scum! :-P

I really like the Pirates theme, but IMHO it's not nearly as great as Western/Wild West.

But You had to take it personally, whatcha gonna do? Attack me with a cutlass whilst I shoot my Winchester at You? Also, Your ships are quite useless in the desert of the West. ;-)

KimT

[Brick Miner]

Overall, my favorite themes are, in order: Castle, Pirate, Space, then maybe Western....

--nice topic by the way, you've gotten me out of lurker-mode, and writing too much

welcome to EB, and its great to see another WW fan - even if its 4th or 5th on your favorites list (thats still pretty good ;-) )

- BM