SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A mother is upset after she says her son’s toy came with racist instructions, telling him to shackle a dark-skinned character that appeared to be a slave. Ida Lockett was happy for her son after he received a Playmobil pirate ship for his fifth birthday. “He was excited when he got it,” she said. “I spent the weekend putting it together.” And only after putting together the gift from his aunt did she see what her son was playing with. “This right here was found on his neck,” she said. The dark-skinned character with no shoes and tattered pants came with instructions to put some sort of neck piece on him. “You cannot have this specific accessory and call it anything else,” she said. “The fact that you can Google it, look it up, say what it is—it’s a slave collar.” SEE ALSO: Sacramento NAACP Calls News & Review’s Kevin Johnson Cover Racist Ida is sure her son was playing with a toy slave. The ship itself comes with what she calls a dungeon.
“It’s definitely racist,” she said. “It told my son to put a slave cuff around the black character’s neck, and then to play with the toy.” CBS13 reached out to the toy’s maker, Playmobil, and the retailer who sold it, Toys ‘R’ Us, but neither responded. Sacramento NAACP President Stephen Webb says it is demanding action.this cannot be accepted, and it needs to be pulled off the shelf,” he said.A while ago W. Navarre revealed this ship as a part of a nautical diorama that was a modern re-interpretation of an original LEGO Pirates set. However, he decided that the diorama did not do the ship justice, and has chosen to photograph it now on its own. There is a lot to love about The Black Death, most notably the sails made out of all sorts of multi-angled pieces in an eye-popping dark red, as well as some very interesting shaping along the hull. Years ago, brick-built hulls were very common for small and medium scaled ships, but lately it seems to be becoming the norm.
Tell all your friends! We are pleased to bring you on-site coverage of New York Toy Fair 2017, where LEGO has officially revealed a brand new set for the upcoming film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. The fifth installment of the highly popular Disney Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise his theaters May 26, 2017. [Update] 71042 Silent Mary will retail for $199.99 and will be available beginning March 16, 2017, for LEGO VIP members, and available to everyone April 1. The set will be exclusive to LEGO Stores and the LEGO Shop Online. LEGO’s new line of BrickHeadz characters are available now for LEGO VIP Program members on the LEGO Shop online. These sets will be available to the general public beginning Wednesday, March 1. LEGO’s VIP Program is free to join, and you can sign up online, so you can still order your BrickHeadz today even if you’re not already a VIP member. You can check out our reviews of The LEGO Batman Movie sets and Marvel Avengers sets if you’re not sure which one you want to buy first.
Also revealed today are two new characters from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Included in the instruction books and on the boxes for 41595 Belle and 41596 Beast are images for none other than Captain Jack Sparrow (41593) and a new character: Captain Armando Salazar (41594). Click here to see the BrickHeadz for sale now! It appears that there’s a rather tense hostage negotiation in progress on W. Navarre‘s lovely little sandbar island. I imagine some not-so-nice words are being thrown about, but the worst sin of all is the fact that this group of ragtag, cutthroat pirates are likely completely oblivious to the beauty just below their feet. W. Navarre’s tiny scene has a nice contrast between the dark (and possibly murderous) pirates and the soft, pastel coral reef below the water. The ethereal flora and fauna beneath the water look like they’d be more at place in a Friends build than a pirate one. But that just adds to the awesomeness of W. Navarre’s building in my opinion.
If you’re interested in finding out what’s really going on in this build, check out the accompanying story that W. Navarre wrote over on MOCpages. We recently had the opportunity to talk with Pacurar Andrei, also known as Vitreolum (Letranger Absurde). Pacurar lives in Romania and builds in a wide range of styles and genres. His work is highly regarded and his build, Room with a View, made our short-list of the year’s best creations. Please walk with us as we explore the mind of a builder! TBB: How did you get into the LEGO hobby and what inspires you to build? Pacurar Andrei: I got into the hobby when I decided to sell my childhood collection. They were all mixed together in two large bags, so I had to sort and build everything… by the time I was done with this I ended up buying sets instead of selling. Everything inspires me, from someone else’s build to things that surround me. Sometimes just looking at a certain part will be enough. Or just an idea that suddenly pops in my head.
Although my biggest source of inspiration has always been movies, games and literature. The challenge is whether I can translate it into bricks. Sometimes simple is highly effective, like this lovely little build by David Zambito. This little scene by the ocean has a lot going for it, technique-wise (The curves of the half-built/half-destroyed ship are quite lovely!). I like the rock work and the sand dune; the uni-kitty horns and 1×1 round tiles as shells gives it a nice touch. I rarely see beaches completely clear of debris! It’s a lovely setting for whatever nefarious conversation is happening in the bones of an empty ship! This amazing pirate-themed collaboration between Grant Davis and Eli Willsea was built in just three weeks. The gorgeous diorama features excellent rockwork, moving features in the waterfall and the ancient stone calendar, as well as lighting inside the temple. One more very important aspect of the build, in my opinion, is the ratio between the land and sea, which adds a lot to the overall impression of the creation.
I highly recommend you check out the many closeup photos showing all of the incredible details in this build, as well as the following time-lapse video which highlights some of the moving features: Classic Castle’s 14th Colossal Castle Contest comes to an end December 31st, and we’re seeing a ton of great builds as the competition winds down. Builders are vying for prizes and titles in a number of castle-related categories. Some of the best entries I’ve seen are in the Medieval Warship category. When I was a kid I dreamed of being a Viking, so longships are a particular favorite of mine. Mark of Falworth brings us a great ship with his Moravian Warknar: Paul Trach built another good looking longship, complete with an icy base: I’ve also entered my own, though my Viking sailors didn’t make it on board for photographs before a mishap resulted in the ship’s destruction. What stands out about all three ships is the lack of the prefabricated hull pieces common in many designs.
Brick-built hulls are time-consuming and can be challenging, but the flexibility in hull shape and design really pays off. If you haven’t seen the rest of the entries, make sure to take a look over on Classic Castle! In June, French artist Mat Green amazed us with a pair of life-size LEGO minifigures made of steel. Those figures, named Hugo and Pablo, were a classic minifigure and a punk rock LEGO skeleton. Mat has now finished his next project — more classics you’ll surely recognize, the pirate Sparrow and his parrot Jacquot. We spoke with Mat about his work translating these iconic LEGO figures to life-size metal sculptures. Master of the colorful LEGO scenes Letranger Absurde (whose atomic blast we featured this summer) is at it again with this diorama featuring a merry band of buccaneers. Showing only part of the pirate ship, the real stars are the clouds hanging in the bright sky above the skull island. The door hinges are also noteworthy on the ship itself, as is the brick-built rope ladder.
Things are not looking good for the crew of this doomed vessel. Gale winds and churning seas are posing a serious risk to this tiny ship built by LEGO 7. But worst of all, the ship is being attacked by a massive sea monster! This microscale pirate ship actually looks like it is sailing in the middle of a storm and the builder’s choice of colors and composition are great. It just goes to show you, a LEGO creation doesn’t need to span hundreds of studs to be magnificent. As a person who has spent more than enough time on a ship, I’ve seen seas in every color of the rainbow. That is, every color except white. White is something new. I guess that’s just one more reason why W. Navarre’s LEGO version of The Flying Dutchman from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series is so captivating. The ship’s ragged remnants of canvas are beautifully done in white, and the chains standing in for mast lines give the craft a vulgar and churlish appeal. If you’re wondering what the clear bits hanging off the sides are, those represent scuppers, holes in the side that drain water from the deck.