The Death Of Captain Morgan

Being a victim of the continual commercial assault that is American television, I'm afraid the first thing I think of when I hear the name Captain Morgan is some goofball in a bar lifting his leg awkwardly to show his allegiance to a spiced rum. But this excellent MOC by builder Jacob Nion has nothing to do with that, but rather the story of the unfortunate end of Benjamin Morgan, you can read all about it here.

The Death Of Captain Morgan

Icebreaker

Being from the central coast of California, maritime ice management is not really in my wheelhouse. So I found the description of this build, or more the organization that inspired it, fascinating. Adam Dodge built this to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday, and the Canadian Coast Guard, who not only provide ice breaking services for commercial ships, but also escorts, harbour breakouts, maintain shipping routes and provide ice information services.

Icebreaker

The Roger Young

I'll probably lose a little nerd cred for this, but I'm not a Starship Troopers fan. I found it silly and tedious. It's too hard to take the characters seriously despite the challenge placed before them, and I just wasn't buying Doogie Howser as a Colonel. I should probably give it another view, it's been years, maybe I'll see something I didn't see before. I will say the visual effects were outstanding though, and I dig the ship designs. Like this version of the Roger Young by builder Riskjockey. You can practically hear the rumble of the engines.

The Roger Young
The Roger Young

The Black Pearl

I have a soft spot for this cursed ship. Not only because I'm a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean, both the ride and the movies, but also because I worked on the fourth movie. Of course in that film the Pearl was only briefly seen, and in a bottle no less, but it's still there. This version by builder W. Navarre captures the essence of the infamous Pearl. You can practically hear the music huh?

The Black Pearl
The Black Pearl

De Ruyter

I don't know all that much about tall ships, but I know I like them. And I especially like this vessel by Swan Dutchman. It's not exactly what you would call 'purist', with non LEGO sails and rigging. But sometimes you need to go beyond the official elements when there's an aesthetic and accuracy you're going for. And in this case, they almost outshine the bricks, gorgeous! The photography and processing is top notch too, this is the total package.

The Flying Piranha And Imperial Fort

No this isn't an official set, but it has the feel of one, and it's intentional. Legonardo Davidy and Cara have combined efforts for the Eurobricks Pirate Teamwork Contest and the results are stunning. The design of both the ship and the fort are brilliant, with wonderful play features and detail rivaling that of real LEGO designers. There's tons of pictures of both these models and some great making of shots, click through to explore.

PTC