Tom Jacobs (aka Bonaparte) is a LEGO Ambassador for Classic-Pirates.com. Tom took the initiative to survey LEGO Pirates AFOLs and present to TLG their requests.LEGO Pirates, once classified as an evergreen line, was officially discontinued last year. Likely due to lagging sales. LEGO only released set 10210, Imperial Flagship in 2010.
I think Tom might be appealing to the wrong group. This is an area where many of the custom minifigure parts shops like BrickArms, BrickForge, and Fine Clonier might be more interested in the needs and wants of the Pirates AFOL clan.
Didn't BrickForge come out with minifig pigs before LEGO? Doesn't BrickArms have a line of bayonets? It could even be argued that LEGO didn't take action on certain items until the custom houses dared to tread there first.
Custom shops have done well in areas that LEGO has chosen not to play: World War II, Halo, detailed firearms and weapons.
Now, if I were one of the custom shops, I would want to see more numbers for each of the items that the AFOL groups were seeking. It's likely smaller shops take on more risk if a line fails. The more info they have about a new custom part's success, the more likely they might be to oblige.
Now I can't say if anyone from these shops read this blog, but I would, at a minimum, sent them the presentation and try to bring them to the table.
