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September 28, 2005
"More Pirate goodness..."
Best shirt of the year so far:
"Pirates Are Way Cooler Than Ninjas."
(There's a bumper sticker too!)
And as far as kids go...
I remember when Lego brought out their first line of Pirate toys about, gulp, almost 20 years ago. Amazing ships with cannon that worked and little mini-figures that included a Captain Redbeard.
They just re-launched a Pirates line last year. It's simply pathetic. Have a look at "Captain Redbeard's Pirate Ship" and shudder. Compare it to the high point of Lego Pirates: The Black Seas Barricuda. Even Lego realized what a winner it was and re-released it in 2002.
I was in the Lego store at the Mall of America a couple of months ago and overheard two boys talking about how silly the new Pirates looked. (They actually used the word "gay" which is pretty much the kiss of death for a boys toy.) The Lego company wonders why they are losing market share and it's easy. You just have to point them to things like this:
Lego has been making skeletons forever but since they've begun praying to vast money losing altar that is "licensed toys" they left it to the competition to come up with undead pirates. Check out "Dread Eye's Phantom" and tell me that isn't cool.
Cool undead pirates or gay pirates? Care to guess which is selling well and which isn't?
Arrrr.
Posted by Jim at September 28, 2005 08:50 AM