Ben

My collection growth has been interesting and unusual from the stat. This is mainly due to me splitting it thee ways, myself and my two brothers. We got into the game when DJC packs wee on the shelves of target. My fist pack had the Blackwatch and Brandywine in it, but I don’t recall what my brothers got. We would get packs infrequently, since we weren’t really into the game at that point. Eventually each of us got one DJC box, with the Broken Key in the top. That began the growth of the collection, though not by much. Oceans Edge wee the next packs we got from a store, and we each got at least two of the mega-packs. From thee we sot of forgot about the game and life moved on. After an unfortunate accident, I managed to store all of my ships (broken and otherwise) into a pencil box in my closet. There they sat for a good 4 yeas or so, long enough for the game to go out of print.

Flash forward to 2015, I had found the MT site and eBay. With some meager funds I had managed to get a few ships here and there for my brothers and I, as well as bring the ships I had out of the closet. I had read the battle reports on MT, and wanted to do something similar, but knew we didn’t really have enough ships, so I cast my eye to ebay. There I found a HUGE lot, almost 400 ships, which I managed to win (exact numbers such as price and total ships in the lot are now difficult to pin down, but I think I managed to win the open auction at $108). That lot jump-stated the collection in earnest, giving my brothers and I reasonable amounts of ships. Things have only gown since then. I’ve made a couple of large scale purchases on eBay since, snagging an entire set of OE, and of rotF in the last couple yeas.
I’ve never really counted how many ships we all have, but I’d guess that its close to the 800 mark, split three ways. The number of un-punched duplicates and punched duplicates is unknown, since I’ve not bothered to keep tack of those numbers. However, they have let me bring almost ALL of my custom ships off of the paper, and there is still a good number of duplicates I have. Since I’m no longer a MT member it unlikely I’ll be trading them, so I’ll either sell them for real, or I’ll use them to bring even more custom ships off of the paper.

It worked for a little bit earlier, but its kaput again now. 🙁 So, to get an ‘r’ I have to copy and paste one from somewhere, if spellcheck doesn’t offer a correct spelling of a word.
I might look into trades elsewhere, but I’m not motivated to make trades ATM.

@Xerecs: I hear you on that. I’m so satisfied with my collection that I don’t feel the need for many trades anymore, especially since I’ve done over 100 which has exhausted my trading prospects. XD Plus the cost of shipping seems to have increased.

@Xerecs: We have some early collecting similarities. I wasn’t into the actual game from the start either, and I also got a Broken Key box.

Fun to hear about your collection. Trading opportunities still exist, it’s just that the framework is less streamlined than MT. You could try PM’s on here or the Facebook BST group; Pojo also has a trading system although almost nobody from the Pirates community is consistently there anymore.

I appreciate you commenting, especially given your r key problem!
Ben

Thanks for the compliment, it means a lot!

Tough to say about PotC going forward. The 5th movie was in doubt at various times, and a 6th is further pushing it. However, there is always hope. Even more than that in this case – sounds like it might really happen! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean_(film_series)#Pirates_of_the_Caribbean_6_(TBA)

Thanks for commenting!
Ben

@Juvette: Thanks for commenting, I agree!
Have fun,
Ben

@Nick Cooke: Thanks! And yeah, the 3rd movie is unmatched in terms of epicness and sheer scale, which I value quite highly. I rewatched all the movies in the leadup to Dead Men Tell No Tales coming out and it was great.

If Johnny Depp truly doesn’t come back, I think it would simultaneously discourage a big part of the fanbase (just yesterday I saw comments from people saying they wouldn’t see a PotC movie without him in it), but also allow them to go in a new direction that could allow for more sequels (though on a smaller scale most likely) with a brand new plot and fresh ideas. I actually think an ensemble cast (not unlike movies 1-3, especially 3) could provide the series with more longevity than just relying on Captain Jack.

Me, I’d just love to see more movies in general. XD I’d prefer Captain Jack back of course, but I’d see any new movies even if he wasn’t in them. I hope they don’t bring back Davy Jones (even though he’s awesome), since they already wrapped up those stories perfectly in the 3rd movie. It would be nice to see some crazy action-packed adventures with lots of excitement that doesn’t revolve around the typical undead antagonist who hates Captain Jack for whatever reason.

Love your comment!
Ben

@Eric: Thanks for the kind words! Glad you love PotC as well.
Ben

@Juan Felipe: Curse of the Black Pearl is definitely one of the best movies of all time!
Thanks for commenting,
Ben

@Fred Ota: Thanks! Indeed, CotBP is #1 among PotC movies, with AWE not far behind for me at least.
Yes, I’ve seen the movies a lot and played the game a ton, so I have some experience in these matters! 🙂

Have fun,
Ben

@Tamika: Thanks! Lord of the Rings is another absolutely incredible series! Love those movies too. Glad that At World’s End is your favorite PotC movie – I find it underrated and barely “worse” than the first one.

Thanks for commenting!
Ben

Yeah, a bit of regression similar to what we saw through the Pirates CSG production run. Though, similar to Pirates, I’ll still be buying whatever they come up with next. Pirates 6 is looking more likely now. 😀 To me even a subpar PotC movie is still better than ~98% of movies I watch.

@Dan Strong
Thanks for the comment! I do still recommend the movie, especially for fans of the series in general. Unfortunately it was a bit disappointing, but still a good movie.

Have fun,
Ben

@Wil: Thanks! Some pros and cons for sure, but overall a great movie experience. Just tough to measure up to the first 3.
Ben