Within hours of the commencement of Crowdfunding on 10 June, the 30,000 order limit of 910053 Thieves of Tortuga was almost exceeded!
This calamity prompted the BrickLink Designer Team to collude with their manufacturing mateys, and hey-presto, the production limit increased to 40,000 orders, much to the relief of some
So it’s still not too late to pre-order!
Production Limit
Unprepared fans wailed in horror as the coloured Progress Bar on the Thieves of Tortuga BrickLink page rapidly tore like a cannon ball towards the Max limit indicator.
The Horror
Crowdfunding had barely left shore, yet the supply was almost depleted within hours!
Around 75% of the 30,000 set order limit was consumed just like that!
The tide turned too swiftly for some for to gain their bearings and put forth their gold!
The Savoir
Arrr, but then the tides shifted once more… a marvel unlike any seen during past BrickLink Crowdfunding phases…
Steve was first to observe the notification
A notification was hoisted upon the Series 5 Main Page to deliver us a message of hope…
The BrickLink Designer Team states:
More Series 5 Sets? You Got It!
The love for Series 5 has blown us away! We know it’s tough when sets sell out before you can get your hands on them, so we teamed up with our manufacturing friends to make more sets available. This may not be the case for future series, so don’t miss your chance to get in on the fun.
Within an instant, 10,000 additional 910053 Thieves of Tortuga sets became available for pre-order… and many breathed a sigh of relief.
How Do We Know it’s 40,000?
The BrickLink Designer Team has not officially announced the increased limit.
T’was fans realising noticing somethin’ be afoot upon whence the Progress Bar retreated slightly.
The answer soon revealed itself, much thanks to Robert Calloway of the LEGO® of Paying Full Price Facebook Group.
Robert spied something fascinating in the webpage code
Robert writes:
PSA on Bricklink orders.
If you ever want to see the max amount of units available on a Bricklink series set before it sells out, here are the steps to take.
You must be on a laptop/desktop for this to work.
Within the code of the Thieves of Tortuga BrickLink webpage lies the variable nMaxAvailable inside a JSON array.
Now, fans who ain’t programmatically inclined might be wonderin’ who Jason is, but the number value assigned to the nMaxAvailable variable be 40000.
Seems reasonable to assume this figure be the updated Pre-Order limit.
How Many Sets Have Already Sold?
Robert’s noble actions prompted the Classic Pirates to conduct their own digging on Thursday, June 19…
Also within that very code:
A value for the number of sets ordered as percentage
We discovered another variable named dPercentagePreordered which peaked at a value of 0.8996.
Placing down the rum in favour of quick mental arithmetic we arrive at 89.6%.
But why stop there? Let’s crunch the numbers!
Here’s how we calculate the total number of sets Pre-Ordered
So whipping out the abacus, we calculated 35,984 Thieves of Tortuga sets had been pre-ordered.
Now we can determine how many sets remain in the inventory…
And with a little subtraction…
With simple subtraction we arrive at 4,016 sets still available for pre-order.
Unexpected Twists
But upon the following day, the value of dPercentagePreordered suddenly plummeted to 0.8515 or 85.2%.
The Progress Bar retreated once more! A 4.4% decrease – how could this be?
Last time dPercentagePreOrdered decreased was because 10,000 more sets became available
Had a slew of orders been cancelled and the inventory only just updated? Or had even more sets been made available for purchase?
Adding mist to the mystery, the nMaxAvailable variable also vanished from the webpage code, so no longer may we observe the total number of sets available for pre-order.
Here’s the Progress Bar around 28 hours before Crowdfunding ends
Despite operating in the dark, we shall conduct some final calculations…
Seems the BrickLink Designer Team prefers to shroud the total sales in ambiguity so we may not be working with accurate figures!
Also that note that dPercentagePreordered is still increasing
So let’s assume nMaxAvailable still equals 40000 and using the value of dPercentagePreordered, at the time of this here post’s publication upon June 13, with around 28 hours until the conclusion of Crowdfunding.
Be fantastic to learn how many sets actually did sell
Some readers be griping: “I didn’t come here for a bleedin’ mathematics lesson!”
But now yer all the wiser… possibly! There be an estimated 4,952 sets remaining if ye still wish to pre-order.
With the deadline rapidly approaching, those remaining sets will sell faster than rum after last drinks have been called!
910053 Thieves of Tortuga
If yer just washed up at Classic-Pirates.com and have not the foggiest what The Thieves of Tortuga be, ye best reading details from the official announcement.
910053 The Thieves of Tortuga: Price and Pre-Order Date Announced
Photos… set details… pricing… it’s all there.
Coconut Cape
And yer may also like to have the knowledge Series 8 submission, “Coconut Cape” was selected as a finalist.
Could we see the return of the Imperial Armada?
So 2026 be shaping up as a humongous year for LEGO Pirates in the BrickLink Designer Program!
Crowdfunding for Privater Frigate Fortuna commences January, while Coconut Cape available for pre-order during June.
Economics
‘Tis marvelous that the BrickLink Design Program be manufacturing these larger pirate designs, with Thieves of Tortuga and Privateer Frigate Fortuna wracking up 4,000 parts.
But let’s spare a thought for them fans what don’t have much booty in their treasure hoard, and not enough space in their cargo holds to store the sets.
At around 600 pieces Scalawag Sloop would make a welcome budget-friendlier set
Perhaps in a future BrickLink Designer series we might consider more economically sized and priced pirate builds for Crowdfunding.
Scalawag Sloop may fit the bill nicely, wink wink!
What Do Yer Think?
Have yer Pre–Ordered The Thieves of Tortuga yet?
Will this bustling port be joining yer LEGO Pirates collection?
Or are yer still sitting on the bowsprit? Well, don’t sit there too long!
Crowdfunding and ends smack bang upon 24 June, 2025 at 12PM Pacific Time.
No Deal!
Still not convinced The Thieves of Tortuga is for you?
Is it the price? Is it the design? Be there other factors deterring you from buying?
Let them be known in the LEGO Pirates Forum and Classic Pirates Facebook Group!
