Pirates of the Caribbean: first impressions

  • Pirates of the Caribbean: first impressions

    Posted by Huw, 24 Apr 2011 15:26. Filed under New sets.

    4195: Queen Anne's Revenge
    Pirates of the Caribbean, 2011
    More details...
    ©2011 LEGO Group

    I've now built the four smallest PotC sets now so I thought I'd make a few observations about them. If you're still on the fence as to whether to buy them, maybe this will help :-)

    - The packaging is excellent. As has been noted in various comments, the boxes are the new, smaller, type.
    - The instructions and poster are packed in a plastic bag with a sheet of card to ensure they stay flat, even in the smallest sets.
    - There are 27 unique minifigs, but it seems I was misled at the London toy fair: I was told that Jack Sparrow was different in every set, however according to BrickLink, there are just 4 variations, plus the one in 30132 which hasn't been added there yet. They are all excellent with many new accessories and headgear and are printed on the front and back of the torsoes.
    - CapnRex101 has written some excellent reviews of two of the sets, and I've leveraged the new feature here to provide links to the pictorial Eurobricks reviews. You'll find them on the PotC theme page.

    What do you think of them? Add your own review, or comment here.


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Comments

Posted by AZFIREWOLF in United States, 24 Apr 2011 15:47

Built the Queen Anne the other day. The total time to built it was a couple of hours. Over all I think it is a good set, however as I was building I kept thinking I am building the Imperial Flagship.

With regards to the other sets: the sets are good some of them are above par, but for the most part besides a few special peices and the minifigs (27 of them WOW), I am not really impressed. For example the Mill set reminded me of a castle set (the troll wheel set)

I will say one very important thing. LEGO you should cut down on the amount of extra pieces. I have a small bag of all of the extra pieces. These are going to be sold as a grab bag in my BL store.

Posted by Nesquik in United Kingdom, 24 Apr 2011 15:48

Very, very glad to hear about the packaging. For years my instruction books have arrived crumpled, and smaller boxes are definitely welcome at home! Thank you for listening to the fans LEGO!

Posted by The Guy With The Bricks in United States, 24 Apr 2011 15:56

So far I've built ask of the new sets except for the Cannibal Escape and Queen Anne's Revenge. They are excellent designs with a lot of detail. Most of them are well worth the money, but I thought the London Escape set was overpriced at $50. A bigger building there would have been nice. Whitecap Bay is an instant classic though, and the mermaids pieces are to die for!

The new pieces include the bottles and the globe from the "Zombie Pirates Attacking the Captain's Cabin or whatever" set are must-haves.

One thing that impressed me very much was the amount of new/unique pieces in every set. The highlights are the minifigs, of course, they are amazingly detailed. Almost all of them have printed legs and many of them feature printed backs as well. The Blackbeard fig is a hoot! And he comes with a huge new sword! Looking forward to the new galleries when you get a chance to do them Huw!

Posted by CapnRex101 in United Kingdom, 24 Apr 2011 15:58

Many thanks for the mention! I am working on a review of the Queen Anne's Revenge at the moment, and it is a great set.

Posted by yys4u in United States, 24 Apr 2011 16:06

Well I actually bought the $49.99 priced set London Escape, and was pretty disappointed to see the instructions were NOT packaged with cardboard. It came curved, probably at the bottom of the box with the bags on top of it.

Don't know if it was just a mistake on my set or what, but 50 bucks is a fairly large set and I was surprised to hear that according to you even the small sets have cardboard backed instructions.

Posted by grelb32 in United States, 24 Apr 2011 16:17

I bought the Mill at Toys R Us for $45 (stupid price raises). I was thoroughly impressed with the figures - they were all excellently done. My only gripes were that a) I bought a $30 space ship with the set (got a bogo50% deal), and both of the boxes were the same size... meaning I walked away feeling like I had been cheated $10 on the set. And b) even though the figures are well done, the bell in the bell tower ended up being really lame (imo). Other than that, the set is definitely worth getting, even if only for all the awesome new pieces and figures.

Posted by kor in United States, 24 Apr 2011 16:48

I bought duplicates of every set and the Fountain of Youth and Cannibal Escape both had crumbled up instructions. Not sure why LEGO wrapped some but not others.

The new elements are great though! There are also some elements in colors never available before so thats great for people like me who part most sets out for their own MOC inventory.

The figures are superbly detailed.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 24 Apr 2011 16:55

Interesting that some are packed without the instructions in a bag, I wonder if it's a USA only thing.

How many of you have found 'trading cards' in your boxes? Out of 5 opened so far I've found only two.

Posted by AZFIREWOLF in United States, 24 Apr 2011 17:28

HUW I found cards in all of my sets so far

Posted by Retsnom Kcor in United States, 24 Apr 2011 17:35

I got one set and it didn't have the packing for the instructions or 'trading cards.'

Posted by SarahIsabella in United States, 24 Apr 2011 17:45

So far I've built the Queen Anne's Revenge, London Escape, the Cannibal Escape, and Captain's Cabin. I love the minifigs with printing on both the front and back.

None of the instructions or posters were packaged in a bag with cardboard, in fact neither were the stickers in the QAR set. Mine were bought in the U.S. at a Toys R Us (luckily the first day of the BOGO sale, before they raised prices.)

They're all nice sets with good detail and playability, but I agree that the London Escape was a little disappointing for the price, I was expecting the building to be a bit more substantial.

I disagree that Lego should cut down on the extra pieces, the extras are always the very small pieces which are easily lost - especially if they bounce on a tile floor! I'd be disappointed not to have these few spares on hand for the future.

Posted by legobob in United States, 24 Apr 2011 17:47

good for many years instruction booklets have been a problem for me

Posted by jallan13 in United Kingdom, 24 Apr 2011 17:48

I think the trading cards only come in the Stranger Tides sets, I have all the sets with a couple of duplicates and that's what I've found

Posted by SarahIsabella in United States, 24 Apr 2011 17:54

jallan 13, i got trading cards in Queen Anne's Revenge and The London Escape.

Posted by starfire2 in United States, 24 Apr 2011 18:25

I got a card in Captain's Cabin plus mine are wrapped with cardboard backing. I bought mine through TRU.com. Maybe a production issue with Lego?!?

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 24 Apr 2011 18:27

Very interesting about the instructions packaging. This is how all of mine have been packed: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hmillington/5651382120

Posted by CapnRex101 in United Kingdom, 24 Apr 2011 18:30

I got trading cards in all of the sets:

Captain's Cabin - Jack Sparrow.
Isla de Muerta - Elizabeth Swann.
Fountain of Youth - Hector Barbossa.
Cannibal Escape - Will Turner.
The Mill - Admiral Norrington.
The London Escape - Joshamee Gibbs.
Whitecap Bay - Mermaids.
Queen Anne's Revenge - Blackbeard.

I am wondering if they have had some issues with all this new packaging! Or maybe it is just luck if you get a card or not (which would make me very lucky as I only have one of each set).

Posted by K-nut in United States, 24 Apr 2011 19:02

CapnRex101, I never got a card with Isla de Muerta. Weird. Has anyone else in the U.S. had this happen to them?

I've been able to build 4181, 4191, and 4192 and must say they're awesome! Definitely the best license in a while. The figures are cool as well. Can't wait to get my grubby paws on QAR! On none of my sets have I gotten cardboard with the packaging. Probably another U.S. thing...

K-nut, now an official pirates fan!

P.S. Huw, I find the links to the eurobricks reviews quite useful. Now that you have all the sets, get cracking on the POTC minifig gallery.

Posted by Binary Code in United States, 24 Apr 2011 19:34

I bought the Isla De Muerta set the other day and it DID NOT come with packaged instructions. In fact, they were horribly mangled. Fortunately the poster was relatively straight. However, my brother who bought the same set, had his poster was bent pretty bad. Also, there was no card included.

Posted by mike14127 in United States, 24 Apr 2011 19:38

Does anyone have set #30131 the jack sparrow polybag? If so, where did you get it? Not the video game pre-order, the one with the boat.

Posted by Captain Hale Moor in United States, 24 Apr 2011 19:39

I haven't bought any of them yet because they haven't come to our Wal-Mart. I usually takes two weeks after a new series comes out (espeicily big ones like PotC) to get to our town.:( But I read some reveiws on Lego.com the other day for the PotC sets. They said this,
Pros: good packageing, excellent minifigs, cool outfits, and some really well desined sets.

Cons for Queen Anne: bow keeps coming off, only three cannons, missing port anchor (Lego really needs to start putting on both anchors or I will get upset), dosen't look like the real thing, and unreallistic details.

Cons for Illa De Murta: doesn't look like actual place, and there was no mast there.

I don't want to post anymore because most of them were reveiws about how bad they were, but when I get the sets for myself I will post my thoughts. But before I end this does anyone know when the Black Pearl will come out? I mean, it's the main ship you know.

Posted by Juno in United States, 24 Apr 2011 20:50

Captain Hale Moor- Some people say the Black Pearl won't come out until November or something. I hope that's not true!

I'm waiting until the big rush is over and the sets go on-sale, anyone else doing the samething?

EDIT: Well, not on-sale, but, you know what I mean.

Posted by aminster85 in United States, 24 Apr 2011 21:41

I got all of the new sets, but have not had the opportunity to build them all, only gotten to five so far. My Queen Anne's Revenge instructions were not in a plastic bag, but Whitecap Bay, Captains Cabin, London Escape, and Fountain of Youth all had plastic bags and cards. I must say I am very satisfied with these sets, and for a licensed theme, pretty well priced considering the amount of minifigs in each set. Now I just have to track down a polybag set, and wait for The Black Pearl to come out.

Posted by wildcherryp3psi in United States, 24 Apr 2011 22:29

I got the Captain's Cabin set and it had packaged instructions, poster & card.
Does anyone know where to enter the code from the back of the cards.

Posted by natro220 in United States, 24 Apr 2011 23:29

@Juno - I always do that...wait until the big rush and buy when they are plentiful.

Posted by zaxter2001 in United States, 24 Apr 2011 23:40

Out of all the 8 sets that I bought from a TRU in the United States, all of them came with the instructions packaged with the cardboard except The Mill and Cannibal Escape. The posters were in OK shape though. But I also had one major problem with the poster in either the Capitan's Cabin or Isla de la Muerta (I can't remember) but the center of the poster has a jagged hole cut by what must have been the trimming machine. :(

Posted by Uno Brick in United States, 25 Apr 2011 00:44

I bought the Captain's Cabin set from my local Target, and the card was included, but it along with the instructions and poster was not packed with a piece of cardboard in a bag. However, they were all in perfect condition, even without the extra bag protection.

The set seems pretty nice, with a good parts assortment and very well-designed minifigures, but there are as always, some cons, such as low playability, a simple build, and the price. It is still, however, worth it simply for the great minifigs. The poster with the rendered images of all the new figs is also a nice bonus.

Posted by fff in Spain, 25 Apr 2011 00:56

Good Reviews from CapnRex101, yes, truly complete. Thanks for the tip :-)

Posted by thesinisterpenguin in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 02:10

I got three sets, all instructions packed with cardboard, but only one card (Jack in Captain's Cabin)

Posted by ambo100 in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 02:17

Are we going to get more sets linked to EB reviews?

Posted by CapnRex101 in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 03:31

@fff - Thanks! There should be a Queen Anne's Revenge set review up soon, and it's a big one!
And if it matters I got my sets with all the cards from Toys r Us.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 04:00

^^ We are, but it's time consuming to gather the data. If you'd like to help drop me a line...

Posted by monstafaktory in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 04:04

I think the cards only come with the 'Stranger Tides' sets.

Posted by CapnRex101 in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 04:35

@monstafaktory - I got cards in all of the sets.
Oh and the Queen Anne's Revenge review is now up, go and have a look!

Posted by MinifigureMan in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 06:28

I want to get most of these sets but a quick question, do they all come with Jack's hat or only some sets?

Posted by CapnRex101 in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 06:31

@MinifigureMan - Only the following - Queen Anne's Revenge, The London Escape and Whitecap Bay. In the rest he has only his bandanna.

Posted by burakki62 in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 07:56

Ive built 2 of my sets so far, Islà de Muerta and Aqua de Vida. Both sets had packaged instructions and I got a Barbossa card with the Aqua de Vida set.

Posted by mysterygoo in United States, 25 Apr 2011 08:53

When you mentioned the cardboard was present in even the smallest sets, the Captain's Cabin did not come with one, although it remained flat.

Posted by Doctor Leg O'Brick in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 09:33

Great reviews CapnRex101. I only plan on buying Captain's Cabin for the new parts as I don't have the cash to get any others.

Posted by starfire2 in United States, 25 Apr 2011 10:32

Maybe one of the moderators can contact Lego about the inconsistency regarding the packaged instructions and trading cards?!? Both of my Captain's Cabin sets came with the instructions wrapped and with a trading card. One was bought through TRU.com and one was bought in the store (hubby).

Posted by Niallskie in United States, 25 Apr 2011 10:43

That would be awesome as I have a couple of sets without backing board as well as character cards. Talked to one lego employee and told me he is not sure if the character cards are randomly put in each sets or not. Knowing would give us peace of mind I'm sure. :D

Posted by burakki62 in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 10:52

yeah, that might be a good idea. I have just opened the London set and the Mill Wheel set. Both sets of instructions were packaged but I only got a trading card in the London set.

Posted by voyanui8768 in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 11:37

I bought Isla de Muerta set for 20% of at Argos (£16) so I found it fairly good value for money. The instructions and poster came packaged in the carboard package but there was no trading card :( The figures are great (except the printing was a bit random on the barbossa figure - there were several white gaps between lines but no biggie). The set on the other hand, is rubbish - I think I'll just use it for pieces.

Posted by CapnRex101 in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 13:11

@voyanui - How did you get them at Argos? I have not seen them in store or on the website.

Posted by voyanui8768 in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 13:24

@CapnRex - They don't appear in the main catalogue but in a small A5 green catalogue called "New Additions". The catalogues are on stands, usally by the door. You can only get Captains Cabin and Isla De Meurta but they're both 20% off.

I did email Huw about this but I never got a reply.

Posted by CapnRex101 in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 13:26

@voyanui - I guess he's a busy man! Anyway, thanks for the information. Any ideas what the catalogue number is?

Posted by avacadoturban in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 13:58

@voyanui: congrats. on picking up the sets! You didn't happen to write down the catalogue numbers?

Posted by voyanui8768 in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 14:05

@avacadoturban - I didn't, sorry :( I did have the reciept which would have had the number on but I chucked it because I thought I wouldn't need it.

Posted by brccoins in United States, 25 Apr 2011 14:25

I finished the Queen Anne a couple of days ago and I'm not as impressed as others have been. Here's why:

*The cabin is super narrow at only 6 studs wide inside and open unlike every other large ship I own.
*There is no ladder to get up to cabin or the top deck.
*The whole ship just looks hollow.
*There are 8 working slots for canons but they chose to include 3.
*The anchor system was very poorly designed.
*This set should have included more rope.

On the other hand the minifigs are great and the sails are beautiful. Overall I would give this ship 3.5 stars. It's worth buying but I'm not overly impressed. I'm hoping for much more out of the pearl.

Posted by voyanui8768 in United Kingdom, 25 Apr 2011 14:32

@brccoins - if your disappointed with how TLG made a ship using 1100 peices then I wouldn't hope that a ship that supposidly includes 300 less peices will be better. But you never know....

Posted by Weakbro in United States, 25 Apr 2011 15:22

I purchased Isla de Muerta, The Mill, and Whitecap Bay from Toys R Us the other day and this is what I got:
Isla de Muerta: No cardboard to flatten the instructions and no trading card.

The Mill: No cardboard, poster, or card. What made me really angry is that my instructions were not even stapled together, I managed to put them back together though.

Whitecap Bay: In this set I got my instructions, poster, and card packaged together with the cardboard.

Maybe the UK just has better packaging people than us, or whoever packaged mine just did a bad job.

Posted by jonbuddy in United States, 25 Apr 2011 17:44

Haven't got any PotC yet, but I will eventually! I feel like I'm missing out big-time.
P.S. What's with the italics?

Posted by Captain Hale Moor in United States, 25 Apr 2011 21:15

Juno- Same here. It really is unusual when you think about it. I mean, when a seris that has a "main vehical" or "main ship" it is usualy the first thing that comes out. But with PotC, the Black Pearl or "the main ship" doesn't? Is Lego starting a new plan to save the best for last? Also, when it comes to the Black Pearl, you have to get it right. For example, the Queen Anne is not built exactly like it is in the movie because it has only been in one. But the Black Pearl has been in three. So really, when you have a seris that has an "item" that is very important to the movie, you best get it right the first time. One of the things for the Black Pearl is getting the cabin and the rest of the stern to look exactly like it does. I can already see what Lego is thinking of. A total mess for the stern. The masts are not the right size. Nor is the anchor (still mad about the anchors). I really hope that Lego makes a really good Black Pearl, not like what they did with Queen Anne.

P.S. How do you post a Bricklist?

Posted by brccoins in United States, 25 Apr 2011 22:08

I think Lego released the Queen Anne months ahead of the Pearl on purpose. If they released both at once or the Pearl first too many people would just buy the Pearl and pass on the Queen Anne. From a business stand point it makes sense to me.

Posted by f-man in United States, 25 Apr 2011 23:52

I got the Captain's Cabin and Isla de la Muerta as presents recently.
For the Captain's Cabin: I was confused by how one would fit the shelf inside the QAR, assuming that is where it goes. The figures were amazing! Jack Sparrow is far better than the other licensed figureheads (i.e. Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Dastan)
For the Isla de la Muerta: The figures were superb, although I thought it odd they included one skeleton and then one with a reversible head. I still love the extra figure. The only gripe about it is the chest with the cursed gold wasn't nearly as impressive as I had hoped, before seeing pictures. I would have made it larger.
I'm excited to buy the rest of line.

Posted by Redbullgivesuwind in United Kingdom, 26 Apr 2011 05:00

i cant say these sets thrill me at all. I bought a couple of the pirate sets and they dissapointed and these look in the same vein. The only one i would buy is london escape because of the carrages and pub would look nice in my medieval village

Posted by MinifigureMan in United Kingdom, 26 Apr 2011 07:01

Thanks CapnRex101! Also, all of your reviews were just great, they are really helping me decide on which sets to get so thank you so much!!

Posted by K-nut in United States, 26 Apr 2011 08:52

@CapnRex101, Wow! I thought my reviews were good. I really REALLY want QAR now. Keep up the god work!

Posted by ncbarrett in United States, 26 Apr 2011 10:31

Lego Product page only list 4 Jack Sparrows.

Posted by Jabba the Taff in United Kingdom, 26 Apr 2011 13:13

@avacadoturban and CapnRex101: The Argos catalogue numbers are Captain's Cabin 935/5983 (£8.39) and Isla De Muerta 935/5990 (£16.79)

Just brought Captain's Cabin to go along with the other sets I'd got at TRU. I can't quite believe how impressed I am with this set. It has to rank as one of the best small sets ever. Brilliant minifigures, excellent parts, and even a reasonably sized box. Well done, Lego! I would also suggest they should produce more sets like this. When I was in TRU dawdling round the Lego section doing sums in my head trying to optimise savings, a number of kids seemed really impressed by it and twice a parent said, 'Oh, it's only a tenner you can have that.' I know it's been mentioned on forums before about building up a playscene (a la Jabba's Palace) with the drawbacks as well but I still think they're missing a trick not going that way.

Posted by K-nut in United States, 26 Apr 2011 14:29

I have had a bad quality minifig! I sat on my Jack Sparrow figure, (Don't ask me how, long story) and the pole, if that's the right term, on the hip piece snapped. I know this is bad quality because I've sat on minifigs before, (again long story) and they haven't broken. I'm attempting super glue later today.

Posted by Legolover9531 in United States, 26 Apr 2011 16:07

Im getting tired of all this POTC news. I need Cars and HP news!

Posted by CapnRex101 in United Kingdom, 26 Apr 2011 17:17

Thanks everyone for your support, I will try my best to keep up this standard of reviews! There should be another POTC review up in a day or two and after that I will start on the three Alien Conquest sets I have (which are by the way, brilliant).

If anyone is interested I got the Alien Conquest sets from TRU in Brighton, they were not on display but I asked and someone went in the stock room and got the only three they had with no questions asked.

Posted by clowndiscus in United States, 26 Apr 2011 17:30

when will we see pictures of the black pearl and the other POTC sets for winter?

Posted by joeyzbrown in United States, 26 Apr 2011 22:23

Well i got Captain's Cabin (no cardboard or trading card) and Isla De Muerta (cardboard and trading card)
My guess is they repackaged the box so some people got different things

Posted by voyanui8768 in United Kingdom, 27 Apr 2011 01:44

@K-nut - DON'T DO THAT!!! Go on the Lego Costomer service site and recommend a free replacement.

Posted by K-nut in United States, 27 Apr 2011 15:54

@voyanui8768, too late. It didn't really work, but I am hopefully getting QAR this weekend. I might do that, though. I've never had a bad quality minifig before...
@clowndiscus, Probably in the next month or two.

Posted by starfire2 in United States, 27 Apr 2011 16:58

Ok so, I just got and built the 4192 Fountain of Youth set. My instructions/poster/trading card were NOT wrapped. Excellent set! I got an extra compass and sword in my set (smiling!) But seeing that the instructions were not wrapped prompted me to call Lego Customer Service and inquire. They said that this is a trial thing they are trying out on various sets and seeing what the feedback will be. I told him, that I liked the instructions wrapped especially in the larger sets or in sets that have a lot of pieces. So there maybe the answer as to why some people have wrapped instructions and some do not.

Posted by pop3465 in United States, 28 Apr 2011 21:14

I just got and built The Capatains Cabin 4191 Its pretty cool.
The poster is Large to.But could someone tell me what the movies in order?
I don't like the smaller boxes...Well Most of you might know my age but I have a legoland and I need those to build...I don't know about the other Kids on here but...

Posted by ladymelissa in United States, 30 Apr 2011 19:09

I just bought the Captians Cabin set at TRU in Merriville,IN and it had a collector card, but the istructions were just folded in there. The sets is really cool, especially the bottles, jacks headpiece and the globe.The Tru I went also had all of the POC sets, sadly no kingdoms or alien sets yet. :(

Posted by hanzocloud in Australia, 01 May 2011 05:37

saw most of the pirate caribean sets at TRU parramatta westfields store today in SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA.

Posted by refriedbeans in United States, 01 May 2011 13:33

I'm pretty sure that ONLY On Stranger Tides sets come with cards.

Posted by brickmatt in United States, 01 May 2011 15:08

So far I've bought Fountain of Youth and Isla de la Muerta, on the last day of the TRU buy one get one 50% off sale a week or two ago; both instructions and poster were packaged, but only the Fountain of Youth came with a card.

Posted by K-nut in United States, 01 May 2011 16:07

Just finished QAR today and have to say IT"S HUGE! Definitely one of my top 5 sets. You might be able to expect a review from me later.

Posted by brixton in Canada, 02 May 2011 12:27

I saw these sets at TRU and Mastermind today. I'm not too into the sets themselves. What grabbed my attention are the minifigures. I particularly like the cannibal minifigures from Cannibal Escape, all of the minifigures from Captain's Cabin and Black Beard's sword from the Fountain of Youth. I was looking for the Jack Sparrow polybag because that's the one set from this theme I'm interested in getting but I couldn't find it yet.

Posted by Silvertongue in Canada, 02 May 2011 14:56

Just won the QAR YES :) http://www.parkgrades.com/blog/end-april-giveaway-winner i am SO excited to get it as it looks awesome,
BTW moderators i would have posted this on the corresponding thread in the forum, but i am not permitted due to the age restrictions, so i hope it's ok that i posted it here,
P.S this was partly for anyone who was wondering whether it was a Brickseter who won the contest

Posted by Darth Vader 92 in United Kingdom, 02 May 2011 18:14

Went into TRU today to get The London Escape and all the boxes were damage so I asked if they had any more
they said No. I said can I have so money off than, they said No all in all wasn't very helpful.

Commenting has ended on this article.