Lego Pirates

Pirates is a Lego theme launched in 1989 featuring pirates, soldiers, islanders and sailing ships.

The original Pirate sets included the first Lego minifigures without the traditional head with simply two eyes and a smile; they had a variety of different features including hair, eyepatches and facial hair. Alongside the Pirates released in 1989 were the bluecoated Imperial Soldiers (based either on the French, or the British navy) who were to fight the Pirates. A comic book entitled "The Gold Medallion" was also released in that year, as well as a Ladybird Book series. In 1992, the Imperial Soldiers were replaced by the redcoat Imperial Guards. In 1996 Lego changed the entire "feel" of the Pirate line and made it much more Spanish influenced. This meant the Imperial Guards were replaced by the Imperial Armada, heavily based on the Spanish Armada. The pirates were also introduced with new faces. The Islanders, sold originally in 1994, were a sub-theme loosely based on a Polynesian concept.

In 1997, the last few Lego System Pirate sets were released. The theme's end came as a shock to fans, because the Pirates line had always been a big seller. A few Pirates sets were rerealeased in the Legends series. Pirate Lego themes have been seen in Duplo and the 4+ theme. Recently, some photos of new Pirates sets intended for release in 2009 leaked onto Internet sites such as brickshelf.com. These pics were leaked from a retailers' catalogue and not intended to be seen by the public. The Lego Group has since removed the photos which are verifiably authentic. (Despite this, they should only be regarded as preliminaries.)

et list

Set names from UK, Australia & New Zealand given in brackets.

Pirates (1989-1997, 2001-2002)

*1464-Pirate Lookout
*1481-Pirates Desert Island
*1492-Battle Cove
*1696-Pirate Lookout
*1713-Shipwrecked Pirate
*1733-Shipwrecked Pirate
*1747-Treasure Surprise
*1788-Treasure Chest
*1802-Tidy Treasure
*1871-Pirates Cannon
*1873-Pirates Treasure
*1889-Pirates Treasure Hold
*1970-Pirates Gun Cart
*6232-Skeleton Crew (Skeleton Cave)
*6234-Renegade's Raft (Pirate Castaway)
*6235-Buried Treasure
*6237-Pirates Plunder (Treasure Hunters)
*6248-Volcano Island
*6249-Pirates Ambush
*6250-Cross Bone Clipper
*6254-Rocky Reef (Treasure Island)
*6255-Pirate Comic
*6257-Castaway's Raft
*6258-Smuggler's Shanty (Pirates' Palm Hideout)
*6260-Shipwreck Island
*6261-Raft Raiders (Pirates Raft)
*6268-Renegade Runner (Seastar)
*6270-Forbidden Island
*6273-Rock Island Refuge (Port Jamaica)
*6279-Skull Island (Captain Rogers Hideout)
*6281-Pirates Perilous Pitfall
*6285-Black Seas Barracuda
*6286-Skull's Eye Schooner (The Black Skull)
*6289-Red Beard Runner (The Marauder)
*6290-Red Beard Runner (The Marauder)
*6296-Shipwreck Island (Shipwreck)
*10040-Black Seas Barracuda

Imperial Soldiers (1989-1991)

*6245-Harbor Sentry
*6259-Broadside's Brig (Governor Broadsides Prison)
*6265-Sabre Island (Governors Bastion)
*6267-Lagoon Lock-Up (Soldiers Tavern)
*6274-Caribbean Clipper (Seahawk)
*6276-Eldorado Fortress

Imperial Guards (1992-1995)

*1795-Imperial Cannon
*1872-Soldiers Forge
*6247-Bounty Boat (Admirals Launch)
*6263-Imperial Outpost (Bastion)
*6266-Cannon Cove (Black Reef)
*6271-Imperial Flagship (Sealion)
*6277-Imperial Trading Post (Port Royal)

Imperial Armada(1996-1997, 2001)

*6244-Armada Sentry (Water Outpost)
*6280-Armada Flagship (Armada Galleon)
*6291-Armada Flagship (Armada Galleon)

Islanders (1994, 2001)

*6236-King Kahuka (Chief's Throne)
*6246-Crocodile Cage (Crocodile Prison)
*6256-Islander Catamaran (Chiefs Canoe)
*6262-King Kahuka's Throne (Treasure Throne)
*6264-Forbidden Cove (Treasure Cave)
*6278-Enchanted Island
*6292-Enchanted Island

Miscellaneous

*3983-Captain Roger Key Chain
*4224454-Captain Roger Key Chain
*6204-Buccaneers
*6251-Pirate Mini Figures
*6252-Sea Mates

Non-System

Duplo Pirates

*7880-Big Pirate Ship
*7881-Ghost Ship
*7882-Shark Attack
*7883-Treasure Hunt

4+ Pirates

*7070-Catapult Raft
*7071-Treasure Island
*7072-Captain Kragg's Ship
*7073-Pirate Dock
*7074-Skull Island
*7075-Captain Redbeard's Pirate Ship
*7080-Scurvy Dog and Crocodile
*7081-Harry Hardtack and Monkey
*7082-Cannonball Jimmy and Shark
*7289-Captain Redbeard in Box (Promotional Set)
*7290-Captain Kragg in Barrel (Promotional Set)

Pirates fans

It is a running gag in the AFOL community that there were very few pirate fans in existence. [http://www.maj.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=394221] . However, since the emergence of [http://pirates.eurobricks.com Eurobricks Pirate LEGO Forum] in July 2006 it has been observed there are significantly more pirate fans than previously realised.

Official merchandise

Lego Group has also released a variety of official Pirate Lego merchandise ranging from [http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/mister-phes/pirate-jumper/001front.jpgclothing] to stick-on tattoos to board games.

Characters

* Captain Redbeard (a.k.a. Captain Roger)Captain Redbeard (a.k.a. Captain Roger) is a fictional character created by the LEGO Company for the Pirates theme of the LEGO SYSTEM.The Pirate theme, and along with it Captain Redbeard, was first introduced in 1989. Being the leader of the pirates who fight against Governor Broadside’s soldiers, Captain Redbeard is in command of two pirate ships: The Black Sea Barracuda and the Skull’s Eye Scooner.During the years of fighting, he suffered three major injuries, which caused him to wear an eye patch over his left eye, an iron hook where his left hand used to be, and a wooden right leg. Additional trademarks of Captain Roger are the skull and crossed bones on his bircone, his black frock coat and a colorful parrot.Together with his friend Will and his first mate Rummy, Captain Redbeard encounters countless adventures of swash-buckling, sailing, treasure hunting and piracy.

* Will

* Rummy

* Governor Broadside

Ladybird Books series

An official series of children's books based on the Pirate Lego theme was published by Ladybird Books in 1990.

Titles

# Will and the Gold Chase
# Captain Roger's Birthday
# Adventure on Shark Island
# The Royal Visit

The stories revolved around the misadventures of the crew of Dark Shark and their run-ins with Broadside's Imperial Guards. The stories developed a stronger characterisation for key characters and expanded the Pirate Lego universe. They also introduced a character known as Captain Foul who commanded the ship “The Barracuda”, however the captain or ship did not appear in any of the official Pirate Lego sets.

Like the comic Governor Broadside was given a family which included his Aunt Prudence and niece Camilla. The entire crew of the Dark Shark (6285/10050 Blacks Seas Barracuda) were given names, including the monkey and the parrot.

A short biographical description and illustrated portrait of each of the Dark Shark’s characters was presented on the first and second pages of each book.

Characters

Broadside's Family
*Aunt Prudence
*Camilla
*Governor Broadside

Dark Shark Crew
*Anne
*Bo'Sun Will
*Captain Roger (known as Captain Redbeard in Northern America)
*Flashfork
*First Mate Rummy
*Jimbo
*Popsy (the parrot)
*Spinoza (the monkey)

On the final two pages of each book is a map of the fictional archipelago named “The Treasure Islands” in which the Ladybird Pirate Lego universe is set.

Islands

*Black Reef Island
*Emerald Island
*Hook Nose Island
*Island of Fogs
*Island of Ruins
*Island of Skulls
*John Silver Island
*Pirate Hat Island
*Pirate’s Nest
*Sabatina
*Shark Island
*Skeleton Island

1993 World Lego Expo – Pirates Ahoy

For its 1993 World Expo, the Lego Group chose “Pirates Ahoy” as the theme. The exhibition contained various exhibits mostly depicting three dimensional sculptures of pirates made entirely from Lego, although the Pirate Galleon containing 13,280 pieces was built at System minifigure scale and was crewed by standard Pirate Lego minifigures.

Souvenir guide

A souvenir guide accompanied the exhibition and its main feature was a story which loosely tied the exhibits together in a first person narrative. The souvenir guide also provided information about each exhibit including its name, how many pieces it contained and the number of hours it took to construct.

The top-left corner of odd pages contained information and an illustrated portrait of infamous pirates from history including Blackbeard and Bartholomew Roberts. While top-right hand cornered of the even pages included a picture of that pirate’s flag.

Exhibits

Storyline

One day a long time ago I sailed the ocean blue with old Captain Roger and his Lego Pirate crew. That balmy night we gathered in the galley for a fish of hot rate stew, and sausages, and boiled cuttlefish. And I overheard two mutineers whispering ‘bout a plot to steal our precious treasure map and make off with the lot.

But the Captain caught them in the act and roared, “You’ll walk the plank and live with old King Neptune on that galleon we sank!”

We found the Island on the map and camped by a lagoon, and drank and danced till midnight to a merry pirate tune. A training class was organised for all of those aboard, where everyone learnt how to fight with musket, knife and sword.

When we were fit to go the Captain said “Look for a grave. From there we’ll find the pathway to the secret treasure cave.”

“Aye, Sir,” we said, and shook our heads, so it was a great surprise when, lo and behold. We found the gold. It was immense in size.

Evil Stevie’s Pirate Game

Evil Stevie’s Pirate Game is a game which involves elements of both role playing and tactical combat in a similar vein of the Warhammer games yet the rules have been tailored to specifically suit Pirate Lego.

External links

* [http://www.classic-pirates.com Classic-Pirates.com] LEGO Pirate forum and information resource.
* [http://www.lugnet.com/fibblesnork/lego/guide/pirates/ Fibblesnork's Lego Guide: Pirates]
* [http://www.brickset.com/search.aspx?Theme=Pirates Brickset: List of all Lego Pirate sets]
* [http://guide.lugnet.com/set/?qc=lego/system/pirate Lugnet: List of all Lego Pirate sets]