16 replies to this topic

[TalonCard]

Hey everyone!

During my YouTube wanderings I came across a Classic LEGO Pirate commercial I had never seen before.  It features a sea battle between the Caribbean Clipper and the Black Seas Barracuda:



It's a pretty epic battle, and the stop motion and sound effects are well done.  Two interesting details are the LEGO flag replacing the smaller pirate flag on the Barracuda and the Will figure from the comic/Lagoon Lock-Up.  The description says it's from 1990, and it's probably from Japan or China, but I'm not sure which.  Anybody remember this?

This was part of a 90's trend of other countries getting epic LEGO commercials, full of action and adventure, while we in the US had...rapping.



Sigh.




TC

Edited by TalonCard, 02 December 2011 - 12:42 AM.

[eliminator]

I think the first one is great. I have both those ships!

[Skipper]

Thanks for sharing these!

A question for you old timers ( ), in the first Pirate's line did you sympathize with the pirates or imperials? Because in the newer line I felt like the Imperials were the good guys, but in the video they were getting owned.
I'm pretty sure the first is Japanese, in general Chinese letters won't be so curved. For a moment after watching the second, I was ashamed to be a LEGO fan. Seriously.

[Hiawatha]

I agree with Skipper, it is Japanese.

This is really cool and thanks for sharing. The stop motion was incredible.

[Hikaro Takayama]

Yeah, that Japanese LEGO Pirates commercial is definitely epic... WAY better than the US one, IMO.

[TalonCard]

Skipper, on 02 December 2011 - 01:13 AM, said:

A question for you old timers ( ), in the first Pirate's line did you sympathize with the pirates or imperials?

That's a good question.  Obviously, the biggest draw for most kids would be the pirates, but encouraging kids to side with criminals isn't exactly a good idea.  The early official storylines therefore tried to introduce a certain degree of ambiguity to the theme.  The boxes stated that the Imperials were digging up treasure belonging to the pirate's ancestors, giving the pirates motivation to attack in order to reclaim what was arguably their rightful property.  The comic showed the pirates engaging in actual piracy, but also portrayed the Governor as corrupt and self-serving, making both sides seem equally bad.

Later this was forgotten in favor of casting the pirates as bad guys, with the god-like LEGO Maniac often interceding on the soldier's behalf.  And nowadays, of course, every LEGO theme makes it absolutely clear who are the good guys and who are the bad guys, which is arguably a less sophisticated and open-ended approach.

As for myself personally, I didn't buy the idea that the pirates had any claim to the treasure.  I knew they were the bad guys.  But I still took their side, because they were awesome.  

TC

Edited by TalonCard, 02 December 2011 - 04:08 AM.

[Hikaro Takayama]

Well, my brother and I kind of took a third option:  The Pirates theme came out after our first major LEGO war against the fascist forces of the evil oppressor, King George Bush I, who siezed control of the US government and was taxing everyone to death, and before the invasion by the Galactic Empire (yes, we were making Star Wars MOCs a good 10 years before LEGO came out with the official stuff).  Basically, the pirates were a rogue's gallery of all the most famous pirates in popular fiction, namely Captain James Hook (from "Peter Pan"), Captain Long John Silver (from Treasure Island) and Captain One-Eyed Willy (from "The Goonies") all lead by Captain Redbeard (Mr. Smee of Peter Pan fame was in the mix as well, but as the Boatswain, as he was in Peter Pan), and were raiding up and down the coast of the recently-restored USA.  Our Heroes (i.e. my brother and I), with the help of Governor Broadside and his bluecoats, managed to eventually bring the Pirates to heel.  Once we finally had captured them all, due to the fact that they hadn't committed any other crimes, they were given the choice of either swearing an oath of fealty to the US Constitution and being re-organized into a proper Navy, or getting one chance to see if they could stand on air with a noose around their necks... Needless to say, they chose the first option.

As a result, the US Navy in our LEGO timeline, as well as its various successor states (the latest of which is the Federal Republic of America) have used the Jolly Roger as the Naval Ensign (Of course, the NATIONAL ensign is flown on the yardarm, which immediately distinguishes Federal Navy ships from your run of the mill pirates, that and the fact that Federal Navy ships don't look like floating junk heaps).

So, long story short, my brother and I (although he no longer messes around with LEGO) have always had the philosophy of "screw the official story: we'll do what we want!"

[Ratshot]

I got a good laught out of the second video, thanks for posting these.

[Damaximus]

Damn, nostalgy to when I was to young to buy those stuff myself and my parents too stupid to don't buy them :(

2nd video:
as lifelong Legofan: ashaming :(
as lifelong hiphopfan: makes me think about the good 90ties :)

[laka]

Hehehe... Funny commercials. Thanks for posting.

The first one is definately Japanese. Just before the woman's voice says LEGO at the end of the commercial, I'm pretty sure the man's voice says "Seahawk".

To me, it's not about who's good or who's bad. Or what is morally correct. Pirates, LEGO as well as in popular culture, is about telling a story of an adventure. But of course, I had my favourites: The soldiers / blue coats.

[TalonCard]

laka, on 02 December 2011 - 02:59 PM, said:

The first one is definately Japanese. Just before the woman's voice says LEGO at the end of the commercial, I'm pretty sure the man's voice says "Seahawk".

Thanks for catching that.  The Caribbean Clipper was known as the Seahawk elsewhere, so that makes sense.

Hikaro Takayama, on 02 December 2011 - 03:40 AM, said:

Yeah, that Japanese LEGO Pirates commercial is definitely epic... WAY better than the US one, IMO.

LEGO eliminated the rapping from later ads, which was nice...



But it still didn't hold a candle to the overseas ad...



So...on the one hand we have a fully-realized LEGO Pirates world...on the other hand we have...a kid playing with toys.  What the heck, LEGO?  

TC

[De Sandman]

Cool to see that nostalgia, i was a little kid at that time, i did get both of the ship from my parents, now i think about it, it could as wel be 1991 that i got those
It's also cool to see other Lego commercials, i love the space commercials from 1979.

[badboytje88]

Aaaah good times!

[Big Cam]

All these videos simply make me smile and then I'm sad because I remember the days when LEGO made awesome commercials that made you really want their product.

Thank goodness for youtube.

[InkTank]

I think one of the issues is that US commercials can't do stop motion or show the toys in action on their own anymore (since the 50s?). Too many sad American kids would be sitting around waiting for their Lego pirates to start moving around and talking.

Brings back great memories though.

[Admiral Benbow]

I remember seeing one of these commercials. i hated the clothes they wore though, they look nothing like what pirates might have wore.

[Captain Fortune]

Am I de only one who find the Islanders Commercial really awesome? Runnig through the palms forest, the caves... And look at the landscapes... OMG!