Redbeard Biography

[Mister Phes]

On 12/7/2022 at 1:54 AM, PxChris said:

I believe in the videos he says that it'll be an eight part series.

Right you are! I appear to be somewhat behind as I've only just finished watching the second episode.

It has been suggested that this is interned to be Captain Foul, although that might be somewhat of a stretch.

[PxChris]

That association does appear to be a bit of a stretch to me.

[TalonCard]

I think the comparison mainly comes from the fact that the Pirate Captain is one of the few pirate minifigures (as in not Imperial) to wear a red coat with a shoulder belt, which is Foul's primary color in all of his appearances. I didn't notice until Phes posted the pictures for comparison, but it seems like the mustache, eyebrows, and even the missing tooth are also a pretty close match.

I think the comparison falls short when you take into account the details of each character; Foul is a pretty well established pirate who's held onto his ship for at least 15 years, he's successful in most of his piratical endeavors except when Redberd's crew outsmarts him, etc. The Pirate Captain may seem like a generic character, but his very lack of a name is part of his character; he got in late in the pirate game and all the good names were taken. He's unlucky and most of his ships tend to sink, etc.

My vote for tying Foul to an established Pirate minifigure would be this guy from Pirates Perilous Pitfall, having lost his ship and leg to Redbeard and Will at some point after his last appearance. But I'm sure it's only a matter of time until LEGO Legacy: Heroes Unboxed gives him a completely different identity.  (Though Gameloft, if you're listening, you should definitely name him Captain Foul!  )

[Mister Phes]

On 12/5/2022 at 1:27 PM, TalonCard said:

Episode III is now live! Redbeard begins his return to notoriety in the Tropical Sea. We've finally reached the time period with the most full-length stories, and thanks to the fantastic Golden Medallion restoration and the legendary audio drama translations here on the forum, there was a lot of great material to work with.

I finally got around to watching Episode III...

What immediately grabbed my attention was the song in beginning - how did this come about? Or what inspired those performers to sing about LEGO Pirates of all things?

[TalonCard]

The YouTube content that I enjoyed the most at the time I was planning this series were channels like Defunctland, which covers things like old Disney theme park attractions and shows. Often, they'll choose a different intro/style for each episode, sometimes with original music. I wanted to try and do that here and push myself a little with each subsequent intro. I also wanted to bring a little bit of existing Pirate lore to life each time. So the first episode has a dramatic reading of the first text to mention Redbeard as a character, the second is in the style of a documentary with an era-appropriate reading, the fourth will be--well, you'll see, etc.

I knew I wanted to do at least one "sea shanty" style LEGO Pirate song for an intro, and I thought it would be fun to pay tribute to the winning poem from an old LEGO magazine, which does a nice job of presenting all the main original pirate characters with accurate character details. My wife was kind enough to sing the verses (she's a really excellent singer), thus creating the overall melody, and ludo_bisconti on Fiverr provided the orchestration, instruments, and mix after it became apparent that neither of us would have the time to do it ourselves.

Definitely learned a lot here, not the least of which is to give myself more time for anything involving original music. I'm still learning how to properly record vocals, and my final mix included elements from both bisconti's mix and my wife's raw vocals to achieve the overall effect that I wanted. However, in doing so, I threw off the overall rhythm of the piece--I'm not musically inclined myself. 

In addition to singing, my wife demonstrated her vocal range by doing a very convincing parrot impression around 9:47 and 15:09, which makes me laugh every time. 

[Mister Phes]

5 hours ago, TalonCard said:

Definitely learned a lot here [...] off the overall rhythm of the piece--I'm not musically inclined myself. 

Well, I'm certainly impressed!

It's like you've tracked down an authentic folk band to put a song together - it almost demonstrates vast dedication to your production!

[PxChris]

8 hours ago, TalonCard said:

I knew I wanted to do at least one "sea shanty" style LEGO Pirate song for an intro, and I thought it would be fun to pay tribute to the winning poem from an old LEGO magazine, which does a nice job of presenting all the main original pirate characters with accurate character details. My wife was kind enough to sing the verses (she's a really excellent singer), thus creating the overall melody, and ludo_bisconti on Fiverr provided the orchestration, instruments, and mix after it became apparent that neither of us would have the time to do it ourselves.

Definitely learned a lot here, not the least of which is to give myself more time for anything involving original music. I'm still learning how to properly record vocals, and my final mix included elements from both bisconti's mix and my wife's raw vocals to achieve the overall effect that I wanted. However, in doing so, I threw off the overall rhythm of the piece--I'm not musically inclined myself. 

In addition to singing, my wife demonstrated her vocal range by doing a very convincing parrot impression around 9:47 and 15:09, which makes me laugh every time. 

This was certainly a great addition to the video! Congratulate your wife on behalf of us for her fantastic job with the song.

I hadn't really noticed that poem before in my browsing through old Bricks n' Pieces magazines, but I can now see what a perfect inspiration for a song it was.

[TalonCard]

It took a while to get back to it, but Episode IV is finally here! This video covers the remainder of the original audio dramas, the cancelled sequel comic, and the 1992 mall tour, none of which would have been possible without their rediscovery, archiving, and translation by the fine members of this and other fan forums. 

[CvS]

Great!!

Am I missing something, or are you saying in your video that Redbeard is a Spaniard?

Nice to see the pictures of the cabinets included 

Edited September 29, 2023 by CvS

[TalonCard]

Redbeard proudly declared that his ancestors were from Spain in the third German Time Cruisers audio drama, so he's Spanish by heritage if not by birth. I wanted to reference that. (It didn't actually come up in the Golden Ship audio drama since that was written years before and the continuity between the three German audio drama series in which Redbeard appears is pretty loose. But I try to smooth over the differences in telling Redbeard's full life story.)

This was probably a reference to the fact that Redbeard and his fellow pirates were pursuing the Spanish treasure of their ancestors in some versions of the LEGO pirate story, mostly on the American catalogs and set boxes, but also including Redbeard's grandfather in particular in the Klick Magazine Timebuster comics.

The cabinet pictures were a great addition, thank you for sharing. And great timing too; I was almost finished with the video when you posted them! :)

Edited September 29, 2023 by TalonCard

[CvS]

Ah, ok! Thanks for the info!
Haven't gotten around to watching all your episodes yet. Or reading all the Lady Bird books etc.

I was confused because Redbeard sounds really British in the LEGO commercials.

[TalonCard]

Episode V is up; davisonspeaking returns to narrate some of the text from the American set boxes in the intro! We're slowly but surely moving out of the bluecoats era and into the redcoats era... 

[Marooned Marin]

Excellent as before. I really enjoy your awesome work and history lessons.

[kelceycoe]

I love the whole concept and attention to detail and sources, but I find it impossible to see the relation with Captain Iron Hook to Jake the Snake Blake, especially since it was just slipped in there and I followed up on the sources you cite and nowhere does anything ever ties those two as one minifigure lol. While I disagree with American Lego for withholding the name Iron Hook from us Americans and confusing our stuff for many years since I was a child, I am thankful they later gave a name to that Pirate that resembled Captain Iron Hook but wasn't, even if it were located in one of the most awkward places to name-drop a new Pirate.

[TalonCard]

Thank you for watching! I'm glad you liked the concept.

There are some inferences and assumptions, especially in these older videos, that turned out to be incorrect. For Ironhook specifically I didn't recall at first how direct the connection was between the minifigure that was introduced in 1992 and the one in the 1996 Red Beard Runner set. (It's been a long time since I made that video!) But I've since gone back and checked the source (The LEGO Book 2009; the 2018 edition says the same thing with slightly different text), and I'll stand by this one; it's made clear that the book treats both minifigures as the same character.

"The second LEGO Pirates captain was Captain Ironhook, introduced in 1992 and shown in command of the Renegade Runner in 1993 (6268). Not as stylishly dressed as Captains Redbeard or Brickbeard, the tattered Ironhook battled the Royal Guards and Islanders and occasionally gained or lost a peg-leg. He was last seen aboard 1996's Red Beard Runner (6289)."
2009 Edition scan
2018 Edition scan

The Mania Magazine "Jake Blake" name isn't mentioned in the book, but since he probably wasn't born with the name "Ironhook" it's not a huge deal, and easier to reconcile than all the other alternate LEGO character names. Now, I know not everyone takes the DK books at face value for various reasons, but I do like to try to scour and collect every scrap of lore I can. In this case, it wasn't something I came up with but something I sourced from an official LEGO Book.

The random magazine page was certainly an awkward place to put a new pirate name! Most of the Redbeard Runner crew got names in that magazine, similarly hidden across the pages. This approach wasn't super typical for the time; most minifigures received mini bios and introductions in the first two pages of the magazine. (That being said, they didn't usually have that many named characters in one issue, so it was still a win for young pirate fans. :) )

[kelceycoe]

The Lego Book was outsourced and contained many errors. The Lego Club Magazines were more official than anything DK publishes, especially since they just publish several other topics.

If you look at the Lego Mania Magazine, on page 10 he is clearly named Jake the Snake Blake. Then if you read the comic on page 13, he appears and even speaks:

http://www.miniland.nl/LEGOclub/lego mania magazine mar apr 1996.htm

Clearly, and this is when analytical skills come to play, at no time was this minifigure supposed to be Captain Iron Hook. The Lego Group decided to cheaply rehash existing parts and make "another distinct minifigure" just as they had done in the 1989 Comic with Flashfork / First Mate Rummy and having Pirates that resembled them (I believe the wench even got a different color bandana herself and was meant to be another Pirate).

As a historian I can only treat The Lego Book as entertainment only and by no means as an official book of facts. It leaves out so much. If anything it relies too much on hasty generalizations and despite several errors having already been reported, I cannot in good faith consider that book or any edition as truthful.

It's very weird that The Lego Group struggled with Captain Iron Hook and Red Beard's identity. In the American commercial, he is ignored and Captain Red Beard attacks the Islanders yet he appears in so set with any Islander. In one of our magazines, Captain Red Beard is said to command the Renegade Runner. I found this same mistake in a 1993 Bricks N Pieces magazine you host on your flikr - clearly The Lego Group did a test run with kids here in America and they all thought these were supposed to be the same characters so here in America he was never named yet even where he had his own name and identity in Europe even their own writers and editors got confused.

[TalonCard]

Okay, cool.

[kelceycoe]

3 hours ago, TalonCard said:

Okay, cool.

Never mind, found them!

Edited September 13 by kelceycoe