kelceycoe

Official Pirate Names (1989-1990 line)

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Believe it or not, the original Pirates almost all had actual names, including the parrot and monkey!

Here are the full names of the Pirate crew, and for good measure, the Imperial Soldiers aka settlers aka governors:

Pirates

  • Captain Roger Red Beard (nicknamed Roger in the UK and Red Beard here in the US)
  • Flashfork is the name of the pirate with a mustache and bandana and blue legs; all other are known as Pirate
  • First Mate Rummy is the guy in blue with an eyepatch and triangular "tricorne" hat; other variations are often also referred to as Pirate
  • Boatswain Will (Bo'Sun Will in UK) is actually a pirate boy, years before shorter legs were invented to show age distinctions; he wears a red bandana and has white legs
  • Anne (not Bessie) is the name of the "Pirate Lady" who wore either red or blue bandanas. The next female "Pirate" figure would be an Islander in 1994.
  • Spinoza is the name of Captain Red Beard's pet monkey
  • Popsy was the name of Captain Red Beard's parrot
  • Governor Broadside and Lt. de Martinet are the only two Imperial Soldiers with names; the other mini-figures were either Imperial Soldiers or Imperial Soldier-Sailors.

Influences

  • The Jolly Roger design was used by four pirates, captains Edward England, John Taylor, Sam Bellamy and John Martel. Despite its appearance in popular culture, plain black flags were often employed by most pirates in the 17th-18th century. The Lego version resembles the design by Edward England.
  • The Soldiers can be said to be loosely based off of the French Navy and Marines of the colonial era with their blue uniforms and fleur-de-lis of the 19th century.
  • The figurehead of the Black Seas Barricuda (Dark Shark) adorned and protruded the bow of the ship and was often female.
  • Speculative, the Pirate sets were likely influenced by Treasure Island. I say this because of the Lego World Expo show in 1988 where they displayed models representing Treasure Island. Around this time, Pirate movie and TV shows weren't overwhelmingly popular but some movies, Blackbeard's Ghost, Treasure Island, Shipwrecked Island and the NES Magic Kingdom game's depiction of Pirates of the Caribbean ride helped many of us get excited about these sets. (Disney's "Robin Hood" led me to buy a lot of the Forest Men sets since they were really unlicensed Robin Hood sets). Restaurants like Long John Silvers and Captain D's likely also helped many of us get excited about this theme especially since we could get free pirate hats (still can at LJS) and they even had toys/premium promo items, not to mention the cereal "Cap'N'Crunch."
  • There's no shred of evidence to who Captain Red Beard is based, but since Lego loves to blend different influences together (Spooky Girl and Haunted House, hello!) but the poster at the end of this thread makes a great point:
Edited by kelceycoe

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Adding to this...

  • Leader of the Imperial Guard (Red Coats) was Admiral Woodhouse.
  • Leader of the Indigo Islanders was King Kahuka.
  • Captain Ironhook appeared as rival captain in 1993.
  • Governor Broadside's niece is named Camilla.  The character debuted in the comic 6255 The Golden Medallion but didn't receive a minifigure until 10210 Imperial Flagship. Although there is some conjecture resulting from the similar minifigure in the 2009 set, 6243 Brickbeard's Bounty which some claim is the Admiral's daughter, however, the LEGO Battles video game also names this figure as "Camilla".
  • The Governor minifigure appearing in the 2015 set 70412 Soldiers Fort is not Broadside!  The LEGO website gave this figure's name as "Governor Hacienda", although this webpage has been removed, Brickpedia has a page on the figure which retains the information that was available on LEGO.com.

Ok, maybe that information doesn't strictly adhere to the "(1989-1990 line)" aspect of the topic title but it's hardly worth creating a new topic for that information.

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On 6/1/2019 at 9:06 PM, Mister Phes said:

Governor Broadside's niece is named Camilla.  The character debuted in the comic 6255 The Golden Medallion but didn't receive a minifigure until 10210 Imperial Flagship. Although there is some conjecture resulting from the similar minifigure in the 2009 set, 6243 Brickbeard's Bounty which some claim is the Admiral's daughter, however, the LEGO Battles video game also names this figure as "Camilla".

BTW, this is a bit of an aside, but as far as Camilla in LEGO Battles goes...

A few years back, I came across this demo reel on Vimeo from a guy named Ty who worked on the LEGO Battles games. About 22 seconds in, there's a brief animation of two knights fighting that didn't appear in either LEGO Battles or LEGO Battles: Ninjago, so I emailed him about it out of curiosity. Turns out LEGO Battles: Ninjago started as a direct sequel to LEGO Battles, and the clip with the knights was an art test for what the cutscenes could look like. Then as development continued, the direction soon shifted to a mostly Ninjago focused game - but anyway...

I also asked about all the 80s/90s stuff in the game, what they had for reference material - turns out I couldn't have asked a better person; he was the resident LEGO expert on the development team, loves Bricklink and has a big collection from when he was a kid, and was glad folks picked up on all the 80s/90s references. They tried to pack in as many as possible, especially since they were making an RTS and needed more characters/vehicles/etc for units than what LEGO currently had on the market. Chances are, naming that character Camilla was probably his idea. I remember being really surprised when I saw her listed on the game's website back in 2009 - "wait, somebody remembered that old comic??", haha.

Edited by jamesster

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3 hours ago, jamesster said:

BTW, this is a bit of an aside, but as far as Camilla in LEGO Battles goes...  A few years back, I came across this demo reel on Vimeo from a guy named Ty who worked on the LEGO Battles games.

Thanks for sharing that interesting tidbit of information - although I'll admit I was too busy looking out for the pirate scenes. :pir-grin:

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That's awesome information, thanks for finding that out! Explains why the minifigure doesn't look anything like the comic; since it wasn't designed with her in mind.

TC

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3 hours ago, TalonCard said:

That's awesome information, thanks for finding that out! Explains why the minifigure doesn't look anything like the comic; since it wasn't designed with her in mind.

TC

I think you're referring to the Anne figurine in the 1989-1991 sets since Camille (the governor's daughter) never made it in minifigure form, pretty much because yellow torsos would have meant nudity is my assumption since the skin tone was yellow back then.

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9 minutes ago, kelceycoe said:

I think you're referring to the Anne figurine in the 1989-1991.

This is why I post photos so there isn't any confusion as to who or what's being referred to. :pir-classic:

But this is the minifigure which is the Anne character is based on, yeah?

Lego-PIRATE-FEMALE-Minifigure-With-Blue-Bandana-Vintage-_1.jpg

 

 

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Ah, sorry, I meant that the virtual minifigure in the video game LEGO Battles called Camilla doesn't look much like the Camilla from the comic book, though they seem to be the main character. I don't think she's an exact match for either of the physical female minifigures in the Brick Bounty or Imperial Flagship, but she does appear to be in approximately the same style. From what Jamesster has said, it sounds like the character design was created first (based on the then-current sets) and then the name from the old Pirate comic was added retroactively.

(I've also personally associated the female minifigure from the Imperial Flagship with the LEGO Battles Camilla for so long that I'd completely forgotten that was my own assumption and not based on any facts.)

TC

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Oh... and why do people think Captain Ironhook and Captain Roger/Red Beard are two different captains? If you look at Bricks N pieces, Spring 1994, the pirate captain is called Captain Roger again, so when they named him Ironhook I thought maybe it was a nickname he had acquired by, perhaps, ruling his pirates crew "with an iron fist," or in this case, "with an iron hook." (I'm in the US not the UK where BNP was distributed BTW). In case anyone is confused by what I mean by my "rule with an iron fist" expression, it means Captain Roger was very strict and mean and to the point.

The US magazine with Islanders on the cover also refers to him as Captain Red Beard (naming his ship Renegade Runner) but he is dressed in black this time and not the red torn shirt when they called him Captain Roger in BNP.

 

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10 minutes ago, TalonCard said:

Ah, sorry, I meant that the virtual minifigure in the video game LEGO Battles called Camilla doesn't look much like the Camilla from the comic book,

Where can we find a decent image of the LEGO Battles version of Camilla?

The Golden Medallion comic version of Camilla is blonde...

6255-1-02-Governor+Camilla+Soldiers.jpg

 

Meanwhile, the minifigure released in Brickbeard's Bounty during 2009 is dark haired.

LEGO - Admiral's_Daughter.jpg

Which corresponds more to the character design in LEGO Battles (I can only find a headshot in Google Images)

Camilla.png

However, the minifigure upon which this design is based is apparently the Admiral's Daughter according to the LEGO Wikis, rather than Broadside's niece.

 

 

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14 minutes ago, kelceycoe said:

Oh... and why do people think Captain Ironhook and Captain Roger/Red Beard are two different captains? If you look at Bricks N pieces, Spring 1994, the pirate captain is called Captain Roger again, so when they named him Ironhook I thought maybe it was a nickname he had acquired by, perhaps, ruling his pirates crew "with an iron fist," or in this case, "with an iron hook." (I'm in the US not the UK where BNP was distributed BTW). In case anyone is confused by what I mean by my "rule with an iron fist" expression, it means Captain Roger was very strict and mean and to the point.

The US magazine with Islanders on the cover also refers to him as Captain Red Beard (naming his ship Renegade Runner) but he is dressed in black this time and not the red torn shirt when they called him Captain Roger in BNP.

 

Off the top of my head, both Captain Redbeard and Ironhook appear simultaneously as distinct characters in at least one of the pirates audio dramas, and in the Time Cruisers comics (the specific part I'm thinking of - and a translated English version; note his German name doesn't directly translate to the English name though... It translate to Blackbeard, despite his beard not being black, haha).

Edited by jamesster

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21 minutes ago, kelceycoe said:

Oh... and why do people think Captain Ironhook and Captain Roger/Red Beard are two different captains?

It might have something to do with 6289 Red Beard Runner... Check out the crew and you'll observe there is a minifigure with the Ironhook torso but sans the pegleg.

6175060308_fe9ecc659c_b.jpg

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Yea... only evidence I gather myself honestly seems to be either German audio dramas or the Japanese video depicting them fighting each other.

BUT - in both the US and UK in the club magazines they are the same person, which leads me to believe it was a major transliteration of several translations of languages among many countries

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21 minutes ago, kelceycoe said:

Yea... only evidence I gather myself honestly seems to be either German audio dramas or the Japanese video depicting them fighting each other

You mean this TV commercial?

21 minutes ago, kelceycoe said:

BUT - in both the US and UK in the club magazines they are the same person, which leads me to believe it was a major transliteration of several translations of languages among many countries

The club magazines aren't fresh in mind - how are they the same person in these Club Magazines?

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Because in each magazine the pirate captain, no matter if he's in red torn clothes or his black garb, is referred to his one name for that country: Captain Roger (UK) or Captain Red Beard (US).

P.S. The mags are at my site.

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20 minutes ago, kelceycoe said:

P.S. The mags are at my site.

I gathered that, but finding what you're referring to is a bit of a challenge.  Having to download zip files does not make for a good user experience!

Anyway, since I'm dedicated I went the magazine section of your website and downloaded the zip for summer 89 magazine but Ironhook is not present.

So exactly which magazine am I supposed to be looking at?

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18 minutes ago, kelceycoe said:

The Islander ones because that's when the idea of IronHook came about, go here because they're hidden in a secret section of my site (a throwback to the 1990s lol):

Thank you for providing the direct links...  but what's the point of instructing people to find the information on your site if the information is hidden?

I went the magazine section and all I could find was the 1989 Bricks 'n Pieces magazines

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3 hours ago, kelceycoe said:

The Islander ones because that's when the idea of IronHook came about, go here because they're hidden in a secret section of my site (a throwback to the 1990s lol): 

http://www.miniland.nl/LEGOclub/lego mania magazine winter 1994.htm

then http://www.miniland.nl/LEGOclub/Bricks en pieces spring 1994.htm

This is your site? Thank you SO much for archiving these materials! I have been referring to this site's magazine archive for YEARS whenever I wanted to look up Mania Magazines from back then! Unfortunately, since I was a kid when those magazines came out, a lot of mine from back then are lost or torn up. So being able to browse them online (as well as magazines from before my time and magazines from countries other than mine) is a GODSEND for researching themes that came out back before LEGO theme backstories and supporting media were reliably available online.

Something to keep in mind is that a lot of the marketing back then (including set names) was handled by the marketing managers for each individual reason, rather than centralized as things tended to be from the 2000s onward. Even as recently as the late 90s, there were huge discrepancies between story details even in countries that share the same language. In the Insectoids theme, for example, American marketing materials identified the female minifigure "Gypsy Moth" as their leader. But the UK 1998 catalog identified the same minifigure merely as "Insector 2, a female member of the reconnaissance crew". The same catalog reuses the name "Aquanauts" to refer to the Aquazone faction identified as "Hydronauts" in American catalogs. It's possible that the identification of Redbeard/Roger and Ironhook as different captains originated with some similar discrepancy.

EDIT: Also, just noticed some names on this site that haven't been brought up in this thread — http://www.miniland.nl/LEGOclub/Bricks en pieces spring 1994.htm gives King Kahuka's UK localized name as Chief Quextil, and http://www.miniland.nl/LEGOclub/Bricks en pieces may june 1996.htm lists the green-clad Imperial Armada figure as Captain Valiant and the armored, red-clad Imperial Armada figure as Sergeant Speedy.

EDIT 2: Also, http://www.miniland.nl/LEGOclub/lego mania magazine eng.htm lists Spinoza and Popsy's US localized names as Coco and Squawks.

Edited by Aanchir

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5 hours ago, kelceycoe said:

Yea... only evidence I gather myself honestly seems to be either German audio dramas or the Japanese video depicting them fighting each other.

BUT - in both the US and UK in the club magazines they are the same person, which leads me to believe it was a major transliteration of several translations of languages among many countries

Linked to this topic last night while chatting with a friend, who mentioned:

Quote

interesting that person says ironhook is called Roger in a 94 bricks n pieces... an older one I have properly calls him ironhook (and introduces him as an old friend of Roger because there can never be any consistency lol)

I don't have any scans on hand of whatever's being referred to though/don't have time at the moment to go digging around for it.

Edited by jamesster

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6 hours ago, Aanchir said:

This is your site?

No my site is in my signature. That's a Netherlands site.

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23 minutes ago, kelceycoe said:

No my site is in my signature. That's a Netherlands site (www.miniland.nl).

Ok, now I'm confused! :pir_wacko:

Earlier you said:

9 hours ago, kelceycoe said:

Because in each magazine the pirate captain, no matter if he's in red torn clothes or his black garb, is referred to his one name for that country: Captain Roger (UK) or Captain Red Beard (US).   P.S. The mags are at my site. 

So I went to your site and couldn't find the magazines featuring Roger/Ironhook which prompted you to post links to magazines on the Netherlands site.

Why did you claim the magazines were on your website when they are on the Netherlands website?

 

 

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4 hours ago, jamesster said:

Linked to this topic last night while chatting with a friend, who mentioned:

Quote

interesting that person says ironhook is called Roger in a 94 bricks n pieces... an older one I have properly calls him ironhook (and introduces him as an old friend of Roger because there can never be any consistency lol)

I don't have any scans on hand of whatever's being referred to though/don't have time at the moment to go digging around for it.

im the friend! here's what i was referring to. I would also note that that 94 Bricks and Pieces doesnt seem to expressly refer to the ironhook fig as roger - roger is the pirate they're talking about in the text but they dont expressly say hes the one pictured on the page. that's definitely an instance where there could have been miscommunication between the writer and the person handling page art/layout. It makes sense ironhook would be in the art since he features in the islanders sets, but roger is in the commercial so the writer may have been working off of that (or related materials).

ive had minifig names on the mind lately so in case it is of interest, here's my table for pirate names by region. the ones in red are comic-only (no minifig).

Edited by Tazakk

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1 hour ago, Mister Phes said:

Ok, now I'm confused! :pir_wacko:

Earlier you said:

So I went to your site and couldn't find the magazines featuring Roger/Ironhook which prompted you to post links to magazines on the Netherlands site.

Why did you claim the magazines were on your website when they are on the Netherlands website?

 

 

Because the mags of the Islanders issue are at a secret section on my site, the wskel.com/sb/pirates is my site. The miniland site is a Netherlands site and not mine. But to see the magazines I have in secret you gotta go all the way to the right frame, scroll down and click the treasure chest. You will find a lot of non-pirate related stuff I like from Lego as well.

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