How did you become a Pirate LEGO Fanatic?

[Mister Phes]

How did you become a Pirate LEGO Fanatic?

See also What was your first pirate set?

When I was young laddie I always went to my granny's place during the school break the week before Christmas - mummy and daddy were working all day you see so granny kept an eye on me. But Granny had bought things for my amusement - small town and space sets (this was before pirates had been released). They were very entertaining but I never felt compelled to own my own LEGO.

A few years later I began spending the occassional weekend at my cousin's place and had a 6267 Lagoon Lockup which I played with non stop - well, when we were playing his Amiga 500 (that used to take up a lot of our time back then). He didn't have any other pirate sets so mini-figures from the some castle set (I can't which one) used to come over and visit but they just didn't appeal to me as much.

A couple of years later I was in K Mart... I'm not sure why I was in the LEGO section because I was more interested in Transformers and Monsters In My Pocket at the time. But somehow I'd stumbled it, and this is what caught my attention...

6235 Buried Treasure

Such a simple set! Yet the little man holding the shovel next to a treasure chest with a monkey hanging off it was so inspiring. My imagination ran wild! The past feelings of playing with the Lagoon Lockup came flooding back! I was instantly hooked! It was only $3.00 so I bought it right there and then. Well actually I had to go to the checkout first... But that started an obsession...

This was around about September 1992 so pirates were a recent theme and there was only a limited number of sets available. On my subsequent visits to toy stores I began purchasing other small sets including 1464 Pirate Lookout and 6234 Renegade's Raft but this weren't big enough. Now that I had all the small sets I had no choice but to get larger ones, so I began saving my pennies. Next I got 6259 Broadside's Brig (I still have the receipt), then a month or two later 6260 Shipwreck Island and shortly after, 6258 Smuggler's Shanty.

That Pagan Festival (or is that Christmas?) was approaching so I managed to acquire a 6247 Bounty Boat on the lead up to it. Upon that event I received

6270 Forbidden Island, 6265 Sabre Island, 6254 Pirate Mini-figures, another 6247 Bounty Boat (which seemed annoying at the time but now looking back I wish I kept it MISB - but kids don't do that!), and my Granny got me my very own 6267 Lagoon Lockup. Plus I also got a 6660 Hook & Haul Wrecker which is obviously far removed from pirates however I enjoyed it immensely all the same.

I dreamed of owning the ships or a 6273 Rock Island Refuge or 6276 Eldorado Fortress but could never afford them. Pirates was clearly my favourite theme but if money weren't an issue I would have branched out into Town, Castle and Space as well. I loved the particular style LEGO approached sets with. It was like they captured every classic cliche and stereotyped aspect of the genre then compressed it in the sets. I loved it and still do, I think modern sets lack this which removes their magic.

6237 Pirates' Plunder was the first small pirate set available for 1993 which I snapped up as soon as it hit the selves. The LEGO World Expo with a pirate theme was announced not long after and I'd never been more excited! After experiencing it, it was like pirate LEGO heaven! And I remember all the pirate sets available at the store at the end - if only something like that would happen these days! I think all I could afford was a 6252 Sea Mates but I remember some older people (like 16 to 18) looking at a Caribbean Clipper and thinking why would someone that old be interested in LEGO? And I do remember those Caribbean Clippers in pristine condition sitting on the shelves... Ahhhhh the memories!

Sadly 6252 Sea Mates was also the pirate set I'd buy for a while. For some reason that I don't recall I became temporarily fascinated with Ice Planet 2002 and acquired a 6834 Celestial Sled. This led to my granny giving me 6898: Ice-Sat V for my birthday, she was going to get me a 6973 Deep Freeze Defender since it was on sale but unfortunately it was out of stock. It seemed my interest for the pirates had waned. Maybe I just needed a temporary break which I do from time to time, but it would seem this break wasn't temporary... Things like wenches and computer games began completely stealing the spot light. Oh how foolish I was back then!

I still thought about Pirate LEGO even though I wasn't buying or playing with it. I remember day dreaming about how interesting it would be if a sub-theme of natives was introduced. Maybe LEGO read my mind because the very next year the Indigo Islanders came along. I remember my other cousin had a 6256 Islander Catamaran but it didn't really appeal to me.

Years went by and I payed no attention to Pirate LEGO whatsoever. I had no idea what was going on with the theme or that it had be stopped in 1997. In around 2000 I visited my friend the Unholy Lama (What the Unholy Lama thinks of modern LEGO thread and discovered he'd been hoarding LEGO catalogs since the mid 80's. Being curious I decided I'd look through and reminisce about my former interest. I began looking at them chronologically and worked my way through 1989 onwards. This was the first time I'd ever set my eyes on sets like 6263 Imperial Outpost or 6291 Armada Flagship.

Unfortunately he didn't have the 1997 catalog so I moved on to the 1998 and flipped through it. When I reached the end I wonder how could I have possibly missed the Pirates section? So I flipped through it again. How could I miss them twice? So I flipped through it a third time and then a realisation dawned upon me - THERE WAS NO MORE PIRATES!!! I instantly felt saddened, almost depressed! Never mind that I hadn't paid much attention to the theme in 7 years, the fact that it was no more disturbed me!

A couple more years passed and I'd discovered eBay. Occasionally I'd do a search for Pirate LEGO and look at the auctions to do a bit more reminiscing. One day I could bare it no longer and just had to buy one of the sets. The lucky set was 6249 Pirates Ambush which I'd never seen before since The Unholy Lama lacked the 1997 catalog and I hadn't discovered websites like LugNET yet.

Once again my interest for pirates was sparked and this time I had a much bigger budget, however not so big I could branch out into other themes. I decided it was my quest to get all the SYSTEM Pirate sets that ever was! A bit over 3 years later and I've just about completed that quest. A couple more promotional sets only available in the USA and I'll have the lot.

[Sting]

Fascinating.

It is a strange tale indeed. I love Pirate Lego but I love some other themes alot too... I have never seen someone so devoted to only one theme.

[Athos]

I was already a huge Lego Maniac when the pirates came out, but I remember there being a special offer, in the Lego Club Magazine, to get that set and the Harbor Sentry early. So my parents got it for me (and it came with the shooting cannon :D).

Then my parents bought me the smaller sets of the initial run for my birthday. They also came with the shooting cannons.

I haven't been that excited about a Lego theme since then until the Vikings came out.

Steve

[Deinonychus]

I fell in love with 6270 Forbidden Island from the first time I saw it. I mowed a lot of lawns and took out a lot of trash to earn the money to buy that set...it had it all...Pirates, a rowboat, a cannon, treasure chest (with treasure), palm trees, a shark, a parrot, a monkey, a crows nest, jail (with prisoner), a rope bridge, EVERYTHING.

I still have all the parts...perhaps I should try to find some instructions or try and rebuild it from the pictures...

I always dreamed of expanding into the ships like the Black Seas Barracuda, but never did...and like a dummy I passed it up when it was reissued recently too :(

[Mister Phes]

It is a strange tale indeed. I love Pirate Lego but I love some other themes alot too... I have never seen someone so devoted to only one theme.

Ahhhhhh Mr Sting, at the time of your reply I was only a short way into my story. For you see I like to write a few paragraphs then send them, then go back and edit to add more. This way if the browser crashes or the power goes off I don't lose everything I've just written. Sending is like a "save" feature to me, the only downside is it can be read before I'm finished which can sometimes lead to confusion.

But no matter! Read the rest at your leisure if you haven't already done so....

[Mister Phes]

Then my parents bought me the smaller sets of the initial run for my birthday. They also came with the shooting cannons.

Where are these sets now Mr Athos?

[Sting]

It is a strange tale indeed. I love Pirate Lego but I love some other themes alot too... I have never seen someone so devoted to only one theme.

Ahhhhhh Mr Sting, at the time of your reply I was only a short way into my story. For you see I like to write a few paragraphs then send them, then go back and edit to add more. This way if the browser crashes or the power goes off I don't lose everything I've just written. Sending is like a "save" feature to me, the only downside is it can be read before I'm finished which can sometimes lead to confusion.

But no matter! Read the rest at your leisure if you haven't already done so....

Hahah, I obviously jumped the gun on that one. Should have known there is always a grand story with every Pirate fan!

[Mister Phes]

I fell in love with 6270 Forbidden Island from the first time I saw it. I mowed a lot of lawns and took out a lot of trash to earn the money to buy that set...it had it all...Pirates, a rowboat, a cannon, treasure chest (with treasure), palm trees, a shark, a parrot, a monkey, a crows nest, jail (with prisoner), a rope bridge, EVERYTHING.

I still have all the parts...perhaps I should try to find some instructions or try and rebuild it from the pictures...

Mr Deinonychus, congratulations on your first piratical post!

Instructions for 6270 Forbidden Island can be found here - go on, relive your memories! It will make you feel good while you're rebuilding it!

I always dreamed of expanding into the ships like the Black Seas Barracuda, but never did...and like a dummy I passed it up when it was reissued recently too  :(

If you dilligently monitor eBay you might find a second hand one, but even a MISB Legend version will set you back US$200 these days.

[snefroe]

that's a nice story pirate! you should sell the movie rights to spielberg and buy some more :P

one question tho: how many sets did you actually build?

[Mister Phes]

Sell the movie rights to Spielberg? I don't think so! I'll write and direct it myself. He would never do it right.

Now on to the second answer which corresponds to question one: I've built all the sets I've opened all by myself my entire life. Exactly period of time were you specifically referring to?

[snefroe]

no i thought i just read somewhere that you had set whatever but kept it unopened... must have read it backwards :P

so then, when do we get to see all these pirates, ships, fortresses in one single photo?

[Mister Phes]

When I get some form of digital image input device...

But yes, you have read that I've kept some unopened. You'll find those listed in my master pirate set list. Just follow one of the links in my signature and you'll find it!

[Deinonychus]

I fell in love with 6270 Forbidden Island from the first time I saw it. I mowed a lot of lawns and took out a lot of trash to earn the money to buy that set...it had it all...Pirates, a rowboat, a cannon, treasure chest (with treasure), palm trees, a shark, a parrot, a monkey, a crows nest, jail (with prisoner), a rope bridge, EVERYTHING.

I still have all the parts...perhaps I should try to find some instructions or try and rebuild it from the pictures...

Mr Deinonychus, congratulations on your first piratical post!

Instructions for 6270 Forbidden Island can be found here - go on, relive your memories! It will make you feel good while you're rebuilding it!

OUTSTANDING!

Thanks a lot...I guess it's time to lug my crate of "older" LEGOs out and get right to it *satis*

[Dreamweb]

when we were playing his Amiga 500

Yeah, this brings back good memories to me... I still have

A1200 and I had A600 before that one... And I also played a lot on my friend's A500. How about a Favourite Amiga Games thread in Culture and Multimedia section?

[Mister Phes]

Mr Deinonychus, congratulations on your first piratical post!

Instructions for 6270 Forbidden Island can be found here - go on, relive your memories! It will make you feel good while you're rebuilding it!

OUTSTANDING!

Thanks a lot...I guess it's time to lug my crate of "older" LEGOs out and get right to it *satis*

Yes, you should get ALL your older LEGO out immediately and begin rebuilding it! Especially if its Pirate LEGO!!!

Were these the sets that originally got you interested in LEGO? If so it very important for you to revisit them as its a wonderful experience. Do it!

[Deinonychus]

Yes, you should get ALL your older LEGO out immediately and begin rebuilding it! Especially if its Pirate LEGO!!!

Were these the sets that originally got you interested in LEGO? If so it very important for you to revisit them as its a wonderful experience. Do it!

Actually I had LEGOs since I was very young starting with the basic bricks...but the Pirates showed me that even at the age of twelve I wasn't growing out of them anytime soon. The Pirates also got me looking closer at the entirety of the theme sets and interested in something other then Space.

And tonight I managed to assemble the whole set in it's entirety without a single missing piece, it's still just as cool as I remember and is going to look great on the shelf! Thanks again for pointing me to the directions :D

[Mister Phes]

Any time Mr Deinonychus! If you or anyone ever needs help re-establishing your relationship with Pirate LEGO just let me know me and I'll be there to help in a flash!

By the way... Do you have any other pirate sets besides 6270 Shark Island?

[Deinonychus]

By the way... Do you have any other pirate sets besides 6270 Shark Island?

Sadly no, that's the only one...

...but ebay is always useful to fix that :)

[Mister Phes]

Yes, eBay is very useful for that. I had a dosen sets from my younger days and then eBay helped me get 95% of the rest. A few more promotional sets and I'll have the lot!

[SlyOwl]

My pirate story:

MY first few Lego sets were Town ones - originally a FreeStyle box and then some diggers and roofin and wheels e.t.c... there is, however, one set I own but have no recollection of recieving: Pirate's Plunder - I have no instructions or box; I stumbled across it in a catalogue a couple of years back (an old catalogue ;-) ) and knew instantly - my only seaweed at the time and my only Imperial. I suppose my Mum must have bought it for me; the first of 3 small sets - Pirate's Treasure Surprise and Shipwrecked Pirate followed later that year. By then my obsession with Pirates rivalled my love of Castle and I ogled over tiny pictures in catalogues and the mini-ads you used to get with sets and that I still have on my wall...Pirate's Chest came 2 years later and by then I was engrossed - Armada Sentry followed and then: :'-( NO PIRATES! For nearly a decade I waited until I picked up an Enchanted Island off eBay, shortly followed by my Barracuda; I was back on track after a long long exile.

Those 3 great sets that set me off towards Pirate King:

Edited March 23, 2009 by SlyOwl

[Col. Whipstick]

I remember vividly my experiences with lego and pirate lego in particular. This is my story...

Growing up in South Africa in the 80's home entertainment was not only limited as it was for all of us but I doubt we had half as much going on for kids as what Europe, the States and Australia etc had. So particularly during school holidays when I didn't have friends around I found lego was one of the things I took to that I could do all alone. I'd always had an old tub of the stuff which was hand me down bits and pieces from my much much older brother and sister and their friends and used to try make MOC's back then though as most of it was only basic lego the results weren't too inspiring. Maybe because SA was a bubble back then but I didn't think of lego as much more than the basic and town stuff but I was in for a treat!

For my 6th birthday someone bought me a small troop of lego knights and a small lego space ship. These were really cool and I loved displaying them but still wasn't compelled to have to buy more and new lego. Then when I was about 9 my best friend and his family went on a long overseas holiday and when he returned from England and Disneyworld etc he had loads of Pirate Lego with him. He must have had atleast half of the range from '88 and '89. So he invited me over and I thought we were going to play some board game or something but instead we spent the first of many sunny warm quiet Sunday afternoons in his room laying out his sets and making plots and storylines over the pirates and the soldiers. M friend also gave me one of the catalogues out of his sets and I went home and for days and days couldn't take my eyes off what I'd been missing out on - Pirates, Knights, Town, Space but particularly Pirates caught my imagination! There was a beauty to these sets and coming from the colonies the tropical look and feel of them, added to my even limited knowledge of colonial history then. So mom and dad bought me Shipwreck Island and the bomber boat for Christmas that year and slowly I started to collect Pirates from there.

It wasn't long before I too was making a long holiday trip with my family in '92 and upon my return I'd bought much of the Imperial guard and newer pirate sets and together we had a formiddable collection. I kept trying to collect for the next few years but I was entering teenhood and other things began to take up my time and money so the last couple years I never bought sets from also feeling that I couldn't keep up with the sheer number of sets. Many years went by but I kept all my original collection in storage without a single piece missing despite hours and hours of heavy play. Partially inspired by this website and the reality of getting into ebay and finding that I could reclaim sets I never had I started collecting again last year, enjoying a limited but adult budget that as a kid I never could. I continue to collect from a few themes as I love so much history but Pirates will always be my first love and if I could jump in a time machine... my Golden Age wouldn't be the 15th and 16th centuries of the caribbean, it would be the early 90's and the vivid memory of how nothing else could matter in life if one had lego like this!

Edited December 5, 2007 by Col. Whipstick

[Captain Green Hair]

Well my pirate addiction started when the first line came out.

I must have been 7 or 8 years old when there was a large pirate show in a local warehouse.

There was a large ship on display, i just had to build something like that, so i did.

This was my first ship, and its too bad i don't have any pictures of my old MOCs.....

My parents didn't buy me any large pirate sets, so i just had smal ones with a few MF's.

Over the years i build many ships until i was 12 or 13 years old.

Then i had a period where i was building a lot of technic stuff, always wanting to make working MOCs.

When i was 17 i joined the army, but i came out pretty soon. Too much rules....

I couldn't go bak home and rented a room, this was ony 12 square meters zo i couldn't really build....

When i was 22 i finally was able to buy a house and got all my lego back *sweet*

Then i build the Denise and the addiction began....

After building some large MOCs i decided to make a pirate world, so i build the ships and fort as seen in my BS folder. Now i'm building as much as i can, and a ot lof money goes in momenterely...

I love the pirate theme, but history and adventure and trains (especially old ones) have my attention too!

[TalonCard]

I've pretty much always loved LEGO; to the point that I can't even remember how I was introduced to it. It's just always been there.

Now Pirates, on the other hand...I was maybe about five years old when my grandmother bought me my first set: the Castaways Raft. I don't know if I've ever had so much fun with just one toy. The Pirates were cool. The shark was cool. The flag that clipped onto the musket was cool. The little white rags passing for sails were cool. But the best part, the part that really sold the set, was the treasure map. So much detail in so little space! I spent hours having the Pirates sail from one cardboard island on the floor to another in search of buried treasure. And then...I lost the map. And I spent hours looking and cleaning in order to find it, because otherwise I just had three pirates wandering around aimlessly on a raft.

Good times. Of course, I didn't actually have a treasure for the pirates to find yet. I would always go to the toy section at K-Mart to look at the Buried Treasure set in envy. ("Look mom! It has a monkey!") Finally, I got that one for Christmas. And it just kind of snowballed from there; my obsession with LEGO Pirates going hand in hand with my obsession with pirates in general. I got all the small sets eventually: the mini figure pack, Harbour Sentry, Sabre Island, Shipwreck Island...and like most of you, I poured over the catalogs endlessly. I could only dream about what having a Black Seas Barracuda would be like.

Two of my favorite sets from that time were the Forbidden Island and Lagoon Lock-Up. The former I got as a Christmas present from my grandmother--it was the largest set I had for some time, and it was awesome. I remember dissasembling it and combining it with pieces from Shipwreck Island in a vain attempt to give the Pirates an actual ship. The latter was a birthday present from my dad...my dad is and was awesome...I remember once he bought me some Cheetos and a Foresters set when I was sick as a dog. When you're six years old, that's really all you need to feel better. ;)

Anyway, I was all into Pirates right up until they stopped making them...I too flipped through the '98 catalog in dismay, searching in vain for the Pirates page. In 2003 I got my first job and actually made enough money to buy the re-released Black Seas Barracuda...I still remember opening the plastic bags and watching all the old-school Pirate pieces spill out, every one of them brand new and shiny just like I remembered them. Wow.

Unfortunately, by that time most of my old Pirate sets were wrecked, and the only non-Pirate ship I had was the Armada Flagship...not really a match for the Barracuda. It wasn't until this summer that I was able to get more Pirate sets on Ebay. I was amazed to discover that Pirate sets from the early ninties could still be had at prices comperable to the original store prices. I bought the Forbidden Island (oh the memories!) the Caribbean Clipper (building a Pirate set I'd never built before is a rare treat) and the Lagoon-Lock Up. (At $20 Buy It Now, this last one was a real steal. You'd better believe I left some good feedback.)

I would love to get some of the other large sets I never had a chance to buy back in the day, but I know it'll be awhile before I can afford any more. Still, it's wonderful to know that these things don't just dissappear forever.

TC

[El Bucanero]

I'd love to tell long an exciting stories like those above, but my story is really simple.

I always loved pirates, swords, ships, parrots etc.. My love for pirates probably started when I first saw the Peter Pan movie. I wanted Captain Hook to win though, didn't care about that annoying boy in tights.

Around the same time I discovered LEGO, but I haven't always been a fan of pirates. It started with a little car and I wanted to make a city. That was too boring to my taste, so I picked another theme, wich was castle; I still like that theme.

Due to unknown reason I hopped to the wonderful theme Pirates.

At my fifth birthday I got my first pirate (sort of) ship: The Armada Flagship.

I'm very sure I told my parents very clearly I wanted the BSB X-D. Although, at that time, I didn't even know it was called the BSB so I told them I wanted a pirate ship. And they must have picked the first and cheapest pirate ship they found..

Anyway, from that day on I pretty much stayed into pirates and castle, until Lord of the Rings showed up.

I was 100% into castle again.

That died out pretty much and I heard of Pirates of the Caribbean.

My love for pirates was back, and more then ever before.

Ever since I'm a LEGO pirate fan *sweet*

[MasterKenobi]

Here