Southwest Chief

I like the castaway minfig in the Loot Island set, so I think I'll get that new set. And I've always liked Skull Island, so maybe I'll look for one of those on eBay.

I just got the new Imperial Flagship to add to my Pirates collection. It was such a beautiful ship I had to get it. Finally the soldiers have a large ship capable of handling the Black Seas Barracuda and Skull's Eye Schooner. With this new arrival, I took all my Legos out of storage and built up all the pirate sets I have. Following are photos of these sets: I have most of the early sets up until the Islanders came out. I pretty much stopped collecting pirates after the Islanders. But I did recently add Kraken attackin for the octopus (or giant squid) and the new Imperial Flagship. In the photos a lot of the little boats, sharks, and alligators got moved around from their original sets. But every set has all the parts. Amazing after all these years. One thing I've done to all of the ships is name them with dry transfer lettering I found at Staples many years ago. It looks like this on my Skull's Eye Schooner (named as Hispaniola): Some of the letters have rubbed off a bit over the years, and I wish I lined things up a bit better. But not bad for a 10 year old I guess back then. Maybe I'll reletter the fleet if I have enough lettering. Here is a list of the names: Black Seas Barracuda named as "Bounty" Caribbean Clipper named as "Intrepid" Imperial Flagship (1992 version) named as "Britannia" Skull's Eye Schooner named as "Hispaniola" I think I'll name the new Imperial Flagship as "Victory", but I haven't fully decided yet. Any thoughts on a name? The lettering, if anyone is interested, is by a company called Visu-Com. The font is old english. I doubt they are around any more as it's tough finding dry transfers nowadays. Lettering looks like this: Hope you enjoy the photos

I'd like to see the old shark body with a hammerhead head piece. I'm not really into the newer Pirate sets (other the the Imperial Flagship) or that new cartoon looking shark. But I have all of the classic Pirate sets up until the Islander sets came out. So for me, an old style shark with a different head (hammerhead) would be perfect.

Just wanted to clarify a bit: I'm not wondering when shooting cannons were dropped in the USA. I know, it was within the first year of Pirate Legos in the USA. So it was way before Rock Island came out and before the change to "System" logos. My old Black Seas Barracuda, Caribbean Clipper, and Forbidden Island were all "Legoland" boxes with non-shooters. Sort of wish I kept all those boxes :-$ My other original 1989 set was an Eldorado Fortress I purchased from Toy City (like Toys R Us back in the day) with non shooters...as you could see the black end tips under the flap of the box. But my friend told me his Eldorado he purchased from a small local toy store had shooting cannons...which surprised me. I can confirm the one with the shooters was older since his box had serial numbers or similar numbers on the back that were much lower then the set I got from Toy City. Thankfully I did not open my box and was able to return it to Toy City. I then got one from the other toy store and it had shooting cannons. These are the only shooters I have, but I suppose I could always get more as they are on eBay and Bricklink. I'm wondering when the change to the cannons with the crossed cannon logo and I guess you could call it a wick hole...fuse hole came out? I'll have to get some photos of the cannons in question as it might only be a US thing.

My collection :) (Original store purchased) Buried Treasure #6235 King Kahuka #6236 Harbor Sentry #6245 Crocodile Cage #6246 Bounty Boat #6247 Castaways Raft #6257 Smugglers Shanty #6258 Broadsides Brig #6259 (x2) Shipwreck Island #6260 Raft Raiders #6261 King Kahukas Throne #6262 Forbidden Cove #6264 Sabre Island #6265 Lagoon Lock-Up #6267 Forbidden Island #6270 Imperial Flagship #6271 Rock Island Refuge #6273 Caribbean Clipper #6274 Eldorado Fortress #6276 Imperial Trading Post #6277 Black Seas Barracuda #6285 Skulls Eye Schooner #6286 And two new additions: Islander Catamaran #6256 Enchanted Island #6278

I should have also added that my sets are all original store purchases when they were available (late 80's to mid 90's). I haven't gotten any Legos on eBay yet, although I do have my eye on some Islander pieces to complete my collection of these. It just worries me that some pieces may be missing from eBay sets. Although my store bought Lagoon Lock-Up was missing the jail door frame. Lego kindly sent me a replacement part for it though. Shooting cannons were available in the very early days of Pirates in the US. Some stores had old stock that had shooting cannons, and that's how I got mine with an on sale Eldorado, but by the time the second round of sets came out they all had non shooting versions.

I'm sorry I should have mentioned I'm in the US, so these are all US sets. The shooting cannons out here were gone fairly quickly. I remember calling Lego back then to see if I could get any more shooting cannons, but was told they could not be sold in the US...at least by Lego ;-) I think Rock Island Refuge may be the first of my Lego sets to have hollow heads, although the instruction sheet shows solid. But this is my oldest "system" labeled set and I also believe this was the first with a crossed cannon symbol cannon. But I can't be certain.

Imperial Trading Post. The small ship that comes with this set is one of my favorite Lego Pirate pieces ever. Nice to finally see a merchant ship and not a warship...even if it is rather small. But the pirate's need something to rob that won't fight back like a Caribbean Clipper or Imperial Flagship. And the carpet studs it came with make it the fastest ship on my floor :-D

I voted for Sabre Island, as it's my favorite of the bunch listed. But I always thought the tower like building on Sabre looked too heavy for the little island. Watch out the island is sinking X-D

Arrrr :) I've been a Lego pirate fan for a long time and have most of the pre Spanish sets, including some Islander sets. It