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The LEGO shop page has some nice closeup views of the minifigures--I'm loving the details on Salazar. And the masthead is actually pretty nifty too; she's half decayed like the rest of the ship--I didn't notice the first time around. And the one transparent leg on the other sailor is so cool. One of the minor collecting achievements I'm looking forward to is finally having all of the bicorn variations--but they keep sticking new ones in expensive sets, lol. I'll have them all eventually... I didn't see anyone comment on this, is this set the first time we've had black cutlasses? That's awesome. I'm hoping for a few extras... As for the disappearing zombie shark, I'm sad to see that one go. I suspect that it may have more to do with time and money than anything else--that's a pretty big specialized piece to run off for just one set. I wonder if the price tag with shark was closer to $250, as we heard originally, and LEGO decided against the shark when they realized they could knock $50 off the set price by doing so. TC

Half the problem is, of course, that even though the earliest rumors (aside from the ones that turned out to be fake) suggested that the single ship would be one of the ships from the new movie, and even though every single piece of information we got since then suggested it would be some sort of ghost/skeletal ship, seemingly every other post before the reveal--for months--was something along the lines of "I think it has to be either the Black Pearl or Flying Dutchman because X reason" or "What if it's the new ship and the Dutchman or the Pearl?!" or "It can't possibly be just the one set because X reason". :p So even though we got pretty much exactly what it looked like we would get from day one, it's still a massive disappointment to some. Of course, it is something we haven't ever seen in either the traditional Pirate theme or Pirates of the Caribbean before, which is a rarity. If we had gotten a traditional ship, no doubt someone would be complaining that it's a rehash of something we've seen before. TC

I have one! I like it a lot--the sail and trans-blue octopus are unique to the set, and the graphics on the box are fun. It'll make a great display piece when I have to take the big ships down. My only problem is I can't seem to find the instructions, either my copy or online... I want to take it apart for cleaning and to check for missing parts, but I can't! TC

I'm loving the Sparrow Brickhead, but Salazar isn't doing much for me--there's not much in his design that says "I'm from a pirate movie." Put him next to the Sparrow head, and it looks more like an attempt at Edward Scissorhands than anything else. :D TC

For what it's worth, LEGO's storyline has both redcoats and bluecoats as part of the same unnamed European empire. The Bluecoats (though not officially named as such until 2015, following longstanding fan tradition) were the local soldiers serving under Governor Broadside to protect the island colony of Sabatina. The redcoats have always been the Imperial Guards, an elite force personally selected by the King to explore the ocean and protect and retrieve the various treasures hidden on the islands. Their leader was Admiral Woodhouse, though in the US no distinction was made between his minifigure and the earlier Governor Broadside. The long product cycle of the 90s meant that Bluecoat sets were sold in catalogs under the Imperial Guard banner as well. There's a bit of lore to suggest that the relationship between Broadside and Woodhouse isn't one of mutual respect, but they're supposed to be on the same side. ;) (For that matter, the Imperial Outpost was sold under the colors of the later Imperial Armada, and the LEGO Chess game made no distinction between those two factions. But that's neither here nor there.) There's obviously no need at all to abide by LEGO's storyline. But I've always been amused that it's just assumed here that the two factions are blood enemies, even though they're virtually identical aside from the colors and their flags even have the same symbol! TC

I was really rather excited several years ago when the Fairytale and Historic Minifigure set came out--it had a number of Pirate related minifigures, including two soldiers, two pirate skeletons, two pirates, two mermaids (well, a mermaid and a merman), and several other minifigure pieces and accessories that were either from the 2009 Pirate line or were Pirate related. I didn't know until today that it had been updated as the Fantasy Minifigure Set late last year. The Pirate-related part selection is a little smaller, but there's still two soldiers, two "new" pirates, and another nifty pair of mermaids. (When I get this I'm going to have quite a mermaid...school? Pod? Army? They're getting to be a faction all their own at this rate.) That knight shield is quite nice too, I don't recall seeing it before. Anyway, it's neat to see Pirate figures turn up in unexpected places, so I thought I'd share. There aren't any exclusive prints or anything, so this set is strictly for those obsessive Pirate collectors who must have every official LEGO Pirate minifigure variation, no matter how minor. If you'll excuse me, I need to find $50... TC

I can't find the original Rock Raiders United forum thread that I found the link to, but someone mentioned that someone at LEGO has been kicking around the "Pirate fights other random themes" idea for awhile now, so it may be someone's internal persistence more anything else. TC

I've checked three Targets (a fourth I'd been to before turned out to be out of business), and I definitely noticed the random placement of the Mixels. Crazy. No luck on series 8, though. Are you in the USA? I'm wondering if it's a regional thing. I'm happy to report that I was able to nab a couple of Sharx from a Bricks and Minifigs store near my house. Pricier than retail, but not as much as online with shipping. It made my day! (It was also the only two they had--the rarity of this series continues to confuse me.) It's the little details that really make the Mixels special--I didn't notice from the pictures online, but Sharx actually has two rows of teeth in front for extra sharkiness. And the instructions have you put the coin in his peg leg, which is a nifty idea. I never noticed it before, but the ad in the instructions shows that the Nixel in one of the other sets has an eye patch! Too cute. TC

Does anyone know what the deal is with Series 8? I love the Mixels, and I was constantly tempted whenever I came across them in stores--and they seemed darned omnipresent for awhile. But I'm a dedicated Pirate collector for space reasons, so I resisted. But when the Pyrratz line came alone, I thought "At last! An excuse!", and kept waiting for them to show up in stores. They're pretty inexpensive, so I wanted to get two sets so I could make the ship model too. But I've never seen them in stores! I got fed up with waiting for them to show up in the supermarket where I usually see Mixels, and went looking. The prices online ware high enough to send me around to all the stores in my area, and I've seen Series 3, 6, 7, and 9, but no 8! What gives? Were they a European only release? (I'm in Texas.) Is there a chance that they'll make it down here at some point, or should I just order online? Help me Mixels fans, you're my only hope! TC

That's it! Yeah, I should have been more specific--I forgot that they changed up the design a little from video to video. (I guess when you get turned into a turkey, you end up needing a rebuild now and then. ) TC

I think you're right, though IMO it's probably something that came out of the initial brief for a D2C Pirate-themed ship, rather than a direct prototype version of the Imperial ship we ultimately got. It's a pretty awesome design though; and I wish we could see more of it and learn about it and other early/rejected Pirate sets. There's something of the Skull's Eye Schooner about it, and i wonder if it wasn't intended to be an updated version of that ship. I'm afraid LEGO's combination of secrecy and perceived disinterest will keep stuff like this locked away in the archives--I'd love to learn more about other Pirate projects! It does seem like the skull and swords on the sail were ultimately brought back for the 2015 Pirate line (though admittedly crossed swords were suggested for the '89 wave as well), so maybe we'll see elements of this ship pop up in the PoTC set anyway, even if it is based on a ship from the movies. TC

Love the Brickbeard charater design. Does anyone know where his legs are from? Also, I can't look at the pirate in the upper right hand corner and not think of Gates from Black Sails. TC

Thank you all for the replies and theories; I'm really glad I'm not the only one who noticed this strangeness. Ooooh, are there pictures somewhere? I'll be really excited if we're getting another CMF pirate after getting two last year. Please do! The videos are great; it's just that the unexplained piece is distracting me, lol. TC

So there's a great new series of Pirate-themed videos over on the official LEGO YouTube channel called "The Misadventures of Captain Brickbeard", wherein the Captain and his crew attempt to battle various LEGO themes to prove their superiority. Love 'em, everyone should watch them. (The City video is particularly amusing.) But something stood out to me in the first episode, at about 0:24. Maybe I'm crazy, maybe it's a trick of the light, but there's a pirate wearing a brown tricorn that I've never seen before. (It's the pirate ripping off his shirt. That makes sense in context.) To clarify, it's just the hat I haven't seen before; the crew are all custom pirates made from various pirate and pirate-ish minifigure pieces from over the years. It's a lighter brown than I've ever seen, the hat appears to be flatter and slightly wider than the standard tricorns, and the plastic in the brim appears to be thin enough that you can see light through it. I'm not sure if there's a thing to put a feather in either. The points in the tricorn appear to be more defined as well. I could just be seeing things, but it seems to me to stand out compared to the standard black tricorns in the same shot, and the actual brown tricorn seen later. What is this thing? An 80s prototype, a new piece we haven't seen yet, or an offbrand hat that somehow made it into the filmmaker's brick box? It's super weird. TC

You know what, you have me there--this could indeed be wishful thinking on my part. I got overexcited. And I should clarify, I'm not thinking that there's going to be anything like a re-release of classic sets--the major structural elements and colors of the classic Pirate sets have changed significantly since the last re-release. But here are the pipes down which my dream travels: #1: Precedence--The 2009 Pirates were released in the 20th anniversary year. I don't think that was a coincidence. And while this may be a coincidence, Castle had a pretty sizable wave of sets in 2008. (All that said, good point about every year being an anniversary for something--I just realized 2018 is the 20th anniversary of Adventurers, and I doubt that Johnny Thunder will make a comeback that year. Although that would be awesome, just saying.) #2: Timing--It's pretty clear by now that Pirates are a once-every-couple-of-years kind of deal. By 2019 there won't have been anything in about four years, so it seems likely they'd be thinking about it anyway. #3: Importance as a Theme--Again, Pirates isn't out very often, compared to Castle and Space, which get pretty regular releases. So it makes sense to take full advantage of a return by tying it in with another event like the anniversary. Also, Pirates isn't just an awesome theme; it's the first theme of the "modern" era of LEGO. With Pirates came specially printed minifigures, the first attempt at a cross-media storyline, more new elements than in any release in years, an attempt at creating characters, etc., etc. So it's special. (Admittedly, I am biased. ) #4: Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Even if I'm completely wrong on all of the above counts, it's just remotely possible that a LEGO Ambassador or someone will read this thread and go "Hey, the 30th anniversary of Pirates is coming up! We've got to do something cool--that's a great idea!" TC

I think there's a lot to unpack there. The truth is that we only have one year's worth of recent Pirate sets that doesn't compare favorably with the previous couple of waves. There's no evidence to suggest that future Pirate sets won't improve--I mean, just put the Black Seas Barracuda, the Red Beard Runner, the new Imperial Flagship, and the Queen's Anne Revenge next to each other--it's hard to argue that quality is definitely trending downward in each case. The Red Beard Runner doesn't even compare with the Barracuda, but the most recent ships are far, far better than the Runner. As for increasing prices/fewer pieces and minifigures, I would like to see someone crunch the numbers--I suspect that accounting for inflation, the difference isn't that severe. And the minifigures are of much higher quality than they were in the 90s too, at least. But taken as a whole, the 2015 Pirate line isn't quite as good as the 2009 line. I think the individual sets tell a slightly different story, though. I think 2015's Shipwreck Defense and Treasure Island are far better than the equivalent 2009 Cannon Battle and Loot Island. (I'd go so far as to say that Shipwreck Defense is one of the best small LEGO Pirate sets of all time.) It's the larger sets that just don't measure up, the Soldier's Fort and the Brick Bounty. (Though I much prefer the Brick Bounty's skull-and-swords over the goofy jolly roger of the 2009 line--one of the best things about LEGO Pirates is that they have a little edge to their general whimsy.) I think that on the surface the 2009 and 2015 lines are pretty similar in terms of play experiences, but the builds are quite different. The overall quality of sets is higher in the 2009 line, but I think the 2015 sets have a more appealing aesthetic with some really great sets. I don't think the real issue is that we've had a "bad" year for LEGO Pirates--IMO the real sticking point for most of us Piratical die-hards is that Pirates has been and most likely will be kept alive with sporadic releases every couple of years, with the same basic factions and types of sets. The good news is that it gives all kids a chance to make LEGO Pirates a part of their childhood. The bad news is that LEGO's rapid release cycle means that the window in which to even get the sets is shorter and shorter. And there's no second wave to build on the first. I think the clone brands have, unfortunately, stepped in to fill that gap somewhat--there are a number of smaller ships and other sets that aren't direct ripoffs of LEGO design that could easily fit right into a second wave of Pirate sets. I think that's a good question to ask. It's not so much that we were easily impressed at the time--LEGO went above and beyond with the boxes and catalogs and other media to create an immersive Pirate world that felt real. And a lot of sets were genuinely impressive. But nostalgia is powerful--some of the older sets are either uninspired (Forbidden Island, Shipwreck Island) or have really weird builds when you look at them up close (Imperial Trading Post), and don't compare favorably with some of the more recent sets. Also, time and better sets in the future will probably change people's opinion of the 2015 line. I remember seeing the 2004 +4 Pirate sets, and just shaking my head. By themselves, they were a poor substitute indeed for minifigure pirate sets. But now I wish I had bought them, as they are a pretty cool and unique incarnation of LEGO Pirates. I'm seeing a lot of love now for the Islanders and the 1996 Pirate sets, which were generally disliked by AFOLs back in the day. It would be hard to recapture the popularity of the Pirates theme at its hight...but I think that has more to do with the wide range of themes LEGO has had in the past few years compared to 1989-1994, when Pirates was the newest of only four core minifigure themes. When you think about it, it's kind of weird that it was that way for five years. LEGO is much more open now to new ideas and settings than it was at that time, and that's not a bad thing. We've had dinosaurs, monsters, mummies, alien invasions, water worlds, cowboys, time travel, secret agents, ninjas, swamps, arctic, farms, and on and on and on--and that's not even counting all the licenses and video games. Pirates just has to wait its turn amongst the dozens of other potential themes and revisits of older themes. This isn't the worst it could be by any means--from 1997 to 2009 there were no new minifigure Pirate sets at all, and it was awful. By comparison, 2009-11 and 2015 seem like a new golden age of LEGO Pirates. And it seems a little indulgent to sulk over the lack of Pirates in terms of specifically Pirate themed sets when we've had some nice Pirateish releases from other themes in the meantime; Ninjago, the LEGO Movie, Spongebob, etc, and some nice representation in the Collectable Minifigures. But still, the lack of anything on the horizon is a bit of a letdown. (I'm more dissappointed about the lack of new Pirates of the Caribbean sets than I thought I would be.) BUT. 2019 will be the thirtieth anniversary of the Pirate theme--LEGO can't let that go unobserved. I can't imagine they wouldn't bring their A-game to at least one big set--I'm looking forward to it. TC

If there's anyone who is just getting into pirates, there are a few non-set LEGO items that are relatively inexpensive NIB but have brand new minifigures, stuff like the 2009 Pirate magnets (from before they started gluing the figures onto the magnets) and the Jack Sparrow Nintendo DS game cases--no one seems to want those for some reason. TC

And "renegades" too, which, admittedly, is a word LEGO likes to use, but considering its past associations it pretty much clinches it. ;) The Rogue's bio even includes the entire description of Wolfpack from the latter catalog image, albeit slightly reworded. TC

Wow, they really went all out in the Spy bio on LEGO.com. It mentions events from Alpha Team, Agents, Galaxy Squad and even implies that the Spy recruited Soloman Blaze into Ultra Agents. It also mentions something called the "Zed Incident"--anyone know what that might refer to? The Arabian Knight/Desert Warrior's bio namechecks Pharoah's Quest too, and the Rogue's refers vaguely to Wolfpack, as expected. TC

That is a really cool background. What is it from? TC

So the LEGO Batman movie trailer has a LEGO Bat-Pirate Ship in the Batcave...any chance we'll see that sometime down the line? With actual sails? TC

Not only that, but the 6765 town set had lots of signage indicating that it was, in fact, the same LEGOREDO town (or at least named after it) as the theme park attraction! Dunno why it ended up being called "Gold City Junction" or "Silver City" in the US and UK, but it seems to have stuck. TC

Ahoy! So I apologize if this is commonly known and has just managed to escape my notice all these years, but there appears to be a pre-Pirates LEGO set featuring Pirate models--and it's way older than I even thought possible! That's the 905 Doll set from 1963, me hearties. Now, it's not a full-on Pirate set--it's a bunch of bricks with many possible figurine builds--but the Pirate Captain is prominently featured on the box, and you can build another Pirate to boot, so I'm claiming it. Thanks to the All Sorted podcast; I may not have known about this otherwise. And yeah, it may not be related to the minifigure Pirate theme...but on the other hand, the Pirate Captain has a black jacket. And an eye patch. And a peg leg. Coincidence...? TC

Purely speculation, but if LEGO were developing Python sets, perhaps it was as part of the Studios line? It was out around the same time this video was made, and the Spider-Man and Jurassic Park series both started out in Studios...TC

Tintin and Monty Python themes? I remember a Holy Grail video on the LEGO website back in the day, but I'd never heard of a Tintin theme. Makes sense, though. I'd love to hear more about those! TC