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I mostly only collect Pirate stuff now (for practical reasons--obviously I'd want one of every set ever if I could have it!), and I gotta say that even though the 2015 Pirate theme wasn't continued, this is one of my favorite years. There's the entertaining Angry Birds pirate ship, the pirate Batman figure, the upcoming Collectable Minifigure pirate, the Disney Peter Pan minifigures, the pirate-themed Mixels, and the Ninjago Sky Pirates which I've fallen hard for after building a few sets. My super-picky 11 year old self would have a fit after hearing this, but the Ninjago sets have some of the most exciting pirate-ish builds I've ever had. The Sky Shark is a pretty inexpensive set, for example, and yet you get all kinds of fancy special pieces, and a build that manages to evoke a boat, a shark, and a fighter plane all at once. Love it. My only complaints are that of others in this thread, that the sets are released in such a limited window that they can be hard to collect. I used to save up and buy a lot of the more expensive sets in the post-Christmas sales, even as recently as 2012. But now you've gotta be prepared to strike as soon as there's any kind of deal. That said, though, it's a lot easier to find older (pre-2002) sets than it used to be, and thanks to Bricklink and other sites I'm not nearly as worried about losing or breaking a special part as I was in the old days. (I remember cleaning two entire rooms looking for my only treasure map piece! ) TC

The new Disney Castle set has a nice Tinkerbell figure--not strictly pirates related, but I love the movie and can't wait to get the figure to go with the Captain Hook and Peter Pan figures I already have. Definitely Bricklinking her if she doesn't show up in a more affordable, smaller set, though--that's a lot of money and space to not use on Pirate sets down the road. TC

Woah, I didn't even know about that one! I'll have to add it to the list...it does make it even more likely, assuming there's no conflict with Disney... TC

Blake's 7! Thunderbirds might be more likely. ;) Although given that we have A-Team, of all things, anything is possible. I would be very much surprised, given the attention to detail paid to all eras in the Doctor Who level pack, if there wasn't some kind of substantial reference to the 1960s Mission: Impossible in the level pack. Supposedly the only reason the Tom Cruise film wasn't a direct continuation of the TV show was that the original cast refused to return to be killed off at the hands of the Jim Phelps character in the beginning of the 1996 film. (Understandable!) Given the current partners for Dimensions, and the general 80s nostalgia, my guesses for future Dimensions sets: Justice League The Matrix Looney Tunes Tom and Jerry Home Alone Breakfast Club Weird Science Last Starfighter Men in Black One would think Disney would be likely at some point now that Infinity is no more... Pepperland is from the LEGO Ideas Yellow Submarine, and the Toys R Us universe is from the recent promo set.TC

I dunno, do you think we'll even have a trailer by then? We haven't even had a teaser yet; it's very strange... TC

It was down for awhile, but seems to be working now. TC

I noticed that the Goonies are going to be included in Dimensions, which all but guarantees some pirate related set. A mini Inferno, perhaps?

Whoo boy, the latest Dimensions announcement just added a ton of universes, and then there's the recent LEGO Ideas announcement too! Buckle up! Added 1301: Lego City: Universe, 3058: Toys "R" Universe, 3059: The Land of Ooo, 3060: Mission: Impossiverse, 3061: A-Verse, 3062: The Goon Docks, 3063: Mobius, 3064: World of the Knight Rider, 3065: Townsville, USA, 3066: Kingston Falls, 3067: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, 3068: Phone Home-iverse, and 3069: Pepperland. I think we're well on our way to having a LEGO counterpart of every major 80s film now. Super excited to see LEGO City: Undercover getting added--that was an awesome game with some fun characters. TC

It was part of a value pack...I'll see if I can find the exact one. One of the other sets in the pack was a little Castle catapult set, IIRC. My sister got the pirate set; which means whatever set I got out of the pack must have been REALLY cool--no way I'd pass on a Pirate set otherwise. ;) EDIT: Found the set here. Can you believe all the 90s LEGO goodness there? Bring back the value packs, LEGO! TC

Wow, nice catch! I hadn't even seen that commercial before...there's a 1995 Pirate commercial in the playlist I'd never seen either! TC

Thanks for posting that--I love the new green pirate hat. TC

Woah, I'd never even heard of some of those! Thanks npgcole! (just2good has a great channel.) From this, the upcoming LEGO Batman 3, and the LEGO Dimensions Midway level pack, added: 3012B: The Fifth Dimension, 3048H: Seven-Twenty, 3048I: Badlands, 3048J: Blasteroids, 3048K: KLAX, 3048L: Toobin, 3048M: Marble Madness, 3048N: RoadBlasters, 3048O: Timber, 3048P: Paperboy, 3048Q: Cyberball, 3048R: Vindicators, 3048S: Xybots, 3055: Juliusverse, 3056: The Emporium, and 3057: BR-verse. TC

Yikes! That certainly adds a number of crossover universes. Thanks, for Effect! That plus the upcoming Disney LEGO minfigures makes for a sizable update. Added: 2507: Sky Ad-verse, 2508: Mahna Mahna-verse, 2509: Earth-120703, 2510: Frozeniverse, 3008C: Ultimate LEGO Marvel, 3051: Tomorrowland, 3052: Aliceverse, 3052A: Wonderland, 3053: Incrediverse, and 3054: Ee-arth. Phew! TC

Thanks for sharing that link! I didn't realize the design went back that far. Love the new bandanna headpiece--I'd hoped to use the Hippie's hair for that purpose and was disappointed when it turned out to be just a headband. And striped pants too! That's awesome. TC

Three cheers for LEGO Pirate Batman. Even just saying "LEGO Pirate Batman" is flippin' awesome. The figure isn't even that great, but who cares, it's LEGO Pirate Batman!!! This appears to be based on the Legends of Batman Buccaneer Batman action figure from my childhood. It's not the best version of Pirate Batman--yes, there are several--but the action figure versions of Pirate Robin, Pirate Joker, and Pirate Two-Face are amazing; and I wanted them so badly. The fact that they're making a LEGO version of this (and Captain Hook too!) is almost enough to make my brain explode. We need a LEGO Pirate Batman Ideas proposal STAT so they can make the rest of the crew. 2016, you do not disappoint. TC

I believe the boxes changed color in 1992 with the release of the Imperial Guard sets. Because LEGO had a three year product cycle (I know! I almost miss it too!) that meant that there were yellow and purple Pirate boxes on the shelves at the same time. Some of the 1991 sets had purple boxes too by their second or third year. TC

I agree! It only took them, what, 8 series to do a pirate, but they've caught up since then. I love my Island Warrior, Swashbuckler, Revolutionary Soldier, Pirate Captain, Conquistador, Judge and Zombie Pirate. And now a Captain Hook minifigure--to quote the captain, "I've been waiting years for this!" And a Scalawag Pirate, you say? I can't wait to see it! Ooooh, I missed that! That's an awesome new pirate hat. I'd been leaning toward not getting the Ninjago sets, but now I think I'll get them and part 'em out. We may not be getting any new sets this year, but it's nice to have some minifigures to look forward to. TC

I just want to step in and clear up what could lead to some misconceptions: whoever wrote the brickset list linked to seems to have used some of the Pirate names from LEGO, and used them to make up their own story. There's nothing wrong with this, and indeed this is the way most of us grew up playing with the sets--I love the different ideas that Ironhook is Captain Roger's brother, or his second in command, or even Red Beard in disguise. Without judging whether one is better or worse, though, I think it's useful to distinguish between what AFOLs have come up with vs. the original '89-97 mythology created for the Pirate theme by LEGO itself. The brickset contributor is pretty darn good at capturing the feel of the skimpy flavor text favored by LEGO, which makes it convincing. His addition of new story points and character names makes it compelling, though he gives himself away by using the name "Tarkin". And I may be wrong, but I believe that the flavor text from the 1993 boxes was the same on every set, so the Renegade Runner's reference to Red Beard doesn't indicate that he was intended to be a Redbeard variant. (On the other hand, the figure called "Admiral Woodhouse" in other countries was absolutely treated as a Governor Broadside variant in the USA--the box does indicate that--so it wouldn't be unusual.) The extended Pirate mythology created by LEGO was a deliberate early attempt at the kind of extended storytelling you see today with Ninjago, and Runamuck's post does a great job of summarizing the relevant information. (He's a bit of an expert, having translated the German audio dramas and collecting lots of info for his own Pirate guide.) It wasn't consistently rolled out worldwide, and many of the products continuing the storyline ended up being either cancelled or were only released to certain countries. This is the case with the "Island of Mist" comic Runamuck mentioned, which was a sequel to the better-known "Golden Medallion". Sadie Meowsalot was instrumental in uncovering this hidden piece of Pirate past, and posted the uncolored pages for this comic here. I don't know if it can be considered part of the "official" mythos, given that it was never released, but its group of Aztec descendants living on an island deliberately shrouded by mist pretty clearly provided the inspiration for the Islanders, even though LEGO ended up going with a different direction visually with a South Seas vibe. The 1994 Islander themed "Treasure Hunt" traveling LEGO exhibit even featured an Aztec pyramid and lots of Aztec-inspired treasures. There are a couple of things missing from Runamuck's summary, one of them a pretty recent discovery: Pereki recently obtained a 1995 run of LEGO Klick Magazines, which had a proto-Time Cruisers comic featuring Redbeard (here called Roger, a common substitution), Ironhook (here called "Blackbeard" for no apparent reason) and the Islanders. Ironhook/Blackbeard has initially fooled the friendly Islanders into helping him rob Captain Redbeard/Roger of his grandfather's treasure, until a time traveler convinces them to side with Redbeard instead. Ironhook is treated as Redbeard's nemesis here. In addition, the tricorned pirate Reidnix pointed out from the Redbeard Runner was given a name in a 1996 LEGO Mania Magazine: Jake "the Snake" Blake. Whether this is a different character or just another name for Ironhook is up for debate. I am kinda digging the reverse set-release chronology Reidnix proposes, though it's somewhat at odds with LEGO's storyline. Finally, (and I saved this for last because I didn't want to confuse the issue) Redbeard actually does have an evil brother. His name is Captain Kragg from the 4+ Pirate theme. Here's his bio from the old LEGO website: "The clever and greedy Captain Kragg leads a small band of pirates on spooky Skull Island. He's always bragging about what a great pirate he is, but although he's good at coming up with nasty plans, he's secretly not very brave. He's obsessed with gold and will do anything to get his hook on it. There are only two things Captain Kragg likes almost as much as treasure: his pet bat and his shiny silver tooth. He doesn't like rules and he never plays fair, so it's a good thing his nicer brother Captain Redbeard has the other half of the treasure map!" Whether this influenced the brickset writer I have no idea, but Kragg looks an awful lot like Ironhook, at least as far as their clothes (or lack therof) go. We always seem to be uncovering new information about the official Pirate mythology (weird, considering much of it is over twenty years old). It's possible that we'll one day learn that the original background for Ironhook was that he was Redbeard's brother (thus the resemblance), and that made it into the 4+ sets eventually. I'd also be willing to bet that he sprang from the concept for Captain Foul, an antagonist that appeared throughout the early Pirate stories but never made it into a set. That's all speculation, though. TC

I called him "Straight-Laced Steve" in a Guide to the Pirate Minifigures article on classic-pirates.com some years ago. The name isn't official, and it actually didn't originate with me either--I remember seeing it used often on Lugnet, or possibly even rec.toys.lego--now that was a long time ago! Definitely pre-dates Steve the Pirate from Dodgeball; might have been named for Steve Jackson, inventor of Evil Stevie's Pirate Game. TC

Hi all, Apologies if this was brought up while I was lurking, but there's a rather thorough Pirate article from a couple of months ago up on Examiner.com... It's a pretty impressive collection of information, but the biggest thing for me was pictures provided by LEGO--there's a lot of box artwork without the borders, logos, and text. It's a pretty nifty new look at some images I've had burned into my brain for years. TC

Shh! No one's gloomy or complaining while the flatware's entertaining! TC

It could always be Blacktron! Updated timeline post with new date from the LEGO Awesome Ideas book and Time Cruiser backstory from the recently-unearthed Klick magazine comics. (Thanks to Pereki for making those available!) TC

Added planet Volga from the LEGO Awesome Ideas book. Awesome stuff, Joshuad! We've actually been listing different LEGO Realms/Dimensions in this thread here! (It's increasingly likely that the planets listed in this thread exist in different realms, and many of them in multiple realms. TC

The flag that came with my set has the pattern printed upside down on the back. Did anyone else have this issue? TC

Welcome to 1989! Seriously, though, even though I grew up on them the older instructions can seem a lot harder to follow after assembling several of the newer sets. You know what else we didn't have? Brick separators in every large set. You kids have it too easy. Well, except for when you have to try and figure out whether you're looking at black, gray, dark gray, dark blue, or dark bluish gray. *shudder* TC