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Well she's certainly somebody's daughter , though I take your point that she shouldn't necessarily be defined as such. It does make sense within the context of the theme--the female character with a relation to a high-ranking official is part and parcel of the larger Pirate storytelling tropes. Think back to Major General Stanley and Mabel in Pirates of Penzance, or Captain Blood; where the corrupt governor's niece played a major role. That was certainly an inspiration for LEGO's own Governor Broadside and Camilla, and probably for POTC's Governor Swan and Elizabeth as well. I think there's a possibility that this could be Camilla herself, with her light brown hair being a compromise of sorts between her two depictions. On the other hand, I quite liked the character of Miranda Valentina (who, to be fair, was a standard Admiral's daughter character retconned into being a soldier and leader in her own right.) And yes, it's LEGO, so they can be whoever you want them to be yadda yadda... I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with the character in any case. TC

There is a distinct lack of monkeys, sharks, or parrots in this line. Quite odd. But oh my gosh, you guys. They have the old style flags!!! Arguably it's a step backwards, design wise, but I feel nostalgic just looking at them. I haven't seen the soldiers flag on a new set in over twenty years. And the pirate flag is just perfect. And we get another one in the Juniors set! (Also a fantastic new map piece!) New mast pieces...has that been mentioned before? Looking at the two different doors on the Bounty's cabin, I suspect there may be two different rooms...interesting... The differences between the two Bounties are quite subtle, but they are there... I love all the references to the old Pirate characters: Will, Red Beard, Camilla...I can't wait to see if they are new or the same--either would make me happy. And that green-shirted pirate brings us a step closer to a Culverin minifigure. I like the way they handled the bluecoat female--not in uniform, but free to be posed in exciting action scenes. :D I really do not understand the bandanna backlash. It's weird to see a new version of a piece that's been around for such a long time, true. (The new baseball caps still seem strange to me...) But it looks fine to me. And it'll be fun to have a little variety in the pirate crew. (Surely every pirate can't tie their bandanna the exact same way! ;) ) I'm really hoping for a large bluecoat ship. With bluecoat sailors with new hats. Can these just be out now, please? TC

I don't think it's quite fair to accuse them of trying to do it just to clear out inventory. LEGO palms have always been tricky to do; a trade-off even in the best of times. I remember having a lot of trouble with the first ones as a kid; they were pretty top heavy with the larger leaves and had a tendency to snap in the middle. The leaves would often break right off too. The smaller, lighter leaves they used later were much better, but you still had the problem of using lots of pieces just to achieve the effect of a palm tree. Now, these were and are the best looking palms yet, but all of those little trunk elements weren't too useful for building other things. (The bases make lovely pots for plants, but that's about it.) I've seen them used in certain Technic and Space sets, but they had plenty of parts in those themes already that could have done just as well. I think they even tried to use them for a Castle tree, but it didn't really work. And to top it all off, it doesn't even really look that much like a palm. I mean, since when have you seen a palm tree with all the leaves stuck straight out in exactly four directions, like helicopter blades? They tried to replicate the look in the one-piece palm trees, which were only good in that they looked just enough like the old trees looking just enough like actual palm trees. It was impossible to use them for anything other than plams, and since they were needlessly massive they never came in smaller sets. They'll blend in all right with the older trees, but good luck building a jungle or even an island with just those things. (I swear, nothing says 1999 LEGO like them. Well, except maybe rainbow colored Star Wars fighters.) So I'm sympathetic for the new design, even if it's not quite perfect. It looks like it'll be stronger than the old ones were, at least. I hate to say it, but I think the palm in the off-brand rip-off actually looks like a reasonable solution, except that as built it would never hold together or bend as pictured. TC

It's worth pointing out that we do seem to be getting new Jolly Rogers for this release, so I can't imagine that would be the same on the final ship... TC

I wouldn't say "directly"...it's a different build with a more defined lower portion and a rounded top that wasn't possible in 1996. And the gold tooth is a nice touch. It's no mini-volcano, though, I'll admit that. Thank you so much for finding that! I've been hoping we'd get a Pirates Juniors set. I'm seeing...possibly a new map and Jolly Roger pieces? And that fort window piece is lovely. TC

Thoughts: Y'know, the two larger sets are pretty uninspired. But the three smaller sets look like a lot of fun; and they're just as good as anything we've had so far at that size. (Shipwreck Defense in particular is pretty sweet.) I suspect that once they're assembled the raft and skull island sets will look better than the pictures suggest. I'm torn about the brick-built palm tree. It looks silly from some angles, but pretty nice in others. I'm excited at what looks to be bluecoats, plenty of wigs, and a new Jolly Roger. I'm hoping we'll see some awesome new minifigures; these are very much preliminary. There seems to be a female soldier. Miranda Valentina, perhaps? I think any fears about stud shooters are misplaced; they seem to be used as small cannon in addition to, rather than instead of, regular shooting cannon and flintlocks. I'm excited about adding these to my collection. I understand why a lot of people might be frustrated--I too was hoping for something a little bit different so soon after POTC and 2009 Pirates. Still, these are are a lot like the Pirate sets I grew up with, and I can't wait for them to hit stores. TC

Hi everyone! As usual, I've been lurking for awhile and I'm not sure if this has been posted before. Miniland.nl continues to be an incredible resource for LEGO Pirate fans. A couple years back, I posted about the Pirates related magazine scans they had; now it seems they've also uploaded scans of two Pirate-themed LEGO World Shows. There were a few images of these shows in the magazine scans, so it's great to finally see more of these great displays! The World of Pirates This one is particularly interesting, as it's not a souvenir booklet. It seems to be an overview of the entire show, perhaps for a press kit or internal LEGO use. In addition to pictures of the display models, there's a layout of the overall show too. Pretty neat! This show seems to have been based around historical pirates, and there are a number of scenes showcasing Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, etc. (I'm pretty sure some of these models found their way into store displays later on; I think I've seen more recent images of them on this very forum. Can anyone help me out?) LEGO Pirates is not neglected, however! There's a HUGE recreation of the island of Sabatina from the Pirate storyline (again showing how well integrated that story was into the Pirate theme launch), a full-scale mock-up of a section of the "Dark Shark" (Black Seas Barracuda) and lots of smaller displays that are just awesome. Hopefully more pictures of this will surface later; these tiny images just don't do it justice. Treasure Hunt This is an odd one. It's all about the Islanders, but the storyline centers around two 20th century explorers who happen upon the Islanders, uh, island. If I'm reading this correctly, it suggests that the Islanders are a lost tribe of Inca who made their way to an island off the coast of South America. Lots of Indiana Jones references, naturally. The most disturbing aspect of this show, however, is the image of two long-bearded pirates locked away in a temple prison. It's stated outright that the captain is Knoest, which is, I believe, the Dutch name for Red Beard, and the other pirate is wearing the clothes of Red Beard's longtime companion and bo'sun Will from the pirate storyline. The implication is that the two have somehow been kept alive and imprisoned for centuries--a grim fate for the stars of the Pirate theme! TC

Added the planet B-II from this 1991 Canadian catalog, and planets Aquatica and Terra X from the INTER-GALACTICA touring show mentioned here. This is probably the same touring show called "Galactic Adventures" in the US. Also removed Castle Planet from the 1997 UFO/Fright Knights commercial, as the LEGO World Club magazine shows that it is intended to be medieval Earth and not a planet of castles ala Ashlar. TC

I've only seen the first episode (waiting for the rest to come to Netflix or DVD), but it was quite good and a must-see for anyone with an interest in pirate fiction. It's actually a prequel to the children's novel Treasure Island--which is strange, as it has a lot of sex and violence. (Treasure Island was pretty violent, but there are no holds barred here. Not for kids by any means.) There's a really interesting take on the characters of Billy Bones and Captain Flint. There's a lot of the internal politics that come with electing pirate captains...adventure, action, intrigue... Great stuff! The American network NBC is also running a pirate show called Crossbones...it's pretty good too; well worth checking out. It's about Blackbeard. Well, he doesn't have a black beard. But he's still Blackbeard. (Yeah, I don't get it either.) TC

As always, guys, I love the discussion. Keep 'em coming! I'm not really happy with the Galaxy Squad placement either, though I see it as taking place much later in the timeline than I have it here, actually. I like the idea that the Galaxy Squad evolved from the ADU (and in my head it's the only way to make anything before 2100 plausible). The Galaxy Squad backstory implies sizable interstellar colonies and whatnot, though, which leads me to place it in the mid-21st century era of space colonies and intergalactic mining at the earliest. Putting Ultra Agents in the late 21st century seems odd at first glance, I know, but recall that sources like Clutch Powers, Captain Indigo, and particularly the Time Cruisers audio drama show that the Earth of the future looks a lot like the Earth of the past. Alternatively, I don't think there's anything directly tying the Galaxy Squad to Earth. Correct me if I'm wrong, but all the Galaxy Squad material refers to the Planet X or Selva Galaxy being under attack; not Earth and not even the Milky Way. So it's possible to say that the Squad members are from some other planet, and that they occupy the same implied 1950s time period as Monster Fighters. So if Solomon Blaze traveled to Earth in the 1950s to defend against the implied Bug invasion shown in the Club Magazine comic, he'd be well old enough to be the older Ultra Agent in the 2010s. Of course, my preferred placement is to leave Ultra Agents in its implied contemporary/near future setting and bring Galaxy Squad forward into the 4000 with the other recent Space themes. shows the Squad protecting established Space themes from the Bug onslaught; but I don't think Max's world really fits a timeline-based perception of the LEGO themes. Still, it's worth considering.What we really need is confirmation that the two Solomon Blazes are intended to be the same character. They don't even look similar. My vote is that the Galaxy Squad character is actually the great-great-great-great-great (possibly more greats) grandfig of the Ultra Agents character. I'm willing to go along with it for now, but I'd like to see some hard evidence. TC

All the dates I've used for the events surrounding the Exo Suit are from official sources, though. The year 2564 is from the teaser image, on a review of the Exo Suit Mk 3 program; the booklet included with the set states that the Arcadia crashed forty years before Pete and Yve arrive. Now, whether the Arcadia was rediscovered in 2564, prompting a review of the Exo Suit Mk 3, or whether the review was around the time the suits were originally created is up for debate, but that still puts us sometime past 2520 rather than 2400--that's rather too early. What does the book have to say about Star Justice? TC

Updated timeline for Ultra Agents and the new Exo Suit story, which has a number of interesting dates and implications. I haven't read set designer Peter Reid's LEGO Space: Building the Future book yet, but the backstory for the Exo Suit seems to have been created with it in mind. There's nothing in this particular story that contradicts established Space LEGO lore, so while that book isn't official I'm not above using some of its assumptions to date the early Space themes. TC

I'm really loving the saltire background on the flag, since we haven't really seen that before, and I adore the idea of connecting the merchant faction to the Imperial Trading Post ship. However, I'm not sure about ditching the anchors for the Guard and keeping the barrel as the common element. Both the Haven Guard and merchants would be ocean going, but the barrel has chiefly mercantile associations. Why not keep the crossed anchors, and substitute something else in the center? Maybe a lion or falcon, as a throwback to the Castle sets? Or something ocean related, like a sea shell or a dolphin. TC

LEGO has depicted all kinds of connections between their themes before; there's no one real official way of looking at it, which is as it should be. The biggest connection is arguably the Time Cruisers theme, which assumes by definition that all the minifigure-related themes occur along the same timeline. This is my favorite way of looking at the LEGO universe; we have a discussion on this over in the Space Timeline thread. BTW, are we sure that Solomon Blaze from Galaxy Squad is supposed to be the same character as the Solomon Blaze in the new Ultra Agents sets? That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense... TC

Runamuck deserves much credit too; we wouldn't know much about the audio dramas without him! :) TC

The Imperial Trading Post was called "Port Fenzance" in some countries, so it seems that the "Redcoats" may have been stationed on the opposite side of the same island from the "Bluecoats" base of Fort Sabre/Eldorado Fortress. Other countries called it "Port Royal", which would place it on the same side of the island, under the protection of the fortress. In official LEGO lore, the Redcoats and Bluecoats have always been the same faction; personally I've never really understood the intractable feud between the two on these forums and elsewhere. The collection of islands shown on the map is said by the Pirate comic to be in the fictional "Tropical Sea", which the audio dramas indicate is somewhere off the American coast. (Set names in various countries reference locations in the Caribbean.) The Island of Fogs pictured was eventually identified as the homeland of the Islanders. The Armada came too late to the party to be incorporated into the storyline. TC

Glamorizing the age of sail is always problematic, what with slavery, press gangs, and, y'know, piracy, so I doubt they'd catch any flak for using the word "Bounty". Still, it's disturbing that one incident over two centuries ago could lead to all that... TC

I had a thought while looking at all the LEGO sets at Wal-Mart tonight: wouldn't it be awesome if they made one of those new Juniors sets for Pirates? The models are pretty solid, the bright colors would be a nice change, and the last time we got a more basic Pirate set it was pretty cool. TC

Thanks for doing that, Mister Phes. The thumbnail with the pirates was the only reason I clicked on the video in the first place. TC

The promo for the Simpson's all-LEGO(ish) episode on Sunday has a brief appearance by a boatload of classic LEGO pirates! You can see it at about 1:23 here. Could they have gotten lost on their way to the LEGO Movie? TC http://youtu.be/AYGSpOfIr9Y

Those are true in terms of my original post, true. What I guess I really meant to say was "Is there a precedence for LEGO to release a single set as the only new set in a theme that is returning after an extended hiatus?" The Imperial Flagship was a one-off that year, but it followed a full wave of Pirate sets the previous year, and I believe the Kingdoms Joust was released during a time when Castle sets could still be found on the shelves. (Trains and shuttles are their own themes more often than not, it's true, but they both really support the Town/City theme that will always be around so it's difficult to draw a direct parallel there.) In addition, this just doesn't feel like a special large D2C set like the Flagship or the Joust. It seems more along the lines of Brickbeard's Bounty. It also wouldn't make much sense to release another pirate ship as a special one-off mega-set so soon after the Sea Cow, even if there is a year between the two. TC

I rather liked "Red Beard's Revenge"; it has that triple naming thing going for it that's reminiscent of the best of previous pirate ships, plus the reference to Red Beard and previous real/fictional pirate ships named Revenge. I was rather disappointed that I didn't think of the name Black Dog's Barque until after I'd already entered, though. ;) TC

Hmm, a fair point. But even the Simpsons house is supported by a new line of collectable minifigures, so there's that. TC

Is there a precedence for LEGO to release a single brand-new set from a particular theme? I don't think it's unduly optimistic to expect this to be one of a new wave of sets, even if they only get a year or two like the 2009 revival. TC

I noticed that. As long as it is a real Pirate set, though, they can violate that all the livelong day as far as I'm concerned.