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It looks like at least some of those gun ports on the QAR are dummies...we'll see. I kind of wish they'd, y'know, put that backstory in the movies somewhere. :p It's possible that Jack's quest for immortality has overshadowed the whole Black Pearl thing, which I suppose makes sense. Although, the Captain's Cabin set description mentions that Jack is looking for a ship in a bottle...perhaps Blackbeard has used his magic to shrink the Pearl and put it in a bottle? It would explain how Jack comes to be on the QAR, and why the Pearl isn't in the movie... TC

Well, LEGO minfigure names weren't standardized in every country during the 90's. In the US, the Imperial Guard leader was Governor Broadside, just a different version. I didn't even know that Admiral Woodhouse existed as a character until I discovered the Eurobricks forums... Phes, there should be a fourth page to the first episode...is it there, and I'm just not seeing it? Or did I only send you five pages? TC

I'm going to try and collect all of the Pirates of the Caribbean sets, just as I'm attempting to collect all of the regular Pirate sets. They'll be used to fill out my existing Pirates display, however: the Isla de Muerta will eventually reside in Red Beard's underground treasure cavern, while London Escape will find a place in my version of Port Royal. Fleshies or no, there's really no point in separating them. :) TC

I was going to post about that! The oars in my recently-purchased Brickbeard's Bounty (oh how I miss it!) were just like those instead of the regular oars. Does anyone else have some of these already? TC

I have to admit that even though I'm the first person to not worry over historical inaccuracies, I was also disappointed that the POTC Blackbeard isn't flying the flag he was said to have in real life. (Although mostly because a LEGO version of this flag would have been AWESOME.) I think the main reason they didn't go with that flag is that it actually appeared already in POTC, along with a whole lotta other historical flags used out of context at the end of At World's End. It's seen ever so briefly on the Spanish Pirate Lord Eduardo Villanueva's ship, and linking that lesser pirate with Blackbeard is probably outside the narrative scope of the movie. It's not good, but it's a reason. I guess if this theme sticks around long enough, we might see Villananueva's ship, the Centurion, in which case we might still get Blackbeard's flag...hey, I can dream. :) TC

I'd be really, really interested in seeing a "missing minifigures" guide, particularly now that we have all kinds of heads and torso designs (1996 pirates, 2009 pirates, and soon POTC) to work with. I remember trying to build my own Captain Foul when I was little, but I had very limited materials to work with. Nowadays you can make almost anyone. (I saw someone online build all eleven Doctors from Doctor Who very effectively, and without any specially made parts or stickers.) I could be wrong, but I think those two figures had names as well. They're hard to find, as that issue had the entire crew spread throughout the magazine instead of naming them all on the first two pages. All the listed names match up with my memory, though--is this the American Mania Magazine? It should be noted that Anne appears in the Ladybird books with a blue bandanna. If a name is attached to the red bandanna wench, Bessie is a good choice, as she is presented as being Anne's mother and in fact has a red bandanna. The family resemblance is obvious. Of course, they could just as easily be the same character, but I have so many wenches I like to think of them as different pirates. As far as Flashfork goes, Brickpedia is often accurate but not infallible. The comic has Flashfork wearing a blue bandanna, grey pants, and (just to completely confuse things) a red AND blue striped shirt. I should check and see what he looks like in the Ladybird books too... Ben Gunn wouldn't be a bad nickname for the castaway pirate (much as "Steve" seems to be that pirate's de facto name) but I don't recall it being used in a source published by LEGO. The Lego Book from DK seems to have a lot more Pirate info than I would have thought. I'm going to have to look into buying that at some point... TC

Great to hear! Sometimes you just have to take that leap of faith with online sellers... TC

I'm just hoping the cabin will be enclosed...does it have doors, can anybody tell? Other than that, though, these sets look great! I love the minifigures, particularly Blackbeard. (Barbossa doesn't really look that much like Barbossa, but both of his minifigures are awesome as pirates anyway.) I can't decide which set to get first...Isla de Muerta, or the Fountain of Youth... TC

So I've been wondering lately just how preliminary these picture must be...we saw a pretty impressive Jack Sparrow minifigure on display back in, what, July? And yet the set images don't seem to have this version...so these could be very early images indeed...so this has gotten me even more excited about the eventual official pictures... TC

Nothing about Pirates of the Caribbean or LEGO Pirates is historically accurate or plausible. It's always been about what looks cool. Why should it be any different for their version(s) of Blackbeard's ship? (Particularly a Blackbeard that leads a zombie crew--you know that can't be historically accurate. ) The fact that both LEGO and POTC have Jolly Roger flying pirates fighting European soldiers inspired by the late 18th century British navy is about as blatant an anachronism as you can get. It's like having modern-day British soldiers fighting against the forces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. TC

Hahahahahahahaha...Calypso! In future waves! LOL! Er, I'll just let you chaps get back to what you were doing... TC

Boomchil, that's really exciting to hear! It sounds like you're going to have a fun time. I admire your self restraint...I would never be able to leave Pirate sets disassembled for that long! I also can't wait to see the pictures. I'll keep my eye out for an extra 1795--I never got a chance to order the Advent calendar... I recently became Value Pack complete, which was nice, particularly the Pirates gun cart set, which I never got as a kid. TC

So I can see it's been awhile since anyone posted here, but I was able to get a number of great deals on LEGO Pirate sets this past break, so I'm going to start bragging about them here. One of my favorites is Skull Island. I've really, really wanted this set for a long time, first when it came out, then later when I got my Black Seas Barracuda and needed a port for it. Eventually I got another Forbidden Island (my first was long gone), but it's not really much of a port. Plus, the Imperial faction's base was growing as I had acquired the new Soldier's Fort, Eldorado Fortress, and Lagoon Lock-Up over the past two years. The Pirates were in need of a base. I was able to get this set on eBay for US $35 with $8 shipping--a really great deal. Part of the reason the price was so low was because the seller had only a stock picture of the set up, with minimal details, so I was taking a bit of a gamble here. It could easily have been missing major pieces or minifigs, or be one of the knock-off brand versions that I know are floating around somewhere. But the seller assured me it was complete, so I went ahead and bought it. The gamble paid off--it was just as described! It was in great condition and not a single piece was missing, which is unusual in my experience...even the "complete" sets on eBay tend to have one or two small pieces go missing before they reach me. One of my favorite things about this set is the way it combines an over-the-top Pirate look with a well built structure. Plus, it came with the box...AND it turned out that this particular set was originally sold outside the US, so it came with a shooting cannon! As if that weren't cool enough, the seller had thrown in an extra shark. Stay tuned for more! TC

The Admiral is the Spaniard with the silver chestplate. The fancy green one never got a name, which is too bad--he's one of my favorite Pirate figures! I'll be sure to post all of the Red Beard Runner names when I get back home and can look at my magazine. I know Black Jack Hawkins was one of them. (Interesting that you found that one as well; I assumed that the names were randomly given out by that particular magazine...) Other names were Jake "the Snake" Blake and Parma Sean LaFeet, but I can't remember the specific Pirates that went with those two. There was also a Pirate named George in the comic. A sort of Pirate visual guide would make for an interesting summer project...hmmmm... Other characters from the Ladybird books: Old Binnacle A neutral fisherman who sells fish in Port Royal, to Roger's Pirates, and, in an interesting early reference, the "islanders". The King The ruler of whatever fictional European country begat the bluecoats/Imperial Guards. This could also be the king referred to on the box of the old Imperial Flagship. It's also worth noting that in the American comic, the names of the two pirate cousins were "Blackheart", not "Blackdeed". TC

Be prepared for a LONG reply...I love keeping track of these things. We really need an encyclopedia of all the Pirate characters, minifigure and otherwise. IIRC, Ironhook is official; coming from an alternate set name for Raft Raiders...but someone else will have to confirm that, I can't find my original source. The Admiral Woodhouse character was identified in a UK catalog, IIRC, but again, I can't find my original source on that one. (EDIT: DK's The LEGO Book calls him Woodhouse, so that's one official source.) Here in the states he was simply identified as another incarnation of Broadside. I think it's probably safe to say that De Martinet was intended to be the brown mustached lieutenant figure that came in most soldier sets. True, he doesn't look much like the comic version, but then again, neither did Rummy, Will, or Roger. (EDIT: The LEGO Book identifies the Harbor Sentry figure as De Martinet, so I suppose that settles it.) Flashfork too is probably any of the generic mustached pirates with a blue bandanna wearing a red or blue striped shirt with gray legs, such as the minifigure in Castaway's Raft. Camilla was a character created for the comic, but the Lego Battles game identifies the Admiral's Daughter minifigure from Brickbeard's Bounty as Camilla. Again, the minifigure differs considerably from the illustration, but I'm inclined to accept that they are one and the same. The game also has the leader of the 2009 soldiers as yet another incarnation of Broadside. Given that Camilla is Broadside's niece, and that the minifigure has been called both an Admiral and a Governer, and that the Camilla minifigure is more commonly identified as the Admiral's Daughter, I'd like to suggest that Broadside has a brother who is an Admiral and is also Camilla's father. Bessie, as you pointed out, has no direct minifigure analogue...but I'd always assumed that the wench figure from 6273 Rock Island Refuge was her, since she has a red bandanna. The wench with the blue bandanna from the first wave of sets is identified as Anne, Bessie's daughter, in the Ladybird series of books that continued the Pirate storyline from the comic. Those books also introduced a Captain Jonah, who has no minifigure. The set 6235 Buried Treasure also (IIRC) went by the name Bo'sun Will in other countries, and I've seen at least one catalog calling that minifigure Will. I don't know whether you'd want to consider him the same character as the clean shaven Will from the comic and Lagoon Lock-Up, but he's definitely a named pirate. The 1996 Pirate issue of the U.S. LEGO Mania Magazine is noteworthy because it includes names for every pirate included with the Red Beard Runner ship. (It's at home, so I can't check, but I will provide scans at some point.) The leader of the Armada is also given a short biography here; it is revealed that he was raised by Islanders and that he does not know what his name is. Thus, he is known only as "the Admiral". The magazine ran a contest to determine his real name, but no single winner was ever chosen. The 1995 Pirates issue had names for the parrot and monkey included in the Skull's Eye Schooner set, but I can't remember them right off the top of my head. The 2004 4+ Pirate sets also named just about every figure that came with the sets. These aren't traditional minifigures, true, but the leader of the Pirates is named Captain Red Beard, and bears enough of a resemblance to our Red Beard that we should assume these characters inhabit the same LEGO Pirate world. The official site for this theme is still floating around on the internet somewhere, and it has names and short bios for most of the Pirates. LEGO Island and the upcoming LEGO Universe both have pirate characters that are named, but were never minifigures. The Roger/Red Beard situation is an interesting one...first of all, the name "Red Beard" for a LEGO Pirate captain seems to actually predate the release of the Pirate theme. The companion book for the LEGO World Showcase: Ships and the Sea mentions a Pirate named Red Beard...I'm pretty sure I went to this tour in 1987, a full two years before any Pirate sets were released, but I could be wrong. Red Beard was always known as Red Beard in the US, but he was called Captain Roger for years in other countries. I'm not sure why, although LEGO might have been wanting to avoid confusion/copyright issues with the unrelated Captain Redbeard pirate comics. They even went so far as to avoid showing Roger without the minifigure's striking red beard at LEGOland and in the Pirate storybooks and comics. This was particularly perplexing when the comic was released in the US--the name was changed to Red Beard throughout the comic, but the character had no beard, red or otherwise! To complete the confusion, some references to Captain Roger went unchanged. I would suggest an easy "fix" for the two names: Roger is the Captain's real name, while Red Beard is the name by which he is known on the high seas--much like the historical Blackbeard, whose real name was Teach or Thatch. TC

That's what I was thinking of when I suggested items from the ride (there are a few more too)...although the ride is different from the Star Wars expanded universe in that it's actually the primary source for the movies (the ride did come first, after all), and is far more iconic as far as pop culture goes than anything from the Star Wars expanded universe. POTC has a small expanded universe itself, but I wouldn't call the ride part of it, really. If nothing else, I could see a set being sold in the theme parks exclusively, or something. Oh, and WOW, pictures!!! The Queen Ann's Revenge is far, far more impressive than I thought it would be even in the preliminary pictures...even if it's not filled out on the inside, it looks awesome, and four cannons is nothing to sneeze it. That's an incredible number of sails for a LEGO pirate ship too. I think this one just jumped up my "must have list" faster than any of the other sets. I'm also excited about the captain's cabin set...I'm going to want at least three so that all the factions can have their own globes and bottles and shelves, and I can use the extra zombie pirates to crew the Queen's Ann's Revenge. TC

I wonder if we might get some sets based on the Disney rides as well as sets from the movies...there are all kinds of scenes from the ride that would make great small LEGO sets, and even the larger set pieces like the pirate ship are of a small enough scale that they could be done effectively at a lower price point than the film vessels. TC

LOVED seeing that Parrot actually built! I remember they had that page from Brick Kicks on the little booklets that used to come in sets, and I wanted to build one so bad. :) I actually tried once, but I only had the teeny, tiny little image of the instructions to work with. I only got about halfway through before I gave up, but the picture was so small I couldn't get the scale right...my parrot would have been two times bigger than this one, lol. TC

Phes, I sent the comic scans to you for hosting and posting. :) TC

Phes, absolutely! Actually, I was going to ask you about that; I know I had planned on scanning a number of LEGO Pirate things that I have (I've got some magazines and all of the Ladybird books), but I couldn't remember if I'd ever actually done any of them. Since then I've gotten my own scanner, so it should be a little easier. Should I start an account on a photo sharing site, or could these be hosted on Classic-Pirates? TC

<div style="width: 400px; background:#F8E2BA; padding: 10px 2px; margin: 5px auto; border: 1px solid #D1B98F;">Read the 3 Episode Series</div> In my quest to track down everything LEGO Pirate related, I've come across a few things that have taken me by surprise. One is the comic "Peril in Pirate Cove", which was actually an ad that ran in Disney Adventures magazines in 1993. These LEGO comics were typically serialized across several issues. I had the first installment in the April 1993 issue, and finally found the May 1993 issue, hoping to read the last part, and also get the collectors cards that typically came with the final installment. Fortunately or unfortunately, the comic actually ran for three parts, not two! And the June 1993 issue is apparently particularly expensive because it has Michael Jackson on the cover. Does anyone here have the third part of the comic? We now have the third episode so get reading! TC Read the 3 Episode Series

It's also interesting to note that while the names were changed for the US version of the Pirate comic, several panels went unchanged--the single reference there to "Darkshark" really confused me as a kid. TC

Not quite sure how they're planning to work Blackbeard in, but it's worth noting the the book "On Stranger Tides" has Blackbeard survive his historical death, albeit in a manner that doesn't leave him looking like Blackbeard. We'll have to see, though, since what little I know of this movie's plot doesn't seem to resemble the novel in the slightest. I'd be willing to bet that they just bought the rights because their film involved Blackbeard and the fountain of youth and they didn't want a potential lawsuit. Using the novel's name would be just an afterthought in this scenario... TC

Before anyone gets too upset about historical inaccuracies in Pirates of the Caribbean, we should remember that LEGO Pirates has always been a fantasy-like historical mashup. In the LEGO Pirate world, early 18th century pirates mix with 16-17th century conquistadors, late 18th century soldiers of undefined allegiance, and south seas-ish Islanders. Pirates of the Caribbean is similar in that it draws from an entire century of piratical fact and fiction; Blackbeard perished in the early 18th century, while the skull-and-bones brand of piracy had died out entirely by the time the British Navy even remotely resembled the institution we see in the film. The Lady Washington, used extensively in the first film, is modeled after a ship built in the 1780's--about sixty years after Pirates of the Caribbean is ostensibly set! Imagine the difference in car models between 1920 and 1980--it's just as absurd. The entire pirate genre has nearly always mixed fantasy with historical fact--this is a tradition that goes back to Stevenson, but even Johnson's History of the Pirates contains measures of outright fiction. LEGO has traditionally not had a problem with this mix...the first wave of Pirates appeared to have been inspired by the great Pirate films from the 40's and 50's more than anything else. Later in the line some of the best sets were obviously not realistic: take the gigantic skulls in the Skull and Volcano Islands, for example. Personally, I didn't really have time to get used to the minifigure revival of the Pirate theme before it became obvious that a Pirates of the Caribbean line was in the works, so while I was overjoyed to see its return, I can't really mourn its loss. I'm fairly confident that the Pirate line will return after POTC has run its course, although I'll be more than happy to wait it out a few years if the sets are good. I'm excited at finally being able to collect all the sets in a Pirate theme... TC

That's the sweetest thing I've ever seen.