TalonCard

Wait, what? No more Pirates?! This can't be right, LEGO! We've been without Pirates for ten years; you can't just give us one year's worth of sets. That would make me very sad. :( I was actually seriously buying LEGO for the first time in years. We didn't even get a soldier ship for the new guards. C'mon, LEGO, this doesn't make any sense! Consider this: SIGNED. TC

When I was very young, two of my favorite things in the whole wide world were Advent Calenders and Pirate LEGO. I would love to be able to get this set in time for Christmas! :) Adrick

I'd like to see: A "treasure" set--just a cave with a ton of treasure in it. A harbor set with civilian shops and a small ship--it would be awesome if the set came with both Soldier and Pirate flags/sails so the ship could be either attacking or defending the port. A series of larger sets aimed at adults...a huge Soldier ship, a giant Pirate island, stuff like that. A chess set. A ghost ship...I'd really like one of these...maybe we could get one the next time we're due for a big pirate ship? More reissues of Classic Pirate figures and sets...I would definitely buy a reissued Smuggler's Shanty or a vintage Pirate minifigure pack. A decent sized soldier fort like the Eldorado Fortress. TC

I loved the Pirate stories and characters as a kid--to me it was the height of storytelling magic. ;) I know better now, of course, but I still love the Pirate stories almost as much as the sets themselves. The original 1989 storyline was particularly well thought out, if not entirely favorable to the soldiers. ;) It was used more or less consistently on the set boxes, the story books, the comics, and even the theme park attractions. TC

My first ever Pirates set was the 6257 Castaway Raft, which I believe was not only my introduction to LEGO Pirates, but Piracy in general. Ah, the memories. I lost the map the first day after I got it, and ended up cleaning my entire room looking for it. ;) Sometimes I feel sorry for those of you who weren't old enough to experience the Pirate theme as it was released in the '90s. ;) TC

I think that a PoTC theme is more than likely when you consider the following: #1: Lego has just reintroduced Pirates #2: Lego is doing sets for Disney #4: Lego will be doing sets from "Cars", which already had a building blocks line from another company. #5: Lego is doing sets form the Prince of Persia, a fantasy big budget live action film. #6: Pirates of the Caribbean 4 is coming out in the next couple of years. So I'm of several different minds about this. I would like to see Lego continue its own Pirate theme, but I don't think they'd put out two ships and two forts in the same year--it's just too similar. On the other hand, the ships would undoubtedly be better than, say, Brickbeard's Bounty. The recent licensed sets have been pretty awesome. All in all, I'm looking forward to seeing what Lego does when PoTC 4 comes out--but I'm glad we'll have a few years of regular Pirate Lego before then! :) TC

It's the one fly in the ointment of the new Pirate sets. I guess I still have plenty of the old ones to go around, though. ;) TC

The strange thing about it is, though, that even though we have picutres of it in the store, no one seems to have bought it. TC

By the way, guys, I have to take the blame for the Pirate sets coming out in the US first. I'm one of the biggest LEGO Pirate fans ever, I was in Florida...it was just fate. I'm really sorry, but at the same time, I just can't get over how awesome this is. A couple of points I hadn't seen addressed: The "new" palm tree base has been around for some time. I haven't held one from the fort myself, but it seems to be the same as the one introduced for the Jungle Adventurers sets back in '99. Wasn't a huge fan of it then, and I'm still not, but hey, Pirates are back... The Impulse sets were availible at the LEGO store. I did not see them the first day, but I bought one of each when I went back the next day and I saw them on Sunday as well. I'm beginning to think the new Pirate base set was never there--I never saw it personally, it's not on any of the promotional material, and no one seems to have bought it. Presumably, painting the new LEGO shakos will be easier and cheaper than buying classic black ones or trying to produce new ones, as had been suggested before the new Pirate images started showing up. What was the going rate for blue epaulets? Because each of the soldier sets I got had an extra one...six for the price of three! The Loot Island base isn't as bad as it looks. I'd like to get a second base at some point and make a larger island--plus you can put it on top of a blue base plate. I need lots and lots of blue base plates to make a Pirate display. This is the first time a LEGO Pirate minifigure line hasn't had at least one torso from the classic 1989 line. Will we see a Pirate chess set in the future? At last, it is possible to have more Imperial Guard troopers than officers. The officers are only in two sets, and the Impulse set makes for an easy army builder. I'll be buying lots of these. TC

I broke down and bought the rest of the small sets--including the two impulse sets, which I know I didn't see there yesterday. I didn't see the new Pirate island set either; but it was in some of the pictures that were posted, so maybe they'll change the selection a little. No more Pirates for me for a while, but man, how cool is it that I was in the first place in the whole world to start selling new Pirate sets after more than a decade? :) TC

Someone else will have to post pictures, but there were several pieces of cool Pirate merchandise for sale besides, you know, the actual sets. (Even as I write this, I wonder why I'm not down there looking at them.) There was an awesome foam cutlass, a forty dollar hoodie, and a matching t-shirt. (If the t-shirt had come in anything larger than youth sizes, I would have bought it no matter how little money I make down here. People have got to know that Pirates are BACK!) Oh, and on the inside of the Soldiers' Fort there's a series of scratch marks made by the prisoner to denote how long he's been there. I want these sets... TC

So I went. And it was awesome. Not only were they giving away those Pirate masks, they had most of the line on the back with writeups and set names. They also had a "Build Your Own" minifig table...with new Pirate pieces. :) And, of course, best of all (as has been posted elsewhere) the actual Pirate sets. Words cannot discribe how incredibly awesome it was to walk into a store and see brand-new Pirate sets after ten years. I mean, wow. TC

Well, being on the Disney College Program and moving to Florida has meant that I've had to vanish from EuroBricks for some time now...but it also gave me the chance to pick up a LEGO Pirate set for the first time in years. I bought Loot Island, and shooting cannons are absolutely the best. I didn't have much time to spend at the event (had to work and put my set together, don't'cha know) but I'll be back bright and early tomorrow morning. Now, the question is, do I buy just one more set? I'd love to get Cannon Battle or Kraken Attackin', but I really should pace myself. After all, these really will be in Wal-Marts and Toys R Uses in just a few months. When I first saw all those brand new Pirate sets stacked in front of the registers at the LEGO Store, I thought I'd walked into a dream. I would have bought that sweet new Pirate hoodie, but I doubt they had one in my size, and I'd have to be crazy to spend that much money and not buy the actual sets... TC

Avast, maties! The third part of the guide to Pirates mini-figures is now available at Classic-Pirates.com. A collaborative effort between myself and Mister Phes, (with editing by imperialshadows) this article showcases those ever-popular redcoats, the Imperial Guards! Download YOUR copy, and tell us what you think! a_guide_to_the_pirate_minifigures-part_iii.pdf Cheers! TC

X-D Before the introduction of the "LEGO System" idea, they were known as the "LEGOLAND Pirates of the Sea." Maybe a little better, but still a mouthful. ;) TC

Fairly sure--most pictures I've seen of the European had no stories on the flap. Don't know about markets like Canada and Mexico, though. As I recall, the early US boxes (1989-1992) had a longer story in English only, with a section unique to each set as we've seen here. The later boxes (1993 on) were in English, French, and Spanish, and had only a short, general, framing story. Multi-lingual products and signage have become increasingly common in the U.S. since the early 90s, both to better serve customers who speak only or mostly Spanish and so that companies only have to print one box to serve their entire North American market (Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.) TC

It looks like only the US versions of the sets had stories, and the full stories stopped appearing with the 1993 sets. So I think the only one we have left is the Imperial Trading Post. Anybody have a US copy? TC

>Great find... We should all know Treasure Island, it's like the bible for this forum. On that note why aren't there more Treasure Island MOC's.< Seconded. Without Treasure Island, we might not have LEGO Pirates at all...and we certainly wouldn't have had treasure maps, peg legs, or parrots. Add Johnson's History of the Pirates and Barrie's Peter Pan, and you have pretty much the sum total of literary background for fictional pirates as we know them today. I had never attempted to build anything from Treasure Island (aside from a Long John Silver minifigure) because it seemed to me that there wasn't anything interesting to build--there's a ship and a stockade, but they're nothing special. But now I see that if someone can make a Benbow Inn look cool, anything is possible! TC

Wow, I see there are several more Pirate commercials on Youtube. Ahh, those were the days... But the original one linked to in this thread has been taken down. :( TC

Thanks for posting those! I'd been wanting to read the BSB and RIR stories for a long time! TC

These are some really great maps! I love the way you've captured the look and feel of the LEGO treasure maps. I remember spending hours looking for my first Pirate treasure map after I'd lost it... :) TC

I had always thought that the Pirate's ancestors/antecedents had been Pirates themselves, and had originally stolen the doubloons from the Spanish. This was one of the reasons I was excited when LEGO released the Imperial Armada sets (all two of them...) This backstory does explain the abundance of treasure maps in the Pirate theme, yes? TC

Thanks for all the kind words, mates! Er, no offense meant about the shakos. ;) Mr. Phes's graphics are absolutely wonderful--I just saw them on my school computer, and they look amazing! (BTW, I love the classic "feak out" pose of the trooper in the first post! ;) ) I'm looking forward to Guard pictures--I have a few amusing ones, but my Imperial Guards collection is actually looking kind of sad right now. :( TC

I've been gathering information on these backstories in preperation for a comprehensive report for some time now! I had always known about the first and only Pirate comic, but the books were news to me, as they were not sold in the US. I've managed to track down three of them. The stories in the books are consistant with the one from the comic. I believe that these were also used as inspiration for or were inspired by the Pirate attractions at the original LEGOLAND, but I've been unable to confirm whether or not there was a story element to the rides and displays there. Another interesting, and often overlooked, source for minifigure names is the American LEGO Mania Magazine. You used to be able to get a subscription free with points clipped from instruction booklets. There were only a handful of Pirate issues produced, but I have two of them. It's mostly silly stuff, but many of the Pirate figures are given backstories. Finally, Disney Adventure Magazine ran a whole series of LEGO ads in comic form. There was a two-part Pirate comic that was pretty cool, and I have the first part. TC

I've pretty much always loved LEGO; to the point that I can't even remember how I was introduced to it. It's just always been there. Now Pirates, on the other hand...I was maybe about five years old when my grandmother bought me my first set: the Castaways Raft. I don't know if I've ever had so much fun with just one toy. The Pirates were cool. The shark was cool. The flag that clipped onto the musket was cool. The little white rags passing for sails were cool. But the best part, the part that really sold the set, was the treasure map. So much detail in so little space! I spent hours having the Pirates sail from one cardboard island on the floor to another in search of buried treasure. And then...I lost the map. And I spent hours looking and cleaning in order to find it, because otherwise I just had three pirates wandering around aimlessly on a raft. Good times. Of course, I didn't actually have a treasure for the pirates to find yet. I would always go to the toy section at K-Mart to look at the Buried Treasure set in envy. ("Look mom! It has a monkey!") Finally, I got that one for Christmas. And it just kind of snowballed from there; my obsession with LEGO Pirates going hand in hand with my obsession with pirates in general. I got all the small sets eventually: the mini figure pack, Harbour Sentry, Sabre Island, Shipwreck Island...and like most of you, I poured over the catalogs endlessly. I could only dream about what having a Black Seas Barracuda would be like. Two of my favorite sets from that time were the Forbidden Island and Lagoon Lock-Up. The former I got as a Christmas present from my grandmother--it was the largest set I had for some time, and it was awesome. I remember dissasembling it and combining it with pieces from Shipwreck Island in a vain attempt to give the Pirates an actual ship. The latter was a birthday present from my dad...my dad is and was awesome...I remember once he bought me some Cheetos and a Foresters set when I was sick as a dog. When you're six years old, that's really all you need to feel better. ;) Anyway, I was all into Pirates right up until they stopped making them...I too flipped through the '98 catalog in dismay, searching in vain for the Pirates page. In 2003 I got my first job and actually made enough money to buy the re-released Black Seas Barracuda...I still remember opening the plastic bags and watching all the old-school Pirate pieces spill out, every one of them brand new and shiny just like I remembered them. Wow. Unfortunately, by that time most of my old Pirate sets were wrecked, and the only non-Pirate ship I had was the Armada Flagship...not really a match for the Barracuda. It wasn't until this summer that I was able to get more Pirate sets on Ebay. I was amazed to discover that Pirate sets from the early ninties could still be had at prices comperable to the original store prices. I bought the Forbidden Island (oh the memories!) the Caribbean Clipper (building a Pirate set I'd never built before is a rare treat) and the Lagoon-Lock Up. (At $20 Buy It Now, this last one was a real steal. You'd better believe I left some good feedback.) I would love to get some of the other large sets I never had a chance to buy back in the day, but I know it'll be awhile before I can afford any more. Still, it's wonderful to know that these things don't just dissappear forever. TC