Pirate



Pirates is a Lego theme launched in 1989 featuring pirates, soldiers, islanders and sailing ships. The theme has been seen in minifigure scale, Duplo and the 4+ theme.

The original Pirates sets included the first Lego minifigures without the traditional head with simply two eyes and a smile; they had a variety of different printed features including hair, eyepatches and facial hair.

Alongside the Pirates released for 1989 were Governor Broadside's blue-coated troops who were to fight the Pirates. These forces were based upon the French navy and marines of the colonial era, being known as "Imperial Soldiers" by fans, though explicitly identified as "Governors" on page 16 of the 1990 American catalog. A comic book entitled "The Gold Medallion" was also released in that year, as well as a Ladybird Book series. From 1992-93, the Governors were gradually replaced by the red-coated Imperial Guards, while existing Governors sets that continued in production were considered part of the Guards. Both the Governors and the Imperial Guards used two crossed cannons under a crown as their emblem.

A sub-theme loosely based on a Polynesian concept, the Islanders, was released for 1994. For 1996 Lego changed the entire "feel" of the Pirates line and made it Spanish-influenced. This meant the Imperial Guards were replaced by the Imperial Armada, heavily based on the Spanish Armada. Along with this change, the pirates were also given new faces. For 1997 Lego discontinued the Pirates theme; the theme's end at this time came as a shock to fans, because the Pirates line had always been a big seller.

Two 1996 Pirate sets, "Red Beard Runner" and "Armada Flagship", and one 1994 Islanders set, "Enchanted Island", were re-released for 2001. The 1989 Pirates set "Black Seas Barracuda" was updated and re-released for 2002 for the Lego Legends series. The Pirates theme was brought to 4+ for 2004 and Duplo for 2006.

Set list
Set names from UK, Australia & New Zealand given in brackets. Image from a 1989 LEGO catalog depicting a Pirate Battle===Pirates (1989-1997, 2001-2002)===
 * 1989
 * 1990
 * 1991
 * 1992
 * 1993
 * 1994
 * 1995
 * 1996
 * 1997
 * 2001-2002


 * }

Miscellaneous

 * 3983-Captain Roger Key Chain
 * 4224454-Captain Roger Key Chain

Duplo Pirates

 * 7880-Big Pirate Ship
 * 7881-Ghost Ship
 * 7882-Shark Attack
 * 7883-Treasure Hunt

4+ Pirates

 * 7070-Catapult Raft
 * 7071-Treasure Island
 * 7072-Captain Kragg's Ship
 * 7073-Pirate Dock
 * 7074-Skull Island
 * 7075-Captain Redbeard's Pirate Ship
 * 7080-Scurvy Dog and Crocodile
 * 7081-Harry Hardtack and Monkey
 * 7082-Cannonball Jimmy and Shark
 * 7289-Captain Redbeard in Box (Promotional Set)
 * 7290-Captain Kragg in Barrel (Promotional Set)

PIRATES
Captain Roger / Captain Redbeard Captain Roger, also known as Captain Redbeard, is a fictional character created by the Lego Company for the Pirates theme of the Lego System. The Pirate theme, along with the captain, was first introduced in 1989. As the theme's chief antagonist, the leader of the pirates fights continuously against Governor Broadside’s soldiers. Captain Roger/Redbeard is in command of two pirate ships: the Black Sea Barracuda and the Skull’s Eye Schooner. During the years of fighting, he suffered three major injuries, which caused him to wear an eye patch over his left eye, an iron hook where his left hand used to be and a wooden right leg. Additional trademarks of the captain are the skull and crossed bones on his bicorne, his distinctive gold-trimmed black frock coat and green scarf, and a colorful tropical parrot. Together with his friend Will and his first mate Rummy, Captain Roger/Redbeard encounters countless adventures of swash-buckling, sailing, treasure hunting and piracy.

In later sets, the appearance of Captain Roger/Redbeard was redesigned to look more intimidating, with him now wearing a shredded red shirt and sporting a massive knife slung through his belt. This character is identified as "Captain Ironhook" on the Classic Pirates website, making him a character separate from Captain Roger/Redbeard.

Despite the introduction of Captain Brickbeard in Lego's newest 2009 lineup of pirate-themed sets, many people still feel that the original pirate commander, Captain Roger/Redbeard, is unquestionably THE Lego pirate captain. The fan website www.classic-pirates.com calls Captain Redbeard "the true king of the Lego Pirates line", and "he will always remain the main icon of the Lego Pirates line". Others feel that Brickbeard is just a new release of Roger/Redbeard, due to the close resemblance between the two figures. Captain Brickbeard is a fictional character created by the Lego Company for their 2009-line of Pirates sets; he is an updated version of the Roger/Redbeard character.
 * Captain Brickbeard

Of all the Lego Pirate Captains, none of them are female. Only Lego fans have made female pirate captains. Identified as Captain Roger's/Redbeard's first mate. Governor Broadside is Captain Roger's/Redbeard's chief enemy and (mostly) chief victim as well, as Redbeard seems to always get the better of him. In the 2009 Pirates Line, Broadside is now Capt. Brickbeard's chief enemy and chief victim. Lt. de Martinet is identified on the website Classic Pirates as Governor Broadside's second-in-command. Adm. Woodhouse is identified as the leader of the red-coated Imperial Guards. Kahuka is the leader of the Islanders, a Polynesian-based sub-theme of the Pirates theme and he cannot be mistaken for anyone else that Lego has ever conjured up. He wears a massive, carved red face mask topped with white featers, a face painted white and blue, a necklace made out of teeth and a large round medallion, a red sash around his waist (which was probably a present given to him by a passing ship's captain) and a grass skirt. His center of power is located on "Enchanted Island", a fictitious island invented by Lego.
 * Rummy
 * Governor Broadside
 * Lieutenant de Martinet
 * Admiral Woodhouse
 * King Kahuka

Ladybird Books series
An official series of children's books based on the Pirate Lego theme was published by Ladybird Books in 1990.

Titles
The stories revolved around the misadventures of the crew of Dark Shark and their run-ins with Broadside's Imperial Guards. The stories developed a stronger characterisation for key characters and expanded the Pirate Lego universe. They also introduced a character known as Captain Foul who commanded the ship “The Barracuda”, however the captain did not appear in any of the official Pirate Lego sets.
 * 1) Will and the Gold Chase
 * 2) Captain Roger's Birthday
 * 3) Adventure on Shark Island
 * 4) The Royal Visit

Like the comic Governor Broadside was given a family which included his Aunt Prudence and niece Camilla. The entire crew of the Dark Shark (6285/10050 Blacks Seas Barracuda) were given names, including the monkey and the parrot.

A short biographical description and illustrated portrait of each of the Dark Shark’s characters was presented on the first and second pages of each book.

Characters
Broadside's Family Dark Shark Crew On the final two pages of each book is a map of the fictional archipelago named “The Treasure Islands” in which the Ladybird Pirate Lego universe is set.
 * Aunt Prudence
 * Camilla
 * Governor Broadside
 * Anne
 * Bo'Sun Will
 * Captain Roger (known as Captain Redbeard in Northern America)
 * Flashfork
 * First Mate Rummy
 * Jimbo
 * Popsy (the parrot)
 * Spinoza (the monkey)

Islands

 * Black Reef Island
 * Emerald Island
 * Hook Nose Island
 * Island of Fogs
 * Island of Ruins
 * Island of Skulls
 * John Silver Island
 * Pirate Hat Island
 * Pirate’s Nest
 * Sabatina
 * Shark Island
 * Skeleton Island