We’ve already established the good folk of the Brick Seas love a drink, or ten… but that’s just the tip of the spritzer. They even have sprawling wine festivals with floral arrangements to match their flags. A grandiose occasion to be sure!

CapOnBOBS expands his Brethren of the Brick Seas empire further with “RNTC Wine Garden, Lavalette“, an homage to grog guzzling events like Oktoberfest, only done in digital LEGO Pirates style. As you can see, the Soldiers are having tons of fun… Maybe a bit too much fun considering they go back on duty in 10 minutes!

CapOnBOBS writes:

The popularity of the RNTC [Blog post link to be updated]‘s Vineyard of Light wines has kept a steady pressure on the trade company to increase production and availability. This demand, plus the profits on sales of course… has led the Vineyard to purchase a prime piece of real estate in downtown Lavalette to showcase their wines.

With a style somewhat inspired by the large fest tents used in places like Punto Sur to celebrate Oktoberfest, the style is also recognizably consistent with the large sprawling vineyard buildings on the outskirts of town.

Everyone is getting drunk drinking responsibly, and they couldn’t be more thrilled with the new wine garden!

The Story

Now that the Vineyard of light owns a large artisan location downtown, patrons don’t need to haul themselves into the hills on the outskirts of the growing city in order to enjoy the popular wines right from the source.

Hey!! I forgot my ID… which one of you lovely Soldiers would like to let me in?  Governor Broadside may need to pass a new law to allow minors.

A popular location now for the local garrison, the locals, and tourists, there is always a steady crowd enjoying a glass in the open air garden and the powerful scent of the flowers lining the seating areas.

Nothing to see here, just  fermented regular old grape juice

For a little extra, you can pay to go up into the VIP loft. Many of the undeniably legitimate merchants, so legitimate that you would never need to bother specifying that they are legitimate because it is automatically assumed… like to flaunt their completely legitimately earned wealth by reserving the VIP for their loyal crews to reward them for their totally above board job performance.

They still need to get back downstairs. Was it good value for the gold they paid? For an amazing experience like this, absolutely!

All in all, a happening new spot to enjoy a bottle of the RNTC’s new popular line of Vineyard of Light wines any time of day, now accessible in downtown Lavalette.

Was this picture taken by Sea Eagle? No, Sea Eagle was drunk too.

About the Builder…

If you’ve visited Classic-Pirates.com previously, you’re probably aware CapOnBOBS is a regular contributor to Brethren of the Brick Seas. Yer know, the phenomenal LEGO Pirates building game which anyone insane enough to contribute with MOC building skills can join.

Follow the good CapOn on Flickr to witness more his digital wizardry – he doesn’t a use a single brick which exists in physical reality (that’s a lie).

Or, for more great MOCs, especially the Pirate themed creations, look no further than the Pirate MOCs subforum, benevolent child of the ever enduring LEGO Pirates forum. You’ll be amazed it’s lasted this long!

History books, works of fiction and other sources define the period between 1650s and the 1730s as the Golden Age of Piracy, the period when maritime piracy in the histories of the Caribbean, North America, West Africa, and the Indian Ocean was at its highest. But what if the historians and everyone else are only half/right, or better half/wrong about that matter?

At the recent Bricks Cascade 2022 Eurobricks member PxChris challenged and shocked the academia when he made a strong case which argued for the existence of the second completely separate Golden Age of Piracy. And the best part is there’s a high probability that you, O! Reader, have been an active part of it! We are, of course, referring to the period between the 1989 and the 1997, the Golden Age of LEGO Classic Pirates.

The Golden Age of LEGO Classic Pirates captured in one frame

PxChris writes:

Here is the Classic Pirates display that I made for Bricks Cascade 2022. With this display I wanted to celebrate the wonderful history of the Pirates theme and how many cool innovations it brought to the LEGO System.

It features the entirety of the Bluecoat Era (1989-1991) of Pirates, as well as the entirety of the Islanders sub-theme (1994) as well as a selection of other sets from the remainder of the Classic Pirates years (1989-1997), most notably all of the Pirate ships released.

This has been a passion project of mine for the last couple of years and it was so wonderful to see it finally come together. The entirety of the display is of my own collection. As a kid I could never afford most of the larger sets, so this is me living out my childhood dreams.

You’ve better have a dream for a dream to come true, and some BIG Imperial cannons to defend it while you’re at it

Let’s assume for a second that we are not die-hard fans of LEGO Pirates (shame on us), so what are those cool innovations which were introduced to the LEGO System via Pirates theme? And what’s so special about the history of this theme that puts her at odds with other fantastic LEGO themes? Those are all good questions, and the best way to answer them is to enjoy a short sail through the…

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HISTORY of the LEGO PIRATES

Whoever spent any time playing classic adventure games back in the nineties, like the Monkey Island series, knows from firsthand experience that a good story and bad, nay, terrible graphic will always beat everything visually outstanding but emotionally unmoving of today. People (young and old) starve for a good story in any form or media and will pay good money to be hijacked at least temporarily inside the Hero’s special world where they can figuratively kick some ass and save the day.

This is no big news from the point of the today’s well developed entertainment industry, but back in the sixties and seventies with rapid expansion of television and other technologies it was the rediscovery of wheel, the storytelling wheel that is. Stories sell!

Building on the decade long success of the City, Space and Castle theme, the always innovating LEGO group led by visionary designer Niels Milan Pedersen caught on to this idea and decided to do something daring for the theme that changed all.

Fun fact n°1: Did you know that the Pirates theme was ready to go as early as 1986, but LEGO held off on release until the 1989 because the Castle line was selling so well that they didn’t have the capacity to produce more sets

Background Story

The stage is Caribbean in the 18th century, and at the centre of the stage are Pirates who are searching for a buried treasure, Spanish gold coins known as the doubloons, which belonged to their ancestors. However, a colony of settlers discovered the treasure first and claimed it. When the Pirates got the wind of this, it naturally led to a violent conflict. To secure and defend the treasure from Pirates’ attacks, the Governor of the colony fortified the settlements and hid the treasure in his main fortress.

Map of the Pirates world from the LEGO Ladybird Book series

To establish a narrative and encourage role-play, LEGO had background stories printed on boxes, particularly on the larger sets which had a flap that opened up to display the content. Every set had a different story depending on the type and location of the set. Furthermore, a comic book entitled “The Golden Medallion” was also released, as well as the Ladybird Book series. The mission was simple: the Pirates theme must revolve around the story.

Here is the story about the Sea Hawk, the Governor Broadside mighty vessel printed inside the set box

The four of Ladybird books released in 1990 to promote the Pirates theme

The Characters

Since the MOCs have bricks and plates, the stories have characters. This led to the introduction of minifigures with names and personal traits for the first time in LEGO history. Wits and skills of two opposing forces were pitted against one another in the traditional game of good vs. evil, that is Pirates vs. Bluecoats.

Pirates were led by their fearless leader Captain Redbeard, also known as Captain Roger, distinguished by his black bicorn hat, a left eye patch, a peg leg and a hook. His crew among others included First Mate Rummy, the young Bo’Sun Will, Flashfork a ship’s cook, and Popsy, the Captain’s faithful and very talkative parrot. To learn more about Captain Redbeard, take a look at The Un-Arr-thorized Biography and learn a thing or two.

Pirates’ main antagonists were Imperial Soldiers, also known as Bluecoats who were based on French navy and marines of the colonial era. They were led by Governor Broadside and his second-in-command Lieutenant de Martinet.

All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts – Shakespeare

Fun fact n°2: Did you know that early prototypes for Pirates hulls were designed to float in water, but the idea was eventually dropped before production

The Innovations

One of the problems with the introduction of characters and their corresponding minifigures was that up to that point (1988) all the LEGO minifigures had the same traditional head with a simple face expression. Arguably the most iconic minifigure to this day is Captain Redbeard who single-handedly (no pun intended) broke out of the traditional mold and brought several cool innovations to the LEGO System. His head featured an eye-patch and actually red facial hair, a hook instead of a hand and a wooden peg leg.

The creator of the LEGO Minifigure, the designer Jens Nygaard Knudsen explains: “It was necessary to alter the minifigure’s expression in order to develop credible pirates, and a real pirate captain must have a patch on his eye, a peg leg and a hook!”

This opened a way for multiple other facial expressions in the theme, most noticeable among them the feminine makeup.

Fun fact n°3: The ramp-and-pit raised baseplates were a pain to design. They had to be printed on a piece of flat plastic and the only way to make sure they looked good after the plastic had been molded was trial and error

The Pirates theme was the first to feature firearms such as flintlock pistols, muskets and working cannons for an open sea battle. The theme also introduced a shark and the monkey figure with LEGO minifigure hands for clasping. The crocodile was designed early on for Pirates, but didn’t make it to market until after some of the elements were re-used in Castle dragons. The introduction of the skeleton in 1995 was a long process, as the LEGO Group had its reservations about launching a ‘dead’ minifigure.

The designer Niels Milan Pedersen explains: “Originally the skeleton was designed a decade before it appeared in a set – but we were told off at the time for creating a dead minifigure!”

Here we have the LEGO set n° 6251 from 1989 depicting minifigures with many new cool features introduced with the Pirates theme

Fun fact n°4: Did you know that western theme was developed in tandem with the Pirates, but didn’t see release in the 80s?

Classic Pirates Timeline

The initial run of Pirate theme ran for 9 consecutive years from 1989 to 1997. This golden age of the Classic Pirates can be divided into four waves based on the type of foes pitted against the Pirates:

• Imperial Soldiers (Bluecoats) 1989 – 1991
• Imperial Guards (Redcoats) 1992 – 1995
• Islanders 1994 – 1995
• Imperial Armada 1996 – 1997

At the moment of writing (2022) there is nothing on the LEGO horizon for the Pirates theme

After the initial run the Pirates theme has been rebooted twice so far, in 2009 and 2015. In 2011 Disney Pirates of Caribbean theme was successfully launched. In 2020 first pirate themed set was released from LEGO Ideas.

Arguably, 1989 was the best year to be a kid and in love with LEGO Pirates

Having rich parents, aunts or grandparents and plenty of room for blue baseplates, would only come as the icing on the cake

Sadly, however, many of us didn’t have that, maybe a set or two and one baseplate…

But darn it! We can re-live our dreams as adults, its OK!

Kahuka is the leader of the Islanders, a Polynesian-based sub-theme released in 1994

The Islanders are considered neutral but are known to capture both pirates and imperials as prisoners. If ye be a pirate ye better watch your back

Take a moment and ask yourself, if you were Captain Redbeard, which one would you rather choose; classic Black Seas Barracuda from 1989, or new updated Barracuda brig from 2020?

The Light Show

PxChris continues:

The lighting really added so much life to the display. I’m glad that I decided to do it. It was a very last-minute addition to the layout (I decided only about a month and a half before the convention to add lighting, and I’ve never done any lighting before, so it was quite a learning curve).

Indeed, it must have been nerve-racking ordeal, something in common to all of the high-risk high-reward undertakings… but seeing the results recorded during the dim light time at the convention, oh my, it only goes and proves the old axiom that He Who Dares Wins. Remember that O! Reader.

As for the future, PxChris informs us that he first plans to complete the collection of the entire Classic Pirates theme (1989-1997) for an even bigger and better display in probably 2024, after which he will tour the world educating people about the history of the Pirates theme. The thing about tour is made up, but who knows…

A PxChris minifig in command of Eldorado Fortress defence during the Pirates attack. Yeah, Go get them tiger

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About the Builder…

A punk rocker at the heart and Bluecoat arrr, Pirate to the bone, PxChris is one of those rare builders and LEGO fans who simply radiate with unlimited passion and enthusiasm about everything pirate themed. You simply can’t be near them for too long without being overwhelmed with desire that makes you wanna go and build something Imperial, or read something Pirate.

PxChris finds sailing the vast seas of the Internet an enjoyable activity (what an odd thing for a pirate), so you can track his progress on Instagram  and Flickr

Before we part our ways and return to the cruel reality of life, be sure to visit the LEGO Pirates forum and join in new discussion ‘Will LEGO purchase the licence for Monkey Island sub-pirate theme’, or simply give us your comment praise about the Classic Pirates display by clicking the big red shiny button below.

If you are pumped up about the upcoming release of the Return to Monkey Island (the sixth overall instalment) and don’t know what to play in the meantime, then take a glance at BoBS (not BOOBS), the most spectacular Pirate game ever made outside LucasArts.

So let’s add Land Ahoy to the ever growing list of pirate-themed ideas to be rejected.  But do not despair! We shall not surrender! We shall support more pirate-themed ideas all the way to 10K, so that one day, another shall succeed, just like Pirates of Barracuda Bay.

The LEGO Ideas Team writes:

First and foremost, congratulations to Ralf Ranghaal for reaching 10,000 supporters on LEGO Ideas, and toward everyone for all of the support of the Land Ahoy project! The results of the LEGO Review are in and you can see full details on the LEGO Ideas Blog.

Review Results for Land Ahoy
Our team has thoroughly considered the possibility of releasing this project as a LEGO set according to the criteria of the LEGO Review. Unfortunately, the LEGO Review Board has decided that we will not produce this project as a set.

Thank you to Ralf Ranghaal for the passion and creativity that went into this project, and to all of you who voted so that we would have the opportunity to consider this as a potential LEGO set. We’re sorry to deliver this disappointing news.

How do we arrive at our decisions?
By gaining 10,000 supporters, a fan-submitted project moves from the Idea Stage to the Review Stage, where it earns the opportunity to be considered as a future LEGO® set in a process called the “LEGO Review.” Gaining 10,000 Supporters is just the first step in this process.

A “LEGO Review Board” composed of professional set designers, product managers, marketing representatives, and other key team members examine each qualified project. They build concept models and determine if the concept meets our high standards for what it takes to be a LEGO product. Among some of the top factors that we evaluate 10K creations on include:

• Products on shelves
• New products currently in development
• Brand fit
• Expected demand
• Licensing possibilities
• Production capacity
• Build quality (i.e. stability, safety)
• Feasibility
• Playability

Every potential LEGO product, including those developed internally, goes through a similar process and must meet the same standards.

The amount of time this takes varies due to all the factors involved. Unfortunately, this process sometimes means that well-conceived projects that gain just-as-passionate followings have to be turned down. Please note that the LEGO Review Board makes all final decisions on which new sets the LEGO Group will release based on LEGO Ideas projects.

The Original Post:

Have you ever got the feeling the Earth isn’t flat?

Well, you should have that feeling because there is plenty of evidence to suggest it isn’t! But centuries ago it was common knowledge among seafaring folk, that the world was a disc, held up by four pillars in the centre of the universe. Sailors feared the horizon, for if they sailed beyond it, they’d plummet to their doom… or be eaten by a hideous monster!

Eventually, some bright sparks figured out Earth was an oblate spheroid and worked up the courage to sail into the unknown. LEGO MOCs and sets however, rarely break free of “flat Earth” syndrome – that is, until now!

Ralf Ranghaal has divulged in an interesting concept not seen since the Slapbands of the early 1990s… a LEGO base which can remain flat… or curve upwards!

His nifty YouTube video demonstrates how it works…

Ralf writes:

I made some similar builds before and was asked to submit them.
So I made this model of a map using only regular, standard techniques.
It is quite sturdy and a real build model. I plan to do a video showing how to roll up the flat build.
After rolling up a stand has to be attached. I made quite a basic stand out of basic bricks

The model can be made even more sturdy by adding a hose inside. Of course it cannot be rolled up then any more.

This is a design that is eye catching and has never been done before as a set.

You can have it flat… but it looks pretty ordinary!

But if we curve it upwards it starts to become…

It becomes something quite unique! But ummm… isn’t the surface of the Earth convex?

But wait… There’s More!

This isn’t Ralf’s only foray into map building – more recently posted “ChooseYourWorld” to Flickr.

This MOC gives new meaning to the Earth being flat…

Ralf writes:

A few days ago LEGO published a globus.

So here is an alternative for a blockhead like me and all the other ones out there.

I also wanted to build a disk but I don’t have much time right now.

The build was more difficult than I imagined. Especially the cluch of the tiles was so strong that you can actually see that the left side is not straight.

Also the block was way heavier than I expected so I had to place it in a straight line. I intended to to use a slight angle first.

I also tried to use other colours for the landscape but one important part is not available in green or bright green. I could have used some complicated snot techniques like I did in ‘Hybris’ or much simpler in my Halo ring but in the end I just opted for this rather minimal approach

If your immediate impression of Land Ahoy was an island being engulfed by a tsunami, Ralf has conceptualised that too in “New Wave“…

Don’t worry! The Imperial Guards build `em to withstand all kinds of weather conditions!

In case someone wonders: it’s all done with hinges. I didn’t bend plates or something like that 🙂

And finally… Ralf combined some of his builds to create “Death of a Sailsman” – this MOC is worth a Blog Post to itself, but we’ll tease you with a single image right now.

Judging by the size of those buildings, this is one gigantic ship!

This is a combination of some older models: you may know the map and my pirate city. I threw together two maps, and the back of the ship and completed the ship.

As usual I didn’t care much for historical accuracy, more for fancy looks 🙂

About the Builder…

Ralf Ranghaal (or Ralf Langer or Rla Rla) is LEGO Ideas 10K Club member who likes to break free of the common plane (I.e. flat bases) and experiment with ideas that typically break the fourth wall when it comes to the foundations of LEGO builds.

Be sure to follow him on Flickr and Instagram for regular updates of his work. Or if you prefer video demonstrations, visit his YouTube Channel or TikTok to see him break the fourth dimension as well!

How can I help?

Comment on the LEGO Ideas Blog to let the LEGO Ideas Team know about their terrible decision!

And if you’ve already done that, check out more LEGO Pirates MOCs on LEGO Ideas. If any of the projects achieves 10,000 supporters, you will have a wonderful opportunity to add it to your ever-growing collection, provided that it is approved by the LEGO Ideas Team…