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 Gold 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.

Ever since the release of the LEGO Ideas Pirates of Barracuda Bay in 2020, LEGO Pirates fans around the world have been living and breathing the most notorious lie ever conceived by the human mind, the lie about Captain Redbeard current whereabouts.

Who is the mastermind behind this treachery we do not know, it may be the doing of the Captain himself. Either way it’s irrelevant now as the jig is up. Captain Redbeard is not helplessly stranded in his shipwreck on some unknown island in the Caribbean. NO! Cincinnati spotted him living comfortably in his cozy villa named conveniently The Readbeard’s House, somewhere along the beautiful rocky coastline of west Italy.

If me hears ‘Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest’ once more ye’ll be learning to play with peg-legs! Play us a theme song from Monkey Island! Arrr!

Cincinnati writes:

I want to present my MOC – The Captain Redbeard’s house, located on the Skull Island. It is a remake of the famous LEGO 6279 Skull Island set, where my idea was to grow the three levels on the original set, keeping some elements such as the skull carved in the rock, the pier for accessing the building, the secret passage in the back, the trap door on the upper floor for accessing into the cave, the palm on the left side and the revolving crane on top.

The difference between the final product and the approved 10K idea for the year 1995

And speaking about retaining some of the original elements, for the untrained eye the difference is almost nonexistent, this creation is everything else than a ‘remake’ of the original set as our beloved Governor pompously remarked “It’s a complete re-envisioning of the original idea!” Don’t you agree?

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The grand tour around the manor

To improve playability, and since this is a Pirate-themed set where we want nothing but playability and not some dust collecting unplayable LEGO Ideas set, the building consists of three levels in nowadays popular modular fashion. But wait! That’s not all. At the same time the whole building can be symmetrically opened in two vertical parts. How ingenious is that?

Any aspiring MOC designer can build in modular style, nothing breathtaking here, except the attention to details on the rock, the walls, the door, the cabin, the fence, the palm… but leaving all that aside, any amateur could build three levels of extraordinary good looking house

But here we see the difference between the amateur builder and the real professional. How cool is that! Just imagine mental power and foresight needed to build this. Amazing!

Second level of the manor

We shall continue our tour as a main guest (an Imperail guard disguised as a wench) coming for a Redbeard’s birthday tea rum party.

A woman or a man in disguise, it’s hard to remain unimpressed by the level of details of the exterior

Just look at the woodwork, the daring use of various colors, how it all blends in. If this is the exterior one can only guess what wonders are in store for us inside

Behind the wooden door we enter the second level of the Redbeard’s house. This is the main level of which most (if not all) was carved into the rock. We have everything what a good Captain needs: the hall, bedroom, kitchen and even the bathroom.

Here we see the overview of the second (main) level of the manor all carved into the rock

Wait what, a bathroom? A bathroom and the Captain with a hook!?

Not so long ago a rumor about the true nature of Captain Hook demise started a big trouble at the ‘Three Cannon Balls’ tavern. Allegedly, dear old Captain Hook found himself in great need to take a shit perform an act of excretion, and by the coincidence he also owned a luxurious bathroom (yes yes, very un-pirating we know). In any case, the rumor has it when he successfully took a shit removed his bowels, he was so much relived, almost in the state of nirvana thinking about nothing really, that he took the paper with the wrong hand.

A cheap lie or unbelievable truth, it’s no way to go for any man, yet alone Captain. So dear Pirate fans remember, no hooks in toilets!

Is that a tile poster with Captain Redbeard? Where? There, behind the pillar! Can you guess the set it comes from

Not only do the Italians design most beautiful cars, suits, shoes and pretty much everything else, but here we also see Cincinnati’s crafty furniture design. It must have cost Redbeard a fortune to get this made, but on the other hook, he is the person with a golden purse

Third level of the manor

After the extravagant party, and some good night sleep, breakfast is served up on the third level of the manor which can be accessed via outside ladder for sober guests, or by the crane for the drunken pirates. The third level also contains a small penthouse inhabited by the rest of the Redbeard’s crew.

Here we see yet again stunning use of colors and tiles. Mind you, this picture is the real physical set not a digital render

The third level contains everything a house pirate needs, a terrace with a view, a T-bone steak on a grill, a cannon for fending off those vegans and other grass lovers, a crane for hauling new supplies of red meat and rum, and a nice bunk bed

Remember how house can be easily split in two vertical halves to maximize playability? Here we see the right section of the second and the third floor

The left section of Redbeard’s house with a dangerous toilet and a drunken pirate wasting away a beautiful day in bed. If only he had a mother to receive some proper scolding

More of the Italian furniture design on the third level (ignore the cannon)

Hidden first level of the manor

At one point of the evening Captain Redbeard somehow got a whim of our poor disguise of an Imperail soldier trying to pass as a wench, and decided it’s time to split before other Imperials come barging in through door and windows. In pursuit we shall explore the hidden level of Redbeard’s house, the cave with the secret entrance and me gold.

The ground level of Redbeard’s house is a large cave with a rock that hides the stolen treasures and a secret exit at the back of the cave. Unlike the original set, the skull remains immovable

Here we see the secret trap door from the first level and the ladder leading down into the cave. Not so much spectacular entrance like the Batman would have in the Wayne manor, but good enough for our Captain in heat

Not only is this whole level hidden from the Imperials prying eyes, but also inside the secret cave there is another super-secret compartment just below the huge rock where gold is hidden. Let’s talk about a paranoia for a moment…

And so our sly old Captain escapes the hand of the law (with the gold) once again through the secret ‘sliding’ exit and sails into the sunset to plunder and fight another day

General information

• Parts: 5800 parts
• Dimensions: Width/Length 32x32cm (12.5×12.5″) | Height 35cm (13.8″) with the flag

Time consumed

• Digital design: approx. a month in BrickLink Studio 2.0
• Real build: 20 hours over the course of 5 days

Who was is Captain Redbeard?

Mirror mirror on the wall who is the most famous pirate captain of them all?

Captain Hook, Jack Sparrow, Long John Silver, Blackbeard, LeChuck, Bartholomew Roberts , One-Eyed Willy, Dread Pirate Roberts Westley, Captain Blood, Edward Kenway, or Guybrush Threepwood – a mighty pirate?

All good guesses, but unfortunately all wrong! So who was Captain Redbeard whose long shadow towers all over these pirate giants?

A partial answer can be found in LEGO naval library. Here is an excerpt from the book Pirates of Barracuda Bay

Captain Redbeard was once captain of the great ship Black Seas Barracuda. An infamous pirate. Redbeard and his crew sailed the seas from Rock Island Regfuge in search of treasures stolen by the mighty Imperials. Feared by his enemies and admired by his friends, Redbeard was a legend among all sea-faring folk. A pirate pioneer, Redbeard paved the way for the pirates who came after him. It was said that Long John Silver stoli his wodden leg idea, Captain Hook copied his missing hand and Blackbeard was inspired by his lustorus beard.

Yet this tells us nothing relevant, but luckily the LEGO Pirates forum member TalonCard provides us with the first Un-Arr-thorized biography of a LEGO Pirate: Captain Redbeard. On a side note, this motion picture received a golden parrot award for the best documentary at annual Tortuga film festival. Congrats TalonCard. So sit back, kick off your shoes (or peg-leg), and take a roller-coaster ride through life of one of the most exciting personas in fictional history of mankind.

A long time reader and first time contributor, Cincinnati emerged from the Davy Jones locker and took out the LEGO Pirates MOCs subforum by the storm. He is nowhere to be found on popular social networks as he fancies himself ‘vintage’, but that has not stopped him from setting up a YouTube channel only to showcase his prize MOC.

For building instructions you can visit his ReBrickable profile here, or check out his other image work on his Brickshelf account.

Regarding the theme of his future project we know nothing as he refused to give up any clue during our regular torture Q&A session down in the dungeon. One piece of information did manage to escape him as he ran for the door, we know his favorite theme is and always will be LEGO Friends ahem, LEGO Pirates.

Before we part our ways you should know that there is new discussion brewing inside the LEGO Pirates forum ‘Is Governor Broadside actually Admiral Woodhouse, a turncoat in disguise?’ Exciting isn’t it? No? You don’t care about Imperial guard or Soldiers; you are here only for Pirates. In that case click on the big red shiny button bellow and give us your two pieces of eight about MOC The Redbeard’s House.

Over the years LEGO Pirates fans have plundered every uncharted sea, forbidden island and hidden cove in search of that long lost and almost mystical treasure known better as the original idea. Many have gone onto this perilous journey only to return beaten and empty handed, or worse, with another Black Pearl MOC in their hands arguing that there is no originality left out there, so why bother.

So when a newcomer Pizzasemmel humbly sailed into the Pirate port holding LEGO scale model of the HMS Victory main top, eyebrows were raised in astonishment. Not only is this eye catchy and well built model, but more importantly, it shows that there is still originality out there waiting for those who will search harder or sail further to get it.

What a masterful rigging skill, pure beauty to watch and think about the time and energy spent

Pizzasemmel writes:

Here you can see my LEGO scale model of the main top of the British ship of the line HMS Victory. It shows the main top and main yard in 1:45 scale. The base does not represent the deck of the ship, only two thirds of the main mast are shown. The main top is ~30 meters above the sea level and the yard is 33 meters across, just to give you the scale of a real thing.

Most of the time on this creation was not spent on actual design of the model itself but on getting knowledgeable in rigging and understanding the workings of it all. Because there is so much contradicting information out there that was no easy task. Eventually I realized I must choose a certain set of building plans and just stick to it. In time the more I understood the more I was stunned by the engineering and the amount of foresight needed to build and sail those ships, it is just so impressive.

And speaking about the building plans, for any of you pirates trying to get your dirty hands on vessel plans, after extensive Q&A torture session Pizzasemmel disclosed the source of many available free plans HERE.

Here we see the built section model in reference to the whole ship

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The masterful rigging was accomplished with five different types of ropes, a proper scale modeller’s ropes mind you, in a total length of whooping 40 meters (131 feet). Ropes were obtained from a specialized rope maker since the price for this section model clearly wasn’t an issue. Feeling so generous, Pizzasemmel gave us the contact of his rope master, so go on and check it out HERE, if you think the price isn’t an issue your MOC deserves a professional touch.

A skillful seaman is ascending the mast to relieve from duty a lookout who is bad at his job. (One can really see the land of opportunities through an eye-patch)

General information

• Parts: around 1600 parts
• Dimensions: Width 75cm (29.5″) | Height 50cm (19.7″)

Time consumed

• Research: 50-60 hours
• Digital design: 20 hours in BrickLink Studio 2.0
• Rigging: 20 hours

All was done over the course of three months.

If you could have one decorative set for your living room, which one would you rather choose: LEGO® Ideas 92177 Ship in a Bottle or this?

Will there ever be a full size HMS Victory?

Pizzasemmel continues:

When I had 80% of the whole main mast done in digital form, I realized it was getting too big, almost 2 meters tall (6 ft). I just don’t have enough space to store or display it. Then I switched to the section model. But maybe, one day I’ll build the whole main mast section, which would look pretty cool, but the whole ship in this scale… it is too much for my taste.

As one would guess a reply like this was not well received by the gathered crowd in the LEGO Pirates forum. Soon enough ideas of collaboration started to pop-up and good folks of Imperial Armada and treacherous Pirates decided to join their bricks and plates and deliver to the world the first and only full size 1:45 LEGO scale HMS Victory!

Really?? Nah! Just kidding.

More than a decade ago a talented builder Big Boy, a.k.a. Dirk Delorme, spent a whole year dreaming big dreams while carefully planing and purchasing all the necessary parts. Three months and 45,000 LEGO pieces later he made his dream a reality as he produced a full size LEGO scale HMS Victory. Want to see this massive piece of art, well click HERE and begin to marvel. Full size vessels not your cup of tea rum? No problemo. Check out Nick’s Barret ‘minimalistic-build’ HERE.

A stroll down history lane

HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She is best known for her role as Admiral Woodhouse’s Lord Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.

In 1922, she was moved to a dry dock at Portsmouth, England, and preserved as a museum ship. She has been the flagship of the First Sea Lord since October 2012 and is the world’s oldest naval ship still in commission, with 244 years’ service as of 2022.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Admiral Horatio Nelson by Lemuel Francis Abbott, and HMS Victory at The Battle of Trafalgar by Clarkson Frederick Stanfield

We don’t know much about Pizzasemmel plans for future Pirate-themed creations as inspiration can be a treacherous spirit, but we do know he wouldn’t mind if you followed up his work on Flickr or Bricksafe.

As the rigging of HMS Victory Main Top requires exceptional patience and skill, Pizzasemmel thinks about sharing the instruction plans for free in the future via his ReBrickable profile, so take occasional glace now and then.

If you find yourself impatient till next Classic-Pirates post, check out the LEGO Pirates MOCs subforum and join one of the most heated discussions ever held ‘Under which pseudonym the Governor shares his MOCs?’, or simply give us your two pieces of eight about the HMS Victory Main Top model.

If you are more into adult stuff, then immerse your head in the BoBS (not to be confused with BOOBS), the most spectacular Pirate game ever made since MI1 and its sequel.