Table of Contents
Introduction
Opinion Summaries
Pirates
– Renegade’s Raft
– Forbidden Island
– Black Seas Barracuda
Imperials (Bluecoats)
– Harbor Sentry
– Broadside’s Brig
– Caribbean Clipper
Islanders
– King Kahuka
– Islander Catamaran
Conclusion
Introduction
I mentioned the Pirates theme previously in past Lego Rebuilding articles. Now, however, I have rebuilt all of my sets so I’m going to write short reviews of each. But to reprise my thoughts on Lego Pirate, as a kid, I got seven sets from the Pirates line. I really liked the Pirates theme when it was first announced, and bought or received as gifts six sets from the first 1989-1991 wave with the original pirates and bluecoat Imperials. Pirate was a pretty interesting theme and a great choice to add something to the Town, Space, and Castle lines available previously. As I will cover below, the classic Pirate sets are some of Lego’s best of the era.
However, as the Pirate theme went along I thought that it got somewhat repetitive, and set quality went down as Lego juniorized. The Pirates theme would end after 1997, only returning sporadically since. I did not buy one single Pirates set from after 1991 with one exception, we got two Islanders sets in 1994 from that Pirates subtheme. That makes eight total sets from the theme that I have and will cover below. Neither came with any pirates though, only Islanders, so I don’t have any pirate minifigures from after the first wave. It’s kind of funny that that is the case, because I kind of thought that I’d gotten at least one small redcoat Imperial set… but no, I did not. Not a one. Ah well, the bluecoat sets look the best anyway, I have no question about that
Before I begin, I should discuss release dates. The internet tells you that a whole bunch of Pirates sets released in 1989, including two large ships, two bases, and several smaller forts for each side. In Europe, this seems to have been the case. However, in the American Lego catalogs, we see a different story: the only sets listed as releasing in 1989 are the four main large sets, Caribbean Clipper, Black Seas Barracuda, Forbidden Island, and El Dorado Fortress, and only one small set, Harbor Sentry. The rest of the “1989” sets, including several midsized sets for each side such as Saber Island, first appear in American catalogs in 1990. Since I am American, I remember this and have always thought of the two as being two separate waves and not one. I would list them with the US release years below, but I don’t own any of the ‘1990’ sets, so for now this is just informational. It is something I think is important, though, and looking on the big Lego sites I can’t find scans of the American catalogs which would show this, only European catalogs. Odd.
Anyway, I will organize this list by faction and set size, smaller to larger.
The Summaries
Pirates
Renegade’s Raft – 1991, set number 6234. This small Pirates set consists of a pirate mate on a small raft being threatened by a nearby shark. The raft has yellow 1×1 tube bricks underneath to represent logs and a small pirates flag on the back. One oar is attached on the back of the raft to steer and a second is on a clip on the raft. I’m not sure how the raft moves itself forwards though, that flag is way too small to be a sail, but perhaps if he used both oars as oars it could work. This set has a good concept, with the raft and the shark, and executes well. A bit more sail would be nice, though. I have most of the parts of the set but am missing a few of the yellow tube bricks. It’s good.
Forbidden Island – 1989, set number 6270. This set was the first Pirates’ base. The second Pirates base, from 1991, is a much larger set, but this moderate-sized island fort is also quite charming. The initial wave gave the Pirates the larger ship but the smaller base, and that makes sense to me; shouldn’t the Imperials have a large base? It gives the Pirates a good target to rob. This is a fine island hideaway guarded by a cannon you can move around the island. This base is built on a custom-print standard 32×32 baseplate and has a defensive structure with a staircase leading to a rope bridge over to a second tower. Most of hte construction is done in black, as fitting for the Pirates faction. This side has prison below and a smallish fort area above, with some walls for protection and a leaf-covered roof above. The prison and actual fort area are each the same size. Above, the set has a mast with a crow’s nest with a large wooden half-barrel for the watcher to hide in. Two rope ladder pieces lead up to the crow’s nest. I really like the cross between land and sea design styles here, it works well. And since there are no sails in this set, this is finally a crow’s nest which actually gives the watcher good visibility! Wow!
There is a trap door from the upper floor to the prison, but since this set is from ’89 and not the mid ’90s that is where the gimicky features end. A newer set would have a flipping rope bridge for sure, for example, instead of the static one this set has, and would have a fancier trap door as well. I am quite fine with this, though, the set looks good and that kind of gimick is never something which I liked very much. Maybe I was just too old for them by the time they started appearing in more and more Lego sets in the later ’90s, but I don’t think Lego sets need that kind of thing, not one bit. This set is better exactly as it is than it would be with that kind of stuff added. It’s a pretty nice set, looking at it. I like the design and look. This is a bit on the small side as far as ‘large bases’ go, but it works.
This set is an interesting one, though — this is a set I got way back when it was new-ish, but did not keep assembled for all that long, as far as I can remember. By the early ’90s it was totally disassembled, and its baseplate spent decades being used as one of the shops in our little homemade town, with the outline of a store and various cannonballs and such for sale. So, while this is a set I’ve had for a long time, it isn’t one I have actually SEEN in a long time, until I rebuilt it recently. Making matters worse, I somehow have managed to lose this sets’ instruction book. I have the box, as I do for all eight sets in this article, but this is the one set I’ve somehow lost the instructions to. I have a vague memory of something happening to them and them getting damaged, but they’re gone entirely now. That’s too bad. So, I had to look up instructions online, which fortunately exist.
I’m really happy to see it again, but as much as I like it I can see why I didn’t keep it assembled; this is a good set but not a great one, I think. It’s a nice little fort with some great theming to its design, but it is kind of small and plain in some ways. For instance, there is no clear protected place to fire the cannon from, you’re just shooting it from out in the open. That’s not a very good idea. The prison is way too large as well, that walls off a large amount of the island away from its main inhabitants. The palm leaves all over the roof are a nice touch, but those leaves are so fragile, most of mine are broken. There are also three headlight bricks on the outer upper side of the main tower, but nothing goes in those bricks! There is a standalone lantern build which looks pretty nice, but that nothing goes in those holes is odd, it looks off. Perhaps my favorite thing here is the washtub piece on the crow’s nest on top of the mast, that’s pretty cool. So yeah, this set is good but I have some minor issues with it.
As far as parts, as you might expect for a set disassembled for so long, I am missing some, most notably a lot of palm leaves. I got a lot closer to assembling this set than I expected, though. I ended up finding most of the parts. It’s just that only five palm leaves for this set survived the decades undamaged… well, and the middle mast piece and one of the rope ladders to go up to it are both gone, those are big ones to be missing. Also, I’m not sure if I have the original cannon or not. I have one cannon which has a pull-back back but does not shoot cannonballs and I put that in this set, but I’m not sure if it originally came from this set or Harbor Sentry. If this is the correct cannon for this set, which I suspect it is, then it is present, but I’m not certain. I do have the rowboat that goes with this set though, and the shark as well. I am, however, missing the monkey; I only have one of those, which I put on Black Seas Barracuda. Ah well. As a comment, I have two of this kind of rope bridge piece, from this set and from Rocky River Retreat, and both of them are bending inwards on both ends where you attach the bricks to hold the bridge up. I think it’s a flaw to the piece. Ah well. Overall though this set is good and is pretty nostalgic to see in person again. Maybe I will leave it assembled this time? We will see. It will stay a pirate place for sure this time, not a shop with an island-looking rug or something. Heh.
Black Seas Barracuda – 1989, set number 6285. This all-time great legend of a set is easily one of my three favorite Lego sets ever, only finishing behind the Black Falcon’s Fortress, my number one, and the Dungeon Masters’ Castle (Black Knights’ Castle), a very close second. This large and impressive set is somewhat stunning to look at, with tall masts, a rope going over the top of the ship, higher platforms along the sides of the ship suggesting at a deck above the gun deck, classic black and white striping along the side as all wooden sailing ships used, and so so much more. For its day, this was a highly detailed set. Today of course a similar set would use twice or three times the number of pieces and would be highly ornate, but for the most part this set does just about everything I could possibly want. Perhaps a little bit more decoration in the captain’s cabin might be nice — there is only a treasure chest and a map attached to the wall, no chair or bed or hammock or something – but other than that and that there isn’t a full removable deck to put over the gun deck this set is just about perfect… well, other than how that rope going over the whole ship attaches at the back, but I’ll get into that later.
This ship makes an impressive sight from any angle. From the front, you see the prow, with a yellow minifigure torso representing the ship’s gold-covered figurehead. Behind that, decking covers some storage holds. Past this the gun deck is in the senter and the wall-walks along the sides of the ship. The set comes with a piece to use as a plank to have someone walk the plant from. A tall mast rises up, accessed by ‘rope’ pieces on the sides of the ship, as they always were in reality. The set comes with four cannons, all of which I still have. This means you only ahve broadsides of two cannons on each side, the same number as the theoretical max the Caribbean Clipper can fire, but while more cannon spots would have been nice, this number works well and allows for a more detailed design behind the cannon section. There is a cargo hoist with boom and hook above in the rigging, a fantastic touch. It comes with a platform to put cargo such as treasure on, and you can move it around and raise and lower the cargo. Past this, you find more storage holds, the next mast, and a pair of double doors leading to the cabin. It all looks fantastic.
Above, a staircase leads up to the upper deck. Yes, there are stairs! It’s quite nice to see them. The deck above is steeply slanted upwards towards the back of the ship, which is a pretty iconic element of this ship which looks great. The sides are ornate and are just dripping in yellow bricks that stand in for gold. It’s impressive and imposing. The sides and back of the rear cabin have windows. You can open up the rear deck and back windows for easy access into the cabin. Again, a chair or bed in the cabin would have been great, but I really don’t have any other possible criticisms of this spectacular model. And because of how great it was, I kept the set intact enough to be missing very few of the pieces. Only a couple of very minor parts are actually gone. One rope is probably missing, so the rope going to the cargo hook is using a far too short string, but I made it work.
The only real issue with this set is something I mentioned earlier, the way the rope going over the top of the ship ties off at the end. he problem is, the rope is supposed to end by wrapping around the flag at the back of the ship. This large pirate logo flag on a flagpole is attached to a hinged 2×1 brick which angles back. There is also a torch attached here. The problem is, the rope is much longer than this so there is a good amount of it left, and the flag and torch are only relatively loosely attaches to the hinged brick with a single pin. It’s a very loose connection that comes apart very easily. Worse, that hinge loses its hold over time, particularly thanks to the weight on it, so its ideal 45 degree angle is just about impossible to maintain, it says fully down most of the time and doesn’t look as nice. This rope has a good tie-off at the front end of the ship, it’s just too bad that the rear was not thought through as well. You can tie it off farther down, on the more solid hitch intended for the ship’s rowboat to be tied to via its rope. This holds more securely, but means you cannot open the rear of the cabin to reach in, so it is not ideal. I’m not sure what the best solution here is. Currently I have both it and the ship’s boat tied to the rear hitch since it holds up so much better, even if that means that the rear doesn’t open and there is a string gong down the middle of the back which isn’t supposed to be there. Ah well.
Other than that relatively minor issue, though, the Black Seas Barracuda is a just amazing model. It comes with a lot of figures, too, with a crew of eight, all pirates of different types including one woman, a ship’s boat, a monkey, and of course a parrot for Captain Redbeard. The minor issues only minutely hold back one of Lego’s best designs ever. I’m thrilled to have this set and to have it so complete. And not only do I have the box and manual, but this is one of the few boxes I have fully intact — because you see, most of the Lego boxes I have were collapsed and we got rid of the trays inside the outer box. This giant box, however, was not. It stores most of the flattened boxes within it. For many years I had the Black Seas Barracuda partially assembled in a sort of ‘shipwreck’ state, so it’s just amazing, and awesome, to see it finally return to its full glory. This set lives up to the hype and then some.
Imperials (Blue Uniform)
Harbor Sentry – 1989, set number 6245. This small set contains a bluecoat Imperial naval officer in a small red rowboat with a cannon on a rotating platform brick on the back of the boat. I’m not sure how many times you could fire this cannon on a tiny boat before the boat would sink from the cannon’s kickback, I can’t imagine it being more than once, but it’s an amusing set regardless and looks pretty nice for its small size. The rotating cannon is a particularly nice touch. I thought I remember having an actual firing cannon for this set meaning perhaps we got it in Europe, since firing Lego cannons were not allowed at this point in the US, but if so I cannot find one, only regular cannons. So, I’m not sure where we got the set. I do have the box and instructions and most of the parts. I would say it has all of its parts, but I put the one cannon I have that is missing its lower housing part on this set so it is missing that, though that one is probably from one of the large ships and not this set. Regardless, this set is good.
Broadside’s Brig – 1991, set number 6659. This is a small Imperial base. It has a prison on one side with Lego’s standard large prison door piece, a little building on the other side, and an arch connecting the two parts. There is no included way to get on top of the structure and no parapet behind that central crenelated arch, unfortunately, so the crenelations on the arch are fake and cannot be used, but otherwise this set is nice for its size. For one more issue though, I do wish that the walls were higher, they should be three bricks high instead of only two and do not provide much protection. Ah well. The set does come with three minifigures, including a fully armed soldier with rifle, backpack and tall hat and an officer with a tricorn hat, beard, and sword and pistol. The white and yellow construction of the building looks good and fits in well with the Imperial line, and I like the angled wall piece with some “damage” showing bricks through the chipped paint or stucco, but the set does have several issues. These are extremely common issues to be sure, most Lego sets with defensive structures have similar problems, but they are real. Still, it’s an alright to good looking set. I have the set complete as usual, nothing is missing. I have the box and manual of course.
Caribbean Clipper – 1989, set number 6274. This set is the main Imperial ship. While in the real world the imperial navies would have had the large ships and the pirates generally a motley assortment of smaller vessels, in Lego things are the other way around, so this ship is significantly smaller than the amazing Black Seas Barracuda, and is much less detailed as well. The ship has one fewer ship midsection piece than that ship and many hundreds less parts. If you look at the ship, you can see all of the corners the designers had to cut to fit the model in what has to have been a tight parts budget. That is unfortunate because while this set is a fine, nice looking set with plenty of strengths, it is impossible to look at it and then the Black Seas Barracuda without feeling like this set is significantly inferior to its larger sibling. Where that ship has an enclosed cabin and higher paths along the sides of the ship with a gun deck below, this one has no such things, only high walls along the sides enclosing a sunken gun deck. Where that set has an enclosed cabin in the back, this one has only an open one with no wall at all between the gun deck and the attempt at a cabin. Where that set has multiple storage hold areas in the front and rear of the gun deck, this mostly is just open to the bottom hull, with only one storage hold in the center front. Where that set has three masts plus one sticking out of the front of the ship, two with full sails plus one sail up front, this one has one fewer mast, and only one has full sails. The set has half the crew compliment as well, no small ship’s boat to go with the main vessel, no opening cabin since it’s just open in front, and more. Additionally, just like the Black Seas Barracuda, the crow’s nest is mostly useless since it is midway up the mast directly behind one of the sails. I’m not sure how lookouts are supposed to see anything ahead from these points, heh. You access this crow’s nest with a rope ladder attached to the middle of the deck, going up straight forward to the crow’s nest. This gives this set a different look from its larger sibling and it looks okay, but it seems a highly unlikely design style in a real ship, and I’ve always found that this piece is much harder to keep in place when played with — the rope ladder likes to come detached from the deck, not something which often happens with the Barracuda.
So, this set has a lot of little problems. Even so, the set does look pretty nice, since Lego sailing ships have a strong style to them. The ship only comes with two cannons, but since it has two gunports on each side, it could hold four cannons if you get some more cannons to it, which means it actually can fire the same broadsides as the Barracuda, since that ship only has two cannons on each side as well. And the ship’s blue highlight color looks pretty nice, though it could have used more blue bricks I think. The ship looks good from behind or a distance, certainly; it’s only when you get up close that the issues get more apparent. This, overall, is a good set mostly held back by how exceptionally incredible the Black Seas Barracuda is; it is hard to live up to one of Lego’s best sets ever. Still, it does have some exclusive pieces — there are a few pieces which only appear in blue in this set.
And because of that, I am missing a lot more pieces from this set than I am from the Barracuda since it was much more disassembled for a much longer amount of time. That set was never fully disassembled, but this one mostly was. I’ll need to buy parts from Bricklink eventually to finish up this set, it’s mostly complete but a bunch of details are missing, such as the rope that goes over the top of the set, parts of the side railings on the upper deck with the ship’s wheel, and such. I do have the box and manual for this set as well, as usual.
Extras: In addition to the above sets I have two extra bluecoat Imperial minifigures from who knows where: a fully equipped Imperial Soldier, with tall hat, backpack, and rifle, and a Governor Broadside figure, only released with the El Dorado Fortress, except minus his exclusive hat; he has only a standard tricorn hat. Still, it’s a pretty cool figure to have, I wonder how I ended up with it by accident after playing with a friends’ El Dorado Fortress set sometime. I certainly do remember knowing people with that set, it’s amazing and is right near the top of my list of sets I most want to buy. But I haven’t gotten it yet, so more on that set another day.
Islanders
King Kahuka – 1994, set number 6236. The Islanders theme was a short-lived theme from 1994-1995 which decided that the perfect thing to add to a 17th or 18th century Caribbean-themed line is… Pacific Islander, probably Polynesian-inspired, natives from the early days of Western contact in the Pacific? Uh? I do not understand why Lego thought this makes sense. The Islanders themselves are very heavily stereotyped, wearing grass skirts and with masks and feathered headdresses and such, which is not great looking back. I mean, in a vacuum I like a lot about the designs of the minifigures with the grass skirts and such, but did they really have to go for “probably cannibal natives!” as the theme? No, of course they didn’t. It’s just stereotyping. Of course, in around this same time Lego also made Plains Indian sets you probably also would not see today, so ah well. Given that those sets somehow have American Plains Indians with totem poles — something only found among Pacific Northwest Indians — I think they might be worse than these as far as historical accuracy, but I am American and not from the Pacific so I don’t know that for sure, I’m sure these sets aren’t much better.
With that said, Islanders sets only have Islanders and Pirates, never Imperials. I’m not sure why. But as I said I only have two of the smallest Islanders sets, so they do not come with any pirates, only Islanders. This set is a single figure, wearing the king’s full mask headdress, sitting on a raised throne with a treasure chest ‘hidden’ underneath. He’s a pretty interesting figure, with his staff and horned helmet. Lego sure loves their treasure chests, it’s kind of absurd how often they stick them into sets whether or not it makes sense, and here I don’t think it entirely does make sense, would Pacific natives have treasure chests filled with gold like this? It seems unlikely. Sticking treasure chests in everything is something Lego very much still does though, so oh well. Otherwise, beyond the obvious massive stereotyping by the painfully obviously European Lego corporation, this set is alright. The look fits the theme well. This is an average small set held back by the somewhat questionable theme of the line and its small size and simple design.
Islander Catamaran – 1994, set number 6256. This set is the larger of the two Islanders sets I have, and even if the theme is questionable I like this model quite a bit. This set is a catamaran made of two red canoes with a raised arching platform connecting the two small boat hull sides. The canoes have stickers on the sides of them to give them some character. This set has two minifigures, a King Kahuka and an Islander woman. The catamaran has a decently large sail on it with a charmingly cute cartoon Kahuka mast image and some quite ’90s lines. The stickers on the canoes have similar imagery. The boat has a drum, an oar on the back for steering on a movable pivot, some spears and shields, and some parrot… sculptures on the front? Or real parrots? I am not sure which it is supposed to be, but I’ve always assumed they are supposed to be sculptures using the standard parrot piece. It’s a pretty good looking set with a great theme to it. It even comes with an alligator to threaten the catamaran.
The female minifigure is somewhat interesting in design, too — she’s wearing a grass skirt and a large necklace, with no other top. This is reasonably historically accurate in a way that you rarely see in modern depictions of pre or early contact Pacific Islanders — see Moana for example, won’t find that there. The large necklace kind of reminds me of the costumes in James Cameron’s Avatar. She did not appear in many sets, apart from themes like Paradisa and Belville female figures are uncommon outside of the Town theme in classic Lego, but is in this one.
As for pieces, I have most of the parts but are missing a few I’ll need to replace, though I substituted other colors for some. So yeah, overall this set is pretty good. It’s a nice looking model with a cool catamaran design and sail and minifigures pretty different from the usual. I am sure some would avoid this whole line for good reason, for its questionable use of native culture and for being utterly insane for somehow having Caribbean Pirates in the middle of the Pacific threatening Polynesian natives for no apparent reason, but it’s a good looking set regardless and I like having it.
Conclusion
Overall, the early Pirate sets are great! This will never be my favorite theme, that is Castle without a doubt, but Pirate is a great theme from a quite interesting moment in history. The Age of Imperialism led to a lot of awful things, but its history is fascinating and its sailing ships beautiful. But why, despite how good the sets are, did I not keep buying Pirates sets after 1991, Islanders aside? Well, once you have one amazing pirate ship and a good guy ship, do you really need more? And particularly when most of the later ships don’t look as good? I thought not, so I stopped buying Pirate sets in favor of focusing on computer and Game Boy games and castle sets. I am fine with that decision, as with most Lego themes Pirate significantly degraded after the early ’90s, but having a few more early ’90s sets might be nice — there are some good redcoat Imperial sets, for instance. When I get another set it is sure to be bluecoat, either El Dorado Fortress itself or perhaps Saber Island or the others since I think they look the best and the first ’89-’91 era is what my Pirates nostalgia is pretty exclusively for, but the redcoat sets are almost as good based on pictures, I’m sure they are nice enough. After that things got a lot worse and the theme was abandoned. There was one more attempt at bringing Pirates back, but those sets do not look great. Other than that there is one modern homage to the Black Seas Barracuda, the set Pirates of Barracuda Bay. It’s a pretty awesome looking model, apart that because of having a detailed interior there isn’t actually a gun deck or cannons inside, which is pretty seriously lame for a pirate ship. I may get it someday.
Of course, this leaves out that there were also a few licensed pirate sets from the Pirates of the Caribbean line. I do not have any of them because I don’t like licensed Lego sets much conceptually, but some of those ships look alright I guess. I am a fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, I watched and like all five of them, but that doesn’t really make me want the Lego sets based on those films. I prefer Legos to be original themes.
But anyway, Pirate is a great classic Lego theme, and even if I’m not quite as interested in it as I am in castle, as you can see by considering that I’d love to have all of the classic castle sets no matter how similar they are but like ‘eh, one pirate ship is probably enough’ when it comes to this theme, I do like at least the first Pirate wave a lot. I’d really like to complete my bluecoat-era Pirate set collection eventually.
