pirates

2023 LEGO House Exclusive Set Celebrates 45 years of Minifigure

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This year, we celebrate the 45th anniversary of the debut of the LEGO® Minifigure in 1978. While we have seen some amazing changes since those early days, perhaps some of the biggest changes to the original figures with their simplistic prints, and even simpler smiles were seen in 1989 with the arrival of LEGO Pirates: We got the first named character: Captain Redbeard in some markets, he was full of innovations: a red beard and eyepatch were added to his face; he gained a wooden leg, and a hook for a hand: both seen for the first time. We also saw the first feminine Minifigure released in that theme.

Continuing its theme of celebrating key moments in LEGO History, The LEGO House has just announced that their exclusive set for 2023 celebrates the Minifigure’s 45th birthday with a giant replica of Captain Brickbeard, resplendent in all his Brick Built Glory!

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Counting Down to 90 Years Of Play, Part 6: 1982-1991

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Welcome back to our countdown to the LEGOLAND Group’s 90th Anniversary on the 10th of August, 2022. Every day, we are taking a look at a selection of major developments in a decade of the LEGO Group’s existence.

Yesterday, we saw the release of the minifigure, and the starting points for the Classic LEGO® Themes: Castle, Town and Space. The stage was set for developing the focus of LEGO Play, at a certain scale, going forward. The release of the Erling brick in 1980 also presented great scope for innovation in the way that LEGO building would develop in the future. Now read on as we take a look at some of the more significant developments of the 1980s

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Piratepalooza 2020: Announcing LEGO Ideas Pirates of Barracuda Bay.

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It is now almost 31 years ago since the LEGO Pirates range was released into the world. Inspiring years of adventure, pirates holds a special place in the heart of many Lego fans from the 80’s and 90’s , as well as those who came late to the party in 2009 and the early/mid teens.

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Rambling Brick Turns Four

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On January 30, 2016, the Rambling Brick was born. Four years ago, give or take a couple of hours. Please pardon a little indulgence as I take a quick look through some highlights of the last 12 months.

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Piratepalooza Continues: Meet the Islanders

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This year, we saw the 30th anniversary of the arrival of LEGO Pirates on the scene. Featuring ships, factions and named characters, Pirates also introduced some interesting elements to the mixture. After five years, perhaps in an attempt to move away from the obligatory Pirates versus Governor conflict, a new group of characters was introduced: Islanders.

With printed grass skits, and wearing horns in their hair, I probably feel a bit uneasy about saying anything about how these characters might reflect any culture living at the times during which the Pirates theme was set. Suffice to say, they provided variation in characterisation. I imagine that Pirates might be seeking to hide out on an island in the South Seas, and seek a degree of cooperations from the indigenous population. I am glad there were no ‘soldier faction’ figures included with the Islanders subtheme.

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Nostalgic Anniversaries Converge with LEGO Tower 1.4

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Last week saw the arrival of the latest incremental update for LEGO Tower – version 1.4 – the casual game produced by Nimblebit in association with LEGO Games. For regular readers of this blog, it will come as no surprise that I was extremely excited by the content released. As well as some bug fixes, interface tweaks, new roof toppers and new floors to build, this update provided some new parts for players to collect and dress the residents of their towers. Full of nostalgia, these new elements include torsos from the 6000 Ideas Book, as well as Pirate figures (with the theme celebrating 30 years this year), adding to a collection of pirate hats added in V1.3 a couple of weeks ago.

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Piratepalooza: Celebrating the Innovations Introduced by LEGO Pirates.

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Today, September 19, is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. To celebrate, I thought we might take a look at some of the innovations that we have seen introduced into LEGO through the original Pirates Theme.

As you may already know, LEGO Pirates turn 30 in 2019. Having made their debut in 1989, the Pirates sets certainly have a place in the hearts of AFOLs of a certain age. With obvious factions, great play features and rapid assembly, I can understand the appeal they might have to any child at the time of release.

While some of the features introduced in Pirates have been well observed by the LEGO Group over the years, others have been less thoroughly pointed out. So I thought we might take a look at some of these today.

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Set Sail For Forbidden Island 6270

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Recently, I have found myself becoming nostalgic for a childhood I never had.

As I have previously mentioned, this year marks the 30th anniversary of LEGO Pirates. Now, thirty years ago, I had just turned 20 and was well established in my personal Dark Ages: So Pirates essentially passed my by. Or vice versa.

Earlier this year I came across a copy of 6270: Forbidden Island – available locally, for a reasonable price. Set sail with me now as I put the set together, and come to see just what made the Pirates sets so amazing back in their day!

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LEGO Pirates: 30 Years of Buried Treasure

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The first LEGO Pirates sets first appeared sometime in the second half of 1989. Maybe July; maybe August. Maybe September. It all depends on where you were standing. Join us as we present some of the Print Advertising Archive, as we celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of LEGO Pirates.

The Hunt for the Pirate Treasure: “To win great Prizes”

In 1989, a new series appeared in the LEGO Catalogs.

Until then, LEGO Minifigures had been living in Castle, Space and Town with their permanent, identical smiles always on show. At this time we saw minifigures move into the Caribbean Sea, with the new Pirates theme. With that first range of pirates minifigures, several things changed: Captain Redbeard has a… red beard and eye patch; a hook for a hand and a wooden leg. He has certainly been up against a few things over the years, and yet still has a small on his face. He is also the first minifigure to have an official name.

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