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
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.
We saw the first xtra polybags appear about a year ago as an inexpensive way of obtaining general accessories for (until now) City type builds. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the door and found a copy of a new xtra bag: 40341 Sea Accessories sitting there.
Whether you are building around a contemporary city or historical pirate type of MOC, this polybag has something for everyone.
The bag contains a selection of sea life, some items you might consider to be treasure, and a number of things you might associate with off the beach play in contemporary life…
This year, we celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the LEGO Advent Calendar, and the Rambling Brick is taking a trip back and forth through the history of Holiday themed sets, before looking at today’s offering from the LEGO Friends Advent Calendar.
In recent years, LEGO City, Friends and LEGO Star Wars have become evergreen Advent Calendar themes. Over the next few days, I would like to take a look at some of the advent calendars that did not have the same level of long term appeal. Today, I will start with the 6299 Pirates Advent Calendar. This was released in 2009 – relatively recently in the scheme of things.
Enjoy 24 days of fun surprises with the 2009 LEGO Pirates Advent Calendar — no looting or pillaging required! With a new buildable character or setting every day, and lots of colorful minifigures, creatures and special elements, you can create your own LEGO Pirates world and play out swashbuckling adventures on the box-lid play mat. Each day open a new window in the specially designed Advent Calendar box! Includes 24 pirate-themed surprises in all, plus a play mat printed on the box lid! Includes 8 minifigures!
The set came with eight minifigures and a number of creatures, including a crocodile, saw toothed shark, rat, parrot, crab and monkey. In between, there were a number of minibuilds including a small cannon, some scenery, a treasure chest and raft. Contemporary reviews are quite favourable, but do comment that there is not really any seasonal content included. Captain Brickbeard was opened up on day one, and I suspect if this calendar were to be produced today, he would have had a brightly wrapped present or sack, and a Santa hat! A full list of the minibuilds can be found on Bricklink, as this is from the days before shop.lego.com providing complete spoilers for the advent calendars.
This is the only Pirates Advent Calendar that we have seen to this day. Perhaps it would be nice to see another, if Pirates make a return to the mainstream in the future.
Follow on after the break, to see today’s build from the 2018 Friends Advent Calendar.
So… having never invested in Ninjago as a theme, it seems to have taken up a little more of my time than originally planned this year. So, having looked at a couple of sets, I thought I would (once again) succumb to the message on the side of the box… Free App: Available on iTunes or Google Play. So, while Mighty Micros is an arcade racer, and Adventures in Elvendale is a colour matching casual game, Ninjago: Skybound is a platform game. The opening screens reveal that the Ninjas’s souls, except for Kai, have been captured within the djinn blade of the evil Nadakhan. Kai must pass through a number of quests to rescue his friends. Continue reading →
I’ve not previously been invested in Ninjago as a theme. Since emerging from my Dark Ages though, I have hopped from City to Lord of the Rings, with a stop off a long the way via Harry Potter and Atlantis, in recent times settling for the relative psychedelia of Friends and Elves (This is not an endorsement of minidoll design, more just a quest for more colour), as well as participating in my other joy: Super Heroes. My MOCs over the last few years are as likely to be Miniland Scale, Micro Scale or even a combination of the two.
So: as you can see, not a strong thematic structure to my builds or collection as there may be for other builders. It is, I admit, a bit of a hodge podge. So, when someone said to me this year, “Look at that: Ninja Steampunk Pirate Airship,” how could I refuse? It was an offer too good to refuse.. Pirates, Ninja, Airship, and also Kai’s little Ninja Glider looked extremely swooshable too. Wait a minute. What’s the deal with Kai (I’ve not followed the show at all)? So thats Cyborg Ninja Steampunk Pirate Airship. Mashup complete.
