Pirates was a Lego theme launched in 1989 featuring pirates, soldiers from the Napoleonic Wars, Pacific Islanders, sailing ships, and buried treasure, being influenced by the late Golden Age of Piracy. The theme has been seen in Lego System (minifigure scale, typically age 6–12), Duplo and the 4+ theme. History Created by a small team led by designer Niels Milan Pedersen, Lego Pirates was the company's fourth theme (after Space, Castle, Town) and it was more complex. Numerous new pieces were also created including firearms, wildlife (parrots, sharks, monkeys), and cloth sails. Lego Pirates minifigures were the first to go beyond the traditional head with simply two dots for eyes and a smile, as many of them had a variety of different printed features including eyepatches, facial hair, and feminine makeup. Only a few minifigures in Lego Pirates used the traditional face of two eyes and a smile; the soldier/trooper of the Imperial Soldiers and Imperial Guards, the Imperial Soldiers sailor/marine (only found in 6274 Caribbean Clipper), and young pirate Bo'Sun Will. Prior to the launch of Lego Pirates, minifigures were distinguished in function and organization by their torso, headgear (either a helmet or hair), and accessories, being generic roles without any specified character. In Lego's first attempt to establish a narrative and encourage role-playing, personalities were created for several of these minifigures of Lego Pirates. Stories were printed on boxes, particularly for the USA market where the larger sets had a flap that opened up to display the contents. In a first for Lego television ads used stop-motion animation. A comic book entitled "The Gold Medallion" was also released in that year, as well as a Ladybird Book series. The storyline takes place in the 18th century, where pirates had been searching for buried treasure as the doubloons (Spanish gold coins) belonged to their ancestors, however a colony of settlers discovered the treasure first and claimed it, leading to conflict. The Governor of the colony was forced to fortify the settlements and attempted to hide the treasure in his main fortress. The Pirates were led by Captain Redbeard (called Captain Roger in some markets), distinguished by his black bicorne hat, left eye patch, peg leg on the right and a hook where his left hand was; his crew included First Mate Rummy and the young Bo'Sun Will. Another pirate leader was Captain Ironhook who has been suggested as a