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Pyrates' Lost Fortune is one of the grandest playsets ever produced from the Pyrates toyline. It came at the very end of the toyline's life, released as one of the very final sets in the whole series. Quite possibly the final set in the series.
It was released as part of Wave 3 of Pyrates and is set #3623. It contains 200 pieces, five figures, a crab monster, barrel of goo ("quicksand"), a mounatin base, a boat, and much more. Its definetly one of the most feature rich sets in the entire toyline. Pyrates certainly went out with a bang when it came to this set. Nobody can deny that.
This set came in a fancy barrel shaped packaging, similar to the Battle For Treasure Island's chest shaped packaging. Pyrates Lost Fortune was also a Toys R Us exclusive, another similarity to the Battle For Treasure Island playset.
Lost Fortune is one of the most sought after sets by collectors of the Pyrates toyline. Its incredibly rare and difficult to find, with even incomplete versions being worth at least a hundred dollars.
Lost Fortune is a large playset with three central areas. The Castaways camp, the island, and the fort.
The Castaways' Camp is a small island that connects to the main one. Its mostly occupied by the tent that the Castaways live under. It features a cloth tarp that hangs over a table decorated with skulls and a campfire. Since this faction never appeared in any other sets, this little campsite could be considered their homebase.... Not very impressive LoL. But its a fun addition to the set.
This is the main centerpiece of the whole set. Funnily enough it doesn't even feature on the instruction manual's art. The island is a large island baseplate with lots of trees and rocks. The baseplate is mountainous and features a large cavern beneath it.
The cavern features two entrances. A whole in the top and a cave that leads onto the beach. The cave can be covered up by several large rock pieces, as well as a piece modeled with barrels of TNT. The TNT has a cord on it that triggers a switch, and causes the rocks to "explode". The upper entrance can be covered up by the "quicksand" the set comes with. (We'll get to that in a minute). You can place one of your figures in the quicksand and let them sink down into the cavern. Its quite fun looking!
The island also features a small slide area for bolders to be rolled down. There's a small ladder included at the top of the island that can be used to hold the bolders in place.
On the left hand side of the island there's two small holes in the ground where you can place some of the treasure, and then cover it up with the quicksand. Then you can have your figures dig it up!
The final piece of the set's structure is the fort on the left side of the island. This fort belongs to The Buccaneers, as evidenced by their flag waving high overhead.
The fort is pretty simple. Nothing too complex. It features a trapdoor in the bottom as well as a cannon on the top. The fort connects to the island via a little dock. The fort also has a dock that extends out into the water.
A zipline connects the fort to the island, by connecting to the Buccaneers' flagpole.
The playset comes with quite a few extras to go over too! They really put a lot into this playset.
It features a monster unique to this set. The creature known as "Crabster". Crabster is basically a smaller version of Razorscales. He lives inside the island's cave! I wonder if its Razorscales' baby.
The set also features the "quicksand" I mentioned earlier. Its basically a little vat of slime that's included in the set. The two applications they demonstrate for it in the manual, are the two areas I mentioned earlier. Draped over the hole in the top of the island, or used to bury the treasure on the lefthand side of the island.
There's also a bunch of smaller accessories:
Pyrates Lost Fortune features five Micro Action Figures. Two Buccaneers, one Sea Marauder, and two Castaways. The only set to feature the Castaways faction.
On the Buccaneers side of things, we have two men.
Horatio Highseas is a Buccaneer that wears a blue vest and tan undershirt. He has black pants, brown boots, and shares a headmold with a lot of characters. To name just a few there's Spar Foreman, Oliver Lugsail, Musket Munroe, and Murk Mariner. Although he has blond hair and a black bandana. In this set he's seen wielding a cutlass with a bronze hilt.
Skipper Stegengh (side note, no idea how tf you pronounce that name) is a Buccaneer accompanying Horatio Highseas on Lost Fortune. He wears a gray vest and dark yellow undershirt, along with navy blue pants and brown boots. He has a similar headmold to Brigadoon Blackburn, though he has no tattoo and sports a ponytail. He wields a cutlass like Horatio Highseas does.
The only two Castaways we ever got are both included in this set.
Louwala-Clough is a castaway that wears sparse clothes like all Castaways. He sports a yellow wrap around his waist, golden anklets, and a red necklace. His face is painted to resemble a skull and he has an orangish-yellow mohawk. Some images also depict him as having a red snake curled around his neck. Louwala-Clough wields a very unique variant of the spear weapon. More commonly molded in blue for the skeletons. However, here its molded in more traditional colors. A brown, wooden shaft with coiled rope keeping it together. The point is molded in gray to resemble a rock. Its really cool looking.
Skell is the second Castaway included in the set. He's dressed identically to Louwala-Clough, however instead of a mohawk he has a head of short, curly black hair. Other than that he's basically identical to Louwala-Clough however. His weapon is slightly different than Louwala-Clough's however. Its still a spear, but it has a different molded head. I'm not sure if this mold was made unique for the set, but I doubt it. If I had to guess its probably borrowed from Dragons or something. Either way, its a cool weapon. Glad to see some more variety! Even in the toyline's twilight years.
The Sea Marauders are also present in the set, though they recieve the least amount of love here. (Really? They couldn't throw in one more figure to make it all even?)
Lucky Lootsgood is a burly Sea Marauder. He has gray pants with black boots and wears a dark red shirt. He sports dark skin, which is cool. There's only like. What? Three black characters in the whole toyline? At least he's not named fucking Silverback. His head shares a mold with characters like Scabby Buckbeard, Silverback Surrez, Braggart T. Doyle, and Lockpick Cabot. In this set he dual wields daggers as his weapon of choice.
Lost Fortune is a portion of the mainland in the south of the Pyrates' map. Its location is relatively close by the Privateers' Lighthouse. The "island", technically isn't one as its just what this portion of the mainland is called. Lost Fortune is a deadly area, hardly anyone could survive such a place.
The wild Castaway tribe lives here, eager to attack any who set foot on their land. There are giant monsters like Crabster and Razorscales, pools of quicksand, venomous snakes.... Anything and everything on this island will try to kill you. No one in there right minds would ever try to come here.
So naturally, every Pyrate on the open seas started coming here.
The Privateers' Lighthouse had shown the way to Lost Fortune.... This location was supposedly where the Lord of The Pyrates' Treasure was hidden! And everyone was eager to make their move.
The Sea Marauders and Buccaneers struck wisely. Rather than invading the mainland in a massive force, each crew sent a small exploration party to search the island.
The Sea Marauders sent a team led by Captain Quell, an old pyrate who had recently joined their ranks. Quell was a veteran on the seas. But in his older years, he'd grown unconfident in his own skills. But with Sabrehook dead, and Cutlass needed to oversee operations at sea, the matters were left to Quell.
Captain Quell's team consisted of four men plus himself. Lucky Lootsgood, Hully O'Brien, Cutthroat Craven, and Brigadoon Blackburn.
The Buccaneers sent a team led by Captain Brine. A new addition to their faction. His skeleton immortality, and knowledge of The Skeleton Crew's operations made him a good fit for the team lead.
Captain Brine's team consisted of four men as well. William Blackeye, Gary Billows, Horatio Highseas, and Skipper Stegengh.
After Brine set sail for Lost Fortune, however, The Buccaneers got a taste of their own medicine. The Triumvirate Treason, who had temporarily allied themselves with The Buccaneers following the battle at the lighthouse, betrayed The Buccaneers. They stole a longboat and made way for Lost Fortune on their own. They were determined to steal the treasure for themselves first.
While the Sea Marauders, Buccaneers, and Triumvirate Treason all made their way to the island, The Privateers plotted their next move.
The Privateers still had no ship, so even if they did get the treasure they would have no way to transport it.
Carl Carbunkles decided on a different course of action. The Privateers would lie in wait. They would avoid the battle on Lost Fortune and ambush whoever claimed the treasure. They would steal it from them when they were recovering from the battle.
The Skeleton Crew did not wait. Captain Dreadeye had tired of these games and wanted to doom these fools to their death.
It was decided that a Skeleton envoy led by King Midas and the Lost Souls would storm the island and secure the treasure, with the help of Rom Ramshackle, who knew the treasure's location. Meanwhile, Dreadeye would take The Phantom and attack the Sea Marauders at sea.
The pieces were set. And the battle was about to rage.
The Battle of Lost Fortune spanned several long, grueling days. The Buccaneers made it there first and claimed an old fort on the island to use as their stronghold. But unfortunately, they were attacked by the native Castaway tribe soon after. Meaning they could not search for the treasure.
Captain Quell led his team into the dense jungles, where they happened upon a grisly scene. The Castaway tribe had been slaughtered. All but one, a man named Vincent Vanjammer. Quell had O'Brien tend to Vanjammer's wounds. Vincent decided to join the Sea Marauders in that moment. He wanted revenge on The Buccaneers for what they did to his tribe.
The battle raged on, with many casualties and many fights. Some notable events include:
However, the treasure would eventually be discovered by complete accident. Lucky Lootsgood fell into a pit of quicksand. But to his surprise, rather than sinking down and suffocating, Lootsgood found himself in a dark cavern. And there, hidden in the gloom.... Were piles of gold and jewels.
Lucky found his way out of the cave and reported back to Captain Quell. Unfortunately for them, they were being eavesdropped on by Horatio Highseas, who took the invormation back to Captain Brine.
Captain Brine authorized the use of explosives on the island, blowing open a hole in the mountain, where they then stole the treasure from.
The Sea Marauders and Skeleton Crew came running to the source of the blast, where an all out final battle occured.
Captain Quell attacked Captain Brine and the two fought over the treasure. However, the creature known as Crabster emerged from the new cave entrance. The Buccaneers' explosion had woken him up.
Crabster attacked all parties, killing several and throwing the battle into complete disarray. Captain Brine took advantage of the distraction and him and his remaining crew escaped with the treasure. Meanwhile, Captain Quell, King Midas, Rom Ramshackle, Hully O'brien, Ghoullugger, Howlinger, and Agememnon teamed up to kill Crabster.
The Buccaneers had won once more. They had escaped with The Treasure of The Lord of The Pyrates. And were now on their way to take it back to their hidden base....
