SPACER
SPACER
The skull set type is a reoccuring set type in not only the Pyrates toyline, but also in the Pirates of The Carribean toyline. In my opinion, the Skull Sets are probably the most iconic part of the Pyrates toyline. Its even in the logo! They're such an iconic design that they would even end up making skull type sets for the Dragons toyline as well.
Every skull set comes packed in a skull shaped carrying case. There are three variant molds of the Skull set. The naked skull, the strap wearing skull, and the bandana wearing skull. Of the three types the bandana skull was used more frequently. With each set, the back of the skull pops off and serves as a small island base for the set. All pieces of the set can be stored inside the skull for safe keeping.
The skulls come with two to three figures, a build for the island, and in the case of the original three skulls, usually an extra accessory along with it.
Three skulls were released in Wave 1 of Pyrates with two more following suit in Wave 2.
The three Wave 1 Skull Sets were rereleased as part of the 2.0 Line of Pyrates. Those being Maroon Gally, Mutiny Isle, and Coffer Trap. All three of these sets only came with two figures. However they did retain the accessories of the originals and for the most part featured the same builds with a few key differences here or there.
One of the more notable changes for these sets is the discontinuation of the bandana skull mold. All three sets instead feature the bald skeleton head molded in different colors, even when Maroon Gally was the only one to use that mold in the original wave 1.
Maroon Gally is the first of the five Skull sets in the original wave. The set is numbered as #3631.
The set features the hatless skeleton skull mold. One eye is a translucent ruby while the other is covered by a a rubber eyepatch. Said eyepatch could be lifted up to reveal one of the figures that come in the set. The set contains 20 pieces.
The island base is a standard tan color, matching the bone tan of the skull. The island features a small "house", which is really just a wall and a roof. As well as a rusty canon and tall ladder piece. There's also a small dock that extends off into the water.
Maroon Gally features three figures. One Privateer named Braggart T. Doyle. A bald man with a brown mustache and beard. And two skeletons. A standard skeleton named Noricorpse and a green bandana clad skelton named Sublurker. Doyle fights using a dagger, Noricorpse with an axe, and Sublurker with a spear.
The set also features a rowboat with two oars, a ruby and sapphire treasure piece, a map, and one of the promotional CDs. The map featured in this set is the First Edition of the map. Which features Bluebeard's Avenger on it.
Maroon Gally lies North-East of Treasure Island, on the other side of the island from Mutiny Isle and Coffer Trap. Even though in the promotional movie all three are seen being relatively close by.
Maroon Gally is one of three islands used as a primary defensive point for Treasure Island. During the Battle for Skull Haven, the islands were commanded by The Skeleton Crew and used to lure in and trap the Sea Marauders. Captain Cutlass destroyed them with the guns of Stormstalker. The three islands were later rebuilt by the Skeleton Crew.
During the Battle for Treasure Island, Maroon Gally was still destroyed thanks to Captain Cuttlass.
Maroon Gally would be host to another battle later on. Once Bluebeard learned of Dread Eye's Letter of Marque, he sent out scouts to capture Skeletons for interrogations on The Phantom's wearabouts. It was during this that Braggart T. Doyle happened upon two skeletons rebuilding Maroon Gally. Doyle, foolishly, thought he could defeat both of them at once and engaged them in battle. Doyle never even managed to land on the island, because Noricorpse blew up his rowboat with a cannon. Though Doyle survived this mishap, he was never allowed to hear the end of it.
Maroon Gally was remade for the PYrates 2.0 line of sets. Now numbered as set #95513.
The structure of the set remains largely the same as it was in the original line. It still features the dock, small "house", canon, ladder, and rowboat. However it also features a small island to sit atop the skull itself. A sandy tan baseplate, with a Sea Marauders flag, and a chain for characters to climb up.
In 2.0 the set has had some colors changed around. The island is now a much lighter color with a blue outline at the bottom representing water. The skull itself is lighter to match and features a green emerald eye instead of the red ruby from before. The cannon is no longer rusted and the house has a vibrant red roof instead of a brown one.
Noricorpse has been removed from the set in this version. Leaving behind only Braggart T. Doyle and Sublurker- Er. I mean "Hatchetfoot", as he's now referred to as.
Maroon Gally is very nostalgic to me. This is the first Pyrates set I ever recieved as a child. And beyond that, its one of the earliest toys I can remember playing with in general. I have a very specific memory of playing with this set on the kitchen floor while my parents cooked dinner. I was absolutely mesmerized by the skull's design and its simple red jewel for an eye.
Nostalgia aside though, this set is unfortunately rather boring I feel. There's not a whole lot to it, as was the case with a lot of the early Pyrates sets. I feel as though the 2.0 version improves on it a little bit, by adding a bit more pieces. But still there's not a lot going on here. But hey, kid me loved this set. So maybe I shouldn't be too harsh on it. It clearly did its job!
Mutiny Isle is the second of the original three skull sets. Like Maroon Gally it was released in wave 1 and is numbered as set #3632.
This set is one of many that comes in the "strap" skull case. This one features a deep green bandana with a sapphire blue eye. Like all skull sets, it has an eyepatch that can be lifted up to reveal one of the figures inside. This set contained a total of 25 pieces of 3 figures.
The island base is the same color as the one from Maroon Gally. The island itself has less of a structure than Maroon Gally did. It features a tall palm tree with a black rock. There's also a tall and short ladder that act as sort of walls for the island. There's a dock at the front featuring a shiny new cannon. There's also two burning candlesticks that sit at its entrance port.
Mutiny Isle features three figures. Two privateers named Anchor Kreegman and Dawson Doubloon. And a skeleton named Scrapedepth. Anchor Kreegman wields a brown pistol, Dawson a brown musket, and Scrapedepth a skeleton sword. Kreegman actually uses a decently rare headmold. Its only used here and in one other set, being Hidden Loot. Dawson is pretty common though the variant he uses with the tan bandana isn't too common. And Scrapedepth is about as generic of a skeleton as you can get.
The island features a small pile of gold, and also a SHARK! Which, in my opinion, is way cooler than the rowboat from Maroon Gally. Who doesn't love sharks? The shark in this set is gray! As with the other skuls, it also features the version 1 map as well as the promotional CD.
Mutiny Isle lies to the North-West of Treasure Island. Its one of three islands that serve as defensive positions for Skull Haven. Mutiny Isle, however, is the least developed of the three. It features very little in the way of structures, aside from a dock, cannon, and a few barricades. Most of the island is still wild jungle, making it easy to use for ambushes.
Mutiny Isle was briefly involved in the Battle of Skull Haven, where Cuttlass fought the skeletons on its shores. Like the other two Skull islands, Cuttlass ordered its destruction. However, due to Mutiny Isle's minimal structures to begin with, not much was lost in the bombardment from Stormstalker's guns.
The island would see action again shortly thereafter when Bluebeard and The Privateers were making their search for The Letter of Marque. During his initial search, Bluebeard sent out scouts to capture and interrogate members of the enemy crews for information. Bluebeard, wisely, knew that The Skeleton Crew occupied the three Skull islands at Skull Haven. Maroon Gally and Mutiny Isle were the two islands he chose to send scouts to.
Anchor Kreegman and Dawson Doubloon were tasked with searching the strange island. Upon arriving, the two Privateers came into contact with Scrapedepth. A Skeleton Crew defector who had been using Mutiny Isle as a hideout. The two Privateers easily overpowered him and brought him back to The Avenger for interrogation.
After this, The Privateers would lay claim to Mutiny Isle. This would become one of their many footholds in the area. The island would later be expanded upon. The jungle cleared away and a small fort built on its shores.
Mutiny Isle was remade for the Pyrates 2.0 toyline in 2011. The set largely remains the same. However, the skull case has lost its bandana. Its also been given a charred, ashy color for its bone and a dark red ruby for the eye.
The island itself now sports a black rock base instead of tan. The dock has been expanded upon, now having a smaller island that it attaches to like a bridge. The cannon has also been moved from the dock up to the top of the Skull case itself.
The set now only features two characters. Dawson Doubloon, who now sports a green Privateer's jacket. And Scrapedepth who remains the same.
Coffer Trap is the last of the original three skul sets. It was released as the third skull in wave 1 and is numbered set #3632.
This set features the third skull type, this time wearing a red bandana around its head. The skull has a green emerald set into its head as an eye. The eyepatch can also lift up to show off one of the figures inside. The set features 3 figures and 25 pieces.
The structure of the set is simple, as all the wave 1 skulls were. It features a small rock face with a wooden platform on top. There's a ladder that leads up to a harpoon gun that's mounted atop the platform. The base is the standard tan like the other two, but also features a small dock and a single torch.
Coffer Trap features three figures. Two Sea Marauders named Shifty Merchant and Murk Mariner. As well as a member of the skeleton crew named Skullforage. Mariner wields a cutlass, Merchant a crossbow, and Skullforage a sickle.
The set comes with an octopus as an accessory, which is rather fun. It also comes with a few jewels, the map, and the promotional DVD. The set having a harpoon rather than a standard cannon helps set it apart from the other sets just a little bit.
Much like Maroon Gally and Mutiny Isle, Coffer Trap is one of the main defensive islands for Skull Haven and subsequently, Treasure Island. Coffer Trap lies to the South-East of Treasure Island, right nearby Smuggler's Fort. Like the other three Skull islands in Skull Haven, Coffer Trap was destroyed by Captain Cutlass and then rebuilt by Skeleton Crew.
Coffer Trap is the least visited island of the original three Skulls. Unlike Maroon Gally and Mutiny Isle, Coffer Trap was never visited by the Privateers during their hunt for The Phantom. The only time Coffer Trap saw action was during the Battle for Skull Haven. Captain Cutlass sent two of his men, Shifty Merchant and Murk Mariner, to search the island for clues to the Treasure. However, they were ambushed when the battle started.
The skeleton pirate known as Skullforage was sent to kill the two Marauders. Skullforage was one of the best duelists on The Skeleton Crew, so he went alone. Skullforage dueled with Murk Mariner, but ended up being defeated when Shifty Merchant turned the island's harpoon on him and fired.
The 2.0 Version of Coffer Trap remains largely unchanged from its original. The island structure itself is almost exactly the same. Aside from the different colors that 2.0 uses. A brown base, a gray rockwall, etc.
The only real change to the set is the addition of a zipline that goes from the top of the Skull down to the base of the island. Speaking of which, the skull has also been changed for 2.0. It now has a... Brown? Bronze? Its kind of hard to tell what its color is. But I assume its a metallic bronze color. And has a purple amythest for an eye. The octopus is still included, but Shifty Merchant has been cut. I assume replaced with that zipline.... Poor guy.
Plunderer's Port came in the second wave of skull sets. These ones came during Wave 2 of the Pyrates toyline. These skulls had a number of differences compared to their wave 1 counterparts. This set is designated as the Lost Souls' "home base" on the map. As seen by their insignia being next to it. That's pretty disapointing. It is set #3634.
The set comes with the naked skull type. However, this one has been molded in a metallic bronze color. It looks very, very pretty. Especially with its amythest gem eye. The set includes 25 pieces, as well as the second version of the Pyrates map. It also includes the Promotional CDROM still.
The base of the island is colored differently than the three in wave 1 were. This one comes with a rocky, gray colored base. The island itself is honestly pretty barren and disapointing. If you thought the Wave 1 skulls were empty, then this one takes the cake.
The structure of the set is a very simple platform atop four ladders. Though, it does have a pretty fun play feature. You can actually open up the back of this structure and put a figure inside. Using it like a jail. It also features a harpoon gun, a skull on a stick, and the Lost Souls' flag.
The set comes with two figures, as opposed to the three figures that came in the Wave 1 sets. This set features Agemmemnon, a member of the Skeleton Crew with a very distinct appearance. He has a bronze skull that matches the actual case the set comes in. It also comes with Destreader, a Lost Soul based on a Privateer pirate. Agemmemnon wields a skeleton spear while Destreader wields a cutlass.
There isn't many accessories that come with this set. No rowboat, octopus, or shark like in wave 1. All you get is a small pile of gems and gold. It certainly doesn't help this set feel any less barren and boring.
After Captain Dread Eye lost the Letter of Marque to the Privateers, his rage caused him to awaken the Lost Souls from within The Phantom's hull. Little did he know that awakening these angry spirits would cause a change elsewhere in the sea as well.
Following the awakening of the Lost Souls, two new islands made their appearances on the sea. These "Phantom Islands" were said to be brought out of the fog, dredged up from the spirit world by the power of the Lost Souls. One of these islands was known as Plunderer's Port. An island that lay to the West of Skull Haven.
Plunderer's Port was a barren and desolate island. It had little greenery and was by and large made of dry, gray rocks. These new islands were quickly taken control of by the Skeleton Crew and their new ghostly allies.
Plunderer's Port served as a makeshift prison for the Skeleton Crew during this time. The warden of the island was a Lost Soul known as Destreader.
The island also served as ground zero for the betrayal of the Lost Souls. They rebelled against the Skeletons and fought them back, making their stand here and establishing themselves as a seperate crew from them. The skeleton named Agememnon, one of the lead officers of The Skeleton Crew, was set to quell this rebellion. However, the Lost Souls repelled him and his forces and lay claim to the island as their own.
From here on out, Plunderer's Port served as the base of operations for the Lost Souls. And was their launching point for many of their raids and invasions on the surroundings islands. When the Lost Souls were defeated at the Privateer's Lighthouse, Plunderer's Port fell abandoned. Many of the prisoners that were kept there were left to die.
Images of the Prototypes for both this set, as well as Doubloon Mystery, can be found online. The way these images were originally found was through the Mega Bloks website.
When downloading the advertising sheets from the four crew packs, the digital versions of these advertisements featured odd prototype versions of these two sets. The physical versions of these papers have been fixed to include the proper set image, however.
As you can see, the prototype for this set remains largely the same. The biggest change comes in the addition of a very nice looking crow's nest to the top of the cage. This honestly looks a million times better than what we ended up getting on release. In fact, it almost makes the released version look incomplete by comparison. I can only imagine the crow's nest was not included either to save space, money, or both.
Other changes include the addition of a monkey (which would've been fun, considering there's no proper accessories in the set as is). The flag on the crow's nest also features the Skeleton Crew insignia instead of the Lost Souls. I believe this was probably just a placeholder for the time being.
The figures are also compeletly different. Agemmemnon is not present at all in the set and is instead replaced by a generic clone of Blackteeth Mcbaine/Tom Blackforest. This is particularly interesting, because the Skull itself still resembles Agemmemnon. The metallic head and all. This means that either McBaine here was just a placeholder till they had Agememmnon designed, or the skull cases were designed first and the actual characters weren't thought of till later. The Lost Soul is also completely different. Instead of Destreader, we have what appears to be a Lost Soul based off the model used for Blackboots Burton/Burt Bounty instead. That's very interesting, because we never got a Lost Souls with this model.
Overall, I think the structure of this prototype set was a lot cooler than what we ended up with. However, the figures in this prototype are a thousand times more lame. And I guess if I had to choose, I would go with the release version simply for that fact. Perhaps I'll mod my own version of this set to include the crow's nest, however.
Just popping in here to say this set is super disapointing. Idk. There's just really not a lot going on with this one. Sure, the wave 1 sets didn't exactly have the most complex builds either. But they at least had something going on. The builds themselves were lacking, but they made up for it with more figures and more accessories. This one just feels like its missing something. You know?
The set is entirely carried by its figure selection. The figures in this set are really amazing. Destreader is great, like all the Lost Souls. And don't even get me started on Agemmemnon. I love the more visually distinct Skeletons and you don't get more distinct than a head made of bronze. The Lost Souls flag being included is also really cool.
Its just a bit disapointing to look at this set when compared to other ones. Particularly some of the Skull sets in the Pirates of The Carribean line. Those sets really cram a lot in there! Or even the very next set on our list.
Doubloon Mystery was the second skull to release in Wave 2. This was also the last skull set to release in the mainline series of the Pyrates toyline. The next three skulls were cancelled after this. A shame. This set is #3635.
This set features the strap skull mold, but this time done in a shiny gold color. The strap is a royal blue and looks very, very nice on the golden skull. The sapphire eye looks great too. Probably one of the best looking skulls Mega Bloks ever made.
This set features 20 pieces, two figures, the second version of the Pyrates map, and the Promotional CDROM.
The base of Doubloon Mystery is colored differently from Plunderer's Port. This one features a dark gray, almost black, base with green highlights. It takes on a very strange and ethereal look. Very spooky.
The structure of the set is by far the most indepth Skull set build we got in the Pyrates toyline. The build features a two story tower that covers most of the base. The tower also has a balcony area for a figure to walk on. Its a cool little build and makes the other Skull islands look down right disapointing in comparison.
The set includes two figures, just like Plunderer's Port did. A sea marauder named Schooner Lavoie and a Skeleton named King Midas. The marauder isn't anything to write home about. He features the same head as McBaine and Blackforest. Though he does have a hookhand which is cool. The Skeleton here is the real star of the show, however. King Midas is another unique skeleton just like Agemmemnon was. King Midas' head is pure gold with a royal blue strap and it looks great. Just like Agemmemnon it matches the Skull case itself. Schooner Lavoie wields a brown rilfe. While King Midas wields a skeleton axe.
Unfortunately, the set fails in the accessories department again. And that's really to say it has none. There's a pile of gems and gold and that's about it. But I guess it makes up for it with the awesome build here. Take notes, Plunderer's Port.
Doubloon Mystery was the second of two phantom islands that appeared when Dread-Eye unleashed the Lost Souls from The Phantom's hull. Alongside Plunderer's Port, this island appeared mysteriously to the West of Skull Haven.
Doubloon Mystery was occupied by the Skeleton Crew and Lost Souls during their alliance. Doubloon Mystery served as a lookout and battle tower from which the two crew would attack passing ships. It also provided a good foothold for the two crews to use nearby the mainland.
Nobody knows the original purpose of the structure on Doubloon Mystery. Though some speculate that it was an old British fort that was burned to the ground.
After the alliance between the Lost Souls and the Skeleton Crew broke apart, Doubloon Mystery was held in hot contention. The island made a good fortification for any that could control it. The Sea Marauders caught word that the island was abandoned and sent a marksman named Schooner Lavoie to capture the island.
Little did Lavoie know, but the island wasn't as abandoned as he'd thought. King Midas, a quartermaster of the Skeleton Crew, was present on the island. The two engaged in a tough battle, but ultimately, they were chased off the island by the combined efforts of Howlinger and Ghoullugger.
Much like Plunderer's Port, an image of this set's prototype version exists online. It was found the same way as the last one. Through downloading the digital version of the information sheet from the Wave 2 Crew Packs.
Unlike Plunderer's Port, which remained largely the same, Doubloon Mystery is also completely different. It doesn't even remotely look like the same set. The structure is different, the figures are different, everything.
This set lacks the cool two story tower we get in the final release set. The structure in this one is very boring in comparison. Simply consisting of a single platform with a canon. I have to admit though, it looks far more inline with the other Skull sets this way. That's not really a compliment though.
The most interesting part of this set is what's going on over by the docks. The set features this really cool gallow. It features a cage like the one on the back of Stormstalker and hangs from the top of a flagpole. This is a very coll little detail that I wish had made it into one of the sets. Maybe they could've added it to Plunderer's Port to give it a little more bang for its buck.
Also, I find it funny that Mega Bloks tried not once, but twice to use the Stormstalker cage in another set. Here, and then twice with Bluebeard's Avenger. But both were canned. Maybe that part is cursed or something.
The figures are interesting. Schooner Lavoie and King Midas are both nowhere to be seen. Instead we have Destreader and Dagger Tremaine. I wish the set had included a Lost Soul over Lavoie in the final version. Nothing against Lavoie as a character, he's just really not that interesting compared to Destreader, King Midas, and Agemmemnon.
Aside from the cage though this set is a total downgrade in every way. I don't know what happened to make them change it so drastically. But hopefully it was someone going "Hey this looks really fucking boring"
