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There were a number of sets that were planned for the Pyrates' franchise, but were never released. The reasons for these sets vary from instance to instance. Some were only ever planned as prototypes, some were cancelled for being too expensive, some were cancelled because the toyline died.
While its certainly possible that there were many more sets that were cancelled behind the scenes without us ever knowing, we are currently aware of six unreleased sets. They are as follows.
This section actually pertains to three unreleased sets. I put them all together because their circumstances are more or less identical, as is the information we know about each one. The sets in question are "Skeleton Crew Prison", "Sea Marauders Mutiny", and "Privateers Attack".
We know about these three sets from the final version of the Pyrates' map, which featured these three unreleased sets in the north-eastern corner of the map.
Not many details are known about the three sets present. However, one detail can be gleaned from the map. The fact that the three islands all have skulls upon them, likely mean that this was planned to be a third wave of Skull Sets. Since all other skull sets on the map feature these skull icons along with them.
We don't know for sure why these sets were cancelled. Though rumors are abound that it was because of Disney being mad about the presence of the skeleton crew. As the rumor goes, Disney thought Pyrates was ripping off Pirates of The Carribean. And struck a deal with Mega Bloks. Pyrates would be discontinued, in exchange for the Pirates of The Carribean toyline starting up.
All of that is just hearsay. But I think its possible. One notable thing about Wave 3 of the Pyrates' toyline, is the complete absence of The Skeleton Crew. Which is certainly something odd, considering how prevelant they were up to that point.
We have no details on what these three sets might have looked like or what characters they might have included. Maybe one day we'll find some leaked prototypes.
"Light House" (yes, it is spelt with a space in the name) is an unreleased playset that was shown off at one of the New York toyfairs. In an opposite situation from Blue Beard's Avenger we actually have the boxart for this set, but not the actual set itself.
The prototype displays a.... Shocker. Lighthouse. A lighthouse that's both different and similar to the Privateers' Lighthouse that we ended up getting. We'll talk more about what the similarities mean later on, but for now I'll just focus on what the actual prototype holds.
The prototype lighthouse shows a much more grim and ghostly version of a light house. This one seems to be more themed for the Skeleton Crew, than the Privateers. The flag over the island is the Skeleton Crew and the lighthouse is also flashing their insignia in the sky.
The island is gray and gnarled, with a dead tree and gray rocks.
It also includes an interesting, broken variant of the rowboat. Something that we never got in any real sets.
The figures in this set differ greatly from the lighthouse we ended up getting. It features a brand new Skeleton Crew member, one that appears to be dual wielding swords. Nicholas Nautilus, and three ghostly figures. Which to me look like prototypes of the Lost Souls. They seem to share the headmold from characters like Blackboots Burton, Burt Bounty, Gaptooth Gorvinsky, and Gary Gangrene.
We can also see that there's a Privateer in the figure window. It appears to be either Braggart T. Doyle or Lockpick Cabot. Its unknown if he was simply placed there as a placeholder or if he was planned to be a part of the set.
There has been some debate online regarding this set. Primarily, whether this was planned to be a stand alone set or if it was an early prototype of The Privateers' Lighthouse.
And although I can't say for sure, I'm confident in saying that this was probably a prototype for the Privateers' Lighthouse.
For one, I just can't see Mega Bloks genuinely putting out such similar sets. Beyond them just having a similar concept, the build is also remarkably similar. Lighthouse atop a rectangular structure, a small dock, a lifting prison grate that leads under the island, a projector gimmick, a cannon.... It all just looks so much like the product we ended up getting. Hell, in the trailer for secret of the misterious lighthouse, you can even see that there's a serpent in the waters. Just like our final product.
Not only that. But the prototype bears the set number of #3618, which is the number of the actual lighthouse set that we got. Which, in my opinion, proves that these two sets were never meant to see the light of day together.
The main argument I see made against this, is that prototypes of the actual Privateers' Lighthouse were shown off at toy fairs as well.... Which I have to admit, has me stumped. There's also the fact that "Light House" is the main focus of the cancelled sequel movie. Which seems strange.
If I had to guess, both sets were in consideration. But were never planned to both be released. They were always going to pick one over the other. Maybe they were going to release the Light House version, but after the whole Disney nonsense happened, they cancelled it for the Privateers' version instead.... Idk. Its all a big mystery. Which I guess means it lives up to its name, huh?
Now this one is more cut and dry than the last. "Spyglass" is a very obvious prototype for the concept that would later evolve into the Spyglass Set concept that we all know and love. The reason I put this here in unreleased sets, and not in a prototype section for the spyglass sets, is because of the differences this one displays.
While yes, the "Spyglass" shows Lockjaw and Captain Cutlass together, I don't think it means much. I doubt that was ever meant to actually be a figure line up for one of these sets. It does also show off an interesting design for the spyglass. It looks way better here than the final versions do. Way more rustic and realistic looking. Rather than the cheap plastic toys we ended up with.
But the reason I put this in unreleased sets, is because of the art shown at the top. The art displays a Skeleton Crew spyglass set. Which we never got. We only ever recieved a Sea Marauder and Privateer version.
The figures it shows in this set are Nicholas Nautilus (this guy just loves to show up in these unreleased sets, huh?) and Murk Mariner. But I doubt they were ever actually planned to be released as figures in this set either.
This one is less interesting, but one that I wanted to put here nonetheless.
