COMIC BOOK FLATS
"100 TOY PIRATES!"
In the scanned image above, each piece of the Pirates Set is shown. It is assumed that each mold originally came in both Red & Yellow. (We show samples of each piece here except the Red Treasure Chest.) They are all Flats except for the "Treasure Chests" which are "3D." Note that the detailed sculpting of each figure includes a distinctive left side and right side (or front and back.)
There are 16 different Molds in the Pirates Set according to what we have found (and compared to the actual images of the figures seen in the Ad.) The names of the figures are suggested in the Ad and on the box, however, neither makes clear which names actually refer to which figures. Fortunately, most figures are obvious and easy to name, but a few are not so obvious.
A "Pirate Puzzle" To Ponder: The Ad at the top of the page and also the box above both show what appears to be the main "packing list" for the "100 Toy Pirates" Set. Note that the list offers official names for only 12 different Pirate poses, plus the Cannon and the Treasure Chests. Yet the Set actually included 13 different Pirate poses. But if you count up the main "packing list", it equals exactly 96 pieces. Add these 96 pieces to the noted "4 Pirate Ships" and you have a well rounded Set of 100 pieces.
However, the unsolved Pirate Puzzle is this: The Ad also notes that "Long John Silver" and "Captain Kidd" are included in the Set. Does this mean that one or more of the 12 named figures on the main list also represent Long John Silver and Captain Kidd? Or does this mean that Silver and Kidd were considered separate pieces from the rest of the list?
There does appear to be one figure that looks like the classic image of Long John Silver (with a Peg Leg and a Parrot on his Shoulder.) But what is Silver's official "other" name from the main list of 12 Pirates shown in the Ad? And which of the 12 figures is actually also supposed to be Captain Kidd?
How do you reconcile the 100 piece count without double naming some of the 12 figures on the main list? (i.e. - is the "Buccaneer" figure also Captain Kidd and/or Long John Silver?)
If anybody has any ideas about this, please get in touch to let us know. One possibility is that the "12 Buccaneers" noted in the Ad may have actually included 6 "Captain Kidd" figures and 6 "Long John Silver" figures. This would explain the fact that only 12 different Pirate poses are listed in the Ad, yet 13 different poses actually exist in the Pirates Set.
Another fact that suggests this may be the answer is that only the Buccaneers are noted in the Ad as having have 12 pieces - all other pieces in the Set have only 4 or 8 pieces.
It seems we will have to wait until somebody finds a complete Pirates Set (and does a careful count of each pose) before we'll know for sure which figures correspond to which official names in the Ad.