Pirates / Imperial Guards Minifigs

Imperial Guards was a Pirates subtheme introduced in 1989 that eventually replaced the Imperial Soldiers as main adversaries of the pirates. Some of the older Imperial Soldiers' sets that were still in production were re-categorized as part of the Imperial Guards faction until their discontinuation in 1995.

Pirates was a LEGO theme introduced in 1989, running until 1997 and focused on the classic idea of Caribbean pirates that were pitted against soldiers of colonial empires. As the series progressed through the years, more factions were introduced and the older ones were phased out of production. The Pirates were one of the first two original factions in the theme to be introduced.