Questions about sets 6274, 6276 and 6285

[FestersQuest1989]

I recently decided to collect some sets from my childhood,
which i always wanted, but never had back then.

my goal is to ONLY get all the Pirates 1 sets from 1989.

however, i have some questions about sets 6274, 6276 and 6285.
if ANYONE can help answer, then please, 'cause i can't figure it out.
I'm trying to make these sets as authentic as possible,
and the one thing i can't find an answer to is the following:

1. which figures had a solid stud head, and which ones had a hollow stud head?
considering these sets are from 1989, it means ALL the figures should have a SOLID one, right?
but the sets i received had ALL solid heads for 6285 (which i assume to be correct)
while 6274 came with 1 solid, and 3 hollow ones, and 6276 came with 2 solid and 6 hollow ones.

2. is there a list of correct heads that came with each set when you bought these in 1989?
or is it simply a matter of print runs? like for example, if you'd buy these same sets in 1990,
would the figures have changed to their HOLLOW stud heads?
i ask this because the Imperial Governor only exists in sets 6274 and 6276,
and both sets i received have him with a hollow stud head.
or perhaps maybe it's a difference between Europe and USA releases?

anyone know and can help with this?

i currently have the following:

6285:
all solid stud heads

6276: 
imperial soldier normal face: 4x hollow stud
red and white shirt: 1x solid stud
imperial officer: 1 solid stud
captain red beard: 1x hollow stud
governor: 1x hollow stud

6274:
governer: 1x hollow stud
imperial soldier normal face: 1x solid stud, 2x hollow stud

[Mister Phes]

1 hour ago, FestersQuest1989 said:

or is it simply a matter of print runs? like for example, if you'd buy these same sets in 1990,
would the figures have changed to their HOLLOW stud heads?

You're on to something It was the early 90s when hollow stud heads were introduced.

So depending upon what year the particular sets you acquired were manufactured, it may influence whether the heads have hollow studs or not.

Furthermore, depending on how you acquired these sets, they may not have included their original minifigures, particularly if they were secondhand.

For example: The blue coat Soldiers were in production until 1993, by which time they would have had hollow stud heads.

So for whatever reason, the seller may have substituted some of the minfigs, either due to losing the originals, or acquiring the set without them, and then sourcing comparable minfigs elsewhere.

[TalonCard]

Also, there was no clear cutoff between when solid stud heads were discontinued and hollow stud heads were introduced. They could have even been used in the same sets, it was just a matter of how much of each they happened to have in the factory at the time.

[Dreamweb]

I vaguely remember that when redcoats were introduced for the first time, they had hollow studs, at least the ones I got. Obviously, the bluecoats which continued to be released simultaneously for some time could also have hollow studs, unlike the early bluecoats with solid studs.

Another issue is the shape of the minifig heads. At one point they changed to a more streamlined shape with a narrower chin. For example, I have the head of the first female pirate in both shapes.

[SpacePolice89]

My original copy of 6267 Lagoon Lock Up has only hollow stud heads. I still have the box (European/international version) and "©1991, 1992" is printed on the side. I know that all minifigs are the original ones in this set. My Eldorado Fortress minifigs has all solid stud heads except one soldier but I'm not 100% certain that all those minifigs have their original heads.

[FestersQuest1989]

thx for the help,

since they started changing the minifigures in 1990 at the earliest,
and even then they were apparently put in the boxes randomly,
I decided that the most logic thing to do is go with the solid stud heads for 6274 and 6276.

however that does bring me upon a new question, i debated on opening a new topic for this,
but since it's a question relating to one of the sets i am already asking questions about,
i might as well put it here.

for 6276 why does this set 99% of the time come with the normal Imperial Governor,
as depicted on the instructions and box.
while sometimes i also see a BLUE pantsed version?

- there's currently a sealed 6276 on ebay with this blue pantsed version,
despite only having a 1989 copyright on the box, instead of the reprinted "1989, 1990 Lego Group"
- a Belgian Lego collector received this set with the blue pantsed version as well.
- Youtuber? Beyond the Brick has a video showing a sealed 6276 that's inside the Lego archive in Denmark, and guess what? just like the set on ebay, it has the blue pantsed Governor.
 

i do like to point out that the set on ebay and the set in the archive are the European version,
but still, that's just weird, i also can't seem to find this blue pantsed version on sites like bricklink?

[SpacePolice89]

7 hours ago, FestersQuest1989 said:

for 6276 why does this set 99% of the time come with the normal Imperial Governor,
as depicted on the instructions and box.
while sometimes i also see a BLUE pantsed version?

Are the blue Legs actually meant for the governor or are they just placed in the wrong spot in the box(packing error)? Because 6276 Eldorado Fortress also includes a pirate with blue legs.

https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=6276-1&viewItemType=M

On Bricklink there is no mention of different legs but the early flags with stickers are mentioned

"The very first production runs of this set came with a white 2525 Flag 6 x 4 and a sticker sheet, however the LEGO Group switched to a printed flag very quickly. Since the number of sets known to exist with a printed flag is much greater than those without, the printed flag is listed in the Regular Items section."

Edited January 8 by SpacePolice89

[TalonCard]

It's just a packing "error", if you can even call it that--it wasn't at all uncommon to see different configurations of minifigure elements displayed in the plastic tray than the ones used in the instructions, but the elements were still the correct ones for the set. Not that there weren't more serious packing errors--my brother got a 6271 with a pirate hat in place of the admiral's hat in the sealed tray. 

Folks, usually modern collectors, tend to assume that LEGO in the 80s and 90s was very uniform, with discernable and consistent variants, but that really wasn't the case--elements would be tweaked, but no distinction would be made in packinging from the older version most of the time if there was stock available, there was still some box assembly and packing that was done by hand, and printing quality could vary from figure to figure.

[FestersQuest1989]

On 1/8/2025 at 3:39 PM, SpacePolice89 said:

Are the blue Legs actually meant for the governor or are they just placed in the wrong spot in the box(packing error)? Because 6276 Eldorado Fortress also includes a pirate with blue legs.

yeah, that does seem to be the most logical, you can't see all minifigures in the pictures/video of the sealed sets, but it's either a packing error, or everybody has their Governor figure wrong :)

[CvS]

When people here say 'hollow stud' don't they mean 'Blocked open stud'?


I think LEGO changed from solid to blocked open around 1992.
It's a shame that BL has stopped distinguishing between these two variants some time ago!

This Article is about the MF heads.

Edited January 11 by CvS

[Dreamweb]

It's the Mercedes Benz stud!