There is no first mate aboard a pirate ship. Instead, the role of second in command falls to the quartermaster. He is the crew’s spokesman, their trustee, and no decision made by the captain comes to fruition without the quartermaster’s approval. He maintains order in the ranks, deals out punishment for infractions, and is always the first pirate to board a merchant or treasure ship. But like the captain, the quartermaster is elected to his position by majority vote and can be removed by it too.
Meet the Papo octopus mutant pirate, the second of my fall review samples from Happy Hen Toys. He stands slightly over 9 cm tall including the puffy feathers in his hat. As you would expect, he has no less than eight limbs. Two of them are his very humanoid-shaped legs and the rest are his decidedly cephalopod arms. Unlike the shark pirate, he has no proper hands, but I reckon he doesn’t require them.
His head combines both human and octopus features. His right eye has a horizontal pupil and there is a sizable bulge at the back of his head, but he also has a large nose and a wide mouth. He also has a human-style torso. His skin is dark muddy green with brown suckers and his eye is metallic gold. Much like a real octopus, his skin is uneven and covered in circular patterns.
The octopus pirate’s tricorn hat is royal blue and military green with a fluffy purple feather sticking out at the back. He is also dressed in a matching coat and trousers with metallic gold buttons and button holes and metallic silver and flat brown straps. Underneath his coat, which has seen better days judging from the crudely mended tears in the back, is a white shirt with a light brown collar and belt. He also wears short brown boots with black soles and a black eyepatch over his left eye. Overall, he’s a pretty snappy dresser, but not as much as the shark pirate. This leads me to conclude that he is of slightly lower rank, hence his prescribed status as quartermaster. Oh, and also like the shark pirate, this is the second version of this toy. The first one had pinkish-brown skin and wore dark blue and brown clothing.
The octopus pirate is armed with four long-handled knives. All are light brown with metallic silver blades, but the two in his right hand tentacles have gold markings on them while the two in his left hand tentacles have black markings. Moreover, each blade has a unique shape to it. They are all held loosely, but securely and will not fall out during play.
The Papo octopus mutant pirate is a delightfully weird and scary toy that will undoubtedly please many a collector. It is presently available on Happy Hen’s website. Thanks go out to them again!
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