No: 70413
Release Year: 2015 (retired set)
Pieces: 745 (with 7 minifigures)
I quickly opened it up to have The Brick Bounty staring back at me. I was ridiculously excited! Finally, a ship of my own! I was ecstatic. After a few months of busyness, I was able to sit down and build it with my wife. We thoroughly enjoyed the build process – read on to find out what we thought.
There’s some obvious similarities to 6243: Brickbeard’s Bounty, and I’ll explore that more in the Design section. There’s been a fair few pirate ships over the years – this is the 15th pirate ship that LEGO has released since 1989. They range from the tiny 6250: Cross Bone Clipper at 154 pieces, to the mother of all ships, 10210: Imperial Flagship at a whopping 1664 pieces. It’s crazy, but my new goal is to collect them all. 1 down, 14 to go! This is going to cost me a lot of cash.
Elements: 18/20
Let’s take a look at the minifigures first. You’ll get seven, four pirates (one of them being Redbeard, the possible reincarnation of Brickbeard), and three bluecoats, one of which is an Admiral.
I’ve been saying this with the whole Pirates reboot, but I love the redesigned minifigures. They’ve got the same detailing, but at a completely new level. It’s incredible, and a great nod to the original minifigures. In the case of Redbeard, he’s much more fancy now, with a highly detailed coat in comparison to the old one – maybe his grandfather?
There is a plethora of new parts included in this set, including Redbeard’s hat and torso, the chef’s head and torso, the stern, hull pieces and masts that got a slight redesign, the Admiral’s wig, four sand yellow half circle plates with cut, the fantastic big pirate flag, and the sails – that came in a separate flat packet so they would not get crinkled or curled, thanks LEGO!
Other hard to find elements include the blue boat I mentioned last week, the sawfish head, the other pirate torsos, lattice that is used as rigging, arches, bricks with bows, and plenty more. There’s a lot in this set that is brilliant. If I kept going, you would need to set 24 hours aside to read it!
This set is absolutely, and inherently swooshy. It’s a pirate ship! It’s meant to be sailed across the carpet, having battles with the bluecoats, cannons firing, bluecoats boarding, then quickly being forced to walk the plank, because let’s face it – in this theme, the pirates are the side we all back!
The build process is pretty simple, with a basic build up process. There’s not too much fancy techniques, but has some nice little surprises scattered through. I would have preferred to see the cannons on wheels instead of stuck to the deck, but I did like the addition of the foredeck, and the way the plank was added was very neat, and quite secure. It’s exciting when the masts and sails are added, as it gives the huge height to the set, and with the sails, becomes quite an imposing build. I also like the way the sails are held on. It’s neat and secure, unlike other methods I’ve seen before, especially in Brickbeard’s Bounty. It’s an excellent build experience – one that kids and adults alike will get a lot of enjoyment from.
Another small thing, and something that’s quite common in striped sails, is that they’re not reversible. It’s fine for the main masts, but for the jib (the front triangular one), it’s only striped on one side. Essentially, you can only display it from the left side. It’s not a major problem, and to be honest I only noticed it when I was planning my Pirates display layout. I had to rotate the ship more to make it look better.
Others that I noticed is that the rigging doesn’t go all the way to the top, so the cabin boy has to climb up the mast to get to the crow’s nest. I thought that the bowsprit (the mast that connects to the bottom of the jib – yep, I’m learning nautical terms at the same time!) was a little too far back. I was hoping that this was going to be further forward to lengthen the overall ship, like it is in Brickbeard’s Bounty. Aside from those very minor nitpicky things, it’s a great model.
You will be forking out around $190 for a new set, and $150 for a used with this one, but it’s definitely worth it. There is some great inclusions in this set, so the value for money in this set is good. Well worth getting a copy! Unfortunately it’s a retired set from LEGO now, so secondary markets are the only option.
Pirate ships are highly collectible, and we haven’t seen one for a few years, so this will be a highly sought after set. There are loads of Pirates fans of all ages, and whether you have a bunch of other ships already, or this is the first one you have for your fleet, you’ll want to get in quick. Leave it too long, and the price will most likely go up.
There’s one last set from the Pirates 2015 range that I’m yet to review, but I haven’t built it yet – 40158: Pirates Chess Set. I’ll get there, but next week, I’ll be looking at 10220: Volkswagen T1 Camper Van. This is an absolute cracker! Until then, happy building!