Pirates: Bootleg Barracuda

The classic Lego Pirates are probably my favorite overall theme, and I've recently been choosing the sets I want to get over the summer. I came across this set on G-Market randomly. I immediately thought about the Black Seas Barracuda set from 1989, but I couldn't understand why it was only advertised for a mere $35. I noticed that it had skulls on the sails and the information said it was made in China. That did make me curious. I ordered it anyway; for such a low price, I wasn't too worried.

On receipt, I immediately saw the box was different from the webpage photo as it had a clearly Chinese company logo... and that skull and crossbones made me think of One Piece. And oh yes, the name of the ship being the "Black Pearl" was also a hint."Enlighten Brick" does have other stuff beyond pirates. This set is probably the closest to a direct copy, though they have a commuter train set with a different colour scheme that is still clearly the City Passenger Train...

The blocks are of slightly lower quality than the usual Lego stuff, and one piece was even broken; I was able to incorporate it into the set without incident though. My main problem was that the pieces took a bit more pushing to make them fit snugly.

But you know what? I love this set. Sure, it's not quite the real deal, but it gets the job done well. In fact it improves on the original by including an actual crow's nest!

So yeah, I love these sailing ship sets. The sails, the string rigging, the monkey, the parrot, the cannon... These ships have a really "cozy" design and are a feast for the eyes! The captain's room is a little too plain, but I can look past that :P