Pirates: Brickbeard's Bounty

Brickbeard's Bounty is a 2009 set, part of a limited Pirates theme revival a few years ago before Lego switched to Pirates of the Caribbean license sets. The ship has a similar design to the Black Seas Barracuda, but is noticeably smaller among other things (and under 600 pieces). This set does have a better colour scheme than the classic pirate vessels, and it feels very solid. Indeed, I think it has a certain majesty about it. I especially like the captain's chamber on this one.

I have a few minor complaints. There are only three cannons, and one of them is supposed to be positioned on the stern castle. Why not just have four cannons amidships as it should be? Why only two? Another thing is that there are no actual stairs going to the wheel. All it would take is a few blocks leading from the nearby mast. There is no crow's nest either! Finally, I do like the minifigs, but I feel that the ship needs a larger crew. And the sails! I hated putting those plug pieces on the ends of the flexible sticks. The other system with bulbous ends was more convenient.

Put a crow's nest on the damn thing!

Overall a very nice set to have to add variety to your Lego fleet, but not quite as good as the other big ships available (not counting the Pirates of the Caribbean stuff).

Here are some side-by-side shots with the "Bootleg" Barracuda.

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