Review: 70413 The Brick Bounty

[Sigolf Brimabane]

I have finally built the Brick Bounty. She looks much better in the brick. But I'm planning to modify it (build a whole new ship completely).

[Mencot]

I have finally built the Brick Bounty. She looks much better in the brick. But I'm planning to modify it (build a whole new ship completely).

What kind of mods are you planning? My mods what I am gonna make are being a bit smaller, if you are going for a whole new ship mod.

I am gonna mod the crane to work as it should, put a small upperdeck, so it will look a bit better, 4 cannons on wheels, remove the "Backcannon", remove the balcony from the captains quater and put a wall there and a stair from the deck so the Captain will actually have access to quarterdeck without using extream acrobatics.

Maybe some "cosmiticchanges" to the inside and interior of the captains quarter.

[Dreamweb]

Looks like a MOD has added a poll to this topic - that's splendid considering I wanted to add a poll in the first place, but somehow could not. I've noticed that when I use my home computer with Windows 8, many of the posting options are inactive (hyperlink icon and others, including the "add image" icon - I had to add all the images in the first post manually by typing the img tags). I guess I can't add a poll for the same reason, since I started a few polls in the past (on different operating systems) and they worked just fine.

It looks more like flat gold with shiny gold trim to my eyes. Like gold cloth.

You're probably right, I often find describing minifig torso colours much harder than describing "normal" brick colours. Also, they sometimes differ considerably from the "default colour" if you will - just look at some yellow torsos for example. Edited March 24, 2015 by Dreamweb

[Capn Frank]

No problem DW. If there are any more polls, etc. you would like to add, let Capt. Stabbin and myself know.

[Sigolf Brimabane]

What kind of mods are you planning? My mods what I am gonna make are being a bit smaller, if you are going for a whole new ship mod.

I am gonna mod the crane to work as it should, put a small upperdeck, so it will look a bit better, 4 cannons on wheels, remove the "Backcannon", remove the balcony from the captains quater and put a wall there and a stair from the deck so the Captain will actually have access to quarterdeck without using extream acrobatics.

Maybe some "cosmiticchanges" to the inside and interior of the captains quarter.

I'm thinking of taking inspiration from the BSB (for which I'm also collecting parts... Not sure how to get the sails though). So adding wheels to the cannons, having an open gun deck and an upper deck. I'll probably also add a stern piece to make the ship a bit longer. Unfortunately I don't have more of the middle hull pieces. The stern works prety well already. But a stern piece will give it a bit more height which is needed when making a deck.

[clm]

I find this thing to fall on the average side of things in the LEGO shipyard. I only made 3 modifications as I built it myself; flipped the windows around so they opened out, swapped the 2x2 tile and 2x2 jumper that are used for the cannon mounts so I can move the cannons to 3 different positions, and I rotated the cheese slopes in the cannon ports around to give the cannon port covers something to stop against while also allowing the cannons to fully seat on the jumpers and move up and down when they do.

That and I built a simple arch between the sides of the ship to mount the rowboats... That seemed to help a bit :)

I don't mind the jumper mounted cannons, it keeps them secure. I just didn't like that by default there was no adjustment in where the cannons mounted.

Chris

Edited March 24, 2015 by clm

[Cervantes]

I've been out of the pirate lego scene for a long time. Since the Black Pearl days. When I saw a couple Pirate Lego sets at Walmart I FREAKED. There were only two of the smaller sets, the rest of the display were GONE. Instantly I imagined what new pirate ship must have devised. When I rushed home and hit Amazon my excitement was quickly dashed. I was wondering if I had made a mistake at first, the ship looked identical to the brick beard's bounty at a glance, only not as good. The colors look poor and not classy at all. Still not enough cannons for all of the hatches for whatever reason I can't imagine. I held out hope for some kind of make shift deck like with the barracuda, but no such luck. And now, only one door?! The figurines also don't seem quite as good. Agh. I may still buy it, if only because I never got to enjoy these ships when I was young (too expensive for my family) and to show my support for the brand. The plank is nice, but to me the lack of a second door and limited cannon placement/hatches seems like a much worse trade off in comparison. I missed out on the BBB. But boy, I wish I could buy that one instead. It seems like from the BCB to the BBB to this that the ships just seem to gradually keep getting gradually worse with time... You'd think they'd get better. :(

[VintageLegoEra]

the ships just seem to gradually keep getting gradually worse with time... You'd think they'd get better. :(

100% Agree

[Dreamweb]

My one more complaint with this set which I forgot to mention earlier is that the two top sails are small, and I mean really, really small. They would work much better if there were two larger sails beneath each of them, instead of just one. Kind of like the main mast of Queen Anne's Revenge. Now, that set wasn't perfect, but at least LEGO got it right with the tallest mast:

With the Brick Bounty, the top sails feel slightly out of proportion to me...

[Capn Frank]

I actually like the small sails and hope to add 3rd sails per mast of the BSB.

[Matthias]

I checked the review at Brickset and it looks like the guy who wrote it did indeed get a different face for the admiral. His looks just like the one in the instructions:

Clearly different from the one I have:

Which makes me wonder if the second face printing on that head is also different. I wonder how it happened that LEGO put a different head into the bag. Cool, looks like I got a unique set.

I have gotten the same wrong head. I told Lego that and today I got the correct one via post.

[Captain Roger]

I vote "Below average". This is the 4th best pirate ship. I think this is the ranking:

Black Seas Barracuda

Skull Eye's Schooner

Brickbeard's Bounty

The Brick Bounty

Redbeard runner

Renegade Runner

Cross bone Clipper

In my opinion, is a shame that TLC released 3 better ships before this new ship. Renegade Runner and Cross bone clipper were worse ships, but they weren't "star sets". In 1993 SES was a star sets, Renegade Runner not. In 1996-1997 RBR was a star set, CBC not. But TBB was released as the absolutely star set of Lego Pirates 2015, so I'd like it would be much better.

[Cervantes]

I think another thing stacked against this ship when comparing it to Brickbeard's is price. I'm pretty sure the last ship wasn't $100 like this one is. Seems like a slightly worse value for the dollar.

My one more complaint with this set which I forgot to mention earlier is that the two top sails are small, and I mean really, really small. They would work much better if there were two larger sails beneath each of them, instead of just one. Kind of like the main mast of Queen Anne's Revenge. Now, that set wasn't perfect, but at least LEGO got it right with the tallest mast:

With the Brick Bounty, the top sails feel slightly out of proportion to me...

A nice thing about the black pearl and Queen Anne too is the sails looked good from both sides. The sails on the bounty look silly unless you see it from "the good side".

Edited March 27, 2015 by Cervantes

[Captain Fortune]

Well, first of all, thank you for that awesome review.

Nevertheless, in mi opinion you've been too hard on your conclusions. I mean, this ship deserves more than a 5/10. I agree with your criticisms and I also see the flaws that you mentioned (the half-printed sail, awful), but I think that you forgot some of the good points of this set. And don't get me wrong: I'm 27 and I grew with our old and beloved Classic Pirates.

For exemple, the figures. To me, absolutely awesome. The Pirates side, we've got our Roger back in the purest way. And look at the crew, very different and original. And the soldiers! Man, we've got a soldier, an officer and an admiral. Having such a complete army in a pirate ship, we've never seen that before!

And about the ship. It's better than any pirate ship since 1993. I'm serious: better that 6289 (1996), better than BBB, and better than any of the POTC ships.

It's more detailed, more realistic. It has some flaws, but it also has good and new details that represent much better the life on board. Theses accessories didn't exist in the 90s, we must reckon this. And, hell, Pirates are back!

Giving all of this, less than a 7/10 is unfair to me. But more than an 8 would be exaggerate.

@cervantes, I understand you. I think that we all miss that early 90s but man, it's not true that the ships are getting worse. It's true that this ship is worse than BSB and SES, but is also true that it's better than 1996, 2009 and POTC. So, the evolution is like a U. We've passed the worst.

[Hive]

Well, first of all, thank you for that awesome review.

Nevertheless, in mi opinion you've been too hard on your conclusions. I mean, this ship deserves more than a 5/10. I agree with your criticisms and I also see the flaws that you mentioned (the half-printed sail, awful), but I think that you forgot some of the good points of this set. And don't get me wrong: I'm 27 and I grew with our old and beloved Classic Pirates.

For exemple, the figures. To me, absolutely awesome. The Pirates side, we've got our Roger back in the purest way. And look at the crew, very different and original. And the soldiers! Man, we've got a soldier, an officer and an admiral. Having such a complete army in a pirate ship, we've never seen that before!

And about the ship. It's better than any pirate ship since 1993. I'm serious: better that 6289 (1996), better than BBB, and better than any of the POTC ships.

It's more detailed, more realistic. It has some flaws, but it also has good and new details that represent much better the life on board. Theses accessories didn't exist in the 90s, we must reckon this. And, hell, Pirates are back!

Giving all of this, less than a 7/10 is unfair to me. But more than an 8 would be exaggerate.

@cervantes, I understand you. I think that we all miss that early 90s but man, it's not true that the ships are getting worse. It's true that this ship is worse than BSB and SES, but is also true that it's better than 1996, 2009 and POTC. So, the evolution is like a U. We've passed the worst.

Fortunately, taste is a matter of subjectivity. I personally wouldn't give this ship more than 6/10, though I agree that the minifigs are amazing. But that's just not enough for me, minifigs can't make a lazily average set amazing. And being the owner of Brickbeard's Bounty as well as the two PoTC ships, I strongly disagree that this one is better than either of those. But yes, it's actually better than many of the old ships, I'll give you that.

[TeufelHund]

Looking at the Pirate minifigs in this set something just occurred to me - do you think the cabin boy realises he'll have to pluck one of his own eyes out before he graduates to full pirate status as per the rest of the crew?

[Captain Fortune]

Looking at the Pirate minifigs in this set something just occurred to me - do you think the cabin boy realises he'll have to pluck one of his own eyes out before he graduates to full pirate status as per the rest of the crew?

Lol, good point. And now, think about what he should lose if he wants to be captain! Haha

[Dreamweb]

Nevertheless, in mi opinion you've been too hard on your conclusions. I mean, this ship deserves more than a 5/10. I agree with your criticisms and I also see the flaws that you mentioned (the half-printed sail, awful), but I think that you forgot some of the good points of this set. And don't get me wrong: I'm 27 and I grew with our old and beloved Classic Pirates.

For exemple, the figures. To me, absolutely awesome. The Pirates side, we've got our Roger back in the purest way. And look at the crew, very different and original. And the soldiers! Man, we've got a soldier, an officer and an admiral. Having such a complete army in a pirate ship, we've never seen that before!

And about the ship. It's better than any pirate ship since 1993. I'm serious: better that 6289 (1996), better than BBB, and better than any of the POTC ships.

Well, we are all entitled to our opinions and mine is but one among many

To me, 5/10 is a fair score for this ship. Brickbeard's Bounty is a 6/10 by comparison, and if it had a working anchor, I'd even give it a 7.

The minifigs are awesome, I absolutely agree. But they were equally great on the 2009 ship. In a different manner perhaps, but also amazing.

I wouldn't call it the best ship since 1993. It is better than Red Beard Runner, that's for sure, but apart from the already mentioned Brickbeard's Bounty, it definitely isn't better than 10210 Imperial Flagship. As for Queen Anne's Revenge, that's a tough call. That ship had so many amazing features and at the same time so many flaws, I find it the hardest of them all to rate. But I shall say that it's at least as good as the Brick Bounty. I don't have the Black Pearl (and regret it) so I will not express any opinions on that one.

The smaller ships are a different category altogether so I cannot really compare it to sets like the Armada Flagship.

But I'm glad there are those who enjoy the Brick Bounty, if you're having fun with this set, that's all that matters. I enjoy it myself to a degree, as mentioned in the review.

There's one more issue I wish to discuss: repetitiveness. The Brickbeard's Bounty was sort of an homage to BSB, no doubt about it. You could tell it by the colour of the sails alone. But no one complained that it had sails similar to BSB's, because that set had been released 20 years earlier (re-releases don't really count). But, only 6 years later they then released an homage to an homage (even in the name), and that's different. That's taking it one step too far. Remember, when LEGO released the Imperial Flagship in 2010, I heard no complaints about the name, even though there had been a ship with exactly the same name before, it was just so long ago it didn't bother anyone. But imagine if in a few months from now they released a new ship for the Bluecoats and called it Imperial Flaghip too, I'm sure there would be some booing regarding the name, no matter what the ship looks like. Because once again, that would be taking it one step too far. On the other hand, if LEGO soon released a new ship for the soldiers and made it an obvious homage to Caribbean Clipper (blue-white sails and so on), heck, even called it Caribbean Clipper, that wouldn't bother me, actually I'd be happy they did this - if the ship were of decent quality of course. This is because the original CC was released 26 years ago, and the last ship with blue/white sails was released 19 years ago (the Armada Flagship), so this would not be taking it too far. It would be what the Brickbeard's Bounty was to the Black Seas Barracuda - a fitting tribute.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback everybody and feel free to share any more thoughts you have on this!

[Jreacher]

I think its an average ship. The build was very easy, the playability is good. But I dislike the open cabin, wish they used two doors. Also not a fan of the sails, they could have been bigger, and the jib sail should have been printed on both sides instead of just one.

Next to my SES and BSB the ship looks small and the sails look bad, especially because the SES and BSB have such nice sails.

[schermvlieger]

Thanks for the nice review, Dreamweb!

I do like this ship, but then again this is my first pirate set ever, and have only the online reviews of its predecessors to compare it with. I did however find it odd that the jolly roger is attached to the stern instead of flyingg from the highest mast, and placed it up there instead. There"ll be some other small modificatios to make, especially to the sails and the rigging, but for the rest i think this model is pretty good. I don't mind the open cabin so much and the problem with the cannon sticking through the ports and keeping the shutters from closing completely was easily remedied.

I'm looking forward to your next review, hopefully of a still to be released complementary set in this pirates wave that will blow everybodies socks off :-)

[Matthias]

I vote "Below average". This is the 4th best pirate ship. I think this is the ranking:

Black Seas Barracuda

Skull Eye's Schooner

Brickbeard's Bounty

The Brick Bounty

Redbeard runner

Renegade Runner

Cross bone Clipper

In my opinion, is a shame that TLC released 3 better ships before this new ship. Renegade Runner and Cross bone clipper were worse ships, but they weren't "star sets". In 1993 SES was a star sets, Renegade Runner not. In 1996-1997 RBR was a star set, CBC not. But TBB was released as the absolutely star set of Lego Pirates 2015, so I'd like it would be much better.

But that would be exactly the average!

[VintageLegoEra]

Now i opened my set and i have same face issue of the Governor...i will cal Lego to send the Replacement!

[Dreamweb]

I asked LEGO for the correct head too. Wonder if they will send it to me.

[VintageLegoEra]

I emailed LEGO 2 days back about the Head Replacement and till now no reply!! Hope they reply soon!

[Guybrick]

I also have the "wrong head problem".

Well, I think this is a core mistake by lego: The instruction booklet tells me that the missing head must be ElementID# 4506812. But in the official set list on the lego-website (Bricks & Pieces), it is listed as ElementID# 6123702. And this is what we actually got from lego.

As I checked my set, I also noticed that I have the "hull piece problem" that is mentioned in the nitpicking-part of this review. Since this is my first lego-ship, I don't have the opportunity to compare it. But when I assemble them, it also feels like the parts doesn't really fit together.

And at last, I also noticed some other small quality issues:

1. The colors of the hull pieces differ from each other (like one is more red brown, while the other is light brown and the next ist more orange brown).

2. Some edges of the hull pieces have small notches (looks like kind of used bricks to me ... or like they were all mixed with small stones in a washing machine - well, you surely know what I mean ;-)). I first thought this is because of the loose packaging of the 3 middle hull pieces (kind of damage during shipment), but I also see some of this "notches" at the front hull pieces (which were delivered in a bag). And when I put the pieces together as needed, I notice the "notches" even more :-(.

So, this is the first time that I am really a bit dissappointed of lego.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Guybrick