REVIEW - 6250 Cross Bone Clipper

[Inconspicuous]

BASIC INFORMATION:

Set Name: Cross Bone Clipper

Set Number: 6250

Number of Pieces: 151

Minifigs: 3

Price: 33.00 USD

Theme: Pirates

Year Released: 1997

RESOURCES:

Brickset

Peeron

Bricklink

Flickr

(Remember, pics are clickable!)

THE REVIEW:

BOX:

Front:

First up is the box, which my brother conveniently stored is his closet and kept in perfect shape. You can see lots of Classic Pirates touches, like the molded background and the foaming sea. The edges of the box get a nice purple color.

Back:

The back features a lovely treasure map background, as well as alternate models galore! Perhaps this is because there aren't too many features to advertise.

Side:

Upon inspecting the box further, I came across this price tag. This was an incredible price for the set back then, so you can imagine how shocking this is now! Perhaps the reason why it was marked down so far is that it wasn't selling very well...

Opened:

Just cut a seal, and out slides the tray. The box's shape is mainly supported by the tray.

Box:: Thoughts: Classic and simple, which is always nice in today's world of advertising. It actually seems fairly thin considering the large hull pieces would have had to fit in.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Front:

Next up are the instructions, which have a cropped, almost over-cropped, version of the box on it. Lots of the set information has been swiped off.

Minifig Page:

First, the simple minifigs are built, and construction starts without hesitation. Notice the tan parchment background, which compliments the set's color quite well.

Random Page:

This random page shows how sub-models and string are added. Submodels get their own light-tan boxes and string gets its own 1:1 scale box too.

Back:

The back features rearranged alternate models from the back. There are absolutely no ads; as soon as construction is done, the book ends.

Instructions:: Thoughts: These are even simpler than the box! Incredibly to-the-point and no errors or color discrimination difficulties.

PIECES:

Pieces (sorted):

Here are the set's pieces, meticulously sorted for your viewing pleasure. You can see that for a $30 set, there are barely any pieces! Also, for a mostly green set, there are no green pieces aside from the hulls. Apart from accessories, the pieces are fairly generic. However, there aren't too many colors, one of the problems with 6280 Armada Flagship, the "Rainbow Ship".

Pieces of interest:

The more interesting pieces of the set include barrels, swords, coins, and the red flag pieces. The red pole appears in five sets, and the circular one is exclusive to this set.

Pieces:: Thoughts: There aren't very many of them, but what's there is simple and fulfilling.

MINIFIGS:

Front:

Here are the three minifigs included in the set. They all have wonderful torso printing and headgear. Female pirates were rare and Captain Redbeard is always a treat with his hook, peg leg, eyepatch, and epaulette.

Back:

No printing on the backs, but this was very common back in the day.

Minifigs:: Thoughts: Fairly rare, wonderfully printed, and 100% pirate. Quite an array for a smaller ship.

THE BUILD:

Build:

The build progresses very smoothly and is very quick. With a lack of pieces, it's not a surprise that the process is very unfulfilling. The pictures are taken at perfect 3 step intervals, and it a quick 18 steps the ship is done. I noticed that I missed a few pieces the step they appeared, so this isn't the easiest build. Pieces are added inconspicuously and are easy to miss. No interesting building techniques are used either.

Build:: Thoughts: Subtle, fast, unfulfilling, and no interesting techniques leads to a fairly unpleasant build.

COMPLETED PRODUCT:

Completed:

And the ship is finished. Doesn't it look kind of cute?

Front:

A full-front shows an excellent view of the sails. The main sail is printed on one side, but the smaller one is printed on both sides.

Close-up:

If you can't have a figurehead, this is the next best thing! A skull is simple and matches the ship very well.

Side:

A side view gives you a better idea of the ship's layout. You can see that the string that attaches to the front supports the barrel of gold in the middle. You can also see a string that keeps the main sail close against the mast.

Inside:

Most of the action of the ship is happening in the middle and back of the interior. In my opinion, it's a tad cramped, but nothing really interferes with anything else.

Steering Wheel:

Nothing like a good, old fashioned steering wheel! I'm surprised that the wheel is down here. It would make more sense if it was up on the platform.

Rudder:

However, there's at least one good point to the steering system- you can control the rudder from inside! I've removed the platform to give you a better view of this simple but effective design.

Back:

The back platform of the ship looks empty without a steering wheel. However, the barrel and the lantern are nice touches. This is usually where I put Redbeard and his map.

Cannon:

The cannon that came with mine is of the non-firing variety, but it seems like there's a special design suited for firing cannons. Let's try substituting in a 2009 firing one to see if we can identify it...

With Firing:

And indeed we have! The small pin can actually keep the trigger pulled at a decent distance! All you need to load it is pop in a cannon ball, push on the back and snap the little clip into place, and then gently press on the front of the cannon and the ball will fire!

Video:

If you don't get what I mean, here's a video demonstration. Quite ingenious isn't it? It doesn't work the best, but you can modify it to shoot farther.

_______________________________________________

Totals:

Design: 7/10 It feels a little bit cramped, and the steering wheel should be on the platform, but otherwise the design is pretty sleek and simple. I think the amount of details was sufficient for a small ship.

Parts: 8/10 A good selection without an overwhelming number of colors. The hull pieces are cool, and the set has a few rare pieces.

Build: 5/10 A tad fast and difficult, but otherwise fine. The string riggings aren't too hard, which is a good plus.

Minifigs: 10/10 Lovely printing, fairly rare, and a female pirate. Any more and the ship would be crowded, but what they gave us was great.

Playability: 8/10 This would probably be a lot more fun with a firing cannon, but otherwise, you can sail the seas, steer the rudder, and stage pirate battles with the selection of weapons included.

Price: 5/10 Too expensive for the price, due to the large hull pieces. Even so, it should have been cheaper. The $15 price I got it for was much more reasonable.

Total: 43/60 Even though it got a C-, this ship is just dwarfed by all other ships and seems bad. It has some nice features, and the bad ones can be easily modded. I would recommend this to Pirate fans with a smaller budget, because this is one of the smaller "actual" ships. I think the cute little ship just needs some love.

Thanks for reading!

-Inky

[prateek]

Great review. I like this set because it is so cheap I wish Lego made more ships of this price

[Zorro]

Fantastic review, thanks for sharing this with us!

I'll blog this later, unless someone beats me to it of course.

EDIT: I'm first!

[lightningtiger]

Thanks for the review 'Inconspicous' - yep it sure is cute !

A small but complete pirate ship - fantastic !

I'm a conformist! !

[the Inventor]

Good review of a nice colorful little ship.

I find it a bit strange that the steering wheel is down there,

and it isn't even connected to the rudder.

the Inventor

[Mac-K]

A nice review you have here Inconspicuous! For some reason, I seem to recall this ship getting a lot of hate in the past, I don't see why though. I have to agree with you, this ship is pretty darn cute! There's something charming about the small stature of it, the cramped quarters and the almost "chubby" nature of the hull. I rather like the color scheme of her too, the black, green and red seem very pirate-y to me. The mini-figs are a nice assortment, especially with the rare lady-pirate. I really like the other crewman too, I never got any of the pirate sets from around the late 1990's (except Armada Sentry). He has a good face, and the torso print is great as well. I also really like that he has red pants. Weird perhaps, but it kind of gives him the look of a more flamboyant pirate, which I find cool. I think Lego might have done that only once or twice in the course of the Pirate line, come to think of it. But anyway, great review, and thank you for sharing! I'm a little bit tempted to go hunt this set down...

[Inconspicuous]

I'll blog this later, unless someone beats me to it of course.

Hooray!

For some reason, I seem to recall this ship getting a lot of hate in the past, I don't see why though.

I definitely agree with you there. I think it got some bashing, just because it was put in polls against the bigger ships.

Thanks for the comments, guys!

[funkybrick]

Nice review!

I like it better now

[Erdbeereis]

Another excellent review, another new addition to the index. Thanks Inky!

[supersympa]

thanks for the review.

the only ship i am missing in my collection....

PS: if somebody sell one at a reasonable price, please contact me :)

[VintageLegoEra]

This is also a must to have for any Pirates fan!...me too will get it for Sure!!..