[REVIEW] 75636 One Piece: Windmill Village Hut

[MKJoshA]

INTRODUCTION

Through it all
Through all the troubled times
Through the heartache
And through the pain
Know that I will be there
To stand by you
Just like I know you'll stand by me...

Airing on television for the first time back in 1999 One Piece has been around for a very long time. In 2023 Netflix aired the first season of a live-action version which covered the East Blue arc. If you've watched One Piece for any length of time you'll know that flashbacks are a common story telling tool for the series, sometimes using flashbacks within the flashback! So, true to form, I started my reviews of the One Piece sets with a review of the Going Merry and now we're going to flashback and look at the Windmill Village Hut.

So is this set just another filler episode you can skip, or is it essential viewing? Let's find out!

SET INFORMATION
Number: 75636
Title: Windmill Village Hut
Theme: One Piece
Released: 2025
Part Count: 299
Box Dimensions: 26 x 19 x 6 cm
Weight: 442g
Set Price (RRP): £24.99/$29.99/€29.99
Price per Part: 8.4p/10.0c/10.0c
Links: Brickset, Bricklink

THE BOX AND WHAT'S INSIDE

The front of the box shows the windmill village where our "hut" (really it's a bar, but Lego can't market that) gets its name from.

The back of the box shows that the side of the hut can hold your Wanted Posters from this line of sets.

Inside we get 3 bags, a loose boat, and a sticker sheet.

This happened with a few of my One Piece sets, but inside one of the paper bags was a smaller parts bag in plastic. I guess Lego still has some plastic to use up!

THE BUILD
The build process is simply split across the 3 bags.

Our first bag gives us the base of the bar and a nice plank walkway. We also get Red-Haired Shanks equipped with a simple pirate cutlass. 

Our second bag adds pillars and drinks for the bar as well as giving us the Makino the owner of Partys Bar. You can see the name of the bar is a sticker as is the woodwork on the cross beam. 

And of course bag 3 finishes off the build and gives us young Luffy. Partys Bar is a full enclosed building in the cartoon anime, but the live action opted for an open-aired style island bar. The set captures the essence of the live-action set even if much of the nautical themed decorations are missing.

The build looks great from the front, but it also looks good from the back. The notice board for the Wanted Posters works really well and is a great addition for fans of this line who buy the set.

Lifting the roof off gives better access for posing figures in the bar.

I don't know when Lego changed the mold for the boat oar, but it's probably been like this for awhile. But it's my first time realizing you can fit a feather or other accessory in the oar if you want. The connection felt a little snug, so I don't know if it's a legal connection. I also don't know why someone would want to use it, but there you go.

For being the smallest set it the wave it's a great treat to get 3 unique figures. Flash-back, or young Luffy wears a simple shirt that is accurate to the show and could be used in many other city scenes. And Makino and Shanks' torsos are extremely versatile. I was surprised the Lego decided to give us a Shanks figure. He doesn't play a large role in the live action series, but has a lot of significance to Luffy's overall story if you're familiar with the manga. So it's a treat to get him in Lego form. I think I would have preferred one of Shanks' crew over Makino. But I can understand why they included her as she's easy to make with existing pieces, only requiring some new prints, and it gives you someone to run the bar.

The back printing is what you would expect, but it's the reverse faces that really stand out. Luffy's crying face is perfect for the stories set during his time in the Windmill Village. And Shanks' fighting face looks good too.

Luffy's hair piece is new for this line and it shows up in a couple One Piece sets. Shanks has both a hairpiece and hat molded with hair. The injection mold marks are obvious on all 3, but on Shanks' hair piece it is very unsightly. More about that later. Shanks and Makino's hair pieces are re-colors. 

We also get the famous Straw Hat as it's own piece so that Shanks can gift it to Luffy. It looks odd being used as a normal hat and looks far better hanging on Luffy's back, as in the Arlong Park set, or being held. I'm waiting for someone to use this piece for a Madeline MOC.

THE UGLY

I mentioned the injection mold point sorely visible on Shanks' hair. Unsightly injection mold points have become increasingly a problem for Lego. It didn't always used to be this bad. And since Lego has a motto of "Only the best is good enough" I want to hold them to account.

Certainly colors reveal this mold spot worse that others. You can see them very clearly on all the reddish-brown parts.

Another odd mark, and a new one for me, were the rings around the raised stud of the 1x1 reddish-brown bricks.

But injection mold points aren't the only problem. My larger dark tan plates had mushed corners. The plastic is now too soft and easily gets damaged. 

Here you can see the same damaged corner as well as more injection mold points.

One of the worst cases is with the clips. These mold spots are so bad the clips can't sit flush against other bricks.

All of these flaws are unfortunately becoming the norm for Lego. I will be reaching out to Lego customer service to share my concerns as I have done with many other sets I've bought over the past few years. I encourage you to do the same if you find flaws. Lego won't change their practices unless we hold them to account. 

OVERALL

Lego sets in general have quality issues right now. That aside, this set fills the slot of smallest set of the line in a great way. It's a nice little location set with good details. It has 3 unique figures plus a fun feature for displaying your Wanted Posters. It's great as a parts pack, for pirate fans, and for One Piece fans. 

SCORE
How do I rate this set?

DESIGN 9
It's a good design. Simple, but effective. It relies too much on stickers, but it's close to perfect.

BUILDING EXPERIENCE 9
For a small set I don't expect much from the build experience. This set does a good job of being fun to build even if nothing overly wowed me.

FEATURES 10
For a small set it has decent features. The roof lifting off for easy access inside and the Wanted Poster board are good features for a $30 set.

PLAYABILITY 10
The main play factor here is story-telling. And for a small set it does a fantastic job of providing lots of ways to do that. Telling stories around the bar, Shanks giving Luffy the Straw Hat, and even just sailing in the boat are a decent number of play options in a set this small.

PARTS 10
This set has a great selection of parts. It's very versatile if you want to use it for other themes (Brock arguing with Venom anyone?).

VALUE FOR MONEY 10
It hits the golden PPP and has 3 unique figures. You can't get much better than that for a licensed set. It's worth full price if you can get replacement parts for any damaged pieces that will almost inevitably some with the set.

FINAL SCORE: 10
Just like with the Going Merry this set gets a full 10-out-of-10 from me. 

 

But what's this, there's more! 

 Wow Luffy, that's a great story. I didn't know Shanks meant so much to you.

 Yeah, Shanks is pretty cool. 

 I'm glad we spent 15 episodes covering that backstory.

 What's an episode?

 You know, I'm not sure. It just sounded right to say. Hey, where's Zoro?

 Don't tell me he got lost again!

 Oh no, what if this island is haunted!?!

Tune in next time to find out what happens next!

[JopieK]

Nice review! I got a few of them for Prime Day to part for our Bricklink shop and they contain great parts and I like the Friends vibes it brings to the minifig world.