Review: 70409 Shipwreck Defense

[nori]

Thanks to nisiia for translate this review. ;)

70409 Shipwreck Defence

Serie: Pirates (III)

Year: 2015

Elements: 84

Minifigs: 2: Bluecoat Soldier, Pirate

Box 15.5 x 14 x 4.5 cm

Price: $12.99, £8.99, 9,99 €, 39,99 zł

BrickSet, BrickLink

By a strange coincidence, the smallest set of a regular serie from the latest edition of the Pirates, pre-premiere went on sale in a one of supermarkets. As a lover of all Pirate series, of course, I had to put my hands on him quickly, and whether the association with this miracle gave me adequate satisfaction, I'm going to tell you in this review.

This time there won't be lengthy introductions, if someone wants to read something more general about plastic Pirates, also about their history, I invite to pirate blog.

Unfortunately, the first impression is not the best. A box made of a very soft cardboard with ugly yellow vertical bar and cheesy "phasy" ending. And they could do it so much better, as TLG shown at previous editions of Pirates in 2009. There the torched maps perfectly match the climate of the series (example). Yellow stripe and soft cardboard is not the only defect. I have the impression that something is not quite right even in the graphic composition: Soldier ugly "enters" on the yellow insert, while the fireplace with the fish is already overwhelmed it. The name of the series, despite the fact that, in itself, a very pretty and stylish, it fits poorly with the rest: it shouldn't fall on the mast and partly obscure flags - it doesn't look the best, and this flag with Jolly Roger, which is a characteristic feature for the series, is therefore not very expressive and merges with the logo.

On the back of the box is already much better! It's true that a bit ubiquitous yellow color hurts, but the layout already looks very good. Particularly we should congratulated on a great idea to put a set on the painted map - it looks great! Additional inserts, which show the functionality of the gun and "ads" of the next set, nicely and tastefully were integrated into the whole.

But of course, the box isn't the most important, for a true brick's lover the content counts! For this set consists two bags to the elements

and of course the obligatory instruction.

Instruction is composed of 36 pages, which contain the standard components, namely the construction plans, placed on a very nice, romantic background, advertising, component's index, and the presentation of modularity of individual sets, which can be combined in a slightly larger whole.

The first to go are minifigs! In this set you get two minifigures, of course, according to the "pacifist policy" of LEGO, belonging to the opposite, mutually warring fractions.

Pirate with an anchor tattoo and battered vest looks very, let's say, nicely, and even not very successful new white bandana in white doesn't took him too much charm. The print on the chest is of course a completely new design, but you should know look of his face good, because there was a fairly large number of figures, even the same head had Mac McCloud famous Pharaoh's Quest serie.

In the case of a soldier the situation is similar: a completely new print on the chest accompanied by a relatively popular face, and already known from the previous series of the model shako. It is also worth noting that while the torsos are printed on both sides, the heads have just printed one-sided.

Below comparison of visually similar Pirates' minifigs.

The first one came with the first edition of the Pirates, and had premiere in 1996. Another one is a pirate from the serie published in 2009. Last one is the newest one. It is worth noting that the latest edition, in terms of the use of graphics, has a lot of links with the oldest minifig: you'll find here both anchor tattoo, vest and belt with a large buckle.

While the latest pirate same label is very good, a bit worse is with its quality, especially the yellow color vividness responsible for skin: compared even with the version from 2009 it not enough covers the brown color of torso - you can see it anyway right in the picture below.

Newest soldier belongs to the blue fraction, and looking at the pattern printed on the chest, you will notice right away is not only one reference soldiers from 1989 (pictured below first from the right) belonging to the "Imperial Soldiers".

Unfortunately, here there is a problem with not enough good covering of paint, white paint this time does not coincide perfectly blue plastic. In the picture below, for comparison, I put more red soldiers, the first from the left premiered in 1992 (in the first serie), while another is from the second series, in 2009.

Looking at the back of minifigs, you will notice that the LEGO got rid of the controversial idea of printed bags. According to me rightly, now back print looks very nice and aesthetically.

Of course, our minifigures, as true warriors can't do without proper weapons. And in this set you will find quite a lot of it! Counting with spare parts, we get three cutlasses, two muskets and three blunderbuss. Additionally you will find a soldier's backpack with a classic shape, known from the first pirates, and the green bottle, probably full of rum.

Time to get the set! We start building with the cannon. Red base, four-wheel torch to fuse firing and three bullets. The cannon with mounted inside litlle spring has the functionality in the form of throwing missiles, so a patent which first appeared in 1989! As you can see it works perfectly to this day!

Shipwreck is a wooden debris settled aground and integrated into the rock formations. In addition, you'll find here low-slung stork nest located on a very frail headband. Role of galleon fully here musket, which also optically extends the shape of the structure. The whole is topped with an oar on which ruffles completely new and very successful model of Jolly Roger.

Barrel can be easily detach from the structure, it's only engaged on a single stud. Inside you will find a treasure in the form of two crystals. Resourceful pirate made a simple fireplace with attached handle ideal for smoking, rather than frying, fish.

Playing part of design is based on the tipping part nicely assembled, irregular hull. With supplied cannon it guarantees lot of fun, suitable pointing and hitting the hull can give you a little pleasure.

The whole looks pretty good, though doesn't raise high admiration. The design is a bit too compacted, it seems to me as the designer wanted to put in the smallest area as much as possible, but something went wrong. Of course, in addition to shipwreck in the package you get two great figures yet, always attractive cannon, and quite a lot of weapons and accessories. Overall, set is not bad, but still for what it offers, its price should be a little bit lower.

After the building a bit of spare parts left, interesting with as always valuable weapons.

[Hive]

Thanks for a good and detailed review. I especially liked the comparison pictures with older figures of the same kind.

I think this set is pretty good for a set of this size, and it's a huge improvement to the smaller Cannon Battle from 2009.

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Great review - thanks.

This set is some sort of "battlepack", right? And if you take two you got the chance to build a custom boat!

[Risgrynsgrot]

This set hasn't got much to it, neither of the minifigs are exclusive and the play feature is meh. Sure it's more substantial than the Cannon Battle from 2009 but that was also half the price. 13 bucks for 2 minifigs and this small amount of pieces is really bad.

[Captain Hannibal Joost]

No set have this special piece that allow to keep the sabre under the hand ?

http://www.google.fr/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.style-laboratory.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fstylelab-fashion-beauty-blog-pirates-of-the-caribbean-4-lego-characters.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.style-laboratory.net%2F2011%2F07%2Fjohnny-depp-is-in-the-building%2Fstylelab-fashion-beauty-blog-pirates-of-the-caribbean-4-lego-characters%2F&h=258&w=700&tbnid=6w4qn7tGd70MaM%3A&zoom=1&docid=JWkxnvpWGY32LM&ei=_rXhVKq9Fsf0UqG4hKAB&tbm=isch&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=773&page=1&start=0&ndsp=26&ved=0CDEQrQMwBQ

[lightningtiger]

Thanks for the review 'NORI', neat little set and it has peaked my interest only for the fact that two sets of the different factions actually can join together......hence the reason why the sets don't look as big as the 2009 ones.

Hmm, I might consider pirates again this year.

Brick On Review On 'NORI' !

[Matthias]

No set have this special piece that allow to keep the sabre under the hand ?

http://www.google.fr...ved=0CDEQrQMwBQ

Great review. I am looking forward to the set. I will only buy it once. In Euros it don´t look such expensive. I am glad that Lego stoped this $=€ policy.

Hannibal if yu mean the scabbard, it is a PotC exclusie part. Lego can´t sell it in normal pirate sets.

[Mencot]

Hannibal if yu mean the scabbard, it is a PotC exclusie part. Lego can´t sell it in normal pirate sets.

It is not an Potc exclusive piece because it was also used in Lone ranger train chase but it is probably a licenced exclusive.

[Mister Phes]

Unfortunately, the first impression is not the best. A box made of a very soft cardboard with ugly yellow vertical bar

Probably using the yellow in an attempt to invoke the nostalgia of the boxes from the very first pirate sets...

[Mencot]

Probably using the yellow in an attempt to invoke the nostalgia of the boxes from the very first pirate sets...

I had the same thought also.

And I actually think these 2015 boxes look really good, better then the 2009 but I guess that is a matter of taste

[Zilcho]

It is not an Potc exclusive piece because it was also used in Lone ranger train chase but it is probably a licenced exclusive.

Potc and Lone Ranger are both made by Disney so it makes sense

[Dreamweb]

I checked one of those supermarkets in Warsaw yesterday but it wasn't there. Bad luck I guess. Anyway, I'll definitely be getting at least one of those. Good for army building. The cannon has small wheels and therefore can be easily used to complement an arsenal of almost any ship. Still no opinion about that new bandana until I get one, but I guess it's always better to have two types to choose from. The minifigs are OK, my favourite part is of course the new blue uniform. Digging the green bottle.

[kinggregus]

Thanks Nori for a great review. The quality of the pictures is fantastic. As another poster mentioned, I particularly like the comparison of the figures to older version. This shows how much Lego evolved.

I guess the box design is a matter of taste because it did not strike me as ugly. Anyway it is its content that matter the most.

Thanks again.

[Kolonialbeamter]

Hi Nori,

thank you for a very well written and photographed review of a neat little set. Two thumbs up!

Best regards

Edit: Voted it 'Outstanding', 'cause I think it's the best pirates' part pack TLG has ever come up with.

Edited March 30, 2015 by Kolonialbeamter

[Dreamweb]

Having finally assembled this set, I must admit it's pretty good, one of the best small Pirate sets in quite a while. The design is original for a change, unlike in other 2015 sets. And there is plenty of useful parts which can be easily utilised in pirate MOCs. Despite its size, it really stands out among the rest of this wave. If only they put this much creativity into the remaining sets...

[Captain Fortune]

Outstanding review.

And I like very much the set. The shipwreck itself could be better, but the figs and the accessories are veeery cool.

[Sir_Basil_Ashton]

Thanks for the review. This is the first Pirates set I've gotten in the current line. Looking to add more sets soon.

[Capn Frank]

Thanks again Nori. I've added this review to Set Review Index.

I've also added a poll to this topic.

[Bricks Planet]

Here you have my stop motion video to complete this great review :)

Edited April 8, 2015 by Bricks Planet

[VintageLegoEra]

I built this set today and what i can say: it is a random building set ( just take this piece and put there, there,...etc )

But will look cool when attached to set 70411

And yea!...Great review!

[Captain Dee]

First of all, this is an excellent review for such a small set. Everything is covered very well. As for the poll I just can't make myself vote higher than "average". The minifigs themselves are great and this is the only set in the entire lineup where all the figs have sensible heads. The weapon-per-man count is high as well (8 hand-held weapons plus a cannon for only 2 men) and bottles and barrels are nice accessories to the theme. BUT...the standard set is just too much of a gimmick. The one play feature (besides the cannon) is pathetic and the part selection isn't good enough to make much else. However, I could overlook all this if the price wasn't so high. The old classic shipwreck sets just looked so much better and were generally better buys. I wouldn't call it terrible but the high and low points pretty much equalize in my mind. As KB said, it's a good parts pack - and that's about all it's good for. But it didn't stop me from buying several. Argh!

[Captain Roger]

Nice set and great review. I specially like that minifig comparations. About the set, is nice becaus has cool accesories: jolly roger with crossed blades, bottle, pearl dark grey cannon, new minifigs (specially the bluecoat), etc

[Capn Frank]

As a MOCer looking for some great pieces and figs, this is a decent set. As a stand alone set for display, it's underwhelming and compact. I don't think it fits real well with the skull island. I don't think TLG will ever pull off a decent shipwreck in 84 pieces.

I voted for an average rating of this set. Its already been dismantled and sorted.

[Captain Dee]

I agree fully with Sir Phredit: 84 pieces does not a reasonable shipwreck make. And what is the pirate defending anyway? Two big gemstones? The set needs a chest full of gold and then the name would make sense, but a cannon isn't really suitable for a close, one-on-one fight. Not terrible but not great either.

[Jreacher]

I think its a great set because it comes with two good minifigs, a cannon, fish, and some other useful pieces. Could be used for army building if the price came down lower.