[REVIEW] 40516 - Everyone is Awesome

[shadefoundry]

Pretty cool to see a set like this made. It's not something I'd personally be interested in buying but I'm glad it exists for the people that would be. I'm going to try to avoid dipping my toes into the whole political discussion that's going on, although I will say that I think representing and accepting diversity in all forms is never a bad thing, and I'm happy to see that Lego seems to want to send the same message.

[Wout]

Thank you, Bob De Quarte for reviewing this set.

(political mode on)

Although I want avoid anything political minefields I still imagined an old man who claimed that when he was a young lad, a rainbow flag stands for Greenpeace.

(political mode off)

What a nice colourful set with so many monochromic minifigs. Some hair pieces are in a complete new colour and I would never expect they would make that. It is also not too expensive which makes a nice addition to your monochrome/minifig/same pieces in different colours collection. When I see it in my local Legostore I maybe pick it up.

The only thing I miss is Emmett and Unikitty dancing in front of this set while singing:

Everyone is awesome, Everyone is cool when you're part of a team! 

[Jack Sassy]

On 5/25/2021 at 6:59 PM, Alexandrina said:

More than that, since Captain Redbeard is in both the Black Seas Barracuda and the Cross Bone Clipper, there's a good reason to think that the woman in red on the Cross Bone Clipper is none other than Lady Anchor, who I believe is canonically the Captain's daughter and who is based off the minifigure in the Black Seas Barracuda that is identical to the Clipper except for differently coloured legs/bandana. Given that every minifigure in the Barracuda has an equivalent in PoBB (the identical minifigures are condensed down) and both those minifigures and Tattooga (based off minifigure pi012 I believe) maintain continuity in the form of their torso clothing, it seems a fair assumption that Robin Loot is meant to be the figure from the Cross Bone Clipper that wears the same colour waistcoat and undershirt, and also wears a brown tricorne.

Since that minifigure is male-presenting, and Robin Loot is female-presenting, there are two possibilities. Option 1) is that she is trans; option 2) is that she disguised her gender á la Anne Bonny during her Cross Bone Clipper days, but has subsequently stopped hiding. My personal opinion is that the latter is unlikely because of the presence of Lady Anchor on the Clipper - so there's definitely no prohibition of women in the crew.

Or she could possibly be that man's daughter, after all, a long time has passed when they are all in Barracuda Bay.

[Alexandrina]

2 hours ago, Jack Sassy said:

Or she could possibly be that man's daughter, after all, a long time has passed when they are all in Barracuda Bay.

I mean, it's possible! The only possible contraindication to this is that the rest of the crew are the same (iirc Redbeard is very consciously an aged up version of the same figure) - but nothing specific is stated any way so all interpretations are equally valid.

[Aanchir]

1 hour ago, Alexandrina said:

I mean, it's possible! The only possible contraindication to this is that the rest of the crew are the same (iirc Redbeard is very consciously an aged up version of the same figure) - but nothing specific is stated any way so all interpretations are equally valid.

One other possible snag is that the set description (and I think also the designer video) for Barracuda Bay specifically state that the Black Seas Barracuda, and Redbeard with it, were lost at sea "over 30 years ago". While this is obviously a cheeky reference to the release dates of the original Black Seas Barracuda (1989) and Barracuda Bay (2020), it is still presented as an actual part of the Barracuda Bay set's backstory. Which leaves two possibilities for Robin Loot's backstory as the gunner of the Cross Bone Clipper:

Either…

1. Robin is old enough to have sailed as the Cross Bone Clipper's gunner prior to Redbeard's disappearance, (and her father is older still) or…
2. The Cross Bone Clipper continued sailing under a different captain following Redbeard's diappearance, and it was under that second captain that Robin served as the ship's gunner, some time prior to joining the ship's previous captain at Barracuda Bay.

And mind you, neither of these possibilities rules out @Jack Sassy interpretation of her as classic green-vested pirate figure's daughter, who later inherited his vest and hat! They're just details that would need to be factored into that interpretation. And if we decide to go with option 1 — that she DID sail under Redbeard before his disappearance — we can even interpret the Lady Anne look-alike from the Cross Bone Clipper set as Robin in her teenage years, sailing alongside her father! Which honestly adds up to a pretty charming fan theory in its own right.

[Dannylonglegs]

I know I’m a little late to the party, since I don’t come by as often as I wish i could these days, but this was an awesome review @Bob De Quatre and a great set imho. 

yes this could be seen as just more “rainbow capitalism” but it’s still nice to see the company i grew up loving making a positive pro-gender/sexuality equality message like this. Obviously being a bisexual transwoman this speaks to me more than others, but it’s cool that it exists and i intend to get it! Mostly for the monofigures tho 

also I think I would have liked it more if the back of the flag transitioned more smoothly into the base. Some extra curved slope pieces would have been a welcome addition to the build.

 

Beautifully said. 

Ditto! @Aanchir Is wonderfully articulate on the issue

On 5/28/2021 at 4:40 PM, Alexandrina said:

I mean, it's possible! The only possible contraindication to this is that the rest of the crew are the same (iirc Redbeard is very consciously an aged up version of the same figure) - but nothing specific is stated any way so all interpretations are equally valid.

Hahah i love this! 
 

~Insectoid Aristocrat

Edited June 5, 2021 by Dannylonglegs

[Aanchir]

My order of this set shipped today, but before it arrives, I wanted to ask a question to anybody who has already obtained the set… is the vertical portion of the model strong enough to use this set as a bookend?

That recently occurred to me as a potential practical use for this se., and if it's feasible I might want to think about getting a second copy at some point in the future. But I realize the "backdrop" might not be sturdy enough to support a row of books unless you add some SNOT brackets or Technic beams to help lock it together more securely.

[Greshi210]

8 hours ago, Aanchir said:

My order of this set shipped today, but before it arrives, I wanted to ask a question to anybody who has already obtained the set… is the vertical portion of the model strong enough to use this set as a bookend?

I'd say that it would be sturdy enough but not heavy enough. It's a fairly solid wall and the way it's built makes it quite stable. But the weight of the whole set is not very heavy so it would probably get pushed aside fairly easily.

[Aanchir]

18 hours ago, Greshi210 said:

I'd say that it would be sturdy enough but not heavy enough. It's a fairly solid wall and the way it's built makes it quite stable. But the weight of the whole set is not very heavy so it would probably get pushed aside fairly easily.

Hmm, well, that's good to know! In any case, if I wanted to use them for this purpose, I could always just place the set over top of one of the more basic metal bookends we already own (similar to these ones). I haven't yet had any issues with those sliding around, and since they're pretty much a flat metal sheet bent at a 90 degree angle, this set would probably sit pretty neatly on top of them.

I'll try this out when my copy of the set arrives, and if it seems useful enough to be worthwhile, I'll think about getting a second copy.

Edited June 7, 2021 by Aanchir

[Greshi210]

15 hours ago, Aanchir said:

Hmm, well, that's good to know! In any case, if I wanted to use them for this purpose, I could always just place the set over top of one of the more basic metal bookends we already own (similar to these ones). I haven't yet had any issues with those sliding around, and since they're pretty much a flat metal sheet bent at a 90 degree angle, this set would probably sit pretty neatly on top of them.

I'll try this out when my copy of the set arrives, and if it seems useful enough to be worthwhile, I'll think about getting a second copy.

Sounds like a plan 👍😀

[Peppermint_M]

Seeing as no one can stay on topic now: Thanks for the review Bob. Comments closed unless he decides otherwise.