[REVIEW] 40566 Ray the Castaway

[nmbd]

Hello everyone,

I recently bought my first new Lego set in about 25 years and noticed that no one has written a review yet. So here we go! I think it fits best into the Pirates category, but if there is a better place, please move the topic accordingly.

Disclaimer: This is my first review, and I want to apologise in advance for the picture quality. The daylight hours are limited, so I had to build this and take pictures in artificial light. Also, English is not my native tongue, so please bear with me through questionable grammatics!

Set number: 40566-1
Set name: Ray the Castaway
Release date: October 1st 2022
Theme: Ideas (Gift with purchase, limit 120€)
Pieces: 239
Minifigures: 1
Price: Gift with purchase, official price assigned is 20€.

Official box picture:

As Lego prices are mostly outrageous if not buying at 30% off, I decided to buy this from a reseller. Turned out to be the correct thing to do, as I got the set for 20€ + shipping. The items I would have bought off the official Lego store to get this set came at 72€ (RRP: 120€).

The box:

I quite like the look of the ideas boxes, although current boxes feel a bit cheap compared to the ones in the 90s with inlays and stuff from medium size up (we old ones always complain about today, I think because we tend to forget about yesterday's crap).  Totally forgot to take a picture of the contents in the box, but it was about 65% full.

The contents:
Five unnumbered plastic bags and the instruction booklet. Already slightly dog-eared out of the box, but nothing a couple of old fashioned books would not take care of!

The pieces feel like a lot of small stuff with a couple of plates to build the base plate, mostly because that's exactly how it is. The raft is a small but effective build and looks quite nice compared to the ones from the 90s. Brown and tan just works better than black and yellow.

The first couple of build steps are for constructing the base plate. Although I do not like the part count inflation, I freely admit that a constructed baseplate is a good thing most of the time. It is, here. The result is nicely irregular and has a good texture (as I would call it), as there are three layers of plates for the water, the beach and the green.

When adding this clip, I noticed a slight flaw in the piece:

Turns out all of these I got had this defect, so I wonder if this is a general problem with the mold? Anyway, kids won't notice!  This is a shot from the rear, about halfway through constructing the little island:

The treasure chest that is hidden under the hut is already there, and to the right we can see the rocks where the palm trees will be placed. The technic pin will hold the second trunk at an angle.

After adding the hut and the first palm tree:

The palm leaves in olive green the hut's roof is comprised off are really cool. The technic pin in the bottom connector that is the lower end of the trunk is only covered on the front side (which is nice), but there is nothing to be done for the back.

The completed model:

The build (from opening the box to the completed model) took me about 25 minutes, including taking pictures. It is very simple and I stopped looking at the part callouts after a couple of steps.

I think it looks quite nice from the front! (From the sides, too, but the back is not that nice) The raft is small, simple and servicable, although it has only a flag that won't be any use as a sail. No paddle about, either. So Ray is more into zen rafting? A drifter? Or maybe he just stores the beer cans under the raft?

The two palm trees are very nice looking, but they are very flimsy. The leaves fall off just by looking at them, as do the "dry bits" stuck into their underside.

The hut is ok. I like the change to a "habitable" hut, but Ray cannot lie down in there. It's a small set, so that's ok. I think the dark orange pieces (especially the tiles) are completely unneeded.

The details on the little island are very nice, like the basic cooking fire, the fishing line (what does Ray use for bait?), the message-in-a-bottle, the star fish. I personally do not care for the SOS. The parrot is nice (we got the same in VIP accessory pack 40515), although the original seagull would have been even nicer.

The extra parts:

Nothing too fancy, but we get another starfish!

The minifigure:
Ray has the same torso as several crew members from the Pirates of the Barracuda Bay, dual-molded legs (nice shorts!), a really classy hair piece and somewhat rough features befitting a true castaway.

Being barefoot yikes sometimes, though! (I saw a similar shot in another article and decided it was too hilarious to not reproduce here).

Summary:
All in all, this is a nice little set which seemlessly fits into the Pirate theme, but can also be interpreted as a modern castaway. It mostly looks good, has some good play value with the raft and all of the accessories. However, it does not look good from all angles (exposed technic pins on the back), the build does not feel inspiring and the palm trees look nice, but they are too flimsy. Some of the details (the dark orange parts of the hut, or all those slope tiles covering the rocks) seem superfluous. In my opinion, the set could have profited from having the seagull instead of the parrot (for uniqueness), a slightly larger hut with a cot or something, and some sort of sail and a paddle as a rudder for the raft. This would make it even more different from the original concept, however.

Rating:

Now, I want to try to give this a brickinsights-compatible meta-rating compatible rating (see https://brickinsights.com/statistics/ratings-distribution). On a scale from 0 to 100, the vast majority of reviews are in the 60% - 100% range, with only one (yes, 1. ONE!) set in the 0 - 24% bracket. So I will use a scale from 0 - 20 (as that nicely translates into 5% steps) for both build and play, and just add 60% in the end. I will not include the value for money in the rating as that varies too much for most sets depending on them being new, recent or old, discounts, etc.

Anyway, ratings for stuff people bought are mostly arbitrary, anyway!

Build and design: 9/20
Nice level of detail, sometimes a bit much. Some part inflation (like using two 1x2 palisade bricks instead of 1x4 ones). The hut is ok, the raft is good. The palms look nice (but not from the back) but fall apart easily. The build is easy but apart from the angle of the second palm tree lacks any moments of enlightenment. To me, the ups and downs balance out to a perfectly average set.

Play and fun: 11/20
For a set of this size (with only one minifigure), there is a lot to do. Take the raft out for a, huh, drift? Chase the parrot, fry the crab, look at the treasure, rebuild the hut after a storm (and the palm trees, too!). I do not know how the play value could have been improved without adding a second minifigure, which is beyond the scope of this set

Value (not rated):
I do not think it is worth 20€, but which set is ever worth the RRP in our books? The value is fine for the bulk of pieces we get, but I would not pay the crazy prices (35+€) some sellers on ebay have. With some luck, you should still be able to find it in the 20€ range at the end of 2022, though!

In total: 20 + 60 = 80 of 100.

Thanks for reading. Tarah chuck and out!

(Somehow preview is broken for me, so prepare for some edits)

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by nmbd
Image links again

[Marooned Marin]

I don't like the set, but I like the review @nmbd, you have a knack for writing and this is fantastic first post for introduction inside the community, welcome aboard

 

[The Reader]

Perfect review, thanks a lot. That's a nice little set indeed. But I'm still undecided whether I should buy it.

[Jack Sassy]

A good review indeed!  Wish this set was for sale. 

23 minutes ago, Marooned Marin said:

I don't like the set

How come ye don't like it?

22 minutes ago, The Reader said:

But I'm still undecided whether I should buy it.

If yer looking for a Pirate set then this is it. Either way, not a bad little set and if there is a chance of getting it, why not?

[The Reader]

31 minutes ago, Jack Sassy said:

If yer looking for a Pirate set then this is it. Either way, not a bad little set and if there is a chance of getting it, why not?

I'm more in Adventurers, less in Pirates ... but for 20€ it might be worth.

Edited January 8, 2023 by The Reader

[Mister Phes]

4 hours ago, Marooned Marin said:

I don't like the set, but I like the review @nmbd

Don't tell the DadiTwins that!

[Marooned Marin]

13 hours ago, Jack Sassy said:

How come ye don't like it?

Because Ray seems to be more famous castaway then me

[Jack Sassy]

1 hour ago, Marooned Marin said:

Because Ray seems to be more famous castaway then me

But is he as productive as ye? I thought not, so ye seem to triumph over him. 

[Marooned Marin]

On 1/9/2023 at 12:42 PM, Jack Sassy said:

But is he as productive as ye? I thought not, so ye seem to triumph over him. 

Oh Jack, you are too kind

As far as castaway MOC designs go, so far my favourite is this one by @cjtonic HERE

 

[Jack Sassy]

1 hour ago, Marooned Marin said:

my favourite is this one

Aye, 'twas a good MOC indeed.

[nmbd]

Thank you for your kind words. I really like the MOC's simple sail on the (admittedly quite a lot larger) raft!

[Mister Phes]

On 1/9/2023 at 12:06 AM, nmbd said:

Disclaimer: This is my first review, and I want to apologise in advance for the picture quality. The daylight hours are limited, so I had to build this and take pictures in artificial light. Also, English is not my native tongue, so please bear with me through questionable grammatics!

Thank you for submitting your review!

You've done mighty fine for a first effort - when  I was building this set, I took some photos and experienced similar issues with the lighting.

So what's next for your Ray the Castaway?  Leave the set built as per the instructions?  Or are you going to MOC/MOD the design to make it uniquely yours?