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WhiteFang

REVIEW: 850839 Pirate minifigure pack

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  1. 1. How do you rate this set?

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      5
    • 2 - Below Average
      13
    • 3 - Average
      17
    • 4 - Above Average
      7
    • 5 - Outstanding
      0


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Hello everyone,

Isn't it wonderful to suddenly be able to reminisce the excellent LEGO Pirates II series since it was first released in 2009. We have also gotten some good Pirate sets along the way through the LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean. And now, we see the latest minifigure pack in pre-packed condition out of the blue in a matter of recent days. I am very pleased to be able to pick this pack up at the LEGOLAND Malaysia, located at the 'Big Shop'. Although the price is on the high side, but I am very pleased to get it and take a better look for myself if it is indeed worth the money to acquire it.

Name: 850839 Pirate minifigure pack

Theme: LEGO System / Pirates

Year: 2013

Pieces: 39

Minifigs: 4 minifigures

Price: USD N.A, GBP N.A, EURO N.A, SGD $23.90, RM 59.90

Resources: Brickset, BrickLink

An original packing image of the 850839 Pirate minifigure pack

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Back view of the original packing image of the 850839 Pirate minifigure pack

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Look here, mates! We have more new Pirate crew for recruiting

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Wow, this packing looks like any other regular typical battle pack which we have seen in the medieval castle, city, space, Halloween themes, etc, over recent years. It is a pleasant surprise to see this minifigure pack to appear in the market but I personally find it more of a re-hash of minifigure pack that just will like to rid of the extra parts in the warehouse, or you could really simply put it as a hint or a teaser of a new Pirates III theme in the near future. No one can be certain of the intentions of this mysterious minifigure pack except TLG planning. Perhaps, time will tell us soon.

The content of the sealed box

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Within the sealed box, it comes with one small package, four pre-assembled minifigures with accessories and an instruction manual to build up the little scene. I will also like to mention that this package is built in these following countries and unfortunately the place that the package is produced from, is also notorious from the poorly made minifigure types with the marked symbol below the armpit. It is unfortunate even though the quality has slightly improved but you could see and feel visible differences. To me, that is considered a huge disappointment to a certain extent. It is not quite exact the same quality like the LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series, but maybe I am being too paranoid and sceptical due to early misconceptions.

Front - Instruction Manual

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Back - Instruction Manual

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Building parts

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These are the parts from the small little package that will be used to build up the tiny little hide out for the Pirates to hide themselves from impending threat or to camouflage their treasure chest. It is definitely not very complicated to begin with.

Useful parts and accessories

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In this package, these are some of the very useful parts and accessories that is definitely welcoming for any minifigures context. Weaponries such as the scimitar and flintlock pistol are good choice of weapons even though there is no typical traditional cutlasses for the pirates. I am not complaining since I got plentiful of such weapons. The crab and parrot are also excellent addition to the total count of animals inventories. Not to forget that, printed tiles like the new 2x2 map tile which I am very sure that I have not seen it before, and the printed ship bottle from the Pirates of the Caribbean. Lastly, the chicken drum stick and barrel are equally useful for any play settings, not restricting to Pirates.

Treasure chest with chrome gold

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I am very pleased that the treasure chest came with the right content as reflected on the packaging. To me, this is a plus point as I had very bad experience from my 4181 Isla De Muerta review. I will be very upset if I have gotten the pearl gold colour instead of the chrome gold. I am glad this has been successfully resolved.

The Pirates minifigures

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This pack come with a Pirate Captain and I am not deeply mistaken about it, two male henchmen and a female Pirate. Most of the parts in there are pretty much re-hash with little room for new creativity and imagination. Even though they have tried to shuffle in with a couple of new faces but it does not really hold much water as well and I find it weak in settings of the choice of minifigures too. Good news for some, there are back printing for all of the four minifigures who love a detail for minifigures.

Do you like this minifigure pack?

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To conclude, I am not pretty satisfied with this new Pirate minifigure pack. It made up of too many re-hashes and the quality is not too desirable to my standard. The pricing is steep and the money probably warrant you to get a better LEGO playset instead. The good point in this pack is the useful building elements, parts and accessories which is decent and good selection, but unfortunately the quantity is low for the good stuff. In the end, I most likely bought this minifigure pack on impulse and I really want to find out for myself if the gold bar is indeed chrome. I am glad that TLG didn't mislead me to obtain a pearl gold bar instead. All in all, I only recommend you to get this minifigure pack if you are truly wanting to complete the LEGO Pirate theme or a true hardcore LEGO Pirates fan.

Summary review

Playability: 3/10 (Limited playability and probably depend a lot more on the integration of your own Pirates theme.)

Design: 5/10 (Design is pretty simple and the selling point is probably the good selection of parts and accessories)

Price: 3/10 (Price is expensive to my taste and not quite worth the money to acquire it with the extreme low parts to price ratio.)

Overall: 3.7/10 (Grab this if you are really intending to complete every single LEGO Pirate sets out there.)

I gave it a "2" based on my Review Score Card. :wink: What about yours?

I hope every one of you enjoyed reading this simple review of mine. Comments and Criticisms are strongly welcomed.

Pictures can be found in My Flickr and My Brickshelf (When moderated)

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Apparantly this set uses a new mold for coins that was only used in the POC sets until now. The numbers seem thicker than the coins I'm familiar with.

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I have to agree. While some of the other minifig packs offered something worthy of the price (Like the inclusion of CMFs or unique parts) this has nothing. All I can see this being useful for are generic pirates or replacement Monster Fighter heads. I can skip this with no regrets.

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Superb review as always, Whitefang! thumbup.gif

While this minifigure pack probably doesn't offer much AFOLs it has a faint echo of the same charm 6235 Buried Treasure possesses, the set which lured me to the LEGO Pirates theme when I was 10 years old. It's very basic construction and generous supply of accessories fired up my imagination, more so than the actual design.

It's unfortunate the minifigures are rehashed but at least the heads have not previously appeared in LEGO Pirate sets, though it would have been preferable to have two different pirate torsos, or at least different coloured legs.

It seems the price is going to be the deal breaker for many, as previously mentioned it does seem a bit steep for a set which lacks new parts.

However, had the all the minfigures been new then it could have been an exciting and good-valued minifigure pack.

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I'm inclined to agree with the review. I bought this simply because the pirate theme has become one of my favorites despite the fact that I have almost no sets from it; they were mostly offered before I was old enough to have them and during my "dim" ages. Let me put it this way- this pack more than doubled my pirate minifig count. But the quality is poor, with loose joints and colors that aren't quite right on the parrot.

The ship in a bottle is sweet though.

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As usual, excellent review WF! :thumbup:

While it does have some nice and useful pieces, this pack offers nothing worth the price tag it carries. :sceptic: I have no problem skipping it over until some nice, new pirate sets come along. 2 from me, as well...

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Thanks for the review. I think this pack is good for those who don't already have pirate minifigs.

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I hate to admit it, but I do think TLG's just getting money for old rope at this point. I had thought the map was a new print, but Andhe's post informs me otherwise. With all the piratey elements that have been showing up in the Collectible Minifigs line (especially with the S8 Pirate Captain and Conquistador, S10 Revolutionary Soldier, and S11 Tiki Warrior), I honestly thought they might have been gearing up to bring the line back for its 25th anniversary next year (much like in 2009), but now I guess maybe not. pirate_cry4.gif

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Thank you everyone for your kind comments! It's definitely great to be able to contribute a new review in the Pirates Theme, especially since there is a long time that we have not enjoyed a good LEGO Pirate related set since POTC.

The map tile is also in these sets http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=3068bpb315&in=S so it really does look like there's not a single new part in this set. Such a shame, as just a little bit of 'newness' would have made it a lot more attractive than just seemingly looking to offload a lot of spare parts from their inventory.

Oh geez. I am in total dismay. Thank you andhe for pointing it out. I am very surprised to know that even the printed map tile is a re-hash. Sigh, this is not quite a pleasant thing to know.

Apparantly this set uses a new mold for coins that was only used in the POC sets until now. The numbers seem thicker than the coins I'm familiar with.

Too bad, I don't recall owning any of the new POTC shiny coins yet, so I can't ascertain if there is any difference on that matter.

It seems the price is going to be the deal breaker for many, as previously mentioned it does seem a bit steep for a set which lacks new parts.

I totally agree with you, Mister Phes! This pack can actually serve as a good opportunity to re-ignite the interest of Pirates especially since Series 11 saw a new Tiki Warrior aka Islander.

[bloggedcp][/bloggedcp]

Thank you so much for the blog feature! :wub:

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I totally agree with you, Mister Phes! This pack can actually serve as a good opportunity to re-ignite the interest of Pirates especially since Series 11 saw a new Tiki Warrior aka Islander.

Given the response to this minifigure pack unfortunately it doesn't seem like it will ignite much.

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It's extremely lazy. Too much repetition. The highlights of the set are the rare dark red bandanas, two of them to boot. And it's nice enough to get some "new" faces. Still, not good enough for the price.

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I agree, this is good if you don't have any Pirate sets (at all), it's a decent starter pack with some interesting parts. But if you have been following the Pirates theme, then this is not very interesting. Series 14 should provide some excellent pirate minfigs though.

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This makes me reminiscence about classic pirates in the 90's. Good memories of pirate sets from back then! Other than that, its a pretty boring minifig pack and a real shame there are only 4 figures and 2 are the same!

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I agree with the review.

I specially dislike these repeated pirates (they have only changed the face). Why do they repeat a minifig? Really absurd and very poor.

They also changed de face of the captain (it s***s) and two minifigs are not armed. Definetely, I think that is the worse pirates set i've ever seen.

Edited by Captain Fortune

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Something about the pirates looks a bit cartoonish, compared to the classic pirates.

I agree, it has that cartoony feel to it, but it is probably due to the faces, especially captain brick beard. (version 2…or 3?)

The face can be found in the monster fighter sets, though.

So… this set really has no "new parts"

A blue crab would have been nice!

Edited by pcvando

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