SImmony

Certainly sounds like getting them from the design department could play a role, those might've not passed QA in the same way regular sets did. In general if this was as common as you experienced wouldn't it at least be information on Bricklink's item page that this can occur? Can't think of any other pieces with regular factory errors that make them unusable in their designated sets. I can't imagine throwing away the piece though. I'll wait and see if some other Pirates fans have encountered this error in regular sets etc. or randomly gotten any off of Bricklink.

Strange how there are none like it on Bricklink then, if this was common I'd expect them to be available there very cheap. Any suggestions on what to do with the piece?

I'm not a frequent poster on Eurobricks, but I recently acquired an incomplete 6285 Black Seas Barracuda from a bought lot. I noticed during assembly that the base mast piece (4844) in fact has a factory error. The round part of the piece is rotated 20-30 degrees to the right, making it impossible to connect the brown mast rigging pieces from the side. The middle mast section sits at an angle too. Please see the following pictures: Mast alone: Trying to use it as the set is supposed to work: It's 100% a genuine Lego piece. I've tried finding anyone else with this type of mast piece, but found nothing. No sellers on bricklink have notes on any deviations of this piece at all, so I assume it's rare. I tried turning the mast part but it doesn't budge, making me conclude it's not been rotated by force from before. Please correct me if I'm wrong and this piece has been damaged in some way or appears in official sets. I know factory errors in general are rare, and even rarer for such old pieces in prominent sets, so I guess for now this piece will be a little oddity of mine, but if anyone would be interested in the piece let me know in this thread or a message! I'm not a frequent visitor of these forums, so I'll check back in a few days at most! Thanks for reading!