"Spent ever almost evenings building this set with the help of my young daughters. It was lots of fun and very exciting to see it all come together. The was finally assembling the three parts of the ship together.
The wrecked island build is very well thought out and involved building the island as well as the three distinct sections of the ship. There are lots of nice little details like snails, coconuts and a pineapple. Lots of little design elements really add to the feel of the set. But let’s be honest, I didn’t buy it for the ship wreck, I bought it for the ship itself.
Now to the ship. It’s a great build and I love how the designers made it very easy to ship between the wreck and the full ship. Surprisingly few pieces are needed to make the ship whole. The ship design has several nods to the original Black Seas Barracuda, including the crew but add some great female pirates to the delight of my daughters.
While the original Barracuda place more of an emphasis on the cannons (the entire centre of the ship was an area for all 4 cannons and ammo), the new ship’s cannons are a bit of an afterthought and not as well integrated. They nearly get placed on the deck of the ship, instead of having a specific location. The new ship also only had three cannons, while the original had four. All the cannons are fully functional and shoot, which is great.
The captain’s cabin on the new ship has much more detail but I wish the outside featured a little more gold bricks, especially around the windows. The details are still there but are lost to the black on black bricks.
The inside the ship also has some great details but ultimate they are harder to access and will rarely see the light of day. In shipwreck formation the details are appreciated and easier to access though.
They have redesigned the pirate flags as well to make the. More LEGO-like?! The skull is more bulbous. I prefer the original-style pirate flags.
And whatever happened to the monkey from the original set?!
Despite my few little bit-picks, this is an excellent set that I really enjoyed. My daughter has been having a lot of fun playing with my ships (new Barracuda, old Barracuda and Destiny’s Bounty from Ninjago (another fantastic ship set in its own right). Bring on the Pirates vs Ninjas battles!"