Thursday, May 21, 2009

Toybox of FAIL: Pirate (Again)




First time here? Please take a moment and read the Toybox of FAIL Disclaimer. Thanks!
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Okay. Let's cover the background first. Go look at LEGO set 6791: Bandit's Wheelgun.
It's a classic set from 1997. It's from the Western line - a strange attempt to make a Wild West Siege Weapon.

Now that you're familiar with that set, let's move on to today's FAIL. It's called....Pirate.


(No, this isn't a repeat from yesterday.)





Yes, even though the mini-figure is clearly wearing western gear he's a Pirate. Says so right there on the box.

You doubt me? Take a look at the close up of the set description:


It's almost enough to make me miss Zephyr Knight and their goofy set names. LWD's decision to duplicate Playmobil Packaging means that the only way to tell these sets apart (other than the pictures, obviously) is the stock number. And let's face it - 19131-22 just isn't that descriptive.



The mini-figure is the standard LWD design- again with a hat duplicated directly from LEGO molds. (Although cast in an attractive olive green shade. It'd be nice to have a legal LEGO fedora in that color.) Again, rather than yellow or pinkish, LWD has given us a figure with some diverse skin tones. As much as I want to hate them for ripping off LEGO, I have to respect them for that choice.



I don't, however, have to respect their choices on facial design. Is that a beard or a double chin? Whatever it is, it's rather goofy looking. Also I have to question their decision to cast the torso and arms in the same color plastic as the hands and head - it really makes our Pirate look like a shirtless He-Man reject.



Here's Western He-Pirate with the completed toy. As you can see, it doesn't balance very well. Or maybe it's designed not to attack the oncoming Calvary charge, but rather for a very early version of X-Treme skeet shooting.

LWD continues to offer up their troubling mix of almost-quality design and crap plastic parts. Luckily there's enough SUCK in this set to keep most people away.

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As always, many thanks to Joe from The Undiscovered Playthings for sending me this set to review.

9 comments:

Joel Hook said...

Ahh I remember having the real LEGO version of this, wasn't there a fort set in the same series? I think I was trying to get my mum to get me it for Christmas one year but she didn't =/

Joel Hook said...

Ahh found it on Bricklink.

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=6762-1

Fort Legoredo, set number 6769-1

Anonymous said...

Maybe it's just me being confounded by the extreme facial closeup, but does this guy have a longer neck than the standard Lego minifig? Based on the box picture, I would assume that the markings at the chin are intended as a beard, but it seems the base of the head slopes down to the neck on an angle rather than the usual 90 degree turn for Lego. This in turn makes the neck seem longer, and (in my opinion) makes the beard like mighty strange.

Course, it's probably just me.

And as far as "beard" vs. "double-chin".... since this IS a bootleg, it could be some alien mind-controlling parasite just as easily. (And, since it's a bootleg, the poor thing is probably starving...)

(Oh, and yes, I realize the chin is the long way to the brain for our poor parasite, but... the parasite is a bootleg too, for crying out loud! It can't be smart enough to know the difference!)

CorneliusMurdock said...

Yeah, I always wanted fort Legoredo, too. It looked awesome. And you could totally play F-Troop with it.

Christopher Doyle said...

@taylis:

You're not imagining things - the head on these guys isn't a standard LEGO part. It's close...but the proportions are out of whack, as you noticed.

Ben said...

the legs.... do they have stud hloes?

Anonymous said...

The only thing piratey about this set is how the molds have been pirated from Lego by Kaptain Knockoff and his Bootleg Buccaneers...

Poopskin the liar said...

I'd call it "Western-he-pirate-Rambo", the bands on the torso look kind of like Ammo bandoliers.

Epic fail toys! said...

The weird thing about this is on the box pic the so called riffles look more like World War II snipers with and overly large mag.