Review: Barracuda Seas
Posted by Huw,
This set, which pays homage to a classic Pirate ship, will be available in the Rewards Centre during the Insiders weekend that commences on Saturday, yours in exchange for 2,400 points.
According to the description LEGO sent us, it's "a LEGO build that pays tribute to the Barracuda Seas."
Hmmm....
Summary
5009044 Barracuda Seas, 148 pieces.
A mini model of a much loved classic Pirate ship
- Hefty base and teal seas help it look great on display
- Set named incorrectly, and wrong name printed on plaque.
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Now, I like to think that after collating information about LEGO sets for over 25 years, I know a fair bit about them, but I have to say I've never heard of one called the Barracuda Seas.
I am, however, familiar with the classic 1989 set 6285 Black Seas Barracuda, as I am sure most of you are too. This miniature version certainly bears more than a passing resemblance to that vessel, so it's a mystery why it's been named as it has. We pointed out this egregious error to LEGO but have yet to receive a response.
Nevertheless, it's a really lovely little model which, thanks to the luxurious display stand and teal sea, looks great on display, although the gold tile printed with what many will consider to be the wrong name rather spoils it. The corner 'cloud' pieces are new this year, appearing first in Monkie Kid sets. Their potential has recently been examined by New Elementary.
The original ship had a mainmast, foremast and a bowsprit, whereas this miniature version adds a fourth one -- a mizzen -- probably because it would look a bit bare without it.
This is not the first time LEGO has produced a microscale version of the much celebrated pirate ship. The one on the left is from 40290 60 Years of the LEGO Brick, released in 2018. Its sail configuration is more like that of the original, although the masts have a tendency to rotate far too easily, making it tricky to display just-so.
Despite the faux-pas of the name, it remains an attractive model, and a fairly faithful homage to the much-loved classic, one that's well worth picking up over the weekend in the Rewards Centre if you have points to spare.
76 likes
47 comments on this article
I love the fact that the article says
Set named incorrecty
Now that's IRONY!!!
@Belboz said:
"I love the fact that the article says
Set named incorrecty
Now that's IRONY!!!"
Huw is really annoyed with that name. He is making typos because he's enraged!
@thor96 said:
" @Belboz said:
"I love the fact that the article says
Set named incorrecty
Now that's IRONY!!!"
Huw is really annoyed with that name. He is making typos because he's enraged!"
The built-in spelling checker doesn't work on that field :-)
Nice article once again Huw. Many Thanks and keep making me laugh!
I guess the ship was called the Barracuda, and sailed on the black seas, and it dominated the black seas so much that they became the Barracuda('s) seas? Maybe? But even then, this set (allegedly) commemorates the ship, not the seas themselves... I can't even come up with a generous interpretation of how the misname happened.
I also find this underwhelming compared to the version in 40290... seeing them side-by-side (thanks for that!) makes me realize how much I prefer the proportions of the previous set... this new version's sails are too small, which they "fix" by adding a mast, which makes it even less faithful of a commemoration :/
Maybe the original set was named incorrectly, so Lego have finally taken the chance to get it right.
Oh, the grammal pirate…
@Huw Just take off the ship and plave a few silver studs, then you'll have the Barracuda Seas.
Don't know why everyone's getting so hung up on what part of the name should or shouldn't be qualified with barracudas. 6285 was called The Pirate Ship "Dark Shark". Says so right there in the catalogue.
@SDlgo9 said:
"Don't know why everyone's getting so hung up on what part of the name should or shouldn't be qualified with barracudas. 6285 was called The Pirate Ship "Dark Shark". Says so right there in the catalogue."
Yes we had boring set names in the UK compared to those in the USA back in the day :-)
More of a Barracuda Chonk, really.
The flag should be blowing in the opposite direction as the wind is from behind judging by the sails billow.
Thanks for link to New Elementary, I'm surprised how important this part might be and roof or stairs made from stacked pieces look wonderful!
About ship: obviously not for everyone but people expect something 'extra' when tiny set costs ~20€ this extra could be wonderful print :)
Jokes on you, Huw made mistake :) also maybe everything is opposite than we think and Lego wanted to make it SEAS!
@one_wag said:
"The flag should be blowing in the opposite direction as the wind is from behind judging by the sails billow.
"
The waves too...
Maybe this makes sense when you translate the Danish name?
Maybe next year they are doing a new big ship called Barracuda Seas. And when that becomes popular, this one will skyrocket in value as so few people traded points for it when it was available. :-)
It's the word 'Black' isn't it. The same sort of over compensating that lead them to 'rename' the last Slave I set.
@cowboycoder said:
"It's the word 'Black' isn't it. The same sort of over compensating that lead them to 'rename' the last Slave I set."
This has personally made me wonder of ‘black seas’ originally referenced the atlantic slave trade. I have no idea, and changing it does just call more attention to it, but that’s my guess.
40290 makes a good micro and now we have the improved display stand
I would imagine the inaccurate name is related to how there appears to be a currently active miniatures game called Black Seas.
Not sure why you are assuming lego named it incorrectly. I didn’t see them claiming it’s supposed to be named after that set or anything. Pretty weird critique to think they are thinking of the exact thing you are.
'Barracuda Seas?'
Go home LEGO, you're drunk.
@ch2704 said:
"Not sure why you are assuming lego named it incorrectly. I didn’t see them claiming it’s supposed to be named after that set or anything. Pretty weird critique to think they are thinking of the exact thing you are. "
LEGO state that it " pays tribute to the Barracuda Seas." which as far as I know was not a name used for any LEGO set, and Googling the term only returns resuls for the BSB so it doesn't appear to be anything else that might be relevant.
6432431 also has that problem with the sail not wanting to stay put, which its function only exacerbates. At least the 6285 homage model in 11021 had very steady sails...
@one_wag said:
"The flag should be blowing in the opposite direction as the wind is from behind judging by the sails billow."
Absolutely, but it looks like positioning the flag correctly would make it bump into the mizzenmast. Side note: I was completely expecting my spellcheck to not know "mizzenmast," but I surprised me. Nice to know it's not a landlubber.
@one_wag said:
"The flag should be blowing in the opposite direction as the wind is from behind judging by the sails billow.
"
Ummm... no it shouldn't. You would think someone that lives on an island would know better.
Does it fit in the ship in a bottle set. And if so how's it look.
My thought is that the name is possibly a move to avoid real-life controversy as Black Sea exists in real life and it's currently being controled mainly by Russia. With all the shitty things currently happening in Ukriane you know, you gotta be careful with every single word you say.
I love sets that commemorate bodies of water!
@bty8 said:
"My thought is that the name is possibly a move to avoid real-life controversy as Black Sea exists in real life and it's currently being controled mainly by Russia. With all the shitty things currently happening in Ukriane you know, you gotta be careful with every single word you say."
Maybe, but why bother naming it at all iif that's the case. Just call it pirate ship and be done with it...
Perhaps 'Black Seas Barracuda' was too long of a name to print on the tile?
@Belboz said:
"I love the fact that the article says
Set named incorrecty
Now that's IRONY!!!"
The poor guy has fallen afoul of Muphry’s Law.
@bty8 said:
"My thought is that the name is possibly a move to avoid real-life controversy as Black Sea exists in real life and it's currently being controled mainly by Russia. With all the shitty things currently happening in Ukriane you know, you gotta be careful with every single word you say."
The original set was the Black Seas Barracuda, not the Black Sea Barracuda.
@SithLord196 said:
"Perhaps 'Black Seas Barracuda' was too long of a name to print on the tile?"
I don't think so as the string "Black Seas" is only one character longer than "Barracuda" and there is plenty of space before and after Barracuda. I think it is more that LEGO just doesn't really care about such things.
In addition to the whole naming thing, is it just me or does the printed name tile look kind of cheap for some reason?
I'm not sure if it's just the font or the style or what but the nameplate just looks really, really bland.
I'm looking for a slightly bigger boat... The Endurance will do!
Even if they wanted to avoid naming the Black Sea for any reason, it does seem like naming it "The Barracuda" would be a much more accurate name than "The Barracuda Seas"
No mention of how the actual ship looks? If you ask me it looks nothing like the ship it's supposedly celebrating because of the bizarre cascading masts.
It's very simple. The 'Barracuda Seas' was obviously the sister ship of the 'Black Seas Barracuda'.
I'd say it looks really well done (and it is), but since the 2018 version exists for an official micro version, I can't say much competes with that one.
I'll likely have to pass on this.
@SDlgo9 said:
"6285 was called The Pirate Ship "Dark Shark"."
Just curious-- were there any other names, like in Canada or Australia? I ... think Samsonite was still doing distribution in Canada back in 1989, and not sure what name they'd use in Australia/NZ. Would be great to see scans of other countries' catalogs from back in the day to see how they named stuff, but I don't know if I've seen them from back then.
DaveE
Lego is bad, and should feel bad.
Huw is good, and should feel good.
$18.50 for this redundant hunk of junk??!! And, there's no way she'll do 0.5 past light speed.
I can buy a real ship for that price, and I'll pilot her.
@Huw:
In a full-rigged, three-masted ship, you are correct that the order from bow to stern is foremast, mainmast, and mizzenmast. However, the mainmast should always be the tallest, and the foremast the second tallest. They botched this design as bad as 40487, where the jib is attached to the mast instead of the (nonexistent) forestay. Also, the 60 Years version is slightly larger with one less mast, but doesn't seem bare at all. It helps that both masts have two sails set on them, vs this version only having one per mast. Lack of sails makes it look bare, not lack of masts. If the tile made sense, it might be worth fixing the sail plan. Both problems in one set, though, and it's hard to justify.
@Balthazar_Brannigan:
If you get properly crazy with a square-rigged sail plan, you can be flying as many as eight square sails per mast (four of them only half-sails), plus a bunch more reaching out to the sides, so only one makes it look like it's gently pulling up to a dock.
@alLEGOry_HJB2810:
Hard to say with the waves at that small scale. Waves don't break unless there's something below the water for them to break on. In deep water, you just get swells, so they're sloped on both sides. If the ship was under full sail, it would also be producing a sizable bow wake. I can't tell anything from the tiny bits of waves included in this model, other than that the ship is supposed to be floating in water.
@sotwuser:
No, the sails indicate this ship is running downwind. That means all the wind is coming from astern, and the flag offers less resistence than the ship's hull. It will fly towards the bow, not away from it.
An idea if you don't like the name is remove the printed tile and replace with a plain one or compus or something
@gromit6 said:
"An idea if you don't like the name is remove the printed tile and replace with a plain one or compus or something "
If you're going to do that, you can just build it from loose parts, especially if you're going to fix the sail plan.
And all your crew look like LEGO bricks!
@PurpleDave the water could be a couple of metres deep and since the water isn't transparent here (bc it's lego water), the ship couldn't see it so maybe it isn't actually floating, it's just run aground