Pirate logo coin review
Posted by Huw,
The second collectable coin was briefly available to LEGO VIPs earlier this week but has now sold out online.
The first one was not the best quality, as we highlighted in the review we published last month, so let's find out from Robert S in Germany whether this one is any better:
The collectable coin, which is like the previous one 45 mm in diameter, comes in a clear plastic case and is kept in place inside it by 4 small screws. The acrylic sheet case is of good quality but the finishing is mediocre at best. More about this later.
The product comes wrapped in a thin paper foil that disintegrates just by looking at it, but in my case it survived the trip in the larger cardboard box as it was placed over the set I bought.
It's even sealed off by a label which reads RDP Ltd. UK, their website (which is still being "updated to show you their best") and the manufacturing location "Wenzhou, China". I assume both the case and the coin were manufactured in that location. Note: the VIP key chains were from a different company located in Zhongshan.
First thing I noticed was that the coin was not perpendicular with the case since the screws were not fully tightened and the coin had free-play. I could literally twist the case until the coin was aligned and tighten the screws down afterwards. But this didn't help with the visible manufacturing offset the 3 individual layers have. It's not just a misalignment of the holes but also slightly different case sizes which leads to ugly edges and make the product feel cheap.
Speaking of quality, my Pirate coin casing came with significant surface scratches on the front side and because it's printed with the LEGO VIP logo I couldn't just swap it with the back case. Since the wrapping was not damaged I assume the scratches came from rough handling, before packaging, already at the manufacturer.
On the plus side, the enamel painting on top of the gold plating was actually pretty good. The red and white paint didn't flow over the boundaries or mix and you can even see the thin golden lines that separate the stripes. I'm not sure if these coins are hand painted because the Castle one looks worse.
Lastly, a side by side look of the Castle and Pirate collectible coin. The Pirate coin painting looks much better but the many scratches on the acrylic ruin everything. Overall a nice idea, but the finish quality is below my expectations for a special VIP reward that also costs money so to speak. As a GWP it would have been better suited for sure, but I wish we would get more limited sets instead of cheap souvenirs.
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37 comments on this article
Very glad I didn't spend points on these given the quality. Thanks for the review!
The case I got was good, although indeed it had some scratches on the inside. Qualitywise it's not what I would expect from LEGO. The coin itself looks great. I wonder if it would make a difference if the back were rotated by 180 degrees?
The paint job's better at least.
My castle coin arrived today. The enamel/painting is perfect, no scratches on the acrylic case, slight displacement of both sides only, some mini dust particles inside (can be cured of course). I have already ordered the pirate one yesterday. No surprise Legomaniacs go mad about it on eBay! Great review btw!
Somehow I am always missing out on VIP freebies.
I’m guessing somewhere it will say ‘Made in China’
I really do wish it was easier to select items these days based on where they are produced. I would definitely opt out with some countries, whether it be human rights related or just a general disapproval of communism profiting out of democracy
Sorry, just noticed, it is made in China
@yuffie said:
"And if we didn't need further example of what a bizarre world we live in, the coins are going for £50+ and the display holder £100+ on eBay."
I don't find it so surprising that an official LEGO product (that even has a set number) with a limited availability (3000 pcs for Europe) fetches a decent price on the secondary market - despite an apparent lack of quality, as pointed out by this reviewer.
One similar example that comes to mind is stamps: due to their rarity, the defective ones (e.g. misprints) are often much more valuable than pristine ones.
It will be interesting to see what price a full set (5 coins plus holder) will fetch - based on current trend, people might pay 500 monies or more... meaning that if you have VIP points available and no interest in keeping it for yourself, I can still highly recommend getting one of each and then market them as a full set at a huge profit.
And since apparently a large part of our community feels disappointed with the quality and wouldn't get it, you don't even need to fear any backlash for being a "greedy scalper" ;)
Interesting how they chose the 2007-2009 era so far for these coins. The castle one is Fantasy Castle, and now Brickbeard's jolly roger (who only appeared in 2009 and one set in 2010 without the logo).
I wonder if these are aimed at people that grew up in the early 2000s, despite representing long-running themes, as these are the second iterations of these themes.
I find you quite severe, I think they both look very good. I already have the Castle one and I can't wait for the Space one!
These are worth their weight in gold.
Is it announced when these coins become available?
Because I'm checking the past VIP newsletters and I don't see them mentioned.
I filed these under “stuff I don’t need” early on, and these reviews have just reinforced that decision. Clearly there’s a market for them, and it’s nice to see LEGO branching out into other collectibles, but I’ll spend my VIP points on actual LEGO.
Both are still available in the U.S., but an easy pass for me.
Always interesting to see how much money some people are willing to spend on something that has almost zero value. Plus which is not even produced to a high standard.
Anyway, moving on. Easiest pass in years.
Thank you very much for the cautionary review(s) though. Sorry you had to waste precious VIP points to get this.
My display case and coin case both arrived with scratches as well. In addition, the screws had rust on them due to the packaging being damaged and resultantly wet during transit. Still waiting for customer service reply - not impressed.
I can appreciate the high bar of expectations the reviewers set for these. Too much of the VIP stuff seems to be an almost cynical attempt to get us to spend our points on things other than actual Lego sets themselves. If they're going to make an exclusive product aimed specifically at collectors, they had better make sure it's collector quality. Otherwise they're just drafting off a limited number and then preying upon fear of missing out.
why would any lego fan want this instead of bricks???
Good review. Shame about the quality .
I know LEGO is trying to be sweet to the CCP but come on, at least chose good quality.
This just makes me miss those little gold coins in the chests that came with pirate sets. Other than a discontinuation of pirate sets, were these not made anymore for a reason? I mean Barracuda Bay would have been a great chance to include them.
Wait,so are they restocking these or not? Was it really that limited that it sold out that quick?
@yys4u said:
"Wait,so are they restocking these or not? Was it really that limited that it sold out that quick?"
I just "bought" one on the US Lego website a few minutes ago. The castle one is sold out, but the pirate one is not. I have plenty of VIP points, so this will be saved and sold on eBay as I have no interest in these coins unless they make a classic space one - the others, I will just sell as it seems a no-brainer as @voyman said - this is one time most AFOLs don't seem to want these, but they are getting nice "coin" on eBay, so I may as well; then use the money earned on eBay to buy more LEGO. ;)
Let's take a look at the barcode sticker:
" COIN x1
this item is not a toy"
I wonder if Lego will feel the need use the latter line on the black boxes to further pander the 18+ products to adults. I don't have a problem with such choices, though, it gives a nice laugh similar to overly macho male-targeted non-Lego products.
"Please retain for future reference."
I am pretty sure 99.9% of people, even if they read the sticker, won't be "retaining" it.
"Made in Wenzhou, China"
Given the skull and crossbones theming, you could call this a Chinese Pirate Lego product. I think Lepin could pass this low bar easily.
Let's get meta:
Some, me included, are asking who would spend VIP points on trinkets when they're better-spent on actual LEGO, to which others are pointing out that the coins can be sold on eBay for more money than the VIP points are worth to enable the purchase of actual LEGO.
Aside from the selfish, obvious scalping in this scenario:
Who are those people using real money to buy nickel-nonsense when they could spend that real money on actual LEGO??
@bananaworld said:
"
Let's get meta:
Some, me included, are asking who would spend VIP points on trinkets when they're better-spent on actual LEGO, to which others are pointing out that the coins can be sold on eBay for more money than the VIP points are worth to enable the purchase of actual LEGO.
Aside from the selfish, obvious scalping in this scenario:
Who are those people using real money to buy nickel-nonsense when they could spend that real money on actual LEGO??"
Fans who want to show their affection for a certain Lego faction in another way than displaying Lego sets.
Perhaps you can compare it to football fans collecting club flags?
Fans of anything buying buttons/shirts/key chains even if those are not the core product of whatever they're fans of?
Just received both coins. The enamelling (?) looks good on both, there are no scratches on the Perspex and the screws fit flush to the case.
There is a small nick on the VIP logo printing on one and , although not as bad as Huw's, the 2 sides of the other case are not aligned properly - the coin rattles & spins round inside
So not perfect, but not as awful as I was imagining from previous reviews.
Just received my Pirate and Castle coins (glad to see dispatch and shipping back to almost normal... well done Lego & DPD!)
Quality is exactly as I would expect for what it is... i.e. a cheap souvenir/novelty. Enamelling is obviously not quite as sharp as painting, but still very good. One or two small scratches on case, but no more than the average Lego brick, and easy enough to polish out, should I be bothered.
Overall, I think it looks great, and I'll definitely be getting the other 3 as they are released.
VIP points - why not make a special lego set only to be purchased using VIP points. And make enough of them.
@AustinPowers:
It could be worse. They could be spending thousands of dollars on boxes full of little plastic bits that don’t even come assembled.
@CCC:
It might have been Mattel that did a special SDCC release of Wonder Woman’s invisible jet, and it was just an empty blister in a card.
@yys4u:
In the US, Castle lasted all of January. Pirates just went live a few days ago, so it should last at least a few weeks if they produced them in equal quantities.
This is robbery.
@Technic_man8071 said:
"This is robbery. "
Hmm.... Voluntary robbery. That's a new one!
@sjr60:
Not so new as you'd think. I've been watching The Watch, based on Pratchett's Discworld novels, and there's an episode where two storekeepers complain to the Watch that they signed up for specific times to be robbed, and were upset when nobody from the Thieves' Guild showed up for the appointment.
@LegoMike said:
"I’m guessing somewhere it will say ‘Made in China’
I really do wish it was easier to select items these days based on where they are produced. I would definitely opt out with some countries, whether it be human rights related or just a general disapproval of communism profiting out of democracy
Sorry, just noticed, it is made in China"
You know many official Lego sets are made in China, right? Technically, it is Lego who chose to ignore the communism thing and offer you affordable products (or for more profit).
@AustinPowers said:
"Always interesting to see how much money some people are willing to spend on something that has almost zero value. Plus which is not even produced to a high standard.
Anyway, moving on. Easiest pass in years.
Thank you very much for the cautionary review(s) though. Sorry you had to waste precious VIP points to get this. "
I think there will be at least 3000 people in this world who just like it, and wouldn't need to think a second about spending 100 euros on it, having loads of cash on hand.
@oxstar said:
" @LegoMike said:
"I’m guessing somewhere it will say ‘Made in China’
I really do wish it was easier to select items these days based on where they are produced. I would definitely opt out with some countries, whether it be human rights related or just a general disapproval of communism profiting out of democracy
Sorry, just noticed, it is made in China"
You know many official Lego sets are made in China, right? Technically, it is Lego who chose to ignore the communism thing and offer you affordable products (or for more profit)."
Yep, like many other things in our homes, and we have very little control over it.
It’s annoying.
But what can we do.....
Because we wouldn’t choose to put affordability over something like, say, human rights.
Back to the coins, just to make you laugh, I have actually redeemed them myself, just not claimed them yet. I’ll admit, I do like the little extra’s for my own collection
@vjl said:
" @yys4u said:
"Wait,so are they restocking these or not? Was it really that limited that it sold out that quick?"
I just "bought" one on the US Lego website a few minutes ago. The castle one is sold out, but the pirate one is not. I have plenty of VIP points, so this will be saved and sold on eBay as I have no interest in these coins unless they make a classic space one..."
LEGO will be releasing a Classic Space one with the CS logo on a black background.
I managed to get the Pirate Coin out of pure luck.
Because the availability of these is ridiculous.
The Castle one came in the middle of the month of January without any announcement and by the time Brickset had the article out, it was sold out.
And the March coin - with the Octan symbol - wasn't available at 00:00 GMT on the 1st of March but when it finally showed up...it showed up as "sold out".