Random set of the day: Shipwreck Island
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 6296 Shipwreck Island, released during 1996. It's one of 8 Pirates sets produced that year. It contains 216 pieces and 4 minifigs, and its retail price was US$29.75.
It's owned by 1,637 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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38 comments on this article
Another animal with a sword. Now that's just derivative.
LEGO did this first, then Minecraft added it to their game in 2018 + 21152 : Pirate Ship , and then LEGO had to answer with 21322 : Pirates of Barracuda Bay
(those yellow blocks really remind me of minecraft shipwreck buried in sand, that's why)
There also were 6281 : Pirates Perilous Pitfall and 6253 : Shipwreck Hideout, but those don't remind me as much of Minecraft shipwrecks.
I like how, by this point, crocodiles seem to have overtaken sharks as the major natural predators in the Caribbean.
I feel like that's barely an island, though. I mean, the odds you would crash on the tiny sliver of land are so low.
And why don't they just leave and go to the very close mainland, or at least bigger island?
Look out for the crocodile! He's armed!
...wait, crocodiles don't have arms. Would it be mouthed? Jawed? Perhaps armed to the teeth?
Huw can say what he wants about Huwbot not being sentient, but I think we’ve all got enough evidence.
The skeleton is proving the point that alcohol is a deadly game of chance. Alcohol poisoning, liver failure: drinking too much is bad for your health, no matter what Benjamin Franklin* says. Basically: you drink, you lose your life - a glass at a time.
*"Beer is proof God wants us to be happy" - Ben Franklin
(I was going to add a punch line to this post, but I thought somebody might spike it, so I left it off.)
@Randomness said:
"I feel like that's barely an island, though. I mean, the odds you would crash on the tiny sliver of land are so low.
And why don't they just leave and go to the very close mainland, or at least bigger island?
"
There are actually "islands" that disappear with the rising tide. Typically it's never so great that you would ever get your ship stuck on one, but perhaps with the right conditions you could find yourself stuck on a sandbar as the result of a storm, and there's no real way to dig yourself out of it either. And much like how a jetty on the beach accumulates sand because the currents have been interrupted, some more sand would gather around the ship more and make it even more stuck, thus, a Shipwreck Island.
I love cloth pieces in LEGO.
Pirates really fell off in 1996, sorry to say. It also coincided with a weird, mini "Dark Age" that I experienced after Christmas 1995 that lasted until I got the July-August edition of LEGO MANIA Magazine in 1996. That issue featured the Time Cruisers and the Dark Forest, and those two themes looked way cooler than the Pirates and Town lineup for that year. Then, in the fall, the Wild West theme was launched. Pirates didn't stand a chance.
@MCLegoboy:
If you've grounded, there actually are a few options available (digging being none of them). Simply heeling the boat over can lift the keel high enough for you to get free, if you're only slightly grounded. Kedging (setting an anchor far from the hull, and ideally using the halyard to pull the top of the mast down towards the water) is a more drastic way to heel the boat over, if you're really stuck. Finally, it may require being towed by another vessel.
Originally had five minifigs, but that sword in the crocodile's mouth is all that's left of the fifth one.
I alway's loved that tattered sail.
Weird that one of the minifigures isn't even shown in the picture. (Unless I am completely missing him.) Why would they show the skeleton, but not the other pirate?
@Miyakan said:
"Weird that one of the minifigures isn't even shown in the picture. (Unless I am completely missing him.) Why would they show the skeleton, but not the other pirate?"
On the actual box, the 3rd pirate is hanging off the sail. It's the exact same pic as above but with all minifigs included. Kinda weird, maybe an early version of it only had 3 figures
Ya know, I feel like there should be a “sword fighting croc” tag, since this is the second time I can recall seeing a croc with a sword hilt in its mouth.
I guess the pirates hadn't learned about not littering.
Just like masks, Swords can be dangerous to wildlife...
I loved this set as a kid and now have super fond memories of it as an adult. It was my first, and would ultimately be one of only a few, “big” sets that I got as a kid. I played with this endlessly with my other smaller pirate sets like: 1733, 1696, and 6236, plus whatever pirate sets my brother had to lend me. I rebuilt it and took it apart to build similar MOCs soo many times but I still have that tattered sail in pristine condition!
So is this where I'll find Shipwreck Cove and the town of Shipwreck?
Nice little nostalgic reminder how the smaller sets in the 90s really packed a lot. Also how overrdue a Pirates set collection is. I had 6270 Forbidden Island when i was 8 and it was awesome. Later on i got 6246 Crocodile Cage to add to it. Had so many hours of fun with just those two sets. Now I'm older i want to enjoy Pirates all over again (p.s I still generally prefer the classic yellow heads as opposed to the modern faces with their overexpressions, sometimes less is more imagination-wise)
I miss classic skeleton arms...
@Zordboy said:
"I like how, by this point, crocodiles seem to have overtaken sharks as the major natural predators in the Caribbean. "
Maybe this is actually Florida and these are gators
First pirates-Wave was great... The next not so! Same thing 20 yrs later.
I grew up seeing this one in my catalogs. Nostalgic.
It wasn't until I looked up the instructions years later when I had access to the internet that I realized that it's supposed to be an actual vessel. You can see that more easily at different angles. I always thought that it was just a pile of driftwood with a mast or something.
Pretty neat set. Sets from back then might have used 'cheats' like baseplates and some bigger pieces (less small ones in general) but the end result was usually super playable and still great to look at.
Lego wasn't even trying with this one.. The end of the first pirate wave wasn't glorious. I wonder if they were running out of ideas or if there was high rising prices to fight. I now own 6289 that I have always found ugly. It's a really fun set for fewer pieces than previous flagships, but it could have looked so much better with two sails and some pieces more.
Huwbot really has a thing with pirates currently btw
Looks like Ideas "Barracuda Bay" on a budget...
Also: Now Capt. Hook has something ELSE to worry about with crocs.
And lastly: Friends, are you a Pirate lacking a crew? We here at "Crewable Critters" are here to help YOU!!! Have a croc, have a monkey, HECK, HAVE A BARREL OF 'EM; WE'RE PRACTICALLY GIVIN' AWAY...
@PurpleDave: Just because the croc has a sword in its mouth doesn't mean it knows how to use it. $6235''s monkey, on the other hand, looks like it knows what's doing.
This is a lovely set. I actually really like the swivel cannon at the bow. Are there any other sets with brick built swivel cannons like that? (contemporary stud shooters do make quite good swivel cannons).
I also really like the blue pirate's torso and face print. He looks like a real life pirate rather than a cartoon one. (many were just regular sailors needing work and found themselves on the wrong side of the law. Also a way to avoid being press ganged for the Navy).
This also looks like a more realistic shipwreck than some other sets and I just like the design generally. Imperial Armada is also cool and creative, although my favourite Imperials are the Bluecoats.
The Pirates theme went downhill after 1994 and this set is a clear evidence of that.
Today they make fantastic Pirate sets (B-bay), if they only would make some more ;)
Something you could probably build yourself out of a pirate spares bin once your cousins had lost all the useful hull and panel pieces.
"I'm going to hear it from my dentist for eating all these swords!"
— the crocodile, on page 53 here: https://images.brickset.com/library/Catalogues/c97sahHoliday.pdf
@Brickalili said:
" @Zordboy said:
"I like how, by this point, crocodiles seem to have overtaken sharks as the major natural predators in the Caribbean. "
Maybe this is actually Florida and these are gators"
Makes sense, as the non-pirates in this wave are the Spanish conquistadors.
I was just about to re-build this set. I missed all the good ships in the first wave (my brother had black seas barracuda) , so I got two of these and managed to somehow turn one of them into a ship.
Luckily (unluckily), the baseplate it came on has both dust and yellowing to show which of my halfplates this set sat on.
I remember the pack-in catalog scene using this as a sinking ship in the middle of a battle. Always thought that was clever.
@ambr said:
"Something you could probably build yourself out of a pirate spares bin once your cousins had lost all the useful hull and panel pieces."
Is that based on a true story?^^
This is my least favorite Pirates set... and yet I still actually like it quite a bit! I think that says something about the original Pirates line.
one of the sets that made me fall in love with pirates the most! The bridge blowing up, protecting the treasure, was a sight.
The last couple years (the Armada era--sorry, Armada figs, but it's true) weren't quite what the earlier years of Pirates had been, but I still see this set and think "darn, I wish I had that!"