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Packaging is similar to the MAX Stealth Jet previously released with the large blister card. The figure and ship are easy to see and held in place by the usual plastic tray with twist ties. The large Calico Jack’s Pirate Raiders logo is on the bottom with the control art of Calico Jack, Robert Deal and pirate ship at the forefront of the plastic tray along with the silver “TRU exclusive” foil mark on front. Sadly no name is given for the pirate figure included in the set. The back of the packaging has a little write up of what the Calico Jack’s story is all about with several pictures of the boat’s features.

The entire set includes the pirate ship base, connector parts for the mast with sail, the bowsprit (pointy thing on the front of the ship) and a pirate minimate with his weapon along with a set of instructions.

 

 

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Poor pirate, all the other characters were given such cool background stories, alas beardy here has no name or backstory. For now, according to DST he is just known as “The Navigator”. 

 

This figure also sports a lot of reused pieces, which is not a bad thing. First off you’ll notice the beard; same one as Volstagg just orange with grey highlights. Unlike Volstagg his hairpiece fits much better mainly due to the smaller torso cover, granted you can’t really turn his head much to have him look sideways but it does fit all the way down instead of leaving a small gap. He has have a well detailed face, with tan skin and detail marks giving him an aged look along with a cool scar over his left eye.

 

The torso cover is a reuse of the one that came with Old Dad the Cooper. This time repainted with navy blue and grey. Mine has a slight amount of color bleeding from the straps in the back to the blue vest coat but other than that not a bad job with the paint details. Underneath there is just the same navy blue blank torso with the same color on the arms. There’s some detail on his waist for his belt but rest of the legs are brown. The black hands/cuffs along with the boots are the same pieces we’ve seen used throughout the Pirate line.

For an accessory comes with the same long brown musket with silver barrel that came with Old Dad the Cooper.

In conclusion, nothing to write your bonnie lass at home about but a decent pirate to add to your crew. 

MMC Score – 6 out of 10

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The Set

Pirate Ship 

I admit I was skeptical when I first saw pictures of this ship. The small size and sort of squashed look really did not impress me at first. I have one of the large megabloks pirate boat sets and the minimate figures display quite nice on it. However, now seeing this Calico Jack ship in person and checking out all the features I’ve changed my tune.

The pirate ship includes the pirate ship base, four connector parts for the mast (two mast connectors, the crow’s nest and top of the mast with the flag), the sail, the bowsprit (pointy thing on the front of the ship; yeah I googled it) and instructions on how to put it all together. Everything is very simple to put together and fits snug. I had my 5yr old help and he was able to assemble it in a couple of minutes.

So for the mast you connect the two poles together, then they connect to with the crow’s nest. The crow’s nest has a foot peg so you can place your pirate on lookout. The foot peg seems a bit long so my pirate is floating; I was worried to push him down too far for fear his foot would be stuck. And to top things off you have a minimate styled Jolly Roger flag. Love the minimate skeleton head with crossbones! The large sail also has the minimate Jolly Roger logo. The top c-connector for the sail did not want to stay connected to the mast on mine so I ended up lowering the sail a bit. And the sail/flag material may seem a bit cheap/flimsy (sort of a soft burlap), mine had a few frayed edges, but so far they have been very durable. My kids have tugged and poked them but they’re still holding strong. This whole assembly fits into a hole on the deck.

The main ship base (hull) really holds some hidden treasures. To start with the details are amazing for such a small set. The gold trim, the outlines of the individual planks, windows, portholes for the cannons, everything .. just amazing! One word of warning that the anchors do come off. It would have been nice to have a bit of string attached with a knot at the end so that they would not get lost. Starting with the deck you have the area in the front that swings up to reveal a little cargo hold or brig underneath. You can store some pirate booty there or even another minimate figure.

Just before you get to the Captain’s quarters on either side are planks that slide out. Then you have the steps down to the cabin. This whole deck is removable so you can see the cannons below deck. They haven’t skimped on this side either; you can still see the plank details and each of cannons are lined up in two rows on either side.  The only trouble I’ve run into with this set is you have to be careful when you put the deck back in after removing it. It doesn’t fit straight back down; you have to get the back part into the notch under the doors for it snap into place. This is not a bad thing as it keeps the entire ship sturdy when together, just expect little ones to need help a few times to get in back in place.

The deck on the stern (rear) of the ship has the spinning wheel; very nicely detailed and fits well in minimate hands. Great job on the paint aps all around, especially on the details like on the wheel, railing, windows, even the little lamps at the doors of the cabin. Speaking of, these doors do swing open to reveal the Captain’s cabin; even better the stern deck flips open so you get top access too. There is a blue with gold trim seat for the captain facing outward with the windows all around. So for such a tiny ship you have many areas to display your figures: on the crow’s nest, in the cargo hold, walking the plank, in the Captain’s cabin or at the wheel.

Flip the boat over and you’ll see the little wheels on the bottom. This makes for smooth sailing on flat hard surfaces. The only thing I haven’t really tried is seeing if this vessel is truly seaworthy; while it would probably float, I’m not 100% sure it’s weight balance would keep it upright (so safer to leave this on dry land).

In conclusion, this is a very good set. It is impressively sturdy for a set this size; my kids have been playing with it for a while now and everything is still together, fits well and holds up to play. I’m really looking forward to seeing more of these pirate ships released. 

MMC Score – 9 out of 10

 

 

Review and pictures by Lurch77

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