LEGO® Ideas review: 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay - the new pieces & minifigures

Jonas Kramm already took a look at the construction of the new LEGO® Ideas set 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay and saw that it can change from a pirate hideout into a complete ship, but there was so much to say he didn’t get around to taking a detailed look at all the new pieces and minifigures included. So we do that today!

LEGO® Ideas try their best to work without creating any new moulds, so we don’t get any in 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay. That statement turns out to be not completely true however, as you will see later.

Recoloured LEGO® pieces in 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay

Most interesting are the recolours – existing elements changed to new colours – and there are more in this set than I thought.

The first surprise while building was the colour of the palm leaves used in this set. From the picture on the box I would have bet that they are the usual Dark Green/ Green (shown top right), but all 16 are actually Bright Green (6299808|10884, shown lower right).

For the island that the ship got stranded on, the designers used two types of curved 33° slope to make a very smooth beach. Both pieces – Circle 90G 6X6 Roof Tile (6310952|95188) and Circle 90D 10X10, Wry 18D (6310951|58846) – are new in Brick Yellow/ Tan.

To give the ocean a very Caribbean flair, the water colour is Medium Azure and brings the Corner Plate 10X10 (6315800|92584) to that colour for the first time.

It’s great to see that the square lattice pane, which hasn’t been around for too long, now also comes in a different colour than Black: it appears five times in Warm Gold/ Pearl Gold (6295686|38320) here.

Until recently, storage compartments were of a bigger size, like the 2x4 chest or the 3x4 box. Originally introduced in Collectable Minifigures as a present carton, this box now also comes in Medium Nougat (6312464|59121). This set contains seven.

Talking about compartments, I also have to mention the barrel in Black (6300358|26170), which isn’t totally new but was only ever included in one set: 1682 Space Shuttle from 1990. That set was an American exclusive, so it’s totally new for me as a European. And, as set designer Milan Madge hinted in our recent interview with him, he didn’t actually have the allotted budget to include this colour change but a colleague came to the rescue. Great to see it here, even though there is only a single one.

The nose of the ship has some excellent detailing, especially because four Flex Rod 12M newly cast in Yellow/ Bright Yellow (6315263|32200) get used.

I was expecting this next recolour to appear in the upcoming Super Mario sets as it was visible in the teaser video, but was surprised to find it used here first. The masonry brick (6314383|98283), a fan favourite, comes five times in Dark Orange in Pirates of Barracuda Bay (shown second from the right in the picture above).

For the Sand Yellow/ Dark Tan deck of the ship, Plate W. Angle 3X12 now also come in that colour; two instances of the left (6310956|47397) and two of the right (6310957|47398).

New in the same colour is designer Milan Madge’s favourite recolour from the set: the mast rigging piece (6310958|47996), which comes four times here.

In the official pictures everything gold always looks shiny, so I wasn’t actually expecting the ingots to be Gold Metalized/ Metallic Gold (6294492), shown in the centre of the above picture. (I expected Warm Gold, as per the one on the right.) It’s less shiny than the Metalized Gold/ Chrome Gold one on the left, but a good compromise in my opinion.

While not completely new, a few pieces caught my attention while building. It was the first time for me to find the Spike Prime 2x4 brick with axle holes (39789) in a set. The poop piece in White (6292800), here used for shells, was only released recently in the Disney Storybook Adventures (read our parts review here). This is the second use of Plate 1X1 Round W/ Horizontal 3.2 Shaft in Reddish Brown (6306775), previously only being available in one BrickHeadz set. The five cow horns (6310197) in this set will make this piece a lot more accessible.

Prints

As we are used to seeing in Ideas products, this set also satisfies the criteria of all pieces being printed. There’s only a small number though, perhaps due to the need to spend much of the available budget on changing element colours.

First to point out are the two types of flags; we get two of each. The bigger one is 6x4 (6317072) and the smaller one 2x2 (6317075).

Both are redesigns of the flag designs used in the old Black Seas of Barracuda, having a bit of a different look. (Ignore the original one being a bit yellowed!)

As mentioned in my review of the build the sign of Jose’s tavern (6317074) is a homage to the sign from 6067 Guarded Inn from 1986. And as graphic designer Austin William Carlson explained in our interview, Jose is the name of the real-life father of Pablo Jiménez, the fan designer of the Pirate Bay LEGO Ideas submission.

Perhaps one of the pirates might be going to Hogwarts soon, as you can find a 1x2 letter tile that I only previously knew from the Harry Potter theme. And not only the existing version in Brick Yellow (6284163) but also new in White (6299836). While making the pictures I further realised that, even if they look very similar, they have slightly different prints.

Also there is a new print pf the pig (6308842) in this set, shown to the left of all versions of the pig that exist to this date. Most have been cast in Nougat; a Light Purple/ Bright Pink pig was only offered in Nexo Knights and has a very cartoonish eye printing. (And also, is called Hamletta.) The eyes in this new version look much more realistic.

Sails of the Barracuda

The six sails come in an extra bag which is strengthened by paper, and have excellent quality. Unfortunately I don’t have the old sails to compare, but here are shots of each of the four types.

 

The Minifigures of Barracuda Bay

When talking about new and printed pieces we of course also have to mention the minifigures. This set comes with eight, each having a name and a role as explained in the instruction booklet.

Compared to the old crew of the Black Seas Barracuda, we can see that some figures have more resemblance to their ancestors than others.

I’m glad they didn’t stick too closely to the designs of the old crew members, who often shared the same torso designs. I like the use of the new moustache piece on the left, and that the kid on the right wears a bag that has only come with one Star Wars set before.

One figure I want to take a closer look at is Captain Redbeard, who has aged a bit and now has some grey in his beard. Surprisingly the colour of his hook is new: Dark Stone Grey/ Dark Bluish Gray.

It has been made in seven other colours previously. (I’m missing a Transparent Red hook in my collection.)

New and good-looking is the torso of the pirate named “Tattooga” which comes with some cool decorations on both front and back:

Treasure

And then I found a new mould.

I would have bet I had seen it before, but when I did the research for this article couldn’t find it in a set. Then I realised it’s part of the latest series of Collectible Minifigures that was recently revealed: the Pirate Girl there is wearing this headgear in a different colour combination: Black & Medium Nougat.

©2020 The LEGO Group

So technically speaking this mould is new for this set, as CMF S20 isn’t released until 1st of May, but was not designed for Ideas. The combination of the Reddish Brown hat and the Brick Yellow hair definitely looks good and I can imagine it also be used for men with a ponytail.

Stowaway Slope Incident

When building the set I got quite confused, which was caused by a production error: instead of of the slope on the left, I had a copy of the slope on the right in my bag. Interestingly, in the whole set not a single slope of that type/colour is used, so how this error occurred is a mystery to me. I had a spare one of the missing piece in my collection, so the building could go on! If you have the same issue, be sure to contact LEGO Customer Services as they like to hear of these problems and will send you a replacement.

Conclusion

I’m very pleased with the variety of different new pieces this set brings. There are some excellent recolours of existing, useful elements, even though sometimes only in smaller quantities. The few printed elements and the new crew of minifigures are all excellent designs.

When looking at the total inventory of the Barracuda Bay I have to say that the colours are a bit basic: mostly browns, black, white and yellow. But I guess in times where each new Creator Expert car comes in a new, uncommon colour, we are a bit spoilt.

Making such detailed reviews is always more time-consuming than expected, but I hope you like it. A huge thank you at this point to my New E colleague Ben Davies for collaboration and helping me out with the photos of the old Black Seas of Barracuda set!

READ MORE: In part 1 of this review, Jonas examined the build

LEGO® Ideas 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay will be available from 1 April 2020. It contains 2,545 pieces and the price point is US$199.99/ CA$259.99/ €199.99/ £179.99/ 1599DKK.

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