Black Pearl 4184 Minifigs

sidersdd

I posted pics of the new minifigs on my flickr feed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sidersdd/6218186616/in/set-72157626497439201



Davy Jones fig has lobster claw hand which is removable (like the CMF 5 boxer gloves). I love seeing LEGO roll out these new parts like this. The claw and the peg leg are in the newish carmel color (medium dark flesh is what Bricklink calls it).


Maccus' hammerhead is a nice piece which could be used elsewhere in mocs.


Bootstrap Bill has a dark brown bandana head wrap, which I believe is the first time in that color.

All figs have printing on the backs of the torsos. And all three heads would be great for zombie/apocalypse mocs.

yys4u

Oooh cool. I didn't think about using maccus head as a zombie. Hope its the same color as series 1 zombie

georgebjones

These are some awesome figs, definitely in the discussion as all time best for me.

Huw

Very nice, but it looks as if Davy is cheap Chinese plastic, as surmised in my post on the other Black Pearl thread.

richo

Hi,
How can you tell if you have a cheaper plastic figure? What are the signs?
rich

Huw

Turn the legs upside down. If you can read (c) LEGO underneath the foot the fig is normal quality, if not, it's Chinese.

Look at the wrists. If you can read a mould number just above the hand, it's Chinese, if not it's Danish.

See http://www.flickr.com/photos/hmillington/4500627560/in/set-72157622329075437/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/hmillington/4500472863/in/set-72157622329075437/

war44lock

Hmmm I just had a very good look at my chrome Darth Vader and there are no mold numbers on the arms but no (c) LEGO underneath the feet either. Is he a bit speacial in that regard? My Celebration Luke Skywalker has the under foot markings but my chrome Stormtrooper has none, he has the mold number on his arms, disapointing.

sidersdd

Very nice, but it looks as if Davy is cheap Chinese plastic, as surmised in my post on the other Black Pearl thread.

You are wise. Yep, it does appear to be of Chinese origin. I didn't look at the wrists or feet, but did notice under the arm and noticed the square imprint around the injection points on the backside of his legs.

More of this to come from TLG? I would guess so. To be honest I didn't notice any quality difference. I remember noticing it early on with colors like yellow and the parts being somewhat more translucent. This fig really looks nice. The beard is a hard material - not flexible like the CMF 5 dwarf beard.

I'll give em all a better look later tonight - maybe take some more detailed photos to point out some points. Perhaps another thread could be started on the 'chinese plastic' issue. Or is that horse dead? It's probably a new topic for some. Besides some of the coloring issues I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has experienced quality (e.g., breakage) issues.

georgebjones

@huw, you are correct, the telltale sign is the whole fig came in one of those soft plastic bags. You can feel the difference in the plastic on the legs, arms and hand/claw. The good news is the octupus is not the soft rubbery plastic, but the standard hard abs. On my version, there is no printing in the bottom of the legs and the paint on the neck is also not there. His regular leg was very slightly loose in the joint, as is noticeable on many chinese figures, however the peg leg is solid. The hand joint is very slightly loose as well, but the claw is very solid. The lighter colors do have that more translucent look to them.

Sure, the differences are not noticeable to the average consumer, but to those of us who obsess over this product and when they have such amazing quality control out of Denmark, the slightest differences are noticeable.

LegoFanTexas

One of the reasons I am comfortable spending so much on Lego is because it ISN'T made in China...

I don't want 10% cheaper prices to have it made there, that is the source of many problems right now.

So Lego, give us the good stuff, keep making it quality, charge what you have to, we'll keep buying!

sram

Ignorance was bliss, now I am disappointed! I am looking over all minifigs to determine origin now :-(

AScaryOctopus

Why did they decide to make Davy Jones pure Chinese plastic?

He's arguably one of the most popular characters in PoTC, they could at least have given him better treatment.

I hope this is a mess up like Isla de la Meurta gold and later versions of the set come with standard quality Davy Jones in later releases.

Maccus is cool, he will fit alongside Hadras.

Same with Bootstrap.

Anything special you wanna tell us about the pearl? Or is it just an overpriced worse-version of QAR?

One last thing: If this comes with the same amount of exclusive figs, but a lower amount of parts, why does it cost more than the QAR? Is it because it's iconic?

yys4u

@AscaryOctopus Here in the US its 20 dollars cheaper than the QAR. I also made a stop motion build of the ship just yesterday,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W51Q5EnxZAE
maybe this will give you a closer look!

LegoFanTexas

Not by much, I bought the QAR for $105 including shipping, so it was $5 more than BP.

Still, I know what you mean about list prices, but I try really hard not to pay those!

At some point I'm sure we'll see the BP at $79 at TRU during one of their sales...

yys4u

^Yea your right. As a Lego set it should be 80 bucks, with the license maybe an extra 10 bucks? 100 is still a little high. However even with some of the older ships the price/piece is a little lower than most sets, I figure its cause theres a lot more plastic in the hull pieces which could be counted as more than one piece, then of course theres the cloth sails...

LegoFanTexas

You make a good point, the amount of plastic is much higher on the ships, for the part count, and the sails are another good point.

Still, I'm cheap, so I like to get them for 7 or 8 cents a brick, 5 cents is better. :)

I still think the Tower Bridge is a steal at $230, it should probably have been $299, but don't tell Lego that.

Medieval Market Village is a steal, picked one of those up for $89 on Amazon the other day, that is about 5.5 cents a brick, and they aren't all 1x1 cheese slices either. :)

Not cheap, per brick (but hey, it is a SW set!), but from a "wow" across the room factor, one of my favorite sets to this day is 10212, the Imperial Shuttle. When up on the stand, it is one of the tallest sets Lego has ever made, really is impressive to look at.

Fizzlemesexy

Pirate ships have always had a higher price point then the typical Lego set. Both Pirate ships are higher piece counts for the current price range. The last boat from the official pirate line was 600 pieces for $100. BP is 200 pieces larger, same price. 200-300 piece pirate boats in the 80's and 90's ran $40-$50 then. QAR has a similar price.per.piece to the new Imperial Flagship and usually a higher price generates a significantly favorable part count for the buyer. Wishful thinking that it should be lower, but with the exclusive mini-figures and higher then normal part counts, they may not be the best prices but these are already better then the norm.

LegoFanTexas

Good points... The Imperial Flagship is indeed over 10 cents a part at list price, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised...

I would rather pay $129-$149 for BP and get a 1,200 part count ship, than what was released... but then I'm an AFOL and can afford the larger sets and have room for them, so I'm probably not the proper person to ask. :)

I'm not a huge POTC fan anyway, the QAR is the first POTC set I purchased, mostly to give my Imperial Flagship something to "shoot" at. More of a Star Wars nut myself, so what do I know?

August222

Turn the legs upside down. If you can read (c) LEGO underneath the foot the fig is normal quality, if not, it's Chinese.

Look at the wrists. If you can read a mould number just above the hand, it's Chinese, if not it's Danish.

See http://www.flickr.com/photos/hmillington/4500627560/in/set-72157622329075437/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/hmillington/4500472863/in/set-72157622329075437/

Huw, thanks so much for this information.

It is greatly appreciated, only one big problem: according to the under-the-foot test, the Space Police legs are Chinese plastic. I have probably 15 regular space cops and commandos. I've checked two commandos so far and neither legs assembly have the logo underfoot.

Is there an exception to the rule?

Huw

Interesting, I've just checked some of my SP figs and a 2 of the aliens don't have (c) LEGO on their feet but they are proper plastic. Maybe they are an exception for some reason...

August222

Interesting, I've just checked some of my SP figs and a 2 of the aliens don't have (c) LEGO on their feet but they are proper plastic. Maybe they are an exception for some reason...

I agree--they are proper plastic.

Is there any chance we could have a dedicated thread for this type of discussion? As a collector I find it fascinating and informative. I feel that most of the community's knowlege on the subject is broken up in bits and pieces across several discussions--pun not intended...

Rainstorm26

One thing I noticed is that if you look at the top of the legs from front to back when you remove the Torso, the Lego logo on the Chinese figs have the logo up and down. The higher quality figs typically have the logo reading left to right.

I was really disappointed recently opening the dragon suit fig from S5. The pastic feel and appearance of his legs was almost worst than @#$Xblocks.