Just looking at the picture of this set, you will immediately see just how large the set is, the impressive collection of minifigures, and the incredible amount of detail. With this set, the pictures are very true to the set itself, and you will be impressed.

It does seem a little strange that a ship used only as a transport and not in actual battle would be deserving of such a large set, but then again, a tiny pirate ship would look pretty foolish. And having Aragon, Legolas, and Gimli jumping off of this set alone looks just as foolish as it does in the movie. Of course you only have 3 ghosts that appear after that, but you really can't expect a set to include 100 minifigures!

Minifigures

Aragon, Legolas, and Gimli are fairly common, these same exact minifigures all appear in other sets. The Orcs are fairly standard run of the mill, I'm not sure if these particular ones are unique to this set, but they will help build up your orc army, and you can never have to many of them. Next up is the pirate, and quite honestly, I don't ever remember seeing these pirates anywhere in the films, and thats because I never did, they are only in the extended edition which I just recently purchased and their scene lasts for less than a minute. All the scene really does is show you where these ships came from, before I had always assumed they belonged to the ghosts. However, despite their realtive unimportance, the pirate is indeed a nice minifigure, especially since this one represents the character played by Peter Jackson (strange that the director would wind up on the cutting room floor). Of course the highlight of this set is the 3 ghosts, and they look absolutely incredible, and even more importantly, each one is unique.

Parts

This is definitely a set that has some pretty amazing parts. First up, you have the hull of the ship, which a giant bricks, and their modular nature allows you to make a ship of basically any length you want, although of course you will be limited to a single width. There are 4 different types of bricks for the hull. You have 2 bricks that are triangular for the stern and bow. 3 identical bricks make up the middle, and if you had more of these you could extend the length of the ship. 1 brick that elevates the stern of the ship and matches the other bricks I already mentioned. Then you get 2 other triangular bricks that are black (as opposed to dark brown) and don't match the style or design of the others, one for the stern and the other for the bow. You of course get the 3 sails (the 2 larger ones are identical). Some very cool gray bat/dragon wings (2 each of 2 designs). Quite a bit of weaponry (including axes used as anchors), and a boatload of shields. Beyond that, you get a large grated plate, a steering wheel, and the silver wheels for the catapult are rather unique.

The Build

If there is one disappointment to this set, it would be the build. With the hull being composed of 8 very large bricks, there simply isn't all that much for you to build. It kind of makes sense, my other sets of this size (Millenium Falcon, AT-AT) have twice as many bricks in them. As a result all you are really building is the details, which are excellent, but rather simple. Furthermore, I've found that the Lord of the Rings line has excelled in its asymetrical designs that have led to very little repitition, but unfortunately not only is this set symetrical, it also composed of repeating details. As a result you will do the same small build over and over and over again.

The most interesting parts of the build are the use of chains as railings, which is super simple but a brilliant use of a part that is not normally used this way. Another chain is also used to hold down the front of the jib, and by raising and lowering the figurehead, it does look like you are controlling the jib. I also was a bit surprised at how the masts were built as they are just the stacking of many smaller technic bricks for the bottom half, and only use one long technic axle at the very top. While it is repetitive and simple, it was surprising, I really was expecting one larger, and thicker brick.

Overall

While the build may be disappointing, certainly it would have been a lot of fun to have brick built hull, doing so would have resulted in a huge brick count and a much higher price tag. As it is, this set actually seems rather cheap. Sure, it is expensive given its brick count, but when you consider the inclusion of the bricks for the hull, the sails, and 9 minifigures, it really is a tremedous value. This is also my first pirate ship, so certainly it could prove to be quite useful beyond just Lord of the Rings.

The catapult is a really minor sub-build and we've seen many catapults before, especially in Lord of the Rings sets. It just seems like an unnecessary way to inflate the price of the set.

Playability is rather limited however. There is a prison below the bridge, which seems out of place for Lord of the Rings, but quite useful if you will be using this as a pirate ship. Only the center sail has the ability to rotate, the others are fixed, although the job is somewhat movable as I mentioned. After that, you have a pair of flick fire missiles which seem rather inappropriate, I would think that cannons, while not in the movie, would be much more appropriate. Some beautiful maps are included, but they are made of stickers. But really the main feature is that this is a pirate ship.

I do have two complaints, first being the hull is decepitively shallow. It only includes the portion of the ship that would be above the water line. It would have been nice to get a keel. However, the shallowness does allow for the ship to sit on a flat surface without some kind of base to support it, so I guess it is a tradeoff. I also see that this is how other pirate ships are designed, the difference is that many other pirate ships get built up to make them taller. My other complaint is that the steering wheel doesn't move the rudder. The steering wheel is indeed on the removable roof of the prison, but I wouldn't mind a few exposed mechanical elements if it allowed you to actually steer the ship.

Sould you get this set? That all depends. The ship gets a good 10 seconds of screen time (20 if you have the extended edition) so it really isn't necessary for playing out the Lord of the Rings. However, it is a beautiful pirate ship with lots of great parts, and three fantastic minifigures in the ghosts which are quite useful. You could easily have Aragon confront the ghosts in your Mines of Moria set and it would look rather believable, and of course they can easily attack orcs on an open carpet! This is my first pirate ship so I am glad I got it, and am happy that it is part of a theme that I care about. As a result I don't really have any need to be purchasing a pirate ship again, and it of course helps complete my Lord of the Rings collection, and given how small and short-lived the theme was, it is a very easy theme to collect as it is possible to find sets at bargain prices, the only real issue is the expensive minifigures.

I got this set for 85 € on bricklink (including shipping) which I would say isn't cheap but ok for a set of this size. all other ships of this size seems to be above 100 € (and that's without shipping costs). It is really big (though that's mostly the sails that makes it big) it takes more place than the arkham asylum breakout. It also has tons of details, there's barely not an area which looks empty. A problem I have with it is that the hull is pretty low, my renegade runner has a higher hull, and it's not even a 200 pieces ship.

Instructions

can be hard to distinguish between the 2 shades of brown.

Parts

I guess that would be great for parts. Lots of weapons, accessories and shields, you have enough to equip a whole army I guess. Also that may be one of the cheapest ways to get sails and hull pieces. I doubt many more pirate ships come with 6 hull pieces for under 100€

(I've just checked and prices seem to be even lower than when I bought mine, though I see no european sellers, which means shipping cost would be high for me)

Minifigures

That's one of the best part. Well, you can see them, there are a lot of them and they all look great. And I think 4 of them are exclusive. You don't get more in any other LOTR set.

The build

Slightly annoying actually, some bars wouldn't slide unless I applied strong pressure on them, which made my fingers a bit painful in the long run. Nothing too complicated otherwise, but you need some attention for details.

Playability

I would say the model is a bit poor when it comes to play features. You don't even have cannons. There is a catapult, flick missiles and a prison. The play value comes mostly from all the minifigs and accessories, you can easily make different factions. The catapult feels out of place, maybe a rowing boat would have been more fitting, though it may not be accurate to the movie.

The completed model...

...takes a lot of space lol. The sails and minifigs really makes this model.

Now before you go on past the title I will have you know that I did know about the Corsairs of Umbar way before I saw this set. So if you want to know what I mean by the title then keep reading and you'll find out...

Box/Instructions

The box is nicely designed depicting the heroic scene in which the Three Hunters [Aragorn, Legolas, & Gimli] and the Army of the Dead surprise the orcs at the battle of the Pelennor Fields. The back shows the ship and minifigures in much greater detail as well as some of the main play features of the set. Under the piece count are printed the words "Boat Does Not Float". So I guess the means I shouldn't put it in the bathtub...

The two instruction books come in their own plastic bag on a sheet of cardboard so they are nice crisp and clean when you use them. They are easy to follow, except when you have to distinguish between the different shades of brown in poor lighting.

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Parts

The parts selection in this set is quite nice... if you're in the need for blacks and browns. You get several of those huge ship pieces that are used to make the hull, bow, & stern. Plus lots of accessories, weapons, food, maps (stickers), etc. Between the front and back of the ship there are over a dozen of these printed shield pieces which are clipped upside down. So if your army need shields this is the set to get.

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Minifigures

Mordor Orc(s): In this set you get two more of those Mordor Orcs. We've seen them before in other sets so they're not to exciting. But you do always need more of them... They look quite orcish, as they should, with excellent torso and head printing. Their legs are just plain brown though.

Pirate of Umbar (oops! I meant Peter Jackson!): If you've seen the Extended Edition of Return of the King you'll remember that Legolas accidentally shoots one of the Corsair Pirates. If you've seen the bonus features (or looked closely) you would've known that the pirate was played by Peter Jackson, the director. While he is dead by the time the boat reaches the orcs near Minas Tirith I'm glad LEGO decided to include him. It provides even more playability for younger kids and adds a little bit of humor for well versed fans. His legs aren't printed but that's really the only disappointing thing about him. His torso and head are nicely designed with printing on both front and back. The expressions on his head are angry and scared. The hair piece is the same one used for Thorin Oakenshield (and Kili). He comes with a short chain to tie him up to the mast in case you didn't want to kill him right away.

Soldiers of the Dead: These guys look amazingly detailed and LEGO definitely scored points with these guys. They look incredible and very dangerous. You wouldn't want to run in to them if you were 1 inch tall! ;-) They're each a little different from each other. They're legs are the same, but their torsos are different. Their heads are actually the same too. It's a double sided head with two different designs on it so you can customize your army. They have classic castle helmets in this sickly shade of green which matches their capes and torsos. A short sword is provided for each as a weapon, as if just the power of fear alone wasn't enough.

King of the Dead: Like his soldiers, he is incredibly detailed, even more so than his infantry (which is what you'd expect, isn't it?). On his torso printed over his chain mail are several straps of cloth which look like a skeleton at a glance. There are also dark red accents (e.g. belt) that match his cape a look quite nice visually. His legs are actually the same as his soldiers though surprisingly enough. His helmet is the same as a classic crown but here it comes in that pale, sick green color which suits his character perfectly. His face is also double sided with two slightly different designs. He comes with a long sword for a weapon.

Aragorn: We've seen Aragorn in many other sets before so I won't go into much detail about him. His printing is as excellent as ever and looks very fitting for a weather-worn Dunedain ranger. I just wish he came with Anduril. LEGO made a new mold for Sting but why not Anduril? It was even more important to the story than Sting (especially in the film) so I don't know why he didn't come with one. Instead we just get a plain broadsword, again.

Legolas Greenleaf: We've seen him before too back in the Mines of Moria set. His printing is also extremely well done and very accurate. His hair piece has his elvish ears attached which I love. But after a year of having him (from the Moria set) the cheekbones still aren't working for me. All the LEGO elves have them so I guess it's not just something for Legolas.

Gimli: This character is probably the least exclusive of them all, but that doesn't mean he's worse, just the opposite! His torso and helmet designs are some of the best I've ever seen. It's even more amazing because LEGO went through all the work on the torso when it's mostly covered up by his awesome beard piece. Overall he's one of my favorite minifigs from this theme.

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The build

The build seemed to go by fairly quickly once I got to the big hull pieces. It wasn't too complicated and a determined 7 or 8 year old could do it. There were a few stickers like on the maps and a few wooden beams, but not too much to worry about. Once the sails go up it looks quite impressive. Like I said earlier, sometimes the browns got a bit confusing but make sure you have good light where you're building and it shouldn't be a problem.

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The completed model

The completed model looks quite large when finished, over 23 inches long from the tip of the battering ram to the end of the stern and 14 inches tall. Even though it's only 756 pieces it feels much bigger because the sails take up so much space. This helps make up for the high price tag. $100 is way too much for only 750 pieces. $80 would've been better. Then again, all pirate ships are overpriced. It must be the sails or the large hull pieces. The play features all work wonderfully, the anchors, flick fire missiles, removable roof (of the prison) etc. All together between the minifigures and the gadgets it has tons of playability. Plus it looks nice as a display too.

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Summary

Overall it's a great set, tons of playability, great pieces, fun build etc. If only the price was better. Other than that it's great and I highly recommend it.

Concerning the title of this review. The set, as I said, is great. I just don't understand why they decided to make this [the Corsair ship] the largest set of the wave (we're excluding Orthanc for the moment). It's not exactly the most iconic image from the film. When I heard the name of the set several months ago I knew what it was but many who aren't as big LotR fans did not. I think that this set then means one of two things:

1. LEGO Is Giving Up & Trying To Find The Easiest Way Out

They've made several pirate ships before and this one isn't too different. You switch the sails on almost any other LEGO pirate ship and then you've almost got this one. This could be a sign that LEGO is getting lazy and just throwing a few old modified sets out there and calling it quits.

2. LEGO Is Extending The Life Of The Theme

By spreading out the really cool, iconic big sets (like Helm's Deep) over many years and releasing some not famous scenes in-between LEGO could be trying to extend the life of the theme.

Seeing Orthanc and all the detail in the sets released so far makes me think that LEGO is leaning more towards option #2. But I suppose only time will tell.

Agoreg vae LEGO!

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I have to admit, when I learnt that the flagship set for this wave would be focusing on the Corsairs, I was a little disappointed. But Lego have long since proved that they design excellent ships, and this is no exception!

The set comes with nine minifigures: Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, the King of the Dead and two of his soldiers, the Pirate of Umbar and two Mordor Orcs.

Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli are the same as they appear in previous sets, but they're still great figs! They all have exceedingly detailed, double sided torsos - stand outs for me include the Evenstar around Aragorn's neck, the leather straps and belts on both sides of Legolas' torso and the chainmail poking out from under Gimli's tunic. I also love the detailed pattern on Gimli's helmet.

The King of the Dead looks incredible. Lego have really captured the green ghostiness of the King and his soldiers with great looking sand green parts. Their heads all glow in the dark, and the printing on their torsos has appears to have a glowing effect (while it doesn't actually glow). All three have different torsos, but the same legs. The two soldiers have the same heads, with two completely different faces printed on them, so they can still have different faces. The sand green helmets looks fantastic, though it will be difficult to use them elsewhere. All in all, three incredible figs.

The Pirate of Umbar is a great addition to the set, although he is rather lonely. It's a bit of a novelty inclusion to put Peter Jackson's brief appearance in, but I'm certainly not complaining! His double sided torso has all kinds of things hanging from it, what looks like chains and odd bits. He has a double sided face with an angry face and a scared face. His scared face just looks a little strange to me, with his mouth made up of what looks like two white lines crossing to make an x, but his angry face is great. I love the two toned (black and dark grey) facial hair, the ring through his eyebrow and the blue arrows on his forehead. He has a big black hair piece that sticks out at the back so that a quiver can fit under it. He is holding a chain and, for some strange reason, a bread stick. For when he gets hungry in the brig?

The last two figures are Mordor orcs. They are the same as those included in previous sets and the two are identical apart from one is wearing a breastplate. Their torsos have layers of leather and spikes and they both have single sided heads with deep set yellow eyes, sharp teeth, rings on their face and hair and warts on the back of their head.

Despite the measurements included on the box, I was taken aback by the size of this ship! There is a helpful comment on the box that states that the ship does not float (it's not a trick, it really doesn't float). The sails are fantastic, though the printing is only single sided, which is fine because the back has the supports anyway. Only the middle one swivels (it can turn 360 degrees), while the two end sails are fixed. There are a lot of little details throughout the ship, but it is hard to see where all of the pieces have gone (when you take into account the large hull pieces and sails). There are planks with stickers to include the grain and knots of the wood, barrels with gems inside and a crate with two maps included (one nautical map and one of Gondor), 14 [printed] shields, swiveling crossbows and flick fire missiles, a weapons rack and, my favourite feature, the anchors made of axes that can be drawn and lowered.

Also included with the set is a catapult for the two Orcs. It rides quite low with small, silver wheels, and has a long arm. To fire it, there is only one cheese slope to push down. It doesn't feel like it has enough give to fire very far, but it works surprisingly well, firing the piece higher than I expected - it easily launches pieces over the ship.

For a set that didn't excite me to begin with, I am pleased to find that there aren't really any cons that come to mind. I love the chains that are stretched down to act as railings beside the two sets of stairs, and the wings added to the side and back give a great ominous feel. While it doesn't have many play features, there are enough little details to keep you going, and it was an involved, enjoyable build.

Like many people, I was surprised when TLG announced the third wave of LOTR sets and it was first revealed that they were releasing one of the Corsairs of Umbar pirate ships. I mean, no disrespect to the Corsairs, but there were a lot of other iconic LOTR locations and movie moments I was expecting to see before this pirate ship (the Golden Hall of Meduseld? ANY set including Faramir?). Because of this, the set was always rather far down my list of must-have acquisitions. However, I'm a bit of a completionist, so it was always in the back of my mind that I would end up purchasing this set, and I finally did . . . several years after the set was initially released.

I bought the set used from a local Lego store, and I got it for a good price. I've never purchased a large used set before (it was minus the box), but I was pleasantly surprised that the set was only missing one or two of the smallest pieces, which I easily substitued from my own collection. Normally I would have been more upset about missing pieces, but my mine interest in acquiring this set was for the minifigs. Anyways, enough dithering . . . on to the review:

Minifigures

As per the usual for the entire LOTR theme, the minigures for this set are fantastically painted. All of the minifigs feature detailing on both the front and back of their heads (for the two orcs, this is a face on the front and scraggily hair on the back; for the rest of the characters this is a neutral expression on one side of the head and an angry or scared expression on the other). Additionally, all of the minifigs have front and back painting on the torsos, and Aragorn, Legolas, and the King of the Dead and his two ghostly soldiers feature designs on their legs as well.

Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas are all featured in other sets (Gimli and Aragorn in two other sets each), so I won't spend time describing them other than to say they are excellent. I did feel like the orcs were a bit of a missed opportunity (though it's more a complaint about the LOTR theme in general rather than this set in particular). There are so many wonderful orc designs from the LOTR films, but in Lego form we essentially just get three variants: Sauroman's Uruk-hai, the Moria orcs, and the . . . well, normal orcs, which are the type featured in this set. Now, you can customize the orcs to some extent by adding ears or chestplates, but I can't help but feel that TLG could have given us one or two more unique orc types, you know, just to spice things up.

The Corsair of Umbar minifig is wonderful, especially because I believe it is supposed to represent a particular pirate from the movie that was played by Peter Jackson himself.

The real highlight of this set's minifigs, however, are the King of the Dead and his minions. The three minifigs each come with unique torsos showing three different types of ghostly green armor. And their facial experessions are perfect:

I honestly couldn't be happier with these three minifigs . . . it seems ridiculous to say, but by themselves they were nearly worth the price of the entire set.

In summary, the minifigs are exceptional and definitely something you should pick up if you're either a) a LOTR completionist, or b) a castle MOCer.

The Build

I wasn't expecting much from this build, but I was pleasantly surprised (although that might be because this is my first LEGO boat of any kind). There aren't a lot of unexpected techniques to surprise you, but the use of a variety of rare pieces for different accents on the ship still keeps the build exciting from start to finish. For me and my son, it was especially fun to watch the basic outline of the ship take shape as we connected the large hull pieces together (we were surprised by the overall size of the ship, to be honest . . . I wasn't expecting it to be quite so large.

The Finished Product

While the Corsairs' pirate ship is definitely not the most iconic of all possible LOTR sets, I do think it stands out as one of the LOTR/Hobbit sets with the most playability, especially for kids. While some of the other expensive LOTR/Hobbit sets are complete builds in and of themselves (for example: 9474 or 79003), a lot of them (especially in the later Hobbit sets), tend to be small terrain pieces that don't connect to one another and are fairly static. In contrast, this ship can be sailed around the living room and features multiple missile launchers, hidden compartments, anchors that can be dropped and retracted, and other play features. In other words, it reminds me a lot of the classic LEGO sets I built as a kid, which were just as fun to play with as to build.

As I've stressed above, the minifigures are fantastic and an excellent addition to my collection.

The only thing that keeps me from giving this set 5 stars is that it took up a slot in the third LOTR wave that could have been devoted to a more iconic scene or event more the movies. Picky? Probably . . . but I'm still sore about it, I guess. :)