The Brick Connection – A novice Lego fan explores the great brick world of LEGO

Greetings, LEGO fans!

I hope your October is going splendidly! Football, hayrides, apple cider, pumpkin spice, haunted houses. All that good stuff!

Here on the Brick Connection we are continuing our discussion of the best LEGO sets.

Two weeks ago I informally declared the Death Star, set 10188 as the “best LEGO set.” Is it the best set according to everyone? No, but it receives almost universal praise and admiration from all types of LEGO fans, thus making it a worthy selection.

Last week, I rounded out the top 3, talking about 10189 Taj Mahal and 10179 UCS Millennium Falcon.

I was going to finish off my top 10 this week, but you know how I love to drag things out. So I will be talking about 3 more sets that I found to be some of the best ever and saving the other 4 sets for next week’s blog. I’m not saying that the 3 this week are better than the 4 next week or vice versa. These are just 7 great sets in no particular order that receive high praise in the LEGO community.

So here they are:

6285-1 Black Seas Barracuda

Black Seas Barracuda is a Pirates set released in 1989. It contains 865 pieces and eight minifigures. It was re-released as 10040 Black Seas Barracuda in 2002.

The Black Seas Barracuda was also used in LEGO Universe, as Captain Jack Knife's pirate ship. 

The pirates in this set were the first minifigures to have different facial expressions. Before this set, all minifigures had the standard two black dots for eyes and a solid black smile. With some of the minifigs having hooks for hands and peg legs this was also the first departure from the traditional body parts.

There are a lot of great reviews of this set on brickset.com, particularly from people who were kids in 1989. They remember first getting the set and many still have it displayed in their homes today.

Here's one review I really enjoyed, written by "naf":

Throughout the 80's, I received one giant LEGO set a year at Christmas, and this was my gift in 1989. I have to go with a cliche here: "they just don't make 'em like this anymore." This ship is absolutely beautify. All of the attention went to the details of the ship, rather than having "play features" like collapsing masts or the back blowing apart. The design is very realistic, while still keeping that classic LEGO charm. The color scheme is fantastic, the yellow and black contrast nicely with the red and white sails. The captain has spacious quarters in the sterncastle. The top lifts up, and the back of the shop opens up so it's very easy to access and see into the captain's quarters. This is one of the few ships in the pirate theme that has an actual deck that goes around the entire ship, with the cannons below deck. The ship comes equipped with 4 cannons which are more than enough to take on the lesser armed Caribbean Clipper (the Imperial counterpart to this ship). All in all, a great, well designed, classic LEGO set. Any child would be thrilled to play with this thing, and any adult should feel proud to display this beauty on a shelf.

Check out this really cool stop motion review of the classic LEGO set:

10237 The Tower of Orthanc

This set was released in 2013 and is from the Lord of the Rings theme. It has since been retired. With 2,359 pieces it is the largest Lord of the Rings set to date. The tower has 6 floors and stands over 28 inches tall.

LEGO’s description:

Finally, collect one of the most instantly recognizable and iconic buildings of The Lord of the Rings™ trilogy: The Tower of Orthanc™! Build all 6 highly detailed floors filled with fascinating movie-related details including the attic, library, alchemy room, Saruman’s throne room, entrance hall and dungeon. This exclusive model stars in some of the most iconic scenes from The Lord of the Rings movies. Swoop down with the Great Eagle and rescue stranded Gandalf the Grey from his tower-top prison after his defeat at the hands of the white wizard, Saruman. Build the powerful, tree-like Ent, with poseable limbs and cool swinging arm function, then attack the Uruk-hai and Orc Pitmaster while Saruman and his servant Grima Wormtongue take refuge high in the tower. The Tower of Orthanc is a must-have model for any The Lord of the Rings collection! Includes a Great Eagle, buildable Ent figure and 5 minifigures with weapons: Saruman with kirtle outfit, Grima Wormtongue, Gandalf the Grey, an Uruk-hai and the Orc Pitmaster.

Here is a review from Amazon where you can currently buy the set for its original price, $199.99:

It is big, beautiful and faithful to the movie version. Lego didn't hold back at all, with a gear-powered Treebeard, a really well-done Saurumon and eagle, and lots of decorations and interesting features in the tower. Compared to many other sets we own, this one is a huge value for all you get plus the superb design and craftsmanship.

Also, check out this cute video of the designers explaining the set and how they designed it. Pretty cool!:

7783 The Batcave: The Penguin and Mr. Freeze's Invasion

The Batcave is a set of Batman's headquarters. Robin's jet-ski, the Batblade ice sledge, and The Penguin's submarine are also included as vehicles. Batman, Robin, The Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Alfred, Bruce Wayne, a Mr. Freeze Henchman, and three Penguin Minion minifigures are also present.

It is of course a part of the Batman theme and with 1075 pieces it is the largest set of the theme. It was released in 2006 so as you can probably guess it has long been retired. It originally sold for $89.99. Now it is almost $800 on Amazon if you want to buy it new. You can find used versions for about $300 on bricklink.

LEGO’s description:

When villains form allies…

Mr. Freeze™ and The Penguin™ are out for revenge! Can Batman™, Robin™ and loyal butler Alfred™ stop them from bringing an early winter to the Dark Knight's hidden lair? Set includes:

• Two-level control center includes net and rocket launcher!
• Includes Batman's costume transformation chamber!
• Batcave also includes a dock for the Batboat™ and repair bay for the Batmobile™!
• Find the secret entrance in the prison cell!
• Fire the Bat-Signal™ launcher!

Here is a very enthusiastic review of the Batcave set from brickset.com, written by legojoker89:

To start off, this has to be the best Lego Batman set ever. Heck, it just might be THE BEST LEGO SET EVER! We get 10 Minifigures (including Little Penguin Drones) First is Burton's Batman My favorite Batman Minifigure. Next are his Faithful Companions Alfred and Robin. Alfred is EXCLUSIVE to this set, and this version of Robin is too, but later we see he got himself a haircut. Next is Bruce Wayne, the Secret identity of Batman. For the Villains we got Mr. Freeze, who has a better freeze ray in this set compared to the one in the Bat-buggy set. Next is the penguin, who looks AWESOME! He has his own umbrella and Pistol gun AND Three Mind Controlled Penguins as seen in BATMAN Returns. 

Ign.com had this set at #8 on their list of “LEGO Sets That Rocked Our World” and had this to say about the set: “A different Batcave set was released in 2012, though this one remains a favorite if only because it was a nice preview of what the Lego Batman video game would be like two years later.”

The new Batcave set is a part of the DC Universe Super Heroes theme, but it is a very different version and was only 690 pieces. 

Check out this commercial from 2006 advertising the original Batcave set:

And there you have it! Three more awesome LEGO sets. I've really enjoyed getting to learn about all these different sets, especially older ones like the Barracuda ship. It's allowing me to learn more about the history of LEGO. Come back next week for 4 more!

Do you own any of these sets? Do you think they're awesome too? 

And I still want to know, what is your favorite LEGO set? Leave a comment! Pretty please! :)

Until next time...................do you know of any cool LEGO-themed Halloween costumes?

*Compliments, general feedback, and constructive criticism are welcome. Any haters that are gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate can go step on some Lego with their bare feet.*