Castle, Town and Pirates: How One Piece is Sailing Through the LEGO Classics
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As a System-era LEGO fan, my earliest memories revolve around towering castles, bustling town scenes, and hulking pirate ships looming over store shelves. Yet since 2013 and 2015 respectively, Pirates and Castle have been mostly absent from LEGO’s regular product lineup… until now.
In order to get a hands-on experience, I was provided with four sets from the new wave: 75646 Garp’s Marine Battleship, 75645 Battle at Drum Castle, 75642 Showdown with Captain Smoker, and 75641 Dr. Hiriluk’s Hideout. Thanks to both LEGO and BrickNerd for the opportunity—and without further ado, let’s set sail!
Garp’s Marine Battleship
As One Piece revolves around pirate crews, the ships are the centerpiece of the theme. Following last year’s 75639 The Going Merry Pirate Ship, the bar was high—and LEGO may have passed it indeed! One of my earliest memories with LEGO was seeing a store display of pirate ships. I was in sheer awe of the volume and presence. And as soon as I built this and sat back, I was immediately transported back to that store window.
75646 Garp’s Marine Battleship has tremendous presence thanks to its black sails, steel-banded hull, and iconic bulldog figurehead. The techniques for the hull in particular stood out, using a variation of wedge plates, hinges, slopes, and curved slopes to create one of the cleanest hull silhouettes they’ve released. The turrets blend seamlessly into the hull, too.
The interior of Garp’s Marine Battleship is spacious considering the structure, and equipped with the typical level of detail expected of a playset-scale set. The Go board where Garp plays Helmeppo and Koby is instantly recognizable, as is the map room. Access is reasonable, with two removable sections of the deck, and technic pins to separate the hull in the middle—but bigger hands will have a hard time getting in, especially around the cannons.
One of the best parts of the One Piece sets has been the minifigures—especially the detail, fun moulds and colors, and collecting One Piece characters. In this set, we get some new outfits for Nami (including her glasses!) and Usopp (medium lavender is NICE). We also get Tashigi, and finally… Nico Robin! Her iconic outfit and face print are highly detailed, and the hair/cowboy hat combo is brand new for her.
Though Pirates still ostensibly exists through Creator, GWPs, etc., the One Piece line, like Luffy himself, really embodies all the wonder and joy that first drew me to Pirates back in the 90s. These ships are exactly what I’d expect from a modern Pirate theme. And with that, the ships are a great choice for a pirate collector looking to keep the treasure hunt alive!
Battle at Drum Castle
Next up is LEGO’s towering 75645 Battle at Drum Castle, and it’s awesome. The hexagonal courtyard, staggered towers, and variety of textures come together to make a display-worthy playset. The stepped gable on the gate and the snow drifts with tooth plate, cupcake icing, and unicorn horn icicles contrast well against all the grey too.
Being a big grey castle, I was surprised to see such colour and detail in the interior. I really enjoyed the alchemical station with the gold piping, the axle connector dark tan pillars, and the hippo-head fireplace. Unfortunately, this interior also had a whopping 13 stickers (including some really large panel stickers) which, in a set rated for ages 9 and up, doesn’t seem ideal to me.
In classic One Piece fashion, we’re again complemented with yet another wonderful figure selection. Every figure is either a variant, or new altogether! The winter outfits for Luffy, Nami, and Sanji all look great, especially Sanji’s arm printing, and I appreciated that Luffy’s sleeve is torn off. Our new figure selection is really impressive as well.
First, we’ve got Nefertari Vivi. She’s got a fairly basic outfit, and a recoloured ponytail in medium azure. Wapol has some fantastic printing, the new 8035 body armor element (also used for the Batman in 76331), a new cape pattern with adorable little paws, and an INCREDIBLY detailed headpiece that incorporates his silver mouth, purple hair, and white hippo hood. LEGO really did a great job with Wapol, and I can’t wait to see his new parts get into the hands of fig bashers!
Now, I didn’t get to Chopper yet because this figure needs his own paragraph. I cannot stress how impressive this minifigure is to me from a technical perspective. We’ve got a dual-moulded baby body, printed on both sides in four colours, and slotted for minifigure hands! His hat is equally impressive, integrating rubberized ears and horns onto an all-new hat mould in magenta. His dual-printed face has an angry face on one side—a nice distinction from his other appearance that I’ll mention later. Chopper is a great character, and this figure really shows how far LEGO have come.
LEGO Castle is my favourite, plain and simple. They’ve admittedly fared better than Pirates in the 2020s, with some great Creator 3-in-1 sets, and of course the legendary Lion Knight’s Castle. But Drum Castle just scratches an itch for me. Maybe it’s the taller keep? Perhaps the Gothic/Renaissance-esque architecture? Or maybe it’s just the fact that when I look at this set, it really screams like a great new home for the Black Falcons.
Showdown with Captain Smoker
75642 Showdown with Captain Smoker caught my eye at first mostly because of the minifigures, namely Dragon and Captain Smoker. But upon building this set, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the design of the buildings. Featuring a street from Loguetown, the set consists of a weapons shop, a market stall, and a Marine recruitment center.
The design of the sword shop is really nice, with some varying depths and a great colour scheme of bright light yellow and sand blue, and contrasts nicely with the attached Mediterranean-style building. The market stall has a fun little build of the blue-finned elephant tuna Sanji bought, and a cool use of Bar 1L with Angled Hollow Stud to slope the awning.
There’s a lot of fun details inside and outside, both brick-built and stickered, including sword racks, street signage, and even a sign for Doskoi Panda (an in-universe clothing brand with a location briefly seen in Loguetown). We also get another Den-Den Mushi snail phone, and a great sticker of a defaced Luffy wanted poster. But my favourite part has to be the play feature. With the push of a lever in the second floor of the sword shop, the upper windows blow out of their frames! This set also features a great build of Smoker’s Billower Bike, which captures the silhouette of the bike quite faithfully.
The figure selection in this set is decent. Luffy is the weakest, with only new face prints. Sanji again has a new outfit, including a new colour of sleeved arms for tan minfigures. This set also gives us our first minfigure of Monkey D. Dragon, the enigmatic revolutionary, with some really cool face printing—I can see this head being popular for customs.
But the real highlight (and slight gripe), is Captain Smoker. His printed torso and face are awesome, and the hair a perfect choice. But, as LEGO has strict policies regarding smoking, Captain Smoker isn’t smoking. Minor as it may be, I do find it quite jarring to see a character never seen without two massive cigars hanging out of his mouth, going without.
I’d also like to take a second to have a look at the new smoke effect pieces made for this set. Said simply, they look amazing! The dual colour is well distributed, the Technic pin and bar connections provide lots of options, and the detail in the moulding is really well executed. The clouds curl and wisp, evocative of ukiyo-e painting styles that Oda and other manga artists often integrate into their art. I’m really looking forward to see these being utilized in MOCs outside of their intended context.
City, like its shift from the name Town, has scaled up over the years with increasingly elaborate architecture, advanced techniques, and larger footprints in general. It’s a stark, and albeit justified deviation from the small silhouettes that left more to your imagination in the Town line. And while there are no shortage of cool techniques in Loguetown, these compacted silhouettes harken back to the days of a small coffee shop on a baseplate. And those little coffee shops are what got my brain first thinking about what kinds of things would be built around it.
Dr. Hiriluk’s Hideout
Though the smallest set in the wave, 75641 Dr. Hiriluk’s Hideout is packed with just the right amount of detail, and three new figures. Despite a handful of stickers (including a dreaded door sticker!), there’s some great detail packed inside the hut, including a bookshelf, some alchemical equipment, and a really cool fireplace.
The reverse is displayable as well, with some interesting snow and rock work, as well as a few roots and trees. I’m not a fan of the door sticker, but the sticker with the death mushroom was a nice touch, so we’ll let it slide.
The highlight of this set is definitely the figures, though. Chopper appears in two sets in this wave, but a unique face for each. But this set also has two exclusives: Dr. Kureha and Dr. Hiriluk. Dr. Kureha is well-executed, but Hiriluk was the figure I was most excited for! His monologue in episode 7 was incredible, and it’s nice to see LEGO give him a new hat mould with some great hair sculpting.
The Winter Village has grown into a beloved staple of LEGO’s yearly product offerings, and home Winter Village scenes are ever popular. Outside of the aforementioned theme though, LEGO doesn’t offer a lot in the way of winter-themed sets, leaving Winter Village fans to modify sets in order to integrate them into their displays. On that note, I think giving those folks a couple of new offerings will not only create more dynamic villages, but Dr. Hiriluk’s Hideout employs some great basic snow and rockwork that’s sure to elevate any winter scene.
Overall
As with the last wave’s Wanted Posters, this year LEGO has given us eight Baroque Works Dossiers, randomly dispersed in the sets. When the first wave arrived, there were some distribution troubles resulting in difficulty completing a full set. Although I don’t have the full wave yet, it seems they’ve solved the issue this time around. Among the four sets, I was able to get 7/8.
LEGO showed their mastery of printing with the Dossiers as well—each one has a crisp, even four-colour print with some fantastic graphics. I was particularly impressed at the detail in the Baroque Works logo, and Mr. 9’s crown.
Overall, I think adult builders, kids, and One Piece fans alike will all find something they can enjoy among these new offerings. From detailed figures, good part and colour selection, a plethora of interesting techniques, and settings ranging from a towering castle to a massive armored pirate ship, LEGO really went out of their way to take us on an in-depth journey into the world of One Piece.
Bonus if you made it to the end: check out how great these look together!
As a fan of primarily vintage sets, I often find myself disappointed by the usual line of town, licenses, and whatever else may be the flavour of the week. Since the moment images of these leaked, I’ve been more excited for a LEGO theme than I have since they said System on the box. Armed with heaps of nostalgia, as well as a love for One Piece, LEGO really had a high bar to impress me. And impress me they did! Sitting down and tearing into a new castle, pirate ship, and town set in one night brought me right back to 1997 again.
Has a licensed LEGO theme ever brought back the feeling of a classic theme for you?? Let us know in the comments below!
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