First look at new Gift With Purchase Set: Ray the Castaway

[Mister Phes]

 Last year The LEGO Group's held an official contest named, "Do You Want To Go to the Seaside?", the winning entry of this contest would then be officially produced as a Gift With Purchase set.

Read the official announcement on LEGO Ideas blog.

And there is also Classic-Pirates.com Blog Post with further details.
https://www.classic-pirates.com/news/newupcoming/40566-ray-the-castaway

With no help whatsoever, from the LEGO Pirates Forum and Classic Pirates, Ray the Castaway won and we now have a glimpse what is allegedly the front box art:

 

 

Here be the original contest entry - spot the differences between two:

[Pirate_King_1982]

Cool. How much do you have to spend to get this? Looks cool. The only thing that doesn’t look all that pirates themed is the life ring, but it would be easy enough to leave that off.

Edited September 24, 2022 by Pirate_King_1982

[Mister Phes]

19 minutes ago, Pirate_King_1982 said:

Cool. How much do you have to spend to get this?

Apparently it's $120.  But this is all rumour at the moment as there has not yet been an official announcement so expect any and all details to change.

[zinnn]

it's being discussed here as well, maybe we can merge both topics?

 

[Mister Phes]

3 hours ago, zinnn said:

it's being discussed here as well, maybe we can merge both topics?

That topic is for the MOC, this topic is for news leading up to the officially released set.

That said, if there is little interest in the set, then the topics will probably be merged.

[Aanchir]

Fun set! I've played around with trying to make a brick-built equivalent to the old 16x16 printed island baseplate, and this reminds me somewhat of my efforts in that regard.

Seems the final set's beach is slightly more spacious than the original MOC, as is the hut (though its roof sadly isn't quite as tightly constructed). But in general, it seems very faithful to the original contest entry. It's a nice vignette/display piece in its own right, and also a great parts pack for seaside MOCs in either historic or modern settings!

[Jiesdeo]

Hmm, nice set, but no seagull in the Lego version... less interesting then.

[Mister Phes]

16 hours ago, Aanchir said:

Fun set! I've played around with trying to make a brick-built equivalent to the old 16x16 printed island baseplate, and this reminds me somewhat of my efforts in that regard.

How did yer efforts turn out? Got any photos?

15 hours ago, Jiesdeo said:

Hmm, nice set, but no seagull in the Lego version... less interesting then.

Aye, a seagull would have been nice since its a rarer piece.

[Aanchir]

4 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

How did yer efforts turn out? Got any photos?

Well, approximating the shape with plates and tiles isn't terribly hard, at least for that smaller island base. Here's what I came up with on Stud.io:

The parts for this particular build would cost around $3.50 USD on BrickLink — certainly a major bargain compared to the classic part! But obviously, there's not too much need for such a specific island build unless you're trying to create a revamp of a set that used this specific island baseplate. After all, for a totally original model like the Ray the Castaway MOC and set, it makes much more sense to design the island according to the shape and size of the model it supports, rather than to design the model to fit an island of a particular size and shape. That's a big part of why I tend to prefer brick-built foundations over raised and/or printed baseplates in general!

5 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

Aye, a seagull would have been nice since its a rarer piece.

Additionally, replacing the seagull with the parrot just reminds me how much I wish they'd come up with a new parrot design with printed eyes! Simple bumps or indentations can work alright for the eyes of some animals like bugs and fish, but they tend to feel fairly empty and lifeless compared to the printed eyes of minifigures.

Printing like that could also allow for patterns that are authentic to real parrots, like the macaw-inspired striped wings and white spots around the eyes of the original LEGO parrot. For that matter, if LEGO designed it with their modern 2K (two-component) molding techniques, it would allow for crisp all-over color on specific parts of the body like the feet and beak — much like the bird mold used for Cinnamon the songbird and Pepper the parakeet from LEGO Friends.

[Mister Phes]

10 hours ago, Aanchir said:

Well, approximating the shape with plates and tiles isn't terribly hard, at least for that smaller island base. Here's what I came up with on Stud.io:

It does the job nicely!

But did yer ever build anything on top of that?

10 hours ago, Aanchir said:

Additionally, replacing the seagull with the parrot just reminds me how much I wish they'd come up with a new parrot design with printed eyes!

Aye, something new would be nice... but if that set photo on the box art is final, the set does not appear to have any new pieces, printed or moulded.

Even the minifigs torso has been reused since Barracuda Bay and will be reused again in the upcoming Pirate Adventure Ride set.

 

[Aanchir]

11 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

It does the job nicely!

But did yer ever build anything on top of that?

Not to my satisfaction — at least, not yet. But maybe now's the time for me to give that another shot while it's on my mind!

Edited September 26, 2022 by Aanchir

[Mister Phes]

We now have an official announcement on LEGO Ideas blog.

[zinnn]

Not gonna lie, it's a cute set, both in its original ideas form and the final Lego version. I don't mind all the changes they introduced, but the lack of the seagull is really a letdown :(

Also only now I've noticed how those palm trees are built, using the brown flower stems, interesting :)

[victorycount]

On 9/24/2022 at 10:46 AM, Mister Phes said:

Apparently it's $120.  But this is all rumour at the moment as there has not yet been an official announcement so expect any and all details to change.

I like that set too, but first I understood that it costs 120$, and I was like  whaat? But as a gift with purchase it seems more than fair to me. If the creator ship wouldn't be that expensive by now, that would be a good combination. 

Edited September 29, 2022 by victorycount

[Mister Phes]

There is also Classic-Pirates.com Blog Post with further details...

12 hours ago, victorycount said:

I like that set too, but first I understood that it costs 120$, and I was like  whaat?

That is why you need to read the details carefully!

[zinnn]

I gave in and bought this set today on eBay for £15 including shipping. Good deal I think:)

[azog]

1 hour ago, zinnn said:

I gave in and bought this set today on eBay for £15 including shipping. Good deal I think:)

I bought my copy for $20 + shipping! So I would say you did really good! Enjoy the set, it's simply beautiful.

[Pchan1983]

I just built it and absolutely loving it and the odds of Ray to survive is extremely low ... XD

THE GOOD:

• Looking great.
• Surprisingly detailed considered the size of this set.
• the SOS sign is great.

THE NOT SO GOOD:

• Hard to get if you missed out the promo.
   

 

[Mister Phes]

5 hours ago, Pchan1983 said:

I just built it and absolutely loving it and the odds of Ray to survive is extremely low ... XD

Nice  review - thank ye for sharing!

[zinnn]

I actually found it quite boring to build, mostly because there are a lot of small pieces to place all over the set. I really love how the palm trees are built (read: the angle at which they are placed), really clever technique. Oveall I do like the set, a lot is packed in such a small set, and the pieces themselves are great to re-use for pirates' MOCs. Also I was really surprised to find a treasure chest hidden below Ray's little hut, I haven't watched any YT reviews prior to buying this set so it was nice discovery. I really really wish we got a seagull though.

[Mister Phes]

On 11/20/2022 at 11:01 AM, zinnn said:

I actually found it quite boring to build

I haven't built any of mine yet so I cannot comment from experience but this is a complaint I've observed from others.

Still, when we compare Ray the Castaway to a classic set based on similar concept, 6259 Smugglers Shanty/Palm Hideout, how do you think it measures up?