What's in the box?
You get three plastic bags in the Kapp’n’s Island Boat Tour box — it seems that only Bunnie's Outdoor Activities contains Lego's sustainable paper packaging in this initial batch of Animal Crossing offerings — along with Kapp'n's boat hull and the requisite instructions.
Kapp’n’s Island Boat Tour build
As always, the minifigure is the first thing you assemble and Kapp'n looks as fetching as ever.
Once you've got the kappa captain himself, it's time to build his boat. She's a modest but sturdy vessel, with a little outboard motor, a lantern, and a flask featuring a neat handle element we haven't encountered before. Kapp'n also has some K.K. Slider sheet music onboard to help while away those lonely nights at sea with a shanty.
Bag two introduces Marshal and some of the beachy terrain tiles. The minifigures are perhaps the strongest element of all these sets, and Marshal is no different, with great detail and a cute tail element. Unlike every other minifigure in the range, however, Marshal's legs are the short-and-static variety — they don't bend at the hip or have holes in the back.
This isn't a huge problem, although it does mean he's unable to sit down on the beach recliners you build directly after assembling him, nor in the boat.
The beach tiles themselves are fun — we enjoy any area with lapping water and wash from the waves depicted in brick form. Again, loads of detail here, from the sandwich/hamburger and drink beside the red recliners to the fishing rod and the palm tree with its dangling coconuts. The umbrella is the same one you find outside Rosie's house.
The third and final bag features a hill with a ladder and a rock on top (bash with a shovel for Bells,) a tiny jetty for Kapp'n to dock his boat, and an adorable little crab. A recipe sits on a stump under a second coconut tree and it balances the set out nicely in the default configuration — obviously, you're free to arrange things how you like.
Kapp’n’s Island Boat Tour cost
Kapp’n’s Island Boat Tour sits in the mid-range of the available Lego Animal Crossing sets, with a retail price of $29.99 / £24.99 / €29.99.
You get 233 pieces, including two exclusive minifigures and a boat. That works out to just under 13 cents a piece, which isn't the best value you'll find, but it's in the ballpark for licensed sets.
Overall, there's a nice mix of elements here for the price point. We like the diverse terrain, with the shoreline detail adding visual interest as a display piece and the hill and palm trees bringing some vertical variety, too. If you combined multiple copies of this kit with multiple copies of Bunnie's Outdoor Activities, you could assemble quite the island.
