We saw the first xtra polybags appear about a year ago as an inexpensive way of obtaining general accessories for (until now) City type builds. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the door and found a copy of a new xtra bag: 40341 Sea Accessories sitting there.

Whether you are building around a contemporary city or historical pirate type of MOC, this polybag has something for everyone.

The bag contains a selection of sea life, some items you might consider to be treasure, and a number of things you might associate with off the beach play in contemporary life…

Lets have a quick look through the elements.

We have a shark – common enough, and a light royal blue fish – predominantly seen previously in Ninjago Movie sets, an oyster – with a gold star- and a blue and yellow parrot. The parrot has appeared in this blue-yellow colouring before – in the Assembly Square modular – and will also appear in the forthcoming Corner Garage.

We also have some wooden artefacts: a treasure chest and gemstones, barrel and paddle, 2 harpoons(made from a dark brown light sabre handles, a 3L bar and an arrowhead), as well as a map.

More contemporary items include a buoy (some assembly required), swimming fins, a surfboard (both the fins and the surfboard are bright yellowish green) and binoculars.

Let’s do something with it.

I have been considering building a couple of small vignettes with a nautical theme for a while. I started with an 8×8 plate, and built up walls, and added a few stones, and a little seaweed for good measure…

It looks pretty dull. lets fill it in with a treasure trove, a shark and fish as well as a diver.

It’s starting to look like a place of action now. The Xtra bag has really enhanced the look of our MOC. Infact, I now want to add a surface level… perhaps add a minifigure on the surfboard, with the swim fins, and find somewhere for our parrot to sit…

And let’s stack them together, to complete our double decker vignette.

I love the life that this little polybag adds to our scene: I found myself a little bemused at the combination of historical (eg treasure chest), old barrel and contemporary (buoy , fins, surfboard) elements. However they are all useful and can be used with other elements. I give this xtra polybag 4.5/5 arbitrary praise units.

The Sea Accessories polybag contains 24 parts and is ‘coming soon’ as a LEGO Exclusive – it has been reported in the wild in Europe, so I expect wider availability in the new year [Update: Australia – available January 15 at shop.lego.com, $AUD6.99].

How would you use these xtra bags to enhance a LEGO Creation of your own making? Is this a useful set for YOU? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Until next time,

Play Well!

This set was provided by the LEGO Group’s AFOL Engagement team for review purposes. All opinions are my own.