REVIEW: 4192 The Fountain of Youth

[malleable]

Thanks for the review! I'm looking forward to getting some of those 2x2 round profile bricks, though I wish they included just one more so that I could make even columns!

[soc399]

My Blackbeard's sword and beard are really soft rubber. Are everybody else's squishy?

[deskp]

My Blackbeard's sword and beard are really soft rubber. Are everybody else's squishy?

i believe everyones ar elike that, its so that the cannon fuses in hes beard wont snap off as easily(I would brefer the beard without it to be honest)

[Red Bricks]

I watched the new film and the Fountain doesn't look anything like that, But it looks like a nice set

[Such]

*WARNING SPOILERS*

Haha I totally agree with red bricks

Having watched the film, I'm wondering whether the lego designers did before phoning it in with this set. There's so much more they could have done with it, especially considering the arrival of the spanish. To not even have the chalices present here is abysmal.

I'll still buy it though

[Mr_Malfoy]

This set does have many flaws , but the minifigs in it are great . I'll have to get this set just to complete the collection.

[Vindicare]

*WARNING SPOILERS*

Haha I totally agree with red bricks

Having watched the film, I'm wondering whether the lego designers did before phoning it in with this set. There's so much more they could have done with it, especially considering the arrival of the spanish. To not even have the chalices present here is abysmal.

I'll still buy it though

No, they're there...just...pearl gold(?). I don't get it? All the other sets were very accurate, and then...this? I don't want to say much, for those who haven't seen it. But, what was Lego looking at when they designed this one?

--SPOILER ALERT--

The map and compass shouldn't be there. As said above, the chalices should be silver. There's no waterfall there. The fountain is all wrong.

Edited May 22, 2011 by Legocrazy81

[al13ns]

yup, this lego fountain of youth set is totally different from the one shown in the movie. i bought it because of barbossa minifig.

[brick-a-block]

~SPOILER~

I bought this set before I watched the film today, totally rubbish (the Lego set that is).

I seldom comment but this set infuriates me. The denouement for Curse was perfectly depicted in the Isla de Muerta set, but this set has so much incongruity, that I think LEGO needs to go back to the drawing board.

So I don't repeat what others have said I'll draw people's attention to the waterfall. If my memory serves correctly there was no waterfall, or at least not obviously like this in the scene. There was instead an arch (of irregular more natural appearance) that had a small trickle of water, that I'm certain LEGO could have depicted better.

The fountain in the centre I'm uncertain why it belongs in this set to begin with. It appears to allude to an actual 'fountain' of youth, but I can respect if someone defends this piece as the antecedent to the Fountain of Youth scene, the one where all the pirates are in the cave and are teleported through the water ceiling.

Some Spanish figures, as someone mentioned before, with the musketeer/Barbossa hat for the leader and say another Spanish soldier holding the Spanish standard would have enthused me moreover if included.

What would have been better is a water base with a few broken bevelled areas to depict the tile/stone floor, surrounded by water, with say four higher columns than the ones provided.

Not to mention a reimagination of the actual 'Fountain of Youth' wouldn't go astray.

If someone is prepared to complete a new LEGO company design for this model with some of the suggestions above that'd be amazing. I'd certainly like to redesign the scene but as if it was still a step-by-step instruction.

Any takers to the challenge?

Chalices too

[Indyfan4ever]

Hey Guys! I think the set is actually spot on and looks exactly the way it should...let me explain! I believe that when Disney and Lego came together to work on these POTC sets, Disney gave Lego concept art from the movies production. To my knowledge, Disney was going with this design of the fountain, but decided during production to actually change the design to the fountain we now see in the film. It was too late in the game for Lego to change the designs, and they just went with what they were given. I recently bought "The Art of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides" and it has loads of production notes, aswell as concept art. There are TONS of different designs that were drawn up for the fountain. And yes, there is a design that looks EXACTLY like the Lego set! I have added a picture for all of your viewing pleasure:

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

So really, I think Lego did what they could with what they were given. Just like the Cyrstal Skulls in the Indiana Jones sets...those skulls were designed on the early concept drawings and not the finished product.

*Whoosh* How's that for a first post

-Chris

[David Thomsen]

Spoilers (Although I think that tag is meaningless at this point...)

The design of the fountain doesn't bother me in the slightest. It's not film accurate, but I find this one much more interesting that the version in the film, as a toy. It also doesn't bother me that there are some extra bits that aren't supposed to be there.

I am a bit sad about the exclusion of the Spanish, though. Maybe next wave...

[dotmike]

(River Song)

I find this thread fascinating, and seeing the original pre-production concept art explains a lot about how the set came to look like it does. Thank you for posting it!

For play, I built a more movie like Fountain of Youth, embodying the "hole in a rock" look that they went with in the final film. Here it is:

[David Thomsen]

This is my point. Accurate to the film, yes, if a little too big... but who would be excited by this as a set?

[Fives]

Hey Guys! I think the set is actually spot on and looks exactly the way it should...let me explain! I believe that when Disney and Lego came together to work on these POTC sets, Disney gave Lego concept art from the movies production. To my knowledge, Disney was going with this design of the fountain, but decided during production to actually change the design to the fountain we now see in the film. It was too late in the game for Lego to change the designs, and they just went with what they were given. I recently bought "The Art of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides" and it has loads of production notes, aswell as concept art. There are TONS of different designs that were drawn up for the fountain. And yes, there is a design that looks EXACTLY like the Lego set! I have added a picture for all of your viewing pleasure:

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

So really, I think Lego did what they could with what they were given. Just like the Cyrstal Skulls in the Indiana Jones sets...those skulls were designed on the early concept drawings and not the finished product.

*Whoosh* How's that for a first post

-Chris

Thank you for clearing this up! Personally, I think that they should have gone with this design instead of the one from the film. The fountain in the film looks very underwhelming. This would have made it seem worth the journey! I'm glad we got this as a set. It looks way better, I think.

[Gryphon Ink]

Disney was going with this design of the fountain, but decided during production to actually change the design to the fountain we now see in the film. It was too late in the game for Lego to change the designs, and they just went with what they were given.

This is exactly what I suspected. It didn't make sense that TLG would go so spectacularly wrong in the rendition of a fairly simply set. I had been looking online for concept art that would have shown this, but couldn't find any, so thanks for providing the evidence!

I agree with what David Thomsen is saying, too. Inaccurate the Lego set may be, but it looks a lot better as a fountain and works better with other themes as well. I'm not sure I want to buy this, but it's a nice little set. Except for the shower curtain, anyway.

[Indyfan4ever]

Thank you for clearing this up! Personally, I think that they should have gone with this design instead of the one from the film. The fountain in the film looks very underwhelming. This would have made it seem worth the journey! I'm glad we got this as a set. It looks way better, I think.

In the book, it says the director went with the "rock" design because he wanted the foutain to be more earthly and mythical, instead of a "fountain" that was man-made...which I agree with this stand point. I think it was smart to go with the stone structure instead of the man-made looking fountain. The also go on in the book about the mythology of the foutain of youth, and how it was discorved 200yrs prior to On Stranger Tides, and that a temple was built around the rock like fountain...hence the sculptures and pillars surrounding it.

Hopes this clears up the choice of the look :)

-Chris

[Hive]

I just built this set as my very first POTC set. Exciting!

I must say though that I have no real interest in POTC as a theme and despise fleshie figs, so I got it only because I felt it had elements that could be used for regular Pirates (and perhaps Castle).

As a set, I find it pretty unspectacular... the built elements are decent, though nothing special - and doesn't give you much of a structure, but only a scene (as is often the case with licensed themes). I don't personally care much for play value, but with 3 figs and 4 swords it's not too bad.

As mentioned, I don't care about fleshie figs and will (try to) sell Jack Sparrow and Blackbeard on Bricklink - but I'm happy that Barbarossa does not contain any flesh on his torso, so I'll keep him and just replace his head with a good old yellow counterpart. I'm loving this fig already.

The parts are pretty good though, as there are some unusual (at least for me) elements/colors in there. The dark green and trans-blue pieces in particular falls to my liking. And the map and compass are pretty nifty pieces as well. In fact, there aren't many pieces in this set I have too many of (if any at all). So good selection.

The price, as with most licensed sets, is way too much though. Even though I got it for slightly below half price, I don't really think it represents terrific value for money. But decent. Would never ever have bought it at full price though.

All in all, I find the set unspectacular but the individual pieces quite interesting. So that's my 2 cents, from the perspective of someone not into the theme as such.

[Huntleyfx]

I've been going back on forth on this for a while, but if it is on sale when I make it to Walmart next, I will probably end up picking this up. Granted, it will also be instantly parted out, with the skeleton going to the hoard, Barbossa being parted out to my Imperials, the bricks going right into a bin, and Blackbeard and Sparrow going different directions.