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[Lorentzen]

The review:

This set is the follow-up to the massively popular Forbidden Island, that was released in the virgin year of the Lego Pirates - 1989

Two years later, in 1991, the now succesful Lego Pirates, with Redbeard as their leader, thought it necessary to build an island big enough, to house all of their loot, and even park their beauty of a ship - the Black Seas Barracuda.

Rock Island Refuge, is in my opinion the perfect hideout for the swashbuckling swashbucklers of the Caribbean seas...

I'll show you why

Let's start with the manual:
This is a random page - and I would like to say that RIR is a bit difficult for younger Lego fans to build - but that does not make the set a bad investment, because the kids should be able to build it, by concentrating a bit - which is a good and important thing to master; concentration...


The many accessories

Flags, and a rare blue and white sail:


Shark, canon, treasure chest w. gold, and a barrel w. a sword


Weapons, animals, treasure map, and oars:


This set has many nice accessories, but one of the best things, is the red rowing boat with the blue sail. Further more you get a raft, which can transport loot from a pirate ship onto the dock of the Rock Island Refuge.

Let's take a closer look at those two:

The magnificent rowing boat:
I've played around with photoshop for this review - I borrowed some of the CG Backgrounds from classic-pirates.com


The raft:


This set comes with a bunch of pirates and two imperial soldiers:


Four men, and one woman - she has to be tough to keep up with these guys...


Whoa!! They are ready to fight for their belongings.

I think that 7 minifigs is a great number of minifigs for this kind of set. We are always begging for a lot of minifigs, and to get seven all at once is great.

On to the actual Island:

The baseplate is similar to the 1989 Eldorado Fortress, only this one has green rocks instead of grey rocks.

This set is also a bit larger than the Eldorado Fortress, because it has the extra blue plate.

Here are some pictures of the set in its entirety:







What a great island - it is a revamping of the Forbidden Island - the design is similar, with a lot of palm tree leaves, the black castle walls, the suspension bridges, the prison cells, and the grey stairs etc. etc.

Here are some pictures of the details on the island - i.e. the prison cell, the treasure hold, the suspension bridges, the crane tower, the dock, the stairs etc. etc.

The prison cell:




The suspension bridges:

The crane tower:


further down, where you can see the dock:


The dock:


The cannon:




The treasure hold:




Uhh... why is there no floor to the side of that hatch?

This be the last picture in this review, arrrr:



I loved to build this set, and I love that you get 7 minifigs, a rowing boat with a sail, and a raft, with this set.

The two soldiers are great for armybuilding, and you get a woman pirate, which is always a nice change.

On to my verdict!

Design: 9/10 - I've always loved the classic pirate line, before TLG changed it into Islander themes, and Armada stuff
This right here is perfect! almost... why is there such a large hole on top of the treasure hold? The designers should have made something there. After all, this is quite a large set.

Playability: 10/10 - you get so much playability with this set. Two soldiers and their rowing boat, a raft, a dock, a treasure hold/dungeon, a prison cell, a firing canon... 7 seven minifigs! The possibilities are endless, and if you have ship, you can park it at this island and then you get even more out of this set. Perfect!

Parts: 10/10 there are a large number of great parts to this set. Two suspension bridges, some stairs, the baseplate, the extra blue plate, the palm tree leaves, the two boat riggings, the rare blue and white sail with the small rowing boat mast, the rowing boat, all the black castle walls, a canon - I could keep on going...

Price: 10/10 - I think $66 back then was a fair price, especially compared to what you get. Just look at the parts,the playability and the amount of minifigs.

I hope you enjoyed my second Pictorial review (Skull's Eye Schooner being the first) - let me know if I'm missing something, or if there are some pictures you would like to see. Unfortunately, I don't have the box :(

This post has been edited by Erdbeereis: 20 April 2010 - 02:00 AM

[Bonaparte]

When I say this review I thought you were a reviewers academy student. But then I check and saw you aren't. I can only say that this review is amazing! The backgrounds which you added to several of the pictures are extremely well done. The structure of you review is perfect. You are a natural talent and could teach at our academy!

This is a set which I don't own, but it certainly has a high playability factor. If I should find it for a reasonable prize I might get me a copy. It's not on top of my list, but still a pretty decent set.

[General Armendariz]

Wow, you are amazing at this stuff. A very well done review! I have the Forbidden Island
But this set looks way better. You should definetly be a teacher. And those backgrounds are flawless!

[Logbo]

Sweet review. I shall now be looking for this set on ebay to satisfy my pirating needs.

[legotrainfan]

For me this set is outstanding! There are even two boats (one boat plus one raft) for both the soldiers and pirates, and I find its overall shape awesome. Nice review, by the way!

[Sandy]

A fantastic set and a great review!

I just have to ask why some of the pictures have digital backgrounds while others don't?

Also, boo to your sexism! I say the male pirates have to be tough to keep up with the courageous pirate woman!

[Zorro]

Good review, I think you would definatly be of good value to the Academy!

Sandy, on Mar 26 2009, 11:23 AM, said:

Also, boo to your sexism! I say the male pirates have to be tough to keep up with the courageous pirate woman!

Now you are being the sexist here!
We, poor men, being pushed away by the "courageous" pirate woman!

[Logbo]

Death to all wenches!

[Sandy]

Zorro, on Mar 26 2009, 12:45 PM, said:

Now you are being the sexist here!
We, poor men, being pushed away by the "courageous" pirate woman!

Okay, I'm sorry. I should've said that the pirate woman is equal in courage and swashbuckling to the men.

[General Armendariz]

Logbo, on Mar 26 2009, 04:18 AM, said:

Death to all wenches!

Death? What do you mean? We need 'em!

[Lorentzen]

Sandy, on Mar 26 2009, 11:23 AM, said:

A fantastic set and a great review!

I just have to ask why some of the pictures have digital backgrounds while others don't?

Also, boo to your sexism! I say the male pirates have to be tough to keep up with the courageous pirate woman!

This is due to laziness :) - I'm gonna re-upload some new pictures soon, instead of those without the digi background

oh... and sorry about the sexism :) - I tend to forget that girls and women also love Lego

thanks for all the nice comments people have made

[descale]

Thanks for this great review! It's really a nice pirates island, I like rowing boat with imperial sail.

[Ratshot]

Do to this review, I think I will purchase this set over the coarse of summer vacation.

[Lorentzen]

I thought I'd bump this review for those who haven't seen it yet. It hasn't been indexed so I thought I could help those who didn't know I made the review into getting to know this set a little better

[SlyOwl]

Panel walls and the weird crane aside, this is a great set.
It's got all the things I love about classic-pirates - the neat docks, trapdoors, bountiful weapons, and, as is common, some random boat parts thrown in, for ship expansion.
I tend to think of this as the Pirates' Eldorado Fortress or Imperial Trading Post, as it was the biggest of their bases, with plenty of extras and stuff to do.
Plus, it's not so famous or collectable, so it can be picked up pretty cheaply.
And it contains the ultra-rare 2x2x3 double slope in light grey -

Lorentzen, on Jun 8 2009, 08:05 PM, said:

I thought I'd bump this review for those who haven't seen it yet. It hasn't been indexed so I thought I could help those who didn't know I made the review into getting to know this set a little better

Added. The system for indexing reviews is on an as-and-when basis (unlike MOCs, where it's just one batch of indexing every fortnight or so), so it must have been missed