Captain Settle Posted June 18, 2012 Posted June 18, 2012 (edited) [pid][/pid] Classic Pirates. There is no other theme like it. At least that's my opinion, and that's why I bought Saber Island, the smallest of the Bluecoat forts. I decided that although it's already been reviewed, Twice, it deserves another. Stats Theme: Pirates Minifigs: 3 Pieces: 96 (according to brickset) Price: $15.50 but now it's around £20/$20 Instruction's I don't have the box, but the art is the same as the instructions The instructions have no piece callouts but it does have a birdseye view for where to put the pieces on the baseplate. Minifigs: Great design on the minifigs. Two soldiers, which you can't have enough of, and yet another De Martinet The backs have no printing, as none did back then. At least we get two backpacks. We also get a lot of weapons. 2 muskets, 3 swords, a flintlock pistol and a cannon for only 3 figs The Rowing Boat The Row Boat is a nice touch, and really adds to the set in my opinion. You can use it to patrol round the island. The small flag is printed and looks really nice. The island: This is the baseplate you build the outpost on. It's quite small but in the end the set looks quite big. Well at least for the piece count. The finished set looks nice and is should make a proud part of your Lego empire. I especially like how the outpost looks on this side. With the palm tree and nice balcony, it really fits the Caribbean look. Sadly it doesn't look as good from the back, with no wall or fence for playability. At least you get a sword holder. You get another printed flag, just a lot bigger this time. The complete set looks brilliant, and looks like a lot more than 92 pieces. Time for Ratings! Playability: A lot of figs and a rowboat to patrol, but without a pirate it will always be hard too have fun with it. 6/10 Price: I got mine for with harbor sentry for £17 including P&P which I think is good. 8/10 Pieces: a lot of big wall pieces, but a nice palm tree is included. 7/10 Edited June 18, 2012 by Captain Settle Quote
StuBoy Posted July 22, 2012 Posted July 22, 2012 Very cool little set, packed with useful accessories and figs for such a small set. Nice review, thanks. Quote
just2good Posted July 22, 2012 Posted July 22, 2012 Nice review, 'Captain Settle'! This is a great classic Pirates set. I love the building, and the baseplate is excellent! I'm amazed I haven't commented on this review before. Sorry about that. Quote
Hive Posted July 22, 2012 Posted July 22, 2012 Nice review. Small sets back then really were more impressive than they are today, imo. Impressive structure given the limited number of bricks used. Quote
Brinstar Posted July 22, 2012 Posted July 22, 2012 This was one of my first pirate sets. I still have my copy somewhere. 3 blue coats and a cannon in a set of this size made it well worth getting. It makes a nice outpost to add to the eldorado fortress. Quote
Skipper Posted July 23, 2012 Posted July 23, 2012 Thanks for the great review Captain Settle! This set looks amazing, whether you're looking for a standalone fortress, a parts pack, or to expand your army. Now do I get two of these or a Lagoon Lockup? Quote
Hive Posted July 23, 2012 Posted July 23, 2012 Thanks for the great review Captain Settle! This set looks amazing, whether you're looking for a standalone fortress, a parts pack, or to expand your army. Now do I get two of these or a Lagoon Lockup? Lagoon Lockup was the biggest Pirate set I had in my childhood, and I had sooo much fun with it... so due to nostalgia, I am of course biased - but I'd say definately go with LL. It has so many things going for it, and there's not really one thing this set has that LL doesn't have as well. Plus more, of course. Quote
Skipper Posted July 23, 2012 Posted July 23, 2012 Lagoon Lockup was the biggest Pirate set I had in my childhood, and I had sooo much fun with it... so due to nostalgia, I am of course biased - but I'd say definately go with LL. It has so many things going for it, and there's not really one thing this set has that LL doesn't have as well. Plus more, of course. The major advantage for me in getting two Sabre Islands would be the minifigures; I already have a Redbeard, so the one in the Lockup would be a repeat, and since I already have an extra shako, two Sabre Islands would let me get my Bluecoat army off to a nice start with 5 infantrymen and 1 officer. But I think you're right--the design of the Lockup is just so superior to that of Sabre Island. It's such a shame, there are so many classic sets that I want, yet so little money! Quote
Dr Leg O Brick Posted July 23, 2012 Posted July 23, 2012 ^Thats damn right! You wait for months for a good deal on a set and none come up, so you end up buying it for £300 only to find it a week later for £65. Great review, you have made my mind up on this set. I think I might hold out for 6276, as I only have three bluecoats and four musketeers. Quote
Bob De Quatre Posted July 23, 2012 Posted July 23, 2012 That brings back memories... How many hours have I played with that tiny island Quote
Darthluke824 Posted July 23, 2012 Posted July 23, 2012 Nice review! I picked one up off Ebay for £16, (Complete with Instructions!) Can't wait to get started! Quote
The Blue Brick Posted July 27, 2012 Posted July 27, 2012 Great review. This little set is quite nice. Quote
Romance14 Posted June 5, 2014 Posted June 5, 2014 This was the first LEGO set I ever got so I've always had a soft spot for it. I lost the instructions and a couple of key pieces so I was unable to build it for a long time. Just recently I purchased the missing pieces and instructions on bricklink so I'm thrilled to have the complete set again. One thing that has always bothered me about this set is the lack of a ladder or stairs for the minifigures to get from the ground to the first or second level of the structure. The Imperial Outpost, that was released in the second wave of Pirate sets, seems to be a larger more efficient version of Sabre Island and it includes a ladder for the mini figures to maneuver around the base. Excellent review by the way! Quote
Captain Fortune Posted June 5, 2014 Posted June 5, 2014 Awesome set, and good memories! However, I find it too basic, too simple. Probably my point of view has changed because of those new sets, full of details and special pieces. Quote
Matthias Posted June 5, 2014 Posted June 5, 2014 Awesome set, and good memories! However, I find it too basic, too simple. Probably my point of view has changed because of those new sets, full of details and special pieces. I don't think it is simple, it is brillant what the disigner made with only one Hand of parts. It is the best bluecoat set in this event. You got a lot of soldiers for one Hand of coins, too. Look at the 2009 little pirates Island, that set looks like playmobil and a little soldiers set was missing at all . I have 3 Sabre Islands and I hope I will become more and more as bonus sets when I buy other sets. Quote
Captain Fortune Posted June 5, 2014 Posted June 5, 2014 I don't think it is simple, it is brillant what the disigner made with only one Hand of parts. It is the best bluecoat set in this event. You got a lot of soldiers for one Hand of coins, too. Look at the 2009 little pirates Island, that set looks like playmobil and a little soldiers set was missing at all . I have 3 Sabre Islands and I hope I will become more and more as bonus sets when I buy other sets. Absolutely agree, I don't deny it! Look at what I said at first: awesome! Whem I said simple and basic, I ment that we can notice the lack of special pieces and accessories if we compare it with de 2009-10 sets. That's all. It's not only about this set. It's just that Lego didn't have the same variety of pieces at that time, all the themes. But the entire design of the Sabre Island is awesome, as well as the minifigs. Quote
SBCMayor Posted March 29 Posted March 29 (edited) Here's another one I wanted to revive. (I'm going to be doing this with a lot of the 1989-1993 sets!) Sabre Island is one of the best value sets Lego ever made. As the OP notes, this set is just 96 pieces, but look what you get! You've got the small outpost, the awesome printed baseplate, the rowboat, the cannons, etc. But at $15.50 USD (roughly $40 USD today) it wasn't exactly an entry-level set for someone trying to expand upon their pirate collection. Also to give you an idea of what 96 pieces gets you (and costs you) take a look at some of these sets available today: Police Car Electric Car (The price on this one surprises me because I got it for under $8. Jungle Explorer ATV ATV and Otter Habitat I have each of these examples except the Jungle Explorer. They're all cool little sets. The designs and models at the entry level end of any Lego series is so much more elaborate than today. I mean, that police car is way cooler than the one I grew up on! But left alone I think one would grow board quickly. They really need other sets to complement them. I think that's what makes a 96 piece set like Sabre Island so unique. For 96 pieces you really do get a lot, and with 3 mini figures the playability far surpasses some of these newer sets with a similar piece count. So I'll share a couple pics and an amusing story from my childhood involving Sabre Island... Some basic pics: Because Sabre Island is a relatively small set I've have space for a few of them in my display. A couple are on their original baseplate but this one I removed and placed on a sand bar to guard the lagoon behind Eldorado Fortress and Lagoon Lockup! As much as I love it in its original form, I also really love how adaptable it is for uses like this. It really helps fill in the sandy area behind some of the bigger elements of my display. Sabre Island Also makes a great Redcoat outpost: Some of the copies I've purchased on Bricklink or Ebay have been incomplete and I've been able to get them at a great price. I did go ahead and invest in a couple complete sets as well, and have a few copies of the instructions. No box. Some of the elements I've been willing to do without are the row boat since I have several and if the structure is in good shape and the price is right, I'd be willing to consider one without the mini figures, as well as the printed baseplate since I have a few extras of those and am fine with placing the structure on other elements. I have a total of 5, with 2 of them being Redcoat outposts. The color scheme matches nicely with the Imperial Trading post so incorporating into that set is almost as perfect as incorporating into Eldorado Fortress. Also notice how they're mirror images? Another small and simple modification that makes this set so awesome. Sabre Island was released in 1989. At the time I had a few Lego sets but Lego was competing with baseball, hot wheels, GI Joe and the like for my affections. I did notice the sets on the toy isle but when I really took the time to reconstruct the timeline for when I really took notice it would have been late summer of 1990 when my cousin was visiting and he had this set. I loved it and started to really take interest in this new Pirates theme. As I said on my review of the Carribean Clipper, my mom indicated that set was probably not going to have my name on it under our Christmas tree. So I asked for Sabre Island, since it seemed like a nice balance: still a lot of playability and it gets me one of the mid-size sets in the line. That Christmas, I was surprised to find instead of Sabre Island, a big bucket of off brand legos designed in a military theme. I was familiar with this because it was on the same toy isle as the actual Legos. My mom paid more for it than she would have for Sabre Island, but it had way more pieces. I was extremely disappointed but I wasn't a horrible kid either so I thanked my parents and later that day started tinkering with the army pieces. One thing I notices right away was the plate pieces were 1/2 the size of the brick pieces, whereas it was 1/3 for Lego plates. It also came with a baseplate that was as wide as a 16 stud plate, but it wasn't 16x16 like Sabre Island's plate. Maybe 16x12? It's been a long time. Anyway the tank or cannon or whatever was insanely difficult to build and the design was not great, so it fell apart easily. So, being the industrious lad that I was, I fashioned a very crude "Sabre Island" out of it, using the long cylinder intended to be the main gun on a tank as the trunk of the palm tree. I couldn't make a boat. I made the tower and fit it onto the awkwardly sized plate and set it all aside. Later my mom saw it and asked what it was, and why I didn't make the models the set was designed for. I said I tried and they kept breaking so I just tried to make the set I really wanted. She asked what set and I showed her from my catalogue. She explained she thought I would like this better since it was military and had more pieces. I said it was a nice thought (again, I wasn't a horrible kid) but I was really hoping for Sabre Island. It was not long after that my parents bought me and my siblings each "Buried Treasure" and I had my first entry into Lego Pirates. And shortly after that our situation improved. In 1991 I got Lagoon Lockup for Christmas, and in 1992 the Imperial Flagship. So I did have an appreciable amount of these sets as a kid. It wasn't until early 1992 I got Sabre Island, a solid year and a half after first seeing it. I instantly paired it next to my Lagoon Lockup to make what was to me a nice Imperial Outpost. By then I also had the Harbor Sentry and for the Pirates, had Redbeard and Will from Lagoon Lockup, Buried Treasure, and the Castaway's raft. So a decent number of both pirates and soldiers. Today Sabre Island still ranks among my favorites for its simplicity and comprehensive design. When I started collecting vintage sets in this theme, Buried Treasure was my first purchase and Sabre Island followed soon after. I know some of the critiques include the interior space is too small to do anything with, no ladders to the upper levels (they didn't exist as pieces yet in 1989) and lack of interior detail. I am okay with the sparse details, I love it for what it is. It wasn't my first set in the theme, and when I really piece together the timeline, it took me longer than I initially thought/remembered to get this set. But I still credit this one for being the set that spurred my interest in the series, and the series for being what catapulted Lego from just another toy to my absolute favorite. Edited March 29 by SBCMayor Quote
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