[OFFICIAL] 10320 Eldorado Fortress - Available NOW

[jodawill]

4 minutes ago, Time77 said:

Lame; red-beard got replaced because we gotta have 50% women.. ugh. 

More likely because they already did Redbeard in Pirates of Barracuda Bay and they wanted to use this as an opportunity to do something new.

[Time77]

11 hours ago, CaptainMoore said:

It seems that the dual moulded hear with hair has been improved by looking at the detailed pictures on the official website(or i don't remember it was so much detailed).

 

Could be photoshop trickery that the SW people have been experiencing.

[Elephant Knight]

1 minute ago, jodawill said:

More likely because they already did Redbeard in Pirates of Barracuda Bay and they wanted to use this as an opportunity to do something new.

And most adult Pirate fans, who this set is mostly targeted at, probably already have at least a half dozen Redbeards. I know I have around 10.

EKnight

[Time77]

1 minute ago, jodawill said:

More likely because they already did Redbeard in Pirates of Barracuda Bay and they wanted to use this as an opportunity to do something new.

How is that more likely? Every set for the past year has either had a 50% 50% split or 60% 40% (for odd numbers). Barracuda bay came out 3 years ago and is ungodly expensive, so I don't think thats would even make sense.

[EricZhou]

After 31109 and 21322, i will definitely get this one. 

Maybe too many pieces for the plate, and the fortress is a little small, i wish to see a bigger castle.

score:6/10

Edited June 15, 2023 by EricZhou

[azog]

2 hours ago, TeufelHund said:

It's just lazy on Lego's behalf - if they want to have gender balance then make some cool new female torsos (pirates, civilians etc) or include extra male and female heads so the builder can decide what gender their troops are. don't just arbitrarily make half the soldiers female and pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

At least they didn't gender swap the governor I guess, unlike Lion Knights' Castle where you have to accept your castle is ruled by a Queen (unless you have a king available from another source of course).

4 hours ago, F1stzz said:

but instead there are 2 female officers, 1 soldier, which I'm assuming is a transgender, cuz the figure has a feminine face and wears a shako without a hair mold, ANOTHER pirate girl (at this point we'll soon be having more pirate girls than boys, lol)

9 hours ago, F1stzz said:

I mean, what's up? Is this an Eldorado Wokeness or what? This build doesn't look like a fantasy Disney castle, what's going on?

Just change the heads if it bothers you so much. Most of these comments are grossly sexist and you all are just disguising it as, "there was no female soldiers back in the day".

Guess what...it's a fantasy based set, using a fantasy based faction, that's not based on anything historically accurate.

Wait...actually, I want to join this game. Why is the ship so small? A merchant ship that small would have never existed. Also, what's going on with that prison cell? Why is there such an easy way to escape? Also...only 3 cannons? What type of fort would only have 3 cannons? Pretty pathetic defense if you ask me. 

I'm not trying to be rude but I'm sick of these comments. It's so stupid and nobody else cares. Either change the heads or simply don't buy it.

[Classic_Spaceman]

1 hour ago, Time77 said:

Lame; red-beard got replaced because we gotta have 50% women.. ugh. 

Since I already have PoBB, I do not need another Redbeard, so I like that we are getting a new pirate instead. As for the gender ratio, it would still have been 50/50 even if he were included, since the second pirate could have been made female (meaning that Redbeard was not "replaced" by a female pirate). 
 

1 hour ago, jodawill said:

More likely because they already did Redbeard in Pirates of Barracuda Bay and they wanted to use this as an opportunity to do something new.

Yep. 👍
 

1 hour ago, Time77 said:

How is that more likely? Every set for the past year has either had a 50% 50% split or 60% 40% (for odd numbers). Barracuda bay came out 3 years ago and is ungodly expensive, so I don't think thats would even make sense.

Because the target market for this set (nostalgic AFOL Pirates fans) were probably buying LEGO only three years ago when PoBB came out (which was not "ungodly expensive" at the time - $200, which is less than EF!), so TLG safely assumed that we already picked that up and had an updated Redbeard. 
 

 

19 minutes ago, azog said:

Just change the heads if it bothers you so much. Most of these comments are grossly sexist and you all are just disguising it as, "there was no female soldiers back in the day".

Guess what...it's a fantasy based set, using a fantasy based faction, that's not based on anything historically accurate.

I'm not trying to be rude but I'm sick of these comments. It's so stupid and nobody else cares. Either change the heads or simply don't buy it.

I agree completely. 
 

Edited June 15, 2023 by Classic_Spaceman

[eldiano]

Soooo I just saw that the Lego website updated the early release window for July 1st(7th for regular consumers) on the US. OMG 

[TeufelHund]

21 minutes ago, azog said:

Most of these comments are grossly sexist and you all are just disguising it as, "there was no female soldiers back in the day".

I think most of us would be happy for more female minifigs, but just lazily making half your soldiers female is a pretty token and unimaginative effort at achieving gender parity don't you think?

It's not sexist to wish Lego could produce a nostalgia-based set that didn't also include a clumsy lesson in gender politics. 

[Elephant Knight]

9 minutes ago, eldiano said:

Soooo I just saw that the Lego website updated the early release window for July 1st(7th for regular consumers) on the US. OMG 

Same up here in Canada. Less than three weeks to wait then!

EKnight

[Time77]

29 minutes ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

Because the target market for this set (nostalgic AFOL Pirates fans) were probably buying LEGO only three years ago when PoBB came out (which was not "ungodly expensive" at the time - $200, which is less than EF!), so TLG safely assumed that we already picked that up and had an updated Redbeard. 
 

 

Try buying POBB for 200 bucks now..

[Sir Dano]

If you're insecure and need a man leading your pirates that badly then Redbeard is only like 7 bucks on bricklink.

[eldiano]

1 hour ago, Elephant Knight said:

Same up here in Canada. Less than three weeks to wait then!

EKnight

Huge weight off my back with this set being released in less than two weeks!!!  Some reviewers were saying July 4th? struck me as odd then Saw the site change it to July 1st, on a saturday as well, that lego line at the mall is going to be pure hype!!!! 

[LordsofMedieval]

It's cool, but this is definitely not Lego's best work. The dock is extremely weak (black was only used on the original because light brown was in its infancy as a brick color at the time - not because black was a good choice for a dock), and I don't really like the idea of half the part count of the set being devoted to a brick-built stand-in for a baseplate that originally cost them like five cents to make. The direct result of that choice means that the fortress itself is just kind of... hooray? I mean, yes, it looks a lot like the original. But I don't really see anything that's breaking new ground here, either (mostly because all the flexibility they might have had to do something grander was hoovered up by devoting parts to rocks).

I also don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but it's worth pointing out that the palm trees are much less detailed even than the original. Setting aside that Lego has made a conscious decision not to use the newer frond pieces (which, IMO, make for a WAY more convincing palm when done right), these trees lack the iconic multi-piece, shapeable stem. They're instead formed from a dino tail-like single cast trunk. That's just... lame. 

Finally, while it's nice to get the Tradepost ship, I guess this will rule out seeing the Tradepost receive any similar treatment? 

---

*Edit* I guess I'm also going to join the chorus of people who think the 50 percent female characters thing is just... weird. I have no issue with any of the pirates being women - there were definitely lady pirates, and to a great extent the very reality of being a pirate is one of rebellion against societal norms.

However, female soldiers? Uh... right. Sorry, but that's just silly. Women are obviously capable of being soldiers - they're perfectly capable of being knights, samurai, Jedi, wizards, etc., too. But in a theme that is rooted fairly strongly in actual history, seeing female bluecoats just seems jarring. Not saying it's impossible - more just commenting that this is being done to check some kind of political box. And I'm really tired of seeing that in Lego.

Edited June 15, 2023 by LordsofMedieval

[LordsofMedieval]

49 minutes ago, Sir Dano said:

If you're insecure and need a man leading your pirates that badly then Redbeard is only like 7 bucks on bricklink.

Also, that's just uncalled for. Troll somewhere else. 

[TalonCard]

21 minutes ago, LordsofMedieval said:

I don't really like the idea of ~$100 of the set essentially being a stand-in for a baseplate that originally cost them like five cents to make. 

The original raised baseplates were actually one of the most expensive parts of the set; Niels Milan Pedersen (the designer of the original Eldorado Fortress) said in this interview "...the raised baseplate, that is probably one of the worst things I ever worked on." "Also, they cost so much to make that if we put a baseplate in a box, it didn't leave much money left for other bricks. I am not sure, but I have to think that the LEGO Group lost money on all the boxes that those baseplates were in." 

It is basically a lot like the original set in the default model form, but one of the things I like about it was that they managed to break it down into individual components that can be rearranged, so not only do you have the form of the original model; it's also a lot more versitile than the original. Not quite as neat a trick as the base-to-ship transformation of Barracuda Bay, but it's pretty cool.

Edited June 15, 2023 by TalonCard

[LordsofMedieval]

13 minutes ago, TalonCard said:

The original raised baseplates were actually one of the most expensive parts of the set; Niels Milan Pedersen (the designer of the original Eldorado Fortress) said in this interview "...the raised baseplate, that is probably one of the worst things I ever worked on." "Also, they cost so much to make that if we put a baseplate in a box, it didn't leave much money left for other bricks. I am not sure, but I have to think that the LEGO Group lost money on all the boxes that those baseplates were in." 

It is basically a lot like the original set in the default model form, but one of the things I like about it was that they managed to break it down into individual components that can be rearranged, so not only do you have the form of the original model; it's also a lot more versitile than the original. Not quite as neat a trick as the base-to-ship transformation of Barracuda Bay, but it's pretty cool.

I mean, I think you're either going to view it as genius or wasteful. And, for the record, I'm not saying we should see baseplates return - I think they're a garbage part myself. I'm more arguing that, in attempting to capture the original, they (from my perspective) devoted too much to the rock that the fortress sits on, and not the fortress itself.

Again, this is just my own opinion, but I would have preferred to see a new design idea that incorporated elements of both El Dorado Fortress and the Imperial Trading Post, but which wouldn't have been so hamstrung by certain visuals like "we have to build a rock for this thing to sit on, and it has to be this high, etc." *Edit* As an example of this, look at Return to Sabre Island. Yes, it's an idea inspired - loosely - by a classic set, but it's grown beyond that to arguably something that's so, SO much better than this. 

---

It is what it is. And I'll probably still be buying one. I just disagree with some choices they made.

Edited June 15, 2023 by LordsofMedieval

[Marooned Marin]

A thought occurred. With Eldorado fortress now soon on sale, will they forbid any new fortress entry on the LEGO Ideas, or even worse, will they retire all the running submissions?

Last update is on 21. April (at the time of writing) so I guess will find out soon enough.

[LordsofMedieval]

1 minute ago, Marooned Marin said:

A thought occurred. With Eldorado fortress now soon on sale, will they forbid any new fortress entry on the LEGO Ideas, or even worse, will they retire all the running submissions?

Last update is on 21. April (at the time of writing) so I guess will find out soon enough.

I think anything named El Dorado Fortress is almost certainly doomed. But I also think it's fairly likely that any competing idea - anything even close to this - will never be greenlit even if it makes it to 10,000 votes.

I often feel like Lego's releases of sets like these are designed to quell or quiet a market as much as to make money.

"Oh, they're clamoring for an Imperial base again, Bill."

"Third time this week, isn't it?"

"Better release something. That'll shut 'em up for a decade."

[Roebuck]

8 hours ago, Duck said:

July isn't a great month financially for me... do we know how long "LEGO Icons" sets have hung around in the past before retiring, and what their restocking has been like? I feel like there were restock problems with Barracuda Bay for those who didn't buy it instantly?

I think that was because of COVID, but the B-bay was sold out more or less a half year before it retired

8 hours ago, eldiano said:

I am actually impressed he managed to keep this under wraps for so long considering the massive leak of 2023/2024 from a focused group of lego recently.

It is nice to see the set in its full glory for the first time and not a bad picture taken with a potato-camera
I guess a lot of LAN influencers have gotten the set and kept it secret as they should, the focus group was apparently not under NDA (even if I find that strange) and we do not know it we get any sets from that survey. I hope we do at least the amazing medieval village, but could have just been sketch models they do not plan to release anyway 

Captain Redbeard is one of the all time best Lego minifigs however he is very distinct and in the first original waves he was almost like Harry Potter and showed up in most sets. While great it is not a very good army-builder since you only need one, the bluecoats was much better in that regard with normal soldiers or lower officers added in smaller sets so happy they did not include him in the set

11 minutes ago, Marooned Marin said:

A thought occurred. With Eldorado fortress now soon on sale, will they forbid any new fortress entry on the LEGO Ideas, or even worse, will they retire all the running submissions?

Last update is on 21. April (at the time of writing) so I guess will find out soon enough.

I do not see much of a problem since they never choose any of them anyway. I guess the creators miss out on some money when it hit 10 000 but the BL program do not take any sets directly from Ideas anymore (I have no interest in the BL sets so do not follow it closely)?

[CaptainMoore]

2 hours ago, azog said:

Just change the heads if it bothers you so much. Most of these comments are grossly sexist and you all are just disguising it as, "there was no female soldiers back in the day".

Guess what...it's a fantasy based set, using a fantasy based faction, that's not based on anything historically accurate.

[...]

I'm not trying to be rude but I'm sick of these comments. It's so stupid and nobody else cares. Either change the heads or simply don't buy it.

I completely agree with you. It's sickening. You all have the right to complain but some are starting to cross the acceptable line.

Lego has based this theme on history, it never tried to be historically close. Plus it's a toy company aimed primarily at kids, then at AFOL, get over it!

You want to build your army? Fine, do it, change the heads. If you're an army builder you probably already have tons of them.

The antagonist is a woman and not Redbeard? Fine, he is old, has retired and Lady Anchor has taken the lead. Hurray for the new captain!

Lego doesn't follow the lore? You know what? They never cared! Stories on the boxes and comics were for marketing. Except in this world of AFOL, I've never heard aboit those comics. They weren't bestsellers, nearly nobody knows about it. I can even tell you that i tried to read the first issue and didn't like it because the characters didn't match with their behaviour in my own stories when I was a kid.

It's Lego, the greatest thing about is that you can adapt the toys to your liking. You're not prisoner of the company design like for dolls may it be Barbie or GI Joe (yes it's a doll).

You know what? If I had a girl kid, i would love if she could open and build the set with me and then choose a character from either side that represents her in the story of this set. I'm glad Lego had opened the possibility for kids. You adult are supposed to be more mature and capable of adaptation.

[EricZhou]

27 minutes ago, LordsofMedieval said:

they (from my perspective) devoted too much to the rock that the fortress sits on, and not the fortress itself.

that is true, we will pay too much money for the baseplate, all we get is a rock like baseplate.

[Sir Dano]

15 minutes ago, CaptainMoore said:

Lego doesn't follow the lore? You know what? They never cared! Stories on the boxes and comics were for marketing. Except in this world of AFOL, I've never heard aboit those comics. They weren't bestsellers, nearly nobody knows about it. I can even tell you that i tried to read the first issue and didn't like it because the characters didn't match with their behaviour in my own stories when I was a kid.

Same here, I didn't even know about any of this supposed lore until I got online 15 yearse ago so none of it means anything to me.

Edited June 15, 2023 by Sir Dano

[LordsofMedieval]

25 minutes ago, CaptainMoore said:

I completely agree with you. It's sickening. You all have the right to complain but some are starting to cross the acceptable line.

No, it really isn't. But using hyperbole to try and silence people who are making criticisms definitely is crossing a line. Nobody is attacking real women here - they're criticizing a decision made by a company; a decision that was born out of a specific ideology. And trying to cow people into reticence over expressing their feelings on that decision is the very antithesis of free thought. 

This is a forum. The very word was invented to describe a place of debate. Not all views expressed in debates have to be positive. 

Edited June 15, 2023 by LordsofMedieval

[thewatchman]

6 minutes ago, Sir Dano said:

Same here, I didn't even know about any of this supposed lore until I got online 15 yearse ago so none of it means anything to me.

Agree mostly with this, but lore wise is kind of one of the things I like about this and pobb.

 Times moved on, people complaining that the admirals facial hair has changed is ridiculous, he’s older he cant have a beard? My favorite pirate ship is now a trading hub and bar? That’s kinda cool too.