[OFFICIAL] 10320 Eldorado Fortress - Available NOW

[F1stzz]

3 hours ago, GeoBrick said:

Imagine what one could do with two inverted convex slopes and a single wedge plate.

Create a winch platform on the 10320 crane

Lol, this way the crane, being a huge structure already, gets even bigger, but at least starts to make more sense  I'd simply make the whole tower twice as wider and the crane twice as smaller (perfect example here by markus19840420). But for people who are fine with everything about the crane design in 10320 except unreachability of the winch for minifigs — absolutely, your suggestion is probably the easiest & most efficient way to fix the issue  

[DonQuixote]

Most people compare the new minifigs with the minifigs from 2015 but why not compare to the original from 1989. Yes they have have blue printing on a white torso and because of that the sides and back are white. But the front looks so much better than the new ones. Am I the only one who prefers the 1989 minifigs over the new ones? 

Even Jang (my favourite Lego YouTube reviewer) says that the printing quality is  bad.

I encourage other companies to steal the patent of the minifig and do a better job. Now that's spoken like a true pirate. Yaargh! 

[Yperio_Bricks]

29 minutes ago, DonQuixote said:

I encourage other companies to steal the patent of the minifig and do a better job. Now that's spoken like a true pirate. Yaargh! 

Speaking as a customer: Imagine the minifig would not be protected. We would have a never ending flow of history themed minifigs by Lego's competitors. Would be heaven on earth

[DonQuixote]

2 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

Speaking as a customer: Imagine the minifig would not be protected. We would have a never ending flow of history themed minifigs by Lego's competitors. Would be heaven on earth

Oh yes! Already drooling by the idea of it!  And more civilians for the castle and pirate theme please . Such a shame there is no merchant and his wife for the ship in this new set. I want the old themes re imagined. Not a lazy copy of something that I allready have that even has better minifigs.  

I cannot spend 215€ on this set. I am so dissapointed with the prints, the office, the ugly doors,no civilians... Instead I bought Rivendell for 400€. I used my VIP points. And I am not even a Lord of the Rings fan  But that set is

gorgeous and it got the love from the designers that Eldorado Fortress did not get.

Edited July 25, 2023 by DonQuixote

[jodawill]

3 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

Most people compare the new minifigs with the minifigs from 2015 but why not compare to the original from 1989. Yes they have have blue printing on a white torso and because of that the sides and back are white. But the front looks so much better than the new ones. Am I the only one who prefers the 1989 minifigs over the new ones? 

Even Jang (my favourite Lego YouTube reviewer) says that the printing quality is  bad.

I encourage other companies to steal the patent of the minifig and do a better job. Now that's spoken like a true pirate. Yaargh! 

No, you're not the only one. Not only the colors and the quality of the print, but the design itself was superior in 1989, by a long sea mile.

I have both versions of Eldorado Fortress on my table right now. I just asked my seven year old son which one he likes better. He said he likes the new building better because he can open it up and reach his hands in. Then I asked him which soldiers he likes better, and he said he likes the old ones. I asked him why, and he said he doesn't know - the old one just looks better. I'd say his opinion is the most objective you can get because he isn't tainted by nostalgia, and unlike me, he gets really excited about things that are new and different. 

[dimc]

44 minutes ago, jodawill said:

Then I asked him which soldiers he likes better, and he said he likes the old ones. I asked him why, and he said he doesn't know - the old one just looks better.

There's definitely something endearing about the basic smiley heads of yesteryear. I love when I get a bunch of them in some vintage haul.

[jodawill]

2 minutes ago, dimc said:

There's definitely something endearing about the basic smiley heads of yesteryear. I love when I get a bunch of them in some vintage haul.

I agree. I don't like to build with sad or angry minifigures. Whenever I get a new Lego set, the first thing I always do is toss out any head with a smirk, frown, or angry face and replace them with whatever happy faces I can find. I know it probably sounds weird, but I think the minifigure's faces affect my mood while I'm building. And I always prefer generic faces over specific ones because I want things that can be repurposed, and an army of simple smiley faces looks a lot better than an army of two or three faces that are so specific, they all look like the same person.

The homemaker figures were great too. My father in law just brought us some Legos he got at a garage sale for 50 cents. It had two bluecoats and most of the parts from the homemaker set 190.

We built some of the homemaker set before I washed the parts. My kids loved it. So far, we're only missing the black hat. If you look at the all of the ideas on the box, it's just incredible how much you can build with so few parts. The homemaker figures were genius. You could build them with whatever clothes you want, or not include a body at all so you can build at a smaller scale, like this school bus. You've got to love that castle too!

(Disclaimer: This isn't my picture. Someone just happened to post one of these on Mercari right after I washed our parts last night. Unfortunately, I don't have the box.)

I never realized before I looked at the instructions for this set that they used the same face for the grandma and the grandpa. It's crazy because if you see that face with the old lady hair, you'd think it looks feminine. But then you swap out the hair with a hat, and it makes a very convincing old man. It's fantastic! It's so simple, but I think the designers put a lot of thought into that face.

[dimc]

7 minutes ago, jodawill said:

I agree. I don't like to build with sad or angry minifigures. Whenever I get a new Lego set, the first thing I always do is toss out any head with a smirk, frown, or angry face and replace them with whatever happy faces I can find. I know it probably sounds weird, but I think the minifigure's faces affect my mood while I'm building. And I always prefer generic faces over specific ones because I want things that can be repurposed, and an army of simple smiley faces looks a lot better than an army of two or three faces that are so specific, they all look like the same person.

The homemaker figures were great too. My father in law just brought us some Legos he got at a garage sale for 50 cents. It had two bluecoats and most of the parts from the homemaker set 190.

We built some of the homemaker set before I washed the parts. My kids loved it. So far, we're only missing the black hat. If you look at the all of the ideas on the box, it's just incredible how much you can build with so few parts. The homemaker figures were genius. You could build them with whatever clothes you want, or not include a body at all so you can build at a smaller scale, like this school bus. You've got to love that castle too!

(Disclaimer: This isn't my picture. Someone just happened to post one of these on Mercari right after I washed our parts last night. Unfortunately, I don't have the box.)

I never realized before I looked at the instructions for this set that they used the same face for the grandma and the grandpa. It's crazy because if you see that face with the old lady hair, you'd think it looks feminine. But then you swap out the hair with a hat, and it makes a very convincing old man. It's fantastic! It's so simple, but I think the designers put a lot of thought into that face.

To be honest, I love that almost all of my vintage battle minifigs (pirates, castle in particular) all look like they're having fun so it feels more like cosplay or a ren faire or something like that. As it is, I am planning to build a central city around some modulars and creator 3-in-1 buildings, then some old leisure houses and buildings around that, and then each major theme will be like a theme park. So my lego city people can go to spaceland, or pirateland, or castleland.

Those old builds are so blocky but so unmistakably Lego. I love it.

[iragm]

On 7/25/2023 at 6:22 AM, DonQuixote said:

Am I the only one who prefers the 1989 minifigs over the new ones? 

No, I greatly prefer the 1989 figures over the 2015 line and these.  These figures are fine, though, and I think it is mostly my nostalgia that makes me prefer the old ones.

On 7/25/2023 at 6:54 AM, Yperio_Bricks said:

Imagine the minifig would not be protected. We would have a never ending flow of history themed minifigs by Lego's competitors. Would be heaven on earth

You can buy counterfeit minifigs for pennies on certain sites.  The problem is that the quality is not there, so I and most others will stick to genuine.

[evancelt]

Eldorado Fortress set 10320 has now been inventoried on Bricklink and individual new pieces are now starting to get listed.

[Horation]

On 7/26/2023 at 5:55 PM, iragm said:

No, I greatly prefer the 1989 figures over the 2015 line and these.  These figures are fine, though, and I think it is mostly my nostalgia that makes me prefer the old ones.

You can buy counterfeit minifigs for pennies on certain sites.  The problem is that the quality is not there, so I and most others will stick to genuine.

Honestly, the printing doesn't bother me but I do agree that there could be room for improvement (and I understand other's concerns), and I kind of wish some billionaire were to copy the design and start making quality counterfeits (would be more productive than buying twitter... and a lot less expensive!).

Edited August 3, 2023 by Horation
extra stuffs

[Ruthin Road]

I am torn by this set and want to like it. When I first saw the pictures I was excited - it's totally Eldorado Fortess! However the more I looked, the more doubts crept in. The towers appear stolid, too densely built and lacking in definition. The detailing and use of red bricks is clumsy in places. And compared to the original, dare I say a bit ugly?

I fear the (understandable) decisions to recreate the baseplate in bricks and introduce the modular feature have created too many compromises with the overall look of the set, and overly restricted the designers. I wonder whether the trading post-inspired modular feature would have been better as an alternate build?

Unfortunately I don't think the extra features are enough to surpass my cheap Bricklinked MOD of the original although I have been inspired to create an extension with underground sections. It's a shame because it is a respectful and thoughtful homage to the original set. Just shows how difficult it is to improve on the original.

I really liked the recreated Forest Hideout and Blacktron Cruiser (other than the stickers), and do wonder whether the modern reinterpretations are better suited to selected smaller sets?

[Bfin9691]

There are some bits I'd change if I was the designer, but over all how cam you go past 3ldorado fortress!! One of the best sets lego ever made!!

[Arjo]

What are your thoughts about 10320 vs viking village? The latter has some ornate finishes and no print issues with the (few) minifigs. I am unsure what my owns thoughts are: 10320 should appeal to me more than VV but I think TLG’s execution of the village actually pleases me more. Might be the fact TLG went a bit too retro with the fortress in comparison.

[Yperio_Bricks]

26 minutes ago, Arjo said:

What are your thoughts about 10320 vs viking village? The latter has some ornate finishes and no print issues with the (few) minifigs. I am unsure what my owns thoughts are: 10320 should appeal to me more than VV but I think TLG’s execution of the village actually pleases me more. Might be the fact TLG went a bit too retro with the fortress in comparison.

I think so too. The viking village looks much more detailed and lives up to modern standards much better than Eldorado. I assume the four 1x4 tiles are printed and they look great, as well as the other ornaments and shields! And while Eldorado is Lego exclusive the viking village will show up on shelves of selected retailers (as far as i know) and that will make the already good price even better.

Even i might be tempted to get the VV sooner or later

[F1stzz]

22 hours ago, Arjo said:

What are your thoughts about 10320 vs viking village? The latter has some ornate finishes and no print issues with the (few) minifigs. I am unsure what my owns thoughts are: 10320 should appeal to me more than VV but I think TLG’s execution of the village actually pleases me more. Might be the fact TLG went a bit too retro with the fortress in comparison.

Long story short, "IDEAS" > "ICONS". "IDEAS" theme recently delivers the quality that stands head & shoulders above the "ICONS" line (apart from 10316 Rivendell I guess, tho minifigs are mostly a downgrade compared to their 2011-2013 counterparts), to the point I feel like some shifts in designers team of the latter are needed, lol  

Talking about the sets you've mentioned in particular, well, they both have their highs and lows, but VV is $100 cheaper & is a better designed product overall. It only has a couple hundred pieces less, but at the same time it's obvious that EF piece count is artificially inflated, so in the end it's not that big of a difference. 4 less minifigs for VV as well, but all of them have an original leg printing (none of it is present in EF for the higher asking price), a couple of vikings have an original torso printing too (same with EF, but the quality of those is strikingly worse). The only obvious flaw here is horned helmets (gotta love the options foreign outsources are going for while designing sets eventually made by Danish company, which still to this day has a proper viking helmet available in PAB, kek), but EF also has such a thing as non-printed shakos, so it's kind of a draw here in my eyes   All in all, I really consider VV a solid offer for its asking price, while EF IMO could've rivaled it only if priced at around $180 mark — at its current position on the market EF is honestly an overpriced BS in comparison.

Edited September 4, 2023 by F1stzz

[Horation]

On 7/18/2023 at 4:39 PM, F1stzz said:

With the amount of negative feedback about the printing quality on the figs, I'm getting convinced that in this case it's not just a defect present in a minor percentage of sets, but rather a deliberate shortcut taken by TLG to cheapen out the production at max. Having high quality prints is too much for a premium $220 product within the ICONS line, I guess. 

I told you it was intentional from the start, but apparently I was gaslighting...

[F1stzz]

3 hours ago, Horation said:

I told you it was intentional from the start, but apparently I was gaslighting...

What you told was TLG may have had some "unwashed uniforms" concept in mind while f'cking up the prints, lol, and I'm saying they've simply cut the costs & cheapened out on the paint quality. It ain't the same, cut that cringe already. The argument about the quality of torso printing is long past its relevancy as pretty much all of the major reviewers along with their audiences have agreed that it's just bad. Move on, lad. 

[Mister Phes]

Is everything alright here?

[Horation]

As you can see, me and @F1stzz get along like a cat and a dog... 

3 hours ago, F1stzz said:

What you told was TLG may have had some "unwashed uniforms" concept in mind while [redacted] up the prints, lol, and I'm saying they've simply cut the costs & cheapened out on the paint quality. It ain't the same, cut that cringe already. The argument about the quality of torso printing is long past its relevancy as pretty much all of the major reviewers along with their audiences have agreed that it's just bad. Move on, lad. 

Nope, I said that I quite liked the design as it was, and that it reminded me of unwashed uniforms, not that Lego did so for that exact reason, but you insisted that this was a defect, and that I was trying to convince everyone that it was an intentionally good decision (which I wasn't trying to do). Now it ain't the same thing to be saying I think a choice is OK and saying I think it was the best choice ever, cut the cringy made-up lies about my arguments already, lad, and instead maybe read what I wrote instead of what you wish that I wrote... 

[F1stzz]

22 minutes ago, Horation said:

[...] you insisted that this was a defect [...]

Which at this point was brought up many times by numerous set owners, so I'm not gonna discuss it all over again for a 10th time. Unfortunately, the torso printing quality in 10320 is atrocious. Case is closed.

[Horation]

1 hour ago, F1stzz said:

Which at this point was brought up many times by numerous set owners, so I'm not gonna discuss it all over again for a 10th time. Unfortunately, the torso printing quality in 10320 is atrocious. Case is closed.

But none of them called it a defect, they almost always called it a choice they didn't like. Unfortunately, your are not the ultimate purveyor of the truth, so you can't just unilaterally declare that something is atrocious*

You are not god, nor do you know everything, nor do I, case is closed.

*(even if many others agree with you, since there as many who don't care and even more who might actually like them, don't forget the principle of the loud minority, since I hope you do realise that there were many people complaining about Nixon's job as US president in 1972, didn't stop him and his silent majority from winning in a landslide, nor is it going to stop the silent majority from buying this set en masse without caring for your problems with it)

At least we can all agree the black docks were a great idea right? Oh you don't like those? It's a shame you can't order black parts on the same website that you ordered the set on...oh wait you can, didn't stop you from claiming you couldn't...

[F1stzz]

10 hours ago, Horation said:

But none of them called it a defect, they almost always called it a choice they didn't like. Unfortunately, your are not the ultimate purveyor of the truth, so you can't just unilaterally declare that something is atrocious*

You are not god, nor do you know everything, nor do I, case is closed.

*(even if many others agree with you, since there as many who don't care and even more who might actually like them, don't forget the principle of the loud minority, since I hope you do realise that there were many people complaining about Nixon's job as US president in 1972, didn't stop him and his silent majority from winning in a landslide, nor is it going to stop the silent majority from buying this set en masse without caring for your problems with it)

At least we can all agree the black docks were a great idea right? Oh you don't like those? It's a shame you can't order black parts on the same website that you ordered the set on...oh wait you can, didn't stop you from claiming you couldn't...

Sir, do yourself a favour — seek a professional help. The sooner — the better  

[Mister Phes]

It's probably best we end this particular line of discussion here...

[Rogue Redcoat]

2 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

It's probably best we end this particular line of discussion here...

Before someone joins the banned outlaws I think that's a great idea