Doddsino

Yeah, I agree regarding the Ice Planet base being the last good one. The problem I had with both the Unitron and Spyrius bases was they used those dark gray BURPs. If they at least changed the color of those, otherwise they just stand out and look...well ugly. Truth be told with Space, I always preferred the vehicles because it seemed a little more practical in their design, whereas any base felt sparse, which is understandable at the time considering they were limited on how large they could market it as. Back to the Eldorado Fortress, I know there was talk of the raised baseplate being expensive to produce. Was that because it was painted or just the structure of it?

Believe me, I understand that you'll never be able to please everyone. And I'm not looking for perfection,simply for them not to cut corners or do things that up the piece count, which in turn ups the price. Trust me, when I initially saw the set, I was ecstatic. But once I started looking over all the decisions that went into it, as well as what I consider flaws that weren't corrected, it quickly dawned on me that this set wasn't for me. If others like it...great! That's awesome. But a lot of the initial feedback I saw was mixed, and most of the people who were disappointed were mentioning that they were going to pick it up any ways, which that's their prerogative...but to me, it is rewarding Lego for a mediocre product, at least with those customers. And if there is one thing that any corporation should never take for granted is the loyalty of their customers. Am I saying that Lego is doing this? Probably not. But I don't want it to ever approach that level, because again if you settle for anything, you will get the minimum. Every time. No set is perfect. But in my eyes, and in the eyes of many others, Lego could have done much much better.

That's my point. They can't do any worse than the initial line. I don't hate it, but I never bothered to pick em up as a kid because the monorail was so expensive, Star Hawk II felt like a second rate Saucer Centurian, the Zenon base was super ugly...and the Crater Cruiser looks like it would break with any serious play (they should had added shock absorbers to the wheels or something). So like I said, Lego couldn't fail any worse than the original line!

While it's my favorite Space series, I'd probably prefer M-Tron. Actually, if they want to do good, they could redo the 1787 Unitron Crater Cruiser. They certainly couldn't make it any worse!

It probably wouldn't have received as much if one of the two were true; 1. It's an entirely original, yet flawed set. 2. It's a reimagining, but it's flawless. Instead...we have a rather flawed reimagining. You know what that screams? LAZY. And again, if this sells well, then expect more mediocre reimaginings. I think we all want high quality sets, and I don't think Lego gets that message if we just settle for whatever. I mean...why do the hard work if it's easier to just slap together an old set with new pieces and sell it for a couple hundred bucks?

While not a direct comparison, what I was going for was that Lego took an existing product that people had an admiration for, and then took the bare basic steps to sell their audience on something "improved". At the end of the day, if this was say...an entirely original set, I'm guessing that more people would be more forgiving. But it's an idea that was half-heartedly updated. If Lego really wanted to make an appeal for nostalgia, just rerelease the old set.

Essentially a deceptively polished product with little to no effort to change or alter it to seem different. Basically slapping a shiny coat of paint on an old run down vehicle in order to draw eyes to something old but to pretend like it's something new. It's what they've been doing with their classic animated movies, going back and making them live action and CGI, while doing absolutely nothing to tell the story any differently or any better.

Oh I get, man. Pirates were probably the series I was most involved in, growing up. I was really disappointed when they got discontinued in 1997, although the sets they released that year were pretty weak. I want nothing more than for Pirates to come back, and come back strong. But that starts with Lego putting in the work. If we accept them at the minimal, then that's what they're going to give us. It's the Disney mindset.

See, I admire your positive approach, but I just can't agree. If I'm buying a new car off the lot, I don't want to be reassured that I can make modifications if I'm uncomfortable with something. I bought the car to drive off the lot, not to alter. I'm buying the set for the set. And if the suggestion is to make modifications to the set, may as well just build my own from scratch if I'm going to "make the set my own". Swapping a few pieces is one thing, but needing to rebuild entire sections? That's not a "yes buy". If I'm not 100% happy with how the set looks, then I'm not going to purchase it. And yes, you can be happy with how a set looks but still make modifications. Eldorado Fortress looks like a hodge podge of things. When it comes to what I prefer with a classic looking set, it should appear "grander" more than "elaborate", not that there isn't anything wrong with elaborate. There's needless detail to bolster the price and the piece count when they could have met in the middle to iron that out, and to maintain the integrity of the original set, which looks far better than this uninspired remake. For your last point, I cannot and will not reward Lego if the belief is that they won't create any other Pirate sets if we don't buy this one. If anything, it'll enable them to continue to go down the lazy road of taking old sets, reimagining them in a sterile fashion that doesn't innovate or even evolve in their approach. Don't reward mediocrity.

Absolutely agreed. That's one of the reasons I'm not going to pick up this set. I don't want Lego going all "Disney Live Action Remake" with their sets.

Eh. I think I'll pass on this one. Honestly, just a little too similar to the original set, while losing all the charm of the simpler version. Not a fan of recreating the baseplate when they could have either created a unique new foundation, or included a baseplate and freed up those pieces for other usage. Maybe if it was bigger or had something uniquely more different, otherwise I'm rather disappointed.

Looking at eBay sold listings, looks like a couple went for around $500.

It's not about the pieces as much as it's about having a more quality set. Again, there's plenty of ways to put new minifigures out there without congesting them into an already expensive set.

I know there was speculation earlier regarding the Pirates of Barracuda Bay set. And while I understand that the set it based off of a concept of the Black Seas Barracuda, overall my impression is that it isn't an inviting set. Granted this is just *my* speculation, so it might sound a little weird. But even when I was a kid, I loved the Pirates theme the most....but I almost completely avoided any shipwrecked based sets, mostly because I could create that "adventure" if I decided to. To me, it was far more interesting to have a fully designed ship, port, inhabited island and whatnot. When I look at the POBB set, I see something that I would have probably done when I was younger. That isn't to take away from the impressive look of the set, but give me something a little better established, and if I decide to add a flair of story to that set, then let it be my own. It's kind of like the Pet Store with the guy painting wall, something that seems added that doesn't really add anything. I really like that larger Caribbean Clipper though. I'd love to see more Imperial ships...maybe even an Armada ship.

Why not just release an expansion pack of minifigures and animals instead of bloating the price and piece count of what could otherwise be a quality set? If limiting the set to 6 minifigures instead of 16 minifigures means that they could make the set 10% bigger without making it pricier, that's the route I'm going to take every time.

This is a franchise I wanted so badly for Lego when I was a kid, but once they went through and made them later on, I just didn't like much of what they made. As noted by a few people, I don't think that today's younger generation is into Indy the same way kids of the 80's and 90's were, at least it doesn't hold on the same way that Star Wars does. Not that it would ever happen, but I would probably be interested if they decided on a modular or two based off of Raiders or ToD. Maybe a Peruvian Temple...however I'd definitely prefer the Thugee Pankot Palace.

Man...what is with these leaked pictures nowadays? How can such bad resolution exist in 2023? Anyways, it's hard to judge...well ANYTHING based off of what I can see, but I'd gladly take LESS minifigures if they included another tower or something.

I will say that Knight Lord's Castle was pretty cool at the time, given they went with more of a tower design. Still kind of kicking myself I never picked it up. Oh well.

The Witch's Magic Manor was one of the few times I had to convince my parents not to buy a set since I found the excessive usage of BURPs to be ugly. But like you, I also entered by Dark Ages around 1998 due to vapid changes I thought Lego was making, whether it was abandoning traditional facial designs, or themes that I didn't like while abandoning others that I did (Pirates, Wild West). And my biggest annoyance as a kid? Adopting the chain pieces over the traditional string rigging. Don't ask me why, but I hated this SO much as a kid.

Yeah, I mean it goes without saying that both sets can co-exist, but look weird together if you're trying to go for a cohesive city or something. It's like the Town modulars, most look good together, but some are just so gaudy that they become an eyesore when displayed next to other more homely buildings. Green Grocer doesn't look good next to the Palace Theater or the Downtown Diner. If it was up to me, I probably would have designed the Blacksmith to be smaller since I prefer larger modulars to be communal in design. Maybe make it an extension of the Medieval Village, or if anything make it a church...which I know will NEVER happen with Lego.

That blacksmith is ripped!!

Or empty boxes..

If it's indeed true they're switching from blind bags to boxes, then that means I'm done searching for these for my girlfriend. I can't wait to go into Target and see the entire case of these boxes all smashed up. Feelers gotta feel, yo.

^ That's the one! I fell in love with it when I saw it and emailed the guy on his page back in the day but never heard back.

Slightly off topic but...growing up, Castle was the Lego theme I bought the least amount of sets of. I didn't have a lot of money as a kid, and I always viewed Castle as an extravagant affair where it's large warring parties. So to me I never had money to buy the big sets and found it mostly impractical to get the little sets ($3 to $10), especially since I thought Pirates and Space in particular almost always had the best smaller sets. That being said, I always appreciated the big castles, however it was the castle theme that made me realize the great potential of modular sets far before Lego adopted it. I don't know if anyone remembers this but when I was 11 years old, I saw a custom in a Lego magazine under the Madness section in 1996 called "Ed Boxer's Lego Castle". Unfortunately I can't upload a picture of it since it says it's too large of a file, but if you Google it, you'll know what I mean. It completely blew my mind. I'd seen other 'big castles' before, but nothing at that level. Even after I grew out of Lego in my mid teens, I still had a fondness for the idea of much bigger sets. It wasn't until Cafe Corner came along that I decided to get back into Lego. This is the kind of stuff I dreamed about since I was a kid. Now this new castle set is kind of bringing things full circle for me.