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 :(

I own these pirate sets: 1989: 6235 - Buried Treasure 6245 - Harbor Sentry 6251 - Pirate Minifigures 6257 - Castaway's Raft w. box 6260 - Shipwreck Island w. box 6265 - Sabre Island w. box 6270 - Forbidden Island 6274 - Caribbean Clipper w. box 6276 - Eldorado Fortress 1991: 6259 - Broadside's Brig w. box 6267 - Lagoon Lock-Up w. box 6273 - Rock Island Refuge 1993: 6286 - Skull's Eye Schooner 2009: 6240 - Kraken Attackin' w. box 6241 - Loot Island w. box 6241 - Soldier's Fort w. box 8396 - Soldier's Arsenal w. box (x 3) 8397 - Pirate Survival w. box (x 3)

Yesterday, a complete Rock Island Refuge with box and instructions, sold for only 36 UK pounds... I was sleeping when the last bid fell. I already own the set, but I would have loved to have it with the box. Oh well, It'll pop up again at some point

3 Eldorado Fortresses (6276) has been sold as BIN from Germany - 60 Euros for a complete set w. instructions and no box 1 (so far) Rock Island Refuge (6273) has been sold as BIN from Germany for 49 Euros for a complete set w. instructions and no box looks like the average price for the Rock Island Refuge is around 50 Euros right now. The Eldorado Fortress has an average price right now of around 40 UK pounds, I think The BSB has totally different price tags, almost daily. But yesterday, a beautiful BSB w. instructions and box was sold for around 120 Euros The day before, a complete and great condition BSB was sold for only 41 UK pounds...

The colours are different, but LEGO made a mistake? Yeah, it's weird that LEGO can't do this properly, I mean they've been doing this for quite some time now... but funny little thing to have noticed though. I guess this will happen more and more often, because I've been noticing some small annoyances with the newer LEGO brick, compared to my old stuff from the 1980's and early 1990's. Have you noticed the new white? It's almost milky/creamy white now. And yellow has also lost some of its former quality. Oh well, I like the minifig designs better and better

"The video has been removed by the user" Damn - I'll look out for it though. I love watching LEGO movies

I'm impressed with your update. You have improved your entry very much, and I must say that I love all the small details, but please post pictures that are even bigger, so that we can see the details even better. I'm planning on making my very first MOC ever, for this contest. I'm still in the thinking progress though.

This is not a rant, because I like to browse these ebay threads - BUT: The bad thing about this, is that the more people who see these auctions, the bigger chance there is of all of us over bidding each other and so the price will rise at the end of the auction I always make search criteria on eBay like this: If I want to browse auctions with the Black Seas Barracuda, I write this in the search function: lego (6285) and that goes for when I want to search for i.e. the Eldorado Fortress: lego (6276) If I just want to check out all the Pirate stuff listed on eBay, I write this in the search function: lego (62**) Of course, this way I won't ever find the stuff that's been listed with wrong information becuase the seller haven't got a clue about what he's actually selling. - Those are the real bargains, because not many people will find those auctions

UPDATE: 4 alternate models, taken from the back of the box: 1 2 3 4 Pretty amazing what you can build with so few bricks. Gotta love LEGO

UPDATE: Here are the pictures of each alternative model idea from the back of the box 1 2 3 Picture of alt. model no. 4 will be here in a few days

UPDATE: Here are the pictures of each alternative model idea from the back of the box: 1 2 3 4 5 6

I think I'll post some pictures to these larger classic boxes with close-ups of the alternative models - that way people can try to rebuild the sets even without having the boxes at their disposal Man - I really hope someone will post box art of the Eldorado Fortress, Black Seas Barracuda, and Skull's Eye Schooner... all the classic sets would be great to have "Box Art threads" of

I think this is one of the best sets of all released Pirates sets. Only topped by BSB, the Eldorado Fortress and SES

My set is from back when.... and it's incomplete, I'm missing some of the walls and pillars (sp?) - I have to buy a few sets at some point

I don't understand why some people don't like this set. Granted, it doesn't have an actual cabin, but the colours and the design is really top class. It's my favourite of the soldiers ships for sure, and my second/third favourite ship behind BSB and SES/BB

Just remember to buy LEGO once in a while - even if you don't plan on opening the boxes now, you'll regret not buying anything, trust me. I wish I'd bought a couple of small sets now and then when I was in my dark ages... just so I could open them now and build them and play with them with my daughter...

Is 55 Euros a good price for a 100 % complete Eldorado Fortress including shipping fees, but without the box? thanks EDIT: Is 26 UK pounds a good price for an Eldorado Fortress, w. 3 rowing boats excluding the rare Admiral but with an extra red rowing boat with a little blue sail?

Thanks for noticing - I didn't want to become redundant by making reviews on sets that already had reviews though. Instead I wanted to make individual threads with only the boxes, so it was easier for people to find pictures of the box art, which I think is a very special part of the entire LEGO experience :) I saw that the index had three threads already with box art, and I wanted to add to the list, and thought that especially the old boxes I had, would be quite interesting to see - for AFOLS because of the nostalgia, and for younger LEGO fans, because of the fact that they most likely hadn't seen these boxes before :)

6260 - Shipwreck Island Front: Back: Sides: Comments: Released in 1991, and still keeping in touch with the original design from the 1989 sets. Again, the pictures show exactly what you get, if you buy this, and the back shows alternate ideas.

6259 - Broadside's Brig Front: Back: Sides: Comments: In 1991 the second wave of Pirate sets hit the stores, and TLG kept the design from the initial line of sets, as you can see here. This is from 1991, but the design resembles the 1989 sets very much, with only minor changes

6265 - Sabre Island Front: Back: Sides: Comments: Another Classic - and yet another great box. The back of the box shows the endless modding/moc possibilities that comes with this set. I can't say it enough. Even though I love the 2009 Pirate boxes and their quality, I just can't get enough this older and more to-the-bone kind of artwork that was used for the classic boxes.

6257 - Castaway's Raft Front: Back: Sides: Comments: This little classic set is the forerunner of many other raft-sets such as Raft Raiders and the new Kraken Attackin' Compared to the Kraken Attackin' box, this is much smaller, but it stays within the theme that TLG had back when they first started the Pirate line. I love this box, and it was one of my first pirate sets. The pictures show exactly what you get when you buy this, and the back shows alternative models, which is great for those kids who have a MOC'er hidden inside...

Another classic box - and a very popular set 6267 - Lagoon Lockup Front: Back: Inside: Sides: Comments: I am really impressed with this old classic look. The Pirate line from 1989 was a completely new direction from TLG and they created tons of new bricks (and minifg heads) and they also went far in designing amazing boxes (this one is from 1992 I think) The feature of being able to open up the front "flap" is such a great idea. UPDATE: In post #10 are the pictures of each alternative model idea from the back of the box

6274 - Carribbean Clipper Box Art Front: Back: Inside: Sides: Comments: This classic set has a magnificent box. Although the pictures aren't as action packed as the 2009 Pirate line, it still works. Maybe it's the nostalgia talking, but I really love the feel that these pictures and background sky creates. Another neat touch is the ability to open the front "flap" and take a closer look inside even before buying the set. I don't know if TLG still does that? UPDATE: In post #10 are the pictures of each alternative model idea from the back of the box

I saw in the Pirate-index, that an attempt had been made, to start a series of Box Art "Reviews" - and then I wanted to add some of the new Lego Pirates boxes - plus some old classic boxes from 1989-1992 6242 - Soldier's Fort Box Art Front: Back: Sides: Comments: Once again, I can only praise TLG for making this kind of box. The quality in both pictures and the actual material used is great. This is a rather large box, and it has a different opening system, which can be closed again, without ruining the box. There's a lot of action shots and great images of the set's playabily on this box. Very clever design indeed. Even though the price is high compared to actual piece count, the size of the box makes this set "look" bigger than it is. Nice close up of the minifigs on the side of the box.