Aanchir

Ooh, I'm very impressed that you managed to split such a small model up into three modular segments (compatible with Eldorado Fortress) in a way that still feels natural! The little bird's nest on the cliff and the short jetty are both really neat features to help keep the cliffside from looking too plain, and the tea set is a great use for the interior. You did an impeccable job matching the design language of Eldorado Fortress's walls and cliff faces here. Overall, it feels very true to both the style of the new Eldorado Fortress and the original design of Broadside's Brig. You even added a neat new play feature (the toppling palm tree). The only details I don't particularly care for are the 1x3x2 ogee arches, which feel more reminiscent of Mediterranean architecture than Caribbean architecture to me. I feel that a 1x6x1 or 1x6x2 arch would have been a better stylistic fit in both the places where you used these arches, and also would have more closely matched the other arches in both this MOC and Eldorado Fortress. The crab and plants add some nice detail to the narrow subterranean tunnels without blocking access to them, but if you do decide to make any changes before the entry period end date, it could be neat if there were some details down there that WEREN'T included anywhere in Eldorado Fortress. Perhaps some seashell pieces like 53119 and 28619/3498, or some different type of animal like a rat, mouse, or spider. You took a lot more creative liberties with the Renegade's Raft's color scheme than sets like Barracuda Bay and Eldorado Fortress did, but I think this is a valid choice, both because it's a secondary build in the context of this MOC and because the color scheme of the original raft felt less convincingly true-to-life than the color schemes of many larger Pirates set. I feel a particular fondness for this part of the build, since I believe I did own that set as a child, unlike many other late 80s/early 90s pirates sets. You did a great job staying true to the model's size and shape while giving it more detail and a stronger sense of authenticity. I do kind of wish you'd included a shark as part of your MOC like the original Renegade's Raft set, though! The minifigure version of Captain Kragg is a fun choice as well! While I doubt many folks here have any particular nostalgia for the 4+ Pirates sets (I certainly don't), it's a neat idea to tap into that range's figures for inspiration, especially to cut down on the feeling of repetition that might arise from using only 80s/90s inspired pirate figs. If you have the time/interest, I'd love to see how the modules in this MOC look in a different arrangement (such as with the positions of the two buildings switched, or even combined with modules from Eldorado Fortress if you have any of those on hand and assembled! But no worries if you can't or aren't interested. Best of luck in the contest!

I don't think it's a specific lore thing, just a potential "story starter" for dreaming up your own storylines. Perhaps it's a deceased prisoner's last will and testament, or evidence of the governor's corruption that the pirates are seeking out for blackmail purposes, or a captive pirate's decree of pardon which the governor's men have "misplaced", or a coded message revealing the location of a fabled treasure hoard. Regardless, its purpose seems to have been intentionally left open-ended.

It's seemingly based on a pipa ("Chinese lute"). In real life these have a longer body and shorter neck than most European lutes, but the LEGO one uses the same mold so that's not really an issue, nor is the number of strings/courses. The biggest issue for MOCs in a medieval European setting is that its printed graphics are based on a modern pipa, which lacks the sound hole that would be present on pretty much all European lutes. So I guess it comes down to whether that's a detail you're willing to overlook.

Oh, beautiful work! You did a very nice job staying true to the layout/composition of the original sets and increasing their size only slightly, while also making details like the rocky crevice used to hide the treasure and the wooden structures built from various shipwreck parts and flotsam more believable. The ladder and campfire are great additions. If I have one nitpick, it's that the island's coastline currently feels slightly too smooth and evenly curved. One way to improve this could be to add rocks made from 33- and 45-degree grey slope bricks to break up the outline and surface of the beach in strategic locations, as Barracuda Bay's foundation did. You could also potentially replace these larger 6x6 and 10x10 curves with smaller rounded parts (like the 3x3 curved quarter-circle slopes used in the new Eldorado Fortress and the 2x3 left and right curved wedges introduced in the Speed Champions theme) to help give the coastline a "lumpier" shape (if that makes any sense). Another fun trick you can sometimes use is replacing 2x3 slopes or curved slopes with 1x2 "double cheese" slopes and then adding rocks to fill the resulting gaps — that way, the inclined portion of the beach isn't all just one uniform-width strip of sand. While obviously my opinion has no bearing on the contest rules, I do love the idea of combining these two models into one scene! It definitely lends the resulting model some additional variety and storytelling potential as the wind and waves reunite these shipwrecked pirates. And using the Broadside brothers from Barracuda Bay gives it some extra emotional "oomph" — I can only imagine their tearful reunion as they realize they both survived the shipwreck that stranded them at sea! Best of luck in the contest!

Yeah, I feel like it fits the Fright Knights vibe a bit better. For one thing, it has much more supernatural/occult vibes than the Dragon Masters — after all, even though that was a fantasy subtheme, most of its characters besides Majisto and his dragons felt fairly grounded. Also, although this is often something they're criticized for, the Dragon Masters knight minifigures made heavy use of flamboyant primary colors, even compared to some of the Castle factions that preceded them. So a black cape this large on a Dragon Masters minifig in addition to the obligatory black helmet might throw off that balance between bright and neutral colors.

I figure the parts from one Eldorado Fortress set would give you a good solid start on an Imperial Trading Post, since that would give you pretty much all the bricks you need for the raised foundation, and probably enough of the parts you'd need for the cranes and most of the stone walls. And black plates to build the Imperial Trading Post's docks are common enough that you might have a good supply of those in your collection already. However, I think you might be better off turning to BrickLink and Bricks & Pieces for whichever parts you find yourself needing after that. Besides needing more bright red/dark red roof shingles than you could get even from two or three copies of Eldorado Fortress, Imperial Trading Post has wooden arched doors on two of its buildings, and I'm not sure the substitutions used for Eldorado Fortress's doors would be quite as fitting for either of those buildings. Plus, Imperial Trading Post has that one warehouse roof that hinges open, and you'd have to figure out what sort of parts and techniques you want to use for that — if you used the same thick, staggered shingle design as Eldorado Fortress's awnings, it'd potentially both obstruct the hinged portions from opening and eat up a lot of the attic space, so it may take some ingenuity if you want to keep the roof designs consistent. Thankfully, the roof shingle parts that Eldorado Fortress uses are already fairly common in both of the necessary colors (43202 The Madrigal House is perhaps the best "parts pack" for them so far, with least 30 in each color).

After a bit of reading I think it's a fourragère, but if somebody who knows more about military uniforms can either confirm this or provide the correct information I'd greatly appreciate that as well! Wikipedia mentions that they are granted to entire military units rather than individuals, which would explain why they're being worn by all the fort's soldiers. This also means that folks who own bluecoat soldier minifigs from the 2015 sets can continue using them in the same layout as these ones to represent soldiers from a different unit.

One small critique/suggestion I might make would be to add some more 1x1 round bricks to the top of the pier module (like the ones you have on the corners) as mooring posts/bollards. Right now the top surface feels very flat and featureless for its size. Besides giving boats more places to tie mooring lines, bollards like these also provide a great place for parrots and seagulls to perch!

I personally like to imagine that after so many years, Will might be out there captaining his own ship by now! Something else minifig-related that I noticed just recently — the Imperial sailor minifig aboard the cargo ship in this set wears the same uniform (red epaulets and black tricorn) as the Imperial sailors from the Caribbean Clipper/Sea Hawk! That's a very small change from original set (which had a fourth guard/soldier minifig instead), but one that I appreciate quite a bit given the context!

Possibly, but I kind of doubt it. I imagine it was a conscious choice to keep the model's footprint close to the same size as the original set, since that was the approach they took with the Black Seas Barracuda/Dark Shark redesign from Barracuda Bay. While I get that a lot of folks seem less impressed with this set than with Barracuda Bay (at least in hindsight — Barracuda Bay's design was itself highly controversial when it was initially revealed), I think the design philosophy of the sets seems very similar. In addition to the similarities in footprint mentioned above: Each set includes the same number of minifigs as its 1989 counterpart. The foundations feature Medium Azur water and Brick Yellow (tan) beaches, drawing on the painted/sculpted scenery from the classic Pirates box art rather than the physical brick colors that they used to represent water and sand. However, both sets otherwise adhere fairly closely to the color palette of the original sets, including the use of primary colors in places where other modern sets might be more likely to use either earth tones or metallic/pearl colors. The bases use 45-degree wedge plates in many of the corners, rather than round plates as are favored in many other seaside sets like Ray the Castaway from LEGO Ideas or the Beach Adventure Park from LEGO Friends. Although each set is based primarily on a particular 1989 set, they include design elements that allude to later sets from the 90s. Barracuda Bay includes an Islander statue and two minifigs based on 90s pirate designs Eldorado Fortress features a cargo ship and red ceramic awnings inspired by Imperial Guards sets, and both sets feature skeletons. The sets add numerous interior details and furnishings which the original 1989 sets lacked, as well as new play features like the working capstan in Barracuda Bay, or the rum cellar and escape the escape tunnel in Eldorado Fortress's jail. Both sets also have modular designs for multiple display options. Some design elements are modified for greater historical accuracy, like the Barracuda's sails and rigging, or Eldorado Fortress's bartizan and crane. Obviously, none of that inherently means that the two sets are equally effective at what they do. I realize that's a subjective assessment that will inevitably vary from builder to builder. But I do think the similarities show that the designers of the new Eldorado Fortress did put a lot of deliberate effort into coming up with a design that would feel consistent with Barracuda Bay and live up to the standards it established. There's also another reason I doubt the designers ever considered producing a mega-sized version of the fortress on par with sets like Lion Knights' Castle: colonial forts in general rarely tend to be as popular or iconic as pirate ships. In fact, if LEGO were to design an Eldorado Fortress redesign for a considerably higher price point, I think they might have been more likely to swap the cargo ship out for an even larger one (perhaps one of the 90s ships with a 12-stud-wide hull like Renegade Runner or Imperial Flagship) than make the fort itself substantially larger.

I dunno, Gold City Junction might be less iconic in the context of LEGO history specifically, but from a general pop-culture standpoint I think that western "boom towns", bank/stagecoach robberies, and shootouts between bandits and lawmen are much more iconic Western scenes than American military forts. It's also worth keeping in mind that there's no strict rule that these "throwback" sets have to be based on one specific set in particular. For example, Lion Knights' Castle was a wholly original design that drew inspiration from all sorts of old-school Castle sets, and Eldorado Fortress pulled subject matter not only from the 1989 version of that set but also from the later Imperial Trading Post. As such, a Wild West throwback set could potentially combine elements from multiple sets, like the bank and general store from Gold City Junction, the jail and sheriff's office from Sheriff's Lock-Up , and perhaps even entirely new "Old West" buildings. For big exclusive Icons sets, that may be true, but LEGO has shown that they're willing to make smaller throwbacks to other iconic themes like Bionicle as gifts with purchase. And there are definitely some iconic sets even outside the "classic" themes (such as Granite Grinder) which are likely small enough and require few enough unique graphics to be re-imagined as GWP sets like that.

I think calling it "lazy" is extremely unfair to the designers. They clearly put a LOT of effort into the set's design, if not into the aspects of the design that you happen to care most about. And frankly, it would have been impossible for them to anticipate what every fan's biggest likes/dislikes about the set would be. Take the crane, for example. The geometry of the boom is highly complex, particularly since it doesn't use Pythagorean triples, and it has a high level of detail. Clearly lots of effort went there! However, a lot of the complaints about the crane are that the designers should have made it smaller, even if it didn't allow for as much detail. There's no lack of effort or attention to detail in its design — it's just that the designers had different priorities than some of the model's critics. The dock and palm trees are certainly simpler compared to the ones from Barracuda Bay, but rather than laziness, I feel like this is a sign that the designers genuinely expected fans to respond well to these particular callbacks (and/or to respond poorly to more extensive color and design changes — particularly since a lot of folks had criticized Barracuda Bay for being too brightly colored). And as much as I wish the instruction manual included character names and insights into their identities like the manual for Barracuda Bay did, it's important to keep in mind that there are a lot of old-school LEGO fans who genuinely prefer for sets and themes to be as narratively open-ended as possible, and consider "official" character names and personality blurbs to be needlessly prescriptive limits on fans' imaginations. Designer interviews about this year's Jazz Club set have touched on accounts of fans responding negatively even to the extremely thin character details in previous Modular Buildings (like individual character names being listed on business signs in sets like the Detective's Office, Downtown Diner, and Corner Garage). So figuring out when to include these sorts of narrative elements, and how much detail they should go into, is a tough balancing act — and one that LEGO might never be able to perfect to the fan community's overall satisfaction. There WERE! Transparent Fluorescent Blue, Transparent Fluorescent Red, and Transparent Fluorescent Yellow were all used as Bionicle eye colors in the theme's early years. But only the first of those three saw a lot of use in other themes or remained in production for more than a few years. I figure the main reason they got retired was a sense of redundancy — there were already non-fluorescent colors that looked very similar to the latter two, to the point that many LEGO fans didn't even notice the difference. And even in the case of the more common fluorescent colors, the difference between them and their nearest neighbors in hue might've felt more frustrating to many builders than creatively liberating. Picture buying a set that includes a mix of Tr. Fluorescent Blue and Tr. Light Blue parts, or a mix of Tr. Fluorescent Reddish Orange and Tr. Bright Orange parts, or a mix of Tr. Fluorescent Green and Tr. Bright Green parts. Regardless of which color in each pair you prefer, there's likely to be some frustration that the parts in these very similar colors don't quite match!

Yes, the set description for the beach buggy confirms that the pug is Zac's and even gives us its name, Dango!

No, these ones are Cool Yellow (Bright Light Yellow on BrickLink), which is a lighter color than the Bright Yellow ones from 1989.

I get what you mean about the railings, but I'm also not too sure what better approach there is for railings as short as these ones Even the Barracuda remake from PoBB used this same "old-school" cones+tiles approach for many of its railings, albeit sometimes with the newer "macaroni tiles" in that case instead of just rectangular ones. I suppose for the lantern they could have used the newer lantern piece upside-down like Barracuda Bay did for its stern lights instead of the old lantern/palm tree fork piece, but in terms of design quality I feel that would've been more of a lateral move than an advancement. Neither of these two lantern designs strikes me as implicitly better or worse than the other. LEGO still makes the old treasure chest lids, and they appear in several of this year's sets (even some of the latest Friends and City sets)! I suspect that LEGO opted for the flat trunk lids in this set for two main reasons. First, this lid allows the trunks and barrels to be easily stacked on top of one another when moving cargo from the ship to the fort or vice-versa. Thus, the ship can carry quite a bit more cargo than if it could only be stacked one layer high. Second, this trunk lid was not available in any previous Pirates sets (not even PoBB or the 3-in-1 pirate ship), so LEGO probably figured including it here would offer more novelty and parts value for pirate builders than including three of the standard treasure chests that a lot of us already have an ample supply of. I have mixed feelings about the front doors being changed to barred gates, but I actually like the change to the office door. In the original set, the half-arch shape of the office door always seemed a bit awkward to me since it didn't match either the size or the shape of the door frame. That said, I do kind of wish that the office door were tiled like the brick-built doors from 21325 or 10305 instead of being fully studded. Studs can work on a brick-built door if they represent something specific like rivets or embossed details, but when they cover the whole surface of the door like this they just feel kind of meaningless and distracting. And in fact, if you remove the 1x2 handle plates that aren't connected to anything and replaced them with tiles, the studs on the remaining handle plates would roughly correspond to the position of the molded rivets on the old half-arch door mold. Realizing that makes me wish even more that the designers had taken that approach.

The new Disney Castle! Similar size and structure to the 2016 version but with a lot of changes and improvements. This one's minifigures are all based on Disney princess/fairy-tale films. In addition to Naveen's cape and epaulettes (which are probably the most likely minifig parts to appear in non-Disney sets, since they're unprinted), Flynn Ryder's torso and legs could also be great for either pirates or civilians.

I mean… even POBB's masts, spars, and bowsprits were black, not brown. And lest we forget, when Pirates of Barracuda Bay was revealed, it got loads of criticism for seeming "playset-ish" and adhering closely to the original Black Seas Barracuda's color palette instead of the dark and mottled earth tones of the original LEGO Ideas proposal. Also, it's important to keep in mind that Barracuda Bay's pier is an improvised structure built from repurposed shipwreck components, whereas Eldorado Fortress's pier is important military infrastructure, and as such is likely tarred somewhat regularly to prevent decay. Besides that, the original Eldorado Fortress was smaller than the Black Seas Barracuda — so considering that the updated version of the ship from Barracuda Bay had close to the same "footprint" as the original Barracuda, I never really expected any different from this Eldorado Fortress redesign. If anything, it was a pleasant surprise that they replaced one of the rowboats with a remake of the more impressive cargo ship from the Imperial Trading Post.

The new Disney Castle has now been officially revealed and it seems like it contains a bounty of Sand Blue and Light Nougat parts (including 1x2 masonry bricks), for those who want to build castles or medieval houses with slightly more vibrant colors of stone than usual! That said, most of the arches in the set are in more common colors like Brick Yellow, Reddish Brown, and Medium Stone Grey. There are also numerous Warm Gold parts in the set, which may be a bit glitzy for true "historic" castles but work nicely for fantasy or fairy-tale models. Some of the newer recolors I see in this color include several 1x1x5 bricks and 1x2x2 window frames (the latter previously appearing only once in Ninjago City Markets). One interesting printed part in the set is a Warm Gold 2x4 tile with rounded ends, representing the magic mirror from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Since the spooky face representing the "spirit" of the mirror is absent here (unlike the version of the magic mirror that came with the Evil Queen CMF), it could be easily repurposed in historic MOCs as a fancy/expensive mirror without magical properties. There are also several Medium Stone Grey 1x3 tiles with printed arrow loops. While I suspect most Castle builders will prefer brick-built arrow loops that create an actual gap, this may still be of interest to some medieval builders — perhaps even outside of that specific purpose (since the pattern is fairly generic). Inside one of the rooms, there's a neat spinning wheel build alluding to Sleeping Beauty, this time in a subdued black rather than the flashier colors featured in many spinning wheel builds from previous Disney Princess sets. Its parts all seem fairly common, so I suspect it'd be easy enough to replicate in medieval MOCs! Most of the minifigs in the castle this time around are princes and princesses, so it could be a great source of clothing for nobility in Castle MOCs. Flynn Rider from Tangled is also present, so his clothes may be more suited to peasant or outlaw characters than the glitzier outfits on many of the other characters. Of the unprinted minifig parts, some recolors that stand out are Prince Naveen's Cool Yellow (bright light yellow) epaulets and cape.

Honestly I'm fine with the current fish mold for "generic" fish (alive or dead). Even the molded, unprinted eyes don't really bug me like they do on the parrot or classic monkey. And it'd be hard to make a less rigid-looking fish that's as versatile in terms of size and connection points. That said, I appreciate when LEGO introduces alternative molds for fish with more specific body shapes. The butterfly fish and seahorse from the marine life accessory pack are some good examples. Some future possibilities along those lines that could be neat for pirate builds would be a flatfish mold, swordfish/marlin mold, and eel mold.

I'm honestly not that bothered by the pier. At worst, it's a little mundane (which is not too surprising, given that piers tend to be fairly simple structures by nature), but I hardly think any aspect of it qualifies as a "travesty". In fact, I rather like the interplay between the pilings and the rocks behind and between them. I've seen some reviewers mention the front stair seeming old-fashioned, but if that bothers you it's no trouble at all to swap the 2x2 bricks with either 1x3x2 half-arches (like the ones used for the side stair) or 2x2 inverted slopes. You… you mean the half-plate gaps on either side of the mast? Do you really consider those "big gaps"? Even in most of the reviews I've seen today, they're barely noticeable… plus, closing them wouldn't really increase the amount of usable deck space in any meaningful way.

For my part, I wouldn't be as keen on LEGO bringing back the old monkey (or even its redesign from the 2010s, which had slightly revised facial contours). My primary frustration with it is an aesthetic one: the lack of printed facial features. Nowadays, printed eyes have become standard on an increasing number of LEGO animals, a trend I strongly approve of — after all, "human" minifigs and molded horses have always had printed eyes, so it feels odd for other mammal species in particular not to have them! Between the uniform color and the deep, carved-out contours of the classic monkey's face, it ends up looking lifeless and statue-like to me, especially compared to other modern LEGO animals like dogs, cats, pigs, cows, horses etc. The expressive body language allowed by the articulated limbs helps balance that out a bit, but not to my satisfaction. Another advantage of the current monkey design over the classic one is that its size is MUCH more realistic compared to minifigs and other LEGO animals. The old monkey was practically as large as a full-grown minifigure, whereas even the largest monkeys in real life (mandrills) are smaller even than a large dog like a German Shepherd/Alsatian! I suppose this issue was less noticeable back in the 80s and 90s, when there were far fewer LEGO animal molds in general (and most were much larger animals like horses, sharks, and crocodiles) but nowadays the inconsistency is much harder to overlook. Anyway, it's great to see more reviews! It turns out there aren't a whole lot of hidden features besides the ones we'd seen in pictures and videos, aside from the hidden crate with a mysterious envelope inside. That's a little disappointing, but some of the reviews that show the building process make it clear that it'd be hard to really incorporate open chambers into some of these cliff faces without compromising their stability. I do wish the substantial space underneath the front ramp had been utilized somehow, though. It is nice to get to see some of the various "stuff" inside of some of the chests and barrels in the set, though, such as the printed coins from recent Castle sets (which nicely match the crown motif on the set's flags and sails) and some additional flintlock pistols. I kind of wish there were some food items in some of the barrels, though — especially fruit to help sailors returning from or embarking on a long sea voyage stave off scurvy! Also, I appreciate the largely seamless way that the wooden boards inside the jail lift up to reveal the hidden passage! I was initially expecting a cot or something to conceal the passage entrance, but this is even more impressive (plus, the pirates do at least get a soft pile of hay to rest on while they wait for a chance to escape without being spotted)! Conversely, it's a bit odd to me that the "switch" for the trapdoor in the main courtyard is only accessible in the alternate "open" layout. I kind of wish that it had been designed with a more accessible switch even in the traditional compact layout — perhaps activating it by rotating one of the Dark Orange dining chairs, for example. A small cosmetic detail that wasn't obvious to me in the LEGO.com photos but that's clearer in some of the review photos is that the leaf plates on the exterior cliffs vary in color — some are Bright Green, while others are Dark Green (classic green). It's subtle, but makes the foliage feel a lot less repetitive, especially in places where multiple leaf plates appear close together. All in all, I find this remake extremely impressive, just as I did in earlier photos, even if there are somewhat fewer surprises than I might've hoped. Eager for the building instructions to show up online so I can really examine all the building techniques and learn from them for my own MOCs!

Surprised nobody's brought up all the fun new parts in the the Tranquil Garden set! For starters, it introduces Earth Green recolors of the fern and 2x2x3 drill/cone. The latter is used in this set for neatly-trimmed ornamental trees, but could also be used for roof cones (as seen with the Sand Green ones in various Harry Potter sets). It's also got a cool new 2x2 roof plate/tile with raised corner, in both Dark Brown and Dark Stone Grey. This part's most obvious use is for traditional Japanese architecture, as seen in this set, but I suspect there could be many more potential uses for it given its size and simplicity! The set also has Tr. Light Blue 1x2 tiles with two different koi patterns: both this one which has already shown up in the LEGO Friends botanical garden, and an alternate pattern that's primarily orange with dark spots. These are less versatile for historic uses than some of the other parts (in that they represent one specific type of subject matter), but they're still some neat parts I figured I ought to mention.

Yeah, I didn't really take much notice of the lack of boots either. After all, it's not as though I ever cared about about the lack of boots or printed shoes on the pirate characters in this set or Barracuda Bay, nor have I ever seen anybody else complain about that. And I hardly expect any different from the soldiers just because they're in uniform. Maybe I'd feel differently if I were more of a military history buff myself. I can relate a bit more to folks being bothered by the lack of printing on the shakos, since it's a bit implausible for the feather/plume to be the same color as the leather hat. I certainly see how the designers might have preferred to keep the decoration simpler than the 2009 or 2015 versions to better echo the original set's minifig designs, but it'd be nice if they'd still opted to print a bit of contrasting color on the plume (perhaps red to match the epaulets). I get your point, but I'd hardly describe this set (or any 2500 piece set) as "small"! Certainly, we've been spoiled lately by the increasing number of adult-targeted sets, including ones like the Lion Knights' Castle or the Ninjago City collection with piece counts well above the norm. But this set is still roughly modular building sized, by both piece count and dimensions! For my part, this is very close to the size I hoped for and expected from this set. One of the amazing things about Pirates of Barracuda Bay, for me, was that the modernized Black Seas Barracuda made such massive improvements on the original design without too much change to the model's overall size. The masts and sails were slightly taller and the decks slightly higher, but the hull was almost exactly the same size as the original. So while a Lion Knights' Castle sized mega-fort might've been cool, I don't think it would have impressed me in nearly the same way as Barracuda Bay did. And I can't imagine I'd have found it as enchanting as Lion Knights' Castle, either, even if it had enough interior detail to justify that kind of size. Again, I'm not a military history buff, so while I was captivated by that set's medieval mill, kitchen, stable, banquet hall, and bedroom, imagining a detailed colonial barracks, armory, and mess hall fills me with with more of a sense of drudgery than antiquated charm. I suppose some people's issue with the model's size may stem from worries about how this set will look on display alongside the LEGO Ideas version of the Black Seas Barracuda, but I don't think the size should be an issue, considering how much iconic promotional art there is showing the original versions of these two sets side by side! Certainly, it wasn't a balanced matchup itself (BSB cost nearly twice the price and had nearly twice the piece count of Eldorado Fortress), but that hardly made their conflict any less dramatic to behold!

Oh, very neat! Especially for how quickly you came up with these! I'm a big fan of the railings on the Sabre Island inspired tower. The 45-degree pier also breaks away from the grid in an interesting way. This definite inspires me to start sketching up some ideas of my own!

That 8x16 dock forms the center of the fort's "courtyard" when built in a traditional closed layout! I'm honestly not sure how much the tunnel itself can house, given how narrow it is. I'm more interested in where it leads to, opposite the pirate skeleton's unfortunate "dead end". In the second two images you shared, the tunnel would just get cut off by the fort's dock. But in an enclosed layout, the other end of the tunnel would connect to an area directly behind the frontmost cliff face and below the front parapet wall, which is one of the few "underground" areas I haven't seen in any photos or videos so far.