SBCMayor

Love those pics! Makes me wish I was artistic!

I give the RR a 4/5. Despite popular culture and the mythology surrounding pirates placing them in large, fearsome, intimidating ships, more often than not pirates operated small maneuverable sloops. The Renegade Runner is a great depiction of this. If I have unlimited space for my display (and unlimited funding of course) I'd have 10+ of these easily. As it stands I have 4, with two of them in their original form, and two others fun little projects for customizing. One of these I've converted for use with the Imperial Guards, but it may get a deeper redesign along with the 4th one to mimic the color scheme of the CC and BSB. As for the original design, I actually love the black and white striped sails with the skull/crossbones. I think it makes for a fantastic "fleet" design along with the SES (which I don't own). I love the idea of a large pirate flagship (some notable pirates such as Blackbeard, Sam Bellamy, and Henry Avery had them) with a couple sloops as escorts, scouting vessels, or as the tip of the spear when attacking a plunder. I'm really glad Lego created this model to enable that reality-based play scenario. The lack of a cabin doesn't actually bother me on this model. Even the largest sloops were not really big ships and would have had flush deck lines, so the captain's cabin would likely have been below the main deck. Given this model's budget conscious design, it's hard to capture that and keep piece count under control. Since all Lego ships are designed "from the water line, up" one already has to imagine the existence of a hold and bilge, even on larger models like the CC, BSB, and SES. So I just imagine the RR has a small hold and below it a bilge/ballast area. Sometimes with Lego you just have to use your imagination to fill in the blanks. The lack of rigging actually bothers me way more than the lack of a cabin. As for missing a wheel, the ship's wheel didn't actually begin appearing until the early 1700s or so, but even after its implementation in ship design, small sloops such as the RR would likely be steered with a till until the late 1700s. I don't like the swivel gun, and not liking the swivel gun is a big part of why I can't get myself excited about spending the $$$ on a SES. With that said, given the hull design and pieces they were working with, I see why they went swivel gun instead of the wheels you would have expected to see on a ship's guns. I am actually working on a few small changes that will raise the lower deck and enable the removal of the swivel in favor of those awesome wheel carriages like on other pirate ships. I'll upload some pics once I've completed. Overall I love the RR. When I decided to get back into the vintage Pirate series Legos the Renegade Runner was one of the first bigger sets I took a chance on. I also think it is a significantly better looking set than the comical looking CBC. And of the five ships offered in the first and second wave, I actually would place this one 4th: Below the BSB, CC, IF, and above the SES.

Good start. I've always placed the Lego Pirate Theme in the Golden Age of Piracy, so somewhere between 1675-1725. But base on many of the characteristics of the imperial uniforms (blue and red) the Napoleonic Wars and War of 1812 are also viable eras.

I have 2 BSBs, one of which is in its original design and the other I've converted into an imperial blue ship while simultaneously converting a Caribbean Clipper into a red-sail pirate ship. I've had my eye on the SES for a while now even though of the original five ships from 1989, 1992, and 1993 I like it the least. I think I like the idea of having all 5 more than the actual ship itself. I think from a distance it is easily one of the most epic looking sets Lego has ever released. But every time I get myself mentally amped up to spend the money on one, as I start looking closely at the deck area, cabin, sliding cannons, and color scheme of the hull and interior of the ship I just can't get myself excited for it. So my son and I were discussing an alternative. Why not purchase a third BSB and modify it with SES sails? I can make other minor modifications to give it the overall appearance of the SES but it would retain everything I love about the BSB too. Pricewise I can do this for less than what a SESs would cost me. The downside: It would lack the authenticity of the actual SES, and undermine my goal of having each of the initial 5 ships. The upside: I'd probably like the final result more than the SES. Cost is another benefit to this approach. I'm not clever enough to do a MOC. Love what some of you all are doing with those. I am content to take what's available and customize to my liking. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

@TalonCard that was a great read! Thank you, I really feel like I read a real piece of history and I suppose I did. I love being able to tie the them to real world events and powers and certainly it's fair to say Lego could not have created such a theme without historical inspiration to begin with. Most of the reading I've done on the subject has been from the perspective of the pirates, groups who as you've noted, sometimes found themselves out of work when uneasy peace treaties ended their commissions as privateers. There's also an even darker aspect to it, that being life was so unjust on the merchant and Royal Navy ships of the era that joining a pirate crew was actually an upgrade. Better pay, better treatment, better promise of fortune, ill-gotten or not. Captains and officers abused their crews. A great pirate figure to read about is Henry Avery, who became a bit of a folk hero, sort of a sea-faring Robin Hood in the very early 1700s. While there's probably a lot of embellished myth and lore surrounding him, and the man likely died penniless (he was built up to be literally be a "pirate king" on the Island of Madagascar) his story sheds a lot of light on the motive behind so many turning to piracy. And I will fully acknowledge, I likely would have never bothered to learn about him or other pirates had it not been for the Lego Pirate Theme sparking my interests!

I always cast the Imperial Soldiers as Spanish given the name Eldorado Fortress sounds very Spanish. When the theme came out I lived in the U.S. State of Colorado, an area Spanish Conquistadors explored in the 1500s. Hundreds years later their lore remains: that state name the Conquistadors gave the area literally translates into "Colored Red" because of the color of the mountains when the sunrise hits them as well as many of the rock formations in the region. A lot of legends surrounding Conquistador expeditions are tied to the area, as well as Northern New Mexico. So even though Eldorado Fortress was period-designed to be more 1700s than 1500s it made perfect sense to me that it was a base of operations for Spanish expeditions from the Carribean onto the mainland and points beyond. Of course, naming their ship the Carribean Clipper further cemented to me these were Spanish imperials in the Carribean since the ship was named after the Carribean and the Spanish were the prevailing power in that area. (Not sure why I couldn't apply this ship name logic to the Black Seas Barracuda.) Only when I started researching vintage sets again, watching video reviews, etc did I realize the Imperial Soldiers were always considered French! No worries, they also had a presence in the Carribean in the 1700s. But for me they will always be Spanish! This is just gorgeous and makes me wish I was artistic or skilled in photoshop.

Another older thread I'm reviving! In my Thoughts on the Second Wave thread I actually ranked the Skull's Eye Schooner 4th among the "big 4" sets in the second wave, being the Renegade Runner, Imperial Trading Post, and the Imperial Flagship. So naturally I don't think it will come as a surprise to anyone that in a head to head against the Black Seas Barracuda my vote is for the BSB. I just think there is no topping those 1989 originals. When the SES came out I was definitely interested in it, but buy 1993 I was a little older (4 years older than in 1989 to be specific) and I wasn't quite as awestruck by it as I was by the BSB years before. Perhaps my vote is a product of those early impressions. Fast forward to this year when I decided to start collecting vintage pirate sets. I researched both carefully but quickly decided I'd be sticking with the BSB both for sentimental and practical reasons. With SES prices on secondary markets such as Ebay and Bricklink far exceeding the prices for a BSB, I've been able to actually get 2 BSBs for only slightly more than what it would have cost me to get 1 SES. The second BSB I've converted into an Imperial Ship. Perhaps in a few months I'll look again and add a SES to my collection, though I don't consider it a must have like the BSB. It's a nice sequel: what it lacks in original thought it makes up for in being bigger and more menacing. But it'll never be better than the original.

I think one of the things I didn't care for about it was the awkward dimensions of the plate it came on. It makes it hard to integrate with other sets. I think the solid green color was something else I didn't really care for. It seemed too basic and not "Pirate Theme" enough for me. I would have rather it been on a yellow sand colored plate than the one-sided green plate. It could have been a larger, Imperial complement to Smuggler's Shanty that way. I liked the little prickly bush accessory, (Cannon Cove was my introduction to this piece) but felt it should have had a palm tree. Regarding the difference between Eldorado and Imperial Trading Post, I do agree the addition of a second blue plate complete with docks and buildings really made ITP an ambitious set. I recently won Eldorado in an Ebay auction and shortly thereafter purchased ITP outright. Both have a little wear and tear but for their ages have a lot of life left in them, especially for what I paid! The docks on ITP have actually inspired me to experiment with something similar for Eldorado, especially given it already has a small dock along the front of the structure. I love the idea of using Sabre Island as a structure on the dock side of the extension, simply pulling it off the printed plate and setting in on a wider, corner portion of the dock. I think it would look awesome. And of course, integrating them together is always an option, though I always view the Imperial Guards and Soldiers as rivals not allies.

Thank you for sharing! I as able to find a set of replacement sails but they turned out to be one-sided, so maybe eventually I'll upgrade. Also, one change to the ship pictured above is it still has the original red shutters down in the hold. I've ordered some blue shutters but they haven't arrived yet.

I went ahead and did this. I was able to get a second BSB relatively inexpensive and converted it over to an Imperial ship. This brings my Imperial blue fleet to 1 BSB and 2 CCs. They’re still outgunned by my pirate fleet so they’d be smart to form and alliance with the Imperial Guards, but I don’t see either blue or red willing to do that. Politics is complicated, I guess. Also, in order to have donor parts for this ship I actually ordered a third CC received all the BSB components I could transfer over. I have to brick link a few additional pieces (replacing all the blue on the CC with red) and I’ll share a pic of the “Cutthroat Clipper” once she’s ready!

I found my plain sails! I also found a donor ship for the conversion. It couldn't have been better, appears to be in very good shape, but missing sails, minifigures, features a couple replacement pieces (black lanterns instead of blue). Consequently this was inexpensive comparatively. I'll get some pirate flags and a crew and this ship will be well on its way to pillaging and plundering!

Love this review. Even though these are toys designed primarily for their potential to generate sales based on their play potential, I love the actual knowledge of sail configurations applied to these models. I also really love the tan sails for the IF. One thing I wish I could find, and I might be able to eventually, is plain tan sails. I'd love to convert an IF to a pirate vessel but the imperial insignia on the sails sort of ruins that potential. I think the IF would make a great pirate ship conversion and if I ever find a place to order plain tan replacement sails I'm ordering them and getting back on Ebay/Bricklink to start looking for my conversion set! Thanks again, this was a great review and a lot of fun to read!

That was very thoughtful of you, thank you. I also checked out the group on Flickr. There are some awesome works of art there! I am not anywhere near that level, I'm just combining what's available. I love seeing the MOCs on this site and others. Some of the creativity is mind blowing!

Thank you, and something like this is the other option I was going to explore. I definitely appreciate the lead!

It also turns out my size limit for photos is very small. I'd have to really reformat some of the pics (I'll play around with that at some point) or reduce their size to the point they wouldn't be worth sharing. I'm guessing with a little more time in the forum media capacity increases? I'm not a great photographer but I do have a few pics of the early stages of my set up design I'd like to share.