[OFFICIAL] 10320 Eldorado Fortress - Retiring SOON!

[Alexandrina]

29 minutes ago, SpaceM said:

I convinced my lady that investing in the eldorado fortress is a good idea... 

I told her our boy (3 years old) will spend hours playing with it when he grows up, it'll keep him away from computer games and TV, and none of his friends will have such a cool Lego set. All his classmates will want to become his friends and come over to play with it.  

She agreed, and I ordered the set, but now she insists that we keep the box sealed until christmas 2024.

I'm a bad strategist.

Look at it another way:

You have Eldorado now. Future discontinuation/aftermarket price hikes won't affect you.

HOWEVER you also don't have any Lego to build right now, which gives you the excuse necessary to buy whatever other set you want/will want soon.

(Alternatively, you could tell her that you need to build it now to make sure there aren't any missing pieces, as if you leave it too long you might be missing a piece that Lego can't replace  - this way you get to build it now, box it up again, then build it again next year!)

[RichardGoring]

18 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

(Alternatively, you could tell her that you need to build it now to make sure there aren't any missing pieces, as if you leave it too long you might be missing a piece that Lego can't replace  - this way you get to build it now, box it up again, then build it again next year!)

This is the way to do it!

[SpaceM]

 

22 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

you could tell her that you need to build it now to make sure there aren't any missing pieces

OMG, that's it! thanks! 

[dimc]

39 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

HOWEVER you also don't have any Lego to build right now

Is this an issue that any of us suffer from? How big is your display space if you don't have a backlog (of sets or MOC ideas to work on)?!?

[RichardGoring]

1 minute ago, dimc said:

Is this an issue that any of us suffer from? How big is your display space if you don't have a backlog (of sets or MOC ideas to work on)?!?

I have so much in the backlog, when I was driving back from Walmart last night, having looked for, and found, some good clearance deals, I did think it was actually pretty stupid to add more to the backlog. 

[dimc]

25 minutes ago, RichardGoring said:

I have so much in the backlog, when I was driving back from Walmart last night, having looked for, and found, some good clearance deals, I did think it was actually pretty stupid to add more to the backlog. 

I honestly don't think I've purchased any new sets in nearly a year? I feel like I'm a bit over-lego'd, if that's a thing. Granted, I am surrounded by bins and drawers full of vintage stuff that I'm working on completing (for future display or sale), and a number of MOC projects. I was digging in the basement the other week and found an unopened Soldier's Fort set that I completely forgot I owned. I don't even recall owning one I hadn't built (because I did sell some 2015 pirates last year). It's bad when I find multiples of sets that I got just because of a sale.

[RichardGoring]

2 hours ago, dimc said:

I honestly don't think I've purchased any new sets in nearly a year? I feel like I'm a bit over-lego'd, if that's a thing. Granted, I am surrounded by bins and drawers full of vintage stuff that I'm working on completing (for future display or sale), and a number of MOC projects. I was digging in the basement the other week and found an unopened Soldier's Fort set that I completely forgot I owned. I don't even recall owning one I hadn't built (because I did sell some 2015 pirates last year). It's bad when I find multiples of sets that I got just because of a sale.

I think I'm getting towards your stage now. At some point I'd like to have a sorting system for parts and build MOCs, but there hasn't been much time for it over the last few years with a house renovation and move.

[dimc]

6 minutes ago, RichardGoring said:

I think I'm getting towards your stage now. At some point I'd like to have a sorting system for parts and build MOCs, but there hasn't been much time for it over the last few years with a house renovation and move.

I have a decent sorting system using parts drawers, some bins and ziplock bags, and, uh, basement bins full of unsorted stuff. Yeah. That's all.

The drawers are really useful, though I find myself needing more space so I can add more. It's frustrating at the moment, but it really does make it much easier in many cases. I am glad I mostly work on an older palette, up through the late 90s mostly. There are so many more colors now, and it's hard to differentiate some of them.

[GeoBrick]

5 hours ago, SpaceM said:

I convinced my lady that investing in the eldorado fortress is a good idea... 

I told her our boy (3 years old) will spend hours playing with it when he grows up, it'll keep him away from computer games and TV, and none of his friends will have such a cool Lego set. All his classmates will want to become his friends and come over to play with it.  

She agreed, and I ordered the set, but now she insists that we keep the box sealed until christmas 2024.

I'm a bad strategist.

Poor you!

I could pick up my order at the delivery point thrtis noon. The set shipped in the cardboard box (a snug fit) and the GWP's were stacked around one of the sides in a transport box. These (the Kahuna and Blacktron set) had box damage. The Eldorado cardboard box had pushed into them. The rest sofar looks okay.

[Khargeust]

50 minutes ago, GeoBrick said:

I could pick up my order at the delivery point thrtis noon. The set shipped in the cardboard box (a snug fit) and the GWP's were stacked around one of the sides in a transport box. These (the Kahuna and Blacktron set) had box damage. The Eldorado cardboard box had pushed into them. The rest sofar looks okay.

The kind of comment that scares me a little more. This is what happens because no protection is provided to the boxes. I'm very afraid to receive the GWP in the same state as you... Unbearable to know that nothing can be done because even by warning the customer service of the problem in order to anticipate the damage, they don't care and wait for us to contact them after receipt of the package for a possible return, etc. What a mess!

With the national holiday today in France, my order will arrive on Monday. It is shipped from Belgium.

A LEGO order is always a moment of worry and spoils the fun because half of the time there is a problem of crushing of the sets due to poor optimization of the space in the packages. 

Edited July 14, 2023 by Khargeust

[TalonCard]

It would be nice if the box looks good when it arrives, but if it arrives at all that's a win in my book, lol.

[Khargeust]

17 minutes ago, TalonCard said:

It would be nice if the box looks good when it arrives, but if it arrives at all that's a win in my book, lol.

How do you know your set was lost in transit? Have you called customer service?

[GeoBrick]

4 hours ago, Khargeust said:

The kind of comment that scares me a little more. This is what happens because no protection is provided to the boxes. I'm very afraid to receive the GWP in the same state as you... Unbearable to know that nothing can be done because even by warning the customer service of the problem in order to anticipate the damage, they don't care and wait for us to contact them after receipt of the package for a possible return, etc. What a mess!

It is a reason to go shopping in a Lego Store instead of ordering online. But that's of course not possible for alot of customers. I happen to live within 25 km of a store so mosttimes not a problem.

[TheCosmicTravelers]

Concerning bluecoats and redcoats:

After standardization, commissioned officers in the Royal Navy wore blue tunics and coats and white pants (sailors were much less standardized but it seems non-commissioned officers generally wore blue tunics and blue pants at least during later times).  The Royal Marines, however, wore scarlet tunics like the British Army and the various British Colonial Auxiliary Forcers.  As Royal Marines were stationed aboard ships and at naval bases, it was thus fairly common for redcoat and bluecoat forces to serve together (you can even see this with the bluecoat captain/governor minifig found in the 2009 Imperial sets 6242 and 10210).  Granted, you probably wouldn’t have much bluecoat infantry in the British forces, and the presence of the fleur-de-lis on the bluecoat sets’ flag does suggest France more.  As the shako headgear was not common until the 19^th century (at least ¾ of a century after the end of the Golden Age of Piracy), I replace them with tricornes on my sea-going bluecoats (I use the soldier torsos for midshipmen/petty officers and the various officer torsos for commissioned officers) and redcoats (who I use as Royal Marines).

 

Concerning the realism of brown versus black for wood:

I think that black gives a good representation of treatment with tar for preservation, which would have been regularly performed on a naval base (unlike a shipwreck island), so I don’t think arguments that brown is more realistic really holds true in this case.  Wood was often treated/painted for protection (though a clear lacquer was sometimes used).  In addition, different woods may have different colors depending on tree species, treatment, and degree of weathering.  In my experience, untreated wood exposed to the elements tends to turn a light greyish color over time.

[Khargeust]

8 hours ago, GeoBrick said:

It is a reason to go shopping in a Lego Store instead of ordering online. But that's of course not possible for alot of customers. I happen to live within 25 km of a store so mosttimes not a problem.

Here in France we have 19 LEGO stores, ten of which are not "official" and therefore have Certified Store status. These are the types of stores that have opened in recent years.

I live 10 kms from a big city where there is a store and so you are going to tell me that I have no excuse to complain about fearing to receive my boxes damaged insofar as I am lucky enough to to be able to recover the DTCs by myself.

The problem is that these Certified stores do not have the VIP program and do not have the important offers with the GWPs like the one from July 11 to 15. And I refuse to buy from them until their offers are aligned with official stores. Apparently it's in the test phase in a Parisian store but it's been going on for years... I don't know what the economic stakes are behind these maneuvers but what I'm sure of is that it's to the detriment of the consumer...

For me, having Lego Certified Store is kind of like having no Lego Store at all. Their only merit is having a 15% reduction on a purchase the week of our anniversary, which is equivalent to tripling the VIP points with immediate effect. So the store only sees me once a year, otherwise I order online.

Edited July 15, 2023 by Khargeust

[dimc]

19 hours ago, TheCosmicTravelers said:

As the shako headgear was not common until the 19^th century (at least ¾ of a century after the end of the Golden Age of Piracy), I replace them with tricornes on my sea-going bluecoats (I use the soldier torsos for midshipmen/petty officers and the various officer torsos for commissioned officers) and redcoats (who I use as Royal Marines).

I also give my soldiers tricornes when on the ship. I think it's to help keep water off their faces. Shakos are for land deployment only.

[Aanchir]

22 hours ago, dimc said:

I also give my soldiers tricornes when on the ship. I think it's to help keep water off their faces. Shakos are for land deployment only. 

Yeah, this definitely seems like a reasonable distinction — and one that even LEGO made in classic Pirates sets. The sailors on the Caribbean Clipper had red epaulets like the soldiers, but without rucksacks and with tricornes instead of shakos. They were the only bluecoat minifigs outfitted in this way.

The new Eldorado Fortress likewise alludes to this by replacing one of the four soldiers from the original set with a sailor to helm the cargo ship.

[jodawill]

Well, I just finished building mine. I was missing two pieces.  I encountered several quality control issues with my copy. Several of the pieces were chipped and scratched like they came from a kid's collection. The photos at the beginning of the instructions were printed poorly, the bags were crammed into the bottom of the box, the box wasn't sealed properly, and the sails are three different colors (none of which are similar to what's depicted on the box). I could forgive one or two of these issues, but put them all together, and it makes me think quality at TLG has really gone downhill. I've never had problems like this until recently. This is a premium product sold at a premium price and I think they owe their customers better than this.

I really enjoyed most of the build, but I'm bummed right now because it started off with problems and it ended with missing pieces.

Quality issues aside, I really love this set. I know a lot of people are disappointed with it when comparing it to 10305, but personally, I appreciate the more straight forward build, where most of the bricks are just stacked traditionally. 10305 is a masterpiece, but I don't even come close to having the skills to expand it. I love both, but I'm kind of more excited about this one from a building perspective because I can much more reasonably extend it.

I've been surprised that no one has mentioned the gap in the entryway. I always thought it was funny that the original was missing a 1x3 plate section between the arches, and it was even depicted that way in the comic. They fixed it in 10320. It would have been funny if they had pointed this out. I wonder if they had a debate internally about whether to leave the gap or fill it in. That archway is identical to the original, and they just added the extra 1x3 plate. If I was putting this on a shelf to display, I might remove it just for fun.

The crane is a huge improvement over the original. I know it's a little wonky because the minifigures can't use it, but it's a lot more functional than the original. I love how the angles come together on that one too.

I also found the middle section to be surprisingly detailed. I expected it to be very straight forward, just stack some bricks and put a plate on top. The switch for the trapdoor is the most interesting I've seen, and they put some extra effort into the details of that section with the SNOT building and so forth. I wasn't expecting it to be that interesting. I like it.

Quality issues aside, I'd rate the building a 10/10. I would say the minifigures are 6/10. To me, they don't really capture the magic of the original. The governor has unique printing, but he doesn't seem to stand out to me the way Broadside did in the original. Maybe that's because we're just more accustomed to special printings now, but he doesn't really stand out to me. I would have preferred the bluecoats without those ropes on the front, and there's really nothing interesting about the pirates in this set. I'm ok with not including Redbeard, but I would have liked to have gotten something special, like maybe a new version of Ironhook. Despite having a new printing on the female pirate, there's really nothing remarkable about the pirates here. Except for the color of the epaulettes, I prefer the 2015 version of all of the minifigures in this set.

How has everyone else's experience been going so far?

[lomis]

6 hours ago, jodawill said:

How has everyone else's experience been going so far?

I just started building today and have only opened the first 3 numbers of bags.

So far the build is enjoyable. 

Going into it, I was most worried about the white printing quality on the Bluecoats. But they seem fine - on par with the 2015 versions. Not perfect; but they’ll do. 

[Duck]

Also in a position where I've built the first three bags - taking my time with this one, partly because I want to savour the experience of a new pirates set, and party because I want my wife to know this set I spent £190 on took me over a week to build! 

I was really impressed with the Imperial Trading Vessel - it used a lot more interesting techniques than I was expecting and I felt some satisfaction from completing it. It's a very nice size also, compared to the original which really was "too small", this one feels like it could serve a genuine purpose at sea. It's a pity LEGO have never been a fan of medium-sized ships, as I feel there could be a market for a £30-40 ship of this size, rather than expecting pirates fans to fork out £100+ for each ship due to going large.

My only comment was that my sails seem darker than the pictures - not quite to @jodawill's extreme of different shades, but darker than the photos or original certainly - hows everyone elses sails?

Otherwise, the build so far has been very "rocky". It's fine, but looking forward to building the actual fort! The ramp was interesting to build though!

Edited July 17, 2023 by Duck

[lomis]

37 minutes ago, Duck said:

My only comment was that my sails seem darker than the pictures - not quite to @jodawill's extreme of different shades, but darker than the photos or original certainly - hows everyone elses sails?

The same for me.
They are darker than expected; not too far off from the official images.

But they are much darker than the lighter tan sails in the 6277: Imperial Trading Post.
I think that's what is throwing me off...

[iragm]

16 hours ago, jodawill said:

I've been surprised that no one has mentioned the gap in the entryway. I always thought it was funny that the original was missing a 1x3 plate section between the arches, and it was even depicted that way in the comic. They fixed it in 10320. It would have been funny if they had pointed this out. I wonder if they had a debate internally about whether to leave the gap or fill it in. That archway is identical to the original, and they just added the extra 1x3 plate. If I was putting this on a shelf to display, I might remove it just for fun.

That gap is something that is found somewhat often in Daniel August Krentz's designs.  There's a similar thing on the back of the Guarded Inn, on one of the alt builds of Black Falcon's Fortress, and in several of his MOCs if you do an image search for his work.  I suspect he saw it as a continuation of the arch.  It bothered me in the original set just a bit, but given his attention to detail, I find it hard to believe it was a mistake.

[jodawill]

52 minutes ago, iragm said:

That gap is something that is found somewhat often in Daniel August Krentz's designs.  There's a similar thing on the back of the Guarded Inn, on one of the alt builds of Black Falcon's Fortress, and in several of his MOCs if you do an image search for his work.  I suspect he saw it as a continuation of the arch.  It bothered me in the original set just a bit, but given his attention to detail, I find it hard to believe it was a mistake.

That's an interesting take. You could be right. I assumed it was because the set doesn't already contain white 1x3 plates and they didn't want to add another part.

I wasn't able to find what you were talking about with the other two sets. Are your referring to the inverted slopes? If so, that seems a bit different to me because the gap isn't a full plate thick. Do you have some images of his MOCs you could share? That would be interesting also.

[jodawill]

Alright, I've changed my mind about the print quality. I thought it was fine when I was building it late at night, but seeing it in natural light next to the original, I'm changing my vote. It really is too washed out. I love the mustache face for the soldier though. It has only the minimum amount of detail necessary to bring the face to life.

 

I love the new governor's hat, but you really can't beat the original plume. It fit the curve of the hat so perfectly.

[F1stzz]

1 hour ago, jodawill said:

Alright, I've changed my mind about the print quality. I thought it was fine when I was building it late at night, but seeing it in natural light next to the original, I'm changing my vote. It really is too washed out.

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. 

Thanks for the pics, really appreciate the comparison & I have a request, if you don't mind: if you have some free time & 2015 Bluecoat Soldiers, can you please make a comparison between those & 10320 minifigs and provide some photos? Just to see how striking is the difference if there's any 🤔