Ranking the First Wave Pirate Series Sets

[SBCMayor]

3 hours ago, Horation said:

Wow, this whole thing reminds me of Steve's Lego blog, I spent way too much time reminiscing the good ole days while scrolling through this thread...

I mostly agree with the 1989 rankings, but I feel like 6276 is just better than forbidden island, for basically the opposite reasons to yours, but arguably that's a taste issue...

It has been years since I've seen the original Eldorado Fortress alongside Forbidden Island side by side. I worked from home today and they arrived with 2 hours or so to go in my workday. Since I had a few commitments after work it took everything I had to stay disciplined and not put them together on company time! 

Anyway, maybe after I do get them put together I'll have a change of heart. 

I'm glad you enjoyed the discussion on this thread!

[Mister Phes]

8 hours ago, SBCMayor said:

After a little engagement from @SpacePolice89 I decided to bid on Eldorado Fortress on Ebay and while I was at it, also bid on Forbidden Island. Turns out both were sold by the same seller and I won both.

May I ask how much yer managed to acquire these treasures for?

 

5 hours ago, Horation said:

Wow, this whole thing reminds me of Steve's Lego blog

Is this the blog yer talking about?

https://legosteveblog.blogspot.com/

[SpacePolice89]

8 hours ago, SBCMayor said:

The clips on the flags are broken, but the listings for both items had pictures of this so I am not complaining. 

The large flag from the new Eldorado Fortress is available on Pick a Brick. It is very similar to the old one.

https://www.lego.com/en-us/pick-and-build/pick-a-brick?appearsIn=10320&selectedElement=6436387

[RichardGoring]

I had Forbidden Island and Caribbean Clipper as a child, and still have them now. I don't think I could separate them, but my children are (currently) drawn towards Forbidden Island, as there is a lot of play with it. Quite a staggering amount compared to modern sets, especially with so few pieces. Totally glorious, and still two of my favourite sets today.

[Marooned Marin]

3 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

I had Forbidden Island and Caribbean Clipper as a child

Yeah, that's what I had also. Forbidden Island is now in passed down to my nephew, while the Clipper is dissembled and patiently awaits my long planned remake.

I agree with you, it's stunning how much both sets provide (in terms of play) with so relatively small amount of pieces.

It's one reason why I love so much the [SMALL] category competition this year and the last, where it was an object to do as much as possible in given piece limit, to focus on the story and play and not the sheer size of the build.

[SBCMayor]

7 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

May I ask how much yer managed to acquire these treasures for?

 

Eldorado was $153 and Forbidden Island $70. And again the only major problem was the clips on the flags. A little discoloring on some of the white bricks on Eldorado. Both came with instructions and the manuals were both in great shape. I think I got a really good deal because I've seen both of these go for much more. It's part of why I tried bidding instead of outright purchasing and I think that strategy worked. Seller had them to me within 3 days of purchase.

6 hours ago, SpacePolice89 said:

The large flag from the new Eldorado Fortress is available on Pick a Brick. It is very similar to the old one.

https://www.lego.com/en-us/pick-and-build/pick-a-brick?appearsIn=10320&selectedElement=6436387

Thank you! I actually already have a replacement coming somewhat indirectly. I've purchased another Lagoon Lockup and Sabre Island and some of the red Imperial Guard Flags. I just don't like any of their sets enough to pay what they cost. Except Imperial Trading Post. So I'm repurposing a couple sets I actually like, and that'll lend me a replacement flag and one on standby for the soldiers. 

I don't have the know-how to do some of these Mocs I see. I think those are awesome but I'm not on that level. I just combine what's already available. So I've got a nice collection built up. A lot of pirates (Redbeard has a couple clones...) and soldiers to fight them off. I've focussed on building a small contingent of Imperial Guards now, thought not as expansive a force as the soldiers. Together they can form a strategic alliance to battle the pirates. Or they can pay off the pirates and offer them commissions as privateers to attack the other side's vessels and outposts. Loads of fun.

[SpacePolice89]

2 hours ago, SBCMayor said:

Thank you! I actually already have a replacement coming somewhat indirectly. I've purchased another Lagoon Lockup and Sabre Island and some of the red Imperial Guard Flags. I just don't like any of their sets enough to pay what they cost. Except Imperial Trading Post. So I'm repurposing a couple sets I actually like, and that'll lend me a replacement flag and one on standby for the soldiers.

That sounds very interesting and like a very good idea. Someday I'll buy another Black Seas Barracuda and convert it to an Imperial ship like the one in Legoland Billund.

This was my favorite ride in Legoland when I was a kid and it still is. When I visited last time I went three times. The first and third time I just enjoyed looking at all the fantastic builds and the second time I focused on taking pictures.

This year they had replaced all the bricks in the fort and also made some other improvements. This video is seven years old.

[SBCMayor]

22 hours ago, SpacePolice89 said:

That sounds very interesting and like a very good idea. Someday I'll buy another Black Seas Barracuda and convert it to an Imperial ship like the one in Legoland Billund.

 

I have considered this. Converting the BSB to an imperial ship. It would be easy to do since the sails are Identical to the CC other than the color. I think the larger imperial ship is actually more realistic anyway. While the large, intimidating gunship makes for great lore, and there were examples of them, sloops were actually the most common type of vessel used as pirate ships. Sloops were fast and had a shallow draft, so they were suitable on open ocean and superior to larger ships in coastal inlet regions. Bermuda sloops were especially common because of their speed and hull design made them especially maneuverable. 

The Renegade Runner is a great example of a Lego pirate sloop. 

With that said, Blackbeard had a small fleet featuring Queen Anne's Revenge, a Frigate formerly the La Concorde of the French Navy and two sloop escorts. He ran QAR aground (some say intentionally) on a sandbar off the coast of North Carolina, and transferred supplies and his most trusted crew members to escape on one of the sloops. He left others behind, and Stede Bennett picked them up. 

So examples of larger pirate ships do exist, and as a large pirate ship the BSB really cannot be topped. I've purchased two Renegade Runners to serve as escort vessels to Captain Redbeard's flagship. I want to make a small fleet reminiscent of Blackbeard's. 

I may convert it to an imperial ship just to take a few pictures but then I'll return it to its original state as a pirate ship. 

Edited September 20, 2024 by SBCMayor

[Mister Phes]

On 9/19/2024 at 9:16 PM, SBCMayor said:

Eldorado was $153 and Forbidden Island $70. And again the only major problem was the clips on the flags.[...]  think I got a really good deal because I've seen both of these go for much more.

I assume that's in US dollars given the country specified in your profile is the United States.

But aye, $273 is still not a bad price for both those sets!

So when are yer going to build them?

 

[SBCMayor]

8 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

I assume that's in US dollars given the country specified in your profile is the United States.

But aye, $273 is still not a bad price for both those sets!

So when are yer going to build them?

 

Correct, US dollars. 

My son and I built them both Friday night. We combined Eldorado with Lagoon Lockup and two Sabre Islands to make one larger fort. We combined Forbidden Island with Shipwreck island and another large island printed baseplate to make an extended pirate hideout. 

I'm working on putting together one extended set up and I have a few more sets coming. At this point I've exceeded the budget (not by too much but still have a budget...) I had for this little hobby so I'll be pausing any more purchases for a while after this wave of sets and accessories arrives. I'll get a few pics up in a couple days and you'll be able to see where I'm taking things.  

[AViewToALego]

On 9/18/2024 at 11:12 PM, Horation said:

Wow, this whole thing reminds me of Steve's Lego blog.

I thought of his blog as well!  Definitely one of my favorite blogs.

I even followed his principle of "skipping a lunch to buy an impulse set with the money". I miss the guy, he was funny! "There is a monkey with a gun!!"

 

Steve! If you read this: Come back! We need you!

[SBCMayor]

On 9/19/2024 at 10:12 AM, SpacePolice89 said:

That sounds very interesting and like a very good idea. Someday I'll buy another Black Seas Barracuda and convert it to an Imperial ship like the one in Legoland Billund.

 

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!
 

 

Edited October 6, 2024 by SBCMayor

[SpacePolice89]

2 hours ago, SBCMayor said:

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!

Beautiful! That ship looks fantastic! Some day I'll do the same thing. There is an Austrian on Ebay (passionforbricks3) who makes custom and replica sails for the BSB and other ships. Both one and two sided. I have ordered from him and the quality is very good. The sails are a little bit softer than the originals. If you ever need more sails I can recommend him.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/264848766171

https://www.ebay.com/str/passionforbricks3?_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l161211

[SBCMayor]

1 hour ago, SpacePolice89 said:

Beautiful! That ship looks fantastic! Some day I'll do the same thing. There is an Austrian on Ebay (passionforbricks3) who makes custom and replica sails for the BSB and other ships. Both one and two sided. I have ordered from him and the quality is very good. The sails are a little bit softer than the originals. If you ever need more sails I can recommend him.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/264848766171

https://www.ebay.com/str/passionforbricks3?_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l161211

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.