REVIEW: 10210 Imperial Flagship

[AdmiralAwesome]

I love this set. especially its creative organ.

[yumiyoshi]

I'm gonna buy this for Xmas, too bad I don't have promo code.

Can't believe that the US Shop is giving free shipping on expensive sets, and the italian one is charging as usual.

|49.90€ for the flagship are a bit too much, but you can't battle with Love :D

[Little Brick Man]

Hye, Im just new to pirates theme and was in dilemma to have my first ship. It was between BBB against 10210 IF. Every times I passes Lego shop here in The Gardens Kuala Lumpur I shall stop to watch the BBB (constructed) in window glass display. Beind it was IF in box with price tag of RM 1099. Phew! The BBB sets here in Malaysia cost RM 500, about half of the IF. Other than the price, my second consideration was the amount of Lego parts involved. I never assembled Lego sets >1500pieces before. and third consideration, the space I need to put it on display in our bedroom.

At last, it was a split second decision when I went to Bangsar Village and saw the IF sets at TRU with 40% less discount. I didn't hesitate coz there were only 5 IF sets on the shelves. Now I'm a proud owner of the IF with a little worry in my head.

Having reading your review, it gave me the rough idea about building it.

However, I haven't start the building yet coz I'm spending every night on this whole week to rearrange our bedroom layout so that I could have more space to start construct the set. I'm gonna make it slow and steady coz I know The Imperial Flagship wasn't build in a day. Not a late starter like me.

I'm building a big, big ship. Yeay!

[Tommy J.]

Thanks for your review. Excellent work you did on detailing this ship

[Skulls_Eye_Schooner_Sailor]

I've modified mine to make it even better! Can't wait to show ya'll! Since I've been gone, I've amassed a whole fleet of MOCs and MODs. Will make a thread in MOC section soon, hope you guys will check 'em out!

[andika]

This latest Pirate set is what makes me return back to LEGO, I saw this ship at a local shopping complex on LEGO promotional expo last week, and was amazed that my childhood theme "Pirate" is back with the old characters "Imperial Guards" this time with better modelling and design.. Not that I can afford it, here in my country this set costs a fortune, just guess how much it is here..

1,000 MYR.....

[Ratshot]

Could someone please tell me what the exact measurements are for the box of this set?

[Brig. Brick]

Could someone please tell me what the exact measurements are for the box of this set?

in the glorious "metric system":

58 cm x 48 cm x 9 cm

[erik530195]

A good set, Ive never been much ofa pirates fan... Gerat review too, Sooooo many picture s~

[Dreamweb]

I forgot to mention that I finally got this set two months ago or so. Better late than never. Unfortunately I didn't get the extra dress for the lady.

There's a lot of cool stuff in that ship, I like the way it is full of those little decorative elements here and there. Its overall look is very nice and it looks good in a display case. I still don't know whether it's better than BSB though, surely it's bigger and more detailed, but BSB is just so special to me. I'm probably not being objective as I'm very nostalgic about it.

If I were to change something in the Imperial Flagship, the figurehead would be the first thing to go. The sawfish somehow looks a bit out of place. It doesn't even fit the colour scheme of the whole thing. To me it looks like it was thrown in there at last minute. Brickbeard's Bounty's mermaid was so much cooler.

Still, it's definitely one of the best pirate sets ever made, and it definitely deserves a 5 in the poll.

[Little Brick Man]

This latest Pirate set is what makes me return back to LEGO, I saw this ship at a local shopping complex on LEGO promotional expo last week, and was amazed that my childhood theme "Pirate" is back with the old characters "Imperial Guards" this time with better modelling and design.. Not that I can afford it, here in my country this set costs a fortune, just guess how much it is here..

1,000 MYR.....

If you go to Bangsar Village rite now, u may find the set at 40% less by TRU. Last time I went, there were only 5 boxes. I just got ONE.

[Ratshot]

in the glorious "metric system":

58 cm x 48 cm x 9 cm

Thanks so much!

[brickmack]

Cool set, cool review. Does anyone know of an easy way to fix that problem with the SNOT panels around the brig coming out? I got this a few months ago and I can't think of any way to do it.

[suunto]

This is a fantastic review, thanks. Probably the reason I ended up buying 3 of the sets.

[Capt. Redblade]

I know for a fact I'm getting this for Christmas tomorrow! Ordered it m'self.

[moc2]

I got this set for myself for Christmas :) Well worth it! It was a fantastic build and the ship looks amazing. I never got a Black Seas Barracuda as a kid but I think this has sated my desire for a giant ship. Well, I take that back... now I want to buy Brickbeard's Bounty as well! The ship has inspired me to make some modifications to it and I've already ordered some parts off of BrickLink to start customizing. Great set.

[lt.Gonville brickhead]

Outsanding review.

I may now buy this set.

Edited December 31, 2010 by lt.Gonville brickhead

[gotoAndLego]

in the glorious "metric system":

58 cm x 48 cm x 9 cm

What does it weigh... in hectares?

[Zeya]

This was a really well-written review. I know it's been up for a while, but thank you just the same.

I just finished putting together my Imperial Flagship yesterday. I was late to the game getting this set due to being in my dark ages still. I have some feedback on my thoughts.

Two instruction manuals, 70+ pages each. Colour consistency is OK but I found Book 2 suffered from blurry print - like everything else from LEGO these days, seems to be suffering in the quality control department.

I had some quality issues, too. I didn't notice a problem with my instructions though.

I found myself missing one piece (a "flag pole" type piece used for the railing by the tiller/wheel). Also, another piece that should have been reddish brown was dark brown instead. These issues always seem to happen with these larger sets; usually I find myself missing a tiny 1x1 stud, but this time the issues involved larger pieces, unfortunately.

I also found that my reddish brown parts had color variations. If you put them side-by-side, you can see that some are a different hue than the others. Another minor quibble is that the pearl dark gray of the cannons had striations in it, but I think that might just be the way that color works out, anyway.

And lastly, as people always gripe about, the instructions came folded, and unfortunately for this set, my sails were bended too. It's hard to get them flat again. All TLG needs to do is back these things with very thin cardboard-like paper and then in the plastic bags. That is how I got comic books in the mail for years, and those always arrived in acceptable shape. You can't tell me a little bit of thick paper costs too much money; that argument doesn't fly with me, especially not when I'm spending $180 on a set. I read somewhere that TLG will start doing just that for at least the larger sets, and it can't come soon enough.

Loose in the box came the correct new minifig dress as seen on the right (blue detail print). Bagged was the version on the left in red - it looks as if Lego realised their mistake last minute and tossed in the extra dress. Woo! I wonder whether this means the red dress is in a different set or was just a total cock-up? In any case, we get two new dress prints from this set!

Hmm. I got no such extra dress. That must be a thing with earlier sets that they have since fixed. Consider yourself lucky!

But all-in-all I'm happy with this set. I was surprised at how large the thing is! It looks really good on the shelf. I can't wait to get a Queen Anne's Revenge later this year and have another Lego ship on my shelf.

[Jaymercury]

And lastly, as people always gripe about, the instructions came folded, and unfortunately for this set, my sails were bended too. It's hard to get them flat again. All TLG needs to do is back these things with very thin cardboard-like paper and then in the plastic bags. That is how I got comic books in the mail for years, and those always arrived in acceptable shape. You can't tell me a little bit of thick paper costs too much money; that argument doesn't fly with me, especially not when I'm spending $180 on a set. I read somewhere that TLG will start doing just that for at least the larger sets, and it can't come soon enough.

My IFS had instructions in a bag with a piece of cardboard. Oddly the sails were left loose so they got a tiny bit bent at one corner. I'm not sure when you got your IFS but it would be weird if you got yours after mine and it didn't have the same thing.

[Sir E Fullner]

I like it, even if there aren't any bluecoats.

[Zeya]

My IFS had instructions in a bag with a piece of cardboard. Oddly the sails were left loose so they got a tiny bit bent at one corner. I'm not sure when you got your IFS but it would be weird if you got yours after mine and it didn't have the same thing.

There's a good chance of that. I got mine on about January 2nd, 2011 at the Lego store in Santa Clara, CA, USA. I noticed that their boxes had some wear and tear. The one I got had just a bit of a crushed corner, and that came from behind the one in front that had even more damage. (Not that I care about the box so much, but wanted to avoid my chances of bent instructions and sails.)

It's good to hear that they are cardboard-backing instructions now.

[Captain Grog]

Like it but I'm still waiting for a wider prefab hull.

[Konrade]

I just got this set recently and I must say it is one of the most amazing sets I have ever owned! I can't decide whether I like the MMV or th Flagship better, but they are both superb. I love the fact that it wasn't a set that you could build in an hour, but that kinda goes without saying. The organ is pure genious in my opinion. And the minifigs are great, although I still think the price was a little steep. I wish they could have made it bigger for $180 dollars!

[Silverface]

Awesome review! This set looks amazing and I am actually thinking to buy it! Thank you from this great review!