Is LEGO 10320 Eldorado Fortress too nostalgic?

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LEGO 10320 Eldorado Fortress is yet another in a growing collection of LEGO sets aimed squarely at the nostalgia market.
Some of these sets, such as 10497 Galaxy Explorer, take an original LEGO set and update it, expanding its size, adding in new build techniques and elements, and creating a new set that feels like the original one did back when it released.
Other sets, such as 10305 Lion Knights' Castle, takes a familiar concept - in this case, the Castle theme - and fleshes it out, providing an even more detailed look at the swords and sorcery genre that has always been popular in LEGO form.
10320 Eldorado Fortress opts for a third approach, recreating the original set almost entirely, with a far higher piece count and modern elements. This being the case, is the set just too similar to its predecesor to be any fun?

[@NeonSupernovaUPW]

Love this review / critique. As someone who grew up with late 80’s early 90’s Classic LEGO themes, I really enjoyed this set. Pirates were always one of my favorite themes, though I never had the original. This set gave me the chance to “own” the fortress at a fair price and with an updated build experience and fits nicely on my display shelf. I will acknowledge my opinion may be majorly influenced by nostalgia-but I really enjoy it.

[@jakobkofoedjensen2126]

I really enjoyed this review, what a refreshing way to go about it! It have just bought the fortress and am passing the time before it arrives with watching KZbin-review after KZbin-review. And oh my, how boring it is to get yet another monotonous step-by-step walk-through of what features the set have. Your review what nothing like that! I want to hear about the reviewers’ reflections and emotions on the set, rather than just a straightforward presentation. And you certainly delivered! Great stuff, thanks!

[@davidpearson8043]

As someone who grew up with, and absolutely loved the original, I was not disappointed at all with the building experience of this set. That said, as I do not really play with my Legos, but mostly display them, most of the fun ended with the building experience. I recently rebuilt the original, and as you mentioned, it is quite lackluster, given the low peace count. The new set is actually more fun to build than the original, while preserving the beauty and playability of the original at the same time. Excellent review.

[@Badgers_9]

Fantastic review. Completely agree with the points. I for example liked building the Sonic diarama and Yoda, but others wouldn’t. The other issue for me is the price, and as it is exclusive it’s not going on sale. Feels much more expensive compared to a Viking village (which I have just bought and I am massively excited just looking at the box).

[@somethingawesome9547]

The Eldorado Fortress is a true, and also OBTAINABLE playset. An adult can build this set, feeling Nostalgia, and the child can build it as well and have a lot of fun playing with it. This might be the better of the three remake sets you have just mentioned because of that reason. EDIT: You literally just said exactly what I wrote about 4 or so minutes in to the video.

[@magnuslauglo5356]

This is such a thoughtful analysis/review of this new set. I was blown away by Barracuda Bay and liked (didn't quite love) the big $400 castle. There was something about this set that made meless excited than I had expected and you're giving me some perspective on perhaps what that was. I love how modular it is, but I guess I wish they had used the opportunity to add new features and just make it bigger.

[@bol0002]

Cant afford to buy or build or have the old school set. But I can get this one. So for someone who missed out, I really appreciate this.

[@TheAurgelmir]

The Remake VS Remaster was a good analogy. (Although that said, Final Fantasy 7 Remake... is not actually a remake of the original (?) it's rather a sequel of sorts)

[@enigmaalex]

The original looks much more fun to build and more importantly, play with. Recently found my old one and built it with my 5 year old. Not keen on the cut away sections on the back.

[@TheAurgelmir]

I'm not much of a Lego builder in my older years, but as someone who remember this set coming out - I do like the nostalgia thing they are going for here. I like my Lego sets to feel like toys, not display pieces.

[@TonyMontanaDS]

The only issue I have with this set is that I don't know what to do with my original set now.

[@pajvader]

Build a extension with this ford around it. Or sell the old and buy a second copy to extend it.

[@Garinovitch]

When I was little, I LOVED the pirate sets, it was hard for me to get the bigger sets, I only got the real little sets but I loved the blue coats, the Eldorado Fortress was my white whale, one that I'd never get. When the 10320 was announced, I was EXCITED, I could finally appease the kid in me that couldn't get this set. 10320 is how I looked at the original set, it's how I remembered the original looking in my young mind. As we speak, this set is sitting at the corner of my desk while I type this comment. But looking at it, I can see it's clearly more toy like than say the Galaxy Explorer or the Lion Knight's Castle where it's more on the display side. The only thing I don't like about this set, and I understand it's because how it's designed to open up, but I don't like how the Admiral's Quarters are so opened up. (Personally I closed it!) but I still love this set.

[@kevin-yb4fg]

I loved this set, i really enjoyed the little secrets and the building technique for the ramp especially

[@lech.dutkiewicz]

You convinced me to buy this set. You hit the nail on the head - sometimes I like to immerse myself in the simple world of Lego with my children and feel a bit of nostalgia. I wish LEGO would make more pirate/castle theme sets for $20-30. My children are 7 and 5 years old, and although they are great at building, such large sets are too overwhelming for them. I would happily buy 2-3 sets a year at a lower price, which refer to those from my childhood, if they were more adapted to the age of my children.

[@jacknapier6991]

Great review. This is my favourite lego theme so im probably going to buy it even though i agree with a lot of the negatives of the set compared to other recent sets

[@Legomane_FPL]

Given the lack of clarity and general vagueness of negative reviews that were referenced - I strongly suspect the ‘missing something’ cited may just have been their own personal nostalgia factor itself - i.e. the critical authors not being part of the ‘Pirates and Soldiers’ club back in the day and therefore the sense that ‘they are missing something’ perhaps mistakenly informs them that ‘the set is missing something’!

[@Legomane_FPL]

Enjoyed the review btw

[@MOCTurtle4911]

During 2020 when we weren't leacing the house much, my wife dug through her tub of Lego parts and instructions, and rebuilt some of the classic sets. Recently we built Lion Knight Castle and it is in the same display as those old forest/knight sets. I think techniques changed but the joy and theme are still great in the original or remake.

[@psycrow6699]

I had the original when I was 10 and now I’ve got this update. Now in my 40’s it ticked all my boxes. Brought back nice memories, was fun to build and I get to share it with my Lego-daft son. Was only £89.99 after I used my 16,000 points for a £100 discount 😊

[@ZenobiaBenz]

Never had the original but this is going to go well with my Imperial Flagship and an army sailing in from Denmark 🤣

[@Marc76-qt7vp]

Thank you for your interesting explanation. You managed to capture this complicated relationship between generations very well IMO.

[@blsof8bc]

Great analogy on remake vs remaster. Thank you!

[@jeungbou]

Great review!

[@Kinegos]

I feel like I just had a huge waffle breakfast. How many times can you say “you might like this if..” or “you might not like this if..”? No Lego set is perfect for everyone. I have no memory of this original set, but I loved this build and it’s a great display piece for me.

[@___David__]

The recreation of things like the ship with smaller pieces most of the time isn't done for any reason other than the fact that LEGO no longer produces the pieces used on the original set. To recreate an old set and expand on it, it helps to have the same old pieces available. If many things aren't available anymore and need to be recreated in another way, it eats up a lot of the budget for the set. This set is brilliant and I like it a lot more than the Lion Knight's Castle approach. I prefer recreations of old sets than new designs, mostly because modern LEGO designers simply aren't as good as their old colleagues.

[@octav1600]

I really liked your in depth take on the nostalgia part, however you did forget about one category of people. The ones who never got to have these sets, but wanted them (and as you've said, are now ridiculously expensive). I was a space / aquazone guy, and started lego building around 1992 or 1993. I always saw these cute sets, but I never would have been able to collect them back then (even if I could have, they are ... well played with so to say). Having this on shelves allows me to get something I might have liked back then, in a mildly updated version and get a lot of enjoyment out of it. I can't say much more about this set, I have it, but I didn't get around to building it yet. However the feeling of joy I felt when I build the forestmen hideout GWP was unequaled by any of the modern sets (and that set is very similar to this one, a remaster with newer parts and modern prints of exactly what the original hideout was). - edited note: I never had the original Forestmen Hideout, so it is important to note that you can get a nostagia boost - especially if the set is good - even if you didn't own it, and just saw it in a commercial or in a lego magazine. I am really hopeful lego can do these things and I can enjoy all of this sooner rather than later. I am still waiting eagerly for that Dungeon Master's Castle remake

[@1981bloempje]

I love it how this set looks. Reminds me of my youth. And I think it looks really nice. Loved the old pirates and ridders whit their castles. So I Don't mind that it looks like the old skool 😊.

[@travertinepico751]

The whole clip of you talking about being a remake or remaster holding the ship - the one thing that’s not original to the original, but it’s from the 6277 imperial trading post 😂😂

[@thatguitarist25]

I love this set. It looks really great on display, the build was fun, and I love how faithful it is to the original. I really like the “remastered” concept. If we want fresh and nostalgic I would love to see a whole wave of retro-inspired themes like another new pirates line, a castle line, etc. But if the set released is intending to just me a remake, I want it to be faithful and recognizable. Idk, just my take. Great video though!

[@stevecampbell599]

Only one Captain Redbeard? Hm. Nice. 😉 I was a pirate kid from way back and have the original although it's been disassembled for decades. More specifically I was a Bluecoat kid so this was a 'must' buy from day one. I no longer have little sticky people in my house and I don't "play" with my sets as such, but I do like to arrange my minifigs in a way that tells stories and this one has a lot of story potential. Thanks for the great review!

[@joseramalho3297]

I find this review... fascinating!

[@Lapince78]

I want a New skull eye shooner best pirate boat

[@jimm244]

Oh my gosh YES!

[@KingTiger2000]

Day one purchase

[@jimm244]

This is a brilliant remaster of a coveted set that most of us adults had no hope of obtaining (from our parents) when we were kids. This set is geared towards ‘modern’ adults but will fit right in with all the prior Pirate system stuff, all the way back to the BSB. Can you say the same about Lion Night’s Castle? Will that fit with an OG Guarded in or Black Falcon’s Fortress? Nope. That’s why I picked up the Eldorado…and can’t seem to pull the trigger on Lion Knight’s (great as it may be).

[@SO-ym3zs]

Your point about the blocky "low res" nature of older sets versus newer ones raises interesting questions for me, as I'm also a scale modeler. The Lego sets I played with as a child were very simple by today's standards and only loosely implied their real-world counterparts, therefore requiring and encouraging a lot of imagination and play. Nowadays, with sets consisting of thousands of ever-more specialized parts that go way beyond just a few simple blocky shapes, Lego sets become more and more like scale models. Which is great for building and displaying, but as that trend continues, does Lego run the risk of turning into something different than what it was?

[@jagoramuh4173]

I must admit, I thought you were going to bash this set. That being said, this was an excellent review. I never had this set (original). I actually never liked pirates or castles when I was growing up. I only got space sets. I just got this for myself for Christmas.

[@diegolandeo5061]

W review rlly cool

[@jacobe1942]

the major problem is the brick count for the base, if they were doing an inspired version the land would be very shallow, but wide spread and that would allow more build to go into a spectacular fortress. For me I have the original, it was one of my most played with sets as a child, I have yet to get this and I do not really see any reason to get it other than the small ship, its just too similar to my OG. The only interesting thing is how it opens up, which is an aweseome direction to go with modularity, There is a simplistic beauty to the OG as well that is special as a childs toy. And I will have to say all this nostalgia stuff works, the Lions knight castle was my first set in 25 years, really amazing set. If I were to get this though I would have to ditch my original (for space) and get 2 of these for a better build. too much at that point.

[@zarda1484]

Then went too far with making it able to be two old sets but not far enough to make it good. The thing is the modularity. I think it distracted the designers for making one cohesive set and instead you get some unfinished ideas that don't work in two ways.

[@madmerlinsart]

Yeah... this video just made me this set more than ever! Mainly because I never had the original and so there's no nostalgia in it for me, other than wanting to experience this set in one form or another. I mean if they wanted to get me with nostalgia they should make a modern Tribal Island from the 90's Pirates range. A set I still own, but only because I was told a fair few years ago, that it wouldn't sell due to it getting multiple releases. Or possibly a pirate themed gift with purchase of the old Pirate Outpost set, my first pirates set and one I still own, mainly because the leaves broke on the tree. Between this set and the Lion Knights Castle, I'm really town between making a decision on which to purchase. I have more of an affinity to the castle, but I have more of a draw to the fortress, partly because I never owned it and partly the price. I can afford it and not have to eat cardboard for the rest of the month. Great review and I loved how you edited it together with the interjections from "the future" on what you thought of the build process.

[@BwahBwah]

I say bring back all the old 90s sets. Make them bigger and better. The new UCS Star Wars sets, in my opinion, are WAY better than the old sets.

[@michaellucks1642]

Clearly homage (pr: ō-mäjʹ), though with Easter eggs.

[@Ciero9]

Viking Village is already retiring after less than a year?

[@jackiem3670]

He meant the viking ship, not the village.

[@derrick6771]

I'll take the string over the stickers any day. And it feels very different from the original with the more detailed ship, the lack of the classic baseplate, and the modularity of the set. It just seems to feel like with the mixed reception to classic Lego themes such as Space, Pirates, and Castle it's understandable as to why the Lego group is so hesitant to fully release the themes to such a picky audience.

[@Lapince78]

Lego castle se vend très bien .

[@Marco1973est]

No, It is not too nostalgic. It's actually one of the finer sets that LEGO came out with to continue the celebration of the 90 years of play even though we're at 91. On LEGO's way to 100 years in the business, sets like these will pay perfect "functional imagery" of yesteryear gone by. Two things that I believe you omitted, if even by accident, @Brickfanatics in your video are: 1) The less use of the color YELLOW bricks vs. the original fortress, ( as you mentioned the usage of the black bricks). 2) Most Importantly the fact of the "Box Art". I truly appreciate in the sets coming out from,LEGO, the Knight's Castle - Galaxy Explorer - the GWP Blacktron Invader set, and this Fortress, is the Box Art and the "classic" look, colors and art design that are used, harkening back to a different / simpler era.

[@bigburci]

Good set but just too expensive.

[@drewdavies3010]

I brought the origional eldorado 10 years ago sevond hand - its one of my favorites - it is not nostalgia

[@SO-ym3zs]

Interesting points. I have no nostalgia for the original set, nor the pirates theme itself. Judged aesthetically without any clouding from nostalgia, my overriding impression is that this set is pretty darn ugly. Compare the Pirates of Barracuda Bay set, which is far more evocative and pretty (in either build mode).

[@joaozitoookaboom]

Remastered boat that didn’t even came in original eldorado? Really? If you want a ‘remake’ you can buy those Chinese versions for cheap. They look great actually… I have both versions of eldorado and the building experience\looks\display value are way different. ;)

[@georgeleorgebeorge2354]

Reverent, not nostalgic.

[@KingTiger2000]

I was only disappointed with the minifigures, I like my old school bushy moustache officers. I had to buy spare heads and tricorn hats to replace the two generic female head figures for the two officers. Edit: btw you got the flag upside down at 29:47

[@Firefly-101]

I disagree on his view that everything is rose colored glasses. The men of 60-100 years ago were a different cut than the men today. They call them the greatest generation for a reason, if the events that took place back then happened today, most of the people today could not handle or survive it.

[@samsufy8945]

Bs review