| |
It sits at the very entrance to the Corridor of Kings, an almost nondescript
tomb to a slave priest. Where other slaves were cast aside, this one was
lifted to a high and prominent office for his cunning and ruthless powers. Now
placed as sentinel over the long dead rulers, it is rumored he was buried with
an enormous gem that was the source of his magic. And somewhere there within
the vault of rock and bones it lies with power to control the very elements
themselves, the stone of Car'chemish!
Near the end of 1999 I had figured that I'd collected all of the 1998
Adventurer sets I was ever going to have. Then a project I was working on
required some of the pieces found in the 5958 set so I bought it. A short time
after the project was finished I finally got around to assembling the tomb and
I've found that it is a worthwhile set.
The Mummy's Tomb is a set consisting of the obvious tomb and an adventurer's
jeep. The tomb is a dual-compartment construction with one side containing a
revolving column. On the front of the column is a red stele (actually a
sarcophagus lid) with Egyptian markings and the likeness of a mummy. The back
of the column features a small stand where the mummy presumably stands. A knob
on the top of the column allows one to spin the column around so that the mummy
can lunge out at whoever was facing the front of the column (kind of cool).
The adjacent enclosure of the tomb is a simple room. The front-facing exterior
wall of this tomb is a large statue of a sitting pharaoh. The entire statue
slides to one side to allow access to the room. But look out! As the statue
is slid, a booby-trapped block with spears mounted on top slides down a short
chute to impale any unsuspecting explorers! The whole tomb construction is
mounted on a sand-colored plate that also features a palm tree and an obelisk
with more Egyptian markings. The obelisk is hinged at the base so that it can
lean/fall to one side.
The second construction is another Adventurer's jeep that I initially shrugged
off as a variation of the design used in the 5918 Scorpion Tracker or 5978
Sphinx Secret Surprise but it's more unique than either of those and worthy of
attention.
Four minifigs come with the set including the mummy, the pith helmet professor,
standard adventurer, and the black-hat bad guy. Their accessories include two
rifles, a sextant, map, magnifying glass, pick and shovel, and a red jewel.
The more outstanding unique pieces found in this set include the preprinted
1x16 beam and four 1x5 tan reverse-arches.
I originally ignored this set because I had the larger structures from the
series. But with closer inspection, I find I like the design of the pharaoh
statue; and the revolving column (while not too original) is a great addition
to the other traps and tricks found in the sets of the series. I'm not a
completist of any particular theme or sub-theme, but a careful look at all of
the 1998 Adventurer sets reveals them to be well designed sets (at least by
current standards). Each U.S. set from this year has its own unique charm
(though collectors will probably tire quickly of the same line-up of
characters/minifigs) and I can easily see the average collector going after
each one of the sets to make a nice ensemble of Egyptian discovery sites.
!!!4x2ReVu Stats!!!
Rating: Five out of eight studs
Thumbs up for: Great little standalone set.
Wallet-Wise: Approximately $30.00 (U.S.) for 253 pieces.
Date: 10/21/1999
|
|
1 Message in This Thread:
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
