7622 - Race for the Stolen Treasure

7822: Race for the Stolen Treasure

 

 

Year: 2008

Pieces: 272

Retail Price: $29.99 (paid $19.99)

Theme: Indiana Jones (Raiders of the Lost Ark)

 

This is a set in the Indiana Jones Theme, the first set of a movie theme reviewed on this blog. The set is a decently fun set. I wouldn't say it is as fun as the sets in the world racers theme, but fun nonetheless. The set mimics the chase scene in the movie where the treasure is on the back of the truck and Indiana Jones races alongside on his horse to steal it, all the while being shot at by the following jeep.

 

The set comes with a truck, jeep, and Indiana Jones on a horse as well as a golden treasure chest. Despite having 270 pieces, the set is not very difficult to put together. Daniel was able to do it with minimal assistance. The only help he needed was to put the cloth top on the truck.

 

The set is split up into three parts: Minifigs and the horse, the jeep, and the truck.

 

The jeep build is strait forward and I think the end result looks pretty authentic to the time period. The machine gun on the back is also a favorite. It isn't very often that LEGO embraces modern weaponry in their sets - most often it is revolvers and rifles, so to have a heavy caliber automatic, mounted weapon is not a common sight.  

 

The truck is also fairly easy to build and looks a lot like modern day "deuce and a half"'s that are still used in the military on occasion. Like the jeep, it also looks fairly authentic to the time period and is a good representation of the truck seen on the movie.

 

Overall, the set is a decent representation of that movie scene, as compared below. Yes, the truck is a little more streamlined in the LEGO version, however I think it looks better that way personally. When not in use as the Indiana Jones theme, the set can easily be placed on a LEGO military base and would fit decently well there.

8896 - Snake Canyon

8896: Jagged Jaws Reef

Year: 2010

Pieces: 57

Retail Price: $9.99 (Paid 5 dollars at the BX)

Theme: World Racers

 

 

 

This set is another fun one in the world racers theme. Like Jagged Jaws Reef, the premise is that there is a cutthroat race where it seems there are no rules but to win. The teams are still green/white and red/black. This set is the motorcycle leg of the race, set in the desert. 2 minifigs are in the set and I love the helmet on the green/white guy. Its not new, no, but the goggles with that type of helmet is a fantastic choice and looks quite realistic to me. The minifigs themselves are pretty nice with well printed bodies.  The set also comes with a podium, trophy, and a red snake.

 

The builds are pretty easy really. With 57 pieces it isn't anything spectacular, but it's still a pretty fun set. The red motorcycle is a typical street bike frame with its weapon of choice being a stick of dynamite.

 

The green and white bike is a little bit more complicated because of its sidecar, but in reality Daniel still had no problems putting it together. The bike is more of an off-road dirt bike versus the street bike earlier and comes with a sidecar that shoots missiles, courtesy of a rubber spring included in the set.

 

Overall, the set is another fun one in the series and I only wish I jumped at the chance to have bought more of the series back then (it's no longer made). But regrets are a dime a dozen and at least we picked these two sets up on clearance. Daniel has a blast with both of these sets (high speed vehicles / weapons and explosives, who wouldn't?) and continues to play with them quite often.

8897 - Jagged Jaws Reef



8897: Jagged Jaws Reef

 

 

Year: 2010

Pieces: 191

Retail Price: $19.99 (price paid - 10.00 on sale at the BX)

Theme: World Racers

 

This is a fun little set and after building the police boat, Daniel wanted some more boats to go with it. He picked well, considering these boats precisely show what is wrong with the police boat. These boats are armed to the teeth, presumably for some death race the LEGO city people enjoy watching *shrugs* The boats weren't too hard to put together but Daniel did have some problems with the green and white boat. He was also exhausted when we built this, so that may have had something to do with it.

The set is divided into two parts, although technically it isn't since it is all one instruction book. There are two boats, one is red and blank and the other is green and white. These colors go throughout the theme which are all racing themed in different vehicles (cars, boats, motorcycles, and hovercraft). The boat is the first leg of the race.

 

The set comes with the two boats, two minifig racers, a shark, and a trophy buoy.

People with seasickness should not race boats...

New Sport: Shark Surfing

Both boats look fantastic, I have to say, but the white boat is my favorite. It looks nice with the pontoons on the side and its weapon is a fish missile (shown below in the barrel). The weapon is put together with a rubber piece that flings the fish missile forward when you press the lever in back. The police boat has no chance against ruffians like these guys...

 

The red boat is also a good build. While the white boat is more like a hydroplane, the red boat is more like a typical speedboat. It's weapon is nothing fancy, but probably more reliable and feasible. it's weapon is a harpoon that launches off of its bow.

 

Overall it is a fun set and Daniel has had many hours of fun with them. Along with the motorcycle race (in the next review), he has ultimate races with a lot of destruction. I only wish I could have gotten the other sets of this series back in 2010/2011 when they were still being sold. Now they are sold for substantially more. Ah well.

 

7899 - Police Boat

7899: Police Boat

Year: 2006
Pieces: 199


Retail price: $25

Theme: City (Police)

 

This is one of the sets I purchased while in Japan. Back then I was able to justify the purchase to Kate by telling her it would eventually be for a kid we have. Lo and behind, it will eventually be just that. I kind of live vicariously through Daniel nowadays because he serves as my excuse to get new LEGOs.

The set itself is pretty fun. It's a boat with a helicopter, not too many things can go wrong, right? There is room for improvement though, as discussed later. The set instructions come in three parts. The first part is the building of the helicopter while the second and third parts construct the boat portion. It is here that I should note that the boat's hull comes in one piece which makes it floatable in bathtubs, pools, or any other body of water that you are willing to risk the loss of LEGOs in. It even comes with a powered motor that you can affix to the underside of the boat to propel it through the water (not pictured). I am too careful with my LEGOs to place them in the water though, small pieces can easily go down drains if attention is not given, so I tend to avoid bodies of water.

The first part of the set is the helicopter. It's a relatively non-descript vehicle and does serve a good role on the boat itself (its small enough to land and be transported on the back of the boat). This part is quite easy to put together and Daniel was able to do it without any issues. My criticism of the helicopter is that with no sides, the driver can easily fall out of it. The boat itself has guard rails everywhere, showing that safety is a priority, however the LEGO city police department throws caution to the wind to its helicopter pilots. They knew what they were signing up for, right? The helicopter can really only serve as a forward observation point for the boat though. It has no room for passengers and no real deterrent to criminals other than to say "I'm watching you". Not even a camera for evidence collection.

 

 The second and third parts are the boat itself. The boat is large in the LEGO scale of things and looks as if it would move through the water and a breakneck pace (and with the attached motor, does so in the LEGO world scale). The boat was also pretty easy for Daniel to put together. The inside of the boat has a crew cabin complete with storage locker and computer as well as a prisoner lockup, perfect to keep control of those bad guys the boat catches.

 

The outside of the boat has a spotlight and captains chair for piloting the boat. For it being a large boat, it is able to maintained and crewed by just one captain. Notice the guard rails and radar, everything is safety minded.

 

 

 

Now for the criticisms of the boat. First, the sticker on the side of the boat. If anyone were to put their boat in the water, the sticker would be destroyed quickly (one of the other reasons I don't put my LEGOs in the water ( the abundance of stickers).

 

My second criticism is on the design of the boat itself. It looks fantastic, however it serves no practical role in the police department. This would be a colossal waste of money for any police department to purchase. Why? It serves as no deterrent for the bad guys out there. The boat has no guns, not even a ladder to bring the baddies up to the boat with. Its great that it has a prison cell on the boat, but what good will it do if you cant get the bad guy in the boat to begin with? And why would you leave port with a bad guy in the prison cell, unless it was for a prisoner transfer to Alcatraz. If I were a bad guy being pursued by this police boat, I'd just keep going. All that can happen is the police officer on board to shake their fists in anger. If the bad guy were pursued by helicopter, he could make a sharp turn and the helicopter would either lose him or the pilot would fall out (can't make sharp turns without the pilot falling out).

I know kids don't care about any of that stuff, which is why on a kids level its an awesome set (one that Daniel always asks for). From an adult realism standpoint though, I'd hate to be a LEGO city citizen and pay the taxes for this thing =)