Bjorn Heimdall
Active member
This photo really does not do this marvelous set justice. Also there is some other Lego stuff visible at the edges, sorry about that.
Too late for Black Friday and January sales, but maybe early enough to convince you to buy it before Lego takes it out of production, here is my review of the 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol.
I have already given up that this set is my favorite of the new Indy sets but maybe not just how much it blows them out of the water.
"While we wait, mr. Hovito, maybe 20 poison arrows on one guy was a bit of an overkill"
Making a sort of hybrid between a display set and a play set, the first thing you will notice, after just how incredible it looks, is the angles of the base. There is no moving them or closing the set from each side or anything, it is just a lovely design, although it does hinder you a bit if you want to get your fingers in there to do some reenactments. And there are plenty of those to be made. Going in reverse order from the movie, there is first the bolder. This is a marvelous feat of engineering (more of those to come) where some Technic shenanigans make a brick built bolder roll for a short distance but in a very satisfying way. I do wonder what the future holds in store for this part of the set because the ball is held by a single Technic pin and gravity will be tugging on that bolder for the foreseeable future. Both releasing it and sending it back up is controlled by a knob on the front of the base of the sets, there are in total 4 of those which control all the play features.
Next there is the falling door. A considerably simpler feature, which does fall rather languidly down but not really at movie pace, of course you can set the pace with your fingers. The simplest feature is next, a rotating pin with another pin hanging down from it, meant to substitute the whip. I have Satipo hanging from that as in the box art.
But the “last” play feature of this set is the most clever and complex one I have seen in a Lego set (I don’t buy Technic sets). It is truly a sight to behold.
First you turn the knob a little bit, and the lightbrick lights up the Idol pedestal. Then you turn it further and the pedestal goes down. Turn it just a bit more and a part of the wall crumbles forward. Its still fastened by Lego chains so it is easy to reset.
Just a tip of the hat and then it's time to leave the temple without any complications.
With all these features it’s not a big surprise to see that the back of this set looks like a nightmare. Displaying it against a wall is advisable.
To be fair, the Hovitos had a lot less tech to make their traps.
Having gone through all the features, which are neat, I still think the very best thing about this set is just how gorgeous it looks. The lush greens against the gray temple walls, the odd splash of colors and details to give it life, the clever, brick built faces (most of which, admittedly, are stickers) the cameo from Forrestal and what is probably my single most valuable Lego piece right now, the fertility idol. Put simply, it nails the mood of the film.
I like all three sets but this one has just fills me with the awe of what a brilliantly designed Lego set can do.
The minifigs are Satipo, now complete with tarantulas on his back, Belloq, one Hovito and Indy.
So it’s a perfect set? Maybe not entirely. I mentioned before that it’s not that easy to get your fingers in there to replay some scenes, especially if you have grown man fingers like I do.
When setting up the … well, set, you will probably want to follow the movie somewhat which means that Belloq and the Hovito will be rather precariously hanging on the rather paltry ledge that you get outside the temple. It’s a bit of an imbalance, but thankfully the unnamed Forrestal evens it out a bit (it’s a shame he wasn’t pictured on the box as a gag). The stickers are not that many and all fairly easy to apply but the center quote from the film is a bit whatever and maybe didn’t need to be from this very part of the movie.
Forrestal. He was very good. Now he's very dead.
You will know when you see this set if you want it or not but let assure you all the same that you do. Lego will be retiring their vast line of Lego sets from 2 of the 5 films at the end of the year so why wait? It would make for an excellent piece, maybe even a centerpiece, in your Indy collection.
Too late for Black Friday and January sales, but maybe early enough to convince you to buy it before Lego takes it out of production, here is my review of the 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol.
I have already given up that this set is my favorite of the new Indy sets but maybe not just how much it blows them out of the water.
"While we wait, mr. Hovito, maybe 20 poison arrows on one guy was a bit of an overkill"
Making a sort of hybrid between a display set and a play set, the first thing you will notice, after just how incredible it looks, is the angles of the base. There is no moving them or closing the set from each side or anything, it is just a lovely design, although it does hinder you a bit if you want to get your fingers in there to do some reenactments. And there are plenty of those to be made. Going in reverse order from the movie, there is first the bolder. This is a marvelous feat of engineering (more of those to come) where some Technic shenanigans make a brick built bolder roll for a short distance but in a very satisfying way. I do wonder what the future holds in store for this part of the set because the ball is held by a single Technic pin and gravity will be tugging on that bolder for the foreseeable future. Both releasing it and sending it back up is controlled by a knob on the front of the base of the sets, there are in total 4 of those which control all the play features.
Next there is the falling door. A considerably simpler feature, which does fall rather languidly down but not really at movie pace, of course you can set the pace with your fingers. The simplest feature is next, a rotating pin with another pin hanging down from it, meant to substitute the whip. I have Satipo hanging from that as in the box art.
But the “last” play feature of this set is the most clever and complex one I have seen in a Lego set (I don’t buy Technic sets). It is truly a sight to behold.
First you turn the knob a little bit, and the lightbrick lights up the Idol pedestal. Then you turn it further and the pedestal goes down. Turn it just a bit more and a part of the wall crumbles forward. Its still fastened by Lego chains so it is easy to reset.
Just a tip of the hat and then it's time to leave the temple without any complications.
With all these features it’s not a big surprise to see that the back of this set looks like a nightmare. Displaying it against a wall is advisable.
To be fair, the Hovitos had a lot less tech to make their traps.
Having gone through all the features, which are neat, I still think the very best thing about this set is just how gorgeous it looks. The lush greens against the gray temple walls, the odd splash of colors and details to give it life, the clever, brick built faces (most of which, admittedly, are stickers) the cameo from Forrestal and what is probably my single most valuable Lego piece right now, the fertility idol. Put simply, it nails the mood of the film.
I like all three sets but this one has just fills me with the awe of what a brilliantly designed Lego set can do.
The minifigs are Satipo, now complete with tarantulas on his back, Belloq, one Hovito and Indy.
So it’s a perfect set? Maybe not entirely. I mentioned before that it’s not that easy to get your fingers in there to replay some scenes, especially if you have grown man fingers like I do.
When setting up the … well, set, you will probably want to follow the movie somewhat which means that Belloq and the Hovito will be rather precariously hanging on the rather paltry ledge that you get outside the temple. It’s a bit of an imbalance, but thankfully the unnamed Forrestal evens it out a bit (it’s a shame he wasn’t pictured on the box as a gag). The stickers are not that many and all fairly easy to apply but the center quote from the film is a bit whatever and maybe didn’t need to be from this very part of the movie.
Forrestal. He was very good. Now he's very dead.
You will know when you see this set if you want it or not but let assure you all the same that you do. Lego will be retiring their vast line of Lego sets from 2 of the 5 films at the end of the year so why wait? It would make for an excellent piece, maybe even a centerpiece, in your Indy collection.