Random set of the day: Jungle Duel
Posted by Huwbot,Today's random set is 7624 Jungle Duel, released in 2008. It's one of 11 Indiana Jones sets produced that year. It contains 90 pieces and 3 minifigs, and its retail price was US$9.99/£8.79.
It's owned by 6247 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
Help me come to life! If you like the set I've chosen for you today, please pledge your support for me on LEGO Ideas so I have a chance of becoming an official LEGO set!
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38 comments on this article
Petition to bring back Indiana Jones sets
At the time, it was a pretty good source of tents. And giant ants.
I think this is one of the first sets for RSOTD that I actually have.
Its a great set
This seems to be another set based on that imaginary fourth Indiana Jones movie that doesn’t exist.
^ Heh.
This is the only Indiana Jones set I ever bought. I did like the tent and the giant ants.
Spalko's chopping up her own table and Mutt's trying to catch the mug, wile Indy just stubs his toe on an ant. And for some reason the Soviets chose to bring an entire sword rack, including a golden katana into the jungle even though only one of them uses swords and has her own anyway.
The real scene that happened in the movie instead was embarrassing as well. Indy acting like a child and having to be patronized by everyone into grabbing "the rope" is his nadir as an adventurer, and possibly the franchise.
I remember the day I got this. When it arrived in the post my mum brought it with her in the car when she came to pick me up from school. I showed it off to all my friends who were big Indy fans at the time. It was the first Indiana Jones set I owned so it was super exciting getting the Indy figure with the new whip, and the tent and ants.
Picked this up used. Lots of weapons, ants, a tent.
It's perfect for using while playing D&D *and* your get an Indiana Jones mini fig.
This looks like a great supplementary set. Minifigures are the bonus.
@Norikins said:
"The real scene that happened in the movie instead was embarrassing as well. Indy acting like a child and having to be patronized by everyone into grabbing "the rope" is his nadir as an adventurer, and possibly the franchise. "
1000% this. CRYSTAL SKULL goes from “passable fun” to “god-awful” as soon as they reach the jungle.
The jokes get stupider, the sets look faker, everyone acts clownish for no reason and the reasons why they’re all headed to Akator are so nebulous as to be non-sensical.
I swear Spielberg directed the first half of the movie and then handed it off to Lucas to ruin the rest. It’s amazing he didn’t have Indy fart while exclaiming “PEE-YOUSA!”
Set’s OK!
Huh. Brickset says I own this set but I have no idea where that tent is.
@WemWem said:
" @Norikins said:
"The real scene that happened in the movie instead was embarrassing as well. Indy acting like a child and having to be patronized by everyone into grabbing "the rope" is his nadir as an adventurer, and possibly the franchise. "
1000% this. CRYSTAL SKULL goes from “passable fun” to “god-awful” as soon as they reach the jungle.
The jokes get stupider, the sets look faker, everyone acts clownish for no reason and the reasons why they’re all headed to Akator are so nebulous as to be non-sensical.
I swear Spielberg directed the first half of the movie and then handed it off to Lucas to ruin the rest. It’s amazing he didn’t have Indy fart while exclaiming “PEE-YOUSA!”
Set’s OK!"
Hehehe. That isn't far off. The first half while CGI heavy does feel more true to Indy, running through the Nevada desert and culminating in a pulpy nuclear test scene. Its dumb, but it's got the pure Indy spirit. Then they get to the jungle and it goes south. Shia swinging with the CGI monkeys anyone?
Watching that flying saucer take off kills what shred of hope was left and just makes me go "are you freaking kidding!!" Its interesting how the series went from real world ancient mythology and religions to sci-fi pulp, and it's a tonal difference that is hard to swallow. Pity too, since the following much anticipated Indy-Marion wedding ain't half bad and would have made a great series finale if it wasn't in Kingdom of the Crystal skull.
I bought 3 of these sets. I wanted to make a camp.
@PurpleDave said:
"At the time, it was a pretty good source of tents. And giant ants."
Yeah, it’s one of the few sets I have more than one of (my parents got one for me and one for my brother). Unrelated but it’s also one of the few sets I’ve 100% rebuilt, it displays pretty well on the shelf above my desk.
It's a bit weird that sets I considered cutting edge when they were released now seems a bit oldish designed. I'm getting oldish!
Personally, this might be one of the weaker Indiana Jones sets and I probably won’t purchase this second hand. Maybe it’s because it came from that piece of Indy fan fiction with the fridge, aliens and his son creating an army of monkeys. Yeah it’s ridiculous.
Forunately, Indiana Jones 4 is on the way!
@TheWackyWookiee said:
"Personally, this might be one of the weaker Indiana Jones sets and I probably won’t purchase this second hand. Maybe it’s because it came from that piece of Indy fan fiction with the fridge, aliens and his son creating an army of monkeys. Yeah it’s ridiculous.
Forunately, Indiana Jones 4 is on the way!"
*Indiana Jones 5
My Indiana Jones sets ranking:
https://brickset.com/sets/list-35078
Passed this one by as there were so many more obvious Indiana Jones film sets that year from Tombs 7621,Temples 7623, to car chases 7622, but on reflection this would have made a great accessory pack.
I remember buying this in ‘08 as a nice little parts and Minifig pack,
(from a not so great film)
But with a GREAT tent !
Was it just me, or was this set never sold in Norway? I remember checking lots of toy stores, but couldn't find it anywhere. Not a big loss, the only parts I cared about was the tent and possibly the ants (already had the figures from other sets), and it was a tad expensive if I wanted more of them anyway. It was far more frustrating that no-one had the iconic 7623 Temple Escape either (despite having the rest of the theme), luckily this was around the time we FINALLY got Shop-at-home in Norway so I could order that one there.
@xboxtravis7992
The flying saucer is one of my favourite Indiana Jones moments. At first I didn't like the idea of aliens and even references to the Roswell Incident being in an Indy movie. However I loved that they obviously took inspiration for the spacecraft from the classic 1950's sci-fi B-movies like The Day the Earth Stood Still and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. I thought it looked beautiful, and it makes sense that they would take inspiration from such movies for a 1950's set Indiana Jones movie, just as they did with 1930's adventure serials for the earlier Indy movies.
Honestly one of the best sets in the Indiana Jones theme. Loved it as a kid, only thing I would say it’s missing is the crystal skull itself. I want to say it was $20, maybe $16? Excellent price for what was included. Tent, 3 figures, the ants, plenty of accessories. We need more sets like this today.
I came to the comments for the Indy bashing.
I shouldn't have passed on this set with the tent.
This set leaves me tense.
@CarolinaOnMyMind:
I still rank it slightly above Temple of Doom. The thing is, Crystal Skull makes perfect sense when you consider _why_ they made Raiders in the first place. The first three movies, which were set between WWI and WWII are the type of adventure movie that was popular between WWI and WWII. Given Ford’s advanced age, that era didn’t make sense anymore, so they shifted to the post-WWII era, when, as Stinky Pete tells us in Toy Story 2, space stories were all the rage. So, Crystal Skull is as much a love letter to 50’s pulp sci-fi* as the first three movies were to 30’s pulp adventure. Besides, I’ve got all three volumes of the TV show. If there’s anything that should be disowned, it’s the episode where he fights actual Dracula.
*It’s something that most people are oblivious to, but all six Star Wars movies are also meant to feel like the cheesy sci-fi serials of old, like Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon. The titles alone are a dead giveaway if you’re actually looking for similarities (and know what to look for). The opening crawl hints at the fact that those serials used to spend as much time getting you caught up to the current serial, and advertising what’s to come, as they did actually telling the current chapter of the story.
@icey said:
"It's a bit weird that sets I considered cutting edge when they were released now seems a bit oldish designed. I'm getting oldish!"
Nah! You're not 'oldish' until sets from back then (whenever 'back then' is for you) are inexplicably cooler than sets now ;~)
/hashtag/classicspace
@CarolinaOnMyMind said:
"This seems to be another set based on that imaginary fourth Indiana Jones movie that doesn’t exist. "
you're still in the denial stage of grief
@covfefe2020 said:
" @CarolinaOnMyMind said:
"This seems to be another set based on that imaginary fourth Indiana Jones movie that doesn’t exist. "
you're still in the denial stage of grief"
I think I'm in the grief stage of denial.
My favorite set from this movie was 7628 because it's a pretty decent DC-3
Best. LEGO. Tent. Ever.
@PurpleDave said
" something that most people are oblivious to, but all six Star Wars movies are also meant to feel like the cheesy sci-fi serials of old, like Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon. The titles alone are a dead giveaway if you’re actually looking for similarities (and know what to look for). The opening crawl hints at the fact that those serials used to spend as much time getting you caught up to the current serial, and advertising what’s to come, as they did actually telling the current chapter of the story."
And that's why STAR WARS (1977) is still the best one.
Crystal Skull wasn’t that bad of an Indiana Jones movie, I watched it again recently and it’s a very enjoyable adventure movie if you can look past the aliens. Ford brings his A-game, as does the rest of the cast (even Shia LaBeouf). You can tell Spielberg and Lucas had a lot of fun making it. I just don’t like the fact that the first three movies are so heavily rooted in religion and the fourth one is not, especially when Christianity likes to go out of its way to say aliens cannot coexist with god.
RE the Star Wars discussion: the roots in the old serials are what makes those 6 movies so special. Star Wars was traditionally a space opera, and Disney’s greed for money has made them forget that and instead we’ve been getting generic sci fi action movies for the last 5 years. The sooner they realise Star Wars is meant to be the bold and the beautiful for nerds the sooner we can get this franchise back on track.
@Brikkyy13:
Don't hold your breath on that last part. Two newbs are now in charge of the story for Indy 5. Spielberg hasn't dropped out completely, but he stepped away from directing due to disagreements over the direction the story was taking.
On the first part, again, you really miss a huge amount of the total story if you haven't watched the excellent TV series. The movies alone basically present the idea that more than one family of religions can have legitimacy (Raiders and Last Crusade are keyed to Judaic religions, while the Sankara stones of Temple are clearly tied to a different source (and equally clearly just as powerful as the Ark and the Grail). He did fight Dracula as a teenager, but a good chunk of the TV series focused on his far more mundane experiences as a volunteer soldier during WWI, and just meeting several historical figures during his civilian life before and after the war. Aliens are, admittedly, a bit of a weird left turn, but in the greater context it's not as big a deal to see him focusing on a non-religious McGuffin (even if the aliens _were_ the basis for a local religion within the backstory).
@Mr__Thrawn:
All six movies have their own plusses. Ep4 is the only one that really tells a complete story. Ep5 is usually regarded as the best movie because they had the guts to end the movie on a down note. Ep6 has what I consider to be the most powerful scene of the franchise, when Luke is battering his father in their lightsaber duel as he's about to succumb to the Dark Side (the music that plays behind that still sends shivers up my spine). Ep1 has, hands down, the best lightsaber duel ever filmed. I think Ep2 is probably the closest to what Lucas originally envisioned when he got started on the first SW movie. And Ep3 doubled down on Ep5 (even though we knew where it was ultimately going to end up before sitting down), embracing a PG-13 rating instead of having Greedo shoot first, or cutting away from human officers being shot like ANH:SE and RotJ:SE did in the detention block and Endor bunker scenes.
@MusiMus said:
" @TheWackyWookiee said:
"Personally, this might be one of the weaker Indiana Jones sets and I probably won’t purchase this second hand. Maybe it’s because it came from that piece of Indy fan fiction with the fridge, aliens and his son creating an army of monkeys. Yeah it’s ridiculous.
Forunately, Indiana Jones 4 is on the way!"
*Indiana Jones 5"
cough, 4, cough, cough
In. Dee. Ann. Ah. Jones. Fivvvvvvve. Unless it turns out like the other franchise, in which case it'll be Disney Jones Five.
And that's the final word on the matter.