The Real Indiana Jones

More archaeological themes / Exotic global locales

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Hey everybody!

As an archaeologist, I am always on the lookout for new cultural-historical themes, and new exotic global locales...

In the last few years, we have gotten:

1) realistic Meso-American temples with Indiana Jones,

2) a beautiful new Arabian theme with Prince of Persia, and

3) an awesome revived Egyptian theme with Pharaoh's Quest...

Is there any hard evidence for more archaeological or exotic cultural themes planned for the near future, e.g.:

1) An Ancient Greek or Roman theme, using the new fluted-ionic-column piece seen in the new Atlantis set "The Temple of Atlantis" (7985)?

2) More Japanese castles or Zen gardens, perhaps as part of the new NinjaGo theme, or taken from the Lego Universe video game?

3) New Polynesian locales or similar exotic locales, as part of the recently announced "Pirates of the Caribbean" sets?

Or any others...? :classic:

P.S. - I realize that a lot of these were put out in various incarnations around the late 90's while I was in Grad School, but the more recent generation of sets are all definitely much more realistic, have much more naturalistic color schemes, and have way more unique and accurate weapons and artifacts!

What can we expect to see in the future?

*****

Edited by The Real Indiana Jones

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We certainly are spoiled for choice at the moment with loads of great historical themes. If there is a way for LEGO to make historical themes fun for kids, rest assured they will find it, which in turn will keep the AFOL's happy too.

Here are some notable MOC's for you to peruse to get the creative juices flowing.

Japanese

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Roman

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Shameless self promotion :laugh:

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Cheers

ISC.

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I was just about to start a similar thread!

I really loved the adventurers theme and feel there was a lot of potential for it to continue or to be revamped. Although we now have Pharoah Quest, there doesn't seem much potential for this to expand to other cultures and also it's a bit sci-fi/fantasy orientated with crazy giant robot scorpions clambering all over the sacred pyramids, which puts me off. I may buy some of this line for parts and though I realise the products are geared towards kids I think even as a child I would have preferred the original Adventurers to this. I like the idea of some sort of World Explorers but not sure how it would all link together, especially mixing past with present.

Aside from archaeology, I have wanted to see some form of safari line since the release of the 6672 safari jeep and monkey in 1990! They could elaborate the sets by adding trees and plants as well as vehicles for playability and camping stuff. There are existing animals such as the elephant and ostrich already and other cool creatures could be added such as a rhino (nodding head) and a hippo (top half could be split from lower body to make it look like it was wallowing in water). Hopefully we'd get a better gorilla though than the Minifigs Series 3 'man in gorilla suit'.

There is a great MOC on Brickshelf I like showing the sort of thing I mean. Please search 'Kilimanjaro' (sorry my computer will not load it at this time)

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=kilimanjaro&stype=dfic

hemingway-1.jpg

However, a safari theme would be quite limited to sub-Saharan Africa, which is a shame so perhaps some sort of World Wildlife adventure theme would work, that way other places could be included such as an Outdoors/Rockies adventure with bears and an eagle (reprint of the parrot) or using the Prince of Persia camels for desert scenes! I would like an expansion to the old Outback line too with some kangaroos and the old Divers line could also be revamped! There is a big demand for Zoo sets so maybe this would be a more humane way of giving us animals.

However, animal based sets would mean we wouldn't get some world landmarks sets which don't include animals such as a Venetian canals with a proper gondolier (not the Indy one), or Japanese temples, Angkor, Petra and even icons of modern day cities (New York taxis, London buses, tuk tuks)...

Edited by I Scream Clone
added deeplink

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I was just about to start a similar thread!

I really loved the adventurers theme and feel there was a lot of potential for it to continue or to be revamped. Although we now have Pharoah Quest, there doesn't seem much potential for this to expand to other cultures and also it's a bit sci-fi/fantasy orientated with crazy giant robot scorpions clambering all over the sacred pyramids, which puts me off. I may buy some of this line for parts and though I realise the products are geared towards kids I think even as a child I would have preferred the original Adventurers to this. I like the idea of some sort of World Explorers but not sure how it would all link together, especially mixing past with present.

???

Where are you getting sci-fi? I don't see any robots...

I would love for Jake Raines to continue his adventure. Sure, they'd have the change the name of the theme, but I'd love to see Jake go through the jungle like ol' Johnny.

To be honest, every other mentioned idea seems kind of unrealistic for Lego. (Unless you include the single dojo from NinjaGo.) They probably wouldn't make a Roman theme, mostly because they used that idea on Atlantis already. But if anyone buys that and MODs it into a less 'watery' place, it'd be pretty cool. As for Pirates of the Caribbean, well, I suppose we could see a Singapore port or something similar.

Edited by CallMePie

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Yeah, I got your Venetian gondola right here!

Goes perfect with Indy's Venice Canal Chase.

You can replace the black vase with gold.

Two lovers can sit face-to-face and kiss.

For the gondolier, you can use black legs, red hips, the "mime" torso with normal hands, add a red cowboy bandana, and a macho Italian or Mediterranean looking face and hair. Even without the right hat, he looks immediately recognizable.

post-6582-129062168226.jpg

Edited by The Real Indiana Jones

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The Spartan helmet has already been created and released with a collectible minifig... And if the Atlantis Temple of Neptune with the Deus-ex-Machina play-feature sells well, I definitely think we will be treated to a one-wave theme generally similar to the Clash of the Titans genre of movies, with large pose-able brick-built creatures from Greek Mythology, almost exactly like Pharaoh's Quest.

That is the one last major-tourist-attraction civilization they have not created yet, right?

To me, it seems like a no-brainer! :laugh:

Edited by The Real Indiana Jones

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Wow, amazing MOCs! These are definitely well-researched and accurate!

Since I am a newbie, I can only post 100 MB of pics, so here is one of an iconic scene I re-created...

Indiana Jones in the Map Room at Tanis. I re-designed the look and layout of the city that was laid out in miniature on the floor.

post-6582-129062192735.jpg

post-6582-129062199113.jpg

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"Ancient Civilizations" would be a great idea. I would go even farther into the past. A zigurat from Babylon, ancient Polynesian sculpture; i.e. Eater Island, the nomadic Monguls or even Neolithic Brittain. All have an appeal of some kind. In a recent survey I suggested the Neolithic idea as Creator models. You'll be getting Egyptian with Pharaoh's Quest (Pyramid focused) and Grecko-Roman with the new Atlantis (bit of a stretch). NinjaGo looks like a bad anime, with too little classic Eastern architecture. All three are extpected to give us new parts, which is some consolation, but for people with an interest in history, something more substantial would be greatly appreciated.

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The Spartan helmet has already been created and released with a collectible minifig... And if the Atlantis Temple of Neptune with the Deus-ex-Machina play-feature sells well, I definitely think we will be treated to a one-wave theme generally similar to the Clash of the Titans genre of movies, with large pose-able brick-built creatures from Greek Mythology, almost exactly like Pharaoh's Quest.

That is the one last major-tourist-attraction civilization they have not created yet, right?

To me, it seems like a no-brainer! :laugh:

I completely agree with you. I wouldn't be suprised to see an Ancient Greece theme as follow up to Pharaoh's Quest. It would be a shame if the new column pieces in the latest wave of Atlantis sets was not used in other themes.

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Hi Real Indiana Jones, First, thanks for sparking an interesting theme debate on Eurobricks in regards to Historical themes. Just thought I would let you know triple posting in a row is kind of frowned upon on Eurobricks. Some of our members see this and go crazy in an effort to increase their post counts. Editing a previous post is preferred.

Keep the discussion rolling people, very informative.

Cheers

ISC.

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???

Where are you getting sci-fi? I don't see any robots...

I would love for Jake Raines to continue his adventure. Sure, they'd have the change the name of the theme, but I'd love to see Jake go through the jungle like ol' Johnny.

To be honest, every other mentioned idea seems kind of unrealistic for Lego. (Unless you include the single dojo from NinjaGo.) They probably wouldn't make a Roman theme, mostly because they used that idea on Atlantis already. But if anyone buys that and MODs it into a less 'watery' place, it'd be pretty cool. As for Pirates of the Caribbean, well, I suppose we could see a Singapore port or something similar.

Looking at the patterns printed on their heads and bodies, I think the creatures from Pharaoh's Quest are definitely intended to be colossal stone figures that have been magically brought to life, and have been sleeping patiently.

I think they have realized that the most successful formula for a new historical theme is to have it be "modern explorers versus gods/immortals/undead/mythological creatures". That way, you can include modern guns and vehicles, plus create some cool minifigs with funky new heads, plus an awesome posable monster made from all pre-existing parts, plus it keeps it all safely in the realm of "fantasy violence", rather than real historical human-versus-human warfare, and parents definitely prefer that. The same reason that The Clone Wars, etc. is usually humans-versus-robots or humans-versus-aliens.

I think that the Orient Expedition sets with the Yeti, Tiger, and Dragon-headed guardians first hinted at the trend, then the Vikings theme and the Lord-of-the-Rings-styled Castle sets developed it, and Atlantis and Pharaoh's Quest solidify it.

No? :grin:

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And yes, apologies for the back-to-back posts... But just to frame up the discussion in everyone's mind, here is a quick region-by-region breakdown. If I have forgotten something, let me know. My goal is to start archiving various sets for my future-children (and future-grandchildren!) so when I finally "sparkle out of existence and become One with the Force", I will be with them always! :yoda:

SPINNING THE GLOBE FROM WEST TO EAST:

1) Native Americans - Wild West (1996-2002)

2) Meso-America - Adventurers/Jungle (1999-2000), Indiana Jones/Crystal Skull (2008)

3) South America - Indiana Jones/Raiders Intro in Peru, Crystal Skull (2008)

4) Nordic Europe - Vikings (2005-2006), Harry Potter/Hogwarts (2000-2010)

5) Mainland Europe - Castle (1978-present), Castle/Fantasy Era (2007-2009)

6) Mediterranean Europe - Atlantis/Temple of Neptune (2011)

7) Africa - (Duplo has Safari and Zoo sets, but no fully-forged Lego themes as of yet)

8) Egypt - Adventurers/Desert (1998-1999), Indiana Jones/Raiders (2008-2009), Pharaoh's Quest (2010-present)

9) Middle East - Prince of Persia (2010)

10) India - Adventurers/Orient Expedition/Scorpion Palace, etc. (2003)

11) Himalayas - Adventurers/Orient Expedition/Temple of Mount Everest, etc. (2003)

12) East Asia - Castle/Ninja (1998-2000), Adventurers/Orient Expedition/Dragon Fortress, etc. (2003), NinjaGo/Dojo (2011)

13) Polynesia - Pirates/Islanders (1994-2001), (and perhaps something in the newly announced Pirates of the Caribbean theme, exploring the South Pacific???) :wub:

globe_west_172.jpg

Edited by The Real Indiana Jones

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I just noticed a site that makes extraordinarily realistic weapons and armor from every era of Chinese history, including the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and of course, the world famous and iconic Terra Cotta Army from the tomb of the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang (alias Qin Shihuangdi or Qin Shihuangti)!

220px-Soldier_Horse.JPG

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The site is called BrickTW or BrickTaiwan at shop.bricktw.com

Looks cool.

Please let me know if you have seen more sites with historically accurate parts like these, in addition to the amazing pieces at BrickArms and BrickForge.

Edited by The Real Indiana Jones

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Interesting topic.

I definitely think, as mentioned, the 'Clash of the Titans' style theme would be a good theme. It could be done really really well.

I would personally love to see an Caveman theme. I know this has been discussed many times and isn't exactly what you are asking about, but an ancient line would be awesome. It would be achievable too; it is quite an accessible 'idea'.

Imagine an exclusive, highly detailed Stonehenge set! :wub:

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I would personally love to see an Caveman theme. I know this has been discussed many times and isn't exactly what you are asking about, but an ancient line would be awesome. It would be achievable too; it is quite an accessible 'idea'.

Imagine an exclusive, highly detailed Stonehenge set! :wub:

Oh yes...! I didn't list Cavemen in the regional rundown, because it is more of a global culture and lifestyle. If you want something more realistic than the yellow collectible minifig, you can always use the Ugha Warriors from Crystal Skull, give them various hairstyles, bows and arrows and quivers, plus the Tribal Spear, Tribal Sword, and Tomahawk from BrickForge.

And yes, just announced today, we are officially getting the island tribal villagers from Dead Man's Chest with the Pirates of the Caribbean line. The set descriptions are here, and you can look on IMDB for pics of the movie. The Cannibal Village will be about $50 in the US, so it should be a great medium-sized diorama with new darker-flesh-toned tribal minifigs, and maybe we will get some girls this time!

And if you want to do a custom Stonehenge, that should be easy with Lego Digital Designer. To make it less expensive, you can use the large pre-fab rock panels seen in sets like 7263, or perhaps you can start off with one of the various Woodhenges, like the ancient builders did. If you want to put some Druids in it, just use some nice wizards and princesses from Castle sets, plus some golden Sickles and brown Wizard Staffs from BrickForge.

Should be cool! :oh:

Edited by The Real Indiana Jones

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Stonehenge is just the tip of the iceburg when it comes to Stone Age Britain. And little known fact, Stonehenge isn't actually a henge. Check out the DVD of Standing with Stones: a journey through megalithic Britain for more information.

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Polynesian

Aboriginal

Visigoths

Gauls

Greeks

Romans

Zulu

Pygmy

Mongolian

Innuit

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Polynesian

Aboriginal

Visigoths

Gauls

Greeks

Romans

Zulu

Pygmy

Mongolian

Innuit

Yes, as I mentioned just yesterday, we will be getting brand new official Polynesians this Spring with Pirates of the Caribbean...!

For an Aborigine or Maori hunter, those new figs from Polynesia should also work well. Since they are in a licensed set, they will have a fairly realistic flesh-tone. Or you can use the Ugha Warriors from Crystal Skull, perhaps with Harry Potter's hair, and the Tribal Spear from BrickForge.

For Visigoth and Gaul MOCs, we have seen a lot of great creations that use various Castle and Fantasy Era parts, and custom parts from BrickForge, etc.

For Greek and Roman, there is the new Temple of Atlantis with a statue of Neptune in armor, plus tons of great customized parts on BrickForge.

For Zulus or other African groups, you can use Seso from Prince of Persia. I used a Dremmel to shorten a silver spear into an Assegai and to reshape a Roman Shield, then I printed a sticker from a photo to make a custom Zulu Shield. He looks awesome as Shaka or for a whole army of Impi Warriors.

For Mongolian and Inuit people, you can use Professor Karkaroff from Harry Potter, the Moustache Gangster from Temple of Doom, or Colonel Dovchenko from Crystal Skull. Dovchenko, the Shanghai Gangster, and Batman with a white headband also make great faces for a natural-flesh-toned Samurai.

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Edited by The Real Indiana Jones

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OK, OK, I know it SEEMS like I am talking to myself here, but I see that there are a lot of people quietly reading and following...

Since we are talking about the future of Lego, I consulted The Oracle of Delphi... She arose from her mystic trance, touched the earth, communicated with the spirits of the Underworld, and uttered the following cryptic predictions...!

2011 - Mark my words well... In the Yeare of our Lorde MMXI, thou shalt see The Black Pearl and The Flying Dutchman under the Tree of Yule.

2011 - The Pharaoh's Quest theme will be reprised with a similar one-wave line from Greek Mythology with large brick-built Mythological Guardians. As we speak, Lego is finalizing designs for Medusa's hair in their 3-D Resin-Printer.

2011 - The Three-Headed Hound Guardian of the Underworld, Cerberus, first introduced as "Fluffy" from the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone theme will once again see the light of day, this time, with a printed face, like the new police dobermans.

2011 - The new Greek Mythology theme will culminate with the ultimate brick-built Guardian, TIAMAT! (Yes!) The five-headed hydra with red, green, blue, black and white dragon heads will go down in Epic Poetry as the "Best Lego Set Ever"! Lego stock will instantly quintuple in value, eclipsing the record set at Google's IPO. Invest now!

Tiamat_p93.jpg

2012 - The Maya Cosmos will be destroyed in a Cataclysm of Fire. The Lego Universe will continue on, unencumbered by the laws of physics as we know them, and from the marketing constraints of corporations making cool plastic toys for kids and nostalgic adults.

2013 - Using the collectible Elf-Warrior minifig and the Dragon-Goddess Tiamat as a template, the last wave of human-versus-human Kingdoms sets will disappear, giving way to a new lineage of Castle sets in the spirit of Lord of the Rings, Dungeons & Dragons, and Narnia. Historians will wonder what kind of marketing deal prevented them from making Elves in the first place.

2014 - After a long success, and many waves of sets with naturally-flesh-toned islanders, once the Pirates of the Caribbean license ends, all Pirates will become permanently flesh-toned to match. Prices of heads on BrickLink will sky-rocket as newly converted flesh-collectors buy hundreds of flesh heads, and die-hard yellow-collectors hoard thousands of yellow heads for an uncertain future.

2016 - The decade-long-plus rivalry between yellow-faces and natural-faces will come to an end. All new Lego sets will be made as a licensed property. After Series 20 of Collectible Minifigs sells out in 24 hours on e-Bay, it will be revealed that it was "A Final Thank You" to all of the classic-yellow-face collectors of the world. Many of the parts and prints will be re-made in flesh.

2020 - The People of Earth will collectively realize that making everyone banana-yellow-faced is essentially the same thing as making everyone Caucasian or Asian. With a touch of a button, everyone in the Lego Universe Online video game world will instantly become a default light-flesh color, with an option to switch to medium-flesh, dark-flesh, or any cool alien color they want their avatar to be. Young boys in Latin America, India, and Africa will rejoice and create new heroes in their own image.

2500 AD - Everyone in the Lego Universe will be a fully-ethnically-mixed medium-caramel-color and speak Simplified-Globalized-English as a common language like in the movie Blade Runner.

25,000 AD - The next Ice Age will once again change the face of Human Civilizations. On the up-side, it will also make the "Most Awesome Lego Theme Ever"!

136215main_BMarbleStill.jpg

...And she spoke no more...!

*****

Again, I know it SEEMS like I am talking to myself here, but I see that there are a lot of people quietly reading and following... and after my last post, hopefully giggling!

And here is one final huzzah! :laugh:

COSMO QUIZ: ARE YOU A LEGO/ARCHAEOLOGY NERD? FIND OUT!

1) Are you archiving sets for your as-yet-unborn kids? (5 points)

2) Are you archiving sets for the post-greenhouse future? (10 points)

3) Did you get two Temple of the Crystal Skull sets, so you can build a full four-sided Mayan pyramid? (5 points)

4) Will you get two Pyramid of the Scorpion sets, so you can build one half of a full four-sided Egyptian pyramid with 45-degree sides? (10 points)

5) Will you get *FOUR* Pyramid of the Scorpion sets, so you can build a totally complete four-sided Egyptian pyramid with 45-degree sides? (20 points)

6) Did you switch your Spartans to wear lion-cloths, to make them look more like the movie "300"? (5 points)

7) Did you switch your Spartans and Gaulic armies to fight "heroically nude", like they actually did in real life? (10 points)

8) Have you made a custom Shaka Zulu with a dremmel and printed stickers, just because Lego has not done any African themes yet? (5 points)

9) Next add 1 point for every customized minifig you made of a minor character because Lego did not! (e.g., Toht, Sallah, Monkey Man, Captain Katanga, the Maharaja, Chattar Lal, Thugee Acolyte, The Grail Knight, Peruvian Nun, Mariachi Band, etc.)

10) Finally, add 10 points for each individual customized Lara Croft Tomb Raider minifig you have with her in a different outfit (e.g., classic outfit, wetsuit, catsuit, evening dress, Slave Leia outfit, etc.!)

Did you hit 100?! :wub:

Angelina_jolie_lugar.jpg

Edited by The Real Indiana Jones

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4) Will you get two Pyramid of the Scorpion sets, so you can build one half of a full four-sided Egyptian pyramid with 45-degree sides? (10 points)

If I can't find it on sale, I'll probably just buy one and construct the rest of the pyramid from bricks using pick a brick.

COSMO QUIZ: ARE YOU A LEGO/ARCHAEOLOGY NERD? FIND OUT!

6) Did you switch your Spartans to wear lion-cloths, to make them look more like the movie "300"? (5 points)

Don't have any Spartans. I wasn't impressed with that minifigure or the shield that came with it. And the hassle of trying to obtain it wasn't worth it. I'm holding out hope for a Hoplite Greek army.

Polynesian

Aboriginal

Visigoths

Gauls

Greeks

Romans

Zulu

Pygmy

Mongolian

Innuit

The Top Ancient Civilizations I'd love for LEGO to release are:

1) Ancient India

2) Ancient China

3) Ancient Greece

4) Ancient Egypt (probably won't ever see that with the recent release of Pharaoh’s Quest)

5) Ancient Rome

6) Ancient Babylon

I also wouldn't mind seeing Ancient Persians, Incas, Mayan, Aztec, Carthage, Japan, Cambodia, Zulu, Ethiopia, Israel, Mongolian, Franks, Gauls, Celts, Visigoths, Assyrian, Phoenicians, and Hittites.

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