Review: 7306 Golden Staff Guardians

[Tamamono]

Review: 7306 Golden Staff Guardians

Name: Golden Staff Guardians

Number: 7306

Theme: Pharaoh's Quest

Pieces: 70

Minifigures: 3

Price: $9.99 USD, 8.99 GBP, 9.99 EUR, 17.99 AUD

Brickset

Peeron

Bricklink

LEGO.com

Here's what Shop@Home has to say about it.

Race to the temple and battle for the golden staff!

Mac McCloud races towards the temple on his motorcycle in search of 1 of the Pharaoh Amset-Ra’s 6 treasures, the golden staff. Gain access to the staff with dynamite and stay one step ahead of the mummies! Includes three minifigures: Mac McCloud and 2 mummies!

• Includes 3 minifigures: Mac McCloud and 2 mummies
• Mac McCloud includes gun, helmet and goggles
• Mummies include ancient headdresses and swords
• Features dynamite, motorcycle, temple and golden staff treasure
• Temple features blow-out wall and secret compartment to hide the golden staff
• Temple measures over 3” (9cm) tall and 2” (5cm) wide
• Motorcycle measures 3” (7cm) long and over 1” (3cm) tall

The Box:

Here's the box. It features the daring Mac McCloud riding his dark red motorcycle while being attacked by two mummies with scimitars. Says Mac, "I don't always ride in the desert on my motorcycle, but when I do, I get chased by undead creatures." (box pic from Barnes & Noble)

The Instructions:

The front of the instruction booklet, which features the same art as the box. I really like the Pharaoh's Quest logo with the menacing looking mummy; it fits the theme well.

An obligatory random instruction page, which shows the final steps of the 'Golden Staff' holder. The instructions for this set are very easy to read and follow; obviously geared towards little kids.

The Pieces:

This is the parts assortment. 70 pieces isn't bad for $10 USD.

Here are some parts of interest. The dark red motorcycle shell, the scimitar, the scarab shield, and the 'Golden Staff' are all new pieces, and the headdress is in a new color (black). It's a pretty good selection of 'interesting' parts for a set of this size.

The Minifigures:

The minifigures included in 7306: Golden Staff Guardians include Mac McCloud and two mummies. The figures themselves have beautiful printing, especially the mummies with their leg-printing.

All three of the minifigs have back-printing, which has apparently become a staple for LEGO this past year. The mummies' heads are double sided, with one side featuring a menacing grin by an undead face and the other side featuring only a single red eye visible behind light gray bandages. I'm a big fan of these heads because they allow some variety between mummies if you happen to amass a large quantity of them.

Here are the figures without their accessories. The mummies look good even without the headdresses!

The Accessories:

In addition to those mentioned before, the accessories include a rifle, a bundle of dynamite, and an aviator helmet. Not a bad selection of accessories, but I think they could have easily added a revolver pistol.

The Build:

The first part of the build is the motorcycle, which snaps on to the frame like a charm.

Here's the finished motorcycle. A very simple build, but the result is gorgeous!

It even has clips for storing Mac's gear while he goes riding! (Although I'm not sure how safe clipping a rifle and dynamite on to a motorcycle is... )

The motorcycle's all built, and Mac's ready to go tomb raiding treasure hunting!

The next part of the build is the 'Golden Staff' holder. Here it is after step four. We get some great dark gray slope pieces in this set that are used to create a 'rocky' effect for the staff holder.

After step eight. I like the inclusion of the earth blue cheese slopes and round 1x1s.

After step twelve. Now we're seeing the start of the 'play feature' with the black technic 2x2. I've noticed that a lot of sets that have 'play features' these days have a very out-of-sync with the rest of the color-scheme brick as the base of the 'feature'.

Aaaaaand, we're done! Another very simple build, but it showcases the 'Golden Staff' well.

The 'Play Feature':

After blowing holes the size of golf balls through the guardians, Mac finally finds what he was looking for: the 'Golden Staff'!

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a flick-fire missile hits the staff and sends it flying into the tomb raider's treasure hunter's face.

As noted before, the mechanism for the 'play feature' is basically just a flick-fire missile (a pretty dark tan flick-fire missile ) that pushes the 'Golden Staff' out of its earth blue jumper tile. Simple, yet effective.

Final Verdict:

7306: Golden Staff Guardians is a great set. You get three great minifigures, a new dark red motorcycle, a nice looking "Golden Staff' temple, and plenty of fantastic accessories. Now let's take a look at the scores, shall we?

SCORES:

Design: 9/10

The 'Golden Staff' holder is really nice, and what can I say, I love that motorcycle!

Parts: 10/10

As far as 'interesting' parts go, this is a fantastic set. The mummies' accessories and the dark red motorcycle shell definitely make this set worth your while.

Figures: 10/10

Three figures in a $10 USD set is really great, and it helps that the figures themselves are fantastic.

Playability: 9/10

While the 'play feature' is nothing to marvel at, the set makes up for it with a vehicle, a setting, and a good number of minifigs.

Value for Money: 10/10

Although it has less pieces than 2258 and is $3 USD more, 7306: Golden Staff Guardians is definitely a great deal for what you get.

Overall: 48/50

This set definitely scores in the 'Outstanding' category. It's a great way to amass lots of mummies or tan pieces for cheap.

Thanks for reading!

Edited November 18, 2011 by Captain Tamamono
RA Approved

[wildcat]

Captain Tamamono nice reveiw u captured the spirt of the set

[XimenaPaulina]

A very well done review Captain, I see you're off to quite a good start in the Academy, so keep it up!

As far as this set goes, I do like this one a lot since you get a pretty good selection of interesting elements for a small set - McCloud with a useful torso, two mummy villains sporting new weapons, a cool dirt bike on the side, the pillar thingy as a nice spare parts source - not bad at all for ten bucks. I give it an "Above Average" rating.