ZO6

Knew this was coming sooner or later It certainly does look nice with the extra floors, quite legit. Nice to see the regular height ones side by side as well - POSH SHOP is sure to have boomin' business. Thanks for sharing

Seven Samurai is often considered to be the first true action movie, and introduced many now common elements in film making - such as "the team" that must work together. Though I can see how some would find it slow (it is nearly 3.5 hours long after all), but I find the pacing to be perfect - you're introduced to the characters, preparations for defending the village are made, then there is the big battle. From the very first scene of Hidden Fortress, it's easy to see where Lucas got many of his inspirations for Star Wars. Another more accessible Kurosawa film that should be viewed is Yojimbo (later remade as Fistful of Dollars). Goodfellas I found quite entertaining, though in my opinion it fell apart a bit towards the end. Pulp Fiction has become the definitive Tarantino film, and it's definitely a good place to start with his work. I love most of Kubricks work, and 2001 is perhaps my favorite of his. The visuals and music go together to create a mind blowing experience. It's hard to believe that the movie was made before man was even on the moon... Citizen Cane and Casablanca are both classics as they are fantastic pieces of film making, and they are referenced all too often in modern society. The IMDB top 250 list is largely a popularity contest, however there is a lot of genuine quality in there too.

I've been a movie freak my whole life, and I became obsessed with asian cinema about 5 years ago -this inspired me to get into Film and Television production a number of years back. I have a ridiculously huge movie collection and have seen an insane amount of films. Of the films you have listed, the only one I have not seen is Avatar - I own the rest of them. For reference, on IMDB's "Top 250 films", I have seen all the films in the top 45 (Wall-E at #45 I have not seen), then from 46-250 there are 16 films that I have not seen. 233 of 250, not bad - most of them being recent from the past couple of years that I'm missing. Two from that list that I would particularly like to see are Scarface (1983 version) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I go out of my way to watch and purchase movies, so there are very few classics between 1930 and 2005 that I have not seen.

I buy a handful of large sets in a year. I don't find the price of the modular houses particularly overwhelming, and I've ventured into Taj Mahal territory, but the Death Star playset and UCS Falcon are simply too much (it's more a matter of knowing what other sets I could purchase for the price of one of them that turns me off the most). I often try to stick to a bit of a list of sets that I'll buy, but sometimes I find myself distracted by sales and end up spending my budget elsewhere. I also go through phases - "I want to collect sets with great price to part ratios", "I want to collect sets with lots of minifigures", "Now I want to collect sets with lots of play functions". The joys of collecting LEGO...

I'm speechless. Beautifully done SlyOwl.

I've seen others do very nice elaborate jobs of adding LEDs to their Taj Mahals, and I wanted to do something similar. I got a bit lazy and instead placed a string of 100 multi-coloured LED lights inside my Taj Mahal. Take a look: During the day: This is a 15 second time exposure of the setup in pitch blackness: This is a more accurate representation of how it looks. It's quite beautiful and lights up the room nicely: A close up with about a 5 second exposure: Another close up with about a 1/4 second exposure. This allows you to see more detail in the lighting: What do you think? Comments and questions more than welcome.

It's a string of Christmas lights, with red, orange, yellow, blue, and green LEDs. There are very few green LEDs, so the other colours combine together to create the pinkish-purple. Some of the windows give off a very specific colour if there is an LED right beside it, but for the most part it's the pinky glow.

Johnny Thunder is off with his trusted companion, Dr. Charles Lightning, to raid an ancient tomb in search of the all-important red ruby. Will our heroes succeed or will the treacherous Lord Sam Sinister crash the party by finding the treasure first!? Set # - 5958 Name - Mummy's Tomb Theme/Subtheme - Adventurers/Desert Year - 1998 Piece Count - 253 Minifigures - 4 Brickset , Peeron, Bricklink, Brickshelf My box is safely stored away, however the pictures on the instructions are the same. Front of manual: The back of the manual shows a variety of alternate models: When you open the instructions, you're greeted by some additional images: The last page of the instructions features the various traps and functions of the set: A random page within the instructions. There are no piece call-outs, though there are often submodels. Again, being an older manual, this features perfect colour differentiation - no problems telling light gray, dark gray, and black apart! All the pieces of the main structure laid out - mostly grays and tan, with some colour to make things more visually exciting (16x32 tan baseplate not pictured) : Here is a close up of some of the more interesting pieces found in the set. Lots of lovely printed parts, and a red sarcophagus top: The pieces for the vehicle: The minifigures. They feature great printing on the front. From left to right - Johnny Thunder, Dr. Charles Lightning, Lord Sam Sinister, the Mummy (or Pharaoh if you prefer): No printing on their backs: A variety of accessories is of course included: You start by building one of those lovely, flexible palm trees: Now we can start on the vehicle: A cockpit and engine is added: The car is finished and ready to roll: Front view. The car has a nice long front end with a powerful 6-cylinder engine. Worried about the bullet hole in the windshield? - You should see the other guys! Back. The shovel is held in place by a clip. The car can store a variety of other goods such as the sextant and a rifle between/behind the seats: Here we can see how low the car is to the ground. Johnny approves: Construction now begins on the main structure: Many pieces are added that will eventually be used in play functions of the set - these include the 1x8 black tiles, the 1x1 black technic bricks with holes, and the 2x2 turntable plate: Work on a statue sub-model begins. The four black headlight bricks will be used to attach hieroglyphics to: The statue is now done: The statue finds a home, above it a trap is placed: The resting place for the Pharaoh is located on the turntable. The tomb is built up some more as well: The trap above the statue is completed (more on this feature in a bit): The top of the tomb receives more attention as the turntable/rotation feature is just about done: The tomb is now complete: A obelisk and palm tree are added to complete the setting: The set from the back: Now for the fun stuff. The statue sits on tiles and is able to slide from side to side. Normally it supports a small platform containing a 2x4 brick with two spears attached. However, when the statue is moved, the platform tilts down and it's contents sent flying towards an unlucky victim: Lord Sam Sinister VS statue/spears trap Sinister 0 - Traps 1 Ouch! My doctor said spears should never enter my body... at any time. The obelisk is mounted on a hinge which allows it to be easily tipped over: Lord Sam Sinister VS obelisk Sinister 0 - Traps 2 What a crushing defeat... The Pharaoh stands in his resting place, he holds the precious red ruby (doesn't seem very restful, does it?). He his located on a turntable which can be rotated by the round yellow 2x2 brick on the top of the tomb. Now you see him... ...now you don't: The complete set: Final thoughts: 5958 Mummy's Tomb is a lovely midsized set. At $30 US when it was new, this 253 piece set didn't offer the absolute best price per piece value, but it's very easy to look past this considering it's contents and the end result. It features a wonderful structure with lots of functions (flying spears, disappearing mummys, tumbling obelisks, oh my!), a stylin' ride (unique as the low riding vehicle in the desert subtheme), 4 minifigures (nothing unique to the theme, but a nice variety to get you started), and a load of accessories. The build progresses quickly and is quite fun, adding the various traps along the way - and thankfully repetition is nowhere to be found. It's a pleasure to once again get a variety of printed pieces - a highlight in both this set and the whole theme - I just can't get enough of those hieroglyphics. The set looks fantastic on display, but as with most Adventurers sets it has near-limitless playability as well - thanks to the fully functional traps and host of extras. As always, comments and questions are more than welcome. Cheers! No fair, Johnny Thunder gets to ride around in his hot rod, meanwhile I'm stuck here. Better make the most of it. Alright obelisk, let's try this again... Lord Sam Sinister VS obelisk - ROUND 2 Abandon ship! Villains and men wearing top hats first! Final Score Sinister 0 - Traps 3 I want my mommy... I mean mummy... I mean ouch!

There is already a wonderful review here on Eurobricks, but after receiving a MISB copy of this set a day ago I just could not resist reviewing it myself. During the build I took 189 pictures, but I've trimmed that down to just over 50 for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy! Set# - 5988 Name - Pharaoh's Forbidden Ruins Theme/Subtheme - Adventurers/Desert Year - 1998 Piece Count - 710 Minifigs - 10 More info @ Brickset, Brickshelf First up is the box. On the front - lots of chaos and action is depicted against a beautiful desert background (complete with mirage in the top left). On the back of the box - some crazy alternate models! The sides of the box feature some fun pictures as well. Here are a couple. The box features an opening front flap for more fun inside. On the reverse side of the top flap are some extra pictures along with a story to set the mood - "Ancient ruins are the home of many hidden riches. But Beware! Where treasure lies, booby traps, villains, and scorpions await. With building sets for the LEGO SYSTEM Adventurers Collection, only you, the LEGO MANIAC can determine who will get the treasure first..." I've always loved these elaborate boxes. One of my favorite features was the little plastic windows that displayed a variety of the pieces. Slicing through the seals and lifting the flap reveals all the fantastic pieces. In the center is a cardboard tray which divides the box into three sections. The instruction manual and other catalogs are found under everything - thanks to the cardboard tray they are in perfect condition. All the pieces + instructions. There are 10 mains bags of pieces + 1 bag of large special parts, the plastic display tray with parts, two 16x32 tan baseplates, and some other larges pieces. Close up of plastic display tray Contents removed All the pieces de-bagged and spread around. Yummy! There is a massive variety of pieces. There are not stickers in this set. In place of stickers, we get absolutely beautiful printed pieces. This set has a truck load of these wonderful printed gifts from the LEGO gods. This is just a small sample: Once you manage to stop drooling over all the lovely pieces, it's time to dig into the build. When you open the instruction manual you're treated to more fun pictures This is one of those older manuals with perfect colour differentiation - no confusion with light grays, dark grays, and blacks! There are no piece call-outs - I grew up with my instructions like this so following them isn't very difficult. This means you end up with approx. a 45 page booklet instead of 2x 70 page booklets as more pieces are added per step. However, even as with new sets, you start by building the figures. You get the whole crew of good guys (Johnny Thunder, Dr. Charles Lightning, Miss Gail Storm, Harry Cane), the bad guys (Baron Von Barron, Lord Sam Sinister), the Pharaoh, and three happy skeletons. Note: Figs not arranged as listed You then turn this pile of pieces... ...into two palm tress The first vehicle that you build is the 6-wheeled truck. Starting with the base... ...bulk it up a bit and add a cockpit... ...add some accessories and you're almost done. Front and back views. In my opinion, the truck is one of the nicest vehicles in the desert theme. You then build the bucket of the hot air balloon and deck-it-out with sand bags and accessories. Next up you start to construct the balloon. Stage 1 - Stage 2 - the netting must be prepped with elastic bands at the four corners (thanks to the air tight bag in which the elastics came in, they were still fresh and rubbery!) Stage 3 - the net covers the top section of the balloon and is secured by attaching the elastics to a technic rod which runs through the center. Stage 4 - the two halves come together to form your balloon Add some final touches and connect the bucket to the balloon Complete Now construction on the ruins begins. You start by laying the foundations for the front section. Add the Pharaoh to his sarcophagus and give him a home within the temple. The temple gains height and is decorated by some of those fantastic printed pieces. Yet more printed panels are added at around the half way point of the build. Trap doors are installed along the top of the ruins. The first trap door (covered with the yellow tile, activated by pulling the red pin) simply drops the unlucky explorer back down to the main floor. The second trap door (covered with blue tiles at the moment, again activated by pulling a red pin) drops four 2x2 bricks (pictured later) and causes an axe to come crashing down. I've heard many complaints about this second trap not working very well, but I find it works perfectly every time and is quite satisfying. A treasure chest is filled with some gold. Here you can see the placement of the treasure chest, and the trap door loaded with the 2x2 bricks mentioned earlier. The temple gains even more height. Here you can make out the completed jackal face (Anubis) at the center of the temple. The temple is topped off (missing from picture - 2x dark gray parrots - these were added later) An obelisk with hieroglyphics is added Finally a palm tree is added and the front section of the temple is now complete! The foundations of the back courtyard type area are put in place. A revolving door with a magnet on one side and a skeleton on the other is added (more on this in a bit) Two dark gray alligator statues are put together This whole section of the temple is built up more - details and accessories are also added This area is now complete. Regarding the revolving door mentioned earlier, this is how a scenario would play out - the ruby sits in a display case (mounted on a magnet) with a skeleton watching over it. If someone attempts to remove the jewel, the door will rotate, the magnet on the back side of the door will snap up the ruby, then the door will finish it's rotation leaving only the skeleton in it's original position and no more treasure to be had! Left over pieces The two halves of the temple from behind The complete set As you may know, the Adventurers are one of my favorite themes and this set from the desert subtheme has been on my 'must-have' list for nearly 12 years. I always hoped TLC would do an Indiana Jones theme, but now that IJ has basically come and gone I can't help but prefer it's predecessor. After finally getting Pharaoh's Forbidden Ruins MISB off Bricklink and putting it together I could not be more pleased. I always thought this set looked fantastic in pictures, but I was blown away when I built it myself - it truly is a stunning set! I'm fortunate to own the majority of the rest of the sets from this subtheme, so this temple complements them perfectly. However, thanks to wonderful design of the set, all the tricks and traps, the vehicles, the minifigs, and all the accessories - even as a standalone set, the amount of playability provided is just unmatched. Don't want to play with your LEGO? - Thanks in large part to those printed pieces (I really can't express how amazing they are) this looks great on display as well. I really can't say enough good things about Pharaoh's Forbidden Ruins. In my opinion this set falls under the category of "All time LEGO greats". Hope you enjoyed the review. Comments and questions more than welcome.

Thanks to some extra persuasion by WhiteFang, I've decided I would like to join the academy. I've got lots of time on my hands and a room full of LEGO just begging to be reviewed.

I hope you're successful in one day acquiring this set in a condition that meets your satisfaction It was due to all the printed pieces in this set that helped confirm that I had to pick it up MISB - I wanted those prints to be as they were the day the set was packaged! I got my copy from Tassie Brick Trader in Australia. Unfortunately BRICK NATION doesn't ship to Canada.

Thanks for all the kind words everyone! It's nice to see so many of you love this set as well. This was a set that I absolutely had to experience MISB. I just have too much fun carefully opening these elaborately packaged sets and staring in awe at all the shiny, never-before-handled pieces. I just can't take my eyes (or hands) off this set! I convinced myself that for the first half of this year I would pick up some of those long lost sets and bite the bullet cost wise as they would only become rarer and more expensive. I had a hard time deciding where I wanted to start (a few key sets from classic space, classic town, wild west, and adventurers were at the top of the list) but ultimately there were too many factors that drew me towards Pharaoh's Forbidden Ruins. I picked up my copy for $200 U.S. + S&H and I don't regret it one bit. Now I just have to track down missing sets from the other Adventurers subthemes (I'm envious of your Orient Expedition score) before moving on to the Wild West

Thank you for this wonderful review! Congrats on acquiring your dream set! I remember during the early 90s always drooling over this set in those little catalogs, and now thanks to the internet I can drool over pictures of this set online! I too hope to one day owe this set. In my opinion this is the definitive port set - fantastic brick build boats, giant docks, multiple vehicles to move and ship cargo on, functional crane, lots of figures and accessories I can't think of any criticisms, except that TLG may have set the bar too high with this set...

Great review and excellent pictures. I'm a fan of Creator sets (especially the houses), and though I think this is a nice set it just seems to lack a certain "Buy me!" factor. The designs are not bad (in fact in most cases they are oddly cute), but they certainly are not anything special either. As you mentioned, I probably would not pick this up unless I were in the right mood, or if it were on sale.

Another wonderful review of a truly epic set! I simply love the designs of these old ships. I personally think they look fantastic (loads of studded goodness - yummy) and the amount of playability they offered was superb. Lots of figs, mini vehicles, wings, lights, lasers, greebles, computer stations ... the list just keeps going!

Great review and beautiful pictures! I've got a huge soft spot for Adventurers sets. Even a relatively small set like this is packed with massive playability. Thanks to the overall design and wide variety of pieces that are included (lots of colours, wonderful printed columns etc.) this set looks great on display as well.

I remember finding this set at a local Canadian Tire back in 1999. I was planning on picking up 5976 River Expedition from the Jungle Adventurers theme, but after running across Alien Avenger while doing some other errands on my way to TRU I decided to call it a day as far as LEGO purchasing goes. Now all these years later I'm looking to complete my Adventurers collection... I liked the Alien Avenger a lot. The main model was fun, but more than anything I remember trying to build the Millennium Falcon using pieces from it. The minifigs were probably the highlight of the Alien theme for me - detailed torsos, groovy trans heads, and awesome helmets.

Just yesterday I was looking at Emperor Chang Wu from 7419 Dragon Fortress and being reminded that I wanted to watch Flash Gordon again. Now today there are these wonderful creations on the front page! What are the odds? What you've done is fantastic. Thanks for sharing!

If you look at the picture of the box, you can see the groove that the door slides along. It also makes sense that it's a garage door as that would account for the difference in the amount of exposed area between the box picture and the display one (on the box it's open more and less is exposed, on the built model the door is nearly shut and thus more of it is visible).

TLC really went all out with the Portal set didn't they!? 6 staircase pieces - impressive The set is like a carnival for the eyes - there are so many details to take in. If I must nitpick, it's that I think there should be more aquatic life (plants, clams etc) at the base of the structure (I do appreciate the skellie diver though). Sure there are a number of dark green vine pieces attached to the walls, but at quick glance it doesn't seem to have as much of an underwater feel to it as some of the previous aquatic themed bases (hope that makes sense...). Overall I'm extremely impressed with these initial pictures. Hopefully my outlook only becomes even more positive as we see more of it in the future.

I'm starting to see more potential from the Police base. I'm happy that it looks to be sitting on a 32x32 baseplate with a 16x16 one at it's side. Still not completely sure what to think of the overall design, something seems lacking ... but it's really not fair to judge it too strongly until better pictures surface. I've got my fingers crossed that the set ends up being a winner, as I have a soft spot for space bases and I'd be only too happy to add another epic one to my collection. *Edit* - Is it just me or is the yellow and black door below the base made up of sliding garage door pieces placed vertically (so that it slides from side to side instead of up and down)? Extra design points from me

The offer is good both in store and online.

I was going to take advantage of this and pick up the Home One SW set and the Temple Of Doom IJ set at my local TRU, but unsurprisingly they didn't have the Indy set (for some reason they don't seem to want to carry it - I've only seen it there once and I check in at the store every week. Not a matter of it always selling out either, they just simply don't stock it ) Seeing how I couldn't get my weekly LEGO fix from TRU, looks like Bricklink will be getting my business. Pharaoh's Forbidden Ruins here I come!

I'm seriously considering picking up the Temple of Doom this weekend as part of a TRU buy 1 get 1 half off deal, but I really hate to dedicate so much lovely shelf space to one set (I'd most likely be getting the Home One as the other set ... and it's not exactly small either... ) More and more I've been suspending sets from shelves using fishing line or building small stands using coat hanger wire to help free up shelf space - it's working quite well but it will only take me so far. Maybe I'll just buy a Pharaoh's Forbidden Ruins and have my desert Adventurers theme complete, as well as satisfy some large temple cravings. Decisions, decisions...

Thanks for the great review! This is a nice little set in my opinion. For the price, I honestly would not expect too much more out of it. Sure it has some flaws, but this set is all about getting pneumatics to the masses again. Hopefully in the future we will see some more complex use of the system, as well as the return of the air tank.