The Real Indiana Jones

"Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Holy Grail" is Part Two of my little trilogy. This is an alternate re-build of set 7572 - Quest Against Time. Like I said, when I build, I always like to create things that look like real sets that LEGO might design and sell for real on the shelf. It gives me that feeling we all got as kids on Christmas or on our bithday, which is next week for me! Naturally, you can build all of these yourself easily with Lego Digital Designer, a few Bricklink orders, and a few elements from BrickArms and BrickForge... And if you make more improvements, go ahead and post the pictures here as a reply... or if you have any other ideas or thoughts, post them here and I will respond after my birthday! I remember the moment I first saw the Prince of Persia set Quest Against Time, it seemed pretty clear to me that it must have been based on an unused blueprint or a prototype of a Temple of the Holy Grail set. Perhaps TLG balked because of the overtly religious imagery? Whatever their reason, a lot of people have been clamoring for a Grail Temple to complete the Trifecta. So here it is, with a full crew of ten minifigs, five of which were never officially released! Yup, Marcus, Sallah, Henry Senior, Colonel Vogel, the Germans, Donovan, Overtly Evil Elsa, Indy, and the Grail Knight are all here... It's a packed house, standing room only... um, unless you have just been shot or had the life drained out of you by the almighty! Aside from an extra pair of nougat-colored lion-heads, almost all of the architectural elements here are made with just the original pieces in the official Prince of Persia set rearranged. I made it so the housing for the bladed booby traps are the bodies of the large stone lions seen in the Last Crusade. I also added some bones, a candelabra from Hogwarts, and a variety of deceptive chalices. I thought about making stickers for the tiles to spell out the letters in the name of God, as seen in the movie, either seven letters in Latin, or just four spelled in Hebrew... but that seemed too academic, too religious, and therefore, too un-LEGO-like! Deeper within the temple, the architectural style changes from Petra Nabataean to Crusader fortifications. Indy and the Grail Knight look on as Overtly Evil Elsa contemplates various vessels. She does not intend to repeat Donovan's fatal mistake... I for one hope not, cause sure she is Evil, but hey she's hot! Will she choose wisely or poorly? Will our heroes gain immortality, or will the forces of darkness prevail over the Earth? On that note, you could also easily use this exact same set as a ready-made parts-pack to make an "Ark Opening Ceremony" from Raiders, using the light-up-brick to unleash the Power of the Almighty! If you do that, I dare say it would deserve its own thread...! All right Kids, Fortune and Glory! "The_Real_Indy"

"Indiana Jones and the Sanctuary of the Enlightened One" is Part One of my little trilogy. This is an updated re-boot of set 7417, Temple of Mount Everest. When I build, I always like to create things that look like real sets that LEGO might design and sell for real on the shelf. It gives me that feeling we all got as kids on Christmas or on our bithday, which is next week for me! Naturally, you can build all of these yourself easily with Lego Digital Designer and a few Bricklink orders... And if you make more improvements, go ahead and post the pictures here as a reply... or if you have any other ideas or thoughts, post them here and I will respond after my birthday! Indy and Short Round are on a quest to return the Dagger of Xian to its rightful sanctuary high in the Himalayas. Humankind cannot be trusted with such awesome power, and so they must return it to the Enlightened One, the only human being in the world selfless enough to be entrusted to guard it. But at the last moment, they are betrayed by their Tibetan guides, who begin to cut the ropes of the bridge. Indy uses his trusty whip to grab the prayer flags above... Shorty holds on to the goods, while the ancient sage hurries along the icy ledge to unleash his magic powers, rescue the heroes, and save the world! I was going to buy the original set, but I knew the older style would clash. So I created a re-booted, updated, modern version on LDD from scratch, and used minifigs from IJ, HP, and Ninjago. I used the new grays, the new browns, and a bit of the new nougat color, and I spray painted the pinnacle of the shrine gold to match the lovely gold bits on all the newer temple sets. I gave the roof a jazzy new color scheme, I made the whole structure a bit more substantial with the newer wooden doors and pearly gates, I added the prayer flags, and I added a gleaming golden Buddha statue made out of an official golden-minifig keychain which I got as a bonus. Finally, I switched the whole thing onto modular plates like newer sets are, rather than the old-school baseplate. I especially love the golden Buddha and the prayer flags, which make the temple more distinctly Tibetan, although of course TLG might be reluctant to use religious imagery like that. Best of all, I really like the 11-studs-wide open crevasse in the middle, which makes it look much more like a dangerous drop than it did in the original set. I think the jagged angles on the base plates also make it look more perilous. All in all, it looks more like the mountain shrine from the snow level of the video game "Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine", which was almost certainly one of the inspirations for the original set design. All right Kids, Fortune and Glory! "The_Real_Indy"

***** You know, I think this solidifies my New Year's Resolution to spend less time online...! =) Fortune and Glory! Indy Out *****

Believe me, 8-year-olds don't care about what the price/piece ratio is, or where the plastic comes from... They want to play a fun game with ninja-coolness and smashing-awesomeness, and I am sure TLG did their marketing research before-hand! Those spinners are flying off the shelf in the USA too! Congratulations LEGO! Another hit!

Luckily, there are several non-Indy sets that make great stand-ins or parts-packs for some of the missing Indy locales: - The new Hogwarts makes a great stand-in for Marshall College (if you remove all the magic items and replace them with Indy's artifacts) - The Ninjago Dojo can make a lovely stand-in for Club Obi-Wan in Shanghai (just replace the obstacle course with tables and chairs) - The Battle of Alamut makes a perfect stand-in for Pankot Palace (exactly as it is, or with just some minimal rebuilding) - The parts in The Race Against Time could easily be re-built into an Ark-Opening, or a Grail Temple (use the light-up-brick for the Ark!) - And if you want to expand your Venice setup a bit, I have a design for a gondola posted here. 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. And www.fineclonier.com has excellent decals for all the minor characters. Fortune and Glory! Indy Out *****

That is true... You can easily do a small vignette of it yourself with an order from BrickLink, and of course BrickForge has an amazing variety of Greco-Roman and Gladiator parts. From Wikipedia Merry Christmas! Indy Out

Wow, and I forgot to mention Primo, Toy Story, Mickey Mouse, and good 'ol SpongeBob SquarePants...! And basically, we are all talking about a toy line for 6-12 year olds, right? Anyway, I will be engaged before Valentine's Day, so I will see you guys in 2020 when my kids are about 3! Peace, and Merry Christmas to all!! Indy Out. *****

Well, of course, LEGO makes some cute toddler's themes too... The Winnie-The-Pooh and Duplo sets are for toddlers, but if they make money, then make more!!

Oh, yes, I totally love Pharaoh's Quest! Love the Anubis and Horus! And I have all the BrickForge pieces. So now I just want MORE...!! - Real printed figs, like Caesar and Cleopatra, more Ancient Gods, etc... - specialized iconic architectural pieces - specialized iconic artifact pieces - more ancient warriors - more ancient civilians - including female figs, c'mon LEGO! For starters, they should just look and see what other famous well-established good-quality European brands like Playmobil and Schleich have already created profitably, and then just go ahead and copy all of the ideas they have not done in LEGO yet... IF YOU SEE PICS OF AWESOME TOYS, MADE BY THE COMPETITION, THAT LEGO SHOULD COPY, POST THEM HERE AS INSPIRATION!! *****

OMG, I was at TRU yesterday to see if they had any new sets. All they had was the silly Garmadon's Fortress, so I went over to spy on the Playmobil and the Schleich sections... OMG, L@@K AT THIS STUFF!! DUDE, They have a COLOSSEUM!! We don't even have a LION!! Who has the ear of a LEGO Ambassador?! They have at least thirty different sets in the Roman/Egyptian line, so it is obviously popular and profitable. A Colosseum, Lions, Chariots, Caesar, Tribal Mercenaries, Historical Civilians, Cleopatra... Dude, Don't let some pre-fab toddler's toy "school" us like this...!

Oh, hey, that's cool... I am not worried about being P.C... I just like to see international variety with a bit of accuracy... And everything that anyone has ever suggested is something that alternate brands or clone brands have already done, especially Playmobil, or many other action figure lines worldwide (see below). I think at this point their ultimate rationale is simply that "kids and nostalgic adults expect to see Legos be yellow, in the same way that the Smurfs are blue, and the Muppets are multicolored!" That's the way it is! As one perfect solution, I think we would all be ecstatic if they made a few small Safari sets with some brand new exotic animals, and some more cool African minifigs. Remember how excited people got over those POP camels and ostriches! Just for the sake of consistency, perhaps they could do it as an offshoot of the Indy line/license, or Young Indy, simply to explain why the human faces are in flesh-tones in those sets. Everyone in the world would buy five of each of those sets just for the parts and the MOC possibilities! Or... Now that we have the Disney license, let's just do a full-on "It's a Small World After All" Theme... Put your hands in the air if you loved that ride!! =) Woo-Hoo...! Who has the ear of a Lego Ambassador?!

Hi Everyone, Is there still any possible way to buy a few of those BrickForge medium-blue United Nations military helmets with the "UN" letters printed on them? Do you know anyone that still might have a few for sale? The printed ones are sold out. I can pay a few dollars each...! Thanks! =)

I don't know if this will settle the topic in people's minds, but here's a set from 1977, which is simply called "Red Indians". This is a perfect example of the retro-Bauhaus-style primary-colors-only aesthetic LEGO adhered to in the early days. Looks like they did originally intended for yellow to represent white faces from the start, even before the modern minifig!

Wow, now I understand why the call you the "Colour Master"! And yes, "38 Dark Orange" is the fourth skin-tone currently in use. They used it for the fictitious Ugha Warriors from South America. At first glance I definitely thought it was far too intensely reddish. For reference, here is a picture of young hunters-in-training from the Yanomami Tribe. If my kids ask, I will just tell them that these minifigs have covered themselves from head-to-toe with red-ochre clay body paint!

Thank You, Sir. How about: 1) "yes, "no", "no opinion". 2) "yes, "no", "no opinion", and "whichever way the winds blow in the future". 3) "replace with flesh", "replace with yellow", "leave them all like they are", "no opinion", and "whichever way the winds blow in the future". Oh, and please re-phrase the post title as a question, and add a question mark. I can't do that, but I am sure that you can. The results of the poll may help everyone decide if they want to invest big in the new POTC sets, buy new heads on BrickLink, or just "keep you powder dry" (the final pun, I swear) for a few waves for the possible return of the Classic-Style sets. Peace Out! "The_Real_Indy"

Yep, Aanchir, personally I think you are right on. I realize that the original aesthetic of Lego was based on the Bauhaus style, which focuses almost entirely on the purest form of the primary colors, red, yellow, and blue, plus black and white. Hence, the yellow faces... But nowadays, with all of the rich and subtle hues and shades of brown in the pieces of the sets and in the printed clothes, it looks like an odd sort of color-mis-match to make people's skin-tone be super bright primary yellow. And plus, just from the standpoint of historical accuracy, I like my figs bodies to be the same colors as they are in nature, and as they were in historical reality. Anyway, I will be fascinated to see the poll results...!

Thanks! And yes, that question of why "licensed = flesh, but non-licensed = yellow" has always stumped me... So here is a deeper question, one that turns the debate around a bit... At a certain point between 2002 and 2004, they had a solution... All figures were yellow, except for naturally-dark-skinned characters like Lando Calrissian. That solution worked just fine, so what do you think prompted them to switch all the licensed themes over to flesh-tones? Star Wars, Harry Potter, Spider-Man, and Lego Sports Basketball were all switched in mid-production... Did it have something to do with the Official NBA Basketball license, which introduced the first representations of real-life people, not actors, or was it just a logical or aesthetic decision? Maybe the white NBA players looked at the prototypes for their minifig-selves cast in plastic, and asked, "Hey, why do I have banana-yellow-skin, when the other guys get to be their real natural shade of brown?" Otherwise, why do you think they make that switch? I am curious! "The_Real_Indy" I am not sure whose jerseys these are in this set, but it may shed some light on the question...

Thanks for the help... And I updated my post so it is more clear now, Thanks! And oh yes, of course, I know that fleshies have been around for a few years now. In fact, since we now have four distinct natural skin-tones to choose from, the posts I link to talk all about how to use pre-existing minifigs and natural-flesh-toned faces to make a full range of international cultures in the most historically accurate way possible. Have Fun! Doug

Hi everyone! I am an archaeologist, and so I know a little bit about pirates, and The Age of Exploration. This topic may also suddenly be of interest to all the LEGO Pirates Fans... We have all seen preview pics of Jack Sparrow "in the flesh" (pun intended), so obviously, the Pirates theme will be switching over to natural-flesh-toned minifigs for a while, with the Pirates of the Caribbean license. If you continue to use the new natural-flesh-toned islanders, then it may seem odd to match them up with classic-yellow-faced pirates and soldiers, no? Since Pirates have always been a "strong perennial favorite in the LEGO portfolio of products", I am sure Pirates of the Caribbean will go for at least three waves (another pun), and that you will officially get the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman by next Christmas! Naturally, they want you to buy the Queen Anne's Revenge first, and then they will announce the release of the more famous A-list flagships for the Winter Holidays next year! So here are my questions... 1) Do you think the switch to natural-flesh-toned minifigs will be permanent for the Pirates line after the POTC license ends? 2) Will you start using Jack Sparrow and the new natural-flesh-toned POTC sailor and islander minifigs permanently for Pirate scenes in the future? 3) Will you replace the heads of your existing Pirate/Soldier armies to match the newer natural-flesh-tones? Or will you replace POTC heads with yellow? If you appreciate natural shades as much as I do, you can click here and then here to see my fairly-complete rundown of how to make flesh-toned figs from all around the world using all pre-existing parts!

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! 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"! ...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! 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?!

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.

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!

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)! 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.

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! 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???)