Lego and LucasFilm announced on Monday a new series of Indiana Jones-themed Lego sets — the franchise’s first in a decade. The prize build, “Escape from the Lost Tomb,” is based on one of the most iconic moments from 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark when Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones, Jr. drops down into the Well of Souls in his race to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Third Reich, only to find himself confronted with a mass of poisonous vipers and cobras.
The 600-piece set, due out next month and retailing for $39.99, includes elements of an underground temple, including the entrance and an ancient wall decorated with two looming Anubis statues — one of which topples, revealing a secret passageway. In addition, the set also includes several new minifigures including Indy, Marion Ravenwood, Sallah, and a creepy mummy, not to mention the Ark of the Covenant itself.
Image: Lego
Two additional sets, “Fighter Plane Chase” and “Temple of the Golden Idol” recreate other key moments from the Steven Spielberg films. Fighter Plane Chase, on the smaller side, comes in at 387 pieces for $34.99. The Golden Idol recreation is a whopper, with 1,545 pieces at a retail price of $149.99.
Image: Lego
Image: Lego
The first officially licensed Indiana Jones-themed Lego set was introduced in 2008, tied to the release of 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and discontinued that following year. The same year saw the release of Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, a third-person video game featuring interactive Lego-theme recreations of the first three Indiana Jones films (1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark; 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom; and 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). A sequel, Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues, was released in 2009, based on 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull.
The connection between Spielberg’s iconic action adventure series and the Denmark-based toy brand goes back even further than that though. In 1998, the Lego Group introduced the “Adventurers” Lego theme, a series of playsets which centered in and around the adventures of a fedora-toting archaeologist named Johnny Thunder — a character with obvious parallels to Harrison Ford’s iconic character.
The “Escape from the Lost Tomb” and the other Indiana Jones-themed Lego sets will be available to purchase on April 1, just in time for the upcoming release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the fifth installment in the Indiana Jones series and presumably Harrison Ford’s final turn at the character.
