Lego Pharaoh's Quest Pyramid Review

Call me a Lego nerd, but I often plan out my Lego purchases a year (or more) in advance. The Pharaoh's Quest Pyramid was one of these - as soon as the range was released I knew that I was going to buy it as Tiny Toy Reviewer #2's first 'proper' Lego set for his fourth birthday. With such a long build up to getting it, the product was going to have to be pretty good to meet my expectations. So was it worth it?

Scorpion Pyramid - the Good Points

We're huge Lego fans but I'd be the first to admit that with some sets you are paying an eye watering amount for a few hundred tiny plastic bricks. I actually think that the Pharaoh's Quest Scorpion Pyramid is one of the best value large sets at a full retail price of £71.99 for 792 bricks, which will create a pyramid, a jeep, a scary scorpion and 7 mini figures. These characters are Jake Raines (who Tiny Toy Reviewer #2 is convinced is Clutch Powers from the Lego film of the same title), Mac McCloud, Professor Archibald Hale, Pharaoh Amset-Ra, a flying mummy and two Anubis guards.

Putting the pyramid, car and scorpion together was very straightforward, because the pieces are packaged using Lego's numbered bag system and the instructions were explicit. Of course, Mr Toy Reviewer did it because the boys fall below the recommended age (which is 8 years plus) but they seemed to enjoy playing with the mini figures and car whilst they waited (the entire building process took nearly 2 hours). The pyramid has a unique moulded base to build on. I'm typically a Lego-purist who prefers traditional pieces over custom-moulded additions, but in this case I love it because it makes the finished product so light and easy to move around and it probably cut the number of bricks needed by half, keeping the set more cost effective.

The details on the set are really well thought out. I love that the stairs lift up so you can conceal things behind them, and that there is a booby trap at the top of the pyramid. But best of all is the flick-action feature which allows you to shoot Amset-Ra's tomb out of the pyramid so he can take revenge on the raiders! The scorpion is good too, although the sting in its tail is forever dropping off and needs to be reattached.

The theme is great and has high playability. Although the boys have limited knowledge of Ancient Egypt and have never seen Indiana Jones, (which the theme has a definite feel of), the adventure aspect of it is highly appealing. I also chose to start collecting this theme because the add on sets, such as Rise of the Sphinx and Flying Mummy Attack, are well priced.

Negative points

We have a good mixture of sets that we like to customize and rebuild, and sets that are built and then never (or rarely) taken apart. This was bought as the latter. But I'm aware that quite a few Lego fans like to take their models apart after a while and integrate them into their vast collection, only occasionally getting out the instructions to rebuild it. If you are one of these people this is probably not the best set for you because the distinctive nature of the pieces makes them trickier to integrate into your own creations, and if you weren't able to find all the original bits you needed you couldn't rebuild it substituting other bricks.

Where to buy the Lego Scorpion Pyramid

I shopped around for weeks in advance to spot the best deal. In the end though I just went back to reliable ol' Amazon, whose price of £56 couldn't be beaten.

Verdict

The Pharaoh's Quest Scorpion Pyramid is a great Lego set for any boy or girl who has an active imagination and loves playing adventure games. There are enough clever touches to appeal to older Lego fans whose main enjoyment comes from the building process, too.