Amazon Ancient Ruins 5986 Review

[voltio]

Hi gang! As you all know, Indiana Jones IV has just debuted, and TLG has released a set depicting the Incan temple (7627) from the film's climax. But Lego beat Harrison Ford, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and company to the punch by nine whole years with Johnny Thunder's adventures in the Amazon Ancient Ruins.

The Vitals:

Year of release: 1999

Parts Count: 453

MSRP: $80.00

The set included eight figures: (from left) Two skeletons, Dr. Lightning, Gail Storm, Gabarros, Achu, Johnny Thunder, and Señor Palomar. On the far right is my new sigfig, el Conde Voltio Villar.

Construction begins with Dr. Lightning and his jeep. It's a sturdy Adventurers-style vehicle, with fatter tires at the rear for better traction.

Next is Gabarros and his unusual boat. The hull is from Belleville/Paradisa sets, where it is usually pink or white. TLG ought to have put it in the Pirate theme, as it is a nice, intermediate size. In this set, it is a small steamship.

The temple is built on modular 8x8 green bricks which fit into square holes in the baseplate. This is the "treasure room."

This square has a nasty double-spear trap. Careful...

This is the top section of the temple, crowned by Achu the (mummified?) Incan.

More modular sections (these are from the front of the temple site, across the river from the main building).

El Conde: "You are too beautiful a woman to be wandering alone in the jungle, Miss Storm. Please, allow me to accompany you."

Gail Storm: "I'm with Johnny, and I have a cutlass."

El Conde: "I'll be on my way."

Here's the finished temple, with all parts in place. Now for the traps...

"Hmm, a giant ruby to bring home to the king."

"¡Uf!"

"That was embarassing. Miss Storm saw me fall..."

"And now I've fallen again!"

"I had better rest here before something worse happens."

"¡Chispas!"

"That's it, I'm leaving this place!"

"Why me? Why?"

The Verdict: This is a fine set, a set whose bare parts/price ratio does not accurately reflect the intricacy of its design nor the rarity of its parts. I had to buy replacements for some of them, and let me tell you, they are PRICEY! That green baseplate? $14. The little dark gray saucepan near the fire? Not available on Bricklink at any price. The brown boat hull? VHTF. With this set, parts quality trumps parts quantity. And the minifigures are wonderful! There's not a dud in the bunch with the possible exception of the very common Dr. Lightning, and even he is not bad. When you factor in the coherence of the color scheme and the brilliant traps, it is obvious that 5986 is a classic.

10/10

Edited November 27, 2008 by WhiteFang
This review is added to the index.

[WesternOutlaw]

I've always wanted to see this set close-up Voltio. Thanks for sharing the image review. This is the only Jungle Adventurers set I don't have and it's got some great unique pieces (esp. those leaf brick pieces). What's great is they're not stickers. This is a really a nice review of a neat set; with the extra little humor you shared. Thanks again for taking the time to photograph and share over EB.

[hollisbrick]

Great review for a great set! Man I loved the Adventurers Although the new Indy sets are good they will never match up to Johnny Thunder! Most of all no stickers

great review!

[iamded]

Thanks for this great review, voltio! I never knew of this set 'till now, and it really looks great! I never paid much attention to those Aztec/Incan style sets, which I now regret. I love the bright colours used here, and all the great traps, there's so many of them, which is exactly what we can expect from an old Incan temple like this one. I'm surprised there's no catapult. Anyway, the minifigs included are also great, and am I right in guessing those bricks are printed? That would be fantastic, as they look amazing. That boat hull is new to me too, although I guess the fact that it's mainly in Belville sets explains that pretty well. Thanks again for the sweet review, do you have any other Jungle Adventurers sets you plan to review?

~Peace

[Flatfoot Thompsen]

I'm gonna start searching Ebay!

[Shoc]

I've always wanted this set, ever since it came out in '99. I have never seen it close up (unless you count driving over it in Lego Racers 2), so thanks for the pictures and the great review.

El Conde: "You are too beautiful a woman to be wandering alone in the jungle, Miss Storm. Please, allow me to accompany you."

Gail Storm: "I'm with Johnny, and I have a cutlass."

El Conde: "I'll be on my way."

Hehe.

:skull:

[Asuka]

A real classic, thanks for that nice and funny review, voltio!

A well designed set, very playable with a lot of nifty traps, a very good use of that raised baseplate and really nice crafts.

The MF characters´re excellent too!

And although the color scheme´s great and original, especially with all these neat printed pieces, it´s perhaps the only

part of that set that looks a little out of date today....

Nevertheless, the set´s plain charming and shows clearly that TLC don´t need licenses to do some distinct Adventurer sets.

[Hyphos]

Great Review.

I saw the instructions of this set, but never atracted me Until now

A great set an a excelente review.

[simonwillems]

Thanks for reviewing this rare set!

Since it came out in 1999 I have only seen this set in a toystore one single time, one single copy as well... It was in the summer of 1999 in Belgium (Arlon) in a store called 'Maxi Toys' (Belgiums TRu, I think). They had the three biggest Junglesets for sale there: these Ancient Ruins, The set with the beautiful black boat and the zeppelin.

Being into Adventurers at that time I had never seen the entire Jungle theme (not even in a leaflet or catalog) and surprised as I was I bought all three sets. That was one happy Dutch boy in Belgium!

Surprisingly the two smallest sets made it in very small quantities to my local stores in Holland (except for the pontoon plane and small raft which was my very first Shop at Home order). The spider's secret I bought off BL, which makes me the proud owner of the entire Jungle Serie.

Back to the set:

This was the first time in a long history of collecting Lego that I had a deformed piece: an 2x8 red plate was twisted, I twisted it back and it still serves it's purpose...

I loved the whole steam-idea in this Jungle serie: the two boats both (including the one in this set) had nice steamengines and a very cool mechanic (yours has the wrong hat/hair btw) to come along with them.

The skeleton falling down on the end of a chain was the most intriguing part of this set for me, it worked really well and when you were done scaring minifigures you could winch it up again ready for the next go.

The only thing I did not really like about this set was the difference in wheelsize on the car, front small, back large and the way the palmtree consisted out of just three parts...

All in all a great set that is becoming more rare and expensive as we speak/post. Get it!

Edited May 26, 2008 by simonwillems

[Dovchenko]

Great review! I just barly missed the Jungle series, growing up with half a year of Jungle and mainly Orient Expedition and Dino Island. I like Egypt more, but this set (despite the 4x4 palm tree) is practically perfect. I love the detail and vibrant colours. Gotta say, I've got a thing for Pippin Reed myself.

By the way, what does "VHTF" mean?

Edited May 28, 2008 by sdpirate

[voltio]

VHTF= Very Hard to Find.

To answer some earlier replies...

No, there are no stickers in this set. While some Adventurers sets of the era had stickers (the 5956 Zeppelin had tons), all of the interesting mesoamerican designs from this set are printed.

Also, simonwillems was correct; my mechanic is missing his hat, which should be a black kepi. They're extremely expensive on BL, though (proving once again that this set has some awesome parts), so I ordered a replacement from Lego. It's in the mail and should come soon.

[Athos]

The printed pieces are the real gems of this set. Beyond them, there isn't much to this set, though the boat hull is nice.

The model itself, isn't all that great. The new Akator temple is definately a superior model (at least in piece count), but those printed pieces are hard to resist.

Steve

[Dovchenko]

The printed pieces are the real gems of this set. Beyond them, there isn't much to this set, though the boat hull is nice.

The model itself, isn't all that great. The new Akator temple is definately a superior model (at least in piece count), but those printed pieces are hard to resist.

Steve

I have to agree. Too few pieces for such a high price- but amazing figs too, and a nice baseplate! Despite a 4+ palm tree, you get more palm tree leaves for MOC's. Plus, I think a monkey? And that sweet Achu figure.

[Jack Bricker]

I absolutly love this set. This is in my opinion the best Adventurers set. It has it all; the falling bridge, the falling skeleton, the spear trap, and the classic trapdoor. It is a must-have set. Thanks for providing such a nice review.

[ruchiicoool]

this set is awesome .......... gr8

[Blue-ninja]

I just rebuilt this entire set today, and the nostalgia was totally worth taking bits and pieces from a few of my own MOCs.

Only now did I realize how rare some of those pieces are, and I'm rather thankful that I have all of the printed pieces, and Achu.

The only pieces I am missing is a transparent orange headlight (3 out of 4), black minifigure hammer, light gray chain(replaced it with a dark gray chain), and ONE WHOLE minifigure, which is the mechanic guy.

I still have both the instructions and the box, and both are in appalling conditions.

Kudos to the pre-2000s lego sets like this one! Love 'em

[Fires-storm]

Wow, good review! I used to love this old sets, as I was greatly fascinated by Inca and Aztec cultures, and the Mayans technological marvels astounded me. I was thrilled to death when Lego released little Aztec figures, so of course I jsut HAD to buy some Your narration with the sig fig was hilarious, and the review was all around wonderful, keep up the good work mate!

[Princess Muttonchops]

Thanks for the awesome review Voltio. El Conde is the man!

[The Yellow Brick]

Great review Voltio, I never actually owned this set but my friend does, He gave me some of the peices, but he burnt the base (don't know why)

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

I got this as a birthday gift when I turned 7 years old or so. I can still remember the big box with the brown bridge in its display!

So many hours of fun. One of the most amazing sets I own. A lot of play value. A true classic!

[GiantDinosaur]

I had one of these! It was awesome, it went well with the zeppelin.

I can't remember if the box was one of those fold up the lid ones though. Can't tell from the picture. Anyone want to jog my memory, I always thought the sets with the flap lids were the best, I kept those!

Edited September 26, 2011 by GiantDinosaur

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

I can't remember if the box was one of those fold up the lid ones though. Can't tell from the picture. Anyone want to jog my memory, I always thought the sets with the flap lids were the best, I kept those!

Sure it was! It even had the brown bridge there!

[Bubble]

I really like your blue GorillaPod camera stand in the background!

Edited January 30, 2013 by Bubble

[Lordofdragonss]

Haha, I love seeing reviews where sigfigs and minifigures from the set present the set! I'm looking foward your next reviews! :D

[AmazingPharaoh]

The images are obsolete, please fix it.