Review: 7410 Jungle river

The Cobra · August 1, 2009

"Take me back to my boat on the river - And I won't cry out any more..." (Styx - Boat on the river)

Set data

7410: Jungle river

Year: 2003

Theme: Adventurers

Subtheme: Orient expedition / India

Pieces: 65 (including extras)

Price: 8 USD / ?? EUR / ?? UKP

Building time: less than 10 minutes

MISB on review: Yes

Official description: Johnny Thunder is piloting his boat down the winding jungle river, in search of a clue to the location of the Golden Dragon. But watch out! If he sails too close to the shrine, he might disturb that hungry crocodile!

More info: Brickset - Peeron

Box front: Box is 143 mms. square and 46 mms. deep (5.10" x 1.14")

Box rear: A couple of alternative models and some sketches of other Adventurers sets.

Box side: No 1:1 minifig, but J.T. and his croc friend.

Box content: One large bag, one small bag, a loose boat and instructions. No game cards.

Loose pieces: We have 11 solid colors and 4 trans colors. That must be a record for a set this small!

Random instructions page: Instructions are 145 x 100 mms (5.12" x 3.15"). Here's one page of the shrine instructions...

Random instructions page: ...and here's one page of the boat instructions.

Theme overwiew: At the end of the instructions booklet we have a theme overview (in case you want to know, 7413 is Passage of Jun-Chi and 7416 is Emperor's ship) and a look at the layout of the card game. As you can see, both this set and the Secret of the tomb don't have cards.

Man and beast: So here's Johnny Thunder wearing green, green as the crocodile.

The four of J.T.: From left to right: regular tan J.T. (from Passage of Jun-Chi and Temple of gloom), green J.T. (from this very set), brown J.T. (from Aero Nomad), and tan J.T. with different head (from Adventurers car).

The shrine: Here's what the shrine is made of. A plate with columns in the rear and some panels hiding two diamonds, a hinged plate, a skull with a "jungle headdress" and two odd arms, a small bridge piece with some leaves.

The shrine: Bird's eye view of the open treasure lid.

The shrine: And now a front and rear view of the closed lid.

The boat: It looks like this boat has a steering wheel instead of a ship wheel! On the right, we have the boiler opening.

The boat: And here's a front view with the chimney too.

The boat: I would think there's something wrong getting fire instead of steam or smoke, but I'm not a boatman so I just might be wrong

The boat: This is Johnny's box of tools, with two ol' dynamite tiles, a rifle, a shovel and a pickaxe. Why does he need a chain?

The boat: Because the boat is small, and if you have a guest he must let the box float on the river.

Complete set: Including 5 extra pieces, and the snake finally making its appearance

Bonus shot: Now you see me, now you don't!

Review:

I have to admit I basically bought this set because it has some interesting (= rare) pieces and for 8 Euros and a few cents (S/H included) it seemed like a good deal. After all, with 8 Euros today you can only get the new 8402 Sports car or the 8957 Mine mech.

The shrine is simple (something to open and a treasure inside to be found) yet a bit too colorful, and as far as a skull has once been a human head, what are those side horns supposed to be? The boat looks good in gray and it has been filled with the steam motor (looking realistic to me) and the tools box. Johnny can hardly see anything but he's smart and knows the he just needs to lean out like he does on the front box pic. His green torso is a welcome change after all his boring tan outfits.

Keeping comparison with those two 8 Euros set I earlier mentioned, this one outplays the Sports car thanks to all the little details, and even if a minifig alone can't have a heel human counterpart, at least he has two dangerous animals to fight.

The more I review Adventurers set, the more I think that Lego seems to have lost some over the last few years; while juniorization in town set seems to be gone for good, those set now belonging to the action forums look less AFOL-friendly to me. Or maybe I'm just getting too old.

Rating:

Color scheme: 4/5. I like the boat as it is, while I think the shrine is a bit too colorful.

Minifigs and accessories: 5/5. A slightly different Johnny (green torso available in two more sets) will have his hands full with all those accessories and weapons. And there are more gems here than in some larger sets (like Yeti or Jun-Chi)!

Pieces: 5/5. That hairdress - plain yellow with no printing - is an exclusive (and not available in any other color). Gray boat and dark blue animal tails are exclusives too. Those tails are hard to find in other colors too. Luckily they are a quite useless piece (unless you build something like this!). Extras include a second revolver and the usual 1x1s.

Playability: 4/5. Johnny can dig, Johnny can shoot, Johnny can place dynamite, Johnny can fight animals, Johnny can finally get those gems. He's surely in for a busy day!

Design: 4/5. I already said about the shrine. The boat doesn't look bad, but I'm really not sure in J.T. can see the hazards that wait for him on the river.

Overall rating: 4,5/5. Close to perfect. Lots of pros and a really few cons.

The final words: Can't TLC drop Agents and give us Adventurers back?

Edited August 13, 2009 by WhiteFang
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