Adventurers Review: Sphinx Secret Surprise

[Way_Moby]

Alrighty, so here's my first review. It's a review of Set 5978 "Sphinx Secret

Surprise" from the Egyptian Adventurers theme! Enjoy!

Set Name: Sphinx Secret Surprise

Set No: 5978

Number of pieces: 342

Number of minifigs: 7

Year of release: 1998

Overview:

It is the late 20's... A team of archeologists have recently un-earthed a new

Sphinx in the Egyptian desert. Johnny Thunder, fearless archeologist has set out to

investigate this new ruin... But be warned. Baron von Baron and the sinister Lord

Sinister are determined to arrive first and steal the treasure...

This is probably the biggest of the medium sets from the Egypt line, and is one of

my personally favorites, because of the amount of playablitiy, pieces, minifigs,

and fun accessories, in addition to an awesome base with many secret compartments!

Let's start with the box. Here's the cover:

Let's open the cover flap, and here's some fun alt. angles of the set! I always

loved this feature of the old boxes, but alas, I think they are a thing of the

past:

And here's the back with some fun alt. models. So interesting... I used to try and

make them when I was a kid. I never succeeded...

Here a random page from the instructions:

Voila! The complete set!

Here are the minifigs that come with the set. It includes 7 (Which is

astounding!!!)...

Here are the good guys: Johnny Thunder, Dr. Charles Lightning, and Gail Storm:

Here are the bad guys: Baron von Baron and Sam Sinister:

And here are the mummies! Pharaoh Hotep and Pharaoh Skeleton:

Here are some of the fun pieces. I always loved the obelisk tops, and this set gets

two of 'em! Also, with this set you get FOUR maps! That's awesome! I also love the

sextant, the headdresses and the camera film.

Let's start with the campsite!

This nifty little tent is perfect for having your adventurers spend the night out

in the Egyptian desert.

What's that? Oh, it's just a skeleton!

For a random wooden box, this box is awesome! It's got a sextant and a mag. glass,

in addition to a map and a gun!

Dr. Lightning approves:

The car is pretty awesome; One of the more interesting cars in the line is included

in this set. A Four-Cylinder engine will keep you running even in the harshest of

sand storms and the handy door-camera can capture anything on tape that you can't

film your self!

Despite being a relatively small car, it holds a surprising amout of stuff!

Next we'll move onto the bad guys camp. It's a bit smaller, but features a fun fire

and spit roaster!

During the dig, Johnny Thunder and Dr. Lightning discovered a sarcophagus:

The face of adventure:

The face of science:

The face of fear!

Mummy and Co:

Closed! Open!

Now, we'll move on to the actual set. It's pretty big for a medium sized set, but

that's certainly not a bad thing! In front of the sphinx is a grey slab of solid rock... or is it?

Pulling it back reveals a hidden compartment, complete with riches, critters, and

bones galore!

Next to the sphinx is an ancient obelisk. Baron von Baron and Sam Sinister are

acting on a hunch that said obelisk is hallow:

They were right! Darn!

Before...

After...

And here we have the main attraction the Sphinx!! Here's the Sphinx's head!

And in front of the sphinx is a magnificant ruby!

But be warned! Try and take it, and you might get more than you wanted - the

mummy's curse!

The mechanism that flings the mummy out is a simple pivoting block. When the block

is pulled back, the mummy remains inside...

But when it is pushed, it shoots the mummy out!! Muhahaha!

And finally, here's a quaint little statue of Anubis. I wish it would've had a

secret compartment with coins, similar to the one in the Amazon ruins set released

a few years after this!

And now, with the ruins explored... the rudy secured...

And the bad guys vanquished...

The Secret Surprise of the Sphinx has been discovered...

Or so we think!

Verdict:

I remember getting this set as a child. I slowly saved up my money until I had

enough! Unfortunately, when I got to the store, they were all sold out! But my

mother and I found it on the clearance isle for cheaper! Close call! I subsequently

saved it until I had to spend the day at my grandmothers, and there I built it!

For $50, this set wasn't overpriced in my book. You got an awesome assortment of

characters, a ruby, four maps, a much-coveted sarcophagus (at least in my mind), a

cool car, some fun traps, and a unique base!

As far as playability goes, this set is PERFECT! With the mentioned 7 minifigs and

secrets galore, this set is awesome to play with. Even if you're a collector, you

can't help from looking into the sand pit in front fo the Sphinx to see what

treasures you might find.

The only tiny criticism I'm gonna say is that I would've wished that this set had

included Harry Cane, but I realize that that meant they probably would've had to

put a plane in the set, increasing the price. Oh well!

Final Verdict:

10/10 It's one of my favorite sets, and one of the best sets I own!

Edited April 26, 2010 by WhiteFang
Indexed and poll added

[prateek]

Great review! Also, I'm happy for you that you found this on clearance

[lightningtiger]

Lucky you scored in the clearance department eh ?

Thanks for the review 'Way_Moby' - COOL play set !

I guess the only good Lego to come from 1998 (forget city or town jr. or whatever that crap was) - great minifig selection, heaps of accessories - love the made up microscope !

Hidden parts etc., oh so cool - dam my dark times !

Thanks again and I'm a conformist! 'Way_Moby' I'm a conformist! !

[RoryoCox]

Thanks for the review. I really jealous.

This set is just a brilliant as the other adventurers set.

The minifigures are lovely especially the Pharaoh.

[General Redwater]

Great Review! I wish I had one of this when I was littler, but I liked City and Western then. This review has convinced me to get one of these sets in MISB condition.

-

General Redwater

Edited April 26, 2010 by General Redwater

[ZO6]

Thanks for this great review of an absolutely wonderful set!

I can still remember perfectly well picking up this set soon after it was released. After seeing the set featured in the recent LEGO Magazine, I headed out to the local TRU where they happened to have all the Adventurers sets on display. All the sets looked brilliant, but Sphinx Secret Surprise really caught my eye.

In my opinion, this is one of those perfect sets. You get a magnificent mid sized base which is packed full of functions, and a whole range of supporting elements such as the car, camp, and tons of accessories. To this day I can still never resist taking the set off the shelf to play around with.

[Commodore Hornbricker]

Very nice review. I love the adventurers! One of the themes that I am really sorry to have missed out on. I have a few sets but one day I will have to get around to collecting them all.

[KristofBD]

Adventurer sets were unfortunately released in my dark ages, but looking at them right now, they look great. This one is especially nice: lots of printed pieces, a high number of minifigs, nice colours, and great playability. This set is truly awesome. Best, K.

[Bonaparte]

Good first review, but I must ask you to resize some of the pics because the maximum width we allow is 800 pixels. If you need help, check out these tutorials.

[Jipay]

As a proud owner of this set, I'd also have given it 10 / 10. A true classic and the best possible introduction to the egyptian thème.

[WesternOutlaw]

This is my largest set of the Desert/Egypt Adventurers sets and must say that it's a gem among my collection. I've used pieces within the set to make a few Egyptian MOCs over the years and really like all that it includes. 5 starts from me as well!

[chibi_joker]

Thank you for the review Way_Moby!

I recently got a used set off eBay for a reasonable price and though I haven't got around to building it yet, I really love all the parts (raised plate, no stickers, lots of minifigs!)

Unfortunately Pharaoh Hotep did not come with his original pants but kind fellow Eurobrickers have already pointed me in the direction of Bricklink so I'll be getting him the proper pants soon

[Masked Builder]

Great review! You're so lucky! You have the only minifigure with toes!

Masked Out

[gunm]

I love it for all the interesting little accessories alone!

[BreedingtheSpawn]

I remembering having this set.