What A Tangled Web We Weave With Lego's Amazon Adventurers Spider's Secret
Written: Apr 29 '07
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Pros: Some very colorful pieces, skeleton, tons of accessories.
Cons: No longer in production, not much fun as a stand alone set.
The Bottom Line: What secret does the spider hold? You'll only find out if you are brave enough to enter the spider's lair.
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| Freak369's Full Review: LEGO - Spider's Secret |
The Adventurer series from Lego was one of the coolest around; it started off pretty basic but quickly grew to have many sub-themes to it. The Amazon sets were all pretty colorful and no doubt interesting but at the time I was more into the castle related sets so I missed out on getting some of them when they were on sale in retail stores. Older and somewhat wise, these days when I see anything with the Lego logo on it and it's on sale; it goes in the cart. I was really lucky to come across this set at a toy convention a couple months ago. The box was banged up and faded but that doesn't really bother me; if I wanted to save this for a couple more years and make a profit on it then the condition of the box would come into play but seeing as how I was just going to rip it open and build it, it's not a big deal.
Lego Amazon Adventurers Spider's Secret 5936
The basic premise of this set is simple; construct a small portal that is covered by a spider web hence the name of the set, Spider's Secret. If you are new to the Adventurer series this set won't really seem all that impressive but if you followed it and know the story of it, you will get a kick out of what comes with the set. Some of the sets came with small comic books that covered the story of Sinister Sam and his never ending quest to steal treasure; Spider's Secret was added to the Amazon lineup to throw Sam and the other meanies off the trail of the treasure. As a whole it is a nice set that can be added to almost any of the Adventurer sets. The vehicle that comes with it is a little different from others that have previously been included with the series; the color of it is what really makes it nice. Most of the others have been dark brown but this one is a light cream color. It can only seat two figures but it is easy to build and if you want to you can make changes to it to customize it. I really love the chunky wheels that come with this because it gives it a true ATV look.
There are three figures in the set; the professor, Pippin and a skeleton. Sure, it's nice that a small to medium sized set has three figures but in this case, it's the accessories that make this worth buying. Pippin is in her usual attire; the red and green clothing works well with the colors that are on the small spider temple. The professor is in a cream color outfit this time around, a nice change from the usual brown that he wears. The skeleton, well, can you ever have too many of them around? I think not! What really makes this set worth getting is the accessories; there aren't many that I consider extremely rare but it is what makes up about 35% of the total piece count for the set so it is a pretty big factor into how it should be judged.
Building this set is simple and even if you don't have a lot of experience with building Lego sets; this is a piece of cake. I do suggest that you build it according to the instructions then make modifications. Why? If you don't get the opening size right the web won't look right and it won't cover the hole. If you have extra base plates you can use them to raise up the spider tomb a little with some extra pieces, we played around with this idea and it looked great when there were some steps leading up to it. Some people weren't all that crazy about the loud colors that were used for the spider tomb but I think they are pretty cool and work well with the other sets in the Amazon sub series.
The critters in the set are nice; if you read the title then you'll know that there is a spider in the set and thankfully it isn't one of the clear ones. This one is jet black with no detail to it but that's a good think. The spider web that comes with the set is light gray so if there was any detail on the spider it would surely mess with the visibility of it. The scorpion is always nice to have and it too is all black. Other assorted creatures include a red snake and black bat. As far as accessories for the figures; they are pretty sweet considering the overall size of the set. There are the usual digging tools like a shovel and pick axe but I have to admit, the tiny little campfire set up rocks. Likewise, the number of stenciled pieces really helps to make the suggested retail price a bit more reasonable. The camera set up is nice too; this is something that is pretty rare, usually you get a camera and the small pop out film canister tile but in this set you get the complete camera set up.
The Adventurer Amazon Series
1271 - Jungle Surprise
5902 - River Raft
5905 - Hidden Treasure
5906 - Ruler of The Jungle
5925 - Pontoon Plane
5936 - Spider's Secret
5956 - Air Zeppelin
5976 - River Expedition
5986 - Amazon Ancient Ruins
If you are into any of the Adventurer series then chances are you will really like what the Amazon series has to offer. For educators and homeschoolers, you can work some lesson plans into the sets if you do some research on the Amazon region, weather patterns and life cycles. As uncool as it seems to some people; taking a Lego set and incorporating some educational values into it is a great way to make learning fun. And when you make learning fun, it increases memory recall and retention.
The Bottom Line
This is a nice small set that can be added on to a couple of different series in the Adventurer line; with some minor changes here and there you can add it to just about any set. The suggested retail price for this was around fifteen dollars when it was on the market so getting it for about ten dollars was a nice treat. If this is purchased as a stand alone set its fun for about ten to fifteen minutes but not much more than that. You need to combine this with some other sets or stock pieces to really get the most from it. As with all sets like this, there are some incredibly small pieces so use care when buying this for a child.
Name: Spider's Secret
Set Theme: Adventurers / Amazon
Set Number: 5963
Piece Count: 126
Age Recommendation: 6 and older
Difficulty Level: Easy
Build Time: 10 minutes
Price: 9.99
As always, thanks for the visit…
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2007 Freak369
Other Adventurer sets
Johnny Thunder
Johnny Thunder and Baby Dino
Sam Sinister And Baby T
Dr. Lightning's Car
Adventurers Pen
Island Racer
Research Glider
Egyptian Mummy
Oasis Ambush
Scorpion Tracker
Sphinx Secret Surprise
The Lost Tomb
Treasure Raiders
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 10.00
Type of Toy: Blocks
Age Range of Child: Kids to Teens
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