This is one of the most thoroughly researched LEGO channels on TH-cam. And the fact that your videos are supplemented by stellar photography, sporadic stop motion, custom builds, and original score is kinda mindblowing.
The synergy between these sets is pretty incredible. Just a few smaller ones like this, the boat, the Elephant chase, and you have what feels like a whole act of a movie.
Modern LEGO: *cOnFLiCt inna BoX* Classic LEGO: hey man, take your time collecting them all. We’ve spread everything across several small sets y’all can afford with your allowance or paycheck.
I've never seen anything for Tygurah in mythology, but Jun Chi appears to be a Chinese shisha, a type of guardian statue that often decorated palaces and tombs. They were said to ward off evil spirits, similarly to how gargoyles are used in Western cultures
Ah! That would be a “shisa” you are referring to - Googling a “shisha” sends you down a very different path! 😅 Nonetheless, I think you’re onto something here. 👍
@@RRSlugger my mistake. I meant to type in shishi (the general term used for these statues in China; shisa was the Japanese variant from what I found) and must've mixed the two words up
I think Tygurah could possibly be a representation of a Rakshasa, a type of Hindu demon seen in the Mahabharata and Raymayana epics, the actual descriptions of Hindu demons usually have so many heads and legs they’d be impossible to depict right so since they are often alternately shown depicted in the form of predatory animals like tigers or cranes, that might be what this is going for here. Edit: In your update vid you say as much, spoke too soon lol
Tygurah is mostly a generalized condensation/consolidation of various South-Central and South-East Asian folklore about tigers (and other animals) who take on human-esque forms. Sometimes they shapeshift between a human and an animal, sometimes they're animal-like humans, or human-like animals, sometimes they literally take one form off like a change of clothes for the other. The most explicitly Indian example I know of is the Keimi, which is a north Indian were-tiger beast of sorts. There's also the Seven Star Tiger Temple in Malaysia which features various statues of tiger-men and normal tigers. So I get the feeling Tygurah is meant to be a sort of "catch-all" to these varyingly common but different folktales. As for Junchi, yeah, it seems to be a general abstraction of the mythological Lion-Dog/Shisa concept, just turned into a bipedal monster than a four legged one to keep with the beast-man aesthetic of the Tygurah and the Yeti. Given Junchi's bright coloration patterns it was probably meant to be interpreted as a statue that comes to life, which is a common concept with Lion-Dog folklore. Anyway, as for the weird secondary booby-trap sabotage, if I had to wager a guess, it would be that putting the torch there prevents Tygurah from getting the "jump" on the Doctor, who can then escape across the bridge. The bridge will still collapse behind him, but presumably the Tygurah will be in pursuit, and fall for its own trap. At least, that's how I'd interpret it! lol
I'd think of it as more a Rakshasa, an Indian/Hindu tiger demon/spirit. Not typically evil but certainly mischievous with a tendency to misbehave if they get bored or just feel like it. Tygurah being one would make a lot of sense in the grand scheme of the theme.
The timing of the Adventurers action is a mystery, and it becomes even more puzzling when you consider other sets using the same minifigs face paints. Apart from Adventurers and studios (here you can assume that it's just the actors who played the role well :) ) the same paint schemes were used: In the case of JT: - included 678z 2005 (check it yourself :P), - in football kits from 2000 - as the face of one of the players. In the case of HC, the same head was used as the head of one of the fans from stand #3402. In the case of Pippin, the same head was used in set 3403 (another grandstand) and in Tour de France promotional set #1197 (and interestingly - as cameramen-reporters! World Magazine had to have a sports section). As for Amazon and Dino Island, only Palomar and Mike had appearances outside of the Adventurers - Mike again in the 2000 soccer series, and Palomar as a basketball player in 2003 (set 3432). Other head prints, as far as I know, have not been reused. So I conclude that not all of the adventurers returned, and those who survived started sports careers.
That bit about falling through a trap door only to fall through another trap door either shows how timeless LEGO's sense of humor has been, or it was EONS ahead of its time because you know they'd make a joke about something like that these days if they had the opportunity
Another fun one! I'd agree with discarding the 1910 date for the Egypt adventure. The cars and trucks, and especially the aircraft, featured there fit far better into the twenties than the early tens.
I personally think that Adventurers Egypt takes place in 1922, the year King Tut was dug up, Adventurers Amazon probably takes place 2-3 years later, 1924-1925 or so, Dino Island maybe 1927, and Orient Expedition taking 1 year for every part of the adventure, taking place between 1928 to 1930.
I’ve become completely captivated by R.R. Slugger. I literally re-watch his entire video catalogue again and again in between each new upload. His cleverly excellent stop motion segments has even inspired me to finally get back into Brick filming. He’s thoughtful, thorough, and a fantastic writer. Slug’s got it all.
@@RRSlugger yeah that’s totally fair. As a kid I’m sure it made the fun stop for a solid minute while I fished the 1x4 tiles out from the pit...but I do have fond memories of it regardless!
What is it with you and colors? I've never heard of Earth Orange, but now that I have, I love it to bits! Those poor Star Wars creatures, though! Poaching is illegal!!! What a delightful video! What a nice set! I really love this theme so far!
The TrikBrix adventurers overview also states that the original wave of Adventurers takes place in 1922 but I'm not sure if there was a source for that or if he was just pulling it from nowhere.
The amount of effort and time it must take to acquire, assemble, review, and produce these sets/videos is awesome. I don't own any of these sets myself but watching these retrospective videos make me feel like I've owned them for years. I've been a subscriber for quite a while and you've consistently delivered awesome stuff. Keep it up! Can't wait for the rest of the series. 3 slugs
I'm rather fond of that Temple of Gloom set, since I ended up with about 8 of them when they showed up at a dollar store (and yes, they were a dollar!). I also got a few soccer stadium seating sets from that general time period, too. Lots of cool parts for the time! Another fantastic Slugger video!
Indeed! I remember needing other parts to do that effectively for some reason, and I remember only making a triple-length version. I had so many J. Thunder minifigures!
I think the second hole is to make Tygurah able to chase and fall through the planks. In the comic that's how he was defeated: getting stuck that way. Btw, you might want to do a minisode on the comics at the start of the instructions. They differ from the website ones a bit in being more self-contained but they sure were fun! They're also in the Studios and Alpha Team lines.
Love how you analyze and actually try to understand the cultural influences in Orient Expedition. Most Lego Youtbers don't know much about all the cultural and historical detail that inspire Lego sets.
Two comments on the German audio plays and the mentioned dates: 1. The Adventurers Egypt audio play introduces Joe Freeman reading a newspaper on the 7th of October 1910. He and Prof. Articus start their journey on the following day, the 8th of October. They travel by ship to Nuwaiba, a port on the Egyptian Sinai, but their first destination is Abu Simbel, in the very south of continental Egypt. It's likely that by the time they reach the first destination, it's December of 1910 or January of 1911. The adventure in Egypt itself only lasts about 4 days. 2. The Orient Expedition audio play begins in June of 1925, but it is said that the journey from Venice to India takes several weeks and the one from India to Tibet several months, so we don't know if all the events in Tibet and even later in China/Xi'An (2.769km from Tibet by road today!) take place in 1925. I'm afraid 1926 is already taken for bringing the Golden Dragon back to London ;) If we consider the audio plays canonical however, it becomes evident that "Joe Freeman" is not an alias of Johnny Thunder, but a whole different person, as Joe and Linda get engaged at the end of the audio play, while in the Orient Expedition audio play, Johnny Thunder and Pippin Reed are clearly not in a relationship. A familiar relationship between JF/JT and Prof. Articus/Dr. Kilroy is mentioned in neither of the audio plays. Articus and Kilroy are referred to as "friend" and the formal German "Sie" is used to address him, while in lore from magazines and such, Johnny is the nephew of Dr. Charles Lightning, another of the aliases. I guess the "1922" from the Scooby Doo sticker is a reference to the year Howard Carter discovered the grave of Tut-Anch-Amun.
That bg picture you used at 0:45, it's the same as one from the May 2003 issue of LEGO Magazine. A big, one-of-a-kind I think, 36" x 78" cloth banner of it was supposed to be the grand prize in a, Orient Expedition building contest where you were supposed to build a vehicle or tool for Johnny to use to find the various treasure of the theme. I always wondered about that prize since it was so unorthodox for LEGO compared to the more common awarding of a set or two. I wonder if there's a picture of it out there, or who won it. I entered every LEGO magazine contest as a kid, never did win though, although I do have their Toa-building contest to thank for my TH-cam username
As far as I know Jun Chi is based on guardian lions that you often see at the entrances of temples and even homes. They are believed to keep away evil spirits in some chinese folklore. The Design of the figure is relatively close to the common depiction of these guardian lions and he fits in the set guarding a treasure. Tygurah is a bit tougher, as the tiger is a symbol of many things in India, for example fierceness but also bravery. The figure might be losely based on Waghoba, who is believed to be the guardian of the forest and often depicted as either a Tiger or leopard. If I had to guess, Tygurah was probably chosen as a Name instead because it does sound more like "tiger"... it also lines up with LEGO calling the 3 big figs "guardians"
I remember having this set as a kid, the huge tiger fig always seemed a bit weird to me, but the earth-orange color was definitely very nice and unique
I liked the idea, but I disliked the limited posability (how is a bigger figure less posable than a normal minifig??) and the fact that the legs had a 2x3 footprint (npi) so it couldn't stand face to face with normal 2x1 footprint minifigs unless you had it on a special base.
This is one of the defining sets of my childhood, I remember spending a lot of time enjoying the simple but clever play features. To this day whenever I think of Johnny Thunder this set comes to mind first.
The only other thing I found pertaining to Tygurah (from the 2003 March/April Lego Mania Magazine) was that he was half man, half monster. Seemingly obvious at first, it actually opens more questions than it answers, but I wanted to throw it out there. Also great music, as always! Looking forward to the Scorpion Palace, I built that for the first time about a year ago and LOVED it.
@@RRSlugger Sweeeeet. I know you've got a lot planned (don't we all), but each week I wonder if it'll be the continuation of this series haha. No pressure, though.
Tygurah may be a Rakshasa, a shape-shifting demon who is sometimes depicted with a tiger head on a humanoid body. Although I don't know how popular this depiction is outside of D&D.
while the tiger specifics are definitely there through D&D and wherever Gygax and friends borrowed the idea from in the first place, it's not that far off from the way Hindu mythology portrays the rakshasa in general - large, somewhat monstrous shapeshifting humanoids with fangs and a taste for human flesh and apparently some individual capacity for morality. Disclaimer: I'm not Hindu or otherwise particularly familiar with their religion or mythology, just going on what I could read up briefly beyond the Monster Manual. If anyone has any corrections I'll endeavour to edit this.
Love how much story-telling and playability the creators packed into such a set of such limited piece count. The set really does a lot of work to build up the whole envioment of the India line prior to the Palace set. I look forward to every video, Slugger!
I doubt the 1910 date specifically because of the aircraft. Which would have been massively advanced for the aircraft of the time, most of which looked not dissimilar to the original very open design of the Kittyhawk, the Wright brothers' first aircraft. And thus I find the 1922 date for the first adventurers subtheme much more compelling.
I did obtain this set, though not until very late in 2007. At 3:53, "Brickset" refers to that color as "Light Orange brown", while "Earth orange" is used to describe the older shade of brown (also called "Mata brown") which is used on the 1x4 tiles in this set. "Light orange brown" first appeared in 1997 on a chicken/turkey leg seen in the "Scala" theme, and also appeared on a croissant in that theme. It was also used for a "bowl cut" hair piece on Ron Weasley in nine Harry Potter sets between 2001 and 2002. One of those (4730) also had the classic female hair piece in that color as part of Ginny Weasley. After Orient Expedition, the 2x2 plates and 1x2 Technic bricks in that color would also appear in two "Bulk bricks" kits (4411 and 4679) before the color was phased out in 2005. As mentioned before, the India wave of Orient Expedition was the first wave of System-style sets to have the color of "Earth blue", and the 1x8 plate in that color is still in use today.
Indeed - Brickset and Bricklink use different naming schemes for their colours. I use the Bricklink colour conventions as that's what I'm most familiar with. 👍
I had this set as a kid! Tygurah was one of me and my brothers' favorite figs. He might not be especially poseable, but he is quite imposing; we tended to treat him as a wise mentor type. We had one iteration of the character named Booya, who raised one of my main sig figs for our ongoing multi-generational storyline. The foo dog from another Orient Expedition set was named Filfy, and he was always a brute enforcer for the villains.
Before watching your videos I didn’t know much about themes and sets from the 90s, now I love themes like Rock Raiders, and Time Cruisers, and I am really looking forward to more videos about the Orient Expedition. It’s crazy to me that you can be so good at making music and videos, and I think your stop motion is great too. I hope you can continue to make such fun content centered around such amazing lego themes.
The earth orange technic brick could just be parts conservation. Instead of including a normal 1x2 brick, use the 1x2 technic brick that’s already in the set because of Tygurah.
Greetings from Germany. Yeah we mixed up the names a lot! Johnny Thunder became Joe Freeman, because LEGO decided Germans can't speak Th. In LEGO Island 2 Linda Lovely became Miss Pipinread and Prof. Articus became Dr. Kilroy.
My biggest complaint with the set is the lack of verticality of the original build. Even more so with temple of gloom. The trap has you fall such a short height, it would really benefit from part 30145 Brick 2x2x3. Maybe at the end of each wave you can do a classic Slugger improvement video!
I don’t think it’s the fall that’s supposed to get you in this set - it’s the snake pit below! Granted, only a single snake hardly makes for an adequate snake pit though…
Id love it if LEGO would bring back this series with a continuation! I think they've gotten too comfortable with licensed properties that they've neglected their own genred properties.
IIRC, I remember reading about a tiger humanoid vaguely similar to Tygurah: it had similarities to werewolves in that being bitten/wounded by one would cause you to transform into another tiger monster yourself. But I believe that was from Indonesian mythology rather than Indian, so it's definitely not the same.
While Tygurah is a strange character, I can see how it paved the way for the newer big-figs that we have today. I guess Tygurah was also an inspiration for Hagrid, too.
Could you imagine a Garmadon built with these midfig arms and legs? A real missed opportunity to drop just these pieces, they're all great and versatile except for the head piece, and honestly if we're calling that egregious molding the the entire modern big fig is even worse still along with like half of the Ninjago villains.
Gonna be honest: The degree of sadness I felt realising TrikBrix stopped uploading video, is the same when it comes to my joy when spotting your channel. Thanks for covering everything that Jamie left out. Keep it up, your review quality is outstanding! ♥️
This board game reminds of the Time Cruisers one. I mean, knowing how Slugger is a fan of this theme, I'm surprised he hasn't mentioned it at all. Should be fun to see in play with his unique editing and style, though!
yknow i would _not_ mind you going full moc and kitbashing some new adventurers sets with a new story and theme in mind complete with play features as if this were an actual set. could be fun seeing what you come up with and would certainly be a good place to get creative. though. my one question is. if the first three adventurer themes took place in 1922 to 1924. yet orient expedition takes place in 1926. what happened between dino island and orient expedition? did the gang take the year off in terms of treasure hunting or did they have another. undocumented adventure? could be fun to think about methinks.
But Orient Expedition takes place in 1925! No missing adventure there. 😊 Still, it would be fun to make up a new adventure for the team. Something to think about for sure!
I just subscribed! I want to echo what everyone else is saying, these videos are so thoughtfully done! I love the attention to detail, the trivia about part/color exclusivity, the explorations of real-life context, and the comparisons to other similar Lego products released both before and after! (Also, I'm going to call it now that once you've finished the Orient Expedition sets, you'll do a bonus episode about the Haunted House set, like how you reviewed the City of Lanterns set during the Time Cruisers Retrospective.)
I had this one and the yeti set as a kid. I loved them both, but this one especially. It's amazing how much cinematic effect and sense of wonder that can be fitted on a 8x16 baseplate! Thank you for doing these reviews!
@5:36 - this one from India maybe fits: The Story of the Old Tiger and the Greedy Traveler - ironically, because of the gold the tiger has, the greedy traveler is eaten alive.. Can't wait for the board/card game review!
I'd like to mention the Lego Fairground Haunted House from a few years back is PACKED with Adventurers stuff. I'm certain something from a Himalayas set is referenced, though I'm unclear if anything else for OE is.
The first time I built this set I really admired the simplicity of the trap design, I feel so betrayed learning it was lifted from another set; flames, skull, gem, and all!
That fakeout ending had me REALLY upset for a second, great job. Also, this is one of those Lego sets where I think the alternate builds are much better. The feature of the dropping floor tiles/ planks is cool, but it's kind of the only thing the set has going for it. The other two don't just look impressive, but their verticality allows for a lot more play features (especially that Donkey Kong one).
I don’t know what *Tygurah* could be an approximation of, I just know he MUST be appeased at all costs. I’m gonna take a lazy guess and say it’s a Rakshasa.
I think Tygurah is a potential reference to one of Lord Vishnu's avatar "Nersimha" A man with a lion or a tiger's head. Nersimha Slayed Monster on the doorsteps of his palace as that monster couldn't be Slayed outside or inside. I think they avoided making a direct reference to it because a foreign corporation making a toy set referencing the current religious practice of this country wouldn't go so well in the perception of consumers.
i had/have this set i loved those unique pieces which i took for other builds quite fast although i do remember as a small child the play feature was pretty fun for a while
Probably not a full series retrospective as I don’t plan on getting every single set and trying to get the software to run, but I will talk about it to some extent in the future. I actually just acquired two more sets from the series!
@@RRSlugger that’s amazing, I had no idea. Comparison to Bionicle is a good way to make me curious - time to look into this. My memories of them as a child were small cardboard boxes
@@RRSlugger Good! Bionicle was superior in history, but in sets durability hero factory win, and compare phantoka tahu with nuva (in the history, the toa nuva has adaptive armors, but for sets is 💀), for other hand, compare furno 2011 to furno 2013 and you reconaze it
Orient Expedition was one of if not my first theme that I concretely remember specifically being a fan of, up until that point I had just been given a bunch of miscellaneous sets from all sorts of other themes of the time. Looking back I think I only own three or four of those sets, but man they stood out to me! Tygurah and the Aero Nomad in particular are two sets that I still remember putting together and really loving when I was a kid. Welp, thanks, Slugger, now I have to go dig those up and rebuild them!
Judging from the big smile on my face watching this video, I'd absoubtly be down for a new adventurers sub theme. I'd also like to see a new version of the board game, I think thats a fantastic Idea for fun and play for both adults and children.
These videos are so good!! I feel like Im going on an adventure together with these characters and cant wait to see the next video every time! I loved how those traps can be bypassed using items from the set itself, that's really clever. Btw have you thought of what could be a good setting for that hypothetical 1926 adventure? You are right, thinking they met every summer for a new trip together is a fun idea
Thank you! I’m excited for this adventure as well. 😊 I haven’t really given it much thought, but I think exploring the cultures of Africa could be a cool avenue to take the series in a 1926 subtheme! (Minus all the looting, of course)
I have this set, too, and I remember I really liked the collapsing bridge feature - but I somehow never realized that the trapdoor under Tygurah was supposed to represent him lunging at Dr. Kilroy! Either way, there's an impressive amount of play value packed into a relatively small set, and it looks really nice, too!
It would be cool to see you do some of the early lego star wars sets at some point in the future. I think you would like the 7133 bounty hunter pursuit set. The look and colors of the set are really nice.
Tygurah I asume is based on many legends about tiger-human/ panther human like one about Keibu Keioiba from Meitei folklore Thank you for worlderfull review. I actually really liked how well this set was build but I remember building my own set of stairs as this ladder on side was antyclimatic. I traded Tygurah for a yeti in my 20ties, and now that Yeti is king of my Ice army
This is one of the most thoroughly researched LEGO channels on TH-cam. And the fact that your videos are supplemented by stellar photography, sporadic stop motion, custom builds, and original score is kinda mindblowing.
Slugger is a god amongst men.
The synergy between these sets is pretty incredible. Just a few smaller ones like this, the boat, the Elephant chase, and you have what feels like a whole act of a movie.
Totally! I love how this subtheme has subthemes within it! 😊
Modern LEGO: *cOnFLiCt inna BoX*
Classic LEGO: hey man, take your time collecting them all. We’ve spread everything across several small sets y’all can afford with your allowance or paycheck.
I've never seen anything for Tygurah in mythology, but Jun Chi appears to be a Chinese shisha, a type of guardian statue that often decorated palaces and tombs. They were said to ward off evil spirits, similarly to how gargoyles are used in Western cultures
Ah! That would be a “shisa” you are referring to - Googling a “shisha” sends you down a very different path! 😅
Nonetheless, I think you’re onto something here. 👍
@@RRSlugger my mistake. I meant to type in shishi (the general term used for these statues in China; shisa was the Japanese variant from what I found) and must've mixed the two words up
I think Tygurah could possibly be a representation of a Rakshasa, a type of Hindu demon seen in the Mahabharata and Raymayana epics, the actual descriptions of Hindu demons usually have so many heads and legs they’d be impossible to depict right so since they are often alternately shown depicted in the form of predatory animals like tigers or cranes, that might be what this is going for here.
Edit: In your update vid you say as much, spoke too soon lol
Tygurah is mostly a generalized condensation/consolidation of various South-Central and South-East Asian folklore about tigers (and other animals) who take on human-esque forms. Sometimes they shapeshift between a human and an animal, sometimes they're animal-like humans, or human-like animals, sometimes they literally take one form off like a change of clothes for the other. The most explicitly Indian example I know of is the Keimi, which is a north Indian were-tiger beast of sorts. There's also the Seven Star Tiger Temple in Malaysia which features various statues of tiger-men and normal tigers. So I get the feeling Tygurah is meant to be a sort of "catch-all" to these varyingly common but different folktales.
As for Junchi, yeah, it seems to be a general abstraction of the mythological Lion-Dog/Shisa concept, just turned into a bipedal monster than a four legged one to keep with the beast-man aesthetic of the Tygurah and the Yeti. Given Junchi's bright coloration patterns it was probably meant to be interpreted as a statue that comes to life, which is a common concept with Lion-Dog folklore.
Anyway, as for the weird secondary booby-trap sabotage, if I had to wager a guess, it would be that putting the torch there prevents Tygurah from getting the "jump" on the Doctor, who can then escape across the bridge. The bridge will still collapse behind him, but presumably the Tygurah will be in pursuit, and fall for its own trap. At least, that's how I'd interpret it! lol
Great insight here! Thank you for the comment. ❤️
So it's like an indian were-wolf or wulver of sorts.
@@dutchmansmine9053 more or less!
Orientalism at its finest.
Thanks, I just wanted to write something similar!
I'd think of it as more a Rakshasa, an Indian/Hindu tiger demon/spirit. Not typically evil but certainly mischievous with a tendency to misbehave if they get bored or just feel like it. Tygurah being one would make a lot of sense in the grand scheme of the theme.
Any time there's a conflict in the timeline, just assume the Time-Twisters mucked with it.
They are always up to no good! 😂❤️
The timing of the Adventurers action is a mystery, and it becomes even more puzzling when you consider other sets using the same minifigs face paints.
Apart from Adventurers and studios (here you can assume that it's just the actors who played the role well :) ) the same paint schemes were used:
In the case of JT:
- included 678z 2005 (check it yourself :P),
- in football kits from 2000 - as the face of one of the players.
In the case of HC, the same head was used as the head of one of the fans from stand #3402.
In the case of Pippin, the same head was used in set 3403 (another grandstand) and in Tour de France promotional set #1197 (and interestingly - as cameramen-reporters! World Magazine had to have a sports section).
As for Amazon and Dino Island, only Palomar and Mike had appearances outside of the Adventurers - Mike again in the 2000 soccer series, and Palomar as a basketball player in 2003 (set 3432).
Other head prints, as far as I know, have not been reused.
So I conclude that not all of the adventurers returned, and those who survived started sports careers.
I love this! 😂
That bit about falling through a trap door only to fall through another trap door either shows how timeless LEGO's sense of humor has been, or it was EONS ahead of its time because you know they'd make a joke about something like that these days if they had the opportunity
Another fun one!
I'd agree with discarding the 1910 date for the Egypt adventure. The cars and trucks, and especially the aircraft, featured there fit far better into the twenties than the early tens.
I personally think that Adventurers Egypt takes place in 1922, the year King Tut was dug up, Adventurers Amazon probably takes place 2-3 years later, 1924-1925 or so, Dino Island maybe 1927, and Orient Expedition taking 1 year for every part of the adventure, taking place between 1928 to 1930.
@@Autisticguywithacamera I like this head-canon too!
I’ve become completely captivated by R.R. Slugger. I literally re-watch his entire video catalogue again and again in between each new upload. His cleverly excellent stop motion segments has even inspired me to finally get back into Brick filming. He’s thoughtful, thorough, and a fantastic writer. Slug’s got it all.
Thank you very much! ❤
Glad I can entertain and inspire!
Man, I think this is one of the most cinematic play features ever. The lunge, the run, the falling planks...
Totally! It's a lot of fun!
...putting it all back together afterwards? Not so much, haha. 😅
@@RRSlugger yeah that’s totally fair. As a kid I’m sure it made the fun stop for a solid minute while I fished the 1x4 tiles out from the pit...but I do have fond memories of it regardless!
Yeah I think the lunging tiger really adds something that the smaller set lacked.
What is it with you and colors? I've never heard of Earth Orange, but now that I have, I love it to bits!
Those poor Star Wars creatures, though! Poaching is illegal!!!
What a delightful video! What a nice set! I really love this theme so far!
The TrikBrix adventurers overview also states that the original wave of Adventurers takes place in 1922 but I'm not sure if there was a source for that or if he was just pulling it from nowhere.
Could have been pulling it from the same stickered element I did, haha. 😅
The amount of effort and time it must take to acquire, assemble, review, and produce these sets/videos is awesome. I don't own any of these sets myself but watching these retrospective videos make me feel like I've owned them for years. I've been a subscriber for quite a while and you've consistently delivered awesome stuff. Keep it up! Can't wait for the rest of the series. 3 slugs
I'm rather fond of that Temple of Gloom set, since I ended up with about 8 of them when they showed up at a dollar store (and yes, they were a dollar!). I also got a few soccer stadium seating sets from that general time period, too. Lots of cool parts for the time!
Another fantastic Slugger video!
Hahaha epic! You could make such a long falling plank runway with that many sets! 😂
Indeed! I remember needing other parts to do that effectively for some reason, and I remember only making a triple-length version.
I had so many J. Thunder minifigures!
3:45 I like how you based it off of one of those photos from the 19th century that shows hunters on top of a massive pile of dead bison
That was the intention, haha! Kind of a morbid scene, but strangely comedic seeing it realized in LEGO form. 😅
I think the second hole is to make Tygurah able to chase and fall through the planks. In the comic that's how he was defeated: getting stuck that way.
Btw, you might want to do a minisode on the comics at the start of the instructions. They differ from the website ones a bit in being more self-contained but they sure were fun! They're also in the Studios and Alpha Team lines.
Love how you analyze and actually try to understand the cultural influences in Orient Expedition. Most Lego Youtbers don't know much about all the cultural and historical detail that inspire Lego sets.
I'm trying my best! And I guess that's all I can do. 😊
I love how elaborate the gimmick is in this one!
Totally! Echoes the engineering of Time Cruisers in a way!
Two comments on the German audio plays and the mentioned dates:
1. The Adventurers Egypt audio play introduces Joe Freeman reading a newspaper on the 7th of October 1910. He and Prof. Articus start their journey on the following day, the 8th of October. They travel by ship to Nuwaiba, a port on the Egyptian Sinai, but their first destination is Abu Simbel, in the very south of continental Egypt. It's likely that by the time they reach the first destination, it's December of 1910 or January of 1911. The adventure in Egypt itself only lasts about 4 days.
2. The Orient Expedition audio play begins in June of 1925, but it is said that the journey from Venice to India takes several weeks and the one from India to Tibet several months, so we don't know if all the events in Tibet and even later in China/Xi'An (2.769km from Tibet by road today!) take place in 1925. I'm afraid 1926 is already taken for bringing the Golden Dragon back to London ;)
If we consider the audio plays canonical however, it becomes evident that "Joe Freeman" is not an alias of Johnny Thunder, but a whole different person, as Joe and Linda get engaged at the end of the audio play, while in the Orient Expedition audio play, Johnny Thunder and Pippin Reed are clearly not in a relationship.
A familiar relationship between JF/JT and Prof. Articus/Dr. Kilroy is mentioned in neither of the audio plays. Articus and Kilroy are referred to as "friend" and the formal German "Sie" is used to address him, while in lore from magazines and such, Johnny is the nephew of Dr. Charles Lightning, another of the aliases.
I guess the "1922" from the Scooby Doo sticker is a reference to the year Howard Carter discovered the grave of Tut-Anch-Amun.
Love this insight - great comment, thank you!
i always thought the 1922 in the scooby-doo sticker WAS just a historical reference, but it does make some sense
That bg picture you used at 0:45, it's the same as one from the May 2003 issue of LEGO Magazine. A big, one-of-a-kind I think, 36" x 78" cloth banner of it was supposed to be the grand prize in a, Orient Expedition building contest where you were supposed to build a vehicle or tool for Johnny to use to find the various treasure of the theme. I always wondered about that prize since it was so unorthodox for LEGO compared to the more common awarding of a set or two. I wonder if there's a picture of it out there, or who won it.
I entered every LEGO magazine contest as a kid, never did win though, although I do have their Toa-building contest to thank for my TH-cam username
As far as I know Jun Chi is based on guardian lions that you often see at the entrances of temples and even homes. They are believed to keep away evil spirits in some chinese folklore. The Design of the figure is relatively close to the common depiction of these guardian lions and he fits in the set guarding a treasure.
Tygurah is a bit tougher, as the tiger is a symbol of many things in India, for example fierceness but also bravery. The figure might be losely based on Waghoba, who is believed to be the guardian of the forest and often depicted as either a Tiger or leopard. If I had to guess, Tygurah was probably chosen as a Name instead because it does sound more like "tiger"... it also lines up with LEGO calling the 3 big figs "guardians"
I never noticed the use of the torch to defeat the two aspects of the trap! For such a compact set, this was a very cinematic adventure-in-a-box.
I got the studios set randomly from a grocery store when I was a kid. It is such a simple and fun build, I miss Lego’s old play features
I remember having this set as a kid, the huge tiger fig always seemed a bit weird to me, but the earth-orange color was definitely very nice and unique
I didn’t know you watched Slugger.
I liked the idea, but I disliked the limited posability (how is a bigger figure less posable than a normal minifig??) and the fact that the legs had a 2x3 footprint (npi) so it couldn't stand face to face with normal 2x1 footprint minifigs unless you had it on a special base.
This is one of the defining sets of my childhood, I remember spending a lot of time enjoying the simple but clever play features. To this day whenever I think of Johnny Thunder this set comes to mind first.
The only other thing I found pertaining to Tygurah (from the 2003 March/April Lego Mania Magazine) was that he was half man, half monster. Seemingly obvious at first, it actually opens more questions than it answers, but I wanted to throw it out there. Also great music, as always! Looking forward to the Scorpion Palace, I built that for the first time about a year ago and LOVED it.
Good call! It definitely raises more questions than answers, for sure. 😅
@@RRSlugger Did the adventurers get lost on the way to Scorpion Palace?
@@brickjawns Hahaha, I'm working on it!! 😂
@@RRSlugger Sweeeeet. I know you've got a lot planned (don't we all), but each week I wonder if it'll be the continuation of this series haha. No pressure, though.
Tygurah may be a Rakshasa, a shape-shifting demon who is sometimes depicted with a tiger head on a humanoid body. Although I don't know how popular this depiction is outside of D&D.
Also came to say this, Rakshasa are what came to mind for me as well
while the tiger specifics are definitely there through D&D and wherever Gygax and friends borrowed the idea from in the first place, it's not that far off from the way Hindu mythology portrays the rakshasa in general - large, somewhat monstrous shapeshifting humanoids with fangs and a taste for human flesh and apparently some individual capacity for morality.
Disclaimer: I'm not Hindu or otherwise particularly familiar with their religion or mythology, just going on what I could read up briefly beyond the Monster Manual. If anyone has any corrections I'll endeavour to edit this.
They were REALLY skirting the edge of homage with Temple of Gloom
Love how much story-telling and playability the creators packed into such a set of such limited piece count. The set really does a lot of work to build up the whole envioment of the India line prior to the Palace set. I look forward to every video, Slugger!
I doubt the 1910 date specifically because of the aircraft. Which would have been massively advanced for the aircraft of the time, most of which looked not dissimilar to the original very open design of the Kittyhawk, the Wright brothers' first aircraft. And thus I find the 1922 date for the first adventurers subtheme much more compelling.
I did obtain this set, though not until very late in 2007. At 3:53, "Brickset" refers to that color as "Light Orange brown", while "Earth orange" is used to describe the older shade of brown (also called "Mata brown") which is used on the 1x4 tiles in this set. "Light orange brown" first appeared in 1997 on a chicken/turkey leg seen in the "Scala" theme, and also appeared on a croissant in that theme. It was also used for a "bowl cut" hair piece on Ron Weasley in nine Harry Potter sets between 2001 and 2002. One of those (4730) also had the classic female hair piece in that color as part of Ginny Weasley. After Orient Expedition, the 2x2 plates and 1x2 Technic bricks in that color would also appear in two "Bulk bricks" kits (4411 and 4679) before the color was phased out in 2005. As mentioned before, the India wave of Orient Expedition was the first wave of System-style sets to have the color of "Earth blue", and the 1x8 plate in that color is still in use today.
Indeed - Brickset and Bricklink use different naming schemes for their colours. I use the Bricklink colour conventions as that's what I'm most familiar with. 👍
I had this set as a kid! Tygurah was one of me and my brothers' favorite figs. He might not be especially poseable, but he is quite imposing; we tended to treat him as a wise mentor type. We had one iteration of the character named Booya, who raised one of my main sig figs for our ongoing multi-generational storyline. The foo dog from another Orient Expedition set was named Filfy, and he was always a brute enforcer for the villains.
Before watching your videos I didn’t know much about themes and sets from the 90s, now I love themes like Rock Raiders, and Time Cruisers, and I am really looking forward to more videos about the Orient Expedition. It’s crazy to me that you can be so good at making music and videos, and I think your stop motion is great too. I hope you can continue to make such fun content centered around such amazing lego themes.
Thank you very much! ❤️
the little tidbits -- like the german radio play -- keep me coming back for more
Keep it up, I love your work!
The earth orange technic brick could just be parts conservation. Instead of including a normal 1x2 brick, use the 1x2 technic brick that’s already in the set because of Tygurah.
Thing is, it isn't needed for structural support and there isn't a corresponding one on the other side... 😕
@@RRSlugger Ah, that changes things then. I wonder if they included it just for the secondary build you showed where it was utilized.
Don't know if this is from the same region, but I do recall a few years back hearing something about some sort of tiger king.
Despite how great it is, it’s sad that it’s not a true adventurers set, because I don’t see any guns
Dr. Kilroy seems to be the one pacifist on the team, haha.
I remember this set from a Lego magazine a kid, but I completely forgot about it. Thank you for unlocking the memory!!
I love the music you’ve been using for this series , it’s very grand and mysterious
Thank you! I’ll be exploring it in more detail next week. 😊
Seriously there is nothing on YT atm I'm more happy too see than a new video from rrSlugger about orient expedition
Greetings from Germany.
Yeah we mixed up the names a lot! Johnny Thunder became Joe Freeman, because LEGO decided Germans can't speak Th.
In LEGO Island 2 Linda Lovely became Miss Pipinread and Prof. Articus became Dr. Kilroy.
...I've had two earth orange camels in my collection for years... but I somehow never noticed how unique the color is.
My biggest complaint with the set is the lack of verticality of the original build. Even more so with temple of gloom. The trap has you fall such a short height, it would really benefit from part 30145 Brick 2x2x3. Maybe at the end of each wave you can do a classic Slugger improvement video!
I don’t think it’s the fall that’s supposed to get you in this set - it’s the snake pit below! Granted, only a single snake hardly makes for an adequate snake pit though…
looking forward to more orient expedition, definitely one of my favourite sub-themes and a massive nostalgia hit
Id love it if LEGO would bring back this series with a continuation! I think they've gotten too comfortable with licensed properties that they've neglected their own genred properties.
I'm loving the music in this episode 😍 excellent work
IIRC, I remember reading about a tiger humanoid vaguely similar to Tygurah: it had similarities to werewolves in that being bitten/wounded by one would cause you to transform into another tiger monster yourself. But I believe that was from Indonesian mythology rather than Indian, so it's definitely not the same.
While Tygurah is a strange character, I can see how it paved the way for the newer big-figs that we have today. I guess Tygurah was also an inspiration for Hagrid, too.
Mmm, the first Hagrid predated Tygurah by a few years though. 😊
Correction, the Everest temple has the orange tentacles too.
Believe it or not, but those ones are actually a *different also retired* orange colour called Medium Orange! 😅
We’ll get to them eventually, haha.
there is a similar bridge falling function in the lego ninjago lava falls under the tournament of elements subtheme
Cool! I’ll have to check that one out. 👀
The mixtape for this vid is so dope
Could you imagine a Garmadon built with these midfig arms and legs? A real missed opportunity to drop just these pieces, they're all great and versatile except for the head piece, and honestly if we're calling that egregious molding the the entire modern big fig is even worse still along with like half of the Ninjago villains.
Absolutely! A real missed opportunity here...
the modern bigfig parts are too unwieldy for their own good
Gonna be honest: The degree of sadness I felt realising TrikBrix stopped uploading video, is the same when it comes to my joy when spotting your channel. Thanks for covering everything that Jamie left out. Keep it up, your review quality is outstanding! ♥️
Thank you! Just trying to carry the torch until he returns. 😊
This board game reminds of the Time Cruisers one.
I mean, knowing how Slugger is a fan of this theme, I'm surprised he hasn't mentioned it at all. Should be fun to see in play with his unique editing and style, though!
I've been meaning to get around to making a video on that one - I love it!
I'm right there with you Slugger. I would DIE for an Adventurers continuation!
yknow i would _not_ mind you going full moc and kitbashing some new adventurers sets with a new story and theme in mind complete with play features as if this were an actual set. could be fun seeing what you come up with and would certainly be a good place to get creative. though. my one question is. if the first three adventurer themes took place in 1922 to 1924. yet orient expedition takes place in 1926. what happened between dino island and orient expedition? did the gang take the year off in terms of treasure hunting or did they have another. undocumented adventure? could be fun to think about methinks.
But Orient Expedition takes place in 1925! No missing adventure there. 😊
Still, it would be fun to make up a new adventure for the team. Something to think about for sure!
I just subscribed! I want to echo what everyone else is saying, these videos are so thoughtfully done! I love the attention to detail, the trivia about part/color exclusivity, the explorations of real-life context, and the comparisons to other similar Lego products released both before and after!
(Also, I'm going to call it now that once you've finished the Orient Expedition sets, you'll do a bonus episode about the Haunted House set, like how you reviewed the City of Lanterns set during the Time Cruisers Retrospective.)
Welcome to the channel! ❤
I don't currently have the Haunted Mansion set, but never say never!
I had this one and the yeti set as a kid. I loved them both, but this one especially. It's amazing how much cinematic effect and sense of wonder that can be fitted on a 8x16 baseplate! Thank you for doing these reviews!
That's awesome! The Yeti set is on track to be my next video - expect it in a couple weeks! 😊
@5:36 - this one from India maybe fits: The Story of the Old Tiger and the Greedy Traveler - ironically, because of the gold the tiger has, the greedy traveler is eaten alive..
Can't wait for the board/card game review!
I'm not kidding this was probably my first lego set, I remember this vividly. Great vid!
Always a phenomenal slugger upload!
RR Slugger video drops, day made. Another banger!
Honestly, the amount of love, enthusiasm and effort you put into these videos is positively terrific to see! Can’t wait for the next video!
This channel's videos make my Friday every single week.
I'd like to mention the Lego Fairground Haunted House from a few years back is PACKED with Adventurers stuff. I'm certain something from a Himalayas set is referenced, though I'm unclear if anything else for OE is.
That set is amazing! I agree with the great play-feature and compact design. What a set!
The first time I built this set I really admired the simplicity of the trap design, I feel so betrayed learning it was lifted from another set; flames, skull, gem, and all!
Nice one! The Adventurers is one of my favorite original themes. Miss seeing those alternate builds on the back of the box.
I feel like this is one of the most iconic lego sets of the Adventurers theme! Great video as always ❤
That fakeout ending had me REALLY upset for a second, great job.
Also, this is one of those Lego sets where I think the alternate builds are much better. The feature of the dropping floor tiles/ planks is cool, but it's kind of the only thing the set has going for it. The other two don't just look impressive, but their verticality allows for a lot more play features (especially that Donkey Kong one).
The alternate builds for this one definitely surprised me. I’ll be keeping a closer eye on including them as the series progresses! 😊
No way! GermanPeter is slugpilled???
I don’t know what *Tygurah* could be an approximation of, I just know he MUST be appeased at all costs. I’m gonna take a lazy guess and say it’s a Rakshasa.
The comedy is on point in this episode, love it!
I think Tygurah is a potential reference to one of Lord Vishnu's avatar "Nersimha"
A man with a lion or a tiger's head.
Nersimha Slayed Monster on the doorsteps of his palace as that monster couldn't be Slayed outside or inside.
I think they avoided making a direct reference to it because a foreign corporation making a toy set referencing the current religious practice of this country wouldn't go so well in the perception of consumers.
Your review style is truly something new, it's very inspiring!
The first thing that came to mind when you said joe freeman was gordon freeman
i had/have this set i loved those unique pieces which i took for other builds quite fast although i do remember as a small child the play feature was pretty fun for a while
I had this set as a kid and it was baller. Great little set with a good play feature and good parts.
I always thought the theme took place in the 30’s as the original Indiana Jones movies did.
That's a safe assumption! Setting the theme in the 20's though sidesteps both World Wars, which I think is a smart move on LEGO's part. 👍
@@RRSlugger WW2 started half way through 1939, so setting it in the 30’s would actually sidestep the war too, but i see what you mean.
I really enjoy the sheer craftmanship of these videos. The level of quality and research makes me wonder how you don't have more subscribers.
I still remember when I had 1% of the subscribers that follow the channel now! 😅
This feels like a ton in such a short time!
You definitely earned those subs 👍
Will you do a retrospective on LEGO Studios?
Probably not a full series retrospective as I don’t plan on getting every single set and trying to get the software to run, but I will talk about it to some extent in the future. I actually just acquired two more sets from the series!
@@RRSlugger Nice.
I Always had loved the theme, and I kept collecting it, as a matter of fact today my Car stunt studio arrived
Great vid! The collapsing bridge action was also featured in Lava Fall
Slugger, these are fantastic!
It’s always a great day when a new Slugger video is posted
Wait a second, what part is that for the base at 1:16?
That is the lid from one of the Dinosaur sets from 2001; they used to come in canisters, just like Bionicles!
@@RRSlugger that’s amazing, I had no idea. Comparison to Bionicle is a good way to make me curious - time to look into this. My memories of them as a child were small cardboard boxes
I had this set and loved it!! Super fun to revisit those memories with more research this time around
Still have this set complete somehow after all these years! Dug it out my parents basement just last year!
this week was so hard. your cool little lego videos make my week so much more bearable 🤗
Glad I could help! ❤️
I recomend you get some hero factory breakout sets, the CCBS is so much stronger than the bionicle one
Funny you should say that - i’ve got some on the way! 👀
@@RRSlugger Good! Bionicle was superior in history, but in sets durability hero factory win, and compare phantoka tahu with nuva (in the history, the toa nuva has adaptive armors, but for sets is 💀), for other hand, compare furno 2011 to furno 2013 and you reconaze it
@@UsuarioUsual7 Furno XL is one of the ones on the way, along with a Scorpio(?) if I recall correctly. Hopefully I picked some good ones!
@@RRSlugger I recomend you some villians, they are soo unique
Let's go! I was waiting for this one. :D
This is a neat little set
Your content is uncomparable to all the other lego themed youtubers. So uniqueu and detailed. Keep it up!
Orient Expedition was one of if not my first theme that I concretely remember specifically being a fan of, up until that point I had just been given a bunch of miscellaneous sets from all sorts of other themes of the time. Looking back I think I only own three or four of those sets, but man they stood out to me! Tygurah and the Aero Nomad in particular are two sets that I still remember putting together and really loving when I was a kid. Welp, thanks, Slugger, now I have to go dig those up and rebuild them!
2:54 lol,that actually fooled me 😂
Judging from the big smile on my face watching this video, I'd absoubtly be down for a new adventurers sub theme.
I'd also like to see a new version of the board game, I think thats a fantastic Idea for fun and play for both adults and children.
It would be the dream come true of so many people if LEGO released a new Adventurers subtheme with the old cast of characters. ❤️
These videos are so good!! I feel like Im going on an adventure together with these characters and cant wait to see the next video every time!
I loved how those traps can be bypassed using items from the set itself, that's really clever.
Btw have you thought of what could be a good setting for that hypothetical 1926 adventure? You are right, thinking they met every summer for a new trip together is a fun idea
Thank you! I’m excited for this adventure as well. 😊
I haven’t really given it much thought, but I think exploring the cultures of Africa could be a cool avenue to take the series in a 1926 subtheme! (Minus all the looting, of course)
I have this set, too, and I remember I really liked the collapsing bridge feature - but I somehow never realized that the trapdoor under Tygurah was supposed to represent him lunging at Dr. Kilroy! Either way, there's an impressive amount of play value packed into a relatively small set, and it looks really nice, too!
I have that Studios set (disassembled), really enjoyed it. Btw great video as always
It would be cool to see you do some of the early lego star wars sets at some point in the future. I think you would like the 7133 bounty hunter pursuit set. The look and colors of the set are really nice.
If I could *afford* any of those sets, I'd love to! They can be prohibitively expensive though...
Tygurah I asume is based on many legends about tiger-human/ panther human like one about Keibu Keioiba from Meitei folklore
Thank you for worlderfull review. I actually really liked how well this set was build but I remember building my own set of stairs as this ladder on side was antyclimatic.
I traded Tygurah for a yeti in my 20ties, and now that Yeti is king of my Ice army
Watching & rewatching this video reminds me of the tragic loss of Tygurah's tail... in my childhood copy. Wasn't fun to get a hold of that one 😂