Who Remembers Pharaoh's Quest?

[Max_Bricks]

Back in the early 2000's to around 2012 LEGO had original and creative non licensed themes like Castle, Pirates, Space Police, Mars Mission and more. But does anyone remember the LEGO theme Pharaoh's Quest from 2011, the theme where we followed Jake Raines and company as they try to gather treasures at iconic monuments across Egypt. I for one loved Pharaoh's Quest as it pays tribute to the beloved LEGO Adventures theme, with everyone's favorite explorer Johnny Thunder. The first line of sets from Pharaoh's Quest had 6 sets, the best set being the largest set, Scorpion Pyramid, which I am lucky to own. However that is the only set I own because I was expecting another wave of sets, which never happened. I wish LEGO nowadays would produce more non licensed themes with a creative story to them, all I see on shelves now are licensed themes or the same non licensed themes each year, specifically City and Ninjago. Hopefully there will be time again when LEGO shelves are overtaken by creative non licensed themes and I for one will be one to buy them, like the beloved theme Pharaoh's Quest. 

Edited November 25, 2019 by Max_Bricks

[Lego David]

Pharaoh's Quest is easily a great example of an amazing Action Adventure theme. Despite its limited run with only 6 sets released, it left a huge impact, and it's still greatly remembered today. 

Though I only got one set during the theme's initial release (7305 Scarab Attack), I still want all the sets to this day, and I am sure I'll get them all eventually. 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2019 by Lego David

[MAB]

7 hours ago, Max_Bricks said:

I wish LEGO nowadays would produce more non licensed themes with a creative story to them, all I see on shelves now are licensed themes or the same non licensed themes each year, specifically City and Ninjago. Hopefully there will be time again when LEGO shelves are overtaken by creative non licensed themes and I for one will be one to buy them, like the beloved theme Pharaoh's Quest. 

 

I remember PQ.

What is it about PQ that you think made it creative, compared to what you think makes City and Ninjago non-creative?

[Pulp Detective]

Remember? It's one of my favourite themes of all time! I'll never forget about it and still to this day I regret not buying the pyramid set.

[TeriXeri]

I was in the dark age during this theme, but I mostly remember Adventurers from the 1998 Desert/Egypt theme, and it was the only theme I got adventurer sets from. 

Looking at those sets from an AFOL 2019 perspective I like those sets/builds. 

LEGO seems to like the design of the Cobra as they made a similar Ninjago Cobra this year, altho more Fiery.

 

Edited November 25, 2019 by TeriXeri

[Lucarex]

Another PQ fan here. I was lucky in picking up the Pyramid set for a song. The look on my then-5 year old’s face that Christmas was epic, pure speechless joy.

He still rates it his “best set” and regularly gets it off the shelf to play with, of course it’s been added to with various elements, different coloured scorpions and ancient historical minifigs from the CMF series (Egyptian, Romans etc.).

Likewise Atlantis (City of Atlantis set). This was Lego at its best, fantastic non-licensed historical A&A sets. Then they effed it up with that licensed disaster that was Prince of Persia.

 

Edited November 25, 2019 by Lucarex

[lifeinplastic]

I remember the PQ sets as well as the original Adventurers line. I really liked the PQ minifigures especially, although I think they had stickered parts for hieroglyphics, rather than the printed bricks that made to the Adventurers so good. Hopefully, the homage to Johnny Thunder and the Mummy in the current line of collectible minifigures, show that Ancient Egypt and exploration themes are still in the minds of Lego designers. However, it would be great to have a full return of The Adventurers (to allow for full global exploration rather than limiting the theme to Egypt like in PQ).

What would you like to see from PQ/Adventurers in future collectibles minifigures?

[The Reader]

2 hours ago, lifeinplastic said:

What would you like to see from PQ/Adventurers in future collectibles minifigures?

I'd like to see a modern, but nonetheless evil Sam Sinister.

I think, Johnny Thunder in the current line of collectible minifigures looks too well-behaved. He doesn't look "adventurer'ish" enough. He is more a modest scientist than an fearless hero.

 

Concerning PQ, I like the theme, but I don't like the brick-built "giant" animals in the sets. That's why I also don't like the "dino island"-subtheme from the original Adventurers-line very much. It's too fantastic for me.

Edited November 25, 2019 by The Reader

[Asajki]

11 hours ago, MAB said:

I remember PQ.

What is it about PQ that you think made it creative, compared to what you think makes City and Ninjago non-creative?

Nostalgia probably 

12 hours ago, Lego David said:

Pharaoh's Quest is easily a great example of an amazing Action Adventure theme. Despite its limited run with only 6 sets released, it left a huge impact, and it's still greatly remembered today. 

Though I only got one set during the theme's initial release (7305 Scarab Attack), I still want all the sets to this day, and I am sure I'll get them all eventually. 

 

 

Not really ‘greatly remembered’ it was one of those short themes that people liked but never really acknowledged too much kinda like Power Miners, Atlantis, Dino Attack, Dino…

[Max_Bricks]

TeriXeri I agree with you about that Ninjago set about how it reminds you of the cobra from PQ, I am definitely considering picking it up because how similar they are!

MAB I think PQ is more creative because of how the sets tell a story, Ninjago does have a great story, but now I think it's just going on too long. City definitely is repetitive also and there is no story line connecting all the sets. However if I think Pharaohs Quest kept going and was stay alive today, I think it would probably face the same problems Ninjago has, with recycled ideas and a story line that is keeps going on to keep the line running. 

[Digger of Bricks]

9 hours ago, lifeinplastic said:

However, it would be great to have a full return of The Adventurers (to allow for full global exploration rather than limiting the theme to Egypt like in PQ).

2 hours ago, Max_Bricks said:

However if I think Pharaohs Quest kept going and was stay alive today, I think it would probably face the same problems Ninjago has, with recycled ideas and a story line that is keeps going on to keep the line running. 

While I had presumed for some time that Pharaoh's Quest was a theme boxed-in by its own name (thereby showing it had no long-term ambitions), others have hypothesized that it still could've continued on in the same tradition as the original Adventurers theme had it been more successful. Rather than just sticking around in Egypt under the same Pharaoh's Quest moniker, Jake Raines & Company could've traversed elsewhere in follow-up themes under names such as Mayan Quest, Orient Quest, Atlantis Quest, Hyperboria Quest, and so on... 

9 hours ago, lifeinplastic said:

What would you like to see from PQ/Adventurers in future collectibles minifigures?

Well, I'd still like to see a proper Adventurer rather than just having a mere "Jungle Explorer" cover all those bases. Besides that though, other "Adventurer" archetypes I'd love to see include an Aviatrix (i.g. Amelia Earhart), an Evil Baron, a Sky Pirate (i.e. an antagonistic aviator), a Himalayan Explorer, an Egyptologist, a Rocketeer/Jetpack Aviator, an Adventureress, a Noir Crimefighter (i.g. The Shadow/Green Hornet), and maybe a Submarine Pirate Captain (i.g. Jules Verne's Captain Nemo). 

[Vindicare]

Boy do I! I loved all those Action themes that came & went during those years, most of all PQ. I actually bought that entire line in one fell swoop, which is a rarity. The new parts & minifigures are fantastic. 

[Lego David]

8 hours ago, OwenMistika said:

Nostalgia probably 

21 hours ago, Lego David said:

Pharaoh's Quest is Something unique that we don't really experience nowdays. City and Ninjago have been around for so long that people are starting to get sick of them. Ninjago was definitely very creative in its early years, but now it's more or less recycling ideas from previous waves, just executed in a different way.

Edited November 26, 2019 by Lego David

[icm]

I was a kid when Adventurers came out in 1998, and I had several of the sets.  By the time Pharoah's Quest came out, I was old enough to have Adventurers nostalgia.  For me, as for many others on the forums at that time, one of my dream themes was a revival of Adventurers.  When Pharoah's Quest came out, I was thoroughly disappointed that it focused so much on supernatural Egyptian monsters instead of people racing each other for the treasure, and I didn't like the color scheme of dark red, dark blue, and dark tan.  To me, Pharoah's Quest wasn't a theme about exploring ancient ruins anymore, it was just another theme about fighting monsters.  My memory may be skewed by my own disappointment, but I remember many AFOLs at the time expressing their own displeasure.  Of course, AFOLs are a notoriously fickle bunch, so that may not mean a lot, but it certainly seems to me like the overall awareness of Pharoah's Quest among AFOLs today is relatively low.  People generally include it in their lists of creative in-house themes to bring back instead of making licensed sets, but they don't talk about it much individually or build many MOCs after its pattern.  But obviously that's just my perspective; clearly most people who've bothered to comment on this thread liked it.  We'll never have the numbers to gauge its "true" sales success among kids at the time nor its "true" popularity among kids at the time, AFOLs at the time, or AFOLs today, so if you like it that's good enough for you and if I don't that's good enough for me.

[TheGlynreaper]

yea I really wish I started getting into lego when themes like pharaohs quest and monster fighters was around

[ArneNielsen]

I liked most of the Pharaohs Quest sets, but I must admit, that I never bought 7326 Rise of the Sphinx.

Compared to 5978 Spinx Secret Surprise, to me 7326 just looked ridiculous - even without 13 years of new bricks, the old set is in my view still so much better than the new set.

[Digger of Bricks]

8 hours ago, Vindicare said:

The new parts & minifigures are fantastic. 

My two favorite figures from the theme have to be Aviator Jake Raines and the Anubis Guard; but besides that, somehow many of the other figures just didn't do much for me. 

[White Phoenix of the Crown]

I have one set from this series- 7325 Cursed Cobra Statue/

[Vindicare]

7 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

My two favorite figures from the theme have to be Aviator Jake Raines and the Anubis Guard; but besides that, somehow many of the other figures just didn't do much for me. 

Definitely the Anubis, who didn’t love those? I’m a fan of the other mummies as well, although that leans more towards their headdresses & wings. I liked the departure with grey bandages as well. 

[Lucarex]

The Anubis minifigs were great, recall a battle pack with them and winged mummies too. Personally I think Amset Ra (the pharaoh in question) is pretty cool, what with his alternate gold face and all.

[MAB]

On 11/25/2019 at 4:17 PM, Lucarex said:

Then they effed it up with that licensed disaster that was Prince of Persia.

 

Disaster? I thought the PoP sets were great. Two of them had great parts for Arabian / middle eastern builds, plus they had the camels, the ostriches, some superb minifigure prints.

 

Put yellow skin figures in the Battle of Alamut set, and I think it would pass for a great non-licensed set, equally as good as the City of Atlantis or the PQ pyramid.

 

PoP sets were on discount sale for quite a while but then so were Atlantis and PQ at the time.

 

[Digger of Bricks]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

Disaster? I thought the PoP sets were great. Two of them had great parts for Arabian / middle eastern builds, plus they had the camels, the ostriches, some superb minifigure prints.

Put yellow skin figures in the Battle of Alamut set, and I think it would pass for a great non-licensed set, equally as good as the City of Atlantis or the PQ pyramid.

Same can also be said for the POTC and Lone Ranger themes, as they were all based upon Jerry Bruckheimer produced Disney films that translated quite well as playthemes with a very classic, archetypical feel that many AFOLs love...  

Though it may not be a Jerry Bruckheimer production, seeing how well those Disney movies translated into sets is what makes me want to see this as a theme... 

 

Edited November 28, 2019 by Digger of Bricks

[jimmynick]

I saw the title of this thread and thought "Pharaoh's Quest wasn't even that long ago" and then I got hit by a dose of reality. It was a nice theme and I'm glad to see there's a younger crowd feeling nostalgic for Pharaoh's Quest in the same way people my age are nostalgic about Johnny Thunder.

[MAB]

22 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Same can also be said for the POTC and Lone Ranger themes, as they were all based upon Jerry Bruckheimer produced Disney films that translated quite well as playthemes with a very classic, archetypical feel that many AFOLs love...  

Yes, presumably as both themes were still quite generic in that if you remove the fleshie minifigures and replace them with yellow ones, then it still had the vibes of being decent non-licensed pirates and western sets, respectively.

[Lucarex]

On 11/28/2019 at 2:27 PM, MAB said:

Disaster? I thought the PoP sets were great. (.....)

I meant the film was a disaster, which consequently meant the licensed sets ending up gathering cobwebs in many stores. And yes, the same happened with The Lone Ranger. That's what Lego messed up, thinking all Disney A&A movies would simply repeat the success of Pirates of the Caribbean, and they would sell shed loads of licensed sets on the back of that.