I mean I do get why the Cairo Swordsman and Monkey Man were made, but I didn't get the urgency of them over much more important roles like Toht, Mechanic, and even Dietrich. Dietrich isn't too terrible as I really do think the German soldier (2-Pack version in green) is an adequate...enough...stand-in. But I'd rather have had him made full on screen accurate than not at all or a generic substitute. Perhaps even more bizarre is the Cairo Thug 2-Pack. It's soooo generic and bland and based off a body mold that is really questionably engineered. I can understand the lack of Marcus in a Raiders wave, he's so minor. He's more fit for Crusade as he actually goes on the adventure. My biggest annoyance is Belloq though and as stated, the figure we did get (which of course I did also want too...just...) just doesn't fit in any diorama or scene outside of the Ark opening. I'd much prefer the suited version. Toht, which I feel very fortunate to own that SDCC exclusive set, however is utterly perfect. Maybe my favorite figure in the ENTIRE line. Him or the giant Thuggee. Plus the lost potential for more Raiders deluxe sets. The boulder, the well of souls, the map room.
I guess there just wasn't enough interest in the line to really get much out of Doom and Crusade...which is very unfortunate. For Doom there was a lot more I'd have liked to have seen. The Maharaja with voodoo doll, Chattar Lal, Thuggee Acolyte with scaled stone, Thuggee Assassin, Possessed Indy, Club Obi-Wan Indy with scale urn, Lao Che with poison, Club Obi-Wan Willie Scott...I mean there's more you could do too. Deluxe sets would have been incredible. A mine cart with build-able track system seems a gimmie. They could have even done two, one for the heroes and one for the villains with different track pieces includes: straight-away, curves, and dips. I'd have died for something like that. The spike room and bug pit are another. Lastly, why not the sacrificial cage with the statue to dip people into lava? Ha! Perhaps something with the bridge? So much potential. Indiana Jones just seems a prime candidate for playsets.
For Crusade, Brody, Sallah as he appears in this film, Kazim, and Donovan seem the outright obvious choices to me but I wouldn't mind "Panama Hat," German attire Elsa (wooooooowzers), and perhaps a suited Indy from the Venice scenes. This one seem more prime, to me, for vehicles. The motorcycle with sidecar and tank seem to like a straight up "duh," but you could even do a Venice boat and the biplane. Cool deluxe sets would have been perhaps the knights tomb with a bunch of rats and naturally all the tricks and traps in the final temple.
I think a lot of the issue for the short lived nature of the line came down to two things: The initial waves were engineered oddly, bizarre articulation or simply rendered immobile in places, and painted even worse. Thankfully it got way better. I'll never forget the googly eyed Indy's. The secondly, as much as I hate to say it, it does seem to be more a niche audience. It just doesn't seem to have the lasting power of something like Star Wars or Superheroes.
I actually liked the gimmick of the included artifacts. I know a lot of collectors hate when they do stuff like that, pack-in extras, but I thought this one was downright fun. I even found myself buying some Crystal Skull figures just FOR the artifact. Plus they worked pretty well with 6'' figures. I even kept the little cardboard crates they came in.
