I decided to dig out my vintage Kenner Raiders toys today.
I really wasn't interested in the figures, I was really looking for the old Kenner playsets. I always liked the Well of Souls and Map Room sets when I was a kid, so I wanted to have them to display with my new Hasbro figures.
I have to say, even though the paint apps on these sets could be better, I think it's a real shame that Hasbro didn't consider re-releasing the Well of Souls set as part of the new line - 'cause this playset still holds up pretty well and if I didn't already have it, I think I would definitely be looking to pick one up on eBay.
In case you're not familiar with the Kenner Well of Souls playset, you can check out a pretty nice photo gallery of it, courtesy of
CoolToyReview.com.
The next set that I wanted to take a look at again was the Map Room playset. The map of Tanis could have totally been included with the Dessert Robe Disguise Indy figure (as opposed to the Ark) - it would have also been an opportunity for Hasbro to produce a nice looking Staff of Ra. The Ark of the Covenant could have instead been packed with a Ceremony Belloq figure and then a remake of the vintage Belloq figure could have been in the regular line (but I digress). So now I've basically taken that exact playset and replaced the Indy it came with, with the new Deluxe Indy w/Ark figure. Just like with the Well of Souls set, if I didn't already have this, I would definitely want to pick it up on eBay, here's a link to the photo gallery from
CoolToyReview.com.
I also pulled out my mostly complete Cairo Streets set (I'm missing one of the baskets and some of the fruit). This set is the weakest of the three, but since I wanted to have something in a little scene with the Cairo streets figures, I figured this set is better than nothing. A better color and paint application on the cart itself would probably help the set a lot - I could see them re-releasing this set packed with a couple of those Cairo Henchman figures to help it sell better, but w/o the lure of getting some army builders, I can't really see the value in this set. Here's the link to the photo gallery from
CoolToyReview.com.
So what does everyone think? I think re-releasing the Well of Souls and Tanis Map Room sets in the new line should be a no-brainer for Hasbro. I think a modern paint application to both of these sets would be all they would need to bring them into sync with the new line. The Well of Souls set could easily fit into a box that is the same size as the Truck and Troop Car. Since they already released the Map Room Indy figure, they probably missed the boat with releasing the Tanis Map Room set as an accessory for a deluxe figure, perhaps they could release it with a Cairo version of Belloq, even though Belloq didn't actually go into the map room, perhaps they could pack it with Belloq, the correct length Staff of Ra with the real head-piece and a wrong height staff with poor recreation of the head-piece so you could re-create a scene that was described in the movie but took place off-camera.