Well, May 1st has FINALLY arrived and my excitement comes from being able to "officially" buy the new Indiana Jones toys (Jonathan Coulton’s idea sounds good, but I’m gonna need a wife first, but I digress…).  I hit the local Wal-Mart at midnight and scored one of every basic and deluxe 3 3/4" figure for the launch (I passed on the vehicles ’cause that would’ve added another $40 and I just couldn’t bring myself to do that this morning…)  Here’s my collection so far… (I apologize for the sloppy photography)

It’s going to kill me until I can get a bigger shelf to put them on and I’ve got to find a way to display all of those wonderful artifacts and crates much better than they are now.  Since Mr. Rogers has been doing such a fantastic job of reviewing the items so far, I don’t want to tread into his territory so I’ll just post a few thoughts about the line so far…

• First, I love what’s out there so far.  That’s not to say that I don’t have a few nit-picky complaints (which are on down the list) but overall I’m pretty darn happy with what I’ve gotten.
• The character selection is great, lots of variety except for Indy.  Granted he’s got to have the fedora and all, but it would’ve been nice to have gotten something a bit different in at least one of the Indys, maybe that will change with the Temple of Doom wave due in September — white tux Indy, anyone?
• The artifacts.  Wow!  Who would have ever thought that a mass-market toy line (and, folks, these are toys) would ever have a statue of a nude woman giving birth (in 3 of the 3 3/4" line alone!) and a decaying human head attached to a goblet that’s being used as a pitcher in the films?  Not to mention the cremated remains of a Chinese Emperor or the pit full of skewered skulls.  Somebody better being coming with a flaming heart and some chilled monkey brains…
• The collection of "crates" you end up with after opening all of the artifacts is quite impressive, too.  I gotta hand it to Hasbro, I think they’ve created the absolute coolest pack-ins ever with these, at least until the Droid Factory waves of Star Wars start showing up, I may have to change my mind then…
• As much as I like the artifacts, I gotta say that I am a bit disappointed that they didn’t keep them all in scale with the figures.  Sure some of them would have been much smaller but then they could’ve have been used better in displays.  Oh, well… at least most of the artifacts important to the films are being released as normal accessories as well.
• The troop builders are pretty nice, too, with three slightly different German soldiers plus the motorcycle trooper but the Ugha Warrior, Cemetary Warrior and Russian Soldier all suffer from being one of a kind, maybe that will change in later waves.  Plus the troops are a little thin at the moment with none of them being packed in large enough numbers for the line’s launch.
• The deluxe figures are a terrific value compared to the basics.  For $3 more (on average) you get a second figure or a larger item/mini-playset.  The playsets should be fun for any kids into this stuff, but the horse and motorcycle are the most impressive to me.  The cycle looks like it’s been designed to have an add-on side-car so hopefully that will get re-issued with Indy and a side-car with Henry.  I must say that I’m a little disappointed in the horse.  Not that it’s not a great sculpt it’s just that it seems a little small with Indy in the saddle but I can’t wait to see it used again (and again and again) for Indy, Henry, Sallah and Marcus riding off into the sunset at the end of The Last Crusade or in the Star Wars line for Ewok and Marauder mounts (watch the Ewok TV movies if you don’t believe that there are horses in a galaxy far, far away…).
• More than a little disappointed that there are two Marions on the pegs at once but both are from the same mold with a slight paint variation.  The outfit would’ve been great for the two pack with a different look for the single.  Sure this is just the first ROTLA wave but if this ends up anything like the Star Wars line we may never see any other outfits for her… (And the same will go for Willie and Elsa, too, I’m sure.)
• Why did the Monkey Man and deluxe Marion come with the same monkey sculpt?  Hasbro couldn’t give us two different monkeys like the vintage line?  At least I’ll be buying extra deluxe Marions for custom fodder which means Captain Barbossa will finally be getting a good, non-Chinese pirate Jack the Monkey — at least until Zizzle brings back the 3 3/4" Pirates…
• Anybody else think that Young Indy should have come with the dog?…
• Here’s hoping for more vehicles — Jack’s biplane, the Zepplin biplane, Short Round’s car, Lao Che’s cargo plane, the flying wing.
• We need another Well of the Souls playset.  Something like the vintage one would work fine.  And we also need German (burned and pre-burned) and US crates for the Ark.

…well I think I’ve said enough for this morning, I’ll leave you with the thought that I’m waiting patiently for Short Round’s release so that I can re-enact Into the Great Unknown from Star Wars Tales #19…

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