Years past and the line came, went & Imaginext grew to take it's place but I missed out on all of it. My first exposure to it was from my friend Andrew who saw this very set at a yard sale and instantly thought of me. Three dollars later and I finally had what I had wanted over a decade ago.
Great Adventures figures scale well enough with their newer Imaginext cousins, but the design aesthetic is vastly different. They all have this look where the eyes are always covered or hidden, and they use it on 99% of their figures so I presume the head of this toy line had a specific vision or look in mind for it.
Speaking of Imaginext, here is a quick comparison shot with one of their Blind Bag figures from 2016 so you can see the differences.
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| So a knight, a crash test dummy and a skeleton walk into a bar... |
The Dungeon Trap set was made in 1998, the year before Great Adventures underwent a slight change in both design and play features. So, in a way, this was one of the last Medieval theme sets that stayed true to the look and feel of the original 1994 line. Is it worth buying? Let's take a look!
Contents! What do you get??
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| Great Adventures Dungeon Trap set...castle & rest of dungeon to connect to this not included. |
You receive, one gray hooded knight wielding a war hammer, 1 white skeleton wielding a red bone pick-axe (or maybe a scythe?), a gold key and the dungeon trap mini-play set.
Okay cool, tell us about 'em!
The Knight: Unique among the knights of Great Adventures, this one is a mix of silver, gray, purple and brown. He totally reminds me of a Dungeons & Dragons character ready to go on a dungeon crawl in search of treasure. His armor is mostly a full body suit of purple scale-mail with bits of gray plate-mail over that. He also is wearing a gray hooded tunic, silver skull cap helmet and a backpack with brown belt across his chest. With his mouth being covered by a rather large, red mustache this figure is really a lot of fun and adds what could easily be a specific character to your adventures over another generic knight.
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| Knight- Front View |
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| Knight- Rear View |
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| Knight- Right Side View |
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| Knight- Left Side |
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| Knight getting jiggy with it. Two points of articulation only goes so far people! |
The Skeleton: Holy cow, is this thee most articulated Great Adventures figure ever? Why, I believe it might be! With swivel joints at the neck, both shoulders AND the waist, this random skeleton has it all. Not a tremendous amount of paint apps save for the red scythe (or is it a pick-axe??) and gold key molded into his hands. Eye paint would have been good, but the sockets are deep enough that some shadowing helps make them appear darkened.
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| Skeleton Front View |
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| Skeleton Rear View |
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| Skeleton Right Side View |
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| Skeleton Left Side View |
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| Painted shoulder armor not included. |
The Dungeon Trap: A simple little mini-play set, I wish it was able to attach to the Castle or Magic Castle in some way as it looks as if it were intended to do that or was taken off of another planned play set and left as a stand-alone item. Whatever the case, it is a nice piece and is very useful for expanding the line a little bit. Black cell bars can be opened easily and a rock on the wall of the set can cause the top floor to collapse and trap any helpless adventures inside.
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| Dungeon Trap Front... |
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| .....and Interior. *cricket chirps* |
The top is littered with gold coins and some bits of golden jewelry along with some kind of little creature sculpted into the stone.
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| I guess they did not have it in the budget to paint those two coins on the bottom right. Sorry two coins. |
To the left of the cell bars (the Right side of the Dungeon Trap) we see a snake, a skull wearing a crown and random carvings along the bottom. Could be a secret code the sculptor left behind or something else entirely....
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| Pretty sure that is supposed to be a snake and not a snake carving, but what the hell do those lines on the bottom mean??? The world may never know... |
The opposite side is also cool with a spider, the Fisher-Price logo and a black stone with a hand sculpted on it. Pushing this allows the trap to be sprung, and send a helpless adventurer a few inches to his doom...but not really as they can just walk around it.
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| Watch out for spiders, don't push your hand on the black stone and beware the Fisher-Price logo. |
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| Skeleton keys only. |
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| Now THAT, is what I call an attention to detail. Kudos on you random Fisher-Price sculptor from 1998! |
The figures interact with the trap really well, despite there being not many gimmicks.
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| Get it, Skeleton key???? Hahaha!...wait, don't close the window, I really need the views!! |
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| Don't worry, the knight landed on his backpack full of treasure and other equipment.....actually...better call 911. |
Should I try to get this brand new?: If you can find it for a good price, of course. From what I see online, the packaging was done very well and I am upset I did not get a MOC sample for the review. If in good condition, loose is not a bad way to go.
So what do you really think about it?: This is a fun little set to get your feet wet with the Great Adventures line and if you are a fan of skeletons you NEED this set. Skeletons were only made available in 3 different sets in all of Great Adventures (and 1 set was only released in Europe, more on that little gem when we get to the Pirate theme...) and this is easily the best one.
As I understand it, this set is a bit later in the line's history along with the Lost at Sea & Fool's Gold sets so distribution on it was less, hence MOC sets can vary in price. There really not many Great Adventures collectors out there so it should not be too hard to score although you may encounter a few sellers who think it is dipped in gold.
Whether you get it new or used, pick it up and you will have some fun.
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| Knight: "Blast! I appear to be...trapped!!" Skeleton: "Yes, you totally can't walk around the sides either, so don't try it buddy!" |
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