Next up on our jaunt through Pharaoh’s Quest is the Cursed Cobra Statue set. For this set, we jump from 125 pieces (which was the brick count for Flying Mummy Attack) and up to 213 pieces. Like the last two sets we looked at, this set still includes three minifigs and a vehicle. Oh yeah, the artifact du jour is a golden scarab shield. I was really hesitant to get this set, because the Cobra takes up most of the brick count and building it looked like it was going to be a really redundant and tedious affair. Plus, if you’re working your way up from the bottom like I am, this set is going to give you a duplicate minifig and that’s always a bummer. So let’s see if the Cursed Cobra Statue set is really worth the thirty bucks in the end or if Pharaoh’s Quest has finally derailed.
The box includes an instruction manual and five unnumbered bags of bricks. You also get a small sticker sheet and the translucent plastic sheet to punch out the part that makes up the Cobra’s hood. The minifigs include a Mummy High Priest, [Seems to be officially called a Snake Charmer. Just sayin’ is all. -FF] the third new hero in the series, Helena Tova, and the same Jack Raines figure that came with the Scarab Attack set. You also get a jeep and the Cobra and his temple base. Let’s start with the minifigs.
There’s not much point looking at Jack again, as we already saw this figure in the first set. While I can appreciate having a spare to display with this set, it’s still kind of a bummer getting a duplicate figure in a set that cost me thrity bones. Helena, on the other hand is new, and she’s very cool. She has printing on the front and back of her shirt as well as two expressions on her face and a satchel. The heroes come with two pistols, a rifle, a bundle of dynamite and a shovel. The dynamite and rifle are the same pieces that were released in previous PQ sets. The Mummy Priest is the same body and head as the regular Mummy Warriors, but he has a new headdress and comes with two snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes? Oops, wrong series.
The jeep is very cool and it was almost as satisfying a build as the biplane from the last set we looked at. It can comfortably fit three minifigs, two seated in the front and one standing in the back. It also has clips on each side for the rifle and shovel, or whatever else you want to put in there.
The Cobra statue and temple represent most of the building here and while it is true that the Cobra consists of building the same two components over and over again, I didn’t seem to mind it so much while I was doing it. The Cobra is designed to coil around and attach to the temple, but it can be removed and thanks to what I believe are some Bionicle ball joints, it has a nice amount of articulation for when it comes to life to protect the scarab shield. It’s mouth also opens and closes. I do think the use of the plastic sheet for the Cobra’s hood is a bit of a cheat, but it looks good, and I can’t see any way round it. The temple has a platform for the Mummy Priest to stand so he can chuck snakes at the heroes.
I bought this set expecting to be disappointed. Yeah, sounds crazy, huh? But I wasn’t at all. It was still fun to build, even though it didn’t take me much longer than the last set, and the end result is great looking. I’m really happy with the way the Cobra looks on the shelf coiled around the altar. I still wish a unique version of Jack could have been included, and it’s the first set where the price, in this case $30, started to feel like a bit of a reach, but apart from that this is a pretty solid set in the Pharaoh’s Quest.
FigureFan Zero 