My all time favorite scene in Raiders begins when Indy steals a horse and goes after the truck with the Ark on it. In fact, this is one of my favorite action sequences in any movie ever. As a result, there was no way I wasn’t going to pick up that horse, even if it meant getting an Indy figure I didn’t need. Although, in fairness, there are enough unique points on this figure to make him worth owning.

Yep, once again, we see Indy in his iconic getup with leather jacket and fedora. The biggest differences on this version of Indy are his gloved hands, which are screen accurate, and the fact that his satchel isn’t molded to his chest so it can hang behind him as he rides the horse. Apart from that, there isn’t a lot of differences between this figure and the other versions of Raiders Indy. From the neck down this is a great sculpt and an awesome figure. From the neck up? Well, his fedora is still sculpted to his head and I’m not all that crazy about the paint apps on my figure’s face, as he looks rather wall-eyed. He comes with a coiled whip to hook onto his belt and a revolver. All in all, not bad.

The horse is excellent, and gave me pause to consider the fact that in all my years of collecting figures in this scale, I never owned one with a horse, unless you count the one Kenner released in the original Raiders of the Lost Ark figure line way back when. Unlike the old Kenner version, this one forgoes the galloping gimmick in favor of just good articulation and great sculpting. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure the upper half of the horse’s back legs are on backwards, as it looks like the knees are on the back. The horse comes with a molded plastic blanket and saddle and all the trappings of his harness and reins. He’s basically white, although there are some paint apps for his feet, and what I assume are to be mud or sand on the lower portions of his legs. Pretty much any of the Indy figures can comfortably mount the horse.

The other Deluxe set, Indiana Jones with The Ark, contains another one of those variant Indy’s. This time he’s dressed in an Arab disguise as he was when he went into The Well of Souls. Underneith it all, this is a reuse of one of the previously released Indy bodies, but the newly sculpted head and the softgoods robe really work well and make this a great looking figure. He comes with an uncoiled whip, a revolver and a satchel, which fits on over the robe.

The Ark itself is a beautiful sculpt, nicely scaled and yes you can open it and fill it with sand or vengeful angels or whatever you want. The only thing that bums me out about this Ark is what it doesn’t come with, mainly the carry poles. The sculpt is missing the slots that were designed to fit the carry poles and the poles themselves aren’t present, which is a step backward from the old Kenner one. I would have at least settled for, a cardboard fold together crate to put it in? Ah well. It still makes for a great display piece.

Both of these sets retailed for about ten bucks, when they were released, but later they readily available on clearance too. Either way, they’re definitely worth the price. The Indy together with the horse makes a great display piece, one that I tend to keep out somewhere even when most of my Indy collection are away in totes. And as I pointed out earlier, its the only 3 3/4″ scale horse in my whole collection. As for Indy with the Ark, the Disguised Indy isn’t what I would consider an essential figure, but he’s nice to have. And The Ark sure is a must-have for collectors of this line.