LEGO Adventurers

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LEGO Adventurers (later called Orient Expedition) is one of the many themes of LEGO toys out there, focusing around adventurers Johnny Thunder, Pippin Reed (formerly Gail Storm), and Dr. Charles Kilroy (formerly Charles Lightning) as they travel the world in search of ancient artefacts (with one exception). They had one recurring villain, Sam Sinister (who forms a micro-Continuity Snarl) and many single-subtheme villains.

The theme itself was divided into four smaller themes, with the last one itself split into three:

• Egypt: Based around Ancient Egypt, where the main setpiece was a pyramid and the primary MacGuffin was Re-Gou, the largest ruby in the world. Sam Sinister and Baron von Barron were the villains.
• Amazon: Set in South America, the Adventurers search for Mayincatec treasures this time, especially the "Sun Disk", opposed by the villainous Señor Palomar. Sam Sinister is oddly absent.
• Dino Island: Johnny and co. investigate a Lost World. Sam Sinister (formerly Baron von Barron), his sister, Alexis Sanister, and Mr. Cunningham are the antagonists this time.
• Orient Expedition: As the name implies, all three are set in the East. The main goal is to find a golden dragon given to Marco Polo by Kublai Khan, which in turn needs three Plot Coupons to find. Sam Sinister figures in all three subthemes.
  • Mt. Everest: The Golden Sword is to be found near its peak. Yetis, sherpas and poachers are abound here.
  • India: The Golden Shield as well as the Sunstone is found here, the latter being needed to overthrow a tyrannical maharajah.
  • China: The Golden Helmet and the Golden Dragon are to be found here. Opposing the crew is the evil Emperor Chang Wu.

The characters of LEGO Adventurers can be found here.

And yes, this entire theme is one big Expy of Indiana Jones (with a helping of The Lost World and Jurassic Park to boot), right down to the characters.

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This toy series includes examples of

• Adventurer Archaeologist : Pretty much all the characters.
• Artistic License History: Frequently only used the Theme Park Version of most cultures, although averted with the mention of Marco Polo's trip to China.
• Brother Chuck: The Power Trio used to have a pilot, Harry Cane. He disappears after the first theme. The original Sam Sinister too.
• Continuity Snarl: At first, there were two main villains, called Sam Sinister (or Slyboots) and Baron von Barron (or Mr. Hates). When Dino Island rolled around, Sam Sinister was completally renamed to his nickname Slyboots and jettisoned from the theme. Baron von Barron/Mr. Hates was then Retconned into Sam Sinister. Ergo, two Sam Sinisters existed at the same time. Made worse when the Orient Expadition theme appeared to merge them.
  • This got so notorious that even LEGO got into the act, putting a joke about it in their Minifig line.
• Crossover: With LEGO Studios. Johnny Thunder also appears in LEGO Racers and Lego Universe.
• Diesel Punk / Two-Fisted Tales : It's basically a Lego Indiana Jones series (years before there were official licensed Indy sets and minifigs), so this is to be expected.
• Early Installment Weirdness: Many of the names of the lead characters were changed from "Egypt" to the other themes, and the characters of Sam Sinister and Baron von Barron got combined.
• Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: The Dino Island sub-theme.
• Expy: As mentioned above, of Indiana Jones, with elements of Jurassic Park and A. C. Doyle's The Lost World.
• G Day Mate: Johnny Thunder is officially an Aussie, while most other characters are British.
• Limited Wardrobe / Unlimited Wardrobe: The Adventurers get about three different outfits each, and Sam Sinister has two, each with minor variations.
• Lost World: "Dino Island".
• Mayincatec: The entire Amazon theme.
• Predators Are Mean: While this may be, the heroes put a lot of effort into saving even tyrannosaurs from the villains.
• Series Continuity Error: "Sinister" is sometimes corrupted into "Sanister".
• Somewhere a Paleontologist Is Crying: A crudely drawn comic on the back of one of the larger Dino Island sets shows a T. rex running on all fours.
• Stock Dinosaurs: Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops, Stegosaurus and Pteranodon, although the latter was actually based on the Pteranodon species that nowadays goes under the name Geosternbergia.
• Theme Naming: "Thunder", "Storm", "Lightning" and "Harry Cane", before most of them got changed.
• Yellow Peril: Jokes about LEGO people aside, Emperor Chang Wu and his cronies.