LEGO Indiana Jones 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol shows Star Wars how it's done

One year on from release, 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol is probably the best LEGO Indiana Jones set we’re ever going to get – and it’s exactly what the LEGO Star Wars dioramas should have been.

Everyone’s favourite whip-cracking adventurer swung back on to shelves on April 1, 2023, bringing with him three sets based on Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. (A fourth set inspired by Temple of Doom was infamously shelved at the last minute.) Headlining that mini wave – released ahead of the Dial of Destiny’s cinematic debut, though curiously no sets for that fifth movie followed – was 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol, Indy’s first 18+ build.

Coming in at 1,545 pieces for £129.99 / $149.99 / €149.99, 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol tips its hat to 2008’s 7623 Temple Escape while recreating the thrilling opening sequence from Raiders of the Lost Ark. That sense of adventure is key to not only the entire Indiana Jones franchise, but also this specific scene and therefore this specific LEGO set: and the good news is that it entirely comes through in the execution of what’s likely to be our best ever LEGO Indiana Jones set.

With no new LEGO Indy sets on the horizon any time soon and the franchise likely done and dusted forever following a lukewarm response to James Mangold’s Dial of Destiny, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that the LEGO Group will return to this particular well for inspiration. That means Indiana Jones fans will need to be content with 77012 Fighter Plane Chase, 77013 Escape from the Lost Tomb and 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol.

We’ve rebuilt the biggest set of the wave a year on from its original release – and found that it’s lost none of its charm or novelty. More importantly, this is (in hindsight) exactly what the LEGO Star Wars dioramas should have been.

To qualify and explain that assertion, we first need to tackle what makes 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol not only one of the most interesting LEGO sets around right now, but also Brick Fanatics’ number one LEGO set of 2023. The genius behind this set is actually quite simple: it’s a LEGO set targeted at adults that remembers what it’s like to be a kid, without abandoning the fundamental principles of a display model.

Built in three sections that each house a cluster of Technic elements, 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol is fully interactive thanks to the four 2x2 knobs that sit across the front of the set. Rotating each one in turn activates a different function, from the rolling boulder and closing door to the swinging vine and – best of all – the entire temple collapsing as Indy swaps the Golden Idol for his bag of sand. That last one is a three-step motion, first triggering a light brick, then slowly sinking the pedestal, and finally dropping the statue’s head.

It's all incredibly well thought-out, and not least because activating any one of these functions doesn’t turn your carefully-constructed set into a pile of bricks that needs to be built and rebuilt every single time you show it off. For all but that statue head – which can be easily pushed back into position manually – all you need to do is rotate the knobs in the other direction to reset each of their functions. It all feels effortless, exactly as it should, even while such intelligent and careful design has clearly gone into bringing it all together.

The end result is a model that not only looks the part in 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol, but is also one you’ll fiddle about with time and again, show off to friends and generally just get hands on with far more than… well, a LEGO Star Wars diorama.

The LEGO Group has leaned into the template of black bases and tiles with quotes across a handful of themes so far, including Indiana Jones, Star Wars and Jurassic Park. But it’s a galaxy far, far away that has gone full throttle on the concept, with five different dioramas released to date – and one more said to be on the way in May. Of these, just one has attempted to include any kind of function: 75339 Death Star Trash Compactor Diorama.

It’s a smart one too, much in the same wheelhouse as those in 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol: the pattern of its brick-built garbage is carefully laid out to allow the trash compactor’s walls to squeeze together, threatening to make our heroes that little bit more two-dimensional, before sliding apart again after Threepio successfully shuts down all the garbage mashers on the detention level. It’s not quite as involved to put together as its Indiana Jones equivalent, but the genius is really in the simplicity.

Unfortunately, that’s pretty much where the buck stops for the LEGO Star Wars Diorama Collection. The other four sets – 75329 Death Star Trench Run Diorama, 75330 Dagobah Jedi Training Diorama, 75352 Emperor’s Throne Room Diorama and 75353 Endor Speeder Chase Diorama – are entirely static, even where three-quarters of those sets seem readymade for some kind of dynamic interactivity.

75329 Death Star Trench Run Diorama and 75353 Endor Speeder Chase Diorama are the obvious contenders, given they’re both based on chase scenes: the former depicting Darth Vader pursuing Luke Skywalker as he tries to blow up the Death Star, and the latter recreating Luke and Leia zooming after a Scout Trooper on the forest moon of Endor. Those are thrilling, high-stakes scenes in the movies, but the LEGO dioramas feel very flat by comparison. There’s only so much movement that can be communicated by tilting the vehicles.

Building a mechanism into the sets’ bases that allowed each of the vehicles to slide back and forth in turn would probably have been enough to set those dioramas apart and give them some genuine flair, though reaching for something like JK Brickworks’ Pursuit of Flight would have been the ideal solution: turn a dial and see both vehicles move in turn. (He's even given it a go for the Endor set.) Movement is so fundamental to these scenes that just planting the vehicles on a static black base feels safe and dull.

Likewise 75330 Dagobah Jedi Training Diorama, albeit to a lesser degree, which could have been really impressive if the LEGO Star Wars team had managed to incorporate a way to simulate Yoda lifting Luke’s X-wing out of the swamp. Raising and lowering the submerged wing by a few plates in height is all it would have taken to push that 1,000-piece set to the next level.

Achieving all that might have required a slight increase in budget (and therefore price), which would not be ideal given these are already pretty costly sets. But 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol proves that not only can it be done in a way that’s cost-effective (minus, perhaps, the Star Wars tax), but also genuinely engaging. The LEGO Indiana Jones set has almost done the LEGO Star Wars Diorama Collection a disservice by demonstrating what could have been, rendering its Lucasfilm counterparts as pretty boring by comparison.

That only further speaks to just how great 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol is, though – and why anyone with even a passing interest in Indiana Jones, or just properly fun and intriguing LEGO sets, would be remiss to miss out.

All three LEGO Indiana Jones sets – 77012 Fighter Plane Chase, 77013 Escape from the Lost Tomb and 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol – are due to retire by the end of this year, so bump them to the top of your wish list if you haven’t already, and keep an eye on our LEGO deals page for discounts from across the web.

This copy of 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol was provided by the LEGO Group.

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