Review: LEGO 77013 Escape from the Lost Tomb

March 18, 2023 | 12

2023 is shaping up to be a great year for nostalgic LEGO themes making a return, and LEGO Indiana Jones fans are in for a stellar year with LEGO rebooting the theme with all-new remakes of classic sets and scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade coming April 2023.

In the lead up to the launch, I’ll be taking a look at all three LEGO Indiana Jones sets, and to kick things off we have 77013 Escape from the Lost Tomb, based on the iconic scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark as Indy, Marion, and Sallah break into the Well of Souls to fetch the Ark of the Covenant.

For a licensed set, I was really impressed by the US$39.99 / AU$59.99 price tag, which is sensational value for a 600-piece set with 4 minifigures. Almost unheard of in this day and age. Plus, it’s also a really large set, comparative to the price, and I think is the best set in the entire wave of 2023 LEGO Indiana Jones sets.

I hope you don’t mind snakes, as we explore the Well of Souls in my review of 77013 Escape from the Lost Tomb!

Special thanks to LEGO for sending this set over for review.

77013 Escape from the Lost Tomb Set Details

Set Name: Escape from the Lost Tomb
Set number: 77013
Pieces: 600
Price: US$39.99/ AU$59.99 / £34.99 / €39.99 / CAD$49.99
Minifigures: 4 (Marion Ravenwood, Indiana Jones, Sallah, Mummy)
Theme: Indiana Jones 2023
Release Date: 1 April 2023
Set Designer: Atticus Tsai-McCarthy (@anaverageviewer)

77013 Escape from the Lost Tomb is a modern remake of 7621 Indiana Jones and the Lost Tomb and for many who were in their Dark Ages in 2018 (like myself), this set is a brilliant way to refresh a classic Indiana Jones set, depicting the equally iconic climax of the movie.

Here’s a look at the sticker sheet, which features plenty of great details and and fun little Easter Eggs which I’ll get to later on in the review. Most of them are relatively easy to apply, but the curved ones are a little tricky.

Plain white boring manual.

The build was pretty good – not too challenging which makes sense as the set is designed as a playset geared towards kids. Building it did fill me with a rush of LEGO Adventurers nostalgia evoked by the relatively simple building style.

What did impress me throughout the build was just how big the set came to be, with a pretty large footprint, and finished off by the two towering Anubis Statues that cap off the build.

77013 Escape from the Lost Tomb Minifigures

The set comes with 4 minifigures, from left to right, we have Sallah, Marion Ravenwood, Indiana Jones and a mummy minifigure, which feels substantial for a AU$59.99 set.

Here’s a look at the long-awaited new 2023 Indiana Jones minifigure, featuring updated face printing, a new hat, and very faithful torso and leg prints that are faithful to the OG Indiana Jones minifigure.

The graphic designers have really done a great job capturing young Harrison Ford’s likeness, and Indy looks great, down to his stubble and wry smile.

Here’s a look at his back printing and alternate expression which features Harrison Ford’s classic quizzical/unhappy look.

A really nice surprise is the updated Indiana Jones fedora, which now features hair fused to it, which looks great and adds to the minifigure’s accuracy to the beloved onscreen character.

I’m trying to get answers on this, but you also get a spare hat in each of the sets, which is a pretty decent bonus. Not bad when it’s a new and exclusive element!

Here’s a look at Marion Ravenwood and Sallah, Indy’s close Egyptian friend who finally makes his long-awaited debut as a minifigure in this set – something that LEGO Indiana Jones fans will be delighted with.

Marion and Sallah look great, and their outfits are pretty accurate to the on-screen characters. Marion is a huge upgrade over the 2008 version, thanks to more modern face printing, and it’s also nice to see that there are no colour-matching issues on her torso.

Here’s Marion’s back print and alternate face, which has a shocked expression. Sallah doesn’t have a dual-sided head.

And last but not least, we have a Mummy minifigure, which I really enjoyed. The printing on the mummy in sensational, and it’s been quite some time since we’ve had a mummy minifigure in LEGO, with the last I believe being the Mummy Queen in LEGO Minifigures Series 19 and before that, in Pharaoh’s Quest.

The mummy’s tattered bandages, and sallow skin underneath are a real treat, and the only thing I can find fault with is the lack of arm printing, but it really doesn’t detract from the minifigure at all.

Here’s the back printing where you can appreciate more of the excellent head and back printing.

Overall, a really strong lineup of minifigures, with staples like Indy and Marion being callbacks to the 2008 Lost Tomb set, but with the addition of Sallah making this a standout, and a must-get for Indiana Jones fans.

Here’s the completed set which is just so large. It’s a decent-sized diorama-esque playset and while spare in certain areas, looks incredibly substantial and fun thanks to the towering Anubis statues.

Here’s a look at the completed model from other angles. Construction-wise, it’s fairly basic with a wide base with plenty of space, a main wall section and the two Anubis statues being the visual focal point of the set.

In a reference to the Well of Souls scene, the floor is littered with slithering snakes, much to the chagrin of Indy.

“Why’d it have to be snakes?”

In the middle of the build is a pedestal and some ornate arches, and the Ark of the Covenant, which Indy is trying to steal before the Nazis get to it.

Rest assured, in a nod to the movie (and 2008 set), the columns in the middle have the R2-D2 and C-3PO hieroglyphs.

Here’s a look at the other pillar which has more hieroglyphs.

There are 2 large sarcophaguses that flank the Ark, and I really like the simplicity of the design as well as the fantastic graphic design on them. These will be supremely useful for Egyptian MOCs. Not as cool as the actual LEGO Sarcophagus from the Adventurers theme, but cool enough for me.

Here’s a look at the Ark of the Covenant, which is a simple enough pearl gold and yellow build, with stickers on the side for added detail and accuracy.

The handles are useful for Indy and Sallah to grab ahold of the Ark and move it together, but with Indy’s satchel bag, it can be tricky for him to get a good grip on it.

There are plenty of fun references and Easter Eggs added by the graphic designer – on this large stickered panel, there’s yet another reference to Bionicle, and even an Exo-Force reference (the skull-looking hieroglyph).

As a fan of vintage LEGO themes, I loved these references and these are (to me) more enjoyable than the R2-D2 and C-3PO hieroglyphs.

On the back wall, there are more hieroglyphs, and there’s even a Kingdom of the Crystal Skull reference hidden here!

And here’s a look at the back which is quite plain, but contains a fun section with an interactive play feature.

Here’s a look at a spooky sticker from the back, leading into the Well of Souls.

The highlight of the builds were the two Anubis statues, which absolutely dwarf and tower over the minifigures. Both Anubis statues are positioned on turntables, allowing you to swivel them around and display them as you please.

They were quite fun to build, and despite using a small number of elements, they look great with some nice details such as the snout, eyes, and even their rock-hard abs.

Both statues really add some visual brilliance to the set, and I have a particularly soft spot for tall LEGO builds, and with the minifigures to provide a sense of scale, the effect of these statues just makes the build look so much larger than it is.

77013 Escape from the Lost Tomb Play Features

In a homage to LEGO sets in the 90s, particularly Adventurers and Studios, Escape from the Lost Tomb is packed with interactive play features that makes for an especially engaging play set.

Firstly, in a nod to Indy’s hatred of snakes, there’s a little chute that you drops a snake on his poor head.

At the back, there is a classic trap-door mechanism, which reveals the mummy, scaring Marion!

It’s pretty fun and works really well to setup this particular scene.

And last nut not least, we have the Anubis statue that can be tipped over by flicking a lever, falling and taking down a section of the wall with it.

I was really impressed by the ingenuity of this play feature. With most other wall-destroying play features, you usually have chunks of wall flying all over the plate, but this one just gets knocked over, and the Anubis also stays in place, allowing you to reset the scene with minimal cleanup and destruction.

The dynamism of this set, and the ability to dramatically alter the shape of the set is very cool, and makes for a lot of fun, especially for younger kids.

What I liked:

• Incredible value at an unheard-of price point for a set of this caliber
• Great lineup of minifigures with Sallah
• Plenty of fun references to Raiders, as well as other LEGO Easter Eggs
• Well-designed play features

What I didn’t like: 

• Could use more snakes
• Some exposed Technic parts make it look less refined than it could be

Final Thoughts:

One of the chief complaints about LEGO in 2023 is that licensed sets are usually poor value, and most sets are overpriced.

77013 Escape from the Lost Tomb bucks the trend by delivering a stellar LEGO Indiana Jones experience at a frankly unheard of price tag, which is great news if your LEGO budget is on the modest side.

There’s a lot of value packed into this, with 4 great minifigures, including the long-awaited debut of Sallah as a minifigure. The new updated Indiana Jones minifigure is superb, and the high-quality printing is fairly consistent across all 4 minifigures in the set.

The set itself is fairly large, much larger and taller than you’d expect from a US$39.99 set, which further adds to the kudos being showered on this set.

The Anubis statues are visually attractive, and the plethora of Easter Eggs and play features deliver a lot of joy to nostalgic adult LEGO fans, or kids wanting to play and re-enact scenes from the movie.

There are some small flaws, such as exposed Technic beams and bricks which are a little distracting, but for US$39.99, if that’s the only complaint, you know that LEGO have themselves a winner.

This is definitely the most value-packed set in the entire wave, and even at full price, there’s a lot to like with the set, and one that I highly recommend getting if you want a stepping stone back into LEGO Indiana Jones.

Build [3] – Fairly simple and basic build, with the Anubis being really fun to put together
Real Value [5] – Exceptionally fair-priced for 4 great minifigures and a fairly large model
Innovation [4] – Really fun play features that are hidden nicely and integrate well with the source material
Coolness [4] – Brings a classic Raiders of the Lost Ark setting to life
Keepability [4] – A really easy set to display thanks to how large, colourful and fun it looks

Rating and score: 4/5 ★★★★✰

Thanks for reading this review of 77013 Escape from the Lost Tomb! I’ll have more Indiana Jones reviews from the rest of the wave, so keep your eyes peeled for them in the coming week!

77013 Escape from the Lost Tomb and the rest of the LEGO Indiana Jones wave will be available from1 April 2023 from LEGO.com, your local LEGO store or most toy stores.

If you plan on purchasing 77013 Escape from the Lost Tomb please consider using the affiliate links found in the post to support the blog, as I may receive a small commission with each purchase.

What do you think of this set, and its price? Will you be picking it up?

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