GI Joe - The Mummy's Tomb Revisited

Without a doubt the GI Joe Adventure Team set that fired the most imagination in children was "The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb." It introduced the Adventure Team Vehicle, a six-wheeled all-terrain vehicle based on the popular Amphicat, shown here:

The set also included a tiny mummy in a turquoise sarcophagus, the diminutive size of which has been the butt of some jokes, but ultimately loved by GI Joe fans. Also the suit was a nice tan desert suit, and included one of the most endearing GI Joe headgear items ever - the pith helmet. A net was provided to carry the sarcophagus, and some jewels. And of course how could Joe dig it up without a pick-axe and a shovel?

This set capitolized on the themes of adventure, discovery, and the sheer thrill of finding something ancient and hidden, the very essence of the Adventure Team's perceived goals.

So popular was this set that it was produced for years, and in various forms, including being a major part of the "Super Adventure Set", a Sears exclusive that included items from Pygmy Gorilla and a snow-sled and dog. In 1973 Hasbro added the GI Joe Helicopter, originally introduced in "The Search for the Stolen Idol" set. See below.

Also added to the set was a raft, and some smaller accessories like a storage box, and compass, canteen, holster and pistol, and what appears to be a small animal trap. Some think the addition of the raft to be rather silly considering that the pyramids are in the Egyptian desert, but this argument isn't really valid, as it completely ignores the existence of the Nile River.

I have been collecting my own "Secret of the Mummy's Tomb" piece by piece, slowly but surely. A while ago, a Boxer hit me with wicked Karma! He gave me an ATV! The handles were broken off, and the stickers were missing, but it was fantastic! You can see it here, in my story, "The Package"

Recently I purchased another ATV with handles intact, and including the rare black cargo rails!

On August 27, 2002, a package arrived from a dear old friend of mine. I had no idea what was in it. Opening it revealed the Sarcophagus, the Mummy, the very rare and hard-to-find trio of gems, shovel, pick-axe and pith helmet from his original set he had as a child. Also included was a Sextant, not part of the Mummy set. Here's a pic of the newer ATV, complete with all the gear my friend sent me. Standing in for the Mummy's Tomb Joe is the Timeless Collection repro Australian Soldier, who is dressed similarly, but not identically, to the Mummy Joe.

So one of the things most GI Joe Adventure Team fans of today want to do is to recreate and update the Mummy's Tomb set.

I have slowly gained pieces that I can add to my set, but have not completed my version yet. I was intending to use the 21st Century Schwimmwagen as my desert ATV, painted yellow of course, but I have several other options, including the custom Kettenkrad I'm working on, as well as an original ATV that I got in the mail as Karma. (More on that later!)

I started with the new Pygmy Gorilla Joe, with his full AT-like beard, and muscular arms. I gave him a desert outfit that is very reminiscent of the original in spirit. A tan pair of shorts and jacket (from a Power Team Hunter figure, I believe), with a pith helmet. The pith helmet I found was from a 21st Century carded outfit. I have some alteration to do, but minor. Other options include the helmet from the Bob Hope set, but that set is expensive, and cannot be easily found at discount prices, which would be necessary to justify buying it just to get a pith helmet. Some sanding will remove the red and gold Soviet star from the pith helmet, and perhaps a small AT logo could replace it.

I added a holster and gun from the Theodore Roosevelt set, just in case Pyramid Hunter Joe comes up against opposing forces, which, after the Indiana Jones movie, seems inevitable. Tan socks and short boots complete the outfit nicely.

The next problem was to find a reasonably scaled sarcophagus, which could be smaller than a GI Joe, but not as small as the original 1970s sarcophagus.

I tried various places, but what I found, while being nicely detailed, were either too small, too heavy, or too expensive, sometimes more than one of those. Most of them were made of heavy plaster, or metal.

Then I discovered that Polar Lights was producing a "The Mummy" model kit based on the recent movie. It comes with a sarcophagus that's about 10" long, and perfect for this project. It was still slightly pricey, however, but as I did a review of the model for Science Fiction Weekly, I actually made money on the deal. Here it is as intended for the kit:

I chucked the mummy itself. Painted the sarcophagus with Testor's Gold model paint, and brushed it with black to give it an aged look, and painted the figure on it with blue and red highlights, as seen in the sarcophagi above, and in museums.

For the moment, I have decided that I would use my customized Kettenkrad for my ATV for this mission. Below is what I have completed so far in my updated, resurrected "Revisiting of the Mummy's Tomb".

- Adventures Of GI Joe as described above
- Customized Kettenkrad
- Pick-Axe and Shovel from original set
- Shovel, axe and gas cans from SOTW vehicle accessory set
- Sunglasses from a Get Real Girl.
- Flashlight from a keychain. (works!)
- "Wooden" crates from SOTW crated ammunition set
- Stone Cask from Sideshow Toy's Mummy 9" figure set
- Scroll with heiroglyphs (not shown - inside cask, from same)
- Heiroglyph Tablet (from same)
- Small treasure cask from The Mummy playset
- Golden Cat Statuette (from same)
- Sarcophagus from "The Mummy" Polar Lights kit
- Amphora (from same)
- Canopic Jars from 12" Electronic Mummy set
- Pile of coins from the Captain Action Kabai Singh set
- Mummy (not shown) may be the 9" Bride of Frankenstein set from Sideshow.

The centerpiece for this set is the customized Kettenkrad. I have plans to eventually paint this standard tan 21st Century Kettenkrad either orange, or yellow, to conform with the AT standard vehicle colors.

Here's the original Kettenkrad. Note the forked motorcycle front wheel. I removed that, took the rubber handlebars off and attached them to the side of the frame, more like the original ATV.

Why orange? Because I thought that it would make a cool new Troublemaker, the ATV's Adventure Team cousin:.

So, painted orange, it could look like this: (This is simply a photoshop job, not a real paint. That comes later.)

This is another angle on the conversion clearly showing the removal of the front wheel, and the control handlebars.

Hasbro, partly as the next logical step in their "Adventures Of" Joe line, that includes "Challenge at Hawk River", "Perils of the Raging Inferno", "Save the Tiger" and "Rescue the Pygmy Gorilla", which reprises older Adventure Team sets, has released a new version of "Secret of the Mummy's Tomb" which will actually feature the Adventure Team logo for the first time in decades!

The set includes a muscle-armed Joe with Gung Ho Grip, with four different flocked head sculpts, seen here.

Joe is wearing tan pants and a tan vest with four real pockets with flaps and an Adventure Team logo, and a repro Adventure Team dog tag! He wears a great pith helmet that is subtlely stained, and has high brown boots. He carries a .45 automatic, but has no holster to put it in. He has a rubber whip that is very nice. It can actually whip very effectively. The set comes also with a small shovel, three gems, a belt that sheaths a large knife, and has a slot that can hold either the whip or the shovel, but not both.

The set also comes with a wonderfully detailed mummy's sarcophagus with a detailed mummy inside. The back of the sarcophagus has a snake-shaped lever that, if pulled, causes the mummy's arm to lift. Woooooo! Scary!

For the first time in many years Hasbro's figures come with gray plastic Adventure Team dog tags. The gray is a little lighter and more translucent than the original gray dog tags, but they are a welcome sight:

What I find nice about this set is that the sarcophagus remains relatively true to the original in scale, which as I said, made it endearing. But they improved on its detail immensely. And rather than the impossibly smooth, impossibly white mummy, Hasbro has decided to go more realistic, which is a plus.

Also, the gems are highly appropriate, as they are smaller versions of the three that come with the vintage set.

While the tan pants, brown boots, and vest are great items, I would have liked to have seen a shirt for the vest to go over. Note my pictures below. One of my Mummy's Tomb Joes is wearing a white T-shirt. Looks great!

The truly great pieces, however, are the pith helmet, and finally! A repro Adventure Team dog tag!

Here's Joe wearing Teddy Roosevelt's glasses, and a white t-shirt under his vest.

Here, the AT Commander briefs the Joe team on the mission. Hasbro take note: Jane looks pretty good as an Egyptologist.

This is a scan of the back of the new Mummy's Tomb Box. It's a gorgeous box, reminiscent of covers of Doc Savage novels, which I'm a huge fan of.

At the side of the box there is a photo of the actual set, set up in a pose similar to the painting featured on the back. The picture is normal on one side, but reversed on the other, but the funny thing is the AT logo is on the wrong side of the vest.

Anyway, my summary of this set is that for Hasbro to have made it any more perfect would have required two things: 1) A white shirt; and 2) a reproduced or updated ATV.