Building the 3828 Air Temple

[Noodlenut]

Before I get started, I'd like to thank Jaisonline for letting me use his review technique and for bringing us some fabulous reviews that I'm sure we all enjoy!

In this review, I'll be building the 3828 Air Temple from the Avatar theme! I got this set rather unexpectedly at a yardsale for $10 dollars. It was in a box that also had a few other sets (incomplete and complete.) Thankfully, this set was mostly complete, and was just missing a few other pieces, the box, and the instructions. I've been able to complete the temple and I think that it is definately worth the thirty dollar retail price. There are 42 total steps for the temple. I'll start by building the temple, then the minifigures, and then the extras.

(Thanks to Bricklink for the box image)

If you would like to view the instructions, they're available on Brickset to download.

Bricklink parts inventory

Brickpicker price guide

Exclusive pieces (minus minifigures):

(Thanks to Brickset for the parts images)

Exclusive minifigure: Sokka

(Thanks to Brickset for the minifigure image)

[Noodlenut]

Finishing up the main structure.  Here's the front:

 

 

As you can see, I'm missing the 1X2 brown tile on the left.

 

Here's the back:

 

 

One of my biggest complaints about this set is that the instructions were pathetic.  They didn't show if a piece has technic holes in it or not, and they also don't show studs very well.  Also, the distinction between brown and black was very little, and made the set very hard to build.

 

A closeup of the weapons area behind one of the LURPs (Little Ugly Rock Piece)

 

[Noodlenut]

Alright, we've just finished up step twenty-one.

 

 

 

There's a really cool feature with the doors.  If you spin the left swirly thing to the left, it will actually lock the door.  To unlock it, you just spin it the other way.

 

 

Turning the wheel from the other end of the door...

 

 

And now the door is locked.

 

[Noodlenut]

Step twenty-nine has just been finished, and here are the results:

 

 

 

The thing that I'm loving about this set is all the play features.  Sets in 2006 were designed differently than they are now.  I like both styles, but I grew up with 2007 - 2008 sets, and this set reminds me of them.

 

There's one play feature in the back where you can pull out a technic pin and the floor falls down on a hinge.  It's very similar to the one in the Prince of Persia set Battle for the Dagger.

 

Edited September 11, 2014 by Noodlenut

[Noodlenut]

This is at step thirty-six.  Unfortunately, when I got this set, the window stickers that go on the front were missing.

 

 

The green piece on the top is printed, and it's exclusive to this set.  I think they did a good job with it.

 

There will be a picture of the back in the post of the completed model.

[Migration]

Looks like a cool little build.

There is a similar trap door feature in the Scorpion Pyramid as well.

[Noodlenut]

Sorry about taking so long in posting this last build post.  Life's been busy.

 

Here we have the mostly completed build.  I say "mostly" because I had to substitute some parts, and some I did not have, so I just used similar pieces.

 

 

The back:

 

 

The top:

 

 

My final thoughts on the completed build:

 

There are some parts of this set that I like and some that I don't.  My favorite part is the locking door.  It works nicely and adds some playability to the model.

I'll give playability a 5/5.  There are three main play functions in the temple alone.  There are only a few things that I don't like about the play features.  One being the catapult.  It seems random and takes away from the display value of the whole set.  My other complaint is that the trap-door function hinders how transportable this set is.  If you move and tilt it even slightly, the little green pieces will move to one side or another and then have to be placed in their proper positions again.

I like how this set contains larger pieces like the green top piece, little rock pieces on the sides, and the various larger plates.  The white baseplate is also a nice bonus.

The display of this set is acceptable, yet could be better.  It seems slightly unfinished, and could use more details.  I don't how after the first story, details begin to fade away.  I think that it would look better to add more plates on the second story to give the temple a smoother look.

Overall, I really like the set.  I would not pay current market prices for it, but it was definitely worth the ten dollars that I got it for at a yard sale.  I'd say that a lot of the value of this set is in the minifigures, which are very well done.  I'll get to those in a later post.

 

I'd give the temple a 6.5 out of 10.  Lots of playability, yet aimed at kids, and does not have the best display value, yet the rare pieces make up for some of this.

 

Edited September 21, 2014 by Noodlenut

[marcandre]

Avatar was a great show. Hate I missed out on these sets.