Mighty Max Trapped by Arachnoid
Mighty Max Doom Zone Playset Review
This Mighty Max Doom Zone has a very obvious Spider theme and comes complete with a mad scientists laboratory and a dungeon. Within the set itself, you get 3 characters including Mighty Max, the main villain Arachnoid and his mutated spider pet, Creeps. For this playset, I also keep a Virgil in the cage and a Norman mini-figure to keep Arachnoid distracted.
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Mighty Max Trapped by Arachnoid is a Doom Zone playset that basically doubles as a dungeon and a laboratory. There’s some great spider-themed details going on throughout the inside of the playset. And it combines well with the grey brickwork for the ground level. I’ve complained about sets that overuse the black plastic but there’s a great balance here overall with the painted details. As well as the additional grey, purple and black molded plastics.
For a spider mutant, there’s a pretty good laboratory set up here. A bit like a split-level studio apartment. With the lab at the top and a dungeon section below it where the mutant can get to work. Plenty of opportunities to enslave, torture and experiment with his prey.
It’s only a small detail, but the slits in the plastic create a great sense of depth. There’s a prison area sitting just below the floor that helps tie this theme together.
I really appreciate that Mighty Max Trapped by Arachnoid uses multiple levels to convey the scene. They weren’t lazy with the spider-theme and were able to tie in some great horrific details.
So the story for Mighty Max Trapped by Arachnoid. Max basically cuts a leg off creep and uses the Protein Processor to cause an explosion. Destroying the lab. Simple and pretty typical for a Mighty Max story line. Of course, there was also a TV episode using a lot of the great source material right from the playset.
The TV episode, Along Came Arachnoid, had some great spidery moments. It also did a great job playing up Norman’s only fear, spiders. They carried over the crazy scientist vibe and added some great explosions. But Arachnoid, fully transformed, just wasn’t as cool or creepy. The episode didn’t have that cool dungeon feel either. You can read up a little more on the TV episode over at the Mighty Max Wikia.
One thing I liked about the whole spider theme was that it wasn’t ‘too’ far fetched. It could actually be adapted into a Horror Story instead of just a kids Saturday morning cartoon. Let’s face it, Skullmaster wasn’t really scaring anybody.
I find I have a much better appreciation for this playset looking back after all these years. It was a common one with an unimaginative spider exterior. But hey, looking back,there’s plenty here to enjoy with this theme.
