>>11088140I voted for the Snake Lair, bought many of the Snake Men, and was looking forward to this playset more than anything this year, and yet I am extremely disappointed in what Mattel is offering.
This product seems like a perfect example of working backwards from bad assumptions. Instead of building on the economical designs of Origins playsets, Mattel decided this playset HAD to be crowdfunded. Which meant, in their minds, it HAD to be huge, it HAD to be flashy, and it HAD to be expensive, when in reality, it didn't need to be any of those things.
One of the big reasons I was looking forward to the Snake Lair as it was prototyped was because it looked like a ruined jungle temple. It was light brown with greenish tones, which made it resemble South American temples and brought a new color scheme to MOTU playsets. Not only does the dark brown color scheme not fulfill that fantasy, it reminds me too much of the Super7 Snake Mountain. This does not feel like a complimentary product.
Beyond that, I just find it ugly. It's asymmetrical in a very unsatisfying way. It doesn't have anything truly unique, like the tall vertical stairway from the prototype. It has so many lame snakes instead of one badass snake. It looks like three different playsets bolted together because the various pieces don't fit together organically.
I'll save a bit of money not buying this, but man, I'd have LOVED to spend $80 on that prototype.
Mattel truly sucks when it comes to crowdfunding.
