Oh, LEGO has done Mario before!

I really liked these big figs that came out of Orient Expedition. The tiger monster makes a great villain for my Lego rogue's gallery, and the Yeti set (despite having a very small cave) was nifty too.

Orient Expedition was neat :D Never had this set... or, actually, any of the China wave sets, since the sparkle had worn off the theme a bit, for me, by the time they came around. I remember that I set out at the beginning of the year with intention to save up for all three of the big sets in the theme...

That lasted until I got Scorpion Palace, at least. But, while cool, I found that set a little underwhelming due to its lack of depth and, to a degree, its fragility when built, so I kinda abandoned that pursuit. (And besides, by the summer wave my interest was firmly captured by Bionicle again, with its upcoming movie and especially its Takua / Jaller / Takanuva sets.)

In hindsight, I think, I would have given the Palace a miss and kept that money for the Dragon Fortress instead, which looks like a truly impressive set for its time. But I still had fun with the Scorpion Palace when I was a kid, so it counts as a win for me either way ^^

I also had the Elephant Caravan, too; but the only one of these small 'monster' sets I had was the Yeti. Although the Tygurah was easily the most appealing monster, I found the Yeti's scenery (and included minifigure, since I already had Dr. Kilroy with a vest from the Palace) more interesting, hence why I chose that one instead.

I have this et as a hand-me-down from my dad. I found it when we were visiting my grandparents and the bigish-fig was so cool

@BionicleJedi said:
"Orient Expedition was neat :D Never had this set... or, actually, any of the China wave sets, since the sparkle had worn off the theme a bit, for me, by the time they came around. I remember that I set out at the beginning of the year with intention to save up for all three of the big sets in the theme...

That lasted until I got Scorpion Palace, at least. But, while cool, I found that set a little underwhelming due to its lack of depth and, to a degree, its fragility when built, so I kinda abandoned that pursuit. (And besides, by the summer wave my interest was firmly captured by Bionicle again, with its upcoming movie and especially its Takua / Jaller / Takanuva sets.)

In hindsight, I think, I would have given the Palace a miss and kept that money for the Dragon Fortress instead, which looks like a truly impressive set for its time. But I still had fun with the Scorpion Palace when I was a kid, so it counts as a win for me either way ^^

I also had the Elephant Caravan, too; but the only one of these small 'monster' sets I had was the Yeti. Although the Tygurah was easily the most appealing monster, I found the Yeti's scenery (and included minifigure, since I already had Dr. Kilroy with a vest from the Palace) more interesting, hence why I chose that one instead."
My reason for forgoing the China wave sets is that I'm more of a completionist, so since I had the India and Mt. Everest sets I just had to complete them. I'm glad I did. They're on display in my room now, the mini dioramas they are.

I also lucked out and got all the aforementioned Bionicle sets. I got my Takanuva and Teridax through the movie edition bundle, even!