Review: 40122 Trick or Treat
Posted by Huw,
The handful of seasonal sets that LEGO has produced in recent years to mark Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween, Christmas and other events are among the highlights of its annual output. This year's 40120 Valentine's Day Dinner and 40121 Painting Easter Eggs vignettes were no exception.
The latest vignette in the series, 40122 Trick or Treat, was released on the 1st of September although as I write it's showing as sold out at shop.LEGO.com in the UK, which I guess demonstrates their popularity and desirability.
Is it as good as the other two? Read on...
The set builds an 8x8 vignette of a porch/front door and a small tree and contains two minifigures, one of which is a standard skeleton.
There is a lot of detail in the vignette, including balustrade fences either side, pumpkins, coloured windows either side of the door, a spider and something to the left of it with a bone on it which I presume is a headstone or memorial or something like that. It's an odd thing to include, if that's what it is, but I guess it fills a corner of the model.
It seems the house is habited by a skeleton, or someone in a fancy dress outfit.
There's not a lot of detail round the back, other than a cupcake.
The tree feels a little superfluous and presumably was included to get to the required price point. It's a shame it's black and not brown, and that it's not part of the main vignette.
The little girl who's trick-or-treating is attired in a 'buxom' torso which first appeared in set 6243 Brickbeard's Bounty in 2009. It's a strange choice and seems to be totally inappropriate given the likely age of the girl.
One thing's for sure, when the skeleton opens the door that smile will be wiped from her face pretty quickly... :)
Overall then, it is a neat set but I don't think it reaches the high standard of the other two for the following reasons:
- The front door vignette is okay, but nothing special.
- The tree feels like it has been added at the last minute and does not form part of the main vignette
- The skeleton does not really count as a minifigure.
- The torso is unsuitable for the young girl.
Despite these issues I still recommend you pick it up if you can, particularly if you've been collecting the others.
Next in the series is this Thanksgiving set, which looks to be much better:
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>> and something to the left of it with a bone on it which I presume is a headstone or memorial or something like that. It's an odd thing to include, if that's what it is, but I guess fills a corner of the model.
Not that odd. I imagine it's representative of people decorating their front yards with fake/funny tombstones.
https://mit.zenfs.com/1396/2012/10/DIWN106_lrgthumb17.png
Passing on this one, but the Thanksgiving set may be bought in our household (although my sons probably have all the pieces). I'm baffled by the piece that's sticking out from behind the right side of the wall on the Thanksgiving set, though. What's going on there? I guess U can have some patience to find out...
^It is a pitchfork.
I agree. I rather liked the use of the clear bricks but was disappointed that they largely got covered up. It's still in my office display rotation but the others look better. Looking forward to Thanksgiving.
If the pumpkins were printed or the girl had a new/better torso, I'd be all over this. As it is, the only things that really interest me are the olive green plants and the arches from the tree.
tkatt - now I see it. Thanks.
@Huw: "Pumpkins, coloured windows either side of the door, pumpkins" I guess you like pumpkins :)
The 'pumpkins' in this set are particularly poor considering LEGO now have ACTUAL pumpkin elements, as seen in the Scooby-Doo theme. If they'd have included them, here, I'm sure this would have made this set far more desirable. As it stands, the set looks rather poor in my eyes and is only matched by the selection of parts on offer (again, rather woeful unless you like black slopes).
I echo the comments about Thanksgiving. That set looks MUCH better.
Thanks for the review, Huw. Although I still like aspects of this set (and the photos help), you've convinced me to be happy that I decided to give this set a miss. The inappropriate torso is the clincher. That's supposed to be a witch costume? The three-year old and I will just have to make do with the Scooby Mansion...
To shed more light on the tombstone yard decoration. Here in the States there are some neighborhoods which go all out for Halloween, pitting neighbor against neighbor, with elaborate (and massive) yard decorations. Every bit as massive (in these 'hoods) as the Xmas displays are in others. Last year, there was even a house that did up the front yard as Cloud Cuckoo Palace, much to the delight of my little girl.
Now, I get that Halloween sets will have some international appeal even in countries where trick-or-treating is seen only on-screen, but... Thanksgiving? Does Lego really sell many of these sets outside the US and Canada? Sure, there are harvest festival holidays elsewhere, but I thought turkeys were totally specific to North America?
Thank you for the information: here in the UK we do have kids dressing up and doing trick or treat but I don't think it's usual for people to decorate their houses with much more than a pumpkin and a few cheap and nasty items from the pound shop. I've certainly not seen fake tombstones!
Thanksgiving scenes such as this year's can pass for our traditional Christmas dinner which normally consists of turkey so I think it will sell OK here.
I love it. It reminds me of building scary rides in RCT2. I also get the twilight zone vibe.
I like the set with some modifications.....I switched out the torso from series 2 witch and printed pumpkin. Also, added some series 14 monsters. Check out the pic on our instagram account @littlepopofhorrors We also have a giveaway for series 14 minifigures!
It's a shame this set didn't follow the 'mould' of the previous two and the forthcoming set by having the wall and floor of a room. Inconsistent
Definitely a poor set and does not live up to the standards of the previous holiday vignettes, which were superb. Skipping this one, but will probably pick up the Thanksgiving set.
Man, the quality of these Scooby Doo waves sure did go down quite a bit.
I agree - it doesn't match quality and style of previous ones. However, treating as a single set (not comparing to predecessors) it is quite good. And even standing beside previous ones isn't so bad.
Yeah, my yard gets blittered with tombstones, fences, bones, and even a fog machine. we really do go overboard in the States.
^Some people go overboard in the States. Not "we".
Love these vignettes this year and can't wait for the Thanksgiving one!
Pass on this set, only to more than double up on that great Thanksgiving set! Good parts, figures, and figure-food!!!
Don't mind the vignette, but the figs seem to be pretty bad...
Thanksgiving looks better, although that cart is enormous.
I think the headstone is where the skeleton's dog is burried.
I love spooky Lego, but think I will give this a miss. It's just not very good is it! Can't imagine us putting it near any Monster Fighter stuff on the window sill. Thanksgiving looks super though.
I liked the look of this, but I never noticed the torso figure for the girl being so wildly incorrect. I think it's kinda funny, though.
The criticisms are definitely valid but I still enjoy the set, and a $9.99 price point is hard to get too upset about. I really like smaller sets and wish Lego made more of them.
I was also disappointed with the "bare" pumpkins, a jack-o-lantern face or the new molds used in the Scooby Doo line would have been nice, but something about the simplicity of the pumpkins included is quaint and charming, too. Same goes for the little girl's pail, the new jack-o-lantern pail included in the CMF line would have been nice.
The funny (creepy?) thing is, the "inappropriate torso" might have a little bit of (sad?) cultural relevance. A lot of children's costumes are apparently more and more sexualized in recent years, and there's always a little press about it around Halloween.
It would have been neat if all of the vignettes of this year's seasonal sets could have fit together, but I'm pretty sure that won't be the case. Still, I really love this year's theme of "room vignettes", especially over the cartoony animals of last year. The Thanksgiving one looks great, I'm excited to see Christmas - do we know what it is yet? If not, I bet it'll be either a Christmas morning opening gifts or Santa sneaking in at night with a child sneaking a peek.
I'll pass on this one and save my money for the Thanksgiving set. It's a shame we didn't get a decent vignette this time. TLG could have put a bit more effort into it, especially with the Scooby-Doo sets and the CMF series we gained this year. The tree should never have been included, it's as simple as that. LEGO vignettes (even ones built by fans) are typically built on an 8x8 plate with a slight overhang. You do not add in any mini-builds that are built on other plates. The actual vignette looks like it's been built by a kid. I really don't want to see anymore vignettes released by TLG that are as bad as this. Can't we even get a good little £9 Halloween set?
The Christmas set looks much better than the Haloween set, which doesn't seem to fit in with the other three.
With regards to the torso. I am not bothered. Could be part of the costume or a kid who is actually a teenager. Kids think in simple terms anyway to identify gender regarding dolls and anatomy. I am happy I have my order for it placed as I have the others. Very excited about the Thanksgiving scene.
Is this a LEGO exclusive? If not, where can I get it in the U.S.?
Do some of you really consider that torso as sexy?
Weird.
I already have the Easter set and will most likely pick up the thanksgiving one to going to have to pass on this one though. :( Have a happy Halloween:)
This is showing as sold out on Lego Shop@Home
This set makes me laugh. For that reason and only that reason I shall buy one.