Spoooooky sets...
Posted by TheBrickPal,
Happy Halloween!
Whether you are about to go trick-or-treating with friends, watching a horror movie or just heading to a costume party, this article has everything you need to prepare for the scares. If you survive this, you should be able to endure anything that comes your way today.
The following LEGO products have been showcased due to their incredibly frightening nature - enter if you dare...
We begin this scary journey with some miscellaneous spooky sets from the generally-bright LEGO portfolio...
Of course, the Halloween holiday has snuck its way into the popular LEGO Seasonal theme - and in big ways! While some sets have been fairly cute and harmless, like 40013 Halloween Ghost and 40090 Halloween Bat, others have been completely horrifying; 40032 Witch and this year's 40203 Vampire and Bat, for example!
The Monthly Mini Model Build at LEGO Brand Stores has been home to numerous Halloween-based models in the month of October.
The line of blind-bag LEGO Collectable Minifigures has brought us some of the most creepy characters yet! This all started with the turkey-leg-munching Zombie in Series 1, and expanded with ones like Crazy Scientist in Series 4 and Vampire Bat in Series 8. Other scream-inducing minifigures include Mr. Good and Evil, Spooky Girl and Spooky Boy. All of this also lead LEGO to releasing a whole entire "Monsters" dedicated wave, Series 14, last year!
In 2002 Studios contributed with 1380 Werewolf Ambush, 1381 Vampire's Crypt, 1382 Scary Laboratory and 1383 Curse of the Pharoah. In 2009 the sadly now-defunct Games theme even got in on the eerie fun with 3837 Monster 4.
The LEGO in-house action and adventure themes have reached deep into our souls and brought our deepest, darkest fears into reality in tiny plastic form, too.
Castle existed as Fright Knights in 1997 and 1998; incorporating spookiness such as bat props. The fantasy era of the line in 2007 involved a kingdom's battle against a dark wizard and his evil skeleton army - containing undead horses, dragons and more. 2008 and 2009 saw a slight change, with gruesome trolls as the main antagonists! In this year's new big-bang theme Nexo Knights, equally-scary, demon-like lava monsters take the stage as the main antagonists; lead by former court jester Jestro and the Book of Monsters.
If spooky, scary skeletons send shivers down your spine, then 2283 Witch Doctor is absolutely guaranteed to. This beast of a constraction figure from Hero Factory has quite the off-putting look to him; he could give anybody the jeebies!
Monster Fighters is a strong, scary example. This theme only lasted for one year, 2012, and followed a group of heroes banding together to stop the evil Lord Vampyre and his monsters from unleashing eternal night using six Moonstones.
And that is not all...
In 2014's The LEGO Movie, Emmet's mentor Vitruvius is brutally murdered and decapitated with a penny by Lord Business. He then comes back as a ghost. Though Emmet is spooked at first, Ghost Vitruvius helps him to save the day. This variant of the Master Builder wizard can be found in 70818 Double-Decker Couch, and he can even glow in the dark!
Since 2014, Mixels has created monsters that are so cute, they could be considered terrifyingly so. However, none could be more evil than the Glowkies in 2015's Series 4! At least, that is what fellow Mixel Moon tribe the Orbitons thought. These bat and insect-like creatures featured glow-in-the-dark elements; their leader, 41533 Globert, has just one huge eye! Talk about unsettling...
In its recently-concluded second generation, BIONICLE has embraced the undead. Both 2015 waves, particularly the summer, involved a Skull Army of different shapes and sizes taking on the heroic Toa! Fortunately, they were defeated, and the haunted City of the Mask Makers they inhabited was restored to normal.
Ninjago is home to quite a few mysterious storylines that are sure to give a fright. In the theme's debut year of 2011, an army of 'Skulkins' and their skeleton-like leader, Lord Garmadon, decided to take over the island of Ninjago. A new team of ninja lead by the warlord's wise younger brother Wu were able to defeat them and send them back to the Underworld.
Later on in the storyline, last year, Wu's former pupil Morro escaped from the Cursed Realm as a ghost - gathering fellow apparitions in an effort to take over Ninjago as well. Morro then took possession of Garmadon's son, team member Lloyd. The ghosts and their realm were finally destroyed in a final battle with the Preeminient; the Cursed Realm itself, showing that it was really a giant, sentient monster! Lloyd was then freed from Morro's control. In the process, black ninja Cole transformed into a ghost at Master Yang's haunted temple.
This year, the ghostly Yang reappeared on the Day of the Departed; Ninjago's own version of Halloween. He caused statue versions of the ninjas' past enemies (in a museum exhibit) to come to life for revenge - all due to the current lunar eclipse allowing him to, and because he wanted to be remembered in history for doing something noteworthy. The revived villains were finally thwarted, Yang was reasoned with, and Cole returned to human form before night's end.
Spooky, am I right?
Before we end our journey, we must take a look at some gruesome sets based on movies, TV shows and other properties. Licensed themes have been a unique way for The LEGO Group to show off their bone-chilling side.
The Harry Potter sets by LEGO have inspired fans of the magical films for years, and they contain some mythical, disturbing creatures and elements that may not be for the faint of heart. This aesthetic is promising to continue with the spin-off Fantastic Beasts' packs for the video game/toy hybrid LEGO Dimensions.
Archeologist Indiana Jones has had his fair share of encounters with the paranormal. 7623 Temple Escape, 7199 The Temple of Doom, and 7627 Temple of the Crystal Skull are ancient locations represented in LEGO form that contain spooky spikes, skeletons, flames and more! As if things could not get more scary for this theme, 7196 Chauchilla Cemetery Battle showcases Indy and Mutt William's face-off with some creepy cemetery warriors!
Ghoulish franchise Ghostbusters has had an especially unusual history with LEGO. It began with a set from Ideas in 2014, celebrating the original film's 30th anniversary. This year, it made its way into Dimensions with the scary-but-lovable Stay Puft, glutinous ghost Slimer, and busters Venkman and Yates. We even received a massive Firehouse Headquarters (75827) for classic ghost-busting action and the rebooted, all-female team's ghost-busting vehicles (75828).
In the Minecraft theme, Steve and Alex have had to survive the night against monsters you would not want to meet - giant spiders, zombies, skeletons, tall Endermen and explosive Creepers, just to name a few...
In the theme of Ideas, 21304 Doctor Who introduced us to minifigure forms of the Doctor's Weeping Angel adversaries - predatory stone statues!
Scooby-Doo only lasted a five-set run and single Dimensions pack last year, but its products were no less frightening. The iconic Mystery Gang apprehended many fake monsters, like the false zombie and mechanical tree in 75902 The Mystery Machine.
Marvel Super Heroes took advantage of the Spirit of Vengeance and his fiery Hell Cycle in 76058 Spider-Man: Ghost Rider Team-Up.
Last but certainly not least, Dimensions will give us vampire queen Marceline (71285) and mischievous Mogwai, Gizmo and Stripe (71256), in November.
Have you enjoyed our in-depth look at Halloween and spookiness' history in LEGO sets? I hope that it was an informative read.
Let us know of anything we missed or what your plans for today are in the comments below!
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32 comments on this article
The Lego Lord of the Rings set line has some creepy stuff (orcs, ghost kings, etc), as do the Indiana Jones sets (Temple of Doom, Crystal Skulls)...
^ Right!
You forgot to mention the murderous 40205 Elves' Workshop and the terifying 40228 Geoffrey & Friends!
^ That's all based on subjective opinion!
And Scala babies!
What about the minecraft monsters?
Not bad but Star Wras could really sneak into this list as well: Vader, Darth Maul, Ventress, etc.
You forgot Galidor! ;D
This list is by no means exhaustive, everyone. :-)
The weeping angel in 21304 is pretty scary too!!
Then there is the absolutely adorable DUPLO 2893 'Boy with ghost'.
http://brickset.com/sets/2893-1/Boy-with-ghost
I once bought a second-hand 6081 King's Mountain Fortress, already built. It wasn't until several days later that I walked in the front room in the dark and realised my castle was haunted!
Whoever had built it had put the ghost in the front arched window and I didn't realise he was there until I saw him glowing away that night.
Loving this article! Although, let's not forget Castle has even more of a scary history with skeletons, ghosts and even the entire Fright Knights subtheme dating back to the 90s. Still, I love reading up on these historical articles!
Fright Knights, anyone?
Adding!
^ Again, that's all subjective. They're not intended to be scary, and other people will instead find them cute. The stuff that is ACTUALLY based on scariness is what my article contains.
Lego seems to do well with spooky themes in general, I think. Scooby-Doo was one of my favorite themes ever. Aside from a few unfortunate exclusions (missing-glasses Velma, Space Kook, Captain Cutler, etc.), it was perhaps a perfect all-encompassing theme; something rather rare to see for Lego. Plus Lego's large offering of CMF monster figures allows endless mysteries for the gang.
Studios I think is what paved the way for more Lego in house-Halloween stuff. Even with the "studio" setting it does seem to have a much darker feeling than its (admittedly--in a good way) more successful successor, Monster Fighters. Plus, I love Studios because it includes my favorite minifigure, the first Lego Vampire.
Anyone remember the IT crowd scene were Richmond does a grim monologue about troding on a piece of Lego,
"Passing to my window, I trod on a piece of Lego.Right in the heel"
Great article!
You forgot the disturbingly scary children's costumes released this year!
Although i guess there aren't sets.
*they
Galidor sets are objectively and undoubtedly spooky. Just look at them! They're like spawn of pure evil!
I would add 75159 to that list, at £399.99 my bank account is terrified.
Why did you not include the Lego studios monster movie sets?
Great listing here, and I appreciate the added images to the article. Thank you! I agree that there are some scary stuff in Minecraft. I think the Scooby-Doo and Monster Fighters sets are the spookiest.
^^ I did?
I never knew that those Mixels had glow-in-the-dark parts!
Overall, there's been more scary Lego than I thought. Just ordered my first Scooby Doo set, as it happens...
What about the Bioicle Barraki line? They were pretty frightening-looking, vs. the rest of the Bionicle sets...I think I saw the word "Lovecraftian" thrown around to describe them.
... yeah, I still think you should've mentioned Geoffrey and Friends, aka, "Two children still missing after being abducted by a drunken giraffe" :).
I always found the blank faced original Green Goblin mask pretty terrifying! Especially considering in the original Spider-Man film his pumpkin bombs seemed to have the same localised effect as the nuclear explosion in Terminator 2.
I appreciate the article isn't meant to be exhaustive but I'm really very surprised that the Halloween Accessory Set (850487) that features a grave, witch and two undead, and the Halloween Set (850936) that has an undead and a coffin (and not much else) didn't get a mention! If charnel and living-dead references aren't spooky, I don't know what is.
I have 850936 that I got from the LEGO store in 2014. I never got round to opening it and think around now would be a good time. {voice=the count}One! One unopened LEGO vampire set. Bwahahahahaha!{/voice}
No mention of the classic ghost in castle? That was the spookiest thing they had since... Blacktron?
And don't forget 4766 Graveyard Duel! That might be the creepiest of them all! The skeletons in it are scattered across the graveyard. And their limbs are, too! I don't want to know why they put an arm and a leg in a trashcan :<
Anyway, great article thought! Is it bad I have been collecting most of these sets all year round?
A nice selection of sets. There is so much that could always be added. But it makes one curious to search out other "spooky" sets.
Think for the HP section it might be worth spotlighting Peeves, the poltergeist character LEGO included who wasn't part of the films, and maybe the glow-in-the-dark way they portrayed Snape.
Here's my top 5 picks for the SPOOKIEST LEGO sets! :D
https://goo.gl/Gkr8ov