Review: 40493 Spider and Haunted House
Posted by Huw,
LEGO began producing Halloween-themed sets in 1998. The first was 3047 Halloween Bucket, which offered those in the USA their first opportunity to acquire a large quantity of orange pieces, which were uncommon at the time.
There's been a steady stream of them since, and this year two are being released, including 40493 Spider & Haunted House, the second to feature hanging ornaments, after last year's 854049 Pumpkin & Bat Duo.
Unless you get your Christmas tree out three months early, I'm not sure where you're supposed to hang them, or is there a tradition in the USA that I'm not aware of?
Unusually for LEGO spider models this one has the correct number of legs, although it's impossible to pose them realistically because two are hinged vertically and the other two horizontally.
Nevertheless and despite the fangs, it looks quite cute!
String is provided to thread through the Technic connector on the top to facilitate hanging.
The haunted house is just too small to look anything like one, and is totally reliant on stickers to give it any sort of resemblance a building.
The fact that it's symmetrical doesn't really help, either.
Unlike last year's 854049 Pumpkin & Bat Duo, which came in an interesting shaped box that made it more attractive, this one comes in a plain square one, so given the weakness of one of the models here, it does not have a lot going for it.
It'll be available at LEGO.com from 1st August, priced at £8.99 / $9.99 / €9.99.
Thanks to LEGO for providing the set for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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32 comments on this article
I can speak from an American's perspective. We don't have a Halloween tree tradition. Idk what the purpose of these ornaments are for, but I quite like that spider.
^ to hang it at the window or Porch (or lamp)
The Haunted House looks good! It'll be a nice addition to my Halloween bush.
I really like the spider! I'm not big on these types of animal builds though, if anything I'm inspired to make a spider BrickHeadz, with the number of extra BrickHeadz eyes I have.
At least they based the haunted house on 10228 and not 10273! Albeit a symmetrical version, unusual but in a neat way.
I like the spider, though it's generic enough to be built from any decent parts collection. Maybe with fewer protruding mismatched colours, as well!
As for the 'Haunted House', I don't think it works even with the stickers. The graphics looks like they've tried to render brick-built windows instead of real windows, and they just don't work when shrunk down like that. And the tiny representations of bars and shutters look more like broken paintbrushes stuck to the outside of the building.
A shame, as I quite liked last year's 854049: Pumpkin & Bat Duo. At least the Haunted House ornament explains that withering frown from the 40497 Halloween Owl!
The answer you are looking for is probably door + window handles, off picture frames, ... that is where my wife usually hangs our Halloween spiders and such
Yeah... I'm really confused there too.
I've never heard of doing a Halloween tree, but I'm sure some people care enough about it for that.
Actually, probably a lot of people, based on my neighborhood.
I don’t want to be pedantic (actually I really really do) but I can’t see a single plane of symmetry through that house, even without stickers. I like the way they’ve captured the essence of the original even with the constraints of scale and a hanging attachment.
Both builds are nice but the haunted houses rocks! Stickers in that scale are always nice for various micro-builds!
What a shame that they did not even take the time to at least create different stickers for the different sides of the house.
@Kynareth said:
"I don’t want to be pedantic (actually I really really do) but I can’t see a single plane of symmetry through that house, even without stickers. I like the way they’ve captured the essence of the original even with the constraints of scale and a hanging attachment."
It's diagonally symmetrical.
It's not a widespread thing, but Halloween trees are slowly becoming a thing here in the US. Also I think DualBoot has it spot on "^ to hang it at the window or Porch (or lamp)"
Perfectly to scale
Thanks for the honest review. I love the haunted house and am eager to see it for myself. Perhaps a good 'doll house' inside one of my brick haunted houses. Think I'll be adding some length to the spider's legs to make him a little scarier.
The haunted house looks like the one from Monster Fighters.
I'm going to quibble: there ARE people who do Halloween trees. (Google "Halloween tree" and you'll see examples.) It's not common, but it's not nil, either.
Some people do themed trees outside of the Christmas season. My own household had a Mardi Gras tree this year when we didn't feel like taking the Christmas tree down.
@Huw - has LEGO said one way or the other that there will not be a Halloween Brickheadz model this year? I've seen people say it has been discontinued but I don't believe everything I read on the internet.
@Huw said:
" @Kynareth said:
"I don’t want to be pedantic (actually I really really do) but I can’t see a single plane of symmetry through that house, even without stickers. I like the way they’ve captured the essence of the original even with the constraints of scale and a hanging attachment."
It's diagonally symmetrical."
It’s on a 4x6 plate, but granted, I see your point that is an identical build on both sides regardless of symmetry.
Scary.
@Huw said:
"It's diagonally symmetrical."
Scientifically spoken it would be called - twofold - axis of rotation.
(There is no plane of reflection.)
I've never heard of a Halloween Tree, but many people do get really excited for Halloween and decorate a lot. It sort of becomes the entire month of October in the same way that all of December is more or less the "Christmas season". Not sure how big it is in other countries. It's largely capitalistic with the huge markets of selling candy, costumes, decorations, haunted house/theme park attractions, etc.
Get some plastic sticky hooks and hag these from the ceiling :)
@Huw said:
" @Kynareth said:
"I don’t want to be pedantic (actually I really really do) but I can’t see a single plane of symmetry through that house, even without stickers. I like the way they’ve captured the essence of the original even with the constraints of scale and a hanging attachment."
It's diagonally symmetrical."
Specifically, it has radial symmetry, which is of course a form of symmetry so you are correct.
@Kynareth said:
" @Huw said:
" @Kynareth said:
"I don’t want to be pedantic (actually I really really do) but I can’t see a single plane of symmetry through that house, even without stickers. I like the way they’ve captured the essence of the original even with the constraints of scale and a hanging attachment."
It's diagonally symmetrical."
It’s on a 4x6 plate, but granted, I see your point that is an identical build on both sides regardless of symmetry."
Ok Mr. Chemist or Physicist (or Mathematician), can you build a chiral mode for us?
"Specifically, it has radial symmetry, which is of course a form of symmetry so you are correct."
As in this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotational_symmetry
PS: I earned a Chemical Engineering degree in 1998. Never did it, forgot 90% of it. Not confident in my comments :)
@asherkobin said:
" @Kynareth said:
" @Huw said:
" @Kynareth said:
"I don’t want to be pedantic (actually I really really do) but I can’t see a single plane of symmetry through that house, even without stickers. I like the way they’ve captured the essence of the original even with the constraints of scale and a hanging attachment."
It's diagonally symmetrical."
It’s on a 4x6 plate, but granted, I see your point that is an identical build on both sides regardless of symmetry."
Ok Mr. Chemist or Physicist (or Mathematician), can you build a chiral mode for us?
"Specifically, it has radial symmetry, which is of course a form of symmetry so you are correct."
As in this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotational_symmetry
PS: I earned a Chemical Engineering degree in 1998. Never did it, forgot 90% of it. Not confident in my comments :)"
Although this is a 3D object, to visualise its symmetry you can look at it first in the base plane. This set can be thought of as being built on a rectangle ABCD where AB and CD are the 4-stud lengths and AD and BC are the 6-stud lengths. Constructing diagonal AC (or BD) will create two identical triangles which, when then examined in the third dimension, will also be identical.
Does that help?
Regardless of the symmetry or lack there of, I think this pair look much better than the bat & pumpkin from last year, which I thought were a bit rubbish.
I was just saying to myself “Maybe this is a tradition in the UK I don’t know about” lol
I know what the purpose of the ornaments is for! Make a zip line out of fishing line and launch the spider at unsuspecting trick-or-treaters. Or launch the house. Doesn't matter.
I really like these miniature horror stories. The spider is cool. And the house, if you do not look closely closely, is very similar to a large haunted house))) I will try to build lego from my own parts, if I can't buy it. Although cool prints of the spider's eyes and need stickers for home)
I think the miniature Haunted House is quite cute actually, stickers notwithstanding.
10228 is one of my favorite LEGO sets of all time. Pity I never had a chance to get it back when it was available. Especially as just before it went EOL it was sold from Shop at Home at half price! Should have bought several.
Halloween trees aren't common, but they certainly exist in part thanks to the influence of a Ray Bradbury story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Halloween_Tree
Disneyland for example has an annual Halloween Tree in Frontierland based on Bradbury's writing.
"Nevertheless and despite the fangs, it looks quite cute!"
Personally, I think the fangs add to the cuteness. Give him a slightly bucktoothed look that I think is sort of adorable.