VBBN

Yeah I requested a replacement for the windshield, will definitely report in on how that looks once it arrives (though I didn't request any other window pieces, I'm hoping it being by itself may help. Then again, it may just be sitting in a big bin of windshields at the factory, thus causing everything to be a mess, we will see)

As the owner of a yellow JL wrangler, I'm super pumped for this set, especially since it's in the correct color! Though mine is a four dour, I may have to buy two and work on extending it

Good question! I'm making some tweaks to that scale, I want to split it to more fairly rank a set based on playability and then on design since sets that tend to excel in one don't do as well in the other. I will update this review once I've figured that out. But, this set is definitely very high on my list in terms of large vehicles; My personal favorite Lego set in terms of design is the UCS '89 Batmobile. While the Ecto 1 has some shortcomings that I mentioned in the cons section, it has a few extra added elements of playability over the Batmobile, so it will definitely be top tier for me. Yeah, while I as well doubt that they would ever return to the old material, I certainly hope they find ways to improve upon what they have now, at the very least protecting the parts more. The large windscreen was packaged with the rubber tires and the long gray hoses, which are relatively softer parts yet it still took a beating. Glad it helped your decision process! I do agree that the set feels lifeless in a way, I mentioned in my review that some features (like the proton gunner seat) feel out of place when you don't have figures that can interact. To be fair, most franchises are more about the character than the vehicle, certainly many people enjoy Batman more for his fighting and story than his actual gadgets, but even then I feel like the '89 Batmobile just feels more "right" than the Ecto-1 does in this style. Personally, I would rather this set have been considered under the UCS label like the Batmobile, so that we could have gotten a display plaque and maybe the original team of Ghostbusters figures with the set to spice things up. Thank you! It's definitely hard to show off comparisons when the sets take up this much room on the studio, but my main goal was making sure that the bumpers were actually lined up on the vehicles to properly show differences in length/width. Thank you, and thanks for the info on the steering mechanism! You might be right on the wheel piece being new, I'll take a look shortly at it's product number and do some searching. You are right that the blue tubes are much darker on the real model, my one short of the instructions gives a good look at that. One upside is, I've seen a lot of people that are happy the rust is stickers so that they can revert this into the more "classic" Ecto-1, having those brighter blue tubes would definitely make that process easier as well. Thanks to everyone so far for your comments and participation in the poll!

Review now live!

Review now live! (By the way, from what I saw of the info we had been given for this review, this is "internally" referred to as Creator Expert, and therefore is meant to be in line with the previous creator expert vehicles. Thus it does not include a UCS plate or figures like the recent Batman-inspired sets.)

It's time to bust some ghosts and review an Ecto-1, and I'm all out of ghosts to bust! Head over to Lego Licensed to check out my review of the upcoming set 10274 Ecto-1!

Set Name: Ecto-1 Set Number: 10274 Pieces: 2352 Price: $200 US Theme: 18+ (internally categorized under Creator Expert) Release Date: 11/15/2020 Who ya gonna call? In this case, it might be your nearest LEGO store to see when they will have this fantastic new set in stock; the Ghostbuster's Ecto-1! Indeed, Lego has taken another shot at giving us a large scale vehicle inspired by a famous film franchise, this time taking on the classic Ecto-1, a heavily modified 1959 Cadillac. This is not the first time LEGO has produced an Ecto-1 set; we previously saw the likes of 21108: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 and 75828: Ecto-1 & 2 which were minifigure scaled in nature. This Set falls more in line with the Creator Expert line of vehicles, such as the recently released Fiat, Aston Martin, Mustang, etc. Interestingly, it seems that Lego has upped the ante from releasing one of these vehicles per year to two, being that we saw both the Ford Mustang as well as the Harley Davidson released in 2019, and now we have the Ecto-1 releasing in the same year as the Fiat 500. [Though, as of the time of this writing, I received the set on October 16th, and still no word of this vehicle has been published; no image leaks, no official reveal, I wasn't even told the name of the set until I had it in hand or when the review can actually be released... I've never seen this big of a delay happen with a review set. I tell you this, because I anticipate that this set was originally supposed to release much earlier, likely more in line with the release of the Ghostbusters Aftermath movie, given that this is inspired by the appearance of the Ecto-1 in that film. Due to COVID, that film was pushed back, so I wonder how that may have potentially effected the release date ] I want to give a huge thank you to LEGO for sending us this set to review; thanks to the aforementioned circumstances of receiving this set, it's the first time in along time where I got a set where I had spent no time at all looking over the details. I got to experience it all as a first impression, and it was truly a fun set to build and discover the hidden features; read on, because this will be a packed review! Box and Contents As you would expect from a large LEGO set in 2020, the Ecto-1 is featured on the new, adult-branded box, with a primarily black backdrop and a red border. I believe that internally this is still a "Creator Expert" set in spirit, rather than being more UCS-focused like the 89 Batmobile, but we will have a look at some comparisons later. Box Rear Normally, I don't have much to say about the back of the box; it shows the set functions. But, in this case, it's actually underselling the set's functions quite a bit- there's really no mention here of the sets opening doors, engine detail, spinning ghost scanners/radars, the fact that the little ghost trap drone actually deploys, or even the steering! Naturally, this surprised me when building the set, since I had seen no mention prior about these functions. Instructions/Sticker Sheet Lately, LEGO has been packaging instructions and sticker sheets together in a plastic bag with a piece of cardboard to help reduce damaged sheets. We know that LEGO is executing a new packaging strategy moving forth, with things like paper bags instead of plastic, and even a mockup of a cardboard CMF package design rumored, so it's no surprise to see yet another such change here; the instructions and stickers are now contained within this cardboard packet, certainly an interesting and effective strategy. Sticker Sheet Here's the dreaded sticker sheet; you have a few essential stickers here like the Ecto-1 plates and Cadillac logos, but I'm glad that the rust was left as stickers. This means it's more up to you if you'd like for the vehicle to be a clean white, vs the more worn down look the vehicle will have in Afterlife. The rust stickers are all clear-backed. (Note that for the purposes of the review, I did apply all of the stickers, though personally I will likely remove them for a cleaner look, and will buy a spare sticker sheet, should I change my mind in the future. ) Instructions Back when the '89 boatmobile came out, I was surprised to see an actual image of the vehicle on the instructions, a first for LEGO. Now, we go the totally opposite direction, with an interesting render-style image of the vehicle, complete with cutouts showing internals like the the dashboard and engine. That, and no stickers or prints to be seen anywhere, certainly a unique look for this set. (not to mention, a very vintage feel as well.) EDIT: Turns out this may be a reference to the Ghostbusters: Ectomobile Owner's Workshop Manual, part of the Haynes Manual series. Detail As you'd expect from any adult oriented set now, the instruction booklet starts off with some details about the vehicle, and of course many references to the upcoming Afterlife film. Build Instruction The instructions are set on a black backdrop; it makes sense considering how much of the set is white plastic. The instructions also feature callouts to certain parts of the build, again like many sets including the Haunted House set I reviewed not too long ago. Bags Beyond that, you get bags numbered 1-12; I didn't actually count the amount of bags, but I believe there was roughly two bags for each number. One thing is for sure, these bags are packed in the box to the brim. No Ghost Logo Here we have some 4x4 bricks with the No-Ghost logo print, 3 are included in the set New Windshield Here's a new windshield piece. It's big and very much an integral part is giving this set a proper finished look. But, this is a review, and I have to call out issues where I see them; the new LEGO clear plastic sucks. Big time. It's interesting, after my Haunted House review I sent LEGO an email saying that I was disappointed in the new clear plastic, because it always gets scratched up in the packaging, and they told me this was the first they have heard of it. Am I alone in disliking this change? It's a little foggier, which isn't the biggest deal in the world, but every clear piece in this set was absolutely brutalized, including this windscreen here. This is a serious negative, especially on a massive piece like this, and I urge you to send Lego an email to let them know if you face similar issues, because clearly people have been more silent on this fact. Other Printed Pieces Besides the usual little control panels on 1x2 tiles and whatnot that we've see numerous times, here's a few of the other printed pieces in the set. Fun story about the disc that's used as a rim for the tires, I swallowed one of those when I was a kid because I often used my teeth to remove pieces. Yeah, 4 hours in a hospital later and it was removed. Not my best call, but these pieces are my arch nemesis even to today. Corner Piece in White Bag 1 Normally I'm not a big fan of these shots since they are a nightmare to take, but I figured it would be worth it for this review since we have some time; hopefully this will give you a good view of what's included in each bag. I'm not aware of every single piece and what color they come in (and it's tough to research when the set isn't released yet), so I'm sure there are some interesting bits that I've missed; off you go then, have a scavenger hunt and see what other interesting parts are hidden throughout the set! The Beginning It should come as no surprise that the build begins with a technic frame, though what does come as a surprise is that we already begin some functionality of the set. Specifically, the ramp for the mobile ghost trap, as well as the gearing that will allow the back wheel to spin the radar/scanner gear on top of the vehicle. (Fun fact; only one of the wheels actually activates the function. The gear for the other wheel is completely useless.) Bag 2 One piece I wanted to call out here is the gold piston piece, this has so far only been in one other Technic set in 2020. It's a pretty neat piece, I'm interested to see how I may be able to incorporate this into a more humanoid Bionicle build. Front Steering Next we build up the front of the vehicle, which includes the steering mechanism. This mechanism will have two different drivers; first, the larger gear closer to the front will be activated using the actual steering wheel of the vehicle, while the gear in the center of the vehicle will be controlled on top of the roof. More on this later, as the performance of this varies. Proton Canon Seat Since, as of the time of this writing, not much has been revealed about Afterlife, there's not a lot I can say about what exactly this is. Looks like a seat with a proton pack attached to it, note the special print here. The functionality of this is really interesting; you push the white construct, and the seat pushed out and flips around. In order to retract it, you push on a small piece near the seat. Again, more on this later, but there's a ton of SNOT building here and very little technic used at all. Bag 3 Bag 3 begins the build for the rear bumper of the vehicle. As you'd expect, there's a lot of colors going on behind the scenes. Those with a keen eye may have noticed a pattern that is starting, the structure of the vehicle often uses the colors red and green to denote the driver and passenger sides of the vehicle, a helpful trick since this vehicle doesn't have an entirely symmetrical build. Bumper attached We mount the taillights and rear bumper, as well as the famous Ecto-1 license plate. One interesting observation is the use of mixel-sized balljoints behind the rear wheel arches, these will be used to attached the vehicle body at an angle late in the build. Bag 4 Bag 4 is focused on a few things; adding the steering wheel (you'll see a detailed view on that function shortly), the rear passenger door (which does not open), and the construction of the mobile ghost trap ramp function. This function is rather interesting; you build a sliding rail which can be pulled using the dark grey 1x1 stud near the rear of the vehicle. Doing so will drop the ramp down below, which makes sense, but it also pulls the sideways-seat along with it. This doesn't really serve any purpose, from what I can tell, perhaps something we will learn of in the film? Bag 5 Bag 5 focuses on the doors, again we can see the red and green motif. Doors added First, here is a better view of the steering column; I want to point out the massive difference in the size of the gears that are at play, because this means in order to fully turn the tires, you must turn the steering wheel over multiple times, like in a rear car. We add the doors on; two interesting things to note with these, first is the yellow rails inside of the doors. These will later be the mounting points for the inner door panel and windows. Furthermore, the door hinges are much more complicated than the seem at first; while you see the two hinges on the outside of the door, there's actually a 3-point hinge system INSIDE the door as well, which gives them an impressive amount of friction- those doors won't close unless you want them to. Bag 6 Here we have bag 6, one part I want to point out is the 2x2 brick with studs on four sides. That's definitely a newer piece, and one I need to own many of. Rear fins This bag is focused on the rear fins of the Cadillac, which have a pretty nice build to achieve the offset taillights embedded within. We also begin to build some interior details in the trunk area. When building the set, take a moment and appreciate those details; you'll find they are very hard to access as we build further. Other side Again, we build more details on the other side. A final note here is the mixel-ballcups which will be used for the rear door. Due to the staggered build, this results in a nice angled opening feature for the rear hatch. Bag 7 Bag 7 was one of the more interesting portions of the build, as this section focuses on the engine bay detailing and the front grill of the vehicle. There's a few notable pieces here such as the 1x2 half cylinders in light gray, and a slew of silver roller skates, which have been most excellent for detailing in sets lately. Front bumper Here's a small cutaway of how the front bumper is constructed Grill and Engine This portion of the build was by far one of the most interesting. First, you'll be slowly driven mad as you stack countless little skate pieces on top of one another, but the end result is a really well-done grill, which is cleverly attached in such a way so that it can retain it's v-shape. Second, you build up the rather interesting fender construction, which you can see utilized mainly SNOT techniques to not only build the wheel arch itself, but also body work to prevent any gap from the engine bay to the wheel itself. We end of course with the engine, which is very nicely detailed. Bag 8 Bag 8 primarily focuses on finishing the front bodywork of the car, including the hood here. I do have some issues with the construction of this hood; it tends to not sit flat on the engine (sticks up by just a millimeter or so), and when the hood is open, the blue elements to the side are definitely visible. Bag 9 *sigh,* another slew of horrible scratched up clear windows. Windows Added This bag focuses on adding the windows to the car, the backs of the front seats, as well as the rear hatch. As mentioned previously, the windows for the doors are actually installed inside of the doors, using the yellow rails we saw previously. Overall the shaping is pretty good, though there is a minor gap between the front windows and the B pillars. One thing you may start to notice here is a lot of studs on top of the vehicle, as well as the continuation of the technic function near the front seats for steering; if you are thinking this will affect accessibility into the vehicle, you are right, more on that later. Bag 10 Next, we build the roof. Normally, this would be one of the lesser points of the interest in the build, but the actual roof panels aren't the end of our Ecto-1 journey, given the amount of equipment that must be added. Roof Added Case in point, you can see a variety of technic elements at play here. The blue section to the front of the roof continues the steering function. Closer to the back, you can see the end result of the gears that are driven by the rear wheel; a gear will spin, which then pushed a 1x4 technic beam forward and backward. This is one half of the function; the other half is buried in the 2x2 dark gray round plate with axle hold, as that will allow for 360 degree movement for another piece. Bag 11 Bag 11 builds up the "roof rack" components. We will see these elements in detail a little more later. (also take note of the gray flex tube that was mounted here, there are a few flex elements included in the bag with the tires and windshield, that did not end up in any of the other photos.) Bag 12 The last bag accomplishes quite a bit; We build our wheels, a ghost trap drone, more accessories for outside of the car including the lights and ladder, and even a snack! Mobile Ghost Trap Here we have a little accessory based on the upcoming film, a mobile ghost trap of sorts. It's a simple build, it would have been cool if it had some way of actually opening. Stay-Puft Marshmallows We even build a little package of Stay-Puft marshmallows (which, based on the instructions, are "officially" placed on the passenger seat.) Finished Build And here it is! Front Starting with the front, I think LEGO did a fantastic job on this. Yes, a few things are a little oversized, such as the blue lights, the license plate, and overall the vehicle may be a tad bit narrow. But, short of giving this bad boy a chromed out grill, the detail here was really well captured. Rear The rear of the Ecto-1 is not an easy shape to emulate, especially in Lego. With that said, again I think they did a fantastic job here at capturing all of the essential details of the build. One area that I feel is a miss is the trans blue parts, the spotlights and the lightbar to an extent are definitely a bit large in scale. Profile One thing I haven't really touched on too much yet is the differences that make this the "Afterlife" version of the Ecto-1. Starting from this side view, we see the first major change: the ladder has changed sides. This is to accommodate the proton pack seat, which again we will have a look at shortly. Please note again that the rear door on this side does not open. Other Profile From this side, we notice another very interesting quirk; the rear door here hinges the opposite way, meaning that the two rear doors, in practice, would open in opposite directions, certainly a unique design. This of course is to allow for the door to swing out of the way of the proton pack seat. Features Steering As mentioned, there are two different ways to turn the front wheels. First, is the actual steering wheel itself. As I said, due to the size of gears used, you have to turn the steering wheel over 2-3 times to actually get the full turn of the wheel. It's a neat touch of realism, though to be honest I find that this function can fail pretty easily where the gears will skip. The second method of steering is by way of the clear 2x2 cylinder light on top. This gear is attached differently, and is much easier to use than the steering wheel (and more fool-proof). Proton Seat To activate the proton seat function, you push in a hidden button on the side of the car, as seen on the left above. I love that this feature is hidden instead of using an obvious button. Moving to the right hand side, something to keep in mind is you are not only pushing the seat out, but you have to knock open that rear door; you'll need a good amount of force to properly get it out of the way. Proton Seat Ejected Here's what it looks like once the door is swung open and the pops out & spins around. Definitely a cool feature; though, it does make me wish we got to see this on a minifigure sized set, as the feature feels odd to have without any characters to interact with it, anyway. Opening Hood Interior Dash The passenger door does open, here we can see some detail of the interior dash. Ghost Detector This function is impossible to show in photos, but we will see it in action in a video shortly. Among the slew of the details on the roof, we have two elements that move as you roll the vehicle; The Ghost Detector (the little turret with red cylinders), as well as the construct with the clear dome. The clear dome section spins 360 degrees as the vehicle rolls, while the Ghost Detector rotates to the right and left. Other Side Here's more view of the details. One issue to mention, a lot of the cylindrical builds (the blue spotlights, siren, red light, and the antennae thing at the top) are rather fragile as rounded tiles are used in the build, meaning the cylinder pieces are holding on with only two studs. Rear Function Next we move on to the rear function of the set; you'll notice the dark gray stud to the left of the rear hatch. Ghost Trap Deployed Pulling on that will drop a ramp underneath the vehicle, which causes the mobile ghost trap to drive out the back. I have it pictured here right underneath the Ecto-1, but in reality it actually sends the drone quite a distance away. Opening Hatch The rear hatch opens, as you can see here. This is the main way in which you reload the ghost trap into the vehicle, though it also allows you limited visibility into the rest of the vehicle. Accessibility Here's a point that may be a slight division for some people. In recent times, Lego buildings and vehicles have had easy-to-remove sections to allow for easy access into the vehicle, this is true indeed for many of the large Creator Expert sized vehicles in recent years. However, due to the nature of the Ecto-1, the roof is not easily removable. Not only are there technic functions that are built from the frame of the vehicle all the way to the roof, but the roof is more firmly fixed in place, and elements like the ladder and exterior tubes are all connected both to the roof, as well as the body of the vehicle. In short, removing the roof is a major pain to do. Above you can see my attempt, all doors have to be opened, the technic elements on top must be pulled out, numerous tubes need to be undone, and most likely you'll accidentally dismount many windows in the process. Plus, reattaching the roof is quite a chore within itself. This is an understandable roadblock that Lego had, though unfortunately, it makes it rather difficult to see the details inside of the vehicle, especially those in the back. Videos of Functions Comparisons Let's get on then to some size comparisons. First, here it is compared to my personal favorite Lego set, the 89 Batmobile. This comparison isn't exactly fair, as the Batmobile is a UCS set and contains a fair number of parts over the Ecto-1, so it's longer, wider, and heftier; but, if you are collecting movie vehicles, it's likely these may be near eachother on your shelf, so here's a look at how they stack up. Compared to other Creator Expert vehicles Here's a look compared to some other Creator Expert vehicles. Needless to say, this is definitely the largest in the lineup. Conclusion Lego has set a high standard when it comes to their larger vehicle sets. The Creator Expert sets have continued to push unique building techniques, details, and accurate sculpting. Furthermore, movie-inspired vehicle sets like the 89 Batmobile and the 007 Aston martin DB5 have found creative ways to incorporate gimmicks from the films, without sacrificing the final product. Does the Ecto-1 live up to those standards? In my opinion, it absolutely does. This set has an impressive sculpt, a slew of creatively executed features, a really fun build, and a great variety of pieces. Many may be disappointed that the Ecto-1 is based on it's appearance in Afterlife; though, if you skip the application of rust stickers, swap the ladder to the other side, and perhaps rework the doors/interior slightly, I think this could easily pass as the more classic Ecto-1 design. With that said, I think the Afterlife variation here comes with a lot of cool features that we otherwise wouldn't have seen; though that comes at the cost of accessibility, as getting in to the interior of this vehicle is much more challenging than we have seen from vehicles in the past. To summarize, here's my personal list of pros and cons: Pros: - Engaging build with , thanks to the asymmetry of the build there isn't too many repetitive constructs. - Spot on details and sculpting - Creatively executed features - Good parts selection - Value of the set is reasonable given the number of parts included Cons: - Lots of scratched clear plastic, including the massive windshield - Difficult to access interior - The majority of the set being white is concerning for two reasons, a) the QC isn't great and you can see some variations in color/transparency at times and b) white sets are prone to yellowing over time. That second point is unavoidable given that they can't just change the color of the Ecto-1, but a concern to realize nonetheless. -Some parts of the set seem a bit out of scale- for example the blue spotlights all around the vehicle are definitely too large. Inaccuracies are to be expected with the limitations of Lego, but I think the parts exist to avoid some of the issues here. What do you think of this set?

Finished my full set! Combined them all under one single frame build I would estimate roughly 2 pounds. My set of 4 above is just under 8lbs, I have two 8lb capacity command hooks holding it up

Ordered my second set of Marilyn Monroe mosaics to take advantage of double VIP, can’t wait to have a full set of four!

Great review Panda! Excellent photos and a great write up I think I like this set more than I originally did. I've never really been much of a fan of Lego's other "functional" holiday offerings as I think the ornaments and the like are usually pretty lame and cheap looking. But this is a pretty convincing decoration, it does a great job of conveying what it is, but not hiding the fact that it's Lego. Plus, it's not exactly the worst as far as parts go. I like that it has a lot of alternate configurations, and I could definitely see Lego exploring more functional decorations like this in the future as holiday exclusives.

grandson is definitely one of my most influential artists, IMO his stuff only keeps getting better & midnight sky is definitely a banger

I've been wanting to get back into MOCing lately and finally sat down for a bit yesterday and threw something together. (it's also worth noting, I know there are those canon contests going on right now and this character is a future contender, this was not designed with those in mind, this is obviously an artistic take on the character and not at all what I would assume to be canon.)

Fantastic work! The unique head design here is brilliant and a really nice use of not only a skull spider in a non-conventional way, but also finally a good use for that visor piece. I think what I really like about that is it's not just a visor that goes in front of the face like the old HF set had done, but rather it's built in as a part of said face. The rest of the MOC is well done, a very unique vibe coming from this figure.

Oh dear, Warhol’s is my favorite artist so the Monroe is a must buy, but to buy four of them at that price...ouch. I do wonder what the aftermarket on BrickLink will be for the exclusive frame elements? I’m hoping in time it will become cost effective to just buy extra frame elements instead of multiple sets at those prices if they do a Lichtenstein set I’ll be ruined over here

What an absolutely abysmal round of decisions. The typewriter makes no sense, we already have the piano coming and I seriously doubt this is on most people "must buy" list. Personally I think Seinfeld is awful, but I'm more peeved that this somehow made it, but The Office was shot down what, 3 times? Home Alone makes sense as a set; I'm sure they want to try to work in ways to have "traps" be sprung and whatnot, but personally I really have no interest in a set for this film. (Not to mention this will likely be a pricey one.) I am hoping that the Planet Express ship was skipped because of the (IMO) superior set coming in the 1st 2020 review. It's disappointing that Legend of Bionicle was axed as that is about the only shot Bionicle will ever have in the Idea's lineup, but honestly with how Lego treats Bionicle I'm not surprised. Ratatouille, while not my favorite Disney property, would have been a fun build in terms of parts at least. Everything else I was very un-interested in for this round.

I had to frontpage this a few days ago as soon as I saw it- the design here are fantastic. While controversial, 2006 was my favorite year for Bionicle, and I will always have a soft spot for the Piraka. These designs are fantastic, they truly add a new level of character in the design, and blend a great mix of building styles. I also love the unique teeth for each one; reminds me of my simpler Vezon I did a while back. I would absolutely love to see you tackle the remainder of the Piraka; and I dare say you've inspired me to attempt this type of project as well, though perhaps with a different set of characters. The Toa, though I'm not sure on- don''t get me wrong, the builds are fantastic. And I see you went with a re-imagined viewpoint for these figures, especially with Kongu and Nuparu, to where they look more like their Mctoran counterparts, rather than being Inika inspired. I think that's a good idea, but I'm not sure that Matoro really fits in here. Again, he's a great build, but honestly before reading through your comments, I though that was supposed to be some kind of twisted Thok or even pre-mutation Pridak. I think, perhaps, it's because he doesn't utilize his old Matoran mask, whereas his fellow two counterparts do? I do hope to see you continue this series.

Yeah, honestly even a regular Baron would have been cool; it definitely wouldn't be out of the ordinary to have someone dressed as the Baron, the owner of this mansion. In fact, I feel like it would almost have made more sense than the twins they put in here One way I wanted to spookify this place was to add in a Johnny Thunder with a skeleton face... Baron caught his ultimate prize, Johnny Thunder himself Thank you! The windows were definitely a chore, and I kept panicking every time I would be searching through a pile of parts for that last window, convinced it was going to be missing. I did leave out the blurbs, sometimes in easter egg filled sets like this, I like to leave a small thing or two out of the review so that someone who has read the review and purchased the set has a little surprise left in some way. (In my case, Junkbot and the little blurbs were unexpected). Thanks for the comments everyone! As always with these reviews, I appreciate everyone sharing their thoughts and taking part in the poll. These reviews continue to be a great way to share your thoughts directly with Lego

Thanks Fangy! I do agree it's tough to display, not quite as bad as the UCS Star Destroyer, but a challenge in the other direction Thank you! I believe I mentioned at one point in the review that this set has no stickers at all, everything you see is a print! Good catch on the controller pieces Thanks to you both for clarifying on that! It's interesting too that the speed of the cart also depends on how you drop it- if you use only the one crank, the cart eventually freefalls more aggressively. If you utilize the other crank which disengages the gears, the entire chain pulls down with the cart, which also slows its fall. Though that crank is more difficult to use, I have a sense that the Powered Up functions likely offer the smoothest operation of the ride. What I mean is, I feel like if you operate the ride "normally" the braking system doesn't seem to do anything, it's moreso if you use the secondary crank that the slowing effect is really noticeable.

Today we take a trip into a spooky, 90's nostalgia filled house- Samuel Von Barron's Haunted House, that is! Jump to the Special Themes forum to see my review!

Name: 10273 Haunted HouseTheme: Fairground Collection (Creator Expert)Year: 2020Pieces: 3231Price: £209.99 / $249.99 / 229.99€ Resources: Brickset | Lego | Bricklink Hello and welcome to the next addition to the Fairgrounds- the Haunted House! This is the next entry following the massive Roller Coaster (which I did a review of as well, by the way ), and once again Lego is looking to make a large structure to add to your city- this time, a tall, vertical tower with a tower-drop ride hidden inside. Inspired by rides the likes of the Tower Of Terror, and with a nostalgic twist in the Adventurers/Orient Expedition theming, this has certainly been an interesting addition to 2020. Is this worthy of adding to your collection? Let's find out And a big thank you to Lego for providing us with this set- as they begin to change their branding to target more of an adult audience, it's only appropriate that we take a look at it here in our AFOL community. The Box: Normally I don't go into much detail on the boxes in my reviews, since, well, you can see them in a store pretty easily. And in my case, boxes tend to end up in the recycling bin. But this time around, Lego is making a big deal out of the new packaging. You'll notice the distinct lack of Creator Expert branding, the bright background; now we have this more "collector focused" look, something that we started seeing with the newest UCS Falcon. It's...okay, though to be honest it doesn't really look any more professional to me. It looks more "fake," like some kind of rendering done to sell a MOC as a set. A clean background looks good on certain sets, but I feel for a set like this, the lack of life around the house really ruins the effect. Rear: The rear showcases some of the sets features, the "dollhouse" opening feature, as well as a blueprint of the set. Again, the focus here is very much on the set Side: The side of the box of features a nice image of the set as well, certainly with store-displays in mind. Minifigures: Here's the first round of figures. We get the "creepy twins" who run the house, and five park-goers. The two on the right are from the Hidden Side universe, and from what I ave heard, the right-most figure is also a reference to a Lego designer. And yes, Lego seems to have given us a "Karen" minifigure Rear and alternate faces: Each figure has back printing, though only three have reverse faces. Ghosts: Oh boy. The ghosts. I don't know what Lego was thinking with these ones...we have gotten two really decent ghost molds in the past, these are a step backward down the stairs- are they supposed to look more like people dressed as ghosts? Because that's what the old ones looked like already. Both feature a reversible face, with one side a smile and one a frown. Bonus Figures: Here we have the "bonus" figures included in the set- a skeleton that is used as decoration in the house, and a box of junk that can be built into a figure resembling Junkbot, a character from an old Lego game of the same name. While slightly different colors and unprinted, I LOVE having this obscure reference tossed in here. Bag 1: Graveyard: Bag 1 begins with the first walls of the structure- get used to this build here because you're going to be repeating it, a lot. We then build this little graveyard outside. The one reference of this set I wasn't too certain on was this gravestone, any idea what that is in reference to? The pumpkin, I think, would have been better served with a duller stem color, as currently it seems out of place here. Bag 2: Bag 2 begins the construction of the middle segment to the house. From here, we begin to see some of the gearing mounted, which will be used for the tower drop feature. The little rubber 1x2 units are used to prevent the cart from slamming into the ground Bag 3: Bag three continues the build of the center section- we can see here the operators desk for controlling the ride. Dropper mechanism: The next element of the functionality we build is a unit that will disengage and power to the gears. When you rotate the red piece at the top, the gray cylinder will disengage from the gear cranks. To be honest I don;'t know what the point of this is, as the ride already drops on its own? Combined Here we have the two sections of the center merged together. More will be added to the functional elements at the end of the build. Bag 4: Bag 4's focus is on the entrance to the house, which features both stairs as well as a wheelchair ramp. Finished entrance: We continue to finish of the roofing to the entrance as well as some little lamps (using the paintbrush roller handles.) Doors will be added soon. Floorplan Here's a detail I appreciate- the floorplan of this does make logical sense. The entrance opens up to the ticket booth, you can then walk in to the ride (Which is adjacent to the control unit) or wait over by where some artifacts will eventually be placed. Bag 5: Bag 5's focus is on os the rubber wheels on the inside of the ride. As far as I can tell, the only purpose to these wheels really is to "slow" the ride down, though as we will see later that sort of depends on how you operate the ride. Bag 6: Bag 6 begins the detailing around the main tower on the inside, mostly. mix of black, white, and gold detailing. Organ: Next up we build this fantastic organ. There's some wonderful SNOT techniques utilized here, and it's really one of the most intricate parts of this build. Bag 7: Bag 7 begins by continuing the wall structure above the entrance- some very familiar techniques being used here. Doors The doors are mounted to a simple gear, by turned the knob on the outside of the house, the dogs can swing open or closed. Though they do look a little wary from the inside. Bag 8: Here's where we begin to really dive into the nostalgia and the Adventurers themes- these are representative of the Heads of Anubis, found in set #5988. The walls continue And of course, we continue to the build up the structure. Note that the Organ was placed on the other side of the graveyard, Bag 9: Bag 8 continues the nostalgia with the Sphinx head from set #7412. Completed While a more modern build, this really still maintains a "classic" look. Sphinx head mounted: I do like how it integrates to the wall here. Also not the TNT to the left side. Bag 10: v Bag 10 begins the "attic" spaces, while will be underneath the roof. Roof These get somewhat repetitive so I'll just show one- here's how the ref panels are built for the most part. Will secured, and they have two connection points for mounting to the house. Bag 11: Bag 11 continues the tower build- nothing too exciting to comment on just yet. Bag 12: Bag 12 has this nice little roof construct, again I appreciate how well this all tabs together here. Finished roof construct One thing I'll comment on with the roof segments, I do appreciate how well they all intersect one another. Bag 13: Bag 13 begins this stained glass build. which will also house the light brick assembly. Portrait build: Another feature of the set is the light-up portrait of Samuel von Barron- the effect, is that when you light up the picture, you see the cursed mummy behind him. Here we can see the mummy is a separate printed element that is mounted behind the main portrait piece. Portrait mounted Due to the light brick assembly and the "dual picture" build, this does tend to be very bulky unfortunately. Bag 14, 15, 16 Okay, I've skipped ahead a bit here. These next parts of the build focus on the main tower. Most fairground sets thus far have had elements that tend to feel...dull or repetitive. The carts on a Ferris wheel or carousel, the pillars of the roller coaster... in this set, the walls tend to get a little on the dull side. It's not modular where the textures change on each floor. The little contrasts you see above are done 20 times or more throughout this build, certainly easy enough to do with closed eyes. Chains Snd, for those of you well versed with the roller coaster, the task of putting together 150 chain links is certainly going to be a dreaded task. Though, a nice change of pace form the way construction. Chain mounted We can see here the numerous doors that have been added with the usual wall builds. The chain is then mounted, this can be a little tricky since you have to feed it through the tower and out the bottom. NOTE: the chain is very taught, at first it'll feel like you are stretching something. Unlike the roller coaster which tended to have a little leeway in the amount of links used, it is absolutely necessary to use exactly the 150 here. Otherwise, the chain is not pulling in a vertical direction. Bag 17: Bag 17 begins the main rooftop build. As you can see above, this is an extremely solid construction. Finished roof While simple, it's shape works will with he other roof components we've built so far. Bag 18: Bag 18 is the final bag, and focuses on the actual riding cart itself. The other portion of the cart is meant to represent an elevator cart Finished cart Though as we can see here, the riders themselves are inside a smaller, more secure riding car (which uses an old-school cockpit piece, commonly used during the Adventurers times). This clips in the the back of the elevator car, so removing it is easy. Good for posing minifies easily. Completed set: Let's get one thing out of the way- this set is really tall. Certainly it doesn't beat out the old Eiffel Tower set, but it does tower over my Voltron set. I also love that it opens up dollhouse style, similar to the Ghostbusters HQ set. Other Angles Thanks to its dollhouse design, it does look pretty good from most angles. Obviously the back is the weakest, though it's mostly due to the large wheels. To be honest I really have no clue what the large wheels are supposed to actually do. Set details "Welcome inside.." Organ Starting on the left side, bottom floor, we have the Organ, next to a create filled with a shovel and axe. The Anubis heads sit high above. Portrait Here we have the previously mentioned portrait of Barron himself. The "Manor Von Barron" sign acts as the button for the light brick hidden inside. Cursed Mummy The brick then illuminates the hidden Mummy image. Obelisk Here we have a sort of obelisk that resembles those seen in numerous Adventurers sets back in the day. I really appreciate how they recreated the print on the column. It's worth noting that this doesn't match any of the old ones exactly, due to color changes such as the gray top. Gem-thing I have no idea what this reference is supposed to be. The TNT block we saw earlier is hidden behind. The ride Moving to the center of the house, we see the ride itself. The figures are loaded into the cart.. The Sphinx head Of course we see another artifact here, the Sphinx head. Photo moment This window here is the moment where a camera would take photo of the riders, to be sold at obnoxious prices later. The camera is situated opposite of this under one of the roof panels, another detail that makes sense mainly when the building is closed up. Opening doors Here we have the peek-a-boo doors. Meant to be the moment that the cart gets to it's highest point, it will open these doors.. Revealing the Minifigures about to experience the drop.It does work pretty smoothly overall. Also, take note of the small Fright Knights reference up above. Skeleton thing Moving to the ticket counter, we see another reference to adventurers in the form of this skeleton thing. Seems to harken back to set #7417. Box of Junk This shelf has some other interesting oddities: And orb of Ogel, the "Golden Dingus" from set #7412, and a box containing the needed elements to build Junk bot. Rear of the Door Moving to the left, we have the back of the door we saw previously. One thing I'll add in here is the chandelier, I do like the build of that quite bit. Opening Doors Here you can see the opening feature. Creepy Table Not really sure what this represents here- we have a skeleton with a hat that is somehow staying on, some skull candles, a cup, hidden snake, and, well I'm not certain what the red lantern is supposed to be. A vase of liquid? It's a little random, but "spooky," I suppose. Mechanism Here we will talk about the mechanism, it's a bit strange. First, there is a lever to the left, that "drives" the ride. By turning the crank, the chain will pull the cart upwards. It's important to note that you can only rotate the crank one way, it will lock up if you try to turn it the opposite direction. As the chain rises, one of the two wider gray chain segments will catch on to the ride cart and pull it upwards. Once it reaches the top, the cart falls to the bottom. Then we have the crank that's more on the center- if you are operating this ride manually, I'm not sure why you would ever need this. As discussed previously, this disengages the power to the chain, so by engaging this crank the ride will all. (But, it already falls by itself using only the crank on the left.) The only difference I can see is by using this, the ride slows down a little more on it's way down. Again, by operating this manually it's not really sensible to use, though It seems with Powered Up functions you might be able to do something more. As usual, Lego chose not to include the needed power elements here. Finally, you have the rubber wheels. Their purpose wasn't really clear to me, but other have pointed out that they help to counterbalance the wheels inside and assist with the braking feature. Here is a demonstration of said function: Here we can see how the function works using ONLY the main crank (powered) And here we can see what happens if we bring the ride to the top and then disengage the power. I will make a disclaimer here, this function wasn't really easy to show off since I do not currently have Powered Up elements, only power functions (and do not yet have a speed controller or anything.) I will update this review if I do get those components. The Haunted House is big. With a height of 26 inches, it's sure to be a highlight of your Lego city. The ride takes full advantage of this height, and works about as well as any other Fairground set released so far. Visually, the set is solidly built, with a dollhouse-style that ensure's no "open back" construction, yet still allows for easy access to the inside. There are no stickers to be found whatsoever in this set, a welcome treat for those against sticker sheets, especially with the references hidden throughout. I was born in the mid 90s, and an Adventurers set was my very first Lego build- so of course I adore the nostalgia this set is crammed full with. As I was building the set, I saw the imagine in the instructions showing the "box of junk," (mind you this was before I knew Junkbot was in this set) - and my reaction was "omg I think that's Junkbot, OH MY IT IS." No other set had given me that kind of excitement lately. The only thing I don't entirely understand about this set is, what's haunted about it? Some classic Lego artifacts are cool, and you can call them "haunted" all you want, but visually this set lacks the punch of, say, the Monster Fighters or even Hidden side sets. It's very reserved, and certainly requires more work to make it truly feel haunted, even in an amusement park sense. Plus, I feel like for being a house, there isn't really much space inside the house itself- once you open it up, it feels more like "Adventurers Museum." At a price of $250, you do get a fair number of parts for the price, even with 150 of the pieces being the small tread pieces. You also get a slathering of olive green bricks and brown windows. Though, the build in my opinions leaves a little to be desired, as it tends to get repetitive like many other fairground sets, and the Minifigures selection is rather basic- plus you get two duplicate sets of figures, which cuts down on the variety a bit. ------------------------------------- If you are a fan of the fairground theme, this set is must have- it comes in at a much more affordable price than last year's Roller Coaster, but doesn't compensate on size, and still has an interesting functional element. If you're a fan of Adventurers, this set is also a must have, the way lego respects the old sets here is fantastic, and certainly worthy of supporting. However, if you are looking for a haunted house, this set is far, far too reserved- nothing about it really screams haunted, especially compared to themes like Monster fighters, and it lacks the "flare" that a true haunted ride would have. Think, the Joker's manor for example. But of course my opinions are just that- opinions. What do you think of this set? Bonus Pic: Looks like this is a job for us!

Looks like the last time I posted photos in here was when I was in a focus- here's my current ride, 2019 JL, had it for just over a year now Perfect for Michigan all seasons hehe [ (this one was before I got a softtop for it, now I roll soft top in summer and hard top in winter)

Can anyone tell which functional power elements are required for this? Would like to get a jumpstart on getting those ordered if I need anything, definitely looks to be a cool ride filled with a slew of easter eggs

Welcome back! I definitely like some of your mods here, especially the changes/new addition to the skull villains. The removal of the orange color is an improvement, though I would definitely like to see some "sizing up" as I feel the skulls were relatively small in stature compared to the Toa. The Toa themselves are nice, I definitely like your mindset of combining the Masters and the Uniters together.