While spooky season is still a few months away, Summerween is in full swing with the announcement of the new LEGO Midnight Valley Collection and 11383 Mayor Manor, so Blocks is taking a look at how paranormal themes have evolved, from the glow-in-the-dark Castle ghost, through Studios, to Monster Fighters and beyond.
As the announcement of 11383 Mayor Manor demonstrates, it’s always fun to get spooky and start prepping for Halloween. So, when did spooky sets first start haunting LEGO shelves? How have they changed?
Grab a pumpkin spice iced latte and prepare for a not so spooky story, as Blocks, the LEGO magazine for fans, glides through the evolution of the LEGO spooky themes…
Tracing spooky vibes throughout the years takes us back to LEGO Castle when the ghost minifigure debuted in 6081 King’s Mountain Fortress, which is also known as The Haunted Castle. What’s quite striking about the original minifigure is that it’s only half a minifigure – literally. Only a white minifigure torso and plain black head are used and the ‘legs’ are actually a 1×2 brick and a 1×2 plate.
The specially moulded flowing robes to give the signature look to the ghost prevent minifigure legs from moving, so they aren’t used in this first iteration. And this moulded piece hasn’t changed much at all, with its smiling face and soft doe eyes giving the character a very friendly vibe. It’s also a very special piece in LEGO history because the ghost shroud was the first ever glow-in-the-dark element – the designers spent a long time perfecting the plastic formulation so it would be safe for children.
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And minifigures is how the spookiness continued for many years, with witches and werewolves appearing throughout Castle, Fright Knights and Knight’s Kingdom II.
Some of the only sets dedicated to the paranormal were the LEGO Studios collection in 2002. This included 1380 Werewolf Ambush, 1381 Vampire’s Crypt, 1382 Scary Laboratory, and 1383 Curse of the Pharaoh, which were all inspired by classic horror stories, so were perfect for acting out spooky adventures. 1382 Scary Laboratory is quite notable as the first set to include Frankenstein (or more accurately Frankenstein’s monster) being brought to life by some extremely questionable science.
After that, they were always relegated to being side characters, though a few crept into 8683 Collectible Minifigures Series 1, like the Zombie and the Witch, when the range debuted in 2010.
There was never anything truly dedicated to all things paranormal until Monster Fighters in 2012. Before the time, the LEGO Group didn’t want to create themes that could potentially scare children. There is also a ‘no horror’ policy that guides the levels of horror aspects, gore and occult that can be depicted within sets. But Monster Fighters was able to portray the paranormal in a way that was fun, no scarier than a Scooby-Doo or The Addams Family story, and it became an instant success with its unique aesthetic, new characters, and overarching plot across nine connected sets.
Monster Fighters were a group of heroes trying to collect all of the magical moonstones before Lord Vampyre used them to create eternal darkness. It began with 9461 The Swamp Monster who lurked in the murky waters protecting one of the moonstones. The villains had their own vehicles, including 9464 The Vampyre Hearse, which is able to launch dynamite at anyone trying to hunt down the vampire lord. But the most famous is 10228 Haunted House, which features three-storeys of spookiness, from a creepy kitchen ran by zombie chefs to a haunted attic and abundance of play features. It really set the standard for how LEGO sets can be spooky, a little bit scary, and still plenty of fun.
Speaking of fun, LEGO Scooby Doo brought the Mystery Machine gang to life in a short-lived theme that only delivered five sets. These sets all have a unique mystery and someone to unmask, whether that’s the zombie in 75902 The Mystery Machine or the Black Knight in 75904 Mystery Mansion.
Solving paranormal mysteries inspired LEGO Hidden Side in 2020. Set in the haunted town of Newbury, it follows a group of ghost hunters led by Parker L. Jackson with the help of Dr. J. B. Watt, and there’s a cute dog called Spencer. The sets have a lot of fun features, new minifigure designs for ectoplasmic ghosts, and each one can be ‘transformed’ into its haunted variant, like 70425 Newbury Haunted High School developing claws and giant, glowing eyes. While this theme definitely balanced being paranormal and fun, it was plagued by the Hidden Side app – which let you hunt ghosts via the sets when it was still active. When the app was decommissioned in 2023, each one of these sets lost a huge part of the play value.
Monster Fighters was the last explicitly spooky LEGO theme. Instead there have been individual sets dedicated to eerie movie classics such as 21341 Hocus Pocus: The Sanderson Sister’s Cottage and 21351 Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Now the LEGO Icons Midnight Valley Collection is bringing the creepy vibe of classic horror with the reveal of 11383 Mayor Manor, a gothic mansion that is home to haunted residents and a fluffy cat. This new collection is promising to deliver a series of collectible sets where distorted and asymmetrical constructions create a haunting atmosphere.
It appears that this new series will be focusing on classic spooky locations such as manors, castles, graveyards and more. And while it’s clearly a fresh take on all things paranormal, the overall atmosphere of 11383 Mayor Manor is definitely similar to the beloved LEGO Monster Fighters that is so beloved by fans.
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