Thursday 31 October 2024

The nights are drawing in... Review: Creator Seasonal Halloween Pumpkin, 40697



40697 Halloween Pumpkin


Once upon a time, the end of October meant colder, darker nights and children (of all ages) looking forward to just one thing...


Remember, remember, the 5th of November,

Gunpowder, treason and plot!  (1)


On the 5th of November, or more likely the nearest Saturday to it, we'd bundle up in hats and scarves and stand in the garden waving sparklers while my Dad and Uncle oversaw rockets launched from milk bottles, catherine wheels nailed to the trellis and colourful fountains that usually failed to live up to the gaudy description and even gaudier picture on the box that they came in.

In later years, we'd head to an organised display in our local park which - with the exception of one year when torrential rain over the previous few days had turned the park into a quagmire -  meant a far more impressive display for only a few pounds a head.


But a few years back - I'm not sure when exactly - the end of October was overtaken by Halloween.  I mean, it had always been there on October 31st, but it was just a minor distraction on the way to the main event of fireworks night / bonfire night / Guy Fawkes night. (2)  Now, however, as with many things, the influence of the USA meant that Halloween became a thing.  And a big thing at that.

** Digression Alert!! **


While I'm on the subject of Halloween and the USA, I have a bone to pick with the youth of today.  Most of what I know of the Americanised version of this 'celebration' came from watching the Charlie Brown cartoons.  And while carving pumpkins and whatnot was a central theme, a big part of the whole evening seemed to be 'Trick or Treat'.  Now, in the cartoons, this involved the kids going round, knocking on doors and holding up their baskets hopefully, while plaintively asking the householder: "Trick or Treat?"


At this point, whoever had answered the door would drop something in each child's basket.  It might have been a sweet (a treat) or, as happened to our erstwhile hero, Charlie Brown, every single time, a rock (a trick).


Somehow, as this custom crossed the Atlantic, it morphed into some kind of blackmail operation:  "Give us a treat, i.e. sweets, or we'll trick you i.e. lob eggs or somesuch at your house."


Hopefully our new Labour Government will see fit to ban it under their desire for an all-consuming Nanny state, on the basis that children eating sweets is putting undue pressure on the NHS.


** Digression ends**



As I type, All Hallows Eve is tomorrow, but while I was out and about today I saw a number of children already dressed up, presumably getting ready to go out and terrorise innocent householders.  The thing that struck me most was their choice of outfits.  I would have thought that the obvious choices would have been a traditionally spooky get ups like witches or skeletons.  But instead, I saw one demon, one Harley Quinn (from Batman) and one young girl wearing a 6 foot long / tall inflatable dinosaur costume.

Don't get me wrong, if I met an actual dinosaur, then it would put the wind up me.  Although 'spooky' wouldn't be the first description that occurred to me. 
'Absolutely terrifying' would probably be first, followed swiftly by 'Someone should phone the Natural History Museum and/or David Attenborough.'


But the image that seems to be most associated with the last day of October is the Pumpkin.  Specifically a pumpkin that's been carved.  I'm not immune to this, and have had a go for the past few years.  This was last year's effort... (3)




Carved by my own fair hand!


But to finally drag the conversation round to Lego, our plastic-loving friends from Denmark are also fans of Halloween, and have produced a number of themed sets over the years.  There were a couple of 'Halloween buckets' produced in the late 90s and early 00s, but proper Halloween themed sets seemed to start in earnest in 2010 with three polybags, a Pumpkin, a Bat and a Ghost.



The 2010 Halloween Bat - not, it must be said, the height of Lego sophistication



Over the years, the sets have become larger and more sophisticated, although confusingly, not all of them fall under the 'Halloween' subtheme.  But trawling through Brickset's remarkable database, I've found witches, owls, cats and mice alongside dioramas like 40260 Halloween Haunt and 40122 Halloween Trick or Treat set.



40122 Trick Or Treat from 2015



There have been remarkably few pumpkins though.  40055 from 2013 was a decidedly cubist affair and other than a few tiny representations of the seasonal squash, they've been noticeable by their absence.  Until this year.



40055 Halloween Pumpkin from 2013.  That's a lot of corners for a vegetable



40697 Halloween Pumpkin was announced as a Gift With Purchase to be made available through the early part of October 2024, with a threshold of £110 in the UK.  Fortunately this coincided with the release of 76328 : Batman - The Classic TV Series Batmobile which was the first must-have for me for some considerable time, and at £129.99, got me over the qualifying line.  Getting hold of it was rather more difficult, as you can read in a previous entry, but find it I did, and yesterday, I sat down to build it.


It doesn't take long - half an hour or so - and it's a very good set to pick up if you like orange pieces.  This set contains a lot of them (4), in particular the element 4251969 Brick W/Bow 1/3.  There are 44 of those in the box, and they are responsible for the pumpkin actually looking like a pumpkin.



4251969  You get a lot of these



The build starts with a 10 x 10 green base representing, presumably, the pumpkin patch, then a yellow box like structure comes together with plenty of outward facing studs.  Then a small extension is added to the ground on one side, the purpose of which will become apparent later.  Unless you've already looked at the pictures, in which case you will have figured it out.


Then the two sides are back are constructed, and that's where most of those orange bow parts go, creating a pleasingly curved and textured shape to the squash.  The lid is then put together, and the Lego gang decided to push the boat out on this one and include a light brick which hangs from the inside of the top, and is activated by pushing down on the stalk.


Then a fairly minimalist ghost, made of a handful of white plates, is built, and this sits on the side of the patch as a little extra spooky colour.


Finally, as we get to the third and final bag of parts, we have a choice of either going for a scary face or a friendly, smiling face.  Either can be made, but only one at a time - if you want to try the other, you'll need to remove and deconstruct the existing face, but it'll be no more than a 10 minute job (5) to swap them over.




The finished article




Activating the light brick




The full effect!


And that's that.  It's a fun little set, although little is the operative word.  Mrs Boo took one look at it and said that judging by the box, she thought it would be bigger (it's about 8cm by 8cm and 6cm high not including the stalk).


Still, it looks good, doesn't take up much room, and after dark, pressing down on the stalk and activating the light gives a very effective look to the set.  You do have to stand there with your finger on it to keep it alight though.  You could probably jury rig a method of keeping the light on permanently but that would probably drain the battery fairly quickly.


So overall, an excellent set, made all the better for it being a freebie (6).  If you managed to pick it up, it'll be a nice little addition to your collection.  If not, they are popping up on the secondary market.  The going rate seems to be about £25 which is a little steep.  You could probably - just about - justify it to yourself for that price.  If you can get it for less, you're getting a bargain.


Highly recommended.



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(1)  I only ever remember the first two lines, but actually there's quite a lot more!


Remember, remember, the 5th of November,

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

I see no reason

Why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent

To blow up the King and the Parliament

Three score barrels of powder below

Poor old England to overthrow

By God's providence he was catch'd

With a dark lantern and burning match

Holler boys, holler boys, let the bells ring

Holler boys, holler boys

God save the King!


(2)  Delete as appropriate.

 

(3)  Not bad, if I do say so myself.

 

(4)  Relatively speaking - the whole set only has 254 parts.


(5)  I'm guessing - I have n't tried it yet.


(6)  We'll brush over the money that had to be spent to get it - we did after all, get more Lego for that money. 


Saturday 12 October 2024

"An unusual situation"

Regular readers of this blog - which, as far as I can tell, is just me - may recall that my Lego interest / hobby / addiction began back at Christmas 2012 when Mrs Boo bought me the Technic set 8070 Super Car (1) and then with some Christmas gift vouchers, I bought the Technic 8110 Mercedes-Benz Unimog. (2)  Not long after that I discovered the website Brickset and its associated forum. (3)  The Brickset site is one of the most popular Lego sites in the UK and holds its own on the global stage too, thanks to the unstinting efforts of owner Huw and a small but dedicated team.  It produces news, reviews, articles and so forth, but also has a stupendous database sitting behind it.  This database is a thing of wonder in its own right...


For starters, it gives you a huge amount of detail about each set.  Which theme (and subtheme) any given set sits in, how many parts it has, when it was released (and, if relevant, when it ceased production), price (both new and used), price per piece - a stat beloved of Lego enthusiasts - and quite often, who designed it.  It has a user rating, based on the thoughts of Brickset users and links to both any official Brickset review, and those of Brickset members.  These can range from "It's really good!" to War and Peace style epics that go on for pages.

And just below that are two additional tick boxes.  The first is "I want this set", and the second is "I own (number) of this set." (4) 


I keep a spreadsheet on my laptop which details each set I own, when and where I bought it, how much I paid for it (5) and how much discount I managed to get off the RRP.  But useful (and incriminating) as it is, it's not accessible while I'm out and about.  Whereas, as long as I can get a phone signal, I can always check whether I own a set thanks to the Brickset database.  Which has saved me a fair bit over the years.  I'll pick a set up and think "I really like this - might have to have it." and then a swift check will establish that I've had this conversation with myself at some point in the past and have already bought it!


As we'll see, I should have done that on my recent trip out!


But the unusual situation that I found myself in, at just after 12.30 on the day in question, was this.


For the first time in nearly 12 years of collecting, my 'Want' list was empty.


Broadly speaking, any set that goes on the list is a considered decision.  Since I lost my job, my acquisition rate has dropped off a cliff.  Looking at the sheet, I have added ten sets in 2024, two of which were freebie 'Gifts with purchase'.  Compare that to 2018, when - somehow - I managed to add 125 sets to the collection...


So these days, a set has to be something pretty special, or a set that I need (6) to complete a collection.  Things like the Modular Buildings, which I know I'm going to buy.  The large Ninjago City sets...  These are the sort of thing that will only go up in price when they hit the secondary market once production ceases, so it makes sense (kind of) to buy them at RRP or, if I can get them from John Lewis, at a 25% reduction (thanks to me still having staff discount, courtesy of my wife).

But other sets...  Up until recently I had the Lord Of The Rings set, 10316 Rivendell on the list.  But restricted finances mean a set really has to justify itself.  Rivendell looks beautiful, but it costs £429.99 and I don't have (other than a few polybags) have any other LOTR sets.  So it was struck from the list.



Rivendell.  It's lovely, but it's not coming home with me.



The only two that were on the list, at the time of writing, were 76780 Wednesday Addams Figure and 76328 Batman : The Classic TV Series Batmobile.  These are both new sets, only going on sale at the beginning of October '24, and both look fantastic.  There was a version of the Adam West Batmobile released in 2021 which is on a similar scale to Speed Champions and it looks pretty good for a small scale set.  But the new version is considerably larger, notably more detailed and for someone who grew up in the 70s, it was a must-have.




A large Batmobile?  Why I don't mind if I do!



The smaller, 2021 version.



A brace of Batmobiles.



Wednesday, on the other hand, is a new theme for Lego.  There are only a few sets available thus far, and they're based on the Netflix series starring Jenna Ortega as the eponymous anti-heroine.  It's (the Netflix series) one of the best things I've seen in years (which other people seem to have agreed with, leading to a second series being filmed as we speak) and the set looks kind of cool.  




Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams



It's not the sort of thing I'd normally pick up, but this one appealed.  I'd have just left them on the want list for a while, but I was suckered in by the current 'Gift With Purchase', which is a neat little Halloween Pumpkin (40697) with a light brick.  Trouble is, the Batmobile (which would have got me over the purchase threshold) has proved popular and seemed to be sold out online and in most stores.  And the Pumpkin gift was only going to be available for a few more days...



Miss Wednesday Addams in all her brickish glory!



The Halloween Pumpkin.  The 'free' Halloween Pumpkin.


Fortunately the Lego store in Westfield White City seemed to have some in stock, and a phone call confirmed it.  Cue a horrible round trip, taking in such joys as the North Circular, the Hangar Lane Gyratory System and the Westway, roads which I would not wish upon my worst enemy.

But I got there, and while wandering around the store with the Batmobile under one arm and Ms Addams under the other, I had a look at what else was available.  The new Star Wars UCS set, 75397 Jabba's Sail Barge, looked a little underwhelming, particularly given its £429.99 price tag. (7) There was a time when a UCS set was a day one purchase for me, but I haven't bothered with the last few and I don't think that's going to change with this one.  


Another one that was tempting is 42172 Technic McLaren P1.  I've been fortunate enough to have the last few large Technic cars - 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, 42083 Bugatti Chiron, and 42115 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 I bought with my hard earned cash.  42143 Ferrari Daytona SP3 I was given to review - and in an ideal world I'd buy the McLaren too.  But it's not the prettiest set, it's expensive and like the past few, you spend half your time building a gearbox that you'll never see again until you take the set apart.  So it doesn't make the want list.

But as I headed for the till, I spotted a dinky little classic Land Rover Defender.  It was less than £14 and looked very cool indeed.  It went on the pile.




Beware the dual temptations of 'Cool' and 'Affordable'



Of course, when I got home and added it to the spreadsheet, I realised that I'd bought it last June...


I'll think of something to do with it!


So now I'm curious as to what, if anything, will be the next set that does actually make it onto the want list.  As we approach the end of the year, the rumours will start flying about the next Modular Building - hopefully something a bit more interesting than this year's 10326 Natural History Museum.  That will have to go on the list.  Maybe a future Star wars UCS set, if they decided to have another crack at the Sandcrawler (the 2014 UCS set 75059 is one on my list of 'the ones that got away')?  And maybe if Lego take the Architecture theme back to actual architecture, rather than the 'gift shop catnip' that they've been churning out for a while.  Sets like 21005 Fallingwater, 21009 Farnsworth House and 21014 Villa Savoye were iconic houses designed by legendary architects.  Most sets these days are the 'skyline' series which are designed as novelty tourist keepsakes.


Still.  While Lego keep turning out things I don't want, at least my wallet can rest easy.


For now.





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(1)  Fun fact!  12 years on, I still haven't opened the box!


(2)  Haven't opened that one either!  Just saving it for the right time.


(3)  The forum, due to running costs, was shut down a while back and has been replaced with a Discord.  A Discord?  A Discord server?  A Discord forum? I'm not sure what the terminology is and if I'm honest, I don't much like the way it works, so I rarely visit, which is a shame, as the Brickset Forum was a thing of joy.  Let's take a moment to reflect on its sad passing.


(4) It's not uncommon for AFOLs to own multiples of a set, whether they're army building, squirrelling them away in the hope of making a decent profit in the future or "I saw it at a price that was too good to ignore."  Many AFOLs live by the mantra "One to build, one to keep, one to resell."


(5) I occasionally put a SUM function at the bottom of that column just to see how much I've spent over the years.  It's a worrying figure. 


(6)  I can hear my wife now... "Need?  Want?"


(7) CapnRex101, Brickset's resident Star Wars expert, disagrees, and other than wincing at the price, thinks that it's a particularly fine set.