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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
(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.
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