Review : LEGO Fairground Collection 10273 Haunted House

As promised, today we quickly tour the LEGO Fairground Collection set 10273 Haunted Houses (3231 pieces - 229.99 €), a box which proposes to assemble not a "really" haunted house but rather a free fall attraction staged in an old building populated by Cast Members disguised.

You noticed, the set comes in a nice box stamped 18+ which clearly places this product in the department of toys for adult fans while the defunct LEGO Creator Expert range was much more timid on this point.

The fact remains that this mansion, despite an obvious exhibition product potential, is above all a playset with a fun functionality that it will be necessary to know how to make accessible to the youngest. The latter will undoubtedly not seize all the references to sets marketed in the years 90/2000 scattered in the various rooms of the manor, but there is no reason to deprive them of manipulating the elevator installed in the central tower.

Many adult fans have settled on the title of the set a little too quickly and put aside its true identity. This is not a reinterpretation of the building from the set 10228 Haunted Houses marketed in 2012 in the Monster Fighters range, it is a fairground merry-go-round or rather an amusement park. If you take the product for what it really is, then there's no reason for adult fans to complain that they didn't get the toy they wanted ...

In the manner of Modulars, the construction is not just a simple facade even if the back of the mansion is sparsely dressed and encumbered by the elevator mechanism. So we get a real building and not as often a movie set. Best of all, this resealable playset will not overwhelm your shelves with an occupied area of ​​only 26 x 26 cm. In height, that's another story: the construction is 69 cm high.

As for the buildings of the universe Structure, we alternate here between repetitive sequences of stacking bricks for the walls and assembly of the various elements of the furniture with slightly more elaborate techniques. The breakdown of the assembly phases is well enough thought out that the whole process is entertaining and rewarding. The 3000 pieces are there, they are in the cornices, the furniture or the finishes. And the chain made up of 148 elements. There are very few plates in this box: four 16x16 for the floor of the manor and some roof sections.

The finish of the mansion is generally satisfactory, I just regret that the roofs are a little neglected. These black plates would in my opinion deserved to be covered with tiles to give them a little more thickness and to match the top of the model. The floor of the various rooms on the ground floor could also have benefited from a slightly more elaborate covering, for example with tiling. The interior of the mansion is, as usual at LEGO, chock-full of furniture and other small decorative constructions which greatly contribute to the pleasure of assembly.

Even the smallest space is full but it's not a problem, it's an attraction and not a "really" haunted house. The rear of the mansion is a bit messier with the mechanism that allows you to take advantage of the integrated elevator and the long chain that runs along the wall. Two trees would have been enough to hide the block of the mechanism a little, but we will do with what LEGO offers us.

The set definitively establishes its adult positioning thanks to the many more or less obvious references piled up in the different rooms of the manor: one can see there the choice of supported winks for nostalgic fans with encyclopedic memory or the desire of designers to make pleasure to themselves. Each artefact in Samuel Von Barron's collection is even the subject of a small insert in the pages of the instruction booklet.

What I remember above all here is the integration of this new product in the continuity of the LEGO history with a certain coherence between different ranges and universes which had a priori nothing to share. To each his relationship with the LEGOs of his childhood: pirate ship or Egyptian pyramids, we do not all have the same memories and LEGO serves a little for everyone with here more or less obvious references to the Adventurers, Orient Expedition ranges. , Alpha Team, Fright Knights and even the recent Hidden Side line.

The theme of the old mansion full of fan service and accompanied by some ghosts has also somewhat eclipsed the main functionality of the product: the attraction of free fall. However, there is a nice job of integrating this function on the part of the designers with a cabin which is correctly slowed down by the transfer of kinetic energy to the two large wheels placed at the rear and a fall perfectly damped by four parts in rubber placed at the four corners of the column.

Visitors take their seats in a car that simply clips into the elevator shaft. Convenient to set up the minifigs without having to go a little blind. The cabin can be stopped in front of the intermediate window for the souvenir photo, the device is hidden under the roof. It is in the spirit of attractions like the tower of terror of Disneyland.

The other feature of the set is the painting with Samuel Von Barron who is hit by Pharaoh Hotep's curse via the supplied red light brick. The effect is striking in the dark and the superposition of the two pad-printed windows works perfectly. To activate the light brick, just press on the attraction sign (see photo above).

As often with LEGO, the attraction is to be set in motion manually if you do not want to go back to the cash register to acquire the optional motorization elements. The integration of Smart Hub (88009 - €49.99) Powered-UP and both M engines (88008 - 17.99 €) necessary is quickly documented in the instruction booklet. I tried using the two small motors (45303 - € 12.99) provided in the LEGO DC Comics set 76112 App-Controlled Batmobile, they are not recognized.

It's up to you to see if your future use of this model justifies investing a few dozen euros more, as far as I'm concerned, I think that a product released in 2020 that offers this type of functionality should be delivered with these elements. optional, or LEGO should at least offer a bundle at a preferential price for those who do not wish to reel for a little fun.

Note that the application Powered-UP, essential for controlling the Smart Hub and the two motors, has been updated and offers some sound sequences that allow a real immersion in the atmosphere of the attraction while covering a little the noise of the mechanism.

The assortment of minifigs included in the box makes it possible to stage the attraction with its disguised employees and visitors, but that's minimum service with two twins, two guys dressed as ghosts and a handful of visitors.

I would have gladly exchanged one of the visitors for a minifig of Baron Von Barron, possibly in the form of a statue, in order to strengthen the link between this product and the owner of the premises. The instructions do not confirm that the skeleton is that of Sam Sinister, implying that it could in fact be a third member of the siblings taking care of the premises.

The two ghost-disguised guys are of little interest in their basic costumes, but again, this mansion being an attraction, there was no reason to provide "real" LEGO ghosts like you see in other ranges. .

Note the presence of Junkbot, a small robot stored in a box under the roof, seen in a video game offered by LEGO in 2001 and which has since also made an appearance in the Ninjago universe via a sticker in the set 70657 Ninjago City Docks. It's all connected.

In short, this set has everything to please if you do not expect anything other than what it really has to offer. The addition in the instruction booklet of some explanations about the many Easter Eggs present in Samuel Von Barron's mansion is a real plus which energizes the assembly phase and which will perhaps push some fans to take an interest in the ranges of the 2000s in question here.

The attraction is functional, it is technically very successful, it becomes even more immersive via the unfortunately optional motorization, there are no stickers to stick and the set achieves its goal, at least as far as I'm concerned. So there is no reason not to fall for this haunted house which is not really one. For those who expected something else, all modifications are allowed.

Note: The product shown here, supplied by LEGO, is as usual in play. Deadline fixed at 2th June 2020 next at 23pm.

Update : The winner was drawn and was notified by email, his nickname is indicated below. Without a response from him to my request for contact details within 5 days, a new winner will be drawn.