Review: LEGO Hidden Side 70434 Supernatural Race Car

Today we quickly tour the LEGO Hidden Side set 70434 Supernatural Race Car (244 pieces - 29.99 €), an almost affordable box whose content caught my eye when it was announced.

The Hidden Side universe is a mixture inspired more or less frankly by everything that from near or far can affect the ghost hunt at LEGO or elsewhere: Scooby-Doo, Monster Fighters, Ghostbusters, Stranger Things, etc ... and it sometimes seems difficult to me to find an overall coherence to this concept which adds as a bonus an overlay of augmented reality play to construction toys. Despite everything, the range does manage to surprise me from time to time.

If I often remain insensitive to the various and varied constructions offered by LEGO in this range (school, prison, castle, cemetery, etc ...), I am however sometimes attracted by the few vehicles available in some of these boxes. The big 4x4 of the set 70421 El Fuego's Strunt Truck (2019), the school bus of the set 70423 Paranormal Intercept Bus 3000 (2019), the fire truck from the set 70436 Phantom Fire Truck 3000 (2020) and the "supernatural" car to build in this box are in my opinion very successful models.

And it's good because one can wonder what this car comes to do in the range that the vehicle attracted me. The craft could be piloted by Baron Von Barron, take part in stock car races or roam the streets of a Steampunk town, its versatility makes it a product that I think should appeal to a much larger audience than that. from the tote universe of teenage ghost hunters.

Since this is a "supernatural" hot rod, it was necessary to add a functionality to it to match the title. No steering or suspensions, but the car can "fly" having previously positioned its wheels horizontally like Doc Brown's Delorean or more recently Lola, Phil Coulson's convertible. No complex mechanism here, a few parts are enough to produce the desired effect.

We can regret that the LEGO version is not completely faithful to the vehicle seen in the animated series derived from this range: By comparing the model of the set with the hot rod seen on the screen, we quickly realize that the designer is 'is content to "reinterpret" the vehicle by narrowing the machine to go from two places to one. Pity.

Note that this vehicle does not have "transformation" capabilities as is the case in other boxes in the range. The hot rod is already part of the parallel universe of the game, so it is not intended to convert into a "ghost" machine.

The essential and inevitable colored wheel that allows the LEGO Hidden Side game to recognize the content of sets and offer some video game sequences is rather well integrated into the vehicle. Placed at the back, it does not disfigure the machine and vaguely takes the form of the reactor seen in the animated series. The two two-tone blocks based on new 1x2 half-cylinders placed on the sides of the body can be turned so that only the black part is visible, the aesthetics of the car thus maintaining a certain sobriety. The blue piece will be used in the video game.

The cockpit is easily accessible via the vehicle's movable roof and allows the driver to be installed without realizing that our fingers are too big for this child's toy. Once is not customary, the car will gladly do without thematic stickers to stick on the body, it's up to you depending on what you do with the model.

It will also be noted that this is the first appearance of the skull installed at the front in Pearl Dark Gray, the part was until now only available in white in a few boxes of the Ninjago (70593), Nexo Knights (70326), Legends of Chima (70147), The LEGO Batman Movie (70907) or even The Lone Ranger ( 79110).

This small box also allows you to get four characters including three minifigs: Jack Davids the young ghost hunter, Vaughn Geist, a Shadowwalker and the (dead) dog Spencer.

Jack's minifig is an assembly of elements already seen in numbers in the sets of the LEGO Hidden Side range, the head and the cute cap with integrated hair since the beginning of the year, the rest since 2019. The character is here delivered with a new 2020 variant of its smartphone present in three other boxes of the 2020 wave.

Vaughn Geist's minifig, the serving Dum Dum Dugan, is also featured in the sets 70433 JB's Submarine et 70437 Mystery Castle. The figurine is in my opinion visually very successful with an impeccable pad printing, especially on the torso which combines three layers of clothing and a few accessories.

The Shadowwalker with his false airs of a Game of Thrones creature in negative is for his part delivered almost identically in the sets 70436 Phantom Fire Truck et 70437 Mystery Castle but the transparent blue wings are only in this set. The part was already supplied in Neon Green in sets 70421 El Fuego's Strunt Truck et 70425 Newbury Haunted High School marketed in 2019.

The character's helmet is far from unheard of, it is an item in the LEGO catalog since 2004 that the youngest will eventually have discovered with the Nexo Knights range. Purists will undoubtedly find what to do with the character's head, especially in the Marvel universe, the rest is too generic for me even if the pad printing of the torso and legs seems to me overall very successful.

The little dead dog returned to ghost status is the one you already have in several copies if you are a fan of the range. In short, the assortment of minifigs offered in this box is nothing new or exceptional and the purists of the Marvel universe who just want Vaughn for his outfit and his hat in Medium Dark Flesh to convert into Dum Dum Dugan will be able to get it for 10 € less in the set 70433 JB's Submarine.

In the end, I am pleasantly surprised by this little box, and it is not because it is a product that fits perfectly into the world of the LEGO Hidden Side range, on the contrary. The hot rod is original enough to motivate the purchase of the set and it will easily find its place in many themed dioramas. In the end, it's almost a good thing that this range is just a melting pot of various influences, it's up to everyone to find what they like and put it to their taste.

I have not given you the promotion of the augmented reality video game associated with these boxes here, I think that those who wanted to try it have already bored of it and that the others can save their download time. The ghost hunt on offer isn't much fun beyond a few minutes, and adding new scannable sets to the app is nothing new.

Note: I remind the angry service that this site is not the LEGO Wikipedia and that I am only giving my opinion on different products. If you have a different opinion from mine, it is possible and quite normal.

Note: The set presented here, supplied by LEGO, is as usual in play. Deadline fixed at July 9, 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.