It’s Halloween and it seems appropriate to take a look at one of the new LEGO spooky Hidden Side products, specifically the Graveyard Mystery set.
Vital Statistics:
Theme: Hidden Side
Name: Graveyard Mystery
Item: 70420
Price: £24.99 UK, $29.99 USA
Ages: 7+
Pieces: 335
LEGO Website Specification:
Kids can experience fun ghost-catching adventures combining an augmented reality play experience with this LEGO® Hidden Side™ 70420 Graveyard Mystery playset. This awesome app toy combines a buildable LEGO model with augmented reality for kids to deliver a fully interactive play experience. Download the Hidden Side app and scan the model with a phone to make it come alive. With continuous updates, a unique boss ghost to battle in each set, new mysteries to solve, cool items to find, games to play and ghosts to collect, this LEGO Hidden Side set gives kids a whole new way to play and interact with building bricks! Packed with cool graveyard details, this toy construction set features a dog figure, gardener figure, girl and boy minifigures, a twistable statue, grave that opens and a haunted tree with posable arms for lots of fun ghost-hunting adventures.
• Download the LEGO® Hidden Side™ app and point your phone at the Graveyard Mystery playset to make this building set for kids come alive and reveal the Hidden Side. Move the phone around to discover an ever-changing environment hidden around the model.
• This augmented reality toy includes 4 minifigures: heroes Jack Davids and Parker L. Jackson, a skeleton figure and Mr. Branson, plus Davids’s ghost dog figure, Spencer, to pretend play the ghost-catching play in this graveyard toy and in the AR app.
• This Graveyard Mystery unique toy features a tombstone statue that twists, grave that open and a haunted toy tree with posable arms.
• Set in the fictional town of Newbury, where ghosts haunt people and buildings, LEGO® Hidden Side™ playsets let kids play out exciting ghost-hunting adventures that combine physical LEGO models with fully-interactive augmented reality.
• Build and play with the physical set and then bring it to life as you interact with the set while viewing it through the app.
• Using the LEGO® Hidden Side™ app is like looking through a window to a cool and spooky Hidden Side filled with challenging mysteries to solve, ghosts to defeat and unique ghost bosses, like Mamali, to overcome in each set.
• To get the full augmented reality experience, a tablet or mobile phone is required, but not included. Compatible with selected iOS and Android devices. Check compatibility at www.LEGO.com/devicecheck. Children should ask permission before going online.
• Graveyard measures over 5” (14cm) high, 12” (32cm) wide and 3” (10cm) deep
Review:
Launched in the second half of 2019, the Graveyard Mystery set (70420) was one of eight sets launched as part of the first wave, and one of the most reasonable at £24.99. The 335-piece set represents good value for money at around 7.5 pence/brick, and also includes four minifigures and a dog.
Two of those minifigures are the heroes in Hidden Side tasked with vanquishing ghosts and ghouls from the fictional town of Newbury. They are named Jack Davids and Parker L. Jackson, and they look fantastic.
Jack Davids wears a hooded jacket which features a dual-moulded head element incorporating a baseball cap. The design on the jacket continues to the hood, and his hands are black to represent gloves. His legs feature pockets and a bone shaped metallic charm. Two facial expressions represent happy and stroppy.
Parker L. Jackson also has a dual-moulded head element that incorporates a hat and lilac hair in two ponytails. A bag is printed thrown across her torso and the straps continue on her back. Her pale blue jeans feature tears and her head also features the two expressions. Both of these minifigures include unique mobile phone accessories revealing ghosts as would be shown in the accompanying Hidden Side app (discussed below).
Each Hidden Side set contains a civilian inhabitant of Newbury and in this set we get the graveyard’s caretaker named Mr. Branson. The torso, legs and head all appear to be unique and Mr. Branson is wearing a pair of light brown well-worn overalls with the detailed pattern continuing to the rear of the torso and legs. Like Jack he also appears to be wearing black gloves and comes with two facial expressions. Mr. Branson can appear to be possessed by the ghosts that have descended upon Newbury and an additional head and hair element are provided to create this illusion.
Jack’s dog, called Spencer, has recently died and is represented here as the only physical ghost in Newbury; cast in white and clear plastic, he looks great. Finally we have a generic skeleton minifigure composed of a head, torso, two legs, two arms and a key accessory.
The graveyard features a pair of wrought iron gates at its entrance, graveyards and their respective tomb stones, a memorial with winged statue, caretaker’s shed and a possessed tree. The set sits on dark tan plates that represent the muddy ground of the graveyard. The central grave is built in a novel way using a door frame to create the structure that, when opened, reveals the skeleton minifigure, although this is the only grave that can conceal anything.
Inside the caretaker’s shed there is a leaking tap and a bin containing several tools. Encompassing and surrounding the shed is a tree with exposed roots. Its branches are created using Technic elements and it works well. The tree can be possessed by moving switches on the rear and is a fun feature, although the mechanism does stand out awkwardly when viewing the set from the rear.
Stickers are applied to various parts of the set including the gate’s pillars, tomb stones and graves.
Overall:
Not having ghosts in the set (as these can only be seen within the app) was a concern when this theme was announced, but having built this set and played with the app I can honestly say that most of my doubts have been allayed. I enjoyed all aspects of this set, especially the minifigures and the play features, and I look forward to perhaps getting more sets from this theme.
We thank LEGO for providing this set for review. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
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