Toy Fair 2012: Lego Gets Monstrous
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I’m always amazed at how casually monsters and horror have worked their way into media seemingly made for “kids”. The Pirates of the Caribbean films (from Walt Disney) have had zombies, fish monsters AND unkillable skeleton pirates. Hell, those lovable Ewoks from Star Wars set out to EAT our heroes when they first met. Never forget what the “Luka Luka Luuuuka” song really means.
LEGO has obviously always had an appreciation for the macabre, whether it be the inclusion of a zombie in the first series of Mini Figures or the extra bits that come with the Star Wars Hoth Wampa Set … like the pile of bones, human skeleton and Tauntaun leftovers. FAMILY FUN!! Now LEGO is taking things up a notch, replacing its awesome salute to Mars Attacks (Alien Conquest) with a line called MONSTER FIGHTERS!
Since the New York Toy Fair is actually three weeks away, all we’ve got for you is the art displayed on an outer wall at the UK Toy Fair and as complete a description of the sets that we’ve seen so far. These titles are not 100%…
The Wolf Man – Seems to have mini figures of a werewolf and an old school adventurer or scientist…you know the kind with a pith helmet? Center pieces include a launching tree and a little buggy for the professor.
The Swamp Creature – Includes a water craft with two rockets to fire and a hunter to drive it into battle against the Creature with his harpoon! There’s also a little alter-looking configuration for the Creature with a dead fish at its base.
The Mummy – A female monster hunter rides a sort of gyro-copter in pursuit of the Mummy on his chariot pulled by a skeleton horse. The Mummy has a whip and a sword while the hunter has a crossbow with a bolt and a spare bolt in her hair!
Vampire Hearse (aka Dracula’s…totally awesome batmobile) – Picture the family car from “The Munsters”. That can be the only inspiration for this. Dracula’s long black ride features fangs in the grill, piercing red headlights, bones along the engine and more. In hot pursuit appears to be an English gentleman on a motorcycle with a fencing-type sword. There appears to be another figure with Dracula, but we can’t make him out.
Zombies – We’ve only heard about the existence of this set so far so have no further details.
Frankenstein – A tower for catching electricity, a table for resurrecting dead flesh and a wacky scientist to scream “IT’S ALIIIVE!!” This set features the mad scientist, Frankenstein’s Monster and what appear to be two angry townsfolk as well as a monster hunting vehicle with a projectile, what appears to be a holding cell for the Monster and a slice of the scientist’s lab.
The Ghost Train – Exactly what it sounds like! A black engine with spectral fire coming out of its stack and green lights leading the way pulls three carts with little bat wings! The bat wings are said to flap as they go along!! The set seems to include three ghosts to battle two monster hunters in their prop plane with projectile firing mechanisms. We see the female monster hunter can hang off the bottom by a rope, brandishing a crossbow.
The Vampire Castle – Comes with a Man-Bat (or 2), Dracula, his Bride and two human monster fighters as well as a tricked-out monster hunter mobile with a launching net! The castle has some sort of crystal ray feature in the tower, which pops out from behind what looks like a stained glass window. This ties into the storyline, which I’ll get to in a minute. There also seems to be a trap-door feature in the tower.
So here’s what I’ve put together. Each set comes with an idol/gem stone that both monsters and fighters are after..probably some sort of ultimate power dealy. The bit that looks like stained glass in the Vampire Castle tower is actually all the idols/gems plugged into a wheel, which I suppose activates the laser of doooom!! There is also a glow in the dark element in each set so take note!
Monster Fighters can be seen below Frank, Drac, and Wolfie; and under them we’ve added two extra pics to our story. One looks a lot like the Swamp Creature but is missing the fin on top of his head and some minor redecos to his overall look. The second is my little collection of LEGO Mini Figures, which come single-packed and have included at least one monster-looking dude in each wave! You’ll notice Dracula and Frankenstein are close cousins to their Monster Fighter counterparts!
June 2012 is the tentative date set for the launch of LEGO’s Monster Fighters so keep watch.
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Categorized:Last Toys on the Left
