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Lego 10228 Haunted House
I knew I wanted the Haunted House as soon as I saw the first images appear... so I was at the Lego store on Sept 1 to buy it on the release day with my kids. Then of course, I had to build the thing in one night... took another day to get it all edited and commented and uploaded, but here it is.
Name: Haunted House
Set Number: 10228
Pieces: 2064
Price: $180 US
Ages: 14+
Minifigs: 6
Theme: Monster Fighters
Year of Release: 2012
Links: Bricklink Peeron Brickset
The Box Front
The front of the box matches the rest of the Monster Fighters line. It's got the usual Lego info and a nice large photo of the house. Interestingly, there ARE two missing normal details. There's no set name, and there's no names for the minifigs.
The Box Back
The back of the box shows the inside of the house. Unlike the modular line of buildings, this one does not separate into floors. Instead, it hinges open like a dollhouse. There's tons of nice detail to explore, shown here in small inset pictures, but we'll get to that as we build...
The 1:1
Like most sets, there's a 1:! scale figure on the top of the box so strange people who have never played with Lego can understand the size of the contents.
The Stickers
Yes, there is a small sticker sheet. Looks like some windows will get decorated, and some tiles will become newspapers, portraits, and records.
The Manuals
Thankfully, the manuals and sticker sheets came in a bag with cardboard, so they're in great shape. All three books have the same front image as the front of the box.
The Back of the Manuals
Book one ends with a normal building page. Book two has a Lego Club ad (and is much thinner than the other two books), and sadly, book three has the Win! kid. Seriously Lego, that kid's gotta be what, like 25 by now? Get a new photo!
The Manual Beginning
The first page of the manual has the usual info about sorting the bags and making the minifigs. Note that there's both glow in the dark ghosts AND glow in the dark zombie heads here.
The Manual Pages
The pages of the manuals are nice and clear. There's a subtle background of clouds with a moon in the corner, but it's very subtle. The colors are well-defined and the black has white outlines, critical since there's lots of grey and black in this build.
The Bags
There are 5 loose grey plates and lots of numbered bags. Interestingly, there's only two small bags numbered 1 (minifigs and interior details), lots of 2, 3, and 4, and a single bag 5.
The Minifigs
The Haunted House has six residents. According to Lego, these are : Vampyre's Bride, Vampyre, Zombie chef, butler, and 2 glow-in-the-dark ghosts. The butler looks more like Frankenstein to me, although in grey rather than green. His head extension piece looks to be the same mold as the monster in Series 4 Collectible Minifigures, but in light bluish grey and a different print. Both Vampyres have glow-in-the-dark heads. I did notice a flaw in the manuals though - it only shows the gold dot on the leg print of the Vampyre, not the white bottom edge of his jacket. In fact, I assembled and photographed the figures wrong the first time since I didn't notice the dot in the manual and assumed both had plain black legs.
The Minifig Backs
The four main figs all have printing on the back of their torsos, even though it's covered on the Vamprye and nearly covered by the Bride's hair.
The Minifig Alternate Looks
Here are the back prints on the Vampryes, as well as their alternate faces. Neither servant gets an alternate head print, since the back of their heads aren't covered, but I the Butler does get a full face print (with eyebrows) even though the top is covered by his extra head piece. Also, the ghosts don't get legs, just a white brick and plate. (yes, I got the black legs swapped in this photo. Too bad)
The Accessories
The rest of bags 1 make an assortment of awesome accessories for the house. Some of them shown here - a heart (from the Pirates of the Caribbean Mill set) in a bottle, a bedframe, a helmet in a tub (I have no idea what that's about), a stove, wardrobe, some jars and light fixtures, and my personal favorite, the incredibly clever phonograph.
Building the House, 1
The house begins with a foundation - 3 of the large plates with an assortment of bricks and tiles added. Doesn't look like much yet, but just wait....
Building the House, 2
The other large plates form the other side of the base. There's a hinge connecting the halves and flooring for the front porch has been added.
Building the House, 3
Ah, the first of the sand green has appeared. There's TONS of it to come. I love the fireplace too - it's got the printed "ship in a bottle" from the small Pirates of the Caribbean set and it's on a hinge which will come in handy later.
Building the House, 4
This is pretty much how the build is going to go - add brick after brick around the house.
Building the House, the Windows
The house uses lots of these window modules. They're all similar to this - a couple small windows (with or without glass, and with our without stickers), some nice black detailing at the top and bottom, and a board or shutter across it.
Building the House, 5
The first floor is basically done. Again, there's tons of sand green bricks in assorted 1x something sizes (1x1, 1x2, 1x4, 1x6 are in abundance). It's a little plain still though since the porch hasn't been finished yet.
Building the House, 6
At the end of the bags 2, the porch is done and there's a floor for the second floor. A nice detail is the zombie heads at the top of the pillars.
Building the House, 7
The second floor builds similar to the first - walls with window openings. There's some nice texture from the dark tan brick bricks, and studs on the walls for later decorating. You also use a bunch of the tall 1x1x5 bricks in sand green, which are new to this set.
Building the House, 8
And in no time, the second floor is complete. Some of these windows get falling shutters instead of boards, but they're still basically the same module. One future play feature is showing though - there's a trapdoor frame and an axle through the wall next to the chimney.
Building the House, 9
The attic level starts off rather tedious. Any time the part callout in the manual has numbers in the 20s and 30s, you know it's not going to be fun There's 1x2 tiles with handles around the edge, and then alternating 1x1 cylinders and 1x2 inverted slopes on top of that. You can also see the purpose of the trap door - there's a folding ladder made of railing pieces. Cool!
Building the House, 10
The attic gets a lot of the detail accessories from the first bag.
Building the House, 11
The attic is nearly done.
Building the House, 12
Just one bag to go, and the roof is on. It has the same spiky edge of black arms as the porch roof. It's nice that this is supposed to be a run-down building, so you don't have to precisely get all those arms matching and evenly spaced :)
Building the House, 13
Bag 5 makes this top peak of the building. Nice assortment of slopes for MOCing too. (and fittingly, I documented the build in 13 photos. Bwah hah hah!)
The Finished Outside
When the house is opened up, you can see most of the outside. Like the modulars, it's heavily detailed on the front and much less on the back, but it's still nice all around. It's a bit disappointing that the shutters aren't the right size for these windows, but it's still a great effect.
The Finished Inside
The interior shows the attention to detail that's equal to any of the modular buildings. Let's take a closer look...
The Attic
The attic, naturally, is full of random old stuff. The tub with helmet is here, and the chest has a top hat inside.
A Flaw!
Here's one issue I have with the design. I like the folding latter on the trap door, but you have to only fold it up almost all the way. If you collapse it completely, the hinges hit the brown plate and it won't go up all the way.
The Music
The other half of the attic has the Vampyre's music. The photograph and box of records are here, along with a skull and bone for ambiance.
The Second Floor
This area of the second floor is mostly for transitions, with the stairs from below and the attic ladder being here. Behind the ladder is a writing desk.
The Bedroom
The right hand side of the second floor is a bedroom. There's a cool antler rack made of white arms, and I like the stickered artwork as well. The green plant in the corner though seems out of place. The tan bamboo leaves would have been better here.
The Kitchen
The zombie chef has a kitchen to cook for the Vampyres. Not sure I'd like the snake stew that he's working on though.
The Entryway
The left side of the lower level is a bit boring. The only thing here is the stairway and front door. You can see the fireplace though - when closed, it's over in the kitchen, but when you open the house, it hinges into the center area.
The Side Entrance
On this side of the house is the kitchen door and a lot of windows.
The Chimney
The other side of the house is the chimney, which has the hinges built into it. Why oh why though did they use dark grey for half of the hinges though They stick out rather than blending in.
The Gate
To add to the scene, you also get this front gate in bag 5. It's simple but a nice touch.
With Some Modulars
As you can see, it can't fit flush with them. The right side has the side door. The left side has the hinge bricks in the chimney - if you removed those it'd fit side by side.
Also, I think it feels a little too big for the others. Sure, the floors are the same size, but it's a single house as big as a fire station. Just doesn't feel right. I think it'd work better in a large layout to have it close and the other modulars farther away to give some perspective.
The Conclusion
Ok, this house is great. It's got all the size and detail of the modular buildings, but in a stand-alone home. It'd be trivial to clean it up and have a nice sand green house, or you can have a run-down dump. It's a lengthy build that can easily occupy several evenings, but nothing's particularly difficult. There's only a few tedious bits during the build. The hinged design makes it much more playable than the modulars as well.
The Ratings
Value: 9/10 - The figs are great, there's lots of sand green, and there's lot of roof slopes. It's a bit more pricey than most of the modulars, but the figs make up for it I'd say.
Design: 9/10 - All the details and furniture make a great house design. I had to deduct though for the dark hinges and the attic ladder though.
Playability: 10/10 - The only way to improve would be to add a garage and car :)
Parts: 8/10 - Points for the color scheme and details, but there's not anything too special.
Overall: 9.6/10 - Go buy one. Or two - have a haunted one and a nice one.
How have you gotten your hands on it already? Has it been released?
