Spider & Haunted House (40493) is the latest seasonal set arriving from The LEGO® Group. It’s one of two Halloween sets releasing this August 1st. For a review of the Halloween Owl (40497) please click here. This set consists of two small builds: a fun little spider and a small haunted house. Each creation comes with a string element to allow you to hang them on your traditional….umm, Halloween tree? Scary shrub? Or maybe you just prefer to theme your Christmas decorations on the spookier end of the spectrum. Let’s have a quick look at the set to see what you get.
NOTE: This set was provided by The LEGO® Group to True North Bricks for early review. This does not guarantee a favourable review and all opinions are my own. For a breakdown of the rating system, please click here.
SPIDER & HAUNTED HOUSE (40493) SUMMARY
- NAME: Spider & Haunted House
- SET #: 40493
- THEME: Seasonal
- COST: $12.99 CAD
- BRICK COUNT: 132
- MINIFIGURES: None
- RELEASE DATE: August 1, 2021
SPIDER & HAUNTED HOUSE (40493) QUICK REVIEW
- VALUE: 89% (great values for build-time and cost-per-brick)
- BUILD: 62% (the spider is the more fun build while the haunted house is too sticker heavy)
- MINIFIGURES: N/A
- ENTERTAINMENT: 50% (fun gift for kids, but less of a draw for adults)
- OVERALL SCORE: 67% (simple but fun builds, a decent appeal for kids and as gifts)
VALUE: 89%
Spider & Haunted House is priced at $12.99 in Canada and fits perfectly within the price range for basically an accessory or add-on set. The cost-per-brick sits desirably at $.010, giving it a really decent score of 93%. The Spider & Haunted House altogether took just under 17 minutes to build (10 minutes and 7 minutes respectively). This gives us a build-time value of 85%, which is very fair and average. Overall these little guys get a nice value score of 89%.
BUILD: 62%
Spider & Haunted House (40493) arrives in the typical small box with simple graphics. Inside the box are 3 small unnumbered bags, a small sticker sheet and a 35 page instruction booklet. The spider is our first build and the overall result is pretty cute. The construction is somewhat similar to a Brickheadz design: a core with outward-facing studs that get plates and curves attached to the outside. The teeth and eyes are a cute touch for that ideal cartoonish element of fun. The legs are simple claw elements that offer some poseability for good measure. It’s a simple but effective build and it gets the majority of the points for this section (70%)
The Haunted House is a microscale building that makes reference to Haunted House (10228) from the Monster Fighters theme. Originally released in 2012, this retired set is highly sought-after and has a minimum value of $500 CAD on the reseller market. The references are really clear thanks to the sand green pieces and stickers. On that note, this is a lot of stickers for such a small set. The stickers themselves are also quite small and were a little finnicky to put on. The end result is fun, but made less of an impact on me so I rank it lower at 50%. All combined we get an acceptable score of 62%.
ENTERTAINMENT: 50%
Mileage will definitely vary on how much entertainment you will get out of this set. I basically built the set and. . . well there’s not much more for me to do. I appreciate the decorative spin and that it’s not just a display piece. These would be very fun gifts for kids at Halloween or even Christmas. They are designed as hanging ornaments and definitely make me think The LEGO® Group is looking to make Halloween Trees a real thing. Honestly? Not the worst idea. A whole new tradition and market to capture right? The AFOL in me would pass on this, but the KFOL in me would probably get a kick out of this. I’m evenly split so I give it a score of 50%.
OVERALL: 67%
Spider & Haunted House offers exactly what it is and not too much more. The builds are cute and simple. They will have some appeal to younger builders and will make fun gifts. The value is really good from a cost-per-brick standpoint. Or sometimes you just need some extras pieces for the spare parts pile. If you’re eager to get your Halloween decorating started early, you’ll find these in-store and online starting August 1st.
What do you guys think? Are we all ready to start the annual tradition of the Halloween Tree? Or maybe you’ll be happy to have these hanging around the office for some spooky decorating. Comment below and as always, keep on brickin’.
-Frank
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