Released in 2012 in the ‘single wave’ Monster Fighters theme, the Vampyre Castle was the briefly the largest set of the range until it was eclipsed by #10228 Haunted House a few months later. Regardless of its loss of flagship status, this set still arguably holds the crown for being the most playable of the theme and providing impressive backdrop for the on-going battles between the monsters and their adversaries.

Parts

Obviously the primarily grey and black colour theme dominates the colour palette – most noticeable are the light grey 25 corner wall pieces (and a couple of straight ones), as well as the one-part black large tower roofs. The 1x2 profile (‘brick’) bricks were new that year so to get a relatively generous 25 in light grey was quite exciting. Also in the ‘new for 2012’ category is the two part coffin and the moonstone pieces, both of which showed up in other Monster Fighters sets that year. A selection of large plates bring sand yellow and brown into the mix, with a collection of standard bricks and plates rounding out the inventory. There are also a few glow in the dark elements – the heads of the vampires, as well as a spider, mouse, and a 3x3 dish feature moon printing. The original issue of the set also featured glow in the dark stickers but these were pulled from sale for reasons unknown and replaced with plain ones.

Against the muted castle colours, the sand green elements used for the car stand out a little more – though not as many are included as you might think would be, they include a few such as the wheel guard and bow bricks that are unique or rare in the colour even now.

Minfigures

The minifigs are an interesting mix of Hammer Horror and steampunk – the former represented in full blooded style by the stars of the show, Lord and Lady Vampyre. Both feature reversible glow in the dark heads, one side with a fanged grin, and on the other a gaping mouth. The printing for both is excellent, with Lord Vampyre’s evening jacket extending down onto his legs, and Lady Vampyre’s ‘distressed’ evening gown design making full use of the front of the 2x3 slope used for her dress. Both of these also appear in the later ‘Haunted House’. Here they are accompanied by two ‘Bat Monsters’, curiously appealing little humanoid bat creatures with grinning faces, outstretched arms with little wings, and large ear headpieces. A standard skeleton finishes off the castle inhabitants.

Outnumbered, but not outclassed, are the titular ‘Monster Fighters’, who in this set are Doctor Rodney Rathbone (presumably a nod to the actor Basil Rathbone, famous for his fencing skills) and cybernetic lumberjack Jack McHammer (presumably not a nod to 1980s hip hop artist MC Hammer). Both have been ‘upgraded’ with the good Doctor sporting a single metal leg while Jack has an impressively powerful looking robotic arm ending in a claw. He also appears to have metal knees, but then so did my grandad, so it’s not quite as impressive… Jack scowls out from behind a covering of red facial hair, while Rodney has a more well-groomed sneer, complete with pencil moustache and razor-sharp sideburns under a grey bowler hat.

Build Experience

Construction starts with the Monster Fighter’s car – the entire chassis is brick built which is not surprising considering the length but, as one of the first bit sets I build on exiting my dark ages, the contrast with the Town sets of my youth was quite startling!

Once the build moves onto the castle, a firm flat building surface is a must as much of it is fragile during construction and liable to explode under any misplaced pressure. The towers all begin with an octagonal plate base and make full use of the castle wall corner pieces for most of the structure, though slopes and windows help to break up the potentially plain cylindrical appearance. The second tower uses some interesting techniques for fixing the arched windows into the octagonal appearance, with bars used to secure facet bricks, allowing windows to be aligned on these at 45 degrees to the usual Lego grid.

The build consists of completing the sections of the castle one at time, all of which feature 1x2 technic bricks with holes and/or pins, integrating the modular nature of the set at an early stage and enabling the stages to be built in isolation and then bolted together. The final and largest section is based on two octagonal plates to build the main body of the castle, including the tallest tower. This features a large ‘portal’ at the top, cleverly blending technic pieces with cart wheels for a moving function which allows the moonstone pieces to rotate on a frame in front of the ‘moon’ (a printed 3x3 dish). Along the way there are several interior features which are fun little sub-builds, such as a bookcase, a four poster bed and a pipe organ.

Completed Set

The final result is excellent – from the immediately recognisable b-movie ‘Dracula’s Castle’ silhouette, to the well integrated and fun play functions. The castle looks like a properly crumbling ruin and the unfinished nature of parts of the set (open back walls, empty ramparts etc) actually plays into this aesthetic quite nicely. Thanks to the hinges at various points around the buildings it reminds me almost of a theatre set, with the full ‘castle silhouette’ presented when closed up, then unfolding into an engaging play area with full access to all of the functions when required. The elegant and slightly steampunk-ish sand green car is both idiosyncratic and entirely fitting with the characters involved. The net shooter does roughly what it’s intended to and can be angled to adjust the angle of ejection.

There are numerous interesting features scattered throughout the castle, from hidden spikes in the entrance way and the deadly trapdoor which sends an unwary victim tumbling into a pit of spikes, to more domestic scenes such as the Lord Vampyre having a tinkle on his organ up in the attic. Using corner and inverted slope bricks to create a velvet curtain effect around the coffin chamber in the base gives a very effective splash of colour. Though at ground floor level, this gives the appearance of being a crypt or basement as there is a staircase leading up to the main castle entrance which is actually on the first upper floor. Here the set nicely utilises the rotating potential of the spiral staircase pieces, with a seemingly bricked up doorway quickly transforming into an unfurled spiral staircase providing access into the castle.

Sticker haters beware – there are a number of stickers and, though they could be left off, it would highlight how the set consists mostly of very plain grey wall pieces! On the plus side, they are primarily creeping ivy and crumbling plaster and the like, so getting them entirely straight isn’t of paramount importance which takes the pressure off somewhat. Also slightly disappointing is that, though the build consists of modules which snap together and apart, it doesn’t really work in any configuration other than the one given in the instructions, though trying some out is diverting for a little while!

In my opinion this is one of the best castles that Lego has ever released, not least because it stands outside of the usual ‘Knights stronghold’ style established in 1984. It has the triple threat appeal of looking great, having numerous and well integrated play functions, and an engaging story potential thanks to the monsters/fighters conflict – though there is the Lego-approved story of the Lord Vampyre and the monsters seeking out the precious moonstones to create everlasting night (videos still on YouTube at time of writing), this is by no means the be all and end all of the set and, like the best of the pirate sets, the idea of the ‘baddies’ winning out is just as appealing as the heroes...

Set #9468 Vampyre Castle: LEGO’s Monster Fighters were impressive as far as Themes went and aside from the Haunted House modular style build the most spooktacular looking set was this, a chilling castle of epic frights with just the right level of fun to make a decent holiday display year after year. The only downside is an overreliance on stickers for details.

That being said, let’s discuss the meat of this set in glorious detail and share everything that makes this set good or bad and whether or not you need to track down this out of production set for your Halloween LEGO display.

Box/Instructions

Box: This impressively designed and massive box stands out on the shelf drawing your eye to all of the fun features and gothic design of the LEGO Vampyre Castle. The large full moon image seen on the smaller boxes is incorporated into the model shot quite nicely here with the swarm of bats flying out and expanding to highlight the Theme’s logo and the larger LEGO logo on the upper right hand corner of the box.

The back shows off all the potential play features and fun to be had, which is also a page found in the second instruction manual. Honestly this box design and look is really impressive, it definitely works and it’s a shame that LEGO has revisited this particular style since this Theme ended for their Halloween sets.

Instructions: These instructions are really impressive. They break down the build of this set by 7 numbered bags between two numbered manuals. The first four bags are in the first manual, showing each and every step in great detail with very few difficult parts during the build, aside from possibly getting the net inside the net launcher properly.

The back cover of the first manual shows the impressive looking poster of the Theme with the Monsters on one side and the Monster Fighters on the other. The second manual features the remaining three bags builds and the poster image a second time as one of the final pages, with a checklist or at least a visual one of all the sets from the Theme except for the exclusive Zombies set. All-in-all a very good set of manuals protected by sturdy cardboard. This also protects the sticker sheet so no danger of creases or anything like that.

Parts

This set includes a lot of black and grey pieces, there are also some nice light greenish pieces for the car and the LEGO Coffin pieces, which are nice to have. There are also a few glow-in-the dark pieces, a spider, a large printed dish that features in the Moonstone device, two Minifigure heads (Lord Vampyre and his Bride) and a glowing rat. Fun for everyone and a lot of useful parts for the MOC fans of Gothic LEGO constructions.

Minifigures

Jack McHammer: This particular Monster Fighter is a scruffy looking warrior who lost his arm in an unfortunate accident and seems to have replaced it with the steampunk equivalent. His torso is a double-sided print on a green torso colour, the print is for a flannel shirt with a brown vest. His legs include print for the belt, pockets and what appear to be knee pads on his blue jeans. And his single-sided face is covered in facial hair and a beard. He has the beanie from LEGO crooks in dark grey and for accessories he includes the Thor hammer piece as a hammer for him to use to drive stakes through vampire’s hearts.

Doctor Rodney Rathbone: With an impressively detailed double-sided torso print showing an old time striped shirt vest and white undershirt and a sand green leg piece with a steampunk metal leg, Rodney is a very nice addition to the Minifigure collection of Monster Fighters.

He’s got a nice light grey bowler hat for head gear and a smirking single-sided facial print with wicked side burns. For accessories he’s using a pistol and a rapier, the sword favored for fencing, which is a really nice use of that CMF piece in a main LEGO Theme set.

Bat Monster: With two of these included in the set all I can say is they are some of the weakest Minifigures in my opinion because they really only serve one purpose, to hang off the Castle in strategic places. The torso is a nice interesting piece, with bat wings sculpted onto the arms, it is a double-sided print with some nice musculature and fur visible. I enjoy the new head piece with the large bat ears and widows peak style hair. And the single sided face is a nice looking one with some creepy looking red eyes and big sharp fangs.

However, as I mentioned before with the Vampire Bat from CMF Series 8 and possibly Man-Bat from DC Super Heroes I am not a huge fan of this particular torso. The wings attached to the slightly bent arms are good for flying poses and hanging, but when you start putting the arms into any other kind of pose it just looks weird. The elbows have the arm bent too far out from the chest, making it look really, really off when you’re trying to put them into any sort of menacing stalking pose.

Lord Vampyre: Featuring a glow-in-the-dark head, Lord Vampyre is a truly impressive Minifigure. He’s got a double-sided torso print with a nice dark overcoat and a white undershirt with a red vest and tie. His legs featuring minor painting on the waist piece for the tail pieces of his overcoat and that’s about it.

His hairpiece is a black version of The Joker’s hair piece and he includes a regular black cape and then the smaller black cape/collar piece that sticks out behind his head. His face not only glows in the dark, but is double-sided with a mouth open and hissing expression and a sinister looking facial expression with mouth closed. His accessory is a black broadsword found recently in LEGO Castle and Lord of the Rings sets.

Lord Vampyre’s Bride: She really needs a name of her own, her Minifigure is definitely fun, with a rich dark red colour printed with a very classic era dress, including a decent looking corseted torso and some tattered and torn detailing on her lower body brick.

Accessories include a flask of green potion for mixing into her cauldron and the stick used to stir it. Her hairpiece appears to be a black version of the one found on one of the CMF Mermaid figures. And her face is also glow-in-the-dark, with two expressions, one smiling the other hissing and scowling as she charges her lover’s enemies the Monster Fighters into battle. All-in-all a lovely looking Minifigure.

Skeleton: Your typical LEGO Skeleton, with the old floppy arm connectors. LEGO hasn’t changed this Minifigure much since its initial inception, he’s included in this set mostly for a bit of harmless set dressing with the main model.

The build

Bag 1: In this bag you’ll be constructing the Minifigures and the Monster Fighters car. Which means if you’d prefer to save those for the end you can skip it and get right to the castle build. The vehicle is a nice long low-to-the-ground type of car with a massive net launching cannon slapped on the back for capturing Monsters. It’s a fun build with some satisfying steampunk elements compared to the massive Gothic Castle. My favorite part of the build is the hood, once it all comes together it really looks great as a finished model.

Bag 2: This is where you start building the castle proper, this is the leftmost front tower which sits near the entrance gates. The exterior of the tower is fairly detailed using the stickers in this set, with crumbling stone architecture and vines and things on the stickers. This section uses a lot more large pieces instead of bricks for the walls unfortunately. (Not BURP pieces, but there is one does get used here.) The interior is mostly an open room, a large jail cell/dungeon room with a crank and chain play feature to hang your Skeleton minifigure from and frighten the Monster Fighters. The build is fast and straightforward, the use of stickers for details is up on your preferences, some might not appreciate them.

Bag 3: Here is the front entrance build, a spooky looking gate with towers on either side and some smaller battlements for the Minifigures. This build involves a lot more bricks and includes the least amount of stickers. This build can be slightly repetitive in some of the steps, but for the most part it’s a decent little build. The best aspect about this castle is the Modular building techniques, allowing you to build and then attach the castle into any configuration you’d prefer. I’m a huge fan of the design of the roof tops and towers of this set, the gate includes two of the smaller rooves which look great, however sliding the long rods through the technic ball pieces can be a bit of a hassle the first couple of tries.

Bag 4: A much larger tower is the centerpiece of this build, it’s another hollow interior, there isn’t much detail here as it includes a play feature which we’ll discuss in the completed model portion of the review. More stickers and more large castle side pieces in place of bricks, this is a case of preferences for models, when it comes to large castles this is my first time actually building one. Which is to say I don’t mind it too much.

The most tricky part of this build is paying attention to which sticker goes where during the build. A lot of the steps are more repetitive than difficult so it shouldn’t be too difficult.

Bag 5: The last three bags build onto the main section of the castle, with this bag making the lower sections of the main floor, you have a large open area with some stairs leading up to the second floor, this is because the lower section is where Lord Vampyre’s coffin will sit. Again there aren’t too many bricks in the actual walls, instead the large singular castle wall pieces are used in abundance. Not much more to say, it’s a very fast build without very many steps.

Bag 6: Here is where you build up more of the central structure, again there are a fair number of singular castle wall pieces, and some of these ones will be stickered. This is where we start to see more interior stuff, with a nice little potion table and the master bedroom. One of the rotating staircases is also used in this part of the structure for leading up to the third and final floor of the castle. I’d estimate more experienced builders to take under thirty minutes to finish this section, newer builders may require slightly extra time, especially with the sticker placement. The third floor includes the beginnings of the central tower and another section of the battlements for someone to stand on.

Bag 7: This final bag finishes off the central tower build and includes a secondary smaller tower for the side of the castle. Overall this build isn’t too difficult, most of it involves the large tower with the spinning disc and the placement of the moon stones, which is itself a fun little section of build as everything comes together quite nicely.

The large roof and towers look great as you build them up and once finished just stand out as one of the better offerings from LEGO towers. Overall nothing is too terribly difficult in the build process, and once it comes together it looks perfect if a bit heavy on the stickers. (Which are meant to glow-in-the-dark.)

The completed model

Monster Fighter Car: This vehicle model reminds me of something out of League of Extrordinary Gentlemen. It’s a great looking steampunk style model with a low to the ground speedy over-the-top vehicle. The colouring of the top of the vehicle is quite impressive too with a nice light olive colouring. On the back is a net launching gimmick, the cannon raises up using Technic pieces so that the driver can launch a net and capture one of the Monsters. The driver’s section is designed to allow either character from the Monster Fighters to drive, since one of them has a different leg, there is only a 1x2 plate to attach to instead of the standard plates used for drivers.

All-in-all an impressive companion model to the castle with a smooth look as most of the top of the vehicle is designed to accommodate the SNOT style of build with very few visible studs.

The main castle model is quite an impressive one, with a lot of appeal and some interesting play features for the younger builders. A flick-fire glow in the dark spider is attached to the wall above the main gate. The main gate also has some sharp teeth sticking out of both sides and when unsuspecting heroes walk through you can slide them forward to strike at them.

The front tower on the right of the main entrance, your right the model’s left when looking at it from the front, houses a dungeon. The Skeleton Minifigure is placed on a pair of handcuffs dangling from a chain, which is attached to a functioning winch, turning it left or right will raise and lower the long dead prisoner. The door can be opened and closed of course, but it only covers up half of the large open space for the dungeon inside, the upper area of the room is quite clear, easy for access for play. In front of this tower you can pop off a large BURP to simulate some kind of explosive battle. And on top is where Lord Vampyre’s Bride keeps her cauldron.

The next tower is a large hollow space, with the upper floor having a hidden treasure in the roof with jewels and the circular room full of windows using shutters is a room with a treasure map, meant to tempt away noble Vampire Hunters, the floor in front of the map is a trapdoor, pull a technic pin out and bam, your hapless hero plummets through the central shaft all the way onto a floor of deadly spikes made out of the white tooth piece. How fitting for a home filled with vampires.

The largest section, what would be considered the main section of the castle, is loaded with truly impressive rooms. On the main floor is the crypt, where Lord Vampyre stores his coffin for the long daylight hours. Above that is the master bedroom with some impressively detailed builds, the bed is a rich dark maroon colour and an alchemical chamber is on the opposite side of the staircase with a glow-in-the-dark rat.

Speaking of the staircase this is a play feature. From the front of the castle is a brown plate built staircase, it leads up to what appears to be a dead end, a solid wall. This solid wall is actually a secret revolving staircase that rotates out and above the bed model to reach the upper parapets and the next to last room. A small reading room. This includes a clever build for a set of books on the bookcase and a small table with a candle.

Above this room is the central clock tower, if it were meant to be a clock, instead is a device built by Lord Vampyre to harness the power of the Moon Stones to blot out the sun and allow all of his monster friends to run free and conquer humanity. Or something like that. Push the circular Technic piece from behind and the moon stones are knocked out of position, to prevent Lord Vampyre from succeeding at his dastardly plan.

The roof of this tower houses a very impressively designed organ, it’s a bit difficult for anybody except a vampire to get to, since you’d have to fly to reach this floor to play the organ, however since Lord Vampyre can turn into a mist or a bat I’m certain he can spend many a dark night serenading his bride with haunting music.

The best aspect of this model is the fact that it uses Technic Pins to put together fully, meaning you can make up any configuration you’d want. Though there are certain limitations due to the nature of the build, it still works out quite well if you take the time to plan out how to modify the configuration with the technic pins.

Overall opinion

Brilliantly designed set with a very impressive appeal. Many fans of the Theme have taken to bring these out every Halloween for a holiday themed display, however I feel that the Castle is one of those sets you’d like to keep on permanent display. The numerous use of stickers for detailing on the outside walls may cause you to pause in your choice of sets, especially now that this is retired and only available through the secondary market. However I would strongly recommend this set, if you could only get one or two sets form the Theme this one is a definite must own, alongside the Haunted House.

The fact that you get all of the moon stones in this one set is also a huge plus, as it means if you missed out on the Theme and would like to have all the main characters you can just collect this set and the house and possibly The Zombies which was exclusive to Target and then just snag whatever Minifigure you’re missing on Bricklink.

The Monster Fighters theme takes the tried-and-proven LEGO castle formula out for a fresh spin. The whole idea of a classical monster-inhabited land has never before been subject of a LEGO theme (except perhaps the Studio series, but that's not a monster theme). The fact that it was done without any licensed property involved makes it even better.

Without rehashing the preceding reviews, let me share my impressions of this set. The box artwork is excellent. The selection of parts in this set is superb and the build is as fun as it gets with each part of the castle being unique. The finished model stands tall and nicely looking with lots of great details and function hidden around it. The minifigs are also excellent and very detailed (specifically the monster figs). Even the stickers are of surprisingly high quality with phosphorescent paint on them. In the dark, the castle produces a cool eery glow. It is indeed an appropriately spooky set for Halloween that will bring hours of joy to the family.

The only part of the design that I am not much thrilled about are the two monster fighters and their car. LEGO clearly is stuck in time with their factions-at-war formula so they just had to come up with some silly-looking dudes that want to vanquish the poor monsters back to hell. The good news is that the fighters are a minor part of this set and are not even integrated in the design of the castle, so one can jut skip them altogether and have the glorious monster castle stand on its own.

Finally, I should point out that while cool, the castle construction is not particularly sturdy and tends to fall apart easily when you try to move it. It's not a problem for a stationary display, but could be an issue when kids play with it. This is because of the multitude of mini-base plates that the structures are built upon with very few interconnecting parts. Clearly the designers wanted the castle to be able to open up as a modular building, but I think it would have been a better decision if they had stayed with larger base plates for stability. This is the reason why I cannot give it full 5 stars for playability.

Overall, this set is excellent and quite imaginative. Makes a great Halloween present for your youngsters. The design and execution is at its best here - very much a classic for the new age. I only wish that the castle were a little sturdier to withstand better the stress of child play.

I am making this very quickly and in order to really stand up against de 4.2/5 score this set has achieved so far during the time i'm writing this small review.

Pros: the general concept of a vampyre castle, executed beautifully through this set design
of course and as usual in most recent lego sets, the minifigs!
at the beginning i doubted a little the color range but once the set is built there's any
the towers really look transylvannian, the gates are awesome
love how the bricks are mixed so the ones that have texture fit in with the ones that
are just the usual ones, making a final deteriored-wall look that is really great

Cons: the fighters' car is a little of a downside on this set, however the net function works
perfectly good! also features new olive green pieces for its front that are much
welcomed
stickers, but i have to say and admit that the ones that come with this set are
fantastic and very easy to put on, contrary to must stickers in other sets


It's a MUST BUY for any AFOL, and I just kept thinking all the time while I was building it why wasn't this set produced when I was a kid!! By far one of this 2012's greatest!!

This is the largest of the Monster Fighters sets until the release of set 10228, Haunted House, and is also one of my instant favourites. The design of the set is quite unique and it is very striking visually, as well as having a huge number of fantastic features for younger buyers and several awesome Minifigures to complete an all around outstanding set! Read on and see what all of the fuss is about...

Box/Instructions

The box artwork for this set shows the castle looming over the leaders of each faction who are duelling just in front of the gates, while the Vampyre Bride watches them fighting from the top of one of the towers and the two Bat Monsters swoop down to try and pick off Dr. Rodney Rathbone. Meanwhile, Jack McHammer is approaching in a car to the left of the image, and using the net launcher at the back of the vehicle he has fired a net at one of these marauding Bat Monsters. All of the glow in the dark parts and stickers are glowing and one of these pieces, a spider, is jumping down to attack the heroes. The machine on the tallest tower of the Vampyre Castle has been activated by the looks of it and there is a green mist enveloping the large full moon in the dark sky above. A few distant mountains can be seen in the background along with a group of bats forming the background for the Monster Fighters logo. In the bottom right corner is a shot of two of the villains in this set, Lord Vampyre and the Vampyre Bride along with two of the Moonstones.

On the back of the box is an image of the castle interior with smaller pictures of the many features dispersed around the castle in the middle. These include the net launcher on the car, the exploding wall section, and the opening trapdoor, as well as many others! At the top of the back cover is a small three frame comic strip which shows Lord Vampyre triumphantly activating his sun-eclipsing machine.

The two instruction manuals both share the same artwork as the box and feature some advertisements at the end of each booklet. I found no mistakes in the instructions and had no pieces missing from my set.

Parts

There are a huge number of great parts in this set. I will start with the absolutely incredible twenty five masonry bricks which are very useful I have found, and you also get eight of the uncommon spiral staircase steps. In fact, if you are looking to make your own model of a castle, haunted or not, this set has absolutely everything you might need! There are two large spire pieces included in the set and of course several glow in the dark pieces like in most of the other Monster Fighters sets so far. Lord Vampyre's coffin is made up of two outstanding components and I am also very impressed by the huge volume of sand green parts available which are used to make the Monster Fighter's car.

There are also numerous excellent and useful pieces included in the Minifigures or as accessories for them. These include the translucent green goblet, which is now a very uncommon piece, and the six Moonstones which are all included unlike in any other set. The brand new mould used for the arms of the two Bat Monsters included are completely exclusive to this set and although they may not be useful for very much, they would be ideal for creating the Batman villain, Man-Bat, as would the combined hair and ears piece which is also brand new! All in all, an absolutely fantastic selection of parts.

Minifigures

The selection of Minifigures in this set is really impressive, all seven are absolutely excellent. I will begin with the two heroic Monster Fighters included in this set.

The leader of the team is Dr. Rodney Rathbone, he sports a nice light bluish grey Darby style hat which is a great item and his head is printed on one side with some well kept black facial hair and a little smirk. His torso is printed with a white buttoned shirt, a dark red tie, and a grey and white striped waistcoat with some pockets on it. Poking out of one of these pockets is a golden pocket watch with a chain threaded through a button hole in the waistcoat. On the back of the piece some more of the shirt and his waistcoat is printed, along with a buckled strap to adjust the waistcoat to fit tightly. His arms are plain white and his hands are yellow as he is not wearing any gloves.

The legs are quite interesting as the hips and left leg are sand green but his right leg is a brand new mechanical leg mould! The part is cast in metallic silver and although it is not printed at all, it is moulded with some detail which looks as though the leg might be telescopic. The prosthetic limb means that he cannot sit down on a standard Lego chair, but the car included in the set is adapted to seat him with ease. Dr. Rodney Rathbone carries two weapons, a dark grey revolver, which is an old piece but still a nice one. In his other hand he wields a lovely fencing blade which was introduced in the Collectable Minifigures theme with the Musketeer.

Next up is Jack McHammer, the toughest and most rugged member of the Monster Fighters. He wears a dark grey beanie hat which is most suitable for his character, and his head is printed with a scruffy ginger beard, bushy eyebrows, and a very determined expression, as well as a few tiny wrinkles around his eyes which are a nice touch. The torso piece is printed with a green chequered shirt with an open collar leaving some flesh visible, and a dark grey and brown sleeveless jacket which has a couple of pockets in it. The back of the part has a little bit more of the green shirt, although much of it is obscured by his jacket which is continued with a couple of little folds in the fabric printed on to it. His left arm is green with a yellow hand, but his right arm has been replaced with a mechanical limb which was first seen in the Agents theme. Plugged in to the end of the robotic arm is a dark bluish grey claw, but you could swap this out for just about anything if you wanted, perhaps another hammer would be most suitable for him!

On his hips a brown belt is printed with a silver buckle threaded through four blue loops on his jeans. These light blue jeans are also printed on his legs, along with two brown pockets and some rusted knee pads which continue his tough appearance. He carries one accessory, a gigantic light grey hammer which is identical to the one wielded by Thor in the Super Heroes theme and is superb.

Now on to the dullest Minifigure of the set, a simple Skeleton. Despite the simplicity, this is a nice little figure to be included. His head is the standard skeleton head and has two black eye sockets, a black nose, and his jaw printed on the piece along with some teeth. His torso has a ribcage moulded in to it and this skeleton has loose arms which flail around which I prefer to the version with Battle Droid arms which can only be moved backwards and forwards. His legs have more bones moulded in to them and can move just like a standard pair of Minifigure legs. This may be a common figure, but I am very pleased that one has been included in the set to act as an ancient prisoner in the gaol cell.

Now on to the villains of this set, starting with the malevolent leader of the Monsters, Lord Vampyre. He makes use of the same hairpiece as Count Dooku from the Clone Wars but this time in black, it is well suited to this character and looks very neat as one would expect of any self respecting demon of the night like Lord Vampyre here. His head is glow in the dark and is printed on both sides. Both sides share the same sunken red eyes and black eyebrows, but one side has his mouth open ready to bite somebody, and the other has a closed mouth with his long canine teeth protruding. He wears a nice cloak around his neck which has a huge elaborate collar, and a row of spiky tips at the bottom of the cape. This fabric piece is exactly the same as the one included with the Vampire from Series 2 of the Collectable Minifigures.

His torso is highly detailed with a decorated shirt, dark red cravat, red waistcoat, and gold edged black jacket. The jacket has some pockets and buttons printed on it, in one of these pockets is a golden pocket watch much like that of Dr. Rodney Rathbone and one the back a vent is printed with a strap, again, just like that on the leader of the Monster Fighters! His arms are black and his hands are white like his face, but do not glow in the dark. The hips are printed with a continuation of the jacket including another button and some more pockets, the legs have the jacket tails printed on them but apart from that are plain black. He carries a very dark grey longsword which is a nice weapon, also available in the Collectable Minifigures theme. I really like this mould and I like it best in this colour.

The Vampyre Bride is another fantastic Minifigure, she utilises the same hairpiece mould as Elizabeth Swann from the Pirates of the Caribbean line, but on this occasion it is cast in black making the piece exclusive to this set! I love this piece and am very glad that Lego chose to use it as opposed to anything else. Her head, like Lord Vampyre's, is glow in the dark and is printed on both sides. It is printed with pink lipstick and eye shadow on both sides, however her expressions are entirely different. On one side is a wide open mouth with her teeth ready to bite, and on the other she is smiling.

Her dark red torso is printed with some pink lace which has a very complicated pattern printed on it, demonstrating real care when designing this figure on the part of Lego. Around her neck a small pendant is hanging and on the back of the piece the printing of her dress is continued along with a few small creases in the fabric. The lower half of the dress is formed using a sloping brick which is printed on the front with some more of this dark red dress and some areas of tattered pink lace. More creasing is printed on this piece as well which makes the figure a little more realistic. She carries one accessory, a lovely conical flask which is filled with a mysterious green liquid which she will presumably be adding to the potion being brewed in the cauldron.

The last of the Minifigures are the two superb Bat Monsters. The combined hair and ears piece is a brand new mould, it is cast in dark brown with some textured hair and his huge bat-like ears are printed inside with some dark orange markings which breaks up the monochromatic Minifigure nicely. The head is mostly reddish brown and is printed with red eyes and teeth much like Lord Vampyre, there is some fur printed on here as well and no printing on the back of the piece as it is obscured by the hair and ears piece. His torso is printed very nicely as well, it is cast in dark brown but is mostly dark orange due to the printing on his chest which shows his muscles and some more fur texture which is great. The back also shows muscles and fur much like the front. The dark brown arms are completely new moulds and look amazing, his brown hands are held up next to his head with wings hanging down beneath his arms so they are spread open wide for him to fly, but they also look fine if it is simply standing on the ground.

The legs are plain dark brown with no printing whatsoever, it would have been nice to see some fur on here, but it looks alright as it is. The figure is easily adapted to Batman's enemy Man-Bat simply by swapping the legs for some blue ones to look like jeans. Best of all we get two of these creatures to attack the Monster Fighters in numbers!

The build

The build is very simple, it takes about three hours, and uses mostly system bricks alone with very little Technic making the build rather easy. This is great for young children, but can be a bit dull for TFOLs and AFOLs. However the build is never repetitive, and I was impressed by one section in particular. The architectural feats achieved at the top of the second tallest tower (where a map and the trapdoor are located) is incredible, there are arched windows on every wall, other tan the open area at the back of course, which is created very cleverly using some bar pieces to fill in the gaps in the wall and making use of singles stud connections to place each window at an angle. That is really about it, but due to there being no repeated sections, I am pleased overall with this construction phase and it is quite good fun!

The completed model

I will work my way through this vast set in the order that things are built in the instruction booklet which seems logical.

Therefore, we begin with the sand green car which has space for one Minifigure to sit driving the car, and a net launcher at the rear of the vehicle. The sand green colour scheme and the slight resemblance to an Aston Martin DB5 imply that this car might be owned by the British Dr. Rodney Rathbone, overall, a great little model and a superb addition to this set.

One of the smaller buildings is the prison tower. At the bottom of this tower is an exploding wall section which opens up the side of the gaol for anybody inside to escape (but it is a little too late for the skeleton I am afraid!) There is a single shuttered window here and at the back, is a barred door which can be opened. On the second level are two more windows and a place for one of the Bat Monsters to hang upside down. From the back the handcuffs, and anybody attached to them, can be raised and lowered inside the cell by twisting a gear which is a nice feature for torturing any unfortunate Monster Fighters! At the top of the tower are the ramparts and a place for the Vampyre Bride to brew her potions, at least it is nicely ventilated I suppose. In the cauldron is a frog, a mushroom, and a pole for stirring the mixture. There are three stickers of brickwork and ivy on this section and these stickers glow in the dark.

Next up is the gate section. In the middle of this wall is a pair of large gates with a bat sitting on top of it and two small turrets which are very nice. On either side of the large gates are areas where the figures can walk and on the left hand side you can launch a spider at anybody attacking via a flick fire missile which is an interesting and very novel little feature. Once anyone has made it beyond the huge gates there is another trap waiting for you, and that is the spikes which can be extended on each side of the doorway to impale anybody in the way. Outside is a dark tan bush piece which is nice, however despite these lovely features, this is still the weakest section of all, that is only due to the excellence of other areas though.

Next is one of my favourite parts of the castle, the second tower. At the top is a room with a treasure chest in it, in which some gems are stored. Outside on the roof are two more turrets. Beneath this is another spot for a Bat Monster to sit and inside is a map being displayed. There is a dark red rug on the floor which disguises the terrifying trapdoor which will drop anyone in the room down on to the spikes below on the ground floor. This is one of the best features in the entire set in my opinion. On the outside is some nice brickwork and three more stickers which all glow in the dark, there are a total of seven windows on this tower, some with shutters, others without.

The final section you build is also the largest, it consists of two towers, one huge and one small, but both are very nice indeed. At the bottom of the building is a crypt in which you can place Lord Vampyre's coffin, there are some red curtains here which is a nice touch and some more lovely brickwork. On the next floor are some wooden steps up to the door to this building, which can be sealed by folding the spiral staircase to cover the doorway, I prefer to have the steps folded out which means that a Minifigure can access the top of the left hand tower. Inside this tower is a nice dark red bed, which is a great micro build and a good design I think, there are two windows on this tower which looks superb.

In the right hand tower is a small study area with a desk, a glow in the dark rat, and also a shelf with some bottles of potion on it. On the next level is a small library area with some multi-coloured bricks which form books and another table. Above this is the machine which has a great function as part of it. You can press a plunger at the back of the tower which pushes out the dish printed with a moon and some clouds which glows in the dark. This causes the Moonstones to move aside and when you retract the moon dish, the Moonstones close up around it. This is another outstanding feature which I am a huge fan of. To the right of this machine is a small turret in which one Minifigure can be stood to peep out of the tiny window. At the very top of this tower is a marvellous pipe organ which is there to be played by Lord Vampyre which is a nice way of filling up this empty area and is another wonderful micro build.

Summary

Overall this is an absolutely amazing set, possibly the best of all of the Monster Fighters sets so far. The Minifigures are great, the castle is sublime, and the price is absolutely perfect so I have not complaints whatsoever! Therefore I highly recommend this set and award it with a score of...

Overall - 10/10