If your LEGO collection tends to get a little darker around October, the company wants to see what kind of nightmares you can build.
LEGO Ideas has launched its Haunted Halloween challenge, inviting fans to create an original spooky scene using LEGO bricks. The contest is open now and runs through October 14, with five winners taking home a sizable collection of Halloween, horror and monster-themed LEGO sets.
The rules leave plenty of room for creativity. LEGO is looking for original builds that capture the spirit of Halloween, whether that means a haunted house, creepy graveyard, monster-filled scene or something considerably stranger. The company is also encouraging builders to concentrate on the little details that can make a Halloween display worth looking at more than once.
There is one major restriction: licensed characters and properties aren’t allowed in the entries. So as tempting as it might be to build Michael Myers stalking a LEGO neighborhood or send a Xenomorph loose inside a haunted castle, the challenge is specifically about creating something original rather than recreating an existing horror movie.
The prizes, on the other hand, include some very familiar faces.
Each of the five winners will receive eight LEGO sets, including the recently released LEGO Ideas The X-Files: The Truth Is Out There set and Gremlins Gizmo. The prize package also includes Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, Mayor Manor, the Halloween Pumpkin Lantern, Halloween Skull Candle, Tuxedo Cat and Halloween Wreath sets.
It’s an especially good time to be a horror fan with a LEGO habit. Beyond the sets included in the contest, LEGO Ideas recently approved a fan-designed Universal Monsters project for production. Created by SpectralBricks, the proposed set takes the classic Universal Monsters into a sprawling Gothic castle with locations including a laboratory, catacombs, dungeon, music room and bell tower. Its proposed character lineup includes Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Bride of Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man and the Phantom of the Opera. LEGO approved the project in July, although the final design, price and release date have yet to be announced.
For the Haunted Halloween challenge, builders have until October 14 to submit their creations through LEGO Ideas. After the submission period closes, LEGO’s judges will select five winners, with the results scheduled to be announced October 29… just in time to put those new sets to work on Halloween.
