The coastal town of Newbury is a hotbed of ghostly activity. Those Gloomy ghosts have managed to hide themselves in all manner of things, including the local Shrimp Shack. Not only does this beach front food hut serve the catch of the day, it only hides a paranormal presence. For the next of my LEGO® Hidden Side reviews, I’m taking a look at one of the mid-sized sets. The set not only features possessed Minifigures, but also a haunted building, with hidden ghostly transformations. Power-up those ghost grabbing smartphones and let’s take a trip down to the Shrimp Shack.
Product Description
Immerse kids in fun ghost-hunting adventures with the LEGO® Hidden Side™ 70422 Shrimp Shack Attack playset. This awesome toy construction set combines a buildable LEGO model with a fully interactive play experience. Download the Hidden Side app and scan the model with a phone to make it come alive. With continuous updates, a unique boss ghost to battle in each set, new mysteries to solve, cool items to find, games to play and ghosts to collect, this LEGO Hidden Side set gives kids a whole new way to play and interact with building bricks! This building toy for kids is full of cool details to kick-start hours of imaginative play. The shrimp sign can pull away from the shack and change from normal to haunted. The two hero minifigures, each with his and her own smartphone, a haunted head chef and server, plus shack guest and cute ghost dog figure inspire role-play fun. And the kitchen becomes fully interactive when viewed through the Hidden Side app.
- Set Name: Shrimp Shack Attack
- Set Number: 70422
- Pieces: 579
- RRP: £44.99/$49.99/€49.99
- Measurements: Shrimp Shack Attack measures over 19cm high, 132cm wide & 10cm deep when haunted
- Minifigures: Jack Davids, Parker L. Jackson, Chef Enzo, Sally & Ronny plus ghost dog figure, Spencer.
- Hidden Side Spook: Anomalo
- Availability: LEGO Brand Store, shop.LEGO.com & LEGO retailers
The Build
The build begins with an odd looking but cool little buggy vehicle. This uses the same pale blue colour scheme as all the other gloom busting tech from J.B. What is particularly cool with this small build is one of the parts used to create it. The Waggon Cabin Seat is a single large element, which first appeared in 1998. It was featured in many of the classic story driven themes such as Adventurers, Pharaoh’s Quest and Monster Fighter. In those themes it was largely used for vintage looking modes of transport. In the Hidden Side set it’s the base of a modern ghost getting go-kart. Not only does it provide an interesting looking build, it’s a nice connection to past themes which have lead to the creation of the Hidden Side. The buggy has enough room to seat two Minifigures and is kitted out with ghost capturing gadgetry.
The Shrimp Shack is styled after one of the ramshackled buildings you’d find at the seaside. But also has a tinge of a US diner about it. The main building features an opened back section, which allows you to access the kitchen area. The front of the shack has loads of little details, from a small section of pier to an amazing sign. There is also a rooftop seating area, although very basic. There is also a small little tree growing out from the pier, which has a couple of unearthed roots on show. Another simple yet visually impressive little detail.
I love how the front of the building looks, this is thanks to all the simple little details. The simple seafood sign is made 100% better with the addition of a crab element. The shutters each open to reveal the serving area, each panel beneath them has a stickers, which adds a nice bit of details including a possible nod to the Atlantis theme. Over on the left-hand side of the Shack is a small wooden outcrop, where a ice machine can be found and the shacks tall sign. This is one of the sets best features, along with a Diner sign, there is an amazing little brick-built shrimp. This uses elements to great effect, especially whips to represent the whiskery feelers of the sea creature. But not everything is as it seems and the Shack hides a gloomy secret.
The entire left side of the Shack can become haunted with a few minor changes the Shrimp cans be turned to reveal its ghostly form, the ‘Open 24 hours’ sign becomes an eye, and the entire platform can be slide away from the Shack to reveal some spooky teeth and there is even a snapping mouth hidden beneath a trapdoor. I’m not entirely sure what they are all meant to represent, it’s not as obvious as the Newbury High School face, but I like it and it’s a fun play feature.
Back to the Shack, inside the kitchen area the numerous details continue. There’s the classic black and white tiled floor and a nice selection of kitchen appliances and cooking gadgets. Right down the centre of the kitchen is a rod which runs from the rooftop to a cube within one of the workstation cabinets. This can be turned to reveal a colour scan point. Speaking of which the more common tri-coloured scan dial is nicely hidden in a corner cabinet, although it’s a little more awkward to turn than in other sets.
The Minifigures
The set features five Minifigures, two Hidden Side spooks and the paranormal pooch, Spencer. Both of the Hidden Side’s main characters, with Jack is sporting his white hoodie torso and new hooded cap element. Parker is kitted out in the same she wears in all the sets she appears in. They are both cool looking characters, especially Parker, thanks to her unique hair elements and detailed jacket.
Joining the main characters is a character called Ronny. Who makes a indirect callback to a popular LEGO icon. Pepper Roni, the pizza delivering main character from the LEGO Islands video game, and even features the same style pizza logo on his shirt. Ronny has an amazing alternate face, which shows he may have had one too many lobster rolls.
Finally there are the two workers from the Shrimp Shack, Chef Enzo and waitress Sally. Both feature new torso and leg prints, which Enzo having a great sand green coloured apron and one of the newish paper-style hats. Sally is kitted out in a 1950’s diner waitress uniform. Both are perfectly styled to the rest of the set. But it’s not long before this happy-go-lucky pair are taken over by the Hidden Side. Sally becomes a Gloombie via the change of head and hair. But it’s Enzo who transforms the most. He gets an additional ghostly torso in the same style as NINJAGO villain Lord Garmadon. His transformation is my favourite so far and it’s one of the most drastic.
AR Functions
One of the additional play features of the Hidden Side sets are an AR powered game. The set is perfectly fun on its own, but you can enhance play with the addition of the LEGO Hidden Side AR app. This brings the set to life by overlaying graphics and animated elements around the physical set. My favourite part of this sets AR overlay is the animated sign, which brings the shrimp to life as well.
Overall
One thing I like about the Hidden Side theme is the nice mix of builds. There is a decent mix between vehicles and building. The Shack is a fun looking little set, without the haunted elements it would fit nicely next to the Old Fishing Shop set and I’ve seen a few people hoping to add it to their own LEGO city displays. It also pairs nicely with set 70419: Wrecked Shrimp Boat. But as a set of its own right, it fun to build and has a lot of simple details with add up to a great looking set. The Hidden Side elements are also fun, particular the slide out section. But the best part of the entire set has to be the neat little shrimp sign.
Set 70422: Shrimp Shack Attack is available now from LEGO Stores, LEGO.com, GAME and all good LEGO Retailers.
