Themes
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While spooky themes have popped up many times over the years, LEGO Hidden Side brings something new to the concept. Through an augmented reality (AR) enabled companion app, once a Hidden Side set is built, there is then the opportunity to go ghost hunting.
The theme is set in the fictional town of Newbury, with the action centred around 70425 Newbury Haunted High School. Jack and his friend Parker become aware of paranormal activity occurring in their hometown, in no small part thanks to Jack’s dog Spencer returning as a ghost-pooch.
Fortunately for the young friends, Professor J. B., a teacher at their school, has developed an app so that they can view the Hidden Side. The majority of the sets transform to reveal their alternate spooky version thanks to the twist of a dial or the slide of a section. By switching them at the appropriate moment in the app game, the actions on screen change to match what is occurring physically.
It is not just the models that transform, with all of the non-hero minifigures coming with alternate faces, hair and ghost effects. Their regular, human heads can be switched for green ghosty heads that come with special hair pieces as well as attachments for their hands.
Hidden Side marks a significant step for the LEGO Group, as the company has believed for some time that children see no difference between physical and digital play, switching between them without seeing it as a shift. This haunted selection of sets represents the first time that a full theme has sought to combine digital and physical so definitively.
In 2020, the storyline is heading in new directions, hinted at in the set 70427 Welcome to the Hidden Side that features a blue-faced Jack going into alternate world that is unlikely to be inhabited by anything friendly.