Hidden Side

Haunted Fairground

A carnival with a great trick and not quite enough ride around it.

Brick Rated Score

3.2/5

Set 70432 · 2020

Pieces474

Minifigs5

Year2020

Set number70432

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The verdict

The lever-launched coaster car is the single best moment in the whole Hidden Side lineup, you flick a lever, the cart rockets up the track, and the clown's face splits open to reveal the ghost underneath.

That one mechanism had me grinning the first time I tried it. But once you're past that trick, the rest of the fairground feels thin, more scaffolding than scene, and it leans hard on an app that hasn't been supported in years. I'd get this for the gag and the two exclusive clown minifigs, not for a fairground you'll want to leave on a shelf.

Best for: Hidden Side completists and fans of the clown-reveal gimmick, not display collectors

The full review

What it is

This one is a haunted carnival built around a single mechanical trick, and that trick works. You seat a minifig in the coaster car, pull the lever at the base, and send them shooting up the track until the clown face at the top cracks open to show the ghost hiding inside. It's the kind of moment that makes you want to hand the set to whoever's nearby and say try this. The two clowns that come with it, Jimbo Loblo and Terry Top, are exclusive to this box and dressed in exactly the kind of fluorescent, slightly unsettling carnival gear you'd hope for.

The catch

Where it lets me down is everything around that trick. The fairground itself is more skeleton than scene, a lot of track and open Technic framework standing in for what could have been game stalls or a proper midway. The build goes together fast without much in the way of satisfying construction, and because Hidden Side was built around an augmented reality app that LEGO stopped supporting years ago, half of what this set was designed to do, the ghost hunting and digital battles against Tragico the Clown, just is not there for a new owner picking it up today.

Who it's for

Get it if you already love the Hidden Side theme, want that clown-reveal mechanism in your hands, or need those two clown minifigs for a collection. Skip it if you're after a fairground that looks complete and satisfying sitting on a shelf, because on its own, without the app, it reads as half a set.

What works

The Technic lever launches the coaster car up the track and pops the clown's head open to reveal the hidden ghost face, genuinely satisfying every time
Two clown minifigs, Jimbo Loblo and Terry Top, are exclusive to this set with loud, over the top printed carnival outfits
Jack and Parker come with their usual sharp printing, and the possessed head elements are a fun bit of parts variety

Worth knowing

A lot of the set is coaster track and open framework rather than actual fairground scenery, so it can look unfinished next to other Hidden Side builds
The build itself is quick and light on challenge, more snap together than genuine construction
It leans on the Hidden Side AR app for the ghost hunting half of the experience, and that app is no longer supported

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The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

Building this one moves quickly. Most of your time goes into the coaster track and the launch mechanism rather than detailed scenery, so you get to the fun part, actually flicking that lever, well before you'd expect on a nearly 500 piece set. It is not a build that asks much of you technically, which is fine for the age range but means there is not a lot of the slow, satisfying assembly some other Hidden Side sets offer.

The standout pieces are the minifigures rather than any single brick. Jimbo Loblo and Terry Top are exclusive prints you will not find anywhere else, loud clown patterns that photograph beautifully next to the more grounded Jack and Parker. The possessed head elements, which swap onto figures to show their haunted alter egos, are a small but clever bit of parts engineering that carried across the whole theme. Part count value is decent for the era, but a good chunk of that count is repeated track and frame pieces rather than varied elements.

Fun facts

01The set's centerpiece mechanism launches a minifig up the coaster track and pops open a clown head to reveal the Hidden Side ghost underneath, the signature gag of the whole Haunted Fairground design
02Jimbo Loblo and Terry Top, the two clown minifigures, are exclusive to this set and do not appear anywhere else in the Hidden Side line
03The set was designed around the free LEGO Hidden Side AR app, where kids hunted ghosts and fought the boss ghost Tragico the Clown in a digital overlay of the model
04Released in January 2020 at a retail price of 49.99 dollars, the set was only available that year before being retired as the Hidden Side theme wound down