Set Theme: Scooby-Doo! | Set Name: Haunted Lighthouse | Set Number: 75903-1 | Pieces: 437 | Number of Minifigures: 4 | Set Year: 2015

The entire Scooby-Doo! theme has caught me by surprise. When I first saw them on the shelves at my local Toys "R" Us I was happy to see the Scooby-Doo franchise seemingly alive and well and in the consciousness of a younger generation, but I had little interest in acquiring any of the sets myself. Then, as usually is the case, my daughters started watching the Scooby-Doo animated series reboot from 2010 on Netflix, and the love I had for Scooby-Doo when I was a child once again began to surface. I should also mention that my wife thought that these sets were interesting too and gave me the go ahead to pick some up. Needless today, whenever my wife gives the green light to purchase more LEGO...I purchase more LEGO. All that being said, this theme has caught me by surprise because it's actually turned out to be one of my favorite LEGO themes currently available. In fact, I think it's one of the best executed themes that LEGO, perhaps, has ever done. It hits all of the typical price points, is packed with great play-features, includes wonderful minifigures which represent a treasured piece of pop-culture, and each set in theme is fun to build and has lots of display value. It's not often [really not often] that a licensed LEGO theme based off of a children's cartoon series achieves such goals and is as well executed as Scooby-Doo! If you're on the fence about the Scooby-Doo theme, stop contemplating and go out and buy these sets. They're great for anyone's collection, and the set we're focusing on in this review, Haunted Lighthouse, is absolutely no exception.

THE SET

The brick-built rock skull, uneven, multi-colored shoreline terrain, and brightly colored lighthouse tower complete with the occasional exposed brick, make the Haunted Lighthouse, in my opinion, the most displayable model of all the Scooby-Doo! sets. Haunted Lighthouse is a great example of a set designed so well that you don't miss the lack of a baseplate, which is certainly a common complaint these days. The bottom "layer" of the model is blue which allows you to imagine the water just crashing up on the shore around the lighthouse. The inclusion of the Mystery Gang speedboat also helps to create the illusion that this set is larger than it really is, as you can have your minifigures drive the boat far away from the model before deciding to head back to the lighthouse - an act of imagination which might not occur had this set included a baseplate.