Trick or Treat Through 31 Days of Toy Terror: Mayor Manor from LEGO Icons: Midnight Valley Collection by LEGO

   Happy Halloween 2026! Ever since today's set was leaked this past summer, I knew it was going to be the October 31st review for Trick or Treat Through 31 Days of Toy Terror. While I don't collect LEGO as heavily as I do action figures, I do love them and pick up sets fairly often. Usually I prefer the modular buildings and such but I'm absolutely a sucker for the spooky stuff and today's review, Mayor Manor, is the beginning of a new annual series from LEGO that is essentially a Halloween village. LEGO has been releasing a winter/ Christmas village theme for quite a few years now and the Midnight Valley Collection is the spooky counterpart of that concept. This set was officially released on September 1st but a few retailers and independent toy stores got the set in early. I built mine over a couple evenings in September and I'm quite thrilled with how it turned out. Besides just being spooky, the concept of the Midnight Valley Collection also seems to be focused on builds with distorted and asymmetrical construction. Mayor Manor might just look like your classic rundown haunted house but it's actively being twisted apart by a tree growing up through the right side of the model. That's a pretty cool design decision and it makes the set far more interesting than it could have been. Mayor Manor isn't one of the modular buildings; it's simply a façade. It looks excellent, though, and should be easier to store on a shelf. 

   Rather than a standard review of the Positives and the Negatives, with building brick sets I'm trying to capture a little bit of what the building experience is like, giving you a glimpse of the set as it's being constructed about every 10 steps or so. I hope you enjoy that as I may be doing more brick building reviews on the site as I've been attracted to not many LEGO sets but also to some of the other companies putting out brick built sets like Lumibricks and Pantasy. Ready to dive inside the spooky Mayor Manor on this Halloween night? Then join me after the break...

Trick or Treat Through 31 Days of Toy Terror: Night-Creeper (D.I.R.E. Tech) from G.I. Joe: Classified Series by Hasbro

 

   Last year Hasbro released Crystal Ball into the G.I. Joe: Classified Series and he ended up being my October 31st review for last year's 31 Days of Toy Terror. With his introduction, Hasbro introduced something of a new Cobra sub-team into G.I. Joe as an adversary for Night Force: Cobra troops augmented with D.I.R.E. tech, or Dread-Inducing Responsive Energy. The D.I.R.E. tech is a mystical energy that can be used to both induce fear in adversaries and to create tangible constructs and it's a rather cool new concept for the G.I. Joe universe. Today I'm looking at the third figure released in this unofficial sub-team, the Night-Creeper (D.I.R.E. Tech). Like all of the D.I.R.E. tech figures released thus far, he's exclusive to Walmart. This guy showed up earlier this summer in rather limited numbers before showing up in September in greater numbers as part of Walmart's fall reset (there's also a new troop, the Cobra D.I.R.E. Hawk who actually started showing up in stores before he was officially announced on October 1st, but as of this writing I haven't procured one yet. Ready to check out the Night-Creeper (D.I.R.E. Tech) figure? Does anyone else, upon picking up a Night-Creeper, find themselves singing "Night-Creeper, Night-Creeper" to the tune of the BeeGee's "Night Fever?" All this and more will be discussed after the break...

Action Figure Review: Blackbeard from The Black by Valaverse

 

   Valaverse launched a new toy line this year that is connected to Action Force: The Black. The Black features a group of modern day "pirates" who are made up of former Navy Seals. Blackbeard is the moniker taken by Austin Moore, the commanding officer of the group known as The Black. The Black don't seem to be straight up good guys or bad guys in the Action Force/ Valaverse lore; instead, they're just kind of their own faction.. Yes, they're protecting the coast of the now divided US from outside forces but they're also controlling trade and seemingly engaging in piracy. They're connected to and loyal to each other, rather than the warring factions of the Citadel, Action Force, or the SWARM. Modern day pirates? Cool stuff and not something you see that much in modern day action figures. Blackbeard shipped over the summer along with a few other new releases from The Black and Action Force and I've had him for a few months now. He's a solid figure and definitely one of the most interesting releases from Valaverse this year. Ready to check out the leader of the Black? Then join me after the break...

Trick or Treat Through 31 Days of Toy Terror: Perfect Pairs from Peanuts by Just Play

 

   It just isn't Halloween without a visit from the Peanuts gang, is it? The first Halloween strip for Peanuts ran on October 31st, 1956 and they've ever since been key ambassadors of Halloween nostalgia. Five Below has had quite a few Peanuts themed Halloween items over the past few years and this year they have this little set from Just Play called Perfect Pairs. Who is the titular Perfect Pair? Why Charlie Brown and Snoopy, of course! They're both decked out for trick or treating with costumes, candy pails, and even some treats. Snoopy showed up earlier this month but I don't think there's anything wrong with giving him some more attention. Ready to check these two out? Then join me after the break...

Trick or Treat Through 31 Days of Toy Terror: Sylvester #1675 from POP! Animation: Looney Tunes by Funko

 "Sufferin' succotash!" Halloween is getting nearer and nothing goes together better than jack o' lanterns and black cats. So how about one for today's spooky review? Well, at least we've got a jack o' lantern and a tuxedo cat. Yes, today we're taking a look at Sylvester J. Pussycat Sr. and a fantastic Halloween jack o' lantern that he's been using as a hiding place. Perhaps he was curled up in here waiting for Tweety? Sylvester is from a Halloween series of Looney Tunes from the Funko POP! Animation line and he's just such a fun toy that I had to pick him up. He's from 2024 (and was released alongside of a ghostly version of Bugs Bunny, a mummy Marvin the Martian, and a witch version of Tweety) but I actually found him at regular retail this year despite being listed as "vaulted" on Funko's website. Looney Tunes has had a great year in 2026 with the popularity of Coyote Vs. Acme and while Sylvester only had a small cameo, it was still nice to see this classic brand have an incredibly fun and well receive film. Of course, I bought this guy because he's coming out of a pumpkin. I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff. Let's check out Sylvester after the break...

Trick or Treat Through 31 Days of Toy Terror: Tauraton from Masters of the Universe Origins: The Powers of Grayskull by Mattel

 

So today's review might not fit this year's theme perfectly but I've really been wanting to review Tauraton and I usually have at least one Masters of the Universe toy on the countdown. If you don't keep up to the minute with Masters of the Universe, you might be wondering who this guy is. Fret not; he's actually a new character that's part of the Power of Grayskull subset being sold exclusively through Mattel Creations. Tauraton was created by Axel Gimenez and Roy Juarez for the packaging of the Mattel Creations exclusive He-Ro and then was developed into a figure this year. He's a mighty minotaur inspired by Greek myth and Ray Harryhausen's "The Minoton" from "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger." It's a cool design for a MOTU villain, especially one from the Preternian era (many years before the time of He-Man/ Prince Adam). For so many of us, our first experiences with the horror genre and horror toys were through toylines with creepy characters, so it's fun to check out one that feels like it could have existed during my childhood. I know I owned the old The Real Ghostbusters: Monsters long before I ever saw any of the classic Universal Studios horror films and I'm sure many others had similar experiences. Ready to check out a classic monster reimagined for MOTU? Then join me after the break...

Trick or Treat Through 31 Days of Toy Terror: Bride of Frankenstein Glow-In-The-Dark Character Spoon from Universal Monsters by Sonic/ C3

   It wasn't until the first week of October that I realized that Sonic is running a Universal Monsters October promotion in their Wacky Pack kids meals. A quick trip to sonic and one milkshake later, I was the proud owner of the full set of all seven toys from the series. Five of the the prizes are more traditional toys while two are spoons. I've previously reviewed items from Sonic's He-Man and She-Ra promotions from a few years back and those included some spoons and straw caddies as well, which I guess is fitting for a place that sells various ice cream shakes, sundaes, and other sweet beverages. The Bride of Frankenstein is represented here as a glow in the dark spoon. It's not the most exciting prize on its own but, at the same time, it's pretty thrilling to pull in to a Sonic drive-in and get a glow in the dark spoon based on a film that's 91 years old. Burger King and Jack in the Box are famous for having Universal Monsters themed kids meals in the past (I've reviewed of them on this site) but now Sonic is stepping in. Ready to dig in with the Bride of Frankenstein? Then join me after the break...