Monster Fighters

Monster Fighters is a theme introduced in May 2012. In total, ten sets were released. Seven of the sets contain at least one Moonstone, and in the background story, the monsters attempt to collect them to unleash doom on the Earth by eclipsing the Sun forever, allowing the land of monsters into the minifigure's realm. The stones are based on the monster contained in its respective set. A band of Monster Fighters, led by Dr. Rodney Rathbone, tries to find the stones before the evil Lord Vampyre uses them to eclipse the sun forever.
== Description ==
All the Monster Fighters sets follow a similar pattern. Every one features a lair/vehicle of some sort for a monster with a moonstone somewhere in it and a vehicle for the Monster Fighters. (with the exception of 9468 Vampyre Castle, which contains six moonstones and 10228 Haunted House, which contains no Moonstones, nor Monster Fighters or Monster Fighter's vehicle.) 9461 The Swamp Creature contains a swamp boat for Frank Rock, and a small marshy lair for the Swamp Creature. 9462 The Mummy includes a chariot drawn by a glow-in-the-dark skeletal horse, and an autogyro piloted by Ann Lee. 9463 The Werewolf includes a large brown tree (of various shades) inhabited by the Werewolf, and an old car piloted by Major Quinton Steele. 9464 The Vampyre Hearse features, as its name would indicate, a hearse driven by the Zombie Driver. It also features a small motorcycle driven by Dr. Rodney Rathbone.
9465 The Zombies features a tomb inhabited by three zombies, a small podium with a moonstone and a large car driven by Jack McHammer. The majority of 9466 The Crazy Scientist and His Monster, consists of a large laboratory, and a small blue car driven by two Monster Fighters. In 9467 The Ghost Train, a very large train, with three Ghosts riding on it is featured, as well as a plane driven by Frank Rock. The largest portion of 9468 Vampyre Castle is a large castle, although it also includes a car driven by Monster Fighters. There is no particular color scheme for the theme, although grey and black pieces are featured prominently in many sets, and every one except for 9461 The Swamp Creature and 30200 Zombie Coffin Car contains at least one glow-in-the-dark part. Though each set does include a color scheme to match either the monster or its background.
== Background ==
Lord Vampyre, a powerful vampire, was pestered by his wife to get her a Moonstone, but when Lord Vampyre finally found it, he realized the magical power it possessed and decided to keep it for himself. If six of them were brought together (though there are actually seven in total), they would eclipse the sun and turn day into night forever, so the monsters could roam freely, and they could get to the minifigure realms. To defend the earth from this new spooky threat, Rodney Rathbone put together a band of monster fighters to retrieve the stones before Vampyre collected them to unleash their power on the world. These monster fighters include Frank Rock, Major Quinton Steele, Ann Lee, Jack McHammer, all with monster archenemies and personal vehicles.
==Story==
I am writing this journal entry tonight with the grim knowledge that it may be my last chance to tell the world of my newest and most dangerous mission. In just moments, I will be embarking on a perilous journey into dark and scary places, where mortals and minifigures are most unwelcome.
It was just days ago, when my keen detective work uncovered the diabolical plot of an evil mastermind -- Lord Vampyre. For centuries, he has been slumbering and plotting inside of the darkest dungeon of the biggest castle in the Monster Realm. When he awoke on the full moon, Lord Vampyre once again rose to power as the leader of the monster army, and unveiled a plan to turn day into night forever, unleashing the land of monsters into our world. Now, we must travel deep into the Realm of Monsters to stop him.
It all began with a curious jewel called a Moonstone. At the coaxing of his bride, Lord Vampyre scoured his lands to unearth this precious gem. But instead of giving it to his beloved as planned, he soon realized the magical properties of this strange stone. Lord Vampyre locked himself in his castle, and set to work on a machine that could tap into the powerful magic of the Moonstones. Alas, it was completed. Located on the highest tower, it lies waiting for all six Moonstones to power its magic and eclipse the sun forever.
And so, he mounted a search for every Moonstone in the Monster Realm. As fate would have it, I had been entrusted with the secret locations of these Moonstones, hidden centuries ago by my great, great, great grandfig to protect the world from a disaster such as this. They lie in the furthest corners of the Monster Lands, guarded by ghoulish creatures, in places no one dared to go. The Swamp Marsh, in a secret compartment of the Mummy's chariot, the deep, dark Forest, the Crazy Scientist's underground laboratory, the Ghost Train, and the ghoulish Graveyard.
We must take them before Lord Vampyre can get his undead hands on them. Time is short. The monsters are very close to collecting the remaining stones, and there is just one hope left: a band of heroes who won't let the lights go out without a fight. Major Quinton Steele ... Frank Rock ... Jack McHammer ... and Ann Lee. Who am I? I'm Dr. Rodney Rathbone, of course, leader of this mission. Together, we are the Monster Fighters. Join us, if you dare.
== Notes ==
* The theme is remarkably inspired to the 1987 Monster movie The Monster Squad, which features the same monsters, apart from the Ghosts, and the same story line, although this isn't a Licensed theme.
* There are essentially 2 set remakes in this line from Studios, 1380 Werewolf Ambush and 9463 The Werewolf, as well as 1382 Scary Laboratory and 9466 The Crazy Scientist and His Monster.
* The theme adds more parts introduced in the theme to mainstream sets. A few of the most noticeable parts are the Cave Woman's hair and the Musketeer's sword. Also, many of the antagonists are remade version of figures featured in the Minifigures theme: The Monster, Crazy Scientist, Zombie, Vampire, Mummy, and Werewolf.
* In addition to remaking Minifigures, several of the monsters have previously been featured in the Studios theme. See Ghost, Frankenstein's Monster, Mad Scientist, Vampire, Pharaoh, and Werewolf.
* Even though Lord Vampyre only needs six Moon Stones to power eclipse the sun, there are seven in the theme; his own -- decorated with a bat -- a swamp weed, a lightning bolt, a ghost face, a howling wolf, an Eye of Horus, and a zombie hand.
* The theme appears to feature a very large amount of unique glow-in-the-dark parts, including the ghost's shrouds, several elements on the Ghost Train, and the vampires' head. In addition to these, spiders, werewolf claws, and the Skeletal horse also glow. 
* The Haunted House and the polybags are the only sets not to include a monster fighter or moonstone.
* All the sets have at least one exclusive minifigure, with the exception of the polybags and the system sets 9464 Vampyre Hearse and 9467 Ghost Train.
* There is a short comic on the back of every box, which features Lord Vampyre in his tower, trying to get all the Moonstones ready, and finds one missing -- the one in the set. Then, Lord Vampyre's holding the jewel above him once he has retrieved it, and which every monster's angry or upset about how they were tricked (excepting himself, of course). Finally, in the next panel, he puts whichever Moonstone is in the set onto the Moonstone contraption, and the machine's magic eclipses the sun forever, making day into night.
* There is a some sort or arrangement for how each Monster Fighter appears, each one appears twice, one in their "origin" or "monster arch enemy set", such as: Major Quinton Steele with The Werewolf in 9463, or Frank Rock with The Swamp Creature in 9461. Only one Monster Fighter who doesn't get to battle his monster, Jack McHammer with The Monster, he was in the preliminary images for 9466, but was then replaced with Major Quinton Steele, most likely due to his battle scar, and his appearance in 9465. The only Monster Fighter to appear more than twice is Dr. Rodney Rathbone, who appears in three sets; 9464, 9466, and 9468, most likely due to him being the leader of the team.
* Monster Fighters was discontinued in 2012, the same year it was introduced.
* Three of the character videos had heavy alterations to them when they were later uploaded to the Official LEGO Youtube channel. The original uncut videos of these three particular clips can still be found on archived versions of the website. Some of the character videos that were eventually uploaded to the Official channel had the narration re-recorded with some minor differences (The Crazy Scientist's video has an extra line on how his army of creatures also does his chores, Lord Vampyre's rereleased clip has the mention of Manbats in name removed for a more vague description, the Werewolf's description of appearance minorly differs between both versions with the original also describing his paws as plastic and some of the page texts for many characters have also been changed.).
** In the original video about the Zombies, the focus was on the Zombie Bride and Groom in particular with a emphasis from Rodney's narration on how where the viewer would find one, they would always find the other. Towards the end of the video with his warning on how they would be out to "eat your bricks", a heart appears in the center of the clip that loses colour and decays as the clip draws to a close. The Official LEGO Youtube rereleases of the character videos has this clip completelychange focus from the undead couple to a "Voodoo Doctor" with some of the page being altered to match his bio. Although Rodney once again closes out his warning the same as before, no heart decaying graphic appears as the altered video ends. It is uncertain why the LEGO channel rerelease had been changed so much, but one could theorize the original video's ending graphic may have been too unsettling for viewers.
** In the character profile video about Ghosts, Rodney mentions to the viewer that they aren't too much trouble as long as they are vacuumed up and that to deal with them otherwise is to turn on as many lights as possible, close their eyes and sing in a "lalalalala" tone to make them become bored of being ignored so they will leave. In the Official Youtube rerelease, Rodney does not mention them being vulnerable to being vacuumed and his advice is slightly altered from before. Whilst he still suggests turning on as many lights as possible, he instead following that suggests hiding under the nearest blanket and making extra emphasis to the viewer to not turn their back on them. Despite this change, the weaknesses section of the page in this video still lists his advice of vacuuming and ignoring them.
** Rodney Rathbone's video isn't altered heavily like the aforementioned two, but instead extended by an extra 20 or so seconds in the Official LEGO Youtube rerelease, going more into depth about him turning away from his gun to both swordsmanship and augmenting his leg to standing a chance against Lord Vampyre and the creatures of the Monster Realms.
*Curiously, the character clip of the Zombie Driver has Rodney mention its loyalty to Lord Vampyre being completely unbreakable, despite the weaknesses section of his page otherwise stating that bribing the Zombie Driver with gold star stickers could be done to temporarily escape danger from his presence.
*The German TV commercial for the sets has a unique camera angle where it hovers over the crowd of monsters in front of Vampyre Castle (Vampyre's Bride, three Ghosts, a Skeleton, The Werewolf and a Manbat) before zooming in and then cutting to the play feature of the car firing its net. The main sets commercial itself is half the length of the standard one, but has five additional seconds at the ending advertising 9465 The Zombies very briefly (demonstrating the play function of Jack McHammer's car).
== Sets ==
=== Books ===
* Watch Out, Monsters About!
* Meet the Monsters
== Games ==
* Training With Jack McHammer
* Training With Ann Lee 
* Training With Quinton Steele 
* Training With Frank Rock
* Training With Rodney Rathbone
* Monster Fighters Race (For iPhone/iPod touch) 
* The Monsterland Tales
* Spooky Loops
* Product Map
== Minifigures ==
== Videos ==
thumb|300px|left|The video showing the theme's story 
thumb|300px|left|Online Game Trailer 
== Gallery ==
BBCWlogo.jpg|Image from BBCW.com
PicEEC1957D885CEA2204CE2A8AD1EE3B84.png|LEGO.com logo
Monster fighters site background.jpg|A background image of the mini-site
File:MonsterFightersBackground.jpg
File:MonsterFightersBackground1.jpg
File:MonsterFightersBackground0.jpg
MonsterRealms.jpg|A map of the Monster Realm
Pic0573731919F5CC36C5A602F2507058F9.png|The whole Monster Fighters team
MFLogo2.png|Promotional logo
Lego monster fighters pic 1.jpg|All of the Monster Fighters sets so far, excluding 9465 The Zombies and the 10228 Haunted House
MFTeam.png|Monster Fighters
Monstersall.jpg|The Monsters
Monsterfightergang.jpg|The Monster Fighters
IMG 2391halloweenminiland.JPG|Monster Fighter minifigures on display at Miniland during Halloween
Lego monster fighters animation by robking21-d4xiz58.jpg|Lord Vampyre rising out of his coffin
LEGO Monster Fighters Vampyre Hearse.jpg|Lord Vampyre driving his hearse
LEGO Monster Fighters Lord Vampyre finds Vampyre Moon Stone.jpg|Finding his Moon Stone
LEGO Monster Fighters Vampyre's Bride and Lord Vampire in bed with Vampyre's Moon Stone.jpg|Vampyres in bed with Moon Stone.
ZombieRes.jpg|Zombies with their Moon Stone.
Monsterfightersconceptart.jpg|Concept Art for Monster Fighters, inspired by Scooby-Doo and Ghostbusters.
== Sources ==
* Website
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Category:Themes
Category:Themes introduced in 2012
Category:Discontinued Themes
Category:Non-Licensed Themes