Another of the 2020 Harry Potter series… #75968-1: 4 Privet Drive. Also released on 24 August 2020 in the US, this one cost $69.99 in the US. With 797 pieces, it works out to $0.088/piece. This set captures a scene from the second book/movie titled “The Chamber of Secrets.” It’s where Ron rescues Harry from the room he was locked into so he can go to Hogwarts. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look it up on line.
The set has the standard box with the front showing the full set while the back shows the other side of the set along with some play features.
This set contains 5 parts bags, a sticker sheet, an 8x16 plate, and the instructions. Bag one includes a piece separator.
Bag one starts off on the bottom floor with some furniture, the door (with stickers to show the letters coming in, but they can’t fit due to the boards nailed on), stairs up to the next level, and then the street sign with an owl. Proportions wise, I think they fit a decent amount of details in considering the size of the set and it seems to match the movie scene well. The minifigure for Mr. Dursley is in bag one.
The second bag finishes up the first floor with some details like the fireplace, carpeting, a plant on an end table, and the railing leading to the second level. Additionally it finishes the small room under the stairs where Harry was locked away in the first book. This section has a small door on the one side and then uses hinge pieces to open up to the small space.
The minifigure for Dudley is in this bag.
The third bag starts the second floor where Harry’s room is located. It adds the walls, a bed and some details to include a copy of the Daily Prophet newspaper, a picture of Harry’s parents, and some clippings from Hogwarts. It also adds the window that Mr. Dursley bars up. This window is placed in using friction and there are no studs in contact with the frame so it can easily be pulled out.
On the first floor by the fireplace, a Technic gear is added. This is connected to a small mechanism that allows you to slip 1x2 tile letters down a slot. They can then come out the fireplace similar to the movie how Harry wanted his letter welcoming him to school. The gear allows you to open or close the slot as desired.
The front of the home has some plant life for decoration. I like how they did the roof with the slope bricks offset by one tile each. It’s a pretty simple way to add in some details without making it an over technical roof build.
The Mrs. Dursley minifigure comes in this bag.
The fourth bag finishes the roof. It uses the same technique as the small porch area on the first level. I’m a fan of how it looks. If you don’t like it or the set, at least you get a bunch of the black slope pieces to use in MOCs as desired.
This bag contains Dobby and the cake/pudding Dobby levitates over the Dursley’s guest. It also contains Hedwig which is the same figure from #75969-1: Hogwart’s Astronomy Tower and #75979-1: Hedwig.
The fifth build completes the set with the Harry minifigure and the Weasley’s flying car. It’s a different build from the original one we saw in #75953-1: Hogwart’s Whomping Willow. The two minifigures don’t fit in super well, but the truck has space for Harry’s trunk.
Lastly, there’s the final view in the side room of the house. Not much has changed there other than the light on the outside.
Final look at all the minifigures… There are 6 in total plus a Hedwig. Not a bad mix if you are a Harry Potter minifigure collector.
Overall, it’s a good build with some good play features and it captures the movie scenes well. There are some decent pieces you can use in MOCs if you don’t want to keep the set together. The small size of the set with the ~$70 price tag make it seem a bit overpriced. I picked it up on sale here for ~$52 and I recently saw it on sale on Amazon.com for around $56 so better. Unless you’re a big Harry Potter fan or collect the minifigures, I would steer clear of this one. Or maybe if you can find a better sale. This one seems to me like a $39 set.
What are your thoughts on this one?
Happy building!
