Set Review - #75965-1: The Rise of Voldemort - Harry Potter

Here’s another one of 2019’s Harry Potter sets. It’s number 75965-1: The Rise of Voldemort. It contains 184 pieces and 6 minifigures. The set retails in the US for $19.99 which works out to $0.109/piece. It was released in the US on 2 August 2019 and was discounted on Amazon.com for 20% off a few weeks ago as of the writing of this post.

The front shows the set with the characters animated. The back shows some of the play features to include how you can have Voldemort appear out of the grave and how Harry can grab the port key.

The set contains 2 parts bags, and instruction booklet, and a sticker sheet. Thankfully the sticker sheet is small with only 2 stickers.

This set seems to be another minifigure pack. The 4 main minifigures are (from left to right) Voldemort with a white wand, a Death Eater with a Mask on Peter Pettigrew in human form (who has 2 facial expressions), and Harry Potter in his Tournament Uniform (he has 2 facial expressions as well).

Brickset says there are 2 additional minifigures. One is the grave statue above Tom Riddle’s grave. The second is a small baby. The grave statue plays a part as they use it to hold down Harry, but I don’t recall a baby in the movie (and I didn’t read the book). Overall, it’s a decent collection for those looking to collect Harry Potter minifigures.

The set is pretty simple to put together. It starts with the center portion with the grave stone. Then it builds the left and right sides. In terms of detail, this set doesn’t have a lot to it. I like the use of a few plant pieces and brown plant pieces, but beyond that it is pretty bland (which is to be expected for a 184 piece set I guess). In terms of pieces for other MOCs, I like the pot piece, but after looking it up you can find it in 35 other sets so it’s not really rare. The port key is a small part of the set, but I like the build with the 1x1 translucent blue brick inside of the… um… not sure what it is called. Brickset calls it an assembly piece. Either way, I’m a fan of how that was build.

Overall, it’s not a bad set although a little violent for kids with Peter Pettigrew’s knife and the statue’s weapon type thing. It’s a rather dark set for a 7-year old in my opinion.

If you’re a Potter fan and you want the minifigures, definitely pick this set up on sale. Otherwise, I didn’t think this one was worth it even with the 20% discount I had from Amazon.com. What are your thoughts?

Set Review - #75956-1 Quidditch Match - Harry Potter - The Wizarding World

I’ve had this set on my shelf for a while and finally got a chance to build it so here’s the review. #75956-1: Quidditch Match was released on 24 August 2018 in the US. It retails at $39.99 and with 500 pieces and 6 minifigures that works out to be $0.08 per piece. I have yet to see it on sale at Amazon.com or Walmart. I got this one at full retail price from LEGO Shop @ Home during the time leading up to Christmas for double VIP points.

Here’s the box. The front shows the full set with the minifigures flying around on their brooms. The back shows some of the play features of the set as per usual.

The set contains 3 parts bags, 2 instruction booklets, and a sticker sheet. The instructions were folded, but the sticker sheet was in-between the instructions so at least it was somewhat protected.

If you’re interested in the Harry Potter line of sets hopefully you’ve either read the books or have seen the movies. I admit that I have only seen the movies. My NLS has read the books though so that’s got to be worth a few points.

Bag one builds two of the four viewing towers. The red and yellow colored one is the Gryffindor tower. It includes a Hermione Granger minifigure with a wand and the bottom part of the tower has a door piece with a sticker that swings out. I assume it is so the quidditch players can fly through there, but I could be wrong.

The green and gray tower is the Slytherin tower and it includes Professor Snape with a wand. This tower is built similar to the other one only it has a Technic pin attached to a translucent orange flame piece to match the scene from the Sorcerer’s Stone where Hermione casts a spell to start a fire to distract Professor Snape.

The second bag completes the remaining two towers. The blue and gray tower is the Ravenclaw tower. I couldn’t tell you any of the characters from the book/movie who were in that house and they don’t appear in this set either. The tower has a speaker/megaphone attached to it.

The other tower is the Hufflepuff tower. It is black and yellow and also contains the scoring display. There is a brick container that holds 1x1 round tiles that you can attach to the Technic pins in the tower to display the score of your game. It also comes with four 2x2 tiles to display the houses playing. Each tile has a sticker to use and there is a tile holder in the back of the tower.

This bag includes the Harry Potter minifigure with his super long cape (why didn’t they use a smaller sized one for him?), broom, and a snitch. It also includes Lucian Bole with his broom and bludger (if you don’t know what that is, Google it).

The third and final bag completes the set (which I took in front of my 71043-1 Hogawts Castle set). It includes the three goals, a clear piece attached to some Technic parts to move the keeper who can protect the goals, and connections for 2 of the towers to the goal area of the pitch. It also includes a chest to hold the parts and a trophy for the winners.

Bag three includes Oliver Wood and his broom (Gryffindor) and Marcus Flint (Slytherin) who is holding a broom with a… I have no idea what that is attached to his broom. I think it’s supposed to be your way to try and shoot the quaffle (yes I had to look that up) through the goal. There’s also another shooter on the ground that has a bunch of 1x1 round black plates. I’m not sure what it is for. Anybody smarter than me on this one?

Overall, it’s a pretty simple build. There isn’t much to this one and I’m kind of disappointed by it. I would feel slightly better about it if I had waited for it to go on sale. I’d definitely recommend waiting for a sale if you are interested in this set. For big Harry Potter fans, buying 2 of these would allow you to have a good start to making a full up quidditch pitch. It would take some additional parts, but you could make the viewing towers a bit bigger and you’d have 2 goals. You’d probably have to supplement with some other minifigures as well.

In terms of building techniques, this one is pretty simple. It definitely fits the 7 to 14 year age range that they list versus an old fart like me. It’s not really a piece pack either. The parts really aren’t that spectacular so don’t buy this set looking for rare parts.

What are your thoughts on this one?

Happy building!