Set Review - #40677-1: Prisoner of Azkaban™ Figures - BrickHeadz

We have another Brickheadz Harry Potter themed multi-figure set for 2024 after 2022’s #40560-1: Professors at Hogwarts™. This one is #40677-1: Prisoner of Azkaban™ Figures. It was released on 1 March 2024 for $49.99. It contains 697 pieces which works out to $0.072 per piece. This set has figures from the third book/movie to include another Harry and Hermione Brickheadz, but our first Sirius, a Patronus, and a Dementor.

The box is standard with the Brickheadz shown on the front and then in a different order on the back.

The box contains nine numbered parts bags and then an envelope with the instructions inside.

There is an instruction booklet for each Brickheadz figure as shown here.

#221 - Harry Potter™

First up is Harry. Nothing super out of the ordinary from other past Brickheadz. He has the printed scar, glasses, and black hair. His shirt has a mud stain and then some stripes on the sleeves. There’s also a 1x2 tile printed as a chocolate bar. He’s holding a wand which is made differently to include a part to clip on the end. Then you attach a translucent piece to make it look like he’s giving a patronus charm which is cool. Harry is on the standard base for a Brickheadz figure.

#222 - Hermione Granger™

Next up is Hermione. Other than the charm that is supposed to be a necklace which holds the time turner, there isn’t much different about her. It’s the standard Brickheadz build.

#223 Stag Patronus™

This one was a fun build. Between the light blue color and then the translucent blue pieces, it’s a cool design. Also it’s not your average shape of a person which is a nice change. The figure doesn’t balance well without the stand as the head is not centered so it’s a bit front heavy. It uses some different parts too which nice.

#224 - Dementor™

This one is different as it’s a magical creature instead of a person. The center of the figure is clear pieces which is not usual and then the face has a hole in the center which is different for Brickheadz. Instead of making hair, they recreated the cape/headscarf type thing the Dementor wears. It’s not the greatest of characters to re-create, but it’s cool to see something different besides the three main Harry Potter characters in different clothing.

#225 - Sirius Black™

Last up is Sirius. He comes in his prison garb and is pretty simple, but you can see Sirius in the look. I like the use of SNOT on the face and the studs pointing down for the beard. The shirt is printed for some more detail.

Overall, I wouldn’t get this set unless you are a Harry Potter fan or a Brickheadz collector. Nothing overly spectacular about this one. On a price per brick standpoint, it’s reasonably priced, but the pieces are all rather small so it doesn’t seem like you’re getting a lot for $50. I recommend waiting for a sale, double Insider Points, or a cool GWP before scooping this one up.

For fun, I lined up all of my built Harry Potter Brickheadz for a picture. I think I have a few more put away in a box somewhere. I’ll find them at some point and take another picture.

Happy building!

Set Review - #76387-1: Hogwarts: Fluffy Encounter - Harry Potter

Continuing through the 2021 Harry Potter sets… This one is #76387-1: Hogwarts: Fluffy Encounter. It depicts the scene from the first book/movie where the three main characters encounter the creature protecting the entrance to the location where the sorcerer’s stone is being kept. This set was released in the US on 5 June 2021. It retails for $39.99 and contains 397 pieces. This puts it at $0.101 per piece. At the time of this post, I have seen it on sale at a few retailers for 20% off so be on the lookout if you want to get a better deal.

The box art is similar to other sets. The full set, minifigures, and 20th anniversary logo on the front with some of the play features on the back.

The set contains three numbered parts bags and an instruction booklet. When I opened the box, I didn’t see the sticker sheet. I only realized it was missing when I got to the first point in the instructions that asked for a sticker. After some searching, I found it. It is smaller and thankfully only has six stickers.

The first bag builds Fluffy the three-headed dog creature. It’s not a bad design considering the size of the set. Each of the legs pivot and you can swivel the heads. The heads are a single piece, but I think it’s to be expected considering the size of the set. You also get the Harry minifigure and then the gold Hermione minifigure. Are there any Harry Potter sets without Harry?

The second bag builds the main chamber where Fluffy is and where it guards the door in the floor. It’s a simple room without much detail as it has to be large enough to fit the Fluffy build in it. You’ll notice that I put the roof on backwards in this picture. Whoops!
This bag includes a brick built harp which is used to put Fluffy to sleep as well as the Ron minifigure.

The third bag completes the build. It adds two more modular rooms and then a space below a spire. One of the rooms is where the “Devil’s Snare” is located. This is where they fall in after going through the door below Fluffy. The other room just has some flames for light so you could use it as a path to another room or whatever you want.

I have it set up in the picture so that the other two rooms are stacked separately. This allows you to use the spire piece on top. However, to re-create the book/movie scene, the two smaller chambers need to go underneath the larger one and the spire has no place to go. I have not tried to combine this set with the others so maybe it can be connected elsewhere. Or maybe you can just build your own rooms to have it go on top of. Either way, for kids playing with this set and potentially not having others, they would have to figure out how to arrange it so the spire can be used (or not).

One last issue… there is a sticker that goes inside of the spire. I was challenged as an adult to apply it as you are trying to get a sticker with a weird shape onto a curved surface. Lining it up straight was a big challenge for me. Maybe kids do a better job at it? I did okay, but would have preferred to either not have the sticker or have some other form of decoration there.

This set has four minifigures. You get the golden Hermione and then Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They each have the short legs and come with a wand. All of them have dual printed heads. Not too exciting here on the minifig front as it seems you can get these three in many sets.

Overall, I wasn’t too impressed with the set. While it depicts the scene fairly well at a basic level, it leaves a lot to be desired. Unless you feel like using your own bricks to add onto the scene, You need to look into getting more of the 2021 sets to add onto it. In terms of the price, it’s a bit high. Definitely try and get the 20% off or more if you plan to pick it up.

Happy building!

Set Review - #30392-1: Hermione's Study Desk - Harry Potter

Yet another Harry Potter set to review and still more to come so get ready!

This one is a polybag. It’s’ #30392-1: Hermione’s Study Desk. It contains 31 pieces and was released 1 August 2021. I believe LEGO Brand Stores gave them away at one point as a gift with purchase. I got mine from Target for $4.99 which works out to a whopping $0.16 per piece.

Not super exciting, but here’s the packaging.

Here are your contents. You get a tiny instruction page folded up and then the parts. I like how the minifigure head is placed in the picture. It doesn’t look so good.

There isn’t much to this build, but it’s a 31 piece polybag so what were you expecting? There is a small desk with a quill and ink as well as a tile for paper. It also has a book with a printed tile inside. You get two 1x2 tiles printed as letters with wax marks on them. One is white and the other is tan. Then there is a small stand for the owl to perch on. Lastly, you get the Hermione minifigure. She has a wand and two facial expressions.

Oh, and don’t forget your collectible 2x2 tile.

Overall, a little pricy for what you are getting, but not a bad set. You get a few printed tiles, an owl figure, and a minifigure. I can’t complain. It’s a must for the Harry Potter LEGO fan completionists. Or just pick it up as a stocking stuffer/small Christmas gift.

Happy building!

Set Review - #76393-1: Harry Potter™ and Hermione Granger™ - Harry Potter

Continuing on with the 2021 Harry Potter line… Set #76393-1: Harry Potter™ and Hermione Granger™ was released 18 April 2021 in the US. It contains 1,673 pieces and retails at $119.99 in the US. That works out to $0.072 per piece.

This is something new for LEGO and the Harry Potter line and it’s been cool to see LEGO branch out a bit in this line. In 2020, we had #75979-1: Hedwig which was a larger scale model of Hedwig the owl with a crank to move his wings. This was repeated in 2021 with #76394-1: Fawkes, Dumbledore’s Phoenix. Now we also have some larger scale minifigures.

Looking at the box, the front shows our to large scale minifigures with Harry and Hermione. You can see on the front that their parts move similar to a normal scaled minifigure. Looking at the back, it demonstrates that the legs and arms can be moved and they can “sit.” Both figures come with a wand that can be removed. The dimensions are also listed on the back with Harry being 10.4 inches tall and 6.8 inches wide.

The contents are 12 parts bags numbered one through eight. There is a package with the two instruction booklets and then a package with Harry’s cape. For some reason Hermione doesn’t have a cape. I’m not sure why they did for Harry, but not for Hermione.

Of note, this build is a good family build or one to do with a friend. The Harry figure uses instruction booklet one with the bags numbered one through four. The Hermione figure has a separate booklet and uses the bags numbered five through eight. My family split it up. I built Harry while my kiddos found me the pieces. My NLS built Hermione.

The first bags build Harry’s torso. The outer picture doesn’t really capture the build as the inside has a lot of Technic pieces to achieve the angles of the body and to allow for the arms and legs to attach and pivot. It’s not super hard, but I can see why it is labeled as 10+ as you have to pay attention to where everything goes.

The second bags build both of his legs, his arms and hands, and his wand. The legs are mostly stacking bricks until you get to the attachment to the hips. The bottom is hollow, but you can still attach them to normal studs. The legs are built similar only opposite so you can get left and right. The arms are built in a similar fashion as well, but also in an opposite way. The arms pivot around and the hands spin like a minifigure too. The hands are built with a skin toned color that I can’t say I have seen often in sets.

The wand isn’t too sturdy if you handle it a lot, but it holds up as a display model. For fans, there is a small rod piece inside to be the wand’s “core.” This is a nice detail I think to make the Harry Potter fan base happy.

Bags three and four build Harry’s cranium. I opened them both up at the same time which probably wasn’t smart, but I managed. The head was a pretty challenging build with a lot of SNOT connections and slopes and curves to make his hair. As my NLS said, “does it matter if you don’t follow the directions and his hair is slightly off?” Well no, but you definitely have to pay attention to make sure everything connects. Harry’s face is printed along with his scar that is also printed on a curved piece. I went a little fast through the build and missed a key step that held together the main substructure of the cranium. I caught my mistake and it went better after that.

Harry has a round brick on the top of his torso. The head fits on top. You have to make sure it lines up just so, but after that it works okay and you can spin Harry’s head all the way around.

The fifth bag starts the build for Hermione. Her torso is very similar to build as Harry only a few of the colors inside are different.

Like the second set of bags, the sixth set of bags builds Hermione’s legs, arms, and her wand. The legs are also built the same way only she has some grey socks on her legs. The arms are also gray as she is not wearing the cape that Harry has. The arms and hands pivot the same way as Harry’s. The wand is built the same way as well and also has an inner core. It is just made of a different color than Harry’s wand.

Bags seven and eight build Hermione’s head and hair. The face piece is printed, but that’s it on the printed pieces. Still no stickers. YES! Here hair is pretty challenging if you follow the instructions to the letter as you need to make sure each curved tile, slope piece, and curved piece are placed the right way. While her head is also on a pivot, you can’t spin her head because her hair blocks her head from turning. Unlike a normal minifigure where you can pop off the hair piece, it isn’t as easy here. I don’t think this is a downside to the set, just merely pointing that out.

Here are the two characters sitting and then standing. Maybe navy blue wasn’t a good background for this photo. Sorry.

As my kiddo asked, where’s Ron? How come LEGO only built two of the three main characters? Will we see Ron in the future? Is this another ploy for LEGO to say “now you can build Ron on your own?” I don’t know. I’m sure the set would have been much more expensive with a third figure. Although sourcing all of the parts on your own probably isn’t cheap.

Back to the review, overall I thought this was a fun set. It worked out great to build as a family and it has some challenging parts for adults and easy parts for kids. My 7-year old built the wand and was able to help with parts of the torso and legs. Price-wise it’s not bad on a price per piece standpoint, but $120 might be out of reach for some. As a new concept, I like the idea of buildable minifigures. We’ll have to see if LEGO expands this to other themes like Star Wars, Ninjago, Marvel, or DC.

What were your thoughts on this one?

Happy building!

Set Review - #76386-1: Hogwarts™: Polyjuice Potion Mistake - Harry Potter

I picked up another one of the 2021 Harry Potter themed sets. This one is the first I received of the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter LEGO sets. This one is #76386-1: Hogwarts™: Polyjuice Potion Mistake. It was released on 5 June 2021 in the US and retails for $19.99. With 217 pieces, it works out to $0.092 per piece so not too bad. This one comes with three minifigures plus a collectible gold minifigure plus two mystery printed tiles.

The front of the box shows the set built with the main characters making the potion. It also highlights the anniversary and shows the minifigures. The back shows some play features like usual and shows how the minifigures can be changed into the post potion drinking versions. It also highlights the mystery tiles.

This box has the perforated section on the back where you stick your finger through to open the box versus cutting the tape seals. The production of this box didn’t go well as there was no perforation. I had to find a sharp blade to make my own perforations. It was a bit of a struggle to get the box open, but I succeeded in the end.

The set comes with two parts bags, an instruction booklet, and some stickers.. My camera with the lighting doesn’t do real well, but the stickers are the mirrors for the bathroom. There are thankfully only three stickers and they weren’t too bad to put on other than the standard issues of trying to center them on a piece and making sure they are not crooked.

The first bag starts to assemble the bathroom. You get the back wall and then a stall with a toilet. Nothing too out of the ordinary here which is to be expected for a smaller set. My only complaint here is the door is too big to open and close all the way.. It hits one of the support columns if you try and swing it open/closed. I have it fully opened in the picture, but if you were to close it, it would only open up to the column. Not really a big issue, but hopefully there are other stalls the students can use.

Bag two goes pretty quickly. The build isn’t too challenging other than trying to get the silver mirror stickers centered on the two brick high 1x2s. The set is definitely made so that you can connect it to other/future sets so it is good to see the designers thought about that functionality. You also have a good start if you wanted to expand the bathroom out as there are a number of scenes from the books/movies that take place here.

Running through the minifigures you get the main three (Harry, Hermione, and Ron). They all come with wands and Hermione has her potion cup. Both have two faces, but Hermione’s only goes with her face. Harry and Ron have other faces that go with their transformed characters.

First picture is the three characters transformed. Crabbe and Goyle are the two characters that Harry and Ron transform to. Spoiler alert if you haven’t seen the movies… Hermione accidently gets cat hair and becomes a cat. You get different hair pieces for the two male characters and then a cat head for Hermione which is fun.

This set comes with the gold Harry figure. It’s a gimmick, but all the Potter fans will be all over it. This is the cheapest set in the line so I’m guessing it will be the most prevalent one to have. Then you get two printed 2x2 tiles. The back of the instructions lists the 16 that are out there. I apparently got Nicholas Flamel and Olympe Maxime. Oh boy! Or not… I don’t think I’ll be rushing to find all 16, but maybe others will.

Overall, not bad for a $20 set. Three minifigures that “transform” and then a bonus gold minifigure. Plus you get the play feature of being able to attach this set to others. I like what LEGO has done here with the ability to incorporate it into others. It’s a must buy if you’re a Potter fan and maybe later in the year, it will go on discount. For others who aren’t into the Potter line, I wouldn’t jump in, but that’s just me.

Happy building!

Set Review - #40495-1: Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Hagrid - Brickheadz - Harry Potter

I’m not a collector of all Brickheadz, but I do pick up a set here and there when it interests me. As a Harry Potter fan, the return of Harry Potter themed Brickheadz made me jump in. Congrats on the sale LEGO!

#40495-1: Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Hagrid was released on 5 June 2021 in the US. It contains 466 pieces and retails for $24.99. That works out to $0.054/piece which isn’t too bad.

The set portrays the figures as listed in the name. Hagrid is portrayed at what I would call the normal or standard scale Brickheadz size and then the three students are portrayed at a smaller scale. Let’s get into the review.

Both sides of the box show the Brickheadz only in a different order on each side. The front notes that these are Brickheadz numbers 139 through 142. It’s hard to believe they’ve made that many already.

The contents are five parts bags and four instruction booklets. Hagrid is first with two parts bags. Then Harry with one bag, Hermione with one bag, and then Ron with one bag.

The first bag is Hagrid. He is built in the standard Brickheadz fashion with an internal structure to allow for plates and tiles to face in each direction. I think they captured his likeness well in terms of his hair, face, and clothes. The only issue I have is I don’t think the scale is right. Hagrid is much taller than most of the adult characters portrayed in the movies and I think he should have been made to be taller. He is taller than the children, but not taller as an adult. Not a big deal, just a nitpick.

Hagrid comes with a minifigure scale umbrella. It looks tiny on the Brickheadz, but it gets the intent across.

Like many Brickheadz, it comes with a printed brick to add some detail. In this case it is his shirt. He has the standard Brickheadz eyes with the larger square and then the smaller square offset at an angle.

Bag two builds Harry. He is in his student uniform with a cape. The uniform has a printed brick for the collar. There is also a printed tile for his scar on his forehead. Harry has two 2x2 round tiles for eyes with the standard Brickheadz eye print along with some white and then black to show that he is wearing glasses. The glasses don’t attach to his ears (which don’t exist anyways), but it gets the point across.

I think they portray Harry well and I have no complaints. The only improvement I would make is on his right side towards the bottom, there is a stud with a hole that sticks out. I thought it looked out of place, but it can easily be covered up with a leftover tile from one of the other builds. Problem solved!

Bag three builds Hermione. She is similar in scale to Harry, has the same school uniform on, and has a minifigure scale wand in her hand. Not much to say about the Brickhead. I think it looks okay and portrays the character well.

The last bag builds Ron. Now that you’ve built Harry and Hermione, the process is pretty similar only with different colored hair. The only comment I’ll make is that it looks like he could use an extra tile on either side of the back of his head. I think the stud there looks out of place. Especially if you compare it to Hermione who has all slopes as hair on the sides.

So there are all four Brickheadz. The build goes quickly and if you’ve build Brickheadz before, then you are familiar with the pattern.

I would pick these up if you are a Brickheadz fan or a Harry Potter fan (or both). If you’re not one of the two, I would save your funds for another set. The build isn’t overly exciting and it’s not like you get a ton of great pieces. The pricing is decent, but later in their life, pay attention for sales. I could see a $5 off deal being run at Amazon.com.

What are your thoughts?

Happy building!

Set Review - #75978-1: Diagon Alley - Harry Potter

I’ve had this one for a bit and finally got it finished and a blog post ready to go. #75978-1: Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter line is built! The last big one for the Harry Potter theme was #71043-1 - Hogwarts Castle in 2018 and this is the next big set in 2020. It was released on 1 September 2020 in the US. It contains 5,544 pieces and 17 minifigures. The set retails for $399.99 in the US which works out to $0.072 per piece.

I’m a Potter fan and decided to pick up the set. I got it before Christmas along with two free gifts (#634602: Buildable Teal brick and #40410-1: Charles Dickens Tribute). I also got 10% back on Rakuten versus their normal 2.5% so $40 back is awesome (you can see post about it here… and no I am not getting paid to advertise for them). I also had a $50 gift card so $90 off and two gift with purchase sets work for me.

Onto the review… It’s a giant box. The box is labeled as a 16+ set. The front shows the full set and the back shows some details, lists out the separate buildings, and shows the insides of the set. On the side of the box you can see all of the minifigures as well as some of the scenes you can create.

The box has a large white box in it as well as some parts bags. Those bags are numbered 9 through 20. Opening the white box reveals bags 1 through 8, box 21, the instructions and stickers, the base plates, and an parts bag without a number. I count 41 bags of parts, a box, and the base plates. I might be off a bag or two.

There are four instruction books. Each book is tied to what is built on one of the 16x32 gray baseplates. The books have some good write ups about the set to include details on each building, info on the designers and product team, and info on the minifigures.

Each building comes with a sticker sheet. As you can see, the Weasley’s Joke Shop has quite a few. I am not a fan of stickers, but these really do add some great detail to the set. The only downside is how some stickers are split up between pieces. A sign should have a smooth flow, but instead is broken up between two or three pieces. If you center the stickers, it looks weird, but if put two closer together, the third may look odd. Has anyone built the set without stickers? How does it look?

The first buildings are Ollivanders™ Wand Shop and Scribbulus.

The first bags start the base. This build and the rest have a sidewalk made mostly with tiles and then part of the street made up of various plates and tiles. Bag one starts the front of Ollivanders and then the first floor of Scribbulus. I don’t recall Scribbulus being in the movie at all so I will assume the designers got this shop correct.

The second bag includes Garrick Ollivander. He is holding a wand box with a wand on the inside. I don’t recall seeing this item before. The box allows for a 1x3 tile to be placed on the top and it fits the standard Harry Potter wand size. Throughout the build, there are numerous versions of these boxes to show the stock of the store along with some plates and bricks to look like boxes on the shelf. This part of the build includes a set of stairs. The stairs are on a hinge and can fold in. This allows you to place the buildings back to back versus all connected in a row.

Bag 3 starts work on the second floor and adds in windows on the first and second floors. The tiles in the windows are translucent yellow which adds a nice touch to the building versus just using clear. I also like the use of all of the textured bricks to add some detail/texture to the building façade.

The windows appear to be round with the use of curved plates and tiles. This style of build has been done before and I think it fits in good here.

Hermione Granger comes with this bag.

The fourth bag adds a sitting room with a fireplace above Scribbulus. It looks like it would fit for any wizard who needs it. It adds to the second floor of Ollivander’s too.

The fifth bag finishes this build with the roof and chimneys, another room of wands in Ollivander’s, and some owls. The chimney that is slightly crooked is a nice touch. The hinge pieces don’t exactly fit in asthetically, but the chimney seems to fit the magical world of Harry Potter. The second floor of Ollivander’s has a desk, a ladder, a chair, and another shelf of wands. You get 3 owls with this build. Hedwig and then two others. Hedwig is connected with a clear pole piece and he is flying a copy of the Daily Prophet. The other two are perched on Ollivander’s.

One last item is the various flags/signs on the buildings to advertise for the stores. I like how they are done and think they look cool, but the stickers are a pain. One on each side of the piece. It really put my sticker applying skills to the test.

The sixth set of bags start Quality Quidditch™ Supplies and The Daily Prophet™. The sidewalk and road are similar to the previous building. The Quidditch shop has some fun details inside to include brooms, minifigures displaying uniforms, and various uniforms stacked on shelves.

The Daily Prophet seems like an after thought. Or there weren’t a lot of details available. It’s just an empty space with 2x2 tiles of the newspaper laying around.

The seventh bags add the front façade to the first floor of the Quidditch shop. The brick red with the greenish color fits in well. I love the printed red on the clear bricks to create the windows with the added clear cheese slopes. It almost has an Asian/Chinese Festival look to it. The Quidditch equipment above the door looks cool too.

I forgot to throw him in the picture, but Ron Weasley’s minifigure comes in this bag.

The eighth bags build the second floor of the shop to include more gear, clothes, and then a minifigure displaying a uniform. The pink color brightens things up after the dark grey and tan-ish color from Ollivander’s

The ninth set of bags finishes the set up. As mentioned, the Daily Prophet leaves a bit to be desired. A large spider web, stacks of papers, a rat eating cheese. and more newspapers. A desk or a magical printer maybe?

The Daily Prophet photographer shows up in this bag with a camera.

This one is another great building for the set. The Quidditch shop is the main selling point for me with the design of the first floor exterior. The interior details are cool too. No minifigure to work in the shop though.

The tenth bags build Flourish & Blotts and Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor. Flourish & Blotts is used in the second book/movie “The Chamber of Secrets.” They actually go inside the store so I’m sure the designers had a bit more to go on than just some quick movie stills.

This part of the build includes Mrs. Weasley. It also starts to build Flourish & Blotts. A similar window type piece is used for this one as the Quidditch shop only it is green colored.

The eleventh set of bags builds the first floor section of Flourish & Blotts with some book shelves, a book display, and the stairwell. The stairs are on a hinge and they fold up if you want to put the buildings back to back.

This section also starts on the Ice Cream Parlor with the black and white checkered flooring, a shelf with some ice cream dishes, and the fun sticker with flavors on the wall.

Ginny Weasley’s minifigure comes with this bag to include a copy of Gilderoy Lockhart’s book “Magical Me.”

My pictures of build 12 are awful. Sorry about the bad lighting.

Here you build the counter in the ice cream parlor, some books on display outside of Flourish & Blotts, the first floor ceilings, the façade of Flourish & Blotts, and the awning of Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor. There are some interesting build techniques. The awning is rather simple, with 1x3 plates stacked with clip pieces mixed in. They clip onto the building and then some lipstick type pieces are used to hold the awning up. The Flourish & Blotts façade with the signs is all brick built and stickers. I like how the angles were achieved and I’m glad they didn’t use a big piece to get it all done. The use of different sized slopes to achieve the roof of the first floor present a cool effect as well.

Florean Fortescue comes in this set of bags.

Bag 13 adds Harry Potter.

You also build the second floor of Flourish & Blotts. There is a window section that matches the signage below and then inside you get a book shelf, a lamp with a book on display, and another book display on the floor. Externally there is a simple, yet cool dragon head like gargoyle on either side of the windows. You also build the main sign and attach more stickers.

Bag 14 finishes up this section. You get Gilderoy Lockhart with another copy of his book, the desk for him to sit behind to sign books, a seating area outside of the ice cream parlor, the seating area display on the roof area of the ice cream parlor, and a lamp on the front. Inside the second floor of the ice cream parlor is a small sitting room with an arm chair, coffee table with tea set, lamp, and rug. The roof is completed for both buildings. The roof on the ice cream parlor matches the one on the first floor. Flourish & Blotts has a simple set of slopes.

As mentioned, there is a seating area outside of the ice cream parlor. The table is attached by studs, but the chairs are not. No big deal really unless you need to pick the set up. The desk is another story as it really doesn’t fit inside. I guess you could put it outside or build up a scene with additional bricks in the back? It kind of seems out of place.

I like this building with the different green colors of Flourish & Blotts and the roof and awning pieces of Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor. So far, I’m enjoying the build. Even if there are a ton of stickers…

The last of the four buildings is Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes & Knockturn Alley. This one helps to mix up the movies/books a bit as Flourish & Blotts was spotlighted in the second book/movie and Weasley’s is from book #6. Knockturn Alley shows up a few times. Either way, I’m okay with the mixing of books/movies. You can set it up as desired and include/exclude buildings as you want.

Bag 15 starts off the Weasley’s store with some bright orange bricks to contrast some of the other buildings in the set. Knockturn alley is started too with an archway.

This bag contains Draco Mallfoy’s minifigure.

Bag 16 helps build out the first floor with a lot of details and items for purchase on shelves and display. This also means a lot of stickers too so get ready. You build a stairwell to the next level as well.

Lucius Malfoy comes in this bag. Unlike other Harry Potter sets, the minifigures don’t come with accessories here. Most of the other ones include wands for characters. Here they do not, but Lucius comes with his cane that he walks around with.

Bag 17 finished up the first floor. I like how they achieved the rounded section of the building while building up the windows to be at different angles. You also start work on the second floor. In the picture, I show the side of the building to highlight some of the larger stickers. The stickers for this build are numbered up to 41 and that doesn’t count where there are multiples of some stickers. Thankfully, the largest one is shown and the rest are smaller.

The George Weasley minifigure comes in this bag.

Bag 18 continues work on the second floor and completes the two story rounded window section. They use some clever techniques to fill up the corner and then put the figure in tipping his hat. Putting the brick built figure in was a bit challenging. I had to give it a few tries to get it right and it wasn’t exactly clear to me on the instructions.

Lots of stickers go on the outside of the building. As mentioned before, it was a challenge for me to space them out properly. This was especially hard on the orange curved pieces. I didn’t want the words to look disconnected, but I didn’t want there to look like there were large gaps in the lettering either. It would be nice if the stickers more closely matched the size of the brick you were putting it on. That way you wouldn’t have to guess as much.

Fred Weasley comes with this bag. If you can tell him apart from George that is…

Bag 19 finishes up the second floor and gets you stairs to the third level. The stairwell has a very colorful railing to brighten things up. You also add some balloons which need to be removed if you want to put the sets back to back.

On the outside, you build up Knockturn Alley with a “window to nothing” above the alleyway. I guess you could take it upon yourself to build up a building behind it. No complaints from me though. I like how the designers were able to achieve a crooked, angled window look without huge gaps.

Bag 20 wraps it up. The head is added to the figure in the front and there are some Technic elements used to make the character “tip” his hat. In the movie, a rabbit appears every other time he tips his hat. Obviously LEGO didn’t create that effect, but it’s cool to have some motion with the building. The hat doesn’t tip up too high for me, but I’m sure I could adjust it more if I wanted it to.

This building is a bit taller and the third floor has some inventory as well. The color contrast with the black and light purple/lavender color looks pretty cool.

You get another small build with this bag. It is a table where you can buy love potions as highlighted in book/movie #6. It’s a fun addition to the building, but like the desk for Flourish & Blotts, you can’t fit it in the building. So either extend the building or just set it behind the building with some of your own bricks.

This building was fun to put together with lots of different building techniques, colors, and elements. So many stickers though…

Then there’s box 21. It says “Silencio! Keep it between us.” I guess this is supposed to be a secret box so pretend you’re not reading this section. Although the instructions are included in book for so it’s not really secret. The box includes another Harry Potter minifigure. He has two faces with the other not pictured having dirt and dust from when he went through the flue network incorrectly during the second book/movie. It also includes Hagrid with his pink umbrella. You build a small stand for them to stand on and then behind them you attach a plate with a printed sign. It has the LEGO and Harry Potter logos along with a quote from the movie (and book?) from Hagrid to Harry. I think this is a nice addition to the set. Especially if you want to use this set as a display piece.

Besides the Harry and Hagrid minfigures in box 21, you get another 13 characters from the book/movie. I think it’s a good collection of minifigures to include some of the more popular and some of the ones we don’t normally see. They don’t come with too many accessories, but I think that’s okay. In the movie, you don’t see them with wands or other items unless they are buying things.

Here’s a picture of the final build all lined up. They are similar to the modular building series in that you can connect them, rearrange them, and for these you can put them front to back. No corner buildings or anything, but I guess that leaves it up to you to build them. I’m okay with the backs being open so you can see the details inside. I understand these are not modulars.

$400 is pretty steep for this set so definitely look for opportunities to get gifts with purchase or double VIP point bonuses. I got cash back and had a gift card so that helped.

Should you buy this set? I say this set is for Potter fans. A great addition to the world and a fun build if you know some of the details. This set is also for MOC builders. There are a ton of great pieces and great colors in this set. For about 7 cents a piece you can get some great parts. I’d love to see what some of the pro builders out there could do with this set.

If you aren’t a Potter fan or don’t want the pieces, I’d consider other sets first. Just my opinion.

I’m a Potter fan and I think the set was great. On a YouTuber I follow, it was mentioned that it would be great for the 2021 Potter sets to add onto Diagon Alley. What if they did a Gringots set you could add to this street? It would be pretty awesome!

What did you think of this one? Better or worse than Hogwart’s Castle?

Happy building!

Set Review - #75966-1 - Hogwarts Room of Requirements - Harry Potter

Continuing with the 2020 Harry Potter series, here is #75966-1: Hogwarts Room of Requirements. It was released in the US on 24 August 2020 (3 May 2020 in Germany). It contains 193 pieces and retails for $19.99 in the US. This works out to $0.104 per piece. I picked it up here in Germany on sale for just under $17.

Onto the review…

Here’s the box with the set on the front. It is the standard front with the Harry Potter logo, pictures of the actors, and the minifigures on the bottom. The back shows some of the play features as well as the other side of the set.

The contents are two numbered parts bags, the instruction booklet, and a sticker sheet. It’s not a ton of stickers, but I am not a fan of the small stickers you have to place on a larger panel or brick.

The first bag builds part of the room. It includes the outer sliding door that opens when the students need it to. There is a door behind it so they can get in. I like the larger translucent blue bricks for the windows and am trying to think of some cool ways to use them elsewhere.

This bag has the Luna Lovegood minifigure.

At 193 pieces, the build goes quickly. Bag 2 includes the remainder of the set to include Technic elements to knock down the proclamations. For minifigures you get Harry, Hermione, and the training Dementor. You also get some patronus charms to include a rabbit and… a gopher? Finally you get some “flick pieces” to shoot your charm from the minifigs and have them land somewhere on the floor for you to find later.

Overall, it’s not a bad set. You get a few decent pieces, there are minimal stickers, the minifigures are okay, and you get some translucent pieces. It’s not a bad set to pick up if you are a Harry Potter fan and you can get it at a discount. The set has holes for Technic pins so you can connect it to others released over the past few years to create a larger scene. Beyond that, not much else to say. It’s a smaller set with not a lot too it, but it’s designed for that price point so you can’t expect much more.

What are your thoughts on this one?

Happy building!

Set Review - #75969-1: Hogwarts Astronomy Tower - Harry Potter

The Harry Potter sets are back for another round. The 2020 releases came out in late August in the US and in early May in Germany. A few of them are already on sale here in Europe so I picked them up and will let you know what I think.

The first is #75969-1: Hogwarts Astronomy Tower that was released on 24 August 2020. It contains 971 pieces and 8 minifigures and retails for $99.99 in the US. That works out to $0.103 per piece. I found it locally for around $74 and thought that was a much better deal.

The box format looks similar to last year. The front shows the set with a digital background and the three main characters from the movie in the upper right. The back shows some of the play features and the back side of the set.

The set contains 6 parts bags and the instructions which are wrapped up in plastic with the stickers. There is also an 8x16 dark gray plate that comes separate.

The sticker sheet isn’t too bad although I don’t like trying to put the smaller stickers on the larger pieces as you’ll see later. I can never seem to properly center them.

Bag one builds the green house. It’s a simple build, but the roof is done differently. There are no stud connections and instead it is attached based on friction between the pieces. I found it to fit well and wasn’t super loose. This bag has the minifigures for Harry and Professor Horace Slughorn. It also has Hedwig the owl.

The only other notable part of this build are the Mandrake plants which are printed 1x1 round bricks. They have a plant piece attached and I thought this was a nice detail in the set and I was glad it wasn’t a sticker.

The second bag starts the base of the tower. It’s a fairly simple build, but I do like the curves and arches and how they add detail to the castle look. The use of stickers on the front columns wasn’t fun to apply. You can see from my picture that I didn’t put them on evenly.

The inside of this part has a classroom. It is maybe a potion classroom with various items to pour into pots. This is a cool part of the set, but is rather small. It needs expansion in my opinion.

Bag 3 builds the roof of the bottom portion of the tower. I like the design and the use of angled plates to create the detail. The spires are fun too. The inside adds a few candles hanging from the wall.

The fourth bag adds to the base of the tower which is hooked into the other section with Technic pins. This section appears to just be a hallway. There’s a shovel hanging up and well that’s about it. There’s also a decoration with red lanterns/balls. It appears this is part of the scene from book number 6 “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” where Professor Slughorn hosts a “Slug Club” party before Christmas. This set includes a table with a food set up and Neville serving a drink. Hermione is the other minifigure included here.

The fifth bag builds the next floor up and includes Luna Lovegood. This floor is the Ravenclaw common room which I don’t ever recall seeing in the movies. Was it mentioned in the books? It’s a pretty simple set up with a few beds, the house colors as a sticker, and some books on a brick books shelf.

Bag six builds the last floor and roof for the astronomy tower. It has the actual astronomy tower portions with the telescope. The minifigure included here is Malfoy. While I like how this set looks from the front, I would have liked to have seen how the telescope points out. Is there a retractable roof piece or something that opens? Again, another part not seen in the movie, but it would have been interesting to build or it could be something you build on your own.

As mentioned, you get 8 minifigures in this set and a Hedwig. Hedwig appears in six sets this year in the same manner so if you’re looking to get the owl, no need to get the most expensive set. The minifigures all appear in this form only in this set so if you collect Harry Potter minifigures, sorry…Also of note, these all have dual expressions. I tend to go with the happy or not mad expressions when I do reviews. The remainder of the expressions are either mad or a look of disgust or something similar.

Here’s the final build. Overall, I think it’s a cool structure from the front and I look forward to some day having the space to connect the sets from the previous few years. While I understand the back is open for kids to play with, I think it would be cool to have the full set filled in. Perhaps some day I will work on a minifigure scale Hogwarts castle.

I recommend trying to find a sale on this one before buying. It sits a little about the $0.10 per piece point at retail and I think it could be slightly cheaper (although you are paying for the license as well).

Happy building!

Set Review - #75948-1: Hogwarts Clock Tower - Harry Potter

I am finally reviewing the last of the Harry Potter sets from 2019. This one is #75948-1: Hogwarts Clock Tower. It was released on 1 July 2019 for $89.99 in the US. With 922 pieces, it works out to be $0.098 per piece. This isn’t too bad, but I obviously would have preferred a lower price. I have not seen this one go on sale yet, but I did get it for double VIP points before Christmas so I can’t complain.

This set is based on the the fourth book/movie in the Harry Potter series titled “The Goblet of Fire.” The set itself portrays the Tri-Wizard’s Tournament Yule Ball. Onto the review…

The box front shows the front of the set assembled with the minifigures by tables and a Christmas tree. The back shows the internals of the set and some of the features to include the moving clock and how you can set up the minifigures to “dance” on one of the set pieces.

The set contains six parts bags and 2 light gray octagon pieces (not sure of the official name). The instructions are sealed with the stickers. The instructions are just instructions and no extra details or anything. The stickers are one sheet with multiple stickers and one with a larger sticker (ugh!).

The first bag builds a part of the ball room area. In seeing the pieces ahead of time, I was curious how it would all get assembled. In the end it turns out that there are System gear pieces versus Technic and they are linked together. You spin the light gray octagon around and the white circles rotate. Then you can position the minifigures so it looks like they are dancing. Definitely an interesting way to do this, but I’m not sure it adds much to the set. The set is listed as ages 9+ so maybe the younger crowd enjoys setting up the minifigures so they can dance.

There are 2 tables for drinks. The legs are icicle pieces and they have some fun “ice” decorations on top.

This bag also contains Viktor Krum and Madame Maxine, but I’ll go over the minifigures later.

The second bag adds a tower which can be attached using Technic pins to the ball area. The tower has 2 floors. The bottom floor is the bathroom where the students have to bathe to hear what the egg is telling them. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just watch the movie. The large mermaid sticker goes here and you get the fun of having a large sticker and trying not to get air bubbles in it. I was successful, but it took a few tries.

The upper level is Dumbledore’s office. The phoenix and sorting hat are stickers on the wall. The sword of Gryffindor is above him and the pensieve is there too (had to look up what a “pensieve” was). In terms of the actual locations in the castle, I’m not sure if they are all correct, but then again I am not sure of the floor plan of the actual castle so who knows? I think they were looking for the chance to re-create as many scenes as they could from the book/movie with this set.

Fleur Delacour and Albus Dumbledore come in this bag, but more on minifigures later.

The third bag starts the build of the actual clock tower. This bag builds the first floor of the clock tower. I think it is the room where students can put their names into the cup to be chosen for the Triwizard’s Challenge. I’m not actually sure and I’m not certain why the treasure chest is there. Either way, it serves as the base to the tower.

Ron Weasley and Cedric Diggory come in this bag.

Bag 4 builds another room. This one appears to be the defense against the dark arts classroom. I am a fan of how the external part of the clock tower looks. I’m not sure how accurate it is compared to the movies, but the design is simple, yet it looks like it is part of the castle. The build is mainly stacking bricks, but the designers get the detail across with some difference pieces and color changes.

The inside has details from the movie to include the chalk board with a sticker that tells from things from the book/movie, the glass where Mad Eye put something inside, and then there are a few items along the wall as well as one chair for a student.

Hermione Granger is in this bag even though I didn’t include the minifigure in the picture.

The fifth bag almost finishes the clock tower and it includes the Harry Potter minifigure. The outside includes the clock face which is a cool printed piece. The clock hands are pieces from the standard LEGO tool kit (and you get the extra tools for other MOCs). The roof slopes here or at least you complete part of the slope.

Inside this floor is the hospital or clinic or whatever they call it. There are 2 beds for patients. This is the first time where I’ve seen LEGO use jumper plates so the minifigures can actually lay on the bed.

Also, based on watching the movies, the clock is near the hospital area so this is somewhat accurate to have these two sections nearby each other.

Much like #75954-1: Hogwarts Great Hall, this set has a decent number of minifigures which makes this set a must have for fans of the Harry Potter minifigures. All of them are in their Yule Ball attire which I’m not sure has been done before. Does anyone know?

I’ll use the order of my picture below to go through them:

Cedric Diggory - This minifigure last appeared in the Harry Potter collectible minifigure set (#71022). Not bad considering he only makes an appearance in one book.
Fleur Delacour - This character is also in #75958-1: Beauxbatons' Carriage: Arrival at Hogwarts™ so the second time she’s appeared in a 2019 set.
Viktor Krum - I think this is the first time since the return of Harry Potter in 2018 that we’ve seen this minifigure.
Madame Maxine - This character is also in #75958-1: Beauxbatons' Carriage: Arrival at Hogwarts™ Hermione Granger - I’ve lost count of how many of the big 3 we’ve seen. Hermione has on a dress and instead of giving her a slope bottom to show the dress it is just printed on. There is a printed 1x2 brick with a 1x2 plate below it. I’m not sure why they didn’t go for a smaller slope piece like Fleur has on, but okay.
Harry Potter and Ron Weasley are in a lot of sets. Now you get them in their Ball garb.
Albus Dumbledore - Dumbledore is in his Ball garb as well. What I found interesting is the head of this minifigure has his glasses on one side and no glasses on the other.

Overall, a good collection of minifigures in my opinion. Everyone has a wand too.

The sixth bag completes the build. The roof and the last turrets on top of the clock tower are built. You also get a small Christmas tree for the ball room. Additionally, a second, smaller clock is added to the main clock face.

Overall, the build is not too complicated, but it does have some interesting techniques like the gears used for the dancing area. There are some decent pieces for other MOCs although not a wide range of colors. The designers crammed a lot of play features into a small area that were probably spread out across the castle, but I get why they did that. It probably doesn’t match the actual castle from the movie, but again it is designed for play and not as a Creator Expert type set. In terms of price, the set is about average in terms of price per brick and I have yet to see it go on sale. Like #75954-1: Hogwarts Great Hall, this set has not been on the active sale list on places like Amazon.com. If you are looking to pick it up, look for other opportunities like discounts at specific retailers or promotions from LEGO itself.

Like most of the other Harry Potter sets, if you’re not a fan of the series, I don’t recommend picking up this set. The build wasn’t that great, but fans get some great minifigures and another piece of the book/movie series.

What are your thoughts on this one? Just another play set or a well designed version of Hogwarts?

Happy building!