I reviewed the collectible minifigure series and some Brick Headz for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Now it’s time to look at one of the sets that was released. #75953-1, Hogwarts Whomping Willow is a recreation of a scene from the movie “The Chamber of Secrets” where Ron and Harry are in Ron’s family’s car on their way to Hogwarts. They end up landing in the tree and the tree seems to get upset that they are there (this shouldn’t be a spoiler, the movie and book have been out for a while). Anyways, this set was released on 24 August 2018 in the US. It retails for $69.99, but Amazon.com had it on sale for 15% off or $59.68. It has 753 pieces and 6 minifigures. If you get it at full retail in the US, it works out to $0.093 per piece so not too bad for a licensed theme.
The box front is pretty standard. It shows the whole set, provides details about age, set number, title, and number of pieces, shows the minifigures in the set, and has a picture of the actors from the movie. The back shows the play features of the set and how it was made to be connected to set 75954-1 Hogwarts Great Hall.
The contents of the box are 5 bags of bricks, 2 instruction booklets, and a sticker sheet. I’m not a fan of stickers, but they aren’t tiny so while the sheet is bigger, it’s not a lot of stickers.
Bag one is the Weasley family car and minifigures for Ron and Harry. The build is pretty simple. The doors swing open and so does the trunk. The trunk fits 2 minifigure suitcases. Since the minifigs have the shorter legs, they can’t actually sit in the car. So Ron has to stand to drive and if you position them correctly, you can fit the 2 minifigures in the car at once. And just for reference, bag 1 includes a piece separator.
Bag 2 builds the Whomping Willow itself. The build starts with the base that has Technic elements. I wasn’t expecting that, but it made sense as it went on. The Technic elements allow you to rotate the tree similar to how it moves around in the movie. The branches of the tree can be re-positioned as well. I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan, so I can’t tell you the significance of the door underneath the tree, but I do recall it being used in one of the movies to go somewhere. I think the tree itself lacks detail, but the LEGO designers probably had to do a cost-benefit analysis to determine if it was really worth it to put more effort into making the tree look more realistic versus increasing the price with more pieces. The tree does hold the car for play purposes although there are some green flower stem pieces that do not stay in real well.
The third bag builds what I think is Gryffindor tower. Maybe… It includes a sleeping area, an area on the bottom floor that is (I’m not sure), and then space in the tower at the top where Hedwig is placed in the instructions.
The next bag adds a potions mixing room and an outdoor walkway area. These areas attach to the main area with Technic pins. While I’m not a huge fan of this part of the build, I realize that this set is meant for play and not detail. For a detailed set, I should probably buy Hogwarts Castle (#71043). For play features, I think this set is fine.
Bag 5 completes the build. It adds Professor Snape and his office. Considering the size of the set, I think the designers packed some good details into this area along with some fun pieces to include potion containers, a lamp, and a copy of the Daily Prophet.
Here is the final set with all of the minifigures. It has some great play features, a lot of great pieces, and I like how the set can connect to 75954. If you’re a Harry Potter fan, I would pick this set up if you can find it at a discount like I did. As Christmas approaches, it might come down even more so watch for it.
The minifigs are (top to bottom, left to right) Professor Snape, Filch, Seamus Finnigan, Ron Weasley, Harry, and Hermione. They all have dual faces, but I am only showing one side on this review. Except for Filch, everyone has a wand. Filch has a lantern which is cool looking, but about half as tall as he is. The 4 students are all shorter minifigs. Hermione and Seamus have on their uniforms, but Harry and Ron are in their street clothes. I don’t own any of the old Harry Potter sets so I don’t have much to compare these to, but I’m impressed. In my opinion, they resemble the characters from the movie pretty well.
I have never read the Harry Potter books, but I have seen all of the movies. I enjoy the plot line and while I’m not a super fan, I find it entertaining. I never purchased any of the older releases, but this release impresses me so far. While it is not the most detailed build, it lines up fairly well with the movie. If anything, I think the pieces included are good and can be used for other builds if you want to take this one apart. The minifig selection is good for this set with 6 included and the stickers aren’t too daunting. Overall, I call this one a buy if you are a Harry Potter fan.