Set Review - #76389-1: Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets - Harry Potter

Believe it or not, this isn’t the last of the Harry Potter 2021 sets. If I don’t hurry up, all of the 2022 sets will be out. This one is #76389-1: Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets. It was released on 5 June 2021 in the US. It contains 1,176 pieces and retails for $129.99. That works out to $0.111 per piece. There are 11 minifigures in this set which makes it a decent, though expensive minifigure pack. It also is one of the centerpiece sets if you plan to connect all of the other 2021 sets together.

Nothing extraordinary about the box. The front shows the set, has the Harry Potter logos, shows all the minifigures, and it is still the 20th anniversary of LEGO creating Harry Potter sets. The back goes into a bunch of detail on various sections, shows the back side once you connect everything, and shows how you can connect the sections.

The set contents are nine numbered parts bags, two 8x16 tan plates, and then the instructions and stickers come wrapped in plastic.

Here’s a closer look at the sticker sheet. There are a bunch of them!

The first bag builds the top of the astronomy tower which was just done in 2020’s #75969-1: Hogwart’s Astronomy Tower. This one is just the very top of the tower and a telescope.

You also get the basilisk in this build. I’m not sure if it is to scale or not, but for a 9+ play set, it works.

There are three minifigures in bag 1. You get Harry with the Sword of Gryffindor, Colin Creevey (the photographer, you build a camera for him too), and Professor Sinisitra. I had no idea who the last one was. A quick Google search says she was an astronomy professor.

Lastly, you get a brick separator in this bag.

The second build is a section of building which appears to be part of Professor Gilderoy’s classroom based on the sticker you attach. There are two desks and a small table. The table has a minifigure printed skull on it. There’s also a candelabra. The outside seems to fit the architectural style of Hogwart’s and there’s a shield with the school crest.

This set contains Luna Lovegood which was somewhat surprising to me as I don’t remember her being in that movie. If she was, she didn’t have a big part. You also get two Pixies and then a book.

Bag three builds Professor Gilderoy’s office and of course comes with his minifigure. His office is covered in pictures of him, has a minifigure head with a wig, and then pictures for him to autograph. The stickers are a bit of a pain, but that’s just my opinion.

The fourth bag builds the Great Hall which is not to be confused with 2018’s #75954-1 Hogwart’s Great Hall. It’s definitely a much scaled down version of the Great Hall, but considering the spacing available, it works.

This bag comes with two minifigures, Dumbledore and Justin Finch. You also get a small green snake.

Bag five adds the roof over the great hall. The inside adds in the Hogwarts crest on a banner. The minifigure in this bag is a glow in the dark Nearly Headless Nick.

Bag six has the initial room to the chamber of secrets where they slide down from the girl’s bathroom. Conveniently, you can purchase #76389-1: Hogwarts: Polyjuice Potion Mistake and open the entrance in the bathroom to slide your minifigures down.

This bag comes with a minifigure for Ginny Weasley and your very own copy of Tom Riddle’s diary. The sticker you put in it includes the holes Harry adds with the basilisk fang so you can re-create the scene at the end of the book/movie (hopefully not a spoiler by now).

The seventh bag builds the actual entrance to the chamber of secrets. The door they designed does a pretty good job at capturing what the actual door looked like in the movie. You can open and close it as well which is a nice feature. The only thing I’m not sure about is the steeple above the entrance. I thought the chamber of secrets was underground. I’m not sure why they have a roof section above it.

No minifigures here, but you do get a fun owl to add to your LEGO owl collection.

The eighth bag builds the main structural feature where the basilisk lives in the chamber of secrets. With the help of a sticker, the designers did a good job capturing the weird face carved into the rock wall.

You also get a Tom Riddle minifigure in this bag.

The ninth and final bag finishes up the set. You finish building the chamber and some of the accessories. The mouth of the “stone” face opens up so you can have the basilisk come out. Then there are two small snake heads on stands that can be removed and placed along the… I’m not sure what it’s called… in the movie there’s a long pathway leading up to the place where the basilisk comes out.

The opposing side of the build has two torches and some stone structures made of BURPs. We have no way of knowing whether the chamber is right next to the outside of the castle or buried deep within underneath the castle so maybe this is how it was.

The last minifigure is the 20th anniversary golden minifigure of the set. You get Voldemort. He’s not the most exciting one to get, but I understand how he fits in.

Here are the 11 minifigures, the basilisk, two books, to Pixies, a snake, and a camera.

Here’s what the final set looks like when you connect it all together. As a standalone, it’s not too bad. In a future post, I’ll show what it looks like to have all of the 2021 sets connected together. The front side looks pretty cool and is definitely a good start if you’re looking to make a full up, minifigure scaled Hogwarts on your own. The back side doesn’t quite make sense without the other sets such as the entrance to the chamber not having the bathroom above it.

This set is definitely a play set or minifigure collector’s set. I don’t recommend this one for adult fans unless you are super into the Harry Potter theme. At $130, it’s pretty expensive considering what you get. I haven’t seen it on sale yet. We’ll have to see if that happens as it approaches the end of its retail life.

Happy building!

Set Review - #10293-1: Santa's Visit - Winter Village

As per usual, Christmas is over and here I am finally getting to review the Winter Village themed set released for Christmas. Better late than never I guess. This one is #10293-1: Santa’s Visit. It was released on 17 September 2021 in the US. It contains 1,445 pieces and retails for $99.99. This works out to $0.069 per piece which isn’t that bad.

The box is in the 18+ branding and while the background is dark, it does look like they tried to brighten up the set so all of the features stand out. The box is pretty standard. The front shows the full set and the front of the house you build. The back shows the back/inside of the house and then some of the features of the house.

This set contains nine numbered parts bags and two instruction booklets wrapped up with the stickers. The first and smaller booklet covers bag one and all of the accessories not attached to the main structure. In theory, if you were building with someone else, you could hand off that one while you worked on the house. I suspect they will finish first, but I like the concept.

Here are the instruction booklets. The inside has some details on the set and on the builder, Chris McVeigh who also designed last year’s Winter Village themed set #10275-1: Elf Club House.

Only four stickers with this set. Not too bad I guess.

The first bag builds what I loosely refer to as the accessories, but mainly it is parts not connected to the main structure. There is a small fence section with a mail box and an entrance large enough for a minifigure. For whatever reason, the designers decided this piece should be separate so if you want it linked to the house, you need to use your own pieces. The same goes for the fence, unless you want the fence to highlight the entrance to the walkway that you also need to build with your own pieces. The mailbox is a simple build that easily gets across what it is and there is a post with a lamp on it and some greenery.

There are also a bunch of gifts you build to put under the tree. Some are just boxes with decorations, but there are a few actual items to include a small rocket and a trumpet. The girl’s room has some space themed decorations so you can assume the rocket is for her. The trumpet looks pretty good considering its size, but would be quite large for a minifigure to play. For it to be more realistic, you’d need a molded element similar to the saxophone that has shown up a few times in the past.

Lastly comes the tree. The designers continue to come up with new methods to build trees. This one is no different. The tree has a light brick on the bottom and is built on top of the brick. It is built in a way that when you push down on the top of the tree, the light brick turns on, but it is not heavy enough to keep the light brick on all the time.. There are clear plates throughout so that the light from the brick shows through the tree. This is a fun technique to use and I like how it was done. Bonus points to the designers!

The second bag builds the base for the house. As has been the recent trend, instead of just using a base plate, the designers attached a bunch of plates together. The good part about this is it allows them to get some different shapes besides just making everything square.

A few interesting parts of this bag… you build the fire in the fireplace. The fire appears to be a gas fire as it comes from burners versus a log type design. The burners pivot which I believe allows Santa to come down the chimney and not get burned. Although the “fire” stays lit so the house burns up when it tilts over. The other fun part is the present that you build and place on the floor. Later, you build a chair that goes in front of the gift. This is supposed to be the parents hiding gifts for the kid, but any kid would find that gift in seconds so not really a good hiding spot.

Bag three builds up some of the outer wall. This includes some greenery decorations made of claw type pieces. There is also a lot of snow that has fallen off the house or been shoveled into the areas. There is also a small white bird perched on a window sill.

I didn’t take a picture of the inside, but the kitchen is built up with a sink, some counters, an oven, drawers, a kitchen mixer, and a loaf of bread on the counter.

Bag four finishes most of the first floor. You build up the walls, add the windows, and install the door. On the inside, there are a few additions like a flower, the wood pile, and more of the chimney.

The fifth bag builds up the living room area of the house. This includes adding a chair, with a coffee table, and then decorations on the fire place. The fire place decorations include stockings, some candles, a clock, and a family picture. It also builds up the chimney and some of the wall of the house.

The sixth bag adds a dining room table with four chairs. The table has a red table runner and a candle on some greenery.

It also has you build the girl’s room. This includes a bed, a desk and chair, a picture on the wall (focused on space exploration), and the Christmas list on her desk. There are no stairs to the upstairs as usual, but no complaints considering the piece count and price of the set.

On the outside, there is a roof portion added over the kitchen area with some decorations. The bell decorations are a cool addition.

This bag also adds the girl minifigure. She is in pajamas which I don’t think have been done before. Her face has smiling on one side and then eyes closed and sleeping on the other.

Bag seven finishes off the chimney and adds on most of the roof. A different method is used to attach the roof that hasn’t been used previously. Nothing overly complicated, just different.

Bag eight adds the center section of the house along with the roof. It doesn’t add an additional floor, just a wall section, but there’s more greenery, some bells, and a window.

Bag nine, the last one, adds a bunch of different small details around the house. You finish off the chimney with some snow around the edges. Additionally, you add a tree on the ground near the chimney. The stem and branches are brown, but the smaller branches are all white as if it had just snowed. And because I put it in the picture, you get a Santa minifigure in this bag. He comes with a sack.

The next part as seen in the picture is a small snowman. In the past, they have used minifigure parts, but this one is all white and just uses round bricks.

The last addition to the house is some roofing on the back over the girl’s bedroom and a brick build decoration of a planet with rings to go with her enjoyment of space exploration.

This set comes with four minifigures. To me, it looks like a lot of new torso parts we haven’t seen before. Is that true? Both the mother and father have smiling faces and then laughing with eyes closed on the other side. The daughter has eyes open and mouth open and then sleeping. Santa has a big hat and beard so you wouldn’t be able to tell if the face had another side (it doesn’t).

Here’s the final build. To be honest, it’s nothing that really screamed out to me that it was awesome. It had some good building techniques and it uses some fun pieces, but other than that, it was just a house. The light up Christmas tree is a nice addition to the set as compared to light up houses and fire places in the past. Other than that, it’s okay. If you’re into this theme, then definitely get the set. It’s been sold out on LEGO.com since before Christmas 2021, but I did see it listed on Walmart. Check around for it, but good luck if you can find a sale. Hopefully you can get a good gift with purchase or double VIP points to go with it.

Happy building!

Set Review - #76391-1: Hogwarts Icons - Collectors Edition - Harry Potter

For the 20th year anniversary of LEGO producing Harry Potter themed sets, the company went big. #76391-1: Hogwarts Icons - Collectors Edition contains 3,010 pieces. It was released on 3 September 2021 in the US for $249.99. This works out to $0.083 per piece which isn’t bad for a licensed theme, but should be expected when you have a set at such a high price point.

I suspect those familiar with the Potter world will recognize the items you build. If you are not familiar, hopefully you are impressed by the large snowy owl named Hedwig from the series. Set #75979-1: Hedwig was the last larger (than minifigure scale) Hedwig, but this one took larger to a whole new level. It will be interesting to see if LEGO designers decide to add more larger animal creations to the lineup. Any interest in a theme like that?

Back to this set… the box is quite large as you’d expect. The front shows the full set built and contains the 18+ branding. The back shows the back view of the set and some details of the set. It also points out that you get more of the golden minifigures along with a stand. I threw in a picture of an edge that has some potion bottles on it and part of the printed piece that becomes the “welcome to Hogwarts” letter..

Once you open the set there are a bunch of parts bags and a white box with more parts bags inside. In total, you get 22 numbered bags, the three large tiles for the letter, and the instruction book wrapped up.

Here are the instructions. The inside has a write up in the beginning and then throughout the build, there are different notes about the items you are building related to the movie filming or the set itself.

There are stickers in this set. They all go to the potion bottles. I guess it would be tough to print on the curved, clear pieces. Thankfully, this is it which is great considering the scale of the set and how many stickers they could have provided.

The first bag builds three different items. These include Harry’s glasses, a wand, and a potion bottle. The glasses have a new Technic piece for the lens holder (no lens of course) and you can actually (try) to wear them. They don’t stay on quite well, but they aren’t designed to either. The wand looks fairly realistic. I’ve seen some complaints that LEGO could have done better and some builders who have updated it. I’m good with how it is built. Some have complained about the ball joint that sticks out. That is so you can connect it to the rest of the build and could be replaced with a piece from your collection if you don’t want it there. The potion bottle is from book/movie number 6 - “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.” It is “Liquid Luck.” The small bottle/flask is a cool shape and the pieces glow in the dark. I don’t recall that happening in the movie, but cool to have the pieces do that with the set.

Bags two and three start to build the base of the set and the first book. The base and the stand that will hold up Hedwig are constructed with a bunch of Technic pieces. This keeps it pretty sturdy to handle the weight. For those not into Technic builds, I didn’t find this portion overly complicated and you mix in enough System elements to keep it interesting. The designers used different colored pieces on the insides so you could keep track of where everything goes versus using the same colors and getting lost on the direction sheets.

Bags four and five wrap up the first book on the bottom of the stand. The book is open and has a few pieces to connect the next book sticking up. To me, the most impressive part of this build was the page edges. I had never seen the technique before, but the designers slid 1x3x1 and 1x4x1 “wall” pieces into a slot on top of each other to create the effect. I had to stare at it a bit before moving on to take in the awesomeness of the idea.

Bags six and seven build the next book. Bag six does the outer shell of the book and bag seven finishes it up so you can place it on top. 1x2 bricks with texture are used to achieve the look of the pages. The only challenge is that the texture is only on two sides of the brick. When you get to a corner, the page effect goes flat. Not a major issue here, but the challenge with building with LEGO bricks I guess.

Bags eight and nine build another book for the stack. This one is dark red in color.

Build ten builds a small basket like item on top of the books. You can place some of the potions built later in there. Perhaps there is an actual Potter reference to this build?

Build eleven adds Hedwig’s claws and the bottom portion of her legs. The build is set up so you can clip the welcome letter in and then wrap the claws around it as if she is holding the letter for you.

Bags 11 and 12 start to build Hedwig. This was a really cool build. Lots of interesting techniques and not just stacking bricks and plates on top of each other. You start with the tail section. I like how some different black plates and tiles were sprinkled in to achieve the color scheme of a snowy white owl. The designers captured the curves pretty well and there aren’t a ton of gaps in the build.

Bag 14 adds parts of both wings. The wings aren’t moveable in that you can’t adjust them so they are at Hedwig’s side as if she’s perched somewhere. You can see from this picture that many of the feathers to be added are hooked in with ball joints and Technic axles so you can adjust them slightly, but not by much.

Bag 15 builds the head minus the face. I didn’t take any pictures of the bottom part, but it connects via a piece that allows you to rotate the head so you can pose which way Hedwig is looking.

Bag 16 has multiple parts. The first one is building the face and attaching it. The face section attaches as one piece and then you connect the head to the body. The eyes have a print so thankfully you do not have to try and put a sticker on a curved piece.

The rest of bag 16 is more wing feathers. If I knew enough about birds, I could tell you what they are, but I don’t so for now, I’ll just say you add four sections to each wing.

The last part of bag 16 is adding Hedwig to the stand. I took pictures on and off the stand. The instructions have you attach the wing pieces after you hook on Hedwig, but I removed her to try and get some better pictures.

Bag 17 adds more feathers and you are close to finishing Hedwig.

Bag 18 finishes Hedwig and she looks awesome! The size is just impressive to me and it really looks like she is coming in for a landing. Props to the design team on this one. It’s definitely something LEGO hasn’t done before and I think it came out great for a first iteration.

The last part of bag 18 is a golden snitch. For being a small object and round, I think the designers did a good job capturing it in brick form. I’m not sure how else I would have tried to make a round, golden object. It’s not perfectly round, but pretty close. The wings are large pieces that were in… a Friends set? I think maybe as a hot air balloon or something, but in different colors.

The snitch attaches to the stand via a Technic axle. If you get in close, you can see it and it looks odd, but when you step back, it fits right into the build.

Bag 19 builds the various potions. Each small jar is built the same. They have different stickers which my NLS put on as she was helping me build. She did a great job and much better than I ever would have. After building the lower section of each jar, you dump in various pieces. Not hard except some of the 1x1 round plates are mixed in with other colors. You just have to separate before you dump.

As I recall, the designers added in a bunch of personal references here with the various numbers and letters on the stickers. You’ll have to do some searching to find the meanings.

Bag 20 builds a scarf to attach to the book. The build comes with enough pieces to build the scarf in the colors of each of the four houses at Hogwarts. We picked Gryffindor for no real reason and assembled the plate built scarf. My complaint is on the coloring and the use of the brighter red versus the brick red. If you look at the movies, they wear more of a darker red or maroon color. The color doesn’t seem to match and could have been switched to the brick red to more closely resemble the house colors.

Bag 20 also builds one of the stands for the golden minifigures. This one has a printed plate on the front (yay no stickers!). It also comes with the golden minifigure for Professor McGonagall.

Bag 21 has the build for the chocolate frog. The frog build is pretty creative and I think the designers accurately represented what a chocolate frog would look like in brick form. There is some interesting use of pieces in this build and you can move the legs around due to the various hinges and joints installed.

We found an error in the instructions with our set. Between steps 12 and 13, there are extra parts shown on the model, but there are no instructions to connect those pieces. There are two plates that are not shown in steps 11 and 12, but magically appear in step 13 without a call out to attach them. After looking at the instructions for a bit, we figured it out and added the two pieces in. If your instructions match ours, keep that in mind. Otherwise, you may have a weird looking frog and a few extra pieces at the end.

Bag 22 finishes up the set. You finish off the minifigure stands, build a Hagrid, built a Dumbledore, and build the Dumbledore “card” that he fits into. The card can then be placed on the stand.

I didn’t take a separate picture of it until the end, but you add in the “Welcome to Hogwarts” letter here as well. You connect the large plates with various connector pieces in angles that work out nicely when it connects to the set. The letter is attached where Hedwig’s claws are so it looks like Hedwig is carrying the letter to you.

Here’s what the stand looks like with all of the golden minifigures. It stinks that you have to buy all the sets or buy the minifigures on places like Bricklink. LEGO is a business so I understand they want to make money, but it’s a pretty big spend if you want all the anniversary golden minifigs.

On the plus side, I do think it’s good that they included this stand so you have a way to display your minifigures. $250 is a bit pricy for a minifigure stand, but you do get a lot more in this set so no complaints there I guess.

Here’s the final set. As a casual Potter fan, I was very impressed. I enjoyed the build, some of the creative techniques the designers used, and look forward to having this as a display piece. Despite the piece count, this set is very pricy at $250. I used a gift card I had received and then VIP points so it didn’t hurt as much. If you can stomach it or have some VIP points I highly recommend this set for Potter fans. If you are not a Potter fan, but enjoy building, the Hedwig build is very impressive and worth it in my opinion. Lots of great pieces for future MOCs as well and you can always sell the golden minifigures to people to help recoup some of your spend. Not sure if we’ll ever see this set go on sale, but keep your eyes open for opportunities to get it at a discount.

Happy building!

Set Review - #31120-1: Medieval Castle - Creator 3-in-1

The LEGO Group has made it clear that they don’t want to re-start old themes like Castle, Pirates, or Classic Space as stand alone themes. The fan base keeps asking for them so LEGO seems to find ways to bring back the themes without a stand alone theme. The Castle theme was recently seen in Ideas with #21325-1: Medieval Blacksmith which was released in February of 2021. On 2 August 2021, #31120-1: Medieval Castle was released in the US. It contains 1,426 pieces and retails for $99.99. That works out to $0.07 per piece which isn’t too bad.

The set is branded with the Black Falcon sub-theme from the original Castle line. You get 3 minifigures in the sub-theme and then a few shields with the logo. This is a win for all of the Castle fans out there.

When #31109-1: Pirate ship came out, I reviewed all three versions (here, here, and here). I decided not to do that here as I really like the main version and wanted to keep it. It’s one of those sets that I’ve added to my list of sets I would like to modify and add to some day.

The box highlights the main build on the front with the two other builds on the side. Then the back shows some of the play features and things you can do with the different builds. Unlike most sets, the minifigures aren’t front and center with a special call out. It’s nice to have the focus be on the build versus the minifigures.

The contents are nine parts bags labeled one through seven. There is also an 8x16 tan plate. The instructions come wrapped in plastic to keep them from damage. Bag one contains a piece separator.

The first bag starts the main section of the castle. You get the start to the draw bridge and then the wall structures. Some of the wall is made of grays while some is tan and various green colors to show that the castle is built into a section of elevated ground. A small tree grows out of it on the side.

This bag comes with one minifigure holding a bow and arrow.

The next bag adds another layer to the walls and the arch over the draw bridge. I had not looked at any reviews for this set prior to building and was not expecting a functioning draw bridge. Technic elements are used to allow you to turn a crank on the outside of the castle to raise and lower the bridge. There is also a part you can use to lock the bridge in place. This is a great feature in this set and isn’t overly a Technic build for those not into that system.

The third bag finishes off the front section. The detailing on the front is pretty impressive with two torches, one on either side of the draw bridge. There are two banners for the castle on either side of the draw bridge as well. The Black Falcon shield is placed centered above the draw bridge. I did see a post mentioning that you could add more texture to the walls of this build, but I didn’t think it was overly necessary. The designers added in a bunch of different bricks which helps to give the set a castle look versus just a building made of bricks.

I don’t know the technical term for the tops of each tower, but the use of gray Nexo Knight shields was a great addition. It’s a simple touch, but a cool look.

Not too much inside this castle section nor is there a lot of space to add many details. I guess that part is on you.

Minifigure number two is in this bag. It has a spear and another shield.

The fourth bag builds one of the back sides of the castle. From the front, they added hinges for you to connect other pieces of the castle and this is one of them. This section has an outer wall along the water. Like the front, there is some gray and some green.

Inside has a small armory with some armor and a forge to sharpen your sword which adds the functionality of being able to hammer the sword to sharpen it. There are some stairs up to the section above the armory. This bag comes with a minifigure not in the Black Flacon outfit. He looks more like he could fit in a Pirate themed set. He could be a squire or maybe he’s just on a break from wearing the armor set up nearby.

The fifth bag finishes up this section of the build. To go with the pictures I posted, you get a moveable water wheel on the outside and then a room above the first floor you built in the last step.

On the back side of the build are three brick built chickens/roosters along with a target for bow and archery practice.

The inside is the second floor area with a small chair and a mini fireplace. A lot of details here considering it is a Creator 3-in-1 set.

The sixth bag starts the last back corner/side of the castle. Inside, you get a small market stall with some food in a basket. Next to it is a jail cell with a skeleton minifigure inside (sorry, forgot to get a picture of it). I would like liked to have seen a ghost minifigure return, but we’ll take a skeleton. .

Not attached to the structure, is a small well that can go in the center of the castle or elsewhere. The well has a small green frog sitting on the edge.

The outside fits the style of the rest of the build. There is some greenery outside the wall here, but it is not going up the side.

The last bag adds in a tower above the section built with bag six. The tower is brown and yellow versus the gray similar to some of the other higher sections. I assume this is to show that this section would be made from wood versus stone.

Additionally, there’s a brick built dragon. Considering the size and piece count of the set, the dragon has a lot of detail. The head has horns, teeth, and fire coming out of the mouth. The wings are a bit lacking in my opinion, but they do okay. The body, legs, and tail are decent as well.

Here’s the final build from all slides. Overall, I think it’s a great journey back to the old Castle theme through Creator 3-in-1. There are a lot of great pieces, some fun details, and the minifigures are decent considering it is a Creator 3-in-1 set not known for minifigures.

I wasn’t a Castle fan as a kid, but I think this set is a nice venture into the theme for someone who wasn’t a fan back in the day. I recommend this one. If the price is a bit much, wait to see if it goes on sale. I haven’t seen this one on sale yet, but will keep watching for a discount later in 2022.

What are your thoughts on this one?

Happy building!

Set Review - #76388-1: Hogsmeade Village Visit - Harry Potter

Yes, still more 2021 Harry Potter sets. This one is #76388-1: Hogsmeade Village Visit. It was released on 5 June 2021 in the US and retails for $79.99. It contains 851 pieces which works out to $0.094 per piece. I have yet to see this one on sale, but maybe I missed an opportunity or two. Perhaps as it nears retirement?

This set brings something a little different to the theme if you’ve been sick of building Hogwarts modular builds this year. Hogsmeade is a separate area and these two buildings are a fun addition to any Harry Potter layout as well as potentially in a Winter Village themed layout.

Nothing overly exciting about the box. Set on the front and some details on the back. It highlights that you get 7 minifigures so no complaints there.

The set contains six parts bags (each numbered), two sticker sheets, and two instruction booklets. Each booklet goes with one of the buildings as well as the stickers.

Here’s a closer view of the stickers. There are quite a few, but I managed to get them attached okay. I would have preferred to have the bars printed on the window like in #75978-1: Diagon Alley, but I can’t complain considering the price point of the set.

Bag one starts Honey Dukes. I don’t actually recall seeing this store in any of the movies so I will have to go back at some point and pay close attention to spot it. While the façade has a dreary brown shade, inside is very bright with lots of colors and parts that make up the various sugary items for sale. It definitely helps to liven up the traditional, brown/tan Harry Potter builds.

You get yet another Harry Potter minifigure in this set along with the golden Ron minifigure.

The second bag finishes the front of the building to include the clear curved pieces that you have to put stickers on (good luck!). You start to build the second floor and roof as well. The set is themed for around winter time so you get a bit of “snow” draping off the front.

This bag comes with Mrs. Flume and a purple printed collectible tile.

The third bag finishes up Honey Dukes. The second floor has some storage and what I assume is space to make more goodies. You also add in the cash register and a stand in the middle of the shop. The front roofing is pretty simple, but I think it looks really good. The angles are mostly in line and there are only some minor gaps between pieces.

You also get the pieces to make a lamp post, a small bench, and then a wanted poster from “The Prisoner of Azkaban.”

This bag contains Mr. Flume. Both Mr. Flume and Mrs. Flume are unique to this set.

Okay so I started to build this set outside on a small table, but had to finish up the rest inside. Sorry for the differing picture backgrounds.

Bag four builds “The Three Broomsticks” which is like a pub I guess. This bag starts the bottom floor. The color scheme, decorations, and architectural style are all pretty cool. This would be a great building to have even if it wasn’t a Harry Potter set. The stickers add to the detail pretty well. The inside has a bar with some beverages and a table with some cups and a croissant.

This bag comes with Madam Rosmerta and she’s holding a hammer. I don’t recall her from the movie or why she has a hammer.

The fifth bag continues to build up to the second level. I like the mix of the brick textured pieces and the plain bricks. The inside builds a small room with a table, chair, fire place, and a small desk with drawers.

The Professor Minerva minifigure comes in this bag. I think this is the first time I have ever seen her show up in a set.

The sixth bag wraps up the set and includes the Dean Thomas minifigure. I really like the angled roofs and various slopes. I’m not exactly sure how functional it is in a real house/building, but it has a cool look to it. Throw on the white places to make snow and it definitely has a Winter Village feel to it.

Here are the six minifigures in the set. According to Brickset.com, they are all unique to this set so a bonus for getting this set if you collect them. We get lots of Harry Potter figures, but it is nice to see some different ones in the collection.

Here’s the final build. Overall, I’m a big fan of this set. It has a lot of detail in the build considering it’s 851 pieces, but isn’t overly complicated. The ability to connect it to Harry Potter or the Winter Village theme is an added bonus. I haven’t seen it on sale yet, but be on the lookout. I recommend Potter fans pick this one up. It might not be bad for those looking to expand the Winter Village or maybe even a Castle themed village.

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 - #10290-1: Pickup Truck - 18+

There have been a number of vehicles in the line formerly known as Creator Expert and now called 18+. I’m not a die hard collector of all of them so I pick and choose the ones I want to build. The latest one I picked up was #10290-1: Pickup Truck. It was announced earlier in the year, was available for pre-order in the US, and then was released on 1 October 2021 for sale. The retail price in the US is $129.99. With 1,677 pieces, it works out to $0.078 per piece which isn’t too bad.

This vehicle is designed after a 1950s style American brand pickup truck. It is not branded after a specific company and instead takes some of the features of numerous trucks and then gives the truck a LEGO branding. Hopefully the lack branding kept the price a little lower. 10295-1: Porsche 911 has 200 fewer pieces, yet was priced $20 higher. Perhaps this was due to the fees being paid for the license?

The box front shows the full build. The upper left has a logo for the pickup truck. The bottom has sand green greebling with the 18+ branding. The back shows some of the play features and a CAD model of the truck with some basic dimensions.

The box contains 14 parts bags, the wheels, and an instruction booklet wrapped in plastic along with the stickers.

The instructions have a small bit of information in the front from the design team talking about the set. You also get two sticker sheets. One has two stickers and the other has eight.

The first bag builds a number of accessories to go with the truck. From left to right you get a wheel barrow with three flower pots. Each pot has a different set of flowers in it. The wheel barrow has a working wheel and is made of sand green for the fans of that colored brick. Next is an old fashioned milk jug. It has a sticker label so you know what is in it. Next up is a sign advertising the flowers for sale at a farm stand or market. It has a larger sticker which is not fun, but it’s a simple enough build and looks good. For the Christmas time decorations, you get a Christmas wreath and brick built gift. The wreath is scaled so that it fits on the hood of the truck with a stud that sticks out. The gift matches some of the others seen in other sets and can be set on the passenger seat on a stud there. There are then three containers of produce. You get a crate of pumpkins, a half barrel of carrots, and a half barrel of either apples or tomatoes (not really sure which they are). Lastly, there’s a watering can. It seems a bit large compared to the milk jug or even the wheel barrow, but it achieves the desired effect. Overall, they are a nice addition to the set and help you to display it how you want to based on the season.

The next set of bags builds the frame and chassis of the truck. It has some Technic parts for strength, but isn’t overly Technic build intensive.

The third set of bags builds up some of the front and adds the steering column. Like many of the previous vehicles in this line, the steering wheel is connected to the front wheels so you can turn the vehicle when moving it.

The fourth set of bags builds up some of the front sides of the truck I’m not sure if any of the pieces are new, but I like how it achieves the smooth and connected shape of the truck. This includes around the wheel wells and the front bumper. Additionally, you build the structure behind the cab. This includes a window and still maintains the smooth shape of the body of the vehicle. The mix of SNOT and stacking pieces helps to achieve this effect.

There are a lot of great little details in this set. You’ll notice on the back of the cab on the body of the truck is where the gas cap is installed. This aspect could have been easily skipped in a LEGO model, but they included it for accuracy which is cool.

Build five adds a number of details. The engine is included. I’m not an engine expert so I can’t tell you what all the parts are, but it looks pretty accurate to me. Then the front grill is added and instead of just hooking on a piece or two, you clip on each piece. It’s a pretty cool design technique. Lastly, you install the doors. This is impressive to me because you build these so they can be opened/shut, they maintain the smoothness of the body on the inside and outside, and the gaps aren’t too major with the body. The doors have a logo for “Green Farm.” I’m not sure if this is a generic term or a call out to LEGO’s efforts to “go green” and be more environmentally friendly.

Build six adds the bed of the truck. You build the bed assembly off the truck and then connect it once it is built. I appreciate the detail in this section of the build as you really have to pay attention to the instructions here to capture all of the details to include the wheel wells.

The seventh build adds a few details and the hood. Not pictured, but you get your transmission stick. Then you add the front bench seat. It doesn’t look too comfortable, but as I recall, most bench seats aren’t comfortable. Last up is the hood. It opens and closes, has a pole to keep it propped open, and as mentioned earlier, there is a jumper plate added to the front where you can attach the wreath.

The last set of bags finishes up the set. It includes the rear wheel well, wheels, fences for the back, rear bumper, tail gate, roof of the cab, and… I think that’s it. Here’s the completed product.

Lots of functionality to this set. Hood opens and closes, tail gate opens and closes, doors open and close, wheels spin and front wheels turn, and you can remove the fencing on the back. It’s not exactly a play vehicle, but you could play with it and you can find numerous ways to pose your display model.

Here are some details on the front and the back. I managed to put the license plate stickers on pretty well and the front grill logo looks pretty good. I’m a big fan of the older LEGO logo on the back gate. I’m also glad that it’s a printed element versus a sticker.

Overall, I was a big fan of this set. The brick red color is one of my favorites, the functionality is cool, the build techniques to keep it smooth without major gaps were good, and the attention to small details didn’t go unnoticed. It’s not bad pricewise considering the price per piece and as mentioned, it has more pieces and a lower price compared to the Porsche. Not sure if you’ll ever see this one on sale, but if you’re into the Creator Expert/18+ vehicles, I recommend picking this one up.

What were your thoughts on this one?

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: #40452-1: Hogwarts Gryffindor Dorms - Harry Potter

Continuing with the Harry Potter theme, LEGO recently had a gift with purchase promotion for #40452-1: Hogwarts Gryffindor Dorms. The promotion started in in the US on 25 October 2021. It was scheduled to end after about two weeks, but it appears to have lasted slightly longer. I’m not sure what day it stopped. This set was thrown in when you bought $100 or more of Harry Potter sets. Of course they are all priced so you can’t buy exactly $100 so you had to shell out $110 or more. Also everyone was buying and inventory dried up fast. The set contains 148 pieces, two minifigures, and four of the collectible tiles.

The box is similar to others in the 2021 Harry Potter theme. Full set build on the front, minifigures, and similar logos. The back shows a few features to includes the 8x8 plate that you can slide in/out to display your collectible tiles.

The set comes with two parts bags, an instruction booklet, an 8x8 plate, an 8x16 plate, and two 1x16 bricks.

For being a smaller set with not a lot of pieces, there are some decent builds in this set. The back wall uses some SNOT to achieve the rail for the 8x8 plate to slide into. I’m not sure why they chose black rails versus the tan color, but it works. Using the small fence pieces also makes for an interesting looking window. The beds are also decently designed and I like how they used jumper plates so you can angle the beds.

There are some decent pieces in the set too. I’m a fan of the chest, but mainly from its use back in the pirate days. The gold colored pieces are always fun and the rug tiles are good colors.

The plate on the back wall is an interesting way to display your purple 2x2 tiles. If you don’t like it there, you can always pull it out.

The build itself goes with the rest of the 2021 Harry Potter sets in that it can be connected with Technic pins to the other sets or stacked on top.

Overall, I can’t complain about this set. For a gift with purchase, it is a decent set.

The set has two minifigures. Ron comes with a wand and chocolate frog. He has two facial expressions. Harry just has a wand and also has a happy and scared/surprised face. While it would be great to have other characters, I can see why they chose these two based on the scenes in the dorm rooms.

What were your thoughts on this one? Worth the spend or not so much?

Happy building!

Set Review - #76395-1: Hogwarts: First Flying Lesson - Harry Potter

I should try and get through the 2021 Harry Potter sets before 2022… Here is #76395-1: Hogwarts” First Flying Lesson. It attempts to re-create the scene from the first book/movie where the students get their first flying lesson on brooms. This set was released in the US on 2 August 2021. It contains 264 pieces and retails for $29.99. This works out to $0.114 per piece which is a bit steep in my opinion.

The front of the box shows the full set. It also shows the minifigures included along with the Harry Potter logo and pictures of the movie characters. It also has the 20th anniversary LEGO Harry Potter logo on it. The back shows some of the play features and lets you know that you get to mystery tiles.

The box contains two numbered parts bags, an instruction booklet, and a sticker sheet with 5 stickers.

The first build creates the left and right sides of the modular building structure included with this set. Unlike the previous sets, this year the sets can be attached together with Technic pins. The two structures you build are fairly similar and don’t have a lot of special building techniques. On the outside are shields with logos from each house (stickers, not printed). Inside one is a trunk with some quidditch supplies. The other has a trophy case with some actual trophies inside. I like how they built this so there is a clear front and it looks like a case. There is a small detail that you may not catch which is that Harry’s Dad is listed on the one sticker that goes on the plaque inside the one case.

The second bag builds a connecting hallway with a door and an upper level/roof for the build. Not a whole lot to this part. The most in depth part here is connecting the clear rods so you can pretend the minifigs are flying. There is also a gray minifig statue with swords so you can have Neville get caught on the statue like in the movie.

With the build not being super exciting, you hope the minifigures included in the set make up for it. This set includes five. Except for the statue, each have two printed faces. The statue is all gray and comes with two swords plus and extra one in the parts bag (win!). Not much to it, but you could add it to #40516-2: Everyone is Awesome just to mix things up.

Draco Malfoy is the only minifigure not unique to the set. The same minifigure appeared in #75978-1: Diagon Alley only this one comes with a broom.

Professor Quirinus is the 20th Anniversary gold minifigure. I’m not sure why they selected him versus one of the more main characters, but okay. He did show up in the first book/movie so that might be why. The figure has the Professor Quirinus face on one side and then Voldemort face on the other side.

Madame Hooch is unique to this set as the instructor. She has two faces to include my favorite, the flying goggles.

Neville Longbottom is last in my picture. He comes with a straight face and then a scared face. He has a broom and his remembrall (had to look that one up).

Lastly, here are the 2 tiles I got. Not really a big fan of these nor do I intend to make sure I get them all.

Overall, this set is nothing really exciting. The minifigures are okay and the set itself isn’t that great. The pieces are alright, but nothing too special. Unless you are a huge Potter fan, I wouldn’t rush out to grab this one. What are your thoughts?

Happy building!