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Having acquired and built the new Harry Potter sets, here's a brief review of
them. For each one, I give the prices I paid about a week ago through local
retailers with the S@H price shown for comparison. The price per piece (based
on S@H prices) is also shown. All prices in Australian dollars (divide by 2 to
get approx USD/Euro prices).
Overall I was less impressed with the new HP sets compared with the sets from
the first book. I thought Hogwarts Castle, Hogwarts Express, Hagrids Hut and
Snape's Classroom were the pick of the first release, along with Diagnon Alley
and Hogwarts Classroom in the 2nd release. I found less to be exciting about in
these new sets. Now maybe this is because HP Lego isn't the new new thing it
was originally, but generally I think the design is not as good and the colours
are also a lot darker (a lot more light and dark grey and less tan and other
colours overall by comparison with the earlier sets).
Ok, a brief comment on each of them:
> 4726 Quidditch Practice, $22.95 Kmart, $24.95 S@H
Quiddich Practice: 128 for $24.95, or 19.5 cents per piece
One of the cheaper sets and one of the more colourful ones (green, red, tan and
light grey). However, the design and parts selection is nothing to get excited
by. The main attractions of this set are the Madam Hooch minifig (the Quidditch
mistress with attitude), the Quidditch hoop piece (if you can think of another
use for it) and the red and green coloured minifig capes worn by Harry and
Draco (for Gryffindor and Slytherin house respectively). It's better than
Flying Lesson (but more expensive).
> 4727 Aragog in the Dark Forest, $34.99 Target, $39.95 S@H
Aragog in the Dark Forest: 178 for $39.95, or 22.4 cents per piece
This is probably my least favourite of them all. It doesn't seem well-designed
and looks dark and murky (ok, I realise it's the dark forest). Minifigs: Harry
and Ron, just in case you managed to miss out on them in the previous sets. The
best parts of the set are the spider legs, some brown slopes and some foliage,
which might be useful if you want to build a MOC of say a giant spider in a
forest. Otherwise ...
> 4728 Escape from Privet Drive, $54.95 KMart, $61.25 S@H
Escape from Privet Drive: 278 for $61.25, or 22.0c per piece
This is the Hogwarts Express of the new series, that is, the set that isn't
intended to be part of the overall Hogwarts Castle layout. I like this set a
lot, as it is quite well-designed and the colours are interesting. The exterior
of the house is relatively enclosed (by Lego standards) and it comes with a
number of those nice burnt orange bricks with lattice windows. The car is in an
attractive light blue colour, and can pull away a window of the house to let
Harry escape, so there's play value. Of course, with the use of rarer colours
like this, there is always the problem that you never acquire enough parts in
enough shapes in any of these colours to be genuinely useful for MOCs. So, your
enthusiasm for this set may be affected by your feelings about rare colours.
Minifigs: oh rapture another Harry and another Ron, and a new one Uncle Vernon,
a sort of brown middle-aged fig who looks cranky rather than nasty.
> 4729 Dumbledore's Office, $74.96 KMart, $99.95 S@H
Dumbledore's Office: 446 for $99.95, or 22.4 cents per piece
Of the sets that are intended to be part of the overall Hogwarts Castle layout,
this is the best IMHO. It's a single structure over 3 levels (unlike the
Chamber of Secrets or Hogwarts Castle, which contain a number of separate
structures). It's somewhat enclosed and it hinges open to reveal the interior
on two different levels. It has more of the lighter colours (tan, sand green,
light grey) than the darker ones (dark grey, black). It has a number of items
for "play" including the spinning wheel (a hypnotic device, not for working
with wool). There are a number of good parts in this set including round walls
and the ever-popular tan quarter-turn spindle fences (4 of them!). You get a
Dumbledore (which everyone seems to like for the beard and the purple robes and
cape), a new pre-dominantly green Prof McGonagle (hurray for more female
minifigs), and the inevitable Harry (what shall we do with them all?). You also
get yet another of the ghastly spiral staircases which will never stay in the
arrangement you put them in and don't have studs so you can't stand a minifig
on them (does anyone actually like these stairs?). One drawback is that there
is very little space floor area when the set is closed so it is hard to find
places to position the minifigs for display in the closed configuration.
> 4730 Chamber of Secrets $119 KMart, $119.99 Target, $139.95 S@H
Chamber of Secrets: 591 for $139.95, or 23.7 cents per piece
Yuk yuk yuk. If you have the money, either put some back in your pocket and buy
Dumbledore's Office or spend a bit extra and buy the earlier Hogwarts Castle.
This is the most expensive set of the new releases, and one of the least
satisfactory in my opinion, poor design and mostly darker colours. The set
comes in 4 main parts with 3 tower/turret bits that you can put on the tops on
2 of the 4 main parts (pity that there is space for 4 tower/turrets!). Maybe if
I re-read the book, this piecemeal design might make more sense to me. One of
the 4 main parts has hinged elements coming out of the side which suggest it is
intended to be connected to some of the other parts, but I could not figure out
how. Indeed, this is my biggest criticism of the entire HP theme is the way so
many sets are designed as if other sets are supposed to be interconnected, but
there is no grand plan for how they are to be interconnected into one large
building. Oh, and you get a large green snake which doesn't really fit in the
set when built and falls over sidewise when freestanding. Still, you can use it
to keep Aragog the Spider and Fluffy the 3-headed Dog from getting lonely in
the back of the cupboard. On the positive side, if you plan to build MOCs that
require a number of large wall pieces with open snake mouths and large green
snakes, this may be the set for you. Seriously, the only redeeming features of
this set are the door opening mechanism in one of the main structures, the
bearded face opening wall (somewhat reminiscent of the those skull/face walls
in the Islander sets), and what I assume is a phoenix (but shouldn't it be in
Dumbledore's office?).
> 4731 Dobby's Release $11.95 KMart, $13.95 S@H
Dobby's Release: 70 for $13.95, or 19.9 cents per piece
The cheapest of the new sets, but quite a worthwhile purchase. Only a small
set, but a nice selection of parts in a nice design with a couple of play
elements. I think this set will be popular for the 2 grey arched lattice
windows and the two new minifigs, Dobby (with the shorter legs -- nice for
making minifig children, and a head that could be used for space aliens) and
his not nice master (I forget his name) with a long blond hair piece and a grey
business suit (all very reusable). And best of all, no Harry!
> 4733 Duelling Club, $34.95 KMart, $39.95 S@H
The Duelling Club: 129 for $39.95, or 31 cents per piece
I like the look of this set but not the price per part! However, it has some
premium parts that have a lot of appeal to me: two tan pillars, 2 tan lions
heads, 2 yellow banners (not pre-printed but with stickers). There are 4
minifigs, 3 of which we have seen before (Snape, Draco and yet another Harry)
but there is also a new one, the celebrity wizard (I forget his name) in green
with blond coiffured hair and bright white teeth smile. Take off his cape, and
you have a TV evangelist, a politician, a real estate salesman, TV anchor
person etc. The play element is the ability to turn the knob and knock Harry or
Draco off their feet while spell duelling. Of course as they are standing on
tiles, you will be lucky to get them to stand up long enough to knock them off.
For display purposes, stand them on the studs behind the tiles, and you won't
have to put them back on again each time a slight breeze blows.
> 4735 Slytherin $21.95 KMart, $20.99 S@H
Slytherin: 90 for $20.99, or 23.3 cents per piece
Another of the cheaper sets, somewhat similar in style to the Hogwarts Express
station or the Troll on the Loose bathroom. Average parts selection, average
design. There are 3 minifigs: Draco (who is becoming as common as Harry in this
new set of HP sets) and his two Slytherin cohorts Crabbe and WhatsHisName (with
reversible heads so they can transform into Harry and Ron -- read the book if
you need to understand why). I'm not sure which is which of the two cohorts,
but I like the black hair-with-attitude of one of them, the other is fairly
ordinary (apart from the reversible head). So you don't exactly get a Harry and
Ron in this set but you get their faces, but you can keep them hidden.
Overall, I like the fact that the towers on the new sets are the taller
pointier varieties and not those square squat ones used in many of the first
sets. Also there are no cardboard roof elements, which were perhaps excusable
in Hagrids Hut due to its unique opening shape, but unforgivable in Hogwarts
Castle where a few slope bricks or a hinged plate could have done a much much
better job. But overall I think the first series was better in terms of design
and colour; there is nothing in the new set to match the stylishness of
Hogwarts Castle dining hall. It's good to see a number of new minifigs,
including the two women, but Harry, Ron and Draco are definitely in serious
oversupply now.
Summary of the new sets:
Best: Dumbledore's office, Escape from Privet Drive, Dobby's Release
Middling: Duelling Club, Slytherin, Quidditch Practice
Worst: Aragog in the Dark Forest, Chamber of Secrets
Summary of the new figs:
Best: Madam Hooch, Prof McGonagle, celebrity wizard, Dobby, Slytherin cohort
with attitude hair
Middling: Dobby's not nice master, Uncle Vernon
Dull: the other Slytherin cohort
Summary of the new creatures:
Best: <none>
Middling: Aragog, phoenix
Worst: Green snake
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Message has 5 Replies:
 | | Re: New Harry Potter sets
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| Kerry Raymond wrote in message ... (...) and (...) excited (...) I disagree, there are some *very* nice parts in this set. Light grey 2x2 roof peaks (previously extremely hard to get), tan 2x2 roof peaks (not available before AFAIK), green 2x2 roof (...) (22 years ago, 26-Oct-02, to lugnet.loc.au, lugnet.reviews, lugnet.harrypotter)
| | | Re: New Harry Potter sets
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| (...) Our solution for all our extra Harry/Ron/Hermione heads/hairpieces is to pull and store them and replace them with other faces/hairpieces so we've been able to build up our Gryffindor house ranks creating Fred, George, Percy, Seamus, etc. I (...) (22 years ago, 27-Oct-02, to lugnet.loc.au, lugnet.reviews, lugnet.harrypotter)
| | | Re: New Harry Potter sets
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| In lugnet.loc.au, Kerry Raymond writes: <snip> (...) Like the ghost in Snape's Classroom, and the flute in the Forbidden Corridor, it seems another case of basing the sets from the book (or perhaps an early draft of the script) rather than the (...) (22 years ago, 28-Oct-02, to lugnet.loc.au)
| | | Re: New Harry Potter sets
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| (...) I'm in complete agreement here. (...) Here I disagree. Dobby's master (Lucius Malfoy) is a great fig. That torso would be great in any Town setting. Blond hair is stil rare enough to be exciting. And the face is interesting. Almost the same (...) (22 years ago, 31-Oct-02, to lugnet.loc.au, lugnet.reviews, lugnet.harrypotter)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | good day's shopping ...
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| Well, with Target and KMart having Lego sales, it was a good weekend to go shopping. The bad part is that I am laid up with bad bronchitis, and so I had to plan the fastest most efficient trip to visit these stores, where I coughed my way around (...) (22 years ago, 20-Oct-02, to lugnet.loc.au)
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