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4766
System / Harry Potter (and the Goblet of Fire)
Graveyard Duel
Duel au cimetière
El Duelo en el Cementerio
Ages 7-12, 548 Pcs. (C)2005. 56 page manual: 1 model (9 component models), 168
steps. Building time about 1 hour.
Price Range: $30 (USD)
RATINGS (Scale: Must-Have Excellent Very-Good Good Fair Poor)
Set: Must-Have / Models: Excellent / Playability: Excellent
DECALS? Yes. 1 sheet with 5 decals. 1 “Tom Riddle” headstone marker, 1
“green brambles” sticker, 1 “green brambles with red snake-eyes” sticker, and 2
other various headstone patterns.
SET DESCRIPTION
The Triwizard Tournament is over, and the end is a trap! Harry is teleported to
a graveyard, and who is there to greet him? Why, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named
himself! Death Eaters Peter Pettigrew and Lucius Malfoy join the scene with a
creepy graveyard backdrop including four graves, one tomb, an old wagon hearse,
a dead tree with bats and owls, skeletons, and the graveyard gate itself.
SPECIAL ELEMENTS
There are many excellent part finds hidden throughout this set. Black
Hippogriff Wings (unique to this set as of now), a 1x1-1x1 Bracket with Pin
(48724) (unique to this set for ‘05, and not many have come before), 2 black
1x4x1&1/3 with Curved Top bricks (6191) (not lots of these out there), a 1x4x2
with Centre Stud Top (4088) brick (unique in MdStone in this set), black and
MdStone chains, Tan Minifig Hair (Long Straight) (x218) (unique to this set),
Voldemort’s head (unique), Peter’s Rodent-like head (again, unique), evil black
skeletons (2 of them, unique) 1x4 Redbrown plates with arm (30043) (unique in
this color), 2x2 tiles with skeleton patterns on them, and 4x4 Spoked Wheels (4
of them, unique to this year, nice to have more of them). With such a large
list of unique pieces, even though most of the elements in this set may be
small, it makes the part count even more impressive for the price of the set
(and this is a licensed set too!) I’m sure I missed many an interesting part,
so look at Peeron if you need to know.
IMPRESSION
This set is by far the darkest Lego set I have seen, and it’s a good one! There
are some minor failings, but overall, this set is a good find.
The models break down like this: One graveyard gate (fits as a fence around the
smaller or medium sized graves), 2 small graves, on medium sized, the large ‘Tom
Riddle’ grave, a dead tree, a hearse, a cauldron, and a ‘graveyard keepers
shed’/tomb.
The smaller graves look good enough (one looks poor from behind, due to using a
1x4x3 Skull (47990) for its headstone; it looks extra creepy from the front, as
it should, but the back isn’t covered to hide the mould). These smaller graves
contain brown tiles with skeletons printed on them (each grave gets ½ of the
skeleton, so you have a full print between the two of them). While not as nice
as two more skeletons, it certainly helps keep this set at its impressive price
point.
The medium sized grave is an impressive size (8x12x8) and features a skeleton
with its legs replaced by robot arms (there are extra legs in the set for him),
allowing him to be mounted on a turning lance so he can burst from his grave!
It is adorned by a funny little frog too.
The large Tom Riddle grave has a few neat features, the first of which jumps
right out on the box, the black winged angel of death! I wonder how long this
set took to get through marketing with elements like this (though there are even
MORE disturbing bits coming up). The 13x16x7 1/3 (not including the angel)
grave is smooth topped, and opens to reveal snakes where a casket should be.
The black chains topped with technic ball-joints give an impressive look as
well.
There isn’t too much to say about the gate, except that it is flanked by black
baby dragons. The dead tree seems innocent enough… except for the skeleton
leaning against it… and the spiders climbing it, and the bats and owls in its
bare branches… The cauldron is simple and only shows the sinister side by
having a dagger in it. Then again, if you’ve seen the movie or read the books,
you know what that cauldron is for… The hearse is also neat, though for play
value it is missing its horses to pull it (which makes sense in this set, let
Peter pull it). It’s nice to see the 4x4 spoked wheels again, and the casket
that it carries (not the 2 piece coffins found in the vampire and Egypt
Adventures sets) has skeleton arms and legs in it!
The small building (tomb and keepers tool storage) has one of my favorite
things, and one of my least favorite things, about this whole set. The floor to
the tomb is tan/white checkerboard tiled! This is the type of thing you see in
MOCs all the time, but not in official sets. It’s a great touch, and I hope to
see more of it! The floor slides away (at least it does if you remove the
stairs first) to reveal two incomplete skeletons! A black skeleton (whose
missing parts can be found in the casket on the hearse), and a jade skeleton!
And therein lies my least favorite part of the set. I find the addition of a
black and a jade skeleton to be awesome, but the jade skeleton only has a jade
body and arms (ala legless dementors). The head is a black skeleton head
(which, in itself, is really cool to have another), and there are black legs in
the set it can use. I would be happier to have a complete jade skeleton (body,
arms, AND head and legs), or trade the body and arms out for a second complete
black skeleton. Instead, it looks like a poor mongrel skeleton. In fact, he’s
such a poor mongrel that one of his arms and one black leg have been thrown out
in the cemetery keeper’s garbage can!
Other than the 4 skeletons in the set, there are four other mini-figs. Harry
Potter himself, Peter Pettigrew (with unique ratty features), Lucius Malfoy (who
has a reversible head, one side normal, and the other side with Death Eater
mask) and Lord Voldemort (with eerie translucent glow-in-the-dark head), the
last two in robes. The robes are a bit long for the mini-figs, but I’m sure
they can cope. The only things I can think that would make this set creepier
than it already is would be a big black pointy hat for Lucius, and a Cedric
Diggory figure with reversible head (one side the generic smiley, the other side
the poor Ex-Cedric). Also noticeably lacking from this set (and all of the
Goblet of Fire sets for that matter) is the Goblet of Fire itself! Possibly the
Portkey that teleported Harry to the graveyard was left out in order to avoid
teleporting poor Cedric as well.
Likes/Dislikes
Like: Lots of pieces, and lots of new ones!
Like: Tons of creepy elements
Like: Overall graveyard design (it’s not lacking in graves!)
Dislike: Patchwork jade skeleton
CONCLUSION
Every Harry Potter Lego enthusiast, every fantasy Lego builder, every Lego
wargamer should buy this set. Hosting a game of Brick Quest? You’ll want to
pick up a couple! Great for undead army and cult building, there are lots of
great elements in here. Heck, you may even want to just keep it together as a
graveyard! Buy one for home, and one for the road!
REVIEWER INFORMATION
Review Written: May 2, 2006
By: Brett Kingery (plucky)
Age 30 Favorite Lines/Themes: Castle, Star Wars
CA++++ #+++ CO LM LS++ P+++ S- Hzl M- YB75mIC17
COPYRIGHT
This review is Copyright 2006, by the author as named above. The
author grants publication rights for all uses, public and private,
with the following exceptions: all information in the document must
be published in full; any for-profit use requires express written
permission by the author for publication in full or in part.
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