The Harry Potter intriguing fable will come with a new release this year’s November, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. As a celebration for this event, LEGO is creating a line of gifts suited for fans of any age, from kids to serious adults. LEGO is sustaining its high reputation of years of quality toys and fun games. Their creation is inspired from cartoons or movies like Batman, Prince of Persia, Star Wars and Harry Potter. Being so popular, these toys carry the story of the original characters and are a perfect replica of them, even in small details. In general, toys are addressed to children between eight and fourteen years old. This fact doesn’t inhibit adults to enjoy them as children do.
The Hogwarts Castle from Harry Potter contains a sum of 1.290 pieces of LEGO, being the biggest set available so far. Therefore, enjoying putting together pieces may take several hours. Despite of the large number of pieces, I heard that this year a castle with more pieces will be available. What this Hogwarts Caste set contains are multiple complex rooms. Those that impressed me are: the library and great hall, the requirement room, the astronomy tower or even Dumbledore’s famous office. Besides, there are a lot more rooms and secrets which you will have to discover, such as hidden objects (Tom Riddle’s diary) and passages.
9 Harry Potter Characters Included
This amazing set contains twelve characters from the movie Harry Potter, from which nine are exclusively dedicated for the set. These characters are Harry Potter and his friend Hermione Granger, four of the professors: Professor Snape, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall and of course Professor Dumbledore, Lord Voldemort, 2 Dementors, Mrs. Norris and Argus Filch + his cat.
Dumbledore’s Office
Regarding Dumbledore’s office, there are several amazing details like the sliding staircase. In addition, some of the office’s accessories are the talking Sorting Hat and a Basilisk fang. Other highlights of Hogwarts Caste set are the common rooms of Gryffindor or others, with details like specific swords, a fireplace hiding Sirius Black’s face and sliding stairs. Furthermore, you can see the restricted area in the library and the great hall painted in the colors of Gryffindor and Slytherin.
Four Sections
The new Hogwarts Castle version impressed both me and my kids. For a good inspection of the castle, I asked my kid’s help. Our conclusion: this is the perfect product for Harry Potter fans. Its almost 1.300 pieces build many amazing rooms with lots of details. My kids are very happy to play in them. There are four main sections with which you can play put together, at the same time, or as separate rooms, one at a time.
- The first section represents Dumbledore’s office. The attention given to the details is highlighted in this section by the amazing moving staircase found in the Trophy Room. Here you can find a Quidditch plaque from James Potter. Besides this, there are a lot more objects which hold hidden compartments. I advise you to look for Sorcerer’s Stone.
- Moving on, the second section contains the Great Hall. This is a really good replica. The windows are made with stained glass and the room is decorated with banners from Slytherin and Gryffindor banners. In addition, there are, of course, tables and benches, the chairs where professors sit and even food.
- In the third section, there is the Owlery, the Gryffindor and the Slytherin Common Rooms, all included in a three level tower. You will also find a room in which is kept the diary of Tom Riddle, which in my opinion is meant to be the famous Chamber of Secrets. One detail that I also like, found in Gryffindor Common Rooms, is Sirius Black’s face hidden in a fireplace,.
- The last section houses the Astronomy Tower, ending with the roof telescope. Here you will find the library’s Restricted Section, containing keys. With these, I unlocked bookcases.
Animating these astonishing castle, there are several minifigures: Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, Professor Dumbledore amongst another three professors, Snape, Flitwick and McGonagall, frightening Lord Voldemort with two Dementors, Mrs. Norris and Argus Filch along his cat.
But the surprises are not stopping at the minifigures. The Hogwarts Caste set also comes with lots of accessories like three owls, Marauder’s Map, the Vanishing Cabinet, a Basilisk fang and lots more. You have to discover the rest by yourselves.
Drawback
LEGO has placed on the market the all new Burrow, a part of the Harry Potter set that I have tried. Sure that the set has a drawback, there is no Ron minifigure in the set, but you can find all of the rest there, Fenrir Greyback, Harry, Arthur, Molly, Lestrange and Ginny Weasley.
So we have all seen and came to love the asymmetrical look of the Weasley House. I was pleased to see that the look is still there, the bricks are of course straight in the LEGO fashion but there are painted to give the look and feel of the Weasley House. There is also a pig coming with the set and a pig house.
To make it easier to play within the house there are only three walls. The back side of the house has no wall, that way it’s making the house usable to play with its three floors. The kitchen has some dishes and the living room in which there is a clock of the Weasley family. The second and third floors are only bedrooms, and one of them has a Hogwarts trunk.
There is a Floo network included in the set: the fireplace, of course and it works. I tried it with one of the characters, and it worked. A picture of floor flames appears in the front of the fireplace and the character piece is drooped out the back. Remember the reeds near the Burrow where Fenrir Greyback attacked Ginny? Well, this set comes with an area that represents these reeds.
Is this your first LEGO set?
Then you will spend many hours putting it together. You must make sure you have enough room for such a big set, as for any other big and complex LEGO set. All sets have a number of small items that could be dangerous to animals or children so be careful with those pieces.
As I have said, there is no Ron minifigure in the Burrow set. Still, you might get him out of other sets like Hagrid’s Hut. A smaller kit that was launched in 2010 along whit Hogwarts Express Train set, Quidditch Match or Freeing Dobby.