Last year, LEGO announced the release of the LEGO Wizarding World Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle (71043) that contains 6,020 pieces and retailing for $399.99. It look me a while but I’ve finally finished building and taking pictures for this review. The contents of the massive box include 37 numbered bags, four sticker sheets, and four instruction booklets.
Minifigures
There are four minifigures in this set which are exclusive to Hogwarts Castle and they are the four founders of Hogwarts, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Salazar Slytherin, and Rowena Ravenclaw. In addition to the minifigures, there is also a stand for them to be displayed with the house crest stickers.
Godric Gryffindor has on a red outfit with the printing going to the legs. He has a stern facial expression with wavy hair and a bushy beard. His accessory is a brown wand and the Sword of Gryffindor.
Helga Hufflepuff has on a nougat-colored dress that uses one of the new dress pieces. She has a double-sided head with happy expressions on both sides. Her accessories include a dark brown wand and a golden cup which was turned into a Horcrux.
Salazar Slytherin has a dark green outfit with some curvy line details on it as well as his locket. He does have a stern expression on his face that is mostly covered up by the long white beard. His accessory is a tan wand.
Finally, we have Rowena Ravenclaw who has a dark blue dress. Her headpiece has a printing of her diadem which was also turned into a Horcrux by Voldemort. Her accessory is a black wand.
Microfigures
In addition to the four minifigures that are in this set, we also get a whopping 27 microfigures. Four of them are the main student characters with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Drago Malfoy.
There are also twelve non-named students, three from each of their respective houses which is designated withe the colors on the figures.
In addition to the students, there are also a number of professors and adult-type characters as well including Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, Dolores Umbridge, Argus Filch, Lord Voldemort, and Bellatrix Lestrange.
There are five cloaked Dementors who are black and they use trans-clear pieces to simulate them flying. I’ll show that off a little later.
Finally, we have some black and white chess pieces and a Statue of the Hogwarts Architect that is in pearl-gold.
Build
There are a ton of details that are packed into Hogwarts Castle but first let’s look at some of the smaller models that are included with this set. Hagrid’s Hut is built using some round plates on a couple of half-circle plates. In the front of the huts are some pumpkins in the field and there’s also a large spider in the back which references Hagrid’s pet acromantula, Aragog.
The Whomping Willow is also one of the larger small models and the branches are built upon a combi hub with some robot arms being used for the limbs and the newer stalk pieces for the branches. No details are omitted as LEGO has also included the blue Weasley Ford Anglia that is stuck in the branches.
Hanging on the larger Hogwarts tower is the Hungarian Horntail which is a scene from the Goblet of Fire where Harry Potter is chased by the dragon in one of the challenges from the Triwizard Tournament.
Finally we have five small boats which were shown when the students first arrived at Hogwarts.
Now on to the main castle which is actually two sections of the castle that are connected with some Technic axles. Using this method, the sections don’t actually stay in place and there’s a small space between it. You can clearly see the gap and it looks somewhat odd because of the angles that the two sections are joined.
The area that Hogwarts sits on are made up of dark tan Big Ugly Rock Pieces (BURP) combined with various slope pieces that give a lot of rocky texture on the exterior. At the end of one side, is the small boathouse.
On the opposite side of the boathouse is the Chamber of Secrets. This area is complete with the head statue of Salazar Slytherin. The sides of the Chamber has some decorative snake statues and coming out of the mouth of Slytherin is the Basilisk which is just a same piece that is the same as the one from the Voldemort minifigure from the Collectible Minifigures set.
Adjacent to the actual Chamber of Secrets, we also have the entrance to the Chamber. When you’re building this area, it may seem that it’ll be a complex build because it uses some Technic pieces but they don’t actually do anything. The Chamber door itself is a circular sticker that shows the rearranging snake lock.
The next area we’re going to take a look at is the Great Hall which is right above the Chamber of Secrets. The thing that draws your eyes is the stained-glass windows which are made up of various translucent colored bricks that are connected to dark gray grill pieces used as the window frames. To keep them in place, some new half-arch pieces are introduced in this set and I think they’ll be very useful for MOCs.
The benches are are made up of 1×6 dark brown bricks and tiles set on top of some 2×2 jumper plates to give them an offset look. The High Table in the front is also built in a similar fashion. Above the seats are some floating candles that are attached to some clips as well as the four house flags which are stickers.
The outer facade of the Great Hall area is very detailed as well. The metallic silver tooth pieces are used to represent the windows on the roof. There are also some clear pieces to attach the Dementors on it to recreate the scene from Prisoner of Azkaban where the Dementors are hovering above the castle.
The Marble Staircase Tower has lot of details in their respective floors and room. They are made with mostly 4x4x6 cylinder pieces which are then decorated with stickers. The first and second floor are fill with portraits of some of the wizards and witches that inhabit the paintings.
The third level of the tower shows Moaning Mrytle’s Bathroom with her floating in the background. In the middle of the room is the sink tap which is also the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.
The exterior of the tower uses some panel strips to give it a more rounder shape. A similar building technique was also used for the LEGO Ideas NASA Apollo Saturn V (21309).
The top of the tower is the Headmaster’s Tower. It is a circular room that uses stickers for detailing which includes Dumbledore’s phoenix, Fawkes, the Sorting Hat, the Pensieve, and the Sword of Gryffindor. The roof exterior of the area is attached on some hinges that go around the tower.
On to the other section of the Hogwarts Castle, the base is built similar to the first section which again uses Techic pieces for the frame. Again, there are also some rock pieces all around as part of the base and landscape. There are some more of the stained-glass windows that surround the door.
In the lower level, there are two rooms in the area, one of which is the Room of Requirement, more specifically, the Room of Hidden Things. There are a lot of items in the room including a brick-built Vanishing Cabinet. The back wall is filled with sticker of more hidden items. Look closely and you can find an electic guitar.
The other room in the lower level is the Potions classroom. The back wall has a couple of stickers of shelves filled with potions with one sticker between them for the window. In the middle of the room, there are a couple of desks with some cauldron made from some black 1×1 round plates on top of trans-clear nipple plates. There’s also some cabinets in the back with various colored potions.
Moving on to the adjacent side of the section, the first thing we see is my guess the seventh underground chamber. In the middle of the area, there are some flame pieces surrounding a stickered Mirror of Erised.
The room next to that one is the Chessboard Chamber filled with various chess pieces. The back wall panel has a large sticker showing some of the architecture of the chamber.
The final room in this area is the Winged Key room that is filled with stickered Winged Keys. There’s also a brush sitting on a clip to represent the broomstick that Harry rides.
On the floor above the underground chambers, we have the hallway in the first-floor corridor where we find the writing on the wall. There’s a large sticker that says “The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir… beware.”
On the floor above the corridor, we have Dolores Umbridge’s office that is very pink and doesn’t conform to the colors of the rest of Hogwarts. The room next to that is the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. The back wall has a long sticker which shows some Cornish Pixies that have been released by Gilderoy Lockhart. On the left side of the room, there’a a cabinet for the Boggart that has a significant scene in the Prisoner of Azkaban.
On the opposite side of the rooms, we have the Viaduct which is the bridge that was shown many times in the film series. There’s not much to the building of it except that it uses a lot of the tan window pieces to create the design.
Lastly, behind the double doors, we have the Gryffindor common room. Here we have the fireplace and a bookshelf with a desk.
Results
We’ve known for a while that there would be a large scale Hogwarts Castle that was coming last year and the LEGO Wizarding World Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle (71043) is a sight to see. Just the sheer size and time to build it was more than enough to warrant the price of it. It took about 17 hours to complete while during seasonal hours at work so I didn’t have that much time per day to build and it added up to a few months in total.
There’s lots of little details throughout that fans will be able to enjoy including the exclusive minifigures of the Hogwarts founders. The microfigures are a nice addition as well and the printing on them are very distinguishable to what character they represent.
There are some things that I feel may deter you from getting it. For one, the size of it. You’ll need a large area to put it on as it takes up quite a bit of space. Another thing is how fragile it is. I suggest building it near where you are displaying as it is a chore to move it even when the castle is separated. I’ve had a number of pieces fall off when I was transporting it in my studio and had to go back and see where they came from.
Thank you to LEGO for sending in this set for me to review. The content above represents my own opinion and not the company. Review sets sent in does not guarantee a positive review.
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