When I first started to hear about the 2011 Harry Potter sets 4867 Hogwarts was called Battle For Hogwarts but between the initial announcement and the final appearance of the set it got changed. Not sure why but sticking to the old title would make some sense of Professor Sprout being in the Divination classroom. Designed to work in conjunction with the 2010 set 4842 Hogwarts Castle this set has two towers, a bridge, and seven minifigs. It's got 466 pieces for$49.99 making it a bit better of a price per piece than the previous two sets. The tower's have an interesting bit of a build around the bases using 2 dozen of the 1x2x3 dark blay slopes, some hinges and 10 of the dark green cheese slopes. There's 10 of the 1x2 dark blay cheese slopes, used as decoration under the windows. The rest of each tower is mostly a stack of tan wall pieces with a few windows stuck in. The sand green roof pieces are nice, glad to have them. The rooms are furnished rather sparsely and that castle must have some major drafts. The bridge has some Technic bits to create an exploding deck. Have fun blowing up your minifigs.
Here's the inside. There's a lot packed into the tiny space of the towers. Here's the description from LEGO's shop at home:
Hogwarts™ castle is a place of magic and mystery. Explore the castle to discover your favorite moments from the Harry Potter films including the Room of Requirement, Professor Lupin’s office, the Astronomy Tower, the Divination Room and the Mirror of Erised.
- Includes 7 minifigures: Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, Professor Sprout, Professor Lupin, Gregory Goyle, Death Eater, Dementor
- Hogwarts™ Castle features the Room of Requirement, Professor Lupin’sOffice, Astronomy Tower, Magical Mirror Room with The Mirror of Erised and Divination Room
- Exploding bridge!
- Measures 12” (30cm) wide and 10” (25cm) tall
I don't think I've ever heard of the Magical Mirror Room but maybe I haven't read the books enough. Maybe a ninth time? The Mirror of Erised isn't too bad but unfortunately it's reddish brown when it should be all gold. I like the design idea but not the sticker. The mirror is made from the inner part of the trap door, in dark tan, which has a layer of plates added and then it's clicked into a pair of those 1x2 plates with a top clip. Professor Lupin's office is sure tiny, he's barely got room to swing a grindylow. It has a desk, a chair, a blackboard, a skull and some bottles to go on the desk. There's a white feather piece, in fact, you get two. Good for plumage, especially now that there are Musketeer minifigs. There's writing on the black board courtesy of a nice sticker. There was a larger, and nicer, printed black board piece in one of the previous HP sets.
Below Lupin's must be the Room of Requirement. There are a couple of nice stickers on the wall. They depict a wizard and a witch brandishing their wands. That's Neville brandishing his wand in front of the posters and across from him are bunkbeds decorated in Gryffindor colors. I'm pretty sure that there were bunkbeds in the Room Of Requirement when Harry returns to it just before the climactic Battle For Hogwarts. Above the ROR is an open space with a nicely printed globe on a base. It must be the Astronomy Tower. I'm not sure what the globe represents but it's rather interesting. Above the globe room is the Divination Classroom with a crystal ball and tea cups on little tables. Sadly there are no throw pillows and Divination wouldn't be on top the Astronomy Tower, it's in the North Tower.
Harry, Neville and Professor Lupin. Harry's I got but the torso will come in handy when wanting to make a gang of Gryffindor's. Nice sweater on Neville, it'll make a nice addition to the costume rack. I'm not too fond of his teeth and he looks more mean spirited than I would like. I didn't like the previous Neville's face much either. That's a nice dark tan suit on the professor. He's got a better face than his previous version.
Professor Sprout, Dementor, Lucius Malfoy and Gregory Goyle. It's the first Professor Sprout figure. Not too bad, good to have a new dark tan dress and hat. That's the second dementor. The first one was sand green and the cape was gray. Better cape in the new version. It's the fourth version of Lucius and that's a nice torso design. He's still a dick and Gregory Goyle is no better.
It's the Mirror of Erised. The one that shows your heart's desire? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_of_Erised#The_Mirror_of_Erised
Posted by: Nathan Stohlmann | June 16, 2011 at 07:39 AM
Or maybe I should have read your post more thoroughly... Sorry. But it was in a room when they found it the first time.
Posted by: Nathan Stohlmann | June 16, 2011 at 07:39 AM