Review: 76383 Hogwarts Moment: Potions Class
Posted by CapnRex101,
Professor Snape's oppressive Potions dungeon varies quite significantly from other classrooms throughout Hogwarts. I am therefore expecting substantive variation between 76383 Hogwarts Moment: Potions Class and the other sets from this intriguing collection.
The gloomy colour scheme undoubtedly seems appropriate and some outstanding architectural detail is included. However, this structure is comparatively reliant upon stickers and the minifigure selection appears fairly disappointing. Nevertheless, the other books have proven interesting and the Slytherin example should too.
Minifigures
The newest Professor Snape minifigure appears extremely similar to previous designs, albeit featuring a slightly different torso on this occasion. His robe is now pulled back to reveal more purple underneath and the updated waistcoat includes fewer buttons than the previous figure. This minifigure looks good but darker colours might have been more accurate.
Unfortunately, the head has not been changed since 2018. A unique design would certainly have been preferable but I love Snape's arched eyebrows and his second expression seems fitting as well. This black hair component also appears suitably greasy, matching the onscreen character. As usual, Severus carries a black wand.
Books containing printed tiles accompany each Hogwarts Moment set and another exclusive design is available here. This piece displays a cauldron beside various ingredients. The cover lacks decoration which is slightly disappointing, although its black colour seems reminiscent of Magical Drafts and Potions which is required for first year students at Hogwarts.
Draco Malfoy demonstrates proficiency for Potions during his earliest years at Hogwarts and seems accordingly appropriate for inclusion here. His blonde hair and unpleasant expressions both compare favourably with the onscreen character and I like the updated jumper which now displays the Slytherin crest which features suitable sand green and dark green colours.
The matching Gryffindor jumper is worn by Seamus Finnegan, who seemingly lacks Draco's talent for Potions given the tendency for his concoctions to explode! This minifigure therefore includes a fun alternative expression with soot on his face, contrasting with the characteristic cheerful visage on the other side. The spiky hair piece appears equally accurate.
Both minifigures are equipped with appropriate wands as Draco wields a dark brown accessory while Seamus carries a dark tan wand. Spares of three different colours are therefore provided along with various items of equipment for mixing potions.
The Completed Model
Each book from the Hogwarts Moment range features comparatively muted colours, ensuring that they complement one another on display. This example includes a sand green cover that suits Slytherin and I like the flame yellowish orange 2x2 curved corner tiles which adorn each model. These adaptable tiles have not appeared in flame yellowish orange before now.
Golden patterns decorate the cover, including multiple icons relating to Potions. They include various bottles, mushrooms and a mysterious crystal which resembles the LEGO accessories. Furthermore, a detailed Hogwarts crest occupies the central position, displaying animals which are associated with each house above the famous Latin motto.
The books include dark tan pieces which enable them to be connected together and displayed like actual books. The resultant design appears fairly realistic and symbols denoting the varied subjects decorate the spines, clearly distinguishing this book that exhibits an apt cauldron icon. These connectors remain important when the models are opened.
76383 Hogwarts Moment: Potions Class is more tightly packed than other Hogwarts Moment models and opening the book certainly feels satisfying. Everything has its own dedicated slot, including the aforementioned book. The minifigures cannot be accommodated which reduces portability, although including space for them would mean excluding several other items.
Unfolding the walls and distributing the furniture reveals that this book is designed primarily to be viewed from a particular angle, where much of the detail is focused. That differs from other Hogwarts Moment sets where the rooms are either reasonably open or look equally appealing from either side. Focusing attention upon one section of the classroom ensures splendid detail there but the opposite side of the central wall looks bland.
The furniture which occupies the classroom is excellent though, including a large table where potions can be prepared. This features several exposed studs for attaching the cauldron and various bottles, although I think more accessories would have been beneficial here. You can also place the cauldron on a separate shelf, in front of a sticker displaying colourful flasks.
The blackboard folds up for storage which is clever and it looks wonderful when unfolded. I like the sticker that displays floral ingredients, although Snape's classroom features another blackboard during Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone so a sticker based upon that might have been even better. Moreover, the medium nougat armchair could have been improved with feet underneath but it certainly looks suitably comfortable.
Numerous bottles, jars and flasks are displayed against the wall, introducing nice splashes of bright colours which contrast against their muted surroundings. The trans-purple flask seems particularly attractive and I like how several of these jars are integrated directly with the wall, thereby saving space when the book is closed. There is a useful slot for Professor Snape's potions book as well.
The dungeons at Hogwarts are commonly associated with Slytherin house so the decorative snakes appear appropriate here. These make lovely use of elements designed for NINJAGO and the colour combination of light bluish grey and dark bluish grey is appealing. Additionally, the light bluish grey 1x1 brick with scroll at the centre of this design has only appeared in two large sets, before now.
More colourful jars decorate the neighbouring wall, although this section of the model relies primarily upon stickers for decoration. These stickers appear authentic when compared with Professor Snape's office onscreen, but further brick-built designs would have been preferred. The archway at the centre is perfect though, displaying the words 'Potassa Carbonate' above the door and corresponding exactly with Snape's office from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Unfortunately, viewing this wall from the opposite side reveals the most significant flaw of the model. Almost no detail is visible here and I would be quite reluctant to display the classroom from this side. I like the Slytherin banner which matches that from 75954 Hogwarts Great Hall and the portraits look great, although Tom Riddle's graffiti appears completely out of character for the student who would become Lord Voldemort.
As mentioned above, the four Hogwarts Moment sets can be connected when closed and that option remains after opening them. Displaying the classrooms together looks impressive when the structure can be viewed from every side, although many LEGO fans possess limited space for that kind of display. Even so, different display options are invariably helpful.
Overall
The ingenious packing of furniture and accessories inside 76383 Hogwarts Moment: Potions Class is definitely appealing and I like the consistent colour scheme inside. However, this set does rely heavily upon stickers and surpasses other Hogwarts Moment sets in that regard as some include more brick-built detail. This model does incorporate the fantastic snake carving though, which is probably my favourite single detail within this range.
Professor Snape, Draco Malfoy and Seamus Finnegan are well-designed but seem relatively unappealing, lacking significant distinction from previous versions of each character. On that basis, I would recommend other Hogwarts Moment sets above this example, unless you are extremely keen on Slytherin! I think 76384 Hogwarts Moment: Herbology Class is my favourite between these four sets.
This set was provided for review by The LEGO Group but the review represents an expression of my own opinions.
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20 comments on this article
I really like the shelf full of potions built from 1x1 rounds here: it's tempting to mod the set to include the entire stickered space with them.
The books look really good lined up together. Good incentive to pick up the whole line.
This is one of the stronger of the sets, too. The sand green color is visually appealing, and I never get tired of little assortments of Lego bottles. Minifigs could be a bit more exciting, but they work.
If they wanted to make a different Snape variant head, take the existing print and just put it on a glow in the dark head. :P
Okay maybe a bit of a niche joke for older Lego fans, but I could see Lego doing an updated glow in the dark Snape maybe for one of those DK book exclusives or a CMF series, but its a bit to weird for a regular set now.
Definitely want that "Blown Up" face of Seamus!
i love that armchair. They did a great job of making it look poofy and soft.
I’ve been skipping the Hairy Potter reboot since I’m too invested in other themes but these are delightful and are incredibly tempting given the price point and collectability. Might have to check these out and make room on a bookshelf.
It’s always possible to just link these in pairs on one side only, and then display them on a shallow shelf in basically the same configuration as seen here.
Alright, I didn't know they could be displayed opened up. Now I'm sold.
I think that ultimately I will keep the 4 books closed on display. The open display of the 4 books together looks a little messy
The display of all 4 opened books in my opinion looks awesome. Maybe set up something on a lazy susan...
Great review!
Am not in to HP, but i decided i gotta get one of these neat books. This is my pick of the bunch! Great colors, and everything I see here can be repurposed, including the figs. Love that soot on the alternate face.
I aren’t really a Harry Potter fan but think these look quite neat.
I want them all. I'm a big fan of Potion Jars so I'm looking forward to this one but I really like parts of each set. I'm glad we are finally getting a variant of Seamus, the soot covered face is definitely appropriate. Wish they had provided us with some other students of color besides Cho. We really do need some other students of color as filler. Like maybe, Angelina Johnson, Lee Jordan, Dean Thomas, Blaise Zabini to name a few.
Is the archway mold a new element, or has that appeared elsewhere and I just don't recognize it? Same thing for the stickered panel element inserted with it.
Personally, I have to say that I still prefer the 2010 minifigure of Snape. Mostly, I feel like the bright purple looks out-of-place on him; but I also miss the cape worn by earlier versions. For a character so often described as looking like a giant bat with his robes flapping behind him, the caped design felt very appropriate in this case!
On the sets themselves: they're a very cool concept, but I don't think they're for me... might Bricklink the new Seamus and McGonagall's hat-with-hair piece, to add into my (currently dismantled) Great Hall set, but we'll see.
Still, I'm sure these will be a hit with Potter fans in the target age group! I know these would have been a hit with me at that age, if they'd been for a fandom I liked at the time; I had a (non-Lego) Star Wars playset that opened up in much the same way as a kid, and I loved it, so I imagine these to be similarly popular ^^ And thanks, as always, for the thorough review of all of them, CapnRex!
(I also appreciate that you mentioned the Tom Riddle graffiti not feeling particularly in-character for the guy who ditched that name as soon as he could, because that was on my mind too xD)
@Echolord said:
"Is the archway mold a new element, or has that appeared elsewhere and I just don't recognize it? Same thing for the stickered panel element inserted with it."
Appeared before in different colors in Princess sets
I'm not as high on these book sets as I was when the images first surfaced. Some of them have outstanding minifigs, e.g. McGonagall and Flitwick, but for the most part the figs are just ones we've had before, albeit with crests on the students' jumpers. The builds are kind of cool, but can mostly do them yourself quite easily if you have the parts. I think the stickers and prints are the main things I want from these sets, so I'll have to see if I can track them down on Bricklink.
Side note: The 2010 Snape with the full black torso was perfect. I don't know why they switched to the purple. I mean, his waistcoat maybe is purple in the films if you look closely but it's so dark I never noticed.
This is my copied and pasted comment from the last article, since it was ine of the very last comments and hardly anyone read it:
"Ideas for a second wave:
Care of Magical Creatures: Earth Green, gives the feel of the Forbidden Forest when opened rather than an interior space. With Hagrid (or Prof. Grubbly-Plank if they can't include a large specialized figure) and students (perhaps Harry and Draco given their contrasting attitudes to the class) with Monster Books of Monsters. Nifflers or Blast-Ended Skrewts as the magical creatures being studied, both featured in later books and wouldn't require large molds
Defense Against the Dark Arts: Would work with pretty much any teacher other than Moody, who got his classroom in the Clocktower. Of course most people would want Lockhart in an affordable set, it could come with pixies and the book itself could be "Magical Me" in contrast to an actual textbook. Neville and Hermione would be appropriate students given the former's misfortune and the latter's initial infatuation with Lockhart. Second best choice would be Quirrell (glad that auto-correct knows how to spell it!) based on the "Could I borrow wood for a moment?" scene as he could bring us a new iguana.
Divination: Pink cover, Trelawney, Ron, and Bem (not Dean Thomas, the student in the PoA movie who reads from the textbook about the Grim.) Colourful interior with teacups and crystal balls.
Now we've run out of well-known classes. Flying lessons with Hooch could be a possibility, but the model would end up being a basic castle courtyard, and the class could easily be recreated if Hooch turns up with brooms in another Quidditch set. Astronomy with a black cover and stickers with stars on the inside would work well, but was only in the books and we just got the Astronomy Tower. Muggle Studies and Arithmancy didn't even get a class scene in the books or any video game. The best remaining class would be History of Magic with Professor Binns, given being in pretty much every book and that one JRPG-style Philosopher's Stone adaption on the Gameboy Color, which provided the Verdimilious spell mentioned in the article. So...
History of Magic: Prof. Binns, students with sleeping faces, chalkboard and books. Boring brown cover."
These panels are going to be great for large space ships, or roofs and walls on buildings.
The four of these are going to be an early 2021 highlight in my life.