Review: 76398 Hogwarts Hospital Wing
Posted by CapnRex101,
Hogwarts Castle has been extensively portrayed throughout the LEGO Harry Potter range, across many sets. However, certain locations have been consistently missing, including the hospital wing which appears commonly throughout the books and the film series.
76398 Hogwarts Hospital Wing therefore seems exciting, particularly given the presence of Madam Pomfrey in minifigure form. Furthermore, unique versions of Harry, Ron and Hermione are included, taking inspiration from the climax of The Prisoner of Azkaban and achieving incredible accuracy!
Summary
76398 Hogwarts Hospital Wing, 510 pieces.
£44.99 / $49.99 / €49.99 | 8.8p/9.8c/9.8c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Our first rendition of Hogwarts' Hospital Wing is pleasing, despite its odd configuration.
- Unique addition to Hogwarts
- Superb ground level
- Perfect minifigures
- Arguably weaker than the previous Hogwarts Clock Tower
- Limited space on upper floor
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
The distinguished 'Golden Trio' has appeared together in numerous sets, so the continued production of new designs is impressive. Harry Potter wears his familiar dark blue jacket and sand blue shirt, albeit with stains and scuffs on this occasion. These additions seem relatively subtle, but demonstrate brilliant fidelity to the movie and different variants of such an eminent character are always welcome.
Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley resemble previous minifigures as well, with Hermione's pink jacket matching her minifigure from 75947 Hagrid's Hut: Buckbeak's Rescue. However, these characters' torsos are both scuffed and splattered with mud from their journey to the Shrieking Shack, while Ron wears a cast to recreate his injured leg. Once again, such attention to detail is appreciated.
Various interesting accessories accompany the minifigures, including their respective wands. However, more enticing are the printed box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and the Time Turner, which decorates a trans-clear 1x1 round tile. This golden design blends partially with the pearl gold 1x1 round plate underneath, but the tiny accessory is more versatile than printing the Time Turner on Hermione's torso, as occurred before. Two collectable Chocolate Frog tiles are also included.
Despite her prominent role throughout the series, Madam Pomfrey has never appeared as a minifigure, until now! The character is immediately recognisable here, wearing her white matron's uniform with dark red sleeves. The creasing across her attire looks excellent and Pomfrey's metallic silver hourglass brooch is present, but appears somewhat lacking in detail.
The dual-moulded headdress component looks superb though, featuring accurate grey hair and realistic moulded detail across the back. Madam Pomfrey's kindly smile seems appropriate too, but I think a severe expression would have been more fitting than the included concerned face, given the character's strict personality.
As expected, Madam Pomfrey carries her wand and colourful medicine bottles are provided. The most appealing and surprising of these is the Skele-Gro potion, which is notably large to accommodate the necessary detail. The printed name looks good, but more remarkable is the decorative skull which adorns a baby head! I am delighted with this inclusion, especially since the Skele-Gro originates from The Chamber of Secrets.
The Completed Model
LEGO introduced a new modular Hogwarts Castle system during 2021, which has attracted a mixed reaction. I certainly consider the exterior of this model inferior to 75948 Hogwarts Clock Tower, although their priorities are obviously totally different. The interior and adaptability seem more important here, whereas the external appearance was prioritised previously.
Nevertheless, the white lattice windows outside the hospital wing are perfect. These elements have only appeared in two other sets, both of which are substantially more expensive than this one. The scrollwork and finials surrounding the windows are attractive too, although the building looks slightly strange without an entrance. The hospital wing should actually be situated on the first floor, behind the clock tower.
Of course, that arrangement is possible because some sections of the model can be removed, including the clock tower and the neighbouring roof panels. This decorated clock face returns from 75948 Hogwarts Clock Tower and looks beautiful, featuring metallic silver numerals and ornate detail. The smaller clock is less effective though, lacking the splendour of its predecessor from 2019.
I like how the tower projects above the hospital wing, although that exposes Technic pin holes on either side. The open arches are also disappointing, but are necessary for rearranging the castle. Fortunately, the steep roof slopes and towers look nice, even though their sand green colour has divided opinion. The colour change does not really bother me, but dark bluish grey was closer to the onscreen roof colour.
Several gears remain visible inside, resembling the clockwork mechanism presented during the films. These also serve a functional role, since rotating the taller tower on the roof will turn the hands on the clock. Their movement in unison is unrealistic, but the function is satisfying and could simulate the reversal of time after Hermione activates her Time Turner. I think combining the clock tower and the hospital wing is extremely successful.
Limited floor space is available on the upper level though, unfortunately. The ground floor looks much better, containing three beds, two bedside tables and leaving ample room for minifigures between them. The medium blue blankets look fairly bright, compared with the source material, but the resultant contrast against the muted surroundings was worthwhile, in my opinion.
Numerous other accessories and furnishings are provided, further brightening the interior. The white medicine cart includes several potions and a bar of chocolate, in reference to Professor Lupin's insistence on chocolate's value as an antidote to Dementor encounters! The updated reddish brown lid on the chest is great too, while this sand blue owl is only otherwise found in 76399 Hogwarts Magical Trunk.
The tan 1x16 brick which crosses the ward can be detached and the sections angled, creating more room for minifigures between each bed. 1x4x2 fences are used to fantastic effect on the beds, replicating the metallic frames commonly associated with hospital environments. These fences also provide connection points for a stickered clipboard, as shown below.
The set contains a basic privacy curtain too, constructed using two stickered 2x3 tiles, a 3x6 lattice component and a sign. The lattice looks particularly suitable because that matches the aforementioned bed frames. The repeated colours are satisfying as well, presenting a realistic continuity between items of furniture within Hogwarts' hospital wing. Pearl gold lamps and the bedside tables exhibit similar consistency.
Overall
76398 Hogwarts Hospital Wing achieves mixed success. The clock tower and the hospital wing certainly belong together, but their integration here leaves something to be desired. Positioning the hospital wing on the ground level seems slightly odd from the exterior, while the upper floor provides limited space for minifigures. However, the individual sections are splendid, especially inside the hospital wing.
Moreover, the minifigure selection is appealing. Madam Pomfrey is undoubtedly the highlight, but these exclusive versions of Harry, Ron and Hermione exceeded my expectations too. The accessories are similarly enjoyable, including Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and the Skele-Gro bottle! The price of £44.99 or $49.99 seems a little too expensive, but this set is worthy of consideration following a discount.
133 likes
31 comments on this article
Baby skull!
I love the word aforementioned. Kudos for using it in the review.
I'm completely flabbergasted by the unsightly gaps left by the designer with the roof elements. What's the point of a modular system if the individual modular elements are not fully interchangeable?
The two sloped roof elements should have been on 8x8 Grid Plates, and the clock tower element should have been extended as well.
Booooo! Sand green roofs! Boooooo!
@The_Toniboeh said:
"Baby skull! "
I’m not sure that we’re going to see it used too often!
It's not worth the price, looks abit basic. Maybe moc big Ben with it?
Seems a bit underwhelming, as mentioned needs another upper floor each side of the clock to give it more presence, which would not take have taken that many more pieces to achieve.
Like the beds, simple and effective
Looks like a delightful set, will definitely need to pick it up. Great review!
I just want a small bag's worth of the new smaller skull piece.
Connect this with City Hospital and you will have a nice propper hospital :D
@Slobrojoe said:
" @The_Toniboeh said:
"Baby skull! "
I’m not sure that we’re going to see it used too often!"
Maybe not in official sets, but I imagine we're going to see a whole host of MOCs with it !
I definitely need to figure out if this integrates into the Hogwarts sets from the past couple of years.
I really don't like the new Hogwarts sets in this style. The 2018 style was so much better.
I feel it’s a bit empty on its own. Agree the minifgures are great! More on my thoughts: https://youtu.be/AwAbl-EFqao
I would have liked that all the sets made from 2018 onwards could have been connected to each other to form a huge castle, I am amazed then that no sets have ever been made with the wooden bridges where the last battle takes place
I tried to post this but as usual with my phone it just disappeared instead of posting. Imo this set is as great as the other Clock Tower, just for different reasons— one has an awesome interior, one has an awesome exterior. Despite owning the 2019 one I’m still gonna get this, while they’re not the only draw the scuffed torsos will come in handy since I make Brickfilms about fights (not to mention I’ve already used the Azkaban Hermione torso in one of my vids).
Nice that the hospital wing and skele-gro are finally represented! Kind of wish it was a smaller set akin to the polyjuice potion set though, since I’m not building a Hogwarts
Is the skull print in this set a new design ? Its jaw looks different .
edit : nwm Its a new infant skull ... :O
As always with Harry Potter a really nice interior and some exclusive prints!
@alexcap said:
"I would have liked that all the sets made from 2018 onwards could have been connected to each other to form a huge castle, I am amazed then that no sets have ever been made with the wooden bridges where the last battle takes place"
It's a good idea, but LEGO allegedly seems skittish about revisiting Deathly Hallows for sets as of late (something about it being too dark compared to the rest of the series, which of course is up for contesting with LEGO's track record overall), so odds are it might be a while until something like that is seen.
I actually just picked up the trunk to get that owl. I figured out a way to make a flying owl clutch a letter in its talons. After waiting nearly a year for them to make a flying Not Hedwig, I finally got to see if I could remember what I’d figured out, and display it at a show this weekend. Looked great, but needs lots of company so it’s easy to spot at least one of them.
@CapnRex101:
I feel I should congratulate you on being able to install the main clock face in the correct orientation, since that task seems to have been beyond whoever prepped the model for official images of set 75948 (it’s rotated 90° clockwise, which is pretty clocksilly).
@Trigger_:
Especially if you’ve just read a long article, and/or a long comment section, always refresh the page before typing out your comment, _OR_ type it in a Note so you can copy/paste it over (and re-paste it after refreshing the page of it vanishes into the ether). Comment fields time out after a while, and losing a post is the only indication that this has happened.
@NatureBricks said:
" @VictorvanSchagen said:
"I'm completely flabbergasted by the unsightly gaps left by the designer with the roof elements. What's the point of a modular system if the individual modular elements are not fully interchangeable?."
Completely agree. I was really looking forward to the set until I saw that. That's a mess. How much more could slightly larger plates cost? I rather the set cost $60 and was actually part of the system."
I'm guessing it's for (photo) composition reasons. Right now the shape of the whole thing looks rather balanced. If you complete the roof, it would become higher, causing the tower to become higher and missing the price point this was made to fill.
Designers have to balance many things, causing some choices that are deliberate to sometimes seem like complete madness.
Of course that doesn't mean we have to agree with the choices they make...
You criticise the lack of an entrance, and the placement of the Wing on the ground floor, but I think it's pretty clear this building is meant to be placed on top of others and therefore does represent a higher floor.
And sure, the clock face is still on a different level, but there has to be some creative license to fit the constraints.
@gunther_schnitzel said:
"I love the word aforementioned. Kudos for using it in the review."
I agree. Although it always grates whenever I read the word 'appreciate' in these reviews. It seems too personal and is suggesting Lego did something just because the reviewer wanted it. But, hey, I suspect I'm the only person who thinks like that.
I've built this set this weekend. The first floor is boring and just copy-paste 3x the same module, the upper section is better but that unfinished clock with ugly gaps and half roof sections looks very cheap.
I want them to go back to the proper sets with dark grey roofs and all. It was ok for the 20th anniversary sets to use the modular system and the sand green roofs, but we're in 2022 now and the chocolate frog tile collection is complete. Plus we have way too many roof buildings and not enough lower floors for the whole assembly to combine properly.
This set isn't the first lego Hogwarts Hospital Wing, it was also included in the 2019 clock tower on the top floor
The 8x8 lattice plates are completely unfitting for a supposedly sterile enviornment. It makes it seem like the hospital is located on a ship and Madam Pomfrey is about to saw someone's leg off!
@Norikins:
They may be intended to represent a tiled floor, which most certainly does fit a hospital setting. Also, because these parts combine a ring of studs around a tiled surface, it allows more varied posing of minifigs when they’re only attached to one stud.
Baby skull, doot-doot-dootdoot-doot-doot...
Fabulous review as always Cap't! I got 3 sticker sheets in my set. Did anyone else experience the same?