Random set of the day: Knight Bus
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 4755 Knight Bus, released during 2004. It's one of 12 Harry Potter sets produced that year. It contains 243 pieces and 2 minifigs, and its retail price was US$30/£19.99.
It's owned by 3,110 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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29 comments on this article
It's very interesting that they include the ticket counter or whatever he is, and the shrunken head as a print on the window, but not the actual driver in this first version of the Knight Bus.
@MCLegoboy said:
"It's very interesting that they include the ticket counter or whatever he is, and the shrunken head as a print on the window, but not the actual driver in this first version of the Knight Bus."
Never noticed that, very odd!
No Ernie? I never noticed that!
That lamppost is moving at the speed of sound
Unlike yesterday's (well, still today's here in the Eastern US) Statue of Liberty (which is a classic LEGO set in my view), the later designs of the Knight Bus (4866 and 75957) have improved immensely over time.
The old wheels on this one give it the appearance of being 4x4 off-road.
my sister got the most recent version recently.
Hey it’s that windscreen piece with the green guck on it.
@RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"No Ernie? I never noticed that!"
To my knowledge the book doesn’t even mention him, or at least the shrunken head. They at least included that as a sticker here, which is honestly the most accurate one we have gotten even if the physical ones are better overall. I don’t remember the Knight Bus knocking over a lamppost, though— the book specifically describes it changing shape to go unnoticed and the film more-or-less recreates that.
Yes, I know it’s probably not even supposed to look like it’s falling in the box art. :P
@MCLegoboy:
I didn’t realize they did that until I bought the second minifig-scale Knight Bus.
@R1_Drift:
2x this version (the second around the time the next version came out, from someone at Brickworld Chicago).
1x mini polybag version (it wasn’t even officially released in the US, that I know of, but someone had a small supply and was giving them out _FOR_FREE_ at an event we displayed at).
20x the second minifig version (19x on 30% AFOL convention discount, possibly the last year that was offered).
3-4x the current version.
And someday I’m going to make a proper 8-wide version based on my MOC of a vintage double-decker Routemaster.
@Trigger_:
I found that the 1x1 round brick shrunken heads are great to plug Minion Kevin hair into so Jack Skellington in a Santa suit can pull them out of his gift box.
I've checked the instruction booklet and saw that even these sets had alternative builds shown back in 2004. Surprising. I thought they were gone by 2K.
She’s thick, she’s chunky, she’s incredibly nostalgic!
I vividly remember assembling this set on Christmas Day. The sliding bed play feature was pretty cool to me then. I still have 90 percent of the pieces, but not enough to rebuild it.
Just yesterday I bought it MiSB on Bricklink!
For some reason my sister got this set, I think she just really liked that bit of the film. I ended up building most of it for her at the time and it’s since made its way into my hoard. Her loss!
Now we're talking! Just last week I rebuilt this one again alongside the mini version. Is it more primitive than the later versions? Sure. But it's such a charming set. I got it for a discount at the time and it just felt special. It's so tall. It's chunky and uses old-school studs on top building. And it's almost completely dark purple and black! The first lego minifig-scale dog alongside a nice dbgrey lantern, bush and suitcase/chest make the set feel complete.
Sets like these never really fit the castle-building focussed HP sets at the time too well, but I didn't care with this set.
@Lego_lord, alternate models appeared in the instructions and boxes all the way up to 2006.
By the way, I made the mistake of storing it unbuilt with the tires seperate from the hubs. Now they had become greasy and hard. Putting the hubs in the tires was all but impossible as they all snapped by the stress due to their rigidness.
I usually encounter this with 90s tires, but it was apparently still a problem come 2004.
I bought this set back in the day. HP fan & it's purple, and it came with a promo mini bus in a small box, not a polybag. They are still in my display cabinet.
@kwickbrick:
I can find no evidence of a boxed 4695. The Brickset database image looks like a box, but every package photo on Bricklink and eBay is a polybag, and the Brickset listing is tagged “polybag”. If you’ve got a copy in a box, I’d be very interested in details. The few Kabaya sets I got came in boxes that contained polybags with the exact same packaging art, along with two gumballs, so there is precedent for sets where a single copy used both types of packaging. I had forgotten about the bundle, as I hadn’t started buying from LEGO.com at that time, and I wouldn’t get a chance to visit a LEGO Store for about three more years (it would be another three years after that before one opened in my state).
I remember the time this came out well. It was the first of the POA sets to be released. I ordered it straight away m at the time and I got the mini Knight bus for free with this. Dracos encounter with Buckbeak and the Marauders map set were released as a kit next, there was some error with the pricing initially where the kit was the same price as the Marauders set on its own and you also got a free mini Knight bus with it, which I ordered. Good times!
My neighbour gave me this set second hand but their sister had left it next to a lamp so part of the roof was melted and warped.
I had this set. I never built it, only bought it for the purple pieces.
@NotProfessorWhymzi said:
"Is this the one with the color-consistency issues? My memory is... unreliable, probably even more so after the snowboarding accident."
Yes, my version has different shades of purple among the bricks and plates. Tried to order more consistent colors through BL at the time; when all the parts I ordered still didn't match, that's when I started to realize that LEGO has color consistency issues from time to time.
I appreciated all the purple bricks this set had to offer, as well as the black radiator grille, which is useful for making Adventurers cars.
@Trigger_ said:
" @RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"No Ernie? I never noticed that!"
To my knowledge the book doesn’t even mention him, or at least the shrunken head. They at least included that as a sticker here, which is honestly the most accurate one we have gotten even if the physical ones are better overall. I don’t remember the Knight Bus knocking over a lamppost, though— the book specifically describes it changing shape to go unnoticed and the film more-or-less recreates that.
Yes, I know it’s probably not even supposed to look like it’s falling in the box art. :P"
For better or worse, the Shrunken Head is actually printed, not a sticker.
Amazon scammed me with this set.
Good windows part pack...
@crimson said:
"Good windows part pack..."
Exactly! I purchased multiple versions of the most recent Knight Bus (at a discount) just for the purple window frames, which I used in a train MOC.
It has the awesome printed 2x2x2 slope pillow pieces! BL'ed one for my 2010 KB.
Only part in here I like/am interested in are the wheel-hubs. Those thing where a great idea: sort of a hybrid between the old metal-axle wheels and the 'pinned' version...plus I dig the color:)
Just got this set too, fairly recently. Dropped off in the mail last weekend, I've ended up with all 3 (minifig scale) Knight Buses now for reasons, having gotten the 2011-ish one back in the day. Guess it's a mood that drove me to complete the set.
Purple Dave you are correct the mini Knight Bus was a polybag not a box. It was the mini London bus that came in a box.
@kwickbrick:
Whew! I have a sealed Construct-A-Zurg, and sealed copies of the three large Knight Busses. I’ve been thinking of picking up a sealed mini Knight Bus, but I would not want to try to find a sealed copy of a second packaging type when I couldn’t even find proof that it existed.