Review: 40617 Draco Malfoy & Cedric Diggory

40617 Draco Malfoy & Cedric Diggory completes the quartet of Hogwarts houses represented in their colourful Quidditch robes, joining 40616 Harry Potter & Cho Chang. Those figures were unexpectedly enjoyable, so hopefully these are satisfying as well.

Draco and Cedric lack the complex hairstyles or other unique features which distinguish certain BrickHeadz. Nevertheless, these two characters should complement Harry and Cho perfectly.

The Completed Model

Unsurprisingly, these Quidditch players are constructed very similarly to 40616 Harry Potter & Cho Chang. Their robes include a printed 2x4 tile on the front, which is cleverly combined with standard parts to form the collar and shirt, for example. Draco Malfoy embodies Slytherin house and therefore wears predominantly dark green garb, displaying a metallic silver Slytherin crest.

Although not as elaborate as some BrickHeadz, memorably including Bellatrix Lestrange, I find Draco's hairstyle very effective. Bright light yellow is an appropriate colour and I like the shape, appearing swept to one side. The smooth texture also looks good, especially when contrasted with Harry Potter's unkempt hair, which is covered with sharp edges and studs.

The only visible studs on Draco's hair are at the back, above his hood. Again, this looks great and is a shared feature between all four of these Quidditch-themed BrickHeadz. Draco comes equipped with his broomstick and a pearl gold trophy, presumably representing the House Cup.

Cedric Diggory includes a different broomstick and the dark orange aerial looks nice beside his yellow and flame yellowish orange uniform. These colours are very appealing, alongside black accents on Cedric's shirt and collar. The intricate Hufflepuff sigil looks splendid too, accurately featuring the house's badger mascot.

Similar to Draco, Cedric's hairstyle is not particularly elaborate, although corresponds with the onscreen character. There is more texture than on Draco Malfoy and I like how curved slopes are combined across the front, giving the hair some volume. Otherwise though, this design is identical to Draco, Harry and Cho.

A folded hood accordingly appears on the back, assembled using 1x2 curved wedge slopes. The four figures also include reddish brown clips for their hands, which represent the leather gloves worn during Quidditch matches in the films. I like the reddish brown boots as well, also reflecting the onscreen Quidditch uniforms.

Overall

The range of Wizarding World BrickHeadz contained sixteen characters before this year. Draco Malfoy and Cedric Diggory are welcome additions to the roster and Draco in particular is easily recognisable from his hairstyle alone. I think the house identification is important for Cedric, so depicting the character in Quidditch garb was clever, even though we never see these robes in The Goblet of Fire.

As expected, 40616 Harry Potter & Cho Chang and 40617 Draco Malfoy & Cedric Diggory look superb when displayed together, although only Harry is truly an outstanding BrickHeadz design. However, the others are certainly competent and their different colours are attractive, so I would recommend Draco and Cedric to established collectors of Harry Potter BrickHeadz.

5 comments on this article

By CCC in United Kingdom, 18 Jul 2023 11:44

These are all about those 2x4 (or other format) decorated tiles. It is a shame that just about all the licensed BH rely on those printed details to identify who the character is. They would still be just about recognizable if brick built decoration was used instead, especially in a group.

By Brickalili in United Kingdom, 18 Jul 2023 16:26

Seekers! Doing it for themselves!

Terrible wordplay out the way, can’t help but feel Cedric’s hair should have been a bit more designed; partly because it’s much fluffier in the film and partly because that might have made a more dynamic brickhead

By dRevan in Canada, 18 Jul 2023 20:38

Boring bh ngl. Only worth it if you buy the other 2

By StyleCounselor in United States, 19 Jul 2023 06:28

This is NOT Gringotts.

By Binnekamp in Netherlands, 19 Jul 2023 08:34

They really went all out on this set of characters in these specific costumes, huh? We also got all four as minifigs too this year. And each appeared in the house banner.