After the big Disney castle, many thought Lego can't do better. Well, they can. Even if you don't like Potter, you'll be amazed by the details of the building.

This is the best Lego Harry Potter set they’ve ever released absolutely gorgeous no need to buy any of the other sets should’ve just released this on its own and that would’ve been fine

Amazing detail, Great Nanofigs, and went together no problem took me two weeks off and on lots of work to put together exhausted now time to enjoy

If you’re looking for a Harry Potter’s that look no further I will not regret Absolutely worth the money

This version of Hogwarts being the 2nd biggest LEGO set to date is amazing, I brought it not long ago and did I not regret it, the building of the set was such an amazing journey and perfect to binge watch all of the Harry Potter films with it.

It really brought the Wizarding World to life and the playability is awesome with lost of cool little features and even some secrets, the scale to the microfigures is a job well done and I couldn't have asked for a better set.

Although this set is technically 'incomplete' as it isn't the full Hogwarts, it opens up so many options to finish it off which I have seen done or even in your own fun way. Te set is incredibly cheap considering how many pieces you get and all the new and exclusive parts in there too!

The build for this set was a huge highlight and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is a Harry Potter/Wizarding World fan!

Summary

Over the past couple of years Lego has released a number of (extremely) high end sets, like the Millennium Falcon (set 75192), Ninjago City (set 70620), Ninjago City Docks (set 70657), Roller coaster (set 10261), Ghostbusters Firehouse HQ (set 75827) or Assembly Square (set 10255)... and frankly - IMHO - this set might have them all beat. This set is massive, and from a distance hardly looks like a Lego set. Frankly, I cannot imagine that there is a better display set out there, and will take a superb effort to surpass it. It is good for many hours of building, and could make for a great family building project. The 37 bags (plus a few with big plates, Big Ugly Rock Pieces) make sure that one does not start out with a massive pile of (small) bricks and pieces that one needs to put together.

Before continuing, I would like to address a the issue of size/scale/only part of Hogwarts issue that has popped up in various comments of online reviews and the reviews themselves (like Jang's). Many people are complaining about how much of Hogwarts is omitted, notably the Green Houses, Quidditch pitch, many towers, and such. The only way to have them included is to scale them down to a much smaller scale, with, and arguably still ending up with a 200 or 300 dollar set, covering a similar surface as this one. Much of the architectural detail that makes Hogwarts castle so interesting could simply not be covered in such a model. Creating a Hogwarts in Minifig scale is simply ludicrous. I know there is a full Hogwarts MOC out there, not sure it is actually Minifig scale, but that literally fills a room in its own. And I shudder to think of the price.

Personally, I like what the designer has done, and the choices made: a very recognizable section of the castle has been reproduced with quite a bit of architectural detail, and I like the interiors with the references to the movies. And yes, as such it is acceptable to me that many of the interiors are 'in the wrong place,' so to speak.

Building the set itself is brilliant, good for many hours of fun, and the designer has IMHO done a superb job trying to limit tediousness and repetitiveness. The build is split up in two parts, and constructed on a mostly Technic framed base. There are many interesting techniques used, and the castle simply slowly rises up. Part of the (family) fun is trying to find all the references to the Harry Potter stories. There are many stickers to apply, each of them adding quite a bit.

To me, the biggest issue with this set is - of course - its price. And, as strange as it might sound for a 400 euro set, IMHO it is actually a good price. Personally, I think it much better value for money than the Millennium Falcon (and yes, I know many will consider this blasphemy). Although IMHO the value for money is very good, the cost of this set will put it out of reach for many, unfortunately.

Intermezzo - How I look at this set.

Before continuing, I would like to address a the issue of size/scale/only part of Hogwarts issue that has popped up in various comments when the set was released, in the comments of online reviews and the reviews themselves (like Jang's).

Many of the negative comments come down to the set either NOT being minifig scale, or the set not representing the whole of Hogwarts. Frankly, I find these comments unwarranted: the images of this set have been out there for a very long time, and I hope that people willing to spend a massive amount of money on a set like this take the time to look into it before buying this set.

Expecting a minifig scale castle (ca 1:25) is simply ludicrous - the Great Hall alone would be taller than most rooms. A nano-scale castle might be doable, but would make a proper representation of the architectural details of the castle impossible. And if it were to include the Quidditch pitch and Forbidden Forest, it would probably still cover a huge surface. One of the models out there on Lego Ideas - and only limited to the core castle! - is already over 60 studs wide, and does not seem to include the full extent of the outer walls.

The designer has made a decision to create a model of Hogwarts in a scale big enough that it would be a good representation of the architecture of the castle, with those looks on the outside, and put in vignettes of memorable scenes/parts of the castle on the interior. As a result, a number of vignettes are not located in the 'proper' location within the castle, simply because that location is not modeled - one example is the Gryffindor common room.

Now back to the rest of the review

Build experience

Let me start with the issue of the stickers: there are a whole lot of them, well over 70. Would I have liked to see more printed tiles? Of course, but IMHO that would have raised the price considerably, and in some cases would have been technically difficult or outright impossible. Take your time, use Windex, a paper towel (to absorb the excess) and some patience, and all should be right. The vast majority of the stickers is easy to apply anyway as they are on a flat surface. If there is one sticker that could easily have been replaced by a print (that would also be usable in other sets) it would be the clock above the entrance of the Great Hall.

This build is good for many, many hours of building (to me some 16 hours in total). The division in 37 bags makes it fairly easy to break it up into smaller parts. So do the four instruction booklets. Booklet 1 (bags 1-7) and 2 (bags 8-21) cover the Great Hall and the Grand Staircase Tower. Booklet 3 (22-27) and 4 (28-37) the bridges and smaller towers (anything 'beyond' the Great Tower). Booklets 1 and 3 cover the respective bases (the 'rocks') and booklets 2 and 4 the building itself.

The base of the buildings IMHO makes an effective use of Big Ugly Rock Pieces (two shapes) in order to quickly create volume. IMHO this is a very defensible choice, as building up the base with regular bricks would have added significantly to the brick count, and probably have become very tedious. Cheese wedges and various slope pieces are used to break up the BURPs, and do so quite effectively. The cleverly constructed trees help break the monotony as well. During the construction of these bases, the more detailed underground vignettes are installed as well.

The superstructures (the halls and towers) are gradually built up, and again, the designer has made an effort to prevent tediousness and monotony setting in by alternating the sections you work on, and building up the interiors in between. I did not come across truly special construction techniques, much has been seen before in other sets. I liked the way the bottom part of the roof was constructed. The Grand Staircase Tower has a double shell construction, with the outside wall constructed in a way similar to the outside of the Saturn V. I do like the new pieces (the half-arch pieces used to clamp in the stained glass) and the 1x1 mini-top slopes.

IMHO the designer has done a great job in applying existing techniques effectively. I like the mini builds (Hagrid's hut and the Whomping Willow). There were no oddities in the construction, and there were few if any true weak points that I came across. A little extra support underneath the Great Hall floor might have been nice, but that is it. In some places fit of the floor plates is tight, but I personally did not come across the fit/tension issue Jang reported he had with the bridge.

The minifigures

There are four exclusive true minifigures included of each of the founders: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuf, Salazar Slyterin and Rowena Ravenclaw. All are IMHO of high quality, and will probably be highly sought after by collectors in the future. There is a display stand for them, with tiles in their respective house colours and the house's coat of arms. All of them have their own wands as well.

Godric Gryffindor has great print on the front of the torso and the legs. It seems to be in register. The backprint of the torso is simple, and hidden by the cape anyway. Godric is armed with his sword, and has a receding hairline and bushy beard. I like his face print. He has no alternate print, due to the shape of the hair piece. Godric is the only one wearing gloves.

Helga Hufflepuf wears a long golden/brown dress. She has the new dress piece, which just as her torso is printed front and back. Arguably her print is the most elaborate, representing a dress tied in the back like the corsets of old. The print seems to be in register. She also wears a brown cape (like Godric). I like her hair style. She has two nice face prints, one rather stern, the other much more friendly and smiling. Just as Gryffondor is carrying his sword, Helga carries her Cup.

Salazar Slytherin wears the most elaborate cape, in two pieces, the smaller piece being a collar. His clothing is dark green, with a lighter green pattern upon it on the front and back of the torso and the legs. The print is well done, and again in register. He also carries his Locket, which is largely hidden by his bears - a beard better known from Ninjago's Sensei Wu. As he is bald headed, he has only a single face print, which depicts a rather angry scowl.

The Fourth figure is Rowena Ravenclaw. She also wears a long dress, but does not have a cape. I find her print not as elaborate as Helga's. She has long brown hair. She has two face prints, one a rather stern expression, the other seemingly sad. She is wearing her Diadem (as a face print).

The other figures are the included microfigures, that can be used to populate the building. Some of them are fairly easy to identify, others are more generic.

The build

The whole structure is an IMHO faithful representation of a limited section of Hogwarts Castle: the Great Hall with Grand Staircase tower, the Boathouse Shed, two stone bridges, and a small section of the wing with class rooms, allegedly the one with Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and the Slytherin common room underneath. Based on some plans of Hogwarts, that comes down to roughly 25% of the castle structure. This section of the castle also seems to be the most popular in screen shots and photographs (at least based on my Google image search results).

Personally I like the scale - it allows for a truly great likeness of the structure as we know from the movies. It allows for a lot of the structural details that simply are not possible in a nano-scale castle. From a distance the whole structure hardly looks like Lego. The designer has also done a great job in capturing the shapes.

From the front, there is a fully closed up interior. From the back, there are numerous interior vignettes, and this is where most of the stickers come in. There is the Great Hall with the dais for the teachers, and the Chamber of Secrets underneath it. Other vignettes are put in two of the towers towers, the other base, as well as hall structure. These vignettes represent important scenes from the book or places in the castle. Apart from the great hall, they are out of place, but IMHO that is of minor relevance. Important locations are for instance Dumbledore's office, the Chamber of Secrets, the Gryffindor Common Room, the Room of Hidden Things and the Library. IMHO there is a nice balance between the use of microbuilds and stickers. Trying to identify all the vignettes and references is a lot of fun.

Most of the structure is fairly sound and solid, though some of the turrets are easy to break off (most notably the little towers that hold Dumbledore's office).

Two well designed micro-builds are the golden gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office, and the Hungarian Horntail that can be attached to various parts of the castle. They add a lot, and especially the Horntail can be used to break up the shape of the structure a bit.

Hagrid's hut and the Whomping Willow are also well done. The Whomping Willow can be posed in different positions, and the Weasley's car could easily be fit in there. Hagrid's is constructed using modified studs clipped to a octagonal ring, giving a good approximation of its circular shape. The vegetable patch is a nice detail.

One of the strengths of this set is that it is modular, and therefore fairly easy to transport. The connection is made by Technic axle-pins slotted in corresponding holes of Technic bars. Unfortunately that does not fix the connection at all. Its looseness is not as bad as that in the Arkham Asylum set (where the building cannot be moved without coming apart), but it is still there. They can be replaced by pins or some pins can be added (I added light grey Technic pins). As the Technic bars in the rear are only covered by clipped on regular Lego plates and bricks, it would be possible to add one's own creation/other modules representing the rest f the castle.. Or maybe Lego will even come up with expansions at a later date.

Play vs display.

This set is clearly a display set. The only 'play' elements are two movable (rotatable) stairs, and the Whomping Willow. The dragon and the Dementors can be moved around as well. The nano-figures can only be placed as an illustration. Its size is such as that it makes play also impossible: way too big to easily move around.

This is clearly a display set, and could easily serve as the center piece of your Lego collection, or a great display piece in one's living room. Mind you, it is big, and takes up a lot of space (roughly 70 cm wide, 60 cm deep and 50 cm high).

The verdict

Personally, I think this is a superb set. In my opinion, the designers have made the correct choice as far as scale goes. I also think the designer chose the most characteristic section of the caste to depict. Last but not least, it is good for many hours of building fun.

I also like the idea of the vignettes, which seems to be borrowed from the Disney Castle (set 71040). This scale is large enough to show the many architectural features, and allow for numerous vignettes. It can also serve as the start for one's own expansion of the castle, and provides many pointers about the techniques that can be used. I also like how the off-colour bricks and Bug Ugly Rock Pieces are covered up. The four minifigures are excellent. Frankly, I cannot wait to see a lighting set come out.

If I had to list the favourite aspects of this build, I would go with he stained glass windows, and the Potions Classroom.

This set looks much better in real life than in the official pictures IMHO and does what it was supposed to do. The big issue with this set, is its price. It is very expensive, but even then, to me, worth it. However, it is also a price that puts this set out of the reach of many, which is unfortunate.

Is this set a good set? I think it is. And I hope Lego will release expansions in due course.