8 replies to this topic

[Phil Slender]

Set Name: Professor Lupin's Classroom
Set #: 4752
Theme: Harry Potter
Pieces: 155
Minifigures: 3
Year of Release: 2004
Price at Release: USD $19.99

INTRODUCTION

2004 marked the release of LEGO's 'Harry Potter' wave to correspond with the release of the third movie, "The Prisoner of Azkaban".  This was the first wave of sets to feature flesh-toned minifigures in the 'Harry Potter' line, which inevitably, clashed with my previously existing yellow-toned 'Harry Potter' figs.  Having previous collected many sets and characters from the releases for the first two movies, it was disappointing to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione awkwardly standing next to their classmate Neville, who just didn't quite match.

    

Why did I get this set?  Simple.  Professor Lupin.  He looked like a great fig, and his hairpiece was something I really wanted in my collection.  Having missed my opportunity to get the blonde version with Gilderoy Lockhart in 2002, I wouldn't let myself miss out again and grabbed this to add Lupin and his hairpiece to my collection.  

MINIFIGURES

This set includes three characters: Neville Longbottom, the Professor Snape boggart, and Professor Lupin.  For a $20 set, 3 is a good amount, and all of them were new at the time of release.



First we have Professor Lupin, who looks marvelous.  I'm glad they gave him a gray cape instead of the standard black.  His face looks great with his scars, and my only complaint is actually the piece I wanted most: the hair.  While I love this hairpiece, I'm not sure its the most appropriate for Lupin.  It looks too combed and polished for Lupin, and seems more fitting for Lockhart, or even Conan O'Brien.  



Here he is from the back, with a better view of his cape.  He doesn't have any back printing.



Next we have Neville Longbottom, who looks appropriately dorky.  This set marked the first release of Neville.  Also, notably missing is the Gryffindor shield on his uniform, a common trend starting with the 2004 sets.    



Here he is from behind.  He has a standard black cape, and no weird stars on it like the previous ones!     Thank you LEGO.



Finally, we have the boggart that is Professor Snape in Neville's grandmother's clothing.  Like all Snapes from the first three movies, his head glows in the dark... What?!  You mean you don't remember Alan Rickman's head glowing in the dark in the movies?



Here is from behind.  Not much here.



Snape, meet Snape.  Hi Snape!



THE CLASSROOM

And now we have the classroom itself.  Overall,  a pretty nice design.  Clearly not big enough to fit a whole class of students, but its appropriate since the LEGO Great Hall can only fit about 5 or 6 figures  



You can turn the cupboard (which is a sticker unfortunately)...



...to reveal the Snape boggart!



Over on the table we have some potions, chocolate, and a creepy skull under green glass.



The ceiling has a nice window and two white dragon faces to recreate the animal skeleton that hangs from above.



Lupin's office features some more potions, a book, suitcase, and a neat gramophone.



Lupin doesn't like people snooping through his office...



He also doesn't like when his stairs don't behave... Unfortunately this set does include these lame moving stairs that never stay where you want them to.



Look out behind you, Neville!



Any chance he gets, Neville likes to read about herbology.  Kudos to LEGO for including this book for Neville.



And when no one's looking, Lupin likes to sneak off to his office to eat more chocolate.



Uh oh.  Dumbledore caught him and sent him packing.  Poor Lupin.



RATINGS



Minifigures: 9/10 - All 3 minifigures are wonderful, and a great addition to a 'Harry Potter' collection.  Only complaint is the switch to flesh-tone.  I don't have a preference between yellow and flesh, but please just stick to one and keep it so they all go well together.
Parts: 8/10 - A great assortment of parts and color, with some unique pieces including printed chocolate, books, spiders, and skulls.
Build: 7/10 - Not particularly challenging, but felt appropriate for a $20 set.
Price: 9/10 - It may only be 155 pieces, but the size and comparison to other $20 sets make this feel well-priced and reasonable.
Playability: 9/10 - Features many great areas for play and fun to recreate a funny scene from a rather dark movie.

Overall: 84% - A rather high rating, but for $20, there's a lot to love in this set.  Great figs, great accessories, and a great structure to add to your Hogwarts Castle.  The Snape boggart is a hilarious fig, and also rather valuable.  

It's hard to go wrong with this set, and given how some 'Harry Potter' sets tended to be hit or miss, I'd definitely say this is a hit for what it is.

Edited by Phil Slender, 30 August 2012 - 11:18 PM.

[Bilbo Baggins]

Great review, I think the best part of the set is that awesome Snape minifig Wish I had that set

[just2good]

Nice review, 'Phil Slender'!
I have this set, and it is decent. I love Lupin's hair and the staircase, but the rest is meh for me. Even Snape's figure.

[MonkeyCrumb]

I was *thrilled* when they switched from yellow to flesh-tones for licensed sets. I missed out on a lot of the earlier Potter sets but I love that Potter, Star Wars, LOTR, POTC and more are done in flesh.

[Clone O'Patra]

This set seems like an odd cross-breed between what LEGO was doing in the first two HP waves and later waves. It's similar in style to sets like Snape's Classroom or the various Final Challenge sets, except it can't connect to the new Hogwarts set that came with this wave. I found it odd that they would release a Hogwarts and a few sets that took place in Hogwarts but were a different scale. It's not bad, though, because it's something different and shows that Harry Potter sets didn't just have to be Hogwarts Castle after Hogwarts Castle after Hogwarts Castle, and similar locations.

Another thing that always caught my eye about this set is the weird fish-eye lens they used to photograph it for the box art (unless it's digital manipulation). The arch and wall piece that would be right in front of the camera when looking at the set are distorted so that the arch goes off the picture to the left, giving you a nice view of Snape.

It's also nice that LEGO used to put out these sets without Harry. It was very annoying that in the final two waves in 2010 and 2011, Harry came in every single set! I like that in this one, you can just concentrate on Neville and Lupin without Harry impeding.

Thanks for showing off this set Phil!

[Phil Slender]

Clone O, on 31 August 2012 - 05:32 PM, said:

This set seems like an odd cross-breed between what LEGO was doing in the first two HP waves and later waves.

Another thing that always caught my eye about this set is the weird fish-eye lens they used to photograph it for the box art (unless it's digital manipulation). The arch and wall piece that would be right in front of the camera when looking at the set are distorted so that the arch goes off the picture to the left, giving you a nice view of Snape.

I agree about the cross-breed factor.  It features the thick baseplate all of the early sets featured, and begs to be added to other similar castle sets, except that this line didn't really feature any other sets like this aside from the Marauder's Map/One-Eyed Witch Set.  

I think the cover art was digitally manipulated, because if you look at this more distant angle of it:

LEGO clearly just (poorly) used Photoshop to move the arch that would otherwise be blocking the view of the set.  It's a weird choice to use as the cover art for this set no doubt.

[Ferrik]

This set looks alright but it just doesn't seem like Lupin's classroom. The moving staircase doesn't quite match. The minifigures are quite nice though.

[GnomeLover95]

Nice review! I've owned this set since it came out in stores, and I have always enjoyed re-building it over and over again.  

[deskp]

Looking back, all the sets deisgned in this manner were kinda bad.