REVIEW: 75951: Grindelwald's Escape

[VBBN]

Set information

Name: 75951: Grindelwald's Escape
Theme: Wizarding World
Year: 2018
Pieces: 132
Price: $19.99, GBP xx.xx, xx.xx€
Resources: Brickset, BrickLink

Hello everyone and welcome to my review of Grindelwald's Escape! Before I begin I want to thank LEGO for providing these sets for our reviews, and the opinions in this review are of course my own. 

Now then, as per the "Wizarding World" branding on the boxes, the first series of sets includes some from Fantastic Beasts in addition to the larger number of Harry Potter sets. While Newt's case was a set based on the first film, now we see Grendelwald's Escape, a set based on the upcoming Fantastic Beasts sequel. 

The Box

Front

We of course see the Fantastic Beasts logo as well as some characters from the film in the upper right, and get to see the set in action.

Rear

From here we see the set's gimmicks and features

Minifigures

This set includes two minifigures, Gellert Grindelwald and Seraphina Picquery. Both figures have nice printing and decent likeness to the film, though from the trailers so far it seems like perhaps Grindelwald's hair should have been a bit longer? I'm not really too sure on who Seraphina is, but she does come with a unique purple wand.

Rear

From the rear we can see that both have back printing, and Gellert has an alternate face. Seraphina also uses the newer "dress" leg piece.

Thestral

The Thestral is one of the more unique elements to this set and is likely a piece many will want multiples of. The mold looks really nice (and much better than the old Thestrals which would just be the old skeleton horse piece with wings.) One complaint I do have here is that I wish this had some kind of articulation, unfortunately like those old skeleton horses there is none to be seen here.

Rear

Something to note is that unlike most LEGO Horses, this one has 4 studs on his back instead of the usual 2.

Building the Carriage

 

 

The Carriage is a pretty sturdy build, here we can see the interior being built up.

We continue onwards with some doors (oriented in suicide-door style)

Completed Rear Half

The carriage is built in two parts to allow for the final model to have a point of articulation. The final shaping of this half is really nice, I especially like the ornate details near the seat and rear of the vehicle.

Front Half

On the front half, we add on the Thestral's wings and create a small mount that connects to the front wheels.

Completed Carriage

While we don't have too much in the way of source material just yet to compare this model to, I think the overall result looks great and is a surprisingly large build. As mentioned before, thanks to the 2-part build, the front axle can be turned independently from the rest of the carriage.

Rear

Interior

The interior has room for Gindelwald to sit, and can be opened up using the doors and with an easily removable roof.

Overall

At $20, this set is $5 more expensive than Aragog's Lair but has ~20 less pieces, and that's more than likely due to the Thestral causing a premium on this set. This set looks good and I feel does what it needs to do, of course without knowing too much about this until the film comes out I can only assume. The Thestral looks great and for many will be the primary reason to get this set, but I think the carriage itself is a nice design and could be transitioned well into a non-Wizarding World fan's city. When compared to Aragog's lair (again just because it's the closest in pricepoint,) the set feels more substantial because it does create a fairly large model.

Again without seeing the film I am not sure if there is a reason for this, but I really would have liked to have seen a "driver" for this vehicle, someone to sit in that brown seat. (I had a similar complaint about the lack of a conductor/engineer in the Hogwarts Express) but again perhaps there is reason for this. However with that out of the way, this in my opinion is another good addition in the Wizarding World lineup. 

What are your thoughts on this set?

 

 

[VBBN]

This review is now live for your viewing, and makes the end of this 7-set review streak for the first wave of Wizarding World sets! This has been a great collection of sets with so many awesome details, and I'm very excited to see what Lego comes out with next.

[Cylo]

I would get the set for the thestral but would they make any more sets containing it?

By the way Seraphina is a magic president

[LegoFjotten]

Thanks for the review!

I think this sets looks pretty decent overall. Figures are good, thestral is nice, and the carriage looks like a nice build.

Unfortunately this is one of the sets that are poorly priced in Europe. $20 turns into €30, which I find is on the expensive side. Quidditch Match on the other hand is $40/€40, so not quite sure if there is any method to the madness. Will consider picking it up at a sale.

[Wardancer]

Could someone test if a horse barding fits on the thestral?

[fred67]

I have to say I wasn't really impressed with the last movie.  I'm glad we're getting a new wave of sets for people who may not have gotten them before, but I'm not too thrilled with any of the new sets.

HOWEVER, I really love this little carriage just a carriage itself.  It's a really clever design with a minimum of parts; I love the curly vegetation part to hold the bar in front of the driver - I didn't even know you could use those parts that way (and wouldn't have guessed they'd do it "officially").

Great review, pricing not so good (a Thestral is not worth $5 on it's own, let alone $5 plus 20 pieces).  I will pass, but I will probably use the carriage for reference.

[zoth33]

I just bought this set today mainly for the Thestral.  I haven't built it yet.  The black plant pieces will be useful for my moc's too.  I think the Thestral is worth $5 it has wings too.  I'll be using the Thestral as a steed for one of my evil warriors.  

[fred67]

I think the Thestral will be worth more than $5 on, for example, Bricklink, but what I meant was that it's not costing TLG $5 more to put it in the set - new mold notwithstanding.

[Fenghuang0296]

Well, personally I really like this set. I'm endeavouring to install a semi-MOC Hogwarts into my layout, but since I don't currently have the room necessary for a train layout the Hogwarts Express is not an option in terms of transport to and from school. So I'm glad to have this, as it was easy for me to modify it to seat an extra minifigure and convert it to function as a Hogwarts school carriage to pick up the students and take them to school. I agree that the price could be a little better, but I'm noticing a running trend of Lego becoming more expensive over the last couple of years. Hopefully this won't continue. For what's it is, this set is good. ^^

[SpiderSpaceman]

Just got this one at my Barnes and Noble! Gotta add that the wing is the 3rd size in a series that went from the wing from.. the Vikings line? And then had use in the 2000s molded castle dragons and the UCS batmobile, down to a medium size for smaller scale Elves dragons, and now down to this small one.

the notable thing is they’re all a soft plastic, and since the connection on this is a bar instead of the technic holes in the two previous sizes, the joint movement is a little funny between flexure and friction. 

They seem awesome for putting on a minifig though - or a great wing size for one of the mixel joint giant figures (groot, steppenwolf, Nexo knight monsters/exosuits)

 

As for source material comparison, this is a prominent shot in the first trailer. They cut it down to one thestral from several pulling it, which makes sense.

I really like the technique of connecting the thestral to the harness - allows for popping it loose without rebuilding - since classic Lego carriage sets always had you take pieces out of a horses back to have the horse on its own.