[REVIEW] 76386 Hogwarts: Polyjuice Potion Mistake

[Clone OPatra]

Now for the smallest of the three new Hogwarts sets LEGO sent for review, it's...

76386 Hogwarts: Polyjuice Potion Mistake | 2021 | 217 Pieces | 3 + 1 Minifigures

USD $20 | GBP 18 | EUR 20 (variable) | CAD 25 | AUS$ 33

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Three minifigures with "alternate" identities, a new minifigure part, recoloured butterbeer mug, attractive-looking design and price...

Wait, am I already at the end of the review? Indeed we're just at the beginning, but all of those factors are self-evident from pictures of this set. Could anything go wrong? (Spoiler alert: no)

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THE BUILD & PARTS

This being a relatively small set, one wouldn't expect much from the build, but in fact there are lots of pleasing details that come together - more than 76387 that's for sure! Quite a good little variety of parts is also on offer, such as the sand blue, the gold taps, and the accessories. Here are the leftovers:

 

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THE MINIFIGURES

The minifigures included here are fantastic for a number of reasons, as are the polyjuice-potion-making equipment including the exclusively recoloured butterbeer mug. For starters, this is the highest quantity of Slytherin robes included in a set since the spiritual ancestor of this set - 2002's 4735 Slytherin. That's 19 years to wait for another set with more than one Slytherin school robe (not counting Quidditch)!

Secondly, we get fantastic alternate expressions for young Harry and Ron. Not for Hermione unfortunately, as her face gets covered so they didn't need to make a new head.

Then there's the fact that they can all be transformed, and the extra hair pieces are included (though the ones for Crabbe and Goyle aren't the most accurate) - AND it's the first Crabbe in 19 years as well! The new Cat-mione piece looks delightfully cute and sorry for herself.

One of my favourite LEGO hair-piece things is when one piece incorporates the shape of another, such as these two hat-hairs incorporating the Elizabeth Swan hair, and the Cat-mione piece incorporates the shape of her regular hair-piece wonderfully.

This set's special 20th Anniversary figure is Garry - that is, Golden Harry, who is nice and all.

Besides Hermione's understandable lack of new face print and the Slytherin boys' dubious choice of hair, the only other nitpick I could have with the minifigures is that the set could've included one of the open-fronted Slytherin robe print, currently only available in the Astronomy Tower. It matches these perfectly well in style, and would've added variety and accuracy, as bother Harry and Ron have their robes open in the scene. It's not a big deal at all, though.

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THE GIRLS' BATHROOM

For the actual build of the set, it's a single new Hogwarts module representing key details of the Polyjuice Potion scene. Of course in the film, the sinks go around in a full 360 degree circle, and there are lots of bathroom stalls that look nothing like this one, but it doesn't matter. The details included evoke exactly what they need to evoke, and do so with a fantastic level of detail what with the various parts that go into the sinks, the sand blue flooring, and the grill tiles at the edge.

The stall includes a fantastic little old school toilet tank and flush, built into the wall with parts going multiple directions.

Short-legged minifigures do look slightly odd standing on the toilet, since they can't sit, but figures with medium and regular legs look good. Here's missing Moaning Myrtle to demonstrate.

The centre sink flips up, revealing the hole to combine with the slide included in 76389. This too is not a perfect recreation of how it works in the movie, but it does its job and I'm glad for anything that moves in one of these Harry Potter sets.

If you've looked at the official pictures, you might have noticed something oddly missing (also missing from the box) - the outside of the build! It's only viewable in the 360 spin on LEGO.com. But it turns out LEGO has nothing to hid - the outside is perfectly respectable and has a good little window build and brick detailing to break up what could've been a monotonous wall. Only the grey piece that goes into the toilet build sticks out slightly.

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 FINAL THOUGHTS & RATING

76386 Hogwarts: Polyjuice Potion Mistake is a perfect USD $20 price point set. Unlike 76387 Hogwarts: Fluffy Encounter, with which this has being part of the new modular system in common, this one completely works as the scene it's covering while also adding play value if combined with 76389, has good detail packed into it, has an exterior with some variety to it, and has three desirable minifigures with exclusive parts. It's a real winner.

Minifigures: 9.8/10 - One different existing torso print for variety would've been welcome, but otherwise these minifigures offer a lot of value.

Pieces: 10/10 - Good variety, including the exclusively recoloured butterbeer mug, the exclusive Cat-mione piece, and all of the required alternate hairpieces.

Design: 10/10 - The build hits all the rights notes, having variety and representing all of the key details of the scene, all packed into one contained build.

Playability: 10/10 - For what it is, this set offers plenty of playability, allowing you to re-enact the polyjuice transformations, talking to Hermione through the bathroom stall, looking in the mirror, etc. It also includes the function needed for the scene entering the Chamber of Secrets.

Price: 10/10 - It's a perfect price point for the amount of parts and everything desirable included.

Overall: 9.96/10 - Let's round and call it a perfect score. Why not? I wholeheartedly recommend this set. What do you think?

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Up next, a look at combining the Hogwarts sets before reviewing 76388 Hogsmeade Village Visit.

[karrit]

I love this set but my one complaint is that they only give us one Poly juice potion cup.  Based on this I would rate the pieces a 9/10 rather than 10/10.  I know the regular butter beer mug is a somewhat pricey piece but they could have given us at least 2 of them.  One each for all three characters would have been awesome.  I have my doubts that they will be available through B&P since we can't even purchase a darn pig.

[Clone OPatra]

3 minutes ago, karrit said:

I love this set but my one complaint is that they only give us one Poly juice potion cup.  ...  I have my doubts that they will be available through B&P since we can't even purchase a darn pig.

That's a very fair point. It wouldn't change my overall recommendation of course, but you're right that getting just one is a bit of a bummer, certainly on par with my complaint about torsos.

The regular trans-orange mug is available on B&P now though, and still only found in Harry Potter sets as far as I'm aware, so hopefully this one will become available too.

[hagridshut]

Thanks for the review.  This set looks great, and my favorite piece is easily the Hermione cat head!

[TeriXeri]

Great set format and review.

While I'm not interested in this particular set or theme myself  , I could imagine how cool it could be if it were with like a room like this with grey walls with 1-3 generic knights instead, same goes for the Flying Lesson set, expandable smaller sets to expand a Castle with.

At least I'd prefer that over one of those minifig blister packs.

Edited May 18, 2021 by TeriXeri

[TheLegoDr]

Looks great. Thanks for the review.

I do like getting some new characters (even if they are really the trio in disguise). I agree getting some variety in robes would be nice. I'm not sure how they choose what to put where. I'm guessing by repeating the torso x2 saved them money?

The bathroom area looks pretty solid. And the toilets fit well for how they were in the LEGO video game.

[krimimimi]

Great set, great review. Thanks for doing these reviews, Clone OPatra.

This is the set I planned on buying at least two of (by contrast I'm not sure I want the Fluffy set at all). This is a good set for its price, and the minifigs alone justify owning at least two instances. 

How easy will it be to close the hole in the floor? Is it light grey or blue grey? 

[Clone OPatra]

On 5/19/2021 at 2:07 AM, TheLegoDr said:

I agree getting some variety in robes would be nice. I'm not sure how they choose what to put where. I'm guessing by repeating the torso x2 saved them money?

Perhaps it saves a bit during the production/sorting side of the packaging process, but the other torso I'm suggesting already exists and is even in print still. Not a big deal anyway.

8 hours ago, krimimimi said:

How easy will it be to close the hole in the floor? Is it light grey or blue grey? 

The floor is sand blue, and closing the gap wouldn't be difficult at all, since it's just a rectangular space that they've left open. You'd simply need a longer plate.

[BrickMatit]

This is a fantastic, little set!

It's really difficult to find defects in this set. As others said, having two different Slytherin robes (open-fronted and closed one) would have been better and it's a pity having only one Polijuice Potion mug.

But, anyway, those are very small lacks. This is a nearly perfect set and it's nearly certain I'm going to buy two copies.