REVIEW: 4841 Hogwarts Express

[Big Cam]

Fangy, this is a picture perfect example of why comes out of the reviewers academy.

I love this review, you cover every little detail. This is one of the Potter sets I'm not crazy about but your review almost switches my mind. For me the price is too high for the set, mainly because I'm not crazy about the train. The figs are awesome though.

[-Tilius-]

Nice photos and all, but do run reviews through MSWord before posting, just to fix spelling and grammar errors. :)

[iviViolence]

oh! I want it soooo bad!

[It All Ends Here]

Thank you for the nice review! I realy going to buy this set since I never have bought one of the earlier trains and WOW Luna.. I love her I really need her! Thank you for the review realy thanks!

[CommanderFox]

A very nice Review Fang!

The new figs are really something, hopefully with all the double sided printing, it means TLG have finally started to listen to us!

The car is nicely designed, is that a new part at the front? The boot is cool, nice and thoughtful.

The express is okay, im still a little disappointed in the passenger cart, I wish they make a hallway alongside the seats, but that would have to make the set a UCS.

Oh well, it is a very nice set, and thanks for the fantastic review once again!

CF

[prateek]

Great review! Luna's face is so accurate, compared to the real life actor. Two more figures, a conductor and hostess would justify the super mega ultra high price of this for me.

[drdavewatford]

Thanks ! Great review and lovely photos (apart from your 'watermark' which is a bit too intrusive - sorry !)

Regarding the set, the owls are lovely and the minifigs are excellent, but the train is a massive let-down because of the ridiculous wheels. It really is crazy that the LEGO company should go to the trouble of producing beautiful, authentic large train wheels and then make such a disastrous mess of this train. It could have been a beautiful steam engine, but it's unfortunately just ugly. The other sets (and especially the upcoming Diagon Alley set) make up for this uncharacteristic error of judgement, however - I think this wave of HP sets have exceeded expectations overall.

Dr. D.

[jonwil]

If TLG had used the large train wheels on the Hogwarts Express, it would have required them to make it larger (closer in size to the Emerald Night) in order to make it look good. Which would have increased the price point (clearly not something they were willing to do)

The Toy Story train could use the large wheels because it was a representation of a toy and so it was fine if it looked out of proportion (because the on-screen toy looked out of proportion too)

Edited October 7, 2010 by jonwil

[Baylego]

Nice review! This looks like a cool set, but I won't get it. The price is way to high and I am not interested in trains. I do love that Luna figure though!

[Garth Danielson]

Nice review. Good pics. The Invisiblity cloak wasn't used by Harry to sneak up on Draco in HP and the Order of the Phoenix but in HP and the Half Blood Prince. Thought you'd like to know.

[WhiteFang]

Thanks everyone for all of your kind appreciation with regards to this review. I am glad most of you had enjoyed reading it.

However, some of you have noted the negative side of this set. Firstly, I am not a professional train builder or someone who dabble a lot with trains but for my very first train building experience, I find it very fun to build from the step by step. The train wheels do look small as compared with the Emerald Night and I haven't exactly started building mine, so I can't really comment based on my limited experience. At the same time, I do agree the fact that Passenger Car will require doors by the side. It didn't occur to me at first but seeing other train MOCs who have incorporate that feature had certainly made it looks much better and appealing. My overall experience was positive and I am intending to explore more of such advanced train features and parts which are relatively very uncommon to my knowledge.

While the train itself does not really bring anything new to the table, it is at least a bit more refined than previous versions. We also need to remember that it have been a number of years since the previous incarnation, and that TLC would want to capitalize on those who don't yet own a version of the train.

From that perspective, it certainly targeted me with that intention.

It's a great set, actually one of the few I applied stickers to!

I also bought another set to keep fgor now. ) The figures are just amazing, very useful for my customs!

Do share your version with the stickers on. I was afraid of applying them. By the way, make sure you don't abuse those new HP minifigures for your customs and I certainly agrees that these minifigures are great for mix and match.

Would you mind putting Luna's torso on these legs? Ever since I saw her torso I thought that it would go well with the legs. Thanks.

Ok, I will try to do something about it.

What puzzles me, is how to place this in the Harry Potter world. The blue Ford Anglia only appears in the 2nd book (okay, film), right? But the Ginny we see here is not the timid child from that book. Luna Lovegood had no role yet. And those newspapers also seem to come from different books. Why did they mix it all up?

I strongly believes that this Hogwarts Express is meant to accommodate the different HP chapters and scenarios instead of focusing at one. Afterall, this is a HP revival.

WhiteFang, to answer your question about the ownership of the owls. The white one belongs to Harry, grey to Ginny/Ron and the brown to Draco.

Good job.

For me the price is too high for the set, mainly because I'm not crazy about the train. The figs are awesome though.

That reason alone, has justified your stand to get it. Furthermore, you are residing in the US and price over there is very affordable (IMHO). No punts intended but that's the way I see it from my angle.

Nice photos and all, but do run reviews through MSWord before posting, just to fix spelling and grammar errors. :)

Err.. I done that. If you meant the "s" and the "z" with the letter differences, I left it on purpose.

Nice review. Good pics. The Invisiblity cloak wasn't used by Harry to sneak up on Draco in HP and the Order of the Phoenix but in HP and the Half Blood Prince. Thought you'd like to know.

Thanks. I mixed both movies altogether. It's good to know.

Thanks ! Great review and lovely photos (apart from your 'watermark' which is a bit too intrusive - sorry !)

Apologises for the distraction.

[-Tilius-]

Err.. I done that. If you meant the "s" and the "z" with the letter differences, I left it on purpose.

Nope, there's clear grammatical errors in there, and poorly worded sentences. Just trying to help you improve.

Example: if you ran what you just said through MSWord, it'd likely suggest 'I've done that', rather than 'I done that'. :-)

Edited October 8, 2010 by -Tilius-

[Hinckley]

Nope, there's clear grammatical errors in there, and poorly worded sentences. Just trying to help you improve.

Example: if you ran what you just said through MSWord, it'd likely suggest 'I've done that', rather than 'I done that'. :-)

On an international board, there are many people who speak English as a second language. While your corrections can be helpful, your patience would be more appreciated...

[fff]

Nice review, i think it is really worth... just one thing, it would have been perfect if also it would have included a little station... but i'll guess that would mean to mix films as well...

[Princess Muttonchops]

Great review White Fang. No offence to your review or new-found love of trains, but I don't really find this set compelling, not when the other sets are so good. The HP sets just turned up in our Big W, and I just couldn't resist buying the Burrow. Plus the train reminds me of the whole "platform 9 and 3/4", which bugs the crap out of me. Still, it's undeniable that Lego are doing a great jobs with these sets, to the point where the Walrus and I, both distinctly apathetic towards Harry Potter, have been excited about them coming out. Mutter mutter mutter...

[XimenaPaulina]

Great review as always WhiteFang! I'm quite surprised by the majorly negative reaction on this set. While I think it's not spectacular, but it is a pretty decent representation of the Hogwarts Express. One should not expect super accurate models in Lego sets due to the piece/part count-to-price limitation. (This is also the case in SW sets). Besides, that's where modding comes in. Despite what other people think, this is the perfect opportunity for those who might've missed the previous version of this train to get theirs.

Edited October 8, 2010 by KielDaMan

[drdavewatford]

"While I think it's not spectacular, but it is a pretty decent representation of the Hogwarts Express. One should not expect super accurate models in Lego sets due to the piece/part count-to-price limitation."

Huw on Brickset summed it up perfectly (read his comments here) - it's an incredibly lazy design, and a painfully wasted opportunity. Someone stated earlier on this thread that LEGO couldn't have used the big train wheels on the HP train because they would have been out of proportion, but this HP train IS a toy like the TS3 train, and it's even at the same price point, so I really dont see the difference. Put it another way - with the disastrous wheels they put on the HP train, is it anything like a real train now ? Of course not ! The supposedly toy-like TS3 train is more realistic !!

As I said earlier, the Burrow and other sets in this revived HP theme are excellent, so the train is the only miss. I was just SO looking forward to a better LEGO rendition of the Hogwarts Express, but this is just as bad as the older versions but more expensive and without even a station. Still, at least the figs are good.....

Dr. D.

[-Tilius-]

On an international board, there are many people who speak English as a second language. While your corrections can be helpful, your patience would be more appreciated...

I am being patient, and trying to be helpful....

[Hinckley]

I am being patient, and trying to be helpful....

Unfortunately, you're coming off as rude... I would advise you not to correct people who haven't asked you to grade them.

[The Penguin]

Do share your version with the stickers on. I was afraid of applying them. By the way, make sure you don't abuse those new HP minifigures for your customs and I certainly agrees that these minifigures are great for mix and match.

Oh, I sure will! Perhaps even this weekend! )

As for my customs... Well, you might wish to check my HP minifigures tread soon. )

Good day, ladies and gentlemen! )

[Carefree_Dude]

If TLG had used the large train wheels on the Hogwarts Express, it would have required them to make it larger (closer in size to the Emerald Night) in order to make it look good. Which would have increased the price point (clearly not something they were willing to do)

The Toy Story train could use the large wheels because it was a representation of a toy and so it was fine if it looked out of proportion (because the on-screen toy looked out of proportion too)

This isn't true. I built a steam engine based on the Toy Story train, that is smaller than the emerald night but still looks good with the large wheels. see?

I'm really disappointed in the set. the price of the HP train is only slightly less than the emerald night. They could have easily used the large wheels and made it look like the real harry potter train. I still plan on buying the set, but i'm going to make it more like the real train from the movies.

[Wout]

Thank you for the nice review. Maybe I will get this for the nice figs and car. The Train is quite nice, but not so different from other versions.

@ ???the riddler???: The price for this set is on Lego.com itself 80 euro and on some dutch internetshops even less.

[Barteck]

My first HP set, it's great but cloak is mistake IMO ;(

[Ravenclaw2010]

I really like the Luna minifigure(she is my favourite character),but it's a shame that they didn't give her a Ravenclaw uniform. I also like Ginny. I think Malfoy's a great figure, and he has the Slytherin uniform in this set. I love the Ron figure's hair and jumper. Overall, I think that this is an excellent set, although the price is rather a lot(£79.99). A great review, Whitefang. Thank-you!

[blueandwhite]

Honestly, this set needs the S@H treatment. We've had four Hogwarts Express sets and none of them have really come close to doing the actual engine a lot of justice. With the introduction of the new train wheels in the Emerald Night this would have been a perfect time to introduce a proper Hogwarts Express. I would have preferred a proper Hogwarts Express to either the new Diagon Ally or the Hogwarts Castle sets. This set could have been something truly special.