Lego 76407, The Shrieking Shack and Whomping Willow is a set based on the Prisoner of Azkaban Film, it has 777 pieces which includes 7 Minifigures and features the Shrieking Shack and Whomping willow, its RRP is £79.99.
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Lego 76407
For me Harry Potter franchise changed in Prisoner of Azkaban, it was a lot more darker and we began to see a bigger picture in stories, a lot happens, so it’s good when we get sets from this era. The Shrieking Shack is Pivotable in the storytelling and this was the first time we saw it in the rereleased Sets.
Harry Potter
As ever he is here, the same design from this range of era which includes the Sirius Black rescue and the Hospital Wing, don’t get me wrong though the smaller Tan legs, Blue top and Jacket look great and on point to the film. The headpiece with the shaggy style black hair is fine, as well as the Print
Ron Weasley
Ron again with short legs is present in the Hospital wings set and looks again fine, a red top and jumper looks really good with the traditional Weasley hair for this era.
Hermione Granger
Like Harry her mud-splattered clothes in both the hospital and Sirius’s rescue, this is fine and actually very good in contrast to the films with blue bottoms and pink jacket and top, the prints on all three faces are a little generic and could have been improved based on the trouble and peril they face in the scene.
Remus Lupin
Remus is a bit more of a rare minifigure, in this version the tan, brownish style clothes showing torn shreds to it is excellent and is a notable difference to his previous versions, the alternative head print with him in mid-turning with eyes yellow is great.
Remus Lupin Werewolf
So flip to this, he completes the transformation with yellow eyes, it may not be the first time this headpiece or Werewolves have been before but the colour and detail link to Remus is great.
Sirius Black
Sirius in which the film centres around, looks great and the minifigure torn to show Tatoo is an excellent touch, his great gear is excellent, whereas the headpiece perhaps looks a little too neat and friendly for this point, accompanying him is Padfoot, the name of when he transforms, the dog isn’t exactly a great representation but its fine.
Peter Pettigrew
What happens in the Shrieking Shack is a turning point, and we finally find out that the Weasley family Rat Scabbers is indeed missing and presumed dead Peter, the man who betrayed the Potters, the minifigure is excellent and is the second time at this point he has appeared, this one is different from the previous with the black ragged suit with red lining, the face shows a sympathetic face but on the other, a more sinister version, with his is a generic Rat.
The Main Build
The Shrieking Shack is accompanied by a broken warn fence and gateway, often these are done in small half builds and I’m not really against that, it adds a little depth, the colours are great and with the stickered fence pieces its fine, I would have preferred pre-printed like the shack.
As I mentioned the shack itself is a half build and from the outside looks very detailed and surprisingly tall, however with these styles of the build we cant expect a lot of detail, but from the outside, the pre-printed planks across the building are excellent, along with the excellent chimney that though a tad basic adds that different to visual look, the top floor is at an angle and they have done well to fit it together and have it looking like it’s on its way over.
The different browns, grey and of course white snow makes it fit very well from the film design, though it’s a tad brighter, this is to be expected with Lego, The angles f the window, the door and with blocked-up windows just make it look great.
Spinning around as I said earlier it’s not huge being half design, the film doesn’t show a massive amount of detail or in fact rooms, the ground floor is a brief display and thus the designers have made an ok representation, it looks fine and the sticker for the door probably takes you eyes from the rest, much like the sneaky hole and passage from te side that would link to the whooping willow.
Upstairs is seen much more in the film and like downstairs looks fine, it’s maybe too bright and clean, in the film it’s a warn down the house, lots of dust etc that this isn’t really represented but there is some neat detail that’s are from the film like the painting, piano and green chair that Ron is on while it all happens, the fact they squeezed a piano in is clever.
Whomping Willow
Here’s a controversial comment, I don’t really like it, I’m not a huge fan of any of the designs, the modern-day ones are better than the originals ill give you that. And to be honest it’s slightly updated from the previous ones aswell but why this one is on an angle just looks rubbish, if you want it to be angled and lean over then create a better way.
So let’s put that to the side, it’s fine, the prints on the trunk look good and carries the colour and design well, it looks sparse in design with the odd branch that could hold a minifigure, just. It sits ona platform that can link to the Shack as I mentioned earlier, mid-way is a rock that can be used for play and show Remus’s transformation, and above is a glow-up moon and glow-up clouds…i hate.
Overall
With the last bit of negativity with the whomping Willow aside, its a good set, 7 minifigure is pretty strong, it’s odd there no Snape as he is also vital to this scene, but the minifigures look good and if you didn’t have any before this is a great way to get them. The Willow might look just okay, the Shack actually looks good, I think it deserved to be on its own and without the shack, with even more detail and extra minifigure, but again it’s still solid, and the outside looks great, and a surprising amount of detail packed inside.
you cant have minifigures inside to do the scene which is probably a negative, as is the price but this is where we are with Lego. For me, though it’s still worth a look at, even with the stupid moon/cloud thing…lol, and the Whomping Willow, which believes there’s a better design out there, they just need to get to it.
