Lego 76389, Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets is a set based on the book and film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, it has 1176 pieces and features 11 Minifigures. The set focuses on the parts of the film including the Basilisk, several rooms, and of course the chamber, it’s RRP is £129.99
We are big Harry Potter fans, especially the girls in the house, in retrospect, the first film was all fantasy and wide-eyed, and so was the chamber of the secrets until it slightly got a little dark and showed what was potentially coming, the next film would set up the more mature route. However this one still has that love and family entertainment, and the set tries to encapture it, this set features many figures and tries to accomplish quite a lot for the price and size, especially with the piece count of only about 1176.
Table of Contents
Harry Potter
What set doesn’t include Harry these days, and he is present with the traditional hair pieces and dual-faced head from this era, his robes though are a little tweaked and sure a jumper underneath which is also different to the rest in the set.
Ginny Weasley
Suprisingly no Ron Weasley, but due to the end sequences its great for Ginny here anyway, she also tends to have the same look from this era, long ginger/orange hair but she like the rest sports slightly newer adjusted robes, the Gryffindor emblem looks good.
Colin Creevey
Yes, Colin Creevey you may ask, one of the Basilisk victims sees him also in the newer robes, with the tied up, Hooded back print and Emblem, he sports a Han solo hair while his attendance here might be questioned is a good addition that just the norm minifigures, his camera is a great addition to him.
Luna Lovegood
It seems like they wanted to add a student for the training that happens with teachers in the great hall, however, I’m not really sure why she’s here? She’s not really in the story and not really seen, Malfoy would have been better for this example but hey ho, her hair and headpiece is as ever, a good representation of her while she also has the newer robes but with her Ravenclaw colours.
Justin Finch-Fletchly
Again we see another student but this time from Hufflepuff being represented, however, Justin is actually worthy of his inclusion as he is actually in the scenes with the practice battles in the great hall. He looks solid with a good hair piece and freckles minifigure head, his robes are again the same as the others in the set but sporting yellow.
Albus Dumbledore
He’s probably more known as a minifigure and you can argue the design is more representative of early Dumbledore editions and the actor in the film, his more flamboyant colourful robes though look great, the magenta robes go great with the white hair and beard, and while the printing both on the face and robes are also excellent.
Gilderoy Lockhart
Gilderoy Lockhart is a big deal in the book and film, he’s central to what’s going on whether he wants to or not, and should be Hogwart’s saviour…no spoiler here… however his figure looks fine, for how he is in the film especially, it’s all underwhelming and bland, there’s no cape, no contrasting colours, its a one tone generic suited minifigure, which is a shame, again it’s fine but not the standout he should have been.
Aurora Sinistra
Aurora Sinistra is one of the teaching staff at Hogwarts and often sits next to Dumbledore however with this being said she is rarely seen, and another slightly odd addition to the set, however adding to your minifigure set is fine for collectors, it’s just not perhaps vital to the set or any scene your doing. She looks good and looks like the on-screen characters with her pointy hat and orange, yellow gold robes etc..
Nearly Headless Nick
Nearly Headless Nick is actually a good edition as he is also a victim to the basilisk…kind of… the big update compared to his previous version is that he glows up in the Dark! It’s a great and lovely addition to his already good design.
Tom Riddle
Tom Riddle course had to be here, he is also vital to end sequences and his minifigure is like what the character is represented on screen, his robes though black, grey and Slytherin green, are slightly different showing the age of the robes compared to the newer style, his headpiece is fine.
Gold Voldemort
This set is part of the 20th Anniversary of Lego and Harry Potter, so a gold version of the infamous bad guy is here, this goes with the others in the range, I’ve said before I don’t like these but if you, its fine and you can at least still see some detail on the figure.
Basilisk
The Basilisk is pretty similar to the snake, lizard or dinosaur builds, with a combination of moulds and technic pieces, the Basilisk itself is sized based on the chamber here and the playability of it with the mouth etc within the chamber, not the size in comparison to the minifigure etc or film. But he looks great, with liver green and green colours, the headpieces look good though a more predominant design for the fangs would have been better based on what happens. A couple of joints and a more fixed middle part to fit the chamber mouth makes it a little rigid.
The main building
As I said before this set tries to do many things, it tries to add size and with micro versions of popular rooms while also holding the chamber, but also trying to fit other buildings in the design for modular fitting, unfortunately, it doesn’t succeed in any of it because it’s trying to do too much.
From the outside, it looks fine, looking at the edges of the outside of the building the traditional creams and brows to fit with what’s done is excellent, and the cliffs and rocks being fitted in the build of it looks even better than some of the larger big brother builds, these grey rocks increase and decrease on the sides to show how it was built into the rock.
The roof though is a moment of controversy, it’s a different colour, its similar to the original run of sets from years gone by, the green isn’t the same as the modern-day colours of the modular and sets, leaving the ultimate question of why?
Flipping around and seeing the insides you can see all those different rooms including a separate door design for the entry to the chamber, it’s odd as it’s a standalone door which again looks good with the snakes etc..the roof and owl on top seems weird…
There are many rooms covered and their bigger brother versions are lots more detailed, starting from the top with the astronomy tower, it doesn’t sure of the size or detail, but they try to with the odd star gazers accessories, following it down we see Gilderoy’s office, several photo frame of himself and books and signing equipment are all excellent, though limited in space and detail.
There is an outside area next to it with Broom and a clear stand piece to elevate a minifigure to show flying. The other side of room shows above the great hall in which the sorting hat is hidden behind the Hogwarts house crest banner and a couple of extra accessories like jewels and glow-up ball.
Below is a small version of the great hall, these micro versions of the table where they duel, fireplace, headmasters stand, etc are all ok, it is what it is and fine for micro style with no real extra detail, but standing back seeing the rafters room and this for a micro it’s again fine.
The other side sees the classroom for the defence against the dance arts, which is apparently a similar size as the great hall… but anyway, a great portrait painting of Gilderoy sits in the middle while micro tables and chairs show the classroom, a couple of extra blue pixies can be placed inside for some playable fun.
As we head to the bottom level and at this point below floor level within the rocks etc..this is all indicated with grey rocks, the slide mentioned with the bathroom comes out in one of these rooms, however, you need to own the Polyjuice set so if you just looked at this one alone you can really access the slide, while another square room sees a bone lonely in it.
However the main part of this is the statue head of Salazar Slytherin in which the basilisk comes out of, the creature can pass through from the reverse with the removal of a big rock in the middle, but as he comes out of the month it does look good, may not be the most fluid action but it works.
This giant head statue for the space is flanked by lovely snake design statues, this is arguably one of the best parts of the build, but all of this is kind of set origin in the building and if you were playing you would be doing it all just in front on your floor…not the set. you can get the size and scope or even the atmosphere of the chamber.
Overall
If I’m honest I’m back and forth with this set, as I said it tries to do so much but achieves nothing…there are some neat things to this set, some nice touches, but the second you say that’s nice or that’s good…you can immediately criticise it because it wasn’t done to the best it could have been, or even close. It only has 1100 plus pieces and has an RRP of £129.99! that’s lot.
It does have 11 minifigures which is great kind of…but even that’s got issues, not from their design ona the whole as Gilderoy is the only one I would slightly criticize, its boring and not his showman style, but that’s a slight issue, however why there are people like Luna here? it has some good figures to be included for your set but I don’t understand at any point what scene or story there doing.
I like not having Ron or Hermoine not being here, as there always here..but Ron and Malfoy make more sense than any of the other teachers and Luna, every corner you question… it’s the dual battle ok then where is Malfoy and Snape… in the classroom? ok… where are the other students, it’s the chamber ok… wheres Ron taking Guilderoy back… and so on
The outside looks good, but its a micro build, kind of, it doesn’t fit the idea of other modular sets, and you can’t even properly play in it, sure it looks nice but why even combine Hogwarts and the chamber, th chamber itself would have been on its own a not here at all, made bigger with a better design, you could have done a set based on Guilderoy room and classrooms etc..that doesn’t include the chamber and it’s trying to be modular.
Personally, I think it’s the worse set designed in the whole Harry Potter range, and that saying something, the green roof just shows you where the thought process was, oh I’m doing an old green roof, ok, as you doing micro? kind of but no…I’m just going to through some stuff in there from the film people will get it. As a standalone and if you can get it cheaper then it’s fine, it can be played kind of, as a stand-alone thing for children, any harry potter collector etc..or modular collectors, or even just for a display ?no, some may like it with links to the older sets but this is part of the new range.
