Harry Potter sets that can be made for each of the Hogwarts Houses are a natural collectible angle for LEGO to take. It’s a bit surprising there haven’t already been more of them! The House Banners series has something to offer no matter the buyer’s favorite House, and four things to offer for collectors. But do these banners fly? 76409 Gryffindor House Banner (285 pieces, US $34.99 | CAN $44.99 | UK £29.99), 76410 Slytherin House Banner (349 pieces, US $34.99 | CAN $44.99 | UK £29.99), 76411 Ravenclaw House Banner (305 pieces, US $34.99 | CAN $44.99 | UK £29.99), and 76412 Hufflepuff House Banner (313 pieces, US $34.99 | CAN $44.99 | UK £29.99) are available now.
This set is based on a license The LEGO Group has with the Warner Brothers films, not J.K. Rowling directly. The transphobic views expressed by Rowling do not reflect the values of The Brothers Brick or, indeed, those of The LEGO Group. The magical world Rowling created, in which many who felt a bit different could see themselves, meant a great deal to so many people, including those that Rowling now demeans. TBB affirms each individual LEGO fan’s choice to claim a piece of the world for themselves, or to reject it entirely.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Unboxing the parts and instructions
Each House Banner set comes in a modest rectangular thumb punch box with a vertical rendering of the banner on the front, with some of the included accessories seeming to magically drift out as it starts to crack open. The bottom also touts the “3D images” from the included lenticular backgrounds.
The back of the boxes show the fully opened and accessorized as the House common rooms. The lenticular images are plugged again, as is the full series of banners.
Each set comes with an instruction manual, a sticker sheet, the lenticular background, two numbered bags, and four loose 8×8 plates – in very useful and attractive colors.
The build
These are pretty simple builds. There’s a bunch of building with brackets and SNOT to get the common room wall structure affixed to the back side of the banner, but it’s still largely stacking and simple construction. Some of the pieces of furniture and other accessories are nice small builds. There are a few places where the instructions less clear than we’ve come to expect from LEGO’s excellent instructions. For example in step 78 of the Hufflepuff banner, the place where the 2×2 inverted tile is placed is almost completely obscured, and the angle of the instruction image is very unhelpful. It’s a very small issue but it didn’t seem up to LEGO’s usual quality.
The completed banners: Gryffindor
The Gryffindor common room has a cozy fireplace – where Sirius Black sometimes appears in the flames – with a set of cozy armchairs, a window seat, and a wizard chess set. These sets are even more packed with easter eggs than regular Harry Potter sets. Here’s what we’ve spotted: Neville’s Remembrall is sitting on top of a book on the bookshelf on the right. Next to the fire, a Cornish Pixie is hiding in a pot from some angles. The House Cup switches from 1st to 4th place. And of course Godric Gryffindor is pictured with the Sword of Gryffindor, which is also included. What else can you see?
The included minifigures are Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, and Angelina Johnson. For collectors, Angelina is the headliner, having never appeared before in minifigure form, and with an updated ribbed quidditch sweater that is also completely new. Harry and Neville have appeared many, many times before; this Harry torso is technically unique, though it’s similar to several other recent ones.
Hufflepuff
The Hufflepuff common room is not depicted in the original series, but has been in later supplemental material such as Pottermore. It is described as having puffy couches, a cozy vibe, and lots of food and plants, and while the couches could perhaps be puffier, the room is interwoven with greenery and does feel quite cozy. Nifflers and Mandrake appear and disappear on the lenticular background, along with the fire flickering and some clouds moving around. The barrels are the entrance to the Hufflepuff dorms. The room is also decorated with a portrait of Helga Hufflepuff, a portrait of Newt Scamandar, and a painting of some fruit. This would seem to be the entrance to the Hogwarts kitchens, which is in the same corridor as the entrance to Hufflepuff but doesn’t make sense to be inside the common room. It’s also both understandable that Hufflepuff’s Cup is included, but also odd, since at the time period when these students are present it is one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes.
The students included are Cedric Diggory, Hannah Abbott, and Susan Bones. Cedric has the Hufflepuff equivalent of Angelina Johnson’s torso, a new, very nice Quidditch sweater. Hannah is made up entirely of existing pieces, though the hair and head are relatively uncommon. Susan Bones has a new color of the hair that was originally seen with Moaning Myrtle, and her torso, though very similar to many Hogwarts torsos over the years, is a new one that adds more variety to Hufflepuff students.
Ravenclaw
One of my main complaints with this set – and the Slytherin one – is that the box art really, really looks like the tiles on the front the banner are drum laquered silver. They are not; they are light blueish gray. Some of these new shapes are still very nice to get in as broadly useful a color as light blueish gray, but silver tiles would have been much more exciting and made the front much more eye catching. (As an aside, silver is only appropriate as these sets are based on the movies. Ravenclaw’s colors in the books are blue and bronze, and their mascot is an eagle, not a raven. Ahem.)
The Ravenclaw common room is dominated by books, many of which appear similar to the Hogwarts Moments sets. There are two very comfortable looking armchairs, some lamps, and a nicely detailed fireplace. The decision to use gray instead of silver results in another compromise – the crest at the top of the build is white and blue instead of silver and blue. This set also hides a majority of the lenticular background, strangely including many moving elements, including an appearing/disappearing version of Luna’s Lost List. The left-hand window being entirely empty also looks like the designers forgot to come back to it. The backdrop does include a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw and the requisite flickering fireplace. Rowena’s Diadem is also present, so we should assume the Founders artifacts are included regardless of if they should would actually ever have been in these rooms.
Luna Lovegood, Cho Chang, Michael Corner, and a Cornish Pixie populate the common room. Michael has never appeared in minifigure form before, and includes a torso that is new in Ravenclaw colors, though similar to many that have been made for Gryffindor students. He’s a minor character, but it’s not clear who would be better. Luna and Cho have appeared relatively frequently. Cho has a new head, welcome in the new warm tan tone, and a new torso that matches the other Quidditch sweaters in these sets. Luna’s head and torso have only appeared once before.
Slytherin
Similar to the Ravenclaw set, the front of the Slytherin House Banner is really let down by using light blueish gray instead of silver tiles, and substituting white in the interior crest. The Slytherin common room has creepy green lights, a black chair that fits the mood while still looking comfortable. It’s also down in the dungeons, far enough underground that it is under the Black Lake, and so underwater scenes are visible in the lenticular backdrop through some windows. There are many pictures and artifacts present, including another Founder Horcrux: Salazar Slytherin’s locket, a portrait of Salazar, the Hand of Glory, a portrait of Severus Snape, and more. Doors next to the fireplace open to reveal “Tom Riddle was here” – perhaps an odd touch since Voldemort wanted to erase the Riddle name. The left side has another awkward unfinished area, though this time it does represent the doorway and stairs into the common room.
The room is occupied by Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, and Pansy Parkinson. All three minifigures are new, though many of the parts are not. Blaise has the Slytherin version of the Quidditch sweater, and Pansy has a new torso with Slytherin green highlights, similar to Michael Corner, Susan Bones, and Harry in the other banners. Pansy and Draco’s heads have new expressions. None of the minfigures – in any of the banner sets – have printed legs.
Conclusion and recommendation
These sets attempt to be a mix of play and display. We’ve talked about the common rooms and what’s inside; how about the display aspect? The banners have a hanger piece – excuse me, PLATE 2X6, W/ FUNCTION, NO. 1 – that first appeared in DOTS sets, though this is the first time they’ve appeared in black. The other occurrences were all light or bright colors, so black will be useful for blending in more and other general use. The hanger is securely built into the top of the sets, and it works just as you’d expect. The rest of the banner, however, can be fragile, and one needs to be careful when opening and closing them up.
At this point we need to acknowledge the price point of $35 in the U.S. The sets range from 285 (Gryffindor) to 349 (Hufflepuff) pieces, and Gryffindor in particular feels like a weak entry. The minifigures are all technically new, but unlikely to be highly desirable. So do we recommend them? If you are a Harry Potter collector, you probably don’t need this review to know that you’ll want all four. If you really like one of the Houses but aren’t a big Harry Potter completionist, the banner for that House will give you three solid minifigures from the house as well as the hangable banner; it’s a reasonable deal. Otherwise, these are a bit too pricy, and a bit too split between play and display, to recommend at full price.
76409 Gryffindor House Banner contains 3 minifigures and 285 pieces and is available now for US $34.99 | CAN $44.99 | UK £29.99. It may also be available on Amazon and Ebay.
76410 Slytherin House Banner contains 349 pieces and 3 minfigures and is available now for US $34.99 | CAN $44.99 | UK £29.99. It may also be available on Amazon and Ebay.
76411 Ravenclaw House Banner contains 305 pieces and 3 minifigures and is available now for US $34.99 | CAN $44.99 | UK £29.99. It may also be available on Amazon and Ebay.
76412 Hufflepuff House Banner contains 313 pieces and 3 minifigures and is available now for US $34.99 | CAN $44.99 | UK £29.99. It may also be available on Amazon and Ebay.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with early copies of these sets for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
