Review: 76397 Hogwarts Moment: Defence Against the Dark Arts Class
Posted by CapnRex101,76397 Hogwarts Moment: Defence Against the Dark Arts Class expands the creative Hogwarts Moments collection introduced last year. These models celebrate prominent wizarding subjects and cleverly package various classrooms within colourful books!
Black was certainly an appropriate selection for Defence Against the Dark Arts and the classroom inside replicates various memorable details from 'Mad-Eye' Moody's lessons. However, the accompanying Alastor Moody minifigure may prove to be the highlight, alongside his miniaturised counterpart.
Summary
76397 Hogwarts Moment: Defence Against the Dark Arts Class, 257 pieces.
£24.99 / $29.99 / €29.99 | 9.7p/11.7c/11.7c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
The classroom appears authentic, but is overwhelmingly dependent on stickers.
- Exceptional 'Mad-Eye' Moody minifigure
- Numerous details from the movie
- Awkward classroom configuration
- Excessive number of stickers
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
Two students are included, beginning with Hermione Granger. This minifigure takes inspiration from Hermione's appearance during The Goblet of Fire, so features a wavy hair component and medium legs. These approximate the onscreen character and this Hogwarts uniform looks great too, displaying the Gryffindor colours and emblem.
Neville Longbottom wears a similar robe, albeit open to reveal the dark bluish grey jumper underneath. Both torsos were introduced last year, so have appeared elsewhere. Neville's double-sided head is less common, returning from 75969 Hogwarts Astronomy Tower and including suitably prominent teeth. His smiling face looks nice, but something more expressive would have been perfect for Neville's harrowing experience in Moody's class.
Hermione's angry expression is therefore appropriate for this scene, with accurate freckles and an alternative smile as well. Both minifigures carry wands of the correct colour, with Hermione's dark tan accessory and Neville's dark brown wand.
'Mad-Eye' Moody has appeared remarkably infrequently across the Harry Potter range, most recently in the first series of Collectable Minifigures. This depiction of the character closely resembles that Collectable Minifigure, which is fantastic because the existing design was essentially perfect! The tan hair piece, for example, remains unchanged and Moody's scarred face includes wonderful detail.
The dual-moulded legs also return from the previous minifigure, representing Moody's false leg. However, the colours have been updated and the ex-Auror now sports a medium nougat coat over a reddish brown jacket, replacing dark tan and dark bluish grey attire. The exact colours change depending on the lighting during different scenes, so I am pleased with either version.
Of course, it is discovered that Barty Crouch Jr. has actually taken on Alastor Moody's identity during Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts, using Polyjuice Potion. The character's alternative face accordingly belongs to Crouch and appears outstanding, with his tongue visible! An appropriate hair piece is also supplied, again matching the Collectable Minifigure, alongside a wooden staff and a hip flask.
The Completed Model
Having already presented the Hogwarts house colours in the first wave of Hogwarts Moments, the new books instead feature colours associated with their subjects. Black was definitely the best choice for Defence Against the Dark Arts, contrasting with past models and reflecting the bleak atmosphere in Professor Moody's lessons. However, the flame yellowish orange accents remain intact from other Hogwarts Moments.
The book is perhaps smaller than one might envisage, measuring 13cm in height and nearly 9cm across. Nevertheless, the cover includes attractive metallic gold decoration. The sinister Dark Mark, a stake, a werewolf's head, a spider, two crossed wands and a shield surround the Hogwarts crest. These golden designs stand out against the black cover.
Crossed wands also adorn the spine, although they are formed using a sticker. The reverse is undecorated, but includes dark tan pieces which can be used to connect the book with others from the collection. While they look reasonable together, these are not necessarily something worthy of display among other Harry Potter sets, in my opinion.
Opening the book reveals the classroom inside, cleverly arranged to occupy the limited space available. This configuration is unique among the six models from the series, although other examples are more tightly packed. 76384 Hogwarts Moment: Herbology Class remains my favourite design in that respect.
An impressive selection of furnishings are included though. The walls fold out and include numerous noticeable features from the film, including several which rely upon stickers. The central wall divides the chamber in half though, which seems strange. This arrangement was effective in 76383 Hogwarts Moment: Potions Class, representing the storage room, but the configuration here is awkward.
The details are certainly successful though, including a stickered chalkboard that matches the onscreen location precisely. Professor Moody's desk looks good too, while a large magnifying class and various potions are situated along the wall. The magnifying glass is particularly vital because many are distributed around Moody's classroom during The Goblet of Fire.
Other magnifying lenses and jars containing animals are represented by stickers. Stickers are an unfortunate necessity of the Hogwarts Moments series, since there is not enough space for everything to be constructed. These designs correspond precisely with the onscreen classroom, but such extensive use of stickers is disappointing.
The other side includes a similar number of stickers, featuring more potions ingredients beside another bell jar. The darker stickers on the inside cover of the book provide pleasing detail too, but I prefer surfaces where stickers complement brick-built details, such as those on the other side, as shown above. Even so, the black colour looks good inside this gloomy classroom.
My favourite details inside the classroom are the book and the chest where the real 'Mad-Eye' Moody is imprisoned. The book contains an exclusive printed 1x2 tile, featuring the Dark Mark, while the chest houses a tiny Alastor Moody figure! The decoration is inevitably simple, but the character's white clothing and missing eye are present. Moreover, the pearl dark grey chest is only available here and includes the new lid.
Overall
I was surprised to learn that the Hogwarts Moments series would be returning this year, even though there are obviously subjects remaining to present. 76397 Hogwarts Moment: Defence Against the Dark Arts Class reflects the atmosphere associated with Professor Moody's brutal approach to teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts, but I think this design relies excessively upon stickers.
The minifigures are excellent though. I think 'Mad-Eye' Moody is among the best modern Harry Potter minifigures, while his imprisoned counterpart is also an appealing addition. Even so, the price of £24.99, $29.99 or €29.99 seems quite expensive and I think other Hogwarts Moments sets are better than this one, despite the outstanding Alastor Moody minifigure.
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20 comments on this article
THIS is a certified HOGWARTS MOMENT.
Interesting that the spider on the front is the old design, but the one in the set is the new design!
Also it makes me sad that Barty Jr. is still the only rendition of David Tenannt in minfigure form.
I thought reviews were going to now include a photo of the sticker set?
I wish these books were just normal rooms especialy for this price.
LOVE new chest~!
@MisterBrickster said:
"Interesting that the spider on the front is the old design, but the one in the set is the new design!
Also it makes me sad that Barty Jr. is still the only rendition of David Tenannt in minfigure form."
I guess it depends on if the Scrooge McDuck minifigure is based off of the original or the reboot of DuckTales. If it's the reboot you can make the argument that David Tennant has two minifigures, as he voices Scrooge in the reboot.
Wasn't Neville's hair much longer in GoF?
@CapnRex101 The room is divided in half because the left section with all the potion ingredients/glass equipment represents Moody's office.
Replace the hair piece with a black one and Neville looks like a Goth kid with those black lips. :))
The name "Hogwarts Moment" cracks me up. I feel like I'm reading ironic gen-z Twitter.
I'll never buy these books at MSRP ever again. I purchased all four of the previous ones at launch for MSRP. I built one, was very underwhelmed and felt cheated at the price and details, and then returned the other three. Bought those missing three for 20% off months latter, and they still felt too expensive.
Like this Moody better I think, never was a fan of the blue pants on the CMF, they clashed too much. Wish we could have gotten a neutral Tennant head though. That tongue print doesn't allow for much versatility :/
The classroom does seem pretty nice, although I can't help but be disappointed that this probably means we won't get a proper set anytime soon. I always wanted 4752, and would have liked to get a proper update, with the dragon skeleton and everything. Ah well, maybe in a future wave.
@SithLord196:
It’s a hard argument to make that Scrooge could possibly be based on the new series. For one thing, the nephews are all dressed identically as minifigs. In the new series, Huey wears a polo and baseball cap. Dewey wears a short-sleeve t-shirt over a lighter blue long-sleeved shirt. And Louie wears a green hoodie. More importantly, Scrooge usually wears a red jacket in the new series, while the minifig is in blue. The blue coat does predate the 1987 series, but this specific color scheme appears to be original to Ducktales, and the default costume for any other properties prior to the 2017 reboot.
@R0Sch said:
"Replace the hair piece with a black one and Neville looks like a Goth kid with those black lips. :))"
Edward Scissorhands? I was gonna say use the Soldier 76 hair to make Angel Dust but he doesn't seem to have lips.
I agree 100% with the "just make these classrooms without the book gimmick" sentiment but these are great enough as-is. I don't think I'll get this one but Moody might win me over.
Good review. I like the printed book page and tiny Moody, but that's it for this set.
@CapnRex101 You write «even though there are obviously subjects remaining to present», but did you mean «there were»? After these last two Moments, the only subjects shown onscreen that remain to be seen in this format are Flying and Care of Magical Creatures, neither of which lend themselves well to this format. In fact, there are only six onscreen lessons left to do: Flying from Philosopher's, DADA from Chamber, Care of Magical Creatures and DADA from Azkaban, DADA from Order and Potions from Half-Blood Prince. They could do Dumbledore's Army, I suppose, but I think this is it for the Moments.
Do you get a spare teeny Moody?
@Jackthenipper said:
"Do you get a spare teeny Moody?"
Yes, there’s a spare.
@KotlinGirl said:
" @Jackthenipper said:
"Do you get a spare teeny Moody?"
Yes, there’s a spare. "
Perfect for army-building
@Orange_Jooze said:
" @KotlinGirl said:
" @Jackthenipper said:
"Do you get a spare teeny Moody?"
Yes, there’s a spare. "
Perfect for army-building"
You laughing Orange-Jooze?
> Stickers are an unfortunate necessity of the Hogwarts Moments series, since there is not enough space for everything to be constructed.
I think there's a corollary to this point about the necessity of stickers, which is -- I assume -- stickers help keep total cost of a model down without sacrificing detail.
I wonder what the price of this model would be if all the stickers were replaced with brick built features.
@Padmewan:
Stickers save cost vs printing the same design on a standard part. Print amplifies the number of elements they have to warehouse and track. Stickers accomplish that with one or two sheets per set. Both are used to add detail that can’t be accomplished without lots of expensive and exclusive molds.
For this set, stuff like windows and a dragon skull fit within the underside of a tile, which isn’t a lot of space to build in. Each of these Hogwarts Moments sets (excluding the minifigs) folds and packs up into the shape of a book, and there’s so little room to spare that when the first wave was revealed, people didn’t believe it was possible. Switch to print, and unless you can soak those new element slots by endlessly reusing old minifig parts, the sets get a lot more expensive.