Review: 76396 Hogwarts Moment: Divination Class
Posted by CapnRex101,Unique features and personality are integral to appealing sets, especially when the designs are superficially very similar! The present Hogwarts Moments collection demonstrates this outward consistency, since matching books house some different classrooms inside.
Purple distinguishes 76396 Hogwarts Moment: Divination Class from comparable products, embracing the eccentricity associated with both Professor Trelawney and Divination. Additionally, this depiction of Professor Trelawney looks delightful, matching the high standard of professor minifigures among these sets.
Summary
76396 Hogwarts Moment: Divination Class, 297 pieces.
£24.99 / $29.99 / €29.99 | 8.4p/10.1c/10.1c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
This Hogwarts Moment is simple, but captures the essential features of Divination.
- Attractive colour scheme
- Attention to movie details
- Superb Professor Trelawney minifigure
- Relatively basic transformation
- Heavy reliance upon stickers
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
Harry Potter inevitably appears very frequently within his eponymous theme and his presence here is understandable, although an exclusive character like Bem would have been preferred. Nevertheless, the minifigure features a nice Gryffindor robe, jumper and tie, with medium legs. The hair piece is unusual though because this scene is seemingly based upon The Prisoner of Azkaban, whereas this hairstyle is associated with The Goblet of Fire.
Unlike many of her classmates, Parvati Patil shows a particular interest in Divination and is a welcome addition, having only appeared once before in 75981 Harry Potter Advent Calendar. Her Hogwarts uniform looks superb and this double-sided head is new, displaying happy and concerned facial expressions. Additionally, this textured hair component suits Parvati perfectly.
Harry's double-sided head is not unique, which is unfortunate as something with a worried or puzzled expression would be great for Divination. This design looks good though and the two students carry dark brown and dark orange wands, reflecting the movies.
The most exciting minifigure is definitely Professor Trelawney, whose Collectable Minifigure was outstanding during 2018. This version of the character takes inspiration from Order of the Phoenix, so sports an elaborate shawl with metallic gold patterning. The design looks fantastic and complements the earthy sand green garb underneath, with metallic silver charms hanging around Trelawney's neck.
This enormous hair piece was introduced for the Collectable Minifigure and features amazing texture, capturing the professor's frizzy hair. The decorated bandana does not actually appear during Order of the Phoenix, but features exceptional dark orange and olive green details. I am glad this component has returned, despite not being completely accurate.
Professor Trelawney's head is also exceptional, featuring huge glasses which exaggerate the size of her eyes! This attention to detail is impressive and her facial expressions look nice, but could have appeared even more manic. This set contains a lime green book, with a printed 1x2 tile inside that shows the Grim, an omen of death. Similar exclusive tiles appear throughout the Hogwarts Moments series.
The Completed Model
76396 Hogwarts Moment: Divination Class stands out within this collection, including a bright purple cover alongside the repeated flame yellowish orange highlights. These colours are not necessarily complementary, but I think purple was an excellent choice for Divination, reflecting Professor Trelawney's gaudy classroom inside.
The metallic gold decoration on the cover displays various images associated with Divination. These include a crystal ball, a jewel, a crescent moon, the Grim and a teacup, all surrounding the Hogwarts crest. Unfortunately, the structure between the front and back covers looks quite untidy, as numerous colours are exposed along the top and side. Other sets have fared better, in that regard.
However, the Hogwarts Moments books are intended for display with their spine outwards, like real books. A crystal ball sticker is accordingly placed here. Moreover, this book can connect to others from the growing series, using dark tan 1x1 round tiles with bars and 1x2 rounded plates with hollow studs.
The classroom is folded inside, as normal. I always enjoy learning how the designers pack as many furnishings and accessories into these models as possible and the Divination classroom impresses, with a chair and crockery cabinet attached upside down. The large walls are notably basic though, recalling 76382 Hogwarts Moment: Transfiguration Class.
Even so, I think this arrangement works nicely for the cavernous Divination classroom, rather than including the dividing walls which sometimes appear in these sets. The continued purple backdrop colour looks great and I like the combination of dark red and flame yellowish orange, faithfully recreating the curtains draped around this location onscreen.
Stickers contribute considerably to that impression, with curtains adorning those applied inside the book covers. While the stickers are obviously large, only six are actually supplied, which is fewer than other Hogwarts Moments. The structure at the centre appears notably complex too, surpassing other sets. The carved owl looks marvellous and has never appeared in tan before, without decoration.
Another sticker features teacups and teapots inside a cabinet, recalling City and Friends sets. However, the design looks reasonable and clips are included for wands or extra teacups. The accompanying table resembles those around Professor Trelawney's classroom during the film. Bigger tables would have been preferred, but presumably could not fit inside the book.
Trelawney's armchair and desk are more effective. Their colours are appealing and I love the dark bluish grey ice cream cones, forming table legs. The crystal ball looks excellent as well, benefiting from the trans-clear spherical helmet developed for Mysterio. This represents the perfect crystal ball, as already demonstrated in 76389 Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets.
Overall
Hogwarts Moments are not among my favourite Harry Potter sets, although 76396 Hogwarts Moment: Divination Class does provide something fun. I appreciate this bright colour scheme and numerous details from the movies are present, including a golden light fixture and stacked teacups on stickers. Constructing that light fixture would have been ideal though.
The updated Professor Trelawney minifigure is very welcome, given her past exclusivity to the Collectable Minifigures series within the modern Harry Potter range. In that respect, this set is similar to 76397 Hogwarts Moment: Defence Against the Dark Arts Class, as both sets include new versions of Collectable Minifigures. However, that similarity extends to the expensive price of £24.99, $29.99 or €29.99.
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13 comments on this article
@CapnRex101 Do the cabinet doors open freely and sit too lose in your set too?
I was also a little annoyed by the mess of colours on the edges of this particular book. The other ones look much cleaner.
Stickers!!!!
Show us the sticker sheet, so I can be more annoyed!!!
ARRRRRRRRRRRH!!!!!
Has anyone done a picture of all of these 'Books' together. I think I'd quite like to see them all lined up on a shelve!
@bigandywatson said:
"Has anyone done a picture of all of these 'Books' together. I think I'd quite like to see them all lined up on a shelve! "
Yes. Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TmWCg3fU_Q
Having finally caught up on all the Harry Potter sets from 2018-2021 I am very excited to pick this up eventually at a discount haha
They can't seem to make their minds up between printing long robes on legs, or on the dress/skirt piece. I feel Trelawney would look better with the latter personally.
That tan owl piece without printing is SUUUUUUPER cool and useful and it’s a little surprising we haven’t gotten one before as a decorative element.
@Freddy_Hodson:
No, they have it figured out. If a minifig has to sit, they always get legs. She has an easy chair here, so legs it is. The CMF had no furniture, so she got a skirt.
My only disappointment with this set involves the arrangement of the studs on the top when it is all folded up. For the other books the studs on top are seemingly arranged in a way that you can stand the figures atop the book, all facing towards the cover, pretty easily. It makes a vice display. But this one? Nope! You've got to put Trelawny standing sideways and Parvati sniffing Harry's hair to get them on studs.
For the 6 books we have remarkably few duplicate characters. Having only 2 Harry's (which is astonishingly low for HP sets) 2 Hermione's and 2 Nevel's of all things.
Ginny's hairpiece in the second minifigure series would have been perfect for Trelawney. Missed opportunity.
My favorite line in all seven of the Harry Potter books takes place in Professor Trelawney's classroom. The line is from Ron regarding a planet in the solar system. IYKYK =-)
Thanks for the review. I think they did what they could for this set. The stickers are unfortunate, but necessary due to space.
I don't build these sets, I part them out, but look at them for inspiration for a larger build sometime in the future. The figures look solid.
The "golden light fixture" looks like C3-P0's head.