Halloween Review Finale: 4766 Graveyard Duel

[WesternOutlaw]

My final Halloween review, 4766 Graveyard Duel.

Many Lego fans would agree that one of the most spookiest sets in Lego's official line-up would be Harry Potter's Graveyard Duel. By far, a cemetery has to be the spookiest location for a Lego set, and even for Harry Potter standards, this is among the most darkest of the collection. What better set for a chilling and frightful Halloween eve?

Graveyard Duel

Set #: 4766

Theme: Harry Potter

Year Released: 2005

Piece Count: 548

Minifigs: 7

List Price: $30 (USD)

This set is packed with skeletal spooks, and a number of graves/tombstones with various elements that open, move, and bring the cemetery to life, in a "Thriller"-type manner.

Beginning with a box, very nice boxart:

The back of the box does not provide alternate models, but rather just a better image of the built contents:

Although the set does have some printed tiles, a sticker sheet is included for the grave stones:

This medium-sized set includes seven minifigs, three of which are skeletons.

Here's Harry Potter with two of the villains:

And Voldemort with two skeletons. Not pictured is Voldemort's front cape that I never removed from the small box:

The 7th minifig is a skeleton stuck to a tree (pictured later):

A black caldron maked for a deliciously wicked enchantment. Inside are round 1x1 plates with a silver knife:

I love the spooky tree with four bats and two black hoot owls:

Stuck to the tree is a skeleton:

Outside the cemetery is a nicely designed gate with chain lock:

The front of the gate has hinges to allow it to remain open or closed:

The set includes four different graves: two are of the small variety, one a little larger, and the largest being that of Tom Riddle. Starting with the smallest:

The sides open revealing a 2x4 removable grave, this one with the upper torso of a skeleton. It's hard to see from the picture, but the tomb stone is a skeleton brick:

The 2nd small grave is about the same size:

Except this one lifts upward from the tomb stone revealing the legs of a skeleton:

I'm sure the stickers would also make these look a little more ornate.

The third grave is a little larger with a much more elaborate opening mechanism:

Turning the black lance piece lifts an attached skeleton that also causes two plates over the grave to lift off. This is a fun feature of this set:

The last grave is that of Tom Riddle. I love the winged skeleton on top of the grave stone:

Here's a close-up. This is the head that I used for my Phantom Rider sig fig/avatar after buying this set:

Pushing the grave stone causes the middle section of the grave to lift open revealing an empty grave with a few snakes:

One of my most favorite parts of this set is the small crypt building:

On the side is this small hinged wall with some tools for cleaning up after digging a grave:

The crypt has a removable roof section for playability and a tiled floor:

The tiled floor is actually a false bottom that comes out if wanting to dig up the dead:

The last part of this set is this great little brown "body-wagon". The back section lifts off and serves as a small casket:

A few shots of the entire set:

Summary

Graveyard Duel is my personal favorite of the Harry Potter collection. At a price of only $30 (USD), this set is a great value. With a wide variety of different components including four graves, a crypt, spooky tree, wagon, gate/fence, caldron, and seven minifigs, what more could a graveyard include? - Perhaps a large molded graveyard baseplate, but that's about all I could think of. This set is currently going for $69.49 to $180.00 (USD) MISB on Bricklink. If you don't already own this set and are considering buying, I would strongly recommend it. It's a great set for Harry Potter fans, and if you're not a HP fan like me, it makes for an excellent graveyard.

I hope you enjoy this final Halloween 2008 review. May your Halloween night be filled with haunting memories of Eurobrick's Haunted Trains & Town Forum. :skull:

[AgentRick]

Ooooh Can't wait!

[strider406]

I will be waiting for it.

[WesternOutlaw]

You may want to keep the lights on. Have a haunting Halloween night!

[Captain Zuloo]

That was a fantastic review. You outdid yourself here mate. I usually only skip through a review, but this captivated my attention through to the end. Two thumbs up.

[Omega 8]

I absolutely LOVE the GYD..... It's an amazing set with a TON of playability. Thanks for the excellent review!

[dj2005]

I think you picked the perfect set for the finale as it really looks amazing and the price even more so. Thanks for the great review, TheBrickster! It was definitely worth the wait and I love the poll options.

[MagPiesRUs]

This set is a true beauty, I love all of the attention to detail. The way that the graves open is very nice, I love the printed skeleton tiles. The bats hanging upside down on the tree is great, I was never aware that a hook plate facing downwards existed. Finally, that little crypt is very cool. I love the sand green/dark grey/tan colour scheme, the general shape of the roof, and the removable floor.

I really love this set, it's a shame that I was in my dark ages when this was sold. I'll definitely try to get hold of one through eBay now though, it's fantastic.

The back of the box does not provide alternate models, but rather just a better image of the built contents:

What is the picture in the right top corner? From what I can see, that looks like an alternate model.

Thanks for the wonderful review, TheBrickster.

[WesternOutlaw]

What is the picture in the right top corner? From what I can see, that looks like an alternate model.

Thanks TPRU. Strangely, I've seen that before, and failed to mention it in my review. I was a little tired from trick-or-treating last night when doing this review.

I stand corrected. The back of the box DOES HAVE an alternate model. I'll post a picture in a bit.

EDIT:

Here you go:

[Erdbeereis]

Thanks for that wonderful review Brickster!

I didn't realize how good this set was in the spooky department. The design of the large grave and outbuilding is actually very nice.

Great job on your Halloween reviews.

[JimBee]

Awesome review, Brickster! This set is better than what I originally thought it to be, and cheap, too! With so many play features and cool pieces/ figs, I really want to get this set. Wonderful Halloween reviews this past month, Brickster, hopefully you'll do more themed reviews in the future.

Happy Halloween! :skull:

[WhiteFang]

Brickster, thanks for treating our EB members these wonderful with your 5 star reviews for this year Halloween party.

I really enjoyed reading this review, especially the lightning set up is perfect for creating a scary halloween feeling. I regreted, missing away this set. In fact, I thought this was just another boring HP set, with an expensive price tag. That's why, I had never picked it up before. However, viewing this review has indeed change my perception. It have so many useful parts, especially its brown tree. I love it, and I remembered that you used it in your Gravestone theme earlier.

Thanks for doing this review, and I really hope you have a great Halloween this year.

[Fluyt]

Awesome set with some great parts, definately the best harry potter set. 5/5

A lot of playability as well, very complete set. A definate must buy.

[Legoking]

Nice review!

[eti]

Thanks for the review. That set has been on my BL wanted list for a while and now I'm really sure it's great. Too bad it's so hard to find - in Holland lots of Harry Potter sets are offered 2nd hand but never this one.

[Kubik-Rubik]

Thank you for the review. Very good. I win this set on ebay 3 hours ago

[prateek]

Great review! I wanted this set, but never saw it in stores.

[Hive]

This is one of the few Harry Potter sets that I would really really like to own, it's so great and different. Thanks for the review.

I have one question which someone can hopefully answer: what on earth is the deal with the weird green skeleton torso...?

[CorneliusMurdock]

Are you aware that the review is from 2008? I'm not sure if you're question is worthy enough to bump such an old topic but I'll let it stand this time. Don't make this sort of thing a habit.

I agree the green skeleton is odd but I bet it's supposed to be in the middle of being manipulated by magic or something.