REVIEW: 4709 Hogwarts Castle

[Clone OPatra]

All this Harry Potter set reviewing has got me in a perpetual Harry Potter set reviewing mood. Or maybe it's the other way around. Whatever. Anyway, the theme didn't start in 2010, you know. It started way back in 2001, with the flagship of that wave of course being…

Set Title: Hogwarts Castle

Set #: 4709

Theme: Harry Potter

Film Connection(s): Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone

Pieces: 682

Minifigures: 9

Year of Release: 2001

Price at Release: $90

Buy it? Inventory? Bricklink Peeron

Just browse the pictures? Flickr

INTRODUCTION

Ten years ago, the overarching Harry Potter mania was just testing out its legs. The first film was soon to come out, and it was remaining pretty true to the source material, so its success or failure would have a lot of effect on where the series would go.

LEGO was also just starting to test out a new area of toys: Licensed properties. Star Wars had taken off just two years before, but since it had already been successful, adding another License probably didn't sound like a half-bad idea.

How right LEGO was. Before long, this Hogwarts Castle had sold out like crazy; I had to wait several months before getting my hands on it, having to settle for the Hogwarts Express and some of the smaller sets in the meantime. The question is: why? Was it just the Harry Potter craze? Is this set truly something special? Let's find out…

BOX

My box dissapparated a long time ago. But it was big. And probably had a front flap like big boxes did back then. Yup, moving on. I have too many pictures already, I don't want to waste one on a box pic from the web.

INSTRUCTIONS

This is quite a meaty booklet, larger than a standard (what our European friends call 'A4' I believe) piece of paper. The picture is what must have been on the box as well, and it depicts the castle mysteriously surrounded by water. I seem to remember it being up on a hill in the film, without the ability to have rowboats go right past, but maybe that's just me. The picture actually doesn't make much sense, but it has that nice friendly feel characteristic of HP at the time. No conflict, just the characters happily lazing about.

This being a large set with multiple modules, it actually had a form of numbered bags: bags with pictures on them, showing what the pieces inside constituted. Also, not all of the minifigures came in the first bag to be built, as you can see here. Though I grew up mostly pawing through huge amounts of unsorted LEGO when building a big set, since this one has these clearly divided sections I think the specific bags make a lot of sense. It's really when LEGO has you open a bag to build half a building, and then another bag to complete it that numbered bags are just silly.

Another interesting feature of these instructions is the function illustrations. I will demonstrate the feature shown here later. As you can see, the build is not very complex and moves pretty slowly, making the booklet as thick as it is. Still, there are no piece callouts, so you get to have the old fashioned fun of scanning the images for the new pieces being added.

Once the build is over, there are some pictures showing the crazy amounts of awesome fun that you can have with the set. That astronomy looks totally rad!

There are also multiple sets of alternate instructions. Since this is a large set with a lot of wall pieces, there are a lot of neat Hogwarts-like things that one can build. I don't want to use up too many pictures showing them, so here's one and links to the others.

That annoying screaming kid was probably not even born in 2001, so instead we get a full page ad for the first Harry Potter Creator game. Never played it, so I couldn't tell you about it, but it probably involved building Hogwarts and wasn't anything like the awesome Harry Potter: Years 1-4.

MINIFIGURES

This being the first big set of the Harry Potter line, it comes with all of the essential characters, actually all of the characters that LEGO made for the first wave, besides for Quirrel who only appeared in the $10 set. That was really smart of LEGO to do, since you can have all the fun around Hogwarts with all of the characters, without needing to buy any other sets! Perhaps from a business standpoint that isn't too smart, but it's great for the kiddies (and parents).

Kids

Now, I know I've said in my more recent reviews that I don't care much for these originals, but really I suppose they are alright, and I was glad to have them at the time. They are each a good and distinctive representation of their chracters, and LEGO did a terrific job designing new hairpieces for the trio. I still find Ron to look a bit too zany, but LEGO was going for a cartoony feel. The one thing that really is wrong is the color choices for the outfits. In Sorcerer's Stone, the kids wear dark grey sweaters and pants with black cloaks on top. Also, the Gryffindor shield is never on the sweater; it's on the cloak. I was disappointed then and still am now that LEGO decided to use their standard cape, which is not reminiscent of the movie costumes at all. In any case, they should've used dark grey here (not to mention when they did switch to dark grey, the costumes had actually switched to black).

I felt like showing off those hairpieces, to show what a great job LEGO did on them. These figures just wouldn't have been the same with existing hairpieces. Now would also be a good time to mention Harry's violet cloak. I suppose it's supposed to represent his invisibility cloak, but really that doesn't make any sense. Sure, I like variation in my colors of capes, but he should've just had the black (and starry) one like everybody else.

Yep, the capes have stars on one side. Why, you ask? Who the heck knows. Maybe it's supposed to be 'magical' or something. I'm sorry, but this too doesn't make a shred of sense. At least it's better than the extremely colorful HP sets (if you don't know what I'm referring too, maybe that's a good thing).

Adults

Staffing Hogwarts we have Dumbledore, Snape, and Hagrid, all choices that makes sense (what would Hogwarts be without Dumbledore?). Dumbledore is pretty cool looking dressed all in purple, not the most common of LEGO colors (though his costume looks more dark red most of the time in the film). What I especially like about Dumbledore is how LEGO designed a hair piece to fit the existing beard piece and that he was the first ever minifigure with the beard in grey. Snape, on the other hand, is really dumb. A glow-in-the-dark head? Why? Ok, I guess it's because Harry thinks he's all evil or something, but seriously it's a nonsensical choice. Lastly, the Hagrid figure does the job, while being a bit plain and having too-hollow eyes.

Others

The 'others' are Peeves and a suit of armor, that has the same head as Peeves. These are some of my favorite figures of the bunch. LEGO didn't even have to make Peeves, since he wasn't in the films, but using an old grey minifigure to represent a ghost was an awesome idea. The faint design on his torso just adds to his ghostly appearance. The knight, too, is just all around cool, especially because he's the only minifigure to ever feature that armor piece and visor in light grey. Monochromatic figures also have a neat look about them in general.

Faces Revealed

Here are the minifigures with parts normally covered, not that you would really want to uncover them. Dumbledore is the strangest of the bunch. His mouth is quite far away from his eyes for one, but what's with the revealed chest? I guess he likes to keep things breezy? It's a bit disturbing, just like Hagrid's blank eyes.

With Accessories

Here are the minifigures brandishing their figure-specific accessories. The most exciting is obviously the Gryffindor shield, and perhaps the light grey shortsword as well. The wands are typical, and I don't really understand why Harry has his broom included, but I suppose the Nimbus 2000 is a big deal in the movie/book. Do note that back then each character had to have their own wand color, though it doesn't make much sense for there to be a grey wand (more sense than trans blue, though).

ACCESSORIES

There aren't really a ton of decorative accessories, but there are enough. The printed tiles and books are nice and fit well into the theme, as does the stickered Dumbledore card from a Chocolate Frog. The keys and goblets work too, and more chrome anything is always nice. The rest, though, is odd. Besides for the Sorcerer's Stone itself, there's never much treasure in the HP series, so having a treasure chest (albeit in a cool and rare color for that piece) and gems seems kind of like the designers couldn't handle putting the name 'Castle' on a LEGO set without there being treasure in it. A magnifying glass fits in a little I suppose, and at least that is also in a cool and rare color, appearing in that color mostly in Belville sets.

The books all have exquisite, unique prints that clearly show what subject material they may contain. These are so much more interesting than the plain brown books in the newest Hogwarts Castle, even if two of them are brightly colored. The black one, by the way, is exclusive to this set, and reminds me of the book in the Restricted Section that screams at Harry in the film.

This set also contains a good haul of animal friends, though they all look somewhat blank without printing. Still, they play their part, and owls certainly do have a large part in the HP universe.

BUILD

Nope, I didn't take any build pictures. This set is so open that you can see everything without needing them, and there aren't a whole lot of interesting features of the build. No SNOT in this set. I will take you through the set in the order that it gets built in the instructions, though.

HOGWARTS CASTLE - By Parts

Ok, ready for the grand tour in build order? If you're not, you can find the buttons to take you back to the Licensed Forum or the Board Index up above this post somewhere. But don't do that; you should check out Hogwarts!

Boat

This being a Sorcerer's Stone set, LEGO had to throw in one of the boats that the first years take across the lake, not that I'm complaining. I've got nothing against rowboats, and it does fit for Year 1. The fire and holder works for the lights on the front of the boats as well.

An odd feature of these instructions is that they have you place the minifigures on certain parts of the set as you go, without much good reason why. I guess the LEGO designers just really cared about which figures went with which part of the Castle, dammit! You have to put Draco and Hagrid in the boat, you brainless numskull of a child!

Owlery Tower Topper

Yeah, I didn't really know what to call this thing. It's basically just there to look nice, having no other purpose, but it does the whole 'looking nice' thing quite well. There isn't even a floor, since this goes over the owls on a component that you'll build later. I find it odd that this is actually built before the Boat Archway thing, since it would make more sense to build this right before the olwery that it tops and it would make sense for the Boat Archway to come right after the Boat. But oh well. The designers were spending too much time deciding which figure went with which section of the Castle.

Boat Archway

Hey, LEGO preemptively knew about the boathouse that the filmmakers would add in Deathly Hallows Part II! Or maybe not. For whatever reason, somebody decided to throw in this thing, which fits with the rest of the Castle but serves no purpose. Maybe they just wanted to throw in another turret piece and a BURP, 'cause everybody loves BURPS. At least they got to throw in a third printed wall piece, which only appeared in two sets. Yay, printed pieces!

One advantage of those turret pieces is that they automatically provide space for a minifigure (or two, if they went there to make out). So maybe this thing serves a little purpose as another place to play. One thing the Boat Archway makes me think about is that, if this set were to come out today, LEGO would've stuck dark green cheese slopes all over the BURP. But is it really necessary? Probably not.

Just for funzies, here's the boat going towards the archway. Oooh, so much fun!

Ground Floor

Time to move on to something a bit more substantial: the ground floor of the main tower. Take a good look at the exterior; I won't be returning to it for a while. One thing you immediately have to notice is… Hogwarts Castle looks pretty drafty. LEGO went the route of tons of wall pieces and arches, making it have more the appearance of walls than actual walls. To me it seems like a riff on the Fright Knight Castle, with the addition of the turrets from King Leo's. But let's not think about those monstrosities, shall we? I will say that I like the color scheme on this, and how it transitions from all grey on the right to grey and tan on the left. Overall, quite Hogwartsy feeling.

Now onto the back. (Note: the stairs should be topped off by a red pieces, but I couldn't find it and substituted a bley one) As you can see, there's not a lot going on, but the bookshelf is a nice design, as is the fireplace. I suppose the bigger room is supposed to be the library, while the smaller room is anybody's guess. The table with the magnifying glass is almost too tall for figures, though, which is a bit of a problem.

Due to the smaller room being hinged, the whole floor can either be closed up likes so…

Or opened straight like so, which you would need to do to put it atop the Chamber of Secrets a year later.

As you might have noticed, the owls go on top of the small room. The owlrey is one of the few things that has been featured in every Hogwarts, but don't ask me why. I guess somebody just has a thing for owls. The Owlery Tower Topper goes over these owls, but is not held on by any studs. It just sits there. There's really no problem with that, though you have to remember when you go to move the Castle.

Ground Floor - Features

Since every section has some sort of play-ish feature, I figured I should just show them off as I go. This Castle is full of things that can happen, though not all of them are so exciting. We'll see.

Let's start with the more boring. The reason that table is so high is to accommodate this… little box. Um, I don't get it. Why is there a tiny little book tile in a little box under the table? I think I would've rather had a shorter table that went better with minifigures, sorry.

Next, you can dump the books over. OMG that is so AWESOME! Or not. Did that happen in the movie? I don't think so. Maybe if the bookshelf was actually a secret door to the outside, that would've been cool, but just being a bookshelf that falls over and dumps its books isn't. Besides, setting those books back up on the shelf is a pain.

Then there is of course the collapsible staircase, LEGO's way of creating the moving staircases from the books/films. The problem is that it doesn't change where it goes; it's just either a staircase or a column, but that's ok. It's a neat-looking thing and has a sense of magic about it, since you could unravel it as the minifigure walks up, or something. I like this one.

Now to the most interesting feature. As you might've noticed, the small room is taken up with mostly a fireplace and a rubber band across the floor. If you didn't notice, here it is again. The rubber band goes from under the fireplace to the column across the way. That fireplace looks nice all by itself.

The 2x2 part of the column turns, and, using just the awesome power of friction, makes the fireplace turn as well.

Voila! The fireplace has turned all the way around to reveal… a treasure chest? Ok… As I said up by the accessories picture, it feels to me like this sort of feature belongs in one of LEGO's non-HP castles, but they stuck it in here because heck, it says 'Castle' in the set title. Sure, a clear treasure chest is neat, and the play feature is neat, but it doesn't fit. Not to mention it wasting the entire room. Just some chairs in front of the fireplace for a common room type feel would've been good to go.

Main Tower

Next comes the tower that goes on top of the ground floor that we just looked at. It's not too fancy, which is good, and it looks nice overall in a plain way. Those printed wall pieces have only ever come in two sets, so that's another perk, and it was the big roof piece's first ever time in a color other than 'glitter trans pink.' The color scheme on this part is perhaps a bit mish-mashed, with tan, light grey, dark grey, black, and some brown, but it's not too bad. At least it doesn't look bright and shiny.

The back overview reveals the interior to be pretty spare, but that's not so bad. Though the detailing on the recent Hogwarts sets is better, they are far too cramped, whereas this tower has plenty of room for play, like the library room below.

Some details don't quite add up, though, like the lovely portrait of the Fat Lady (which is not a sticker, though the 'Building the Magical World' book says it is). The instructions have you place the revolving door like this, which would seem to suggest that the Gryffindor common room is on the other side.

But there's nothing at all on the other side, besides the staircase down to the library. So maybe it should be the other way around, since the knight has a Gryffindor sword? But that doesn't look like a common room, it looks like a hallway with a balcony. Creative license, I guess.

The next level features a box with some things on it, I suppose potion bottles or something. LEGO really liked their potion bottles, they kept using them for ten years. This is actually a play feature, which I shall highlight a little later.

The top floor is (what else) the astronomy room, and as such has a nice little telescope and a medium blue book to tell you what the heck you're looking at.

I really like that stand for the book. Sure, it's simple, but it works so well.

The instructions tell you to put the black owl on the outside.

Now that you've built the Main Tower, you can compile the separate components so far to make the entire building. The stone pattern from below really matches up well with that on the tower, and it all comes together to create a huge, imposing building. This thing really is huge, which is a plus, because it makes you really feel like you got your money's worth (and huge models are always good just because they're huge)

Main Tower - Features

The main tower holds several play features (of course), ranking from mundane to ever-so-slightly interesting. The first one has to do with the awesome suit of armor in the 'hallway that may or may not be the Gryffindor common room.' There he is, a lovely monochromatic suit of armor, just chilling…

But aha! Just like his later redesign in the new Hogwarts, he turns around! And it's… more treasure. By now we should've been expecting this, another play feature having to do with hidden treasure. Though, I must admit, I like it being hidden treasure better than it being hidden Tom Riddle's diary.

Another play feature involves that chain that you might've noticed. The chain goes from that lever on the first floor up to the box on the second, and by pulling the lever…

…it opens the box. Now, you might be thinking 'well that's useless,' but I have at least two reasons why it's not. For one, we got a brown chain, and I didn't have very many of those. Ok, that's not really a legitimate reason. The real reason is that it seems magical to me. Like somebody waived their wand and the box opened, and that's cool. Sure, it's just an opening box, but it feels like something that truly fits with Hogwarts and the whole magic thing. The slight downside is that you have to close the box manually, but oh well.

In the box is a chrome key. Mmm… chrome. But what does it go to, you might ask? Uh, who knows. There aren't any doors in this set, so your guess is as good as mind, but by the number of missions in LEGO HP: Years 1-4 that involve finding a key, I'd say finding keys in Hogwarts is pretty imperative. And it's better than more treasure.

The top floor has the nice feature of the roof not being held on by so many studs, so that it easily comes off for your Astronomy-viewing pleasure, or for reenacting other scenes. This makes the room much more playable than those cramped excuses for rooms in 4867 Hogwarts.

Also, the medium blue book contains this tile thing. Dunno what the heck that is, but it's both printed and translucent, so who's complaining?

Great Hall

Since this was the first Hogwarts ever, LEGO of course had to include the Great Hall, one of the more prominently featured locations in the entire Castle. I did my research to try and see if this model actually looks accurate, since the source material is clearly there, and my general feeling is… sorta. The general shape is there, and the central turret, though it's bigger here than it should've been. The real problem is that this building is just kind of ugly. The BURP at the bottom, those laminated cardboard sheets at the top. It's too stark to my taste (and what exactly is with the bats?)

I could compare it to the new one at this point, but I would probably be told (not so nicely) that that would be unfair, and how dare I compare two sets made ten years apart. That would just be wrong wrong wrong. But what do I care? It is a little surprising how much shorter the new one is, but it is clear which is the more beautiful. It isn't like the new one is colorful or even uses difficult techniques; it's just a prettier model.

The designer did a good job trying to cram all of the necessary aspects of the Great Hall into a pretty small space, since it is quite narrow. The fireplace is a detail right out of the films, and it's done well despite using a BURP. The Hall is also nice and tall, like it should be, and the benches and teacher's chair are in the correct orientation with respect to the exterior, unlike in the new one.

However, being so narrow does cause a bit of a problem. For one, there is only one student bench, so (since there are more Gryffindors included) Draco has nowhere to sit (or vice versa, if you really like). The other issue is Dumbledore's chair. the designer was really doing so well on the Castle, keeping it not brightly colored, but out of the blue he or she broke down and gave us this chair. Sure, purple is a nice color and all, but why? And why a 2x6 tile instead of 2x4, which wouldn't have stuck out? Besides, there's no room in the chair for a minifig to sit anyway since it's so small! What the heck?

By contrast, up above is one of the best features of the lot: floating candles. LEGO has effectively used the clear pieces that's also employed in STAPs to pull off a floating flame effect, which is neat. It's also much better than the run-of-the-mill chandelier in the new Great Hall.

Great Hall - Features

No your eyes don't deceive you, there's actually a ruby inside the fire. Or it was just a box bewitched to look like fire? In other words: wtf? But fine, more hidden jewels, fine. (Did I mention 'fine?')

Oho, so the useless, ill designed chair opens! That's the theme of this Castle, hidden stuff in indeterminable places. And as I mentioned before: what do these hidden keys even unlock?

The large piece over the fireplace swings open to reveal Peeves, which actually is kind of nice. Peeves would hide above a fireplace, and hiding spots are cool in general, so this play feature is a (semi-rare) good one.

The final feature lets you reenact the (horrendously stupid) change of decorations at the end of the first film and book, once Gryffindor actually wins the House Cup over Slytherin. The double printed drape is connected to clips and a rotating piece, so you can turn it around…

…and voila! We give it back to Slytherin. I'm not sure how enticing the play feature is over and over again, but it works well and actually represents the film, so it's good.

COMPLETE SET and CONCLUSION

There it is, all of it. The buildings all match each other well, making the overall Castle have a singular look. Because of the baseplates, all of the wall pieces, and other assorted large pieces, the Castle is quite big, despite a piece count that isn't so high. I've always thought sets are mainly priced on the size of the completed model, not so much the piece count, and the size of this one doesn't disappoint for the price. Neither do the minifigures.

So what does disappoint? Really, the way it looks. Like them or not, the old greys are ugly colors, and those coupled with tan, arbitrary smatterings of black, and the occasional bit of old brown do not make for a lovely color scheme. I'm not saying that Hogwarts should be pretty, it certainly shouldn't, but this Castle is a bit too ugly. I don't know how LEGO could've necessarily done better with the colors of the day, but dark tan does wonders for the new Hogwarts Castle and would've been a big help had it been in use back in 2001.

The other disappointing aspect is the play features, taken as a whole. There are lots of them, which is good, but when it comes down to it most of them aren't all that fun nor do they have much to do with Hogwarts or the world of Harry Potter. The interior of the Castle has plenty of space for role play and the like, but it lacks enough detailing, besides for the play features which make little sense. As I mentioned above, some of the details that are there are poorly designed, like Dumbledore's chair in the Great Hall.

Ultimately, this is a mediocre set, though, like almost any set, it has some good aspects. Though it's far uglier than the newest Hogwarts Castle, it's also physically much bigger, which can't be ignored. One of the main problems with the new one is that it's so cramped, whereas this one is quite spacious. I wish LEGO could've worked on a larger scale for the new one, since this one truly is imposing.

RATINGS

Minifigures: 8/10 - I'm only docking a little because Snape looks awful, and I think McGonagall should be in his place. Hagrid's face and Dumbledore's unsettling open shirt are also design flaws.

Pieces: 7/10 - If you like wall panels, they're all in one place. Two BURPS was unnecessary, though, and it could've used more smaller bits for detail.

Design: 5/10 - Yeah, it's big and Hogwarts-y, but it's also ugly ugly. Certain sections of the interior are also badly designed, and one room entirely wasted because of the revolving fireplace play feature.

Playability: 7/10 - There is an undeniable abundance of play features, though not all of them are all that stunning or make sense. Still, this set is heavily play oriented, which is good.

Price: 7/10 - It is big and imposing, and has all of the figures, but it's lackluster. I felt at the time and I feel now that $90 seems just a bit high for a set mostly composed of big-ish parts, with an ugly look. Less than 700 parts doesn't feel so good, even if a lot of them are substantially sized.

Overall: 6.8/10 - I guess given its time and everything, this set doesn't fair too badly. A kid should be able to play with it, and a parent can say 'wow, that's nice a big (if horribly ugly) Castle, sweetie-pie.' It's a little bit more dull than s spaceship that you can swoosh around, but it's a solid playset and a job well enough done as the first ever Hogwarts Castle. At the same time, I wouldn't look to buy this now if you don't already own it. There's just nothing great enough about it to actually want it. For probably less money, buy the new one instead.

[Masked Builder]

I've been reading though my friends old LEGO catalogs and came across this. As always, you've done an amazing job with this set review. It's cool to see how much LEGO has improved sets they've revisited. And I agree with you, it is really ugly!

[ZO6]

Absolutely superb review, Cloney!

Every time I thought you were maybe a bit too critical about something, your next comment would leave me in hysterics. While the 2nd Hogwarts Castle is probably my favorite, each edition has been memorable for one reason or another. I missed picking up this set, but reading through your review helped to make it feel as though it was in my hands. There were a number of little secrets that I didn't know about!

[underpaidsamurai]

The earlier sets look so different from the current ones. Thanks for the great review.

[Skipper]

I remember lusting after this way back . Reading your review (which was, IMOhilarious) and judging from today's perspective this set does look terrible, however I still rated it "above average" for nostalgia and the time in which it was released, much like the early Star Wars license sets.

Thanks for the brilliant review!

Edited August 23, 2011 by Skipper

[The Penguin]

Great review! Thanks a lot, Clone O'Patra! )

Actually that is the only howwarts castle that i do not have in my collection, and i sort of wish I had one. I do understand that it looks plain and basic even for 2001 set. I guess that can be excused by the fact that all HP sets before the third year were suppused to be modular, so it really has more like a doll-house feel to it, rather than a stand-alone-set. Still I agree with you, that kids will find it pretty amusing, while AFOLs won't be mych impressed.

Thanks for a great review!

Good day, ladies and gentlemen! )

[WhiteFang]

Thank you Clonie, once more for another outstanding piece of review.

This is an excellent opportunity to see such a retro HP castle in this nice reviewing presentation. Although the castle may not looked as impressive as the newer ones, but the overall playability and amount of special parts in this castle is also considerably alot for parts. I am always impressed by the different unique parts offered in Classic HP sets, even though HP is not a very old theme but it has improved tremendously over recent years.

[Geertos13]

Aaah Nostalgia!

I own this set. I got this set 10 years ago.. Man time flies!

When I got this set, as I loved the Harry Potter books that came out by then (YES! I was a fan before the movies took over!)

Anyways, I remember getting this set with the first Quidditch Practice set back then. And Oh my, it actually is horrible if we look back at it!

When I got it, I truly loved it! and I still do, it brings back so many memories. And I think that's the power of this set! It might be old and not that well designed but it really was great in it's own way. And let's face it, back then, this set was pretty amazing when it first hit the shelves. And as I was around 10 or 11 years old when I got it, I remember loving all these play features! Just like ZO6 I felt like you were beeing slightly too critical with this set. Of course, I understand that it looks bad compared to what we have now, but I would have liked a review from a 2001 perspective. Then again, that might be just me beeing nostalgic Even though you looked at it from today's perspective, I think the size and all these play features must not be ignored and the playability defenatly deserved more than 7/10!

But, you're the reviewer, so you decide! And with that in mind, I can only say that this is a great review, with awesome photography as usual and loads of humour

[Rufus]

Thanks very much, Cloney, for bringing this old set to life. Many of us will never have seen it up close, so it's great to have that vicarious opportunity

And I too love your dark, sarcastic humour!

As for the castle itself, it has the appearance more of a ruin than of the majesty of Hogwarts, and it certainly looks drafty! But, for the time, I guess it would have been quite impressive.

[GhostFan]

This set came out in my Dark Ages, and ever since I got back into Lego I've been trying to get it at a reasonable price. However, having seen such a thorough review, I think I'm perfectly content with my 4842! I know 4842 has its faults, but I think it appeals to me personally more than 4709, despite its retro charm. So thank you, Clone O'Patra, for preserving my bank balance for another set by your excellent review :).

[Clone OPatra]

Every time I thought you were maybe a bit too critical about something, your next comment would leave me in hysterics.

Hmm, all that mood swinging might not be healthy

And let's face it, back then, this set was pretty amazing when it first hit the shelves. Just like ZO6 I felt like you were beeing slightly too critical with this set. Of course, I understand that it looks bad compared to what we have now, but I would have liked a review from a 2001 perspective. Even though you looked at it from today's perspective, I think the size and all these play features must not be ignored and the playability defenatly deserved more than 7/10!

I've got to say that this time I was not deliberately trying to look at this set from today's perspective (besides for the comparison pic with the new Great Hall). It may not be apparent, but most of my opinions of the faults in this set stem from when I originally got it. Even then I found this set to be ugly and a bit boring. LEGO was capable of delivering very nice looking sets at the time (the Adventurers sets are good examples, and Ninja), but this one was not like that. My playability rating is not based solely on the amount of play features included. I agree with you that there a fair number of them, but most of them are exactly the same and pretty useless, to me. Trap doors and falling statues are exciting play features; hidden gems, not so much.

We probably differ on these points, but I still thought it would be good to explain where I'm coming from. It's difficult to completely immerse oneself in the time period when a set was released for a review, but I can say that nearly all of my critiques are ones that I had when I first got the set. Besides, I'm no big fan of the newest Hogwarts either.

[Ultron]

This brings back memories. I remember getting this for my 6th birthday and it was like the best thing in the whole world.

[JimBee]

Nice review, as always, Cloney. It was really interesting to see the contrast between this Hogwarts and the new one almost a decade later. It really goes to show how much Lego, or any product for that matter can change in a short period of time.

In some ways, though, I like this castle better than the newer versions. While it may not be as smooth-looking and sophisticated as the new Hogwarts, it still has that retro charm with all of the play features and details.

[Lyichir]

Very good review! The first year's Harry Potter sets are somewhat underwhelming in hindsight, which didn't stop a dual HP and LEGO fan like myself from buying pretty much all of them! I imagine that a lot of the inaccuracies and non-plot-important features were due to the movie not being released at the time the set was designed, which is also why Peeves shows up, despite not making it into the movies in the end. I also feel that this, and moreso other HP sets from that year, were trying to appeal to the not-insignificant female audience of the books and movies. Many sets of smaller scenes, like 4722 Gryffindor House or 4723 Diagon Alley shops, included many of the bright colors and accessories one would expect of a Belville set. Other sets, particularly 4706 Forbidden Corridor, had gloomier colors and slightly more emphasis on action scenes. This set seemed to blend the two, with darker, more mysterious colors but an emphasis on open-ended role-play. I think the line improved as years went by and LEGO found that the female audience of HP often were fond of the series precisely for its dark and mysterious elements.

[Red Bricks]

I never though much about this castle before until now, great review!

[SuperChris]

Stunning review, it really makes we want to dig out this set from my LEGO Harry Potter cupboard. Although looking back, it looks a little basic and plain, at the time (I was only 8) I was enchanted by it. Top work.

[Farit]

Thanks for the review at my friend are this set!

[Kettchy]

The early Harry Potter sets were never meant to be based on the films. See also: inclusion of blue fire in the third floor corridor set.

Just saying.

[The Cobra]

Cloney, you got me interested in a set I would hardly care about. Great review!

As for the set, I rated it Above average. It's not perfect, but it really has a lot of great fetures.

[Unforgettable]

I'am very surprised at how small the new Great Hall is. I thought that it was a lot bigger. I mean the roof only just reaches to where the roof start's on the old Great Hall, which makes the new Great Hall less than half the old one. I just find that a bit strange. I have to admit though it is a lovely set, looking back at it I have one on display in Mint Condition in a Glass Box, and it looks so wonderful. I think my favourite though is the second one.

[badboytje88]

What a great informing and even more funny review. The photography is top notch. I loved this set when I got it, and it was LEGO Harry Potter which kept me from going into a dark age. But somehow I just can't rebuild this set and place it next to the new sets. It looks so bad

[Lenovo]

Even though you do say some little negative things about your Mini-figs, your still entitled to you opinion, Where would we be if no one spoke about what they believed in. However I think you should at least give a little credit to the what was available at the time, I actually really like all the old LEGO it's still incredible now. I do find your reviews quite funny, you ad some very funny comedy elements. :)

I'm sorry Clone O'Patra if I ever made you angry or upset. I guess I just got upset because I cherish the old LEGO so much. I actually think your a lovely person, and your reviews are really helpful and detailed, in fact there the best reviews I have seen.

[Hinckley]

Even though you do say some little negative things about your Mini-figs, your still entitled to you opinion, Where would we be if no one spoke about what they believed in. However I think you should at least give a little credit to the what was available at the time, I actually really like all the old LEGO it's still incredible now. I do find your reviews quite funny, you ad some very funny comedy elements. :)

I'm sorry Clone O'Patra if I ever made you angry or upset. I guess I just got upset because I cherish the old LEGO so much. I actually think your a lovely person, and your reviews are really helpful and detailed, in fact there the best reviews I have seen.

You have an unhealthy fixation on Clone O'Patra's opinion. And I'm not referring to your fake olive branch here. I'm referring to over 20 accounts you created to vote on his reviews and leave comments. Stop it. People have opinions that differ from yours. Such is life. Move on.

[paulyb]

really enjoyed your review. I prefer the 4842 too visually, it looks so much nicer and more rooms, but 4709 is a gem of a castle (plus £100 cheaper).

My initial thought is the 4709 is surprisingly small. The Eurobrick review and others make it look bigger than it is, close photography is effective and Queen Brick is smaller than she looks!

People mention other castle have even smaller rooms, so perhaps this was the best choice (perhaps not for display but for playing with, the latter being most important for my kids.

That said, 4709 has too little that relates to the movies, that said, the castle has been upgraded with a new lego 4842 style roof, columns of clear glass bricks for windows for the great hall, gold plates and goblets for the food, plus extra base plates to expand the great hall to permit another 2 house tables to fit (shame Huffle and Raven logos aren't available). I know, extra expense, but 4709 looks even better now. I also found a load of furniture and a crystal ball from my daughter's Lego Friends sets to make the Gryffinder common room look usable and turned the room below the astronomy tower into Trelawney's class.

Snape's classroom and Slytherin Common room look like a certain bet, and especially as they're designed to fit under the 4709. The Owlery and rotating fireplace look redundant, I think I may salvage that turn it into Dumbledore's office with some bits from the Lego Friends set that's lying around everywhere. Maybe use the rotating fireplace mechanism to turn it into a magical vanishing cabinet that actually vanishes, how I love Lego.

Edited April 12, 2013 by paulyb