REVIEW: 4865 - The Forbidden Forest

[Catanas]

Well, I was just popping into town to collect my free newspaper lego when I decided to pop into John Lewis (A large British department store)Lo and behold they were putting out the latest Harry Potter sets a bit early. Since funds are tight I decided to snap up the littlest one for now, and in turn, have decided to try and integrate myself into the community a little more with my first review. Sorry about the photos, as my camera is about 9 years old, I have little experience with it, and nowhere decent to shoot :P! Any advice would be tops! Thanks!

Anywho... on we go.

Set Number: 4865

Name: The Forbidden Forest

Theme: Harry Potter

Release Date: June 2011

Pieces: 64

Minifigs: 4

Price: $11.99 USD £10.49 GBP

S@H description:

In Forbidden Forest, Lord Voldemort and his followers have captured Hagrid and tied him to a tree. When Harry Potter enters the Forbidden Forest to face his destiny, Lord Voldemort attacks. Will Lord Voldemort defeat Harry Potter once and for all? Will Narcissa Malfoy betray the Dark Lord?

Here we see the box, reminiscent of the previous Harry Potter sets from the current line with a delightful deep red, patterned background enhanced by some very serious looking cast members from the movies. The picture on the box gives you a great idea of whats inside though it seems to be missing the little snake fella!

The back of the box introduces us to the set as a whole and clearly shows what you should be getting on what seems to be a piece of parchment. Again the delightful red rolls over from the front of the box. Also shown here is the 'action' feature which seems to be quite common among the Harry Potter sets. A figure will stand next to the tree and get thrown across the surface by a spell. Its a wonder they manage to stay on their feet half the time with all these 'action' features around. As you can also see, the box is the standard push tab type.

The contents of the box! Instructions, folded I'm afraid with none of that lovely cardboard, and two bags.

The front of the instruction book, nothing new here. Just a crease!

Apart from the usual page of sets from the theme and the annoying child who wants us to WIN! all the time, there was this interesting page for an upcoming game. :)

Now, here is what makes this set and beefs up the price tag! The figures. I'm half and half on this one as we get two very common figures and two not so common. We have the delightful Narcissa Malfoy, mother of Draco and wife to Lucius. We also have the devious Lord Voldermort, it being nice to see him in a smaller set for a decent price tag! Then we have Harry Potter, the boy who lived (And cloned himself over and over and over and over apparantly) and the mighty Hagrid, who again, seems to have access to a cloning machine.

Here we have the villains in all their glory. Narcissa is the star of the set and doesnt dissapoint, with that lovely printed hair and intricate, double sided dress. She has double sided features, content and angry. She seems to bear a decent resemblance to the character with the eyebrows being particularly effective. My only real gripe is, like some other recent sets, her dress and torso do not align correctly.

Voldermort, is as always, grumbling about something. He is one sided in all respects and comes with that lovely, fashionable cape seen on many a themes catwalk. Like I said before though, its nice to get the films main antagonist in a smaller set as I couldnt afford Hogwarts. :(

The heroes! Or whatever you like to call them! Harry is your bog standard Harry that you've seen in every set in the current wave. Well, every uniformed Harry, which, correct me if I'm wrong here, he shouldn't be wearing in this scene as he isn't a pupil at Hogwarts at this time?

Hagrid, oh Hagrid, giant and friend to leading cast members! In this set, we see Hagrid without his beloved pink umbrella, but still with a cheery smile underneath that bushy beard. Nothing can get to our beloved Hagrid. Being tied to a tree is great fun for the big fellow.

The pieces! A decent selection of tree building parts including brown slops, black tiles, tan jumpers and a dark tan base.

Parts of note include the wonderful printed mushroom dish, four trans blue flames and cones, some nice brown slopes and of course, the critters. Harry Potter has bumped my spider collection tenfold!

The build is a simple affair with nothing too complex. You can easily see how the flicking mechanism is built and works ( Though if you call flying 2 inches working, then its right up your alley!) It all ends with poor Hagrid tied to the tree with blue flame singeing that lovely beard. He's still smiling though, bless his cotton socks.

Honestly, why would you need this many Potters... except for the Polyjuice scene! Shhhhh.

If you can't sort this out in a decent fashion, NOBODY gets the umbrella.

Meet the Malfoys.

Ratings

Design: 7/10 - The tree is nicely built and the mechanism works somewhat, but I think a little more could have been done.

Build: 8/10 - Nothing too fancy, nothing complex. Just a quick easy build.

Minifigs: 7/10 - The two villains as I have stated are an excellent addition, with Narcissa being extra good. However, what lets it down a bit is the repeat appearances of the heroes without any new printing.

Playability: 8/10 - For a tree, the playability is excellent. Not much else they could have done bar setting up a treehouse. And, as always the large concentration of figures helps the role playing element greatly.

Parts: 8/10 - Good tree building parts with some nice trans blue pieces. The printed mushroom is again, awesome.

Price: 7/10 - £10.49 for 4 figures and a tree seems a lot, but its not so bad if you consider what you'd end up paying for the rarer figures eventually. Right now though, its a bit pants, though it does have a printed mushroom!

Overall: 7.5/10 - A decent little set with a good selection of heroes and villains, though definitely better value if you lean towards the villain side of things.

And to finish off, a little comic to show what you can do with all your Potters!

Hope it wasn't too bad a read, and again, apologies for the photos! Advice is appreciated! Enjoy and take care!

Edited May 19, 2011 by Catanas

[Niku]

Good review and thankyou.

And nice comic at the end.

[Parrothead Rasmus]

Many thanks for the (great!) review! Looks like a good set. And an ad for LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7! Can't wait!

Also, I love the little comic. Did you draw that?

Edited May 19, 2011 by Parrothead Rasmus

[prateek]

Great review! I love you pictures, considering your camera is pretty old. As for the set, it's okay. The figs are nice, and the set has nice parts.

[Nightshroud99]

For your first review you did an outstanding job! Funny and informative

[The Yellow Brick]

Thanks for this excellent review I will probably only buy this set for the tree and the printed hair piece.

P.S awesome comic at the end

[lightningtiger]

Thanks 'Cantanas' for this review, I must say it's a good set to get a new character, everyone's favorite giant, the totally bad-megablocks and another member of the clone army of magic !

Notice the torso print doesn't meet with the slope brick skirt of Narcissa Malfoy, Lego should get it right.....right ?

I guess I'll get this since I'm only planning on buy the Battle For Hogwarts.

Keep on casting spells.

[ZO6]

This is a very good first review, Catanas, very detailed too. Thanks for sharing!

It's nice to have a couple harder to get characters in a small set. Other than the figures though the set of the set isn't particularly interesting. I think if more trees or scenery had been included then a more interesting set up would have been achieved - these inclusions however would have also driven up the price of course. In any case, not a bad little set!

[Harrypotterfreak]

AWESOME REVIEW!!!!!

[Fives]

This i san awesome review for an awesome set! Great work.

When the first pics of these new HP sets surfaced a few months back, I didn't think that this set was gonna be this cheap! It has a great selection of main characters! Although Harry is n his uniform, which I believe is not accurate to the scene. Its great that TLG has put Voldy in such a cheap set, although I already have him from the Hogwarts set, people who missed out back in the fall will get him now. Also, Hagrid is now in a much cheaper set, which is nice (again I already have him). The true standout fig here is Narscissa Malfoy. Just beautiful! The hairpiece is perfect! Is this the first time TLG has made hair with two colours in it before?

Like I said, great review!

[Aanchir]

The true standout fig here is Narscissa Malfoy. Just beautiful! The hairpiece is perfect! Is this the first time TLG has made hair with two colours in it before?

Nope. This hair is just printed, the same as this and this from the Agents theme and this from the Batman theme (and this and this from the Collectible Minifigures, but I don't think that counts since these patterns represent accessories in the hair rather than a separate hair color like you were asking about).

[Big Cam]

I like the review but at the same time, I don't like it, because it's making me want to change my mind about NOT getting any of the Harry Potter sets.

[Vindicare]

Of the three, this is on the bottom. Narcissa is clearly the jewel of the set. But, to call this set 'forest' leaves a bit to be desired. One tree.... Naming it something else may have been more appropriate. Nontheless, I will get this.

[matrixrenegade]

Great review. This will probably become my first Harry Potter set unless I scrape together $40 for the hut set which seems cool as well.

[Miss Kyle]

Very nice review, thanks a lot! I'll definitely buy this one, as it's an awesome tree pieces pack. And oooh, the mushroom is perfect for my Zelda MOC plans! :D :D :D

[tbroyd]

Thanks, Great review

Which John Lewis store had them out of interest?

[Catanas]

Woo, thankee you lovely, lovely people. Was actually more fun than I thought it would be, and aye, the comic is mine of course. Couple of characters I still havn't worked out what to do with >.>

Thanks, Great review

Which John Lewis store had them out of interest?

Welwyn Garden City. :)

[Masked Builder]

Looks like a good little set. I was planning on getting this before I read your review but the review just sealed the deal. Thanks!

[The Flying Dutchman]

Very nice review. I will definitely buy this set,

was it alone for mrs Malfoy. It's always nice to have a family together, isn't it?

Very nice cartoon at the end Thanks!

[Bricks2000]

Your review convinced me to get this set. A good collection of minifigs and parts, and we finally have proof about the new game.

[Aanchir]

Of the three, this is on the bottom. Narcissa is clearly the jewel of the set. But, to call this set 'forest' leaves a bit to be desired. One tree.... Naming it something else may have been more appropriate. Nontheless, I will get this.

Well, they couldn't really have called it "Forbidden Tree" and expected anyone to buy it! What sort of names did you have in mind? I guess something cliche like "Final Showdown" could have worked if not for the fact that this isn't quite the "final" showdown. "Penultimate Showdown" would be a bit unwieldy.

[teabox]

Thanks for the review

[XimenaPaulina]

Very good review of this new HP set Catanas, thanks for sharing! I gotta admit this sure looks to be a great small-sized set minifigures-wise. Four different characters (two heroes and two villains) plus a bunch of useful plant elements (particularly the printed mushroom) for 12 bucks? Not a bad deal at all.

[The Penguin]

That is one very fine review, Catanas! )

And a great way of new members to step in! I'm really looking forward to getting this set, since it's a definite treasure not only for HP fans, but customisers as well, with all those lovely villains' torsos.

But what I'm looking forward even more is some new reviews from you, with those lovely comic stories of yours.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen! )

[Gregorovich]

Thanks for the excellent, early, first review! The photos are actually very good, considering how old the camera is, so well done for that! And the comic at the end is excellent, too.

The set is very good value for money, I think. 1 exclusive, female minifig, 2 minifigs that have only previously appeared in one other set and another Harry (good for the uniform collection). There's also not a bad collection of parts (mushroom, blue flames, snake). The tree is nicely designed IMO, but k wish it was all brown rather than black and brown. Really, my only issue is that the printing Narcissa's hairpiece should be blonder, and there should be more of it to make it accurate. However, I don't mind this too much as any new hair variations are good to me!

Well done again, and thank you for sharing it!

Edited May 20, 2011 by Gregorovich