I have been a long time Harry Potter fan, yet one that is blasphemous.
I admit, I have never read the books.
I have always been more of a movie guy myself, so things like Harry Potter had a much broader appeal for me in film.
I feel in love with the story, the sets and costumes.
But most of all, I marveled at the Hogwarts school.
There was just so many cool things in the place and they captured that magic on screen perfectly.
So when Lego announced they were making a micro-figure scale school I was sold instantly.
What I was not sold on however was the price.
What sort of dark magic is this, Lego trying to shill its loyal followers for $500cdn for this set.
Sure I love Harry Potter, but seriously, that is more than half of a mortgage payment.
So in walked Lepin, with they block-off version, faithfully recreating the set, and in turn saving me tons of cash.
The set from Lepin ran me about $200 after conversion.
And it was money well spent.
The set is massive, coming in at over 6700 pieces
Thankfully Lepin had the good sense to keep a numbered bag system.
How I sort large sets like this is in spare grocery bags.
I will take usually 3 – 4 numbers and group them into one bag.
The castle had a total of 39 numbered section, so I split that out into 13 bags.
Now before we get started here, I have to warn you, this set is HUGE, so big I currently do not have a place for it.
I vastly underestimated it, so if you are lacking shelf or flat surface space, you may want to consider skipping this one.
The set starts off humbly, with the dock
But quickly gains ground (no pun intended)
The build is divided into 2 parts, the main hall, and the secondary living quarters.
The details in this set are exquisite.
From the amazing stained glass
To the small cathedral windows.
From the classrooms
To the chess sets and magical keyed door
There is a TON of stickers in this set too, everything from fake windows to the flags of each of the houses
Lego really paid attention to detail on this one, and Lepin did a masterful job copying it.
The set did however require a fair bit of kragle to make things work.
Primarily on the stained glass, the design is smart, but sadly there is so little to work with and click, that the pieces oft just fell out, so just a small dot of glue really helped.
Another complaint I read online, but didn’t encounter myself was that the main tower can be a real pain to get assembled.
I admit you have to use care in putting the top on, but all in all I didn’t find any struggle here.
On the interior the magical staircase is a nice touch.
The build took a lot shorter than I would have expected for a 6000+ piece set, but a lot of it was in no small part to the numbered bags.
I clocked in maybe 12 hours max to put it all together, maybe even less. It all went up in a weekend.
The finished product though is a sight to behold.
Something else to consider with this set as well, if you have the space, there is an amazing full addition coming in the next month or so, adding in another 19000!!!! bricks to it, to form the entire school.
https://lepinworld.com/shop/lepin-movie/moc-30884-hogwart-castle-epic-extension/#main
Though the price is extreme, you are getting close to 20k more bricks, and that is not including the original castle.
Not sure if I can justify the extension as I already don’t have room for the castle itself, but who knows.
All in all this was a fantastic build, one of the best I have ever done, and one of the best block-off sets on the market in my opinion.
A must have for Potter fans (if you have the room, as the set comes in at over 22” high, 27” wide and 16” deep.)
An easy 10/10 absolute perfection.
The Compulsive Canadian Gamer 