LEGO Harry Potter Moments Sets Return, But Are They Any Good?

Time for us to look into the future of LEGO’s Harry Potter book series and see if it’s still holding strong!

LEGO 76396 – Harry Potter – Hogwarts Moment: Divination Class

RRP AUD $49.99 – CA $39.99 – EUR €29.99 – UK £24.99 – USA $29.99
297 pieces
Available from LEGO.com and LEGO Stores from 1st March 2022.

Disclaimer –

BrickBanter would like to express our discontent with JK Rowling and her damaging views in relation to transgender rights.

As the LEGO Harry Potter sets provided are designed by a LEGO designer based on a piece of a fictional film, we are treating the product as the work of the LEGO design team in relation to the film – not JK Rowling herself.

Our views can be easily summarised by New Elementary here. As always, we are always looking to improve ourselves and encourage a safe space for all. If you think we can do better, please do not hesitate to contact us.

About This Set

The Harry Potter Hogwarts Moments sets from the last year really struck me, as well as most of us actually, as a “one-and-done” sort-of wave. Four books, four houses, all with different themes that correlate to the story of Harry Potter at Hogwarts.

And that was it. The fact that LEGO turned around and surprised us with another book, let alone two, was a bit of a surprise to me. Some fans had been asking for it for some time, but I didn’t think that they would actually go through with it.

And well, that leads us to the Divination Hogwarts Moment, a purple book to add to the collection based on the classroom of Professor Trelawney from the Prisoner of Azkaban. But does this book have what it takes to continue the mantle? Can we predict how this book series might go? Read on…

Continued

Our divination classroom begins tightly folded up within the book, like all other Hogwarts Moments sets. But really manages to take up a lot of space when unfolded. I am always impressed by these sets and how well they manage to hide away all of the details within. In this case most of the decorative elements hide within the curtain-drawn entryways that outturn from the book.

I love the detailing of the stickers inside the book to give more sense of a classroom, and the overall aesthetic is a nice feel, but there is a real issue I have with this set.

It’s not really a ‘playset’ like the other classrooms. Let me explain.

A majority of the build is the large curtain-pulled archways. This means that there isn’t as much to interact with or play with as a set. Some of the Hogwarts Moments focus on making the middle of the build bend outwards and separate the area into two different rooms, other focus on cramming it with as many items as they can to flesh out the area.

The Divination Hogwarts Moment focuses more on the aesthetic that I feel a child, who these are intended for, won’t find much to interact with. There’s a couch, a table, two cups, a teapot and the mystical seer ball. These are small accessories in the grand scheme of things, and makes this feel like more of a backdrop of a set than an interactive one. Many others come with small things that can be removed from the backdrop to play with, but this doesn’t have much at all.

I do also wish that this came with the same sort of saucers that the Trelawney Minifigure did in the Collectible Minifigure Series, because there isn’t much allure for this as a set to me having already got the other version of Trelawney.

Minifigures

Harry Potter

Harry Potter the protagonist once again makes his appearance in this set. To be honest, he’s dime a dozen by this point and there isn’t anything significant about this figure that we haven’t seen before. I do wish Hermione was here instead, as she would make more sense for her interest in this class.

Parvati Patil

Parvati is Harry’s date to the Yule Ball, but this time around comes in her student uniform. I’m not 100% certain if her face print is unique or not, but she’s a nice addition to have to increase diversity in the range.

Professor Trelawney

Professor Trelawney comes in a new and unique outfit in this set, much different from her CMF edition; she may use the same headpiece, but everything else is new. Her expressions capture the shocked look well, and her outfit really showcases her personality to a tee. She’s the highlight of the set figure wise, but is it enough to pull an audience?

Verdict

Overall, I like that LEGO are continuing the LEGO Hogwarts Moments series. It clearly has a market, clearly works at pulling in an audience and giving some sense of collectability.

As for this one though? Not my favourite. I feel like there really is good room for improvement with this one, and as good as it is getting Professor Trelawney, I do already have her from the CMF. Which I think will abstain others from getting this too if they don’t collect the books religiously.

If you don’t have the CMF, Trelawney is a great figure to nab up, but her classroom does feel a little bit weak. I reckon a good MOC’er would have field day gutting this build and building onto it, but I don’t feel like it would last long in most households.