New figures coming with the 2021 classroom book sets

The four buildable books due to be released 1 January 2021 were revealed earlier today and have triggered a lot of interest. It is great to see something different. While my initial focus was on the books themselves (a post about those is coming up), I soon realised that the minifigures were worth a mention too, which is the focus in the following…

The books look absolutely gorgeous. I can’t wait to see one in real life.

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As seen, the books each include the head of the respective house, a student from the respective house and a Gryffindor student. Specifically, the four sets gives us:

• 76382 Transfiguration Class (241 pcs – Gryffindor) with Professor McGonagall, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger
• 76383 Potions Class (271 pcs – Slytherin) with Professor Snape, Draco Malfoy and Seamus Finnigan
• 76384 Herbology Class (233 pcs – Hufflepuff) with Professor Sprout, Cedric Diggory and Neville Longbottom
• 76385 Charms Class (256 pcs – Ravenclaw) with Professor Flitwick, Cho Chang and Harry Potter.

The minifigures are illustrated below.

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What is not new…

All figures have been represented as minifigures in the last few years, so there are no “new” minifigures here. The inclusion of the Gryffindor students in all four sets will appeal to young readers who would like to get a main character in the set (and is thus understandable from a marketing point of view). But for collectors, it is a missed opportunity not to include some new students to the mix, such as Pansy Parkinson (or update versions of Crabbe and Goyle) for Slytherin, Justin Finch-Fletchley from Hufflepuff and Michael Corner from Ravenclaw. Well, maybe later…

What is new then?

There are some interesting upgrades to minifigures though, some of which I’ll discuss below.

Professor Filius Flitwick

Let’s start with the most extreme – Professor Flitwick, who is in the Charms class set, is represented as he appeared in the first two movies (below left). Previous versions had all focused on the later movies.

Below is what he looked like in the early vs the later movies. It is great to get the new version, which is the first time we get a version of his early appearance. I wish LEGO would make a bald “hair-piece” to cover up the exposed stud though.

Professor Minerva McGonagall

I may be most impressed by the new version of Professor McGonagall though. The new face and in particular new wizard hat (with hair) piece is a huge improvement over previous versions.

Professor Sprout

In the new LEGO Harry Potter Collectable Minifigure (CMF) series 2, we got an excellent version of Professor Sprout (much improved over the 2011 version). It is therefore surprising to see an update already 6 months later. I won’t say it is better, but it is nice to have different versions for use in different settings, so it is appreciated the didn’t just reuse the CMF version here.

Herbology class uniform

But there is more! The herbology class set has two students (Cedric and Neville) in uniforms suitable for the work with (sometimes dangerous) plants. We previously had a version back in LEGO Harry Potter CMF series 1, with Neville Longbottom wearing such a uniform (right below). The updated version (left below) has a new earmuffs piece that hides whether the house tie is visible at the neck or the uniform is generic between houses. I do like the new earmuffs piece too. I hope the set will come with an extra.

House sweaters

Last, but not least – the house sweaters have all been updated (noting that across the four sets, there is no Hufflepuff student with a sweater, so that house sweater will not be available in January – but hopefully later). Below is the 2018-2020 version (right) vs the new one (left).

As seen, the colours are a bit more dominating, including the addition of the house crest. While the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor colours are easy to see on the 2018-20 version, unless the lighting is exceptionally good, it is hard to see the difference between Slytherin and Ravenclaw (as exemplified below with the Hogwarts Students set figures). The updated version should help to differentiate, so I’m glad they have fixed that issue.

I’m hoping for a good lot of LEGO Harry Potter sets for mid-2021, hopefully bringing us more improved minifigures and some new characters as minifigures as well. Time will tell…

Till then, Build the Magic!

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