REVIEW: Harry, Hermione, Ron & Hagrid Brickheadz – Hands-on review

Set 40495

LEGO has revealed two new LEGO Harry Potter themed Brickheadz sets to become available from 1 June 2021. Ahead of the global launch, I’ve been lucky enough to be sent the sets for review. This review covers the set containing Harry, Hermione, Ron and their good friend Hagrid. Here is what you get…

LEGO released three Harry Potter themed Brickheadz sets in 2018, which contained Harry with his owl Hedwig, Hermione, Ron and Albus Dumbledore respectively. In 2019, they took a break, but in 2020, we finally got a new Brickheadz set containing Hagrid and Buckbeak. Reviews of these are available of the Reviews page.

Because of these earlier sets, LEGO Harry Potter collectors are no strangers to Brickheadz, and I was thrilled when I learned that LEGO was to release new sets in the series in 2021, and even more so when I found out that I was going to copies to review. So a Sunday morning, I sat down to build the two sets.

My previous review posted earlier today covered the set with Lord Voldemort, Nagini and Bellatrix. The set subject for this particular review gives us young versions of Harry, Hermione and Ron in the Funko-pop style Brickheadz format, along with their good friend Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts.

But wait, haven’t we seen those as Brickheadz figures before you may ask? And yes, as shown above all four have indeed been released previously, and I’m somewhat puzzled why they are to appear already again. This is in particular for Hagrid, who was released only last year, while the 2018 sets containing the trio will be hard to find today. Luckily, there are differences from what we have seen previously, so it may still be worth addition to your collection, should you already have the older sets. I’ll cover those differences later on.

Let’s get started with the box.

Box and content

The front of the box shows us the four figures along with the names of the characters and their Brickheadz numbers (relevant for those trying to have the full collection of Brickheadz – with 145 released, I’m glad I’m not one of them).

On the back, we see almost identical photos, with the only new information is a small insert photo to the right, showing the figures each come with a base for attachment. They could have shown the figures from more different angles – or other Brickheadz sets in the series.

On one of the sides, there is a photo of the characters as they appeared in the movies.

Opening the box, you will find four instruction manuals (one for each of the included characters) and five numbered plastic bags with parts. No sticker sheets, as Brickheadz sets uses printed parts where required.

Harry, Hermione and Ron

We started with building Harry (he had the lowest Brickheadz number – but surprisingly uses the bricks contained in bag 2), followed by Hermione and Ron. I’ll cover all three in the same section, as they are quite similar.

These figures represents the trio in their early years at Hogwarts and to represent their young age, they are accordingly built in smaller scale than the usual Brickheadz characters, with the torso and heads being formed by a 3×3 square.

The first third of the build (approximately as per photo below) is basically identical between the three, with only one step differing (as Hermione got skirt instead of trousers).

Apart from Hermione wearing a skirt, the heads are what makes the difference. Harry got glasses and a printed scar, while Ron and Hermione are only characterised by their hair. But it works, all three characters are easily recognisable, though I’m not sure I really like the glasses Harry has been given. They appear too big, though I’m not sure what would have worked better.

Here are the three completed figures.

I did one modification, as I didn’t like the exposed stud on the side of the robes. I added a 1×1 tile with curved side. You’ll need three – one for each character – but luckily the set comes with two spares, so I only had to grab one from my own collection.

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Here are some photos of the completed Harry Potter figure:

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The completed Hermione Granger figure looks like this:

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Finally, here are some photos of the completed Ron Weasley figure:

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As noted earlier, all three characters have previously been released as Brickheadz figures. The 2018 versions all used the 4×4 standard and are thus larger, as exemplified by the comparison photos of Harry Potter below. I kind of like the smaller ones representing kids, and in the case of Harry Potter, I think the unruly hair is captured better in the new version, while none of them really nails the glasses.

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Hagrid

Hagrid is not surprisingly using the standard 4×4 sized standard, which does make him look like a giant next to the smaller scale kids (when he is compared with normal Brickheadz sized figures, he is only a few plates higher at best).

Here is a photo from the build process. The torso and head used the traditional approach, with the only step slightly exciting being the use of two stacked “jumper” plates as his belt, where the groves give it more structure than if normal plates had been used.

Below, you can see the completed model. The coat is quite plain. The real standout is his hair, which is well done though I feel it should have covered a bit more of the forehead. Also, I feel his beard could have been more larger and more bushy.

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How does this compare to the 2020 model? To my surprise they are very close as shown by the photos below. The coat differs in colour (mainly) while the hair and beard are almost identical, apart from the new figure (left) using some curved slopes for the hair, and most importantly, cover the top exposed edge of the forehead tile which was exposed in the previous model and made it look like Hagrid had a receding hair line. The real Hagrid is certainly not lacking any hair!

So while I actually prefer the coat from the previous version, the hair does look better in the 2021 version, though I still feel the forehead is too dominant.

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Conclusion

The figures of Harry, Ron and Hermione all work well I think, with the main detracting point being Harry’s glasses. I am a bit torn whether I would have preferred more variability in their dresses, but I realise the figures do look nice lined up in the same outfits too.

Hagrid is a nice addition to the set, slightly better than the 2020 version, though I think there is still room for improvement.

As such, this is a good set – though I am surprised why we get a set with four characters that have already been released as Brickheadz figures in recent years. I guess it is good for those who might have missed out on the previous versions, but I’m sure a set with say Snape and a Slytherin student or two would have been more exciting for collectors.

So whether this set is something for you really depends on both whether you like Brickheadz – and if so, whether you want to have a complete collection or not (if you have the previous Brickheadz figures, and don’t mind not having a full collection – you can skip these).

The review of the other 2021 Brickheadz set, containing Voldemort, Nagini and Bellatrix, is available here.

I will now continue my rebuilding of the Beaubaton’s Carriage to a larger version. Look out for a post about this in the coming week or so.

Till then, Build the Magic!

(Note that this set was kindly provided by LEGO for review. The views expressed here are my own however).