REVIEW: Wizarding World Minifigure Accessory pack

This year’s advent calendar has taken us to a number of different locations, including the Leaky Cauldron. That reminded me of a review I yet had to do: the Wizarding World Minifigure Accessory pack, which seems to already be on its way to retirement. Is it worth chasing? Read on to see what you get…

Set 40500: Wizarding World Minifigure Accessory Set

Price: US$14.99 / CA$19.99 / £13.49 / €14.99 / AU$24.99 / 130 DKK

Last year, LEGO released the Hogwarts Students minifigure pack, which gave you a student from each of the four Hogwarts houses along with a small build (bookshelf) and an exclusive tile (marauders map). 

This year, we have got another such minifigure pack, but it is different as there isn’t a common theme as we saw in the previous pack. Instead, we have an older Harry Potter from the Order of the Phoenix (my guess based on the accessories included), Mr Borgin (from Borgin and Burkes – most likely from the The Chamber of Secrets) and two unnamed wizards/witches that however seem to be inspired by characters seen in the first movie. The latter three are new characters – and thus a welcome addition even if less well-known than many others that have been represented as minifigures (many times) before.

The pack

The pack looks very similar to last year’s Hogwarts Students set. The front shows the four figures and the small build included in the pack, while the back names the four figures (though two of them are simply referred to as Witch and Wizard) and shows some of the more special parts included in the set, including an exclusive tile (more about this later).

The pack includes 33 pieces; about half of them are for the four minifigures, and the rest for a small table with wizarding equipment. The instruction booklet is therefore very small – basically a single piece of paper folded up, with one side (once unfolded) showing the minifigures while the other side shows how the table is built.

The minifigures

The first two minifigures I’ll discuss are Harry Potter and Mr Borgin. Will the full sized leg piece, the minifigure of Harry should represent him in one of the last three movies. Based on the included exclusive tile, I’ll get to that in a minute, it is probably more specifically the Order of the Phoenix.

Both figures got printing on both the front and back of the torsos. In particular Mr Borgin got quite a lot of detail. They also got two alternative face prints, as most figures have these days.

While Harry doesn’t need an introduction, Mr Borgin may deserve a few words. He is co-owner of Borgin and Burkes, the shop in Knockturn Alley that Harry accidentally arrived at when mispronouncing Diagon Alley (when he first travelled using floo powder). The shop is known for trading objects of dark magic and other dangerous objects. Below you can see what Mr Borgin looked like in the movies.

I almost think Mr Borgin is too well dressed. This may be the reason that when pictures of the set appeared first in early May, it was speculated that the figure rather was Rufus Scrimgeour (see photo below) who took over as Minister of Magic after Cornelius Fudge. While the dress might favour Rufus, the stubble on the face points more towards Mr Borgin overall.

The pack also included a wizard and a witch. Both have nicely printed torsos – both on the front and the back, while only the witch has two face prints on the head piece. This wouldn’t have worked for the wizard, as his hat wouldn’t cover a face on the back, as a hairpiece typically would.

The witch also has one of the relatively new dress pieces, both printed on the front and back, as a perfect extension of the print on the torso. Her hat must also be mentioned, combining a crocked wizard hat with a small visible section of hair underneath. It is such an improvement over previous wizard hats. We first saw this wizard hat/hair mould with Professor McGonagall from the Hogwarts Moments Transfiguration Class set early in the year.

I must say that am surprised that LEGO has chosen to release a pack with two unnamed characters, given how many named characters from the movies there are to choose from – many which have yet to be made into minifigures. But they may have had some in mind when creating them. For instance, I’m pretty sure the male one is meant to represent Dedalus Diggle or at least is inspired by him.

The witch is more difficult. It may simply be a generic witch – but some have guessed it could be Doris Crockford (she was the witch shaking Harry Potter’s hand multiple times the first time he entered the Leaky Cauldron). 

Given how well the figures represents Dedalus Diggle and Doris Crockford (intentionally or not), I’ve here put them along with Harry Potter and the two Advent Calendar Leaky Cauldron builds from December 8th and 9th (noting I’ve added a Christmas decoration to the Leaky Cauldron sign, so it is not the official model that came in the calendar).

The other parts

Along with the four characters in the pack, we get a printed tile listing the members of Dumbledore’s Army and a small table with magical items from the movies.

Starting with the tile, it is exclusive to this set, as the marauders map was to last year’s set. It is a nice addition and I’m looking forward to hanging it on the wall of the Room of Requirement, being a perfect supplement to my collection of Dumbledore’s Army members.

The small table itself it pretty basic, but it packs a number of interesting accessories, including filled up jars, cauldrons, boxes, and an owl (you can’t have too many of those).

Conclusion

The pack seems to be short-lived. It has only been available from LEGO.com and LEGO branded stores. As of mid December, it is listed as retired on LEGO’s Australian and New Zealand websites, sold out on the US website, but still available in both Germany and the UK. Given its “retired” status in Australia and New Zealand, I suspect other regions will follow once they sell out.

So should you search for one to get before it disappears completely? It really depends on how much you are into Harry Potter. It perfectly supplements bigger collections, where you don’t want even more versions of the “golden trio”. Those three new characters are well made and good to supplement what you have, for instance to add some extra characters to last year’s Diagon Alley set. Otherwise, I would probably focus on the core Hogwarts modules instead, unless you happen to find this one cheap – or you really want the exclusive tile listing “Members of Dumbledore’s Army”.

Personally, I’m looking forward to add the characters to my modular Leaky Cauldron MOC, or having them stroll down my version of Diagon Alley.

In addition to my daily Advent Calendar reviews, one more review of a 2021 sets is coming soon, so check the Reviews page regularly for any updates.

Till then, Build the Magic!

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