REVIEW: Hogwarts Carriage and Thestrals

The next wave of LEGO Harry Potter sets is coming soon and LEGO has kindly provided me with copies of most sets to make early reviews of what to expect. Here, I’ll take a look at smallest of the upcoming sets. This is what you get…

Set 76400 – Hogwarts Carriage and Thestrals

Price: US$19.99, £17.99, €19.99, CA$24.99, AU$32.99, DKK180

In all years since the revival of the theme in 2018, there has been a small(ish) set covering a scene from the Forbidden Forest – with the exception of 2021, which was the year of the 20th Anniversary of LEGO Harry Potter series of sets. These Forbidden Forest sets are:

• Aragog’s lair, 2018
• Expecto Patronum, 2019
• Umbridge’s Encounter, 2020
• Hogwarts Carriage and Thestrals, 2022

This post is about the latter. It is not solely a Forbidden Forest set, as you can use it to recreate two different scenes (at least). Firstly, it covers the scene where Harry sees the thestrals for the first time on their way to Hogwarts from the train station at Hogsmeade in the Order of the Phoenix. Luna kindly assures Harry that he’s just as sane as she is (which didn’t give him much comfort though). Secondly, it also represents the scene later in the movie where Harry and Luna are feeding the herd of thestrals in the Forbidden Forest and Harry learns that fruit and vegetables are not as well received as meat.

You can see that scene here:

Luna: “They’re called thestrals. They’re quite gentle, really… But people avoid them because they’re a bit…“

Harry: “Different. But why can’t the others see them?“

Luna: “They can only be seen by people who’ve seen death.“

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

But let me get the box, so we can see what we will get.

Box and content

Overall, the box is following the well-known design with a blue top with logos, a photo of the main model in the middle and a small banner at the bottom left, which show the included minifigures.

Turning over the box, the back shows the model from a different angle with couple of insert photos zooming in on details (like the two thestrals).

Inside the box, you’ll find the instructions, the body of a thestral and a single (unnumbered – obviously) plastic bag with parts. No stickers – yeah!

Interestingly, the instructions booklet has a white cover unlike the typical blue livery, we have seen previously (and which is till used on the box). I have no idea why that change? I think the blue looks better – maybe it is more environmental friendly keeping it white?

On a similar note, the first page of the instructions explains that LEGO is moving away from plastic bags to paper bags to hold the bricks inside. In this set it was plastic only. Wonder if any of the other new sets will have paper bags in there.

Minifigures and magical creatures

The set comes with two minifigures: Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood.

Below, you can see the minifigures from the front. As seen, their outfits matches the Forbidden Forest scene (as per the video further up), which is consistent with how most of the recent Harry Potter sets seem to capture characters from a specific scene.

The two figures both have highly detailed torso prints, but no printing on the legs. Luna comes with a dark blue shoulder bag.

Both figures have printing on the torso backs too and also dual prints for facial expressions as seen below. Overall, these are two really good minifigures.

While the minifigures are good, more importantly you are also getting two thestrals – an adult and a baby.

The baby thestral is quite cute, I must say. It seems like Luna likes it too.

As for the adult one, it is almost identical to the one we got a few years back in the Grindelwald’s Escape set from the Fantastic Beast series. The only difference is the wings, which have a slightly different pattern. The previous version had transparent plastic at the back end of the wings, while the new ones have a bluish coloured tone instead. Also, the new set uses dark bluish grey plates under the wings where the previous used a mix of black and dark tan (obviously, you can swap those for whatever colour you like). More information about thestrals in the LEGO universe can be found in my previous post on the subject.

But let’s continue with the actual build…

The build

This is the first set I’ve had in a long time with just a single bag of parts. With 121 pieces, this is a pretty quick build, but I still enjoyed it. The carriage not too “juniornised” in terms part use, being quite detailed, as the photos after the initial steps show below.

Here, the carriage is nearing completion, though still needing the rails and lanterns.

Adding that – as well as the thestral completes the carriage.

The last bit to build is a tree to represent the Forbidden Forecast. It is a fairly simple build but looks okay. A single tree is hardly a forest though, but can hopefully help you imagining.

Finally, here is the set complete with minifigures. This setup represents the scene towards the beginning of the movie, when they are to go by the “horse-less” carriages to Hogwarts, having just got off the train at Hogsmeade. As seen, the set includes a copy of the wizarding magazine, The Quibbler, which Luna often read (she might have been partial to it given her father was its editor)..

And here the second scene from the Forbidden Forest later in the movie, where they are feeding the thestrals.

Coming soon

So when can I get it, you may ask? The sets are available 1 June 2022 in Europe, Australia and I assume most other countries as well, though for USA and Canada it is slightly later: June 19, 2022. Thinking about heading to LEGO.com to preorder/order? Please consider using our affiliate links to go there. It is the same price for you, but Blockwarts get a minor commission as well, which I use to help running this site.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a great entry-level priced set with two nice minifigures matching the Forbidden Forest scene and two thestrals. Price is up a bit from last year’s cheapest set it appears though. Still, this may be a set many may buy multiple of to get a herd of thestrals and a convoy of carriages to take the students from Hogsmeade station to Hogwarts.

Now we need a Hogsmeade station more than ever (would be a perfect tie in with the Shrieking Shack set too). Could that come in September, when we often see a small selection of new sets? Time will tell.

Till then, Build the Magic!

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

You can check all my other reviews here.