REVIEW: Dobby the House Elf

Dobby is one of the most loved characters in the Harry Potter universe. So creating a large-scale figure of him seems like a good idea. But does it hold up to the expectations? Read on to see my review…

Set 76421 – Dobby the House Elf – 403 Pieces

I used to write lengthy reviews – as LEGO provided the sets for free, I naturally felt that I had to do a comprehensive job. But since I stopped getting the review sets a year ago, I struggled to find the motivation to write reviews, even though I bought pretty much all the sets. It was too time consuming and I had many other competing priorities for my time. So in the end, I didn’t get any reviews completed for about a year, though I started on many.

With this review, I hope to come up with a simpler template. It wont have the details I provided previously, and may not have the same amount of photos, but there’re many other fan sites that provide that. Rather, it will be highlighting what I think is good or bad about the set being reviewed, with supporting photos where necessary. Let me know what you think of the style and I may refine it for use for the 2024 sets.

Presentation

One of my Christmas presents this year was the Dobby the House Elf set, one of the 2023 sets I wanted the most. And I must say, the box art is quite inviting. Who can say no to eyes like that?

Opening the box, I got to experience my first time where bricks were packed in paper bags rather than plastic.

Inside bag number 1, there was some of the usual smaller plastic bags (somewhat ironically, but good to see progress on this front and eventually, I’m sure those will also be replaced.

Instructions were clearly printed and the box only had a small (loose in box) sticker sheet with just four stickers. Great to see sets that rely less on stickers.

Build experience

The first two bags allows you to build Dobby (along with his sock, which was the very first thing to build). Inside his torso is a golden heart, which is perfect for the loyal and loveable character!

The torso is otherwise built using the “SNOT” technique (stud not on top), with plates sideways creating the rags he’s known for wearing. I do like the hands as well.

Building the head was the best part though, and using the vehicle front/mudguard piece as eyebrows is a very nice part usage (NPU).

Here you can see the completed head.

Having added the head onto Dobby, you still got bag three to build. It adds the stand for Dobby, the book (the diary of Tom Marvolo Riddle) and the cake he can make float through the air. The final result looks really nice.

As a final note, I should add that it displays well along with the Harry and Hermione maxi-figure set from last year.

Overall impressions

I did really like this set. It’s a quick build, but not repetitive and the resulting model of Dobby is adorable. The only downside I can think of is the somewhat limited poseability of the figure, where only the shoulders, fingers and head can be moved. And while the fingers can be positioned, the struggle to hold on to anything. But overall, I think most will find that the figure can be posed in a suitable way for them.

As something new, I will also give the model as score. I do that for the daily models when reviewing the advent calendars, see for example the 2023 advent calendar review). As the Dobby set is priced quite high compared to the piece count (as all other Harry Potter themed models) it fall just short of a top score, but I’ll award it 4.5 out of five house points. Should you find it on a discount, it is a great set to pick up (unless you’ve just into minifigure scaled sets).

Till next time, Build the Magic!

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