Review: 76459 Hagrid & Harry's Privet Drive Escape
Posted by CapnRex101,
I find it surprising that Sirius Black's motorcycle, often associated with Hagrid, had not appeared in a LEGO set until last year, when 76443 Hagrid & Harry's Motorcycle Ride was launched. Now a smaller edition is available too: 76459 Hagrid & Harry's Privet Drive Escape.
There is not a huge amount of substance to this set, admittedly, though with four characters included and Hagrid among them, the set seems appealing for the price of £17.99, $19.99 or €19.99.
Summary
76459 Hagrid & Harry's Privet Drive Escape, 124 pieces.
£17.99 / $19.99 / €19.99 | 14.5p, 16.1c, 16.1c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Though it feels a bit expensive for its contents, this is an enjoyable set
- Hagrid available in a cheaper set
- Nice motorbike and sidecar
- An opportunity for Death Eater army building
- Lacks substance for the price
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
Harry Potter is an interesting minifigure, as exactly the same figure appeared twice in 2020. I would generally expect the design to be updated six years later, but this torso has remained in production in LEGO City, hence its re-use here. There is little need for a change though, as the hooded jacket and dark red shirt still look accurate.
The double-sided head is very common and I think the hair element works for older versions of Harry, like this one. His usual dark brown wand is also included, as always.
Larger and more complex than a standard minifigure, Hagrid only tends to appear in relatively expensive sets, so his appearance here is welcome. The combined hair and beard piece looks great, as usual, while Hagrid's unique body element features lots of printed detail, plus sculpted pockets on either side of the coat.
Hagrid minifigures usually feature a single-sided head, which makes sense when only his eyes and bushy eyebrows are visible. However, this example is double-sided, with a normal cheerful design on one side and goggles for riding the motorcycle on the other. I am pleased to see such attention to detail by including the goggles.
A pair of Death Eaters are included to pursue the heroes and these figures look fantastic. The ornate masks are brilliantly detailed and correspond with the patterned masks from the movies, with two different designs on each head, for a total of four. This is a clever idea to make a wider variety of Death Eaters, without needing unique heads for them all.
Their robes look great as well, especially on the minifigure with printed legs. I love the intricate silver scrollwork on the torso and the dark bluish grey arms, matching the differences between Death Eater robes onscreen. The second figure appears in 76467 Luna Lovegood's House too, so their repetition is a bit disappointing, even with the reversible head.
Speaking of which, those alternative masks look excellent as well, all inspired by designs from the films. These minifigures are armed with wands and a broomstick is provided, so one Death Eater can continue their pursuit into the sky.
The Completed Model
Sirius Black lent Hagrid his flying motorcycle shortly before his imprisonment in Azkaban and I am delighted to see the vehicle at minifigure-scale, finally. Aqua was a good colour choice and the design seems reasonably accurate for a model of this size, capturing the rounded shape of the sidecar.
Ideally, the sidecar wheel would be mounted slightly apart from the body and look more similar to the motorbike wheels, but without specialised pieces, I think it would be tricky to improve on this design. The characters look splendid riding on board and the handlebars are impressive in particular, comfortably accommodating Hagrid.
Of course, Hagrid would not sit on a standard motorcycle fairing, so a completely new element has been created. The minifigure has to stand on the two available studs, but I think that works and this fairing features similar moulded detail to its more common equivalent. The flame on the back looks rather underwhelming though.
The front of the sidecar is attached using a Technic pin, with a blue 3L bar passing through the middle. You need to be careful when inserting the bar because it can interfere with a minifigure sitting down in the sidecar if pushed through too far, as pictured below.
Personally, I would have been satisfied with a cheaper set only containing the motorbike with Hagrid and Harry minifigures, but for the price of £17.99, $19.99 or €19.99, something else is needed. This piece of Privet Drive scenery suffices, featuring a chain fence, a lamppost and a simple planter.
The planter is connected to Technic pins, so you can knock it over for some destructive action. In addition, a trans-clear minifigure stand is included to pose a Death Eater taking off, so while there is not much happening here, the designer has managed to include some play features.
Overall
I am pleased with 76459 Hagrid & Harry's Privet Drive Escape. This is a simple idea for a set, relying heavily on the minifigures included, but its execution is superb. The motorcycle and its sidecar look splendid and the minifigure selection is impressive, especially for the inexpensive opportunity to acquire Hagrid.
On the other hand, the set seems relatively lacking in substance for £17.99, $19.99 or €19.99, likely because Hagrid and the new motorcycle fairing are fairly expensive to produce. Even so, this is a fun set on the whole and one I would definitely recommend to anybody missing Hagrid from their collection.
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23 comments on this article
"I brought you here 16 years ago when you were no bigger than a Bowtruckle. Seems only right that I should be the one to take you away now."
This looks good! The death eaters really resemble an organized dark organization with their sleek wands (that can be pointed almost like a gun) and new broomsticks
@EtudeTheBadger said:
""I brought you here 16 years ago when you were no bigger than a Bowtruckle. Seems only right that I should be the one to take you away now.""
Me talking to my Prince of Persia minifigs
Now I can army build Death Eaters and make a Welcome to the Black Parade MOC with the one on the right. (as close to black marching band attire as I could imagine)
The set doesn't have a lot to it outside of the figures. I don't need another Harry or Hagrid since I have so many other sets, but I'll likely still pick this one up. The goggles are a nice touch. Would be nice to see what it looks like without his beard in the way. I'll have to look at the inventory sometime and see if it shows that side of the head.
@Sethro3 said:
"Now I can army build Death Eaters and make a Welcome to the Black Parade MOC with the one on the right. (as close to black marching band attire as I could imagine)
The set doesn't have a lot to it outside of the figures. I don't need another Harry or Hagrid since I have so many other sets, but I'll likely still pick this one up. The goggles are a nice touch. Would be nice to see what it looks like without his beard in the way. I'll have to look at the inventory sometime and see if it shows that side of the head."
Don't forget you can army build the Harry's in this outfit to make the Seven Potters. "We're identical"
Oh no, bird friend! At 1:11-1:15.
https://youtu.be/Ud7b8Mg6iVI?si=Sv083Toq6TsYa1w9
Bought 2 so far, still hesitating about selling the 2nd bike, Hagrid & Harry
Great set, but yes should have been cheaper.
I mean, with four minifigures and a small vehicle I feel that it could have been MAYBE $15 USD, but I don't think $20 is that bad, considering a price of $5/minifig.
This would make a nice addition to any street.
@CapnRex101:
76404 needs to get the ”Hagrid s Motorcycle And Sidecar” tag. It is, after all, the first official set to include it.
Sure a cheaper price would be nice, but I guess £20 is the standard for these small 'battle pack' sets now. Perhaps a Privet Drive sign and an Owl would have added some context and play value... though re-enacting an animal death is possibly a reason why she wasn't included.
Whenever part design 7037 becomes available in aqua, that will make for a much nicer sidecar nose.
@HOBBES said:
"Whenever part design 7037 becomes available in aqua, that will make for a much nicer sidecar nose."
And I’m sure that will happen any day now.
This motorcycle sucked to MOC. My first attempt, the best I could do colorwise was either light-bley or dark-bley, with a light-bley motorcycle fairing, and a custom Hagrid minifig. Eventually, the parts I needed to convert the sidecar to blue came out, and finally I was able to convert the sidecar again to bright-light-blue. Never could do anything about the motorcycle, or Tiny Hagrid. On the other hand, the way mine was rigged to fly, I was able to add Hedwig to the flight armature, while this set doesn’t even include her.
20 euro Harry Potter battle-pack is crazy
Biker pulls up to the red traffic lights and then just topples over! Car driver goes over to see if he' alright. "Yeah I'm fine", he says, "Had a sidecar for 20 years and I took it off this morning."
Had to take that joke out of the museum and dust it off just for you Bricksetters :o)
Great set and nice shaping on the sidecar. (Now I know why Harry won't sit comfortably inside.....sort that pin out! Thanks)
@PurpleDave said:
" @HOBBES said:
"Whenever part design 7037 becomes available in aqua, that will make for a much nicer sidecar nose."
And I’m sure that will happen any day now.
This motorcycle sucked to MOC. My first attempt, the best I could do colorwise was either light-bley or dark-bley, with a light-bley motorcycle fairing, and a custom Hagrid minifig. Eventually, the parts I needed to convert the sidecar to blue came out, and finally I was able to convert the sidecar again to bright-light-blue. Never could do anything about the motorcycle, or Tiny Hagrid. On the other hand, the way mine was rigged to fly, I was able to add Hedwig to the flight armature, while this set doesn’t even include her."
Yeah, I am not holding by breath on that. That said, there are shades of blue rarer than aqua. Namely: medium blue (39 parts) and sand blue (104 parts) versus 119 parts for aqua. I suppose aqua is helped by the fact it is used quite a bit in Friends sets.
As mentioned above, Hedwig is not there because it get killed in that scene - never quite understood why it had to die (I also did not spend that much time wondering so!) - there are so many death in that part of the story, not everyone had to die to either show loyalty and/or resilience/tenacity. Most HP collectors have more Hedwig than they know what to do with them anyway.
@HOBBES said:
"Yeah, I am not holding by breath on that. That said, there are shades of blue rarer than aqua. Namely: medium blue (39 parts) and sand blue (104 parts) versus 119 parts for aqua."
Chrome-blue (26), vintage-blue (24), pearl-blue (21), dark-blue-violet (9), and that's not even getting into HO, Modulex, or Duplo exclusive colors.
"I suppose aqua is helped by the fact it is used quite a bit in Friends sets."
And Elves, and Dreamzzz, and 76443...
"As mentioned above, Hedwig is not there because it get killed in that scene - never quite understood why it had to die (I also did not spend that much time wondering so!) - there are so many death in that part of the story, not everyone had to die to either show loyalty and/or resilience/tenacity. Most HP collectors have more Hedwig than they know what to do with them anyway."
Hedwig is in 76443. Exact same scene. And technically Hedwig dies a bit later, since they're still at ground level.
An enjoyable set right? When I first saw this one announced, i thought this set was pure genius!
(Hagrid!)
I saw "trans-clear minifigure stand" and thought you were talking about a 3x4 plate for a second.
@TheOtherMike said:
"I saw "trans-clear minifigure stand" and thought you were talking about a 3x4 plate for a second."
I'd already noticed the clear jump-stud in the image above, but my inclination would have been to think of the Kragle element. Man, I wish they'd just put the clear ones on OPAB and leave them there permanently.
@TheOtherMike said:
"I saw "trans-clear minifigure stand" and thought you were talking about a 3x4 plate for a second."
Me too!
Would have liked to see a photo of the goggled head without the beard
Recently picked this the UK in a 3 for 2 deal so came in at £12 which felt like good value, not an HP collector or fan (and didn't know about Hedwig, still reading the books!) but like opportunities to part out HP sets like this for other themes. The street furniture and motorcycle can work for modulars and City and the Death Eaters feel v scary Lego Castle-y [and v canny of Lego to give them different head prints to make 4].