Review: 71253 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Posted by CapnRex101,
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them marks a welcome return to the wizarding world and with it comes a pair of new Dimensions packs based on the movie.
71253 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Play the Complete Movie is the larger of these and includes Newt Scamander, the main character in the film. The Harry Potter theme has been resuscitated twice before and I was a little disappointed that the release of Fantastic Beasts did not herald an entire wave of sets but these two Dimensions packs are an adequate alternative in my opinion and I am excited to take a closer look!
Minifigure
Newt Scamander is an eminent Magizoologist and the focal character in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The minifigure only appears in this Story Pack and I am sure many people will be drawn to the set as a result. His dark blue jacket and dark flesh waistcoat look great, as does the little bow tie.
The head is printed with a grin on one side and a grimace on the other. I think a nervous expression would have been more appropriate but the pronounced cheekbones suit Eddie Redmayne's character very well and the hair piece is also reasonably accurate given the selection of elements currently available.
Newt is equipped with a wand which is represented by a 3L bar. It would have been nice to see his suitcase included too, perhaps with some printed straps, but the wand is vital and very few Dimensions minifigures come with more than one accessory. Nevertheless, it seems bizarre to exclude such an important item in the movie.
The Completed Model
This tiny model of a Niffler looks splendid. All of the creature's major features are included, from its prominent snout and claws to the pouch on its chest which can hold an inordinate amount of treasure, represented here by a pair of 1x1 round plates in pearl gold. The arms have a limited range of motion for digging and the snout is hinged to sniff out hoards of valuables.
Curved slopes are used to represent the Niffler's smooth fur and they look great in contrast with the nougat elements used for the snout, claws and paws. These pieces are new in nougat and I am particularly pleased to see the 1x1 plate with bar appearing in a new colour as it was only previously available in black and has the potential to be incredibly versatile.
All Story Packs include a portal which can be attached to the LEGO Dimensions toy pad and this one is modelled upon the entrance to the Magical Congress of the United States of America, better known as MACUSA. The brown and gold colour scheme looks splendid and I like the use of ornate fence elements very much, particularly in combination with the wings which are clipped to the opening doors.
The gateway is the most detailed area of the model. The MACUSA seal is printed on a 2x2 round tile above the door while reddish brown pentagonal tiles are used to form a pattern across the lintel. This is their first appearance in reddish brown and the life ring elements which adorn the doorway are only a little more common in this colour, having previously appeared in 75827 Firehouse Headquarters.
The lifts on either side of the doorway can be pushed up and down using a simple Technic mechanism and this works quite well, allowing you to fix the platforms in place whether they are raised or lowered. Unfortunately they look rather bland in relation to the doorway and it would have been nice to see a more cohesive wall.
Overall
This is bound to become one of the most popular Dimensions packs released to date and I definitely recommend it to fans of Fantastic Beasts as well as the entire Wizarding World. The Newt Scamander minifigure is excellent and the Niffler is even better thanks to its adorable design and the inclusion of some delightful new pieces. It is among my favourite Dimensions models yet!
The MACUSA part of the set is also quite impressive and I like the entranceway very much indeed. A more substantial model would certainly have been preferable but this forms a nice backdrop and you could easily expand it using your own pieces if you wish. This is my favourite of the two Story Packs which are currently available and I hope it will prove sufficiently successful to justify a wave of sets when the next film in the series is released.
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20 comments on this article
Just about to watch the movie in theaters, perfect timing!
Just saw this movie and the set is a excellent portrayal of the scenes. Great job LEGO. ;)
Am I the only one who just doesn't get the point of the levitating platforms? Are they in the movie or what? Are they meant to put stands/minifgs on?
The fantastic beasts from the book and film would make a great new replacement to the Mixels, both in terms of collectability and price point. Smaller animals, like this niffler, could be fleshed out with additional magical items in the same way the nixels bulked out some mixels, or simply built a little bigger.
@CM4Sci they're stands so that you can play with the characters in the Dimensions game.
As far as I understand, you put the bases on the pad to enter the character into the game.
^^^ i think they are ment to represent the elevators AND they make perfect mining stands. Also, when you put them 'up', you can also put figures beneath them. This stand gives you space for easy-accesss for 6 minifigs imo.
Having seen the movie and being a huge fan of the series, I really feel that the omission of his suitcase in some form in this set is unacceptable. The suitcase is practically the leading character in the movie (I am pretty sure it gets more screen time than anything in this set) and even one of the old brown minifig briefcases would have been better than nothing. I realize it would be simple enough to dig through my extras and add it, but I am too much of a purist to do that. It just should have been included.
^and yes, totally agree they represent the elevators at MACUSA
^ You are right. What a strange thing to omit.
I personally dislike this model. I really feel like they should have made it look like the inside of the suitcase, with some messy shelves and a ladder up to represent the point where they enter/exit the suitcase in the center, and maybe a little savannah on one side of it and a snowy mountain on the other. That's just my opinion, though.
Wish they just did full sets for the movie
I just ordered some cases from Pick a Brick and a saber for Rowan Freemaker (which should have also been included imo). I love the gameplay from this Story Pack it follows the movie fairly well.
This set is already 40% off on Amazon (USA).
^It's truly a steal for that price
Is the gameplay filled with puzzles like the regular LEGO video games?
Or, does this follow the pattern of the first year of the dimensions levels, replacing puzzles with advertisements to buy additional content? I love how the classic LEGO games where you need to jump, find, sneak around or be clever to get the gold bricks and mini kits - and can't stand LEGO dimensions so far.
I'm thinking about getting rid of my dimensions set, feedback welcome!
---Tom Alphin
I was completely shocked that LEGO didn't jump on the opportunity to produce even a one-shot release of a few sets to tie-in with the movie. I know production capacity is down this year and that's why there has been nowhere near as many one-shot releases, but this was a wasted opportunity to build on the WB/Harry Potter partnership in the lead-up to Christmas.
^^ @Tom - slow feedback but just in case:
Initially I would have agreed with you from extensive experience with Lego Dimensions, but ever since TT Games introduced the 'Hire a Hero' feature, you can do almost all the puzzles as long as you have some studs to spare. Shouldn't be a problem if you have x2 studs on and know where a lot of them are though (home worlds are rich in studs). Sure, some puzzles are too awkward to hire a hero for only 30 seconds or their hint block doesn't appear properly, but a huge amount of them are handily triggered.
I will also concede that some puzzles are just simple antics with one special ability, but I think these are offset by the more complicated ones mixed in. Also, if you want fun gameplay and a tonne of abilities available to you, try buying the Ghostbusters (2016) story pack. You get a lot of Ghostbuster-specific powers, but you also get 'intelligence', Fix-it, grapple/rope swing, technology, silver and gold object destroy, orange handle pull and cracked wall destroy.
I'm looking forward to playing this FBAWTFT pack!
Unfortunately, I have gotten just about fed-up with Dimensions. I can't even play the game because 90% of the time it seems to hang on the loading screen, and even when you get past that, it hangs about 50% of the time when moving to a new world. It has gotten so unstable, I haven't even opened two of the newer packs I got cause I can't get to the point where I can use them anyway.
Playing on a PS3. The help pages seem useless, as well.
I look forward to playing this, but I too, am disappointed LEGO didn't bring back my all-time favorite theme or even just some Fantastic Beasts sets.
Can anyone post the instructions for the Niffler? It isn't included with the set, and I don't plan to play the game?
Never mind. Instructions found on Lego web site
https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/buildinginstructions/search?ignorereferer=true?search&text=71253