Review: 41621 Ron Weasley & Albus Dumbledore
Posted by CapnRex101,
The BrickHeadz continue to divide opinion but 41621 Ron Weasley & Albus Dumbledore was exceptionally well received when the set was revealed last month, due in particular to the tremendous detail captured by the designer of the Professor Dumbledore figure.
While Dumbledore may be the highlight of this twin pack, Ron Weasley is instantly recognisable too. The set costs £17.99 or $19.99 so matches other BrickHeadz twin packs and it contains a wide range of appealing elements too. This may therefore prove to be the most impressive BrickHeadz set yet released!
The Completed Model
The majority of BrickHeadz models follow a uniform template, consisting of a standardised core to which unique details are added. However, these figures diverge from that template to differing degrees as Ron Weasley features truncated legs while Professor Dumbledore sports an impressive floor length robe. Ron's striking dark orange hair is instantly recognisable and I like his open robe, distinguishing this character from his friends in Gryffindor who each wear slightly different uniforms.
Ron's hair style is very simple but looks good in relation to the source material, including an accurate parting as well as four 1x1 quarter circle tiles which have not appeared in dark orange before. Perhaps some printed freckles would have been a nice addition to the model and I might swap this plain tile for the printed 1x4 tile in 41618 Anna & Olaf, just to see how it looks.
The designers of recent BrickHeadz have made good use of colour around each character's neck and that is especially apparent here. Ron's Gryffindor scarf features a series of flame yellowish orange and dark red stripes which look fantastic and I like the printed 1x3 tiles fitted on either side of the robe. The light bluish grey jumper underneath is excellent as well.
Little detail is found on the rear of the model but I love Ron's cuffs, represented by black 1x1 brackets which have the potential to be incredibly useful for other creations. The figure comes with a dark brown wand. Remarkably, the 4L bar has not appeared in dark brown before and Dumbledore's dark tan wand is also new.
This version of Albus Dumbledore is based upon the character as he appears in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone so wears an extraordinarily elaborate gown. The numerous printed components look magnificent, although one might reasonably suggest that the figure is too reliant upon detailed printing rather than brick-built designs. Nevertheless, I think the resultant model is tremendous.
Dumbledore's delicate spectacles were subject to particular interest when this set was revealed as the standard 1x1 round tiles are replaced by two trans-clear 1x2 tiles. However, the distinctive BrickHeadz eyes are still present, framed in metallic gold. This ingenious design works perfectly and the headmaster's facial hair looks superb too, although slightly more texture in his beard would have been welcome.
The figure includes seven 1x4 tiles which are decorated with blue and reddish brown stripes as well as six 1x2 tiles featuring some colourful beads. These designs are simplified when compared with the film but I still think they look brilliant, adding a beautiful splash of colour to the brown and dark red robe. The hat worn by Professor Dumbledore's is attractive too, particularly when viewed from the rear.
BrickHeadz figures are most often distinguished by their hair styles. While I do not think that is the case in this instance, I do like Dumbledore's textured hair. It hangs quite naturally over his shoulders and the few exposed studs are effective in my opinion, most notably between some 1x1 quarter circle tiles and wedge plates at the back of the model.
Overall
41621 Ron Weasley & Albus Dumbledore is undoubtedly among my favourite BrickHeadz sets to date. The Hogwarts headmaster is probably the more interesting of the two figures, due primarily to its striking colour scheme and detailed robe, but Ron looks marvellous too. I like the Gryffindor scarf very much and his characteristic ginger hair is accurate to the movies.
The unique BrickHeadz style does not appeal to everyone but I would certainly recommend this set to those who do enjoy the theme. Furthermore, it includes a selection of appealing elements such as printed tiles, 1x1 brackets and 4L bars in two new colours!
I hope you have found this review informative. Let us know by liking this article and share your thoughts on the set in the comments below.
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20 comments on this article
I find it amusing that they chose to pair Ron and Dumbledore when there's a line in the seventh book that specifically notes they barely knew each other :p
Both nice models also would be great for parts the tiled trim on dumbledores robe would make a great tapestry Or a nice pattern on a flying carpet!
Love the original style of Albus, the glasses are perfect.
Really looking forward to getting these, having built Harry, Hedwig and Hermione.
As soon as I saw this I thought of this line from the Lego movie (My names Dumbledore ,did u say dubbledoor, no it’s dumbledore ,u r going to have to write that down cose I ain’t going to remember that!)
The glasses are quite clever. Very nice.
I went to a Lego store this morning right when it opened, and this was the first Harry Potter set that they sold out of (within a couple minutes).
I'd love some F1-themed two packs. Senna and Prost would seem the obvious choice, plus Hunt and Lauda could be passed off as being from the movie Rush. A Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton two pack would be my absolute favourite and a must buy.
GO SEBASTIAN!
It's probably first time I will be getting Brickheads X"D but I want all the Harry sets tbh. What can I say, The series is my guilty pleasure v.v
I have to admit having to reread the part about Ron's light bluish grey jumper multiple times, since I kept mentally filling in "plate" and trying to figure where a light bluish grey jumper plate was used in the build. :P
Looks great, hope fans enjoy these.
Truly the Stephen King of Brickheadz, yes.
The Dumbledore one is 'cute'. But, BH is still not for me.
Speed champions fan: Huh? Lol.
The only good thing about them is that their printed parts will be available for next year's LUGBULK... and I can see them used for carpeting/wallpaper.
Dumbledore is awesome. I'm not a Brickhead fan or a Harry Potter fan (Yeah yeah, whatever people.) but he is awesome and I love the printed tiles!
I think they should have paired Hermione and Ron and left Dumbledore to be his own set. This and the Groot and Rocket pack are among my favorites. To all you Brickheadz haters, go get a life instead of staring at your computer waiting for a new article to yell at.
Spoiler alert, they're exactly the same as every other Brickhead, just with slightly different physical characteristics.
@Zordboy: So, in other words, "they're the same, except the details are different". You could make the same case against minifigures, or for that matter, real people. The differences are what make the individual characters who they are, and I think the BrickHeadz come up with some very creative ways to represent those differences.
Overall there's a lot of fun stuff going on with Dumbledore, like how the printed robe and hat patterns are designed to tesselate or how the hair and glasses are represented. Ron's a little more plain but I like that the BrickHeadz chose to depict his, Harry's, and Hermione's school uniforms three different ways (Ron's with open robe and untied scarf, Harry's with closed robe and tied scarf, and Hermione's with no robe. This also lets them share a lot of their decorations.
I haven't really been to too many conventions since the BrickHeadz really took off, but it would be interesting to see if AFOL customizers start printing their own bricks and tiles to make different BrickHeadz than are available sets. It wouldn't be too hard to create these scarves and ties in different colors for building Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin students! For that matter, the incredible customizability of BrickHeadz and the existing Go Brick Me set creates a wide-open niche for customizers to start making printed clothing parts (like different shirt and dress styles) that are as useful for "sigfigs" and original characters as they are for fictional ones!
The printing on Dumbledore's robe is interesting. I might buy this just for parts.
I wish that they had made these separate because the Dumbledore is AWESOME, by far my favorite BrickHeadz, but I could do without the Ron.