Review: 30407 Harry's Journey to Hogwarts
Posted by CapnRex101,
LEGO has returned to the Wizarding World once again in 2018, producing seven sets based upon the first three Harry Potter films and two others that take inspiration from Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
30407 Harry's Journey to Hogwarts is by far the smallest such set, containing only 40 pieces and the Boy Wizard himself. Nevertheless, this set provides a valuable introduction to the theme and depicts an important scene from Harry Potter and Philosopher's Stone as Harry leaves Kings Cross Station for his very first year at Hogwarts.
Minifigure
Almost thirty different versions of Harry Potter have been released since 2001 and this example marks a significant departure from past renditions, featuring a new hair piece as well as short legs which reflect Harry's young age during first year. That hair component is beautifully textured and includes an authentic parting that reveals the famed lightning bolt scar on the character's forehead.
This polybag takes inspiration from Harry's very first journey to Hogwarts, at which point he is wearing casual clothes in the film and has not yet been sorted into Gryffindor. However, this minifigure is dressed in a school uniform instead, presumably because the designer believed this to be a more appealing design. I think that was a good decision as the torso looks marvellous, featuring some dark red and flame yellowish orange stripes that denote Gryffindor House as well as realistic creasing. This version of Harry is only available elsewhere in 75954 Hogwarts Great Hall.
Harry comes with several accessories, perhaps the most interesting of which is the new wand element. This is attached to a sprue alongside a spare and can be held upright or pointed forwards, as shown in the image below. It is therefore well suited to display and includes excellent moulded detail, despite its small size.
The Completed Model
75955 Hogwarts Express includes Ron Weasley's luggage trolley and this model is designed to match, featuring a handle and space for several accessories. Unfortunately, the wheels do not rotate but they look alright and I like the dark red brick at the front which resembles Harry's trunk from the film. The trolley carries a pearl dark grey cauldron, a suitcase and a book which opens to reveal a printed 1x2 tile, demonstrating the Wingardium Leviosa charm.
However, Hedwig's cage is certainly the most impressive aspect of the set. It is constructed around two reddish brown 2x2 round plates with four vertical shafts and includes some lovely pearl gold highlights. Hedwig fits neatly inside and she looks marvellous, even though the printed designs on her head and chest have not been updated since 2010. The size of the owl does mean that the cage appears enormous beside a minifigure, although this is justified by the level of detail in my opinion.
Overall
I have been looking forward to the upcoming Wizarding World sets very much indeed and this polybag further whets my appetite for the theme! The Harry Potter minifigure looks better than ever before, due primarily to the detailed hair piece and his brand new wand. I like Hedwig's cage too and the luggage trolley is perfectly adequate, although it would have been even better with rolling wheels.
This polybag was provided to Brickset by LEGO but we do not know when, or under what circumstances, it will become more widely available. Nevertheless, I would recommend it as a companion to 75955 Hogwarts Express, particularly to those who are not planning to purchase 75954 Hogwarts Great Hall where the same version of Harry is found.
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
Great review and polybag! I love this particular Harry minfig, but do not plan on getting the Great Hall - so will be after this set for that alone.
Great little set. I’ll be on the lookout for this for Hedwig especially.
Great review, looks like a nice small set. Any idea where this poly bag will be available at?
Cute!
Huh, I thought that was a Stephen King book, not Wingardium Leviosa, oh well. Decent lil' polybag, hope it will be available far and wide. My country has a very spotty record with polybags, would love for that to change.
If this is Harry's first journey to Hogwarts then his uniform would be a standard Hogwarts uniform and not Gryffindor as he hasn't been sorted yet, either a mistake by the designer or Lego saying we they really don't care about authenticity, or a bit of both, if this is the standard of the new range then It's a no from me.
@andyh1984 - I expect the designer was aware of that inaccuracy but LEGO did not wish to produce a unique torso for a polybag. A standard Hogwarts uniform would have been nice though.
I suppose so and most polybags never see a child anyway but get bought in bulk by collectors and never opened to be resold in the future to similar people. Sorry I seem to have my cynical head on tonight.
I like this one and would definitely buy it too.. Just wish lego would of put moving wheels on the luggage trolley.. But lovely little add on to lego HP theme, and i hope there's a few more!
I suppose this is something of an update to 30110 Trolley. https://brickset.com/sets/30110-1/Trolley
When are the HP sets released?
^ Tomorrow in North America, August everywhere else!
@andyh1984: I don't know about 'most'. When I was in stores in the USA a few years ago, there were loads of polybags at the registers as impulse buy items for parents and kids. In Australia we have boxes of the things on supermarket shelves. They are also given away in my local shopping centre in school holidays once or twice each year.
I don't know why they couldn't have added actual wheels connected by two-by-two plates, so they've would've fit. Maybe it would've made the trolley too tall?
I think this looks great. The minifigure is rare and thenbuilds are cool.
Does Ron's trolly from Hogwarts Express have moving wheels? If so you could copy that design to MoC this one.
Alternatively you could use stakeboard wheels, or maybe even train ones but they may be to large.
Lots of parents in the US buy the polybags for their kids, not just "collectors". They're right at the cash register or at the endcaps facing the main aisles. Just go to any Target store here and you'll see what I mean.
I only want Hedwing.
Looks cool! Has anyone found one in stores yet?
Perhaps the trolley could be rebuilt using a roller-coaster carriage?