Review: 31201 Harry Potter Hogwarts Crests
Posted by CapnRex101,
Upon arriving at Hogwarts, students are divided between four houses which are named after the founders of the school. These are identified with distinctive colours, animal insignia and artefacts owned by Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin.
31201 Harry Potter Hogwarts Crests depicts the three memorable features associated with each house. These designs therefore look interesting but their deviation from traditional house crests has not proven universally popular, particularly because the background colours sometimes appear very bland. Nevertheless, I have assembled the Gryffindor and Slytherin designs first.
Box and Contents
LEGO Art models are packaged in unusually flat boxes which can accommodate the mosaics when their frames are removed. Each bag contains 1x1 round plates in one colour while black elements for the frame are placed underneath the instruction manual. The large 16x16 mosaic plates are stored inside another box, ensuring that they arrive without suffering damage.
The instruction manual contains information about each Hogwarts house and their members. The presentation of these pages is extremely attractive and even includes crests which would potentially have been more appealing than those actually constructed. Information concerning Ravenclaw house is notably interesting as that text makes specific reference to the enchanted door knocker outside their common room but neglects to mention its eagle design!
Enlarged brick separators have been introduced for this theme and these are absolutely vital when preparing to assemble another mosaic. I have found the most successful method to be removing the elements around the edge of each tile before moving across in two strips using this brick separator. You can therefore remove the plates from a single mosaic panel in about one minute.
The Completed Model
Despite some inevitable repetition during construction, watching seemingly unrecognisable shapes become detailed images is superb when connecting different mosaic panels. 31201 Harry Potter Hogwarts Crests offers that experience to some degree, although considerably below the standard established throughout the first collection of LEGO Art sets. While those designs featured elaborate shading and reflections, these appear simple.
Nevertheless, the Gryffindor mosaic is instantly identifiable with Gryffindor house, comprising dark red and pearl gold elements which reflect the house colours. The lion rampant also looks marvellous, although the light bluish grey and white chequers below appear somewhat strange and the pearl silver segment is completely bland. Presumably these compromises were needed to accommodate the parts for four different crests in a single set.
Pearl dark grey elements are distributed near the edges of the lion, creating the illusion of shading and depth. This design is relatively simple but undoubtedly complements the black elements. Moreover, I love the intricate claws and tail, although one black 1x1 round plate is seemingly swapped with a light bluish grey 1x1 round plate around the jaw. This matches the instructions but looks slightly odd.
Godric Gryffindor's legendary sword appears prominently throughout the Harry Potter series, surpassing the significance of other artefacts in that regard. This depiction of the sword looks reasonably accurate when compared with the weapon from the movies, including multiple red 1x1 round plates which depict rubies adorning the hilt. The pearl dark grey highlights are also effective in my opinion.
Slytherin's house crest displays a green quadrant, replaces the light bluish grey chequers with pearl silver elements and includes light bluish grey diagonal stripes in place of golden stripes. I think the resultant colours look completely drab, especially because pearl silver and light bluish grey shades appear similar when viewed from a distance or under natural light conditions.
However, the distinctive serpent associated with Slytherin looks impressive. Once again, the designer has made exceptional use of pearl dark grey pieces and the twisting shape of this animal looks perfect. The tongue is probably my favourite detail though, extending from the mouth of the snake and exploiting the black colour of the mosaic panels underneath. In fact, they are instrumental in ensuring that each animal stands out against the background.
The green quadrant contains Salazar Slytherin's locket, which eventually became one of Lord Voldemort's seven Horcruxes. Beyond its octagonal shape, this design scarcely resembles the original prop and features some interesting colour choices. The pearl dark grey plates within its chain appear out of place but I appreciate the lime green decoration at the centre of this locket. Unfortunately, I think it would be impossible to include any more detail at this scale.
Overall
31201 Harry Potter Hogwarts Crests promises an excellent concept, allowing Harry Potter fans to display their allegiance to their chosen Hogwarts house. Unfortunately, the execution leaves something to be desired. Displaying the animals associated with each house was undoubtedly sensible but the colours required much greater prominence and the remaining sections of each mosaic appears rather boring.
That issue becomes particularly apparent when viewing the Slytherin design, which lacks any appealing detail outside the snake and locket. I understand that providing even more dark red, green and blue elements was presumably impossible, in which case this set should have been divided between two products. One could contain two crests with appropriate colours while the other would include the other two designs.
Splitting these mosaics between two sets would also permit the inclusion of more suitable colours for Hufflepuff, which should include yellow and black tones. However, the remarkable selection of 4249 pieces that are included must be acknowledged and this set provides good value from that perspective, costing £114.99 or $119.99. Even so, I would only recommend this set if you are intending to design your own Hogwarts crests.
This set was provided for review by The LEGO Group but the review represents an expression of my own opinions.
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22 comments on this article
awesome review!
Thanks for the review! I appreciate the recommendation towards designing one’s own crests, and I kind of want to try that with a smaller combined Hogwarts crest. Out of curiosity, @CapnRex101 do you think you’ll be experimenting with these more to make your own?
US$120...who on earth is gonna buy this?
You can get the Sesame Street set for the same price...
LEGO Art stuff is interesting to me...as an artist I love that they are exploring the idea of this. Though I feel like the attempts are over simplified for the amount of investment required in the product. That’s just an uninformed gut reaction based on reading reviews and listening to people online and some friends, though.
I think I’m going to have to jump into one for myself to know for sure what the whole experience is like from the buy through the build. This doesn’t seem to be the one to be a person’s “introduction” to the theme. Anyone have a suggestion for what would be?
@morvit: someone like me also likes 2 dimensional art. I got the Warhol one on discount because I love the colors. I do think that Lego Art theme has certain appeal to certain buyers.
@blogzilly
I would say that Warhol is your best bet, unless you are a passionate fan of Beatles, Star Wars or Iron Man. Disney mouses, Elvis, and maybe a world map are scheduled for the next wave I think.
I wonder if Hogwarts ever regretted grouping all the evil children together in one place
This is just way too boring for me. Good review though
The lion's jaw looks fine to me. In that corner of the checkered section, there are three silver plates that form a triangle. The one at the top is the gap between the upper and lower jaw, and the latter is the black plate between the other two silver plates. Like many mosaics, it's a bit easier to see what you're looking at if you squint your eyes.
@EvilTwin:
An even more important question is why is Slytherin House by far the most popular with the generation who grew up reading these books?
These (and the 1st wave) look like really good Xmas presents so I’m hoping to pick some up at bargain prices on eBay in the New Year ;-)
I still see the "fake-PNG" background for half of these (the white and gray checkers).
@PurpleDave said:
"The lion's jaw looks fine to me. In that corner of the checkered section, there are three silver plates that form a triangle. The one at the top is the gap between the upper and lower jaw, and the latter is the black plate between the other two silver plates. Like many mosaics, it's a bit easier to see what you're looking at if you squint your eyes.
@EvilTwin:
An even more important question is why is Slytherin House by far the most popular with the generation who grew up reading these books?"
Slytherin is the most edgy.
I was so excited for this set, and while I still like it, I agree that the execution is not as good as I expected. I want four copies to make the large crest, but I think I may wait for them to go on sale at other retailers since $120 for each of these plain mosaics feels like too high of a price. I think splitting them into two sets would've been much better, although I respect the effort the designer went to in order to make this set a 4-in-1.
I could have been interested in this set, but as a Ravenclaw I just have to insist on bronze colored plates. I can live with the raven design, that can be easily mocced into an eagle, but the silver is just wrong.
The black animals could have benefited from some antialiasing along the edges. As is, they remind me a bit too much of beginner pixel art
This is one of the few modern Lego sets I'll admit is just plain ugly
They have the words Harry and Potter on them so will sell well. But they’re wholly unimaginative. LEGO is a 3D construction toy, and IMO have completely missed the mark. Anybody who’s visited a LEGOLAND park or a LEGO brand store and seen the superb 3D portraits exhibited there will be completely disappointed by this rubbish.
For all the negative reviews, something positive to think about for all those artists out there...
From the 4249 studs there are 369 white, 431 blue, 503 green, 500 dark red, 630 grey or 604 gold round studs, allowing you if you buy another seven 65803 16x16 plates (for around $5-$7) each to expand to sixteen 16x16 plates to create your own 4096 stud picture (64x64) rather than the above 2304. You can always begin with a smaller version of the thirty-six plate 9214 stud combined crest (96x96) by adapting the on-line instructions, which would save buying four sets?
I'm considering getting this as a parts pack for building my family's coat of arms. @capnrex101 would you be able to post the part counts? Thanks
I'm surprised they didn't make an extra model if you buy all of them.
I know it's not easy as the amount of plates per color have to be limited but it would have been nice for example if it was possible to build the hogwarts crest with all 4 houses on them. I don't know how many details would get lost by doing this but it would have been nice.
@tyarador said:
"I'm surprised they didn't make an extra model if you buy all of them.
I know it's not easy as the amount of plates per color have to be limited but it would have been nice for example if it was possible to build the hogwarts crest with all 4 houses on them. I don't know how many details would get lost by doing this but it would have been nice."
There is a larger Hogwarts crest that can be made with “4” copies, check extra images on set details page.
I haven’t done the math, but it may be easy to make the largest picture with only 1 or 2 copies. There is little overlap in the four house colors. You probably would just need extra parts in black, white, grey, and pearl gold. These are all very common colors.
@CC said:
" @tyarador said:
"I'm surprised they didn't make an extra model if you buy all of them.
I know it's not easy as the amount of plates per color have to be limited but it would have been nice for example if it was possible to build the hogwarts crest with all 4 houses on them. I don't know how many details would get lost by doing this but it would have been nice."
There is a larger Hogwarts crest that can be made with “4” copies, check extra images on set details page.
I haven’t done the math, but it may be easy to make the largest picture with only 1 or 2 copies. There is little overlap in the four house colors. You probably would just need extra parts in black, white, grey, and pearl gold. These are all very common colors.
"
Oooowww...didn't see that earlier :-)
For me that design looks better than the crest apart from eachother.
Going to do the math...
Thx a lot for info!