Review: 40618 Kingsley Shacklebolt & Nymphadora Tonks
Posted by CapnRex101,
An impressive variety of Harry Potter characters have already appeared in BrickHeadz form and now the series is expanding with lesser-known characters, which is promising. 40618 Kingsley Shacklebolt & Nymphadora Tonks seems to fulfil that promise.
These two members of the Order of the Phoenix are instantly recognisable and present some creative building techniques, which distinguish them from other BrickHeadz. I think that distinction is these figures' most significant quality.
Summary
40618 Kingsley Shacklebolt & Nymphadora Tonks, 250 pieces.
£17.99 / $19.99 / €19.99 | 7.2p/8.0c/8.0c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
While neither are exceptional, Tonks and Shacklebolt are good BrickHeadz models
- Striking colours, among Harry Potter BrickHeadz
- Excellent level of accuracy
- Nothing to represent Tonks' Metamorphmagus ability
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
The Completed Model
Kingsley Shacklebolt joins the Order of the Phoenix after becoming convinced of Voldemort's return and is among its most prominent members onscreen. The character's colourful attire is ideally suited to the BrickHeadz format and I think Kingsley looks fantastic, especially because the blue and purple shades differ greatly from the reserved colours associated with traditional wizarding robes.
Rather than wearing a cloak or suit, like many Aurors, Kingsley is dressed in a flowing boubou and a cap, known as a kufi. These garments originate from West Africa and are richly adorned with metallic gold and purple designs, most notably on the cap. Eight printed 2x2 curved slopes comprise the kufi, recreating its rounded shape.
The curved slopes are interrupted by 1x2 plates on either side, which is not ideal, but provides some welcome texture to match the top. Additionally, the use of several 1x4 tiles on the back is perhaps surprising, when a couple of 2x4 tiles or even a 4x4 tile would have sufficed. However, I think this is also intended to create texture, evoking the folds in Shacklebolt's robes in the films.
Although her dark clothing stands out less than Kingsley Shacklebolt's garb, Tonks' lavender hair is certainly eye-catching! Tonks is a Metamorphmagus, so can alter her appearance and often changes her hair colour, but I think lavender was a good choice because it does feature most frequently onscreen. Maybe pieces could have been provided to change the colour.
Regardless, the texture looks good and the length reflects Tonks' appearance in the films. Her black jacket also seems accurate and incorporates a printed 2x3 tile on the front, including the metal studs visible onscreen. The dark red stripes of her shirt are present as well, which shows pleasing attention to detail.
However, I think my favourite feature of Tonk's attire is actually one of the simplest. Instead of the jacket simply hanging down over the figure's legs, this model includes a pair of 1x2 curved wedge slopes to improve the shaping. In combination with 1x2 slopes to represent flared edges, I find this technique very effective.
Overall
Even though neither reaches the heights of Bellatrix Lestrange in 40496 Voldemort, Nagini and Bellatrix, for example, 40618 Kingsley Shacklebolt & Nymphadora Tonks contains two superb figures. Kingsley's vibrant colours and distinctive attire are attractive, making splendid use of printed parts, while Tonks' dark clothing and flamboyant hair colour contrast well.
Some means of representing Tonks' Metamorphmagus ability would have been brilliant, but the BrickHeadz format leaves little opportunity for altering faces, so only her hair colour could have varied. On that basis, I am pleased with the designs and the price of £17.99, $19.99 or €19.99 is the same as other BrickHeadz twin packs, so this is a welcome addition to the range.
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11 comments on this article
When I first saw that cheese slope on her back, I thought it looked like she had been doing squats wrong...
Cudos to LEGO for finding enough pop culture characters to keep the Brickheadz theme going.
I expected they’d have dropped it the year after the themes release.
Yay for consistency!
I don’t know how well these are gonna sell— the more casual fans don’t know these two as well as some of the other characters, but than again we already got Brickheadz for most of those.
I’m surprised they made these two, but they look good.
@Quinnly said:
"Cudos to LEGO for finding enough pop culture characters to keep the Brickheadz theme going.
I expected they’d have dropped it the year after the themes release.
Yay for consistency!"
According to Funko-Pop, there's a never-ending wellspring of pop culture!
"But you already made a Batman."
"No, see, this is half-zombie-half-robot-jumbo-sized-silver-edition-Christmas Batman!"
@sir_vasco said:
" @Quinnly said:
"Cudos to LEGO for finding enough pop culture characters to keep the Brickheadz theme going.
I expected they’d have dropped it the year after the themes release.
Yay for consistency!"
According to Funko-Pop, there's a never-ending wellspring of pop culture!
"But you already made a Batman."
"No, see, this is half-zombie-half-robot-jumbo-sized-silver-edition-Christmas Batman!""
Let's hope LEGO doesn't end up also shoveling a bunch of unsold Brickheadz into a landfill as well...
Of course, you could represent Tonks' ability by cannibalizing other Brickheadz...
@Quinnly said:
"Cudos to LEGO for finding enough pop culture characters to keep the Brickheadz theme going.
I expected they’d have dropped it the year after the themes release.
Yay for consistency!"
I actually quite like brickheadz and make custom ones on a regular basis. It's just that minor characters like these don't seem to have much point when you could be focusing on much better characters to make into brickheadz form.
I think a printed pigsnout on a tile between the eyes and a blank one to alternate would have most easily captured the morphing, or maybe having half her hair one color and half another to capture it mid-transition as a second choice but having nothing for her unique power does fall a bit flat for me.
Since the big visual of her ability, besides shaking her head to change the hair color, is the duck mouth, and Brickheadz don’t generally have mouths, it’s kinda like you can alternate between not showing her human mouth, and not showing her duck mouth.
How long until someone customises the Tonks one to give her a pig snout or duck beak?