At first, I didn't like Harry Potter series 2. Then I saw this Dumbledore minifigure and it instantly became one of my favorite series. Enough of my own opinion, let's look at Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

This minifigure is instantly recognizable and looks awesome. He has the semi-new skirt/dress/robe piece, with a lot of intricate and ornate printing. His torso print lines up perfectly with the legs and looks great. He has two face prints, which I don't think is really necessary for Dumbledore (since it doesn't make that big of a difference). His beard is one of the more generic beard pieces, which was first seen on Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings. He has a new hair-hat combo, which features his pointed starry hat he wears in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone (or Philosophers stone depending on where you live). He does have some back printing which has his hood (which I wasn't aware he had). For his accessories he has his normal tan wand, which I think should be dark gray to be more accurate to the Elder Wand. His other accessory is a brand-new mold for Faux the Phoenix, which looks fantastic, and is way more accurate than the 2002 mold, or the 2018 brick-built version from the great hall.

Unfortunately CMF (Collectable MiniFigures) are now $5 in the U.S. However, I think this minfigure is well worth $5, as are most minifigures in this series. Overall, I think this is without a doubt the best Albus Dumbledore minifigure we've ever got, and ever will get.

I own every minifigure version of Dumbledore ever released, and until now, no version has ever surpassed the 2001-2002 version (or its fleshie update in 4757) in my eyes. The version found in 75954 Hogwarts Great Hall is good, but doesn't entirely capture Dumbledore's character, and while the previous CMF and the version found in 75948 Hogwarts Clock Tower are very detailed and good, they're based on Michael Gambon's portrayal of Dumbledore, and to me there can be only one: Richard Harris.

This version of Dumbledore is based on Harris' portrayal in the first two films, and sports the star-speckled, dark red and black hat he wears in these films, dual moulded onto white hair. This is actually the first Dumbledore figure to have white hair, and it makes a huge difference! Like the version of Dumbledore in Hogwarts Great Hall, he wears the beard originally made for Gandalf, but this time in white. The combination of the new hair/hat mould and the beard is perfect, and so is the face underneath. One side of the face features a little smile, and ever so slightly contracted eyebrows, giving off an air of polite inquisitiveness, very appropriate for Dumbledore, while the other side features an open-mouthed smile and raised eyebrows, radiating happy surprise. You can't see all of this beneath the beard, of course, but of all the bearded characters with alternate face prints I have owned, this has some of the most effective different faces. Dumbledore is dressed in a magnificent dark red robe that is printed both back and front, and this is actually the first time a Richard Harris based Dumbledore comes with a dress piece instead of normal minifig legs, which is a most welcome change.

The minifigure itself is spectacular enough, but he also comes with an accessory long missed by fans, a new moulded Fawkes the phoenix. I'm very fond of my 2002 version of Fawkes from 4730 The Chamber of Secrets, but in terms of accuracy and printing, this has got that beat. Fawkes has nice orange and black printing on a red body, looking exactly like he does sitting perched in Dumbledore's office, or crying his healing tears onto Harry's wound in the Chamber of Secrets. Unlike the 2002 version which could be imagined flying as well as perched, this version of Fawkes feels more inanimate, so I hope we might have a flying version at some point too, perhaps in a new set based on the Chamber of Secrets.

If you're only going to get one figure from the new series of collectable minifigures, it should definitively be this (or Moaning Myrtle). You might have a heap of Dumbledores already, but none are as good as this, and the new Fawkes brightens up whichever version of Dumbledore's office you might have (especially next to the new sword of Gryffindor, if you are getting more than one CMF). It's hard to justify the new, elevated price for collectable minifigures, but if there is one that's woth it, it's this one.