Dumbledore’s Office includes a chair and desk with inkpot and quill, the Pensieve and the sword of Gryffindor. The tables and tree are beautiful designs, with the tree, in particular, being among the best LEGO Christmas trees yet. The unicorn horns for the icicles on the tables is a great design we’ve seen in fan models, while the shaping for the ice sculpture is simple but effective.

As I’ve reviewed sets over the last several years, I’ve noticed LEGO furniture improving at a remarkable pace. I was very impressed with the furniture in Stranger Things: The Upside Down, and the furniture here, though simple, is similarly lovely. With 922 pieces, the set sits about where we’d expect for its price point, though none of the non-printed pieces are unique to this set. Ultimately, this is a good set, but except for the figures it doesn’t stand out among the recent Harry Potter sets in the way the Great Hall did. I’ll enjoy having it my collection, but it’s not one to elicit oohs and aahs.Ignite the magic within your child with LEGO® Harry Potter building toys and model kits. This enchanting collection invites young witches, wizards and even muggles, to go on countless Wizarding World adventures, inspired by the beloved series. Once all three are connected, they form a sizable length of Hogwarts. Hopefully, as LEGO continues to release the sets, they’ll produce pieces that allow for a more accurate layout of Hogwarts. LEGO has told us that they can only advertise sets as being compatible with each other if the sets are currently in production, but while LEGO won’t speak of future plans for the line, it seems they intend to keep producing these modular Hogwarts sets for a while even after the older ones like the Great Hall are no longer offered.

The Yule Ball is the primary theme for the set, with each of the minifigures sporting their dance finery. The ballroom isn’t particularly impressive as an architectural design, since its primary purpose is as a play feature, but with the addition of the tables and Christmas tree the setting looks appropriately festive.It’s best to think of the set as an exterior architectural model paired with a series of internal vignettes, just as the recent Jurassic Park gate is. And the exterior does look nice. Even with its exterior scale being slightly smaller than minifigure scale, it’s still a bit small. But let’s not judge it too harshly for that; it’s easily the best minifigure-ish scale LEGO Hogwarts exterior yet, with lots of detailing. I kinda wish they’d come up with a way to do lamps like that without using the tap piece (and it took me a while to find a picture that proved I was right about how it’s constructed because _somebody_ apparently felt it was necessary to carefully pose the loose furniture so you couldn’t see the spigot on the tap). The problem is, the only two other solutions I can think of (telescope, or nipple tile + candle) would make the lamp considerably taller. Ah, well, I don’t really do much in the way of furniture, so I’m not sure I’d ever be able to put a smaller lamp to use anyways. Ultimately, this is an excellent set for two camps: The first is those who are interested in collecting all of the sets of the modular Hogwarts. If this is the only such set you buy, you’ll likely be disappointed, because it’s an awkward set by itself. But when combined with the rest it’s pretty cool and will hopefully only get better as the line continues. The second camp is made of minifigure collectors, and with all eight figures being exclusive, and one being a totally unique character, it’s hard to say this isn’t a great set for minifigures.