Set Review ➟ LEGO® 76414-Expecto patronum
A new batch of reviews of some of the new Harry Potter sets coming out in June and we'll be showing you 6 sets in total, so stay tuned for more! In this first instalment we're introducing you to set 76414 Expecto Patronum. Here you can see the box of the set to whet your appetite.
As all good fans should know, every wizard has a special magic that only he/she is able to conjure. Expecto Patronum in the form of a stag is Harry Potter's. I was surprised when I saw it for two reasons, one of them is obvious even if it's a bad joke... it's a converted Vespa. No, seriously, I was surprised because it opens an important range of sets with a certain collectibility but that are not catalogued for adults. In this case we are talking about a 14+ set with 754 pieces and a price of almost 65€. If you have noticed the image on the cover of the set, you can also build Renus Lupin's patronum, which of course, of course, has to be a wolf as this character has the ability to be a lycanthrope. Let's start with this set and see what it has in store for us. The contents are 8 bags and two construction manuals, one for each of the different Patronum. There don't seem to be any stickers, good!
I will opt for the deer although I confess that as a lover of animals and the wolf in particular, I find it a little difficult to decide on this first one. Later, in private, I'll take a closer look at the canid. Well, let's start with the minifigures. I really like Harry's torso, I love that Adidas sweatshirt. Lupin's head is dual and the lycanthrope face is very, very good. We can also see that new piece -at least for me- that simulates a wand where we can attach spells and some light beams. Also a dot with iridescence. It looks like we will see some new colours and a tile printed with the phrase "Expecto Patronum".
The first 3 bags are used to build the base. The choice of colours of the decorations seems to me to be very successful. It denotes a cold atmosphere as we could see in the story. I love the parchment-like title and from now on I know that I will use it somewhere and sometime in one of my constructions. Printed tile, yes!
As you can imagine, the trunk will be looking for a certain size and it will be full of brackets, and so it is.
In the fifth bag we found a 1x2 curved slope in a new colour. Very very cool :). The steps will add texture to the deer's trunk until it takes on a dimension that seems quite appropriate.
In the next bag we also find two other new references, one in mould and the other in colour!
Here we find some tricks to fill those insidious gaps that sometimes give so many headaches to be filled. Look at the tiles to see how they will be embedded in the structure.
Here we find those great little masterpieces where you can see that with just a few studs you can make something very consistent and proportionate. Two pictures speak for themselves. About this...
To this other.
Do you see how well defined the deer's trunk and neck are? Enviable. Let's continue with the head in the next bag, number seven. We are approaching the end of the set. We will wrap a 2x2 brick with brackets and from there you get a head....
Impressed? In my case quite a lot. Speechless, every detail in my head is a sum of exclamations. Next we are going to do what is usually said about the hindquarters of an animal. The proportions of the legs are very good. Seen from the side they are very well done, however if I look at them from behind I am not entirely convinced by the fact that the lower parts are placed more towards the central axis than the upper part of the thighs, but it is evident that there are not many options to stylize the so thin legs of a deer if it is not from a solution similar to this one. What do you think?
The only thing left to do now is to make the front legs. The upper front part is slightly different from the upper rear part, but the concept is certainly very similar. The lower part from the central joint is identical to the rear legs. Nevertheless the final assembly is certainly very very successful.
This is a very good set for the fan of this Harry Potter licence, not only because it represents something unique and magical from the magical history of this world, but also because the aesthetics of the set are excellent. However the set is not playable because if we take the stag out of the base if we give it some position that simulates movement it is evident that it does not stand correctly, but for a more adult audience it is very attractive. It is true that the colours are basically 2 and it will not be possible to generate other constructions too diverse but if we look at the front of the box.... how many different patronum would you be able to recreate with this set of pieces? Here it is. We thank LEGO for sending this set for review in this article although LEGO neither endorses nor supports in any way the opinions expressed in this article.
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