Hagrid's Hut Review

[rogue27]

I bought Hagrid's Hut and Syrius Black's Escape earlier today.

I just finished building the hut, and it is a very nice set. It comes with 2 of those brown door parts and two of those latticed windows you can click into the doors. The house also has a standard 4x3 window with two latticed window panes. Lots of plates and corners in dark grey, and lots of bricks and corner castle walls in light grey. Seems like a good way to start a collection of the new greys for those who wish to do so.

The new Hagrid figure is noticeable better than the old one. The mouth lines up better with the hole in the beard. Also, the old Hagrid's arms and hands were one brown part. The new Hagrid's hands can articulate at the wrists. Hagrid's hands also have fingers and a thumb which is pretty cool.

The building itself is a nice four walled hut that opens on a hinge, allowing access to the inside. The roof is made of several space wing plates slanted together. They make a fairly decent roof, with a square gap right at the top where the plates come together being the only part that looks bad. It could be easily plugged with a 4x4 plate and a 2x2 brick or something like that.

Outside, there is a small pumpkin patch by one corner of the building, and another corner has a barrel containing a shovel and a pickaxe. Other accessories inside the hut include a hand axe, a crossbow, a yellow goblet, a white and a red mug, a yellow plate, a cauldron, a ladle, and a pair of chrome gold keys. The set also includes a Hermione figure.

Aside from the four castle corner wall parts, the building is pretty much all bricks. They even mix light grey, dark grey, and light grey textured bricks to give it a nice mottled appearance, and it is a pretty good build. It comes with 302 pieces for it's $30 price tag which is a decent price per part ratio.

If you take out the harry potter figures and just stick in a couple peasants, this set would be a great addition to any medieval village.

I'll give this set an A-. The hole in the roof looks bad from above and the Hogwart's uniform is useless to me, but it's otherwise a very good set.

If you take out the harry potter figures and just stick in a couple peasants, this set would be a great addition to any medieval village. I plan to get a couple more.

[Green Fox]

[quote]Outside, there is a small pumpkin patch by one corner of the building, and another corner has a barrel containing a shovel and a pitchfork.

Is this a classic castle-style pitchfork?

[TwoTonic Knight]

Outside, there is a small pumpkin patch by one corner of the building, and another corner has a barrel containing a shovel and a pitchfork.

Is this a classic castle-style pitchfork?

It's a pickaxe, not a pitchfork.

[rogue27]

As has been stated already, it is a pickaxe, not a pitchfork. I apologize for the mistake. It was late when I wrote that.

[Green Fox]

NOOOO!

now, while I'm at it, is the pumpkin(s) the jack-o-lantern head, a plain orange head or a new piece altogether?

[rogue27]

NOOOO!

now, while I'm at it, is the pumpkin(s) the jack-o-lantern head, a plain orange head or a new piece altogether?

The pumpkins are orange minifig heads with no printing.

[Green Fox]

I was hoping for a new piece.

[doctorsparkles]

I also just picked up Hagrid's Hut, and I must also say that I am pleased.
The set comes together pretty well, and it's not as flimsy as I thought it would be. Even the new colors come together in a way that I don't mind.
I'm still not pleased with the flesh tone figs... and I'm not happy that Hagrid's hands aren't brown or black (like gloves). I guess I'll just start mixing in the flesh tone figs with my regular figs.
I'm not sure I like the way they used multiple colors of bricks or the 1*2 bricks with the lines on them to achieve a mottled look. It kind of just looks like they ran out of bricks of the right kind or color so they used what they had on hand. I'd replace some of the bricks with some that I already had so that the colors matched better, but I don't have enough of the new greys to pull this off just yet.
I like the way they hid the book in the fireplace, but I don't like the fact that the figs have to reach through the fire to get it. I bet that everytime the Hagrid fig has to do this, he wishes that TLC had decided to give him gloves.
I'll probably strip out the interior and put in some new furniture. The stuff that's in there seems a little large for a standard fig, and Hagrid can't sit down, so he can't use any of it.
Overall, this is a pretty cool set. I think I like the original Hagrid's Hut better, but this is pretty nice too. I'll probably pick up another one or two to house some of my villagers.

[rogue27]

I'll probably strip out the interior and put in some new furniture. The stuff that's in there seems a little large for a standard fig, and Hagrid can't sit down, so he can't use any of it.

Yeah, I know what you mean about the stuff being too big. The cauldron, ladle, and plate are all a bit oversized compared to the size of the figs. I mean, that same plate piece was used as a sink in the set with the troll. I know those parts were designed for some non-minifig scale product line and then just got used in Harry Potter anyway.

It seems like TLC enjoys making oversized equipment or something. The same is true of the Orient Expedition scimitars - way too big for a minifig, but when you see that the same part was used in the Jack Stone pirate line it starts to make sense why they are so big.

Likewise, the helmets and retard swords in KK2 all seem too big and bulky. I wish they would stop doing that when they make new accessories - we get enough oversized equipment passed in from other themes as it is.

[doctorsparkles]

Yeah, I know what you mean about the stuff being too big. The cauldron, ladle, and plate are all a bit oversized compared to the size of the figs. I mean, that same plate piece was used as a sink in the set with the troll. I know those parts were designed for some non-minifig scale product line and then just got used in Harry Potter anyway.

It seems like TLC enjoys making oversized equipment or something. The same is true of the Orient Expedition scimitars - way too big for a minifig, but when you see that the same part was used in the Jack Stone pirate line it starts to make sense why they are so big.

Likewise, the helmets and retard swords in KK2 all seem too big and bulky. I wish they would stop doing that when they make new accessories - we get enough oversized equipment passed in from other themes as it is.

I don't mind the cauldron at all, but the plate and ladle are a bit large. However, my main concern was the size of the furniture. Everything worked out all right though, as Hagrid's bench was just the right size for a table, and I was able to use the pieces from his table to make a bed.
I'm not sure that it matters much, but I made sure that any pieces I swapped out of my collection to alter this model were in the new colors or colors that haven't changed. I might as well keep everything as separate as I can until I can use the new colors on a larger scale.

[Devari]

Hm...

Hagrid's Hut looks quite good for pieces - this may be the only (along maybe with the Buckbeak set) set from 2004 HP that I will actually get.

Thanks for the review! The figs are a bit of a downside for me, but the pieces in this case outweigh them.

[rogue27]

Hm...

Hagrid's Hut looks quite good for pieces - this may be the only (along maybe with the Buckbeak set) set from 2004 HP that I will actually get.

Thanks for the review! The figs are a bit of a downside for me, but the pieces in this case outweigh them.

I would recommend Sirius Black's Escape over the Buckbeak set, because SBE also comes with Buckbeak, plus it has a Dementor and the Sirius Black figure. Somehow, Dementors are selling for around $7 on Bricklink. It also has a fairly decent assortment of parts, and a much better price per part than the Buckbeak set.

Today is the last day of the 20% off sale at Shopko - I have to decide whether or not I want to get more HP sets today. A couple more Hagrid's Huts would be nice.