hello everyone this is Legos latest
official rendition of the Harry Potter
Hogwarts Express train and if you are
not very familiar with the previous
versions of the Hogwarts Express that
Lego has produced between 2001 and 2010
I strongly recommend that you go over to
Brickset.com just search for Hogwarts
Express and look at the sets results to
familiarize yourself with the previous
versions that will help you so much to
appreciate this version so much more
because this one in my opinion blows the
others out of water completely first of
all this locomotive unlike all those
that preceded it features the correct
four six zero wheel configuration
whereas the previous ones have just used
tiny little wheels which really did not
look good at all so this immediately
looks much more like a proper classic
real steamer as opposed to just a steam
body placed on top of a diesel-electric
or even purely electric chassis like me
old ones did this also allows a proper
alignment with these kind of fender
flares that go above the drive wheels
and they have connecting rods one on
either side there's no real
cylinder detail to go with that but it's
much better to have that bent not
because now when you roll this back and
forth you can actually see those sliding
on either side that just looks nice it
looks more more real more believable
more like it's alive now this does
feature a couple of of prints that are
pretty good first of all they've
utilized a relatively new piece in the
Lego inventory the larger curved tile
piece that is a print and one of those
on either side there's a print not a
sticker the set does use some stickers
such as this plate back here and also on
the tender that is a sticker and they
have just one on either side those are
identical but this is a print and also
going up to the front
of the locomotive here that is a print
which looks quite good to me as well
they've done a good thing with the
leading wheels here they're placed on a
on a truck I don't think I've seen Lego
do this before they're placed on a truck
that is locked it will not go from side
to side there's a little bit of wiggle
in there but basically if you want those
wheels to stay facing forward like a lot
of kids will who are not going to be
placing this on to actual rails then
it'll just stay like that and it's
perfect for foreplay for general play
and also for display but if you want to
place this onto Lego official tracks you
can with any generation of tracks that
they've ever done you just rotate this
little Center bit here up and that
unlocks the the front truck now this
will rotate it'll rotate back and forth
and also slide from side to side which
is very important to have both of those
axes of movement in order to be able to
go through the the tightest of turns
Lego official track you know turns I
have a very very small radius a very
unrealistic radius but they've they've
taken care of that here so this will
actually still be able to navigate those
the shaping of the whole boiler is
pretty good to me the overall details
are pretty good they even have some
details in the engineering cab here you
can see the firebox is open there's a
little bit of fire coming out of there
and they even show some some old valve
so you just take this off you can see in
there a little bit a little bit better
got some valves and also some some dials
that are showing some some pressures and
or temperatures so that's all good they
do not include any engineer figure with
this set I don't think they ever have
before if I'm not mistaken on that but
that's okay they do
I think include proper figures are good
a good selection of figures for this set
the tender is a little bit short it's
definitely a bit short as a matter of
fact it's so short that it will not
accommodate the traditional trick of
placing a nine volt powered motor
beneath this and for folks who are
interested in motorizing this the tender
is not set up to accommodate a standard
power functions battery box which is the
same size as the new powered up battery
boxes so if you want to motorize this
you are definitely going to have to put
some work into it it is not designed to
accommodate it at all matter of fact if
you look at the underside just for folks
who are interested it doesn't even use
axles going through to hold the wheels
they're just using axle pin so this is
definitely not designed from the factory
to be motorized I am 100% confident that
customizers will motorized these quite
readily but it's just not designed to be
easy there is one feature with the
tender back here you can just open this
up and it's just it's just hollow it's
just hollow inside so you can use that
as a place to hold some some luggage or
something or some extra cargo or extra
accessories if you want but overall this
locomotive looks great you went together
fairly easily it's good for a basic play
just as it is but for the minority the
small minority who would actually want
to motorized this or would actually be
able to motorized it and have the track
to run on it's going to be a little bit
more difficult than usual as with
previous sets this one comes with only a
single passenger car and I know
everybody would like to see more than
one passenger car myself included
definitely the the real train had what
was it four or five cars and trains in
general don't look all that great when
they have just a single cargo you know a
single piece of rolling stock that's
being trailed along the overall design
of this one looks a little bit more
plain to me than some of the older ones
in spite of its increased in complexity
with parts and build because the modern
windows have the squared corners I think
the previous ones most of the previous
ones have used the rounded corner
windows and the undercarriage section of
this is so very plain in the center with
just the two Static axles you don't want
it either end
they are not able to rotate it there's a
little bit of detail here that's good
but this section under here is very
unfortunately hollow and empty the roof
is shaped pretty well the ends are
shaped up very nicely in my opinion it's
interesting they used the tall window
frames for these the part that you don't
see very frequently and I haven't seen
that in black either either ever or at
least in a very long time so not a color
I'm familiar with for that part they may
have used it some time ago or in a theme
that I'm not familiar with I usually see
those in brighter colors or gray if you
want to see the interior of this you're
in luck
not because I'm going to move the camera
like I usually would and show you this
from the top and bring a little extra
light in there but you can remove the
roof as usual for things like this in
one single piece and then there's a
bonus that the designer brought in for
this that is in my opinion absolutely
fantastic you just pop the entire side
off this is now a feature that I want to
see on not only every single Lego
passenger train car run through infinity
through for eternity I also want to see
it on every single bus I want to see it
on every single vehicle that that is
able to carry more than two figures
within its I want to see that on many
buildings I want to see that all over
the place because it's just so fantastic
it makes it so much easier to get your
figures in there and that's not just for
the sake of showing it to you on camera
it's for the sake of play for the sake
of display just getting the figures to
be set up the way you want them to be
set up so this has to booths and they've
used sand blue as the color for the trim
of course these figures from first three
years at least are still using the short
legs so they have to stand but that's
not that bad of
okay not that bad at all and this car
features the Sam blue tiles in the base
of it to make it look a little bit nicer
and those tiles also are important to
help you to slide the cart back and
forth on that now you do also you see me
to remove this outer wall in order to
fit the cart in there there's no other
space for it even though it is only two
studs wide you've got the two stud width
of the seats themselves plus the studs
not on top construction the studs on the
side construction for the side trim the
armrest there so yeah a little bit of
plus and minus there you can just barely
fit the cart into that space that's very
intentional but if you want to actually
have it in use then you need to remove
the side but they let you remove the
side and it lets you get figures in
there much more easily than having to
and they're like this even if you have
small fingers it's still a little bit of
a pain sometimes to have to do that so
being able to pop that off is great
here's a quick better look at the
service cart the little sweets trolley
which is a very simple bill that does
not have actual rolling wheels on it
just those technic modified plate parts
but I think it looks just fine and
scales well and for use on the platform
here's a basic luggage cart which uses
the same technique to simulate wheels
down below has a couple of briefcases or
suitcases in it and that is Scabbers
there on the front as well I really like
the station platform design here also I
think that it looks very good on display
and it works perfectly well with the
figures there are only a couple things
about it that bugged me a little bit
mostly one thing but you have the whole
crossover bridge which is narrow but
it's fine it has enough room of course
for the train to come all the way
through the clockface does use a sticker
most of the decorations that you will
see on this build use stickers this is
one place where I have a bit of an issue
with the platform 9 and platform 10 the
boards that are up there those have the
correct sort of type
work but they're small the galette
lettering the numbering his small should
have taken up more of the boards that's
a very recognizable at least to me to my
memory into my eyes it's very
recognizable ratio of lettering to board
and just those numbers should have been
larger also it should have been hanging
down and they should have been hanging
from the sides so you should have seen
something more like this
that would have been so much better but
then it would have gotten in the way
that's why they went with this you know
this compromise but you know something
hanging off the side just would have
looked much better but I do have
platform 9 and 3/4 in the proper way to
get into it you just go right through
here from the other side and this gets
you to platform 9 and 3/4 which is kind
of this side of the wall it's that's how
it's set up so everything over here is
the standard muggle world and then this
is the the actual Wizarding World
portion of it the the magical section of
it that has the Prisoner of Azkaban as a
wanted sticker right there Sivan gets a
little bit closer in on that there we go
so that's that's proper and also gives
you the kind of the setting for the time
frame of the setting of this train
although or the set although well most
of it will also work with other other
other years a couple of the daily
prophets issues there with the Boy Who
Lived showing up which is certainly not
appropriate here but I guess they didn't
want to put the boy who lied on to a
sticker they wanted to keep it positive
and you know just kind of tie into
something that people are a little bit
more familiar with and it's just a
little bit more more happy and then
here's the actual Hogwarts Express sign
which is which is pretty proper it's I
don't think it's oriented quite right
but I'm perfectly happy with where it is
and how they set it up the colors in the
background the colors of the structure
are nice the kind of ratio of smooth
area to studded area is nice and overall
this
just feels very presentable and nicely
done it feels like it's done with care
now you can fit the train through here
and beneath the pedestrian bridge cross
over there is enough enough clearance
with tracks tracks are not included with
this set of course none whatsoever but
there is just enough clearance for that
to work but strangely enough unlike with
pretty much every every other official
train platform that I've seen from Lego
at least in in recent years if not going
back quite some time there are no
connections built in to connect this to
an actual track so they don't have any
pieces that are built into the the base
of it too to cross over there and to
stabilize that attracts and to put them
exactly where they need to be but it's
it's not really a problem but it shows
that they really weren't thinking too
much about about immediately hooking
this up with tracks I think that
probably would have given the wrong the
wrong idea that you could motorized it
and I think they just tried to stay away
from that and let it be just what it is
just the Hogwarts Express with a little
bit of station and you know let kids
play with it and think of it as
something to play with just on a carpet
or on a table just freewheeling here are
Harry and Ron and regular clothes out of
uniform with their wands Harry gets the
dark brown color and Ron gets the
regular reddish-brown color too very
good-looking figures again the face for
Ron that they used throughout this this
new series for 2018 doesn't look that
much like the actor in my opinion it's a
little bit more generic I think it's
okay
but it's just not as as recognizable you
know kind of thief if you look at him
out out of context whereas the one for
Harry Potter is immediately recognizable
mostly because of the glasses though of
course here are Hermione in her Prisoner
of Azkaban striped hoodie and the
trolley which - very delightful
characters nice prints for both Ryan he
gets the dark tan
colored wand and they actually do have a
spare of each of the wands included in
this set so you get a little bit of
bonus that good print on the back of the
torso and it looks like the faces once
again not lined up properly for
Hermione's see how it's looking to our
left here whereas from the other side
it's going straight so I guess that's a
common mistake happens sometimes but
both very good figures I think finally
here we have Remus Lupin on the left and
a loan to mentor obviously on the right
I think that lupins prints are really
good from torso and for the head and I
think that's by far the best-looking
Dementor that Lego has made to date and
good use of that rathe piece the spirit
ghost whatever Lower Lake sort of a sort
of part they've used for a number of
different things to date just works
really really well for this obviously
and you can start to see the alternate
face for Lupin I guess the back of the
torso print for him is not that great
but you can start to see the alternate
face as his beginning his turn the
Demento or meanwhile has no alternate
face and no print on the back of the
torso I think that both of those
missions are perfectly fine because they
only need one face and most of the time
you're gonna have the tattered cape or
cloak on it so yeah I think that's
that's a perfectly well done to mentor
I feel like this selection of figures
gives great credence to the theory /
rumor that there will be an entire
series of releases of new Harry Potter
sets in the future given the conspicuous
absence of Sirius Black and Crookshanks
I think both of those are needed and
will probably end up in a single
additional Prisoner of Azkaban set in
the future if the rumors are true so
this is indeed in my opinion the best
official Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts
Express set ever are by far
especially compared to the most recent
one from 2010 the inflation adjusted
price is much better here it's actually
cheaper plus it comes with significantly
more parts of the price to part ratio is
significantly better the price apart
ratio is actually good even though it's
a train usually train things are much
more expensive because they charge you
more for honestly the wheels which
requires some additional assembly
different materials and the windows I
think tend to to bump up the prices even
when they don't include
motorization the lack of accommodation
from motorisation here is is unfortunate
people will figure out ways around that
but it sure would've been nicer to be
able to at least plug in the new system
the new powered up system that just
requires a battery box and the motor or
a motor I guess you know would have
required some gearing but yeah it would
have been nice to have a kit to do that
this is evil
that should not be done I will always
call out when I see things that are
shown on the box that are deceptive that
makes it look like those actually light
up and obviously they do not people who
know Lego very well will probably expect
that that's just an effect but a lot of
kids will look at it look look mommy
daddy it lights up let's get it and then
you know don't get home they'll build it
and it won't light up so that's that's
just going a little bit too far yes they
do little things like this you know
little bits there's kind of a line you
know I think that just goes over the
line this time value is good train
itself is good platform is very very
good figure selection is good but not
good enough for you know to cover this
year slash book slash movie I definitely
like I said expect that they will be
doing more in the future
overall very happy with this thing I
can't ask for more than best ever so
those are my thoughts about this one
hope you enjoyed it I will probably make
my own attempt to motorize this thing at
some point hopefully in the near future
but I'm not gonna guarantee it it may
prove to me rather difficult and I have
other priorities that need to be weighed
against that but I will at least try to
make some time for it thank you very
much for watching the review though
please feel free to leave your own
thoughts about the set in the comments
down below and I'll talk to you in as
soon as I can
