Jonas Kramm (@jonaskramm) analyses the new parts and minifigures in the June 2021 range of LEGO® Harry Potter sets. For reviews of the actual builds, visit our sister LEGO fan sites. Editorial note: Although views expressed by Harry Potter's creator do not align with that of New Elementary, we continue to cover some sets for their parts. Read about our stance here. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.
In June 2021 a new wave of LEGO® Harry Potter sets will launch. Today we’re taking a look at what new moulds, recolours and interesting printed elements we can find in these four sets:
- 76386 Polyjuice Potion Mistake: 217 pcs - £17.99 / US$19.99 / 19.99€
- 76387 Hogwarts: Fluffy Encounter: 397 pcs - £34.99 / $39.99 / 39.99€
- 76388 Hogsmeade Village Visit: 851 pcs - £69.99 / $79.99 / 79.99€
- 76389 Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets: 1176 pcs - £129.99 / $129.99 / 139.99€
New moulds in Harry Potter 2021 sets 76389 & 76387
I guess everyone is most excited about new moulds, so let's get started with them. Accio new moulds!
Most of the new pieces come in the biggest Harry Potter set from this wave, 76389 Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets. Like this new candelabra (6326425), which is included once in Warm Gold/ Pearl Gold.
The candelabra has a lot of potential thanks to the many connection points. Bars fit in the open studs and clips can grab the handle and the vertical arms. The middle one is exactly one plate lower, which makes the piece unique but still in the LEGO System. I also spotted the new candelabra in another upcoming LEGO Set 43196 Belle and the Beast's Castle, so it won’t be exclusive here!
In the same set a pair of Pixies (6351014) appear as a new element. It’s the first time Transparent Dark Blue with Opalescence/ Satin Trans-Dark Blue comes in a set, but as opalescence is just an ‘effect’ added to existing colours, perhaps it was just a matter of time. June also brings Transparent Green with Opalescence / Satin Trans-Green, in LEGO VIDIYO™43115 The Boombox.
The new mould has two intended connections: The figure fits on a stud and the arms have the perfect diameter of a 3.18 so they can be put in a clip or in a Minifigure hand. Unintended for sure is that the short antennae on the head match the gap of a lever base.
Another new creature living in the Chamber of Secrets is the Basilisk, which gets a brand new head. I show the snake in its full glory later in the article as it also features several recolours - stay tuned.
The head connects to the body with a Technic hole and consists of an Olive Green upper jaw and a Brick Yellow/ Tan lower jaw.
The next new mould is yet another animal head and comes in 76387 Hogwarts: Fluffy Encounter.
The three-headed dog comes with three heads, obviously. They are Reddish Brown, have an open underside and look a bit like a bear to my eyes.
Each head is printed, but all slightly differently, so Fluffy’s heads make it seem as though it’s sleeping when looking from the right and awake when you see its left side.
Parts with new colours & prints in LEGO Harry Potter summer 2021 sets
There’s much more to explore part-wise, as the sets also come with many pieces in new colours and new printed elements.
Collectables
Collecting all sets of a theme to build a big world isn’t enough these days, so the new Harry Potter wave comes with two kinds of motivation to get each and every set of the series. They feature noteworthy pieces, so they might be interesting for New E readers for a different reason.
Golden Figures
Each Harry Potter set this summer includes a golden Minifigure of a different character from that franchise. They aren’t random, so you know what you get.
Next to some new hairpieces, heads, torsos and legs - all in Warm Gold/ Pearl Gold - they each come with a pair of Wand (6342086) in the same colour. This little piece is a versatile element for builds, so a new colour is always appreciated.
The golden Minifigures get displayed on a Tile Special 4 x 3 with 4 Studs in Centre (6350055) in Warm Gold/ Pearl Gold, which is new in that colour as well.
Wizard Cards
The second collectible in these sets are Tile 2x2 in Medium Lilac/ Dark Purple printed with figures from the Wizarding World. They all have the same Element ID (6342521), but they come at random in the sets: 2x in 76386, 2x in 76387, 4x in 76388 and 6x in 76389. (Tile 2x2 in Medium Lilac/ Dark Purple will also be appearing unprinted in June’s 43155 The Boombox!)
Collecting the 2 x 2 Tiles started with a bummer for me, as the two cards I got from 76386 Polyjuice Potion Mistake were both the golden version of Dumbledore. With 14 cards total I got 9 of the 16 tiles, including Albus Dumbledore and Gilderoy Lockhart three times each.
In the end a full set is probably only interesting for Harry Potter collectors, but for MOC building a selection of a few characters will be more than enough. Note that the picture of Rowena Ravenclaw above is wrong; the first indicator that these instructions don’t live up to the usual LEGO quality standards.
Parts in 76386 Polyjuice Potion Mistake
With 217 pieces this is the smallest set of the selection, but brings a few useful pieces in new colours nonetheless.
- 1x Cup (6349957) in Transparent/ Trans-Clear with Transparent Bright Green/ Trans-Bright Green potion. A colour variation from the butterbeer on the left, that comes in 76388 Hogsmeade Village Visit
- 2x Slope 45° 2 x 1 Double (6314244 | 3044) White
- 1x Door 1 x 5 x 3 with 3 Studs and Handle (6349697) in Dark Brown
- 1x Brick Special 1 x 14 Grooved (6349727 | 4217) in Brick Yellow/ Tan is coming back with a new ID after it got used last time in 2016 in Ninjago 70596 Samurai X Cave Chaos. This piece also appears in the other Hogwarts sets.
- 3x Plate 4 x 6 (6350058 | 3032) in Sand Blue, which only came in the same Ninjago set before.
Parts in 76387 Hogwarts: Fluffy Encounter
The set with the three-headed dog includes 397 pieces, of which some are quite interesting – let's see the colour changes made.
For Fluffy’s brown fur a couple of pieces appear in Dark Brown for the first time:
- 4x Plate Special 2 x 3 with rocks (6353396 | 27261) in Dark Brown
- 4x Slope Inverted 45° 4 x 1 Double with 1 x 2 Cutout (6353397 | 32802) in Dark Brown
As the colour for the Hogwarts roof has been changed to Sand Green, we get a few new pieces in that shade of green:
- 1x Plate 4 x 12 (6353402 | 3029) in Sand Green
- 1x Cone 2 x 2 x 3 Jagged (6351403 | 28598) in Sand Green, which has only appeared in Silver Metallic/ Flat Silver before.
- 1x Cone Half 2 x 4 x 3 (6351382 | 38317) in Sand Green
- 1x Cone Half 8 x 4 x 6 (6351385 | 47543) comes back after it was used in a Harry Potter set 14 years ago
Even though the Love Potion plays no role in the first movie, one is included here (6350879). It’s printed on a Transparent/ Trans-Clear head from both sides.
Parts in 76388 Hogsmeade Village Visit
The inventory list at the end of each LEGO instruction is useful if you want to order missing pieces or more of a certain element. For our reviews on New Elementary we heavily benefit from them too, as they provide useful information about the Element IDs and quantities.
Why do I mention that here? Well, the inventory of LEGO 76388 is missing half of the included pieces. The page numbers continue, so I don’t think it’s a production issue, but rather a problem with the layout. Because of that I unfortunately couldn’t include all new Element IDs as I would have liked to. We informed LEGO as soon as we could and they are about to fix it.
The Three Broomsticks Inn is built in Sand Yellow/ Dark Tan and features some new pieces in that colour useful for architecture builds:
- 2x Brick Arch 1 x 5 x 4 (2339) returns after it was previously only available in the version arch with irregular bow
- 8x Brick Arch 1 x 3 x 3 (13965)
- 14x Slope 65° 2 x 1 x 2 (60481)
-
2x Panel 1 x 6 x 5 (6354067 | 59349)
- 2x Minifig Shield Triangular (6353186 | 3846) in Reddish Brown
- 3x Plate 2 x 6 (6313600 | 3795) in Medium Nougat
For the bay windows of Honeydukes two round pieces come newly in Dark Green/ Green:
- 2x Plate Round 4 x 4 with Pin Hole (60474)
- 2x Brick Round 4 x 4 (87081)
In terms of decorated elements we get a printed head in Transparent Yellow/ Trans-Yellow with the label “Acid Pops”. Two are for sale in Honeydukes.
It was a heartbreaking moment when I looked at the sticker sheet for the first time and noticed that the windows aren’t printed but just stickers - and we all know how hard it is to properly apply a transparent sticker on a curved surface. These windows were something I was really looking forward to and would have been the perfect addition to the printed panels from 75978 Diagon Alley!
These pieces aren’t completely new, but I felt still worth showing as they are a welcome addition to my collection:
- 1x Plate Special 1 x 3 with 2 Studs (6343852 | 34103) in Dark Stone Grey / Dark Bluish Gray also appears in the new Harry Potter BrickHeadz
- 8x Brick Arch 1 x 5 x 4 (6344931) in Medium Nougat from 21326 Winnie the Pooh
- 2x Butterbeer (6306748) that only came with the Harry Potter CMS before
Parts in 76389 Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets
The biggest set of the wave with 1176 pieces is the Chamber of Secrets which includes Hogwarts on top. “The Chamber of Secrets has been opened” - and has revealed a lot of interesting new pieces.
As you expect from a Chamber of Secrets it finally includes a proper Basilisk that is pretty long and accurate to the one in the movie. It comes of course with the new head mould that I showed earlier.
Even more new pieces come into use, as there are several tail pieces that get a recolour in Olive Green:
- 2x Brick, Round 2 x 2 d. 45 Degree (6351437| 65473)
- 1x Dragon Tail / Neck Curved (6351429 | 67361)
- 1x Dinosaur Tail / Neck Middle Section with Pin (6351430 | 40378)
- 1x Dinosaur Tail End Section / Horn (6351434 | 40379)
The newest mould of this selection is the Dragon Tail / Neck Curved (6351429 | 67361) which starts with a caliber of 2x2 and narrows down to 1x1. This replaces the old Tail (shown on the right, 40395), that came with a pin at the end.
The benefit of the mould is not just that it can be placed on a LEGO plate, but it’s also cheaper to make as it doesn’t consist of different plastic elements, like the old one with the moulded-in black Technic Pin. But that change comes with the downside of a noticeable intake on the inner side of the tail.
Getting used more and more this year is the ‘Maxaroni’ (65473), which comes in many colours already (even more than I can show here).
For the neck of the Basilisk five Plate Round 2 x 2 with Axle Hole (6186035 | 4032) are needed as well. This completes the selection of available greenish Round Plates 2x2 nicely!
In January this new window frame got introduced, in White. It fits either Glass for Window (60601) or Bars For Window (38320). For this set four Window Round 3 x 3 x 2 (6343651| 73878) get used in Reddish Brown, and you will also get this colour in Creator 3-in-1 31120 Medieval Castle. I expect this piece to be very useful!
- 1x Technic Ball Joint (6350249 | 32474) in White Glow/ Glow In Dark White
- 1x Brick Special 1 x 2 with Studs on 1 Side (6325881 | 11211) in Light Nougat
Light Nougat bricks are getting used in sets more, and becoming a normal colour for building. As this SNOT element isn’t visible at the final model I guess the colour change was made for the coming LEGO 76393 Harry Potter & Hermione and the piece got included here as a fan service.
More useful pieces coming in new colours are:
- 4x Brick Round, Half 1 x 2 (6351413 | 68013) in Brick Yellow/ Tan
- 1x Slide Straight 4 x 6 x 6 (6351408 | 27976) in Black
- 5x Cone 2 x 2 x 3 Jagged (6351403 | 28598) in Sand Green
For all animal fans there’s a new printed owl and a monochrome owl for decorations:
- 1x Owl (6353937) in Sand Yellow/ Dark Tan
- 1x Owl Spread Wings (6352684) in Warm Gold/ Pearl Gold
The two snakeheads (6353601) are originally from LEGO Ninjago, but decorate the Chamber of Secrets in a new colour combination: Medium Stone Grey/ Light Bluish Gray + Transparent Green/ Trans-Green.
Worth mentioning is the Sword of Godric Gryffindor (6306750) which only came with the Collectable Harry Potter Minifigures before, and another Love Potion (6350879).
Minifigures from the new summer Harry Potter sets 2021
Here are shots of all the minifigures found across these Harry Potter sets.
In 76386 Polyjuice Potion Mistake, Hermione comes with a new headgear in the shape of a cat (6350821); the evidence of the mistake.
These three figures from 76389 Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets include some new pieces:
- Prof. Sinistra has a new hat with black hair (6354158) and a Reddish Brown head with glasses
- The Nearly Headless Nick is almost completely White Glow/ Glow In Dark White aside from his White hands
- Gilderoy Lockhart comes with a suit in Nougat, which could be useful for Monochrome Minifigures, especially the undecorated legs (6353940)
Conclusion
The four upcoming LEGO Harry Potter sets include a wide range of new pieces. For me the candelabra is the highlight of the new moulds as it works for the purpose but also will be useful for other cases thanks to the many connection points. I’m also looking forward to playing around with the Olive Green tail elements, the round windows, the golden wands and the Sand Yellow/ Dark Tan arches. Whether it’s worth buying these sets relies a lot on whether or not you want to have the Minifigures, and IP restricted moulds like the creature parts.
Regarding the different collectibles, I feel like it’s too much. Either the Minifigures or the Wizard cards would have been enough in my opinion. After the bad start with the Wizard Cards I lost interest in collecting all of them pretty fast.
Currently my friend Stefan and I are using the bricks from each set to build our own alternate builds, which I will show you in an upcoming article, but our Vibrant Coral Patreon supporters can get a sneak peek now!
What are your favourite recolours in these sets and do you have ideas what to use the new candlestick for?
READ MORE: List of new LEGO pieces for May 2021
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Kinda strange that the pixies are transparent, while in the movie they're not, and I wonder why they couldn't make Nick's hands glow in the dark as well ...
ReplyDeleteMaterials difference? Just a shot in the dark (ha!), but I believe minifig hands have always been plain on glow-in-the-dark figs. Certainly ghosts and early Snape, at least.
DeleteI assume the choice of an opalescent color would be so that they could look like they glow/shimmer a little. I don't think Lego really has an opaque color that could achieve that sort of effect.
Delete@Andrew Barnick:
DeleteI kinda wonder now what opalescent would look like applied to opaque colors. I don't have any opal parts that I know of, but it's just a surface treatment like chrome or drum-lacquer, correct?
@Purple Dave:
DeleteNo, the opalescence is an additive like other glitter colors, rather than a surface treatment like the colors you mention. I don't really know how that'd work with an opaque color since the translucency is part of what gives those parts that soft, opalescent appearance. On a solid color that might end up just looking grainy, sort of like the black and grey "speckle" colors from the 2006 Vikings theme.
@Andrew Barnick:
DeleteEh, if it's blended into the color, it would probably at best look like a muted pearl color. Maybe like the Rahkshi body shells. If you've ever seen the Star Wars podracer bucket in person, and compared it to glitter transparent colors, that should give you an idea of how the effect would change. In a transparent color, imagine that the sidewall of a brick is made of 100 slices that are just a tiny fraction of an inch thick, all stacked on top of each other, and you're able to look through all of them at the same time (and even see out the other side). On an opaque color, the effect would be the same, but you'd only be able to see through maybe half a dozen layers before the pigment would block further transmission of light. So, there'd be a hint of an effect, but mostly you'd just see normal opaque color.
I have no idea how the speckle colors were created, but they look like a surface treatment to me.
A lot of fun parts, most of which I'd rather be getting in an Elves set. But hopefully many show up in other sets or are available through Bricks and Pieces.
ReplyDeleteThe candelabra is quite fun, and I expect to see it used for greebling a lot in the future!
The basilisk and three headed dog heads are nice but uninteresting to me. The other olive green and dark brown parts from them are a different story! The new tapered tail piece looks great and will probably lend itself to various uses that the old version (with its weird domed "socket" attachment) might have been less suited for. I remember it first being seen in a Vidiyo promotional image on palm trees behind the party Llama, which is just one potential non-tail usage. Similarly, those dark brown 2x2 detail parts (which have been used for things from rocks to scales to ice to fur) look like they'll be great detail on things like tree trunks.
The gold minifig bases are something else I'd love to see get used in more sets. Not necessarily as bases—I could see them making interesting armor on a Ninjago mech or something!
The 1x5x3 door is great to get in a more muted wooden color after mostly appearing in blues, purples and pinks in the Friends theme. It'll be great for things like barns or medieval builds!
Glow white seems to be appearing more and more this year, after being one of the more rarely used colors in the years since its introduction for Monster Fighters. The ball joint piece also appears in the upcoming funfair subtheme of Friends, along with a few other parts! And an entire minifigure in glow white is pretty novel—that sort of thing wouldn't have been feasible back when the only glow-in-the-dark parts were polycarbonate, as they were in the early 2000s. Perhaps something along those lines would be able to work for other things like Star Wars force ghosts!
Finally, I can't say enough good things about that 3x3 window frame. It's so neat that they were able to design that to use existing window glass varieties, and 3x3 is a great size that used to be much rarer for parts.
The new tail seems clearly designed to work with the maxaroni piece, which would then allow you to extend the tail indefinitely (if you don't mind being unable to render it straight). The old tail, I still don't get. I've had times when it would have been perfect for something, if it didn't have that bulbous base that's nearly impossible to disguise.
DeleteMen can never become women.
ReplyDeleteWomen can never become men.
I strongly disagree with this.
DeleteTrans women are women. Trans men are men. If you're having trouble with that, I suggest you repeat it until it sticks.
Delete[citation needed]
DeleteI think we can safely assume the anonymous troll has reached the limits of their theory and has nothing genuine to add to the debate, folks. Fine to ignore him/her.
DeleteWhy...would they make the candelabra lower in the center? Doing a quick search for "candelabra" photos, the vast majority have the centermost candle raised above the rest (possibly to make it safer to light and extinguish the candles, and possibly so the outer candles don't block the light of the center candle). Next most common was candles that were all level with each other. Third was where they were stair-stepped, with the candles ascending from one end to the other. Finally, I did find one crystal candelabra that had a _slightly_ lower center mount, which in this case would have required the center mount to sit quite at least half a plate higher. Since it's only one plate different, there aren't a lot of great options to invert the design. Put a round brick, or even a cone, on there and it'll look weird. One Apollo plate will only level things out (if they'd kept them level, this would be a great way to raise the center candle), and two may look a little bulky. I can't really think of any other options that give you at least two plates height.
ReplyDeletehmmm yes. feels like there must be a reason. Perhaps the source material??
DeleteMaybe it was designed for Lumière? Put a printed cylinder on the middle and voila.
Deleteooh yes good theory
DeleteDesigner Ollie has confirmed the Lumiere theory, see comments on this insta post
DeleteAh, yes, Lumière is a rare instance where it would make sense to make the center mount lower, since the center candle was much bigger (and his face). For general use, it might look better with a single Apollo stud added to the center. This would raise it to be level with the other two, make it seem a little more ornate (as is common with the centermost mount on a candelabra), but not overbalance the whole design.
DeleteSad about the new animal tail. The base connection is a great change but the giant gap is pretty garish.
ReplyDeleteI could see some of those Basilisk parts getting used in a Jurassic World brachiosaurus. Fingers crossed for another wave of sets with new dinos.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that the Harry Potter golden minifigure appears in the cheapest of the new sets, so it hopefully won't cost a fortune on the secondary market.
ReplyDeleteGilderoy Lockhart's legs will come in handy for a Lola Bunny Wonder Woman minifigure I'm making. originally, I was going to remove the printing from Velma Staplebot's legs, but this is easier.
Love the half-circle bricks:
ReplyDelete4x Brick Round, Half 1 x 2 (6351413 | 68013) in Brick Yellow/ Tan
Is this a new mold? First time I've seen it. Been thinking of this since I was a kid, when I had American/Halsam/Playskool bricks. They had them since 1970, Lego did not!
It was used across four sets when it was introduced last year. Specifically, it was created for Hidden Side, where two sets used it alternating in black and yellow as a way to allow you to rotate a section of the model to interact with the game.
DeleteThe multiple doubles in wizard tiles in the most expensive set(s) is certainly a very stupid decision from LEGO that will upset many fans. In Vidiyo and Daily Bugle they are at least packed in a single bag.
ReplyDelete