(CW:HP) Build a giant minifigure with LEGO® 76393 Harry Potter & Hermione Granger

TobyMac (@efraimaspie) takes a special angle with his review of LEGO® Harry Potter 76393 Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, examining which parts you need to adapt these brick-built minifigures to other characters. 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.

The moment the subject of today’s review was announced, I fell in love with the concept of large, brick-built versions of Minifigures. I know we have seen them before, like the 3723 LEGO® Minifigure, but they never really captured the curves and angles of the original. I can’t find an official name for these types of figures, so I hereby dub them BFG, or Brick Figure Giant. 

For now, the concept is only used in the Harry Potter franchise, but I immediately envisioned this concept being used all across the LEGO universe. Imagine Classic Space figures, Black Falcon soldiers, Lloyd, inhabitants of LEGO CITY, Pirates, Galidor! Okay, maybe not the last one, but you catch my drift.

So, for today, I’m not really interested in the characters Harry and Hermione, but I want to take a closer look at the inner structures and build techniques that form these BFGs. I am not a good MOC designer; my role at New Elementary is focussed more on reviewing and gathering data like the monthly newly released element list, so I can’t show you many customized versions of the BFG. What I can do is show you which parts are needed, and give you a list of existing colours for those parts.

The parts

New elements

The set brings us 2 new moulds. Well, 1 new mould and a new shape of fabric: the black cape for Harry Potter (6357998 | 79751); the biggest fabric element I have seen myself.

The ‘real’ new mould is a new addition to the ever-growing group of curved parts: the 78522 Brick Curved 4 x 6 with 2 x 4 Cutout. This new element is used as the face for the BFGs, so comes in 2 prints. You can see Brick Curved 4 x 6 with 2 x 4 Cutout with Face print (Hermione Granger) in Light Nougat (6360707 | 79236) lying face up, and Brick Curved 4 x 6 with 2 x 4 Cutout with Face, Glasses print (Harry Potter) in Light Nougat (6351608 | 79235) is lying face down. You can see his print later on in the review.

The new mould has the same curvature as Slope Curved 3 x 1 (50950), shown here in Reddish Brown and Slope Curved 3 x 2 (24309). In a way, you could call this mould a POOP, as you can get the same result using 8x 50950 or 4x 24309, but I assume the new mould is needed here as a canvas for the face print. I’m curious if the mould is also necessary for stability and strength.

Recolours 

Light Nougat

The set is a treasure-trove for Light Nougat-lovers. We find 13 different elements, in 11 moulds, 10 of which have not been seen in this colour before. Stay with me, it’s a long list:

• 10 x 3069b Tile 1 x 2 with Groove in Light Nougat (6330199 | 3069). The only non-recolour element in the list. We’ve seen this one being introduced earlier this year in the 10280 Flower Bouquet.
• 12 x 32802 Slope Inverted 45° 4 x 1 Double with 1 x 2 Cutout in Light Nougat (6357788 | 32802)
• 1 x 78522pr0002 Brick Curved 4 x 6 with 2 x 4 Cutout with Face print (Hermione Granger) in Light Nougat (6360707 | 79236)
• 1 x 78522pr0001 Brick Curved 4 x 6 with 2 x 4 Cutout with Face, Glasses print (Harry Potter) in Light Nougat (6351608 | 79235)
• 8 x 3622 Brick 1 x 3 in Light Nougat (6357794 | 3622)
• 8 x 93273 Slope Curved 4 x 1 Double with No Studs in Light Nougat (6357798 | 93273)
• 4 x 3941 Brick Round 2 x 2 with Axle Hole in Light Nougat (6357786 | 6143)
• 12 x 3021 Plate 2 x 3 in Light Nougat (6357789 | 3021)
• 24 x 54200 Slope 30° 1 x 1 x 2/3 (Cheese Slope) in Light Nougat (6357792 | 54200)
• 1 x 50950pr0001 Slope Curved 3 x 1 No Studs with Lightning Bolt / Harry Potter Scar print in Light Nougat (6357975 | 79747), which beside a recolour also is a new print.
• 2 x 50950 Slope Curved 3 x 1 No Studs in Light Nougat (6357800 | 50950)
• 16 x 37352 Brick Curved 1 x 2 x 1 No Studs in Light Nougat (6357793 | 37352)
• 21 x 3024 Plate 1 x 1 in Light Nougat (6357797 | 3024)

I have to say, just for this list of recolours alone, the 76393 is an interesting set. I couldn’t remember seeing so many new Light Nougat elements being introduced in a single set, or even a single year, so I did some digging in the Rebrickable database, and came up with this graph.

The red line shows the total of unique moulds used, by year. The green line shows the total of new unique moulds being introduced for Light Nougat. Unique moulds here means parts in a unique physical form, so no matter how many different head-prints were produced in a year, it still counts as 1. I also filtered out single-use moulds, like the heads in the LEGO Star Wars buildable figures. What remains are unique moulds that hold a value for MOC designers. As you can see, 2021 is a very good year for Light Nougat.

But wait, there’s more! 

Other Recolours

• The 4032a Plate Round 2 x 2 with Axle Hole makes its first appearance in Olive Green (6186035 | 4032). 
• 3003 Brick 2 x 2 appears for the first time in Flame Yellowish Orange/ Bright Light Orange (6295078 | 3003). The element can also be found in 11015 Around The World.
• Besides a recolour in Light Nougat, we also find the 32802 Slope Inverted 45° 4 x 1 Double with 1 x 2 Cutout for the first time in White (6338001 | 32802).
• For Sand Yellow/ Dark Tan we have 2 newcomers: 51270 Plant, Pumpkin (6357809 | 51270) and 14716 Brick 1 x 1 x 3 (6310988 | 14716).
• And lastly, the 64225 Wedge Curved 4 x 3 No Studs [Plain] in Dark Stone Grey / Dark Bluish Gray (6315026 | 64225).

New prints

I’ve already shown the new prints on the Light Nougat elements, and we find another on the Panel 1 x 6 x 5 with Sweater, Red/Yellow Trim/Stripes, White Shirt, Tie print in Dark Stone Grey / Dark Bluish Gray (6351623 | 79241).

Rare and interesting elements

That leaves us with the rare elements. First up are a couple of Reddish Brown parts:

• 29120 Slope Curved 2 x 1 with Stud Notch Left in Reddish Brown (6290397 | 29120) and 29119 Slope Curved 2 x 1 with Stud Notch Right in Reddish Brown (6290396 | 29120) have been introduced last year, and we find them both here 14 times.
• 13548 Wedge Sloped 45° 2 x 2 Corner in Reddish Brown (6266770 | 13548) was introduced way back in 2014 in The Simpsons House, and has not been seen until the summer of 2021, appearing also in 60300 Wildlife Rescue ATV.
• 50950 Slope Curved 3 x 1 No Studs in Reddish Brown (6325975 | 50950) has only been seen in 3 sets in 2018. Here, we get 8 of them.
• 27263 Tile Special 2 x 2 Corner with Cut Corner - Facet in Reddish Brown (6295302 | 27263) makes its 3rd appearance after being introduced in 2020. The element can also be found in the recently released 76388 Hogsmeade Village Visit.

For Dark Stone Grey / Dark Bluish Gray we have:

• 69729 Tile 2 x 6 in Dark Stone Grey / Dark Bluish Gray (6321746 | 69729). Introduced last year, this element has appeared in so many sets simultaneously, I almost overlooked it. 
• 35787 Tile 45° Cut 2 x 2 in Dark Stone Grey / Dark Bluish Gray (6262025 | 35787) was introduced in 71741 NINJAGO City Gardens, and appears in 2 other sets from the summer 2021 wave.
• Similar to the Tile 2 x 6, 73825 Bracket 1 x 1 - 1 x 2 Inverted in Dark Stone Grey / Dark Bluish Gray (6336390 | 73825) is introduced in multiple sets simultaneously.

And the final group of rare elements:

•  44728 Bracket 1 x 2 - 2 x 2 in Medium Lilac/ Dark Purple (6334093 | 21712) has not been seen since 2004 before being reintroduced in the Super Mario Character Packs earlier this year.
• 60592 Window 1 x 2 x 2 Flat Front in Bright Bluish Green/ Dark Turquoise (6328106 | 60592) has only been seen in the 71741 NINJAGO City Gardens before.
• 34103 Plate Special 1 x 3 with 2 Studs with Groove and Inside Stud Holder (Jumper) in Flame Yellowish Orange/ Bright Light Orange (6307254 | 34103) is new for 2021, and has made appearances in 6 sets now.
• 65304 Technic Pin Long with Friction Ridges Lengthwise and Stop Bush [No Ridge Near Rim] in Bright Yellowish Green/ Lime (6325515 | 65304) is technically rare, but only because the old mold 32054 has gotten an update this year.
• 41682 Bracket 2 x 2 with 1 x 2 Vertical Studs in Sand Yellow/ Dark Tan (6328183 | 41682) was introduced in 10278 Police Station, and makes its 3rd appearance here.

The last thing I wanted to mention is the amount of standard bricks and brackets found in the set. I love it when designers incorporate so many standard bricks in a build, showing you don’t have to rely on ‘fancy’ new stuff for great designs.

The Build

The build starts off with Harry’s torso. Inside we find a structure that creates the (near-perfect) angle for the sides. The red axles on the sides attach to the arms. Inside the structure, the axle gets a gear, which is connected to other gears fixed on a pin with friction (the red dots in the lower left image). This gives the axles enough friction to hold the arms in place under any wanted angle. The structure gets encased in a wall made out of standard 1 x 2 x 3 slope bricks and a 1 x 6 x 5 panel. The panel seems only to be used for the large print. You can easily replace it with smaller bricks and/or plates to create your own pattern.

Weirdly, Hermione’s torso, while being identical on the outside, uses a different axle to hold the arms. Harry uses a standard 5L Axle, but Hermione has a 5L Axle with Stop. This seems to be a better version, as the axle from Harry often comes all the way out when I remove the arms. I’m not sure why there is a difference. Harry and Hermione both have their own bags and instruction booklet, so a theory could be that the Hermione version was designed later on, while Harry was already in production. So the designers were able to make the improvement for Hermione, but it was too late for Harry? Oh, to be a fly on the many walls in Billund to hear these stories!

The hips are directly attached to the torso. I was hoping the top of the hips would have the large squarish ‘studs’ that the real-life hips & legs assembly have, but there wouldn’t be room for them inside the torso. The yellow axle holds 2 ball joints, creating enough friction to hold the legs in any wanted position.

The legs are built individually, just like in the real-life minifig. Here, most of the standard bricks are used. The white insert holds the axle from the hips. The legs have full range of movement, and are strong enough to stay in a walking position. If I have to give a criticism, it would be that the backside of the legs are solid. I would have loved to see the holes here that come in the real-life minifigure legs. It would be tricky on a 5-wide leg though.

Next are the arms and hands. The hands are attached by a pin with axle and can rotate freely. The ‘fingers’ are a bit fragile and are purely decorative. The magic wand is held by the studs on the inside of the hand.

And lastly the head gets built. Harry’s head is pretty complex, with little symmetry in the inner frame. As you can see, the Brick Curved 4 x 6  could be replaced by 8x Slope Curved 3 x 1, if it wasn’t for the print.

The head of Hermione is more symmetrical, and is basically an inner frame, on which sections of hair are placed. This head seems to be easiest to customize.

Customizing the giant LEGO minifigure set 76393

As I mentioned in the introduction, I’m no good at designing my own customized BFGs. Instead, I’ll discuss some of what I call the ‘bottle-neck parts’, those that are essential for the BFGs and cannot be substituted, and see what variety of colours they come in so you have an idea of the options available.

Legs

In the legs we find Slope Curved 4 x 1 Double with No Studs (93273), used to get the curved top on the legs. Seeing this part currently comes in 35 colours, the options to custom coloured legs are wide. And even if you can’t find the needed colour, you could swap them for Slope Curved 2 x 2 x ⅔ (15068) and Slope Curved 2 x 1 No Studs [1/2 Bow] (11477), appearing in 39 and 41 colours respectively. The other parts are standard bricks, plates and tiles, which shouldn’t form a problem for your colourscheme. At worst, you might have to swap some parts for another size.

The hips need some attention. Here, 4x Brick Curved 3 x 1 with 2/3 Inverted Cutout (70681) are used for the hollow curve that follows the top of the legs. This part is relatively new, and currently available in only 6 colours, severely limiting the options for the hips. But I think there is a workaround. The lower section of the hips (the Black area in Harry and Hermione) is upside-down. This only seems to be for the curved shape of the 70681. You can easily flip the hips around, and use a Brick Arch 1 x 6 Raised Arch (92950), which has the same curvature, adding another 12 colour options. Downside is that the arch brick shows its hollow side. 

Torso

The slopes used to create the angled sides of the torso are built with Slope 75° 2 x 1 x 3 with Hollow Stud (4460b). Here, you have 24 colour options. The surface of the front of the torso is made up out of the Panel 1 x 4 x 3 (60581), which comes in 20 colours, with 13 of them overlapping with the 4460b. Of course, you can replace the large panel with standard bricks and plates, giving even more colour options.

The biggest bottle-neck in the arms are the brackets that are used, especially the new Bracket 1 x 1 - 1 x 2 Inverted (73825), as it only comes in 9 colours so far. The good news is, the brackets are mostly hidden inside the arms. Only the ½-plate thick sides are visible. 

A bigger issue are the hands, which use the Slope Inverted 45° 4 x 1 Double with 1 x 2 Cutout (32802). This part is available in 5 colours, of which the standard Minifigure colour, Yellow, is not one of them. You could modify the hands a bit and use the 2-module wide version (4871) or the 4-wide versions (4854/72454).

Head

Lastly, the head. The most important parts for its shape are:

• Slope Curved 3 x 1 No Studs (50950), available in 34 colours
• Slope Curved 4 x 1 Double with No Studs (93273), available in 35 colours
• Brick Curved 1 x 2 x 1 No Studs (37352), available in 24 colours
• Slope 30° 1 x 1 x 2/3 (54200), the Cheese Slope, available in 56 colours

The only real party-pooper here is of course the Brick Curved 4 x 6 with 2 x 4 Cutout (78522), which is the only curved part big enough to fit a full face print, and only comes in Light Nougat. For shape, you can replace it with 8x Slope Curved 3 x 1 (50950) or 4x Slope Curved 3 x 2 (24309), and get creative with custom prints/sharpies. The 50950 comes in 34 colours, the 24309 is more limited with 12 colours.

The last part I want to mention is the Technic Brick 1 x 4 (3701), used to hold the axle that holds the arm. This part comes in 16 colours, most of them older ones. I can’t see an option to use a different part without a redesign of the torso, but 95% of the part gets covered by the arms, so like with the brackets in the hands, I think you can cheat a bit here.

Monochrome options

I’ve played around with the bulk-edit option in Rebrickable to test different monochrome BFGs, excluding any parts that are either hidden on the inside, or are only used in the hair sections:

Colour	Unavailable parts	Swap for
White	None
Black	None
L.B. Gray	32802 Slope Inverted 45° 4 x 1	4871 Slope Inverted 45° 4 x 2
Yellow	32802 Slope Inverted 45° 4 x 1	4871 Slope Inverted 45° 4 x 2
	70681 Brick Curved 3 x 1	3455 Brick Arch 1 x 6
	11212 Plate 3 x 3	Any other plate that fits
Red	32802 Slope Inverted 45° 4 x 1	4871 Slope Inverted 45° 4 x 2
	70681 Brick Curved 3 x 1	92950 Brick Arch 1 x 6 Raised Arch
	Brackets	Not really in sight
Reddish Brown	32802 Slope Inverted 45° 4 x 1	72454 Slope Inverted 45° 4 x 4
	64225 Wedge Curved 4 x 3	47753 Wedge Curved 4 x 4
	Brackets	Not really in sight

Conclusion

In short: I love this set!

The concept of the BFG is simply perfect, and executed very well. All ratios and angles seem to be spot-on, or at least well within the acceptable margins that make it look great. The figures have the same range of motion as their real-life counterparts, and Hermione’s hair makes it impossible to rotate her head (just like in the real-life figs). Harry has no trouble looking behind himself. Besides the Brick Curved 4 x 6 for the face, there were no new moulds introduced to get to this result. I love it when a designer can create something completely new without relying on new moulds. The Brick Curved 4 x 6 is a border-case, as the mould only seems to be used because of the need for a large print across a single element. It’s presumably not needed for structural integrity nor to achieve a never-before-seen shape.

The only thing that could use an upgrade is the chin area of the heads. It's a bit too square, and doesn't follow the curvature of the face. 

If you’re not interested in the figures, the set still is a great parts-pack, especially with the load of new Light Nougat elements along with lots of standard bricks, brackets and curved slopes.

In closing, I would like to show off this custom Harry Potter in Quidditch outfit along with his Nimbus 2000, designed by my eldest daughter. If I've inspired you to build your own custom BFG, please share the results with us!

READ MORE: What new LEGO® pieces were released in October 2021?

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