Freak369's Full Review: Harry Potter Lego The Dueling Club Set 4733
Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy are destined to be life long enemies. The Potter family legacy preceded Harry’s arrival at Hogwarts and when he finally received his invitation to attend he was under the close eye of not only the professors but a vast majority of the students as well. Young Draco Malfoy offered his friendship as well as an association to Slytherin house when they first arrived at the esteemed school for witchcraft and wizardry but even a naive Potter knew that to join allegiance with Slytherin would give him more power than he could imagine – but with a terrible price to pay. Be it on the Quidditch field, in the classroom or in the dueling club – Potter and Malfoy will always be at odds with each other.
The Dueling Club is a very nice set that made its way onto the market in the Harry Potter The Chamber of Secrets portion of the series. In addition to the dueling area that features two working section, the set boasts a nice building structure from which the duel can be viewed from. The accenting and attention to detail are nice but those who are not hard core Potter fans or Lego addicts might want to look at other sets first before paying the suggested retail price of $19.99 for this one.
The Dueling Platform
This part of the set features two small sections that are functional and offer a little bit of extended play. Two figures are placed on the platform [on predetermined spots] and through small knobs located on the right hand side of the platform – the two figures can have a timed duel to determine a winner. Building this was fun but required a little bit of backtracking when I positioned some of the internal pieces incorrectly. The action is choppy and clumsy but with a little bit of practice [and patience] the scene develops nicely. I suggest adding some 2x4 bricks under the platform so you can get to the controller knobs easier. If this is only going to be for kids to use then they might be able to use it without having to raise the structure but for adults it’s almost a necessity to add bricks to have it work properly.
The Figures
With a suggested retail price of $19.99 a set with this type of price tag better have some perks to it. Included with this set are four characters from the Harry Potter series [both book and film] and introduces us to the newest figure – Gilderoy Lockhart. Once you start to collect the Harry Potter sets you might find yourself with a ton of extra figures [mostly Harry Potter]. This was a huge complaint amongst Lego collectors since others [Snape, Hermione and Ron] were scarce and could have easily been used instead of Harry in some of the sets.
Gilderoy Lockhart
Best known as a professor in the Defense Against The Dark Arts, Lockhart can be considered a very stunning character even if he doesn’t fallow the same beat as everyone else. This is the first time Lockhart is being shown in a Harry Potter set and to the best of my knowledge there will only be two sets that will feature this figure. Lockhart is shown in a green outfit with a nice but very minimal stenciling on the torso. His green cape is a very nice perk of the set but doesn’t make up for the lack of style shown on the face. I am cutting the Lego designers a little bit of slack on this one since this is the first time he is being shown in the series but in order to pull this figure off in upcoming sets, a little bit of work needs to be done on the face and in regards to the details of the stenciling.
Professor Snape
Professor Snape is one of my all time favorite Lego figures from this series. At first I didn’t really care for him since he looked a little ‘washed out’ and pale but after a while I grew to like him. Snape is in charge of teaching potions at Hogwarts but it’s no secret that he finds his solstice in the dark arts. In order to pull off such a character you can’t exactly run around dressed like Lockhart now can you? Snape’s black attire features a nicely stenciled torso, pale face, dark medium length hair and of course a plain black cape / robe.
Draco Malfoy
The version of Draco that is included with this set is the same that is featured in the first part of the Harry Potter series. Clad in his Slytherin uniform, his gray outfit is the same as the rest of the students. The black cape helps to break up the drab color scheme of the uniform but I really wish they would have had the two student figures in more decorative outfits. Draco comes with a student’s cape [with the star pattern] and a magic wand. The blonde hair piece is a nice touch for the Draco figure but overall this is an average piece with no real perks.
Harry Potter
This figure is almost an exact duplicate of the Harry Potter figure featured in the Sorcerers Stone series [Chamber of The Winged Keys, Sorting Hat etc]. Harry’s gray uniform, complete with Gryffindor crest on the torso, is minimal but very crisp and clean looking. He comes with a student’s cape [black with star pattern], a magic wand and his trademark black stenciled glasses. The small scar on his forehead is also present and accounted for.
Accessories
This set comes with four magic wands and four individual capes. Since each person has his or her own individual taste there is a lot of room for swapping out the wands and capes. The magic wands come in brown, light brown, gray and black. The capes give you a little bit less freedom than the wands but if you have other Harry Potter sets you can easily interchange them if you wish. This set includes two black capes with the cool star pattern on the back [mostly used for students], one green one that works best with Lockhart since his overall color scheme is green and one solid black one that is to be used for Professor Snape.
These capes all come packaged in a small white cardboard box to ensure that they aren’t damaged or bent during shipping. You should make sure that you locate this small box before you start tossing out the empty plastic bags or Harry Potter literature. The capes are rather stiff when they are first removed from the box and when first placed on the Lego figures you’ll notice that they seem to have a mind of their own. You can fix this by ironing them between two pieces of cloth on a low setting [no steam]. This seems to loosen them up a bit and give them a flowing appearance rather than one that is chalked full of starch.
Animals, Extras & Honorable Mentions
The two large yellow flags that hand from the front of the building are visually stunning but great care needs to be taken when the sticker are applied. Some sets come with the sticker already attached and others require that you apply them. Make sure you center them correctly because they are a little tricky to remove and reposition. If you need to remove the sticker do so with care because the image on the sticker might get bent in such a way that it ruins the image. You can order replacements from online brick vendors for about .90 cents each. The image on the sticker is that of the Hogwarts crest showing all four of the houses [Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw].
Two of the more unique elements in the set are featured inside the building. The large tan columns give the building a very nice look and the two lion head sconces that rest in the back portion of the scene give it a dark feel. The lion head elements are nicely detailed however at a distance a lot of this detail is not visible. I suggest taking a black permanent marker and adding a little bit of color to the pieces – but this is something that should be done with care since one the ink is applied it is almost impossible to remove.
The two animals that are supplied with this set are nice but are starting to become too common in the Harry Potter series. The brown owl stands out from the other colors [cream, white, black and light brown] that this owl is available in and allows all of the detail to be readily visible. The snake is your standard Lego snake with a nice bit of detailing to the body [rich in texture] and has a slithering tongue. These animals can be placed in a variety of positions within the scene and the snake looks great sliding up or down the wall when you snap him into a torch holder.
Instructions
One thing that I am really getting tired of with the Lego instructions is the lack of supplementation for building the figures. Granted, this isn’t a difficult task but for those that are just getting into the Lego sets or those that are crossing over from Duplo – a little more detail would be nice. Building the dueling platform is fun but you might find yourself doing a little bit of back tracking to correct misplaced pieces. If you aren’t too concerned with actually using the platform for duels you can eliminate about 20 or so of the pieces and use them in other parts of the scene.
I really wish the people who do the illustrations would make certain parts of the instructions clearer. I’ve been building Lego sets for a long time – but that isn’t the case for everyone. My suggestion is to read through the booklet and break down the pieces needed for the dueling platform, the clubhouse and the figures and work from there. Building the clubhouse – or dueling building – is easy but you will need to count out the nubs to make sure that the different elements are placed in the proper position. You can do a lot with the actual building but I suggest that you build it according to the instructions first to see if you like the end result and work from there. Overall the instructions are good, but not great.
The Bottom Line
This is a nice set with a lot of attractive pieces. If you really want to build a proper dueling platform you will need to purchase two of these sets and make the dueling building larger with the actual platform being placed in the center of the court. For those just starting to get into the Harry Potter Lego series this might be one that you think about before you purchase it. I’d go with one of the more basic sets like Slytherin House [4735] $9.99 or the Diagon Alley Shops [4723] $9.99 so you can build up a collection of accessory pieces and get a feel of the series in general.
The Stats
Set Name: The Dueling Club
Family Set: Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets
Lego Set: 4733
Number of Pieces: 129
Age Recommendation: 7 - 12
Ease Of Assembly: Easy to moderate
Time Of Assembly: 10 – 15 minutes
Cost: $ 19.99
LEGO set inspired by Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Set includes figures of Harry, Malfoy, Professor Snape, and Gilderoy Lockhart Has the new...More at Amazon Marketplace
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