The set in a Nutshell:

Name: 75957 The Knight Bus

Pieces: 403

Minifigures: 3 minifigures

Original Price: $39.99 USD

Recommended Age: 8+

The LEGO set I didn’t want:

I didn’t want to buy the set. The set itself didn’t look all too intricate – just a bunch of purple windows. The scene in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” has always made me feel uneasy: the music, the erratic driving, the lighting, and Stan Shunpike. As cool as the idea of the Knight Bus is for wizards, I would try to skip it.

I was making a list in 2021 of sets that I was looking to add to my collection. In it I considered retired and current sets. I don’t purchase all the sets in a wave – simply from an investment standpoint I can’t justify purchasing all of them. I like to focus on sets that are great to display and sets that are from moments in the movies that I thoroughly enjoy. The 75957 The Knight Bus set barely made the list and it just made it under the assumption that if I could find it on sale, but otherwise I wanted to focus on other sets.

Then news started to arrive of the sets that may retire at the end of 2021 and the Knight Bus was on it. I can’t tell you how often I saw this LEGO set in stores and walked right by it – I didn’t want it in my collection, but somehow knowing that I may never be able to add it to my collection after the set retired made me question my feelings towards the set. It’s crazy how the idea of a set retiring changes your entire mindset on it. The pressure was on!

I didn’t purchase it immediately after finding out of the potential retirement. In the meantime, I did read the book “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (I am very late to reading the books!) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would dare say it is one of my favorite books and I started to appreciate the Knight Bus a whole lot more. When I read about Harry in the Knight Bus I was completely on edge as the music from the movie kept playing in my mind. However, after really thinking about it I realized how important the Knight Bus is in Harry Potter. Not in the sense that a deep and important revelation takes place in it, but it is iconic just for being the Knight Bus! It is a crazy cool creation and so unique, that I ended up wanting the Knight Bus in my collection just so I would feel a sense of completion of my very own Wizarding World.

Finally, I trekked back to the store – we only have Walmart locally that sells LEGO sets. Of course, the set was no longer available! I couldn’t believe it; it was there the entire time and now it was gone. (It had graced the store shelves since 2019, so I took it for granted). I searched online and strangely I had a difficult time tracking this one down – I am guessing the supply chain shortage of 2021 may have had something to do with it.

I tried to find it used and found a couple decent offers that had the pricing at retail. Somehow though I couldn’t get myself to click “Buy.” Then randomly while looking for it in early 2022 (the set had not officially retired), I found it on Amazon – on sale! I figured it was now or never and I finally clicked “Place your Order.”

I have never seen so many purple pieces! And I take back my statement of it being an easy build. I somehow messed up a couple pieces for the undercarriage and had to undo and redo a couple steps. It doesn’t take long to put it all together – though there are a lot of windowpanes that need to be placed in the window frame. When I say a lot, I mean A LOT – it is three stories of windows, but that is what the bus looks like. Overall, I thought the bus was a bit smaller than I expected, but it has many details that I was very impressed with. The first two stories are accessible by a large door opening to the side. Inside one finds the bed and the chandelier, as well as a seat on the second floor. Now here is the cool part, the bed and chandelier move! Yes, they move back and forth just like in the movie giving it that erratic feel. The third level is easily accessible by the top plate being removable. There you will find a chill level on which one can read a copy of the most recent “Daily Prophet.”

Ernie Prang is at the helm of the wheel with Dre Head (Ernie’s chair moves to make it easier to secure him) and Stan Shunpike greets passengers at the back entrance. Both Ernie and Stan don’t have alternative faces on their back, which I thought was rather strange. (No worries, Harry does). I think in part I purchased the set also just to have the Ernie and Stan minifigures. Both are done with great detail – Ernie with his tie and Stan has his ticket clicker machine printed on. Harry comes with his Hogwarts chest, which includes a letter, some chocolate, and a potion bottle. Coming to think of it running away from home with a large wooden chest doesn’t seem like the most sensible idea.

The bus also includes a Daily Prophet sticker on the inside of the bus, as well as some other stickers on the outside. A couple of the stickers took me a couple times to place somewhat correctly. Some just don’t look very level, but it was the best I could do!

For this set I feel like LEGO picked out some great details to include. I love that the chandelier swings and the bed slides. The overall size I have grown to love. It is rather compact, but exactly that makes it easy to display.

I am glad that I was able to add this to my collection. The more I look at it the fonder I grow of it. I still watch the movie and am uneasy during the Knight Bus scene. However, considering that Harry has just run away from “home,” believing that something may be after him and that he has been expelled from Hogwarts, the scene in the bus is probably rightful to cause some anxiety from it being so erratic – I am sure Harry had a lot of anxiety during that bus ride!

Again, a great set that transports your right back to the movie!

VERDICT: It’s a great set to have for the right price. There have been multiple iterations of the Knight Bus in the LEGO Harry Potter history, so I would try to find this one below the $39.99 USD if at all possible.

The Minifigures

The Knight Bus