2021 Harry Potter Wave
The Wave in a Nutshell:
76382 Hogwarts Moment: Transfiguration Class: $29.99 USD; 241 pieces; 3 minifigures
76383 Hogwarts Moment: Potions Class: $29.99 USD; 271 pieces; 3 minifigures
76384 Hogwarts Moment: Herbology Class: $29.99 USD; 233 pieces; 3 minifigures
76385 Hogwarts Moment: Charms Class: $29.99 USD; 256 pieces; 3 minifigures
30392 Hermione’s Study Desk: $4.99 USD; 31 pieces; 1 minifigure
40500 Wizarding World Minifigure Accessory Set: $14.99 USD; 33 pieces; 4 minifigures
40452 Hogwarts Gryffindor Dorms: Promotional
76386 Hogwarts: Polyjuice Potion Mistake: $19.99 USD; 217 pieces; 4 minifigures
76387 Hogwarts: Fluffy Encounter: $39.99 USD; 397 pieces; 4 minifigures
76388 Hogsmeade Village Visit: $79.99 USD; 851 pieces; 7 minifigures
76389 Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets: $129.99 USD; 1,176 pieces; 10 minifigures
76390 Harry Potter Advent Calendar: $39.99 USD; 274 pieces; 6 minifigures
76391 Hogwarts Icons Collector’s Edition: $249.99 USD; 3,010 pieces; 3 minifigures
76392 Hogwarts Wizard’s Chess: $59.99 USD; 876 pieces; 4 minifigures
76393 Harry Potter & Hermione Granger: $119.99 USD; 1,673 pieces
76394 Fawkes, Dumbledore’s Phoenix: $39.99 USD; 597 pieces; 1 minifigure
76395 Hogwarts: First Flying Lesson: $29.99 USD; 263 pieces; 4 minifigures
I have written this a couple of times, as I am not 100% sure how I feel about the 2021 wave. The Second Revival of the LEGO Harry Potter theme started in 2018 and 2021 marked the 20th anniversary of the original LEGO Harry Potter sets as well as the first Harry Potter movie “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” When the first pictures leaked of this wave, I was a bit disappointed. I would say that the 20th anniversary sets of Hogwarts marked a reset of the Hogwarts sets in the Second Revival (that's a lot to follow). To quickly recap, 2001 marked the beginning of the original LEGO Harry Potter sets. Eventually, LEGO took a break and started the Harry Potter theme again in 2010, which marked the beginning of the Revival Series. Then LEGO took another break and started the Harry Potter theme again in 2018, which marks the beginning of the Second Revival Series. More info can be found on the LEGO Harry Potter Wikipedia page.
The Hogwarts sets from 2018 to 2020 focused more on the sets looking like what we saw in the movies from the outside, which makes the sets incredibly fun to display – they look very majestic! That is the main reason why I love them so much, they look great on shelves and are fun to look at!
In 2021, not only did the roof colors change of Hogwarts from grey to green (a node to the original Hogwarts sets), but the Hogwarts sets became modular. The modular aspect lets you rearrange the castle as you see fit and allows LEGO to create new rooms with each wave.
When I first learned about the modular Hogwarts, I was disappointed that the Hogwarts designs from 2018 to 2020 were not continuing. I became very apprehensive to purchase 76389 Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets as it is $129.99 USD and technically, I already have a pretty good Hogwarts collection.
Overall, this 20th anniversary wave was very overwhelming in the number of sets it included. I also wasn’t too keen on the Hogwarts Moment sets. I do believe that the Harry Potter theme needed some sets that incorporated mobility into their design, however, that feature is for a different consumer than me. I did not purchase the Hogwarts Moment sets (76382 Hogwarts Moment: Transfiguration Class, 76383 Hogwarts Moment: Potions Class, 76384 Hogwarts Moment: Herbology Class, 76385 Hogwarts Moment: Charms Class) until they went on sale at the end of 2021 and rumors began about them retiring. They are still not my favorite LEGO Harry Potter sets, but they are nice to display. I do believe that they are great for kids that may want to take them along to school to play with them during recess.
My favorite set in this entire wave is 76388 Hogsmeade Village Visit. I am very happy that I purchased it. The building of the set was fun, and it has some amazing details. I read a comment somewhere about displaying it as part of a Winter Village and I completely agree. Now I can’t wait for the Winter Holidays to come around again and I hope that LEGO will add additional Hogsmeade locations to their lineup with the similar snow covering! In that regard the Hogsmeade Village Visit set is very versatile – can be Harry Potter and Winter Village locations!
There are a bunch of sets in this wave that didn’t interest me which are 76391 Hogwarts Icons Collector’s Edition, 76393 Harry Potter & Hermione Granger, 76392 Hogwarts Wizard’s Chess and 76394 Fawkes, Dumbledore’s Phoenix. The sets look beautiful, just for me I like sets inspired by scenes in the movies. It was great that this wave included some sets that I didn’t necessarily want in my collection, as this is a large wave, and I am not sure I could justify purchasing all the sets.
To start, I did not yet purchase the 76389 Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets, I am very keen on picking it up on sale (if it ever goes on sale). I did pick up both 76387 Hogwarts: Fluffy Encounter and 76386 Hogwarts: Polyjuice Potion Mistake when they went on sale. I am still waiting for 76395 Hogwarts: First Flying Lesson to get back in stock. What is great about the modular sets is that you really don’t need to purchase all of them. 76386 Hogwarts: Polyjuice Potion Mistake is a very detailed set, and you get a lot for the price, however, as a stand alone it really doesn’t do much, as it is just one room and the opening under the sink goes nowhere unless you have 76389 Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets to connect it to. 76387 Hogwarts: Fluffy Encounter was a bit underwhelming for the price point, however, that set is large enough that you don’t necessarily need the large Chamber of Secrets set.
What I found very interesting with this wave is that the Hogwarts sets focused again on the first two movies (“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret”) rather than continuing with the pattern from the 2018 to 2020 waves, which would have made the 2021 wave full of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow” sets (part one and part two). The last two movies are the darkest in the franchise as things come to a head with Voldemort, so I understand why LEGO may feel the movies aren’t a perfect fit for the theme. Also, considering it was the 20th anniversary of the first movie, I guess I can’t be too surprised that LEGO took inspiration for this wave from the first two movies.
The modular sets have grown on me in time and as LEGO is continuing with the modular sets in 2022, it appears they are here to stay. It does give LEGO a much greater ability to give us detailed sets for Hogwarts, which I am excited about. However, I do feel disappointed that the 2018 to 2020 Hogwarts sets came to such a sudden end. Technically, a lot of the rooms that are being explored in the new Hogwarts modular sets have already been explored in the older Hogwarts sets. For example, 75948 Hogwarts Clock Tower, which was released in 2019, does include a hospital room. The 76398 Hogwarts Hospital Wing was released as a modular set in 2022. I will say the modular set is much more detailed, larger and I would assume easier to play with. However, when I think of parents who may have already purchased 75948 Hogwarts Clock Tower, I would be very hard pressed to do a complete restart of Hogwarts with the modular sets considering that some 2018 to 2020 sets have already covered certain Hogwarts rooms.
The more I have thought about it, the more excited I have become about the Hogwarts modular sets. The possibilities are truly endless as to what rooms can be added. The sets focus more on playability than how they look on a shelf and for the younger generation who is just discovering Harry Potter that is truly amazing!
A new addition beginning with the 2021 wave are the wizard tile cards. There are 16 in total, and the sets come with random cards. You can try to collect all of them by purchasing the sets, however, you can also find them via BrickLink or on Ebay for sale. The sixteen prints are: Bertie Bott, Albus Dumbledore (silver), Albus Dumbledore (gold), Nicholas Flamel, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Gilderoy Lockhart, Olympe Maxime, Minerva McGonagall, Garrick Ollivander, Seraphina Picquery, Rowena Ravenclaw, Newt Scamander, Salazar Slytherin, Severus Snape, and Jocunda Sykes.
The 2021 sets also included the 20th Anniversary Golden Minifigures. There are nine golden minifigures and to collect them all you would need to purchase:
76386 Hogwarts: Polyjuice Potion Mistake – Harry Potter
76388 Hogsmeade Village Visit – Ron Weasley
76387 Hogwarts: Fluffy Encounter – Hermione Granger
76389 Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets – Lord Voldemort
76392 Hogwarts Wizard’s Chess – Professor Snape
76395 Hogwarts: First Flying Lesson – Professor Quirrell
76391 Hogwarts Icons Collectors’ Edition – Albus Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Hagrid
Here too, if you aren’t interested in purchasing all the sets, but would like to collect all the golden minifigures, I would suggest checking websites such as BrickLink and Ebay.
VERDICT: While at first, I was overwhelmed by the number of sets and disappointed with the reset of Hogwarts, this wave marked a new direction of the LEGO Harry Potter theme, which has grown on me!