76387 Hogwarts: Fluffy Encounter

The set in a Nutshell:

Name: 76387 Hogwarts: Fluffy Encounter

Pieces: 397

Minifigures: 3 minifigures and a 20^th anniversary Harry Potter minifigure

Original Price: $39.99 USD

Recommended Age: 8+ years of age

I should have listened to my gut on this one:

After I had purchased 76386 Hogwarts: Polyjuice Potion Mistake set I started to slowly warm up to the idea of the new modular Hogwarts sets. I was able to get the Polyjuice Potion Mistake on sale for $16.00 USD and between the price and the detail of the set, I must admit my heart warmed a bit. Still, I wasn’t sold on the Hogwarts modular sets, however, as more information leaked about the 2022 sets, and it became apparent that the Hogwarts modular sets were going to be expanded on I decided that maybe I should get with the times. The modular aspect does give LEGO a lot more options for exploring Hogwarts, so when I saw 76387 Hogwarts: Fluffy Encounter on sale for $32.00 USD I decided to take the chance.

The Fluffy Encounter set is inspired by “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” movie in which Harry, Ron and Hermione must bypass the three-headed guard dog Fluffy to help secure the Philosopher’s stone before friends of Lord Voldemort can reach it. The set can be combined with the 76389 Hogwarts Chamber of Secret set, which allows the Hogwarts modular castle to include more important moments from the movies.

I will be honest; I watched many reviews on YouTube covering this set prior to its release and after its release. Even prior to the release, when LEGO enthusiasts were just commenting on the leaked pictures of the set – it wasn’t too optimistic. Thus, I wasn’t originally in a hurry to get it and then when I saw it finally on sale, I figured I may want to pick it up, as rumor has it the set may retire at the send of 2022. I didn’t want it to be one of the sets that I would be upset about missing out on when I was still able to purchase it at a retail price.

Overall, I wasn’t too excited to put it together. It took me a couple days. I know with a 397 brick count it shouldn’t take too long to put the set together, however, I had a difficult time focusing on it and kept getting interrupted with other chores. I didn’t make it a point to set aside enough time to complete the set in one moment. I do want to get to the point where I savor every moment of putting LEGO sets together. LEGO sets aren’t necessarily cheap, so I do want to get to the point where I feel joy and excitement when putting a set together. Ultimately, it may mean that I need to purchase sets that excite me and not just purchase a set because I fear that I may miss not having it in my collection – typically my gut knows when I first see a set if I like it or not.

In any case, here we are, and I completed the set with some delay. The set comes with the minifigures for Ron, Harry and Hermione in the Gryffindor school uniforms, as well as the 20^th Anniversary Hermione Granger golden minifigure and two wizard card tiles. This is one of the sets that I feel like it is undebatable about which minifigures should be included: Harry, Ron and Hermione are spot on. Though, maybe there is a case to be made to have included Professor Quirrell in the set. I do have the minifigure from the 2018 75954 Hogwarts Great Hall set, however, considering 2021 marked a reboot of Hogwarts it would have been nice if he had been there – after all he bypassed Fluffy first.

Fluffy is an interesting build. He looks somewhat robotic to me, though I would imagine it to be difficult to create a three-headed dog with LEGO bricks. His three heads all show different emotions – foaming at the mouth angry, sleeping, and an emotion between angry and sleeping. Sleeping is not really an emotion, but he looks happy asleep. Fluffy can be adjusted so he is either standing on his four feet, sitting on his back legs, or laying down for a nap.

The set is made up of four different modular pieces. The longer room for Fluffy, a roof piece with a table and some wizarding accessories, a balcony room for the harp (the harp doesn’t fit into the longer room when Fluffy is in it) and a room for the Devil’s Snare. If you are looking at the façade of the build and the way it is advertised the arrangement of the modular pieces makes somewhat little sense, as the longer piece with Fluffy has a stone façade, however, it is directly attached the Devil’s Snare room which has rocks on the outside. The balcony modular room looks nice, but the harp in this case wouldn’t be on the same level as Fluffy. I guess maybe he could hear the harp playing soothing sounds from above. When reviewing the set like this, I think it would benefit from being incorporated into the 2021 Chamber of Secrets set – in that advertising the arrangement looks a bit more sensible. Also, in Fluffy’s room is a trap door from which our three friends will fall into the room with the Devil’s Snare. Technically I can place Fluffy’s room on top of the balcony and Devil’s Snare modular rooms so the minifigures fall correctly into the Devil’s Snare through the trap door, however, it looks weird and doesn’t make much logical sense, also the roof piece just become an extra piece in this arrangement with not much purpose.

I have not purchased the Chamber of Secrets set yet, as I am hoping to get it on sale. As previously mentioned, I already have the other Hogwarts sets and investing $129.00 USD is a bit much for a set I am not that excited about. However, when I look at the Fluffy Encounter set, I almost feel like I need to get the Chamber of Secrets set for it all to make sense. In the advertisements, it does look like the sets go together well.

As for looking inside the set, there isn’t much there. However, I also don’t remember Fluffy’s room in the movie having much décor. After all it is a three-headed dog looking to destroy things! The Devil’s Snare room is probably the most lackluster, as the Devil’s Snare doesn’t look very scary.

As for the modular aspect, I find it very easy to pull apart the rooms and rearrange them. The biggest issue I had was getting Fluffy into his room, as Fluffy is very large. Though when you look at Fluffy and the minifigures, Fluffy does look very intimidating! One thing that I did want to note in this build that I found a strange option are the bottom pieces for the roof, Devil’s Snare, and harp room. The bottom isn’t a solid piece, and it reminds me of industrial grate flooring, which seems very odd for Hogwarts.

Hindsight 20/20, I think I could have passed on this set. Though I am sure I would have regretted it when the set retires, and it is no longer readily available. So, I am not sure how I feel about it, because I completely agree that the Fluffy encounter in the movie is very important and does deserve its own set. Personally, I prefer the cheaper 76386 Hogwarts: Polyjuice Potion Mistake set, which you can get on sale for about $16.00 USD, which is about half of this set sale’s price. That one I feel has more detail and is a nicer set to display, though for that to use the slide under the swing you do need the 76389 Hogwarts Chamber of Secret set, whereas this you can rearrange the modular rooms so you can use the trap door without having to purchase an additional set.

VERDICT: Maybe it will grow on me in time.

The Minifigures

Fluffy

Hogwarts

Scenes from Fluffy's Encounter