Here’s our quick review of the upcoming Gift with Purchase set 40577 LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Grand Staircase.
Some details on the GWP distribution for countries supported by LEGO.com or LEGO Brand Retail are as follows :
o Launch date: July 15th 2022 till end July while stocks last
o Qualifying purchase: $130 / €130 / £130 threshold, On Harry Potter™ sets
(It will have a qualifying purchase of SGD175 on Harry Potter sets in LCS Singapore stores)
Box Experience
The boxart shows Hermione standing on the staircase itself but doesn’t show the movement of the grand staircase itself. This is left to the back of the box where the swiveling of the Grand Staircase is shown to be possible along with the ability to swap the “Fat” Lady portrait around
Unboxing
There are three bags of elements and two loose pieces in the box along with an instruction booklet and a sticker sheet. The sticker sheet is used to fill up the walls near the Grand Staircase with 18 portraits. We know that we will fail terribly at attempting to identify them all so we won’t be trying 🙂
The Build
The first bag builds up the main base and walls of the set. There will be a lot of steps where the application of stickers are necessary so it will at least be good practice!
The second bag completes the build by building the staircase. The stair case swivels 360 degrees and is supported by a 2×5 transparent brick. The big portraits can be swapped around for a bit of mischief in confusing the Hogwarts first years!
Here’s some more views of the set and you’ll see there are convenient Technic pins for you to attach to various other LEGO Hogwarts sets. When we first heard rumours of the set, we were wondering how it’ll be imagined as a GWP set since there will be severe limitations to the number of bricks that can be used but our fears were unfounded. The set is pretty nice although we expect there will be murmurs on the number of stickers involved. Some sand green brick roof bricks top the build to remind us that this is indeed Hogwarts and will blend in well with all the other Hogwarts sets.
The staircase itself just about reaches the landing area of the two entrances provided, albeit with a bit of clearance to enable the swivel action. We wonder where Hermione is heading to in the second picture?
Ah, she’s headed to Dumbledore’s office!
We attached the set to set 76402 Dumbledore’s office via the convenient Technic pin connectors and it looks pretty alright (we apologize for not seating the middle portion of the connecting set nicely after playing with it 🙂 )
Minifigure
We have a lone minifigure in this set and it’s of Miss Hermione Granger. As a whole, it’s a brand new minifigure but we’ve seen Hermione with the skirt element and dual molded legs in one or two other 2022 Harry Potter sets
She has a concerned look as an alternate print on the head.
Summary
We have changed our mind after building this set after being initially skeptical about it. The GWP is understandably carries a more hefty minimum purchase threshold due to the number of bricks. Any lesser bricks and it definitely won’t work
It’s an excellent choice for a Harry Potter GWP and matches well with all the existing Hogwarts sets. We will have to wait to see if there might be a bigger “UCS-like” set of the Grand Staircase upcoming for this iconic location for the Harry Potter series or even a Gryffindor common room level in another set to line up the “Fat Lady” portrait. We give the set a happy 4.5 stars
The set used for the review was sent to us by The LEGO Group for the purpose of an honest review. Provision of sets do not in any way influence or guarantee a positive review.
