LEGO Harry Potter 76443 Hagrid & Harry’s Motorcycle Ride review

LEGO Harry Potter 76443 Hagrid & Harry’s Motorcycle Ride chooses a different creative path and we’re very much here for it.

Whether you’re a die-hard Harry Potter fan or not, one thing that LEGO Harry Potter does as a theme better than any other is experiment. While the world that it takes from is already rich in source material, the design team are still prepared to try completely different ideas and concepts for different sets. From flying owls and foldaway classrooms to big-fig character builds, and from a playable Wizard’s Chess set and microscale Hogwarts to a talking Sorting Hat – LEGO Harry Potter delivers plenty of playsets wave after wave, but also so many other sets like these that find new ways to enjoy the magic of this Wizarding World.

It is the preparedness to take such creative risks that currently drives LEGO Harry Potter and sets it apart from other LEGO themes, and it’s the reason that the theme continues to go from strength to strength – be honest, if it was just endless playsets of the Hogwarts Great Hall how invested in the Wizarding World would you really be?

Which is all to say, 76443 Hagrid & Harry’s Motorcycle Ride takes something well-known to Harry Potter fans and turns it well and truly on its head. Whether or not it hits every note, this is a set to be fully appreciated.

Release: January 1, 2025 Price: £44.99 / $49.99 / €49.99 Pieces: 617 Minifigures: 0 LEGO: Order now

‘If you sneeze, the Ministry will know who wipes your nose.’

We’re not talking about novelty for novelty’s sake either. If that was the case, a set like 76443 Hagrid & Harry’s Motorcycle Ride would have nothing going for it – we would all so easily see through the gimmick. However, as is the case every time the LEGO Harry Potter design team take on a completely new idea like this, they dive 100% into it, from understanding exactly what the concept in question is through to exploring how to really apply it to the source material, whilst including and refining every possible detail fans would expect.

In this case the concept is a larger-scale build of Hagrid and Harry riding Hagrid’s flying motorcycle as seen at the start of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. This is where the duo try to move Harry to a safe location with the help of various members of the Order of the Phoenix who have also disguised themselves as Harry in an attempt to evade Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. The ruse works until it doesn’t, when Hedwig’s presence seemingly gives away who the real Harry is, before she is killed by a curse aimed at her master.

It’s a memorable scene with a really big character moment and choosing this completely different LEGO approach to the set very much feels relevant, whether or not you fully buy into the application of the idea. This scene is about the tension of the chase, it’s about Hedwig’s sacrifice, and the eventually-successful escape Hagrid and Harry make. In minifigure form it would not necessarily capture the same detail or study of the characters central to the scene that going big like this can.

‘Where will he be taken, the boy?’

The opportunity to study character is very much there in 76443 Hagrid & Harry’s Motorcycle Ride and generally speaking it is an opportunity that is fully embraced. The poses for the three characters have a little more to them than we’d get at minifigure form, with Hagrid and Harry both sitting more akin to how they did on the bike, rather than how they might as minifigures – Hagrid has that slight lean forward as he grips on to the handles with both hands, and Harry is tucked tightly into the sidecar with wand at the ready. At the same time, Hedwig flying behind can actually be posed in a few different ways thanks to moveable wings.

The size contrast between all three is also far better felt building at this scale – this is a Hagrid that very much feels like a half-giant sat on a motorbike slightly too small for him, with a much smaller Harry in the sidecar, and even a decently-proportioned Hedwig, which is something we can’t think we’ve actually ever had before…

For how dark the film was lit you’d also be forgiven for thinking that 76443 Hagrid & Harry’s Motorcycle Ride has taken some LEGO liberties with the colour of the bike, but that light aqua is a very nice match for the vehicle.

A lot more detail and authenticity is possible when building bigger and choosing to put this scene at that scale certainly benefits 76443 Hagrid & Harry’s Motorcycle Ride a great deal, leaving us with a deeper study of an important moment from the films explored more thoroughly than we may otherwise have expected.

‘Hang on, Harry!’

The accuracy and charm of these characters is likewise generally felt in their designs, beyond size. Hagrid’s billowing hair and beard is nicely built out of slopes and wedges of different shades of brown, while the pieces used to represent his goggles are a nice effect too. Hedwig’s design, though, is also simple but perhaps too much so, with a print that could be just at home in a far more junior LEGO set. It’s not a big issue but creatively doesn’t tie in with the authentic nature of the rest of the set.

And then there’s Harry’s face. Perhaps through logistics between printing and parts availability, or just the creative reality of building at this scale, this is the one area of 76443 Hagrid & Harry’s Motorcycle Ride that does feel like a compromise. It’s not the worst thing and your eye does eventually accept it as part of the scene, but it’s something that does first require you to accept it where something a little more detailed could have worked better.

But we can’t know that for sure. Taking creative risks with sets like 76443 Hagrid & Harry’s Motorcycle Ride presents challenges like this – how much detail could or should have been printed on that piece to make it make sense? And where is the line drawn between LEGO style, realism and what could end up being a weird cartoonish in-between that nobody would want?

As it is, Harry’s face may be the worst thing about 76443 Hagrid & Harry’s Motorcycle Ride, but it’s not so bad as to detract from the rest of the set – and it’s probably the best solution available to a design team prepared to really explore new concepts and scales. And we really don’t want to dissuade them from continuing to do so moving forward…

Our honest opinion: Taking a key moment from the beginning of the end of the Harry Potter saga and choosing a completely new LEGO concept to explore it in is inspired and, even with a couple of creative compromises in place, the reason that LEGO Harry Potter continues to triumph as a truly unique and artistic theme.

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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