LEGO Harry Potter 40577 Hogwarts: Grand Staircase GWP review

Free with qualifying LEGO orders until the end of July is 40577 Hogwarts: Grand Staircase, cleverly capturing the magic of LEGO Harry Potter in a gift-with-purchase.

40577 Hogwarts: Grand Staircase is available now at LEGO.com and in LEGO stores until July 31, or while stocks last, as a gift-with-purchase awarded with spends of £130 / $130 / €130 on LEGO Harry Potter products only.

A narrow qualifying field and high spend threshold usually spells doom for a gift-with-purchase, but such is the depth of the fun and magic that 40577 Hogwarts: Grand Staircase contains that this remains a highly collectible promotional item – and well worth that initial investment.

While only coming in at 224 pieces, 40577 Hogwarts: Grand Staircase manages to recreate across two levels a snapshot of the sprawling and ever-changing grand staircases from inside Hogwarts. That snapshot crucially includes a neat representation – and play function – of the shifting staircases, which you can swivel from one opening to another. Linked to this, the portrait of the Fat Lady is able to be swapped out to any of the four archways, always leaving an open doorway in place, to your preference.

Completely covered in stickered portraits too, 40577 Hogwarts: Grand Staircase matches the novelty of its central play feature with a very high level of detail and authenticity. Much like 40452 Hogwarts Gryffindor Dorms from last year, 40577 Hogwarts: Grand Staircase is best thought of not as a gift-with-purchase, but as a fully-fledged LEGO set, packed with design, detail and fun, and fully compatible with the other LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts sets.

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It also works quite wonderfully as a little vignette, and indeed anyone ending up with more than one copy has quite a collection of excellent portrait stickers to use elsewhere in their collection, and some very interesting parts too. Ultimately, though, the compatibility with other LEGO Harry Potter sets is most important for wider value, given that qualifying orders for this gift-with-purchase are linked to other sets in the theme only.

For anyone looking to boost their LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts collection, 40577 Hogwarts: Grand Staircase is a fun and worthy addition, at a spend threshold that is relatively high, but – for better or worse – is still quite easy to reach when considering the price of LEGO Harry Potter sets currently available.

40577 Hogwarts: Grand Staircase is available now at LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores until July 31, or while stocks last, awarded free with purchases of £130 / $130 / €130 on LEGO Harry Potter products only.

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