LEGO 76438 Harry Potter 2024 Advent Calendar review

Wizarding World fans are in for a festive treat with LEGO 76438 Harry Potter 2024 Advent Calendar, a set that offers a bumper selection of magical minifigures.

This year’s LEGO Harry Potter advent calendar isn’t the first to be based around Hogwarts’ Great Hall, but there’s more to the latest annual offering than meets the eye. As well as an impressive selection of seven minifigures and 17 micro-builds, the festive set is also compatible with another recent LEGO Harry Potter release.

Release: September 1, 2024 Price: £29.99 / $44.99 / €34.99 Pieces: 301 Minifigures: 7 LEGO: Order now

Wizarding winter wonder

Of all of the LEGO Group’s advent calendar releases, the Harry Potter theme seems one of the most well-suited to the format. The thought of cosying up with a butterbeer at the Hog’s Head Inn on a chilly winter’s day or nestling with a mug of cocoa in front of a dorm room’s roaring open fire seems tailor-made for a purchase intended to be opened in the depths of December.

The setting for this year’s offering is Hogwarts’ Great Hall, a location that serves a clever dual purpose. For starters, all of the mini-builds that come with 76438 Harry Potter 2024 Advent Calendar are themed around the room, as is the box and its opened flap backdrop display.

The second is that 76438 Harry Potter 2024 Advent Calendar is also compatible with 76435 Hogwarts Castle: The Great Hall, a set that launched on June 1. The tables with benches and various decorations in the advent calendar can all be added to the 1,732-piece model to give that section of the brick-built castle a truly festive feel, once you’ve cleared some space that is.

Magical micro models

The good news is that the Christmas theme goes on to apply to multiple mini-models in 76438 Harry Potter 2024 Advent Calendar, from a seasonal wreath and crackers to tiny presents and a decorated pine tree build.

Impressive micro-models in the annual LEGO Harry Potter release include a Hogwarts Express train, fireplace, teacher’s table, Christmas turkey and four grey gargoyles relating to each of the Hogwarts houses. The latter can be added on top of four 4x4 cubes to boost their height further and feature unique printed Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tiles.

The Hogwarts house theme then continues with four tiny tables, each of which includes benches on either side, plus a selection of accessories such as golden goblets, a mini chess set, spell book, food items and more.

Hogwarts house party

Also representing their individual houses are minifigures of Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Cho Chang and Susan Bones, with the characters boasting impressive torso prints complete with correctly-coloured scarves. Each minifigure also comes with their own wand and two different face prints for variety, as well as a set of short legs.

In addition, 76438 Harry Potter 2024 Advent Calendar features minifigures of Professor Flitwick, Albus Dumbledore and the Choir Ghost. All three are exclusive to the set and feature unique prints, with Dumbledore’s and the Choir Ghost’s skirts being standout elements we’d like to see included in future sets.

All of the LEGO Harry Potter minifigures have their own accessories, with Harry also gaining a companion micro-model in the shape of a Hedwig figure that comes with two brick-built Christmas presents. Rounding out 76438 Harry Potter 2024 Advent Calendar are two randomly-inserted collectible Hogwarts portraits, making it even easier for fans to eventually pick up a full set of the elusive items.

Spellbinding seasonal set

Of the three LEGO advent calendars we’ve been sent for review this year, 76438 Harry Potter 2024 Advent Calendar is far and away the only one that manages to tick every box. Plenty of minifigures (with three exclusive characters), a suitable festive theme and multiple elements that can be combined with 76435 Hogwarts Castle: The Great Hall make for a winning formula.

The set not only acts as a daily treat for LEGO Harry Potter fans come this December, but it’s one that fully embraces the Wizarding World theme to offer up a complete and unified building experience.

Even if 76438 Harry Potter 2024 Advent Calendar wasn’t a seasonal release, it would still be an essential LEGO Harry Potter purchase, especially for those in Europe who’ll be paying €4 less for the set when compared to other similar releases arriving on September 1 this year.

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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Our honest opinion: This year's LEGO Harry Potter advent calendar conjures up the perfect seasonal set for Wizarding World fans, topping the pile of licensed calendars in 2024.