Buy alone to discourage? LEGO Harry Potter 76387 encounters Lou Wei review "with new and old set comparison" to understand Lou Wei (Mao Mao) packaging content and instruction manual doll building process finished model and old version of the conclusion and suggestions

After 20 years, there is finally a new hair! LEGO Harry Potter New Set 76387 Hogwarts: Encounter Lou Wei has been listed, the set contains 397 pieces of pellets, 4 dolls, priced at 399 yuan. What's so interesting about this set, and what's changed about the new design 20 years later? Let's follow the promobricks and compare them to the old version from 2001 at the end!

<h1>Meet Lou Wei (Mao Mao).</h1>

Mao Mao doesn't look as cute as the name, but resembles Cerberus, the three-headed dog of hell in ancient Greek mythology, guarding the entrance to the underworld. However, the sound of music can be used to soothe the giant dog and make it fall asleep.

In Harry Potter, the three-headed dog belongs to Rubeus Hagrid, who guarded the hunting grounds, who bought it from a Greek in a bar and placed it in the Forbidden Forest. At Hogwarts, Lou Wei guards the magic hidden under the trapdoor, or so the three young wizards Harry, Ron, and Hermione think.

<h1>wrap</h1>

If you've read a previous review of 76386 Hogwarts: The Curse of the Compound Decoction, you'll notice that only a small 20th anniversary logo in the lower left corner of the package is newly added, and the rest of the layout is not similar to the suits of the past few years. But the most eye-catching thing is the green roof.

The back of the package shows common gameplay features, and even the 360-degree spinning fur has been used as one of the ways to play... And the candles that are lit in a state of illumination—in the suit they certainly don't light up. Also included are two random Chocolate Frog Wizard Collectible Cards.

One side of the box shows the name of the exclusive gold figure and set.

<h1>Contents and instructions</h1>

Let's use our thumbs to buckle open the 28x26x7.5cm box, and three bags of numbered parts will fall out. With the first bag of parts, You can quickly put Lu Wei together.

There was also an 86-page building instruction manual and a sticker with five different patterns. Because of the harp strings, its stickers are printed on a transparent base. In terms of suit size, the number of stickers is OK, but there is a small problem, which we will talk about later.

The building steps are divided into 98 steps, which is not complicated. Also at the end there are an introduction to 16 different wizard cards. Incidentally, the problem of the previously mentioned mistake in the Picture of Rowena Ravenclaw no longer exists here, and it seems that as Marcos Bessa (designer of the Harry Potter collection) said, this small error existed only in the first sets and has now been fixed.

<h1>The doll</h1>

In addition to the new Lou Wei, the set includes two other little highlights – Hermione Granger's exclusive Golden Figure and two Wizard Cards. The figure is pearl-gold, looks a little dull, and isn't really gold, but collectors probably won't mind. The wizard cards in this suit I have are friendlier and not repetitive, they are Professor Minerva McGonagall and Newt Scamander (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them).

Of course, there must be three protagonists, Lou Wei, who put them to sleep, harry potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron's top was slightly different and was open.

<h1>The building process</h1>

As mentioned earlier, the building of the suit began with the three-headed dog Lou Wei. In addition to the head, it is completely made of bricks, and this construction allows it to achieve different postures and place them in different places, which is stronger than Lu Wei 20 years ago. However, the gray ball joint is not very good, once you notice it, you can't take your eyes off, but there is no way, there should be no such element as brown, just gray hair.

The three different emoticons on the head are nice.

After finishing The Wayne, all four legs can be moved individually – plus a small tail. So it can stand, lie down or sit. However, the body still looks too angular.

In order to ensure that the puppy can sleep peacefully, a small (enchanted) harp was also "intimately" built. Soft sounds can put Mao Mao in a dream state – when the music stops, you'd better run. In that 2001 set, the designer used another instrument, do you remember which one? To be revealed later.

We continued to build the suit. After a few steps, the room of the 8x16 studs for Lou Wei was ready - including a trap door and a small chicken leg in the corner, didn't the three-headed dog often fight for food, and this little chicken leg could... There is no room for the harp yet.

And, of course, the roof and the lighting system. This earthy green roof is particularly eye-catching, but it is not surprising. Because the roof was green from 2001 to 2010, and it wasn't until 2018 that the color turned gray. At that time, fans were controversial, and the situation was almost the same as it is now: Why did the roof suddenly turn gray? Why did it suddenly turn green again? This may be because the new Hogwarts is a completely different model from the past three years, a new composable model, so something has to change, plus the designer Marcos Bessa also said in the interview that they want to let the children who don't know the old suit know about that year. Ultimately, though, whether it looks good or not depends on how you feel.

The roof covers an area of 8×16 studs, which can also be combined or switched with the same modularity later.

Now I'm going to talk about what I personally think is the worst. The first is the wall stickers, which are completely different colors from the background and look ugly. In addition, although it is good to have a Hogwarts badge, the two grays on the badge are also different, and the gray of the sticker is darker. In addition, it feels like instead of building two large windows here, but with more 1x2 beige bricks to build the walls.

Go ahead and build it, and the next stage is to build two more rooms on the 8x8 board. One of them has a Devil's Net, where the trio arrives after crossing Lou wei through the trapdoor. The other room was empty except for the two candlesticks, but later provided space for the harp.

The final step is to spell the room in the attic, which doesn't really belong there, because after all, the trapdoor is on the third floor, and this room has Severus Snape's fourth logical reasoning task (The Mystery of the Bottle), which can only be found in books.

The set ends here, and the individual modules can be assembled.

<h1>Finished product model

</h1>

As shown in the image below, at the end of the construction guide, this set of works is presented in this way. However, in terms of plot, this would be a bit illogical.

So I started redesigning the whole arrangement to make it more plot-appropriate. However, it looks a little strange now, but I already have two other sets to use.

From this picture you can see that the 76386 Hogwarts: The Curse of The Compound Decoction can be perfectly combined. Now that empty little room, including harp, could be on the same floor as Lou Wei. You can now gradually feel the significance of this new modular building series. But still some rooms are missing in order to properly adjust the layout around Lou Wei. So, the largest set 76389 Hogwarts Vault will follow, and we'll see how close the entire building will be to the real Hogwarts. There may be more new suits in the future, and it is still exciting to think.

Of course, the back should not be forgotten either, although I don't want to see the sticker here.

<h1>Contrast with the old version</h1>

For this set, of course, we have to make a direct comparison with a set that is almost a classic. In 2001, the first LEGO Harry Potter suits were made for the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. One of them is the LEGO 4706 exclusion zone corridor, which depicts almost the same scene as the 2021 LEGO 76387: the encounter with Lou Wei.

The two sets are almost the same size, and you might think that the old version of the set contains more particles, but it actually has about 230 particles, less than half of the new version. The contrast on the back of the package is interesting, for example, the box in 2001 already shows some alternative architectural ideas, which are even introduced at the end of the manual.

Direct comparison of the two-piece set. Due to the many larger elements, the 4706 set almost reached the size of the 76387 set. You can also see that in 2001, the old dark gray and light gray elements are still in use. On the other hand, the earth green roof is now back.

Through the spiral staircase, you reach a small foyer with a locked door inside. Here Hermione opens the alohomora with her spell, after which they stand in front of the sleeping giant dog. In this old suit, the Devil's Net is still represented by green palm leaves. In the film, the trio must relax to be released from the trap – in the book, Hermione fights them with fire. The palm leaves here are movable and can be opened and closed, and lo and behold, poor Ron is trapped.

The next biggest difference, of course, was the older dolls, whose heads and hands were still yellow. In addition, the wand was still a long stick, and they wore cloth cloaks. One detail that differs from the new 76387 set is the instrument. In the book, Harry plays the flute to coax Mao Mao to sleep, and it is precisely this beautifully printed flute that appears in the old suit.

Finally, let's look at the situation of Lou Wei. It is a huge brown and black figure with a mouth that can move, similar to a crocodile or a dragon, and there are no other movable elements besides that.

In this way, of course, the old version of Lou Wei can only stand. In addition, its fur still retains its old brown color, and in direct comparison I prefer it now.

In fact, it is up to you to say which version is better. But I think it would be better if the new Lou Wei body was more rounded.

<h1>Conclusions and recommendations</h1>

This 76387 Hogwarts: Encounter with Lou Wei, the conclusion is mixed. Starting with Lou Wei's pretty head, to his overly angular body, to the color difference of seeing the stickers, it's also worth mentioning that the structure of the set is not really in line with the real plot (at least for Harry Potter fans). So, you really need other suits (like the 76389 Hogwarts Vault) to make this one.

But for modular design, I kind of appreciate it now. The old suits of the past three years are of course also modular and scalable, but the space utilization is average, and the new sets will be more compact now. It is expected that the new modular set series will produce more new products, and due to the space savings, it may eventually be possible to replace the old suits in the display cabinet.

Set number: 76387

Name: Hogwarts: Encounter with Lou Wei

Designer: Yi-Chien Cheng

Recommended age: 8+

Number of particles: 397 tablets

Number of stickers: 5

Dimensions: Height 30cm, width 19cm, depth 7cm, and can be connected to other Harry Potter sets.

Number of dolls: 4 (Harry, Ron, Hermione, 20th Anniversary Golden Hermione)

Number of Wizard Cards: 2

Price: 399 yuan

Listing date: June 1, 2021