Hungarian Horntail Dragon (76406) Review

It’s Dragon Week here at TrueNorthBricks, which means it’s the perfect time to review the Hungarian Horntail Dragon (76406). This beasty is a very cool addition to the Harry Potter line-up of built creatures. And if I may say this early on, it’s one of the best. It’s a wonderfully realized set with great details, colour and movement. Here we get Harry Potter’s valiant cat-and-mouse game with the dragon as he competes in the Triwizard Tournament. His goal is to steal the golden egg guarded by the fierce and frightening Hungarian Horntail. It’s a fantastic scene in the film and it’s really well realized here.

This is one of seven new sets in the Summer 2022 wave and I am happy to have the entire collection for review. These were first announced in early April with some currently up for pre-order on LEGO.com. Click on the links below for my previous reviews. And for an unboxing of the entire wave with set stats, please click on the YouTube link below. Thanks for tuning in and enjoy more Wizarding World goodness.

NOTE: This set was provided by The LEGO® Group to True North Bricks for review. This does not guarantee a favourable review and all opinions are my own. For a breakdown of the rating system, please click here.

SET SUMMARY

NAME: Hungarian Horntail Dragon
SET #: 76406
THEME: Harry Potter
COST: $64.99 CAD
BRICK COUNT: 671
MINIFIGURES: 1 (Harry Potter w/ exclusive new print)
OF INTEREST: 3rd buildable flying creature in this line
RELEASE DATE: June 19, 2022

QUICK REVIEW

VALUE: 98% (a near perfect score thanks to a higher piece count at a reasonable MSRP)
BUILD: 90% (excellent details, movement and techniques, great colours as well)
MINIFIGURES: 76% (only one fig, but it’s exclusive with great torso and arm printing)
ENTERTAINMENT: 84% (minimal play value, but great display item along with similar sets)
OVERALL SCORE: 87% (great build with nice details, excellent value)

Dragon History Lesson

If you’re paying attention to the Harry Potter line, you’ll recognize this as the third such ‘flying creature’ set to date. He’s flying in the wingsteps of the already released Fawkes: Dumbledore’s Phoenix (76394) and Hedwig (75979). All three together make for a really fun sub-theme of mechanical flying creatures. Seeing them all together is kind of awesome. And they really compliment one another well; each having a unique colour scheme and look.

As far as Hungarian Horntails go, this is the third set to feature the dragon. Our first creature is 2005’s Harry and the Hungarian Horntail (4767). The molded head is excellent with superb printing, better even than the follow up. The next Horntail is from the current run of sets with 2019’s Hungarian Horntail Triwizard Challenge (75946). Those molded wings stay the same, but the body is brick built now and the head is less impressive sadly. And just for the sake of thoroughness, there’s also a teeeensy micro-scale Horntail included in the epically big Hogwarts Castle (71043). It’s adorable and just recognizable enough.

VALUE: 98%

The Hungarian Horntail Dragon (76406) arrives with a price tag of $64.99 in Canada. This is the most expensive of the buildable creatures so far – the first two both retailing for $49.99 CAD. But we do get a higher piece count, and said parts inventory gets us a very enticing cost-per-brick of $0.09! This is the best value of all the summer sets and earns a near-perfect score of 97%. The average for the Harry Potter sets to date sits at a more comfortable $0.13 for 80%. So if you’re looking for good value with your sets, then this is one to keep in mind.

My build time for the Horntail comes in at just over 2 hours; approximately 131 minutes. It seems I finally took my time building, which helps with the final cost-per-minute score being the best so far at $0.49. This translates to a perfect score of 100%. Comparatively, the average score of 80% is a cost-per-minute value of $0.91 for all the Harry Potter reviews to date. And with that said, the Hungarian Horntail flies out of the gate with an awesome value score of 98%.

BUILD: 90%

Hungarian Horntail Dragon (76406) divides its contents among 5 numbered bags, a 175 page instruction book and a very small sticker sheet. The fabric wings are in a separate bag with cardboard backing for, ya know, safety. The lovely white instruction manual is back as is the standard box art, this time with rocky imagery. The primary (only) build is the dragon itself with Harry Potter in mid flight in front of him. At the base you get the stickered name plate and that crucial golden egg. The colour scheme is a wonderful mix of black, brown and tan elements. The overall look is really striking, capturing plenty of great detail in a small scale.

Cut & Paste (In A Good Way)

Like the previous, similar builds, you will start with the base and its mechanics. The body of the dragon is then built atop/around this framework and in the end, you get flapping wings and moveable parts. In this case the dragon’s head can move and the legs and toes can bend. The tail also has a fair bit of articulation too which isn’t surprising. There’s a pretty smart and effective ‘formula’ here folks. Overall mechanisms and techniques remain the same, and just the ‘shell’ gets a refresh. Think of it like a new coat of paint. Turning the lever creates a flapping motion in the wings, one that’s very fluid and quite realistic.

There’s some nice details in the Hungarian Horntail Dragon. The rows of spikes, horns and spines is excellent and lends a lot of fantasy elements to the overall build. It’s accurate to the film version and very much what I imagine for dragons. I guess years of fantasy art and films really leaves you with certain expectations. The cloth wings are a nice single piece on a really nicely done technic ‘skeleton’. Said skeleton is built with a surprisingly small amount of pieces. By the time I got to bag 5, I seriously thought there were not enough parts left. And the tail looks pretty great, especially the end with its extra spikey parts.

Watch Out If It Sneezes…

One lone area that I find less successful is the head – which is not where you want to lose points. The horns and shape of the head are great, it’s the mouth that doesn’t just quite work for me. Fire spewing out of the maw is a given and it’s super cool looking here – that trans opalescent flame element is rad! But to accomplish this on such a small scale, the mouth comes across too stubby, like it’s a weird add-on. It’s honestly a minor gripe, just something that sticks out to me.

The dragon’s eyes also look really far forward and somewhat crossed?? They’re done with stickers for max accuracy and mostly work. At this scale certain details will by necessity be missing and/or omitted. Movement on the head is also limited to up/down. I’m surprised they didn’t just do a single ball joint to allow more rotation. instead there are two and you only get fun in one axis lol. Again, these are small nitpicks on an otherwise solid brick-built creature. I’m giving the build high marks and a score of 90%.

MINIFIGURES: 76%

To accompany your new flying friend is, naturally, Harry Potter. He’s also the only minifigure included with the Hungarian Horntail Dragon (76406). With just the one fig and over 600 pieces, we get a fairly abysmal brick-to-fig ratio – a score of zero to be precise. But given this isn’t the type of set that relies on play or minifigs, I won’t weigh that heavily into the total. Harry is positioned on a clear bar simulating flight atop his broom. It’s a great way to incorporate the fig without it being simply ‘on display’. This looks great and very dynamic. It’s also a nice update to the previous minifigs from similar sets. Below you’ll see the development of Triwizard Harry Potter.

Despite there being just the one figure, it’s a really great one! This new and so far exclusive print brings us Harry in his Triwizard uniform. For this minifig we get back and front torso printing and more impressively, detailed arm printing. The usual dual-sided expressions are present with the longer hair piece to show Harry in 4th year. No leg printing sadly as the medium size legs don’t have any (yet). Accessory wise, harry comes with a wand and the new broom piece made up of a bar new bristle element and handcuffs (wild). Clever parts work and it can now attach to studs to stand upright. It’s a great fig and despite the poor brick-to-fig score, I’m giving it a final of 76%.

ENTERTAINMENT: 84%

The Hungarian Horntail Dragon (76404) is a very fun set to build and looks beautiful on display. But that’s about it. There’s minimal real play value aside from the mechanical feature of the flapping wings. Brilliant as it is, it’s not much for sustained entertainment. Of course that isn’t the point of this set, so I can’t really dock too many points for it. Younger builders will still love putting this together and reenacting some fun scenes. AFOLs will no doubt love the details, exclusive fig and great techniques that can help inform their own MOCs and builds.

With a more dynamic minifig and the fully built legs, this one definitely earns a higher score. And if you happen to have the other two buildable creatures, then you’ll have a great trio to put on display. Now that we have a subtheme going (kinda), it lets me appreciate the dragon a bit more as part of a collection. On its own it’s still great, but as a part of a group I can’t help but award extra points. Overall I’m giving this beast a final score of 84%.

OVERALL: 70%

The Hungarian Horntail Dragon (76406) is a great set. From a strictly parts and value perspective it’s top notch amongst the Summer 2022 wave. The build itself is smooth, fun and quite diverse in terms of parts and techniques. If you have the previous two buildable creatures it will be very familiar, but still a fresh experience. Colours and elements really stand out as well. And even though there is only one minifigure, it is excellent and exclusive to this set. Having the dragon and Harry in a more animated pose really helps this one stand out. This should be an easy buy for HP fans, especially if you have Fawkes and Hedwig already in our collection. I’m giving this set a final score of 87%.

And that’s all she wrote my friends. Definitely put this set on your list if you haven’t already. And I hope you’re enjoying Dragon Week. These mythical beasts have evolved pretty spectacularly in LEGO® form over the years. They continue to improve and push brick building to cool new places. But what’s your take on the Hungarian Horntail and Dragons in general? Are you excited for this set? Do you have the previous buildable creatures? Do you have any other dragons in your collection? Sound off in the usual places and let us know. Thanks for reading and as always, keep on brickin’. 🧱

-Frank

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