NOTE: I purchased the Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival set myself, and this review is not sponsored in any way. I strive to always provide my honest opinion on LEGOĀ® products. If you are curious about how I generate scores in this review, I invite you to read about the True North Bricks rating system.
INTRODUCTION
The Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival set came out in June 2024. At the time, I noted that the ship’s hull looked great and featured techniques transferable to other custom ship designs. I debated purchasing it for a while because I do not collect Harry Potter sets. Additionally, I am not crazy about the look of set as a whole. However, the LEGOĀ® Store hosted a Harry Potter event in early September 2024. I got double Insiders points on this set, plus two Harry Potter GWPs. I have plans to use the hull design in a custom build, but I figured I would review the set as it was intended first.
SET SPECIFICS
- NAME: Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival
- SET #:76440
- THEME: Harry Potter
- COST: $179.99 CAD
- BRICK COUNT: 1229
- COST/BRICK: $0.146 CAD
- MINIFIGURES: 5 + 1 Pegasus
- BRICKS/FIG: 205
- RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2024
- BUILD TIME: 3 hours 11 minutes
- COST/MIN: $0.942 CAD
QUICK REVIEW
OVERALL SCORE: 82%
WHAT I LIKED: The build techniques and Minifigures are solid.
WHAT I LIKED LESS: I don’t hate anything, but the value, detail, and aspects of the design are all slightly subpar.
VALUE: 78%
The cost/brick and cost/minute of build time are both ever so slightly too expensive.
BUILD: 85%
Good builds, but the carriage and ship should be separate, more detailed sets.
MINIFIGURES: 90%
Average Minifigure count for a set this size, but what you get is unique and well designed.
ENTERTAINMENT: 75%
I don’t care much for Harry Potter architecture… but this set inspires custom builds.
FULL REVIEW
VALUE: 78%
SUMMARY: The value of Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival is almost average based on my experience. It leans ever so slightly towards the expensive in terms of both cost/brick and cost/minute.
Value Score Breakdown:
The Triwizard Tournament set costs $179.99 in Canada and includes 1229 bricks. The resulting cost/brick is $0.146 CAD. That is actually expensive for a Harry Potter set. In my experience, the sets are a surprisingly good value for a licensed theme. Of course, I don’t review them often and it has been a couple of years since I last looked at any Harry Potter sets. LEGOĀ® sets have gone through a price hike in that time. Compared to LEGOĀ® sets in general, the Triwizard Tournament set is slightly more expensive than average. I rate the cost/brick at 78%. It is satisfactory, bordering on average for me.
The value of this set is about average, though it borders on what I’d consider merely satisfactory.
As for build time, I got three hours and 11 minutes. For $180 CAD, that is okay in my experience. It is not horribly off average for either the Harry Potter theme or LEGOĀ® sets in general. Is it great? No, but it is not bad either. I rate the build time at 78%, same as the cost/brick. Consequently, the overall value score is also a satisfactory 78%.
BUILD: 85%
SUMMARY: The Durmstrang Ship and Beaubatons Carriage look good enough. However, both suffer from a lack of detail in areas since they were crammed into the same set.
Build Score Breakdown:
I bought this set because I wanted the brick selection and to learn the basic hull techniques used. I plan to build a ship using the Durmstrang boat as a template. In that regard, the Triwizard Tournament set did not disappoint. The hull is nicely designed, as are the masts. Not to mention that you get a full set of cloth sails. With that said, the build under-utilizes space. Half of the hull interior is inaccessible. Additionally the entire poop deck and cabin area are purely ornamental. There is no interior play/display space there. This Durmstrang ship is surprisingly display oriented for a kids’ set.
Otherwise, the front half of the main deck lifts off to reveal a single bedroom below decks. Additionally, the quarter deck comes off and there is a small officer’s space inside with a chair, side table, and meal. I find myself wishing this was more like the Ninjago Movie Destiny’s Bounty.
You also get the Beaubatons carriage. While I am happy to get a pegasus, I could do without the carriage entirely. The LEGOĀ® Group released a nicer, more detailed version in 2019. This set should have been the Durmstrang Ship and the Durmstrang Ship only. Those extra bricks from the Beaubatons Carriage could have made a nice cabin space. I understand that some fans might like getting both builds. But for me, this represents yet another example of the LEGOĀ® Group trying to cram too many things into one set without really giving enough detail to any of them. Neither build is poor in any sense. The carriage might even go well in AFOL medieval displays. But neither build is super detailed either, and purely ornamental cabin area on the ship bothers me.
The LEGOĀ® Group often struggles to maintain focus in their sets…
As for build techniques, the hull of the ship is my favourite. It uses a similar style of build as the Creator 3-in-1 Viking Ship and the Ideas Sailboat Adventure. You use quarter circle plates and shell elements combined with SNOT (studs not on top) techniques to great effect. I love this ship hull. Because of the hull, and the fact that neither the ship and Beaubatons Carriage are bad constructs, I rate this build at 85%. I just wish the ship’s interior and deck detailing was more impressive… like the Harry Potter version of a pirate ship.
MINIFIGURES: 90%
SUMMARY: Very nicely designed and unique Minifigures exclusive to this set. You also get a near average number of characters for a set this size, which is nothing to complain about.
Minifigure Score Breakdown:
Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival includes five Minifigures. For Harry Potter fans, those characters are Viktor Krum, Igor Karkaroff, Barty Crouch, Madame Maxime, and Fleur Delacour. Each character variant is unique to this set in some way or form. Madame Maxime uses the larger Avatar Minifigure legs and arms to achieve her semi-giantess form, for example. Each character also comes with all the standard Minifigure parts, as well as front and back torso printing. Additionally, all except Barty Crouch have double-sided faces and leg print. Finally, the set includes a number of accessories (listed below). These are nice, unique Minifigures and I rate their designs at 100%.
32 accessories, though many are built into the Durmstrang Ship.
- 1 x Pegasus
- 1 x Treasure Chest
- 3 x Tea Cups
- 4 x Lanterns
- 8 x Shields
- 1 x Fur Collar
- 1 x Mug
- 5 x Chalice
- 1 x Turkey Leg
- 5 x Wand pairs
- 2 x Large Barrels
When it comes to assessing the number of characters included, I will count the five minifigs and the pegasus. I typically included all figurines with moving parts in this assessment. In Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival, you get 205 bricks/Minifigure. Similar to the value assessement earlier, this is close to average compared to the Harry Potter theme and LEGOĀ® in general. However, in both cases it errs on the side of too few characters. One more Minifigure or a second pegasus would have made the set better in my opinion. All the same, I’ll rate the Minifigure count at 80% given how unique and well designed the characters are. Averaging this with the design score gives an overall Minifigure rating of 90%.
ENTERTAINMENT: 75%
SUMMARY: Harry Potter sets are often too zany for my liking, and this one is no exception. However, it still inspires me with techniques I can use in custom builds.
Entertainment Score Breakdown:
I am sure that genuine Harry Potter fans will appreciate this set more than I do… but it is really a niche interest for the most part. I have read all the Harry Potter books, and I did enjoy them. However, I always felt the-author-who-shall-not-be-named tried too hard to make the wizarding world zany and out there. It’s like she made a conscious effort to make everything different compared to the muggle world. It’s not believable in my opinion. And, yes, I know it is a kids’ story and it doesn’t necessarily need to be grounded in reality. But I like fantasy stories with some scientific believability woven in rather than just wanton fiction for the sake of it.
The Durmstrang Ship is an example of that wonky sort of architecture that Harry Potter revels in. The proportions are all off and it is not believable as a sea-faring vessel. That is not the LEGOĀ® Group’s fault, they are staying true to the movie subject matter after all (the movie version differed greatly from how I imagined the ship when reading the book). But, I don’t like how everything has to be oddly angled, disproportioned, or outlandish in the Wizarding World. So, this set was destined to not appeal to me.
Harry Potter sets are often too zany for my liking, but this one is nonetheless inspiring.
With that said, I like sets that inspire me with custom projects and teach me interesting ways to use LEGOĀ® bricks. As I mentioned earlier, I saw this set and immediately thought the ship’s hull looked wonderful. Even the stickers on the sides are nice for my purposes. I did enjoy building this set. The Viktor Krum Minifigure is also great. I don’t tend to use real flesh tones in my LEGOĀ® scenes, but I can work with his torso and legs.
Since I will recycle the majority of this set, and it is not display worth as is, I rate the entertainment value at 75%. Most of the fun I will get from this set will be my own modification of the design.
CONCLUSION: 82%
There is nothing I outright hate about Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival. It is a decent set for Harry Potter fans. It is just not a set for me. My interest in purchasing this lay solely with the parts selection and ship design.
In that regard, I am happy. The set met my expectations for brick selection and hull design. I was also pleasantly surprised with how much I like the Viktor Krum Minifigure. Madame Maxine’s torso printing is also quite nice. Both have applications in my future build projects. I didn’t even pay attention to the Minifigures when I first considered buying this set, so that was a bonus. This is a good parts box and inspirational set for me. What do you think? Let me know in the comments or reach out on social media.
Until next time,
-Tom
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2 responses to “Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival (76440) Review”
What a nice photograph! Indeed, the ship itself is interesting, but overall the set does seem expensive.
Glad you like the photo š. It’s not the worst set I’ve seen in terms of price… Especially for a licensed set… But I wouldn’t have bought it without the added incentive of double points and two GWPs. So, I get where you’re coming from.