The Burrow is the Weasley family home, but thanks to his friendship with Ron, Harry Potter also came to see the Burrow as a place of safety and security. Ron Weasley has everything a young Harry wished he had: a loving, supportive family. And the Burrow was a visual metaphor for that family – a bit eccentric, a bit chaotic, a bit teetering on the verge of collapse – but ultimately sustained by love.
The newest Harry Potter set, available exclusively at the LEGO Store, is an ambitious recreation of the Burrow, as seen in the films. It is a five-floor building, and unlike many other LEGO buildings – which are open in the back like dioramas – the Burrow consists of two halves which clasp together, enclosing the build on all sides.
The build comes with 10 Minifigures – Harry Potter, of course, but also all nine members of the Weasley family. There's Arthur (father), Molly (mother), and all seven of their children: Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny.
This is the first time that Charlie has appeared in minifigure form; he wasn't in the movies that these sets are based upon, so the decision to include him here demonstrates a desire to make up for this cinematic omission. Judging by their clothes, this is the Burrow circa 1992, the summer before Harry and Ron's second year.
The build is piecemeal; you construct individual rooms and floors to completion, and then you stack them upon one another to create the final Burrow. Owing to the Burrow's crooked asymmetry (one floor is tilted on its side, thanks to some clever design) there is little to no redundancy during the entire build; no window is ever in the same place, or even at the same angle.
There are several moving elements integrated into the house as well. There's an elevator mechanism that mimics the Floo Network. There's an enchanted, floating brush that's rigged to wash the dishes. Molly Weasley's famous danger clock turns on a gear.
And there's a whole lot of Easter eggs and visual gags, that denote which bedrooms belong to whom. Arthur and Molly's room have Muggle artifacts on the shelves. Ron's room has a Chudley Cannons bedspread. Ginny's room has a Gwenog Jones poster and a Weird Sisters poster. Percy's room has a Gryffndor bedspread and a Prefect's badge. And Fred and George's room has Wizard Wheezes templates, including an Extendable Ear and Weather in a Bottle.
All of these details make this set feel like a true "Collectors' Edition." It would be difficult to create anything any more definitive without upping the price point significantly, but even for die-hard LEGO Potter fans, this set will more than do.
The rooms are crowded with details, leaving little question that this is a set for display, and thus, for adults. More specifically, it's for the millennials who grew up with the series, so long as they also have enough disposable income to afford this expensive LEGO set. There are so many of these high-end sets now that an adult LEGO fan has some tough choices to make.
LEGO The Burrow: Collector's Edition, Set #76437, retails for $259.99, and it is composed of 2405 pieces. It is available exclusively at the LEGO Store.
Kevin Wong is a contributing freelancer for IGN, specializing in LEGO. He's also been published in Complex, Engadget, Gamespot, Kotaku, and more. Follow him on Twitter at @kevinjameswong.
