LEGO Harry Potter 76440 Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival review

LEGO Harry Potter 76440 Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival combines two iconic vehicles from the Wizarding World, at least one of which is long awaited.

As a theme, LEGO Harry Potter’s recent proclivity to quite quickly revisit particular aspects of source material has made it difficult to keep track, both of what’s on to its second or even third time around and to recognise what’s back for the first time in a very long time.

As it happens, 76440 Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival offers a mix of both as it aims to capture one of the memorable moments from the opening act of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when the schools of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Durmstrang Institute arrive at Hogwarts by Abraxan-drawn carriage and magical ship respectively.

Whilst 75958 Beauxbatons' Carriage: Arrival at Hogwarts did an excellent job just recently to showcase one half of this sequence, it’s actually been 19 years since the last time we had a Durmstrang ship in LEGO form. Blending a mix of familiar and new, then, how does 76440 Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival shape up?

Release: June 1, 2024 Price: £124.99 / $129.99 / €139.99 Pieces: 1,229 Minifigures: 5 LEGO: Order now

A perfect pair…

The simple fact that 76440 Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival contains both the Beauxbatons' Carriage and Durmstrang ship immediately gives the set a pretty great sense of value and purpose, offering what for all intents and purposes is actually a 2-in-1 set for just north of £100. For any theme, let alone Harry Potter, such an offering at what can be considered in 2024 a mid-range price is substantial value.

And that perspective is only strengthened in putting together both models thanks to that increasingly intricate level of LEGO design we have been enjoying in recent months in Harry Potter sets. These are both credible, accurate, albeit scaled-down examples of both vehicles as they appear in the books and films, and even if they are a little smaller than some may be hoping for, they at least nicely match each other, and within what we build is a lot of what you would hope to see so as to make both models very authentic and true to the source material.

…poorly timed

That being said, if there’s one area that 76440 Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival does disappoint in it’s the simple issue of timing and, on from that, product selection. It really doesn’t feel long enough since the more impressive 75958 Beauxbatons' Carriage: Arrival at Hogwarts was on shelves to be building what is a smaller version of the carriage now, particularly for the compromises that result from dropping the size down.

Whilst what we put together in 2024 is enjoyable and provides enough play and display value for Harry Potter fans, there should be a number who have experience of 75958 Beauxbatons' Carriage: Arrival at Hogwarts from 2019-2020, and there is no comparison between the two. Whilst this latest rebrand within the theme promises ‘the most detailed LEGO Hogwarts’, the same cannot be said for all supporting models if this latest version of the carriage is anything to go by.

This is not a criticism of the latest version available in 76440 Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival, but models that have to achieve the same thing with fewer parts to build with will always struggle to match up, however much they can do right.

Sailing strong

Whilst comparisons between the Beauxbatons' Carriage past and present don’t fall in 76440 Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival’s favour, those between the Durmstrang ship from 2005’s 4768 The Durmstrang Ship and this year’s updated version absolutely do.

The ship is very much the highlight of 76440 Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival not just for how long the wait for it has been, but for how well realised the final model is here – it looks great from any angle.

While the inclusion of a smaller carriage and its unfavourable size comparisons to its own recent standalone version does still get us wondering ‘what if’ to a bigger piece count dedicated purely to the ship, what we still have here is one that is as true to the source material as we could hope, complete with a number of very clever details and techniques built into the model.

That doesn’t mean that it's necessarily the most interesting ship to build until the masts and sails are put in place (which for their size alone really do impress), but the final model is sizeable and skilfully captures the unique shaping of the Durmstrang ship, punctuating it with just enough detail to tie this into the world of Harry Potter.

Some of those details even seem unnecessary and do actually put the model under duress when handled a bit more roughly. That places the cost of its very expert and accurate angles as a ship that will ping items of its bodywork off into the sea pretty easily.

There’s a bit of space across the ship to place some of the included minifigures, though not too much, and ultimately for the more fragile aspects of the design, the very pleasing-on-the-eye appearance of the ship and the higher age recommendation you do get a strong sense that this is leaning towards display more so than play.

All in all, for what you would hope a LEGO Harry Potter set priced at £124.99 / $129.99 / €139.99 could serve up on a long-awaited update from one of the richest books and films to mine for LEGO sets, 76440 Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival delivers more than enough to satisfy.

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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Our honest opinion: The Beauxbatons' Carriage seems unnecessary in a set that is all about that Durmstrang Ship. There’s good value here, particularly for display, even if we can’t stop thinking about a bigger piece count dedicated just to the ship…