Another week, another Harry Potter LEGO review! This time I’m looking at The Knight Bus (set 75957), one of my favourite sets from this round! It’s not the biggest of sets, but that makes it perfect for sticking it in a bag and taking it out!

Whilst I’m not at all fussed about the inside of the bus, that magical purple really makes the bus pop when out on the streets. Taking it into London in the early twilight hours, it came to life with the addition of fairy lights and handy street light bokeh.

“Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go.”
– Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, page 30.

Whilst all the signs are stickers (urgh), they look quite nice from a distance. I love the little touches of the stars on the wording and the movie-matching number plate.

In general, I ended up shooting the bus from the rear as I never worked out how to effectively illuminate the headlights with the tools I had on hand. I really need to invest in some brick lights at some point!

I did break out Photoshop in an attempt to light the headlights through use of a tutorial I found online. I don’t think it looks all that great, and they look wrong to me. If anyone has any further tips for lighting headlights, or some good real-life effects tips that don’t break the bank, I’d love to hear them!

  • Before
  • After

The minifigures

Whilst the bus is the highlight of the set, you also get a few associated figures that are quite fun.

First up is the standard third-year Harry, who comes with a trunk full of supplies. This figure is the same one we get repeated throughout the Summer 2019 wave of sets, so nothing particularly special to report here.

Next up we get Stan Shunpike, dressed in the same violet purple as the bus. I like the addition of the pimples on his face! A nice touch to match his book description.

“Close to, he saw that Stan Shunpike was only a few years older than he was; eighteen or nineteen at most, with large protruding ears and a fair few pimples.”
– Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, page 31.

Along with Sam, we also get Ernie Prang, the bus driver. Not much is said about Ernie in Prisoner of Azkaban, but compared to his movie counterpart, the figure looks pretty good.

“This is our driver, Ernie Prang… an elderly wizard wearing very thick glasses.”
– Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, page 32.

No Knight Bus would be complete without the Shrunken Head to help Ernie avoid little old ladies! Whilst not part of the books, the head does add a certain something to the set, swinging back and forth in front of Ernie! The printing creeps me out a little, but it is well done, with an all-round print.

Final thoughts

This is a great little set for a toy photographer. Transport often makes for a good toy photo whilst out and about, and thanks to its wonderful colours, the Knight Bus is no exception. Whilst the figures didn’t do so much for me, the bus was a joy to photograph and I wholeheartedly recommend that you pick up this set.

~ Lizzi

Disclaimer: This set was provided by LEGO for review.

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