Harry Potter

Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix

The rare Harry Potter set that trades castle grey for fire.

Brick Rated Score

3.9/5

Set 76394 · 2021

Pieces597

Minifigs1

Year2021

Set number76394

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The verdict

Fawkes is the most cheerful set to ever wear a Harry Potter label, all reds and oranges and hot yellow at a moment when the theme was drowning in muted stone.

The wing-flapping handle is the heart of it, and it works beautifully, sweeping instead of just bobbing up and down. My honest reservation is that this is the 2020 Hedwig owl rebuilt as a phoenix, so if you already own that one you know exactly how the trick goes. Best loved as a display bird by anyone who wants color on the shelf.

Best for: Harry Potter fans who want a colorful posable display bird, not a playset

The full review

What it is

The thing that got me about Fawkes is the color. Open the later bags and out spill reds, oranges and hot yellows, which almost never happens in a Harry Potter set, where the palette usually lives somewhere between castle grey and forest gloom. Building a brick phoenix that actually looks like it is about to catch fire is a quiet joy, and the finished bird reads as Fawkes instantly, beak, crest, sweeping tail and all. It perches on a display column with a wingspan just over fourteen inches, and when you turn the handle at the back the wings lift and fall in a real sweeping motion rather than a stiff up-and-down flap. That single working feature carries the whole model.

The catch

Here is where I have to be straight with you. If the shape of this set feels familiar, that is because it is. Fawkes uses the same core idea, and a lot of the same engineering, as the 2020 Hedwig set. It is a large brick-built animal on a posed column with a hand-cranked wing gimmick, just recolored from snowy owl to phoenix. That is not a scandal, the phoenix arguably suits the format better than the owl did, but if you already own Hedwig you will recognize the moves as you make them. The other honest note is play value. Once it is built, Fawkes mostly stands there looking handsome. You crank the wings a few times, you admire it, and then it becomes a shelf piece. There is nothing wrong with that, but go in knowing it is a display model with one trick, not a set your kids will invent stories around for months.

Who it's for

So who thrives with this one? Anyone building a Harry Potter shelf who wants a splash of warm color to break up all the stone and black robes. It photographs wonderfully and the crank never stops being satisfying to show people. It also lands well for a mid-teen or adult who likes a self-contained sculpture they can finish in an evening. I would steer away if you already have Hedwig and want something genuinely different, or if you are shopping for a young builder who needs open-ended play, because the payoff here is entirely in the finished bird and its one graceful motion.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

The build is more technical than the friendly subject suggests. Technic bones run through the body to drive the wings, and the System bricks are fitted around that skeleton with real care, so parts go on in several directions and you need to keep your concentration. It runs a bit over an hour and a half, which is a lovely length, long enough to feel like a proper project without dragging. The wing construction is the highlight, jointed at both the body and the middle so the motion sweeps rather than hinges flatly.

The good stuff for parts people is in the recolors. Fawkes needed feather, claw and horn elements in fiery shades that had rarely or never appeared before, so this set became a quiet source for those colors. There is also a 2021 element, a small bracket with a 1x1 base and an upward-facing 1x2 plate (design 6341553), that debuted around this wave and is handy well beyond the phoenix. At just under 600 pieces for a bird this size and this animated, the value is fair rather than generous, though the recolored plumage and the exclusive Dumbledore print soften the math.

Fun facts

01The Dumbledore minifigure was printed to resemble Richard Harris, who played the headmaster in the first two films, with a full flowing beard, and it was exclusive to this set when it launched.
02Fawkes shares its posed-column-and-crank format with the 2020 Hedwig set, effectively making it a fiery companion piece to the snowy owl.
03The finished phoenix spreads a wingspan of over fourteen inches (about 35 cm), and the wings will hold whatever position you leave them in for display.
04It launched at 39.99 USD in 2021 and, having retired, now trades well above that on the aftermarket.