LEGO Harry Potter Draco in the Forbidden Forest Polybag 30677 Review

Today we will be taking a closer look at the LEGO Harry Potter polybag Draco in the Forbidden Forest set number 30677. This set came out in 2024, has 33 pieces, and was designed for people 6 and up.

The Story

This set is based on the scene from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, where Draco’s plan to get Harry and his friends in trouble for being up past curfew backfires. Since he was also out of his dormitory after hours, he would receive detention in the Forbidden Forest with Harry, Ron and Hermione too. Or Nevile instead of Ron if you are referencing the books. Either way, a dangerous forest, at night, when an unknown creature is hunting unicorns is the perfect place to teach first year students the importance of following rules at Hogwarts where student safety is not that important.

Draco Malfoy Minifigure

I have more than enough Harry Potter minifigures, so it is always nice when these smaller polybag sets come with a different character. This particular Draco Malfoy minifigures was first introduced in the 2020 Diagon Alley set number 75978 and as of 2024 appears in a total of 5 sets. The short black non-bendable legs let us know this student is in his first few years at Hogwarts. He is wearing his black Slytherin robe over his green sweater and striped tie. The Slytherin crest on the robe lets us know what house he is in, just in case you don’t know their colors. I love that the hood folded down the back reveals the green lining of the robe. The slicked back bright yellow hair is the standard piece for Malfoy’s first year hair style. For his facial expressions we get angry and suspicious. LEGO always does a great job with using the eyebrows to express emotion but I particularly love the arched left eyebrow on the suspicious side. You can picture actor Tom Felton raising his eyebrow in the film.

Accessories

Draco was given his black wand and a lantern to hold. The pearl dark grey lantern is a relatively common piece but I love the use of the 1X1 round glow in the dark white brick for the light. Typically a translucent yellow brick is used instead. Using a glow in the dark piece adds a nice special effect to your LEGO build and as of now this piece is only available in 6 sets.

The Creature Pieces

The Forbidden Forest was also known as the Dark Forest and was home to many dangerous animals. For this polybag we got an owl and spider creature piece. The spider with an elongated abdomen was created in 2010 and is a common element found in Forbidden Forest sets, especially with one famous scene involving Aragog and his spider children trying to eat Harry and Ron.

The owl has become a staple of the Harry Potter Theme. These Wizarding World pets and their mail delivery skills make them an easy inclusion into most sets. This particular dark tan owl has been around since 2021 and has appeared in 6 sets so far. Since this is the Forbidden Forest, it’s probably a wild bird and not domesticated. The feathers and printed designs on these owls are always impressive, but I feel like LEGO could have included a more creative creature piece than a night owl. This would have been a perfect time to introduce Fang into the LEGO worlds. Since Malfoy wanted him as a protector even though according to Hagrid he’s a “bloody coward”. If not a new creature piece for Fang, maybe a more deadly creature that is not seen as often. I mean, the Draco's Encounter with Buckbeak set back in 2004 came with a Hippogriff. So a larger creature piece is not out of the running.

Tree Build

The build for this set was a tree from the Forbidden Forest. The base for the build is a round 6X6 black plate. LEGO put a 1x2 brick with bar handle end on the right side and a 1x1 brick with vertical grip O clip on the left. They serve no purpose for the set by itself, but allow you to attach it to the Forbidden Forest: Magical Creature set number 76432 that was released the same year. These two sets were made to fit together. The 2X2 jumper plate was for the owl to perch inside the tree. The tree trunk was assembled using dark blue bricks and slopes. Then the top of the tree was finished off with two black 1x4 arch pieces, a 33 3X2 slope and a 1X2 round plate. The foliage of the tree was then created by attaching dark blue 4X3 plant leaves to a dark blue 1L angled bar with hollow stud. Both these pieces only come in this color here and in the Magical Creature set mentioned earlier. Each leaf was then covered with a dark purple 1x1 round plate with 3 leaves and a translucent light blue round tile piece. The dark purple leaf is only used in 5 sets. To create more vegetation a bright light blue 1X1 cone was put at the top of the tree and at its base. The ground cone was given a dark green 1x1 round plate with 3 leaves, which is much more common. However the bright light blue cone only comes in 6 sets.

These colors are not meant to represent the real hue of the forest but recreate the blue lighting used in the film and artwork. However, the tree looks more like a cave and having the owl sitting on the ground doesn’t help with the forest illusion.

Conclusion

Final Thoughts

For me, this polybag was all about the pieces. There have been a lot of Harry Potter sets with the Forbidden Forest used as its backdrop. While I am usually impressed with the tree builds in these sets, this felt more like the illusion of a tree. The build, the creature pieces and minifigure were all underwhelming. However, the individual pieces were great. The colors used for many of the pieces are not commonly found in other sets, so they are great to have in your collection for MOC work.