LEGO Ideas Hocus Pocus Packed With Almost Too Much Detail

Review: LEGO Ideas Hocus Pocus: The Sanderson Cottage Is Packed With Almost Too Much Detail

Come visit the Sanderson House for some magical Hocus Pocus flair!

Let’s take a look at the LEGO® Ideas Disney Hocus Pocus: The Sanderson Sisters’ Cottage. It’s about time we got our hands on another LEGO Ideas set to review! Joining the lineup is the Sanderson Witch Museum from Hocus Pocus. Bringing more magical mysticism to our LEGO collections than ever before! But is this a set to stand the testament of time? Or one to turn to dust before the dawn? Read on!

LEGO® Ideas Disney Hocus Pocus: The Sanderson Sisters’ Cottage (21341)
RRP AUD $349.99 – CA $299.99 – EUR €229.99 – UK £199.99 – USA $229.99
2316 pieces
Available from LEGO.com and LEGO Stores from 1st July 2023.

The Sanderson House

The Sanderson House is a highly detailed build smashed out by the LEGO Group, and they’ve done well to really captured the decrepit aesthetic of the building. The use of slightly tilted brown tiles, cracked roofing and even overgrown plants really help set a tone of the building before going inside.

Notable outside details include the Sanderson Witch Museum sign, the stocks out the front (which we can’t put any figures inside, I’m afraid) and the large waterwheel on the side. There’s also a nice little magical whiff of purple/pink transparent smoke coming from the chimney, which imply that something is aloof.

When we get to the inside of the the cottage however, we run into a bit of problem with the set, in my opinion.

Hear me out…

Hear me out here. There is too much detail. Simply put, there are so many references and micro builds that have made their way inside the build to keep the source material strong that it actually makes it really hard to convey what you are looking at.

I thought from the initial reveal of the set that things seemed a little cramped, but unfortunately it very much is.

Don’t get me wrong! These detailed elements are fantastic for what they are. It’s so nice to delve through the building experience and find things like the Black-Flame candle, cauldron, vacuum cleaner, cages, display cases and salt. But, I can’t enjoy them all together as a display piece. It’s so squished together that I don’t feel like putting all the characters in the same house even feels possible.

If there was a way for the build to be a bit more spread out or half embodied in the walls more, then it would feel more “dollhouse”. Right now, it’s a super-detailed compressed house.

And as such, sorry about the photos. It’s just impossible to get inside there.

The Minifigures

There are six Minifigures that come in this set. The Three Sanderson Sisters, Danny, Max and Alison.

The three Sanderson sister figures have been printed/moulded phenomenally, and I’m really not sure how LEGO could have done them better. The facial printing, bright colours and even new hair moulds all complement the characters how they should be.

Danny is also a noteworthy character, as she uses a rumoured ex-Vidiyo witch hat/hair mould for her character. As well as a lesser common dress skirt element too. I really like how this character came out, and it makes her one of the stars of the set too.

Lastly, the characters of Max and Alison, although sporting some newer printing, are pretty generic as far as figures go. Each one of them use a hair/head piece that can be found in other sets, but they match the material perfectly. No real faults, just really overshadowed by the other figures in the set.

Verdict

The Sanderson house is a LEGO set not short on details. The figures are fantastic and the build is crammed with a lot of details that you would simply need to build it for yourself.

But that’s the real shame of it. It’s so detailed that to truly enjoy it, you need to get the set. And then after that point, it doesn’t feel quite right as a display piece by how close everything is together.

I can still recommend this set at the end of the day. Those who love this trio of sisters will love the set. I’m just personally going to gut the build just a little bit….