LEGO Harry Potter 76417 Gringotts Wizarding Bank’s secret function is simply magic

LEGO Harry Potter 76417 Gringotts Wizarding Bank Collectors’ Edition boasts a secret function deep in its vaults, and it really is the stuff of magic.

While the promotional materials for this year’s flagship Wizarding World set have focused on Gringotts’ three separable components – the bank, dragon and vaults – and the details packed into the towering model, there are a couple of features and functions the LEGO Group has kept relatively quiet about. These are the best surprises for builders; the kind of thing sure to put a smile on your face as you build just because they’re so unexpected.

To that end, if you’re planning to pick up 76417 Gringotts Wizarding Bank Collectors’ Edition on September 1 – when it launches for LEGO Insiders, ahead of its wide availability on September 4 – you might want to skip this story and keep the revelation of the set’s best function for the build. But if you’re not bothered about surprises, or don’t have the budget for the blisteringly-expensive set right now, read on…

Ahead of its arrival at the end of this week, we’ve gone hands-on with 76417 Gringotts Wizarding Bank Collectors’ Edition for an early review. The entire thing will take experienced builders around 10 hours to put together, and it’s roughly halfway through – as you come to complete the vaults – that you’ll be left grinning like someone recently hit by Rictusempra (that’s the Tickling Charm for muggles out there).

The spiralling underground section of 76417 Gringotts Wizarding Bank Collectors’ Edition packs in three different vaults: Harry’s personal vault, the treasury that contains the Philosopher’s Stone, and the vault of Bellatrix Lestrange, which Harry, Ron and Hermione break into in the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Behind the first two doors are stacks of gold and a familiar red jewel, but it’s the third vault where the magic happens.

When our daring trio break into Bella’s vault in search of Helga Hufflepuff’s cup – one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes – they find that it’s under the protection of the Gemino Curse, which causes objects to replicate endlessly when grasped. And LEGO designers Justin Ramsden and George Gilliatt have somehow managed to recreate the effects of that spell with plastic bricks.

Bellatrix’s vault is one of the first things you’ll put together in 76417 Gringotts Wizarding Bank Collectors’ Edition (if you’re following the instruction books in their prescribed order, which is optional), and to begin with you’ll just attach a single goblet to a tilting element inside with seemingly no effect. Continue building the rockwork up, and you’ll leave a curious hole in the wall next to Bellatrix’s vault.

From there you’ll carry on with the rest of the structure and the other two vaults, and finally the coaster track that sends the mine cart zooming around the central spire. By the time you approach the end of the vaults, and start to see gold and silver goblets spill from one of the final bags in this section, you might have completely forgotten about Bellatrix’s vault. All the better for the surprise that follows.

Remember that hole in the rockwork? Feed the goblets in there one by one, and then – and only then – open the door to the vault and tip the wall-mounted cup forward. All 16 of the extra goblets you’ve just piled into the vault will come spilling out as if from nowhere, instantly replicating the effects of the Gemino Curse.

Functions like this are still a relatively rare thing in 18+ sets – 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol’s plentiful traps are the exception to the rule – so it’s awesome to see the designers find a way to make this work in 76417 Gringotts Wizarding Bank Collectors’ Edition. (It definitely wouldn’t have fit into a smaller playset.) And while it’s not perfect – the goblets take a while to fish out of the vault once you’ve triggered the function – it’s still a feature absolutely worth shouting about.

You can learn more about 76417 Gringotts Wizarding Bank Collectors’ Edition in our detailed review of the forthcoming set, which will be available to purchase for LEGO Insiders members from September 1 for £369.99 / $429.99 / €429.99.

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