Released in 2004 to coincide with the release of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkoban, LEGO 4755 Harry Potter Knight Bus is a 243 piece set, and a nice little build for younger ones. I’m not sure I’d go so far as calling this a retro LEGO review – I graduated from university in 2003 so it makes me feel rather old – but it’s certainly not a new set and it existed before both of my children were born! It has also been superceded by two remakes – LEGO 4866 Knight Bus in 2011, and LEGO 75957 Knight Bus, released in 2019.
Read on for our full LEGO 4755 Knight bus review, and to find out the differences between the old and new versions.
LEGO 4755 Knight Bus Set Information
What is the Harry Potter Knight Bus?
The Knight Bus is described as “emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard”. It picks up its passengers, and travels at breakneck speed to a destination of their choice.
In the Prisoner of Azkoban Harry asks to be taken to the The Leaky Cauldron, a pub and inn in London, which results in a hilarious scene of driving through central London in a purple triple (yes, triple) decker bus.
The Build
LEGO 4755 Knight Bus consists of three decks, and each one is constructed and stacked in a modular fashion similar to the Creator Expert / LEGO For Adults modular buildings. The build starts with the bottom deck, which is the largest of the three and contains the most detail.
As one would expect the walls of the bus are mostly windows, which are made with dark purple 4×3 container frames. Element geeks may be interested to know that the windows have only ever been used in this and the 2011 Knight Bus – so don’t lose two of them like I managed to!
Each deck contains a basic “bed” – a red 4×6 plate, with a white 2×2 45 degree slope custom-printed with a pillow design. The beds mimic the crashing about within the bus by two white rounded tiles attached to the bottom of the plate. It’s simple but works nicely – as the bus is played with the beds ping backwards and forwards within the decks.
The set also includes a number of additional parts from the Knight Bus scene, including Harry’s trunk, the barking dog and the flickering lamp post. This is a nice touch that enables little ones to play out parts of the scene, and true Potterheads to set up a nice display piece.
Sadly my copy of the set was missing a few elements, but I was able to pick them up on Bricklink without too much trouble. Shout out to Steve’s Little Gems Bricklink store for hooking me up so quickly!
Characters and Collectables
The set contains two minifigures, both unique to LEGO 4755 Knight Bus.
The first is a casual Harry Potter, dressed in an open shirt and tan trousers. It’s nice that LEGO have chosen to stay true to the movie and keep Harry casual rather than follow the tried and tested wizard attire. Breaking the Harry minifig down – the head, hair and legs have all appeared elsewhere, but the torso is unique to this set. The minifig as a whole fetches £5-10 on Bricklink!
The second is Stan Shunpike, the Knight Bus conductor. He’s coloured in the same dark purple shade as the Knight Bus. A similar story applies to the hat and legs as Harry, but the torso and head are completely unique to this set. As such, the minifig commands similar money to the Harry Potter minifig above.
Sadly the back of the minifigs are completely devoid of any detail whatsoever.
On a random tangent, did you know the guy that plans Stan Shunpike in the movies (Lee Ingleby) also voices Bob the Builder’s dad? No, me neither.
A third character, the shrunken head Dre Head, makes an appearance in the set via a custom printed 4x2x2 windscreen, a nice touch by LEGO to squeeze him in. Pun absolutely intended.
It’s a shame that Ernie Prang the crazy short-sighted bus driver wasn’t included as a minifig. Clearly other LEGO and other Harry Potter fans thought the same; he was added to the latest version LEGO 75957 Knight Bus released in 2019.
FAQs
How many pieces are in LEGO 4755 Harry Potter Knight Bus?
LEGO Harry Potter Knight Bus contains 243 pieces, including a number of rare pieces only found in this set, and no longer in production! See the Brickset part list for more information.
How long does it take to build LEGO Harry Potter 4755 Knight Bus?
The build will take a child approximately an hour, adults will be able to work through it in about half the time.
Knight Bus 4755 vs. Knight Bus 75957
Modern LEGO beds designs are now often made using a curved slope element – the latest Knight Bus is a neat example of this, and adds some much needed extra detail to the newer set. However, this only came into production in 2011 so wasn’t available to LEGO designers in 2004!
Ernie Prang, the enormously short-sighted and fear-inducing bus driver was sadly missed out in the 2004 version of LEGO Knight Bus, but was added for both the 2011 and 2019 versions.
A really neat piece of functionality in LEGO Knight Bus 75957 is that the whole side of the bus opens up for play, and the roof lifts off. As mentioned above, the 2004 version is created like a modular house and each deck lifts off individually.
Final Thoughts
Since building the Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets (2004 version!) my son has gone truly Harry Potter mad. For that reason this was a really nice set for him to work through on his own and not get stuck with difficult sections or confusing element placements.
As owners of small children will attest – having something representing the finished product early on in the build helps to maintain their attention throughout the process. I rate this build for that reason; the bottom deck is finished reasonably quickly and is iterated upon with the extra decks. If they get bored – then there’s still something to play with until they come back to it.
I love comparing old and new iterations of sets – it’s amazing seeing how build techniques, trends and instruction quality have improved in years gone by. Yes, the finished product is a little blocky compared to the latest version. Yes, Ernie Prang is missing. No, the instructions aren’t quite as simple as they are in 2021.
But does any of that stuff really matter? Not one bit. It’s a fun build – even nearly 20 years after it was produced. If you can find a copy and you’re happy to pay the price – snap it up. Snap it up now!