Basilisk Attack Playset (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) Review

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Basilisk Attack Playset (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) Review

Basilisk Attack Playset
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Mattel)Well, better late than never.
Honestly, I could take or leave Harry Potter as a franchise. Good stories, but still pretty low on my fantasy totem pole. And so I mostly avoided merchandise, apart from a Dementor I wanted to fix up just for kicks. This turned up for cheap, though, and I smelled diorama material.
We'll start with the titular Basilisk, and Mattel has certainly delivered an intimidatingly chunky snake monster here. Credit where it's due, bendy was out due to the action feature, but they kept the articulation sparse enough not to muck up the sculpt. Said sculpt is oddly shallow compared to screenshots, giving it more of an eel-like vibe. Probably based on early renders, but I appreciate the look.
The colors help. It's a nice gold plastic, no swirls or flaws, with a two-tone black and green airbrushing along the top. The dorsal ridges are cleanly picked out in silver. They even added some dark patches along the sides. It feels more colorful than the screen version, and I can absolutely dig it.
Meanwhile, the teeth and tongue are cast in color, so that's at least clean, if not especially impressive.
And now, the action feature. Pulling back on the tail sends the head striking forward as the mouth opens. In theory. Mine was extra loud the first time I set it, and the mouth does not open. Dammit, Mattel, it's always something, isn't it? Well, the decades have taken their toll, I suppose.
The electronics are fairly nice. The eyes and mouth light up green when it's jostled even slightly, and it emits an angry hiss. Pull the tail down, and it roars as the mouth lights up red. Pretty nice when the jaw works, I imagine.
Finally, pressing down on the tongue triggers a pained roar, and the head and jaw go limp as the neck falls over sideways. Okay, good play value, back when it worked properly. I'm just adding it to my medieval bestiary shelf anyway, so that's negligible.
To battle this beastie, one must supply a Potter. I have no such thing, but if I did, the giant Gryffindor key is meant to serve as a sort of control stick, clamping onto a figure's foot. Clip the included Sword of Gryffindor onto the wizard of your choice (and it's adjustable for various figures), and get to stabbing!
As for the playset itself, it's primarily a cardboard panel held up by two hunks of plastic. Said panel is double-sided, featuring either the Chamber of Secrets or a hallway lined with large stained-glass windows. A pillar holds up one end, while the other is a matching pillar with attached doorway. While the front side depicts the Chamber entrance, the other side (which extends back along with the door) is a mess of plumbing, including a small sink. The whole affair gives a pretty good illusion of being a real tunnel, at least from most frontal angles. The front gets a fair bit more paint, but the back's no slouch. Even on things like the sink knobs, there's almost no slop or uneven coverage.
Given that the Basilisk at least looks great for the era, and the backdrop is roughly in GI Joe scale (or vintage Marvel, I guess), this isn't a bad box of odds and ends if you can find it. Particularly when you consider the fact that you can stick any backdrop you like in there (a Cobra base or Indiana Jones temple, for instance), or just use the individual components here and there. Just don't trust that action feature.