Harry Potter 2018 - Rumors & Discussion

[BrickBob Studpants]

What a fantastic looking set  I'm so glad I have enough room for this beauty now that I've moved  I didn't expect an interior, so I'm excited about getting representation of rooms that have never been LEGO-fied before (the staircase for instance). Too bad a substantial section of the castle is missing, but the most iconic parts are depicted, so no complaints here 

Btw, am I the only one who finds it weird that Bellatrix is the only nanofig in the castle that doesn't have a minifig counterpart in the current wave of sets? Let's hope they remedy that next year 

[Friscorays]

3 hours ago, DungeonsAndFlagons said:

.....Also if the whole castle is not there I do not get the point. I know it is a large set of buildings in the movie and that it would take a lot of bricks but that is why they have done it at a reduced scale. To get the whole thing in one set. I don't understand that part.....

 

The released set represents perhaps a third of the entire castle.  I'm not sure how much of an appetite there would be amongst the general population for an 18000 piece $1200 USD Hogwarts set.

[Huigberts Builds]

4 hours ago, DungeonsAndFlagons said:

I have had a better look at the D2C Hogwarts set and quite frankly I am less impressed than before.

That would largely be because I am not a fan of the nano/micro scale (if feels like you have to squint sometimes to work out what something is meant to be) however the other part is the large number of not so great stickers everywhere. Stickers and nano/mirco scale..... not selling points for me.

*+the remaining text*

The stickers are indeed a let down, and tbh there isn't really a use for them outside this set since they are all microscale.

I also agree about the other points, for myself it was kinda hard to point out the room of requirements, it was kinda farfetched for me with all those cups of which one had to represent the GoF.

I assume this set will be available for quite some time, so if the theme gets cancelled after this wave I might buy it anyways, but for know the minifigure sized sets are just fine.

[kaiju]

Just in case there was any doubt, UK Shop@Home list the minifigures as remaining £2.99 each.

[Spencerbuilds]

Part of me is thinking about how feasible it would be to convert the interiors to mini figure scale. I know they would be wildly too small compared to the real thing, but I don’t think it would be too hard to bring some of the interiors to the same scale/concept as the great hall set is. 

in fact, comparing the lengths of the great hall in the D2C and the normal set, I think there is only a few studs difference. Sure, it might look a little odd from the outside, but I still think it isn’t impossible.

The only rooms I can really see posing a significant challenge would be the philosopher stone rooms and the staircases.

On another note, what is the piece being used for the small arched windows? I’m not familiar with us and I’m wondering if it’s new...

[GriffindorForLife]

28 minutes ago, Spencerbuilds said:

On another note, what is the piece being used for the small arched windows? I’m not familiar with us and I’m wondering if it’s new...

I looked though Instagram a bit, and largebricks posted a close-up of those arches. They are the same as those that were used for the small courtyard in the Great Hall set (the one that was displayed at a certain toy fair and the version lego said shouldn't have been used), but back then they were a greyish color, now they are tan

Edited July 26, 2018 by GriffindorForLife

[Spencerbuilds]

4 minutes ago, GriffindorForLife said:

I looked though Instagram a bit, and largebricks posted a close-up of those arches. They are the same as those that were used for the small courtyard in the Great Hall set (the one that was displayed at a certain toy fair and the version lego said shouldn't have been used), but back then they were a greyish color, now they are tan

I think maybe we are talking about different pieces...I am referring to the piece that looks like a gilded window pane in the library and the library towers. Or am I just confused? :)

[Brickity]

This is great but the only thing that bothers me is how some rooms have such a small space (Dumbledore's office and the chamber of secrets) Aand the moving staircases had soo much potential to end up looking like that hah (they literally lead to the wall wtf) This could've been the most attractive feature of the castle. 

 

[scatmanjack]

8 hours ago, Friscorays said:

Bingo.  US shop at home has them listed at $3.99.

 

I bought all 22 from a local Target (Dallas, TX) in the last 24hrs for $3.99 each... (Well $3.80 each after red card discount + 8.25% sales tax)

[GoldenNinja3000]

8 hours ago, Whovastron said:

So many people are complaining it’s micro scale, but does it really matter that much? It’s a scale model of the castle that’s far more accurate than a system scale set would ever be. And it’s huge. I personally just really want a model of the castle, and if anything this has diminished my interest in the regular Hogwarts based sets, because this looks so much better as a display piece.

i keep seeing people complain about a lack of Minifigures too...really? Why would there be loads in a set like this? You can’t pose them around.

and lastly the price, ign uploaded a video of the castle on YouTube and so many people are complaining about the price, this is an outstanding price for a licensed set.

Exactly. I’ve seen a few people on Brickset say that they’ll skip the regular sets in favor of getting this one, since it works better as a display piece. Also, the minifigure selection for this set is perfect. The founders are the ideal choice for minifigures and they look amazing in front of their school. I’m very happy that so many nanofigures were included (I never expected 5 dementors!) because they really help the castle feel populated and I would not have been happy with getting 12 like the Helicarrier. 

[Balrogofmorgoth]

11 hours ago, Vindicare said:

Oh, we collectors are a fickle bunch, are we not.  We get more of Hogwarts than we ever have before....and it’s not enough. 

 

Anywho, serious time. I am pleasantly surprised by the details. All the rooms are great, even if the placements aren’t quite accurate. I love all the Chamber challenges(although I don’t see where the Devils Snare is?), the RoR, third floor bathroom. And the Horntail. There really is a lot to love. 

Oh! And the Founders are of course fantastic. 

It’s not enough because it’s kiterally half the castle...i love the set and I can’t wait to get it but it was probably our only chance at getting the entire castle

[kirkwoodproductions]

Looks like there’s a new small printed window ‘glass’ piece that’s used in a lot of places to give a lattice look. You can see it in the great hall courtyard and in some of the towers.

[x105Black]

10 hours ago, Whovastron said:

So many people are complaining it’s micro scale, but does it really matter that much? It’s a scale model of the castle that’s far more accurate than a system scale set would ever be. And it’s huge. I personally just really want a model of the castle, and if anything this has diminished my interest in the regular Hogwarts based sets, because this looks so much better as a display piece.

i keep seeing people complain about a lack of Minifigures too...really? Why would there be loads in a set like this? You can’t pose them around.

and lastly the price, ign uploaded a video of the castle on YouTube and so many people are complaining about the price, this is an outstanding price for a licensed set.

Yes, it really matters.  There are people who only collect minifigure scale, like myself.  I really don't care for microscale at all.  So it does matter to me.

And yes to the minifigures.  Large sets that go for several hundred dollars usually include a good number of minifigures, and this does not.  I get why it doesn't, and the ones included are nice, but it could have been better.

The price is fair, though, so I'll give you that.

[GoldenNinja3000]

17 minutes ago, x105Black said:

Yes, it really matters.  There are people who only collect minifigure scale, like myself.  I really don't care for microscale at all.  So it does matter to me.

And yes to the minifigures.  Large sets that go for several hundred dollars usually include a good number of minifigures, and this does not.  I get why it doesn't, and the ones included are nice, but it could have been better.

The price is fair, though, so I'll give you that.

Large sets are pretty hit or miss with the figures. Only big Creator Expert and Star Wars playsets come with a decent amount of figures (although there are exceptions like Ninjago City, Firehouse Headquarters, and The Joker Manor). Most other $200+ sets come with some figures but not a lot. Since this Hogwarts isn’t a playset like the Death Star and is more akin to a UCS set or something like the Helicarrier I understand why it only includes 4 minifigures and don’t really think it needed any more. 

[LordVoldemort]

You guys are undestimating how many Harry Potter fans there are that aren’t hardcore LEGO fans- I myself am a huge Harry Potter fan and casual LEGO fan so my desire for collecting mini figures Is not very strong- in fact I prefer this micro scale set because I can display it and the castle feels actual size compared to the micro figures where as the mini fig great hall felt tiny in scale to the mini figs like a dollhouse.  

 

I appreciate the the amount of micro scale figures and I noticed some of the random students are not “random” at all. In gryffindor we easily have Ginny, in Ravenclaw one looks like cho Chang and Luna, in hufflepuff we have a Cedric. I’m glad there’s a Harry Potter fan working at LEGO because they know what we want haha.

 

only bummer is not having multiple common rooms- but if you look at the photo of the castle in front of the studio castle- you’ll notice a perfect section of the castle is missing that would be equally the size of this one. I think they might add on in future if this sells well. 

[Duffyoran]

Anyone know if any CMF's were found in Europe??

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

How hard would it be to complete the castle? Does it seem likely that it could be done by buying two of these? I'd really like a full castle.

[GryffindorResistance]

The UCS Castle is truly amazing but I think they shouldve just done a giant Great Hall and Main tower (minifig scale) at a $300 price tag, and then in a year, do another UCS of a second part of the castle (like the Ninjago City and Docks sets).

In between, we could get smaller Hogwarts sets like the Whomping Willow, Hagrid's Hut, etc.

[Ferder]

What exactly are people meaning by Minifig-scale? Are we talking 1-1 scale like UCS Millennium Falcon? Or more like Disney Castle or Tower of Orthanc where the exterior is one scale, and the interior is vignette-scale, with very small rooms? Hogwarts Castle is a HUGE building, and all versions done to date (including the latest Great Hall set) have majorly sacrificed the architectural detail and scale for the sake of making them minifig-accommodating play-sets. 

I'm curious how they could design a properly detailed Hogwarts with minifig-sized rooms that didn't end up looking like this monster (impressive but outrageous as an actual set).

[Friscorays]

5 minutes ago, Ferder said:

....I'm curious how they could design a properly detailed Hogwarts with minifig-sized rooms that didn't end up looking like this monster (impressive but outrageous as an actual set).....

Whether they realize it or not, this seems to be what several people are saying they want.  Although at 400,000 pieces and 13 feet x 13 feet, I anticipate some of the same folks would be grousing over price, bulk shipping and display issues should such a set come to be.

[RODDY]

20 minutes ago, Friscorays said:

Whether they realize it or not, this seems to be what several people are saying they want.  Although at 400,000 pieces and 13 feet x 13 feet, I anticipate some of the same folks would be grousing over price, bulk shipping and display issues should such a set come to be.

I think people are getting minifig scale and system scale mixed up. They want the scale that the Great Hall is . What people wanted from the D2C was a big extension to the aforementioned sets. And I do hope we do get all of the rooms in the set in system scale eventually. I'd buy Chamber, Winged Snare, DADA Office, Library, Chessboard, Umbridge's Office, Dumbledore's Office, Girl's Bathroom and what not.

[Whovastron]

I think it’s a very safe bet that we will get extensions onto Hogwarts. The castle is the most iconic location in the franchise, and if done properly, Lego can produce sets based off different parts to cover the next few years atleast, and they can focus on different films.

CoS - Chamber of Secrets, DADA classroom, greenhouses (herbokogy lesson set with the mandrakes introduced for the CMF?)

PoA - clock tower, dark tower, Hagrids hut

GoT - tournament areas, Owlery

OotP - a building for the room of requirement/ Dolores’ office

HBP - Astronomty Tower

DH - literally any building aslong as there’s exploding functions

i also think it’s a safe bet that this line will be popular, in the U.K. atleast. London Hamley’s, the biggest toyshop in the U.K., now has a whole floor dedicated to Potter merch. High street clothes super store Primark has had an extremely successful HP range for a year or so now, lots of major supermarkets sell HP home products like stationary, pads and lights to the same capacity as Star Wars (in my local Sainsbury’s the HP selection has grown twice as big within the last month, pushing Star Wars out). There’s also a new range of action figures/dolls that have recently been launched.

The popularity for this franchise is compatible to Star Wars for the way it’s resurfaced and grown years after the “original” series ended. (And now we have prequels! ). If it’s as popular in the US as it is here, The Wizarding World line will be sticking around for a long while, and with it we shall most certainly acquire a huge system-scale castle over time

[zoth33]

2 hours ago, Ferder said:

What exactly are people meaning by Minifig-scale? Are we talking 1-1 scale like UCS Millennium Falcon? Or more like Disney Castle or Tower of Orthanc where the exterior is one scale, and the interior is vignette-scale, with very small rooms? Hogwarts Castle is a HUGE building, and all versions done to date (including the latest Great Hall set) have majorly sacrificed the architectural detail and scale for the sake of making them minifig-accommodating play-sets. 

I'm curious how they could design a properly detailed Hogwarts with minifig-sized rooms that didn't end up looking like this monster (impressive but outrageous as an actual set).

Exactly.  I'm curious what would people spend on a Hogwarts minifig scale set?  With all the complaining I'm wondering would you people spend $1,000 or more how far would you go?  I don't think lego would make enough off of the set if its to big to make it worth while for them to justify doing it.  

[jhoya]

I could see them adding a few more sets to the system scale castle but it won’t be anywhere close to complete. First, the two components we already have are slightly awkward to display together and that issue compounds the more sets you add. Second, they won’t want to cannabilze sales from the D2C set. This is the best we are going to get and, frankly, I’m fine with it. Also, if you want more of the castle to be there, build it.

[joeee]

4 hours ago, Whovastron said:

i also think it’s a safe bet that this line will be popular, in the U.K. atleast.

I hope you are right! For the Order of the Phoenix film release, the LEGO Harry Potter line went downhill with only one castle release. Then the rerelease in 2010/2011 saw only two castle sets.

If Harry Potter LEGO could not sell enough to keep going at its peak popularity (when there were still books and films being released), then my faith this line will be evergreen is super slim. :(

I hope I am proved to be very very wrong!