Three odd sets from

[autobrick]

I was just browsing Bricklink when I ran across these three Harry Potter sets, back from 2001:

4721: Hogwarts Classrooms (Bricklink)

4722: Gryffindor House (Bricklink)

4723: Diagon Alley Shops (Bricklink)

These three sets have a completely different feel from the rest of the Harry Potter line, which raised my curiousity. To me, they look like a cross between Harry Potter and Belville (many pink & orange parts). Judging by the fact that each set has a picture of only Hermione on the front, it seems Lego was trying to market these towards girls. The builds themselves are minimal, and they include walls made of cardboard (first time I've seen this). Also, it seems they were wrapped in cellophane when new (why?), which is something else I've never seen with a Lego set. Was this some sort of experiment by TLG?

Does anybody know the story behind these three sets? I've searched here and a couple of other places, and nothing really comes up.

Edit: Oops, looks like the title of the thread got messed up. It would be great if a moderator could fix them up (I can't edit them). The thread was supposed to be titled "Three odd sets from the early days of the Harry Potter theme" and subtitled "Can you tell me anything about them?"

Edited December 19, 2010 by autobrick

[Athos]

I don't know the story/rationale behind them. They came with the first run of HP sets. I think I got mine from Walmart. The one with the bed has an interesting cloth piece for canopy bed.

Steve

[Aanchir]

I don't know the whole idea behind it, but it's worth noting that there was a softer, gentler feel to a lot of Harry Potter merchandise from Sorcerer's Stone (using the American title since it's the one used for the movie-- sorry to anyone that offends!). A lot of merchandise featured characters stylized for a "cuter", more whimsical aesthetic, like the stuffed Scabbers I have on my shelf right near me (featuring a star pattern on his back). So perhaps Warner Brothers was targeting a broader audience (including girls) with early merchandise, and LEGO followed suit. As the movies got edgier, so did the merchandise. Of course, by that point LEGO would have already figured out that the "doll-house" style sets didn't sell as well as the sets that more faithfully recreated the atmosphere of the films, and those sets never appeared for more than one wave.

On a possibly-related note, in some interviews I remember, J.K. Rowling insisted that Harry Potter articulated figures be referred to as "dolls" rather than "action figures", although that might have nothing to do with this.

The Harry Potter sets with this more Belville-like aesthetic served one very useful purpose for me, that being exposing me to colors I would otherwise never (or rarely) have encountered in sets: for instance, Bright Yellowish Orange (Bricklink's Medium Orange), Light Bluish Violet (Bricklink's Light Violet), and Medium Bluish Green (Bricklink's Light Turquoise). Of course, as a side effect of this, LEGO's sprawling color palette of the early 2000s becomes painfully obvious. Today, the only colors in the palette that rarely appear outside "girls' themes" are Bright Purple (BL's Dark Pink), Light Purple (BL's Bright Pink), and Transparent Medium Reddish Violet (BL's Trans-Dark Pink). Even though given the six unreleased colors we've seen on LDD, that might change in the coming years...

[Pyramid]

Yes, these were the Harry Potter sets marketed toward girls. If I remember correctly, they were on a separate page of the lego catalog next to the belville sets. They weren't meant to be part of the main line. I highly recommend picking them up if you can find them, they come with very colorful unique pieces.