LDD Concept: Complete Hogwarts Castle as official sets

[Bugbot20082]

[warning: this is very long and wordy]

Hi everyone, like the rest of you I am very excited for the revived Harry Potter theme and look forward to seeing more sets next year!

After the release of the Clock Tower this year I wanted to have some fun and experiment to see how LEGO could try to complete the entire Hogwarts castle, accurate to the movies with more similar modular buildings. In this thread I’m going to show and tell what I have come up with :)

These are all just sketches/prototypes, and I do not plan to design full size versions (that’s for LEGO to do ?).

The models I have made are all ‘microscale’ sized and very simplified, with the ‘trophy’ figures representing minifigures, the ‘heroica’ figure representing bigfigs etc, and the 4x4 round plate representing the large hexagonal plate (89523) etc 

Preview examples:

Firstly to get familiar with the layout and design of the castle itself I recommend watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIdYn3L2_0U. I also go by the harry potter wiki for identifying the towers etc.

Firstly I decided on the scope of the ‘full castle’ when complete; LEGO for example has already excluded the large courtyards in front of the Great Hall and Clock tower, and also seems to be excluding bridges, overpasses and viaducts etc, as well as outer walls and some of the smaller buildings such as the ‘pepperpot’. So I will be doing the same, which does mean that technically not all of the final castle actually connects together…

The first image shows a tiny build of Hogwarts I started with.

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by Bugbot20082

[Bugbot20082]

I used this model to get the proportions right and decide where I made my divisions between sets (shown by the different colours in the lower image, see below).

As you can see, so far LEGO has not yet covered even half of the potential castle structure!

I have continued in principle with the ‘doll house’ design rules established by the existing sets:

• Each set is presentable individually

• Where possible individual sets may be composed of a series of separate modules that can be rearranged and intermixed with each other

• Each building module can only connect to its neighbour at the sides; sets do not stack on top of each other

• Each module has a fully detailed ‘front’ and an open ‘back’, like a dolls house.

• Buildings may be angled to each other but the joint is rigid (no hinges, for either posing or opening interiors)

• Each set ‘tells a story’, focusing on a particular theme or event sequence from the movies.

• All the rooms/scenes detailed take place inside the castle in the movies.

• Extra ‘random’ castle rooms etc from the films may be included to fill spaces, even if not directly relevant to the main set theme (example: Moody’s office in the Clock Tower).

• Some rooms with a known specific location may be relocated to other random parts of the castle if they fit there better (Dumbledore’s office as example).

• Dungeons and other underground rooms are incorporated into ‘single floor’ castle sections (example: Snape’s office and classroom).

• Minimal duplication of rooms/details across the complete collection.

Edited November 22, 2019 by Bugbot20082

[Bugbot20082]

Quickly I’ll also show what the three existing sets look in my ‘prototype’ style, so you get an idea of what I’m showing with the other buildings. 

Here they are:

The Great Hall (75954), the first set and the largest so far. Connected to it is the big tower containing the moving marble staircase, although in the official set it seems rather undersized compared to the movies. The story’ you play with this is the first years’ arrival and the sorting ceremony. It has some extra items such as the mirror of Erised.

Edited November 23, 2019 by Bugbot20082

[Bugbot20082]

The Whomping Willow (75953). This set was unusual in that it included a large random looking castle section, but the set is named after one of its smaller side builds which was the focus of the ‘story’ of the set. This story then dictated the interior of the castle sections; Snape’s office and classroom etc. The short and irregular castle sections look like those seen in the background of the whomping willow scenes (CoS movie, filmed at Adwick castle), which would locate them beyond the long gallery and the greenhouses.

The Clock Tower (75948). This set is named after another distinct Hogwarts architectural landmark, but could also have been called ‘The Yule Ball’, as this is the main event you play. It includes the most variety of random rooms from the films of any set yet, but maintains a focus on the GoF movie. Arguably only the Hospital wing is close to the correct location. 

A small version of Dumbledore’s office is included in a small tower which can connect to the side of the clock tower. The office was not included in the Great Hall set, which is where I would have put it (Dumbledore’s office is supposed to be in the triple turret tower sticking out of the top of the marble staircase tower). 

In the films the Clock Tower connects to the rear of The Quad behind the marble staircase tower via an overpass on its top floor, which is missing from this set as the back is open. For my final combined castle layout I have chosen to move the office tower module to a convenient random corner elsewhere (on the courtyard), and leave the Clock Tower left standing alone (an overpass could be MOC’d).

Edited December 3, 2019 by Bugbot20082

[Robocrookshanks]

Wow, this is interesting and cool! Although You have more to come, based on what You have showed us... Man, You should do Your PhD on that (no joking) 

[Bugbot20082]

Now for my concepts for future sets!

At the top of everyone’s list is the Astronomy Tower. This building was only added into the Hogwarts architecture in the HBP movie, replacing the holding tower from POA and a smaller simpler looking tower which was on the corner of the courtyard. It is the tallest tower of the castle and is definitely memorable enough to merit a set of its own.

The ‘Story’ this set tells is from the HBP movie: Draco’s mission to let the Death Eaters into the castle, ending with the climax at the top of the tower. This dictated the choice of rooms inside: the top floor is the astronomy room itself, featuring the balcony and some astronomy apparatus etc, and the ground floor contains the ‘Room of Hidden things’ with the vanishing cabinet inside.

The ground floor includes some sections of the courtyard either side of the tower as to provide stability to the model; they do not detach. This also enables all of this space to be one large open room filled with all the details/play features you can imagine to replay many of the scenes that happen here from all of the movies.

The tower is tall enough to have another room in the middle, and I have chosen the Divination classroom as this felt appropriate. The set itself does not necessarily need Trelawney however as she was in HPCMF1. The tower could be made taller with another room inside the neck however I felt this would make it too big compared to the other buildings.

Minifigures would include the important named characters from the Astronomy Tower scene, and a few extra students added depending on budget.  For example I have included Blaise because his most memorable scene is in the Room of Hidden things (DHP2).

Edited December 3, 2019 by Bugbot20082

[Bugbot20082]

Next I looked at the section of castle called The Quad: this is perhaps the most overlooked part of the castle with few shots in the movies having a proper look at it. This is because it is hidden in between the lakeside ‘front’ of the castle on one side and the Clock Tower on the other which are much more visually interesting and memorable. To the casual eye this is just ‘random’ background castle.

As a standalone structure it is still not very visually interesting with no obvious front or back, and gets more messy when you consider that the staircase tower which is already in another set is one of its corners. The amount of castle is also too large to be one single set, so I decided to break it up into two sets. All the issues described above guided me to the conclusion that these two castle sets would be titled after their interior, not exterior.

The first one is called ‘The Girl’s Bathroom’. This is basically an update of the two old sets 4735 and 4712 combined together, and is likewise based mainly on the Polyjuice Potion sequence from the Chamber of Secrets. I chose a section of the Quad with a tower at the right side as to best replicate the shape of the bathroom as seen in the film.

Minifigures included are: Moaning Myrtle the ghost (medium legs), the main trio, Draco and Crabbe and Goyle (all short legs). Hermione would have a cat face on the reverse of her head. Also included is Percy Weasley (medium legs) who in the film Harry and Ron encounter before Draco finds them. A side build included is the troll from the first film, which also has a scene in one of the bathrooms, it would be brick-built similar I imagine to the Mr Freeze mech from the LEGO Batman movie set.

Having the bathroom on top of the Slytherin Common room perfectly accommodates the play function of a slide underneath the sink for the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

Another play feature could be ‘transforming’ Ron and Harry via the bathroom stalls which could include a mechanism like some previous Batcave sets have done for example.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Bugbot20082

[Bugbot20082]

The larger remaining part of The Quad is called ‘The Forbidden Corridor’. The same height as the Girls' Bathroom but including about twice as much castle volume this set would be action-packed including every room of protection to the stone.

It also includes some extra rooms such as Filch’s office and in this concept another section of the Hospital wing (alternatively the Gryffindor Common room would also be a good choice in the space shown).

Minifigures would include the trio (all short legs), Quirrell (new face expressions), Filch, Mrs Norris and Neville Longbottom wearing his pyjamas. Madam Pomfrey would be included here if she is not in a CMF series.

There would be two minifigure chess pieces and Fluffy the dog could be brick-built or moulded or a combination of the two. The Mirror appears again but could be a simpler version with a blank reflective pane. This set could also include a light brick to illuminate the Devil’s snare.

When combined with the girl’s' bathroom all the ‘open’ sides are all facing inwards, leaving a clean castle exterior except perhaps where they connect to another set like the Great Hall. For playability/access to the interior this does mean I had to break my rule and have this model ‘open up’ with hinges or module separations.

What remains to cover now is the large castle section sometimes called the Long Gallery, and the remaining perimeter of the courtyard which connects to the astronomy tower.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Bugbot20082

[Bugbot20082]

The courtyard has what is sometimes called the ‘Training grounds tower’ on its far corner, and if this is separated with symmetrical flanks of courtyard either side we get a shape which fits the template for a Chamber of Secrets set perfectly.

 

This set is much like the original version 4730 (only missing the bathroom tower), and has all the same minifigures and accessories such as the sword, hat, diary etc. Fawkes the Phoenix should be a new animal mould, perhaps using the existing Legends of Chima wings to enable posing.

The Statue head of Slytherin is integrated into the lower half of the corner tower, and there is an extra room above with details from the movie such as the writing on the walls. Detachable modules on the chamber ends could include the round entrance door and a collapsing rocks mechanism.

The new Basilisk would be brick built again, but much larger (body is 4 studs wide) and more detailed than the snake from the Great hall set. To push it through the mouth of the statue the opening in the back doubles as a doorway on the castle exterior.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Bugbot20082

[Bugbot20082]

Lastly we come to the huge Long Gallery, which looks like a long gothic cathedral with a tall central tower in the middle and twin bell towers at the rear. In the film it has the greenhouses on the side facing the lake and the courtyard on the other side.

 

This was the most difficult section of castle to translate into the new ‘doll house’ modular system as it is such a large and irregular shape, and I wanted to preserve its outward film appearance as much as possible when viewed from most angles.

In the end I decided to split the structure into four distinct modules as shown, with each section following the ‘doll-house’ convention individually. The modules were then paired up into two large castle sets. The modules may have multiple ways of connecting them together to produce different shapes besides the ‘true’ version I’m showing.

Edited November 23, 2019 by Bugbot20082

[Bugbot20082]

The first of these two sets has the Bell Towers as it’s ‘front’. The story this set is based around is the conflict between Umbridge and Dumbledore’s Army in the Order of the Phoenix movie. I chose to call this set ‘The Room of Requirement’, as to be more meaningful than ‘Bell Towers’ etc.

The interior spaces in the Bell Tower section itself includes Umbridge’s version of her office, and an entrance hall pretending to be the doorway to the Great Hall in the movie with all the Educational Decrees hung up around it.

The shorter central section which connects behind it has two large spacious rooms: the DAtDA classroom (complete with several desks and the dragon skeleton), and the DA version of the Room of Requirement.

I had an extra section of courtyard leftover when I made my divisions, so I decided to leave it in this set and put in the Hufflepuff Common room (based on concept art perhaps). Alternatively it could have the Slug Club, the Duelling club or something else and be it’s own individual set.

Minifigures at minimum would include Umbridge, Harry, Ron, Luna, and Fred and George (shown flying their broomsticks letting off fireworks). Several patronus animals using existing moulds (e.g. the rabbit and dog) and robot Death Eaters are included. Hufflepuff members of the DA would also make sense. This list is assuming Hermione is in a CMF with an otter patronus.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Bugbot20082

[Bugbot20082]

The final big castle build is the other end of the Long Gallery, which overlooks the viaduct which connects to the Great Hall (not included).

This section of castle became a dumping ground for all the remaining rooms/locations of the castle not covered yet that I could think of, mainly the Library and Ravenclaw Tower to complete each house’s common rooms. It also includes the charms classroom from PS. 

There is no ‘story’ to this set unfortunately, but has more of a Year 1-2 leaning so there could be the scary book harry finds in the restricted section. In this concept I have also included the Gryffindor common room; it is large and fully detailed with sofas and a fireplace, and the portrait of the Fat Lady. If the Gryffindor common room is in the Forbidden Corridor Set I showed earlier then the Charms classroom could go in this space instead.

Minifigures wise it is similarly an ‘everything else’ set with a bunch of students not yet covered such as the Patil twins (school robes). It could include the PS/CoS version of Flitwick and the librarian who was seen sitting at the teacher table in a few shots. Having Ravenclaw Tower also justifies including the Ghost of the Grey Lady.

As the weakest set so far this would probably be the last one released to finish off the theme in the current iteration. 

Edited December 3, 2019 by Bugbot20082

[Bugbot20082]

One more!

This final ‘castle’ set concept includes several smaller random buildings which so far have been excluded all in one set together: the Boat house, Owlery (aka West Tower) and gatehouse (see Adwick castle). This set is called ‘The Battle of Hogwarts’, with the assorted buildings playing for battle ground for the big climatic war at the end of DHpt2.

The Minifigure selection would prioritise characters who were present at the battle which may not be in any other sets such as Pius Thicknesse, or exclusive variations of characters such as Longbottom wearing his cardigan, with the sword in hand. McGonagall is included because of her scene animating the statues which would also appear in the set. A giant, built like the troll from the Girls' Bathroom set would also be included.

The rooms inside the gatehouse are McGonagall’s office and classroom, and the structure could have some ‘exploding’ play functions.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Bugbot20082

[Bugbot20082]

I also propose a single small ‘Greenhouse’ set is made, of which multiples could be purchased. It could be based on the single class scene with the mandrakes, or include Slughorn and a ‘Felix’ Harry.

Some images showing all of the sets combined together:

 

 

 

This final image is my release schedule example, with the big sets dictating that there are potentially another 4 waves (years?) of sets possible with my concept design.

 

If you made it this far well done and many thanks for indulging me ?

These concepts are completely open-source so feel free to use them as inspiration for MOC’s etc 

Edited November 25, 2019 by Bugbot20082

[Robocrookshanks]

Many thanks for sharing this with us, this is truly amazing! 

[Bugbot20082]

2 hours ago, Robocrookshanks said:

Many thanks for sharing this with us, this is truly amazing! 

Thanks you very much ?

I’ve been sketching designs while on the train and at work at break time for weeks ?

I’ll get any spelling mistakes fixed this evening.

Edited November 25, 2019 by Bugbot20082