Harry Potter 2020 - Rumors & Discussion

[Vindicare]

2 minutes ago, bluedog1111 said:

On targets website the astronomy tower is still marked as coming soon on 8/14/2020 is that just me who isn't able to buy it or is it the same for other people?

I’m keeping my eye on the RoR set, as I plan on buying the big three at S@H, and I’m seeing the same. Free order pickup “not yet available” as well. 

[karrit]

5 minutes ago, bluedog1111 said:

On targets website the astronomy tower is still marked as coming soon on 8/14/2020 is that just me who isn't able to buy it or is it the same for other people?

I'm seeing the same for all the HP sets except The Burrow which still says pre-order & shipping 8/15.  Amazon is currently showing the sets become available on 8/28.

[ResurrectionBob]

7 minutes ago, bluedog1111 said:

On targets website the astronomy tower is still marked as coming soon on 8/14/2020 is that just me who isn't able to buy it or is it the same for other people?

On the Target app I'm seeing "Coming Soon" with no specific date, so it's not just you.

[lego_guyon02]

17 minutes ago, Bainter-ban said:

I really think Lego should communicate better with their fans. This is just dreadful.

Why can’t they just say «Diagon Alley will be revealed/released X date»? They don’t have to reveal any pictures or other details. But that way we know what date to look forward to, instead of living in this uncertainty. 

Wait what? We aren't even supposed to know about this set, why would they give us a releasedate for the reveal? 

[Modal]

8 minutes ago, Guyon2002 said:

Wait what? We aren't even supposed to know about this set, why would they give us a releasedate for the reveal? 

I think the question is more so asking why we don’t know about D2C sets more than like a week or two in advance. What’s the reason to keep things so tightly lipped so close to their releases

[Felkin]

1 minute ago, Modal said:

I think the question is more so asking why we don’t know about D2C sets more than like a week or two in advance. What’s the reason to keep things so tightly lipped so close to their releases

Lego don't want to hype something before you can actually purchase it, and to stop bootlegging companies like Lepin from copying the set from the pictures and selling their own version of it.

[Modal]

8 minutes ago, Felkin said:

Lego don't want to hype something before you can actually purchase it, and to stop bootlegging companies like Lepin from copying the set from the pictures and selling their own version of it.

Good point. Didn’t think of that

[Bainter-ban]

14 minutes ago, Felkin said:

Lego don't want to hype something before you can actually purchase it, and to stop bootlegging companies like Lepin from copying the set from the pictures and selling their own version of it.

That’s why my point was that they could state a release date for it, without having to reveal any pictures. 

[OutlandishCandle]

4 hours ago, daniboy1997 said:

Does anyone know if any of the CMF have appeared in any UK stores yet?

 

I've been looking and haven't found anything!

[Bainter-ban]

28 minutes ago, Guyon2002 said:

Wait what? We aren't even supposed to know about this set, why would they give us a releasedate for the reveal? 

My point was that they always immediately release sets close to the reveal. In my opinion, it wouldn’t hurt to give us a tease or similar a few months in advance with a release/reveal date, without having to show any pictures.

50 minutes ago, TheRandomBlocker said:

Because we aren’t even supposed to know about this set and they have never done that before, why would they start now? Just because people are impatient doesn’t mean Lego is going to change, the average Joe fan doesn’t even know that the DA set is going to be a thing ??‍♂️

The fact that they have never done something before is not really a very good argument against change... 

[Salix]

1 hour ago, YetiZombie said:

Not sure, it just says "For a super limited time". I'd jump on it if you wanted these sets now. Zavvi also delivers ridiculously quickly, so you'd probably get them by like Wednesday of next week.

I remember when pre-corona, every webshop except S@H would deliver the next (working) day (if ordered before a certain time), but everything changed when corona attacked... oh wait wrong franchise. :P Most webshops overhere in the Netherlands use PostNL (our national postal service) which can deliver packages even on Sundays and in the evenings, however LEGO uses DPD now which is even more restrictive than DHL which they used before. DPD only delivers during the week, at least DHL also delivered on Saturday and in the evenings. Fortunately, one benefit of working from home/being at home due to the pandemic you are always at home to receive the package. :)

[TheRandomBlocker]

4 minutes ago, Bainter-ban said:

The fact that they have never done something before is not really a very good argument against change...

Except it’s a dumb thing to change, what they’re doing works, again, just because some people are impatient about something that, again, we aren’t supposed to know about, doesn’t mean they should change how they do things, a teaser for a release works such as a video with the date with the Diagon Alley theme from Philosopher’s Stone would be a good idea, just outright stating “this set will be revealed on x date” is basically just revealing the set sans pictures, in other words, a terrible idea ??‍♂️

[Bainter-ban]

Just now, TheRandomBlocker said:

Except it’s a dumb thing to change, what they’re doing works, again, just because some people are impatient about something that, again, we aren’t supposed to know about, doesn’t mean they should change how they do things, a teaser for a release works such as a video with the date with the Diagon Alley theme from Philosopher’s Stone would be a good idea, just outright stating “this set will be revealed on x date” is basically just revealing the set sans pictures, in other words, a terrible idea ??‍♂️

Jeez.... No need to be so rude.

The video game industry does it all the time. They tease a video game with a short and exciting video. And they don’t even reveal what the content is.

Anyway, it was just a suggestion, but hey, thanks for letting me know that its such a horrendous idea.

[TheRandomBlocker]

Just now, Bainter-ban said:

Jeez.... No need to be so rude.

The video game industry does it all the time. They tease a video game with a short and exciting video. And they don’t even reveal what the content is.

Anyway, it was just a suggestion, but hey, thanks for letting me know that its such a horrendous idea.

I apologise that you felt I was being rude, but it’s a public forum, if you don’t want people opposing your views then don’t post them, nothing I said was rude, it was opinion, and what you said about the VG industry is more akin to what I mentioned about the short video with the date and the Diagon Alley theme as it’s not directly telling you what is being released but if you have knowledge then you can guess what it is ??‍♂️

[Brick Clicker]

18 minutes ago, OutlandishCandle said:

I've been looking and haven't found anything!

From most stores I've asked there getting them on the 27th. I'm getting a full box from my local then

[Brick Cucumber]

2 minutes ago, Brick Clicker said:

From most stores I've asked there getting them on the 27th. I'm getting a full box from my local then

Stores already have release dates and still no official reveal.

[2lazeetomakeaname]

One Million and Sixty Nine views guys!

[Modal]

Is this the most active eurobricks thread, like, ever? Haha

[Brick Clicker]

23 minutes ago, Brick Cucumber said:

Stores already have release dates and still no official reveal.

Yeah stores don't even know what they are lol. Mine thought that it was series 21 haha. Just happy I managed to secure a full box

[dvt]

57 minutes ago, Bainter-ban said:

My point was that they always immediately release sets close to the reveal. In my opinion, it wouldn’t hurt to give us a tease or similar a few months in advance with a release/reveal date, without having to show any pictures.

The fact that they have never done something before is not really a very good argument against change... 

Release dates are always held close to a companies heart.  This is common practice in business as it has do with consumer spending habits as well as keeps competitors guessing.  Business 102, (business 101 is supply/demand).  If someone knows something else is coming, consumer then will make a decision "do I buy X now or wait for Y?".  If consumer doesn't know that in 3 months there is a brand new amazing set, the consumer will spend their money now, and later thus more money.  Otherwise they will hold back for the 3 months then to make a decision on X or Y.  TLG is a business and needs to make money or the business will die. Different industries will vary a bit on this, but overall, this remains pretty accurate.  It also has to do with managing expectations, kinda like a parent with a kid.  There is a fine line of making people be excited for a product and holding back until you're ready to announce without having to make changes/retraction.  If I tell my kid Grandma is coming over at 2 pm, my young children get excited. But traffic, plus change of plans, and before you know it, they decided to wait a day or whatever.  Now the child is disappointed and upset, when it could of all been avoided by just waiting until its actually "i'm 5 min away, in the car and am off the freeway exit".  Business have learned that disappointing (regardless of right vs wrong) is expensive and its just easier to be quiet until its happening.  Shows maturity in a company to operate this way.  This forum is NOT the target audience however much we like to pretend we are.  

[sebastian666]

46 minutes ago, dvt said:

Release dates are always held close to a companies heart.  This is common practice in business as it has do with consumer spending habits as well as keeps competitors guessing.  Business 102, (business 101 is supply/demand).  If someone knows something else is coming, consumer then will make a decision "do I buy X now or wait for Y?".  If consumer doesn't know that in 3 months there is a brand new amazing set, the consumer will spend their money now, and later thus more money.  Otherwise they will hold back for the 3 months then to make a decision on X or Y.  TLG is a business and needs to make money or the business will die. Different industries will vary a bit on this, but overall, this remains pretty accurate.  It also has to do with managing expectations, kinda like a parent with a kid.  There is a fine line of making people be excited for a product and holding back until you're ready to announce without having to make changes/retraction.  If I tell my kid Grandma is coming over at 2 pm, my young children get excited. But traffic, plus change of plans, and before you know it, they decided to wait a day or whatever.  Now the child is disappointed and upset, when it could of all been avoided by just waiting until its actually "i'm 5 min away, in the car and am off the freeway exit".  Business have learned that disappointing (regardless of right vs wrong) is expensive and its just easier to be quiet until its happening.  Shows maturity in a company to operate this way.  This forum is NOT the target audience however much we like to pretend we are.  

This was so refreshing to read. Finally, we have someone with actual business experience weighing in on things! @dvt - I’d really like to hear your thoughts on LEGO’s decision not to include Gringott’s in the D2C Diagon Alley set. For months now, I’ve been trying to explain that LEGO stands to make more money by selling Gringott’s or WWW as a separate set with a lower price point and wider distribution. What’s your take on the missing Gringott’s?

[Metanoios]

2 hours ago, TheRandomBlocker said:

Except it’s a dumb thing to change, what they’re doing works, again, just because some people are impatient about something that, again, we aren’t supposed to know about, doesn’t mean they should change how they do things, a teaser for a release works such as a video with the date with the Diagon Alley theme from Philosopher’s Stone would be a good idea, just outright stating “this set will be revealed on x date” is basically just revealing the set sans pictures, in other words, a terrible idea ??‍♂️

 

1 hour ago, dvt said:

Release dates are always held close to a companies heart.  This is common practice in business as it has do with consumer spending habits as well as keeps competitors guessing.  Business 102, (business 101 is supply/demand).  If someone knows something else is coming, consumer then will make a decision "do I buy X now or wait for Y?".  If consumer doesn't know that in 3 months there is a brand new amazing set, the consumer will spend their money now, and later thus more money.  Otherwise they will hold back for the 3 months then to make a decision on X or Y.  TLG is a business and needs to make money or the business will die. Different industries will vary a bit on this, but overall, this remains pretty accurate.  It also has to do with managing expectations, kinda like a parent with a kid.  There is a fine line of making people be excited for a product and holding back until you're ready to announce without having to make changes/retraction.  If I tell my kid Grandma is coming over at 2 pm, my young children get excited. But traffic, plus change of plans, and before you know it, they decided to wait a day or whatever.  Now the child is disappointed and upset, when it could of all been avoided by just waiting until its actually "i'm 5 min away, in the car and am off the freeway exit".  Business have learned that disappointing (regardless of right vs wrong) is expensive and its just easier to be quiet until its happening.  Shows maturity in a company to operate this way.  This forum is NOT the target audience however much we like to pretend we are.  

I agree to some extent with both of your views, but this policy has also major disadvantages that you are glossing over. Let`s take Hidden Side, Star Wars (waves 2018-2020) or Monkie Kid as an example. They are developing a "big bang" theme quietly and secretly for years. We get some rumours like the name etc. . Then one day, when the stars align, they rush the reveal and ... it flops. Why you ask? Because they thought they knew exactly what the consumer wants. When in reality their little play-tests with ten kids and "extensive" market research didn`t actually represent the market at large. Or other factors that they didn`t anticipate are affecting sales. Like an app feature or box design their marketing decided looked "amazing", is actually complete rubbish. While a set the Star Wars community has been asking literally for years (501st Battle pack) sells like crazy and they can`t meet the demand. Because why the f*** would we listen or share our release plans with the consumer. They are our sheep and we lead them to the "General Grievous Starfighter"-pasture and "profit" by wasting shelf space on a product so ridiculously overpriced. So please tell me, how playing by business 102 is saving them from wasting millions of DKK/dollars on a product only a handful of people will buy (e.g. 75201 - First Order AT-ST)

Another point regarding corporate espionage and knockoffs: TLG themselves decided to actively move a large part of their production capacities next door to the Chinese competitors. This time take Monkie Kid as an example. Some pictures did leak before the reveal, but not much more than a month before the official reveal. Yet the Chinese companies still were able to put out sets with similar minifig designs and so on, almost at the same time the TLG products did reach the consumer. They had to have seen those figs before the pictures leaked and might even had the figs in hand to make the copies that fast and in such quantities. Or the sticker sheet that we saw for Diagon Alley: Even if we see the official pics only 2 days before the reveal I guarantee you that there will be knockoffs sold even before that magical date. That sticker sheet has already found it`s way to them...

Also the TLG did change their approach to set development and revealing D2C sets years before their release in advance and over official channels: the Lego Ideas Star Wars D2C survey (which the Republic gunship won). Because especially the Star Wars team seems to have realized that playing things too close to the chest can go terribly wrong (e.g. Assault on Hoth and other sets I mentioned that didn`t sell)

Edited August 14, 2020 by Metanoios91

[Modal]

11 minutes ago, sebastian666 said:

This was so refreshing to read. Finally, we have someone with actual business experience weighing in on things! @dvt - I’d really like to hear your thoughts on LEGO’s decision not to include Gringott’s in the D2C Diagon Alley set. For months now, I’ve been trying to explain that LEGO stands to make more money by selling Gringott’s or WWW as a separate set with a lower price point and wider distribution. What’s your take on the missing Gringott’s?

You make it sound as if you need to explain to us measly kids how accessibility increases sales  no one disagrees with you. You can understand the reasoning behind it and not want it not to be true for personal reasons. 

Most people here couldn’t care less about how much money Lego makes by strategizing their release line up. They just want Diagon Alley

Edited August 14, 2020 by Modal

[YetiZombie]

Just now, Modal said:

You make it sound as if you need to explain to us measly kids how accessibility increases sales  no one disagrees with you. You can understand the reasoning behind it and not want it not to be true for personal reasons. 

??? agreed, the argument for including Gringotts was about product quality, not what'll make LEGO more money. Most people here felt that a product marketed as the definitive Diagon Alley wouldn't feel right without Gringotts. Which is still true. LEGO as a company usually doesn't sacrifice product quality for a few extra bucks, which is why people were upset.

[Modal]

8 minutes ago, YetiZombie said:

??? agreed, the argument for including Gringotts was about product quality, not what'll make LEGO more money. Most people here felt that a product marketed as the definitive Diagon Alley wouldn't feel right without Gringotts. Which is still true. LEGO as a company usually doesn't sacrifice product quality for a few extra bucks, which is why people were upset.

To be fair, he did make the point that many people who can’t afford the DA set still want a piece of it, so Lego is actually helping out the “consumer”. We here are a different breed than the average Lego consumer.

I’m not really arguing that, I just want Gringotts in DA because I’m selfish and want what’s ideal for me  Doesn’t mean we don’t understand whatever their decision is. I don’t like the feeling of condescension though, intentional or not.

Edited August 14, 2020 by Modal