Harry Potter 2021 - Rumors & Discussion

[Hiker13]

Scrolled through the comments so far and, wow, many people on board with this reveal. I would have preferred Hedwig alone, with a nice stand, minus the ‘icons’.

And if you are just collecting golden minifigs, this is tough, but I guess typical of LEGO.

I’m hoping LEGO can balance the desire for display pieces and playsets next year. Both have their admirers.

[krimimimi]

14 hours ago, RODDY said:

While I personally don’t like the buildable objects, if they do sell well and help keep the Harry Potter line alive, then I’ll accept it as a “necessary evil”. I’d much rather have a couple of good sets that round out what we’re missing then having no sets at all. 

Very much this. I don't need to like every set in a series. If the new sets help ensure the sets I want can eventually get made, then I'm all mostly for it. 

I would hope, however, that they keep the Second Task and the ship separate, as they did originally. The ship appeared for moments in the film and I'd happily skip it (plus ships themselves don't interest me in the least), but a remake of the Second Task, on the other hand, was actually a set I've been looking forward to. Not large, not hugely expensive, but very key to the film, so almost a diametric opposite to the ship. 

12 hours ago, chris6507 said:

I'm just surprised how easily people seemed to be swayed by this set. Everyone hated the idea and now everyone loves it. Personally It's exactly the sort of thing I was easily going to pass on and find it even easier still. Only thing that really annoys me about it, is that I was expecting one golden figure (which i've been collecting so far), not 3! Now I just have to try and figure out how to either convince myself that my golden figure collection is complete without these 3 or whether i'm actually comfortable paying the extortionate prices these will likely go for. Absolutely hate LEGO for doing this. It's made anyone's golden figure collection 66% complete in one foul swoop!

Given Hedwig's prominence, 'fowl swoop', surely? 

Not swayed in the least. I will say it looks much better than I expected, they've done a good job on that front, but it isn't worth the money or the space to me. (imho, mmv, obvs.)

Extremely annoyed about the three golden figures, although it solves the issue I had with sourcing sparkly!Snape or buying the chess set I have no love for. I had been so pleased, too, with lego leaving off the chase figures in the last CMF and with the chocolate frog tiles, and now this. A solid 'T'. Boo.

15 hours ago, Clone OPatra said:

Had to let this one sit with me for a bit...

While I think it looks great and well-designed etc, it's not only not for me but also adds to my growing concern about this theme in light of what I personally want out of Harry Potter LEGO. We know that it's the designers who tend to pitch the ideas that wind up becoming sets, and it seems therefore that the designers are losing interest or confidence in just making traditional LEGO play sets. We already got three non playsets this year, and four playset adjacent sets with the Moments sets, and now we get another big one.

I'm not trying to extrapolate too much from one set alone, but 2021 has been a year with only one great playset in my opinion (Hogsmeade), which hurts after three years filled with terrific ones. There are other sets with good stuff and good value, and I like the Fawkes set, but it's not like years past.

This total display piece D2C simply adds to my lack of confidence in seeing sets I want in this theme going forward; namely, cool stuff based on Deathly Hallows and not boxy Hogwarts sets that look terrible from the outside.

Pretty much my sentiments. 

I can easily ignore chess sets or art sets, but when it comes to the minifig scale, the biggest disappointment for me with the 2021 line is that the box units are just that touch too small to display things well (at the least, they really needed a little more depth), and that no matter how you try to configure them, they look disjointed from the other side. That said, the 2018-2020 line was growing increasingly large in its footprint, and this could have been a good way to rein that back in, a build that stood in the back facing outwards, had they only addressed those two issues. (Even if it's not the side on display, that exterior face mattered. But it's lego, so MOCcing it is.)

I will say I was very pleasantly surprised by the Moment sets, and I hope to see more in that line. (I'm not sure how the rest of you are fixed for space, but even if we take lego budget out of the equation, display space is at a real premium for me, and I'd expect for many europeans.) Along the same lines, I hope that others have found things to like that they hadn't expected in 2021's unusual line-up, and that that helps pull new fans and keep the series alive. I could absolutely see them doing some DH sets in 2023 as part of a 25 year 'anniversary' of the Battle of Hogwarts. It could also make sense from the standpoint that the second generation HP fans who started as kids with the 2018 lego series will have grown into the more mature source material much as the original generation of young fans did at the time with the books and films. 

1 hour ago, Sir Godric said:

Do we already know if there will be a new GWP next time from the HP theme?

There are no further sets expected in the HP line-up this year than the ones already known (D2C, polybag and advent calendar are the known but as yet unreleased sets). The polybag is not expected to be included as a GWP. Obviously that's the sort of thing they can change with little notice, but that's what's known at present. 

[LegoFjotten]

Sounds to me like some here blame the D2C because you didn't like many of the playsets this year?

I agree that the playsets are not as exciting as previous years, but I think Hogsmeade and Chamber of Secrets were pretty good. The bathroom is ok for me, interior is nice enough and the figures are new. Fluffy and Flying lesson I haven't bought yet, not too thrilled with the figures in those. Chess set falls a bit flat for me, even if I like chess I don't really need it. I don't mind the Fawkes set, and thing the big figures are pretty cool. 

What I want the most from future Harry Potter sets are some more new and unique minifigures.

[TheInvisibleMan]

Well, trying to stay objective, this set is obviously a pretty display set as of itself and actually seems to tie in well with the display sets we’ve seen  for this theme over the last 18 months (although I don’t see the attraction here for anyone who already had the previous Hedwig set).

This being said, it’s not for me. I don’t see much point in the golden figures and with no other exclusive figures in there, there’s no ‘hook’ to reel me in.

I do however think that these display sets show that Lego are investing a good amount of time and effort into the theme, which bodes well for the future (in my opinion). But maybe they are also recognising that a large part of their customer base for HP are older and may not be so keen on just play sets (but at the same time have more money). So I’d expect any future wave to be split pretty much 50/50 between big display/expensive sets and small(ish) play sets. Which is fine, as long as they bother to actually include some new characters!

[Salix]

51 minutes ago, krimimimi said:

(imho, mmv, obvs.)

What does mmv mean?

[krimimimi]

28 minutes ago, Salix said:

What does mmv mean?

'mileage may vary'. Dipping into imperial units for the sake of the expression. (We should probably just translate it 'metre-age may vary'... )

[Sir Godric]

https://9to5toys.com/2021/08/02/lego-hogwarts-icons-teaser/

In this link they write something about a GWP coming with the HP Icons Set.

[YetiZombie]

20 minutes ago, Sir Godric said:

In this link they write something about a GWP coming with the HP Icons Set.

Pretty sure they're just referring to the included build in the set with the three golden figures

[krimimimi]

1 hour ago, Sir Godric said:

https://9to5toys.com/2021/08/02/lego-hogwarts-icons-teaser/

In this link they write something about a GWP coming with the HP Icons Set.

@BigHobbit already discredited that. As they pointed out, the three golden minifigs are shown on the rear of the D2C box, so not a GWP. 

Edited August 3, 2021 by krimimimi

[Metanoios]

I think it is far more likely that there won't be a GWP at all

[uPawelek]

I wonder how much it would cost to change Hedwig color. Since the set has personalization options and snow owls are pretty rare I would like to have dark grey owl with light grey belly :)

Edited August 3, 2021 by uPawelek
Spelling

[Frizzlefry25]

I am more of a star wars UCS guy, and my girls are into the Harry potter Modular, however we did get DA, and I would have gotten Hogwarts D2C (if it wasn't mini scale), as I like UCS type display pieces more. That being said, I would probably pick this up if my shelves weren't loaded with mocs and other UCS sets. My kids want it for sure, but I am not at the point to drop $250 on a set for them yet, and my wife is starting to not buy the family gift line!

 I think if the Potter line wants to continue to grow they will need a mix of these kinds of sets (for adults and kids), as well as hopefully finishing the most recent line as lego fans come in all sorts of categories, and price points! Some like the smaller play sets, some UCS/Adult/Art, and some both!

Count me in as part of the group hoping to get a DA expansion, and maybe one more part to add to the past few years of Hogwarts, that is not a 10th anniversary wave!

Regardless of what has been said in interviews, I think they will go back and finish the prior waves. I can only see so many D2C sets, and only the hardcore are going to buy sets from every rebooted wave. One of the reasons we did not pick up alot of 10th anniversary is we have been adding to the sets the last few years, and I am not going to buy an entirely different wave for my kids, which then gets rebooted eventually again. There is only so much space and $$ to go around.  :)

[Gnukan]

The set looks excellent, the images I got in my head from the rumors were nowhere near as beautiful as this! Not sure I’ll get it since I don’t really have any room to display it (and ofc it costs a pretty penny), but it’s way more tempting than I ever expected. More keen on this than the previous two d2c:s actually 

[Retro Brick Reviews]

Wow, this set is absolutely gorgeous! That Hedwig is undoubtedly the best brickbuilt animal ever- taking into account this set and the new Fawkes, I now regret purchasing the 2020 Hedwig, as it's now completely obsolete. These new wings are stunning, and that face just looks so cute and floofy! 

The closed books are nice builds, very similar to those of the 2018 Hedwig statue- thinking about it, this set seems like a fully-realized version of that giveaway set, which makes me feel better about my Target's employees cheating me out of it (long story). That open book looks fantastic.

The other builds are all really nice, and I love how you get builds to represent each member of the trio- glasses and Snitch for Harry, potions kit for Hermione (the main kit and Polyjuice bottle even have her initials) and the Chocolate Frog for Ron. Oh, and that wand looks great as well, and the letter works fantastically to tie it all together.

I love the figures- they're exactly the golden figures I thought we were missing (sans a baby Harry to be Dumbledore's accessory, though I knew that was unlikely), and they all look just as great as I imagined. The stand looks great too- the card looks detachable, so I might build another to use with the set itself. I also don't really mind the fact that they're all exclusive, as the golden figures are only for collectors anyway, so most people shouldn't care about missing out on them.

I only have two real issues with the set. Firstly, I will stand by the fact that "Hogwarts Icons Collection" is an awful, non-fitting name for this set- something like "Hogwarts First-Year Supplies Set" would've fit much better imo. Secondly, and much more notably, I HATE that you're supposed to write directly onto the letter tile with your name. While I like the idea of customizing it, they should've instead included a sheet of tan label stickers to write your name on and apply to the piece, in addition to preset stickers with the names of major HP student characters. That's the only true problem I have with the set though, and it's not even with the build.

Overall, a simply amazing set. A perfect capstone to what I consider to be the best year of LEGO Harry Potter ever- definitely not what we expected, but a collection of sets that all truly capture the magic of the series in a way that only the very best of the 2018-20 sets managed to. This is definitely my favorite HP D2C yet, though the 2018 Castle does come close. I don't think I'll be able to get it day one, but I will get it sometime this year, and I'm sure it'll find a place of prominence in my collection.

[NoOneOfImportance]

I asked this earlier, though it may have gotten lost in the replies: Can anyone tell just how large this set is? Hedwig is definitely a large sized creature, but I can't make out exactly how tall and wide this build may end up being.

[Terrasher]

4 minutes ago, NoOneOfImportance said:

I asked this earlier, though it may have gotten lost in the replies: Can anyone tell just how large this set is? Hedwig is definitely a large sized creature, but I can't make out exactly how tall and wide this build may end up being.

A very rough guess, judging by the stud count of Hedwig's wings, would be at about 50cm wide (wingspan) and... around 60cm tall?

[GoldenNinja3000]

1 hour ago, NoOneOfImportance said:

I asked this earlier, though it may have gotten lost in the replies: Can anyone tell just how large this set is? Hedwig is definitely a large sized creature, but I can't make out exactly how tall and wide this build may end up being.

The back of the box says it's 17.5 inches (44.5 cm) tall and 19.5 inches (50 cm) wide. It's honestly not as tall as I expected, although I think that's a good thing since it'll be able to fit in more of my display spaces.

[Micmac]

I know I'm a bit of a downer on this years sets only because I really like the Harry Potter line but this time last year we were on around 500 pages of discussion, we were all speculating what Diagon Alley was going to contain and we had sticker leaks. The CMF Harry Potter figures were on the horizon. We were still predicting what sets we might get from the deathly Hallows in 2021, we were doing wanted lists of most wanted sets and figures and we were still to get the moments sets that I don't think we knew about yet. It was an exciting time for Lego Harry Potter fans on here anyway. 

And a year later it's a different feeling here. We really don't know where the line is going so its hard to predict what Hogwarts sets we might get. Its more like what scene would you like to see and I'll stuff it in a box shape set that has no defining features that might look kind of like a random part of the castle. I'm a bit more optimistic about what scenes other than Hogwarts castle we might get, shell cottage, wedding scene, second task. But now it's possible to get busts, items and other random stuff and it's not something I really think about. I would have loved a ministry of magic set over the items set this year. That would have created pages and pages of chat and excitement. Now we discuss how the item set isn't as bad as we thought it might be. I would be happy to see the item set at a lego convention built by a fan and I'd be super impressed at their talent. But I don't need it as a set. 

I'm all for variety in the wave but if the effort that went into the items sets was lavished over the castle sets this year I might be a happier Lego Harry Potter fan. 

[Modal]

2 hours ago, Micmac said:

I know I'm a bit of a downer on this years sets only because I really like the Harry Potter line but this time last year we were on around 500 pages of discussion, we were all speculating what Diagon Alley was going to contain and we had sticker leaks. The CMF Harry Potter figures were on the horizon. We were still predicting what sets we might get from the deathly Hallows in 2021, we were doing wanted lists of most wanted sets and figures and we were still to get the moments sets that I don't think we knew about yet. It was an exciting time for Lego Harry Potter fans on here anyway. 

And a year later it's a different feeling here. We really don't know where the line is going so its hard to predict what Hogwarts sets we might get. Its more like what scene would you like to see and I'll stuff it in a box shape set that has no defining features that might look kind of like a random part of the castle. I'm a bit more optimistic about what scenes other than Hogwarts castle we might get, shell cottage, wedding scene, second task. But now it's possible to get busts, items and other random stuff and it's not something I really think about. I would have loved a ministry of magic set over the items set this year. That would have created pages and pages of chat and excitement. Now we discuss how the item set isn't as bad as we thought it might be. I would be happy to see the item set at a lego convention built by a fan and I'd be super impressed at their talent. But I don't need it as a set. 

I'm all for variety in the wave but if the effort that went into the items sets was lavished over the castle sets this year I might be a happier Lego Harry Potter fan. 

I agree. This may be a hot take but if this is the future of the theme, I almost wish this year would have been the last year, with a D2C Gringotts and Deathly Hallow sets, and then stop again so LEGO can focus on other fantasy themes. I think we're in for a lot of random sets that make little sense and only slightly satisfy everyone. I think we should strive for more than "well it's not as bad as I thought".

[Surge]

On 8/2/2021 at 1:23 PM, Balrogofmorgoth said:

I’m definitely going to try to add all the other golden figures to that display

please lmk how u do it i really want to do that as well. Can't decide if I should put the trio in the front on the bottom or along the sides with the rest of them 

[lego_guyon02]

4 hours ago, Modal said:

I agree. This may be a hot take but if this is the future of the theme, I almost wish this year would have been the last year, with a D2C Gringotts and Deathly Hallow sets, and then stop again so LEGO can focus on other fantasy themes. I think we're in for a lot of random sets that make little sense and only slightly satisfy everyone. I think we should strive for more than "well it's not as bad as I thought".

A hot take but one I can 100% agree with. Sounds a bit pessimistic but it feels like we're now all just along for the ride until LEGO has milked this cow dry and replaces it with another theme. I hope 2022 proves me wrong.

[Vindicare]

On 8/2/2021 at 3:46 PM, Kim-Kwang-Seok said:

I think it looks phenomenal and much more interesting than the bland DA.

How dare you!  The minifigs are a bit lackluster as a whole, but the builds were great with a fantastic end result. 

On 8/2/2021 at 3:55 PM, lego_guyon02 said:

For me the 2018-2020 sets were pretty much exactly what I wanted from a LEGO Harry Potter reboot: a well thought out journey through the various films with sets that perfectly mixed play and display, resulting in fantastic products that appealed to children and adults alike. The 2021 wave then proceeded to do a complete 180 on this concept, dividing (for a lack of a better word) the theme into play and display sets instead of focussing on retaining the aforementioned "perfect mix of play and display". Besides the sheer amount of sets that have been released this year feeling a bit overkill the removal of this "perfect mix" resulted, at least for me personally, in an overwhelming amount of sets that just did not appeal to me due to me greatly disliking the new Hogwarts system and not having an interest in non-minifigure scale sets. While there are plenty of fantastic figures, creatures, stickers and prints to celebrate the only set I would actually call good is Hogsmeade, which is right up there with the 2018-2020 sets. 

Having said all this 2021 had a major focus on the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone so it's hard to tell where the future of the theme lies. Is this the new path the theme will follow or will 2022 and beyond see a return to form? Regardless of what the designers have planned for the future of this theme I just hope that, a few years from now, I will look back at this year of Harry Potter sets as "the year the theme didn't really interest me" and not as "the beginning of the end".

There’s plenty of play in this year’s castle sets. Chamber has the flipping table, the slide, & the snake entrance. Potion set has a movable sink with drop, Fluffy set has the trapdoor. The sink & trapdoor have the added bonus of being better together, but watching a 10 & 5 year old play with LEGO, I doubt that’s much of a problem there if they only had one of them. 

[lego_guyon02]

1 minute ago, Vindicare said:

There’s plenty of play in this year’s castle sets. Chamber has the flipping table, the slide, & the snake entrance. Potion set has a movable sink with drop, Fluffy set has the trapdoor. The sink & trapdoor have the added bonus of being better together, but watching a 10 & 5 year old play with LEGO, I doubt that’s much of a problem there if they only had one of them. 

That's exactly the problem though, the new 2021 system focusses so much on play that display completely became an afterthought. The 2018-2020 sets on the other hand perfectly balanced the two.

[(Insert Name Here)]

I do think it's odd that we had a partial remake of the Great Hall in the new Chamber of Secrets set, and now another Hedwig build in this latest set.

[Retro Brick Reviews]

53 minutes ago, (Insert Name Here) said:

I do think it's odd that we had a partial remake of the Great Hall in the new Chamber of Secrets set, and now another Hedwig build in this latest set.

Well, both are massive improvements to the OG versions with enough new stuff to make them interesting, so I'm not complaining.