Harry Potter 2021 - Rumors & Discussion

[Alexandrina]

1 hour ago, karrit said:

Plus if these anniversary sets with their experimental style end up totally bombing Lego can reduce production on the rest of the wave to cut their losses like what they did with the final Hidden Side wave.

It's probably not going to bode well for the future of the theme if Lego find themselves needing to cut the scale of production on yet-to-be-released sets because they're anticipating poor sales. And even if we the AFOLs know it's due to the anniversary sets not being up to scratch, there's a chance the Lego suits might not be willing to risk another year's investment on a theme which might have run its course when they could instead go for something new and fresh.

[lego_guyon02]

2 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

It's probably not going to bode well for the future of the theme if Lego find themselves needing to cut the scale of production on yet-to-be-released sets because they're anticipating poor sales. And even if we the AFOLs know it's due to the anniversary sets not being up to scratch, there's a chance the Lego suits might not be willing to risk another year's investment on a theme which might have run its course when they could instead go for something new and fresh.

The Harry Potter theme has been a big hit during the past 3 years, if the first wave where they try something new and different performs poorly they should be able to put 2 and 2 together and conclude that it wasn't a very smart decision to change things up. If it ain't broke don't fix it. 

[Alexandrina]

1 minute ago, Guyon2002 said:

The Harry Potter theme has been a big hit during the past 3 years, if the first wave where they try something new and different performs poorly they should be able to put 2 and 2 together and conclude that it wasn't a very smart decision to change things up. If it ain't broke don't fix it. 

They definitely should. The worry is whether or not they will.

[Tommy9]

2 thing I just wanted to ask about. 
 

that is a Yule-ball Dumbledore, right. Is that just part of the prototype or will that be the dumbledore coming in the set.

further, what is that weird circular arch that Tom riddle is standing in. The snake door to the chamber of secret is connected to the ‘tower’ building, so what is it for. 

[lego_guyon02]

9 minutes ago, Tommy9 said:

2 thing I just wanted to ask about. 
 

that is a Yule-ball Dumbledore, right. Is that just part of the prototype or will that be the dumbledore coming in the set.

further, what is that weird circular arch that Tom riddle is standing in. The snake door to the chamber of secret is connected to the ‘tower’ building, so what is it for. 

Yule Ball Dumbledore is just a stand-in and will definitely get changed for the final product. The round structure Tom is standing in is the CoS entrance, it looks a bit weird but the door is attached to that small sidebuild and not the main castle. 

[MaxHeadroom]

3 hours ago, spiderfan2000 said:

3 hours ago, Lego-Freak said:

Good question.  Probably the closest comparison is how 2019 had a June wave with POA and GOF sets, but then there was an August wave consisting of another two GOF sets.  Those could have even more easily been all put into a single wave, but they split it into two for no apparent reason. 

I've always assumed those sets were released as a separate wave because they were meant to be retail exclusives but were upgraded to full releases due to the success of the line. The carriage is very niche and the graveyard is a bit dark for LEGO so I wouldn't be surprised if LEGO weren't initially as confident in those sets as the others. 
 

Also something I've never seen mentioned anywhere online is that the Hogwarts Express was originally meant to be a ToysRUs exclusive in the US and that's why it was incredibly hard to find and constantly sold out in the US when it was first released. I wasn't able to track down the set until I found it in a LEGO store where the cashier told me the original plan. Not sure how true it is though. 
 

[droobles]

41 minutes ago, MaxHeadroom said:

I've always assumed those sets were released as a separate wave because they were meant to be retail exclusives but were upgraded to full releases due to the success of the line. The carriage is very niche and the graveyard is a bit dark for LEGO so I wouldn't be surprised if LEGO weren't initially as confident in those sets as the others. 

My theory is that these replaced Fantastic Beasts sets after the first wave didn't do so well. In 2018 I believe there was a July wave of Harry Potter sets and an August wave of two Fantastic Beasts sets. In 2019 I'd guess they originally planned the same pattern, but then decided to change the two August slots to just be from Harry Potter.

Edited February 21, 2021 by droobles

[lego_guyon02]

14 minutes ago, droobles said:

My theory is that these replaced Fantastic Beasts sets after the first wave didn't do so well. In 2018 I believe there was a July wave of Harry Potter sets and an August wave of two Fantastic Beasts sets. In 2019 I'd guess they originally planned the same pattern, but then decided to change the two August slots to just be from Harry Potter.

Considering the time in between those 2 waves was only a year I doubt that. LEGO sets usually take around a year to be designed and in order to replace FB sets they'd also have to know how well the first sets sold.

Then there's also the matter of new pieces. The Beauxbatons Carriage alone came with 5 new minifig prints, a pair of dualmolded legs in new colors, a brand new hair/hat mold and several recolored pieces for the carriage itself. If the wave originally consisted of FB sets these 2 HP sets would've had to be developed unreasonably fast and likely wouldn't have the budget to introduce so many new things.

[JeanGreyForever]

13 hours ago, mark1991t said:

They can make a set based on the playground in the openingscene of OOTP and even mix it up with the playground seen in POA, so they could at in a dog version of Serius. It complements the excisting sets 4 Privet Drive and the Knight Bus.

Some people were asking about a Lego Aunt Marge. They could include the inflatable version of her floating over the playground if they didn't want to remake Privet Drive for POA.

[Juve]

8 hours ago, girlie-site-boots said:

Why? 

There is probably a short 5 year window between the ages of about 8 and 13 when kids are collecting HP Lego. So really they have a constant supply of new children who like HP.

Well because we as collectors dont need hundred remakes of the sets and I would rather have a full collection and be done than constantly spend money. If they are making new sets yes, but if they remake ones we already have its stupid

[MischiefManaged]

Even if 2021 proves to be a rougher year for the HP theme, I cant imagine the Lego Group abandoning it that quickly.  It is a proven money maker that consistently will get new fans as kids are introduced to the books.  Add to that the large group of AFOLS who love it. Add to that a string of Lego developed themes that seem to have underwhelmed such as: Hidden Side, Mokey Kid and I suspect the new Vidyo line.  (Some really neat sets/pieces, but it doesnt seem they caught on or created any buzz or excitement)  HP is a steady performer and likely one of the best selling themes they have.  If anything, I could see the volume of sets slowing down or more gimmick type sets like the Hogwarts Moments, Hedwig build or the wall art.  

[sebastian666]

9 hours ago, girlie-site-boots said:

There is probably a short 5 year window between the ages of about 8 and 13 when kids are collecting HP Lego. So really they have a constant supply of new children who like HP.

I also hope the LEGO Harry Potter line lasts for a long time, but I think this logic is off. There is no guarantee that there will be a constant supply of new children who like Harry Potter.

Unlike Star Wars (or even Jurassic Park for that matter - see Camp Cretaceous), the Wizarding World franchise is not doing much to get new generations of kids excited about Harry Potter. There are no new shows, books, comics, or other content targeted at kids. Just merchandise and a theme park and an increasingly controversial matriarch. That will only take the franchise so far.

What was interesting about the LEGO Harry Potter reboot is that it really came about because of Fantastic Beasts - a new film series targeted at adult fans of Harry Potter. The LEGO sets, too, seemed targeted at adults with their beautiful and movie-accurate designs and a focus on “displayability” - not playability. I can’t tell you how many interior design sites I have seen the 2018-2020 sets featured in.

That’s why this new wave is so baffling to me... LEGO is clearly trying to monetize the nostalgia of people ages 25-35+ who had the original LEGO Harry Potter sets 20 years ago. But instead of focusing on beautiful, displayable builds in retro color palettes (which I would have been totally here for) they made boxy play sets for kids that won’t even understand or appreciate the 20 year old references.

I feel like LEGO must have put a new team of designers (this definitely doesn’t feel like Marcos’ work) on the Harry Potter line who took their project briefing a little too literally: “Give the adult fans sets and pieces they have been asking for - like the Chamber and a new Basilisk and Fluffy - and add a “collect them all” gimmick for the 20th anniversary but also make the sets something little kids will want to play with.”

The problem is that instead of appealing to a broad audience, LEGO has really narrowed the target audience to little kids with parents that remember the 2001 sets and want to relive them together.

Some diehard fans will buy these sets anyway (myself included), but I think LEGO will quickly realize their mistake when sales from adult collectors (especially adult women collectors - which seemed to be a target demographic from 2018-2020) dip. 

Because, without new content, Harry Potter does not have a constantly regenerating audience of little kids that love the franchise and will go out of their way to ask their parents for a random line of LEGO play sets that feature early 00s nostalgia.

Hopefully, LEGO will realize their mistake and recalibrate for 2022.

[RODDY]

12 minutes ago, sebastian666 said:

 

I feel like LEGO must have put a new team of designers (this definitely doesn’t feel like Marcos’ work) on the Harry Potter line who took their project briefing a little too literally: “Give the adult fans sets and pieces they have been asking for - like the Chamber and a new Basilisk and Fluffy - and add a “collect them all” gimmick for the 20th anniversary but also make the sets something little kids will want to play with.”

The problem is that instead of appealing to a broad audience, LEGO has really narrowed the target audience to little kids with parents that remember the 2001 sets and want to relive them together.

Some diehard fans will buy these sets anyway (myself included), but I think LEGO will quickly realize their mistake when sales from adult collectors (especially adult women collectors - which seemed to be a target demographic from 2018-2020) dip. 

Because, without new content, Harry Potter does not have a constantly regenerating audience of little kids that love the franchise and will go out of their way to ask their parents for a random line of LEGO play sets that feature early 00s nostalgia.

Hopefully, LEGO will realize their mistake and recalibrate for 2022.

I highly doubt there’s a new team in, case in point being Hogsmeade definitely still resembles the 2018-2020 style. I just think Lego had two problems with the Hogwarts expansions.

The first being there wasn’t anymore iconic exterior portions of the castle left to make in that style. Bell Towers aren’t very well known or that aesthetically pleasing to warrant its own set.  The second being is that a lot of highly requested scenes like Chamber of Secrets were simply too big to do in the 2018-2020 style without sacrificing the exterior detail or keeping the price a certain range. All the interior space was rather vignette style and compact. Like this new Great Hall clocks in at $130 being way less detailed, imagine if the 2018 prototype saw light of day, it would have been $170-180 easy. 

So what I personally think Lego did was use the 20th anniversary as a loophole. This way fans could get the highly requested larger scenes without being constricted by the exteriors. Add the nostalgia factor as well, and I could see why they saw $$$ in these sets. Will it be a mistake, time will only tell, but I can guarantee that Chamber set will be popular with kids and collectors alike, especially with that basilisk. 

 

[Flixter]

4 hours ago, sebastian666 said:

There are no new shows

Well there is in production.

[Textorix]

10 hours ago, Guyon2002 said:

The Harry Potter theme has been a big hit during the past 3 years, if the first wave where they try something new and different performs poorly they should be able to put 2 and 2 together and conclude that it wasn't a very smart decision to change things up. If it ain't broke don't fix it. 

Yeah I dont want to sound greedy but I hope that happens. Maybe they plan to return to 2018-2020 style of sets anyways but if they dont I hope they quickly relize they should after new sets wont do that well this year.

[Roebuck]

12 hours ago, Lego-Freak said:

That’s the thing that still confuses me the most  If that wave is also anniversary-themed, what’s the point of releasing two separate waves? We’re getting 8 regular sets in total (i.e. without the AC and the D2C set), which could easily have been released as one big wave, as is the case for a lot of themes. 

And releasing “regular” PS/CoS sets would be equally nonsensical because there’s no reason to give one wave the anniversary treatment and not the other, when both are based on the same movies  

Something tells me these sets are more experimental, like the Moments sets, but with a wider price range 

They have made all the HP/WW sets in small waves so far and it is probably just a business decision for whatever reason. At least I do not think that proves that the two summer waves are similar or not

5 hours ago, sebastian666 said:

I also hope the LEGO Harry Potter line lasts for a long time, but I think this logic is off. There is no guarantee that there will be a constant supply of new children who like Harry Potter.

Unlike Star Wars (or even Jurassic Park for that matter - see Camp Cretaceous), the Wizarding World franchise is not doing much to get new generations of kids excited about Harry Potter. There are no new shows, books, comics, or other content targeted at kids. Just merchandise and a theme park

Millions of kids read or listens to HP books every year, so the well will not dry up anytime soon. There is the books, the films, the play, the FB films and new games so there is not nothing new. I do not think SW do any better with all the new films they are popping out that fewer and fewer people care about. If it had not been for the Mandalorian they would probably be in trouble already and I think the sales are going down for Lego SW as well.

5 hours ago, sebastian666 said:

and an increasingly controversial matriarch.

Yes those feminist are not to be trusted Sorry for the OT

4 hours ago, RODDY said:

I highly doubt there’s a new team in, case in point being Hogsmeade definitely still resembles the 2018-2020 style. I just think Lego had two problems with the Hogwarts expansions.

The first being there wasn’t anymore iconic exterior portions of the castle left to make in that style. Bell Towers aren’t very well known or that aesthetically pleasing to warrant its own set.  The second being is that a lot of highly requested scenes like Chamber of Secrets were simply too big to do in the 2018-2020 style without sacrificing the exterior detail or keeping the price a certain range. All the interior space was rather vignette style and compact. Like this new Great Hall clocks in at $130 being way less detailed, imagine if the 2018 prototype saw light of day, it would have been $170-180 easy. 

So what I personally think Lego did was use the 20th anniversary as a loophole. This way fans could get the highly requested larger scenes without being constricted by the exteriors. Add the nostalgia factor as well, and I could see why they saw $$$ in these sets. Will it be a mistake, time will only tell, but I can guarantee that Chamber set will be popular with kids and collectors alike, especially with that basilisk.

I agree, time will tell, but I think the June sets will sell a lot. The question is what they will do in 2022, I still think they can go back to pre 2021 style or just continue with this years style
Personally I think there is to much focus on Hogwarts anyway and I would be much more interested to see future expansion sets for DA and Hogsmeade or other sets from the WW outside the castle

[girlie-site-boots]

6 hours ago, sebastian666 said:

I also hope the LEGO Harry Potter line lasts for a long time, but I think this logic is off. There is no guarantee that there will be a constant supply of new children who like Harry Potter.

Unlike Star Wars (or even Jurassic Park for that matter - see Camp Cretaceous), the Wizarding World franchise is not doing much to get new generations of kids excited about Harry Potter. There are no new shows, books, comics, or other content targeted at kids. Just merchandise and a theme park and an increasingly controversial matriarch. That will only take the franchise so far.

What was interesting about the LEGO Harry Potter reboot is that it really came about because of Fantastic Beasts - a new film series targeted at adult fans of Harry Potter. The LEGO sets, too, seemed targeted at adults with their beautiful and movie-accurate designs and a focus on “displayability” - not playability. I can’t tell you how many interior design sites I have seen the 2018-2020 sets featured in.

That’s why this new wave is so baffling to me... LEGO is clearly trying to monetize the nostalgia of people ages 25-35+ who had the original LEGO Harry Potter sets 20 years ago. But instead of focusing on beautiful, displayable builds in retro color palettes (which I would have been totally here for) they made boxy play sets for kids that won’t even understand or appreciate the 20 year old references.

I feel like LEGO must have put a new team of designers (this definitely doesn’t feel like Marcos’ work) on the Harry Potter line who took their project briefing a little too literally: “Give the adult fans sets and pieces they have been asking for - like the Chamber and a new Basilisk and Fluffy - and add a “collect them all” gimmick for the 20th anniversary but also make the sets something little kids will want to play with.”

The problem is that instead of appealing to a broad audience, LEGO has really narrowed the target audience to little kids with parents that remember the 2001 sets and want to relive them together.

Some diehard fans will buy these sets anyway (myself included), but I think LEGO will quickly realize their mistake when sales from adult collectors (especially adult women collectors - which seemed to be a target demographic from 2018-2020) dip. 

Because, without new content, Harry Potter does not have a constantly regenerating audience of little kids that love the franchise and will go out of their way to ask their parents for a random line of LEGO play sets that feature early 00s nostalgia.

Hopefully, LEGO will realize their mistake and recalibrate for 2022.

When kids stop buying HP Lego will stop making it. I don't believe that the current line was targeted at adults.

When the 2018 line started AFOL moaned about the reboot. Why do we need more HP? I'm half convinced the real reason adults get upset about remakes devalues their existing collection.

HP films and books are timeless, kids will be reading and watching them for a long time to come.

Stacking modules enable kids to collect smaller parts. Its easier to ask an Auntie to buy a £30 section of a tower for Christmas than it is to ask Santa for the whole £80 tower. Its also more doable to save pocket money for smaller sets.

But then have you seen the price the 2001 sets go for? Could Lego just be try to tap into that nostalgia market? 

 

Edited February 21, 2021 by girlie-site-boots

[BrickBob Studpants]

32 minutes ago, Roebuck said:

They have made all the HP/WW sets in small waves so far and it is probably just a business decision for whatever reason. At least I do not think that proves that the two summer waves are similar or not

Maybe. I still think it’s weird to split the waves up like that if they turn out to be connected 

33 minutes ago, Roebuck said:

Yes those feminist are not to be trusted Sorry for the OT

Not to derail the thread (again), but it’s her transphobic views that caused the controversy 

[Micmac]

I've seen some interesting takes on here on what the august wave will be and I'd like a lot of the theories so the only things I can think of them being that would upset people are odd sets that are based in Harry potter world but don't fit with the castle expansion we are used to. I'm thinking chess set, buildable creatures, buildable items like broom or the time turner or brickheadz. I really can't get my head around what the $250 set can be that we will not like,  i didn't get the micro scale hogwarts but I liked the look of it.  

I know a lot of people say they don't mind the new sets but when you compare them to what we got last year I think we will remember 2020 as an awful year but with amazing harry potter sets. I'm hoping the figures and interiors save this years wave.

[Roebuck]

59 minutes ago, Lego-Freak said:

Not to derail the thread (again), but it’s her transphobic views that caused the controversy 

Yes I am aware, radical feminism they call it However let's stop this before it starts or we all will be in a lot of trouble

39 minutes ago, Micmac said:

I'm hoping the figures and interiors save this years wave.

I am sure the figs will if nothing else do, however I believe some of us rather would have a "bad" set with no figs or only bad/reused ones so they do not end up hawing to buy "bad" sets just for the figs
I will wait for proper pictures before I make up my mind, the prelims are always bad anyway and I am sure the designers know what they are dooing

[Alexandrina]

36 minutes ago, Roebuck said:

however I believe some of us rather would have a "bad" set with no figs or only bad/reused ones so they do not end up hawing to buy "bad" sets just for the figs

That's exactly what saved me money re. the Expecto Patronum set! 

[Micmac]

53 minutes ago, Roebuck said:

I am sure the figs will if nothing else do, however I believe some of us rather would have a "bad" set with no figs or only bad/reused ones so they do not end up hawing to buy "bad" sets just for the figs
I will wait for proper pictures before I make up my mind, the prelims are always bad anyway and I am sure the designers know what they are dooing

I know what you mean but we don't normally see prelims so I don't think they are always bad, they are pretty much done, they get a few tweaks before release. The designers don't always know what will sell. And in a fantasy world yes I want great sets with great figures but it doesn't look like my fantasies are coming true this year so I would hope for something good in the way of figures as opposed to it all being bad. 

[OrderOfTheBrick]

Everyone expects the same level as previous years because we are used to it. But I don't see this as a change in design with how the next few years are going to look. This is just the anniversary design. And if you look at it as purely anniversary sets I think Lego has managed to do this well. 

You can assume that the preliminary image is what it's going to be. That's usually the case and you saw it with the hogwarts moment sets as well. The interesting thing is that there is nothing of Golden minifigures to be seen, so you can wonder if that information is accurate. It could be a last minute addition but could also be last minute deleted.

[Jinzol]

I see a set about the hut on the rock with harry, hagrid, petunia and vernon. Dudley in pj we get probably in the AC. It's harry's birthday so why not :)

[deskp]

As a slight defense of the  modular cubicle sets.

Last year they made room of requirements,  you could technically connect it to the castle, but it didn't make much sense.

it seems lego does want to make more room/ scene based sets.    they might as well have a modular format to give them some context, also makes it easier for customers to store these sets and feel like each new set contributes to a larger installation of moments.

I much prefer this format to the "book" moments they are making.

The figure selection should have been more interesting though.

 

Being that the chamber set is an anniversary based thing, will it come with an alternate build like the 2001 ones?

Should we all try and use the pieces from only june wave Hogwarts based sets to make belltowers?