Harry Potter 2021 - Rumors & Discussion

[krimimimi]

On 3/3/2021 at 3:15 AM, MaxHeadroom said:

The original glow in the dark snape minifigure is evidence of this. It's very similar to other early depictions of him. The Snape figure from Mattel's mini play sets in the early 2000s has a similar white/green/gray shade for his skin and is sculpted in a pose that's an exact match for some early art of the character. 

I really liked the idea of the glow in the dark Snape, actually. (Not so much the execution, but the concept.) Snape was described as "sallow", which literally means "yellowish", but at the time, all the HP minifigs were yellow skinned. Making Snape gitd, for me, is kind of like making Voldemort the only fig with a nose. It got a giggle out of me.

That said, I really wish we'd finally see a decent Snape this series. The other three Heads of House have been improved, but I really miss 2010's 4842's Snape.

1 hour ago, Alexandrina said:

So Cuaron made up another character when there was a student he could have used? Add that to the list of reasons why Cuaron should not have been given a Harry Potter film. 

 

46 minutes ago, BacktoBricks said:

The story is something like he was needed for some of the more 'action' scenes with Draco's gang in POA because the actor who played Goyle had hurt his arm and so could not fulfil that role. Could Pike have called been called Nott? Absolutely, although Nott was not so thoroughly connected with Draco in the books, but it would have kept it more faithful than creating a character. 

I completely understand the objection to making a new character, sort of like with Nigel Wolpert (as the ersatz Colin / Dennis / bits of Lee), but I appreciated them not making Theo Nott something he wasn't. It was nice to have one canon Slytherin boy who wasn't a bully or a budding Death Eater, or even a demonstrable snob, and that despite the fact Theo's father was basically the only original flavour Death Eater left from Riddle's school days. For me it gets too one dimensional when it's reduced to "all Slytherins are evil". This suggested at least the possibility of a more nuanced tack. 

Edited March 6, 2021 by krimimimi

[Roonil Wazlib]

They really should make a new Snape figure with a black waistcoat instead of purple. I know the costume it's based on is technically purple, but it's extremely dark and appears black in the film.

As for vaults underneath Diagon Alley... I really don't see how that would be possible. Even if it was possible, I don't see how that could look good. Am I missing something? You can't connect anything under a baseplate.

[Alexandrina]

1 hour ago, Lego-Freak said:

• Cuarón was the film’s director, not its writer
• Isn’t that a tiny bit extreme? He replaced a random student with another random student, hardly a crime 

Aside from the fact that I'm only being part-serious, Cuaron definitely had some degree of a say in the script. In any case, it's symptomatic of Cuaron taking liberties with the source material (the first two films are by far the most book-accurate.) Cuaron did a good job, but he had multiple new students when it would have been easy to pull a character from the book. The assumption for a long time was that Bronson Webb's character was Nott (I will personally always see him as Nott) because of this, and the new character Bem had a lot of lines which could easily have gone to Dean, Parvati or Lavender, or even one of the stable of Hufflepuff students established in the previous film. While Cuaron's changes weren't too egregious - though there are issues with bits of his storytelling, namely his failure to make it obvious to non-book readers who Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs were - it set the precedent which eventually resulted in the mess that was Half Blood Prince.

1 hour ago, krimimimi said:

It was nice to have one canon Slytherin boy who wasn't a bully or a budding Death Eater, or even a demonstrable snob, and that despite the fact Theo's father was basically the only original flavour Death Eater left from Riddle's school days. For me it gets too one dimensional when it's reduced to "all Slytherins are evil". This suggested at least the possibility of a more nuanced tack. 

Blaise Zabini fits this bill, doesn't he? And I know they're absent from the books, but both Tracy Davis and Daphne Greengrass could be argued as being 'decent' Slytherins, since they're never shown to engage with Malfoy's gang.

Also, the timelines don't match for Nott's father to have been at school with Voldemort (I suspect the Harry Potter wiki has made a mistake there), and Avery, Lestrange and Rosier are definitely all active Death Eater names in Harry's era - Mulciber too, possibly, though I'm not sure if there is such a character.

In any case, to keep things Lego related - is there any possibility of Nott/not-Nott turning up in a set? If the Shrieking Shack comes and it's a big enough set, I can see Lego padding the minifigures - since canonically you only have the trio, Black, Lupin, Snape and Wormtail. If they wanted more figures, Malfoy and his gang are the obvious choices, and not-Nott would be a new figure.

1 minute ago, Roonil Wazlib said:

As for vaults underneath Diagon Alley... I really don't see how that would be possible. Even if it was possible, I don't see how that could look good. Am I missing something? You can't connect anything under a baseplate.

With solid-enough supports on all four sides and a perimeter of overlapping bricks on top, you can just about get a structure that will balance - though not something that can easily be moved about. That's probably not something Lego will ever be doing in a set, though, even setting aside the large piece count just to support the baseplate.

[Roonil Wazlib]

2 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

With solid-enough supports on all four sides and a perimeter of overlapping bricks on top, you can just about get a structure that will balance - though not something that can easily be moved about. That's probably not something Lego will ever be doing in a set, though, even setting aside the large piece count just to support the baseplate.

Yeah, that's never gonna happen. I think we can all move on from that idea.

[Alexandrina]

1 minute ago, Roonil Wazlib said:

Yeah, that's never gonna happen. I think we can all move on from that idea.

Exactly. Anything that's going to require several hundred bricks to get structural integrity before you've even started on the actual build is a non-starter.

As an aside, do we ever really see the vaults beneath Diagon Alley? The closest thing I can think of is the Honeydukes basement in Hogsmeade, but that's not compelling enough to make a set.

[BrickBob Studpants]

20 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

While Cuaron's changes weren't too egregious - though there are issues with bits of his storytelling, namely his failure to make it obvious to non-book readers who Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs were [...]

I agree, that part bothered me too, but I’m not sure how they could get that across in the film without a clunky exposition dump. Maybe as a flashback, but that would’ve required four new actors to be cast (which did end up happening in OotP, but for a larger flashback scene). I think most non-readers figured it out in later instalments. With Voldy always referring to Pettigrew as Wormtail, it’s rather simple to connect the dots 

26 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

If the Shrieking Shack comes and it's a big enough set, I can see Lego padding the minifigures - since canonically you only have the trio, Black, Lupin, Snape and Wormtail. If they wanted more figures, Malfoy and his gang are the obvious choices, and not-Nott would be a new figure.

I wouldn’t mind that  My only issue with (semi-) random student minifigs is that they may take spots that could go to more interesting minifigs, which wouldn’t be the case here 

[Alexandrina]

1 minute ago, Lego-Freak said:

I wouldn’t mind that  My only issue with (semi-) random student minifigs is that they may take spots that could go to more interesting minifigs, which wouldn’t be the case here 

I definitely think Lego should keep up their trend of adding a minor student as an additional figure in all large Hogwarts-related sets, with different variants as appropriate. That way collectors can populate their Hogwarts displays with students, without needing a dozen Harrys and a dozen Malfoys. Justin in the Great Hall is a great continuation of this, and I have hope that at the very least the likes of Ernie, Terry Boot, etc. get a turn.

[MaxHeadroom]

51 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

In any case, to keep things Lego related - is there any possibility of Nott/not-Nott turning up in a set? If the Shrieking Shack comes and it's a big enough set, I can see Lego padding the minifigures - since canonically you only have the trio, Black, Lupin, Snape and Wormtail. If they wanted more figures, Malfoy and his gang are the obvious choices, and not-Nott would be a new figure.

That's already seven figures and there are only seven in the $80 Hogsmeade set (including golden Ron). I'm sure LEGO would want the shrieking shack in scale with the other buildings so I doubt it would be more than an $80 set even including the whomping willow. There could be one additional figure, probably a werewolf Lupin but I doubt LEGO would include the entire Malfoy trio. 

[krimimimi]

23 minutes ago, Roonil Wazlib said:

They really should make a new Snape figure with a black waistcoat instead of purple. I know the costume it's based on is technically purple, but it's extremely dark and appears black in the film.

I'd be thrilled if they ever got that deep, nearly black purple colour down, but I'll be happy with a black waistcoat. That bright purple thing he's sporting feels too much like clown school.  

22 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

Blaise Zabini fits this bill, doesn't he? And I know they're absent from the books, but both Tracy Davis and Daphne Greengrass could be argued as being 'decent' Slytherins, since they're never shown to engage with Malfoy's gang.

Also, the timelines don't match for Nott's father to have been at school with Voldemort (I suspect the Harry Potter wiki has made a mistake there), and Avery, Lestrange and Rosier are definitely all active Death Eater names in Harry's era - Mulciber too, possibly, though I'm not sure if there is such a character.

In any case, to keep things Lego related - is there any possibility of Nott/not-Nott turning up in a set? If the Shrieking Shack comes and it's a big enough set, I can see Lego padding the minifigures - since canonically you only have the trio, Black, Lupin, Snape and Wormtail. If they wanted more figures, Malfoy and his gang are the obvious choices, and not-Nott would be a new figure.

Daphne is virtually non-existent, and Tracey nothing more than a name, sadly. Wasted potential. But for all the source material provided there, they can just as easily invent new characters for the films, and that way they were less likely to create future paradoxes with the books.

Blaise is definitely a blood-supremacist *and* a snob. There's that one exchange between him and Pansy about Ginny being a "filthy blood-traitor" which quite economically establishes both of those traits (in addition to him being very picky ) in something like two sentences. So again, for me (mileage varies, obviously) it makes a difference keeping Theo's nose clean, and it also makes a difference that it's a male, because equating Slytherin maleness = Death Eater-lite isn't as rich a story, and gives young Snape a bit more of a pass than I prefer while cheapening his redemption arc. (Lego-wise, Zabini is a character I very much want as a minifig. Perhaps if they do another Quidditch set... Oh! Or they could make him one of the Quidditch accessory pack players. I'd love that.  And for the other three not to be Cedric / Cho / and Harry again... They could always have the Gryffindor player be one of the Weasley twins, and I'd have even more reason to pick up two packs.) 

As far as Nott Sr.'s age, fwiw my own father was fifty when my brother was born, so I don't see why the timelines don't work for someone of magical blood (with the associated lengthier natural lifespan) to have fathered Nott. (If he was in school with Voldemort, that would mean he's in his early to mid fifties at the time of Theo's birth. Less problematic in a wizard than a witch, too, I'd imagine, and certainly if one has an army of house elves to play nanny... ) If anything, an age gap might help explain why someone presumably so radical such as his father was more distant and influenced his (half-orphaned) son less than Lucius did Draco, say, without the son himself having been shown to have an exceptionally strong character of his own. Anyway, I found it not improbable. 

As far as my wishlist goes, I want not-Nott as a minifig about as much as I want Nigel (I guess ultimately I'm more of a book fan), but I'm perfectly capable of lying to myself so no worries there.  Seriously a variety of figs is great and will be welcomed no matter whom they're supposed to represent. It would be so nice to populate the castle with a variety of students... 

As far as Theo in a Lego set... the scene I always think of is with the Thestrals, which establishes that he's lost his mum, but I can't really see them releasing it. I would like an outdoors scene for CMC, though (without another hut ), perhaps with a Thestral and a Skrewt? We haven't had the former in a HP set, or the latter at all.  

36 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

That way collectors can populate their Hogwarts displays with students, without needing a dozen Harrys and a dozen Malfoys. 

Ooh, snap.  Great minds, etc... 

[Alexandrina]

30 minutes ago, krimimimi said:

As far as Nott Sr.'s age, fwiw my own father was fifty when my brother was born, so I don't see why the timelines don't work for someone of magical blood

I was mainly going off the Harry Potter wiki for this, which gives Nott Sr's year of birth as 1965, though this doesn't really work too well either. Factor in also me forgetting that Harry Potter is set in the early 1990s!

31 minutes ago, krimimimi said:

As far as Theo in a Lego set... the scene I always think of is with the Thestrals, which establishes that he's lost his mum

I genuinely don't remember that scene! My recollection of Nott in the books is him being sorted, and a later scene where he's described as "a weedy boy called Nott".

[Ringwraith]

57 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

I genuinely don't remember that scene! My recollection of Nott in the books is him being sorted, and a later scene where he's described as "a weedy boy called Nott".

Yeah I think Harry, Neville and Nott make up those who can see the thestrals in their fifth year class. It is conceivable (to me at least) that Lego do not give Nott/Pike a name and throw him in as a "Slytherin student" figure to avoid mixups if he was to appear in a set

Edited March 6, 2021 by Ringwraith

[Roonil Wazlib]

3 hours ago, krimimimi said:

As far as Theo in a Lego set... the scene I always think of is with the Thestrals, which establishes that he's lost his mum, but I can't really see them releasing it. I would like an outdoors scene for CMC, though (without another hut ), perhaps with a Thestral and a Skrewt? We haven't had the former in a HP set, or the latter at all.  

Did she ever specify that he was Nott, though? If I remember correctly, he's just referred to as a "Slytherin boy."

Edited March 6, 2021 by Roonil Wazlib

[Alexandrina]

48 minutes ago, Roonil Wazlib said:

Did she ever specify that he was Nott, though? If I remember correctly, he's just referred to as a "Slytherin boy."

I've just dug out my copy, and the exact quote is: "There were only two other people who seemed to be able to see them: a stringy Slytherin boy standing just behind Goyle was watching the horse eating with an expression of great distaste on his face; and Neville, whose eyes were following the swishing progress of the long black tail". Nott is not mentioned by name in the scene, and that Slytherin boy does not factor in again.

That said, it's a fair assumption that Nott is the Slytherin in question. Of the students in Harry's year, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle are mentioned by name in that scene. The only students whose House is unknown but could be Slytherin are Lily Moon, Sally-Anne Perks, Sophie Roper, Runcorn and Sally Smith - all female. 'Stringy' doesn't appear to describe Blaise Zabini at all, and Nott is the only remaining possibility. Given that he is explicitly described as 'weedy' in another book, everything lines up. JK is also on record saying that she knows more about Nott than is revealed in the books. If she created a backstory for him that would explain him being able to see Thestrals, it would make sense that she'd therefore mention it in that scene.

[krimimimi]

@Roonil Wazlib you're right, it was a "stringy Slytherin boy standing just behind Goyle" which means it also wasn't Draco who is mentioned by name repeatedly in the scene or Crabbe who is just as well known as Goyle. That leaves Zabini and the at this point nearly unknown Nott as possibilities, of which Nott was far more probable. 

@Alexandrina snap again. lol

Edited March 6, 2021 by krimimimi
that's what I get for not refreshing my screen.

[Roonil Wazlib]

1 hour ago, Alexandrina said:

I've just dug out my copy, and the exact quote is: "There were only two other people who seemed to be able to see them: a stringy Slytherin boy standing just behind Goyle was watching the horse eating with an expression of great distaste on his face; and Neville, whose eyes were following the swishing progress of the long black tail". Nott is not mentioned by name in the scene, and that Slytherin boy does not factor in again.

That said, it's a fair assumption that Nott is the Slytherin in question. Of the students in Harry's year, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle are mentioned by name in that scene. The only students whose House is unknown but could be Slytherin are Lily Moon, Sally-Anne Perks, Sophie Roper, Runcorn and Sally Smith - all female. 'Stringy' doesn't appear to describe Blaise Zabini at all, and Nott is the only remaining possibility. Given that he is explicitly described as 'weedy' in another book, everything lines up. JK is also on record saying that she knows more about Nott than is revealed in the books. If she created a backstory for him that would explain him being able to see Thestrals, it would make sense that she'd therefore mention it in that scene.

 

40 minutes ago, krimimimi said:

@Roonil Wazlib you're right, it was a "stringy Slytherin boy standing just behind Goyle" which means it also wasn't Draco who is mentioned by name repeatedly in the scene or Crabbe who is just as well known as Goyle. That leaves Zabini and the at this point nearly unknown Nott as possibilities, of which Nott was far more probable. 

@Alexandrina snap again. lol

Okay, can't argue with that lol. She gave a little bit of info about Nott in the Malfoy article on the old Pottermore. It's probably somewhere on archive.org

I always mistakenly thought the other Slytherin boy in the POA snowball fight scene was Nott as well. How about a new "Hogwarts Student Accessory Pack" with Bem, Pike, Nigel, and Michael? 

[Alexandrina]

3 minutes ago, Roonil Wazlib said:

How about a new "Hogwarts Student Accessory Pack" with Bem, Pike, Nigel, and Michael?

Too many Gryffindors!

Though there's a risk Lego see it differently - "not enough Gryffindors" - and give us Bem, Nigel, Michael and another Harry.

[Roonil Wazlib]

7 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

Too many Gryffindors!

Though there's a risk Lego see it differently - "not enough Gryffindors" - and give us Bem, Nigel, Michael and another Harry.

Not enough Harry. Give us four Harrys with short legs in Gryffindor jumpers.

[Alexandrina]

6 minutes ago, Roonil Wazlib said:

Not enough Harry. Give us four Harrys with short legs in Gryffindor jumpers.

And Cho, for some reason. 

[JintaiZ]

On 3/4/2021 at 6:23 PM, deskp said:

A fairly small set, using a whole lot of pieces, costing a 100 bucks. Including only the main characters.
The potter theme already has several sets better than it.  not this year so far, no

 

On 3/4/2021 at 7:33 PM, RODDY said:

I have to agree with this, the Winnie the Pooh set looks ridiculously small for a $100, looks about $70 if I’m being quite honest. You’re telling me that is the same price of The Burrow, that’s absolutely absurd. I’ll take the new Great Hall/CoS over it any day of the week. 

I have to agree that it's not a big set, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad value. If we take a look at the volume of stuff in the box, $100 feels about right.

 

From The Brothers Brick

Edited March 6, 2021 by JintaiZ

[Crookshanks]

On 3/5/2021 at 6:45 PM, Textorix said:

Yeah I have the same opinion about new Hogwarts sections. They look so bad because they are based on outdated 2001-2002 build design which is also the reason some people like them because nostalgia thing. 

It feels like lego go 2 step back with the design of the castle sections. I don't get it why they're making a whole new structur for the castle.

Is it a new designer for the HP theme now and not Bessa? 

[RODDY]

5 hours ago, JintaiZ said:

 

I have to agree that it's not a big set, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad value. If we take a look at the volume of stuff in the box, $100 feels about right.

 

From The Brothers Brick

Personally I think that shot is a bit deceptive, I have seen a couple of unboxing YouTube videos and the box doesn’t off come as big as it does here. The angle doesn’t show off the space for the box hinges to close in, biting from the size. Then you got the manual which takes up around a third of volume. Some people go by PPR, others go by volume, personally I like to go by the physical footprint of the set, especially when I’m forking at or north of a $100.  I go by physical footprint because at the end of the day, you’re not going to remember how many pieces a set has or how much it weighs, but the you’ll always remember how the final set looks on a shelf. This is an amazing set packed with details I’m not going to deny it, and I grew up watching Winnie the Pooh so I have a soft spot. But this set just doesn’t have the physical footprint that I expect at a $100. Sometimes I break that rule if it’s a set I really want, but as much as I love Winnie, I really don’t have the desire or space to own it. There’s too many great sets that do have a physical footprint and much more desirable than Winnie. Gardens, Blacksmith and the June HP wave are my priority rn. But this set really does make me want to see a fleshed out Whomping Willow from POA but at $80. 

Edited March 7, 2021 by RODDY

[Alexandrina]

8 hours ago, JintaiZ said:

 

I have to agree that it's not a big set, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad value. If we take a look at the volume of stuff in the box, $100 feels about right.

 

From The Brothers Brick

I have to say, I would be pretty miffed if I spent a hundred and got that. Yes, the box is heaving - but it looks like a £70 box to me. I doubt I would buy a Harry Potter set with the same price to size ratio unless the minifigures were excellent. 

[Roebuck]

5 hours ago, Crookshanks said:

Is it a new designer for the HP theme now and not Bessa? 

He is the design lead on the theme, there are several other designers that do most of the sets and those have changed a lot every year. Have not heard any news of him changing job and I do not think that is the issue being the change in style anyway

Most of us where expecting DH sets this year and that could mean some sort of closure on the theme and I would not be surprised if that was what they originally planned when they started the theme again. However with the sales the theme is doing they clearly changed that plan. So they could keep the original plan and next year start giving us sets we missed the first time around, but they did not do that either apparently since they started with that last year already. Instead they used the 20 year anniversary to give us something different this year by the looks of it, but they give us mostly things we where asking for right. If they give us DH sets next year in the "normal" style as some people expect/hope for then what in 2023, they would definitely not give us a COS, Flyffy, bathroom etc set in the "normal" style then. So they use up a number of set ideas this year which makes it a little more unlikely they are going back to the "normal" style next year in my mind

I do not follow SW closely, but my understanding is that they save sought after figs and sets for years before they give them to the fans. E.g. Queen Amidala that did not show up in a set before 12-13 year had passed and never since so she cost a goat or two on BL My guess is that they have started the same tactic in HP to make the theme last longer, but what can they give us:

1. DA expansions, a lot to make and it could become a annual collectible like the modulars, but with a lower price point. However if we do not get a set this year this becomes more unlikely every year
2. Hogsmeade expansions, still more to make here also
3. Hogwarts expansions, like they do, but maybe they will change style every 3 years and start over again
4. Setts we missed the first time, they already started with that also
5. Different from minifig scale, done that from the beginning with D2C Hogwarts, Hedwig, I think we will see more in this category as times goes
6. Other stuff, like the books, arts, only the imagination is the limit so here I expect more to come as well
7. CMF every other year and D2C every year maybe

[Alexandrina]

44 minutes ago, Roebuck said:

E.g. Queen Amidala that did not show up in a set before 12-13 year had passed and never since so she cost a goat or two on BL 

You could get the Gungan Sub for less then than Amidala alone now. I hope Harry Potter inflation never gets to that extent! 

[Textorix]

13 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

You could get the Gungan Sub for less then than Amidala alone now. I hope Harry Potter inflation never gets to that extent! 

I hope HP will never last forever like Star Wars. At least I hope it stops for like 5-7 years or so after we get everything. I am slowly running out of space :DD