Wizarding World 2022 - Rumors & Discussion

[BrickMatit]

My two cent on Hogwarts Express set.

[Short version]
Not my cup of tea: easy pass for me and 500€ saved for future sets .

[Long version]
This set is truly impressive and I am sure it will look great on a shelf or in a display case.

But that's not what I look for into LEGO!

My philosophy, speaking of LEGO, is to buy sets, minifigures or pieces with which building and playing and staging improvised stories (even while I assemble a set, alternating with my brother, we invent stories with characters and pieces gradually coming out of the bags  ).
Of course, my sets, Harry Potter ones, are also on display (and I will continue to do so at least as long as I have space ), but the reason why I buy LEGO is never just that. For this reason, for example, I bought Diagon Alley, but I didn't buy the microfigure castle (although I bought the four founders) and I didn't buy last year's icon set.

At this point, it should become clear why, even if I appreciate the set (but I'm not totally pleased by the yellow-red colour combination), I will not purchase it.

This set, in fact, is for adult collectors, everything is favor of the scenic impact (a strong scenic impact), but for me playing component doesn't exist. 

Minifigure are simply ok (I was never too fond of the 19 years later scene ): I really like Train Conductor, Remus Lupin and Ron (3rd year); I appreciate Ron (1st year), Harry (adult), Ginny and Malfoy; all the rest, in my opinion, is nothing special (have I already said that I'm not too fond of the 19 years later scene? ).

[BrickBob Studpants]

Just opened my delivery and inside was… the Anniversary Castle. Dang it, first time I ever was disappointed by getting exactly what I had orderded!

[chrisincanada]

9 hours ago, chrisincanada said:

Just watched the official 'lifestyle' video of it.  I own every Lego HP set and minifigure, I have 2 extra carriages for the current Hogwarts Express model to make it a little more accurate, this was a guaranteed buy for me, but...I like is so much LESS after seeing this video.  The red is just so wrong.  The track looks, so, well, fake. All the detail that the box art seems to suggest is lost when you see the train in 'real life' in real lighting, same with the brick work of the station. The bright yellow on bright red is just awful.  It should be gold on crimson, not yellow on red.  And what is with the name plate of the train being about 3 feet in front of the engine suspended in air...for once I am begging for a sticker. Gutted.

 

 

 

Just retracting a previous statement, upon watching videos I guess the name plate on the front of the train DOES protrude from the front like this.  

 

Can anyone account for the conductor being in dark red (if only the train was!!!) ?  The conductor in the movie at King's Cross wears blue.  The conductor at Hogsmeade does indeed wear crimson but has black pants.  Is this meant to be either?  It seems a tease that Lego would include the conductor for Hogsmeade station when so many fans wanted that to be the station included, not KC.

[BrickBob Studpants]

9 minutes ago, chrisincanada said:

It seems a tease that Lego would include the conductor for Hogsmeade station when so many fans wanted that to be the station included, not KC.

I don‘t think Hogsmeade station ever stood a chance against KC. I know they included it in the 2004 set, but in terms of sheer iconicity, nothing it can offer even comes close to platform 9 3/4

[chrisincanada]

12 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

I don‘t think Hogsmeade station ever stood a chance against KC. I know they included it in the 2004 set, but in terms of sheer iconicity, nothing it can offer even comes close to platform 9 3/4

Oh I do agree and I really love how they have represented KC here.  No more of the platform is required in my opinion, this little section checks all the boxes.  I particularly appreciate the architecture below the platform, that could easily have been skipped.  I just can't get around the crimson uniform for the conductor.  Just makes him a random background character rather than the actual character from the film who had a line of course and only appears in navy blue from what I can find.

[Murdoch17]

8 minutes ago, chrisincanada said:

Oh I do agree and I really love how they have represented KC here.  No more of the platform is required in my opinion, this little section checks all the boxes.  I particularly appreciate the architecture below the platform, that could easily have been skipped.  I just can't get around the crimson uniform for the conductor.  Just makes him a random background character rather than the actual character from the film who had a line of course and only appears in navy blue from what I can find.

That conductor wasn't part of the Hogwarts Express though, as he didn't know anything about Platform 9 3/4! He was just a regular conductor who happened to be asked a question by Harry, and latter witness the sealing of the archway when Harry & Ron Ran into the (now solid) brick wall.

[chrisincanada]

11 minutes ago, Murdoch17 said:

That conductor wasn't part of the Hogwarts Express though, as he didn't know anything about Platform 9 3/4! He was just a regular conductor who happened to be asked a question by Harry, and latter witness the sealing of the archway when Harry & Ron Ran into the (now solid) brick wall.

Absolutely agree he wasn't HE crew but he was still very much part of the scene that this set is depicting more so than a crimson conductor who never appeared on either the train or on KC platform at all.

[mark1991t]

The conductor you guys talking about is the Muggle Station Guard, from the first and second movie. The conductor in this set is based around the conductor from the Hogwarts Express as seen in THIS scene from the fifth movie.

Better quality photo for reference:

 

[Whovastron]

1 hour ago, chrisincanada said:

Absolutely agree he wasn't HE crew but he was still very much part of the scene that this set is depicting more so than a crimson conductor who never appeared on either the train or on KC platform at all.

Yeah this set isn’t depicting any scene that guy was in at all. The station is intended to depict the epilogue 

[BenderBrau]

So the Big A$$ Hogwarts Express got revealed. Alright, the trains itself looks gorgeous if a bit oversized and the selection of minifigures is pretty good even considering the random students clearly should've been adult Ron and Hermione instead. But why, WHY is a third of the pieces wasted on the train base and the underground section of the platform? I mean it doesn't look bad, just a bigger section of the station would be preferable. I think it will be wiser to just buy the HE alone off of Ebay, should be about £150, the 15 unique figures (and the ticket) should amount to about £200 on Ebay/BL, maybe a bit less if bought later. Not the best deal ever but saves the trouble of displaying the platform.

[Balrogofmorgoth]

I still think this set choice is just so weird. I suppose they’re just trying to come up with things to fill in until they’re ready to give us Gringotts. I do think the set looks phenomenal. But the price is disgusting. The raised tracks are a waste of parts and budget. I don’t really care that the scale is off because it’s a display piece first and foremost. I think the printed ticket is really cool, and I love the figures, although the exclusion of the Epilogue Weasleys is really dumb. The quote plaques are kind of stupid too. Not super excited by this, I’m pretty happy with the 2018 Hogwarts Express. But it does look great for what it is and I’m excited for the figures. I’ll probably pick this up eventually but it certainly won’t be a priority 

[evanevanevan]

41 minutes ago, BenderBrau said:

I think it will be wiser to just buy the HE alone off of Ebay, should be about £150, the 15 unique figures (and the ticket) should amount to about £200 on Ebay/BL, maybe a bit less if bought later. Not the best deal ever but saves the trouble of displaying the platform.

You think people will sell the HE alone for 150?? I imagine at least 250... it's well over half of the set

[BenderBrau]

11 minutes ago, evanevanevan said:

You think people will sell the HE alone for 150?? I imagine at least 250... it's well over half of the set

perhaps you're right, I'm bad at estimating

[mark1991t]

17 hours ago, Timemaster11 said:

The Harry should have been the Harry that first gets on the train, not Diagon Alley Harry, doesn't make a ton of sense

I don't know if you have read the books and are confused by that, because those scene's in the books happen on different days, but in the film they happen on the same day, that's why Harry's wearing the same clothes in both scenes.

[mark1991t]

 

Timelapse of the build of the train. Not many new things to see, but we get a little peak of what's inside the tender and the hallway of the carriage. The compartments have printed sliding doors.

[eldiano]

Underwhelming, I thought it would include another carriage at least

[brimbolet]

Can someone please explain, why Lego is showing renderings instead of photos of the finished set on their official site?

[Felkin]

21 minutes ago, brimbolet said:

Can someone please explain, why Lego is showing renderings instead of photos of the finished set on their official site?

They probably hadn't finished the proper renders yet; this set wasn't supposed to be revealed for a few days. Hopefully they'll update the official site, those renders are terrible... although it makes you realise how good they usually are!

[chrisincanada]

5 hours ago, mark1991t said:

The conductor you guys talking about is the Muggle Station Guard, from the first and second movie. The conductor in this set is based around the conductor from the Hogwarts Express as seen in THIS scene from the fifth movie.

Better quality photo for reference:

 

Ah excellent, thank you. That's another of my gripes with this set gone. It is becoming harder to say no to this now...

[mirkwoodspiders]

I get the sense many were expecting this thing to be more playable than it's supposed to be. Like, more wagons, narrower track to be compatible with current train sets and be able to move said wagons around, a motor to be self-propelled, a larger portion of KC, etc.

I wish it had all these things, but frankly that's not the point of this set. At least, I have a hard time believing that's the point of it from what I can see so far. For what it is - a display model - it satisfies the requirements of looking great and realistic as a static piece. Gripes about the price and minifigure choices and unbelievably careless plaque errors are justified, but I can't say the same for gripes about compatibility and playability. It's just not what this set was made to be.

Making the suggested and desired changes would either make it too expensive for most (by adding more to KC and another cart or two - probably pushing it into the $650 range?) or not large enough to be sufficiently detailed (shrinking it to fit current LEGO train tracks).

[Clone OPatra]

2 hours ago, brimbolet said:

Can someone please explain, why Lego is showing renderings instead of photos of the finished set on their official site?

 

2 hours ago, Felkin said:

They probably hadn't finished the proper renders yet; this set wasn't supposed to be revealed for a few days. Hopefully they'll update the official site, those renders are terrible... although it makes you realise how good they usually are!

Legitimate question, not sarcastic: have you both not been following this line for a while? The Harry Potter line has had some horrendous renders as actual box art images since its third year (surely designed pre-pandemic, so just because its third year was 2020 is no excuse). It shouldn't be hard for a company like LEGO to render out their images to a photo-real level, especially since the average person can do it at home, yet they've been using very obvious computer-y look renders for this line for a while now.

[Micmac]

I fell like Diagon Alley is the odd one out now in the Large Harry Potter exclusive sets. 

We have had a miniature version of Hogwarts,  a large scale animal and objects and now super detailed version of the train. These are all display pieces rather than a play with set.  I'm not sure we will get an extension to the alley in the same way as we did before. I can see them doing a Gringotts set like the Ministry or Grimmauld place price point or going the train route and making it really detailed display piece with the dragon but I'm not sure we will get a bank plus extra shops in the new $500 american dollars or $800 here in oz. I really hope they just do it by itself as a play set as the price of the sets is getting ridiculous. It's such an iconic build and will sell lots at the lower price and they can always rerelease it later as the more expensive detailed set. It would be weird for them to do it the other way, a really detailed one and then a cheaper version a few years later.

The Dragon could be a seperate set with some of the vault or mines scene. And I think people would buy individual shops to add to Diagon alley like Knockturn Alley and the Leaky Cauldron that could be designed differently to the alley shops (maybe like the Three Broomsticks) but could still be displayed with it. 

Also I love some of the torso prints for the trio in the new train set but Lego is really bad at keeping them exclusive to a set now so I'm sure they will turn up in next years sets. A few will stay exclusive like the driver and Trolly lady and the epilogue family.

[Clone OPatra]

26 minutes ago, Micmac said:

I can see them doing a Gringotts set like the Ministry or Grimmauld place price point ... I really hope they just do it by itself as a play set as the price of the sets is getting ridiculous. It's such an iconic build and will sell lots at the lower price and they can always rerelease it later as the more expensive detailed set.

For it to be done properly I think Gringotts will need to be slightly larger and more expensive than Grimmauld or the Ministry, but LEGO isn't afraid to go a little bigger in their regular lineup anyway, as evidenced by the Chamber of Secrets set (which is now $150 USD after the price increase). That would be plenty for a proper Gringotts, and I agree - make Gringotts a good old-fashioned mainline set and thus more accessible to more people.

Then again they seem to like experimentation in this line, so there's nothing stopping them from making the next D2C smaller and be a $250 USD Gringotts, for instance.

[Seaber]

5 hours ago, Micmac said:

I fell like Diagon Alley is the odd one out now in the Large Harry Potter exclusive sets...

With the Harry Potter theme, I think sets based on Hogwarts Castle, the Hogwarts Express, the Flying Car, Quidditch and the Knight Bus are likely to be similar to how X-Wings, the Millennium Falcon, Snowspeeders, and TIE Fighters are treated in the Star Wars theme. 

These have been made huge, tiny, bundled in with other craft, in 4+ sets, in the cheaper lower detailed lines, etc. But they keep coming back and making them as they're so iconic. I think we'll have something similar with the more popular HP vehicles and locations. 

In terms of large scale sets like the Hogwarts Express and Icons sets, the Knight Bus would seem like the only likely remaining vehicle, probably around £180-£200 based on the Creator London Taxi size and price, but assuming this is able to hold minifigures. For animals/items in the vein of the Icons set, there is obviously loads of choice, but I am not sure that set was hugely popular so not sure they'll want to follow it up with another so soon. 

In terms of microscale, unless it is a return to Hogwarts, no other locations are big enough. I suppose they could do a mini/micro scene pack (Hogwarts Express on the Viaduct, Knight Bus through London, full Quidditch Pitch, etc, but again not sure there would be demand for watch would almost be a UCS AC 

I think a return to a minifig heavy large location is likely for the next big set. Whether it includes Diagon Alley with Gringotts, Leaky Cauldron, Knockturn Alley and more shops, or something different who can say. 

I would love to see a minifig scale Hogwarts (probably it would only be the Great Hall and Grand Staircase Tower) as a future big set, but as the micro one is not due to retire until the end of 2024,not sure that's likely to be the next one. 

[Timemaster11]

14 hours ago, mark1991t said:

I don't know if you have read the books and are confused by that, because those scene's in the books happen on different days, but in the film they happen on the same day, that's why Harry's wearing the same clothes in both scenes.

I stand corrected, you are right I was mixing up the books and the movies. I will change my gripe to they could have at least given us arm printing and fixed his shirt color.