Wizarding World 2022 - Rumors & Discussion

[BrickMatit]

9 hours ago, Micmac said:

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.

When dreaming about Gringott, I wish it would be to scale with the rest of Diagon Alley. A set bigger and higher than a single Diagon Alley part, but with comparable dimensions and style.

[mark1991t]

Marcos Bessa, designer of de new Hogwarts Express and former Design Lead has announced his set on Instagram and answered a question that was asked. For those who do not have instagram and want to know:

Quote

Soon departing Platform 9¾!

This is the latest and greatest set from the @LEGO Harry Potter line that I had the pleasure of designing. This model also marks the official end of my journey as Design Lead - how fitting? - as I embark on new adventures into uncharted grounds! (well, I did so almost a year ago 😅, but you’ll only see what I’ve been cooking up next year!)

This is the most authentic and accurate LEGO version of the Hogwarts Express we’ve created to date. It was designed to fit approximately the scale of 1:32, to accommodate the rich level of detail (both inside and out!), while standing naturally next to our minifigures without haunting them with its impressive size! It has plenty of little things to be discovered, especially on the inside of the passenger car, and comes with not 1, not 2, but 3 light bricks!! 😂 I hope you’ll enjoy building and discovering this beauty if you ever get a chance!

This model was only made possible with the hard work and love of many of my colleagues, but I must name some of those that worked closer to me: Helene Desprets, Kerstin Bannert and Michelle Martinsen (packaging, communication and marketing), Patricia Andersen and Jeppe Mohr (project management), Peter Kjærgaard (graphic design), Jakob Nielsen (element design), Jette Storm (production masterdata), Michael Madsen (building instructions), Monika Fruergaard (model coaching) and finally Andrew Seenan, the new Design Lead, that got the final design through the approval process with our IP partners at Warner Brothers. We did it! 🥰

Coming soon on August 31st!

 So the new Design Lead of Harry Potter is Andrew Seenan, don't know if that we knew that already.

Quote

 

Q: Hi Marcos, I really like this new Hogwarts Express, it looks great, however I wonder at any point in the design process, did you consider making it slightly smaller and to be compatible with Lego train track? I understand the reasoning as a larger scale gives more room for the interiors, but did you try maybe 8 wide at any point which would work with train layouts? Or decide you wanted to go all out and made the tracks wider as well

A: quite early we’ve decided we wanted a different experience than the play theme version of the train, that we still have in the assortment. Besides, doing a steam train bigger than the ones we’ve done, but keeping the “big wheels” small enough to work with our tracks means doing it in the scale we’ve done before. You can’t really make bigger wheels and still have the engine run on all our types of curved tracks.

 

[Citromon]

5 hours ago, Seaber said:

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. 

That micro Hogwarts is retiring at the end of this year.

[Murdoch17]

49 minutes ago, mark1991t said:

You can’t really make bigger wheels and still have the engine run on all our types of curved tracks.

(emphasis my own)

XL (11) and LL (10) Wheels that are just one or two sizes bigger than standard Lego ones (#9) work just fine with Lego track, so this statement makes no sense. It's almost as if they're just looking for excuses to not make a regular size, good looking Hogwarts Express. see this handy chart by @supertruper1988 that I borrowed from the train tech forum for what I mean by the sizes / numbers: (big picture alert!)

Spoiler

 

Edited August 11, 2022 by Murdoch17

[PotterBlocks]

1 hour ago, mark1991t said:

Marcos Bessa, designer of de new Hogwarts Express and former Design Lead has announced his set on Instagram and answered a question that was asked. For those who do not have instagram and want to know:

 So the new Design Lead of Harry Potter is Andrew Seenan, don't know if that we knew that already.

 

He’s also commented on the lack of epilogue Ron and Hermione:

we had them at one point, before we added the figures from movie 6. But then there was an imbalance on the amount of figures between the different scenes: 4 or 5 on the first two, and 12 or so on the last one (the families on the platform) to cover every one. We wanted to shift the focus to the journey of the lead character on board of the train: from meeting his new friends in movie one, to sending his own children to Hogwarts years later! Besides, the two extra students help populate the station with a bit more recognizable and iconic Hogwarts outfits, since all other characters are in plain "civilian" clothing.

 

Also seems to hint at Gringotts being on the way when asked who is going to design Gringotts:

’the project is in very capable hands don’t worry’

Edited August 11, 2022 by PotterBlocks

[Clone OPatra]

I mean sure, everything comes down to a decision, and with these sorts of things there can be rationale going every which way, but that doesn't mean it's ultimately the best decision at the end of the day.

I get the desire to have some "memorable moments" that happened on/around the Hogwarts Express from throughout the series, but then they've gone the extra step of coupling them with totally unimportant and not iconic quotes. Having a quote that says "I think... someone's coming aboard" is just cringey. It's a good Rupert Grint line delivery in the movie, but not something you want on a plaque. Same with the HBP scene of Harry getting stomped and associated unimportant quote. You can see the line of thinking that lead there, but it's also a line of thinking spiralling out of control.

As for not including Epilogue Ron and Hermione, sure the explanation "makes sense" but also just as easily doesn't. We didn't need their kids, just them. The scene isn't complete without recreating the shot of Harry and his best friends looking off wistfully at the HE. Nobody needs the context of generic Hogwarts students at this price point to set the scene.

[BrickMatit]

1 hour ago, PotterBlocks said:

He’s also commented on the lack of epilogue Ron and Hermione:

we had them at one point, before we added the figures from movie 6. But then there was an imbalance on the amount of figures between the different scenes: 4 or 5 on the first two, and 12 or so on the last one (the families on the platform) to cover every one. We wanted to shift the focus to the journey of the lead character on board of the train: from meeting his new friends in movie one, to sending his own children to Hogwarts years later! Besides, the two extra students help populate the station with a bit more recognizable and iconic Hogwarts outfits, since all other characters are in plain "civilian" clothing.

I'm sorry, but if this is the real reason... well, it's similar to the "too dark" statement against Deathly Hallows sets.

Really, in a so expensive and iconic set you have to put two random Hogwarts students to populate the station with recognazible and iconic outfit and to don't ruin the balance?

I will not buy this set cause I'm not interested in, but I would really want to know the person that prefers random Hogwarts minifigures to exclusive Ron and Hermione.

 

[THELEGOBATMAN]

Wow, what a dumb explanation 

Hermione and Ron were literally the most essential part of Harry's journey.

[RichardGoring]

1 hour ago, BrickMatit said:

I'm sorry, but if this is the real reason... well, it's similar to the "too dark" statement against Deathly Hallows sets.

Really, in a so expensive and iconic set you have to put two random Hogwarts students to populate the station with recognazible and iconic outfit and to don't ruin the balance?

I will not buy this set cause I'm not interested in, but I would really want to know the person that prefers random Hogwarts minifigures to exclusive Ron and Hermione.

I've not watched the films for a while, but one enduring memory of them is that as they went on there were fewer and fewer instances of being in wizarding clothes, and them just being in normal clothes. I know that for a lot of the later films they're outside of Hogwarts, but even in the middle films in Hogwarts there's a lot of non-wizarding clothes. I didn't get this impression from the books, so it's clearly a creative decision in the movies. (I personally didn't like it, but that doesn't matter). So to focus on the need to include Hogwarts robes when there weren't really a lot visible anyway, just seems a bit odd. Especially given that they're at the expense of two people somewhat vital to the scene. Oh well.

[Balrogofmorgoth]

Incompetence at its finest if you ask me

[Seaber]

2 hours ago, Citromon said:

That micro Hogwarts is retiring at the end of this year.

Oh cool, even better. 

 

2 hours ago, PotterBlocks said:

we had them at one point, before we added the figures from movie 6. But then there was an imbalance on the amount of figures between the different scenes: 4 or 5 on the first two, and 12 or so on the last one (the families on the platform) to cover every one. We wanted to shift the focus to the journey of the lead character on board of the train: from meeting his new friends in movie one, to sending his own children to Hogwarts years later! Besides, the two extra students help populate the station with a bit more recognizable and iconic Hogwarts outfits, since all other characters are in plain "civilian" clothing.

Fair enough!

[YetiZombie]

3 hours ago, Citromon said:

That micro Hogwarts is retiring at the end of this year.

No it's not - end of 2024 is accurate. It was extended.

[mark1991t]

54 minutes ago, RichardGoring said:

I've not watched the films for a while, but one enduring memory of them is that as they went on there were fewer and fewer instances of being in wizarding clothes, and them just being in normal clothes. I know that for a lot of the later films they're outside of Hogwarts, but even in the middle films in Hogwarts there's a lot of non-wizarding clothes. I didn't get this impression from the books, so it's clearly a creative decision in the movies. (I personally didn't like it, but that doesn't matter). So to focus on the need to include Hogwarts robes when there weren't really a lot visible anyway, just seems a bit odd. Especially given that they're at the expense of two people somewhat vital to the scene. Oh well.

I've re watched every scene on Kings Cross station in the movies (1,2,3,5 and 7.2) and in none of them anybody, even Percy, is wearing robes of some sort. The smallest to any Hogwarts costume I could find were Gryffindor Quidditch sweaters in 7.2 as seen below:

 

[brimbolet]

19 hours ago, Clone OPatra said:

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.

No, I follow HP quite closely, though I must admit I don’t collect it myself, only buy it for gifts.

I always considered the box-art to be heavily photoshopped (but based on real bricks) but never 3d renders...

[RichardGoring]

35 minutes ago, mark1991t said:

I've re watched every scene on Kings Cross station in the movies (1,2,3,5 and 7.2) and in none of them anybody, even Percy, is wearing robes of some sort. The smallest to any Hogwarts costume I could find were Gryffindor Quidditch sweaters in 7.2 as seen below:

Even more bizarre then!

[THELEGOBATMAN]

42 minutes ago, mark1991t said:

I've re watched every scene on Kings Cross station in the movies (1,2,3,5 and 7.2) and in none of them anybody, even Percy, is wearing robes of some sort. The smallest to any Hogwarts costume I could find were Gryffindor Quidditch sweaters in 7.2 as seen below:

LMAO, here goes their reasoning 

[Textorix]

Gringotts is on it’s way so at least we can start speculate what essetial characters they will drop for some random no name students/civilians there lol :DDD

Edited August 11, 2022 by Textorix

[Balrogofmorgoth]

43 minutes ago, Textorix said:

Gringotts is on it’s way so at least we can start speculate what essetial characters they will drop for some random no name students/civilians there lol :DDD

Idk. They know we want it, and they clearly love to troll us. Could just be full of it 

[spiderfan2000]

A Deathly Hallows version Gringotts could at least include Harry, disguised Hermione and Ron, Griphook, Bogrod, and some number of generic goblins and Gringotts Guards.  There wouldn't be much point to having minifigures from the first movie, considering we already got the versions of Harry, Hagrid, and Griphook from that scene.

[Textorix]

26 minutes ago, spiderfan2000 said:

There wouldn't be much point to having minifigures from the first movie, considering we already got the versions of Harry, Hagrid, and Griphook from that scene.

Only if there were other DA building included. If they would make also Borgin and Burkes building they could include Narcissa Malfoy, Draco, Fenrir Greyback, some regular Death Eater etc. If it will be just Gringotts then I think around 8-10 minifigures would be enough for this set. Gringotts alone isn’t enough for standalone large D2C, because it can’t be oversized to fit with Diagon Alley set, so my bet is we will get at least one more building.

Edited August 11, 2022 by Textorix

[Scarilian]

Overall this set seems like a massive mistep that pleases nobody fully - even people who want the set seem to be saying how bad a certain aspect is, from the choice of figures to the specifics of the design/scale.

[karrit]

7 minutes ago, Scarilian said:

Overall this set seems like a massive mistep that pleases nobody fully - even people who want the set seem to be saying how bad a certain aspect is, from the choice of figures to the specifics of the design/scale.

Exactly my feelings.  I would have expected more platform as opposed to an unnecessarily overly built up track that hogs too many pieces that could have been put to better use elsewhere in the build.  And I really wanted at least the Hogsmeade Platform also for a set of this type & expense. 

The bit about the students in the robes is ridiculous for a set such as this.  The students were never in their robes in Kings Cross Station.  I remember one scene on the train where Hermione told them it they better change into their robes because they were almost to the station.  Obviously the students wouldn't be in their robes in Kings Cross so the Muggles wouldn't know there were wizards about. 

I really like the set in general but the price tag is making me seriously doubt that I'll end up buying it.  It was a stretch for me to go ahead and get the "Icons" set last year but the price was a bit more affordable and it replaced at least for me the need to get the previous Hedwig.  I never bought the Micro Hogwarts because I much prefer the minifig scale sets so I can't justify the price for the Micro set.  I still need to get the two female founders though.

[spiderfan2000]

31 minutes ago, Textorix said:

Only if there were other DA building included. If they would make also Borgin and Burkes building they could include Narcissa Malfoy, Draco, Fenrir Greyback, some regular Death Eater etc. If it will be just Gringotts then I think around 8-10 minifigures would be enough for this set. Gringotts alone isn’t enough for standalone large D2C, because it can’t be oversized to fit with Diagon Alley set, so my bet is we will get at least one more building.

Gringotts could technically be very substantial on its own if it had a separate (or at least detachable from the back or something) underground build with the mine cart tracks (likely with a Thief's Downfall feature) and at least the Lestrange Vault (though Harry's vault and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone vault would also be great to see incorporated somehow). The vaults could also be a separate set, but pretty much everyone who could be included there (even the dragon) was also in the main building at some point, so there would be a lot of overlap in minifigure selection.  But there's really a number of approaches LEGO could go with depending on the price point they're aiming for. 

[NoOneOfImportance]

5 minutes ago, spiderfan2000 said:

Gringotts could technically be very substantial on its own if it had a separate (or at least detachable from the back or something) underground build with the mine cart tracks (likely with a Thief's Downfall feature) and at least the Lestrange Vault (though Harry's vault and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone vault would also be great to see incorporated somehow). The vaults could also be a separate set, but pretty much everyone who could be included there (even the dragon) was also in the main building at some point, so there would be a lot of overlap in minifigure selection.  But there's really a number of approaches LEGO could go with depending on the price point they're aiming for. 

I think price point is the biggest question here. If they did a nice $250 Gringotts with the Ironbelly being built at full scale, it could easily just be focused on those two builds, with Gringotts maybe having a full bank interior and some track. I feel like LEGO would focus on adding a good Ironbelly to go with the bank rather than building up an extra building for the set. 

[BacktoBricks]

The fact that Lego has just revealed, intentionally or not, their big grand Harry Potter set of the year and yet the focus of this chat has very quickly turned back to Gringotts should tell Lego everything they need to know. 

#thatwasnotthesetwewerelookingfor

Edited August 11, 2022 by BacktoBricks