Wizarding World 2023 - Rumors & Discussion

[RODDY]

I said it at the beginning of the theme’s initial rebirth but I just don’t think the theme is evergreen in terms of material . People will always eat up anything Harry Potter of course but the universe isn’t expansive enough and seeing we pretty much got everything essential in five years time just shows it’s lack of longevity. If it was up to me, admittedly I don’t have any of the expertise or foresight of the Lego group, I just would have done a five year plan. 2021 would have been Deathly Hallows with the Hogwarts expansion being the bridge and boathouse to add on to the 2018 line. Hog’s Head, Lovegood House, Ministry of Magic, 2011 Forbidden Forest remake, Lake of Dean. The Forbidden Forest sets are some of my favorites in this line so seeing them go was sad. D2C would be Gringotts still don’t get why they did the owl. So that would cover pretty much all of DH. Then 2022 would be catchup sets. So Durmstrang Ship, Second Task, Shrieking Shack, Inferi Cave, 12 Grimmauld Place, First Year Detention to introduce a new Unicorn and Fang molds. Hot take D2C would still be the Hogwarts Express to conclude our multi film/book journey. And that would be the end of the theme for me. A limited run to cover all the basis. 

[krimimimi]

Thanks for some of the excellent answers. (Keep 'em comin'...)

@brickbride, a couple of thoughts while reading, 1) I miss the yellow figs too (and am annoyed that I now think about race while MOCcing Lee). If they were all yellow, lego could have concentrated on hair, and I'm sure we'd have had him and a whole lot more by now. That said, that ship has sailed, and representation does matter (full marks to lego on that front), but it still bugs me sometimes that we're no longer all just yellow, or that as a result it devalues other sets' usefulness as parts packs. 2) The 8 x 8 crosshatch thingy plates have grown on me. I MOCed part of my Hogwarts using the PPM, and had to go back to using tiles / grates on the edges to allow for more diverse fig placement. The matrix basically offers that from the get go, which is an advantage. 3) I miss the play features, too. Oh look! A scroll under the cauldron! No idea why it's there and it doesn't matter.  That old Potions set was so much fun. I cheered the moving books in the library, and appreciated the random frog between stories in 12GP as it stood in for the pygmypuff nest and doxies and all spiders they cleared out. More please. 4) Thank goodness I'm not the only one who doesn't actually like Dobby.  (I did tear up, though, but still.) 5) I have that Millennium Falcon for the same reason. Bring on the small sets! (see complaints in response to Slytherin Alumni above) I still can't believe we didn't see a series of 15 EUR ish modular tasks in the dungeons with one or two figs. Ron with a rudimentary chess board and the queen. Hermione with the logic task. Harry with Voldemort and the mirror, or flying with the keys, preferably both... And frankly I'd even appreciate a better version of the Devil's Snare. If you're going to do modulars, embrace it and run with it.

@MaxHeadroom I wouldn't dream of asking anyone to find remakes exciting, and appreciated your well explained take. Thanks for taking the time to convey it. You're absolutely right, the changes in design have really advanced in leaps and bounds. That said, and I'm not trying to "convert" you , but there were two examples of mileage varying that stood out for me and amused me. 1) I actually liked the absence of framing in the RoR's pillar cabinets as it also stands in as those weird columns that end in mid-air for the regular RoR for me, so I was charmed by what I felt was an excellent compromise, halfway between each, but I accept that also means they did neither "correctly" either. 2) It's also funny because I appreciated the random turrets, as that's part of what makes Hogwarts Hogwarts for me. I've grown up around castles, some things about Hogwarts are normal, some are bonkers, and it felt like the designers finally remembered to insert a bit of the architectural fun. (That said, the weird thing in the upper left hand middle bugs me, but then I still haven't figured out what I would have preferred instead. It needs something just not... that?) But I find it interesting how the same thing works for one person and then falls completely flat for the next.

@RODDY if it's still in their top 5 sellers, which it was last year anyway, then there's a far far bigger market than we think. I've never understood how they haven't the hit saturation point on the Knight bus and Express long ago, and yet it seems not. That's fine for me, because it works in my favour. (The more sets, the greater the probability I get things I like.) I found the world building often stronger than the stories, so I'm easily as happy with locations as I am with scenes. If they could manage to make small 40-50 EUR ish sets that represent a single store from DA, they'd have me on the hook for years to come, and I couldn't help noticing how many Christmas displays now have the Hogsmeade shops integrated thanks to their snowy roofs, so I think there's a lot of unachieved potential there as well. 

Forbidden Forest... We had the Thestral Carriage and the Shrieking Shack with the Whomping Willow (which means one of mine landed in the FF) in 2022, so maybe 2021 was a one year, treeless glitch? We'll have to wait and see if we get a tree in the BoH or something. They have a leafy tradition to uphold. Either way it obviously won't be the inexpensive set, preferably Forest of Dean, that I'd hoped though. How do you not do that set? Maybe next year. 

[Whovastron]

On 4/12/2023 at 8:08 PM, BrickBob Studpants said:

@Whovastron: Every shameless soulless cashgrab remake of a beloved franchise has been utterly horrible so far, so why should this be any different? Or name one good remake, besides Dune. I’ll wait.

Also, can’t wait for that slavery subplot in GoF 

I hope TLG will give us all of the missing stuff from the movies before this travesty unfolds.

Anyone that uses ‘I’ll wait’ unironically in an argument is laughable. It’s not a remake anyway, re-adaption.

you can say besides Dune, but that is a good remake (readaption) so you’ve already proven yourself wrong. But hey I’ll bite; It, King Kong, A Star is Born, Batman Begins/The Batman, little Women, Casino Royale, Oceans 11, Fright Night. I’d argue the Jungle Book too.

 

[BrickBob Studpants]

1 hour ago, Whovastron said:

It’s not a remake anyway, re-adaption.

Doesn’t make it any less creatively bankrupt

1 hour ago, Whovastron said:

It, King Kong, A Star is Born, Batman Begins/The Batman, little Women, Casino Royale, Oceans 11, Fright Night. I’d argue the Jungle Book too.

Batman doesn’t count, as every version is completely different with different stories and villains. They’re reboots, not remakes. And in the other cases, the originals were either ancient or not all that popular anymore to begin with.

1 hour ago, Whovastron said:

Anyone that uses ‘I’ll wait’ unironically in an argument is laughable.

Ok, that was maybe uncalled for. However, I still think it’s a terrible idea to turn a series of beloved, iconic, high-profile movies into a streaming show. If this is financially successful, which I’m afraid it’s going to be, it’s gonna set a precedent. Those buffoons already announced a Twilight show, so Hunger Games and Lord of the Rings remake shows cannot be far behind.

What next after that? A 007 streaming show? A Jurassic Park remake show? A Star Wars remake show?! Ok, the last one is not happening in our lifetimes

As I’ve said, I’ll do the same thing I do with all shows (except for Stranger Things and the Marvel and Star Wars shows): just ignore it  Movies are where it’s at, for me personally at least.

The main thing is, that I just don’t want sets based on it.

[JeanGreyForever]

1 hour ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Those buffoons already announced a Twilight show, so Hunger Games and Lord of the Rings remake shows cannot be far behind.

The difference is that Twilight's show is a spinoff show set in the same universe as the movies and not a remake. The Hunger Games has a prequel movie coming out soon (and it looks awful but it's set in the same universe as the movies). New LOTR movies have been confirmed but there's not much information on whether they will be remakes or continuations of the original movies.

HP is getting its legacy entirely wiped out with a complete reboot. I find that unforgivable.

[Bugbot20082]

On 4/21/2023 at 3:42 PM, RODDY said:

, I just would have done a five year plan. 2021 would have been Deathly Hallows with the Hogwarts expansion being the bridge and boathouse to add on to the 2018 line. Hog’s Head, Lovegood House, Ministry of Magic, 2011 Forbidden Forest remake, Lake of Dean….. D2C would be Gringotts still don’t get why they did the owl. So that would cover pretty much all of DH. Then 2022 would be catchup sets. So Durmstrang Ship, Second Task, Shrieking Shack, Inferi Cave, 12 Grimmauld Place, First Year Detention to introduce a new Unicorn and Fang molds.

If they wanted they could indeed finish of the theme with all the missing sets you mentioned (all on my want list make no mistake), but I think the reason they are adding in sets like the Owl D2C, the books and banners, trunks, buildable creatures and expanding into the dots range etc which are all beyond the usual scope of a typical film licence tie-in  is because they want to make it evergreen. They will continue to do remakes of the great hall and potions classroom and The clock tower etc as different ages of children drop in and out of interest of the theme as the years go on. 

There is an evergreen market for HP merchandise in general, as can be seen with the existence of various wizarding world specialist shops selling wands, stationary, scarfs and soft toys etc and the theme parks of course which are very successful. Here in the U.K. there are still some HP doll figures and a dollhouse like castle and a few small collectible pencil toppers figures etc which I see in all sorts of shops. 

[krimimimi]

On 4/21/2023 at 12:44 PM, Ondra said:

Im looking for microscale Hogwarts, promobricks show some knock-off, but that knockoff is around 6000 pieces according to internet.

So how lego will manage same look with 2260 pieces will be very interesting.

I was taking about just this with a friend the other day, and had found some MOCs in roughly the target range. 

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-7518/EthanBrossard/hogwarts-castle-miniature-model/#details 2832 pieces

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-31838/MOMAtteo79/harry-ptter-architecture-bundle-hgwarts-castle-and-hgwarts-express-at-hogsmeade/#details 2053 pieces

And for something a little different, christromans has done lovely nanoscale versions of the 2018+ series of HP builds, including the Express, Knight Bus and 4 Privett Drive for a similar number of pieces, but at the expense of the grounds given the other sets covered. https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-115480/christromans/mini-h-potter-collection/#details 2831 pieces

Edited April 22, 2023 by krimimimi

[Ondra]

2 hours ago, krimimimi said:

I was taking about just this with a friend the other day, and had found some MOCs in roughly the target range. 

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-7518/EthanBrossard/hogwarts-castle-miniature-model/#details 2832 pieces

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-31838/MOMAtteo79/harry-ptter-architecture-bundle-hgwarts-castle-and-hgwarts-express-at-hogsmeade/#details 2053 pieces

And for something a little different, christromans has done lovely nanoscale versions of the 2018+ series of HP builds, including the Express, Knight Bus and 4 Privett Drive for a similar number of pieces, but at the expense of the grounds given the other sets covered. https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-115480/christromans/mini-h-potter-collection/#details 2831 pieces

This is too small for my taste, I hope it will be different but it will be easy pass.

[TheInvisibleMan]

So a random question for you all: what do you actually do with the sets you buy? I originally started collecting this theme for the minifigures, which I have on display in wall-mounted frames. But the sets just take up too much space and as much as I love them, I ended up boxing them away in crates.

I by no means buy all the sets, but many of you seem to buy most of them, so was just curious as to what you do with them (especially the D2C, which are far too expensive to buy and not have on display as far as I’m concerned…)

[mirkwoodspiders]

4 hours ago, TheInvisibleMan said:

So a random question for you all: what do you actually do with the sets you buy? I originally started collecting this theme for the minifigures, which I have on display in wall-mounted frames. But the sets just take up too much space and as much as I love them, I ended up boxing them away in crates.

I by no means buy all the sets, but many of you seem to buy most of them, so was just curious as to what you do with them (especially the D2C, which are far too expensive to buy and not have on display as far as I’m concerned…)

Excellent question. As of now, I have the playsets un-opened in storage for whenever I may have the space to build and display. The D2Cs are built and on display. If I never have the space to display the other sets, I'll probably end up trying to sell them in the future. Hard to keep up across multiple themes I like and have the space needed to display everything.

[JeanGreyForever]

6 hours ago, TheInvisibleMan said:

So a random question for you all: what do you actually do with the sets you buy? I originally started collecting this theme for the minifigures, which I have on display in wall-mounted frames. But the sets just take up too much space and as much as I love them, I ended up boxing them away in crates.

I by no means buy all the sets, but many of you seem to buy most of them, so was just curious as to what you do with them (especially the D2C, which are far too expensive to buy and not have on display as far as I’m concerned…)

I have no space to display them so I keep them in kitchen or bathroom cabinets for storage so I don't have to take them apart and can pull them out whenever I want. It's also a good way of keeping them dust-free.

[bRICKbRAT]

Summer wave blurry image leaked is on insta. 

[JeanGreyForever]

What's the building by WWW? It's black and gray so I thought it might be Borgin and Burkes but it has a completely different shape.

WWW looks okay but not that different from what we got in Diagon Alley. The Weasley face looks a lot better though so they seemed to address that complaint from the DA set.

Hagrid is confirmed part of the Hogwarts/Hogsmeade Station set. I can't see if Fang is there and I think that's Harry in front of Hagrid. At least the train has two compartment cars.

The Hogwarts set does seem to be the Entrance Hall. With a courtyard to match. Quite impressive looking imo and can't wait to get a closer look.

I also can't tell what the little white and purple "building" is in between Dobby and the patronus stag. I don't see Lupin's wolf patronus either unless the thing portruding out from the stag is the wolf's snout on the left.

[bRICKbRAT]

1 minute ago, JeanGreyForever said:

 

I also can't tell what the little white and purple "building" is in between Dobby and the patronus stag. I don't see Lupin's wolf patronus either unless the thing portruding out from the stag is the wolf's snout on the left.

I believe that’s the Cake Dobby levitates in the second film. 

[JeanGreyForever]

Just now, bRICKbRAT said:

I believe that’s the Cake Dobby levitates in the second film. 

Oh you're right. It's the pudding Aunt Petunia makes. It looked familiar to me but I really thought it was some microscale building I couldn't recognize. I don't care for brickbuilt characters but Dobby does look quite cute.

[bRICKbRAT]

I know it’s hard to see but if you zoom at Bellatrix who’s on the roof of the Final Battle set, you can faintly see printing on her dress. 

 

[JeanGreyForever]

11 minutes ago, bRICKbRAT said:

I know it’s hard to see but if you zoom at Bellatrix who’s on the roof of the Final Battle set, you can faintly see printing on her dress. 

 

Thanks for confirming. I can't see it at all but I'm glad we're finally get printing again on her dress even though I have the original Bellatrix from the first Burrow set.

[Xcube]

I have the feeling that something is wrong about the information of the hogsmeade set. The train itself already has about 1000 parts. I believe that 76423 is the number of the train and 76422 the station. Weasleys Wizard Wheezes set has a number, that is probably not known yet. I see more than 800 pieces. Of course everything can be wrong :)

[Slytherin Alumni]

Exciting to get a bit of a teaser; especially seeing all sets (minus D2Cs) together. 

BoH looks pretty big. Seems to be a tri fold out structure probably not including much interior.

WWW looks good and appears to come with a side build? Knock turn Alley entrance, maybe? Looks too small for B&B. Could also be the entrance to DA where you tap the bricks to get in, not the LC itself. 

@Xcube I agree, prices seem off, but let’s hope not. 

[JeanGreyForever]

The entrance to Knockturn Alley was attached to WWW in the DA set so maybe that side building is a more fleshed out Knockturn Alley entrance.

[BrickBob Studpants]

I like what I‘m seeing! Highlights so far are Hagrid, the improved head above the WWW entrance, and the fact the HE has two compartments for the first time  Dobby is not as creepy as I had feared

[TheInvisibleMan]

That BoH set looks huge! 
But what is the writing on those blue cards? Does it look like Chinese characters?… 

seriously though, that leak is far too blurry to make any real judgments from, so I’ll hold off until we get better pics. I just hope the insides of the buildings aren’t a let down

[Darth Shadowthrone]

I think this theme is obviously super successful and has a lot of funding for prints and new pieces so the designers are diversifying to appeal to general Harry Potter fans as well as collectors 

 

Personally the only 2023 sets I’ll end up getting are the Second Task and Gringotts. The only 2022 set I feel like I have to catch up on is Grimmauld Place so I feel quite relieved I can have a bit of a budget for other themes as well 😅

10 hours ago, TheInvisibleMan said:

So a random question for you all: what do you actually do with the sets you buy? I originally started collecting this theme for the minifigures, which I have on display in wall-mounted frames. But the sets just take up too much space and as much as I love them, I ended up boxing them away in crates.

I by no means buy all the sets, but many of you seem to buy most of them, so was just curious as to what you do with them (especially the D2C, which are far too expensive to buy and not have on display as far as I’m concerned…)

 

I love that Hogwarts build! The other sets don’t really interest me but I am saving up for Gringotts anyway 

[SuperChris]

1 hour ago, Xcube said:

I have the feeling that something is wrong about the information of the hogsmeade set. The train itself already has about 1000 parts. I believe that 76423 is the number of the train and 76422 the station. Weasleys Wizard Wheezes set has a number, that is probably not known yet. I see more than 800 pieces. Of course everything can be wrong :)

I’d love this to be true - but looking at the image there are 6 blue ‘text boxes’. One of each set I’m assuming. It would be too kind of LEGO to release Hogsmede Station as a stand alone set.

[krimimimi]

2 hours ago, JeanGreyForever said:

I don't see Lupin's wolf patronus either unless the thing portruding out from the stag is the wolf's snout on the left.

It's a 2 in 1 set, so they're displaying the more sensical (as it actually appeared in the films) stag rather than the wolf version no one has seen outside of fan art.

 

Why would we be seeing the WWW now? It's slated for later release, August, IIRC. 

The Hogsmeade Station looks like a kind of hybrid of the PS and later versions. Strange, but nice. I definitely won't be spending that much on it, but maybe ebay...

 

Hey are those capes I see in the Quidditch set? @Vindicare, we may be getting those Ravenclaw capes after all!

Edited April 23, 2023 by krimimimi