Wizarding World 2023 - Rumors & Discussion

[joeee]

Even though I have the 2018 HE and the D2C Diagon Alley, I was ready to shell out money for the new HE for the station and WWW for the Owl Post shop.

BUT, I just took a closer look at the Owl Post shop at Universal Orlando...and knowing how well TLG made Diagon Alley if they had the budget, I can't help but see the Owl Post shop being translated so poorly. (Definitely they were tight on money!) But I am wondering if it will bring down how pretty DA looks if I combined them.

[MaxHeadroom]

5 hours ago, Rolyat24 said:

I agree that with the BoH set and the “official” layout of the modular castle, it does feel like that system is coming to an end. However, I’m left wondering what would set a new system apart from the previous two enough to warrant such a reboot? I think it’s too soon to simply rehash the 2018-2020 system. Personally I’d love the truly modular castle that 2021 promised us, but that seems even less likely. I’m curious what you all think. I doubt LEGO would go even a year without Hogwarts in some form. 

As for the summer sets, I’m definitely underwhelmed. I have no interest in the buildable creatures/characters, although Dobby does look better than expected. With a tight budget, I’m definitely not hashing out for another Express or WWW. They’re both nice enough though for those who don’t have them already. If the Quidditch trunk were maybe $30-40, I could see it, but at the current price it’s laughable. 
 

Likely the only set I’ll buy from the wave is the BoH (+ Gringotts eventually). That’s just as well, I still have the 2022 sets to catch up on. 

The other day I read the designer’s notes on the 2018 Great Hall set and if I remember right they discussed how they originally designed a set of 7 larger models to represent the complete castle and originally the Great Hall and staircase tower were separate sets. Personally I’d love to see something like that.

Imagine that combination image of the sets currently on the market but with all the sets not being rectangles and actually based on the parts of the castle they’re meant to represent in that combo model. The 2018 micro set covered the same portion of the castle. They could even do Clock tower and Bell Tower sets to go around the sides/back. Include a maybe 6-8 brick high level of rocks underneath at least the modules where that wouldn’t be covered by bridges (again like the combo image) I think it could be the perfect Hogwarts exterior line. If they had some kind of loose plan for the interior and gave us all form common rooms or dormitories that would be cool too. Plus the essential classrooms (something this system has completely failed to do). 
 

Let’s be honest, those 2018-20 sets could be a lot better. The Great Hall and the attached tower are IMO possibly inferior to the 2010 version. The Great Hall is entirely the wrong shape and the staircase tower is missing the larger upper section and turrets. The viaduct entrance is too small. The Whomping Willow set really overinflated the number of short modules and space that the system took up too. They’re great but there were compromises made. Now that thanks to the 2021+ system we know Lego HP can sell just about any vaguely castle looking build and that the theme will be around for many years I think it they could do something far more extensive than the 2018-20 system. After that I’d love to see them try this dollhouse system again, avoiding the many problems the current one has encountered and actually commuting to making interior sets (hopefully the gimmick foldout interior sets would be gone by then no longer taking up that part of the market). 

[NostalgicBricks]

If you live in Switzerland, the sets are up on Smyths toys. They have them all except Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and Dobby. So is the train not a Lego exclusive (it doesn't have a Smyths exclusive banner)? I will be surprised if Dobby is a Lego exclusive. 

I don't understand why the sets aren't up on Lego Shop @ Home yet (except Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and the Brickheadz), or why they don't seem to have been officially acknowledged by Lego. I want to know the UK prices.

[krimimimi]

@NostalgicBricks, the last HE was a TRUs exclusive for the first year or so, until Smyths replaced them and then it was basically a Smyths exclusive for a long time, so it wouldn't surprise me if they went that route again. (May not be true globally, though.)

@Textorix, iirc, you have some digital Bell Towers lying around. If it wouldn't be too much bother, could you add them to the new grand Hogwarts layout, behind the Clock Tower and courtyard, maybe with a greenhouse in there, too? I'm betting we could get one or two more sensical years out of the 2021+ modular scheme, particularly if they stretch it with BoH foe sets. (Y'know, the sort of thing they'd need to take it from the Epic Disagreement of Hogwarts (Epic D'oH) to an actual Battle.)

 

I suspect the reason for the releasing the Hogwarts plan at this time is to encourage people to get the sets for the mega build before they retire. I believe PPM is the only one officially retired at this point, and it's still available on many store shelves, but by next year that status should be true for more of the sets. Anything else to come would be added on the edges of the build, like a new Quidditch set (2025?), Bell Towers, Herbology, the wooden bridge, the Forbidden Forest, the Slytherin and Hufflepuff dorms...

But I have to agree with so many others, how lego ever thought designing a school with nearly no classrooms made sense... We should have seen those DADA classes with Lupin, and we're long overdue for another one of Snape's Potions classes. (On the other hand, it's fair to say the Moment sets gave us reasonable interiors for those MOCs without too much waste, but still...)

[Seaber]

13 hours ago, Rolyat24 said:

I’m left wondering what would set a new system apart from the previous two enough to warrant such a reboot? I think it’s too soon to simply rehash the 2018-2020 system. Personally I’d love the truly modular castle that 2021 promised us, but that seems even less likely. I’m curious what you all think. I doubt LEGO would go even a year without Hogwarts in some form. 

There has still not been a great version of the Great Hall, and the Grand Staircase Tower included have never been very grand, so I think next year they would be a key place to start. They'd have to be modular to some degree, as you could never have the whole of Hogwarts for sale at one time, but the rough tower design pattern from 2018-20 (perhaps that could open and close at the back rather than being open) and corridors and the connecting structures similar to 2021-23 would work well I think.

I'd also love to see Troll in the Dungeon too. 

[Lemerbrix]

5 hours ago, NostalgicBricks said:

If you live in Switzerland, the sets are up on Smyths toys. They have them all except Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and Dobby. So is the train not a Lego exclusive (it doesn't have a Smyths exclusive banner)? I will be surprised if Dobby is a Lego exclusive. 

I don't understand why the sets aren't up on Lego Shop @ Home yet (except Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and the Brickheadz), or why they don't seem to have been officially acknowledged by Lego. I want to know the UK prices.

Weasley's wizard wheezes is a target exclusive in the U.S, but I don't know what the deal is in Europe 

Edited May 4, 2023 by Lemerbrix

[Accio Lego]

16 hours ago, Lemerbrix said:

After seeing the pictures of the hogwarts express, I wondered “Who in titan’s name is lee Jordan?” One trip to the Harry Potter wiki later, it turns out that lee Jordan is a friend of the Weasley twins, and in sorcerer’s stone (philosopher’s stone for my European friends) he is in his third year at hogwarts, which this set is based on, therefore, he should have the mid legs, and if you think that lego doesn’t do it for other characters, for example: the monster book of monsters (not to be confused with the book of monsters from Nexo knights) is based off prisoner of Azkaban, and Draco uses mid legs,the herbology class has Cedric diggory, who was in year three at the time, so he uses mid legs, hogwarts carriage and thestrals has Luna lovegood, who is in year 4 during order of the phoenix, so she uses mid legs, etc

This isn’t the first time they’ve given all the students in a set the same legs and messed someone up as a result. The 2020 Room of Requirement set featured Luna with full sized legs like Harry and Hermione despite the fact that she should have had mid legs.

(Luckily, that year’s advent calendar featured Yule Ball versions of the trio who were extras for those of us who already had the Clocktower set. So I had an easy way to fix Luna, and Lee can get the same treatment) 

[Yope]

Lee Jordan should have mid legs (and probably a more mature facial expression as these are less childlike normally for 3rd year onwards).  And I believe Romilda should also have mid legs as she would be in 4th year in the HBP in which the WWW set is based. 

[Ferder]

7 hours ago, MaxHeadroom said:

The other day I read the designer’s notes on the 2018 Great Hall set and if I remember right they discussed how they originally designed a set of 7 larger models to represent the complete castle and originally the Great Hall and staircase tower were separate sets. Personally I’d love to see something like that.

From the book "Lego Harry Potter Magic Treasury" the designer discusses the 2018-2020 lineup, saying  

Quote

Early on I came up with the idea to make a modular version of the Hogwarts. The 'sketch model' I built was very big! It featured the Great Hall and the Clock Tower entrance as the two largest modules as well as classrooms, the Gryffindor common room, kitchens, bridge and walls. The idea was almost dropped later in development until Raphael realized the Hogwarts build in his Whomping Willow set would fit really nicely on the side of the my Great hall set. With minor changes to both our models, the modular idea was resurrected! I put a connection point on the other side of the Hall too, so when the Woon Tze was later asked to develop my Clock Tower entrance into a set, we could connect it in a similar way to the original modular sketch models.

With the completion of this most recent modular Hogwarts design, this almost feels like a realization of the designer's idea, though I suspect his design was closer in style to the 2018-2020 and less like the boxy one we got. 

[TheInvisibleMan]

I find it interesting that the brickheads have the new broom designs. Seems like Lego hasn’t completely given up on them then… so hopefully we’ll see them again in the normal sets too

[Seaber]

1 hour ago, Yope said:

I believe Romilda should also have mid legs as she would be in 4th year in the HBP in which the WWW set is based. 

She was aged up to Harry's year (and Katie Bell aged down) 

[Textorix]

7 hours ago, krimimimi said:

@Textorix, iirc, you have some digital Bell Towers lying around. If it wouldn't be too much bother, could you add them to the new grand Hogwarts layout, behind the Clock Tower and courtyard, maybe with a greenhouse in there, too? I'm betting we could get one or two more sensical years out of the 2021+ modular scheme, particularly if they stretch it with BoH foe sets. (Y'know, the sort of thing they'd need to take it from the Epic Disagreement of Hogwarts (Epic D'oH) to an actual Battle.)

Sure, here you go :) ... wasn't too difficult to figure out what layout they used.

Here 4K render actually looks great unlike on Instagram that always butchers it :DDD

Edited May 4, 2023 by Textorix

[krimimimi]

@Textorix Yeah! Thank you! It looks great. 

Proof of concept. They can easily still add a few sets yet to the monster build of Hogwarts before starting over again. Hopefully they'll be willing to stretch the shelf life of the sets a little in order to give us greater variety in between Hogwarts cycles. 

[Legocentrico]

35 minuti fa, Textorix disse:

Certo, ecco qua :) ... non è stato troppo difficile capire quale layout hanno usato.

Qui il rendering 4K in realtà sembra fantastico a differenza di Instagram che lo massacra sempre :DDD

how did you figure out the layout??? I still look at it now and I don't understand which pieces and where they are …….. :-O

[BacktoBricks]

17 minutes ago, krimimimi said:

@Textorix Yeah! Thank you! It looks great. 

Proof of concept. They can easily still add a few sets yet to the monster build of Hogwarts before starting over again. Hopefully they'll be willing to stretch the shelf life of the sets a little in order to give us greater variety in between Hogwarts cycles. 

I'm sure they extended the supposed retirement date of the Chamber of Secrets from end of 2023 to end of 2024 so hopefully that means they may still be thinking of adding some more. Not all the sections to make this monster model will remain on shelves until then mind you, but I think this new configuration for the sets really shows the potential this set up has.

[krimimimi]

1 minute ago, BacktoBricks said:

I'm sure they extended the supposed retirement date of the Chamber of Secrets from end of 2023 to end of 2024 so hopefully that means they may still be thinking of adding some more. Not all the sections to make this monster model will remain on shelves until then mind you, but I think this new configuration for the sets really shows the potential this set up has.

I can picture just this being behind revealing the "Hogwarts" plan now. Previous official layouts / stages didn't look at all like the castle and were often greeted with indifference or a strong desire to MOC. By contrast, this does look like Hogwarts, which increases the appeal, and as long as they let people know where the theme is headed while the sets are still available, that's fair, likely to curb frustration and encourage sales of sets before they go EOL. (Like how Sirius's rescue suddenly became a whole lot more appealing. lol)

[BacktoBricks]

4 minutes ago, krimimimi said:

I can picture just this being behind revealing the "Hogwarts" plan now. Previous official layouts / stages didn't look at all like the castle and were often greeted with indifference or a strong desire to MOC. By contrast, this does look like Hogwarts, which increases the appeal, and as long as they let people know where the theme is headed while the sets are still available, that's fair, likely to curb frustration and encourage sales of sets before they go EOL. (Like how Sirius's rescue suddenly became a whole lot more appealing. lol)

Exactly. The thing is it's so good they must have had this plan surely? And it must have been frustrating for designers to see criticisms of the model(s) if they knew of a bigger picture.

That being said, why wouldn't they try and keep it going for longer when they have revealed their master plan which shows the potential for this system? All I can think is, from what I have seen elsewhere, whilst people see the new photo and think it looks really good now, it has been revealed at a time when a lot of people have become fatigued with this system, and even the theme itself, and have very recently sold or are currently selling off this Hogwarts system. So whilst this plan might have taken a while to come to fruition and it looks great it's also kind of killed itself off slowly and this is now the last hurrah.

It will be fascinating to see where it goes.

However, something I feel also that does not bode well for it is the lack of small sets this year. A castle section like Polyjuice Potion, maybe representing the Final Challenge etc, could easily have been offered this year but for some reason they have stayed completely away from that price point in this theme, arguably aiming to make parents and grandparents spend more when they pick up a set for a child from a recognised theme. Then again, on the other hand maybe they don't want too many sections on the shelves at a time and when the Hospital Wing, Sirius's Rescue and Polyjuice Potion retire at the end of this year they will be replaced next year with other sets that can also either add on to this new larger model or recreate it by being of similar configurations as those sets that are retiring. That way 2024 will see the largest castle sections remain on shelves and some smaller ones to keep the connections going and then 2025 will see a new system.

I honestly don't know; it's never easy to second guess Lego!

[Textorix]

56 minutes ago, Legocentrico said:

how did you figure out the layout??? I still look at it now and I don't understand which pieces and where they are …….. :-O

Well I work with these sets in stud.io program for almost two years now so I know each of them just too well. I don't know if I got it 100% correct but I'm sure the library section from Dumbledore's Office set is either under Hospital Wing+Polyjuice Potion Mistake set (first picture) or under Lockhart's classroom, in both cases the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets play function is lost. I would suggest to just swap Lockhart's classroom with Polyjuice Potion Mistake set (2nd picture) but then the exterior part doesn't look good because black and white windows are next to each other (3rd picture) so it's up to your preference.

 

 

Edited May 4, 2023 by Textorix

[Ferder]

Yes always a challenge with this series to have it look good on the outside while also have the interior make sense (bathroom slide over the Chamber, Lockheart's office near his classroom, Fluffy's trapdoor over the vines)

[Textorix]

8 minutes ago, Ferder said:

Yes always a challenge with this series to have it look good on the outside while also have the interior make sense (bathroom slide over the Chamber, Lockheart's office near his classroom, Fluffy's trapdoor over the vines)

Oh talk about that, getting these things right in my MOC was such a long process :D

[Slytherin Alumni]

Lego: What are we going to do with all these Sirius’ Rescue sets?

Intern: We could post a picture of Hogwarts put together so more people will buy them.

Lego: Brilliant! So glad I thought of that!

[brickbride]

15 hours ago, krimimimi said:

I suspect the reason for the releasing the Hogwarts plan at this time is to encourage people to get the sets for the mega build before they retire.

Yes. If you have that kind of space and if you're willing to spend that kind of money, for like 500+ EUR you'd get a pretty impressive display that way. It certainly looks to be better value for money in terms of footprint and minifigures than, say, the EUR 500 Hogwarts Express.

Only those are some serious constraints! I really cannot imagine many people having the space to display the sets like this (I certainly don't), and LEGO ought to know it. And strangely enough, it does seem easier to get people to buy a single EUR 500 set these days than to get them to shell out the same total amount for like eight or so individual sets, especially given that many of those look sort of poorly made, individually. So I'm really wondering if that plan can work. I guess it also depends on whether they come out with a new modular Hogwarts system next year, as has been speculated, since that might lead to the old one being forgotten rather quickly.

Edited May 5, 2023 by brickbride

[Xcube]

7 hours ago, Textorix said:

This is the same layout that I would consider, because of the playfeature of the toilet. In the "official" Layout it seems not possible.

[brickbride]

Just noticed I hadn't commented on the revealed sets for 2023 so far ...

EP: I actually really like the colour sand blue, but the combination between that and some random trans-blue elements is, yeah, not great. Also I'm surprised no-one has commented on just how bad the wolf build's snout looks. The secondary build definitely should have been Snape’s doe with a Snape minifigure and an optional „Always“ sticker for the plaque. :-) An easy pass for me.

BoH: All that set has going for itself is minifigures (which I'm not interested in) and being part of the giant rendered display (which I don't have the room or the budget for). So, another easy pass. Also, as someone has pointed out, sticking this "entrance" in front of the modular series' "Great" Hall would not work at all - anyone who enters would find himself right in the mouth of the Salazar Slytherin statue, wouldn't they?

Dobby: looks bad to me, but then I hate Dobby as a character and thus might be biased. It's pretty sad for the theme as a whole that the "cheapest" set of THE ENTIRE YEAR (not counting Dots) has a list price of EUR 30 (!!!) AND looks like this, though.

Quidditch: I really don't get the point of including only four torsos, one for each House, and then a ton of heads and hairstyles. Given that Quidditch is a team sport and all. Yeah, let's just put Draco in Slytherin robes and Harry in Gryffindor robes on the same team, that's going to end well and won't be at all confusing! I mean I can see the set's appeal for kids, but I bet it would be a lot more popular with adults if it included some extra torsos (and capes I guess) for Quidditch army building. Also I'm baffled by how many different Quidditch outfits LEGO think we need in a single year. Between the Quidditch jumpers in the banners, Cho from the polybag and now this set, everyone's Quidditch teams are going to look horribly inconsistent. (The fact that for Ravenclaw all three versions involve Cho, makes it even funnier.)

WWW and HE look to be the best ones of this wave, so of course those are the partially exclusive ones. :-( And I called it that the HE would have 1-2 minifigure slots going to personnel. Still, even for someone who cares about minifigures as little as I do, the selections don't seem particularly exciting. As for WWW, I'm at least looking forward to what they do with the new modular DA in the next few years. Hopefully we'll get some lesser known shops, some like the Leaky Cauldron that have been long overdue, and of course Knockturn Alley.

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by brickbride

[Bugbot20082]

On 5/3/2023 at 2:32 PM, Textorix said:

Leaky Cauldron, PS version of Hagrids Hut, 3rd task (labyrinth), Durmstrang ship, Ministry of Magic (Department of Mysteries), Borgin and Burkes, The Inferi Lake (please bring back the small 20 dollar sets), Hagrids motorbike chase scene, Lovegood house, Malfoy Manor, Tent (with Snapes patronus) and if they really want to continue with Hogwarts expansions then Troll in the Bathroom set remake would be great addition.

I would add to that a Polyjuice sized set for the Duelling Club, 4 figures: (new) Lockheart, Snape, Harry, Draco.