Wizarding World 2023 - Rumors & Discussion

[Black Falcon]

3 hours ago, JeanGreyForever said:

With Gringotts out now, does everyone think that expansions to the D2C Diagon Alley sets are done and the ongoing focus will only be on the cheaper, playset versions like what we got with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes? Or is there a chance we could still get a D2C Knockturn Alley to connect with Diagon Alley in the future?

Doesn´t seem that unlikely to me, that they would make that too. I mean, aside from Gringotts that is what people always were wishing for to expand Diagon Alley. Wouldn´t wonder if we are gonna see it happening in the next two years, I mean Diagon Alley will not be around forever and I don´t see them doing it when that one retires. 

Other possibility would be they make stand alone Sets like with the Weasly Shop. 

[chris6507]

Does anyone know who players B and E are in this picture? I think E is Katie Bell, but no idea who the other is supposed to be?

https://ibb.co/y6B30DK

[Seaber]

28 minutes ago, chris6507 said:

Does anyone know who players B and E are in this picture? I think E is Katie Bell, but no idea who the other is supposed to be?

https://ibb.co/y6B30DK

I'd guess Katie Bell and Demelza Robins. 

[brickbride]

8 hours ago, JeanGreyForever said:

McGonagall is the one who greets first-year students when the boats arrive at Hogwarts and take them to the Entrance Hall so maybe that's why they chose to use her even if she doesn't appear at the Boathouse itself.

Yes, that's kind of my point. We know she isn't at the Boathouse when the new students arrive, because Hagrid takes the firsties up to the Castle and then she takes over from there. Nearly any other staff member could be at the Boathouse at nearly any other time, so why would they pick the one person at the one time when we know she's not there? It's just baffling to me, and the recent false rumour of McGonagall appearing in the Battle of Hogwarts set makes it even weirder.

Edited September 10, 2023 by brickbride

[mark1991t]

I don't think I am the only one who wanted to see this picture:

Source

[TheDoctor]

2 hours ago, mark1991t said:

I don't think I am the only one who wanted to see this picture:

Source

 Now that does look good, far more accurate!

Now I'm torn! It would be more symmetrical to display the bank and vaults in the middle, but more accurate and better looking in my opinion to have it on the end 

[Brickroll]

Anyone got the dimensions on the mine section of Gringotts? Considering looking for a used copy of it, and I wanna see if it might fit in one of my bookshelves?

Edited September 11, 2023 by Brickroll

[JeanGreyForever]

9 hours ago, brickbride said:

Yes, that's kind of my point. We know she isn't at the Boathouse when the new students arrive, because Hagrid takes the firsties up to the Castle and then she takes over from there. Nearly any other staff member could be at the Boathouse at nearly any other time, so why would they pick the one person at the one time when we know she's not there? It's just baffling to me, and the recent false rumour of McGonagall appearing in the Battle of Hogwarts set makes it even weirder.

The only thing I can think of is that they wanted McGonagall in a recent set and since she doesn't fit in any of the others, they've put her in the Boathouse. What was the last set she was included in? Has it been a while since she's been in something since I can only remember the Hogwarts Trunk.

[Black Falcon]

28 minutes ago, JeanGreyForever said:

The only thing I can think of is that they wanted McGonagall in a recent set and since she doesn't fit in any of the others, they've put her in the Boathouse. What was the last set she was included in? Has it been a while since she's been in something since I can only remember the Hogwarts Trunk.

She has been in one of the books (Transfiguration Class) and from the ones still around the Trunk you mentioned and the Hogsmeade Set. Not counting the Golden one ;).

[NostalgicBricks]

McGonagall was the first teacher to greet the students when they arrive to Hogwarts in the movie so it makes sense for her to be here - they probably didn't want to include another Hagrid as he came twice this year and will come at least once next year, and I'm sure he costs more than a normal fig to include. So I imagine the set will be set up with the students in the boats and McGonagall waiting for them on land - they might even include the steps from the movie that lead up to the great hall.

I've seen a lot of negative responses about this new wave but I must say I adore it! It sounds wonderful to me.

[BrickBob Studpants]

6 minutes ago, NostalgicBricks said:

I've seen a lot of negative responses about this new wave but I must say I adore it! It sounds wonderful to me.

I like the sound of Hagrid’s Hut as that’s a often-requested remake, and the Owlery and boat house are are at least new, despite being severely lacklustre in the minifig department  The rest sound mediocre.

I will not pass final judgment until we see pictures, but the negative responses are not unwarranted IMO. Not surprising when you have a wave with 7 sets and not a single new character in sight

At least we’re getting new animals, that’s something!

[Accio Lego]

15 hours ago, chris6507 said:

Does anyone know who players B and E are in this picture? I think E is Katie Bell, but no idea who the other is supposed to be?

https://ibb.co/y6B30DK

Based on Harry having short legs they’re probably intended to be Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet

[karrit]

2 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

I like the sound of Hagrid’s Hut as that’s a often-requested remake, and the Owlery and boat house are are at least new, despite being severely lacklustre in the minifig department  The rest sound mediocre.

I will not pass final judgment until we see pictures, but the negative responses are not unwarranted IMO. Not surprising when you have a wave with 7 sets and not a single new character in sight

At least we’re getting new animals, that’s something!

I'm pretty much in agreement with you.  Looking forward to the Owlery finally as well as the Boathouse.  Don't really need another Hagrid's Hut but the inclusion of Fang & Norbert make it one that is going on the wanted list as well as the Forest set.  Sorting Hat is a definite pass.  Ford Anglia & Privet Drive sign will most likely be a pass also.

[brickbride]

8 hours ago, NostalgicBricks said:

I've seen a lot of negative responses about this new wave but I must say I adore it! It sounds wonderful to me.

I'm glad you enjoy it, but I genuinely have no idea what they were thinking - not only in terms of not including any new characters, or the giant turd that is the Sorting Hat.

Like, does anyone genuinely want a set consisting only of the Ford Anglia? I mean I can see why a car stuck up a tree would make a fun addition to a castle set (like the Whomping Willow one in 2018 or the Microscale Hogwarts and Grounds), but just the car? Lego already has tons of cars in their catalogue, and most of them are nicer cars that actually appeal to a car-loving audience. Somehow I doubt that the people who enjoy stories about kids attending a magic school and battling an evil wizard dream about Lego sets of rather ordinary-looking cars.

Or: So far we've had a buildable Hedwig that can flap her wings, a giant buildable Hedwig on top of the Hogwarts Icons sets, another buildable Hedwig as a pencil holder (from the HP Dots line) - so what do they give us this year? Buildable Hedwig. Yay.

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by brickbride

[Accio Lego]

21 minutes ago, brickbride said:

Like, does anyone genuinely want a set consisting only of the Ford Anglia? I mean I can see why a car stuck up a tree would make a fun addition to a castle set (like the Whomping Willow one in 2018 or the Microscale Hogwarts and Grounds), but just the car? Lego already has tons of cars in their catalogue, and most of them are nicer cars that actually appeal to a car-loving audience. Somehow I doubt that the people who enjoy stories about kids attending a magic school and battling an evil wizard dream about Lego sets of rather ordinary-looking cars.

It’s literally the cheapest version of the cool magic flying car lego has ever made - it’s always been just a side build for something else before. 
 

And I realize that doesn’t mean much to us adult collectors who’ve been getting these sets for ages, but can we take a moment and remember that the recommended age range on the box is in the single digits? It’s a tiny $15 set - a whole bunch of little kids are going to buy it as their first Harry Potter set and bring home 2/3 of the main characters and their cute pets. They’re going to build a nice little car with working wheels that they can put the minifigures in and zoom across the table or whoosh through the air and they’ll pretend whatever houseplant their parents have is the Whomping Willow and have loads of fun with it all. It’s $15, what more could you want? We spent last wave complaining that there weren’t enough smaller more economically accessible sets, but now that we’re getting our first $15 set since 2018 people are complaining that it doesn’t have any unique characters? Well, not every set can be geared towards long term collectors, especially not the cheap ones. 
 

[BrickBob Studpants]

2 hours ago, Accio Lego said:

It’s $15, what more could you want? We spent last wave complaining that there weren’t enough smaller more economically accessible sets, but now that we’re getting our first $15 set since 2018 people are complaining that it doesn’t have any unique characters? Well, not every set can be geared towards long term collectors, especially not the cheap ones. 

I see your point, but when we were lamenting the lack of smaller sets, this is not what we had in mind  Last year’s carriage also didn’t feature new characters, but it was a new vehicle, the minifigs were exclusive variants, and we got an uncommon creature plus a new baby one.

This set however will in all likelihood include two incredibly common minifigs, their common pets, and one of the least magical-looking things in the entire franchise  I know it’s a flying car, but without context, it’s just an ordinary blue car with two kids, an owl, and a rat.

By far the weakest small HP set I can think of. There’s a good reason all of the previous versions were sidebuilds

[brickbride]

41 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

I see your point, but when we were lamenting the lack of smaller sets, this is not what we had in mind  Last year’s carriage also didn’t feature new characters, but it was a new vehicle, the minifigs were exclusive variants, and we got an uncommon creature plus a new baby one.

This set however will in all likelihood include two incredibly common minifigs, their common pets, and one of the least magical-looking things in the entire franchise  I know it’s a flying car, but without context, it’s just an ordinary blue car with two kids, an owl, and a rat.

By far the weakest small HP set I can think of. There’s a good reason all of the previous versions were sidebuilds

That, exactly. I'm all for cheap, accessible HP sets, in fact I spent most of last year complaining about the lack of them. But as a kid I'd have been so disappointed if someone had given me a small HP set because they knew I liked HP, and instead of like a bit of the castle or the forest or Diagon Alley or anything else magical it contained a CAR.

Like I've said, Lego already has a lot of cars at kid-friendly price points (most of City, a fair amount of Friends, not to even mention car-specific themes like Speed Racers) - why couldn't they use the cheapest HP set for something different? I think both the Thestral Carriage and the Polyjuice Potion Mistake were much more on point in terms of what the target audience would like.

Plus, speaking of the target audience: HP used to be one of the few themes that appealed to girls as well. Again, previous smaller sets did a much better job of including both genders. Harry and Luna with a Thestral carriage? That's one popular male character, one popular female character, a scary carnivorous skeletal horse and a cute baby version of it - it ticks a lot of boxes. But this? Two male characters in a car - don't tell me anyone thought "Girls will love this!" when they okayed it. Give us the Beauxbatons winged horses (which have been paywalled behind one pretty pricey set), a glittery patronus, or at least animals more exciting than Hedwig who has even been included in polybags before.

Edited September 11, 2023 by brickbride

[NostalgicBricks]

Discourse around this theme has turned extremely toxic recently. I'm just going to keep enjoying what Lego puts out and hope they continue to put it out. 

Edited September 11, 2023 by NostalgicBricks

[BacktoBricks]

53 minutes ago, NostalgicBricks said:

Discourse around this theme has turned extremely toxic recently. I'm just going to keep enjoying what Lego puts out and hope they continue to put it out. 

I'm pretty happy with the winter wave. I like the fact that the novelty sets hopefully won't be ones with exclusive minifigures and so will be skippable, unlike the books or banners. They had they're market sure, but after half a decade of this theme being back I'm not fond of having to continually buy sets I don't want for figures or source them on a pretty expensive secondary market. Yes the minifigures don't sound all that exciting, but the forest set sounds like a potentially cheap way to get Buckbeak and maybe some more pixies or pigmypuffs, maybe even a niffler if we are extremely lucky, and we've just had quite a few new characters in the last year so it can't all be new. I'm sure kids will appreciated that set if it does contain a good selection of creatures. The castle sections seem like ones people have been asking for and the Hagrid's Hut Philosopher's Stone remake with Fang has definitely been a requested set. For me, the winter wave has always been the appetiser for the big summer wave so I never expect the great playsets in this wave. I'm equating the Hagrid's Hut set with this year's Second Task set as being the standout winter playset, if rather more expensive, but it's the summer I expect the playsets from.

There are only two things that annoy / worry me about this wave: 1) They are all March so don't really feel like a winter wave anymore and the winter and summer waves are feeling very close together, and (2) it's a large winter wave and I just hope they don't oversaturate the market with HP and kill the golden goose so to speak. Too much of a good thing and all that.

[BrickBob Studpants]

1 hour ago, NostalgicBricks said:

Discourse around this theme has turned extremely toxic recently. 

You mean here on EB or in general? Because voicing warranted criticism for what many perceive as boring set (and especially minifig) choices is far from „extremely toxic“. The discussion has been civil and the criticism isn’t that harsh. It‘s not like we‘re calling for people to be fired! *squints at 2021 Star Wars thread*

[mark1991t]

I aspect nothing, but the car cán come with new exclusive variants of both Harry and Ron. The outfits they weir in their escape from 4 Privet Drive are different from the outfits we got in both the Whomping Willow and 4 Privet Drive sets.  The same goes with Hagrids Hut. If it will accurately represent Norbert(a)s birth scene, then the trio ánd Hagrid should feature new and exclusive outfits. Even McGonnagal could weir an exclusive outfit, in the boathouse-set, if they go by her outside dress from mostly Philosophers Stone and Chamber of Secrets. 

Spoiler

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by mark1991t
added boathouse set for clarification

[BacktoBricks]

Hagrid with his pinny would be a great variant. We can hope. 

[NostalgicBricks]

There are lots of great ideas and thoughts in this thread. We're all just passionate about this theme. 

As a way to give us something to occupy ourselves with in this thread, and to give us something constructive and positive to do, what do people hope to see in the summer wave next year? What sets and characters are we all hoping for? 

Edited September 11, 2023 by NostalgicBricks

[evanevanevan]

On 9/10/2023 at 8:40 AM, mark1991t said:

I don't think I am the only one who wanted to see this picture:

Source

Thank you!! This line up looks so fantastic. Bonus points for the clever positioning of shelves to get the underground vaults to line up.

Though seeing this does make me think that the giant pink Quidditch shop is a bit of an eyesore! I wonder why the designers went with pink instead of sand blue, which would be more accurate?

[Horation]

9 hours ago, NostalgicBricks said:

Discourse around this theme has turned extremely toxic recently. I'm just going to keep enjoying what Lego puts out and hope they continue to put it out. 

Are you talking about the controversy surrounding JK Rowling's views or the (warranted) criticism of the sets, which are, I'll admit, much weaker than in previous waves (though this is partly due to the quality of those previous sets which makes these ones seem worse by comparison).

 

2 hours ago, evanevanevan said:

Thank you!! This line up looks so fantastic. Bonus points for the clever positioning of shelves to get the underground vaults to line up.

Though seeing this does make me think that the giant pink Quidditch shop is a bit of an eyesore! I wonder why the designers went with pink instead of sand blue, which would be more accurate?

Actually, I find the pink adds some much needed colour to what would have been a much more drab scheme, especially since there was already so much sand something in the build