Wizarding World 2023 - Rumors & Discussion

[JeanGreyForever]

1 minute ago, Ferder said:

The hut is straight out the first two films. Turns out the the side building that was mentioned is Fang's doghouse, not the extra room added in Prisoner of Azakaban. The Owlery is a surprise. Doesn't look like it's supposed to match the modular line. No connector pins and it has grey roofs! 

I remember the hut was different in the first two films but this one seems exceedingly small to me. I like the dog house for Fang though.

Yeah, the owlery doesn't seem to connect. Seems the modular castle is done with now.

[Ferder]

Just saw the Boat House. It also has grey roofs and no pins. However there are two "claws" at the back that look like a connection point. Don't see them on the Owlery, but that tower stood by itself anyway. 

Looks like the beginning of a whole new Castle system next year, which is exciting! The modular system was very fun and it came together well enough in the end but it was too restrictive and boxy. This looks like a return to the more movie-accurate designs of 2018-2020.

Edited December 1, 2023 by Ferder

[icm]

Hagrid's Hut is great. I want it. The flying car is ok, but not a major change from the last two. I'd like to pick it up, but the fact that it's only different in the B pillars and the roof tile make it seem less exciting than it could be. Still, it's nice to see it as a standalone set at a good price.

[doclord]

Getting a heavy "we need to sell parts from badly-selling sets" vibe from these, besides Hagrid's Hut. The beasts set is very disappointing.

[Balrogofmorgoth]

Finally the Grey Hogwarts roofs are back!!!!! About time!!!

[Lion King]

I love that hut! I loe that dog and dragon molds!

[Murdoch17]

I'm calling it now - the Flying Ford Anglia is the best speed champions set of 2024. 

EDIT: Hedwig gives me the creeps, to be totally honest.

Edited December 1, 2023 by Murdoch17

[Robert8]

Hmm all of these feel.... redundant 

[(Insert Name Here)]

It's been a long time since I last interacted with this page.

But oh boy, as soon as I saw the new sets on Instagram, I felt the need to jot down my thoughts somewhere.

HC Owlery: While it doesn't have the polish of the 2018 Castle sets, I still love this. The owls are great, the size is nice, the snowy details are lovely. Plus I like how they dip into the book by including Filch.

Forbidden Forest Magical Creatures: Well this is an interesting new look for the forest. Nice way to get the baby thestral, hippogriff & pixie. The 'ground' looks a bit chunky though. But I like the use of blue & purple + glow in the dark mushrooms is a great idea.

Flying Ford Anglia: Looks basically the same as the previous versions, and wow thinking about it, it has been a long time since the 2018/9 sets. It looks like it pairs well with the shrieking shack set. Plus I approve of smaller, cheaper sets.

Hedwig at Privet Drive: Maybe not for me, but it's still nice. Again, looks like it'll pair well with the Dobby build. The History of Magic book is cool, and the picture of Harry & his parents is adorable. 

HC Boathouse: Pretty cute, glad there's finally a set of this location (as well as the owlery). Also nice to get 5 minifigs in a smaller set like this, including Dean, good pick.

Hagrid's Hut: An Unexpected Visit: Wow wow wow. This is fantastic. I love how it looks distinct to the 2019 version. The figs are great (nice Harry sweater representation), the Fang & Norbert moulds are everything we wanted, the build itself is lovely, how it opens up to make the cosy home.

Overall, love these sets. So glad there are some cheaper, simpler sets as I'm just not that into the behemoth that is Gringotts. Also, the unique portraits is a great idea, great way to decorate sets, in fact I think it's better than the chocolate frog tiles.

[Clone OPatra]

Hagrid's Hut is completely what I wanted out of the set. Fang and new Norbert. Different outfit for Hagrid. Fairly compact size for the set itself. Having a lift off roof was a good idea, and I love the reclining chair that fits Hagrid. Yeah it seems quite expensive and I shudder to think of the Australian RRP, but good things come to those who wait.

The Owlery looks very charming with a good level of detail. Two owl recolours is ok and it's good they used the new small one. The set isn't for me personally since I just don't feel any need for it, but I like it.

The Boathouse set looks fine. Ok model, and I guess this scene hasn't been done at all for a long time, so it makes sense. The figures seem dull to me, though since they're in pre-sorted robes, it wouldn't have made a difference to include students from other eventual houses.

I really like the colour direction they went for the Forbidden Forest set, but it's such an odd collection of things. They could've at least include a centaur, or preferably Firenze himself, to make it more exciting. The price of $30 also feels egregious if that's correct.

The Anglia is the Anglia. Decent small impulse set idea for kids.

The Hedwig set also seems like a good idea. I like to see affordable display things on the market, especially something a bit cutesy like this.

[strangely]

Hagrid's Hut is my favorite of this wave, it really captures the energy of the early films. I really appreciate that they didn't retread too much from the previous iteration and went with a different build style, it really makes it feel like it's worthwhile to get even if you have the previous version. All the minifigures and creatures are great too. Seeing the back of the box with the wooden floor pattern makes me wish they had found a way to give the floor that look.

My second favorite set is the boathouse. Yes, we get some retreads on the minifigures, but I really enjoy the build, it's simple but effective and I actually really enjoy the brick built boats (though the lantern build feels kind of meh to me).

I like the exterior of the Owlery, but really dislike the interior, very much a mixed bag for me. I will likely wait for a sale on that one.

I actually really like the look of the Forbidden Forest, the color palette really appeals to me and I like how they captured the look of terrain of the forest (though the build could be a bit smoother). Honestly, had they included a unicorn rather than Buckbeak, this would have been a slam dunk to me.

The Flying Ford Anglia seems to be a minor improvement over the previous version. It's a solid little set and if I didn't have two other variations of this car I'd be tempted to buy it.

Hedwig looks pretty bad. The accessories are pretty boring too. A definite skip for me.

As winter waves go I actually like it overall. It's a bit less gimmick heavy than some of the previous years, and they managed to give us a couple of new locations, so I can't complain too much. Seeing the Hogwarts components built on rocks makes me hope that the next incarnation of Hogwarts is built up on a base a little bit more.

[Accio Lego]

Was totally not expecting set pics to leak today – what a great way to kick off the holiday season!

Initial reactions:

Magical Creatures: I was not expecting the baby Thestral to make it in here, but I won’t complain about getting another. A little bummed there’s no Niffler return but the winking pixie and the glow in the dark spider and mushrooms are all super cool. The modular bases that you can link together into a little fairy ring is kinda fun. 
 

Boathouse: McGonagall, Harry, and THREE other students - not two. Unfortunately no new faces though. I like the new fern piece finally making an appearance in Harry Potter though, the conifer trees made with it really fit the theme. I like the general design of the building and several fun details are noticeable right away – McGonagall has a student list! and there are so many animals hidden in this one: Hedwig, a fish, a crab, and Trevor complete with a little hidden compartment! That’s one of the things I really missed from the 2001-2 era sets so I love the inclusion. 
 

Ford Anglia: completely as expected 

Hedwig: the owl build is honestly a little creepy. Not really interested in this one other than the photo and history of magic textbook. 
 

Hagrid’s Hut: Fang and baby Norbert! I love the new pieces and the new outfits for Hagrid and the trio! I wasn’t expecting them to do Hagrid’s apron because of logistical reasons but they just printed it on his preexisting body and it actually works. I actually really like the design of the build too, it’s got several differences from the previous iterations to make it interesting (and I love the stump outside the window for Draco to spy from). 
 

Owlery: somehow even better than I’d predicted. SIX owls (one unprinted) and half of them are in new colors (including the unprinted one). The new smowl in grey is expected (I dub thee… Pigwidgeon!) but the new color of flying owl is completely out of left field – really like the red though. I also like how they threw in a rat and spider as well, tea feels like the old sets where we got tons of extra critters as set dressing. The minifigs new outfits are perfect too. 
 

Mtcilaneous: MYSTERY PORTRAITS?!? Was not expecting that, but I did have quite a bit of fun collecting all the chocolate frog cards, and it looks like these can be used to enhance all our castle sets instead of just looking pretty on a 16x16 plate. I’ve been telling myself I should design my own castle modules for awhile, and needing a proper place to display all these sounds perfect (unless I’ve just predicted this year’s gwp). I’m itching for someone to get ahold of a instruction manual so we can see the checklist for these - I wonder how many there are this time?

[Gorilla94]

I love Fang and Norbert. Those will be bricklinked together with the student list and new owls. I like the fact that the hut is a closed building instead of a half one and i love the chair that can lean back. Its just not enough for that price in my opinion, especially if the few details are stickers, which they usually are in HP sets.

Does Fich recycle an old torso combined with unprinted legs?

Edited December 1, 2023 by Gorilla94

[evanevanevan]

Very excited to see the Boathouse, especially with those clips that makes me think.... I bet we're going to get a new Great Hall and Grand Staircase Tower this connects to. I'm confident enough to say: mark this reply down for when that happens!

[BrickBob Studpants]

Love these sets, even though there isn’t even a single new human character, as expected

• Grey roofs are back, baby!!
• New owl colours lezzz gooo
• Hagrid with his apron!
• Fang and Norbert(a)  Didn’t expect Fang to be reddish brown tho
• Collectable portraits?! Amazing idea!!

[LegoGuy2002]

Also notice how both boxes of the 'Hogwarts' sets on the side say: 'Part of the new detailed Hogwarts Castle'. I think we can expect more detailed hogwarts sets in the future.

[Roebuck]

Hagrid's hut: Happy to get Norberta and Fang and the figs are nice especially Hagrid. 

The owlery 5+1 owl is decent and we get 2 new

The boathouse has a new frog color and include some other animals

The Ford Anglia get bonus points for including the animals

The Hedwig set is a easy skip

Magical creatures should really had something new like a new color for hippogriff at least, wasted opportunity, but nice to get a set with a few animals

Not a very interesting wave to me other than the animals, no new characters

3 hours ago, Accio Lego said:

Mtcilaneous: MYSTERY PORTRAITS?!? Was not expecting that, but I did have quite a bit of fun collecting all the chocolate frog cards, and it looks like these can be used to enhance all our castle sets instead of just looking pretty on a 16x16 plate. I’ve been telling myself I should design my own castle modules for awhile, and needing a proper place to display all these sounds perfect (unless I’ve just predicted this year’s gwp). I’m itching for someone to get ahold of a instruction manual so we can see the checklist for these - I wonder how many there are this time?

That is actually a fun detail, to bad we have not gotten more chocolate frog cards

57 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Fang and Norbert(a)  Didn’t expect Fang to be reddish brown tho

Me too, was he not grey in the movies?!

[Accio Lego]

10 minutes ago, Roebuck said:

Me too, was he not grey in the movies?!

Technically he’s brown. A darker and less saturated brown but still brown. Medium reddish brown is definitely not the choice I would have made to color match him from Lego’s color library though. 

[joeee]

Random thoughts:
-Grey roofs with leaves match the Hogwarts Station from this year!
-Silly worry: Will the Owlery look okay amongst the new Hogwarts Castle being the only building with snow on it? lol!
-The Owlery looks to be a good size! (Tangent: The Great Hall from 2021 was too small for me. With the Owlery being this size, they have to make the new Great Hall hefty to be proportional. Hoping it will be a big size like 2018)
-The roof of Hagrid's Hut in the movies doesn't really change THAT much from Movie 2 to 3. But LEGO an improvement on the roof of Hagrid's Hut from 2019. This looks MUCH better!
-With both the Owlery and Boathouse having ROCKWORK. Crossing my fingers there will be a ton of rockwork for EVERY building of Hogwarts. The hard part for TLG is figuring out what to put behind all the rockwork.
-Will the new Ford Anglia sit both Ron AND Harry? LOL
-OOH. It'd be so neat of TLG could pull off an amazing looking Grand Staircase tower with studs on the inside to place all the collectible portraits we collect.
-I have collected so many owls these past years that the Owlery is a great place for them to live!
-I see a rat piece in the Owlery. Does anyone recall from the books if Peter Pettigrew ever had a scene in the Owlery? Just curious cause I love when TLG references the books.

[Accio Lego]

34 minutes ago, joeee said:

I see a rat piece in the Owlery. Does anyone recall from the books if Peter Pettigrew ever had a scene in the Owlery? Just curious cause I love when TLG references the books.

Pretty sure the Owlery doesn’t even make a proper appearance in the books until Harry starts sending Sirius letters and care packages in GoF. The rat (and the spider) is likely not a book reference the way Filch is but rather a reference to the original Harry Potter lego waves fitting in random rats and spiders whenever they could. Lego knows we love the nostalgia factor after all. (The owls also might want something to eat other than those owl treats too)

[THELEGOBATMAN]

Most of the sets are great, and as a whole his wave is pretty awesome, but am I the only one who's getting burnt out by this theme? Yeah, the sets are nice, but none of them are exciting or must-buys imo.

Hedwig set is okay. I don't like how big the owl is compared to the sign.

Ford Anglia is a good small set, I appreciate it. Nothing interesting for people who already have one or two of those tho.

Forbidden Forest sucks. The price is awful, minifigures are redundant, the creatures aren't exciting, and the build is lacking. The colour scheme is the only good thing about it.

The owlery is surprisingly awesome. The build is great, and the minifigures feel fresh. Weird that they brought back grey roofs tho. I don't feel they are much into the modular expansions anymore.

The boat house is another great set. The build looks unique, and it has a lot of minifigures, even if they aren't particularly novel.

Hagrid's Hut is clearly the standout of this wave. Fantastic build, nice variants of minifigures (Hagrid's outfit is lovely), with awesome animal moulds (especially Norbert).

[Legocentrico]

HP waves are always nice, as a marvel fan I'm very jealous :-) Are Fang and Norberto new molds? Curious to see what happens with Hogwarts, and since I loved the chocolate frogs, I'm excited for the new collectibles! Too bad about the forest, I expected better wildlife

[Seaber]

Good points:

Fang, Norbert, new pixie, new owls

Grey roofs

New connection system

4x non-house torsos

New prints for the Trio, Hagrid, and another Harry one. Interesting Cho. 

Not sure about this one but are the Hippogriff and Owlery rat new colours? 

Great new prints/stickers 

Collectable portraits (4 if you get the whole wave) is a great alternative to chocolate frog cards. 

 

Also, it looks like the Boathouse set has a frog suggested to be Trevor? The back of the box shows Neville with a hidden green frog. 

Edited December 1, 2023 by Seaber

[Yope]

The Ford Anglia, Hedwig and Forbidden Forest aren't for me (or many of us) but will have their different market and I appreciate that LEGO didn't put 1 or 2 new things in each to try to force further sales.

As for the other 3, LEGO have nailed them with a nice return to more accurate representations. 

Hagrid's hut is perfect, great figs especially Hagrid, great Fang/Norbert, great build. 9/10

Boathouse is great, figs are appropriate, new recolour for Trevor is way more exciting than it should be! 7/10

Owlery is also great, 2 new owls is a treat and the figs are good. 8/10

I like the collectible portrait idea a lot too.

EDIT: Just noticed that the cornish pixie has a new print.

[MaxHeadroom]

“Oh look! Rocks!”

I couldn’t care less about grey roofs but seeing rocks again makes me ecstatic. The tree, water, and shrooms in the boathouse set look great too. I really hope we get a new system this summer with all of those features. Especially if there’s a significant amount of them in relevant places like under the Great Hall. I know it won’t happen based on the boathouse but I’d also love to see the entire castle be covered in snow like the Owlery. I genuinely can’t wait to see more builds in this theme. I was thinking about what a rebooted system would be like to compete with the detailed 2018+ line after the (if nothing else) fun to mix up 2021+ line. Making a good base is honestly the only way I think a new line can compete, outside of things like an accurately shaped Great Hall and staircase tower.

Now that it’s finished let’s take a moment to really reflect on the last Hogwarts system having only 2 classrooms in the end after 3 years of sets. Lockhart’s DADA and an astronomy class with only a single row of 8 useable studs. Isn’t it pathetic? 

As for the builds themselves, anything is going to look good next to the 8x8 squares. I wish the Owlery tower was a bit more complete. I get what they’re going for but it feels like we’re getting less than half of the cylinder with only one rounded corner included. Also the boathouse uses the 1x2 sloped grate instead of the (new?) flat 1x2 slope used on the new ford Anglia.  Once we see more from this system and they’re on sale I’ll probably get these. 
 

Hagrid’s Hut is nice but the pricepoint was clearly too high. The doghouse is a nice attempt to add more parts but really I would’ve preferred to see the set without it retailing for at most $60 (same price as the last but with fewer figures no large animal). Might get it if there’s a sale. 
 

Forbidden Forest is vastly overpriced and the amount of stuff. There’s also a bit too much forest floor for me. Had they added a third tree on top of one of those empty mounds I think this could’ve been a solid set for the price. Maybe I’ll get it if there’s a significant sale. 

The flying ford is perfect. A slight improvement on earlier versions but no new figure or anything forced in to tempt old collectors into buying it for the third time. Just a good set for new collectors. I hope this set stays on shelves for a long time. 
 

So best winter wave (that’s a low bar) and it’s made me a lot more interested in seeing the eventual summer sets.