Wizarding World 2023 - Rumors & Discussion

[Bricknificent]

2 hours ago, Axxe90 said:

Why would someone display a portrait in the owlery, of all the possible places in Hogwarts the owlery would be the worst one to put portraits 

when I saw the collectable portraits I was thinking that eventually we could see something like a bigger version of the staircase tower this year.

I think that these portraits must be good for something and therefore need to be put somewhere on a wall.

On the other hand, this could be a wink to the games (especially the 5th game). In those games a pair of the same portrait can be used as shortcuts; one in the boathouse and one in the staircase tower. So if you have more than one of the same portrait, you can use it like a shortcut :)

Edited December 2, 2023 by Bricknificent

[Bricknificent]

5 hours ago, brickbride said:

Boathouse - How is that a "HOUSE"? It doesn't have DOORS! And nothing about it is (book) Canon; McGonagall shouldn't be here, it's four kids per boat not two, and they don't ROW - the boats move by magic! Who'd even expect first-years to know how to row across a lake? That doesn't make sense. That said, five figs for a set at this price point is really very good.

By the way, the harry potter lego sets are mainly based on the movies, designed by Stuart Craig and others. As well as the Boathouse, it's pretty accuratly translated from the huge 32:1 Hogwarts Castle model to be seen at the Studio Tour.

 

[brickbride]

Wow. A boathouse without doors would seem pretty useless to me, especially in a Scottish winter. But what do I know.

Here's a pic confirming that in the movies (as in the books), there's more than two students to a boat and they don't freaking ROW them, either. Obviously.

https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Hogwarts_boats (I can't link the pic directly, so you have to click on the article.) The article even quotes that the boats move "without the aid of paddles"!

 

By the way, I called it that they wouldn't have gone all the way up to the Battle of Hogwarts AND released the "complete modular Hogwarts" picture if they hadn't finished with the old modular system, and that seems to in fact be the case. (The Chamber of Secrets going on sale this Black Friday fits with that, too.)

I'm curious how the new Hogwarts will look, the Owlery alone is hardly a very good indicator. Plus it's clearly a winter scene, so does that mean we're getting an entire Winter castle - or is that the reason they wintry aspect is so subdued compared to, say, Hogsmeade? So they can add on non-wintry parts and it will still look fairly cohesive?

Edited December 2, 2023 by brickbride

[Bricknificent]

16 minutes ago, brickbride said:

Here's a pic confirming that in the movies (as in the books), there's more than two students to a boat and they don't freaking ROW them, either. Obviously.

The 2018 great hall set does have the most accurate boat from the Hogwarts entrance scene of the first movie.

I guess the LEGO designers based the new set on the two different boat houses; the second boathouse from Deathly Hallows Part II does have the paddles on the inside.

https://www.harrypotterfanzone.com/pictures/filming-snapes-death-scene/

[Balrogofmorgoth]

1 hour ago, brickbride said:

Wow. A boathouse without doors would seem pretty useless to me, especially in a Scottish winter. But what do I know.

Here's a pic confirming that in the movies (as in the books), there's more than two students to a boat and they don't freaking ROW them, either. Obviously.

https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Hogwarts_boats (I can't link the pic directly, so you have to click on the article.) The article even quotes that the boats move "without the aid of paddles"!

 

By the way, I called it that they wouldn't have gone all the way up to the Battle of Hogwarts AND released the "complete modular Hogwarts" picture if they hadn't finished with the old modular system, and that seems to in fact be the case. (The Chamber of Secrets going on sale this Black Friday fits with that, too.)

I'm curious how the new Hogwarts will look, the Owlery alone is hardly a very good indicator. Plus it's clearly a winter scene, so does that mean we're getting an entire Winter castle - or is that the reason they wintry aspect is so subdued compared to, say, Hogsmeade? So they can add on non-wintry parts and it will still look fairly cohesive?

Sorry but are you new to lego? How often are sets scaled to have exactly the amount of characters in a specific space? Do you think we can fit as many minifigs in lego Hogwarts as you can in the movies with real people? Everything is scaled down by the nature of the toy. That’s how it has literally always been. 

[RedHoodPug]

4 minutes ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

Sorry but are you new to lego? How often are sets scaled to have exactly the amount of characters in a specific space? Do you think we can fit as many minifigs in lego Hogwarts as you can in the movies with real people? Everything is scaled down by the nature of the toy. That’s how it has literally always been. 

I'd second that sentiment but regarding screen accurate buildings and sets.

[Huigberts Builds]

After taking in the pictures for a while, I'll have to say that I love the look of these sets. Hagrid’s Hut is definitely my favourite. Finally a new Hagrid, and we even get Norbert and Fang. The interior is by far the best one yet. It feels a bit cramped, but that also makes it feel very cozy, it reminds me a lot of the 2011 version. And Hagrid can even use the furniture. Plus the printed mittens are so cute. Only thing that could've been better would be the colour for Fang, but I like this one as well. Either way I see some people not liking the fact they remade the hut, but imo this isn't even a remake of the previous one. It's based on the first 2 movies which had an entirely different build than the one we got from PoA.

The owlery and the boathouse are great. I remember people thinking we would never get a boathouse due to the scale compared to the castle, but this is exactly what I was hoping for. It's just right. The angle on the owlery is a little bit awkward looking, but I think it works. And who says that's snow? It might be all covered in owl... well you know. I also feel like both sets compliment last year's sets pretty well, specifically the Owl Post and the Second Task. And while I was hoping for a new McGonagall outfit, it's still very nice to get arm printing on her. I feel like there's no way they can top this figure now, it's perfect.

I love how they brought back the many hidden compartments and random animals like spiders and such the theme was known for before the reboot. And that was just what I was missing from the recent sets. Can't wait to see what they'll do for places like the Great Hall and Dumbledore's office in the future.

For the remaining sets. The Ford Anglia looks a bit better with the new roof, although it's skipable. The Hedwig is okay, I like the picture of Baby Harry, but not worth buying it for that. The Forest is pretty nice, I don't really need it, but I want it anyway, just to expand my forest. I especially like the glow in the dark elements. This wave feels much more like the pre 2018 sets in spirit than what the 2021-2023 waves did.

And finally 14 new collectable portraits. 1 definitely has to be Salazar. Wonder about the remaining 2. Merlin would be my top pick, wish we got him as a card last time, a (sleeping) Dumbledore would be great to get as well. Phineas Black would be an amazing nod to the game, not to mention really fitting for Dumbledore's office. Or even Ariana Dumbledore to go along with the advent calendar from this year. Snape would be fun as well, but less likely.

[Balrogofmorgoth]

3 minutes ago, RedHoodPug said:

I'd second that sentiment but regarding screen accurate buildings and sets.

Yup. And of everything was actual minifig scale, it would just be outrageously expensive (more than it already is) and most things would be outrageously big. Scaling down is just part of lego, which also means not having 100% screen accuracy. However, going back to grey roofs is a great start!!

[Black Falcon]

13 minutes ago, Huigberts Builds said:

And finally 14 new collectable portraits. 1 definitely has to be Salazar. Wonder about the remaining 2. Merlin would be my top pick, wish we got him as a card last time, a (sleeping) Dumbledore would be great to get as well. Phineas Black would be an amazing nod to the game, not to mention really fitting for Dumbledore's office. Or even Ariana Dumbledore to go along with the advent calendar from this year. Snape would be fun as well, but less likely.

There are actually many missing I would think to be more likely because they are more well known as some we got. Black and Armando  Dippet would be two of them - or the most famous one, the fat lady - however they might not include her because she will be included in an future set anyways. Same as Black and Dippet would likely be included in Dumbledores offices. That beeing said, Melin and especially Salazar don´t seem that unlikely to me - but anyways I think when the first reviews come we hopefully will have a full list, including the names of who is who (the names posted here so far sound correct to me, but I don´t have a clue who the other three could be, honstly)

[Huigberts Builds]

1 hour ago, Black Falcon said:

the names posted here so far sound correct to me, but I don´t have a clue who the other three could be, honstly

Well, the closest thing I could find is this picture of an unknown sleeping wizard https://pin.it/6K29tw0 which looks a lot like the final portrait, but with the beard recoloured. It's seen in the Studio Tour London version of Dumbledore's office so I assume it was a headteacher at some point. Still absolutely clueless about the other 2.

[RODDY]

I know, I know I swore off remakes but man this Hagrid’s Hut is spectacular! Love all the new variants of trio and Hagrid and finally Fang and Norbert! I want to say I’m not going to buy it but I probably am. And the Owlery is packed with new owls, wasn’t really too excited for this one but the build looks great and would pair well with the 2018-2020 Hogwarts lineup I have on display. New Cho Chang is always nice too. Definitely buying those two, the rest probably not. 

[Huigberts Builds]

2 hours ago, Huigberts Builds said:

Still absolutely clueless about the other 2.

Slight followup. I found only one portrait that's similar to the owl wizard, although the wizard looks different again. But I have a theory.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HPHogwartsMystery/s/7jOyL6Gua6

The portrait is also present at multiple locations in the studio tour, although flipped (making it look exactly like the lego one) and this time with a modified face and grey beard. And here's the thing, the wizard in the portrait is actually a copy and paste of a portrait of Ivan the Terrible. So my theory is that the people at Lego copied the pose and setting but took some creative liberties on the wizard himself (I mean there are already 2 versions of the painting right now, a third one isn't too farfetched). Only problem is that this would make him another unnamed wizard. But it does make sense as so far all the portraits seem to be based on ones present in the studio tour, and this is one of the more noticeable ones.

[Balrogofmorgoth]

6 hours ago, RODDY said:

I know, I know I swore off remakes but man this Hagrid’s Hut is spectacular! Love all the new variants of trio and Hagrid and finally Fang and Norbert! I want to say I’m not going to buy it but I probably am. And the Owlery is packed with new owls, wasn’t really too excited for this one but the build looks great and would pair well with the 2018-2020 Hogwarts lineup I have on display. New Cho Chang is always nice too. Definitely buying those two, the rest probably not. 

Technically it’s not a remake since it’s based on the first design of Hagrid’s Hut whereas the 2019 set is based on the second design from PoA onwards. So I guess you could get around your rule?

[Yope]

3 hours ago, Huigberts Builds said:

Slight followup. I found only one portrait that's similar to the owl wizard, although the wizard looks different again. But I have a theory.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HPHogwartsMystery/s/7jOyL6Gua6

The portrait is also present at multiple locations in the studio tour, although flipped (making it look exactly like the lego one) and this time with a modified face and grey beard. And here's the thing, the wizard in the portrait is actually a copy and paste of a portrait of Ivan the Terrible. So my theory is that the people at Lego copied the pose and setting but took some creative liberties on the wizard himself (I mean there are already 2 versions of the painting right now, a third one isn't too farfetched). Only problem is that this would make him another unnamed wizard. But it does make sense as so far all the portraits seem to be based on ones present in the studio tour, and this is one of the more noticeable ones.

This is a great find, I think between the staff/beard/robe/pose/owl/furniture it's pretty safe to say this is the inspiration.

6 hours ago, Huigberts Builds said:

Well, the closest thing I could find is this picture of an unknown sleeping wizard https://pin.it/6K29tw0 which looks a lot like the final portrait, but with the beard recoloured. It's seen in the Studio Tour London version of Dumbledore's office so I assume it was a headteacher at some point. Still absolutely clueless about the other 2.

I also found (a far less detailed) photo of this portrait but as far as I can tell neither of these are named.  I'm really interested to see if we do get the names of the portraits, hopefully we do - otherwise it'll be a bit more of a shame to miss on portraits of named headmasters etc.  Still a great inclusion imo and the designs are nice.

[Ferder]

The Forbidden Forest set reminds me of the Avatar sets, even the way you can connect them in a string. Missed opportunity to include a centaur or a unicorn. Though recreating the unicorn scene would be a bit morbid. 

[Roebuck]

On 12/1/2023 at 2:28 PM, lego_guyon02 said:

Fairly decent wave, though I am continuing to question how long they want to drag this theme out. 

As long as they earn money on it they will do it
Just look at SW or say City with a new police station every year, at least the HP theme are trying to give us new stuff every year

Like many here I lost some of the interest in the theme when they had a soft reboot,but I have still kept on buying most of the sets since they have made a lot of new characters, animals and even some new locations. However with no room to display them the newer sets end up in storage untouched in the box. I guess we will see if the new soft reboot will revive my interest or make me stop buying the sets

[brickbride]

15 hours ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

Sorry but are you new to lego? How often are sets scaled to have exactly the amount of characters in a specific space? Do you think we can fit as many minifigs in lego Hogwarts as you can in the movies with real people? Everything is scaled down by the nature of the toy. That’s how it has literally always been. 

I'm not entirely new to LEGO, thanks for asking. I also don't quite get what you mean by your comment. The boats in this set are BRICK-BUILT. If they used the standard molded boats like in, say, the 4709 Hogwarts, those obviously couldn't sit four and I wouldn't complain - but there's no reason they couldn't include one brick-built boat that sits (or at least stands) four as opposed to two that each sit or stand two. And with the addition of not-needed paddles and the additional addition of McGonagall instead of Hagrid or at least Grubbly-Plank, it makes for some truly odd and Un-Canon choices.

Edited December 3, 2023 by brickbride

[MaxHeadroom]

5 hours ago, brickbride said:

I'm not entirely new to LEGO, thanks for asking. I also don't quite get what you mean by your comment. The boats in this set are BRICK-BUILT. If they used the standard molded boats like in, say, the 4709 Hogwarts, those obviously couldn't sit four and I wouldn't complain - but there's no reason they couldn't include one brick-built boat that sits (or at least stands) four as opposed to two that each sit or stand two. And with the addition of not-needed paddles and the additional addition of McGonagall instead of Hagrid or at least Grubbly-Plank, it makes for some truly odd and Un-Canon choices.

At the end of the day LEGO is a toy for children. Had LEGO used larger boats the boathouse would’ve needed to be scaled up and the cost of the set as a whole would’ve increased. The goal of the set is primarily to help kids recreate the scene in the film where multiple boats of students pull up to the boathouse while still keeping the set around a $37.99 price point (which is already a relatively high price point for such a minimal scene which we’ve seen get recreated in the past with just a boat and a 2x6 plate to represent a dock). The designer decided to represent two smaller boats instead of one to prioritize the visual of multiple boats of students over the visual of exactly four students in a boat. You may prefer the other option, but the one they went with was undeniably a valid way of representing the scene and is visually appealing even if it isn’t 100% accurate.

As always with smaller minifigure scale things like vehicles, it is important to remember that minifigures do not have human proportions. Creating a vehicle to hold a certain number of figures can result in them being oversized. They probably chose not to build one big boat because it would be too big. 

When it comes to the oars, they’re literally horizontally hung up on the walls in the movie during the only scene in the series which shows the interior of the boathouse just like they are in the set. Like your earlier issues with the doors, you’re complaining about the mere existence of something LEGO has accurately replicated from the source material. Really if you want to talk accuracy the walls should be covered in them instead of only having one on each side. 
 

McGonagall is included because she is the teacher waiting for the students as they arrive at the castle. Children playing with the set will want her to be there to take students into the Great Hall. Hagrid wasn’t included because Hagrid is an expensive to produce figure who has never been included in a set less than $50USD since the 2018 revival of the theme. Additionally the inclusion of Hagrid would necessitate an extra boat to be designed for him as kids would expect to have transport for all the characters included in the set who rode the boats into the castle in the film. Gluppy Plank isn’t included because they’re not in the film at all during the boat scene or the scenes immediately preceding and following it. 
 

I am usually one of the people here most critical of the HP line and inaccuracies (especially around Hogwarts) and honestly I don’t get your negativity around this set at all. The lack of doors and inclusion of paddles are both accurate to the film designs being recreated and they look good aesthetically. In general this is one of the most accurate Hogwarts exterior recreations we’ve had in years. The decision to include two small boats instead of one large one seems easy to understand and they look good aesthetically. The choices of characters included are also obvious choices for a set based on this sequence of the movie and for a set sold at this price. 

Edited December 3, 2023 by MaxHeadroom

[Black Falcon]

5 hours ago, Roebuck said:

Like many here I lost some of the interest in the theme when they had a soft reboot,but I have still kept on buying most of the sets since they have made a lot of new characters, animals and even some new locations. However with no room to display them the newer sets end up in storage untouched in the box. I guess we will see if the new soft reboot will revive my interest or make me stop buying the sets

Honestly, I wasn´t a fan of the new design when the first sets were revealed, the old one did just look so much better to me. But I have to say when they showed the picture of Hogwarts build out of most of the sets, it actually looked very good. Way better than I would have expected. Now with them making a new Hogwarts, claiming it will be the most detailed yet, I am wondering how that one will look.

On a side note I think it was a very smart decision to make the Owlery and Boat House as first set and not start with the great hall like they did with the two preceding  Hogwarts. Both of them were not included in the actual Hogwarts and can aswell used to be added to them instead of the new one - even if they have another roof colour.

5 hours ago, brickbride said:

I'm not entirely new to LEGO, thanks for asking. I also don't quite get what you mean by your comment. The boats in this set are BRICK-BUILT. If they used the standard molded boats like in, say, the 4709 Hogwarts, those obviously couldn't sit four and I wouldn't complain - but there's no reason they couldn't include one brick-built boat that sits (or at least stands) four as opposed to two that each sit or stand two. And with the addition of not-needed paddles and the additional addition of McGonagall instead of Hagrid or at least Grubbly-Plank, it makes for some truly odd and Un-Canon choices.

If the boats were bigger they would look to big for the boathouse. Also what would be the sense to make a boat that can include four people when you only want to put two people inside? IMO it is better to have two smaller boats than to include only one where four people are sitting inside.

[Ravenclaw62442]

Sorry if it has been covered elsewhere but do we have a list of what the portraits will be?

[Black Falcon]

17 minutes ago, Ravenclaw62442 said:

Sorry if it has been covered elsewhere but do we have a list of what the portraits will be?

Not a complete one, we have pictures of 11 Portraits so far but it is said to include 14. And from the ones we got the pictures we don´t know the full names yet.

On 12/1/2023 at 3:46 PM, Yope said:

Found an image of the portraits!

https://falconbricks.com/news/lego-harry-potter-2024-sets-revealed/

Scroll to the bottom to see them all.  It looks like there are 11 (unless there's still one kept secret).  If I was to guess they would be:

Top row: (Mystery tile,) Jocunda Sykes, Rowena Ravenclaw, unknown, Basil Fronsac, Sir Cadogan

Bottom row: Helga Hufflepuff, Edessa Sakndenberg, Godric Gryffindor, unknown, Damara Doderidge, unknown

 

 

[Ravenclaw62442]

15 minutes ago, Black Falcon said:

Not a complete one, we have pictures of 11 Portraits so far but it is said to include 14. And from the ones we got the pictures we don´t know the full names yet.

 

Thank you kindly! 
 

They look cool. Great for MOCs

[Huigberts Builds]

I just saw the new friends sets, and I thought that new baby Hedgehog piece could work pretty well for an updated, more fluffy Pygmy Puff

[Textorix]

The return of dark bluish grey roofs does put a smile on my face and to all people complaining about the reboot of the Hogwarts I say.... that is how it felt in 2021 to us, deal with it :D

My Hogwarts setup is happy for it :)

Edited December 3, 2023 by Textorix

[RODDY]

18 hours ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

Technically it’s not a remake since it’s based on the first design of Hagrid’s Hut whereas the 2019 set is based on the second design from PoA onwards. So I guess you could get around your rule?

Good thinking! Now I can I be a man of principle, a man of my word. 

Edited December 3, 2023 by RODDY