Wizarding World 2024 - Rumors & Discussion

[MaxHeadroom]

11 minutes ago, brickbride said:

No way would I buy something like that for a kid! 

It’s an 18+ set so that’s not the intended audience for the set anyway 

[brickbride]

An 18+ set with about 500 parts and an electronic voice play function, sure. I cannot see a target audience for this either way. Given that the set has been out for less than a week and is already -35% on Amazon, apparently I'm not the only one.

 

Edited March 7 by brickbride

[Salix]

2 hours ago, brickbride said:

Thanks for the video!

That said, I find the sound super annoying (not your fault oc). No way would I buy something like that for a kid! They already ruined the very good Hidden Side sets with the stupid app, it's like they're actively trying to make their stuff unattractive to parents. Anyone who shells out EUR 100 for LEGO at least wants some peace and quiet to go with it. It's not like households with kids tend to suffer from a lack of electronic noise.

I quite like it, but I can also understand it would be annoying for parents.

[Alas_Earwax]

It sounds like they're going for a system similar to the Magical Mini's line. The castle could have classroms swapped around to display however you wanted to, but the overall structure remained the same.

[Ferder]

10 hours ago, Salix said:

As promised here are pictures/clips of the combination of the buildable figures with the hat: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4MWwScokUK/?theme=dark&img_index=5

Had to hold the hat though as it was too big to stay on the buildable figure on its own.

I agree, I'm not seeing the compatibility. The hat is as tall as the figure!

[brickbride]

So, just to recap, the three affordable-for-kids-on-an-allowance sets of both 2024 waves in terms of minifigs are:

Flying Car: Harry and Ron

Hedwig: no figs

Aragog: Harry and Ron

At least there's Draco in the polybag, but did the guys at LEGO talk this over at all? It would have been really easy to give more of a selection (i. e. replace either Harry or Ron in the car with one of the twins, or put Hermione in the Aragog set instead of the random "Hermione and Ron in the Forbidden Forest" set), but they didn't.

[Seaber]

1 hour ago, brickbride said:

Flying Car: Harry and Ron

Hedwig: no figs

Aragog: Harry and Ron

You're right, however I think having those two sets in the same wave is the problem, not the minifig lineup. 

[Kaijumeister]

Excited to see how the Great Hall and Potions Classroom turn out, I’ve already pegged them as must-buys on the potential alone.

I do hope that the interiors with this new castle system have some more space and detail put into them compared to how the 2018 and 2021 systems did.

[Jaromir]

I hope that finished Hogwarts Castle will be able to fit all of the smaller classrooms/sets and it won't be a matter of having only two rooms from over 10 or something.

[MaxHeadroom]

20 hours ago, brickbride said:

So, just to recap, the three affordable-for-kids-on-an-allowance sets of both 2024 waves in terms of minifigs are:

Flying Car: Harry and Ron

Hedwig: no figs

Aragog: Harry and Ron

At least there's Draco in the polybag, but did the guys at LEGO talk this over at all? It would have been really easy to give more of a selection (i. e. replace either Harry or Ron in the car with one of the twins, or put Hermione in the Aragog set instead of the random "Hermione and Ron in the Forbidden Forest" set), but they didn't.

Compare that to the last few years of small sets:

2023: Cho polybag and that’s it for anything under $35

2022: Dumbledore polybag, and the Carriage with Harry and Luna if you’re counting $20 sets. 

Surely Draco and two different options of sets for Harry+Ron is a better offering for kids with low budgets than the last two years?
 

Looking at the distribution of Ron/Hermione in general in recent years:

2022: 5 pairs (2 in one set), 1 standalone Ron ($120), 3 standalone Hermiones ($30, $50, $80), plus two more standalone Hermione figures in the trunk and GWP.

2023: 5 pairs, Hermione in the RoR ($50) and Ron in WWW ($90)

2024: 3 pairs, plus two solo outings for each (Ron both $15 and Hermione both $38)

It’s the first time we’ve had a set with Ron under $45 since 2021 and the first time we’ve had a set with Hermione under $45 since the last wave of Hogwarts moments in early 2022. 3 different options for both characters in sets $38 or less seems pretty good to me compared to the last few years, even if Ron’s solo sets are cheaper than Hermione’s this time for the first time since… 2018? 

[BrickMatit]

2 hours ago, Jaromir said:

I hope that finished Hogwarts Castle will be able to fit all of the smaller classrooms/sets and it won't be a matter of having only two rooms from over 10 or something.

I think Potion Classroom, mainly its outside part, will be interesting from this point, considering the fact, as suggested, that this set could be switched with part of the Great Hall underground section.

Will it have an outside part or will it be more a open space set? Will it have rocky outside? Or the rocky cliff will be part of the Great Hall only?

[brickbride]

6 hours ago, MaxHeadroom said:

Compare that to the last few years of small sets:

2023: Cho polybag and that’s it for anything under $35

2022: Dumbledore polybag, and the Carriage with Harry and Luna if you’re counting $20 sets. 

Surely Draco and two different options of sets for Harry+Ron is a better offering for kids with low budgets than the last two years?
 

Looking at the distribution of Ron/Hermione in general in recent years:

2022: 5 pairs (2 in one set), 1 standalone Ron ($120), 3 standalone Hermiones ($30, $50, $80), plus two more standalone Hermione figures in the trunk and GWP.

2023: 5 pairs, Hermione in the RoR ($50) and Ron in WWW ($90)

2024: 3 pairs, plus two solo outings for each (Ron both $15 and Hermione both $38)

It’s the first time we’ve had a set with Ron under $45 since 2021 and the first time we’ve had a set with Hermione under $45 since the last wave of Hogwarts moments in early 2022. 3 different options for both characters in sets $38 or less seems pretty good to me compared to the last few years, even if Ron’s solo sets are cheaper than Hermione’s this time for the first time since… 2018? 

I'm aware of - and have vocally been complaining about - the fact that for a theme supposedly aimed at children, HP in the recent past has has had next to no sets that were affordable on an allowance, or would have made a somewhat affordable birthday party gift or the like.

That said, 2021's Polyjuice Potions Mistake and 2022's Thestral Carriage were MILES better than what they've come up with this year! The Polyjuice Potions Mistake had a fairly decent build AND a whopping FOUR minifigures, including all of the trio AND a golden anniversary Harry! (Yes, the trio all had the same legs and torso, but I honestly don't care about this and I doubt many kids would.) Plus you got extra hairpieces and the great cat head! And all of that was listed at EUR 20.

Then, the Carriage gave us two popular figs, one male, one female, AND a fairly decent build, AND a whopping TWO molded animals, one of them being an entire new mould (the baby thestral). It was suitably scary and suitably cute at the same time, it featured a boy and a girl, it ticked a lot of boxes.

Sure, we get more quantity in 2024. But the quality sucks! The builable Hedwig doesn't even look nice AND has no minifigs AND any kid on a budget that wants Hedwig probably already has the DOTS pencil-holder. This really is not even a step up from that.

And the other two sets BOTH figure Harry and Ron (which surely every HP fan already owns) in settings featuring a) a car and b) a giant spider. Both these sets seem to be solely aimed at boys (no girl characters and typically "male" interests). Why can't girls have nice things, too? Even the polybag with Draco in the forest features a boy again! Would it really have been that impossible to make, say, Hermione and a unicorn for EUR 20? There's actually Canon precedence for this, since Hagrid had a unicorn in his lessons. Or a small set with Ginny buying her first-year books at Flourish & Blott's, or anything really.

 

Edited March 10 by brickbride

[Black Falcon]

9 hours ago, Jaromir said:

I hope that finished Hogwarts Castle will be able to fit all of the smaller classrooms/sets and it won't be a matter of having only two rooms from over 10 or something.

To Quote myself:

On 3/6/2024 at 9:42 PM, Black Falcon said:

If that infos are true, that System would be strange though. I mean we get modules that don´t have a place where they can be added - or better said they can be added anywhere but you would always have some of them left over. At least it seems unlikely to me that they would do Sets with empty places for the modules.

That system also needs many extra bricks to make sure that the modules themselfes but also the buildings without them are stable enough IMO. But well I guess every system has its pros and cons.

[Clone OPatra]

If the potions set is truly a swap-in module, it will be interesting to see if LEGO continues with the concept for future waves or drops it immediately, kind of like they did with the previous modular iteration.

On reflection, the Polyjuice Potion set was more of an add-on to the Chamber of Secrets than a sign of what was to come, given it was the sole interior-only focused set of the whole 2021-23 Hogwarts line.

This Potions set could be similar - something to get along with the Great Hall set, and then future sets in this Hogwarts line will all be distinct buildings.

[Black Falcon]

53 minutes ago, Clone OPatra said:

If the potions set is truly a swap-in module, it will be interesting to see if LEGO continues with the concept for future waves or drops it immediately, kind of like they did with the previous modular iteration.

On reflection, the Polyjuice Potion set was more of an add-on to the Chamber of Secrets than a sign of what was to come, given it was the sole interior-only focused set of the whole 2021-23 Hogwarts line.

This Potions set could be similar - something to get along with the Great Hall set, and then future sets in this Hogwarts line will all be distinct buildings.

I don´t see them doing the same system again. All 3 Hogwarts Set waves we got now are quite different from another. That doesn´t mean we can have similar approches again, but in the end a wave should be different from the previous one. I wouldn´t be surprised to see them doing something new for the next wave again, since I am sure the Designers love to add new ideas to those Sets. And pretty sure different approaches also lead to better sales since you will always find someone who likes it better than the previous one. 

[Clone OPatra]

1 hour ago, Black Falcon said:

I don´t see them doing the same system again. 

I think you missed my point. What I'm saying is, if the Potions set truly is an interior that can be swapped into another set, will LEGO continue putting out swappable interior sets or drop it after this Potions class?

In the 2021-23 Hogwarts we also saw a concept that was never carried further, with the Polyjuice Potion set. That set led many of us to believe we'd see more single-module interior-focussed sets in the new system, but Polyjuice Potion turned out to be the only one, with the rest in the line being mixes of trying to do interior and exterior.

So I'm wondering if the Potions class will be a sign of what's to come, or a one-and-done released alongside the Great Hall that it's compatible with.

[Black Falcon]

13 hours ago, Clone OPatra said:

I think you missed my point. What I'm saying is, if the Potions set truly is an interior that can be swapped into another set, will LEGO continue putting out swappable interior sets or drop it after this Potions class?

In the 2021-23 Hogwarts we also saw a concept that was never carried further, with the Polyjuice Potion set. That set led many of us to believe we'd see more single-module interior-focussed sets in the new system, but Polyjuice Potion turned out to be the only one, with the rest in the line being mixes of trying to do interior and exterior.

So I'm wondering if the Potions class will be a sign of what's to come, or a one-and-done released alongside the Great Hall that it's compatible with.

I don´t really see this as a different concept than the other Modules though. I mean there are plenty modules in different sizes, with the bigger Sets actually only consisting out of several 8x8 and 8x16 modules (among others). And actually with the Gryffindor Dorms there is another Set in the size of Polijuice which also interrior focused, though with the additional function to serve as presentation for the collectible cards.

As for the new Sets it is an different case since, if the rumours are true, you could switch the modules between the places - though I am not sure how much sense that really makes since normally they have a certain place where they would be. That beeing said I think it is a good way to have a sturdy build where you can simply take parts out to play with it but I don´t see much sense in those modules having all the same size or even in more Modules that can´t really fit anywhere - so while it seems likely that there will be more solo modules I would rather prefer to have a place to put them. But as I mentioned previously, I don´t see them doing Sets with empty modules.

 

[Jaromir]

So it looks like we will end up with a Hogwarts Castle, which will be a compromise of last two versions. Stand alone buildings, or buildings that connects with each other and focused on an outer look, and sets that will probably be like last version of Hogwarts and be modular segments.

Anyway, never been that much hyped for Lego like this year, awaiting new Harry Potter waves.

Edited March 11 by Jaromir

[Roebuck]

HP was a top 5 bestselling theme for Lego in 2023 so bad news for those that want the theme to die

[BacktoBricks]

16 minutes ago, Roebuck said:

HP was a top 5 bestselling theme for Lego in 2023 so bad news for those that want the theme to die

I get why some people might think the theme should come to a close soon; I myself as a big Harry Potter fan have become more select with the sets I buy now after a few years of the theme's return, but in all seriousness I can't see the theme dying anytime soon. You only have to think that there will be kids of around six who will start getting into Harry Potter that were only just born when the first lots of sets from this new HP era came out to know that they could keep remaking sets for a while and feeding a new audience every few years, especially when they haven't quite covered all locations and characters yet. Also, I know it's a contentious issue, but I can't see how they won't move on to doing sets for the new series in a couple of years too. I don't know how it will work alongside the old films, but the Lego deal is with Warner Bros hence why we don't get book only material unless the designers happen to sneak in an Easter egg. So if Warner are in charge of the new series surely they will want merchandise for it and then the series will give even more material for Lego to work off seeing as the whole point of the series is they can cover the books more in depth than the movies. Harry Potter fatigue doesn't seem to have hit generally even with the material being a lot more limited than say the Star Wars ever expanding universe, so I don't see why Lego should be much different.

[Roebuck]

Lego City gets a new police station every year and there is a lot more variation in HP even if they remake some of the sets every few years that is no problem as long as they sell

[TeriXeri]

51 minutes ago, Roebuck said:

Lego City gets a new police station every year and there is a lot more variation in HP even if they remake some of the sets every few years that is no problem as long as they sell

City also still gets new stuff, especially recently I think the direction to sell seperate buildings attracted people to that theme (as 3-in-1 buildings kind of declined in frequency, and especially 2024 has a new direction for many detailed Animal builds), there are still many people who collect buildings that are smaller then Modulars .

And then there's another group who comes to City for the animals, or another for vehicles.

The way things are packaged certainly play a role for deciding purchases for me, for City I usually want buildings ,but a few years ago, City buildings were really lacking and large budgets of the sets went to vehicles, so now with seperate buildings, there's a lot less bloat, so the buildings are quite a lot bigger (2020 City was quite bad in terms of buildings for example, the Town Hall set could be done so much better as it's own set in the new 2023+ City system)

Not saying things are cheap, bigger pretty much always means more expensive, goes for City, Harry Potter, and even sets like €400 Castles or €230 Eldorado.

I don't have Harry Potter sets currently, but I like the newer direction as well, selling the Ford Anglia as a small set is a good move, as previous options did come with Castle section or Privet Drive, but at 5x the price.

Looking forward to a set like the Durmstrang ship.

 

Edited March 12 by TeriXeri

[BrickBob Studpants]

While I don‘t want the theme to end just yet, they will run out of material to cover at some point  The reboot (if it ever gets sets) won‘t help, as it will be more of the same, just with a slightly different coat of paint. 

Interesting to see HP being in the top 5, as 2023 was one of the weaker years for this theme in my opinion, apart from the Second Task, RoR, BoH, and Gringotts sets  The rest was still good, but not on the level of the 2020 or 2022 offerings.

[Black Falcon]

1 hour ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

While I don‘t want the theme to end just yet, they will run out of material to cover at some point  The reboot (if it ever gets sets) won‘t help, as it will be more of the same, just with a slightly different coat of paint. 

Interesting to see HP being in the top 5, as 2023 was one of the weaker years for this theme in my opinion, apart from the Second Task, RoR, BoH, and Gringotts sets  The rest was still good, but not on the level of the 2020 or 2022 offerings.

I am not that sure if last year was really notable weaker than other years. I mean you already mentioned some Sets and I would definitely add the Hogwarts Castle and Grounds Set to that List - The Banners don´t seem that bad to me either.  Additionally we shouldn´t forget that older Sets that are not retired count towards those numbers aswell.

[Accio Lego]

2 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

The reboot (if it ever gets sets) won‘t help, as it will be more of the same, just with a slightly different coat of paint. 

Nah, there are a decent number of new places and things that the longer format of a tv show could allow us to finally see. Peeves, Binns and the History of Magic Classroom, the Kitchens, St. Mungos, the portable swamp, blast ended skrewts and other Care of Magical Creatures lessons – let’s not pretend that there’s not a significant number of us who wouldn’t go wild if Professor Grubly-Plank’s unicorn lesson made it to screens and there was finally a chance of getting that elusive creature.