Wizarding World 2024 - Rumors & Discussion

[BrickMatit]

40 minutes ago, Modal said:

Does 1732 pieces feel a bit small for a $220 set? Maybe I'm overthinking it, but for the "biggest most detailed Hogwarts ever" is that a lot of pieces for the Great Hall, rock base, and the grand staircase?

Maybe they used more big pieces?

28 minutes ago, Axxe90 said:

I would hope for the double amount of minifigs as the 2018 Great Hall given it costs more than double.

I will keep my expectation lower. Is it true that the new Great Hall cost more than double of the 2018 Great Hall, but Diagon Alley was four time the cost, but had only 14 minifigures and Gringotts, costing even more, only 13 minifigures. Of course, it will depends on a lot of variables but I will expect from 12 to 14 minifigures.

[Accio Lego]

48 minutes ago, Black Falcon said:

maybe a new mould for the Basilisk if it is included?

I think we’re far more likely to see the mountain troll or an improved Fluffy than a basilisk repeat while the last one is still on shelves. The last version of the great hall in the Chamber of Secrets set obviously came with Slytherin’s chamber - the most obvious way to set the new Great Hall set apart is to make it based off a different movie. 

[LemonFlavouredBleach]

Can’t wait for a actual good looking hogwarts with the rock base… the 2021 sets were so ugly lol (until you could combine all of them), glad they going back to grey roofs and prioritizing detail like 2018 sets

[Rolyat24]

Not sure how I feel about a Hogwarts reboot so soon. I just finished collecting the 2021 castle and it’ll take something really impressive to get me to start over again. 
 

As much as I’d love a subterranean level with the PS challenges, my prediction is that we’ll see a small kitchen and Hufflepuff common room instead. It would be a fun location for fans to get without distracting from the main build of the great hall. My guess is the set will come with the hall and courtyard and the staircase tower will follow next year, although I’d be pleased to be proven wrong. 
 

The other sets really don’t sound all that interesting to me. The only one I’m really excited to see is the ship and carriage, and only because I don’t have either of the previous versions.

Bring on the set descriptions!

[JeanGreyForever]

The constant reboots of the Hogwarts Castle make it hard to get invested in every new iteration. This new one may be marked as the most complete and detailed Hogwarts but I'll believe it when I see it. There's nothing about the Owlery or Boathouse so far which makes me think these sets are representing the most magnificent Hogwarts yet. As standalone sets, they're fine but pretty simple and nothing spectacular.

[brickbride]

On 1/17/2024 at 12:48 AM, Ferder said:

76431 Hogwarts Potions Class, 397 pieces, $37.99 

 

It's possible that this will be the rocky base to go under the Great Hall (like how it was way back in 2001). Not counting the collectable book, we haven't seen a playset of this classroom since 2018's Whomping Willow set.

There was a Potions classroom in 2020's Astronomy Tower, so, not that long ago.

2 hours ago, JeanGreyForever said:

The constant reboots of the Hogwarts Castle make it hard to get invested in every new iteration. This new one may be marked as the most complete and detailed Hogwarts but I'll believe it when I see it. There's nothing about the Owlery or Boathouse so far which makes me think these sets are representing the most magnificent Hogwarts yet. As standalone sets, they're fine but pretty simple and nothing spectacular.

That.

[Bricknificent]

I added some lighting on this picture for a better look. It looks a lot like a real LEGO set.

[BrickBob Studpants]

1 hour ago, Bricknificent said:

I added some lighting on this picture for a better look. It looks a lot like a real LEGO set.

I still highly doubt these are the actual upcoming castle segments. The design process for the 2026 sets surely hasn’t started yet, so I doubt they already have the entire layout ready.

Also, while the new Great Hall is a $200+ set, I don’t think it’s enough for the gigantic thing we’re seeing here. Doesn’t even look like LEGO to me, to be honest

[MaxHeadroom]

1 hour ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

The design process for the 2026 sets surely hasn’t started yet,

I’m not sure about that. Doesn’t it usually take 2 years for most lego sets to get made? At this point LEGO knows they will get another three years out of the theme so why not actually think ahead and plan things out for once? I’d guess that what we’re seeing in the image outside of the Great Hall and/or the staircase tower are at least prototypes for what’s coming later. 

[Minga 089]

Somehow I have a hard time believing that the Great Hall comes with anything else. I think we will see the Staircase Tower next year summer wave. And I also don‘t think we will get the underneath section. I personally expect them to be extra more to a playlet so that parents can afford it for their children. So my guess that the Potion section is the first part of it and the one that will go under the courtyard. Prediction will be Winter wave Courtyard similar to this years Boat house and Chamber to go under the great hall if the current version retires at the end of the year. Summer $200 Staircase Tower + the underneath section of it in a separated set.

[Roebuck]

The current/former Hogwarts design was apparently planed out from the beginning to be made into a huge set, but only revealed after all the sets was released

[BrickBob Studpants]

19 minutes ago, MaxHeadroom said:

I’m not sure about that. Doesn’t it usually take 2 years for most lego sets to get made? At this point LEGO knows they will get another three years out of the theme so why not actually think ahead and plan things out for once? I’d guess that what we’re seeing in the image outside of the Great Hall and/or the staircase tower are at least prototypes for what’s coming later. 

It’s ~1 year for regular sets and 2+ for D2C sets, as far as I’m aware  It‘s likely they have some longterm plans, but as you say, those must be prototypes at best

[Salix]

18 minutes ago, Roebuck said:

The current/former Hogwarts design was apparently planed out from the beginning to be made into a huge set, but only revealed after all the sets was released

Might be why they're revealing it before releasing this time around. Even though it's a just an outline.

[Textorix]

18 hours ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

It’s not even an opinion thing, Hogwarts doesn’t have green roofs, inaccurate is inaccurate

This :D

[brickbride]

36 minutes ago, Roebuck said:

The current/former Hogwarts design was apparently planed out from the beginning to be made into a huge set, but only revealed after all the sets was released

Are we sure about that? What about the inconsistencies? Say, the white windows in the Hospital Wing vs. the black windows elsewhere. Or the fact that the "Great Hall" was just the height of a regular room, but the Room of Requirement was double that. Or the glowing Nearly Headless Nick in the Chamber of Secrets to go with the non-glowing Gray Lady (who in turn fit with the non-glowing Nick from the old Great Hall set). I got more of a feeling that they were making it up as they went along.

5 minutes ago, Textorix said:

This :D

Funnily enough, when I pointed out how inaccurate the boats for the boathouse were, everyone here piled on me like "Why are you so negative, sure they shouldn't have paddles and sure they ought to sit four, but LEGO doesn't have to be accurate!". To each their own, is all I'm saying.

Edited January 18 by brickbride

[BrickMatit]

2 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

I still highly doubt these are the actual upcoming castle segments.

While the image is appealing, I wouldn't read in it to much in term of what LEGO will produce, mostly about dimensions.

Just as a comparison... the 75969_Astronomy Tower instruction booklet had on the cover the set and two other existing set in the background (Great Hall and Clock Tower). 74948_Clock Tower one, instead, had a general Hogwarts castle background, in a Lego resembling style, but with no recognisable other sets. The 75954_Great Hall had a different general Hogwarts background, in the same Lego style, and while on the right appeared the AstronomyTower, this is as similar to the real set as every image of the real Astronomy Tower is.

Of course, this could be the LEGO generic plan on what to do and, by the way, what do you see? Great Hall, Grand Staircase Tower, the front courtyard, the passage to the main courtyard, the viaducte entrance...

Edited January 18 by BrickMatit

[Black Falcon]

2 hours ago, brickbride said:

Are we sure about that? What about the inconsistencies? Say, the white windows in the Hospital Wing vs. the black windows elsewhere. Or the fact that the "Great Hall" was just the height of a regular room, but the Room of Requirement was double that. Or the glowing Nearly Headless Nick in the Chamber of Secrets to go with the non-glowing Gray Lady (who in turn fit with the non-glowing Nick from the old Great Hall set). I got more of a feeling that they were making it up as they went along.

Well we can´t be sure until one of the designers talks about it in an designer video, interview or something like that. But I would also say, that they planned it from the beginning as a rough plan what they want to do, which minifigures, how the overall castle will be build. Of course in the design process there will always be change in the process, and all the things you mentioned don´t make much more sense when the sets are completely designed after another.

Especially now that they are trying a more detailed hogwarts that is not modular like the last one they have to have a rough plan how the overall castle will be designed - I am pretty sure they have a prototype of the castle there. Also you would have to plan ahead what you want to display in the sets and which minifigures they will have so you don´t end up displaying a set that requires a minifigure (and we are not talking about the three here, since they will be in most sets anyways) but you have that minifigure already in an set where you could have put like every minifigure in instead without them appearing in two or more sets - which is not going to mean we can´t see the same character in several Sets, though. Just they will have a rough plan when they consider which minifgures they are going to add. Best example for this would be the great hall where you basically can add every minifigure that exists it the Great Hall, so releasing that one it would be good to know which Minifigures are added to other sets before choosing which ones you add there. 

[NoOneOfImportance]

5 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

I still highly doubt these are the actual upcoming castle segments. The design process for the 2026 sets surely hasn’t started yet, so I doubt they already have the entire layout ready.

Thing is, LEGO has never before advertised the full castle that sets could be combined with before all associated sets were released/revealed. This picture could certainly be a stock image of sorts, but I do think it gives a good impression of what is coming, even if they aren't final models of such. 

[krimimimi]

As for them pantsing the Modular Hogwarts design, Fluffy Encounter and First Flying Lesson aren't even part of the Modular layout. They shouldn't be, as they were EOL by the time lego revealed their plans, but still, that hardly screams: we knew what we were doing all along! 😆

 

Thanks for lightening it, @Bricknificent.

I'd agree it's a placeholder image, if only because of the knockoffs made in competition, but I'd expect locations and scale to be roughly accurate or they're setting themselves up for a World of Whinging. (Where's the Viaduct!!!!) Otherwise graphically you really need to go with a format that couldn't be taken for a hint of things to come. Or lots of disclaimers. (Maybe I need a closer look at that text at the bottom of that brochure... 😆)

The base doesn't seem as "lego-y" as the castle, which I'm assuming is deliberate. Looking at the size, I'm wondering what marketable base sets for it would even look like. Does anyone know what the deepest underbuild has been to date? I know there was an older CoS during my dark years that I think a castle went on top of. The issue then becomes which rooms with the necessary depth make sense, if you wouldn't be able to remove them to play or clap them open for accessibility? If the thing is massive, it feels like this becomes a problem. 

 

Along those lines, what do we fancy the chances are that the Potions classroom isn't intended to flow into the large scale Hogwarts build? That it's simply a playset for the less minted 🤑 sold in parallel, sort of what the Moment sets were, except not as gimmicky?

Edited January 18 by krimimimi

[ArrowBricks]

4 hours ago, Roebuck said:

The current/former Hogwarts design was apparently planed out from the beginning to be made into a huge set, but only revealed after all the sets was released

This makes the most sense. Why would Lego design only half the sets for the new Hogwarts configuration? They’d have planned them all, others more complete. 

1 hour ago, krimimimi said:

As for them pantsing the Modular Hogwarts design, Fluffy Encounter and First Flying Lesson aren't even part of the Modular layout. They shouldn't be, as they were EOL by the time lego revealed their plans, but still, that hardly screams: we knew what we were doing all along! 😆

Along those lines, what do we fancy the chances are that the Potions classroom isn't intended to flow into the large scale Hogwarts build? That it's simply a playset for the less minted 🤑 sold in parallel, sort of what the Moment sets were, except not as gimmicky?

This is a good point. Surely, Lego would learn from this, though? 

I would be shocked if the potions class isn’t part of the new configuration. 

19 hours ago, Modal said:

Does 1732 pieces feel a bit small for a $220 set? Maybe I'm overthinking it, but for the "biggest most detailed Hogwarts ever" is that a lot of pieces for the Great Hall, rock base, and the grand staircase?

It does. I assume some very large parts, maybe some new moulds (troll, anyone?) 

 

Separate point: 

Do we think the Aragog’s lair will be advertised alongside the Ford Anglia and Hagrid’d Hut? 

I am looking forward to buying those 3 sets, and even the Hogwarts Express and Hogsmeade.

I think they will/all go together amazingly. Personally, the first few months when recreated in Lego are so nostalgic.

Edited January 18 by ArrowBricks

[Ferder]

1 hour ago, ArrowBricks said:

This makes the most sense. Why would Lego design only half the sets for the new Hogwarts configuration? They’d have planned them all, others more complete. 

I've posted this before, but Lego had mocked-up designs for a complete Hogwarts as far back as before 2018.

 

Quote

 

Three quote from Mark Stafford, designer of the Great Hall (2018)

"Early on, I came up with the idea to make a modular version of 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 Rahael realized the Hogwarts build in his Whomping Willow set would fit really nicely on the side of my Great Hall set.

I kind of got carried away with a minifigure scale modular version of Hogwarts, I built 7 or 8 different sized sketch models that all joined together to make a massive version of the school. The Tower and Hall were two separate ideas at that time. Then when it was decided the Great Hall should be the largest set of the line I was asked to combine it with the tower. 

The one thing I am disappointed about is the windows, I’ve only got eight windows, eight long windows along the side and the actual Great Hall has nine. The ninth window, which is at the end with the doors, is twice the width of the other windows and has a slightly different shape to it because of the Hufflepuff building that’s underneath the roof, although nobody knows that because it’s a top secret place and we’ve got inside knowledge. So for a long time I had a little Hufflepuff roof down here which I had to take out.

 

 

 

[Pop Star c o]

On 1/17/2024 at 7:42 PM, Balrogofmorgoth said:

It’s not even an opinion thing, Hogwarts doesn’t have green roofs, inaccurate is inaccurate

That's not true. It's only a movie version which makes them look grey but it looks terrible in LEGO. Sand green looked really good in the original HP sets.

[Balrogofmorgoth]

11 hours ago, brickbride said:

Are we sure about that? What about the inconsistencies? Say, the white windows in the Hospital Wing vs. the black windows elsewhere. Or the fact that the "Great Hall" was just the height of a regular room, but the Room of Requirement was double that. Or the glowing Nearly Headless Nick in the Chamber of Secrets to go with the non-glowing Gray Lady (who in turn fit with the non-glowing Nick from the old Great Hall set). I got more of a feeling that they were making it up as they went along.

Funnily enough, when I pointed out how inaccurate the boats for the boathouse were, everyone here piled on me like "Why are you so negative, sure they shouldn't have paddles and sure they ought to sit four, but LEGO doesn't have to be accurate!". To each their own, is all I'm saying.

Totally different. You were saying how much of a travesty it is that everything wasn’t at exact minifig scale lol which is clearly unrealistic 

3 hours ago, Pop Star c o said:

That's not true. It's only a movie version which makes them look grey but it looks terrible in LEGO. Sand green looked really good in the original HP sets.

I can’t even fathom this take. The green roofs are some of the ugliest things I’ve ever seen in lego form

Edited January 19 by Balrogofmorgoth

[Accio Lego]

As a bit of a divergence from the current talk of summer sets – it just occurred to me that the Sorting Hat set scheduled to come out in March still hasn’t been officially revealed on shop@home. 
 

I’m assuming that the 18+ labeling and talking aspect means Lego is planning on hyping it up with a reveal trailer and everything – which would be our first chance to actually hear what’s going on with the sound brick. 
 

As someone who’s actually pretty curious about what this thing sounds like, when do we think that official reveal and hype campaign will happen?

[Ferder]

The green roofs perhaps came from the 2001 Harry Potter Style Guide which governed all the designs for Harry Potter merchandise (since the designs from the films were still in-progress and top-secret). Check out this toy of Hogwarts from that time.

Here's another quote from Mark Stafford: "Of course it's a subject tackled before by some of the best LEGO Designers so I had to find a way to be fresh and try to find a new visual language. The first thing I argued for was the grey roof. The sand green roof only ever existed in the LEGO versions, the books and movie both have grey slate roofs and that's what I wanted."

Basically, Lego Hogwarts first had green roofs because early-merchandise Hogwarts had green roofs. The model in the film has slate grey roofs which can appear blush-ish on screen and in person. 

The 2020 Hogwarts went back to green because it was remaking the 2001 sets for the 20th anniversary. 

Edited January 19 by Ferder
accuracy