GoldenNinja3000

Thank you!

Yeah, I realized that Stripe fees were lower so I did that, and luckily I read a little further down before placing my order so I used the Brickset72 code! Thanks for that! Much happier with the overall price now since it’s exactly what I paid for my Series 1 box in 2018.

Thanks for informing us! It’s coming out to $260 USD through PayPal which is a little more than I was expecting...I didn’t think European stores charged VAT if you’re in the USA- I know BRICKshop didn’t. Plus, I kind of want to wait for the Brickset promo code to come out.

Oh, wow! I didn’t realize that, thanks for correcting me. I always thought that set had like 5,700 pieces for some reason! I’m glad it’ll still be in the top 5 biggest after November, then.

It’s the 5th biggest set of all time, behind the 2017 Falcon, 2018 Hogwarts, 2017 Taj Mahal, and 2007 Falcon. If you want to count the old Taj Mahal as a separate set (which I don’t since it’s a 1 piece difference) it’s 6th biggest, and it’ll become 6th biggest in November anyway once the Colosseum releases and takes the crown as the largest set ever made. The set sounds incredible and is much bigger than I was expecting in both width and piece count! I’m very disappointed at the lack of Gringotts- again, if a stand-alone Gringotts set had released this summer it would make a lot more sense, but now we have to wait a year to see if they’ll make one that’s detailed enough to fit alongside the D2C. I think it’s funny that this set also had some disappointment that we had to adjust to, much like Hogwarts being microscale. I hope it’s revealed soon, I feel like everything that could be leaked has been leaked except for the rest of the minifigures and obviously the actual set itself. For 5500 pieces and no Gringotts, I’m expecting an insane amount of detail and hopefully interiors for places like Scribbulus.

Has anyone built the large mosaic using 3 copies of the Iron Man set? I’m wondering if there are enough extra studs left to make one or more of the alternate picture options if I just purchase the Technic base pieces from Bricks and Pieces.

I imported two of the Iron Man Armory sets early from Zavvi, and I can confirm that the armors represented by stickers are the Square Enix suit (labelled as “Prime-20 Armor”), War Machine (labelled as “War Machine Proto-20”), the Prototype suit (labelled as “Prototype_Armor_final_version_2”), and Blazer (labelled as “Fire Armor Blazer”). I’m not exactly happy that we have a sticker for Blazer but not Tazer, that’s slightly annoying to me. I would’ve much rather had a sticker for Rescue or an extra sticker for Tazer. Tazer would’ve made more sense than War Machine to me.

On the topic of Gringotts being included, while I agree that it may sell better as a stand-alone set for those who can’t afford a $400 Diagon Alley, I personally would be very upset at its exclusion. The modular Hogwarts is one thing, but LEGO selling 90% of Diagon Alley in a $400 set and then saying “wait another year for the most iconic building” would really annoy me. It would be much, much less irritating if they came out at the same time although I still wouldn’t like it. I always thought it made the most sense to include a wonderful Gringotts in the D2C with an interior consisting of desks and one vault, and then to do a $50-60 dragon escape set next year with the Ukrainian Ironbelly, a small roller coaster section for the mine cart track, and maybe Bellatrix’s vault. I can’t see LEGO making a $100 Gringotts set with a sizeable exterior, an interior, AND a dragon. That sounds like a $150 set to me at the very least. I also think it’s possible that the name could be printed or on a separate clear-backed sticker sheet, but I hope we get a concrete answer soon.

This sounds incredible! I’m really glad I didn’t buy the Grand Piano now. It’s a bit of an odd choice for the largest set ever made to me but I’m excited to see how it’s designed and how big it’ll be...

These sticker sheets are incredible! WWW is drowning in them. I really hope Gringotts is in this set, because I’d be annoyed if a $400 Diagon Alley set doesn’t include the most iconic building. On the other hand, a $100 Gringotts Escape set next year would be incredible. I’m really happy to see that we’re getting Flourish and Blott’s and Quality Quidditch Supplies. The Daily Prophet office was unexpected for me but I hope it means we’ll get Rita Skeeter! I agree that the Gringotts sign could be printed so hopefully we still get it, or maybe there are more sticker sheets yet to be leaked. The topic of stickers in expensive LEGO sets always comes up, but I honestly don’t mind them too much. Most stickers (especially ones with solid backgrounds and not transparent ones) aren’t hard to apply and having this much printed detail would drive up the price by an insane amount. The NES has almost all printed pieces, sure, but it also has no minifigures, while Diagon Alley will presumably have many new and exclusive figures.

I’ve got one about 40 minutes away and I know they’re much more lax on limits, but I was going to get these to hang in my new apartment at school and I probably can’t bring 3 of them on the plane. I may try getting one from the store and ordering my max of 2 online. I’d love 6, but that’s an insane amount of money to spend and I’d rather get one of the Marilyn Monroe and Star Wars ones.

The Iron Man one has a limit of 2 in the USA, which is infuriating since I want 3 to make the giant picture. That seems very stupid to me.

I’m extremely disappointed that there’s no Rita or Pomfrey, since they would work best with a CMF budget. I love the inclusion of Lily and James, but Fred and George kind of feel like wasted space to me. The new hats are nice, but I didn’t even remember those outfits and just think they’re an odd choice. But what is up with LEGO and twins in second licensed series? Marge’s sisters in the Simpsons, the Wonder Twins for TLBM, the duck triplets for Disney, and now Fred and George. It feels like them trying to fill space in some earlier series but here there were other figures I would’ve rather seen, like Pomfrey whose headpiece will probably only be made in a CMF. On the other hand, it’s a good and inexpensive way to get Fred and George. Ginny is great and Ron and Hermione were to be expected.

That’s a great question! I don’t recall what my exact first set was, but I remember saving up for the 2007 castle in 2010 and then discovering that there was a new one and getting it. I also got Hagrid’s Hut and the Hogwarts Express for Diwali that year, which is one of my fondest childhood memories. I’m not sure which came first but I think it was Hogwarts, and that set is still one of my absolute favorites to this day. I’m hopeful that LEGO will give us something today. Maybe the CMF reveal, but I’m not expecting Diagon Alley to drop out of nowhere given the teases for the last couple D2C sets. If nothing else, I’d expect us to get our first teaser image/video for Diagon Alley today!

I’m really hoping Diagon Alley is revealed soon since I’ve booked my ticket back to university and the amount of LEGO I can bring back entirely hinges on whether or not I need to buy Diagon Alley before I leave and drag it there with me

I’m also worried about Diagon Alley being 18+ because correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think there’s been a large 16+ set since LEGO rebranded to 18+ in April. It seems that 18+ has simply replaced 16+ as the upper end of the LEGO age range and it’s been accompanied by the black boxes to make the sets look fancier and more adult targeted, which works well for some sets but I think would be horrible for a set like Diagon Alley. I hope it’s not 18+ for that reason but with 16+ appearing to be dead I’m afraid we’re going to get one of those black boxes for this set...

Do they put early VIP release teasers on calendars anymore? I don’t recall there being one for the Haunted House but it still had an early release. I’m currently building the Burrow with only the AT left after this, and I’ve encountered some strange things while building. First off, I got an extra sticker sheet in the Privet Drive set- did that happen to anyone else? Also, I’m halfway through the Burrow and the pig’s eyes were misprinted with one being further down the side of the head, and I was missing a 1x2 plate in olive green and instead got a piece that isn’t even in the set’s inventory. I don’t think I’ve ever seen two issues like that in a set, and while it’s not a big deal it’s just odd to me since it seems to track with what other people have been saying about LEGO’s quality control slipping a little bit in 2020.

This advent calendar looks great! I’m so glad Cho is included along with the twins, but now I can’t have every couple dancing in the Clocktower The builds are surprisingly good, I don’t mind The Triwizard Cup again since I think it looks great even if it’s too big, and I really love the Goblet of Fire and gramophone builds.

Yeah, but I was afraid they’d do it anyway. Like how each time they’ve released an AT-AT in the last couple years, the Snowspeeder that’s been on the market for a year retires right before it releases. Obviously that’s not exactly the same thing but it’s the closest example I can think of.

I think we’re likely to see something HP-related next week, but I don’t want to get my hopes up too high. I’d like to at least see the AC fully revealed to tide us over until the D2C and CMF. I’m surprised that this week is the piano, as I had almost forgotten it was coming! I’m super excited to see that so not too disappointed that it’s not Diagon Alley.

Kind of surprised that the January Avengers sets and some Spider-Man ones are retiring already. I’m impressed that the Endgame ones, Captain Marvel, and December 2018 Spidey sets hung on for so long, though. And it’s a good sign that they aren’t retiring the Hall of Armor yet!

I just built the Hogwarts Students pack, Room of Requirement, Forbidden Forest, and Hedwig! Hedwig is a fantastic build and the wing flapping was pulled off very well- I’m quite impressed with the designer. The RoR is a great little set but I think I may modify it to cover up the trans blue pieces from the outside, as it doesn’t look very hidden with those showing. Grawp is a good build and the centaurs are smaller than I expected but the new leg piece is awesome! Overall I’m very happy with these so far, and I’m incredibly excited to get into Privet Drive and the Burrow on my next day off!

Exactly! It’s not like leaked D2C images drive me insane to the point where I’m going to actively avoid them. I’m just saying I prefer seeing them in HD for the first time rather than trying to pick out details on a tiny image. I feel like that’s a fairly common sentiment. Leaked minifigures, on the other hand, are exciting because they leak far in advance of sets and give us clues as to what’s in them.

Because leaks are everywhere on Instagram, and I’m not going to avoid looking at the set if it does leak, especially not with everyone discussing it. I’m just saying I think it’s cooler when LEGO gets to reveal it in all its glory for the first time instead of seeing a grainy image on someone’s Instagram story. Like is there anyone here that actually prefers seeing poor quality leaked images before the HD ones? I love the excitement of leaks but for large D2Cs I like seeing the high quality pictures first, but it’s not like I can pick and choose what leaks to look at since we don’t know in advance when something leaks, I just see it on my Instagram feed when it does.

I really hope pictures of the whole set don’t leak early. Seeing it for the first time with the official images and learning everything about it at once is better in my opinion. The NES leaked one day early which wasn’t too bad, but I hope DA doesn’t leak the same way. I do like the new Harry figure and it’s a good way to combine the PS/CoS versions into one short leg variant. I’m still hoping we get an older HBP Harry, though! All of my sets finally arrived from the Netherlands today! I’m super excited to start building them but honestly it’s even more exciting knowing that there’s still more HP sets coming in 2020 with DA and the CMF series!