krimimimi

76417 Gringotts Bank - first pictures new information / significant changes to the previous comment for the preview are in bold print We now have the promotional material for this year's D2C in the Harry Potter lego theme, 76417 Gringotts Bank. The 4803 piece set consists of two main sections, the above ground, with two buildings and a wall, and the below ground section, comprised of a very solid centre trunk section with 4 arms at the top to support the upper levels, dotted with three vaults, a number of stalactites and stalagmites, lanterns, a bat, a narrow waterfall (Thief's Downfall) and encircled by a spiral shaped track for the mine cart that takes Harry and Hagrid to Harry's vault in the first film / book. Those versions of the figures are included along with their cart. The nicely detailed mine cart with 5 spoked steering wheels as decoration and track use the existing rollercoaster system. The vaults are essentially just openable doors with what might be as little as a single bricks' space behind them for the treasures they protect. The two vaults shown, the Potters' vault (687) with gold from the Sleekeazy's sales and Bellatrix's with Helga Hufflepuff's cup and the Sword of Gryffindor, are effectively token representations which the characters will be unable to enter. As a whole, the set focuses more on Deathly Hallows than Philosopher's Stone, however, as suggested by the half-blind Ukrainian Ironbelly that graces the set's roof and a "Bellatrix Lestrange" minifigure, secretly a polyjuiced Hermione, who appears with her extended beaded bag for the first time. There are 13 minifigures in total, additional minifigures include 2 versions of Harry Potter (Philosopher's Stone and Deathly Hallows), Hermione Granger Polyjuiced as Bellatrix Lestrange, Ron Weasley (polyjuiced as Dragomir Despard), PS Rubeus Hagrid, a Death Eater, 5 distinct goblins in total: Bogrod, Griphook, Ricbert, and 2 un-named goblins, plus 2 guards. Both Hermione and Ron come with alternative hair pieces, and the trio have new "wet" faces which nicely represent their characters after they go through the Thief's Downfall or jump from the dragon's back into the lake. Additional details include the new Galleon coin (which debuted in the 2023 Hogwarts Express set), vault keys, wands, and Hagrid's umbrella. There are at least two owls included, one in flight carrying a letter and a second perched with incoming mail. The two sections can be displayed as one 75 cm tall build, or as two separate modular units, in which case the above ground section measures 36 cm in height (it's unclear at this point if that includes the dragon or not), and the underground vault / track system is 39 cm in height. The dragon is similar in size to the Horntail from 2019's 75946 Hungarian Horntail Triwizard Challenge. It has new moulded head and jaw and uses cloth wings like 2022's 76406 Hungarian Horntail Dragon does (that's the larger dragon with the flappable wings like the Hedwig and Fawkes sets). The above ground section is 32 cm in width and 25 cm in depth. By contrast, one of 2020's 75978 Diagon Alley four modular sections is 25.5 cm wide and 13 cm deep, plus the tallest build is only 29 cm high, so Gringotts fits in satisfactorily as to its proportions. Bear in mind the buildings in Diagon were taller than the two storied set suggests, so while it seems a little bit off, the relative proportions are not significantly changed to the theme park or movie sets. The street level of Gringotts' main building is three stories tall, more V- than L-shaped, white, and complete with wonky pillars to the two rounded balconies stacked one above one the other at the V's point and over the entryway's stairs. They're topped by a round, green domed turret, for a partial fourth floor, upon which the dragon perches. The wonky columns are the 1x1 column pieces used in the 2021+ modular Harry Potter designs as opposed to the thicker 2x2 round columns employed in 2011's 10217 Diagon Alley. It allows them to fit in the two pillars to either side of the doors / windows, which is more accurate, but personally I found the thicker columns more satisfying as design decisions go. Either way, the build's horizontal shadow gaps definitely do a better job of recreating the render on the building from the original movie set than the 2011 set does, most likely with the use of tiles on the façade. There are only two sets of windows in either of the two upper side walls, meaning a reduction in window surface in the build. The interior has two stories, the upper is an office with a desk for a single goblin to use. (Minor quibble, including Bill Weasley as a curse breaker would have been a nice touch, but he's strictly theme park in these scenes.) The ground floor is the area in Gringotts we're most familiar with, the floor is appropriately tiled, there's a chandelier in the centre (albeit not as fancy as some builds we've encountered), and it includes three of those high desks with globe lights to either side, quills and inkwells. To the left of the bank is the Magical Menagerie, a narrow, six stud wide, two storied shop. There's some irony when the building is only as wide as the goblin's desk. Dark red windows dominate on the ground floor, if there's a door, it's hidden in the narrow passageway between the pet store and the bank, accessed via a couple of steps. The first floor is light grey with some sand green highlights, there's a pitched roof, bay window / turret with conical roof, and chimney with pots. To the right, and orientated at a 90* angle to the store on the left with the bank in between them is a wide, single story wall that continues the render pattern from the bank. This may hide some of the mechanism for accessing the vaults, but it definitely provides a straight surface to attach buildings from the 2020 Diagon set to at an angle that permits a linear display, presumably 134 cm in width. It includes 2 lanterns flanking an arch and a small pitched roof as an architectural detail. These are loosely mirrored on the bank's closest wall. Boxes (including a frog and pygmy puff for the pet shop) dot the "cobbled" street, and technic bricks allow for pins to connect it to other builds.

That's because there's so much head room in the WWW roof section. The problem is the DA builds all have a puffer crown section on top that lengthens their façades, but I agree Gringotts feels on the small side. On the other hand when you go back to the source material, the original row buildings were four stories instead of 2, so it's not as far off as one might think.

Did that in the first place, and no joy. Still no joy. There is, in fact, now a thorough lack of joy here. lol I don't have a IG account, and I'm not sure if that's making the difference. Can someone please DM me the link? Thanks, @RichardGoring and @Roebuck you are, uh, studs amongst AFOLs? 😆 Greatly appreciated. 😊

What's a Clicker+ channel? I couldn't find it on his IG nor on his YT.

PREVIEW 76417 Gringotts Bank - NOTE: IMMEDIATELY BELOW THIS COMMENT IS A MORE UP TO DATE DESCRIPTION BASED ON NEWER, MORE DETAILED PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL. I'd give this a pass and skip to that entry. We've had the first very small picture of this year's D2C in the Harry Potter lego theme, 76417 Gringotts Bank, and while it's exceedingly fuzzy and only a frontal view, we can still make out a couple of details. The 4815 piece set consists of two main sections, the above ground, with what appear to be three buildings, and the below ground section, comprised of a very solid centre trunk section to support the upper levels, dotted with three vaults and encircled by a spiral shaped track for the mine cart that takes Harry and Hagrid to Harry's vault in the first film, and those versions of the figures seem to be included along with their cart. (The mine cart and track use the existing rollercoaster system.) As a whole, the set probably focuses more on Deathly Hallows, however, as suggested by the half-blind Ukrainian Ironbelly that graces the set's roof and what seems to be a Bellatrix Lestrange minifigure, presumably a polyjuiced Hermione. The two sections can be displayed as one 75 cm tall build, or as two separate modular units, in which case the above ground section measures 36 cm in height (it's unclear at this point if that includes the dragon or not), and the underground vault / track system is 39 cm in height. The dragon is similar in size to the Horntail from 2019's 75946 Hungarian Horntail Triwizard Challenge. It has new moulded head and jaw and uses cloth wings like 2022's 76406 Hungarian Horntail Dragon does (that's the build with the flappable wings). The above ground section is 32 cm in width and 25 cm in depth. By contrast, one of 2020's 75978 Diagon Alley four modular sections is 25.5 cm wide and 13 cm deep, plus the tallest build is only 29 cm high, so Gringotts should fit in satisfactorily as to its proportions. (As further confirmation, brickmerge's description states it will fit just fine.) The street level of Gringotts' main building is three stories tall, more V- than L-shaped, white, and complete with wonky pillars to the two rounded balconies stacked one above one the other at the V's point and over the entryway's stairs. They're topped by a round, green domed turret, for a partial fourth floor, upon which the dragon perches. The wonky columns appear to be the 1x1 column pieces used in the 2021+ modular Harry Potter designs as opposed to the thicker 2x2 round columns employed in 2011's 10217 Diagon Alley. Without a more detailed picture, it's difficult to say if that's more or less satisfying as design decisions go, but the build's horizontal shadow gaps definitely do a better job of recreating the render on the building from the original movie set, most likely with the use of tiles on the façade. To the left of the bank is a narrow two storied shop, reportedly the Magical Menagerie. Dark red windows dominate on the ground floor, and it has sand green first floor, pitched roof and crooked chimney. To the right, and orientated at a 90* angle to the store on the left with the bank in between them is a wider one story shop. This is rumoured to be Broomstix, the broom store, but there's no confirmation as yet. Brickmerge reports the following 13 minifigures will be included: 2 versions of Harry Potter (Philosopher's Stone and Deathly Hallows), Hermine Granger Polyjuiced as Bellatrix Lestrange, Ron Weasley (possibly polyjuiced as Dragomir Despard), PS Rubeus Hagrid, a Death Eater, 5 distinct goblins in total: Bogrod, Griphook, Ricbert, and 2 un-named goblins, plus 2 guards.

@chris6507 Yeah, it basically is. More here: https://www.mecabricks.com/en/models/1XjdNKOna8b, plus the colour key helps. (As it's from early May and pre-BoH instructions, there were some slight changes that came later, but nothing major.) On the digital model, if you zoom in on the exposed end of the BoH (you can zoom and twist the build around to see things more clearly ), you'll see the light grey brick for the technic connection pins. The same brick is on the other side, so you can attach it to what is otherwise the rear of the upper part of the middle section of the BoH set (*whew*), so the bridge is not completely unattached. The connections definitely aren't robust for a build of that size, but it's enough to keep things together on your display table. (I would not try to move it that way, though.) As the other sections of the curved / bent bit of the castle are basically modules, by changing the angle on the bend of the Infirmary, you can change the angle of how the bridge meets the Great Hall's courtyard. None of the angles made the bridge match up cleanly on that side, and none of the roof parts seem to account for the gap, but that's not visible except from above, so I went with an angle that made the build look more satisfying. You could probably build a small piece to cover it easily enough, but there are plenty of gaps on the back section, to the extent that one more didn't make enough of a difference to me on my physical build. (Mileage varies, obviously. There's no "right" answer, it just needs to make you happy / happier. ) As for Gringotts / the quality of recent sets, the more time I spent with the new RoR and BoH, the more I liked them, and the 2nd Task is straight up banging. I am seriously pleased with all three sets. The new WWW has left me some hope that even if I don't find the D2C Gringotts to my taste for the price, they'll release a smaller set in the not all too distant future that I can double up on or just mod. I've decided that was the goal for releasing it now, to anticipate and head off some of the inevitable complaints upon the D2C's release. Options shall be forthcoming... We'll see.

Thanks, @brickbride. I appreciate your keeping an eye out. That's another thick knit pattern. They seem to prefer those. But it's another nice example of where they use pattern regularity and not, and how they just put things like slight wrinkles or pockets etc right over the top of the pattern to get that lego-y look. The longer I look, the better I understand the composition, but unfortunately that doesn't mean I'm suddenly capable of drawing. Right now I'm poring over the torsos with dots and checks, hoping to find a starting point.

Thanks, @deskp that helps. I had suspected it was more of a tunic, but this simplifies things. Any idea what her brooch is? I'd done a digital version of the fig and was going to try to improve her top, but I think any attempt on my part to duplicate the crochet pattern will only make a hash of things. Although I think there's an olive cardigan for one of the minifigs that might provide some inspiration... (Just doubled checked and it's yet another cable knit (Amy Farrah Fowler). I can't find a good example of minifig crochet.) A friend of mine made the twins' jumper for me, which I liked better: Thanks for the reminder, @drewdotexe. Promptly pre-ordered.

The list of ships forgot the Vidiyo one. @Bugbot20082, I could picture them making things like Cedric and Fleur CMFs (yes, I'm aware of the curse ) instead. I'd bet making them affordable and accessible would increase the sales for the 2nd Task as well before it goes EOL. Obviously I've no idea if something like that ultimately gives them a bigger sales bump than including figures with the ship would give them, though. (One day I'd really love to see their calculations on that, the difference a fig more or less makes to sales. Never going to happen, obviously, but that doesn't make me any less curious. ) Skeeter is another character that makes sense in that grouping, either CMF or set, if they chose to recycle parts of her from the book fig. They could include a beetle in a jar, either with her or with Hermione's minifig. Krum in his Hungarian uniform would make another good CMF, and maybe they could do some of the others characters from the World Cup. I can't picture them releasing a set for it, except maybe an AC, or maybe they wait another x years (<- clearly not a footie fan ) for the next World Cup and do a small one to piggyback on their publicity. With a small set it's a budget problem with the new prints and moulds though (hence pairing it with an AC), but if they ever gave us the Death Eater attack after the match, maybe with the Weasley tent, they could squeeze in a few figs more. I can't be the only one wanting that tent... @Legoman123, it's consistently in their top 5 selling themes, so I can't picture them pausing it yet. @deskp, if you'd still lurking around, do you happen to have a picture of Ginny's outfit in the Grimmauld Place Christmas scene? Orange shirt, dark tan (possibly crocheted) jumper?

Free Dobby! I think it's hysterical.

Why do you think the modular castle is over @brickbride? If anything the BoH was more modular than ever. Agree completely on the affordable sets though. What's up with that?

Looks great! The black version of the dreadlock hairpiece is from the new footie set @BrickBob Studpants?

Hey, @Sir Godric. Wow they really aren't available at most of the places that had them right now. I checked brickmerge, which is quite good at tracking lego prices in DE, aside from ebay (where the prices are obscene) the only store currently selling them is offering 10% off (which probably doesn't offset the shipping, but every bit helps). There are a couple of general purpose price trackers for the DACH Raum that might be worth checking. (idealo, Geizhals, billiger, guenstiger, etc)

We haven't seen Aunt Muriel yet either. Then again, technically she's from Molly's side, so I imagine it depends on how you define "Weasley family".

@Micmac I think the MOC you linked to (nice, btw; thanks for sharing it) goes a ways to answering that. The scale varies, but at the largest it only seems to be 1.5 x the lego version. So let's say the new set is missing 10%. To include more of the castle, as it demonstrates, a much larger model would be necessary, which in turn is a lot more expensive, and I get the feeling lego is trying cover a bigger variety of price points. The nanoscale castle, Diagon Alley, Gringotts are very expensive, and this set and Icons lie in between those and the regular sets. (And it would be nice if they remembered the cheaper sets again for next year, please.) Plus unlike the 2021+ modular sets, this has a very cohesive design language, so purchasing a second set, for fans with the inclination and budget to, allows for decent MOC-ing without too much waste. Obviously you'd need to supplement trees, grass / lawn, wooden bridge, Hagrid's hut and Quidditch pitch pieces, but it's not an absurd amount.

Ha! We've only seen maybe half the contents. Let's say there are six figs plus there are six builds shown on the box. That leaves us with 12 as yet unknown builds, and I can definitely picture them putting four - six of the microscale things in there. Microscale most likely wouldn't have fit in as well with the art on the box's front. And if the response on this forum last year was remotely typical, it isn't as much of a sales draw either.

@Lion King, Cho Chang in the Ravenclaw Quidditch uniform, in a forced perspective build with miniature pitch. 30651

Isn't that Dumbledore's office? (No argument on the sticker front.)

Eh, I was so pleased to have gotten a library (I mean, how improbable is that? Also? Pince! ), that I could forgive them a multitude of sins for Dumbledore's office. And his main office itself was alright. It's those stupid 6x7 (or less) mini spaces they've forced themselves into that they seem to have no better luck making use of than most of us do. PPM was rather brilliant. Play features! Humour! It was small (= affordable <- more of that please), versatile, easily MODed or MOCed. I don't understand why they didn't embrace the earlier series' use of small playsets, updating things like the Marauder's Map set, which was literally the same footprint. Give us 8x16 "corridors" with armour, tapestries and portraits! Places you can get up to no good. And where's the humpbacked witch statue with secret passage? "Even though I won't buy it"... We always say that, and they they come beckoning with lovely sets and lovelier minifigs and those scenes you've always ("Always!") wanted. The next iteration of Dumbledore's office - which is obviously coming, as we've had, what?, three already since the reboot - will have Snape and his doe Patronus and I'll be there cash in hand. And if not the next, the one after... And I still want the Forest of Dean set with the doe, so it'll be a worthwhile mould (or recolour if they used the friends / disney princess one).

They've invented the character. I think I've decided the weird little niche in the BoH is for storing the special wands and maybe the smaller "magic" pieces. I can't come up with anything story or build relevant that dictated it otherwise, can any of you? (Alternatively, has anyone picked it up on one of the advanced sales? Have pictures leaked from the instructions?) I wonder if they'll have us stashing the bigger "magic" pieces in the rock behind the fireplace, because I think they used larger flame pieces than they have been lately for fireplaces. There's usually a reason for things like that, and it's obviously not a Floo.

Careful there, @Seaber. Now that they've given us The Sock, perhaps it would be judicious to explicitly state that as sarcasm or a joke. (If we get a Death Eater trunk, I'm blaming you. ) Hey, Lego, affordable army building packs, please. If that's unclear, $70 is not affordable to net only four minifigs. We need Quidditch uniforms, Death Eaters (masked and unmasked), and more school uniforms are always welcome. I like the Galleon. The little chocolate frog 1x1 round tile is also very cute. Does anyone know what the T shaped light grey piece on the side of the Express is called? Or the angle shaped black piece on the side of the front end of the engine?

@steam235 I don't think we'll be able to see it until the instructions to BoH are available, because it looks likes it's a picture from them. Or perhaps when updated catalogues hit the stores, they'll have the new set up as well. In the meantime there's a digital model of it up on mecabricks you can toy with. https://www.mecabricks.com/en/models/1XjdNKOna8b As far as marketing goes, it's a weird choice that you might not have your overarching plan for your theme's modular series widely published until some of the required sets are off the shelves. Can you imagine not seeing it until you open your Christmas pressies, only to discover Sirius's Rescue, PPM and the Hospital Wing have gone EOL?

Excellent work, @Textorix! Ya basically gotta post it here, too, as some of us really aren't on other platforms. (Seriously, I likely wouldn't have seen this otherwise.) Thanks for sharing it. One thing it makes clear is how many more of those rocky dungeon pieces we could have used in our sets. #SlytherpuffDormsFTW #EqualityNow! Speaking of, in the midsection of the new BoH set, there are two sides with rock faces. One uses the wotsit (ROUS, but not; it presently escapes me) and the other brick builds it using one of those hollow wall elements, and given the hint of 1x1 plate colour, I'm pretty sure there's a 32952 (Brick, Modified 1 x 1 x 1 2/3 with Studs on Side) holding a plate on the interior. On the rear of the box, we can see how in the right hand section (the brick built one) the inner surface is covered with a tile (sticker depicts what I believe is one of those gargoyle-y sconce holders from the Great Hall). Any whack theories on what might be hidden in the little storage niche it creates? Is there anything that would make sense for the story, or is it just going to be for holding the cup and serving dish when the build is re-configured?

Nice work, @Alchemist! Welcome to the forum.

I can picture just this being behind revealing the "Hogwarts" plan now. Previous official layouts / stages didn't look at all like the castle and were often greeted with indifference or a strong desire to MOC. By contrast, this does look like Hogwarts, which increases the appeal, and as long as they let people know where the theme is headed while the sets are still available, that's fair, likely to curb frustration and encourage sales of sets before they go EOL. (Like how Sirius's rescue suddenly became a whole lot more appealing. lol)