BacktoBricks

That sounds very cool. I hope we get to see a picture someday! @Virginia_Bricks @BrickMatit @RODDY The main thing shown from all your answers I think is creativity and making the sets work to suit your own set ups. Thank you for your answers.

I would love to collect the new castle now I can see how it's coming together, but the thing is just so massive I don't have anywhere to put it and I dislike just storing sets. I know there is no other way of doing a decent playset castle without it being substantial and I'm not saying it's a fault, but I'm curious, for those who are collecting the modules, what are you doing with them? Are you managing to display them together, only displaying sections, building and then boxing them back up?

Would I be correct in thinking that Penelope is using the same headpiece as the new Bo Peep minifigure?

The thing is, new collectors might not like the price but not be as disappointed as us because they aren't as aware of the price jumps and they also don't realise the old Clocktower came with better minifigures, or the last Hospital Wing actually had the printed Skele-Gro bottle etc. They might still be in that honeymoon magical period of discovering Lego Harry Potter. I defy anyone new or old though to not question why Madam Pomfrey is not in the Hospital Wing. But I agree about the old Clocktower. It was one of my favourites sets from the original reboot castle. The inside was pretty cramped and useless, but the outside architecturally made a good display piece on it's own I think. And the minifigures were more unique, although of course, that set too had the Hospital Wing in and no Pomfrey, but the big difference to me is that they didn't blatantly call the set Hospital Wing. The Clocktower and then the Hospital Wing set that came after were seemingly named for their defining features, so this one should have been called DADA lesson or suchlike considering that is where the majority of the play features are. And yes, when are we going to get a post COS Dumbledore again!

The irony is, if there was ever a set that should really have all three of the trio in it to reflect their unity, I would say it should be this set considering that the scene literally comes straight after Ron's return. I feel like people just getting in to Lego now might actually be more tempted than long term collectors with the Hospital Wing. As a long term HP collector I don't dislike the set, but there are a lot of glaring downgrades and not a lot to offer in return. No Pomfrey, no Boggart Snape, no printed Skele-Gro ...no real reason to want the set, unless I want to get all the new castle parts, which I don't and I would suspect less longer term collectors do considering they might have bought in to the last two castle iterations since the reboot. Sure the Grey Lady is a nice minifigure (it feels like a hybrid of both versions to me with the dress of the first Grey Lady and the hairstyle and colour of the later), but Hermione whilst having a more accurate torso than her predecessor, makes no sense overall as a figure to me as she never wears her hair like that, Lupin is another remake and the slight print change on the Dementor is barely noticeable. Really The Grey Lady and the wolf patronus is the only draw for me. New collectors on the other hand might see more draw in all of the minifigures and the castle part itself.

Is Eleven's faceprint a reuse? I can't find the face on Bricklink I like the fact that the GWP minifigures are not exclusive and can be made from existing available parts. Joyce for instance is reusing Harry Potter's torso from the Ford Anglia set. I also recognised Jonathan's torso as Ron's from the Main Tower set and what is really interesting is that Solid Brix in his review shows the instruction booklet as showing Jonathan with arm printing, but the actual minifigure and the picture on the outside of the box do not have arm printing. The Ron coming in the new Harry Potter Philosopher's Stone display set in January though is a reuse of Main Tower Ron, but with extra arm printing. So at first it seems Lego was going to give us Jonathan with the upgraded torso, but cheaped out at last minute. Very disappointing considering the price of the set and the fact that they literally show they can make a minifigure better, but give you a subpar version. Other than that, I really like the minifigures, apart from a couple of things. Will's hair looks all wrong to me and should have been dark brown. One of the things I loved about the original Will minifigure is how close to the character it looked. This Will looks a lot more generic. Also not feeling Steve's hairpiece. I feel like old Luke Skywalker's hair done in dark brown just like Michael Corner from Harry Potter would look better. There is nothing wrong with Vecna, but I always find minifigures without hair looks small compared to there hairy counterparts so Vecna looks comically small to me comparative to the other minifigures. And no Demogorgon! That would have been such a great inclusion considering its prevalence in Season 5 let alone the whole series. That figure is going to be so expensive now on the aftermarket. The set meanwhile is both incredibly smart with that splitting function and yet feels extremely lacking at the same time. The house in the show feels large and imposing whereas the set feels small, cramped and little more than a facade. It's a nice facade, don't get me wrong, and the designers were extremely talented to get that mechanism in, but like most sets now I just can't marry that set with it's price point.

If that is the hairpiece being used for Hermione, and it certainly does look like some kind of ponytail updo hairpiece, then I really don't understand the change. She doesn't wear her hair like that in any of the scenes and the last hairpiece is accurate enough. Is it the same hairpiece used for Disney Belle maybe? I can't quite tell with Lupin, but Penelope seems to be using the same side swept blonde hair as Slytherin robed Daphne Greengrass and Hannah Abbott in her Christmas sweater, so I hope she has a more grown up face print or she will literally be the same minfigure just in Ravenclaw robes.

Lol so that's where they were all hiding.

I had two Salazar Slytherin but couldn't get Helga and Edessa lol. I seem to come across Jocunda a lot too. Great list @krimimimi!

I'm guessing it's because the Fantastic Beasts movies didn't do too well. Then again, I think the consensus was that that was partly because people expected more beasts and creatures and less politics for plot, so people may warm towards a collectable creatures series more. That being said, the companies probably don't feel like they need to put that much effort in to sell stuff associated with the Wizarding World as the basic stuff sells well enough.

I played that on PC when it was released. The spiders chasing you out of the forest was bad enough, but the ones that would drop down on you when unlocking secret areas was probably worse. Good times lol.

@Virginia_Bricks @mark1991t Thank you! It's great to get some more variety. Now I just wish the Ron would get the same.

Is Draco's faceprint new?

Thanks. Third year already for the portraits! I have to say I am surprised we are getting them included as well as the patroni, but not complaining. Who were you missing out of interest? My favourites are Godric Gryffindor and Sir Cadogan.

This might be the only leaky cauldron we ever get lol.