BacktoBricks

Got the Desert Skiff yesterday and have to say I am not impressed. I've only got it so soon because I managed to get it for £55 not £70 and I only got it for the minifigures as I'm sure will many people so was not prepared to pay RRP. On that note, the minifigures are excellent, overlooking Boba Fett, and I just love Skiff Luke. There is an argument to be made that Lando's helmet is a slight downgrade for not having some lighter printing on top of the brown around the mouth area, but I think you could make the argument for either colour. Either way, as a ROTJ fan, these minifigures are classics for me. However in terms of the overall product, the value didn't feel there to me for a few reasons: 1) Bag 1 I was missing Boba's gun piece and instead got a random white grill slope and then a later bag I was missing another tile. So essentially two missing pieces. I can source them, but it's an inconvenience that seems to be happening more often now as I've have had a few missing pieces in sets over the last couple of years. 2) When building, the instructions also told me I needed 4 yellow steering wheels, but the picture underneath had me placing 4 black 2x4 bricks onto the build; that confused me for a second looking at my parts for four steering wheels that aren't even in the build until I clocked the picture underneath, and it's probably going to cause a few scratching of heads among kids when building too. And this is after I found about five different errors in the Yavin building instructions. Point is, overall, between 1 and 2, the quality control was just not there and felt totally sloppy for a premium product. If only the best is good enough then the instructions need to be proof checked better from my latest Star Wars experiences. 3) As for the actual set, I can't say it's overpriced purely on the amount of stuff. It's £70 RRP in the UK when the last one was £30, but it's roughly twice the pieces of the last one and has two more minifigures. So essentially for £10 extra on top of the £60 for the double pieces you get two more minifigures. That seems totally fair. The problem, is that the pieces you do get just seem to mainly go into building one big sand slab. You start by building the Sarlacc if you follow the instructions and building the Skiff felt almost like just building the afterthought I'd put together so many pieces before I got there. When I looked at the details of the last set to compare the piece count and saw a Skiff that looks very similar, but a far more compact Sarlacc it really highlighted how even if you allot another £10 to the extra minifigures, there's essentially a good extra £20 that's gone into tan slopes. And this for me is why the value just doesn't feel there. I'm not blaming the designer; they were given a price and piece count to work with I'm sure and did their best with it, but for me Lego didn't need to shoehorn this set into that price bracket even if the set is meant to be paired and displayed with the upcoming Barge we all don't but do know about. And again, not the designer's fault I'm sure because they get given a maximum for minifigures, prints etc, but if the set is going to be in this price bracket I'd have rather the minifigures got that extra attention and Boba got the right printing and a cloth piece and the Sarlacc shrunk a bit. I also don't get why the pieces at the back of the pit were done in black and not tan; these are not parts that will show through and disrupt the illusion of depth that the black inner pieces create, so it makes no sense to me as it makes the model look unfinished at the back and this is a set clearly aimed at adults displaying it at well as a toy.

@Black Falcon Forgive me, what I should have said was The Burrow or any other Harry Potter sets to hit the threshold as I already have the sets I want from the latest releases, such as the Durmstrang Ship, and have no desire to buy those I don't, say the Great Hall, especially at full price.

A disappointing GWP for me; @mark1991t is right I believe and Lucius is a repeat, but actually a downgrade as there is no printing on his legs and the build isn't anything exciting to me. However, I'm actually glad as I didn't want to feel forced into getting The Burrow on release just for the GWP.

Ah yes end of August to early September would make more sense as the set should have been revealed by then, not the poster revealing the product. Oh well, there can't be that long to go before the official reveal.

Interesting. If the poster was meant to be given away this week, then the official reveal should be today or tomorrow I would think. Hopefully see some better images soon.

I think you make a good point. The sign in the new Ollivanders references Quality Quidditch Supplies, Florish and Blotts and Gringotts. I expect they will release a smaller Gringotts on it's own, but I think it would be odd to include a sign in the latest set for other shops then not make them; the sign on WWW references Madam Malkin's, the Magical Menagerie and Sugar Plum's and we then got Malkin's. Sure we didn't get the other two, but Florish and Blotts actually plays a part in the movie so I would at least expect that one and I'd also think they'd include QQS as Quidditch stuff is fun for play and recognizable to kids. So that being said, I think it might be Florish and Blotts and Quality Quidditch Supplies which is already getting longer in the name than the previous two DA sets. I don't think Lockhart in the Duelling Club necessarily rules him out of the shops as on the flip side it would mean less production of pieces if they are reusing parts of him in two sets. Or like you say they may be doing one of those bigger shops with one of the lesser known stores referenced on the WW sign or maybe even Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour again, which would really elongate the name. I don't personally think it's going to happen and at this scale there wouldn't be much to the build, but wouldn't it be fun if the Wizarding Shops title was being used as a cover for the inclusion of The Leaky Cauldron and we actually got the moving wall.

I'm sorry, I really just don't get this no pupils thing. One of the things about the character for me is his expressive face and this just make him look like a hypnotized zombie.

I'm expecting another Chamber of Secrets; it's part of the castle and plays a part in not just one, but two of the films, so I don't think you can create the most detailed Hogwarts system ever without including it. I would be shocked if we didn't get it in all honesty. The current one is also meant to be retiring at the end of the year. Charms and Flying Class could well make a whole new castle section rather than being a slide in module, but that being said, I am expecting us to have more classrooms/ castle rooms than gaps in the modules so we inevitably have to decide what we want to put in the spaces and end up with surplus rooms which is annoying from a display and storage perspective. I would love to be proved wrong, but we already have the Hufflepuff common room and Potions class vying for the gap under the Great Hall.

I got the new smaller Ollivanders and Madam Malkins on Prime Day and I have to say, whilst the Ollivanders included in the set obviously cannot beat the D2C Diagon Alley offering for detail and scale, the set does have a lot of charm. If like me, and I'm presuming a lot of people, you only have the ability to display the sets on a bookshelf etc so only the front is on show, then whilst the new set is obviously not as good a facade, the sheer fact that you can fit more buildings is a definite plus. The facade still has that magical quality and if I'd never seen the D2C then I'd be more than happy with this offering. I think the only thing I might change if to put the shops on to baseplates and put the pavement and cobbles in front of the buildings like in the D2C.

Sounds fantastic! I wasn't expecting any HP news apart from The Burrow as I thought they'd be a March wave. That being said, I much rather a January wave and a bit more of a spread between things.

Hopes dashed already.

Please Lego make the N-1 PM based and throw in Queen Amidala. You already have your little Annie minifigure and 4+ sets are all about the large and printed pieces. Watch all us AFOLS by a 4+ set just for the minifigure. Who cares if she doesn't quite tie in with the scene.

It's not just The Burrow ... It's The Burrow: Collectors Edition (yes hear that in Hermione's voice ). Casual fans beware haha. Very excited for that GWP. I really want a proper Borgin and Burkes to add on to DA, but something is better than nothing. I hope it includes Harry with his cool sooty faceprint and broken glasses.

I wholeheartedly agree.

I've been trying to think why this new one looks so flat to me on the exterior and I think it's to do with the window shaping. Looking at the 2018 Great Hall, there's no doubt this one is more detailed and the windows are taller, but they don't have the pointed shaping at the top like the 2018 one. Those pointed / curved top windows are a integral part of the Great Hall's exterior design to me and I think it's that which makes me look at the 2018 model and see more of a Great Hall compared to this new one, even though this new one is definitely 'more' in quantity terms. Looking at the build it seems this could be easily fixed with the same upside down slope bricks put across the top windows like in the 2018 hall.

No your not. I feel the same. Even the art looks plain from what I can see; a dusty green landscape and murky sky facade.

Here here. I actually didn't mind displaying the last one. The eyes were just cartoonish enough that they didn't look too childish, but also not menacing. This one looks like it's out to suck your blood. I wouldn't even want to put it together.

I thought the Harry included in this year's advent calendar might be the one from Hagrid's Hut seeing as Harry wears that green jumper whilst playing chess with Ron in The Great Hall during in the Christmas holidays. But I've just found this activity book on Amazon which releases in September and will be including that Harry so I'm guessing the advent calendar might have a school uniform Harry again.

Phew! Well I'm glad you said it @krimimimi I get what they are trying to do with the concept of providing both a playset and a castle that appeals to collectors that want to display a good outside view. It can't be easy for the designers to work with that concept whilst being stuck to a particular price point. That being said, I can't get behind these modules; blurry or not I don't think they are going to look much better with clearer images. Of course the concept could work, just not on a budget basically. The last iteration might have been basic and blocky, but it did at least allow for creativity and MOC expansion. This concept will of course allow the same and I'm sure we will see some fantastic MOC modules to replace those under the Great Hall and then you will have a system that looks better in the outside than the last, but it won't change the fact that I just can't see a set on a price point really deliver on both exterior and interior whether that's the Great Hall or something smaller like Potions. That being said, in a way I'm really glad this Great Hall hasn't impressed me. I was dreading getting sucked in to buying yet another castle iteration as much as I would love to be excited by the concept. I'm very glad that I'm only interested in some of the minifigures. However, I'm sure that mindset is going to be quite commonplace and the exclusive minifigures of Dumbledore, Professor Vector and the Fat Friar are going to cost a fair amount on BL, let alone the troll who I think is going to appeal to a wider audience than even Harry Potter collectors. It might end up being one of those situations where buying the minifigures separately will end up costing nearly as much as the set, but there's no way I want to get dragged in to buying the set just to get them. You're point about the Quidditch uniforms reminded me that yesterday I came across the Lego Harry Potter Official Yearbook 2025 which comes with a Quidditch Harry who has no cape, not even a cloth one let alone the rubber ones used in the Quidditch Trunk. I also saw the Lupin from the big Hogwarts Express the other day in a activity book called 'Duelling a Dementor', but he has plain brown legs not the printed ones similar to how the Voldemort from the Hogwarts Battle set can be found with a plain slope piece in a book rather than the printed version it comes with in the set. Then you have Filch in the owlery with the plain legs and not the printed legs that are clearly still in production and in another set that is still on shelves. In some ways I get it; budget constraints of those books and the amount allocated for each book probably means it's a necessity to downgrade the minifigures and the kids that receive them probably won't know or care too much. You also, I would assume, have the fact that there is a third party involved in their production. But Filch in the owlery is just wrong to me; maybe it was plain legs Filch or one less owl or something like that due to the allotted budget, but when it is clear you can do better, downgrading him is just a pure indication of profit margin. He is available with printed legs so clearly the only thing stopping him from being included with printed legs is the fact that saving a few cents is worth more than giving the customer a better product. I also get what you mean about the price hikes too. In terms of Ollivanders though, I do have a couple of counters. In the UK at least WWW is an Argos exclusive and can often be found for around the £65, saving £20 off the Lego RRP and making it effectively just over £30 cheaper than the WWW in the D2C Diagon Alley which cost £389.99 for the set and so basically £97.50 per unit. So that to me is enough of a price difference to justify the smaller size, especially when you get quite a few minifigures with the set. Then you have the fact that selling the DA shops separately means some people who cannot afford to spend well over £300 all at once can literally start small and either spread the cost over a longer time period, or they could just get the shops they like. From a space perspective too, just displaying a single building can definitely be more practical. So I have nothing against these smaller DA sets. The increase in the price for the largest castle module is disappointing though when I don't think anybody is really sold on it. If it's not exciting us steady Lego fans and collectors, will the increases prices start to alienate the more casual fans or parent / grandparent buys and effect sales? The Ford Anglia and Forbidden Forest: Magical Creatures sets are both currently set to retire at the end of the year and whilst I can see them potentially being extended, if not, why such a small shelf life for the small sets? They are perfect for little display pieces that draw in casual HP fans, work as gifts for kids that could then get them sucked into the theme etc, not to mention the Ford Anglia will work well with the D2C The Burrow that will only have been out three months by the time the Ford Anglia is set to retire. Unless they go all Whomping Willow and Privet Drive and include the Ford Anglia in yet another set and have it in The Burrow too, then surely that would miss out on a lot of sales of people who buy The Burrow and then want the Weasley's Car to go with it. Anyway, sorry for doubling down on your disappointment.

That's very true. They could maybe squeeze into the bathroom size module or it could be you get two modules and they replace both the bathroom and common room, but it's going to be cramped.

I just don't think the detailed exterior / removable interior thing looks very good here. I know there are budget constraints, yet if it was say this concept but with the Polyjuice style modules slotting into the underground I could see the charm and aesthetic appeal. However, these interior modules just don't resemble rooms. The bathroom section just reminds me of a chair with the curved back and sides and the common room feels like one of the balcony module sections of the last castle wave, except the difference there was that they were just to provide a roof or rampart and this is actually meant to be interior.

I think you're absolutely right, and yet somehow whether it's part of 'the most detailed Hogwarts Castle' or not it still feels underwhelming.

At last Dumbledore gets his hat in a set and not just the CMF version! Great Hall feels like what I was expecting with the pull out bases, but can't say it feels very detailed to me. Those bottom sections just look plain, but will need to wait for better images. Nothing about this screams value for that price though to me as it's hardly better than the last one and you got a basilisk then, so the troll doesn't justify it. Yes it's bigger, but does it offer more play value? I don't really think so. Also, @brickbride where is the ghost because I'm just not seeing it? Ollivanders is cute and a perfectly shrunken version I think. I'm guessing the Flourish and Blotts sign is a nod to the next modular in the series, as WWW have the Madam Malkins sign. The interior of Malkins itself is underwhelming, but it is the secondary build I suppose. Great to see a fresh Ollivander so he has a unique torso again. Buckbeak I'm afraid to say looks bland and yet somehow chaotic to me with all those different shades of grey, but then I never had any intention of purchasing it so it makes little difference to me. I'm sure some will love it and no denying it's a detailed model, but definitely not my thing. The same goes for the buildable Mandrake; it holds no interest for me and a Mandrake that doesn't have the sound brick so it can scream in the year they made that a thing again is kind of ironic. Overall, this wave so far is extremely disappointing if I'm being totally honest. I really hope the Durmstrang Ship looks good after waiting for a remake all these years and doesn't end up looking like some Chibi version because they'd used pieces on the Beauxbatons Carriage.

Count me in.

I could see R2-KT being the other minifigure in Jedi Bob's Starfighter. The other 'buildable creature' set that Young Leia was rumoured to come with could also be Lola I suppose. I could see someone not knowing what they were looking at and maybe see a few 'eyes' on the build.