RODDY

I don’t know how to properly phrase this but while I love some of the individual builds like Hedwig or the chocolate frog and the card, the whole thing just doesn’t come off as a Lego set. It feels like a bust and feels way too smooth. It definitely does look better than what I was imagining but it still just not for me. Wish they released a Gringott’s instead.

For the MBS do you all think we could see a remake of the Sandcrawler from 2013 if they are afraid of touching Jabba’s Palace/Sail Barge due to Princess Leia? Even though I prefer something ROTJ related, a remake of the Sandcrawler would pair nicely with the MBS Mos Eisley Cantina.

Thanks for sharing the video, I thought it was very interesting watch especially about Quirrell’s classroom originally being in the Forbidden Corridor set. That explains the sticker with all the hanging parchment in that random place. All it needed was a big cauldron and that iguana that Quirrell was holding and it would of been spot on representation. Now I have a good excuse to buy the Jungle Explorer minifigure. I might make those mods myself for my castle. As for Gringott’s, it’s incredibly disappointing that they have no plans. I love the Diagon Alley set but it sure looks kinda empty without its centerpiece.

As long as the MBS is something from ROTJ, I’ll be estatic since it’s my favorite Star Wars film. Endor Bunker, Jabba’s Palace, Jabba’s Sail Barge, a remake of Ewok Village, all of them are tantalizing options. But I think Jabba’s Palace is the one I want most. As much as I condone Gonk violence, I would kill for an updated 8D8 and I would love to see the droid torture room. I oddly love that scene so much. Also would love to see the entrance door where we see Luke Skywalker in his robes for the first time. Bunker is awesome too but would need some side builds to justify the $350 like some trees or an AT ST. But yeah I’m stoked for the next MBS

I’ll give it being the most iconic Prequel vehicle but just because it’s iconic doesn’t mean it will translate well as a UCS set. Maybe I didn’t say it clear enough but what I mean is that without the troops, the cargo hold looks extremely barren and empty which brings it down quite a bit in my book. Having clone troopers really would help round out the set and give it the depth it lacks if it was minifig scale . But because it’s so big, adding troopers wouldn’t help that problem much since they are out of scale. So you’re left with a husk of a set. Even having the doors close all the way would have fixed that part, but because it’s an AoTC it wouldn’t be canonical accurate. To me the troopers are just as important as any other feature of the Gunship that make it feel truly impressive and why it should of not been a UCS set. It’s a Low Altitude Assault Transport after all, it’s in the name of the ship that it transports troops.The ARC 170 and Clone Turbo Tank doesn’t suffer from this problem because the former only holds a couple of pilots while the later has coverings.

Now that I’ve had a couple days to process this, my feelings on the Gunship are really kinda mixed. Is it great we’re getting UCS Prequel sets? Hell yeah. But I think the Gunship wasn’t the right pick to give the UCS treatment. It’s a gorgeous model no doubt but I still find it ridiculously oversized. Normally with vehicles like the A Wing or Y Wing, they usually carry just one passenger so it’s not bad. Or in the case with the Star Destroyer or Sandcrawler which has the ability to carry a lot of people or droids, the area that holds them is covered up. But with the Gunship that is literally a transport vehicle has all this barren space where the troops are supposed to go in. And the problem is even more magnified since it’s at such a large scale and it comes with only a single trooper. What good is having a transport vehicle without having troops to transport? And I’m not saying Lego should of included more figs, Lego always had a barren minifig selection to begin with for UCS sets. I think the figs that come with it are fine. What I’m saying is the idea of a transport ship just doesn’t fundamentally work at the UCS level imo when having troops inside of it is essential and not having the ability to close that gap since the doors only close half way. Will I still buy it? Definitely not a Day 1 purchase because I’m saving up for the UCS AT AT but I’ll probably get it next year because even though the Gunship isn’t an ideal UCS pick, I still want to see more UCS Prequel sets like an ARC 170 or a Clone Turbo Tank so I’ll bite the bullet.

While I would love an Adventurers reboot, I’m totally fine with an Indiana Jones reboot. Especially for remakes of the Temple of Doom sets, sure it may not be the strongest film of the series (Personally my favorite is Last Crusade) but the sets from that movie were incredible especially for 2009 standards. Imagine remakes of Shanghai Chase or Temple of Doom or a Club Obi Wan, that would be incredible. Hell Temple of the Holy Grail could easily satisfy that same itch that a remake of Temple of Anubis would. Fingers crossed for new Indiana Jones sets in 2022

The Forge is the best Star Wars set so far this year.

Favorite set has to be the Chamber of Secrets with my least favorite being the Advent Calendar, extremely underwhelming besides the Birthday Cake Piece. Fluffy set at least has Fluffy and a neat Harp build.

Thank you! You make a lot of good points. I do agree that one of the major strengths of the 2018 line was that you got all the prominent teachers from the first movie in just two sets. I’d say the second was kinda underrepresented because we didn’t get Lockhart or Sprout or still haven’t got Pomfrey. And I do love getting more obscure students with Colin and Justin and getting all the petrified characters in one collection. So they kinda balance out to me, and I only give the edge to 2021 because the two minifigs they have in common in Dumbledore and Nearly Headless Nick were done better in CoS. White hair for Harris Dumbledore and new skirt was a big improvement and the glow in dark feature is awesome. Missed having glow in dark pieces. I wonder how different the minifig selection would of been had it been released in 2018. But yeah overall I totally understand people like yourself who prefer the 2018 sets and having the most accurate model. It’s just for me, I have always had a soft spot for playsets and recreating scenes. Stuff like the modular 2003 Jabba’s Palace and the 2001-2002 Hogwarts always had a charm to them and the new 2021 sets have that same charm with a modern take. That’s why I don’t mind having them on display and really enjoy them. But I do agree part of feels incomplete and to me its having Fluffy and Devil’s Snare without the rest of the challenges and that’s my biggest gripe. If they release next year, all will be forgiven. Just different strokes for different folks.

I just got around to finishing up building the three Hogwarts extensions and I have to say I really love all of them. The Polyjuice Potion Mistake lives up to the legacy of killer $20 sets like Expecto Patronum and Rise of Voldemort. The build is simple but really accurate. Fluffy Encounter on its own isn’t that good, but it works in larger scheme of things. I think the new Fluffy is great besides the grey pieces. And finally Chamber of Secrets has to be my favorite Hogwarts portion in the whole history of the HP line. I felt in the 2018 line that was focused on the first two films, Chamber really got the short of the end of the stick besides the Whomping Willow and Aragog which are more secondary scenes imo. But this set makes up for it in spades. There’s so much love from the Chamber itself to the DADA classroom and Lockhart’s office, so many awesome references. I think the Great Hall is also pretty well done for a set that doesn’t solely focus on it. And the modular nature of the new sets really allowed me to mod the DADA classroom to add the skeleton from Ninjago City Gardens to hang from the roof which imo looks great. Even got a spot for the Pixie to hang on from. https://ibb.co/QkGSBPK I say overall, for $190 it’s a very enjoyable Hogwarts display. Compare it to the Whomping Willow and Great Hall which were $170, I really feel like you get a lot more for the first waves of each line. You get better creatures with Fluffy, Pixies, and Basilisk compared to the brick built Basilisk and Fawkes. You get a lot more memorable scenes with the Chamber, the Polyjuice transformation, Fluffy in comparison to just the sorting and Willow. I’d say the minifigure selection is about neck to neck, though I prefer the 2021 lineup by a smudge. The only place the 2018 line has it beat is the exterior, but to have the full exterior display you need to sink at least another $90 for the Clocktower and not to mention another $100 for the Astronomy Tower to really flesh it out. Not including Hagrid’s Hut or another other Hogwarts grounds sets. So to me, I think the 2021 line does a great job in giving you a more complete experience at a lower price. Sure the exterior detail is sacrificed a bit but you can’t have everything. Honestly can’t wait till next year’s extensions would love to see a Boggart Closet or Hogwarts library with Gillyweed, or the Room of Winged Keys and Mirror of Erised.

Well uhmmm hmmm... that’s honestly underwhelming and I wasn’t already expecting much just from the leaked info. Really sad in comparison to last year’s Yule Ball advent calendar. The Birthday Cake is a cool touch though.

Yeah I really hope we got a Borgin & Burke’s and/or Gringott’s. If we are talking about the initial waves, this year is my favorite one but it’s always nice to have a strong D2C or retail exclusive to round off everything. Extremely strong CMF and D2C really bolstered the 2020 offering as a whole which wasn’t my favorite initial wave.

Yeah I’m scouring through brick link looking through the set inventories of my old sets I had as a kid like Adventurers and I can’t find anything. Thanks for confirming my insanity

This is kinda of an odd question but am I misremembering that the 2001 Dueling Club set had the crescent moon stickers? I always remembered in my bins of pieces that there was a piece with that sticker. Because if there is, I’m thinking of modding the Great Hall portion of the Chamber of Secrets to be exclusively for the Dueling Club.

I get a real kick out of people who think the sets will sell poorly simply because they don’t like them.

Nah, I disagree. The Clocktower also had a very lackluster interior. DADA classroom was barely recognizable along with the infirmary. Bottom level was empty space. The only good rooms were the Yule Ball and Prefect’s Bathroom. Astronomy Tower had another potions classroom, Slughorn’s office which was a bland office and didn’t have an hourglass piece. The Astronomy Class and the Herbology was great. The spaces of the 2018-2020 sets were used for inconsequential moments in the film where these sets do the film’s biggest scenes justice. And now they aren’t limited to tiny nooks and crannies to make the exterior look good, so we can get bigger scenes like the Chamber of Secrets. Another big plus is getting cool moulds and animals. The Great Hall had Pixies, Basilisk, an owl, a snake so many great accessories. I’m happy both lines exist because the people who like the architecture of Hogwarts can have their sets, where people who are much more concerned about the interiors like me can have our own sets. It’s genius honestly

My ranking would be 1) Chamber of Secrets: This is probably my new favorite HP set of all time. It’s the full package, awesome interior with equally awesome minfigures. That slide play feature is incredible. So much goodness in this set, I could write a dissertation on it. Insta-buy 2) Girl’s Bathroom: Another two iconic scenes in Chamber and as someone who thinks Chamber is the best HP book, these sets are right up my alley. Poly juice Hermoine and Crabbe and Goyle are great minifigs. Insta-buy 3) First Flying Lesson: I’m surprised this set is so far up, I had no plans of buying this till I saw it today. The exterior is beautiful and it faithfully recreates the PS’s scene. Especially love that statue and that updated Hooch is a must get. Another throwback to the 2001 set but done with a modern twist. Insta-buy 4) Forbidden Corridor: This set would be higher but the interior of this one is a bit lackluster, though I appreciate the inclusion of Devil’s Snare. Wish this set came with the Chess Set minifigs. I really do hope we get Winged Keys, a smaller Chess, and the Mirror of Erised next year because it would be weird just to have one challenge. Buy 5) Hogsmeade: Good set, but I just personally don’t care for it all. I like the darker hues of the prelims better. Minifigs are just really meh. Skip 6) Chess Set: Decent set but again I just don’t care for it. Exclusive minifigs are definitely getting bricklinked. Skip 7) Fawkes: It’s just Hedwig P2, a bit lazy but I get it because Hedwig sold like crazy. Skip 8) Buildable figures: Why exactly do these exist? I own these minifigs, I don’t care to see them at a larger scale. I really wish we got another Hogwarts extension at the $120 mark with the Challenges, full blown Dumbledore’s Office, some parts of the Forbidden Forest, something like that.

Yeah I get that, it’s just me personally everything else is too good in this that it doesn’t bother me as much for being a remake. It’s a vast improvement over the 2018 imo. Definitely would have loved Pomfrey, but Lego Hogwarts Infirmary doesn’t sound like the most appealing set to kids.

OH MY GOD!!! THE GREAT HALL IS A LOVE LETTER TO LOCKHART! Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom is perfect along with the painting of Lockhart, you also get his office as well with the wig! Dueling Club as well, nice one! This is amazing!!!!!!

This plus Colin Creevy and you got my list

Eh even if we just get one big set with Devil’s snare, Room of Winged Keys, Chess and Mirror of Erised, that’s cool with me. I just want one more to round off the group.

Sure the D2C is disappointing, but my expectations are met so I’m not devastated in any way. I just hope we get some more Anniversary style Hogwarts sets next year and aren’t just a one off. I’m honestly fine just buying 3 sets this year, glad I don’t have to spend so much cash compared to last year, even though it was well spent.

Wasn’t initially excited by news of the Chess Set, but seeing these blurry photos kinda has piqued my interest. I’ll probably still won’t buy it because I have nowhere to logically put it, but I think this is going to be a spiffy set.

I hope you’re right as well, it’s the only D2C I could imagine buying besides Gringott’s. Paired with Chamber of Secrets, Forbidden Corridor, and Moaning Myrtle’s Bathroom, it would be a more complete homage to the 2001-2002 Hogwarts Anniversary Sets. Only thing I would add is an expanded Dumbledore’s Office if it’s not in the Chamber of Secrets set.