Accio Lego

Still not brown, but nice to know the mold still exists and isn’t IP locked or anything

I’m still shocked that hasn’t been done yet, honestly. Not only does the sheep exist now, but they made a crook part for Bo Peep in the Toy Story 4 sets. They’d just need to recolor it. At this point they could do a shepherd with a crook, sheep/lamb, and a new sheepdog mold without being wildly out of budget for a standard cmf character. It seems like such a straightforward choice.

Madam Pince was also a non speaking character in the movies, and we got a lovely rendition of her as well. Let’s not forget Lucian Bole from the 2018 Quidditch set - an unnamed Slytherin player in the movie who lego dug through the books to find an appropriate name for. Actually, Professor Sinestra is essentially the same as well. The actress who plays ‘her’ in the movies was actually an unnamed extra in the background. Lego just thought she looked cool, so when they wanted to add some canon Professors to Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 they used that appearance for her. Presumably the fandom at large agreed that the character design was fun and distinctive, so they adopted it as well. Eventually Hogwarts Mystery came out and they used that appearance for Sinestra as well, and actually got lines and was shown teaching for the first time. And then viola, a lego Minifigure that most of us recognize.

It’s literally the cheapest version of the cool magic flying car lego has ever made - it’s always been just a side build for something else before. And I realize that doesn’t mean much to us adult collectors who’ve been getting these sets for ages, but can we take a moment and remember that the recommended age range on the box is in the single digits? It’s a tiny $15 set - a whole bunch of little kids are going to buy it as their first Harry Potter set and bring home 2/3 of the main characters and their cute pets. They’re going to build a nice little car with working wheels that they can put the minifigures in and zoom across the table or whoosh through the air and they’ll pretend whatever houseplant their parents have is the Whomping Willow and have loads of fun with it all. It’s $15, what more could you want? We spent last wave complaining that there weren’t enough smaller more economically accessible sets, but now that we’re getting our first $15 set since 2018 people are complaining that it doesn’t have any unique characters? Well, not every set can be geared towards long term collectors, especially not the cheap ones.

Based on Harry having short legs they’re probably intended to be Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet

Given the size and price of the Forbidden Forest: Magical Creatures set, and the fact that it’s already reported to contain a Hippogriff, it’s highly unlikely any of the other creatures in the set will be horse sized, unfortunately. We’ll have to keep our eyes set on something smaller if we’re hoping for a new mold in this set.

I’m wary about assuming the upcoming Sorting Hat set is the same one we saw in the survey leak. They might be in roughly the same ball park price wise, but nothing in the survey leaks gave any indication of the reported sound brick, and based off the piece count we know that’s taking up a massive chunk of the budget. Given that the entire purpose of the the survey was to determine what people would be willing to pay for various sets, you’d think the sound brick would be crucial to let the survey takers know about so they could give a properly informed answer. But I don’t remember any mention of something like that when the leaks first came out. Not trying to rain on anyone’s parade, but it’s entirely possible that the sorting hat from the survey was a random sketch model thought up and discarded before the designers had the idea of adding a sound brick to the mix, and what we see on shelves in March will look different on account of a more limited parts budget to accommodate the sound brick. We just won’t know for sure until official pictures drop, and jumping the gun and assuming all the survey leak images are probably coming as a result seems rather dangerous.

I knew about the new baby Norbert, I just wasn’t sure if we were counting fantasy creatures like dragons here. Norbert is actually one of my favorite parts of the first book/movie so I’m excited to see him represented properly. The original Hagrid’s Hut is one of the few sets I’ve never had, so I don’t own the original Norbert, but I’ve got the dark green one from the 2010 set and the 2005 graveyard duel with the black baby dragon finials on the gate, and the piece looks more like a mutant pterodactyl than anything in the Harry Potter movies. Norbert’s very much overdue for a remake and I’m eager to see how lego does it after all these years.

Very true, but the likelihood of any of those being ‘normal’ animals is rather slim. We already know it includes a Hippogriff, and other preexisting magical creatures they could work with would be the Pygmy puff, Niffler, baby Thestral (but no budget for an adult), pixies, and Grindylow (although that one seems unlikely since it’s aquatic). Given the price and the fact that lego has introduced small or medium sized animals in Harry Potter sets like this before (even alongside a preexisting large animal - see the Thestral Carriage) I wouldn’t completely discount a new mold of some sort, but it would still be a magical creature. The most I would expect as far as regular animals go is a couple bats or spiders. That said, as someone who loves fantastic beasts just as much as regular animals, I’m very excited for this set.

Noticed something while comparing the new information with what we’d already been speculating about: We knew that both 76430 and 76432 both had low piece counts for their listed prices, and the latter is obviously explained by having a large molded animal included. But 76430 is the Owlery, which doesn’t really scream ‘large molded parts’. And curiously enough, 76430 has nearly the same piece count as 76426, but costs $7 more, which is strange considering that 76426 is the Boathouse and presumably will include a large molded part - unless they plan on making a boathouse without including an actual boat. Which is all just my way of saying that I’m looking at the Owlery specifications and wondering just how many owls the designers plan on stuffing in this set. (I’m pretty sure we’ll see a Lego owl record broken here)

Set 76430 in the Harry Potter theme next year is apparently called Hogwarts Owlery. I’m guessing the old resting and flying owl molds in at least one preexisting color each and the debut of the adorable smowl in its first regular set. 76430 is actually somewhat weak on the price per piece ratio, so we’re actually probably looking at multiple colors for each mold. Add in the rumor that the new version Hagrid’s Hut will feature a new mastiff mold for Fang and Harry Potter promises to be a great theme for animal lovers this March!

Oh yeah! Owlery, boathouse, and magical creatures - let’s go!!! After multiple leakers hinting at a lackluster March wave I wasn’t expecting to get so much fun stuff. I get that Hedwig, Hagrid’s Hut, and the Ford Anglia are all technically remakes, but those last two especially have some nice potential for the designers to give us something fun. This will be the first time the Weasley’s flying car is sold on its own instead of as a side build for a much bigger set, so I’m excited to see how it looks with a Speed Champions treatment. And a new Norbert(a) mold and the long awaited Fang in the same set? Hardly a ‘lackluster’ remake if you ask me. Very much excited for the boathouse and owlery sets. We’ve never gotten an actual minifig compatible boathouse before (and for all the complaints about no new characters, it sounds like this one is might be fleshing out our student roster a bit), and previous representations of the owlery were just a few owls stuffed in the top of a tower in a large castle build, so getting the movie accurate structure should be fun. And we’re totally getting the new small owl mold included in this set, calling it now. (As an aside, Filch is an interesting inclusion, since he doesn’t feature in the GoF movie scene. But in the OotP book there is a scene with Harry, Cho, and Filch in the owlery, so they might have chosen him based on that.) Not sure what to think of the buildable Sorting Hat - I think I’ll wait to see what it looks like moving and listen to the feedback on the quality of this ‘sound brick’ before I make any decisions. The magical creatures set is a must have for me though. I wonder if it will take inspiration from the game versions of the class and give us things like custard color puffskiens or bring the niffler piece out of retirement. All in all a pretty promising start for next year.

Yeah, I’m not believing any of this until an actual known leaker confirms. Just sounds a little too good to be true when the reliable folks have been pretty apathetic about the March wave previously.

I managed to slide my vault section onto a shelf with a height clearance of roughly 34 cm or a tiny bit over 13 1/4”. I had to take off the corner brackets from the top, but that’s ridiculously easy and there’s even a little bit of clearance after that. Width and depth are a bit trickier since it can vary wildly based on how you orient the module, but it ultimately doesn’t extend too far past the 10” square base plate of the upper section in any one direction - although obviously that doesn’t accommodate the gwp vault.

No, I got two regular tan 2x2 plates in bag 26 that I never used though, despite finishing the build entirely through - slightly relieved now. I was really confused because literally nothing in bag 26 calls for that part. Stage 26 does use a pair of tan 2x2 jumper plates in the small stack of books on the mezzanine though - or at least that’s what my instructions told me to use.

I foolishly decided to swing by my local store and snag the Flying Lesson set on day of release back in 2021 (since it came out slightly after all the others). I didn’t do my research and failed to remember that the new Mandalorian wave and UCS Gunship were coming out on the same day. The line wrapped around the building and was completely hellish, but at least I was waiting for the one new set they didn’t run out of. Definitely dreading the fact that the Ahsoka sets and a new gunship plus the Disney 100 camera are all coming out tomorrow as well. It’s going to make my trip to the Lego store interesting to say the least.

Not really massive news, but a list of 2024 polybags has leaked and 30677 is the Harry Potter one. Nothing more detailed yet and not really shocking since we’ve been getting one every year, but I figured it was worth noting we’ve got a set number for it now.

Theoretically, but it can depend on your location. The US site has new sets go live at midnight EST, so those of us on the west coast can place orders at 9pm. If you don’t know where the version of the website you used is based out of it might be worthwhile to check, that would likely help figure out what time zone you should be looking at.

Yeah, I think it’s jumping the gun to assume any of those sets are a certainty. There were apparently plenty of preexisting sets in that survey too - the survey was about gathering comprehensive data on how much customers are willing to pay for things, not a poll to see how much they should charge for upcoming sets. The images that leaked were sketch models that were convenient for the survey designers to grab images and data for, whether those sketch models make the cut into production is another matter entirely.

But mtdbricks also calls it “cheap” and “small”, and while a $100 Sorting Hat is definitely cheaper and smaller than the original Icons set, it couldn’t really be called either of those things on it’s own. I’m wondering if they might not be talking about 76430 or 76432 instead. Both have extremely low piece counts for their prices - suggesting large printed parts like the Hogwarts letter, train ticket, or galleons we’ve seen lego do previously as part of/to enhance the original Icons set. At $45 and $30 respectively they actually fit the definition of cheap by lego standards these days, and their piece counts would put both of them into most people’s definition of a small set as well. Just a thought - it would limit what the buildable object(s) could be but it’s still in the realm of possibilities.

That is weird. For the death eater it kind of makes sense, they’re laying groundwork for the future, but the goblins? This is the only set you’ll ever want to army build them for.

Falconfan and some others have posted some proper images of the gwp on Instagram. The goblin definitely has a unique face print going on (with some rather fabulous eyebrows frankly). I also finally noticed that the track also has connection points at both ends, meaning you can connect it to the set from either side and/or link a bunch of the GWPs together to form a line of vaults.

Aragog hasn’t been done since 2018, and a remake of the CoS scene featuring him would be one of the best/easiest places for lego to finally give us Fang. (I’ve also asserted in the past that lego could easily use an Aragog set to give us another Ford Anglia, and you know how much they love to do that) There’s also the Fluffy encounter - widely regarded as a let down so therefore prime material for a remake (see the Hungarian Horntail). Honestly, if someone told me the 18+ set from the wave was a diorama style set featuring Hermione’s infamous “or worse, expelled” line as a quote tile I wouldn’t be surprised. And, of course, Hagrid’s hut is about due for a remake too. Between people wanting Fang and people wanting baby Norbert like the 2001 set featured lego would be hard pressed not to get a positive response to that. (Although that would hypothetically be one of the larger sets in the wave) The Knight Bus, likewise, has not been done in a few years, and is within the appropriate size range. It also wouldn’t shock me if we got a proper ‘final challenge’ set from SS/PS. Since we essentially just got the mirror and Quirrel added on to the spectacular Great Hall set that acted as the flagship for the reboot back in 2018 - but might have been a tad inaccessible to see one people. And that’s not even touching on the troll in the bathroom or chamber of winged keys - both technically remakes but desperately due remakes after all this time.

No, that’s when VIP/Insiders access to the set goes live on their website, no preorders involved. The American site strictly uses EST so us folks on the west coast don’t have to stay up late to see website updates. EDIT: just checked the info link on shop@home and the main blurb says: “Go Back to Hogwarts™ – 9/1-9/10 Join us for a LEGO® Harry Potter™ celebration filled with new sets, gifts, sales, fan challenges and more.” So I think we might have a cut off date for the Gringotts vault gwp for those interested. The sales, sadly, will probably be exclusively on older sets, but I’m curious to see what those fan challenges are.

I’ve personally got my fingers crossed that Izzie’s hair will show up recolored in the BAM towers at some point. The color is fun, but not very natural, and that long wavy ponytail could add some nice variety to the longer hairstyle options - we’ve never had that many options for ponytails.