Accio Lego

Yeah, while I was spitballing ideas in my head it occurred to me that the feral Ford Anglia from the forbidden forest scene is the only version of the car lego hasn’t done over the years, and Aragog hasn’t been done as anything other than the barest of bones version since his lego debut in 2002 (although the 2018 was very well done for its minimal budget), so it would be interesting to see him done in one of the sets in this larger leaning wave. Yeah, I feel like lego would feel safe putting out an Ironbelly playset rated for kids at the same time as a Gringott’s with a sculptural version of the dragon on top. The Icons Collection featuring Hedwig came out just a year after the Hedwig kinetic set, and as far as I can tell neither set’s sales were particularly hurt by the overlap. And ultimately a Ironbelly sculpted right on top of the bank and not designed to be moved (similar to the Icons Hedwig) is going to be much more stable and sturdy than an articulated playset thrown on top, not to mention looking a whole lot better (which, considering an 18+ D2C is going to be marketed more as a display piece…). So it’s completely believable that lego would do an Ironbelly on an 18+ Gringott’s and another, ‘kid friendly’, version on its own.

While I’ve got some trepidation over the general skewing of set prices towards the higher end of the spectrum, I’m very excited to see what looks to be a complete list for next year’s summer wave. Especially a D2C that so far seems to fit the parameters we’d expect for Gringott’s. If nothing else, I think there’s a good chance we’ll see the Ukrainian Ironbelly - 76414’s price and piece count suggest another addition to the kinetic sculpture line, and being designed to have three minifigures clinging to the back instead of one out front would neatly explain the price bump from this year’s Horntail. As for the rest, I don’t want to weigh in yet. But I do think we should only expect one or two DH sets (barring the D2C and kinetic sculpture), and for them to be balanced out by an early movie set featuring the short legs, with GoF/OotP sets filling out the rest of the wave. Lego’s strategy for doing sets from the not strictly kid friendly movies seems to be balancing out the sets older collectors want: this year’s DH Ministry set came alongside the SS/CoS Dumbledore’s Office, next March’s RoR battle set is coming alongside the four gimmicky banners with the lenticular backdrops kids will be fascinated with, even 2020 with its largely OotP/HBP wave had the CoS Privet Drive set included. So I’m expecting so see a throwback set somewhere this year, possibly Hagrid’s Hut featuring Norbert and Fang or the return of Quidditch, although that doesn’t rule out something ‘new’ like the winged key challenge or final showdown with Quirrel, and given how much lego loves the Ford Anglia I wouldn’t rule out something like an ‘Escape from Aragog’ set (which would be another opportunity to give us Fang). The September ’23 cmf being licensed is also intriguing news. That’s when we’re supposed to see the switch from bags to boxes which Lego must know will be a shaky transition. The general theory is that Lego is making this particular series licensed because they’ve chosen an IP that they know will sell well even if some collectors dislike the new packaging format. With the Disney 100 series slated for May, previous solidly popular licensed series were Harry Potter and the Marvel Disney+ series. It’s also not out of the question that it could be a new IP like the LOTR and D&D themes that we know are coming soon. But in my opinion Harry Potter and Marvel are historically more kid friendly, and Lego has to realize that they need a theme that will still highly appeal to kids when AFOLs collectors will be wary of the changeover.

I think it’s worth being cautious about reading into the specific pieces included in the platinum parts splash image. It’s clearly celebrating the anniversary so we could very easily be looking at renderings that were developed to cover promos and packaging for all the anniversary merchandise, and not anything specifically for the cmf.

Some of that could be compensated for with printing. I just think a molded Doug next to a Carl and Russel using standard minifigure heads wouldn’t look quite right. It would be like if they’d done the Winnie the Pooh set with a molded Eeyore but just given the rest of the included characters printed minifigure heads. Yes, Doug is in a very cartoonish style, but so are the rest of the characters (Carl’s head is square and takes up over 1/3 of his height), so I think you’d either need to do new molds for everyone (which might not fit the budget and doesn’t fit with their previous handling of Pixar’s penchant for nonstandard body proportions in human characters) or make the designs fit on the current system the best they can.

Luckily if I recall correctly the price point is above the micro castle and haunted mansion, which would suggest wiggle room for multiple accompanying minifigures instead of just one like the others. We definitely need at least Carl and Russel, preferably Doug as well (the golden retriever mold already exists after all).

Hmm… that particular quote is from a scene (and, in fact, an entire side story) that was entirely cut out of the movies, so this isn’t a direct reference to a scene that could be made into a set. So, Dumbledore or Dobby making an appearance? Dobby could easily appear in a Malfoy Manor set (and though he wouldn’t appear in person, Shell Cottage could also be a possibility). Dumbledore could appear in any number of sets - personally I think we’re overdue for a reappearance of Gambon!Dumbledore from PoA and on. Though if we’re specifically talking about Dumbledore’s secrets then we could be talking about the Hog’s Head (I’d wish for SoD sets but I fear that’s pretty hopeless now).

Yes, but note that all those characters (and Rosmerta and the Trolly Witch) are tied to specific iconic locations that fans would be eager to get (library, astronomy tower, Three Broomsticks, Honeydukes, Hogwarts Express). Locations like the Daily Prophet offices, Burrow, and Gryffindor common room/Fat Lady portrait have all been made without Rita or Percy respectively, so it’s pretty clear they’re not going to get similar treatment. I’m just encouraging people not to act like these characters are guaranteed to show up again, because that’s far from the case - I suspect whoever’s in charge of choosing which characters to include with these books is responding to backlash over the Tom Riddle incident be making absolutely sure that it won’t happen again. It’s just something that people should keep in mind when deciding if they need these minifigures or not.

I wouldn’t count on Rita ever appearing in a set. Tom Riddle might have, but remember, he’d already made an appearance in the original CoS set back in 2002. Percy and Rita, on the other hand, have never appeared in sets before because neither of them really participated much in any sort of action sequences in the movies - the only way I could ever see either one of them appearing again is if the Lego designs decided to put them in an advent calendar (a la Moaning Myrtle). I can get not wanting to splurge on the book at list price - but you’d probably be safer watching out for a good sale or promo from your bookseller of choice if you want to be sure of having a complete character roster, because I doubt Percy and Rita will be making more mainstream appearances anytime soon if at all.

That was my first reaction too! The main cover image is carefully censored and then there’s Rita in her very recognizable acid green outfit right on the spine.

I suspect that the dual molding and leg printing needed to accurately recreate Rita’s interview outfit are just a little out of the budget for a book like this. Literally every other aspect of her looks perfect though, so I’m personally willing to let it slide.

One year does not indicate a change in pattern, especially since there’s been plenty of speculation that the switch to boxes and the possibility of a licensed series being delayed due to the associated movie being pushed back. The fall 2023 cmf could easily be licensed - at the end of the day the licensed series make more than the unlicensed ones, and Lego is a business that wants to make money. Likewise, if WB and Lego run the data and decide that they can profit off a Harry Potter series 3 then we’ll get Harry Potter series 3.

Ah, he’s close enough in appearance to the Ernie McMillan from CoS that I wasn’t sure. I’ve never played most of the old games unfortunately (got stuck at the first dementor encounter in the PoA game and had to admit I just wasn’t good enough at it to justify the cost).

Hufflepuff stands out as the only banner not to have a new character (although at least they all have new parts). Gryffindor has Angelina Johnson (hurray!), Ravenclaw has Michal Corner (otherwise known as ‘that lone Ravenclaw dude in the DA shots is totally meant to be Ginny’s bf from the books guys’), and Slytherin has Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini. It’s a shame Zaharias Smith never made it into the movies, or he could have taken Cedric’s place wearing the quidditch jumper.

I’m begrudgingly willing to tolerate the less than accurate shark head attachment in this case since it looks like doing an entirely new mold would mean we didn’t get the Grindylow. As far as Chocolate Frog Cards go, the banners were always unlikely to have them because the moments books didn’t. And for the last year only about half of the regular sets have had them, so it’s still entirely possible we’ll see the chocolate frog card tiles return in the summer wave.

I think we can expect something similar to the moments books as far as builds go. Simplified a greatly deal beyond what you’d expect from a castle addition but still with unique elements that make them compelling and not too repetitive for those that collect them all, along with a decent number of elements and details that are recognizable as referring directly to the ‘real world’ setting it’s based off of. And I don’t think lego has anything against house common rooms. The movies just made it so that most of the common room scenes aren’t the sort of action heavy moments that get made into sets. Previously, the only house common room done as a standalone set was the Slytherin one in 2002 for the polyjuice scene - lego quite understandably decided to focus on a different aspect of the polyjuice storyline when they finally got a chance to revisit it uin 2021. But I honestly don’t think it’s a matter of lego not doing common rooms before because the designers didn’t want to, I think it’s more a matter of lego finally getting the marketing data back telling them we’d actually buy all the common rooms as their own sets despite half of them never appearing onscreen.

Helena being in the RoR means the likelihood of getting ghosts in the house banners seems low :/ bit of a bummer, but we’ve gotten Professor Sinistra so I’ll hold out hope for the Bloody Baron and Fat Friar. But with the banners confirmed as house common rooms I’ve got my fingers crossed we’ll finally get students like Pansy Parkinson and Roger Davies.

I’m intrigued for the banners simply because them being explicitly house themed means there’s no hiding behind random Gryffindor students like in the moments sets, which were based off the classes and only had soft house theming. That should at least give us a little bit of variety when it comes to students at the very least. And given that the moments books went out of their way to give us new/exclusive characters variations I’m holding out hope that we’ll see either house ghosts with two students or a trio of students with one each bearing the jumper, robes, and quidditch torsos. The actual builds could be pretty fun too, especially if lego goes the house common room route.

Definitely liking several of those pieces. I’ll have to keep an eye out for the lute and the new French Bulldog recolor.

Yeah, the Lake Task and Room of Hidden Things sets are pretty straightforward, but I’m still curious as to what those house banners actually are, and we are sorely lacking detailed character lists.

Those excited about the minidoll salamander getting a n unlicensed variant will be happy to hear that it will be featuring in an upcoming Friends polybag. And an upcoming City polybag is also set to include the classic version of the husky and one of the unprinted yellow butterflies. So it’s a good year for animals in cheap sets all around.

You know what’s better than a set with a new recolored otter? A set with TWO of the new recolored otters! :D

As much as I want lego to fill the Granger-Weasley family hole in my heart, I don’t think we have a high chance of getting them in this format because 1) people are more likely to want the entire family, and get frustrated if we only got one of our missing characters. 2) these books are generally geared towards a younger audience, making it rather unlikely that the exclusive minifig will be a ‘missing’ character from an 18+ set and more likely it will be a character from the earlier movies that kids will be more likely to recognize by sight. I wish Lego was still doing the bricktober format, because that would be the perfect way to give us the older Ron and Hermione and their children, but those seem to be gone for good.

Honestly, I’m still a little flabbergasted that we haven’t seen +4 sets for Winnie the Pooh (or Sesame Street for that matter). For all the adults that have a nostalgic love of the franchise, its target audience is still little kids, but currently lego has only put out a single 18+ set for it. Now that they have the licensing and molds it only makes sense to do kid friendly sets of all those locations and more, but for some reason…

Okay, the unicorn shirt is cute - feels like it came out of a BAM tower rather than a CMF - but it’s still cute

Okay, previous plain figs with cool accessories aside (since we all have our own opinions) - can we all agree that the girl who comes with the rocking horse is the lamest of them all?