Accio Lego

So a final clear confirmation that we’re getting a Slug Club Christmas Party. Interesting that they’re doing 2 years in a row with the biggest set of the wave being Christmas themed. Shame that we’ve got more robes lacking printed legs, but at least the current leaks and minifigure lists suggest we won’t see nearly as much of that as last year. Umbridge and Hermione look great. Really like the new alternate face for Umbridge, it’s definitely giving me ideas for how I’m going to end up displaying the set .

It would definitely be cool if Myrtle came with the new posing piece, but given that the 18 cmf figures that have come with it already have also come with other accessories, I don’t think that will prevent us from getting an intact diary or something else - especially since Myrtle won’t automatically come with a wand like nearly all the other characters. Now that you mention it, I should see what kind of prices the posing pieces go for - it would be great to have some for Nearly Headless Nick and the Quidditch players, and even Peeves and the lake task set if I could get my hands on enough.

Hermione got short shafted in the 2001 sets as well (based off how often she shows up compared to Ron). She was also less likely to show up in casual outfits then the boys. Hermione is my favorite so I noticed this back when I was originally collecting the sets as a kid when they first came out. I was actually pretty disappointed when I first saw the set list in 2018 - Aragog’s Lair, the Whomping Willow and a (at the time just rumored) Quidditch set? I thought she would only show up in the Great Hall, but then both the Willow and Quidditch sets had a couple more figs then expected and we ended up getting an even number of Ron’s and Hermione’s in that year’s wave. The theme reboot has actually been pretty good about giving Hermione proper representation, so that’s just another thing I’m happy with for this theme.

As the previous comment mentioned, Tonks notably has never been done, and we have strong hints she’ll be coming this wave. Kingsley and Myrtle were also notable exceptions until they leaked on the cmf series 2 package. Petunia and Dudley were also absent from the last Number Four set but rumored to come in this year’s, and Lavender Brown is new in the Astronomy Tower. There’s also: Lily Potter James Potter Percy Weasley Madam Pomfrey Parvati Patil Padma Patil Pansy Parkinson Rita Skeeter Kreacher Inferi Mundugus Fletcher Bill Weasley Xenophilius Lovegood and many others I parsed off the list of ‘importance’ - there are many more characters (notably death eaters and other students) who have a decent chance of turning up but who most people aren’t wishing for by name.

I highly doubt that we’ll get an elevated street level either, but don’t assume that just because the set is said to have pins that the buildings will be able to be rearranged modular style. The Hogwarts D2C had pins after all, so it might mean nothing more than the fact that the set is very long. The only thing pins could truly be said to confirm is that the set won’t be another series of inaccurate unconnected buildings like the 2011 Diagon Alley. Also I think your estimate for the number of buildings is off. Remember, Gringotts will be the biggest building in the set by far, no matter how extensive the interior may or may not be. Most of the other shops are much smaller, with WWW being a bit larger but not as big as the bank. And only Gringotts, Ollivander’s and WWW (and maybe Flourish and Blott’s) really need interiors, which will probably mean a lot of fun colorful shops that are only the storefronts. I don’t see any of those buildings taking up nearly the budget of Gringotts, so I suspect that 4 buildings is a severe underestimate.

If nothing else, the Iornbelly needs to be big enough for three minifigures to fit on its back. After all, what’s the play value of a Gringott’s dragon that the trio can’t make a daring escape on?

It still requires assembly, which means a whole new stretch of production line needs to be configured for it, which equals time, money, and factory space.

Yeah, but the monkey is an assemblage of several different moving parts isn’t it? While the new hare and otter (as well as the goat) are all single pieces. That affects the budget entirely differently.

I saw the otter and it’s amazing! It’s also definitely an otter - the rounded head, blunt nose, chubby cheeks, tiny ears and robust body really set it apart from a ferret, and it’s hard to tell from the angle of the picture but I’d bet on its tail being way too long and thick for a ferret’s as well. Ultimately, molds originally made to be patronuses have to be recognizable as the right animal when made out of transparent plastic with no printing. There’s no room for ambiguity - that’s definitely an otter, it couldn’t be anything else. Just like the new mold for Luna’s patronus is a hare, and clearly designed to be discernible from the old rabbit mold. The good thing about all of that as far as potentially getting a ferret is concerned is that if lego is willing to put in the money for a hare mold when most people weren’t expecting them to, then the likelihood of getting other more specific a niche animals has to be higher (especially if they’re coming in the cmf, which has its own budget).

A clear sign the quarantine cabin fever has set in

Given that in kingnono’s post the time turner inscription in preceded by the phrase “it seems that a time traveler went through Diagon Alley” I’m inclined to favor this interpretation of the hint more than the idea of it referring to a single character. And it’s hardly a really surprising hint - I think we’ve all always been expecting the Diagon Alley D2C to feature multiple movies like the Hogwarts Castle D2C or the UCS Millennium Falcon.

The scene in the Three Broomsticks where the trio talk to a drunken Slughorn while Dean and Ginny make out in the corner booth. Not quite identical to his iconic OotP appearance but close enough that a tiny minifigure torso isn’t going to show the difference.

I thought they’d just reuse the rabbit mold for Luna’s hare too! Especially since the $20 Room of Requirements set is also guaranteed a new otter mold for Hermione’s patronus - which given how amazing this hare is I’m really looking forward to. I agree that the front paws are a tad awkward, but the gorgeous detail in the face and ears more than make up for it. As a possibility for why they made a new mold - I notice the ears are much finer than the rabbit’s, and the way the legs are constructed makes it look like the body might be hollow? I remember seeing in an interview last year with a couple of the set designers that one of the tricky things about designing the stag was making sure it would look good transparent. Maybe that sparkly trans blue plastic doesn’t look right when it’s molded too thick?

I highly doubt we’ll get a complete Weasley family this wave - more members sure, but the likelihood of Bill, Charlie or Percy turning up this year... Anyway, I think gold and silver might refer to the golden trio - Harry, Ron and Hermione. Yes, all three of them have already been made as minifigures, but the silver trio - a term I’ve seen used to describe Ginny, Neville and Luna (and less commonly Draco, Crabbe and Goyle) - isn’t complete yet.

Or it means that the main student characters are literally ‘growing’ and getting taller - we already know Luna is using regular legs after all. Kingnono is the master of vague hints, which is why so many people are skeptical of them - even if they all turn out to be right who’s to say they didn’t just make the same educated guesses as the rest of us.

A) using the same shapes for its base does not mean it’s ‘basically the same design’, especially when we’re talking about lego. The size difference, extra turrets and large window would make them very different builds. B) Harry Potter Lego sets are official Harry Potter merchandise and as such have to be approved by Warner Brothers, who I don’t think are particularly keen on resurrecting defunct parts of the castle. The Astronomy Tower is the one that’s in all the merchandise and it’s the one fans see when they go to the theme parks or Studio Tour. WB simply isn’t going to want to make merchandise that will cause confusion amongst most fans (who don’t generally do extensive studies on how the castle changed between movies).

I think you’re mixing the Astronomy Tower up with something else. The AT is the tallest in the castle and has a fairly unique design - with rectangular walls and a peaked roof (as opposed to a turret) and a large circular window at the top. There’s really nothing else like it in the castle, all the other unmade towers a much shorter.

See, this is why some people are skeptical of kingnono, because that hint is super vague. If it’s a quote does it refer to who’s saying it (Harry in GoF or Fudge in OotP) or who it’s about (Voldemort)? Or is it actually referring to a location? And those who have been following kingnono’s leaks will remember that they sort of gave up on quotes after a while, and started with more general vague hints (i.e. ‘new hood/hat piece’, ‘father/son bond’, ‘a betrayer will join the collection’, ‘at least two of every house in the cmf’, etc.). kingnono might have decided to go back to quotes, or they might be talking about a character being back again after a long time - like a new version of Lockhart, Lucius, or Arthur. In short, kingnono’s hints are intentionally very vague and open to interpretation, either because they want to mess with us or protect themselves from legal trouble with lego. Either way, we won’t be able to confirm their veracity - or whether we’ve interpreted them right - until lego makes their official announcement.

Ooo goody. I’ve been wondering why we didn’t get Ron and a patronus recolor of the terrier mold in the RoR set, and I’ve been theorizing that something like this could be how we get it. That’s pure speculation of course, but I will be a little disappointed if it’s as generic as the 2018 polybag.

Covid-19 is likely going to be an issue for years. Lego isn’t going to delay releasing any new sets for two years just because they’re unlikely to make many in store sales, they haven’t shut down online orders after all. And as previous posters pointed out, most of the counties lego has factories in haven’t been too hard hit by the virus (yet).

It’s got nothing to do with spoiling the movie or if the sets are revealed. Movie merchandise is released at about the same time as the movie it ties into because that elevates sales, and whichever company is making the movie usually considers merchandise sales as part of their gross profit/overall success of the movie, and having new products covered in the movie’s logo lining store shelves acts as advertising. If the lego sets get released who knows how long before anyone sees the movie then nobody’s going to want to buy them now, and quite likely will be less interested in buying them when the movie does end up coming out. Meanwhile, in house themes like Ideas, Hidden Side and Ninjago, and IPs not attached to specific movie releases like Harry Potter and Star Wars don’t have that problem. And arguably, lego will want to keep those releases going if they logistically can so they still have profit coming in.

An angler fish has shown up in the lego leaks tag on Instagram. Hard to tell if it’s actually lego though and it’s from a brand new account. Does anyone think this could be legit?

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there. You really can’t make the Burrow much bigger than the 2010 version without it getting taller than the Hogwarts towers and verging on the point of ridiculous, but upping the detail level and adding to the piece count that way would definitely account for the price increase. Some leakers (of admittedly unknown reliability) have also been suggesting we’ll get more minifigures in this version, which would also increase the price. Details I’d like to see: - a return of the owl mold in grey to represent Errol - a new take on the fireplace and floo powder play feature, it would be cool to see flame pieces in trans green, since the 2010 simplified the whole thing with stickers - double sided faces for Arthur and Molly, the poor 2010 versions had to stay cheerily smiling through the destruction of their home because lego sank all the minifigure budget for the set into Bellatrix and Greyback - Ginny in her bathrobe - seriously lego, if you’re going to insist on recreating this ridiculous scene the movie wasted several minutes and tons of its budget on despite it being nowhere in the books, then you better be prepared to go full throttle

I really doubt that’s the rest of the CMF. I just can’t imagine it not having Ron and Hermione. Some of those characters surely appear in the rumored Burrow and/or Diagon Alley instead.

I think James and Lily are on a lot of wishlists, but further down because we all kinda know that the likelihood of getting them outside the mirror of erised anytime soon is highly unlikely. (Personally, I’d love to see a Marauders era prequel show that lego could then make sets off of, but that’s the sort of wild dreaming that we really aren’t supposed to engage in on this thread)