Retro Brick Reviews

Yes. Go home, foolish fooly fool, Fool of a Took.

Wow, this looks really good! That build for the four-poster beds is great, and it's nice you get two, with an attachment point for a third if you build it yourself. It's also great to have an official display area for your Famous Witch/Wizard cards, and it makes sense here- Ron is just an avid card collector as everyone in this forum, after all! My only complaint is the minifigures- nobody was thirsting for a third set of that same casual Harry and Ron. Two sets of robes (the open variant) would've been ideal, and if they wanted to mix it up I would've preferred the Christmas jumpers. Still a great set though, probably the best HP GWP yet!

Where do you see it? Nvm, I found it on LEGO's website.

Not really sure why Trelawney would be a downgrade, the new one will almost certainly have a double-sided head and back torso printing, two things the 2018 figure lacked.

...I feel like this has to be satire, but I'm not sure.

This is y'all's punishment for living in Europe.

Wow! Sounds like a really cool GWP, even if it's absolutely comical by now how LEGO continues to do Harry Potter GWPs when there aren't any new standard Harry Potter releases. This is... what, 4-for-4?

Wow, that looks great! That said, I still don't get why everyone's suddenly decided we're not getting the Bell Towers just because we didn't get them in 18-20. I mean, those ARE 8x8 towers, and, with LEGO doing several Hogwarts sets a year in this new style (and with the Clocktower already done, and as a mid-range set), LEGO needs to cover more of the castle than ever before, and the Bell Towers are a perfect candidate for a ~$100 set in this style, like the CoS was this last year. I never really expected to get them after 2020, but I think they're a shoo-in with the new style.

The bestselling 75968 4 Privet Drive set would like to know your location.

We've known since April that the modular design was here to stay. Everyone pretending this is news is just MandR-ing.

Honestly, the new DADA Moments has made me fairly positive that the "Don't tackle DA, it's too dark" is less the designer's actually thinking that and more some asinine licensee business with Warner. There's no way the designers would veto the Battle of Hogwarts or Gringotts and give us this scene unless their hands are tied to not do the former.

While I agree in a lot of situations, here the face does look pretty different and adds a lot of character, so imo it was a worthwhile inclusion.

While this is a good discussion (and one I might join in on myself tomorrow after my first day of classes), I'd like to draw everyone's attention to the fact that a user on Instagram (@phoenix_makes) has acquired an early copy of the new Advent Calendar. In addition to providing better looks at all the new prints (that Express ticket looks so beautiful), a few things of note are that Dudley does indeed get his pig tail, Griphook now has an alternate face print (judging by the official pics he has the 2020 face on the other side), the set includes at least two wand boxes (one on Harry's cart and one for Griphook's stool), and the fireplace has a simple feature to have letters shoot out of it. This is definitely one of the best calendars they've ever done, I just adore everything about it!

That center section isn't even uniquely odd, it has the same proportions as the door to the Chamber of Secrets, complete with the fact that the top 4x10 plate is grossly one stud recessed compared to the top plate (which was maybe so that it creates a 10x10 square if you attach them back-to-back...maybe??). But yeah, the only reason it isn't in manuals is because it's a store exclusive, which to my knowledge is the case with all exclusive sets (though not their minifigures when there are checklists, for some reason).

It's not just you, but I swear to Merlin I'm going to SCREAM if one more person says "well the Flying Lesson goes with the 2018 system-" No. No it doesn't. It's part of the 2021 modular system, you just want to pretend it isn't so you can write off the new system entirely and having one uncontroversially really good set ruins that.

Eh, LEGO misspellings are pretty par for the course. I'm still not over "Sheild Eyes From Light", myself.

Yes, I do think that the 2021 Great Hall is a big improvement over the bland and inaccurate 2018 version, and potentially even an upgrade to the classic 2010 version. The exterior is a great front facade, and the interior feels far more "home-y" (if that makes sense) while also having a nice attic space, better colors, and far improved stability (the 2018 version has an incomplete feeling interior, colors that range from boring to garish, and there are several places that inevitably break or start to break whenever you move it. Not to mention that it's permanently attached to that sad excuse for a Staircase Tower). Moving away from a controversial opinion that nobody will agree with, how do y'all rank the golden figures now that they're all revealed? My ranking is: 9. Ron (While I love the hairpiece because pearl gold is PERFECT for Luke Skywalker's hair color, the generic face print looks nothing like Ron) 8. Snape (Face looks weird, they should've just done a new design instead of making a symmetrical version of the more exaggerated 2018 face. Thankfully, these two are the only ones I think are below average) 7. Harry (He's fine, but nothing really great. I don't think his hairpiece looks as nice in gold as some of the others do) 6. Minerva (Looks nice, but shares the same issue as Harry where I just don't think the hat/hair translates super well into pearl gold) 5. Hermione (These last five are all near-perfect. This is probably my favorite hairpiece of the four we got originally, and I think the symmetrical face looks better than that of the standard young Hermione) 4. Quirrell (Fantastic face print, and I love that it's double-sided. That said, it annoys me that the printed turban sash on the torso doesn't match up colour-wise with the turban piece) 3. Hagrid (Looks incredible, would certainly be my favorite if not for the bottom of his torso piece being printed super-light when it should be darker than the previous layer) 2. Voldemort (Looks incredible, absolutely no complaints here) 1. Dumbledore (Was there ever any doubt?)

Well, both are massive improvements to the OG versions with enough new stuff to make them interesting, so I'm not complaining.

Wow, this set is absolutely gorgeous! That Hedwig is undoubtedly the best brickbuilt animal ever- taking into account this set and the new Fawkes, I now regret purchasing the 2020 Hedwig, as it's now completely obsolete. These new wings are stunning, and that face just looks so cute and floofy! The closed books are nice builds, very similar to those of the 2018 Hedwig statue- thinking about it, this set seems like a fully-realized version of that giveaway set, which makes me feel better about my Target's employees cheating me out of it (long story). That open book looks fantastic. The other builds are all really nice, and I love how you get builds to represent each member of the trio- glasses and Snitch for Harry, potions kit for Hermione (the main kit and Polyjuice bottle even have her initials) and the Chocolate Frog for Ron. Oh, and that wand looks great as well, and the letter works fantastically to tie it all together. I love the figures- they're exactly the golden figures I thought we were missing (sans a baby Harry to be Dumbledore's accessory, though I knew that was unlikely), and they all look just as great as I imagined. The stand looks great too- the card looks detachable, so I might build another to use with the set itself. I also don't really mind the fact that they're all exclusive, as the golden figures are only for collectors anyway, so most people shouldn't care about missing out on them. I only have two real issues with the set. Firstly, I will stand by the fact that "Hogwarts Icons Collection" is an awful, non-fitting name for this set- something like "Hogwarts First-Year Supplies Set" would've fit much better imo. Secondly, and much more notably, I HATE that you're supposed to write directly onto the letter tile with your name. While I like the idea of customizing it, they should've instead included a sheet of tan label stickers to write your name on and apply to the piece, in addition to preset stickers with the names of major HP student characters. That's the only true problem I have with the set though, and it's not even with the build. Overall, a simply amazing set. A perfect capstone to what I consider to be the best year of LEGO Harry Potter ever- definitely not what we expected, but a collection of sets that all truly capture the magic of the series in a way that only the very best of the 2018-20 sets managed to. This is definitely my favorite HP D2C yet, though the 2018 Castle does come close. I don't think I'll be able to get it day one, but I will get it sometime this year, and I'm sure it'll find a place of prominence in my collection.

Thinking about minifigures in a brickbuilt objects D2C, there's one item that instantly comes to mind: the Pensieve. Think about it, the Pensieve is one of the most Iconic (tm) Hogwarts objects, and it would scale well to have minifigs inside to depict a memory, such as the Crouch trial or Dumby's first meeting with Tom. I could be very wrong, but I could see that as how they throw in some very desirable exclusive figures in addition to the golden gang.

I'm going to be completely honest, his point wasn't "the later movies are too violent, don't expect sets from them"; it was "the later movies have less actually marketable scenes and locations, so there will be less sets from them in comparison to the first four". And this holds up to last year- we obviously only got two sets for both OotP and HBP... and for both there are only a couple of potential sets still missing, while the first two movies have already gotten a bunch of sets and still have more ideas available. DH is the same way- while there are scenes like Gringotts and the Battle of Hogwarts, overall there aren't a whole lot of scenes that are memorable, marketable, and would translate into good LEGO products. So there likely won't be full waves for DH like there have been for the earlier installments, but there will be sets.

That's a really nice display, I love how they all look together. I'll keep the green roofs on mine because I've always loved that look, but I think they'll look really good with gray as well. (Maybe gray with green accents, like the Astronomy Tower...) ...Also, that design of the First Floor Corridor & Stone Bridge Tower looks rather familiar... Great to see someone making use of one of my old alternate builds! It actually fits in pretty well, I'm now tempted to break out my second copy of the Whomping Willow and add it back to my own display!

Yeah, distribution is pretty awful. My Polyjuice came with two of my favorites (Silver Dumbledore and McGonagall), but here's my distribution (in order) from the Chamber of Secrets: Jocunda Sykes Jocunda Sykes Jocunda Sykes Nicholas Flamel Garrick Ollivander Nicholas Flamel I just started building Hogsmeade, and the first card is my fourth Jocunda Sykes. I am (moderately) livid. On a separate note, I really don't get how you can look at the sand green roofs and not think they look absolutely gorgeous, they're so much more interesting and vibrant, and the castle's actual roof color is somewhere in between the two anyway. I will probably swap out some of the highlights (cheeseslopes) for dark gray and add lightning rods to the tower tops, but I adore the new roofs.

With the first 11 sets releasing tomorrow, what are everyone's purchase plans? Here are mine: Hogwarts Polyjuice Potion Mistake: Day 1 Purchase Hogwarts Fluffy Encounter: Wait for sale, get eventually Hogsmeade Village Visit: Day 1 Purchase (Spurred by my recent first visit to Universal) Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets: Day 1 Purchase Hogwarts Wizard's Chess: Wait for sale, get eventually Harry & Hermione Maxifigs: Day 1 Purchase Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix: Wait for sale, eventual purchase not guaranteed Hogwarts First Flying Lesson: Get soon, but not Day 1 (That goes for the Brickheadz and Accessory set as well).

LEGO.com US still says the Flying Lesson doesn't release until August 1... does anyone know whether it will release at Kohl's on June 1 and everywhere else later (similar to the 2018 sets at Target), or will it just be randomly delayed in the states?