Micmac

White horse, white owl, green frog.

Popped up on facebook and then disappeared.

Hogsmeade Looks great, Its an upgraded version of the previous version with all the extra shops. It's in the same style as Diagon Alley, interiors look a bit skinnier. Half blood prince scene and prisoner of Azkaban too, and Aberforth from last movies. 12 mini figures. Owl post, Dervish and Banges and Honeydukes on one plate. Three broomsticks on another and the third has Zonkos, probably hogs head as they have Aberforth Dumbledore in it with Harry, Ron and Hermoine upstairs creating the scene from the last movie. And a small Scribbulus shop.

yeah I'm not sure how they are going to transition from raised buildings on rock work to the flying lesson set with no underground section. I presume it's hidden behind everything else so you don't really notice. I do feel like we should just get the viaduct entrance and then the astronomy tower as a seperate set as this as this will bring down the cost of the next castle section but I think we will get them together and will be looking at another expensive section of the castle. Then the clocktower and maybe thats it for this version.

The cost is going to be crazy at the end and the risk is we don't get to the end because the cost affects sales and they just reboot again. I suppose lego had nowhere else to go with it but bigger and more expensive for the third recent reboot. The new tower is au $400 in oz. That's a price most people really have to think about. I feel like they could have rebranded the new Hogwarts as the d2c set. It's at the price of some of them now and it's leaning to the adult side of the market with that price. And d2c versions could be aged slightly older with more content from the later movies that is more adult and more detail. People with money will still buy it for their kids but I do feel that parents will eventually say no to this ever expanding price tag. The great hall was 300 here. It was discounted 255 (bigw) and 249 (kmart) and now has settled at 229 in the retail shops and with sales on in target and big w you could get it for around 200. I'll be hoping for a similar story with the new set.

totally agree, this is awful. the figures aren't even worth getting with the strange torso prints. The creatures with the goggly eyes are bad too. Will just pull out some of my old unopened advents this year I think. Also the greenhouse is a bit busy and strange that it's done in the tan colour as it seems like it doesn't link to the new castle system. I like the new mandrake part and the pot but the other plants are bad. We have some great versions of a greenhouse lately with the friends set and the larger Botanical garden version. I feel like thats what we should have got in a smaller scale and in white too. If it wasn't harry potter and was just listed as a greenhouse i think people would not be impressed. The main tower is a must buy though.

I think this turned out really well. The tower looks great and the rooms in the set look good too. The pull out sections are poor again but I wasn't really expecting them to improve over the great hall. I'll just fix them myself. Interesting that the vine one is not pull out, I can see why they did it as the trapdoor is above it but I think it should still have been removable too. I'll have to change that. Is that a new piece for the roof, a quarter large cone? Can't really see any of the front connection points or if bridges can be added to it to link to future set. Will be interesting to see when we get official pictures. I might build it with the pieces i have myself but will get stuck with the new roof piece.

Got the new Knight bus today and the purples are all over the shop, the same elements coming in two different purple variations in the same set was a bit of a shock. The 1x1 2x1 and 4x1 bricks came in two purple colours, the 10x1 bricks were all a lighter version of purple which is the wrong colour and this variation was in the plates, tiles and modified bricks too. The windows were all right and the wheel rims were good too. I know this can be regional depending on where your set was manufactured but just a warning it looks awful with the two colours. I'm in Australia, interested to know if anyone else has had the same issue.

We kind of know what to expect from the castle with so many versions made at this stage, the Great Hall, Main Tower, Viaduct Entrance, Astronomy Tower, the Clock Tower and the courtyard where they learn to fly with the whomping willow in the second film. The expansion of these areas seems to be the selling point of the most detailed version. We get the Main Tower this year and it will probably have the section to the right of it with the smaller tower and two or three pull out rooms. Then the Viaduct entrance will come with the bridge and that looks like a big enough set too with an underground pull out room or two. They may release it in spring next year but could be another summer release. The Astronomy tower could come with some side builds or some of its courtyard, the Clock tower could come with its courtyard and maybe the wooden bridge and we got the Flying lessons section this year. The only part that people think is missing is the Bell Tower and that could have the wrap around effect that the flying lesson has to add that whole side expansion to the Viaduct entrance. What i'm not sure about is will they make each of those areas a big expensive set or simplify certain parts of the castle to have some cheaper sets. If all the new sections get a rock area underneath that has a pull out room in it then they are big sets. So I can kind of see where it could go but also see that they might just give us what's in the picture they released and give us set 71043 as the detailed castle with all the small build sets on the side like the owlery and greenhouse. So 5 years if they are going to go big, 3 if they are gonna bail on this design like they did with the others.

I got the new Harry Potter Advent calendar today. Its appeal is that it ends up being a really nice playset of the Great Hall when fully built and placed on the printed scene on the box. It's a bit repetitive though, five table builds, four statues, two Christmas trees. The crackers are the size of the kids and they can't even hold them to pull them. The snake and bird statue are ok looking but the lion and badger are ugly. And two printed portraits in it (the same ones in my box), I think I would have preferred some original printed parts instead. Not my favourite but I like that it's one location and everything is part of the scene with no micro builds except for the train under the tree. The ghost figure is great though and Dumbledore's robe is bright red giving him a Santa look.

Better picture out of the Burrow showing it opened up. Wasn't expecting it to open in the middle just past the pig enclosure but the interior looks really detailed, lots of stickers. The rooms look a bit small though, awkward to access. I'm not sure I like that the mystery portraits from the castle are in this set, seems odd. There must be another opening to access the front bedroom, looks like the roof comes off the front part .Hopefully official pictures are coming soon. Its from a discord group but its on facebook, try a.clay.brick account on insta

I think this version is combining a lot of the best bits from all the versions before and at the same time not doing it to a very detailed level. I think the overall design of the new great hall is great and the bones of it really work but I think the lack of detail overall left me unexcited about it. I hated the last version of the castle and have never kept any of them built. I totally skipped buying the new great hall though and built it from my own parts as there isn't anything exclusive about its parts, and then I fixed all the bits I hated, The rock work is a bit average, the underground rooms are half builds compared to the potion class you can buy, the underground area without rooms in in feels unfinished, the stairs to the boat house is just wrong, the courtyard is cramped and busy. The troll is the only part that is a must have and probably will remain exclusive to this set. I'll probably just brick link him. I'm much happier with my version of it.

For those in Australia, Target have the Great Hall and Madam Malkin's available online now as part of their 20% off sale. Looks like most of this wave will hopefully come out as part of the this sale which is great timing.

Bigw have added them to their website but they are not available yet, should start arriving this or next week I'd say. No ship though.