Lacdaran

For the $470 set Diagon Alley Part 2 with Gringotts or another icons/showpiece build like 2021 seem like the only reasonable options to me.

The trunk is well designed but in and of itself doesn't capture me. On the other hands the plethora of good parts is nice and the build your own students idea is inspired. I've got so many Harry minifigures, if this lets me make five unique students and just toss Harry potter head number 30 in the bin they've got my money.

Presuming the rumored Viking ship is a 3-in-1 what would people like to see as alternate builds? With the rumor that the ship includes a brick built sail (white pieces) and sea serpent (green pieces), I would like to see those turned into some terrain around a viking longhouse and a viking village harbor alt builds personally.

I agree that for Vidiyo, packaging, the app, and price are the bigger issues. I can just say with experience that for consumer products, focus groups and research only get you so far. No question personal preference means that any individual cmf is going to be hit or miss for each individual consumer. That said I bet if a few creative folks came up with a list minifigures that could be included with a foal and polled people on their preference a plaid shirted girl with a skater hat wouldn't have cracked the top 50 choices.

Lego does a ton of research with kids, but you just have to look at the vidiyo flop to see that doesn't always insulate them from the wrong choices. I think keeping costs down drives them to make sacrifices in design scope and quality.

Hee hee, I'm absolutely calling him/her that henceforth. Completely agree, but I'll likely buy a bunch anyways for said accessories.

A few disappointments versus my imagination from the leaks (bard, forest sprite, and moon knight could have all been amazing with a @Robert8 design, but are instead just okay.) I also agree with folks that said that the generic minifigures with the foal and toucan are shockingly lame. That said still happy overall. I plan on getting multiples of quite a few of them.

Yeah, seeing the photo again they are different. Trick of the memory and confirmation bias tripped me up, I suppose.

So, now that the white bearded head and snow hat are showing up as part of the Chinese new year sets, I think I was right to say the sword on that leaked image supposedly of the snow warrior was fake news.

I had the same thought, and then dismissed it as me being overly optimistic. If the moon knight is a dark elf or drow and these figures signal any sort of fantasy theme even remotely close to D&D then Lego can just take my money. I'll buy like three copies of every set in the wave, and buy a bunch more as presents for nieces and nephews just to prop up the theme.

Same here. I usually like the few sci-fi & fantasy characters in each series, and maybe the new animal molds. So I usually really want 3 or 4 unique figs from a series maximum. This one we've got six figures I would consider fantasy & scifi plus two with interesting animal molds. If the quality is there I think this will be my first time in a while I buy a case or two rather than just feeling bags and buying all the centaurs at my local store.

That Warrior Santa concept is so off the wall it makes me wonder if we are being tricked by someone with excellent photoshop/art skills? Does the sword in that new image look like it was drawn with a colored pencil to anyone else? Am I being too paranoid?

I think they pegged demand for the sleigh off the winter village sets without realizing the draw of the 4 reindeer and the number of people that would be interested in this for a holiday display that aren't interested in a building.

I agree with the general sentiment that this is far better than I expected, and the design is impeccable. That said it is an easy pass for me. I feel like the lego designers did an amazing job turning a bunch of bad ideas into art pieces, but it doesn't change the fact that whomever planned out the wave and decided what sets to make royally missed the mark.

Thanks for the videos @bearkisser they are exactly what I was looking for. XL castle looks great. Only problem now is I really want three copies of the set which may be a critical hit that my wallet won't survive.

Any images of the three different builds with three copies of the set combined into one yet? Trying to decide if I buy one or three.

@Robert8. How are you so much better at this than The Lego Group?

I was 100% in when I heard the rumor of a world map, but I really don't like the white landmass. Now very much a pass after seeing this design choice.

I like the 3in1 and am going to snag probably two, but I'd be hard pressed to disagree with you about the Disney set. That thing is gold. The only thing I'm trying to figure out is if it will be easier to buy three or four and sell off the Disney figures or purchase all the animals.

Use #legoharrypotter on IG if you can't find the pic of the chocolate frog card tiles. I think it is Vitruvius. At a minimum the headband seems like an unmistakeable nod towards him.

I hope this title is the only information the leakers have and it got translated to brick built objects by some folks making assumptions. This could easily be some subtheme branding (like UCS) and a completely different build than we are expecting if this is all they have.

Agreed, my first thought was 100% putting these in my DA.

Still waiting on the D2C reveal. I'm just holding out a faint hope that the rumors about it are wrong and that it's something I might want to buy.

Flying Lesson is my only must buy at the moment as it looks like it can easily integrate into the 2018-2020 Hogwarts. The interiors on these are great I'm just so disappointed we aren't getting 2018-2020 expansions. Where is my Bell Towers!?

I feel like 2021 might be evidence of the effort to change what was planned to be a theme with a typical four year life into an evergreen/ongoing one. Speculation time. 2018: Lego has something like a two year development cycle if I recall so after 2018 Harry Potter crushes their expectations they look at their roadmap and realize the 2018 Hogwarts connectable castle will be complete or getting into too obscure areas in three years if they want it to be evergreen. 2019: They tack on a few big new items in the design pipeline like diagon alley and buildable Hedwig that probably weren't in the initial design plan, but then instead of following their roadmap for 2021 set design they shift back their 2021 initial plan (DH, more Hogwarts expansions) and throw everything they can think of at the wall for 2021 to see what sticks. (Moments, Buildable figures, very modularized castle interiors that can be pumped out for a long time and hit on anniversary nostalgia). This also possibly is dovetailed with delaying FB3 sets. 2020 - 2021; Shift back to the initial roadmap for 2022 and 2023 set design. (Gringotts, 2018 Hogwarts line continued). 2022; Use the learnings from 2020 and 2021 sales to develop the 2024 and ongoing life of the theme based on whatever worked.