krimimimi

Could they just use a recoloured Bambi (from the Walt Disney tribute) for the doe, or would it strike people as too small? I don't think I'd mind it being visibly smaller than the stag, and I'd certainly prefer having one to not regardless of size.(https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=104729pb01)

Aside from the fact that the castle layout morphed from film to film, we didn't have many dungeon locations in the stories - Slytherin, Potions Classroom, Chamber of Secrets, the PS tasks, Hufflepuff - and that last one we never even saw in the films. I figure it was a given if they made a set with cliffs, which I appreciated, they would need to stuff things in there that didn't actually belong. As long as the sets look ok, I'm satisfied.

So if you don't count the grounds sets (although I'd be inclined to include Hagrid's), there are ten total "Hogwarts Castle" sets so far, with another due in January. One of those ten was a Gift With Purchase (GWP), which kind of sucks, because it's unavailable except for ebay or bricklink etc. Of the rest, six are castle buildings (two of which are retiring - Owlery and Boathouse), three are modules (1 GWP retired, 1 retiring - Potions classroom), and 1 is a sort of swappable piece of furnishing (the duelling club, which goes into the Great Hall) and also retiring. With retiring sets, I'd recommend picking them up this year if possible, but also holding out for sales as those prices really drop on sets going end of life (EOL). You can check a site like brickmerge.de to see how the prices evolve historically over time to get a feel for when you're better off buying, but ideally you'd want to pick a site like that that reflects your local prices. Brickmerge happens to reflect mine. If it were me, I'd skip the GWP Room of Requirement because you're going to get soaked, pick up the Owlery, Hagrid's, Potions Classroom, the Duelling Club and probably Aragog, all on sale and only if on sale, but then I also watch those sales like a hawk.... NOTE: with the "EOL" it's expected, but not guaranteed to retire. Every now and again they change their minds, but if you want it, don't count on it being available after December.

Ok, so the castle builds themselves are as follows (two are already retiring this year): 76430: Hogwarts Castle Owlery (2024) - RETIRING 12/2025 76426: Hogwarts Castle Boathouse (2024) - RETIRING 12/2025 76447: Hogwarts Castle: Flying Lessons (2025) 76445: Hogwarts Castle: Herbology Class (2025) 76435: Hogwarts Castle: The Great Hall (2024) 76454: Hogwarts Castle: The Main Tower (2025) the swappable module builds 40770: Hogwarts Castle: Room of Requirement (2025) - GWP (gift with purchase) - RETIRED - only available on the aftermarket 76431: Hogwarts Castle: Potions Class (2024) - RETIRING 12/2025 76442: Hogwarts Castle: Charms Class (2025) the extra and grounds builds 76428: Hagrid's Hut: An Unexpected Visit (2024) - RETIRING 12/2025 76432: Forbidden Forest: Magical Creatures (2024) - RETIRED 30677: Draco in the Forbidden Forest POLYBAG (2024) - RETIRED 76424: Flying Ford Anglia (2024) 30706: Quidditch Lesson POLYBAG (2025) - RETIRING 12/2025 76434: Aragog in the Forbidden Forest (2024) - RETIRING 12/2025 76440: Triwizard Tournament: The Arrival (2024) - RETIRING 12/2025 the extra furnishings and knick knacks builds 76438: LEGO Harry Potter 2024 Advent Calendar (2024) - RETIRED 76441: Hogwarts Castle: Dueling Club (2025) - RETIRING 12/2025

How wide or narrow in scope do you want the list? Like just the castle bones, the swappable classrooms, sets that could be on Hogwarts grounds... If you look at the nano-scale Hogwarts castle and grounds set, it includes things like the Ford Anglia and the Durmstrang Ship, both of which exist as sets. If you're being generous in the definition, that's up to about 19 sets in the 2024+ system.

Exacerbated by the Wibbly Wobbly bridge. Millennium Bridge. It's in the name. Would it have been too hard to not focus a scene on it?

That's ok, she's white. If you've seen the pictures I did, the one with the direct side view and what appears to be a grey Hedwig also has a dividing line on it and the view above the line is a slightly off centre frontal shot. Between the boys' shoulders, Hedwig is visible and you can see she's white plus her face print. But I did say you weren't going to like her... * can't fly without brooms

A buildable Hedwig is included, she can be seen in the rear of the car. I can confidently say you're not going to like her though. She appears to have a printed dome piece for a head and from the angles pictured looks like a Star Wars droid.

Oooo, with a Grim just sort of discernible in the ball on the rear side, and a class with poufs, low tables, tassels, curtains, and teacups in the interior. Yes, I can see the potential there. Great idea.

We can't seriously run around complaining there aren't enough girls on the one hand (which I definitely do; the Main Tower was absurd) and then insist they have a Victorian chaperone not even vaguely provided for in the source material, and frankly I'm a little out-McGonagalled. She pops up in far more sets than I think her screentime / scenes warrant, and will be there again in the Sorting set. When I think Hogwarts classes, it's mostly Snape and Hagrid, some Slughorn, some Trelawney with a side of Flitwick's Wingardium Leviosa and Sprout's earmuffs, plus the periodical DADA lesson. McGonagall's class for me is mostly just an unspectacular "you're late." This winter required a Snape, and if the set had been with Draco, or Seamus or whomever, I for one would have screamed about the ongoing lack of female character representation. Plus everything you're picturing isn't canon, in a series that has Harry alone with Umbridge in her office with the canonical torture quill (I still want that set...) and which - in contrast to days past when Myrtle died - blithely kills Cedric off and petrifies several students all while school remains open, NBD, both of which exist in sets. An instructor hired by Dumbledore - fully cognisant that he's a fraud - literally hospitalises Harry with his poor magic (Lockhart) and ultimately attempts to memory wipe him, to say nothing of Harry's home life he can thank Dumbledore for. Also: the TriWiz as a whole (dragons? kidnapping??) and Quidditch. Abuse, physical and mental, runs riot in the series, often played for comedy; we really needn't invent extra. Considering the Polly Pocket Hogwarts goes for EUR 65 when not reduced , I guess they've positioned themselves alright price-wise. It still feels like the interior / playability is a good deal less in the cauldron set though, and I'm not sure a better exterior sufficiently compensates. That said, the Polly Pockets wouldn't tempt me, but the cauldron does. Is the drip on the cauldron's side iridescent?

@BacktoBricks thanks! It sounded like they may have made a new motorcycle mould? I guess we'll have to wait and see. For a line aimed nontrivially at children, though, I don't think they can afford to never revisit things just because they've done it well in the past. It seems like, given time, it will be released again at some point or another.

The absence of Pomfrey and Boggart Snape have me hoping we might see another collectible minifig run. Have they done that before, paused and then resumed again later? I don't think it matters so much because the extra units they sell are all closed. If I can't see it anyway... It's basically just storage with extra steps, and the location becomes irrelevant. At this point I'm happy when the Slytherin common room isn't at the top of a tower, and Dumbledore's office isn't in the dungeons. I'm hoping for a Ravenclaw Prefect outfit... Aren't the minifigs always just standing on the motorcycle though? I figured they'd make it like one of those very low entry bikes for seniors. They have done the short legs for the beginning of year three in the past, shifting to midi legs by the end of the year, at least in the 2018+ series, so maybe that'll be the solution? It would be very cool to have a Penelope who could be petrified CoS and a regular Prefect in PoA, plus the extra head piece for Hermione to be a cat person. She spent a lot of time in CoS in the Infirmary really... And how about a tile with 'pipes' on it?

@Accio Lego Yes, I thought Padma out of uniform was sneaky (or clever) of lego. The movies also had classes with older or younger students mistakenly in them. I'm assuming the television series will correct these things, no guarantees obviously. But I can't imagine lego would release a DADA classroom set this summer either way, and that gives the television series a chance to influence a classroom set, plus at least one of the video games got the mummy right. Or perhaps they'll wimp out and use Parvati-the-otherwise-identical-Gryffindor, but I'd rather another Ravenclaw uniform. Beyond the timing, iirc, we've only had one GoF castle set (Owlery), nothing from the tournaments, none from OotP or HBP, and the only DH castle set is the GWP RoR, which was too fleeting, and we haven't done the Chamber of Secrets yet, which seems like a lock. Even the non-castle sets (aside from Malfoy Manor and the Durmstrang Ship / Beauxbatons carriage) - Knight Bus, Privet Drive, Hagrid's Hut, Ford, Aragog, Forbidden Forest, the polybags, even the Book Nook - have been PoA or earlier. It really feels like the current series must continue past 2026 to begin to cover the missing material at all, never mind satisfactorily. Or maybe that's wishful thinking.

Neville is so popular and Boggart Snape in his great aunt's clothes is such a favourite, I could absolutely see them releasing a more fleshed out DADA lesson like they did with the Potions class. That's two minifigs, then maybe Padma in an extra Ravenclaw uniform and the Jack-in-the-Box, and Lupin is the only repeat, giving us a chance at a different suit. Four, maybe four and a half, minifigs there. Or Ron and another spider, because they've been keen on them for CoS I assume, but then it's all Gryffindors and no girls, so Padma would be better. @Gorilla94 placement hasn't really mattered yet, they just stick them somewhere and call it a plan. *shrug*

CET here, so midnight is 25+ minutes passed... I don't know if I was interested in a new set before, but I'm used to the GWPs going live at midnight, and they aren't showing in my cart yet either. Or is this a daylight savings issue? (I'm definitely not staying up till 2am. ) 10 HP sets are presently showing up as 2x Insider points and there are five sets with their prices reduced. If anyone stateside is interested, change your zone for a sneak preview.

Anyone else having issues with the lego store? It's not showing the 01 Sep offers for me, no GWP, no ordering new sets...

Is it a Sorting Hat or Sorting Ceremony? 15$ for a buildable sorting hat like the small Hedwig and Fawkes makes sense for the price. If we consider the prices of the Accessory Packs, though, for 15$ you couldn't really do the ceremony unless it was like that old set with a spinning disk and didn't include minifigs from various Houses.

@BrickMatit, thanks for the list If they put it in there, and they did, I'd say it's an official teaser. Maybe we'll see a Mundungus Fletcher in the set, too

I'm another lukewarm vote on Hogsmeade, which is a pity, as I was looking forward to this set. As so many of you have said, the price feels off for what you get, exacerbated for me by the fact it just doesn't look like the Hogsmeade I know from the films, artwork and video games. I wish 45% of it didn't feel like such a repeat, as well. If they'd at least not redone Honeydukes and given us Puddifoot's instead, it would have been a help, adding variety and new scenes, and the previous version doesn't really lend itself to reuse for MOCcing. Better to have another store entirely, especially when they don't spend much time in Honeydukes to begin with. I do appreciate the plate roofs with their greebled snow. It's crucial for most Hogsmeade scenes, and I'd have missed it otherwise. Plus it also allows them to (Minister) fudge the roof lines, which gives a nicer result. @RODDY I think their definition of 'instruments' isn't going to be what we're thinking. No musical instruments, but magical items, like the Remembrall. Technically still an 'instrument', but not the same meaning. I can tolerate the small stores in the interests of a more diverse roof line, unfortunately it's not done as well as I'd have hoped to see. True for me as well, but some of that must be due to saturation, though, no? I do look at sets and think if there isn't a sufficient improvement, I'll give it a pass. Both the Knight Bus and 4 Privet Drive have things going for them, and yet I've purchased neither as they don't add much to what I already have. Do we have a list for next year already? Also how do they do that now that we have the Great Hall? It sounds like better material for an Accessory Pack (that we no longer get ) or an Advent calendar.

I don't know if we're being quite fair in the Herbology minifig count. If you compare it with sets like 40657 Dreamzzz Dream Village, the Dreamlings, which seem equivalents of the Mandrakes, are counted as minifigs in the set. Ditto anything with Snivel, Susan, or misc Grimspawn. They don't count the minifigs on the box when they're mannequins like in this summer's QQS or statues like the Rivendell set, but it definitely factors into their price calculation.

Thanks you two

Where are you seeing the Thestral family information? I'm presently leaning towards April April joke.

In the absence of another leak, I thought I'd throw a question out there as to the nature of the HP theme discussion. I was trying to explain some changes over the years to someone who likes neither lego nor HP, and certainly not both together ... (ja ja, the only reason I speak to him is we're married ) But it boiled down to: there's a reduction in buzz in HP forum discussions and excitement, but not in RW sales, so what's happening? For some concrete numbers, to make sure it wasn't just a case of mistaken impression, page 16 2nd comment: 2025 - 26 Mar (started 31 Dec 2024, nearly 3 months) 2024 - 09 Feb (started 05 Jan, 1 month 1/2 week) 2023 - 25 Jan (started 31 Dec 2022, 3 1/2 weeks) 2022 - 04 Jan (started 20 Dec, 2 weeks) 2021 - 14 Jan (started 01 Jan, 2 weeks) 2020 - 01 Feb (started 01 Jan, 1 month) 2019 - 29 Jan (started 14 Nov 2018, 2 months 2 weeks) 2018 - 28 Oct 2017 (started 22 Aug 2017, 2 months 1 week) So discussion of the theme started off a little slowly back in 2017, picked up interest peeking in 2021 and 2022, and has been dwindling off again. The RW sales for HP, on the other hand, remain consistently good, top 5 material, so interest in the theme in RL seemingly hasn't waned, so what do you think is happening? Is "top 5" masking a sales drop? Does EB see less use overall? Are the HP fans just all talked out? Has bashing on the fandom become too much of a thing, either due to JKR vs half the world or the impending remake? Or does it have more to do with how we receive information about the theme? One of the things I think makes a difference, and unfortunately it's not as easy to check, but my impression was that we didn't use to have the lists with names as early, maybe numbers with piece counts and prices instead, but with those lists has gone a chunk of the speculation. I believe we used to spend more time guessing which sets from which years, and now it's more about how many / which minifigs, if it's nano- or play-scale or perhaps a buildable creature, but that that doesn't seem to provide as much fruit for discussion. If you know, for example, the set is called "Aunt Marge's Visit", you know it's Privet Drive from PoA, and there goes all manner of speculating, gone. Is that it, or is it something else? Anyway, I was curious what you lot think.

Ooo! A flutter. It's supposed to be a $90 dollar set. 4 minifigs plus b/f-loat globefig Marge and two named animals seems a bit thin. I'd guess we see diet Marge in the set as well. The only minifig scale HP set with fewer minifigs per EUR is the Durmstrang ship w Beauxbatons' Carriage, the rest would seem to indicate we'll see both versions of her. Plus I think it's unlikely when they revisit Privet Drive next that they'd do the same scene. Instead of waiting another decade for her, I imagine they'd try to lure us in with a more accurate Aunt Petunia, or Harry being delivered as a baby or something. And if there's a dining table in front of the conservatory, which seems likely, she becomes even more probable.

I've seen two different versions of the pictures, one from the IG account named above, and one with the watermark (mostly) removed from rednote. While the IG watermarked version is a bit cluttered, it appears to have the diamond panes in the ground floor as well. The rednote version seems to have lost that detail, in addition to the Privet Drive printing, while editing out the confidential watermark. I still have hope we might see a normal Marge. We're not looking at the box front that shows the included minifigs, but a scene with the minifigs in play. Having two Marge's would be odd, so maybe we'll get lucky. 🍀