krimimimi

With the exception of the RoR, those were all "outside of the castle" sets, though. (Arargog's Lair is another one with a 15 / 16 month run, and I'm not sure if we should count the FB sets or not, but they also had runs of similar length.) For me, the Moment sets seemed a natural replacement for the small sets that aren't part of your Hogwarts castle build that disappear soonish, and I'd expect sets like Hedwig and Fawkes to likely follow suit. Removing PPM, for a concrete example, hamstrings part of CoS's functionality / playability, which is why I wouldn't expect it to vanish too soon, and it adds Hermione and Ron (and Crabbe and Goyle), all of whom weren't in CoS (plus it MOCs easily enough to the troll encounter with maybe the Hulk for lack of a troll), so that one in particular would surprise me. It does feel like we're getting fewer other location sets though, so maybe that will change the lifecycles. We didn't even get the nearly traditional "tree set" last year. @williejm feel free to DM as well if a description of the Moment sets would help.

Glad to help. If you'd like a description like that for the new Moment books, just DM me and I'll try to do them later this week. Feedback on what is more and less useful for you would also help. I think Brick Fanatics was demonstrably wrong about some HP thing recently and weren't they the source of the list of possible GWPs we so thoroughly mocked? So definitely taking it with a grain of salt, and I doubt lego would announce the sets' retirement before they hit the stands anyway, but that said, I can see both DADA and Divination gone in a year's time, say, as Charms and Herbology were as well. More interesting, and potentially questionable, is the inclusion of so many of the 2021 castle sets - Polyjuice Potion Mistake, Fluffy Encounter, and Flying Lesson.

Not at all.

Hey, I was in the process of captioning it for the blind, except that isn't what you asked for. Would that help you? And if so, do you care about colour descriptions as well, or only as they differ to others?

There was an interview last year that was reported on one of the lego fan sites (probably a German one, and therefore not word for word, so more of an article than an interview in format, iirc) before the new 2021 modular sets were officially announced in which they claimed the grates we'd be getting increased mobility of the figures given the fixed position of the little first and second year student legs. You'd anchor them to one stud and then be able to swivel them almost freely to suggest movement that wouldn't work otherwise unless you had the usual jointed minifig legs. With the number of skirt pieces and short legs we've had, that was supposedly something of a consideration that has some merit. (I have a bunch of the new sets in a WIP that currently forces the minifigs to be lined up facing outward atm and it looks silly.) A year on I can't remember if that claim was the author's observation or attributed to what was actually said, however, but sometimes it feels like you get different answers depending on who asks and when. (Those budget claims struck me as odd, too.)

Has anyone heard anything about why they're continuing the chocolate frog cards or if we're going to see any new ones? I'm really pleased that they are, they were fun, and especially as some of that face to face trading the designers kept talking about fell rather flat last year, but I wondered at the reasoning. (Some folks had said upthread they felt it would detracted from the specialness of the anniversary inclusion.)

Where are you seeing it? Not showing up for me on the S@H, may have to clear cache though... Thanks, @Falconfan1414

They just sent out the newsletter email ("some incredible new sets") including link to 2021 "classic set" from the HP line 76393 Hermione & Harry Colossalfigs, but the new HP sets aren't on the site yet. What are the chances they try to draw traffic in with a mailer but update the sets later?

They're not in the Australian or German lego S@Hs yet, although the new Creator Modular is on the site, so I don't know that we'll be seeing the other March releases (besides the suitcase) revealed today... But happy new year either way, everyone.

Try here: there were a bunch of them, and then also search for 'Gringotts' on that page to see @Micmac's lovely entry lower down. (There's both two and three story versions so you can see what looks more in scale with your street. You might not think you need to see the smaller one, but it helps to check. A friend and I tried expanding the three broomsticks recently (because it was clearly larger, right?), but it ruined our Hogsmeade set up, throwing everything out of proportion, so back to the drawing board it went. It can be nice when people take some of the experimentation out of it for you, especially if you're going to be ordering parts.) And several people have also posted their instructions on rebrickable.

Most of us are probably stuck buying the books online, too, which unfortunately doesn't solve the chocolate frog card selection problem.

We're going to see at least one addition with the green roof, the clock tower is being reincorporated into the Infirmary set. As the designers have said to consider the anniversary style a soft reboot, we're likely to see more.

Thanks for going to the effort, @BrickMatit. I never would have found that quote. What a strange justification for it though. How much savings can the grille possibly bring?

I thought part of the point with the grilles is it enabled better movement of the minifigs with the firstie legs? Because you can't move the legs separately, their movement is restricted, and having a grilles without the studs for large areas meant you could pin and swivel a fig.

That's because there were at least two different stations. The first looked like the rest of the buildings we're used to seeing in Hogsmeade, except it was a bunch of them in a row to form the platform. And the second had a sort of boat house look to it, more in keeping with the architecture of the castle. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/harrypotter/images/b/b1/Hogsmeadestation2.PNG/revision/latest?cb=20090807165657 The suitability for play features is part of what makes me think it'll end up being in the kids' range instead. Are any of the D2C's particularly 'playable'? The D2C could be another artwork. Portraits of the golden trio. Or worse, Dumbledore.

Finally, someone else who wants the Gunhilda de Gorsemoor statue. The more I think about it, the more likely I think it is we'd see Gringotts separate and more affordable for masses. I just can't imagine they'd price the building that far out of reach for so many. If the D2C is DA/KA at all, then I'd expect it to be similar in size to the existing DA with a bunch of misc shops and more expensive because the Leaky is slightly larger and needs to include the brick wall.

My first reaction is 'those are very cute!' (and thanks for sharing it). My second reaction is how many pieces are wasted in a repetitive base build whose parts I don't need? I just looked at the piece count, and that set is somewhere between the Burrow and the CoS in number of bricks. For the size of the set, I'd far rather have more castle sections with parts I can use for my own builds. (CoS, for example, has somewhere between 11 and 13 of those little sections.) That said, if they want to make more vignette-y castle sections, I definitely wouldn't object. All those empty 8x8 sections in my castle aren't great. Making sense of them would go a ways to improving the format.

Shh! Careful! Someone with clout might hear you. Seriously the HP world is so character rich, and they keep covering the same bases over and over again, that if we were to limit the characters strictly to one or two new ones in sets, they could evergreen this puppy and our great grandchildren might still not have everyone from our want lists. I liked this year's AC, but have to agree with @spiderfan2000 It wasn't very Christmassy. I think 2023, as @BrickFunatic says, I'd love to see a good sized Grimmauld Place, but with a proper Christmas celebration advent calendar tie in. HP always did Christmas well, and that seems like a nice way to reflect it. The set could be OotP, and the calendar chock full of Weasley jumpers, perhaps a Kreacher if the set's budget wouldn't spring for it, Molly and a wounded Arthur, maybe even skipping Ron and Hermione for once if they were in the building's set instead. It would be nice to have older but not yet adult twins, especially as the adult twins were in such an expensive set. And while I appreciate the way they've differentiated the ages of the characters, it does make for even more gaps in the collection when you have such differences between a film 1 character and a potential film 8 character.

Yes, I can't see it either. But it struck me as a great deal more likely than Ilvormorny, say. Tbh, I can't wrap my head around most of the vehicle builds and complained when we got our second Weasley auto on the shelves with the Privet Drive set instead of Hagrid's motorcycle, but then someone like @Murdoch17 pops up and points out the Hogwarts Express was more than just a red train, and we had someone else here months ago explain with some detail why the Ford Anglia has always been wrong (apparently it's not just a light blue car), and there does seem to be some kind of audience for more precision. So, Hogwarts Mobile Icons! Now with more wheels? After this year, I'm not ruling it out. Or perhaps the Durmstrang ship that appeared for 3 seconds, who knows. Speaking of... I wonder how many of us have bought or plan to buy the icons set. Artistic sets aren't just a question of money and appeal, there is also the very real consideration of physical space.

Thanks for the link, @Roebuck . I was just looking at some of their suggestions for what the $470 set could be: 1) a massive vehicle 2) the Quidditch pitch 3) Azkaban 4) another school of witchcraft and wizardry 5) a Diagon Alley expansion and realized the only one I could be tempted to buy is a Diagon or Knockturn Alley expansion. That's kind of freeing. I'd add 6) the second half of the nanoscale castle to the list before another school, and it still wouldn't tempt me because I haven't got the space. I kind of doubt they'd create a whole new school as we haven't really seen them. And Azkaban looks boring as sin. The Quidditch pitch also seems like it would be a highly repetitive build, but I said the same thing about the colosseum, so clearly that's not the factor I think it is.

Keeping with the PoA and GoF parameters, I'll go with Rita Skeeter, Grindylow and Shrieking Shack. If not the Shack, then Merpeople's trap for the second task.

For one thing it's possible a good chunk of that is down to the price increases planned for 2022, although I gather primarily Germany was hit by that. As for the other, Ninjago City was out for 2 1/4 years. For nearly 1 1/2 years of that time, the Ninjago City Docks were available as well. Plus the issues with production & delivery thanks to the virus seem to have thrown things out of whack. There are sets people want and simply cannot get. (I have a friend in the US (im)patiently waiting for DA to be orderable again, for example, and my order here is only a pre-order for when they become available again.) And this year showed us that they're willing to extend things past their usual sell by dates. It was strange, although welcome, having the Great Hall available basically until CoS hit the shelves. I have to wonder if that doesn't ultimately increase sales. You see the new design, panic and purchase the older set, and eventually the new design grows on you until you purchase that as well. (Assuming you hadn't three of each in your collection already... )

It would be interesting to note when we start talking about what and for how long. It's far too long a thread to go back through, but maybe I'll try to keep track this year. I wonder how interest / buzz converts to actual sales, but I don't suppose we'll ever see those numbers... That's one of the nicest things about being an adult, being in a position to properly spoil your inner child.

Yes, I was practising my stealth, time-lapse ninja moves... Excellent point about the CMF, @BrickFunatic and @BacktoBricks. We can go on nearly forever if they give us just a few paltry minifig pieces to work with. @Textorix, don't get me wrong, I like that he's a fan (any and all enthusiasm for the line is a good thing and helps keep it around longer), but the "certainty" about things that are demonstratively false guarantee I consume rather rarely. (Often enough to reinforce that impression, however.) I greatly prefer text to video as a format anyway, and there are far more accurate sources out there (promobricks and stonewars, for two, and hothbricks has pipped them to the post on a couple of things lately).

How sure are we about the AC having that set number though? Promobricks themselves said "höchstwahrscheinlich" which is "very probably" but I got the sense that might just be going off the price. If the AC weren't on the list at all (and iirc, we've seen it added late in the season before, last year or the year before?), then that wouldn't be the natural divide we might be inclined to think it is. Also, does anyone recall when the FB sets were announced last time? (And yes, I know the changed release date impacts things.) Topic Bricks is almost consistently wrong in some of his assertions, though. His EOLs tend to be off as well, even at time points when you can pretty much confirm it via the lego S@H if you just took a bit of care to look. Too much of the YT/IG info loop is people making assertions and not wanting to be the last to do so until it becomes a massive game of chinese whispers. Or has everyone forgotten a certain nono? @BrickMatit, any theories as to possible causes of the drop off? Does more information earlier lead to less discussion? Or do people here feel the apparently less appealing set design (judging by the comments) killed some of their interest?