brickbride

Unlikely IMO. The D2C Alley retires at the end of 2025, making another add-on for it in mid-2025 seems like a bit of a weird decision. Plus the Leaky Cauldron is a pub and LEGO isn't fond of those.

Meh. I've seen them both displayed. The D2C Alley is lovely, lots of detail and interesting techniques. The Great Hall is just an oversized, rather empty playset. They may have a similar footprint but I don’t really think they play in the same league design-wise. The same for the modular comparison - these days modular buildings are crammed to the rafters with detail. You can't compare that to a sparsely decorated "starter set" even if they are outwardly roughly the same size. I don't know, but I have a suspicion what they will put in the AC: stuff to beef up the EUR 250 Main Tower. Seriously, no way are we not getting a bunch of ACs. I don't know about Marvel but in general that's really easy money for LEGO (given the prices and the fact that it's just minibuilds and minifigs) and everyone else is doing them - even other brick companies such as Bluebrixx- so they'd just leave the field to the competitors if they opted out.

I'd assumed those leaks came from retailers, so that might explain the lack of D2Cs. As for the AC, maybe it's a scheduling thing? Like maybe those sets are all June releases and the ACs come in September? Just a wild guess

How is EUR 100 cheap? The playset DA sets have all been horribly overpriced so far. Ollivander's and MM's had a list price of EUR 90 for 700+ pieces, WWW a list price of EUR 95 for 800+ pieces. I'm assuming that QQS won't look like its D2C counterpart but like its counterpart in the microscale DA (with the blue and the hoops upstairs). If we go by that, it seems to be one of the larger buildings there but not as large as WWW. And Fortescue's in the same set is tiny! Together, I doubt those two could have much more of a footprint than Ollivander's and MM's. I'm curious about the Monster Book. At EUR 60 it had better be substantial. Maybe it's sort of a follow-up to those trunk sets - a book as a container where you can store buildable monsters and take them out to play with them? True, the quality of the 2021 Hogwarts system varies. Though I'd rate the Room of Requirement among the good sets as well, I actually like it better than the Hospital Wing. Also the Chamber of Secrets set itself was pretty good (if overpriced). But there's a large gulf between addressing the previous complaints (that is: not using gridded plates, making the modules a tad bigger, and not churning out lackluster efforts like the Fluffy Encounter or Sirius Black's Rescue) and expecting us to pay a total of EUR 450 for just TWO parts of the castle - the same parts that were (apart from the underground section) both done in a single EUR 100 set in 2018! Or to pay around EUR 40 for a single class module (EUR 20 for a half-module), effectively doubling the prices of the 2021 system. That's just ridiculously expensive for playsets. There has to be some kind of middle ground. To put things in perspective: EUR 450 (the price of the Great Hall and Staircase Tower) will get you the D2C Diagon Alley, even at its increased list price (it used to be just EUR 400). It pretty much gets you the entire microscale D2C castle at over 6.000 pieces. The lastest modular building, 2025's Tudor Corner, is EUR 230 - cheaper than the Staircase Tower! And those are all well-designed, finished sets which you aren't supposed to improve by replacing parts of them with additional sets! We're straying far from playset pricing here.

I cannot imagine that they'd include the Chamber of Secrets in a tower set, surely that will be its own location. Dumbledore's Office and the Gryffindor common room/Gryfindor dorms all sound fairly likely, and I'm assuming that they'll be switchable (read: look very sparse), too. Or maybe we'd get one of them in the set, say, a sparse Gryffindor common room (akin to the Hufflepuff one), which you can then switch with an additional Gryffindor dorm set?

That was me. Based on the fact that there's already a competing product which does (by Reobrix).Though that one is over 3.000 pieces, I'm assuming LEGO's version will have a lot less. Still, I think it's another instance of LEGO looking towards the competition, gauging which of their products sell and trying to include them in their own portfolio so as to prevent customers from straying.

I think us getting new random bystanders in QQS is all but certain, they've done it for every one of the DA playsets so far (the Owl Post employee, the student in the wheelchair, the flower-selling witch) and are continuing the trend with the sleeping witch in the Knight Bus. Yes. A tower filled with stairs and portraits is hardly the most exciting thing, they have to combine it with something in order to be able to give us a halfway decent interior. I'll leave you with a MOC by BonkersBricks:

The usual place, HP subsection. If the Aunt Marge set is indeed Privet Drive, I'd expect its full name to be something like "Privet Drive: Aunt Marge's Visit" akin to what we've had with Hagrid’s Hut. Otherwise it might well be another buildable atrocity like the motorcycle set with Harry, Marge, and Ripper. I also don't see why they'd give us Marge in minifig form since that would defeat the point of including her at all (as her only iconic scene is her getting blown up).

It doesn't actually have to be Privet Drive just from the set name. Might still be a buildable figure of Aunt Marge or, like someone else has said, just a scene with part of the house in it. Technically we did get a greenhouse with the Astronomy Tower! (Before that with the OotP castle, but that's a long way back.) I'm assuming the lesson will be Mandrakes again because what else would it be. Meh, I hope not. That is, if we do get him in that form I hope he'll at least look better! They have done Hedwig to death (literally since the last set she's in is her death scene), is Fawkes the new Hedwig? Also, someone on Reddit pointed out that "Dumbledore's Phoenix" instead of "Fawkes" is an odd set name and that the description could possibly refer to Dumbledore's phoenix patronus as well (akin to the Expecto Patronum set which is retiring by the end of the year). I'm really amazed that they're continuing with the series. I can't imagine the sets sell well at those prices! I also notice that - like with Ollivander's and Madam Malkin's before - they've dropped the "Diagon Alley:" part of the name. This time not even Fortescue's name is in it! As for the combination, if LEGO loves anything it's cafés and the like. The other options for non-plot relevant, secondary shops - like Slug and Jigger's, Mr Mulpepper's, Potage's and so on - are all fairly obscure with fairly "boring" (to kids!) wares. Though you're right that for anyone who owns the D2C this sounds like an easy skip. Any guesses about pricing? The Book Nook and Main Tower sound like they'd be well over EUR 100 each (the tower could well be over EUR 200 depending on size). The DA set will probably be at least EUR 80 again. As for the others it really depends on execution.

And even more limited for actual clothes if their only option is the LEGO version of Madam Malkin's. Which sells stuff like caps, top hats, and tuxedos, but very little in the way of, you know, robes, witches' hats, and other wizarding apparel.

Yes. They're called Umbridge. Though, no, she's actually referred to as a pink toad. ;-)

@Accio LegoYou may be right! The unicorn horn kind of makes sense that way as well (but only kind of, since if it represents an actual horn it's way oversized for the scale). I really think they chose poorly trying to do DA shop interiors in miniscale, given that they cannot go below 1x1 stud pieces and given that most of the shops' wares are already small even in minifig-scale. The exteriors are fine, but the interiors seem severely lacking to me. For the first time ever, I'm kind of wishing LEGO had limited themselves to exteriors on this one.

Thanks for the help, @mark1991tand @Black Falconand @Accio Lego! I've edited my earlier post in order to include your findings. So to recap, the microscale Diagon Alley seems to consist of: Left side: Leaky Cauldron with the Knight Bus, Magical Menagerie (available as part of the Gringotts D2C set), Madam Malkin's (available as a playset with Ollivander's), QQS (available as part of the 2020 D2C set), Eeyelops, Fountain of Fair Fortune? (or apothecary, possibly Slug and Jigger's or Mulpepper's, according to @Accio Lego), Sugarplum's?, Borgin and Burke's (has not been available as part of a larger set since 2011, though there was the recent floo GWP) Middle: Gringotts (available as a D2C set) Right side: Owl Post Office? (available as a playset with WWW), Scribbulus (availale as part of the 2020 D2C set), Ollivander's (available as a playset with Madam Malkin's and also as part of the 2020 D2C set), Wiseacre's, Fortescue's (available as part of the 2020 D2C set), Flourish and Blotts (available as part of the 2020 D2C set), entrance to Knockturn Alley (available as part of the 2020 D2C set and also: This doesn't correspond with Borgin and Burke's location at all!), WWW (available as a playset with the Owl Post Office and also as part of the 2020 D2C set) So the following sets are included but not available in a larger version: Leaky Cauldron, Eeyelops, Fountain of Fair Fortune?, Sugarplum's?, Borgin and Burke's, Wiseacre's In addition, the following have not been made into playsets: Magical Menagerie, QQS, Gringotts, Scribbulus, Fortescue's, Flourish and Blotts, entrance to Knockturn Alley Honestly, I'd be surprised if we got any of the missing sets as playsets anytime soon, with the exception of Borgin and Burke's and possibly (but not that likely given that it's a pub) the Leaky Cauldron. (Though I'd find it sort of hilarious if LEGO balked at making a pub but happily gave us a shop selling dark artefacts, including but not limited to a murderer's cut-off hand, instead.) The other four have no iconic scenes taking place there (granted, neither had the Owl Post Office, so we cannot completely rule them out). Flourish and Blotts has the Lockhart book signing so I'd expect them to get around to that sometime soon (if they even continue with the series - I'd not be surprised if they wouldn't), same with Gringotts. And most of the others from the D2C sets with the exception of Scribbulus at least have interesting wares to offer (Magical Menagerie - animals, QQS - Quidditch stuff, Fortescue's - LEGO love their cafés) so they'd make good side builds despite their lack of plot relevance. Also I still have no idea what the actual scale of the microscale Diagon Alley is supposed to be. Like, why are the owls "Z-Blob" pieces but the frog is an actual, minifig-scale frog? Edited just now by brickbride

Since we now have pics of the interiors of the microscale Diagon Alley set (which are nothing to write home about, seriously, they don't look great), I've tried to identify the previously unidentified shops. I could use some help, though. So far we've had: left side - Leaky Cauldron with the Knight Bus parked in front. EDIT: @Accio Legohas identified the white "Z-Blob" piece upstairs as Hedwig, honestly I would have taken it for a table lamp. ;-) - Magical Menagerie with the oversized kitten sign. The interior includes a pink frog which, given the scale, ought to be some giant mutated killer frog. (The scale seems to be to be way off with many of the interiors in general.) - Madam Malkin's (not really recognisable as far as the interior goes, either) - QQS (Quidditch colours and a golden trophy statuette that could be a mannequin, I guess. Though it's golden which is an odd choice.) - small blue unidentified building, possibly Wiseacre's? Your guess is as good as mine. I cannot identify the interior either. It has a decorative gray owl outside. EDIT: Identified by @Black Falconand @Accio Legoas Eeyelops, with the "Z-Blob" pieces representing owls. - two buildings with medium pink and dark pink downstairs fronts and surprisingly identical upstairs rooms; I think the medium pink one is Sugarplum's and the darker one is the Fountain of Fair Fortune, but that's mostly based off Wizarding World Orlando street view pictures I found online. The unicorn horn could represent a fountain of some kind, I guess, and the flower pieces could be taps, and the tiles on the other side of the wall could be shelves full of candies, but again that's just guesswork. - unidentified dark green building with a jewel displayed upstairs, no idea. The shop sign is a yellow 1x2 plate. EDIT: identified by @mark1991t as Borgin and Burke's. middle: Gringotts (the only one whose interior looks decent, in my opinion. Though I'm no fan of the straight columns on the exterior) right side: - tall building that I suspect is the Owl Post Office, with some sort of kiosk next to it. I couldn't find interior pictures. EDIT: Found one (see below, on the lower left), though I still cannot make much out. What's the white statuette representing? - Scribbulus - Ollivander's - another unidentified blue building that could be Wiseacre's I guess. Interior pictures include a golden spigot downstairs and a water-coloured jewel upstairs. Wiseacre's sells telescopes if I remember correctly, so maybe that's what the spigot's supposed to represent? EDIT: Confirmed by @mark1991tto be Wiseacre's. - Fortescue's - Flourish and Blotts - entrance to Knockturn Alley - WWW The last four are all pretty unrecognisable, too. (EDIT: Ollivander's looks more like a bookshop than the bookshop does.) I have no idea what the green jewel in the bookshop represents. WWW has the colourful stairs and what I guess could be like a galleon-sized bottle of love potions (with the heart stopper) if you don't mind the fact that the stopper is at least the height of the bottle. Outside WWW is what @Accio Legohas identified as a phone booth. Though if that's supposed to fit a human, again, the heart-stoppered potion is nearly the same size! Any guesses as to the remaining shops? -

That's what I mean - it should have been in the Great Hall. All the other versions so far have had one, even those with way less pieces. It's an essential piece of the Great Hall and it has nothing to do with either the Dueling Club or Christmas (there's one in the Advent Calendar as well). It's just LEGO's way of upselling, which I hate. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for modular systems where you can buy different sets and connect them, but the sets themselves ought to be able to stand alone, and these days they can't. I also don't get who exactly the new modular system is meant for. Yes, it allows more space for play than the previous one, but it's also ridiculously expensive. I don't know many kids with that kind of budget even for large gifts! And it's such a weird mixture of display and storage, like, why do the slide-in modules have to be enclosed, why can't they have a plate at the bottom and an open wall so they at least have some display value as well?

To be honest, my first impression was: "Great, empty rooms I'd have to buy another set for (each) for EUR 80, that's what I have always wanted for Christmas." I really hate how unfinished every set in this new system looks. On purpose! Like, say, thr Fluffy Encounter looked bare and unfinished, too, but that ws bad design. Now they just want you to have to buy the interiors extra.

Notre Dame: LEGO has always been adamant that they won't do churches. This has allowed competitors a niche for producing famous cathedrals and the like without stepping on LEGO's toes. Notre Dame has been done by several of them as far as I know. Now LEGO come out with Notre Dame and completely ignore their own policy on churches in the process. If that's not adopting a competitor's idea, what is? Solar System: Cada has had one for quite some time now, from the same designer as the safe, I think. Microscale Hogwarts and Grounds: Yes LEGO did the castle first in 2018, but when the castle and grounds was announced a lot of us immediately pointed to competing products that were already available. And now the booknooks. Again, not an original idea! To be clear: I don't mean to imply that LEGO are doing anything untoward. They don't adopt other companies' designs, just their ideas which to the best of my knowledge cannot be copyrighted. But it's not longer the case (if it ever was, I don't really know enough to tell one way or the other) that LEGO pave the way and the competition follows. LEGO clearly are looking towards the competition these days, gauging what works and what they can adopt into their own portfolio so as to prevent customers from straying. Again, the LOTR one is supposed to be USD 120, so I'd assume it's at a similar price point. The Reobrix one I mentioned above is about that price, but it has over 3.000 pieces. I guess we can all agree that a LEGO set with a list price of around USD 1200 won't have much more than 1.200 pieces. Diagon Alley, though, is another good possibility. I recall a MOC of a booknook from Rebrickable that looked really cool.

The LOTR one has been leaked in the usual place, it's reportedly the Gandalf vs. the Balrog scene for a list price of USD 120. I'd assume a similar M.O. - same price and also an iconic scene with limited amounts of characters - for HP. Any guesses as to the subject matter? The Forest Scene (Harry vs. Voldie) comes to mind although it's pretty dark. Or maybe the Astronomy Tower, but that one's even darker. Or maybe just the Hogwarts Express, since that definitely has been done as a booknook before and LEGO seem to be adopting their competitors' ideas a lot these days (Notre Dame, working model of the solar system, microscale Hogwarts and Grounds just off the top of my head).

We haven't yet. It's 76443, buildable Hagrid and Harry on the motorcycle, with Hedwig included.

Box art for the microscale Diagon Alley is out as well. For me it looks better fully closed, as a real alley, but I still don't like that it's microscale. That might work for Hogwarts which is really all about the silhouette but to me DA is about the fun details, and shop signs consisting of, say, a 1x1 plate with a clip don't excite me. There's certainly a market for it, though.

A leak of the Marvel logo including the box art is up at the usual place. The logo itself with the font looks okay, but the placement of the minfigs is too static for my liking and the pop-out feature is just silly. The target age grup is 12+. I'm having a hard time picturing a consumer who buys this. It's over 900 pieces so not for novices, and I'd expect an expert builder to routinely build "12+" sets at age 7 or 8, but what kid that age wants a logo instead of a cooler set with more play features like, say, the Spider-Man showdown? So that makes me think they're aiming for actual teens. But in that case the pop-out feature feels too gimmicky and childish - the same for adults. I wouldn't complain about it if it didn't detract from the set itself, but I do think the feature comes at the expense of less static, cooler looking figure placement. And of course, again, WHERE IS HAWKEYE? Also, Black Widow bursts out from the logo brandishing her gun at you, and is prominently pictured on the box art with it, too. Thor's magic hammer ist at least fantasy-based but given that Nat has no superpowers, LEGO seem to be endorsing some real-world violence here.

Yeah, I'm surprised by the positive reception here especially among fig collectors. Does the set look nice at first glance? Yes. Does it look EUR 150 nice? No. (And does anyone but me find it hilarious that the Malfoys have a cellar full of water barrels? Just make the trans pieces red and tell the kids its grape juice or something! Also, wealthy society lady Narcissa who has servants still does her own cooking!) The figs, meanwhile - for a different location and such a dark one I find the selection boring. Harry, Hermione, Draco, Luna, Voldie are pretty much staples these days, different prints notwithstanding. No Ollivander, no Griphook, no background Death Eaters or DH Snape. (Or Ron. Again.) There's unprinted legs all around. And the large stickers put me off, too. Also, the toilet. I know LEGO loves its toilet humor but if I were to pay EUR 150 for a new location I'd want something more interesting, like, say, a library full of dark books or Lucius and Narcissa's bedroom. Overall, I think the Ministry of Magic did a better job giving us a new location with new figs and built details. And a lot of people were complaining about how small and cramped it was! But now, at EUR 50 more than what it cost back then, a surprising number of people go "Looks great! Facades are the best for display purposes anyway". This is cleary what LEGO are aiming for these days in both playsets and display sets (just look at Gru's family home, the Emerald City, or Ollivander's), but I can't say I'm a fan.

Or maybe it's just brick-built Aunt Marge as a stand-alone set akin to Dobby with the cake. Did the leaker actually mention Privet Drive? I thought maxifigs were the oversized buildable "minifigs", like Harry and Hermione some years back or the LEGO House exclusive pirate Redbeard one? That seems like an odd choice.

Hagrid from HP?

Yes, I'm not saying I'd have expected WWW to make it as long as the D2C. The latter has had an extraordinarily long running time and I think it was extended because of Gringotts, too. But like I've said, WWW started off a modular series which was continued in 2024 and which I guess most of us would have expected to further continue in 2025, and now it's going EOL. If you look at, say, the modular Hogwarts system, 2021's Chamber of Secrets is only going EOL now that the 2024 replacement starter set (the Great Hall) has arrived. And all the remaining expansions for the 2021 system are going with it, even the recent ones (which gives some of them a pretty short running time, but I can understand retailers not wanting two different modular Hogwarts systems competing for shelf space). That makes sense! What wouldn't make sense to me would be continuing with a modular Diagon Alley system where one of two existing sets (and the one that started the series) is already going EOL. The more I think on it, the more I expect that both the playset Diagon Alley and the playset Hogsmeade Village are over and done with. Which in the case of Hogsmeade might well be because they hit the end of their planned run. I know a lot of us expected another expansion with Zonko's and the Hog's Head, but that might never have been in the works given Zonko's not that iconic and the Hog's Head is a pub (which LEGO doesn't like). But in the case of Diagon Alley I'd rather expect it to be because of poor sales, as starting the series in 2023 and adding to it in 2024 and then pulling the plug on WWW by the end of 2024 while there's still so much ground to cover seems pretty odd.