brickbride

The Forbidden Corridor is a staple of HP locations, I doubt they'll do the "most detailed Hogwarts ever" without it. In fact I'd expect some nod to all the challenges from PS, even ones like the Chamber of Winged Keys that haven't been done since 2001. I'm assuming Fluffy will be brick-built again. The last version was actually decently designed expect for the awful light bluish gray parts that completely ruined it.

I'm sure Fluffy will show up again. Also, the B&B GWP is the first new HP set this year that I'd actually want if they sold it normally. I even MOCced myself up a fireplace at Malfoy Manor based on the fireplace of the old Burrow! But I'm not buying stuff for EUR 200 or something to get it and I'm not paying second-hand prices for an exclusive HP GWP either (those are ridiculous), so money saved, I guess.

So - a clock AND the floo network, and both for a EUR 260 set (which is mid-size by LEGO standards. Dreamzzz had a EUR 200 playset!). That's really odd.

I have about half the sets from the 2021 system and honestly, the Chamber of Secrets and the Polyjuice Potions Mistake are by far the best. The Room of Requirement has been, for me, a surprising third place. Also, these three together already make up a pretty decently sized castle (or even just the two you're thinking of getting). There's no need to be a completionist about every subset of every theme, and your proposed setup with the Hut and Forest sounds lovely. I'd expect the Chamber of Secrets to be next year"s EUR 200 flagship set, and for the Slytherin common room to be included. The other two should come with towers, though I guess maybe they just shoehorn them in where it fits thematically, i.e. the Ravenclaw common room with a library or something. As for classes, the Charms Class should give us a good idea what to expect and if they're keeping the Potions Class format going forward.

I think you mean the UCS Burrow.

I doubt it. A modular building would have well over 2000 pieces. A modular building of a manor (a house with more width than height) should have even more (the Natural History Museum had over 4000 pieces). And it would be more expensive too! I'm pretty sure we're looking at an open-backed dollhouse style building here.

Like @Gorilla94 has said: My issue is more with the poor quality of the placeholder modules and builds. Like, what's the point of including the Hufflepuff common room for the first time ever if it looks like this and is so obviously meant to be replaced by something else? Or I don't think we've ever had a Great Hall without a fireplace, but this one lacks it - but hey, you can add the fireplace from the advent calendar! When that should have been included in the first place. The 2021 system had shades of this (like the slide in the Chamber of Secrets that needed to be combined with the trapdoor from the Polyjuice Potion Mistake), but with this new Iteration it's just becoming obvious to me that even the EUR 200 flagship set can't stand on its own nor is meant to be. It's just a very expensive starter set for the available upgrades.

Honestly, the more we hear the more underwhelmed I am with the "most detailed Hogwarts ever". If I were to spend EUR 200 on a Great Hall, it had better be THE definitive Great Hall, not a crappy "basic" version full of placeholders which you then need to "upgrade" by buying the Potions Class (EUR 40), advent calendar (EUR 35), and Dueling Club (EUR 30). And after that you're left with a bunch of spare builds/placeholders. Is that the future of LEGO HP - "buy overpriced basic sets and then upgrade them"? 'Cause I really hope not.

Doesn't Dobby die in that scene? I doubt he'll be included then. On the other hand, LEGO love sticking Luna into sets, and they already have an Ollivander from DA to at least partially reuse. Other than that, I agree with @BrickBob Studpants that the bike is probably the EUR 20 set. That price is in my initial guess range (EUR 15 adjusted for Legoinflation.) And at EUR 25, it also seems likely that the dueling club is indeed not a module, but a parts pack that's supposed to go into the Great Hall.

Yes, that's why I brought up Grimmauld Place. Also because Privet Drive doesn't have as many minifigs as the Manor would need. Originally I wrote that I expected it to be at least 1000 pieces, at least EUR 140, and LEGO exclusive. I was shot down with "They wouldn't do something as big in a January wave" but like I've said, I wouldn't rule it out. Your last sentence exactly. Assuming the Charms class is swappable like the Potions class, there needs to be somewhere to swap it to. And the previous Flying Lesson set also included part of the castle. So it would make sense for it to include a bit of wall and one of the placeholder slide-out modules like in the Great Hall, to be replaced with the Charms class. The Trophy Room would be an obvious choice thematically.

I agree on the motorcylce (in fact that was my original guess, and I still think it'll be the PS version), Diagon Alley, the Knight bus, and Charms (again, my original guess). However I'd expect the Flying Lesson und Dueling Club to be more expensive. The Owlery is EUR 45 and has only three minifigs (though admittedly there's a couple of owls), the Boathouse is EUR 38. I'd expect both the Flying Lesson and the Dueling Club to be at least that much. Malfoy Manor could either be in the range of Privet Drive or (and I still haven't ruled that out) in the range of Grimmauld Place. It's a set people have been wanting for years akin to Gringott's, plus it almost has to include Narcissa who is also a much-wanted character. Therefore I should think they'd really make us pay for it. I also think that they'll cycle through the shops in the old DA set before giving us anything truly new, so QQS seems likely. That way they'd already have Lockhart to at least partially reuse for next year's F&B (as well as new Weasley figs from the D2C Burrow and possibly Lucius from the Manor) without making it too obvious.

Maybe as a 4+ set akin to 75332 over at Star Wars, with a title like "Voldie"s Unicorn Visit". It's never too early to introduce children to bloodshed, or so LEGO seems to think.

I thought I"d read somewhere that you're supposed to make a circle.

I'd go with the original MCU Avengers lineup as well. Bonus points if you couldn't just line up the figs next to each other but could make more of a diorama, i.e. Iron Man flying above the logo, Hawkeye tumbling from the logo while firing in mid-fall, and so on. But I guess it won't be like that.

The last Flying Lesson we got had the flying lesson held outside (obviously) with a bit of castle backdrop. I guess it could be that this time, the castle backdrop accomodates another slide-in class (like the Potions Class) that could be the Charms Class. I've said before that just giving us swappable classrooms with nowhere to swap them to is kind of nonsensical, so it makes sense to me that if the wave includes a swappable classroom it would also include a place to put it.

The usual place has a leak for the D&D CMF series. It includes a witch for all those who want to populate their wizarding worlds. She comes with a book, cauldron, and cat apparently. 4711 Flying Lesson only had Harry and Draco. Just saying. But like I've said, I'm pretty sure it's an add-on to the modular Hogwarts. In which case they probably need to throw in at least four figs in order to justify the no doubt steep price.

My guesses: Hagrids Motorcycle: between EUR 15 and 20, brickbuilt bike with Hagrid and baby Harry (the Friends baby from the Lily Potter CMF with or without gold print). No other figs. Malfoy Manor: at least 1000 parts and at least EUR 140 and LEGO exclusive (like Grimmauld Place and the new Durmstrang ship), no more than 8-9 figs certainly including the Trio and Draco. Almost certainly Narcissa and Ollivander as well but not Dobby. Flying Lesson: Harry, Draco, Neville, possibly Hooch. I think it might also include a part of the new modular Hogwarts, like the Owlery and Boathouse and like the last Flying Lesson. In which case it's likely at least EUR 40 (and probably does include Hooch). Charms Class: at least EUR 40, fits into the new modular Hogwarts the way the Potions Class does. My guesses for those, then: Buildable crap Buildable crap Buildable WTF-were-they-thinking type of crap (i.e. Sorting Hat or HP Logo to hang on your wall)

An actual "dark" set? I didn't think those sold as well, they've certainly only been few and far between. And no buildable crap creatures/objects/insert whatever here at all? Colour me shocked.

I don't think we'd get B&B until 2027 at the earliest (if then). I'm pretty sure they'll cycle through the entirety of the old DA first (QQS in 2025, F&B in 2026, with Scribulous and Fortescue's as sidebuilds), and I wouldn't be surprised if we then got a smaller version of Gringotts next. Or do you mean B&B as a D2C? I honestly cannot see that given how long it took them to make the more iconic Gringotts, and given that the old DA will eventually go off the shelves.

I'm pretty sure we'll get some new part of the castle, either the Staircase Tower (which would fit geographically) or the Chamber of Secrets (which would fit chronologically). Just swappable classrooms with nowhere to swap them makes no real sense (though the Staircase Tower also wouldn‘t be a great option in this case).

Buildable objects/creatures Buildable objects/creatures Buildable Hedwig for the billionth time (kidding - I hope) Swappable modules for the new Hogwarts at (minimum) EUR 40 apiece Chamber of Secrets as a big flagship set for (minimum) EUR 200 Possibly a Knight Bus since we haven't had one for a while

If rumours are true, Lego SW is about to get a new version of Slave Leia in a skimpy gold bikini, just saying. If that's an okay thing for 2024 to depict I don't see what would be problematic about Fleur. Though considering neither Harry nor Krum got swim trunks in the latest version of the Second Task, maybe we'd get Fleur swimming in a dress instead.

I wouldn't exactly say that HP is improving. They mostly just retread the same ground again and again but make it twice as expensive (the price for a module of the modular Hogwarts was EUR 20 in 2021, as per the Polyjuice Potions Mistake. Now it's EUR 40 as per the Potions Class). And the only sets with figures that an actual child could afford ALWAYS contain Harry and Ron. (Or Draco in the polybag. I'd take the Dr Strange polybag over that any day!) I guess what you mean is that there's occasionally something different, like the Durmstrang Ship, or an interesting new minifig, such as the Advent Calendar Ghost? But over at HP, the minifig collectors are complaining about inaccurate faces and lack of leg prints just as they are here.

Harry and boys: It's of course true that Harry is an unreliable narrator and a boy, but that's really no reason why boys should necessarily appear more favourable than girls. I got the definitive feeling that JK herself despises giggly "girly" girls, probably at least in part because she's admitted to Hermione being her author avatar, and could not conceive of their being heroic. Even when they've been Sorted into Gryffindor. Love potions: I didn't mean that they're not plot-relevant. I meant that the "good" characters aren't anywhere near as uncomfortable with them as they should be. Can you even imagine your best friend sending your eleven-year-old son a date rape drug as a going-to-school gift like Ron did with Albus Severus in "Cursed Child"? And Harry let him keep it. That's some stellar parenting! It also means that Ron himself thinks nothing much of having been dosed with a date rape drug meant for Harry when they were at school. Marriage after school: Again, those aren't mutually exclusive. (Though really, it's not like Harry and Ron take their exams seriously, and Hermione is often ridiculed for doing so.) Pretty much everyone important in the books either marries people they've known at Hogwarts shortly after leaving Hogwarts, or doesn't get married at all. And most of those marriages are within the same House, too. The idea that you might build a life after Hogwarts - associating with graduates from other Houses or even from different schools -, meet new people, and THEN fall in love seems really foreign to this world. Even though it would make a ton more sense in terms of genetics alone, given how small Hogwarts classes are and how small and insular the English Wizarding community is depicted of being. James and Lily's relationship: The only people in Canon to ever object to it, especially on account of James' character, are Snape and Petunia. Everyone else sees Lily and James as the ultimate battle couple who tried a tragic but noble death, and James especially as a glowing example of Gryffindor qualities. But then, the issues of bullying and child abuse are being downplayed throughout the books, and authority figures who seem completely indifferent to them are still portrayed as wise and fair, so maybe that should not be a surprise. /OT In terms of new sets: I'm one of the people who aren't excited for a UCS Burrow, either. Like some have said, the Burrow to me isn't that important a location. I'd rather collect the castle or maybe one day Diagon Alley. Even Hogsmeade would be preferrable. I also don't much like the Weasleys in general and wouldn't want their house - especially since, again, it doesn't fit in with anything else.

Really? I don't care much for the HP movies in general, but yeah, that implication about Fleur seems truly unfortunate to me, too. And there aren't many strong women in JK's world either, compared to the number of men. There's a reason why Hermione and especially Luna appear in so many sets, even though Luna at least isn't an important character. Or why Harry's main love interest in the books is a girl who he has barely any interaction with! Throughout the books Harry's female classmates are portrayed much more unfavourably than his male classmates (such as Lavender and Parvati, the vain and giggling Trelawney fangirls, vs. "regular blokes" Dean and Seamus). This might tie into some of JK's other unfortunate attitudes such as love potions being no big deal, marriage right out of high school being the ideal you should aspire to, or Lily's marriage to a bully who tormented her supposed best friend for almost a decade being the height of romance. As for the HBO series: For better or worse I'd expect the characters to look vastly different from their movie counterparts. In some cases this might restore faithfulness to their book counterparts (such as Snape, Sirius, and Lupin all being in their early thirties), in others it might be done to increase diversity. I could also see the few canonical students of colour getting bigger, expanded roles. At that point, the difference between show and movie sets would presumably be noticeable. Personally, I wouldn't care. I like looking at my Snape minifigures because I like the book version of Snape, even though he doesn't have either a glow-in-the-dark head or a purple shirt. I don't think many kids would care either, for the same reason - they like a character and want to be able to play them, that's all. But given how many people are hung up on small details such as a minifigure finally getting a new torso print, a "better" faceprint, or printed legs, I'd expect the majority of adult fans to disagree.