brickbride

I think the white head could work for a powdered face in combination with a less ghostly dress; though I like the Rococo Aristocrat's yellow face with white printing better for that purpose.

That advent calendar is almost too targeted. As if LEGO were reading our comments (which they well might be) and knowing exactly what will sell. It's an uncanny and baffling departure from the usual "Let's just throw a EUR 100 crappily designed Sorting Hat at them since they'll buy anything" attitude.

Just popping in to say that according to StoneWars, new parts are in including a spacemen helmet in green. In case anyone's interested.

I think it's kind of telling that most people who seem to like it go " looks good, now all I need to do is mod it/combine it with the 2018 Great Hall". Modular system notwithstanding, apparently we're past the point where a EUR 220 flagship set is expected to look awesome on its own.

Please ignore

You're right, Fluffy Encounter came out in June 2021, same as PPM and the Chamber of Secrets. I wasn't actually suggesting that the quality went down the longer the system was on the market, just that it was hit-or-miss in general. PPM was excellent, Chamber of Secrets was overpriced but still pretty good, Hospital Wing and Room of Requirement were some of the better entries as well. Then we had Dumbledore's Office consisting of a good library part and a much worse Dumbledore's tower part, and bottom-liners like Sirius Black's Rescue and the Fluffy Encounter. So, yeah, I can see why people criticize the modular system and especially the lackluster interior design in SOME sets, but that wasn't a problem ALL of the sets had. To me it just seems that when LEGO choses to retread the same ground again and again and again (such as by rebooting Hogwarts every few years), it often doesn't do things BETTER overall. Even if prices remained constant, it would be debatable whether the 2021 modular system was an improvement over the 2018 one (but at least they went for a completely different approach to suit different tastes), and even more so whether the 2024 modular system was an improvement over 2021 (especially given that it looks very similar overall). Now add the price increases which are often quite steep, especially here - no way would inflation account for this much of an increase, and like I've said, you might get more pieces but you don't actually get a larger footprint -, and each new system becomes less attractive to me. Do you have pics? That sounds awesome.

I haven't heard anything like that and don't expect it. The more I look at Madam Malkin's, the more baffled I am by the shop's selection. It's called "robes for all occasions" but you know what they don't carry? Robes! (With skirt pieces.) And witch hats.

Apart from what I have already written: The new Great Hall is supposed to have 1732 pieces, about 550 more than the Chamber of Secrets (1176). First of all, at that piece count and a reported EUR 220 it seems overpriced to me - even compared to the Chamber of Secrets, which I found overpriced, too. (It's now EUR 150 though I think it started out lower.) Sure, the new set has ten figs and a bigfig, but the other had ten figs plus golden Voldie plus owls plus a basilisk. And I cannot see where all the parts go, now that we know the size. I've already found the old modular system kinda wasteful, since you had to build adjacent walls twice and then tile all the ceilings, but apparently the new system with the slide-out modules is worse. To put things in perspective: For the piece count of the Great Hall, under the 2021 system you'd have gotten the Chamber of Secrets AND a good mid-sized set like the Room of Requirement. Which would have netted you fifteen regular figs, golden Voldie, owls, a pixie, the basilisk, and the fiendfyre snake. And you'd STILL have paid less!

Meh. The Polyjuice Potion Mistake was one of the best HP sets ever in my opinion, and the Chamber of Secrets had pretty decent interiors throughout. Though I agree that some of the later sets, like the Fluffy Encounter and Sirius Black's Rescue, didn't live up to them. But honestly, based on what we've seen so far, the troll bathroom (apart from the troll itself), corridor, and Hufflepuff common room modules are nothing much to write home about either, design-wise. And the courtyard seems to be empty and the Great Hall seems to mostly be taken from the 2021 set with a higher ceiling but no fireplace. I don't see any vast improvements here. Certainly not EUR 70 woth of them!

If you feel that way, I'm not sure how much you'll enjoy the new system since it's still going to be modular. But we'll see.

I very much doubt it, for several reasons: 1) The Chamber of Secrets is one of the most iconic parts of the castle and has traditionally been the focus of the more expensive sets (flagship of 2002 to complement 2001's castle, flagship of the 2021 reboot), so it would make sense for it to be its own set rather than just replacement modules. 2) If, as has been noted, the blurry pic shows us the intended shape of the castle, they're going to need a bunch more underground modules to build this shape. There's not actually that many locations that are canonically underground. 3) How would you even cram a basilisk into one of those tiny slide-out modules? If I had to guess, I'd expect the Chamber of Secrets to be the flagship of another wave (maybe next year's), similar in style to the Great Hall with some aboveground sections (like Myrtle's toilet or Lockhart's classroom or the corridor with the "Enemies of the Heir, beware" graffiti) and some dungeon sections. Those might still be slide-outs, but I guess they could make an extra long one or something to accommodate a basilisk. I'm also guessing that the Potions Class is going to be not only a slide-out module but a slide-out module complete with walls so you can attach it to the Great Hall rather than just replace one of the others. Like I've said, they're going to need underground locations. And EUR 38 is still very pricey for what I'm expecting but would be downright crazy for just a slide-out module.

It needed those tiles with a reverse stud on the bottom, not sure what they're called. The reverse studs on their own make the entire thing look messy, like in the banners.

The wiki has an unidentified blonde Slytherin girl; I couldn't find any named ones: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Unidentified_blonde_Slytherin_girl Do we know Daphne Greengrass' or Tracey Davis' hair colour? They're at least named Slytherin girls in the books, though I don't think they appear in the movies. There's a Hufflepuff girl named Leanne (no last name) who has at least the right hair colour for the one we've seen: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Leanne Ravenclaw boy: possibly Terry Boot? https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Terry_Boot

I'm curious how the Potions Class will fit into it, for much the same reasons you've stated. The "modules" are definitely underwhelming. And I cannot see a feasible way of cramming four figs plus some necessities (such as cauldrons, potions bottles, workbenches, and chairs) into one of them, yet the Potions Class is said to have four figs and to fit into the new system. EDIT: Well, I guess if the students sat two abreast, at 12 studs width that could work. Or possibly even if they didn't but Snape just stood there instead of having, like, a teacher's desk. Especially since I guess the students would all have those stupid short legs and therefore couldn't sit anyway, so maybe we won't even get chairs? Still, asking EUR 38 for one of those modules sounds crazy expensive to me ...

To be fair, it's a step up from the Owl Post Office.

It's longer, true, but it looks just as cramped. I still think the 2001 version (apart from, obviously, the 2018 stand-alone) was the best in terms of capturing the spirit of it.

New leaked pic from the same source with just the figs. EDIT: Overlapped.

Great Hall: Huh. Underwhelming at first glance, which is good because there's no way I'm going to want to start collecting yet another Hogwarts Castle iteration. The troll admittedly looks nice. And so does the Fat Friar. The middle removable section is I don't even know what, and the Hufflepuff common room looks, again, underwhelming. The Great Hall seems to be taken straight from the last Chamber of Secrets set just with a (which is definitely a plus) higher ceiling and some banners. But basically the footprint of the entire thing seems to be about the same as in the Chamber of Secrets set, so I don't see the justification for the price increase. Also, I'm sorry to say but the buildable sky ceiling looks kinda bad. Mandrake: Between the large printed leaves and the face, my first thought was "4+". But to be fair, I don't care for botanical sets on the whole. And it does look kind of cute taken from the pot, though I'm not sure how you'd display it that way. Madam Malkin's and Ollivanders: That's the only thing so far which I think looks good and (somewhat) worth the price, though I'd like to see the outside of MM's and the inside of Ollivander's. Buckbeak: Honestly, my first thought was "He's the king of the hippogriffs, he has a crown!" But then, LEGO's buildable creatures generally aren't for me. Nice "bowing" posture, though.

That's of course possible. However, the leak in the usual place specifically mentions his having the same head, and both Brick Clicker and Promobricks have now reported on it as well.

According to Brick Clicker: 10796 Gabby's Cat-Ear Kindergarten 10797 Gabby's Party Room @BrickBob Studpants Still no new Indy sets. Maybe you should consider switching fandoms? ;-)

Not sure if this is old news (Star Wars isn't my theme), but according to Brick Clicker's latest video, the Captain Rex minifigure in the upcoming microfighter is the very same one as in the Venator - cloth piece and all.

We-ell, not that many people who were interested in the UCS Hogwarts Express would have preferred Random Hufflepuff Diversity Student (TM) and Random Ravenclaw Diversity Student (TM) to adult Ron and Hermione. Yet here we are. If I remember correctly, the designer even admitted that at one point they'd had adult Ron and Hermione in the line-up but ultimately decided against them. Even though they've never been done before and the chance that they'll get done now is pretty slim.

According to Brick Clicker, LEGO Icons 10334 is going to be the retro radio. 906 pieces for USD 110, and it "likely includes a sound brick". (That last bit is according to the usual source. In his video, he only says that he could imagine it containing a sound brick, so I don't know. Though he explicitly says that he could imagine it because of the price-to-pieces ratio.) Assuming it's true, though - anyone want to explain the pricing for the "But it has a sound brick!" Sorting Hat?

The difference, in my opinion, is that most people think of the police as "cool" or "friends and helpers", and of crime as fairly removed from their lives. LEGO isn't marketing their sets to bank robbers or any other target groups who can be expected to have a standard negative reaction to the presence of law enforcement. I also don't think it's a coincidence that more than half the modulars so far have dealt with what I would classify as leisure and entertainment, including a whopping FOUR restaurants so far (Café Corner, Downtown Diner, and Parisian Restaurant, plus the Jazz Club/Pizzeria). Clearly subject appeal matters! But we'll see. If the next modular is something along the lines of Hospital or Funeral Parlour or anything else people could be expected to have overwhelmingly negative associations with in real life, I will gladly concede your point.