brickbride

@BrickBob StudpantsTo be fair Hermione's plan to free the House Elves is pretty stupid. She never once talks to them about what their lives would look like once they're free, and her leaving clothes lying around for them to find should accomplish nothing since she's not actually their master. But that's exactly what I mean - those plot points need to be addressed. Again, I could see a "What if" type of adaptation working where Harry maybe gains Slytherin allies, House Elf allies other than Dobby, where Draco defects to his side, and so on. I think we're both arguing the same side - that this show, which looks to be "just like the movies but more woke" won't work. However, like I've said, I do see a lot of room for expansion even in the earlier books. The thing about Harry as our POV character is that he's both very, very unobservant and lacks curiosity. Part of it stems from JK's inability to plan ahead (by which I mean aspects that are introduced in later books but should be part ofthe earlier ones according to all logic), but for example he barely interacts with members from other Houses save for Luna and Draco. Hermione, on the other hand, clearly does (because everytime JK needs to introduce a new student character Harry's like "Who's that?" and Hermione's like "That's X, don't you know her?") but in the books we don't see any of it because we're stuck with Harry. I would like to see what the members of the other Houses get up to. Or the antagonists! For CoS, we could have Ginny slowly, over several episodes, becoming entrapped by the diary rather than all of it being dealt with in dialogue afterwards. And we could even see what the hell Lucius was thinking when he dumped his Dark Lord's most prized possession in a random Weasley's cauldron. That sort of thing. Also in the later movies the backstory was dealt with way too little; stuff like Remus knowing what the Marauders' Map is or Snape saying "I, the Half-Blood Prince" came completely out of left field for all the viewers I know who hadn't read the books. The thought of a "child-friendly" HBO show will never not be funny to me. ;-) But I agree with @BrickBob Studpants - as long as the show isn't a proven success, LEGO won't take much of a risk on it. Maybe the odd little set here and there, especially ones like "Ron and Harry and car" or "Ron and Harry and spider" that they can be relatively sure will sell anyway, or maybe sets featuring characters like Peeves that got cut out of the movies, but nothing more.

Well HP's not a film franchise to begin with but a book series. I wouldn't have issues with more than one adaptation co-existing. Especially since film and TV are different media with different possibilities and the movies left plenty of room for improvenent (i.e. more focus on backstories, and a books-accurate Snape). However, I do think that the source material is problematic in many ways: from JK's attitude towards bullying (only ever bad if our heroes are on the receiving end) to Hogwarts running on slave labour to even the "good" characters' dismissive attitude towards Squibs and Muggles to the vilefication of Slytherin House as a whole. This coupled with the casting news means I have no interest in another straight adaptation of the books. I'd rather see different aspects of the wizarding world (FB had the right idea despite ending up an illogical, incoherent mess) or, as I've said before, maybe a "What if" type of adaptation where these problems are actually addressed and the outcome isn't set in stone.

PPP might not hold that much weight but for me "It's really tall" doesn't either. I've said it before, for EUR 200+ I'd rather have a fully enclosed modular crammed full of details than a half-empty placeholder for add-ons like the Great Hall or a tower where several storeys consist of little but stairs. But to each their own! The new system just isn't my cup of tea.

No they won't. Minidolls are for girls' themes, not for Harry Ron Hagrid Car Spider Bike themes like LEGO HP. You also couldn't differentiate between younger students/older students/adults that way, and can you imagine what a Voldie/Death Eater minidoll would look like?

The Burrow is enclosed from both sides, though, isn't it? That obviously has to take away from the height. As for the Shire, I don't think they were going for height in the first place, plus the consensus seems to be that the set is vastly overpriced. So those might not be the best comparisons.

But buildable Hedwig, the HE or other things like Privet Drive are all staples of LEGO HP that pop up again and again in slight variations. And playset WWW came seceral years after the latest DA. The motorcycle escape hasn't been done once in more than twenty years of HP, and then twice in a row after the first attempt was poorly received. That's pretty unusual I'd say.

Dumbledore wouldn't have to be there, he wasn't in the last Hospital Wing set either. And the character selection often doesn't make sense (i.e. Kettleburn but not Quirrell in the Main Tower), so they might well give us the Slytherin Common room with only one Slytherin or none at all. Though personally I'd expect the Bloody Baron with it given that so far we've always gotten the House ghost.

I would laugh so hard if they gave us the Lovegood House with Luna, who isn't even present in the scene, and without Ron. No way are they giving us the Chamber of Secrets in a set that doesn't have "Chamber of Secrets" in its name. And no way are we getting three detailed storeys in a EUR 100 set. The Flying Lesson was EUR 80 (which would probably be at least EUR 90 or EUR 100 in 2026) and it's tiny! At best we'll get a crappy slide-out Slytherin Common room akin to the Hufflepuff one in the Great Hall set, the Hospital Wing itself, and another uninspired slide-out of an unimportant location just for completeness' sake (like the Transfig class in the Flying Lesson). The Chamber of Secrets would also necessitate a basilisk which again, no way are we getting that as an add-on to a set called the Hospital Wing. Maybe. But it's odd to say the least that we'd get two sets based on the same scene within the space of a year (January to January) - in some leaks the new set is called Hagrid and Harry"s Privet Drive Escape which would indeed point to it being DH-based - and that the second set would be what everyone wanted the first one to be. That doesn't look like a coincidence to me.

Or it's LEGO listening to the customers. And noticing that everyone went "Yay, Hagrid's DH motorbike, finally!" when the previous one was announced and then went "WTF is THAT? And where are the minfigs?" when they saw what we were actually getting. Either way I'm expecting two figs (Hagrid and Harry/baby Harry) and a small build. This will fit nicely into LEGO's What Do You Mean It's Not Solely For Boys Series of Affordable HP Sets: Ron and Harry and car, Ron and Harry and giant murderous spider, and now Hagrid and Harry and bike. Other than that ... 76460 Sorting Hat: As has been said, that's probably yet another Great Hall add-on. I'm expecting three figs max including McGonagall and probably yet another never-been-done-before student character, though just two figs is probably the most likely. 76463 Hogwarts Castle: Hospital Wing: The last one was EUR 50 and included the Clock Tower, so it stands to reason that the Most Expensive Hogwarts Ever version won't even do that. 76464 Cauldron: Disney has 43252 Moana's Flowerpot and Wednesday has 76784 Black Dahlia Flower, which both times is a flowerpot with a little scene inside. I'm expecting something like that just without the flower, and maybe with built steam or bubbles coming out of it. 76466 TBD Philosopher’s Stone set: At that price point I'm fully expecting a follow-up to Hogwarts Icons. With the Stone, obviously, and possibly Harry's wand and/or a Gringotts vault key, and other assorted stuff. The troll would probably be too big (and look atrocious when brick-built but it's not like that stopped them with Chewbacca over at SW). Actually what would make the most sense would be to base it on the challenges so, you know, chess piece, flying key, Devil's Snare, potions bottle if you go by the book instead of the movie. 76467 Luna Lovegood’s House: Colour me surprised - fans have wanted this as much as Malfoy Manor for ages, and it's a pretty dark location too, so I'd have figured they'd have waited a bit and then made it for like EUR 150 at the least. Since the budget now is as much as this year's Privet Drive without adjusting for LEGOflation, I'm expecting that we'll get a pretty small build and few figs. 76470 Flying Ford Anglia: Yeesh, another one? This isn't LEGO City! We don't need a ton of cars, and it's always the same one, too! At this price point it pretty much has to be the definitive UCS version. 76461 Cornish Pixie: Buildable Dobby had a list price of EUR 30 so I'm expecting this to be even smaller. Though it could be an interesting parts pack given the colour.

No. I rather think LEGO would like to pretend those movies don't exist.

Check out the OnePieceLiveAction subsection of the usual place! There are promos up where live-action Luffy (Inaki Godoy), Nami (Emily Rudd), and Zoro (Mackenyu) review the LEGO sets - it's very much the characters not the actors doing the reviewing (well except that with Godoy/Luffy you can't really tell :-)). Nami does the Battle of Arlong Park, Zoro does Buggy's Circus Tent and the Going Merry, Luffy does Windmill Village and the Merry again. Nami complaining about Arlong standing right next to "her" and why did they have to include Nami's chains but hey at least you can destroy the pagoda is hilarious. And so's Zoro stealing Luffy's hat (deadpan: "I'm Luffy now") and knocking over the Sanji minifig (deadpan: "This is how I feel right now"). EDIT: Usopp's (Battle of Arlong Park again) and Sanji's (Baratie) promo are up as well. Usopp's is kind of meh but then I don't like the character much. Sanji's take on Sanji and the fancy egg dish vs. Zeff is fun, although I'm surprised he didn't use the duel in order to get in a dig against Zoro. Bottom line: check those out! Also I think that's a first for LEGO, actors in character endorsing the sets. Has that ever been done before? If not, what do we think it means for the future of One Piece Live Action and the LEGO One Piece theme? I mean those promos most have cost a pretty penny.

Wanting five figs doesn't necessarily mean having the budget or room for a EUR 130 ship. Plus a pirate ship doesn't really fit in with my other stuff, I'd prefer to have just the figs and build a cute little port scene with them. But thank you, LEGO, for telling me how to display them and how much to spend on them, I guess?

Some more impressions (other than Mihawk's cowboy hat which I'm still not over, especially given that they paywalled him in a EUR 300 set): 75636 Partys Bar: There’s a rowboat which no-one needs and which sort of makes me wish that we’d got the Lord of the Coast fight instead. Makino's unprinted skirt looks really ugly though Shanks is very well done. 75637 Buggy’s Tent: I love the inclusion of part of the tent, the (plot-relevant) cases, the water tank, the spinning wheel, and the cage, as well as four important figs. Granted the top of the tent looks like crap on the inside but that’s LEGO for you, and the cage seems bigger than the spinning wheel which again, that’s LEGO for you. (Zoro has to fit on the spinning wheel spread-eagled while the smaller Nami has to fit into the cage only while crouching, but of course minifigs can’t exactly crouch or spread their arms and legs.) I still don't like Zoro's smirk and the inclusion of the entirely empty seating is kind of comical if you know the scene - you'd really need to fill it with villagers wearing terrified expressions. Still, I'd say it's the best set overall. 75638 Arlong Park: This set really, really needed both Zoro and Sanji. Their exclusion makes no sense plot-wise and five minifigs is just too little even though I think they're all exclusive. Plus the pagoda has a „smash“ feature but no upper floors and barely any interior at all. 75639 Going Merry: Again, this is the cheapest way to get all five of the East Blue Crew, and it's EUR 130. Not cool, LEGO. 75640 Baratie: First of all Nami has the wrong outfit, at least the top part of it – on the show she does wear the orange skirt again but with a different, pink top both in the restaurant and bar scenes and during the duel the next day. The same for Luffy and I think they could even have done his green dungarees and red shirt combo with existing parts. I really, really like the inclusion of Mihawk’s raft, though, and Mihawk – hawk eyes and all – apart from the hat. Speaking of, Zeff looks fine but I’d have preferred him either with his striped shirt or in his whites but with the oversized chef’s hat. Some of the lifestyle pics are spot-on (like Zoro sitting in the bar tipping a bottle to see if there's anything left in it) and others are completely nonsensical (like Garp playing lookout from the top deck and Helmeppo lounging on a lawn chair while supposedly on duty). The angle of both the box art and some of the lifestyle pics also does the set no favours because it makes it look almost as paper-thin as Malfoy Manor.

Since when does Mihawk wear a cowboy hat? The feather's missing!

Well it's just a normal blond in the LA version which this is supposedly based on. A lot of characters have unnatural hair colour there but he doesn't.

This. It's a nice little ship, the figurehead looks good, and I’m glad we get Zoro with a proper green hairpiece somewhere, but I could never justify buying it for that price. Also Sanji's hair looks awfully yellow, like Draco Malfoy's in the newer HP sets. I really preferred it back when they used to use tan hairpieces for blonds.

The Brickheadz for August are said to be Luffy and Buggy.

I love this fandom to pieces, and even have (non-LEGO) merch of it. Which is why it pains me to realize that I probably won't buy any of these sets. The Merry and Baratie are way out of my budget range. I was hoping that with Arlong Park I'd at least get the entire East Blue Crew, but now with both Zoro and Sanji missing it looks like the cheapest way to get them all is the EUR 130 Merry! Even for a set with just my favourite (Zoro) it's EUR 50! And if I cannot have all the East Blue Crew I'd at least like to have him battle Mihawk but of course he's locked behind the EUR 300 Baratie. As of now, I'm still looking forward to seeing the sets but I'll probably just end up bricklinking some figs or something.

Bricklink -> 75968 -> Dobby -> Inv There you go. 😉 If I pay modular prices (or well above really with all the add-ons) I expect modular standards, not a fixer-upper. I merely replied to @Virginia_Bricks that IMO it's not just the high prices, it's also the discrepancy between price and design that puts people off. Look at the picture above of how the big sets connect and tell me this looks well-designed.

There goes hope for Kuroobi.

Unlikely IMO. It's too dark and dreary for mass appeal, and its most noteworthy feature has already been done very well with the playset - what else is left?

On the other hand if they didn't waste a lot of parts with the slide-out drawers they could probably afford a less crappy-looking ceiling. To me the problem isn't just the high prices, it's the "bigger=better" mentality. I don't need a "beefier" model, I don't have unlimited space anyway. Sure, here you get a lot of empty space (which you then have to fill with additional sets) but I'd rather have something more intricate and detailed like, again, a modular building. Here you're paying modular prices for an unfinished-looking set full of deliberately inferior placeholders, but hey, it's big!

Huh. Nami looks okay. Zoro - the printed haramaki is very nice; maybe it's the lighting but the colour of the sleeves vs. the colour of the shirt torso seems way off. Also I'd have liked it if we'd gotten a hint of his green hair despite the bandana. Their facial expressions both seem fairly generic, Zoro's smirk especially doesn't really suit Mackenyu's stoic portrayal IMO. And why is Arlong so purple? My first thought went "Did they reuse some Thanos parts?" 😀 Also this is Nami in her outfit from the barrel scene, presumably from the Merry set, and Zoro in his duel outfit presumably from the Baratie set. The leak says the Buggy set for both so I'd expect them to be reused in the other sets. (And Nami also wears the same skirt on the Baratie during the duel, just with a different top, so that might be another reuse.)

Well TUDUM's over. No LEGO sets as expected. In fact nothing much was revealed except for a look at Chopper and the fact that season 2 will air in 2026. I'm curious when exactly and also when we'll get a second wave of LEGO One Piece sets to correspond with it!

The CMF series looks just about as I expected: a ton of red and blues and not really anything of interest to anyone who's not crazily into these movies. Don't get me wrong, everything looks very well-done, and the baby, cat, horse, and werewolf mask are all very cute, but what would I need any of them for? It's not like, say, Marvel series 2 or the DND series where you could take Agatha or Tasha and stick them into your Harry Potter sets for additional variety. I'm wondering how these are going to sell given how niche they look, and given that even the fans here seem to be unhappy with the selection. (And now I'm leaving before I'm getting bludgeoned again for suggesting that those movies are 'niche' instead of the greatest movies of all time or something.)