Black Falcon

I thought you were in SFW? That is where the information comes from ;) Stonewars made an Article about it: Vorschau LEGO Pick a Brick Neuheiten fürs 4. Quartal Wolf, Arctic Fox, Snail and Dove are going to come this year aswell as the shields from the Creator and Friends sets.

Nothing officially announced I think, but it will surely be next year, as this year would be to short for them to produce it I think and other similar GWPs, like the Snails GWP we had in July also took a year from winner announcement to release.

Well, then the licensing deal seems to be different indeed.

Just Partly exclusive, one of Lego´s partners in every country got it aswell, just like with the Galaxy Explorer.

Warner Bros has the license for films, based on what is writen in the books (and even then isn´t allowed to use all of tolkiens works) and as far as I understood it, they wouldn´t be allowed to make a series based on the books for instance. And themselves they only can give out licenses about what is shown in their films, hence Gloin was included Rivendell but wasn´t named there, because he wasn´t named in the films either. WBs license agreement with Rowling might be different from the one with Tolkien Estate, so you can´t really compare one with the other - but Kettleburn for instance was in the movies, even if he was just shown in a small scene.

It wouldn´t make sense really to have them on Pick a Brick anyways IMO, since they are produced over a certain period, packed and then sold - four months later, when parts usually hit PAB, they are already EOL. Well that and the fact that it would make the whole blind "bag" thing obsolete.

There doesn´t need to be much difference in what they display though, since it would be for a new generation of kids, not for people that already own the old one. Yeah, I totally don´t expect fawkes in it, rather maybe a buildable fluffy (heads and paws only with a harp), the devil snare, winged keys, some chess figures and the philosophers stone.

I guess it might depend how well the last one went. Given there are always new kids growing in the Lego and Harry Potter age, there will always be a new target audience for it. And the Hogwarts Express must be drawing a lot costumers else we wouldn't have seen so many versions of it already. Still, wouldn't be surprised if we get a break. Might also depend on what their plan is with the theme for next year. Compared to how important it was for the films and how iconic it is I would actually say it is surprisingly rarely included in sets. So would be surprised if we see another version for this version of a Hogwarts. I guess you mean another class module, not another version of Potions there? Well who knows, they could aswell start with newer versions of already made shops after a few years that still fit together with the shops on the shelves now. That one was the big exclusive though, the Durmstrang ship fits more in line with Grimmauld Place IMO. Well to be fair Lego is all about building stuff out of bricks so the buildable creatures make just as much sense as Minifig-sets in that regard. And given how many of them are around across all themes they seem to sell well enough. Personally, I am not interested in most of them but their existence doesn't bother me either. However I really like the (also this year retiring) Hogwarts Icons set, the buildable Hedwig looks really great. Would love if we get a Fawkes in a similar style. Would be really surprised if that would happen.

What really surprises me, is that it is said to be for all themes - but I actually doubt that this is true.

Well my first thought was that it would be something similar to the Hogwarts Moments Classrooms and the House Banners. And basically that is still what I think - we will have to see how big it turns out, of course I would expect more space so hopefully it can just be opened and closed without the need to play tetris to put everything together - but overall many of the parts will probably be needed to build the cauldron itself. Snitch Flying lesson. If they are going to do Herbology, I can´t see them just using a simple plant pot, at least not if there isn´t a mandrake inside ;). If we hadn´t just got a Monster Book I would suggest that one for Care of Magical creatures.

Well, but that is merely your opinion and people have different tastes. We will never see a set everyone likes - and well for the sales we will never know of course, but at least at the retailer that got the exclusive here it was sold out when they had it for 20% off. Well, first of all, Lego isn´t leaking stuff, leakers do . Secondly, leaks on the same day as the release or the day before aren´t that uncommon (and honestly, I would rather wait for the real pics instead on some blury pics, but well). And well, the Galaxy Explorer didn´t had leaked images at all as far as I remember, so based on your logic, it would be worse then?

Well I wouldn't say noone else, but surely that will be a big part of the people that buy it and that is why I think that those kind of sets might have high initial sales but they drop after the first few months. So overall sales might still be good and there could be more sets like this coming.

Oh interesting. You got no paperbags at all? Or just in Sets yet? Here all polybags are Paperbags now - not sure if sets are completely switched to paperbags now, but at least most sets have them inside now.

The post quoted is from last year and the Blacktron Set mentioned is the Renegade. If we still get a Blacktron 2 GWP* is uncertain, could be for Insiders day, could be that it turned out to be something else (just remember the Pharell Williams Spaceship ;)) or that it isn´t coming at all. *at this point if it still comes, it seems unlikely to be a (buyable) Set as we probably would have heard about that already, so I think it is either a GWP, or just not coming, at least this year.

Yes, but like I stated above your comment, the problem is with the paperbags you can´t see what is inside anymore and so you have to hope for your luck there aswell - still of course it is better than nothing and would at least make them avaiable for a cheaper price - and hopefully there are some usefull parts included at least for people that buy several pieces. Anyways, not thrilled to get Harry in the second Polybag after another (or to get him there at all really)

I think it was right at release. But it was also the first time they had a CMF as far as I know, and I don´t think they had the series afterwards. (It was the red-yellow netto btw, not the black one). When they sold themfor 2€ was much later, might even be that is was after the next series was released, but really not sure about that.

Well, we don´t really know what the set turns out to be. I doubt we will just get three big buildable pokemon sitting next to each other, in that case 3 sets would really make more sense. But it could aswell be a big buildable display with the pokemon batteling each other, in that case single pokemon wouldn´t make much sense ;).

Well, they had a Display early on, but they were empty quite fast IMO, when they sold them for 3,49€. Not sure how much they got when they sold them for 2€ but I guess each store just got a few boxes then, but hard to say. And probably won´t be exactly cheap when it hits Pick a Brick.

Well, one doesn´t have to mean we wouldn´t get the other. We can get the Visitor Center as D2C Set and JP3 Playscale Sets. And honestly, the old visitor Center is a great playset, but not really something that looks great for display.

3,49€ when they first had them, later they sold them for 2€. Even for CMFs arm printing isn´t done for every figure, though. And you are basically comparing a really great CMF figure, with a more basic normal figure. If we take the Black Falcons, Lion Knights, or the new Horse or Snake Knights they are on the same level as most cmf IMO.

Well, the D&D series was avaiable at Netto for a reduced price ;). D&D basically was exactly that and normal series constantly include castle figures. That and you can order figs from unlicensed sets from Pick a Brick. Also that would basically go for all unlicensed themes not only castle ;).

We don´t really know if the Renegade sold well. It is likely a set that had high sales when it was released but also sales dropped afterewards, because most people that wanted it, bought it within the first three months. Anyways, so far I would be happy about any Space/Castle GWP we would still get - though better sooner or later, who knows which sets will still be avaiable on insiders days.

Are there any news or rumours on this? I am wondering if it just turned out to be something else, or if there is a chance we will still get it this year. Personally I still have some some Sets I want to buy that are going to retire this year, but so far there wasn´t really any GWP I was interested in. They didn´t even use the chance and used the existing Wolfpack minifigure to make a Wolfpack Renegades GWP. And so far rumours of future GWP aren´t really promissing either.

Well this would actually be a good polybag to include one of the portraits - just that now you would have to buy several and hope for your luck. The only way I could see them doing both at the same time, is either they make a smaller hogwarts again (like the 2018 one), with one or two sets each year based on the films, and some playsets based on the series. Or they keep doing the next castle again, and only a small number of series Sets - but I actually wouldn´t be surprised if Warner would want to concentrate on the new series, so I think the first option is the more likely one, if we are really expecting both a hogwarts castle of the movies and series sets on the same time. Personally I wouldn´t be surprised if they omit the castle completely and concentrate on the series, with only a small number of sets based on the films, like the D2C sets for instance. We are not even sure if you need an app for it though - there will likely be options and cases where you do, but as far as I understood, the system was also meant for bricks to interact with the smart brick, which IMO would be a good option to include interactive play without the need of an app - but we will see.

Yeah, an D2C Visitor Center is what I am hoping for to happen too, with hopefully all main characters from the movie. Not sure if I would expect another big dinosaur skeleton already, so we will see - brachiosaurus seems to be the most likely to me, followed by triceratops.