Matn

Thanks for the comments an tips! I'm aware that there's not much going on there, but I just liked the idea of Ron and Harry going inside the tent, full of happiness and not knowing how Hermoine will react. I was going to add some details, like brown flower sterns but I don't have those... I agree with you, the plates a bit awkward, but it looks much better in real life. Maybe it's the angle? Thanks for your comments. Heh, I was going to make one and upload it at the same time, but I haven't even started on it yet. Soon, I promise! You're right, I found some more white plates and added a bit more of them to the trees. Thanks again!

Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone, I appreciate it! Although I didn't get any LEGO, I now have enough money to spend some to complete my current works in progress.

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate it! ...

This scene captures Ron's return in the 19th chapter of the Deathly Hallows, The Silver Doe. It's one of my favourite chapters of all the books, so I thought of making it in LEGO. I still love to read the intense things going on like Ron destroying to horcrux and Hermoine going mad. I'm also thinking of making an interior scene to go with it. http://www.flickr.com/photos/30479264@N06/4300241326/ Other angles: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=417801 I know it's that really special or anything, but I thought it would be nice in LEGO. I've still got something big almost ready to photograph, something I've been working on since August... Comments and tips are appreciated!

Yes, indeed they are for the alternative models. I have to admit I also freaked out when I was ready with building as I've never got a LEGO Creator house before. But as the alternative models don't look so good compared with the first model, they are nice extras!

Thanks for the (possible) price list. Seems like a fair list, I thought it would be more expensive. I'm really wondering how they have made the Burrow for "only" 60 euro. It sounds like a big set but it won't be huge. Perhaps it will be the same size as the beautiful LEGO Shrieking Shack, which would be a good thing. It looks like the Hogwarts castle will be huge! I'm looking forward to the first pictures.

Wow, this is impressive! I hadn't seen this before, so I'm glad you joined Eurobricks to show this massive layout. And welcome! There are very nice architectural details, it looks great from the outside. I especially like the inside of Grimmhavn, with a crouded market and a lot of medieval action going on. The little medieval scenes are nice touches. The windmill looks very nice, so does the environment. It's tough making a detailed environment in a big layout, but you've managed to do it very well. The angled rocks are great. There's even a well detailed cave in there. I'm not a big fan of the tiled seawater, but I know it's always hard to decide how to make water in LEGO bricks. But that doesn't make it less impressive. Again, great job! I'm looking forward to your project of 2010, what do you have in mind for it?

It looks awesome. You've done a great job combining all the official sets together. It shows that they fit all fit together very well! It looks impressive and big, I also like the rock formations. I'm looking forward to the new version of this Hogwarts interpretation. And I'm glad there's a new (LEGO) Harry Potter fan here. Welcome!

Thanks for the news! So the sets won't be specifically based on the films. That sounds like music in my ears, the more the merrier.

Here's a topic about it. In short the prices are based on market observations, it's the way things are. And LEGO uses the European market as a support for the lower profit they make on the American market. I'm aware that LEGO is a luxury product, and I don't like to complain much about prices. A lot of sets are priced down when they come in stores here, perhaps our store owners are aware of it? But it's mostly like this with Star Wars sets, then the European price is like 26.99 EUR, when it would be 24.99 dollar in America. There are a lot of expensive hobbies, but they also provide us relaxation, something to do when you when you want to take some time off. But I'm going off-topic, sorry. As said, I would like to get my hands on this set, because it looks like it's worth it. The architecture looks fine, although a little less detailed than the Cafe Corner and Green Grocer. The interior makes up for that. I hope to see it very soon in real life on BeLUG events.

Oh, my! It looks so much better than the picture we got yesterday. I'm convinced, this does look better than the American firestation. It looks beautiful, especially the lovely interior. There are so much useful parts in there for MOCs, but I only buy modular buildings to place in my own town (although I only own the Cafe Corner). I have to get my hands on the Green Grocer fast, and then this beauty. Hmph, still not happy with the price though. It's ridiculous they don't use the actual exchange rate, but just let the Europeans buy it for much, much more than the Americans. I know why, blablabla.

Ah, it looks very much like the architecture of the Fire Station. With this picture in mind, I don't see this looking better (or even equal to) than the Cafe Corner or Green Grocer, which were fantastic.

I totally agree with you. The price is ridiculous, 26.95 EUR... Meh... But the figures are so awesome. And of course, all the Original Trilogy sets look much better than that Clone Wars stuff. LEGO is doing pretty well lately on the OT sets. I really like this version of Luke, it's not the smiley which has been already produced in Licensed sets (Spiderman/Speed Racer and even City) but it looks much, much better and it's very usable for other characters of other series. If it won't go on sale soon, then I'll just buy it at the high price I guess.

I've been thinking, as the Burrow is going to be released together with the first movie part of the last book, maybe we'll get the Burrow together with the wedding scene? Imagine those figures, and the quantity of them! Oh well, I'll be extremely happy if we get Arthur, Molly and Fred and George. Most people say the last books and movies are very dark. I agree, because it suits the story. It has to be dark, to deal with the subjects handled in the story (racism, death and how to deal with it, ...). When you think of it, the graveyard duel set is one of the darkest LEGO sets released, considering the death of Cedric. The designers did a great job on that. But are the last instalments too dark for LEGO? I'm sure the designers are able to find some 'lighter' scenes to put in sets. I know this is very unrealistic, but it introduces a lot of new figures. But you never know... Also, this is based on the movies. If it would be based on the books, there are more scenes which would fit. And they aren't all dark. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (because one set is pathetic, although it was a good one ): - Escape from Privet Drive: with Harry Potter, Mad Eye Moodey, Tonks and Lupin. - Thestral Carriage: two thestrals, Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom. - Meeting with Grawp: giant, Harry and Hermoine (perhaps the battle at the Ministry, although pretty dark) Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince: - Horace Slughorn's house: Slughorn, Dumbledore and Harry - the Slug Club: Ginny, Harry, Slughorn and Luna - the Burrow: with fire! (I agree, this part doesn't lend for much action based sets...) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: - the Seven Potters: no, just kidding. - the Ghoul in Pyjamas: ghoul, Ron and Harry - Grimmauld Place: would also fit in HP5 - Escaping in the woods: with tent and the trio - the Silver Doe: transparent doe - Lovegood's House: very playable, Xenophilius and Luna - Malfoy Manor: (pretty dark) Malfoy family and Dobby - Shell Cottage: very bright house, Bill and Fleur - Escaping Gringotts: dragon, vault and trio - and perhapse, as an Exclusive: Battle at Hogwarts! See, it's possible: 'lighter' LEGO Harry Potter sets. Call me crazy, it would be awesome. Although it would be unbelievable if even one of those would be designed, I think I've given many ideas to make some LEGO Harry Potter creations?

I don't know what's so wrong with that? I like it when I have some misprints like that. Not on special minifigures, though. I'm glad LEGO releases female minifigures but at this point most of them have the exact same print. With these little offsets and colour shades, these little imperfections can really help adding diversity to your female figures. So they don't look exactly the same. Am I the only one who thinks like that?

7682 Shanghai Chase! I wasn't going to buy it, but for 21 euro I had to buy it. Especially for the awesome minifigures, the cars look alright. I'll build it later. There's a big store (from a toy store chain: Fun) going away in our city because there would be too much of those kind of stores in our area. They have put a -30% tag on everything! Of course, a lot of LEGO was presumably taken to one of the other stores, but there were still some nice sets. All the Bionicle, some Technic, a lot of Star Wars, all the Pirates, a couple of Indiana Jones, Space Police, one Agents set and only a couple of City sets (the big garage, but unfortunately none of the Farm sets). I think I've made up my mind, from now on I will only buy sets when they look nice, have nice parts and if they're on clearance. Or if they carry the name Harry Potter on it. Other than that, I'll buy parts for MOCs.

I'm not a shipbuilder but this looks great so far! It doesn't even look like your first version, so many improvements. Keep up the good work!

Four Bricklinks order with loads of pieces for a creation/part of my Hogwarts project that sits here since August (!) and some random and special pieces to build some characters and statues. I hope to have them in my mailbox next week. I've never ordered so much, four at once, on Bricklink. The orders almost used all the money I got for New Year and Christmas. But well, I really need to finish it. It was originally a creation for the train contest here!

A bathroom duel seems very unlikely. It was incredibly intense with loads of blood in the book and the film. A Shell Cottage or a new Gringotss vault would be awesome indeed as playsets. And as a vehicle the dragon would work very well. I'm one of those people who were younger/kids when those first movies came out. Lucky for me/unlucky for the wallet I never stopped being a fan of Harry Potter (although with little breaks, but for the last few years, since the 6th book I'm non-stop into it). I'm usually a very patient person, but... I can't wait for these sets!

I would like to invite you to a LEGO event in Tielt this year. Tielt is a city in West-Flanders in Belgium. It's the same event that went on in April last year. BeLUG members organised this event in 'Het Reuzenhuis', a school, with success. This year it is organised again, but with a lot more people attending as volunteers and bringing their creations with them. So it'll be worth the effort of going. So write these dates in your agenda: the 6th of February, the doors open from 10h till 18h and Sunday the 7th of February, from 10h to 17h. The entrance is free and there'll be a couple of stores. If you're interested in coming if you're able, don't hesitate. Maybe I can convince you showing some pictures of last year? http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=381132 http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=384947 http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=380587 http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=381221 I'll be there with the Burrow and a couple of (big) creations I'm working on now.

Ah, the Smurfs! It brings back memories. I have loads of those little figures and sets (a Smurf house and accessories for the figures ), I got them when I was little, my parents used them as rewards for some time. It was weird that Gargamel was the same seize as the Smurfs themselves. This makes me think of searching them! That western carriage looks awesome.

Oh, that's indeed awesome! I love the colours of the whole MOC, it goes very well together. The rock looks very nice done, but I especially like the surroundings. The greenery is beautifully done, the sort of swamp and the little creek are really nice details! A little thing like a creek make a creation like this even more outstanding. I love details like that. The building looks wonderful, I love the colours. The architecture isn't very complicated, but for buildings like this I don't think it has to be. It would create distraction from the beautiful environment. Great job and keep on building! I like your buildings and your town looks excellent!

LEGO Harry Potter! Although we haven't seen pictures of it... But I thinks it's going to be awesome. An official LEGO Burrow! And a new Hogwarts Express, with the new steam train wheels in mind, it probably will be very nice. And of course, I think we'll get the biggest LEGO Hogwarts we've seen. I hope LEGO releases many new minifigures of characters we haven't seen yet. LEGO Toy Story looks very nice (set design and it's very recognizable), but that's probably because of nostalgic feelings. But the theme is very expensive for what you get. LEGO Prince of Persia looks alright, the minifigures and pieces are awesome, but the sets don't look very special. They look very bland to me. And I'm not going to start about Ben 10.

This indeed a great review! You've explained everything using very good photos. I really like this set. I bought it 4 or 5 years ago for 20 EUR on sale. It was kept built for a very long time, it fitted very well in a LEGO town. But the tan window pieces and all the delicious dark red are really useful so I broke it down. I hope to find this set again sooner or later, second hand so I have one for the pieces and one for the set itself. Of course, having more tan windows would be welcome. The car hadn't those chrome pieces when in my set but I adjusted it as soon as I got my chrome grills some years later. Again, you've done a very nice review. Thanks for contributing to the LEGO Harry Potter reviews!

Although we're going off-topic: that torso was first used in a Spiderman set. 4855: Spider-Man's Train Rescue containing one minifigure with that torso. The torso has now been used in the Cafe Corner and some other City sets, although it's a flesh torso. I noticed that the designers of the box of the City Sports Car just editted the flesh away and replaced it with yellow... I don't have problems with that actually, but if you're going to release it in sets with yellow minifigures at least adjust it.