Tariq j

I do think the first two Columbus films and Cuarón’s film had a more magical/whimsical feel to them than some of the later films by David Yates. Not that I dislike the later films but I can definitly see why the earlier ones were more popular. It does make me think whether certain sets will/have become the “Luke’s Landspeeder” or “Millennium Falcon” of theme where they’re always being remade and are on shelves - like the Flying Ford Anglia. And then some sets they just don’t really touch at all in the future. I was hoping they’d do a Burrow set based of Bill and Fleur’s wedding but with all 3 DH1 sets retiring fairly soon I’m not sure whether they will. Yes it’s a little odd it doesn’t have an “official” place within the lineup. Are the training grounds located towards the back of the castle? So there’s nothing really to connect it too?

I was thinking Shrek? That would make a good CMF series or maybe The Chronicles of Narnia.

It is kind of insane how we’ve only had two figures of Gambon’s Dumbledore and the last one was 7(?) years ago. I would like to see a Clocktower (mainly because I didn’t get the last two!) but with two main POA scenes appearing in the Hospital Wing I’m not sure if they will do one. Obviously they could just put other scenes/rooms in the set but it would be a little odd given it’s mostly associated with POA. I also think what @RODDY said about the silhouette makes sense too.

That’s my biggest issue. At least if the sets themselves were “regular” I wouldn’t mind too much but the X-Wing as you said is downsized and judging the piece count the Falcom looks like it’s heading the same way. What’s also sort of frustrating is that characters like Greedo have the smart brick in them, so you’d probably have to wait years if you wants a regular one.

I think the theme has been a bit all over the place since 2020 but this year and next year have been/will be a very weak point in the theme. There have been some good/decent sets but those are few and far between. I feel like the theme needs a reset, less gimmicks and better pricing. I’ve said it before but I think the Harry Potter theme has the balance between gimmick sets (like the buildable creatures) and “regular” sets (like the castle). Since they’ve already done the B1 and the Droideka I could see a Super Battle Droid being the next one. I didn’t think about that but yeah I do wonder how these smart bricks will limit what we get for the 50th. The ones you’ve listed could all still be done but you would still miss out on a Falcon and the other regular versions of the “smart” sets.

It just feels very messy. I was initially excited when I saw the Falcon but that piece count obviously means it’s going to be massively downsized. What kind of sucks as well is that there are some figures like Greedo, Emperor Palpatine, Pilot Luke and Dagobah Luke are all smart figures. So you’d probably have to wait years for regular versions of those figures to reappear.

I could see them doing a smaller scale Hogwarts line. Like not as expensive as the current wave but not 4+ either, something in-between maybe. Like I could see a smaller Great Hall but without the rocky base. If the Philosophers Stone Collector’s set thing does well I could see them doing it for the other movies too. I feel like the new set also lacks the “magic” some of the older waves. Like in an older set I could see the bookshelf in the Ravenclaw common room leading to a secret passageway or revealing a hidden object but in this set it’s just a bookshelf.

Reviews have been popping up and I must admit it’s a great set. The splitting function that reveals the clock works really well and there’s some nice details scattered in the house. The figure lineup is pretty good. I actually think the younger cast plus Holly and Vecna/Henry look really good. It’s the older characters - Steve/Jonathan/Robin (and to a certain extent Nancy) that look a bit off.

Official pictures of the Hospital Wing have dropped. The common room and hospital wing look pretty good, not quite sure how to feel about the DADA classroom as it uses that “pullout” system as oppose to being built into the set so it does lack some details. I do really like the boggart wardrobe and spider though.

The BB-8 has leaked. I gotta admit I actually quite like it, I still prefer the older one but this one still looks good.

Yes it does feel like they’ve picked random parts of PoA and put them all into one set. They should have really just focused on the Ravenclaw common room and the DADA classroom on this one.

Yeah there’s nothing really amazing about these sets. Nothing that makes you look at them and think “wow! I have to get that on Day 1”. I’ve been thinking back to sets like the Vader/Anakin transformation chamber, the carbonate freezing chamber, the old Desert Skiff or the Grievous wheel bike. They were all small sets but they were just so much better.

Love these. Really good work!

Yeah, I’m sure the set will be good but it’s just not the most interesting choice for a UCS set. I like Vanth’s speeder but Mando’s speeder isn’t great. I’m not really sure what they were thinking with that one, it reminds me of one of those “build your own xyz at the LEGO store to take home” promos. The speeder in the battle pack looks good but what on earth happened to the barricade?! I think there were battle packs from 2011/12 that had better side builds.

Yeah I really liked that they’ve done that. I’m excited to see the pics for this one as it does seem to be part of the Quad.