Ferder

I was curious how the number of interiors in the two systems compared to each other so I compiled a list. Connectable-Castle Series (2018-2020) Great Hall Mirror of Erised Potions Room (generic) Treasure Room (generic) Grand Staircase Owlery Gryffindor Dormitory Potions Classroom (Snape's) Snape’s Office Clock Tower Entrance Hall Infirmary Defense Against the Dark Arts (Moody’s) Dumbledore’s Office Prefect’s bathroom Greenhouse Potions Classroom (Slughorn's) Slughorn’s Office Ravenclaw Dormitory Astronomy Room Room of Requirement Modular Series (2021-2023) Great Hall Chamber of Secrets Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom (Lockhart’s) Lockhart’s office Astronomy Classroom Girls Bathroom Fluffy’s Corridor Devil’s Snare Chamber Quidditch Supply Room Trophy Room Gryffindor Dormitory Infirmary Library Dumbledore’s office Study room (generic) Room of Requirement Grey Lady's Room Grand Staircase Moments/Banners Series (2021-2023) Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom (Moody’s) Transfiguration Classroom Potions Classroom Herbology Classroom Charms Classroom Divination Classroom Gryffindor Homeroom Slytherin Homeroom Ravenclaw Homeroom Hufflepuff Homeroom

Yes always a challenge with this series to have it look good on the outside while also have the interior make sense (bathroom slide over the Chamber, Lockheart's office near his classroom, Fluffy's trapdoor over the vines)

From the book "Lego Harry Potter Magic Treasury" the designer discusses the 2018-2020 lineup, saying With the completion of this most recent modular Hogwarts design, this almost feels like a realization of the designer's idea, though I suspect his design was closer in style to the 2018-2020 and less like the boxy one we got.

This is the first time I've seen an official configuration of the modular sets that actually has the silhouette of Hogwarts Castle! The new BOH set finally bring the whole thing together.

More rocky-base modules, finally! Also interesting how some pieces can serve duel uses as either courtyard walls or bridge pieces.

Interesting that they've introduced a new entrance to the Great Hall but it's double the height of this castle system's existing Great hall module. Curious to see how they will integrate together. Entrances and courtyards modules are always welcome though! New Hogwarts Express with Hogsmead Station is a really nice update of the 2004 motorized set. Good to have a train option for those that didn't have the 2018 one and were staying away from the misguided Collectors Edition.

As far as I know, his appearance wasn't credited in the film either. Only fans of the book surmised that he must be Gloin. Otherwise he was just an unnamed white-bearded Dwarf who arrived with Gimli and sat at the counsel.

Looking at pictures of Legolas from the film, sometimes he has strands of hair over his shoulders and sometimes it's behind. In nearly every case though it's always tucked behind his ears. Even when it is over his shoulders, the strands are relatively thin. So for me the old hair looks much better for him.

Researching the design inspirations for this set have really helped me finally figure out the layout of Rivendell. There are three main components that make up Rivendell in the film-- The Bigature model used for wide shots and backgrounds, the outdoor filming set built at Kaitoke Regional Park, and indoor studio filming set (rebuilt for the first Hobbit film). All three share the same design elements, but there's not a ton of consistency around which parts are represented where. The LEGO set is basically an extremely faithful recreation of the indoor filming set, which in real life was made up of Elrond's library, the museum upstairs with Narsil and the murals, the building on the right with the golden instrument, and an "outdoor" section made up of the counsel circle, the little bridge that Arwen and Aragorn stand on and the blacksmith forge. The LEGO set's rotunda is based on the one from the Bigature, although there was one made for the outdoor set at Kaitoke. Frodo's bedroom is based off a section of the outdoor Kaitoke set. This video from the DVD shows the designing of the outdoor and indoor sets.

Also CapnRex101's review from Brickset.com

Just watched this designer video but have questions about the Easter Eggs they hint at towards the end. What prop shown in the DVD special features do you think is referred to at 19:12? I just poured over these DVDs last week and besides the murals I'm not sure what would be the obvious hidden prop. The gold telescope thing at the bottom of the stairway? Also, I'm not sure what easter eggs they are talking about regarding a map referencing a scene from the Extended Edition. Is it Faramir's map from The Two Towers?

These are all based on Allan lee murals that were in the Rivendell shooting set, but most of them (with the exclusion of the Sauron VS Islidor moment) are not showcased in the films, just on the making-of DVDs.

Whenever new sets are leaked or released I see a lot of discussion about the quality of the minifigs. Which got me wondering what part of a set are the most important to collectors of the Harry Potter line and other licensed themes. When looking at the value of a Harry Potter set. in which order of personal important would you rank the following: Minifig quality (uniqueness, printing, accuracy) Design accuracy (the set reflects the design from the source material) Modularity (can be combined with other sets in the line easily with lots of variation to make, say, a custom Hogwarts) Parts uniqueness (Interesting elements and pieces that can be used for MOCs, Harry Potter or otherwise) Play Features (moving parts, hidden items) Display potential (it works on it's own as a sculptural piece on a shelf)

Now that it's offically revealed we can break down what parts of Rivendell are recreated here from the location as-seen in the films. Overall the areas represented favor locations that were built as full-scale sets for filming, versus all the architecture in the "Bigature". This makes sense given that there wasn't actually a lot of consistency for how the Bigature was placed in the background of shots, compared to the layout in the wideshots and Weta sculptures. I've circled in red the parts of the full layout that ended up being recreated in the LEGO build. It wasn't even clear to me where in Rivendell the Council of Elrond took place until I rewatched the section on the DVD, where they show the Bigature, before the shooting set was composited in, and It was confirmed that it is the building on the right hand side of the model, photographed from the back. For the LEGO build, the tower on the left is a composite of three areas: the tower in the bigature from the right-hand building, the crumbling tower with the figures from the shooting set, and the top of the roof from one of the main-house towers in the bigature. Overall, given the choice to try to represent the entire Rivendell model in Microscale (which even the Microscale Hogwarts wasn't able to do) or do this composite based the most iconic and recognizable Rivendell features from both the Bigature and the shooting set, as a minifig-scale playset, I think they choose the correct approach. This gorgeous set strikes an amazing balance between a well-designed playset and a faithful representation to the source.

It makes even more sense when flopped. Here's the area from the movie they are mainly basing it on:

The display cases built into pillars are also bizarre They’re from the film’s design

One of the Lego designer Instagram accounts (jbspielwaren) has posted some great photos of the Spring 2023 sets. Nice to see actual photos and not just CGI images. Room of Requirements actually looks great when it’s folded up and all the objects are stacked in their proper place. It looks fittingly full of clutter. Also, in the Gryffindor banner set I can see Sirius Black’s face in the fireplace! Never noticed that before.

Thoughts on the new Hogwarts-related sets: Room of Requirement The exterior has some nice design variety for one of these modulars. Once again though it's going for a general Hogwarts "vibe" with its turrets and arches, rather than trying to represent a specific area of the Hogwarts model as seen in the films. I like at least that the bottom module uses some grey elements since this line has had a lack of rock-level modules since the Chamber of Secrets set was released. Though this set has hinges for folding out the sides. it looks like it would be better staying closed up, given the gaps in the side walls. Although those side gaps are large I like that it is a faithful nod to the design in the movie, with the round pillars coming down from the ceiling onto the square glass cases (The ROR film set was a redress of the Goblet of Fire trophy room, hence the glass cases). The exterior play-feature that reveals the door is a nice touch. I love how the door looks from the interior particularly the stickered arches. It really screams Hogwarts and I could see them being used in a moc for any kind of grand Hogwarts entrance or doorway. Attaching the fiendfire to random parts of the room is kind of goofy looking, but I can see what they were getting at with the room being on fire before the flames coalesce into the shape of the snake. I like the inclusion of Lupin's record player and the stack with the chair on top, but it would have been cool to see even more recognizable objects thrown in, or perhaps the vanishing cabinet. Theoretically one could fill it up with objects from other sets, just like how the filmmakers filled it with props and easter eggs from the other movies (the harp, the mirror of erised, items from the first few advent calendars, the lanterns and tables from Slughorn's party...) The top half with tower and Grey Lady nicely ties the whole set together to play out the entirety of the Deathly Hallows diadem storyline. House Banners I prefer castle modules rather than these standalone books and banners, as see these kind of sets as mostly parts bags for mocs. However, given that fans have been clamoring for House Common Room Representation since I joined this forum I do think these do a good job of fulfilling that. They actually feel like minifig scale versions of these rooms-- which unfortunately makes them much too large to fit the scale of the rest of the actual Hogwarts Castle playsets with their cramped 16x8 modular rooms. The reliance on the large lenticular backdrop to offer a lot of the detail is unfortunate since I can't see it being integrated easily into a moc.

Yeah I can't find them either. I've looked on the US, UK and CAD stores.

The only images I'm seeing on Insta at the moment are AI generated.

Looks great! Are there more images in Imgur of it from other angles?

Though I would prefer that they were just regular castle modules, the House Banner sets will be very useful for building Common Room MOCS.

Based on the green foliage (and the movie the scene is from) I think it's supposed to represent the rear courtyard by the clocktower, not the front entrance one. Though one can see in the clip that the Dark Tower and Courtyard are at opposite ends of the castle layout, but they compressed them into one set to capture the whole scene.

I got ahold of a copy of the Lego Harry Potter Magical Treasury book the other day and saw a surprising quote from designer Mark Stafford about the 2019-2021 Hogwarts line. "Early on, I came up with the idea to make a modular version of Hogwarts. The "Sketch model" I built was very big! It featured the Great Hall and the Clock Tower entrance as the two largest modules, as well as classrooms, the Gryffindor common room, kitchens, bridge and walls. The idea was almost dropped later in development, until Rahael realized the Hogwarts build in his Whomping Willow set would fit really nicely on the side of my Great Hall set. With minor changes to both of our models, the modular idea was resurrected! I put a connection point on the other side of the Hall too, so when Woon Tze was later asked to develop my Clock Tower entrance into a set, we could connect it in a similar way to the original modular sketch models." This explains why of all the castle sections they could have chosen for the first Modular Hogwarts section to go with the Great Hall they went with a less-iconic back section, since at that stage the modularity was added back as an after-thought. I suspect even with the 2020-present modular line I wouldn't be surprised if they are still making it up, year by year, (or even set-by-set) without an intentioned shape for how the Castle all goes together. Here's another Mark Stafford quote I found on Bricklink: "I kind of got carried away with a minifigure scale modular version of Hogwarts, I built 7 or 8 different sized sketch models that all joined together to make a massive version of the school. The Tower and Hall were two separate ideas at that time. Then when it was decided the Great Hall should be the largest set of the line I was asked to combine it with the tower." I really wish I could see Mark's of original design, especially the sections we haven't gotten as sets yet like the bridges and walls and the kitchen. The extra-large Grand Staircase Tower would have been amazing to see too. His version of Hogwarts sounds like the ultimate Lego Harry Potter dream.

Yes, especially since there's so many options left for subterranean sets: Potions Classroom, Slytherin common room, remaining Philosopher's stone challengers, troll bathroom... But sadly I wouldn't be surprised if there were no more rock-base sets in this line.