Good and bad news...
May. 15th, 2021 06:39 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
gingerwitch.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
acciobrick...today from the world of Harry Potter lego. Let's get the bad news out of the way first: zusammengebaut.com reports that retailers will not be receiving theο»Ώ Hogwarts Chamber of Secretsο»ΏΒ (76389) until 02 August. (brickfanatics has the article in English.) If it's available for delivery at all (unclear as yet), the set will apparently remain a lego S@H exclusive (lego.com) here in Germany and in at least someΒ of continental Europe for the first couple of months. The set has been available for preorder for several weeks now, so this is expected to cause a kerfuffle and something of a scramble for orders on the lego site. But! The comments on zusammengebaut would seem to indicate that this may be a global problem, in which case if you can't wait to get this set, check reliable local retailers for current availability, or to be on the safe side, place your order directly at lego. (They still list 01 June for the date the set will ship. WORTH NOTING / CAVEAT: It's presently also unclear if they'll be able to honour that. There's been no official word yet, but then it's a bank holiday in Billund.)
And now the happier news... π
For those lucky enough to get the new sets early, the moratorium on reviews ended today, so keep your eyes peeled for those. I have to say from an initial reccy, the sets look rather lovely.
NEW ELEMENTARY has done a very nice overview, complete with an exploration of the new pieces the sets provide, which is neat as that isn't something we can see as clearly in the lego S@H ('shop at home', the lego.com store) pictures, so definitely check that out. Some of my favourite pieces are the candelabra, the new colour variation for the butterbeer pint (Trans-Green!, it's more Polyjuice-y π), the rounded window frame (it looks like it might be a 90* segment), the grooved 1x14 brick, and of course the Acid Pops and 'whatever that other potions ingredient is'. π (Personally I think it's deliberately vague and better that way.)
The 2021 basilisk looks good, the new Cornish Pixie is actually an all new colour, and 2021 Fluffy is, as suspected, represented 1/2 and 1/2 sleeping / waking so depending on the angle, he's either having a nap or ready to take a bite out of life. Or Ron, whichever. (Nice detail: the drool. π)
picture credit: NEW ELEMENTARY. click through for plenty more.
I also like the new glow in the dark Nearly Headless Nick. (Funny detail: his hands aren't GitD...) I think it's a nice callback to the GitD Snapes of yesteryear, except more sensible. π
NEW ELEMENTARY and many others have been able to confirm that the distribution of the lego Chocolate Frog Tiles is indeed random, so purchasing all the sets in no way guarantees a full set of the sixteen tiles. Anyone 'needing' to complete their collection will probably be forced to trade or to resort to sites like bricklink, brickowl or ebay.
We now know that the tile presumed to be Merlin is in fact supposed to be a second Dumbledore, so they'll represent both the Harris and Gambon versions. (Side note: they could have easily done this in the films, 'a spell that went awry', and chose not to, so it's interesting that lego acknowledges that change.) Knowing the lego designers, the ability to claim it's Merlin won't have been a coincidence, and that's my new head canon, official rosters be hanged. π (Coincidentally, or not, the other version of Dumbledore looks suspiciously like Vitruvius from the Lego Movies, which allows us to pick and choose our Dumbles while still giving the remaining one a purpose.) I believe other than that they were all as predicted by our![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gingerbred, so full marks there. π
We now also know that there will not be a new Quidditch uniform accessory pack this year (next year, I remain quietly confident π), but we'll be seeing miscellaneous characters from Diagon Alley instead. Harry remains obvious. Interestingly, initial speculation that this could be Scrimgeour has been disproven (it didn't match his stubble anyway) and it's apparently Borgin, which leads me to hope we'll see a Borgin & Burkes sooner rather than later. Fingers crossed. The set includes figures fandom has decided represent Dedalus Diggle and Doris Crockford (the latter being a 'squint hard' sort of a thing), an owl, a couple of cauldrons, the acid pop and ingredient pieces I liked π, and a brand new and thus far exclusive Dumbledore's Army sign up list. (And I now really need a Marietta Edgecombe minifig with 'SNITCH' on her forehead.) I'm hoping they will also expand on Hogsmeade in the future to include the Hog's Head.
Other than that, things you might want to know:
The new Brickheadz sets have "leaked". I'm unconvinced about the set with Harry, Hermione, Ron and Hagrid (I think the previous renditions were better or similar enough not to warrant a revisit), but Nagini is adorbs and Bellatrix is simply swoonworthy. (I love what they've done with her hair...) Moldyshorts is largely unspectacular, but then that's true in general, isn't it? π
with the exception of Fluffy, all above pictures are from IG, no attribution The #legoharrypotter Instagram hashtag provides a wealth of (what else) Harry Potter lego material, leaks and otherwise.
Promobricks.de, generally quite reliable, reports that the 2018 Great Hall set will stop production (go EOL - end of line / life) this summer. (So if you want it, get it now. It's a key piece of the 2018-2020 castle architecture and nicely captured.) In as much as the 2021 Chamber of Secrets set covers some of the same territory and the EOL was expected to happen last year (until delivery bottlenecks led to a reconsideration), this seems highly likely.
In addition, and a little less reliably, it's rumoured that both the Herbology and Charms Hogwarts Moment classroom sets will also retire at the end of this year. Potions and Transfiguration should still be available after that, which is helpful as we'll need both Snape and Draco to complete the duel scene in the Chamber of Secrets set (it includes Harry, Lockhart, Justin Finch-Fletchley and the Serpentsortia Snake, but not the two Slytherins; I'm sure it was nothing personal π).
ETA: Link to Clone OPatra's review of the CoS on Eurobricks. Brickfanatics' reviews of the CoS and the Polyjuice Mistake set. Blockwarts has a number of reviews up already, especially nice, the Hogsmeade review.
And now the happier news... π
For those lucky enough to get the new sets early, the moratorium on reviews ended today, so keep your eyes peeled for those. I have to say from an initial reccy, the sets look rather lovely.
NEW ELEMENTARY has done a very nice overview, complete with an exploration of the new pieces the sets provide, which is neat as that isn't something we can see as clearly in the lego S@H ('shop at home', the lego.com store) pictures, so definitely check that out. Some of my favourite pieces are the candelabra, the new colour variation for the butterbeer pint (Trans-Green!, it's more Polyjuice-y π), the rounded window frame (it looks like it might be a 90* segment), the grooved 1x14 brick, and of course the Acid Pops and 'whatever that other potions ingredient is'. π (Personally I think it's deliberately vague and better that way.)
The 2021 basilisk looks good, the new Cornish Pixie is actually an all new colour, and 2021 Fluffy is, as suspected, represented 1/2 and 1/2 sleeping / waking so depending on the angle, he's either having a nap or ready to take a bite out of life. Or Ron, whichever. (Nice detail: the drool. π)
picture credit: NEW ELEMENTARY. click through for plenty more.
I also like the new glow in the dark Nearly Headless Nick. (Funny detail: his hands aren't GitD...) I think it's a nice callback to the GitD Snapes of yesteryear, except more sensible. π
NEW ELEMENTARY and many others have been able to confirm that the distribution of the lego Chocolate Frog Tiles is indeed random, so purchasing all the sets in no way guarantees a full set of the sixteen tiles. Anyone 'needing' to complete their collection will probably be forced to trade or to resort to sites like bricklink, brickowl or ebay.
We now know that the tile presumed to be Merlin is in fact supposed to be a second Dumbledore, so they'll represent both the Harris and Gambon versions. (Side note: they could have easily done this in the films, 'a spell that went awry', and chose not to, so it's interesting that lego acknowledges that change.) Knowing the lego designers, the ability to claim it's Merlin won't have been a coincidence, and that's my new head canon, official rosters be hanged. π (Coincidentally, or not, the other version of Dumbledore looks suspiciously like Vitruvius from the Lego Movies, which allows us to pick and choose our Dumbles while still giving the remaining one a purpose.) I believe other than that they were all as predicted by our
gingerbred, so full marks there. π We now also know that there will not be a new Quidditch uniform accessory pack this year (next year, I remain quietly confident π), but we'll be seeing miscellaneous characters from Diagon Alley instead. Harry remains obvious. Interestingly, initial speculation that this could be Scrimgeour has been disproven (it didn't match his stubble anyway) and it's apparently Borgin, which leads me to hope we'll see a Borgin & Burkes sooner rather than later. Fingers crossed. The set includes figures fandom has decided represent Dedalus Diggle and Doris Crockford (the latter being a 'squint hard' sort of a thing), an owl, a couple of cauldrons, the acid pop and ingredient pieces I liked π, and a brand new and thus far exclusive Dumbledore's Army sign up list. (And I now really need a Marietta Edgecombe minifig with 'SNITCH' on her forehead.) I'm hoping they will also expand on Hogsmeade in the future to include the Hog's Head.
Other than that, things you might want to know:
The new Brickheadz sets have "leaked". I'm unconvinced about the set with Harry, Hermione, Ron and Hagrid (I think the previous renditions were better or similar enough not to warrant a revisit), but Nagini is adorbs and Bellatrix is simply swoonworthy. (I love what they've done with her hair...) Moldyshorts is largely unspectacular, but then that's true in general, isn't it? π
with the exception of Fluffy, all above pictures are from IG, no attribution The #legoharrypotter Instagram hashtag provides a wealth of (what else) Harry Potter lego material, leaks and otherwise.
Promobricks.de, generally quite reliable, reports that the 2018 Great Hall set will stop production (go EOL - end of line / life) this summer. (So if you want it, get it now. It's a key piece of the 2018-2020 castle architecture and nicely captured.) In as much as the 2021 Chamber of Secrets set covers some of the same territory and the EOL was expected to happen last year (until delivery bottlenecks led to a reconsideration), this seems highly likely.
In addition, and a little less reliably, it's rumoured that both the Herbology and Charms Hogwarts Moment classroom sets will also retire at the end of this year. Potions and Transfiguration should still be available after that, which is helpful as we'll need both Snape and Draco to complete the duel scene in the Chamber of Secrets set (it includes Harry, Lockhart, Justin Finch-Fletchley and the Serpentsortia Snake, but not the two Slytherins; I'm sure it was nothing personal π).
ETA: Link to Clone OPatra's review of the CoS on Eurobricks. Brickfanatics' reviews of the CoS and the Polyjuice Mistake set. Blockwarts has a number of reviews up already, especially nice, the Hogsmeade review.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-15 05:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-15 07:22 pm (UTC)Yeah, they did a great job with the hair. Nicely captured.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-15 05:29 pm (UTC)I understand that this is a marketing decision, but I think it's a crappy disservice to fans and collectors alike.
Even though I'm not a Lego collector, I do enjoy reading your posts to acciobrick. Thanks!
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-15 06:39 pm (UTC)Definitely marketing, but I think they sort of split the difference. Where the golden anniversary minifigs are a given (and people complained that they didn't want to have to buy all the sets in order to have all of them), the tiles are random (and you could theoretically have all 16 for as 'little' an investment set-wise as 160 EUR / USD MRP (so more like 120)). I think with very few exceptions I don't 'need' to have all of them, and consider both gimmicks a nice bonus. That said, I can't see myself buying the chess set, so I can basically predict I'll be purchasing the golden Snape figure off the after market. (That would be one of my handful of exceptions... π) I also don't think fans (I consider myself more fan than collector) 'need' the Jocunda Sykes tile, say. It's a solid 'nice to have'. Now if lego makes the staff (Albus, Severus, Minerva) and / or Founders rare, that will be a very different story. *nods*
But they've delayed putting the set out, so maybe they're still tweaking things. (It's possible they misidentified one of the Dumbledore tiles. They definitely used Ollivander's picture twice and forgot Rowena Ravenclaw's.)
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-15 05:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-15 07:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-17 07:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-08-04 12:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-17 07:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-08-04 12:56 pm (UTC)Thanks for the kind words. *hugs*